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Jade Armstrong ([info]jadedheart) wrote in [info]haunted_roads,
@ 2008-05-16 08:26:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood:curious
Entry tags:jade, jerzy

Week Eight: Wednesday
Who: Jade and Jerzy
When: early evening
Where: the Towers' mail room, main floor

Jade had been able to make her way over from the Grand to the Old Town Towers earlier than she might've been ordinarily due to the weather. From late afternoon on, the skies were dark and the clouds low. All she had to do was put on a hooded jacket with the hood pulled down halfway obscuring her face as she walked to the car she'd borrowed from a co-worker. She actually liked cool, cloudy weather, which was a good thing considering that she was living in Seattle. There'd been very little of it where she'd grown up.

She'd spent a while in the office talking to the leasing manager about renting an apartment, something she'd been thinking about since she'd visited Tony here. Despite the fact that living and working at the Grand had worked out well for her so far, she was intrigued by the idea of living in a building that contained other supernaturals. According to her Sire, there were several vampires here besides himself. She'd thought that it might be a good idea to live closer to him, as well, considering that he'd agreed to assist her with the skills that were latent within her since he'd turned her.

She had no interest in living too close to him, though, which was why she'd decided to rent a one-bedroom place on the second floor. She'd discussed having the windows tinted with the leasing agent, something she never would have thought of had Tony not mentioned it to her. The interview had gone well, and she'd been shown the apartment and signed the papers on it. She'd be able to move in by the weekend.

Once she was finished with her business, she'd decided to wander around the place and see what amenities were offered. She'd taken the elevator to the top floor to check out the pool area and the enclosed gardens, noticing that everything seemed to be in terrific shape. She particularly enjoyed the gardens in the dim natural light. The residents' floors, while attractive, seemed to be pretty much the same, so she didn't linger there, but exited the elevator on the main floor. Before long, she'd have to drive back to the Grand and her evening's work.

Jade wandered through the commons area, idly glancing around and nodding to the occasional person she encountered, then crossed the corridor past the elevators, heading in an aimless way toward the lobby and the front doors. Fishing in the pocket of her coat for the car keys, she looked into the mail room area that was just to the left of the main entrance... and stopped. There was someone in there who looked very familiar, and she blinked as she stared at his back. No way. Could that possibly be Jerzy Luvic, here at Old Town Towers?



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[info]enemy_in_me
2008-05-16 11:12 pm UTC (link)
There hadn’t been much rain where Jerzy and Tavin grew up either. Or maybe a better term might be, where they spent their childhood. Tavin had grown, matured, forced into it by circumstances, the same circumstances which robbed all of them from ever having either a normal upbringing or an actual childhood. It rarely rained in Southern California, not that Jerzy really should have noticed, considering he rarely ever saw the outdoors.

Migrating to Seattle eventually, after their escape, Jerzy had been struck by the constant rain. It seemed meaningful to him. Rain seemed cleansing, like maybe enough of it would eventually wash away their past ‘til only today and tomorrow were what mattered.

He just really wished Seattle didn’t have so many of them. Though in fact, he had no way of knowing if Seattle, or their own apartment complex, had much more than the norm. Not getting out much, and never really having lived anywhere besides here and there, there was little else to base it on.

Still, it was his home, and though he preferred to conduct business as much as possible in the day time, sometimes it just didn’t work. Like today, when he’d gotten too wrapped up in a game and missed the sunset. Expecting a new one in the mail, Jerzy bit back his fear and went down to the lobby and into the mailroom. He was fine, head down, ignoring everyone around him as he always did, just wanting, hoping to blend in chameleon-like. Unseen, un-noticed, un-killed, please and thank you. It seemed to work okay. Usually.

But now, now… the hairs at the back of his neck lifted, a chill running down his spine as he knew, could feel the eyes upon him. Shit. Shitshitshit. Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look. No, Jerzy grabbed the mail, which did not contain the hoped for package, and closed the box, the metal door clanging far louder than he’d intended. He cringed for the added attention to himself, knowing full well the eyes were still on him, and turned in the opposite direction, away from the gaze, his hand shoved deep in his pocket to wrap tight around the small crucifix he kept inside.

