On the ground I lay - motionless, in pain Who: Faith and Zach Where: Bicycle shop -> alley When: Going on dark Warning: Violence, blood, death.
Working the closing shift was one of those things that Zach wasn't really a fan of. It meant that he had to go home in the dark and, while he didn't have a reason to be afraid of the dark, it was colder and therefore automatically worse than the day. And he might not make it home in time to catch the evening news and that had become a sort of thing that he made sure to do every single night these days. Not because he was a fan of any of it or anything like that, but because he wanted to know if Alanna was going back on her word and making his life a mess. Tell people that he'd kept her locked up in her own cage in his apartment for his own kicks and he just had a feeling that might ruin his dreams of playing in the NBA one day. Psychotic people who kept other people locked up didn't really look good on a roster. But she wouldn't. She couldn't. She was way too scared to even think about doing that and of that he was certain. Because Zach was capable of keeping his word. His parents had taught him that if his secret was about to be exposed then he was capable of going and doing anything to keep it from happening. And he was. He'd been eating babies for years and learning all sorts of things that wouldn't have been considered healthy by most other people. If he had to go and find a way to hurt some people related to the chipmunk because she blabbed then he'd do it. Right now, though, he was leaning against the cash register and watching the rain beating against the front window of the store mournfully. Riding home in the dark was one thing. Riding home in the rain was something else. He'd be tired and sluggish before he made it halfway. He was already partially sluggish now and had needed to put the stool away so that he could stand up and help keep himself awake. Customers would help with that, but the bike shop wasn't exactly popular in this kind of weather or when the season was changing out of summer. That it was right on the edge of Scarlet Oak probably didn't help any.
Faith had never been the sort to mind the rain. It was just water coming out of the sky and so long as it did not result in a flash flood - she had experienced a few of those and always checked the news even if this was apparently not a place they happened - so was cool with it. Or more than cool if she was out looking for lamiae. She knew that they were far too much like their snake-counterparts and that meant that when it was cold, chilly and damp with the sun hidden away behind clouds there was no way they would be at the top of their game. She had half-hoped to come across that Cleo girl while she was on campus, but it had not happened since that first day. And yes, she had told Frankie that she was not going to go out actively searching for the lamiae until she got there, but she had been in Scarlet Oak for over three weeks and she was going to at least see if she could find where that one stayed. So after school she had grabbed an umbrella and made sure that her messenger bag had extra clips and the typical things in case she did find one, fed Sonic and headed back out to start looking. Better to walk than to drive, then her nose would be able to pick even less up and it had been awhile since she went to bed exhausted instead of just drunk. Sure she was picking up faint and washed out scents that would lead her nowhere but she hardly cared. It was just an idle sort of search that she was having to give herself a reason to be out in the rain. Her thoughts were wandering through the various other lamiae she had come across during her life, and then the regular snakes because there were more of them, and by the time she reached the end of the list she realized that it was getting dark out and she was on the other side of town. Where she had never been before and she had completely no idea of where she was. "Fantastic." Her phone had GPS and there was a store right there that still looked open that she could duck into while she checked. Shaking her umbrella out she did just that, half-waving at the boy standing behind the counter while she reached for her phone.
Until she caught that scent. She still pulled out her phone, but her eyes went back up to that boy. This store reeked of snake. A bicycle shop it looked like. "Hey," she offered, taking a few steps closer and then a few more so that she was only a foot or so away from the counter. "What's this place called? I got lost and need to look it up so I can get back home." Sweet jesus do I have the best luck in the world or what? This has got to be the universe getting back to me for having the suckiest birthday ever. Already she could feel her heart starting to beat faster.
