Blood Offerings [IC: Queen and Haseo]

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. The steady sounds of the drip drip drip forced the girl out of her deep ravine. Her body had been beaten bruised and deprived of the very thing it needed to survive. And still Clara didn't move. She felt as if her entire body was alight with fire. A deep raging chasm that burned within her very soul. Her life had changed some three weeks ago, and ever since then she'd been different. The girl knew, just knew, what she'd become, but still she couldn't bring herself to drink of a mortal. To take from someone else what had been so horribly wrenched from her body. Her feeding habits included small animals. Rodents. Rabbits. Snakes. Though the blood of these creatures wasn't nearly enough to keep her alive and healthy. Which was why at this very moment she was crying softly to herself as she sat on the edge of town, staring into what had once been hers.

She sat in her tree surrounded by a pool of dead animals and the stale stench of old rotting blood for most of the night before she quietly jumped from her perch and walked a couple feet. Her body staggered, and then finally collapsed, unconsciousness and near starvation nearly overwhelming her until she passed into oblivion.

"Did you hear?", said someone in a tavern in the town to his fellows. A man in the corner leaned back into his chair, his mug of ale untouched as he listened to the coversation. Pulled up around his head was a dark cowl to cover most of his features.

"Old man Rethin was found last night, dead and white as bone!", cried the man suddenly, drawing gasps from his companions. "A vampire, I tells ya! There be one here in this very town! We should watch for strangers."

From his corner, the cowled man smirked lightly and leaned forward, staring down into his drink with nearly clear eyes that absorbed the light of the candles, giving them an almost violet glow. He wore all black leather; a trench vest that was covered in leather straps and buckles. His left shoulder was left bare, while his right was covered by a dark metal pauldron emblazoned with a crimson hand print. Black leather pants covered his legs, along with knee high, black leather boots that buckled all the way up. On his right hand, there was a short, black leather glove that completely covered his hand, and two belts on his forearm. His left arm, though, was covered by a black leather arm warmer, that left his fingers exposed. On his back rested a longsword that was in a rather plain sheath, held onto his back by a baldric. The hilt though, was fabulous, crafted to appear as though covered in scales, while the pommel was forged into the shape of a hissing snake head. His beloved Loveesa; the sword that had been his company during his time in the Crusades.

His mind wandered for a moment to those far off days, to the times of fighting on the foreign lands for the blessed, Promised Land; Jerusalem. The beauty of the city, though he'd never been inside of its walls. How he cursed those so called heathens during those times. The thought now only made him chuckle. A hand slamming onto his table brought him back into awareness, and the man looked up with narrowed eyes. The group had obviously been trying to get his attention for sometime now.

"I think you should leave, friend. You been sittin' there for how long, not even touching your drink?"

The black clothed man looked up to the man and sighed, before leaning forward and smiling, "Take your troupe and begone from my sight, lest you wish to fall before me."

The barkeep stiffened at those words and pulled a club out from beneath the bar, growling, "I think it would be best for you three to leave."

The black cowled man nodded shortly and stood from his chair, walking around the three other men while calling to the barkeeper, "No. I will leave. The air in here has grown too stale for my tastes."

One of the men growled and reached for him, but the man spun so fast that the other two men gasped and fell back against the table behind them. The black clothed man twisted the other man's wrist, setting his hand on his back and looked up at the other two. In the fast movement, his cowl had fallen away, giving way to his alabaster features and fierce eyes. Along with the large pointed ears that poked through his ebony hair. One of the men screamed while the other pointed at him, shrieking, "Vampire! Vampire! Call the guards!"

The vampire smirked softly and broke the man's wrist he'd been holding, sending him down to the ground with a scream. Just as he issued forth his first few howls of pain, the guards burst through the door, just to find the vampire drawing his sword and drawing a line across the ground with the deadly tip.

"My God... A vampire... Surrender fiend, and we will promise you a quick death!"

"I could promise you the same... but it would be a lie", answered the vampire without missing a beat. "Our playtime has just begun, my dears. And now... now you will find yourselves falling to the blade and fang of Alucard Trepes."

One of the guards drew his sword and started forward, but the vampire dashed forward, slamming his blade into the guard's sword and knocking it up into the air, before spinning and kicking him right in the face, sending him stumbling back a few feet. The other guard had drawn his sword and was thrusting it at Alucard's side, but the vampire twisted and smacked his sword against the side of the guard's blade, knocking his blow far off course and sticking it into the wall. Rushing forward, he caught the guard by the chin and stared into his eyes. The vampire's eyes shined for several moments, before he reached over and withdrew his sword from the wood of the wall. He turned to the other guard, who had scrambled to his feet, despite a broken nose that freely poured blood and said to the guard he'd stared at, "He means your master harm. Kill him."

The guard with the broken nose looked confused for a moment, before looking to his comrade and gasped as his friend's sword was thrust deep into his belly. Just as the guard was coming out of his trance, he stared in horror at his dying friend's face, only for his head to be jerked back by his hair, and the vampire's teeth bit deep into his neck. Jerking spasmatically, he groaned and swooned, falling against the vampire's chest and clutching onto the hand that held him up. Everything slowed down for the guard, before finally coming to a halt. He dropped to the ground after the vampire released him, drained dry of all of his blood.

Alucard turned and smiled at the barkeep, two lines of blood running down the corners of his mouth, before he pulled his cowl over his head and sheathed his sword, heading out the door.

Alucard had not enjoyed a fight like that in some decades, having grown accustomed to simply hiding in the shadows and seducing women into giving him their blood. Walking down the street with one hand shoved into a pocket, he stopped short at the sight of someone laying on the ground. Tilting his head to the side, he licked his lips, wondering if perhaps he had found a free meal.

As he drew closer though, the scent washed over him. The scent of another vampire. Kneeling down next to the body, he turned the girl over. She was a lovely specimen and Alucard did so enjoy things of beauty. Brushing her hair aside from her face, he smirked and looked over to the nearest house. Smirking, he saw a child leaning out of the window, looking down at the girl and he. Smiling more, he waved at the child, who shyly waved back, as she opened the window more fully.

The vampire leaped from his spot and easily landed in the window frame, snatching the child up by her throat before she could make a sound. His nails darkened and grew into claws that bit into her skin, drawing marks of blood.

"Shhh, child... God loves children... And do you love God?", he asked in a calm voice, still smiling as he gently trailed his free hand's fingers across her cheek. The girl croaked and nodded quickly, tears forming in her eyes and running down her reddening cheeks. "Good. Then I will send you to him."

Jumping out of the window, he landed next to the body of the vampiress and opened her mouth, tilting her head to the side. She was in desperate need of blood, and so, being the dark soul that he was, forever cursing God from his eternity, he would provide it for her. Ripping the child's throat out, her lifeblood spilled down to the vampiress' mouth, covering her face and teeth with the child's blood. Alucard smiled lightly and squeezed the girl's neck slightly, forcing the rest of the blood out of her neck and down to the young vampiress' mouth. Nodding after the last drop had spilled, he tossed the child aside as though she were nothing but trash, and knelt again by the vampiress' side.

"Wake now, child... It's not safe to simply be laying about."