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[info]jadedheart
2008-05-19 12:13 pm UTC (link)
Jade didn't mind Seattle's weather at all, as different as it was from what she'd grown up with. As a teenager she'd been prone to getting as much sun as she could, until she'd learned how damaging it could prove to be to her skin. Since then she'd shunned overexposure to it, something that had helped her adjust to being a vampire. A monster, in many people's eyes.

Funny how she didn't feel like a monster.

Jade felt like she always had for the most part, just better. Stronger. In a world like the one in which they lived, that was not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. And when she saw the young man she felt sure was Jerzy, she didn't feel any desire to bite him or to frighten him. He was just Jerzy, whom she'd been close to for the entire time she'd dated Tavin.

Tavin had not liked that at all, and he hadn't hesitated to let her know it, but Jade hadn't cared. She and Jerzy'd had a connection, and they'd always gotten along wonderfully. It didn't occur to her that the fact that she was a vampire could make a difference, mainly because she had no idea that Jerzy (or Tavin, for that matter) was anything besides plain human. She had to hide her vampirism every day, and as long as she kept her fangs subdued behind a low-wattage version of her bright smile, she hadn't had any problems doing that.

She followed after him, calling softly, "Jerzy?"

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[info]enemy_in_me
2008-05-19 07:12 pm UTC (link)
Jerzy didn’t think it was that Tavin didn’t like them being friends. More, Tavin wasn’t one for commitments. He didn’t want Jade to be such a big part of their lives, and it had nothing to do with her. He was just being his secretive, private self. It wasn’t like they’d never been burned before. And there had even been girls, quite a few, that had tried to use Jerzy to get closer to Tavin. That kind of shit would turn the older brother off immediately. Even make him mad.

That hadn’t been what Jade was like. She and Jerzy had gotten along because they both loved Tavin, and also despite that fact. Thye just did, and Tavin had been the initial bonding agent. Like it or not.

And Tavin wasn’t here now. Much as Jerzy wished he was. Nope. It was just him, and the creature. What kind of creature Jerzy didn’t yet know. After all, he’d not yet laid eyes on them, but still he knew, without having yet done so. He knew they weren’t human, but what they were he couldn’t know until he looked at them.

And now they were speaking his name! In a voice he knew, but couldn’t initially place. Jerzy, walking away, turned toward her, unable to resist the call, knowing full well it might be a death trap, and as he did, pulled the wooden crucifix from his pocket, holding it firmly in hand between him and her.

The cross remained even as his feet stumbled to a stop and Jerzy stood wide-eyed. “J… Jade?”

Shit.

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[info]jadedheart
2008-05-20 08:46 pm UTC (link)
Jade's first impulse would have been to rush over to Jerzy and give him a hug. She sincerely regretted that she'd lost touch with him. Just because Tavin was a shit didn't mean that she should have to give up somebody she'd had so much affection for and considered a friend outside of her relationship with his brother. Everything had just hurt too much, though, and she'd let that be an excuse for allowing Jerzy to drift away from her, too.

But Jerzy was holding a cross, and he looked scared to death. Paler than he was ordinarily, his wide eyes fixed on her like she might be a handmaiden of the devil himself. "Jerzy?" she said again, though by now she knew it was him. "Why do you, um...?" Her brow furrowed in a puzzled frown, because she knew she looked like she always had without the fangs showing. Tall, slim, blonde.

How could he already know what she was? Tavin didn't know. In all honesty, she looked forward to confronting Tavin again now that she was so changed. If nothing else, it should be interesting. But she didn't know what to do about this, about him. She didn't want Jerzy to be afraid of her. The very thought filmed her eyes with tears, and she tried to blink them away.

She swallowed. "Why?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

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[info]enemy_in_me
2008-05-21 11:58 pm UTC (link)
Jerzy was pretty used to it. Losing touch with people. All he and Tavin ever had was each other. And that was all it seemed, they evr would have. Though Jerzy always hoped for something more for his brother. He needed more. He deserved more.