Zach was starting to nod off again when the door chimed to let him know that someone had come in. Forcing his eyes open he vaguely acknowledged the woman with the umbrella who'd come in. He yawned and paused mid-stretch as an odd sort of scent filtered through his mouth. Whatever that scent was it made him want to instantly bare his fangs. Only he didn't because that wasn't ever a good idea in public with strangers. It did make the hair on the back of his neck and arms stand straight up while a trail of goosebumps followed. He'd smelled plenty of weres before and this was just a little different. Oh she was a were, there wasn't any question about it, but whatever she was made his snake half anxious. Zach definitely wasn't a fan. "David's Bike Shop, over on West Main, almost at North Western Ave. Don't suppose you're interested in anything bike related while you're in here?" No matter what she made him feel like doing he had to at least try to sell her something before she walked out. Having never been made nervous just by someone's scent meant that Zach wasn't sure how to react to it, so he was just sort of acting like he thought he should. Normal. Just a bit easier because that feeling of sluggishness was still there making it a little harder for him to care.
Since she had asked the question, and would need to use the answer to get herself home eventually, Faith plugged the address into her phone. Although being told that she was anywhere on Main let her know that she had taken no majors turns anywhere. All she needed to do to get home was turn and walk the other way until she found the right road that wound up to her house. Now if she was going to keep her word - which she did not think even counted as such because she had not promised she would walk away from a snake that all but fell into her lap - then she would turn and go that way. Only the problem with that was that Faith had never believed in turning her back to a snake and if she started now then she was pretty sure that her father and brother would die of shock. Instead, once she had finished with her phone, she put it back into her pocket and slid her hand around like she was readjusting her shirt, in reality flicking open the catch on the knife that she kept sheathed at the small of her back. That was her favorite holder and yet again she reminded herself to thank Drake for getting it for her. Pulling her hand back out, Faith stretched up on her toes before leaning down to put her elbows on the counter. "You know, I could use a bike. Is there a salesman in back or something? Or do you sorta just do everything?" Biggest and most important thing was finding out if there was anyone else in the store. She had already glanced around the store to check for the telltale signs of recording devices. There were none. Quaint little places like this were wonderful.
That feeling wasn't going anywhere so Zach decided that he was just going to breathe through his nose. He could still smell it, but that was better than tasting it too. It was reminding him of the first time that he'd smelled an owl when he was just a kid and in his snake form. Only then he'd known what it was and now he didn't. All that he knew was that this wet woman with the umbrella and black bag was dangerous. For someone who wasn't at all used to feeling like he wasn't the top of the food chain it created an extremely unusual feeling that he didn't like one single bit. "Nope, just me." Two second after that he realized that maybe he should've lied. But what good would that do? If she was a were then she'd be able to smell everyone in the shop and she'd know that she was lying. Then she'd know that he was afraid of her and showing fear was something that he hadn't needed to be taught was a bad idea, he just knew it. Showing fear made the hunter more excited. Wasn't that what had happened with him and Alanna? The last thing Zach wanted was to ever even consider himself a thing like that rodent. "So what're you looking for? Off-road, street riding, competition... any idea at all?" Zach could start thinking about bikes and then he wouldn't be worried about what the hell she was and why it triggered so many alarm signals in his brain.
Faith was trying to listen to what the snake was saying, she really was, but it was hard. In situations like this when her head was full of the scent it was always hard for her to think of anything but getting rid of the source. It was even worse now that she had her nerves worn near to breaking by Frankie's continued absence in Scarlet Oak. Had the other were been there, even just sitting back in the house watching TV, then Faith might have been able to walk away. Only that was not the case. The only thing waiting for her back home was a cold bed and Sonic. Who had probably gotten into the chips or something by now. Lucky for Faith she was good at catching what she was hearing even if she was not actively listening. "Off-road is more my style. I heard there's some pretty good paths somewhere around here and I'd like to hit them up when I've got some free time." In her head she was running through how easy it would be to pull her knife, jump on the counter and just slice his throat before he even had the time to react. She did not see how it was any different than a mongoose sauntering up to a cobra just to tear it apart. He only looked human. He was really a snake monster who ate babies a few times a year to keep himself alive. For one year of life he traded multiple lives of innocent little children and Faith could not find any way that was justifiable. That and the way he smelled really just irritated the hell out of her. "Going to actually show me the bike or just stay back there and let me look on my own? That's pretty bad customer service." She only just stopped herself from calling him 'snake'.