Still, it had been a distinct disappointment losing touch with Jade. She smelled nice. And she wasn’t half bad at Grand Theft Auto. For a female.

Seeing her now. Like this. In this odd situation that he could never have dreamed up, this odd and terrible situation… she looked as scared as him. No, that wasn’t entirely true. She was more… bewildered. He on the other hand, was quite terrified for his life.

She did look exactly the same of course. On the outside. But Jerzy saw more than that. Just as he saw the ghost that had settled in the room behind her, checking out her ass… like he’d ever be able to touch one of those again.

“I should ask you the same question.” He answered finally. He swallowed hard and thought he was impossibly thirsty. Why did his heart beat have to be so loud? He lowered his hand, though still kept the same tight grip on that cross. “What happened.” He asked softly.

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[info]jadedheart
2008-05-22 06:35 pm UTC (link)
Jade, on the other hand, had done well at keeping up with her friends and acquaintances from the past. Most of them, at least. She wasn't sure how well she was going to keep up with people now. So many would not understand what she was now, wouldn't believe it unless they saw certain things for themselves. Talk about a dramatic change in one's life.

Jade watched him cautiously, deliberately not stepping any closer. She was trying to puzzle out the situation in her mind. He lived in this building, where she'd been told there was a large ratio of supernaturals to humans. He knew she was a vampire without being told or shown. What did that mean, exactly? About him and about Tavin? A light frown creased her brow.

"I seem to have a habit of making inappropriate choices in men," she said dryly. "Only this one left me something to remember him by." She shrugged one slim shoulder. "I'm all right, you know, and I'm not going to bite you, Jerzy. C'mon, this is me you're talking to."

He probably wouldn't believe her, she thought. He'd assume that she was being devious and planning to sink in her fangs the second she got close enough to him.

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[info]enemy_in_me
2008-05-22 11:21 pm UTC (link)
If Jerzy were in the same situations, he wouldn’t tell a damned soul what he was. In fact, he’d go into hiding and let them all think him dead. If he didn’t flat out kill himself on principle. Not that he actually knew anybody to hide anything from. Jerzy knew Tavin. He knew Maggie from down the hall, and he knew his gamer buds. That was about it. Those geeks would likely want to worship him as some god if that happened. Though maybe one or two would be willing to end it for him.

Maybe Jerzy should make some sort of a ”Living Will”, a pact with Tavin that if he got turned to a bloodsucker, Tavin would have to kill him. Morbid shit that Jerzy had never thought about oddly enough. He probably would now.

So, he didn’t know many people. He knew Jade, but she left. He knew he had a sister somewhere, but he wouldn’t know her if he saw her. If she were even still alive. Same for his mother and father for that matter.

Jerzy debated it for a minute, knowing full well how vampires could and would bend the truth, warp reality, and fuck with an unsuspecting human’s mind. It was all some easy, twisted game for them. Still, it was Jade. Deep down she’d be the same person, no matter her new, perverted desires. “When’s the last time you fed?” That was what they called it. Feeding. It made Jerzy queasy to think of it. Tavin at least didn’t have any desires to “feed” on humans, not any more than any other feline creature. Weres were different from vampires, in that respect as well as others.

Still didn’t mean Jerzy was making friends with any other than Tavin. They were unpredictable and he liked his head right where it was, thanks.

But maybe if Jade had fed recently she wouldn’t be so tempted by her unnatural cravings. He tried to discern by the color in her cheeks, but funny that, Jerzy had spent more time in his life turning the other way from vamps instead of studying them.

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[info]jadedheart
2008-05-23 05:57 pm UTC (link)
Jade hadn't been in any hurry to let people know her new status, definitely. She was already pondering how she was going to deal with her next visit home, because in Sedona, her habit had been spending a lot of time out in the sun, enjoying its bright rays and the fresh air. The best idea she'd had thus far was saying that she was on medication that required she stay out of the sun. She had time to refine it, since she likely wouldn't visit again until the middle of summer.

Nobody at the Grand knew, and none of the people from whom she drank could identify her. So pretty much it was Tony, and now Jerzy. Though she still didn't know how Jerzy knew what he did about her. It was perplexing, but she didn't know that she wanted to ask him outright at this point. He seemed so freaked out by her presence, maybe it'd be better to let him settle down a little, once he saw that she wasn't going to attack him.

She tilted her head slightly to one side at his question, not sure why he was asking that. Was he trying to figure out if she might be prone to a sudden fit of bloodlust? "Just before dawn," she told him, her tone mildly quizzical. "Which means I'm good for a while." She shifted her weight, sticking her hands into the pockets of her coat, still not moving toward him in any way he might interpret as threatening.

He wouldn't be able to tell anything by her cheeks, mainly because she wore full makeup, including blush. Feeding did often affect her skin tone, but it wouldn't be noticeable now.

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[info]enemy_in_me
2008-05-26 12:58 am UTC (link)
Jerzy, so intent on the immediate situation, as it were, had no concern that he might be giving something away about himself. A mistake, he'd later realize. But for now he was only concerned about his throat, and the fact that Jade was now one of them. A fucked up situation no matter how you looked at it.

He brows furrowed as he considered her answer. That to him, seemed a long time ago. “Shouldn’t you be looking for breakfast right about now?” He asked, not meaning to sound cruel, just genuinely believing that it would be time for another “meal”. After all, he usually woke up each morning to a stomach screaming at him to be fed. Maybe vampires were different? He really really needed to learn more, didn’t he.

They were at a weird stand off of sorts. Like, he knew he wanted to greet her in a different way, to welcome her home, and that that wasn’t just her vampire charm moving him. Nope. It was definitely Jade, and they’d had a history. Seeing her like this now made him sick at heart, like seeing one of his own family walking through the flames or something. He didn’t know how he could not be bothered by this.

And she seemed so non-chalant.

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[info]jadedheart
2008-05-27 08:49 pm UTC (link)
Jade remained curious about Jerzy and what exactly he might be (and, by extension, what Tavin might be), and she also wondered how she'd missed it for so long. Of course, she'd found that the majority of normal mortals could overlook things they didn't know how to explain. Nobody wanted to believe in what lay in the shadows, just beyond sight. That was a helpful response.

"Well... no," Jade answered him, mildly perplexed. She cracked a faint smile. "It varies. It's not like we all wake up at dusk and slide open our coffins, all blood-lusty." Her nose wrinkled cutely. "And I don't actually sleep in a coffin," she added hastily, since Jerzy wasn't seeming to have much of a sense of humor about this.

Nonchalant? Actually, she was, because for the most part she liked what she was. She was going to look twenty-nine forever, she was stronger, less emotional overall... better. It could be a rough world for a woman by herself, and this could be viewed as an advantage.

"Look, J," she said, pulling her hands out of her pockets and loosely crossing her arms. "I'm not going to hurt you. If you want, I'll turn around and walk out the door. I gotta get to work before long, anyway." She smiled as sunnily as she could without actually exposing her fangs; it was something she'd practiced constantly since being turned.

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[info]enemy_in_me
2008-06-05 01:18 am UTC (link)
Yep, no reason at all for Jade to know Tavin was something more than human, he would never have let shit slip and always made damn certain not to be around anyone when the moon was full. As for Jerzy’s differences, they were intrinsic, but what he saw, what he felt, and knew, he kept to himself. Or at least, to himself and his brother. It was some fucked up shit he saw, things that didn’t belong in this world. Well, okay maybe they belonged somewhere in this world, but not with humans. Right?

Whatever. It was fucked.

“I know you don’t drink in coffins.” He knew that much at least. And he supposed, perhaps belatedly, that she was trying to keep things light, inject some humor in it possibly. How could she see humor in the fact that she was dead? Or… undead. That only was she no longer human, but uh… she liked to eat them. Hello! Not funny.

Or maybe it was like cops and nurses, people who couldn’t escape a daily does of horror, so they had to just make jokes about it. That shit was morbid to the rest of the world, and even maybe to them, but joking was a way of coping.