'Just relaxing' didn't seem like the easiest thing in the world to do just then. Zach's nerves didn't want to let him and his inner snake was hissing against just the idea of doing anything but staying at the highest alert around this unknown woman. It was battling with the sluggishness that had come throughout the day and almost winning. The real question was why? He had met Alanna and reacted based off of her animal-side but not all weres were quite like that. Her apartment had held traces of the scent of wolf after all and that was an unusual friendship. Could be that this woman wasn't going to so much as snark at him just because whatever she was directly opposed snakes. It's not like she can know what I am just by my scent either. She'll just be thinking that I'm a were-snake and there's no more wrong with them than every other animal. "Sorry, it's just sort of cold in here and I don't like it." Still he lifted the divide between them and stepped through, leaving it open. Even if she wanted to look it wasn't like it was going to take long. They closed in about ten minutes and he really wanted to go home. Unless a sale was going to happen, practically agreed to by contract, then the owner didn't like the store staying open past closing. Old man hated coughing up overtime. "For off-roading you'll want to look at these bikes, but you'll probably want to check our online catalog to see which one suits you best. Normally I'd keep talking about them until you decided, but we're not open much longer and my boss isn't big on staying open past close. Especially on his days off." Usually that sort of thing would earn him some sort of sympathy. He'd see what he could get out of this odd smelling chick. He was also staring at her a little intently, bringing up those innate lamia abilities in the hopes that she'd get at least a little off-balance due to them.
God, what had happened to these stores with workers actually paying attention to you? Faith would have killed for one where they did the exact opposite right now because it would have meant less talking. there was not a single thing in the world that she hated more than talking casually with a lamia. And when he stepped out from behind the counter and gave her that look she knew. Oh she knew what he was trying to do and it was all she could do not to burst out laughing. It was funny, it really was, to be part of a snake trying to hypnotize a mongoose and the only way it could be better was if they were in their respective animal forms. She wondered if he would be willing to switch just to give her that extra boost of amusement. Something told her that he might go ahead and say 'no'. "A place this small has an online catalog? Seriously? Damn, I'm impressed. But okay, I'll give that a look when I get home since you've got to close soon. Wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the boss." Like she actually gave anything resembling a damn. The only thing she cared about right then was figuring out how exactly she was going to kill him. Because obviously it was going to happen and there could be no question about it. Faith never thought of 'what if they're stronger' because she was obviously better since she was the mongoose. What she did think about was how to not get caught since people were not all up to speed on the dangers of lamiae yet. Now if that ever happened then she wanted to be first in line for the hunting licenses she was sure would be issued. "Good luck getting home in the rain." There was a taboo against opening umbrellas inside that Faith did not follow as she opened hers, sure to spray the leftover drops of rain that had been on it into the snake's face. Grinning brightly, she knew how much most of them hated getting cold water on them, Faith left. Which was more complicated than it should have been because she really did refuse to turn her back until the door was between them. Which was when she started looking for parked cars in the area. Only there were none that she could see, not even a chained bike. Frowning she spotted a small alley and peered down there. It looked like a backdoor into the bike shop and chained up to a light post outside was a bike. Please let that be his bike. Closing the umbrella she slid it into her bag, ignoring the rain, and walked quickly to the bike. Leaning down close to the handles she made a face after she got a face-full of lamia-scent. Perfect. Another thing to love about small suburban areas was how spread out things could be. She did this right and no one would even hear a thing over the weather.