Or so Jerzy heard.

Okay, so she was adding that bit about not sleeping in a coffin the same as he started to comment. His reflexes weren’t near as fast as hers (no matter how many video games he played), and he wound up interrupting.

“Okay,” he replied when she said she’d leave. But then he quickly asked, “What happened?” He cared, after all. Even if it didn’t exactly seem like it. He thought her smile seemed a little odd, a little off. He figured out why and thought she actually did a pretty decent job… for someone who didn’t know better, or know her better.

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[info]jadedheart
2008-06-07 10:44 pm UTC (link)
Jade was in a quandary, because she didn't want Jerzy to go around thinking that vampires were safe. Because they so weren't. It didn't seem as if he'd think that from the way he was acting right now, and she wanted him to continue being cautious. Because 99 percent of the vampires in the world would harm him, more than likely. It was just that she wouldn't.

This was one of the few times that being Undead was frustrating. He would have been happy to see her if she wasn't.

She knew there was no point in trying to explain to him why she wasn't bothered by what she'd become. She couldn't necessarily explain it to herself and be coherent. She sighed and started to turn around when Jerzy said okay to her offer to leave. She was moving in here, so it wasn't as if she'd never be able to find him again. He obviously lived somewhere in the building.

Jade paused when he asked again what had happened, one eyebrow arched quizzically. He'd asked her that before, just a few minutes earlier. Had her quick and simple explanation not been sufficient, or did she have him so rattled that he'd forgotten he'd asked? "I met a man on New Year's Eve," she said, "at a party. I had no idea he was a vampire, because well... I didn't believe in them." She shrugged one slim shoulder. "But he was, and now I'm one, too."

Hopefully, she wouldn't have to explain any further than that, though hopefully Jerzy knew about the birds and the bees by his advanced age. The thought put a wry smile on her face.

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[info]enemy_in_me
2008-06-08 03:47 am UTC (link)
Jerzy was rattled. Well, that was putting it mildly. He shook his head, and brought his free hand to his face. “No, I mean… what happened? Did you drink his blood? Did you want to?”

He cocked his head, eyeing her curiously. “Were you drunk or something?” Jade wasn’t the kind of girl to go home with a man she just met. At least, Jerzy hadn’t ever thought she was. But maybe breaking up with Tavin had changed things.

Hell… drinking vampire blood had changed a fuck lot more than that could have. She looked the same, but no, she was not the same. She was dead. Or technically, undead. The question was, was it something she was happy with? She looked like she was.

Jerzy was going to be sick. Call it his way of mourning. “I gotta go.” He said abruptly. Nevermind that she nearly had a moment ago. All the thoughts of Jade now dead, now… a bloodsucker… the Spaghettios sitting in his stomach were making a quick rush back to the entrance.

“Sorry Jade, I really am..” He said, wiping at his forehead as he made a mad dash away toward the other end of the lobby and the men’s room (which he really hated because of the creepy peeping ghost that hung out in there, not to mention turning his back on any demons that might go in there.)

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[info]jadedheart
2008-06-09 12:42 pm UTC (link)
"There wasn't much of a choice, J," she said to his first question. "I could drink it, or I could die. Really die, I mean," she added. Jade's voice was soft, but there was the faintest hint of steel beneath it. His questions felt a lot like criticism, and she didn't think he really understood. Of course, he wouldn't. How could he?

"I'd had a bit to drink," she said, "but I wouldn't say I was drunk." Jade sighed. Hooking up had never been her thing, but sometimes a person got damned tired of being alone. Particularly when you couldn't have the man you really wanted. Life was about making mistakes sometimes... yet her mistake had had permanent consequences. Luck of the draw?

She was opening her mouth to speak again, not even sure what she was going to say as she did, when Jerzy ran off. She watched him go, not even considering going after him. He was horribly upset, and chasing him down wouldn't help anything. He'd always been sensitive, easily wounded. "I am, too," she murmured belatedly.

Finally, she turned and began making her way out of the building, since she had to be at work before long.

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