The way that the woman spoke, like this was the smallest place in the world, made Zach bristle a little. How she opened her umbrella and sprayed him in the face with rain made him sputter. He didn't even try to return her smile or tell her to have a good evening, thanks for stopping in. No one was here to mark him down for bad customer service and he'd tried being good about it even though she smelled like something he didn't like. "Hopefully she'll never stop by again," Zach muttered to himself. Her behavior had made him forget that he'd even given hypnotizing her a half-hearted try so he didn't wonder why it hadn't worked. After peering outside to make sure that no one else was around he clicked the 'open' sign off and flipped the paper. It was a few minutes early but it wasn't like he expected more business on a night like this one and he didn't want her to come walking back in. Running his fingers through his hair he gave his head a shake to clear away that scent and went about closing up shop. He pressed the encounter to the back of his mind with a note that he needed to mention it to his parents later and see what they thought about the whole thing. Until then all that mattered was getting on his bike and going home. Flicking the lights off he pulled the back door closed and stepped out into the rain, shoulders instantly hunching as the rain started to beat down on him. The unpleasantness of it and the sounds made him miss entirely the faint, watered down scent of that same woman.
Faith had decided that the best way to go about this was just the way that she wanted to - head on. Ambushes were for things that needed an extra bit for the upperhand, or for when she had more than five minutes to get ready. They were also for people who did not have their mind focus in on one thing and one thing only the moment that they had caught the scent of a snake. Basically most everyone in the world who was not Faith. For Faith the day would not now be complete until she had blood on her hands. She was fairly buzzing from the anticipation and finally the door was opening! Once more the scent cut through everything else and filled her head. She was sure that if she had a mirror then she would have been able to see the red gleaming in her eyes, her mongoose half almost crazy with the desire to just rip the snake's throat out already and be done with it. Whoever he was Faith could not imagine that he had ever been prepared for this because he did not even look up or around when he came out of the store; a mistake that her father had cautioned her against more than once when she was only thirteen. You always had to look around and use all of your senses to make sure that you were not in any sort of danger. His parents should have done a better job at raising him. Faith pulled her knife out quickly and, with a few quick steps, she jumped at him with her knife leading the way and something very much like a hiss coming out of her mouth.
Zach didn't even see it coming. In the rain and cold when all he wanted to do was curl up under his heat lamp he wasn't paying enough attention, hadn't ever needed to pay enough attention, and the flash of movement caused him to turn his head but nothing more. He didn't even have time to bring a hand up to defend himself before the cold steel drove into his chest. A surprised noise slipped out of his mouth at the feel and he stumbled back. His legs weren't working right all of a sudden, they were changing without his thought and he was falling back into a puddle of water with the woman who reeked of that strange animal on top of him. One thing did flash through his mind as he felt his fangs fill his mouth -- he couldn't just let her do this. Whoever she was she couldn't. And her arm was right there. Zach's neck flashed forward and his fangs sank into the soft skin of her arm. It helped to keep the gasping feeling that was whelming up in his lungs and throat down. It felt like his heart was beating faster and slower all at the same time. Like that time when he'd kissed that girl under the bleachers when he was thirteen, only he knew he wasn't excited now. Not even the taste of warm blood in his mouth helped. For a wild moment he thought that if he had enough of hers then it'd replace what was washing out over his chest, staining his shirt and mingling with that cold rain, but no. He wasn't a vampire. He was a lamia and he couldn't get enough air into his lungs to shout for help.
It was every bit as exhilarating to feel that blade slide through flesh and muscle as it was to feel her fangs do the same when she was in mongoose form. Though that was always just a bit more animalistic than this. That was completely wild and this had to have that tinge of human to it since she had hands. The spray of blood coated her face and she hissed again as it temporarily clouded her vision, to say nothing for the stench of it. Her hand pressed down harder, driving the knife past the hilt and she was a moment from pulling it out to drive it back in when she felt those fangs dig into her arm. "Goddammnit!" Faith swore, releasing her knife so that she could drive her fist into the boy's face, the crunch of bone oddly satisfying. The fangs slid out of her skin and she clutched at her arm, still swearing. She had been hoping to avoid a bite. There was no Frankie at home to help bandage her up. Which I don't need, she reminded herself as she dashed the snake's blood out of her eyes so that she could narrow them down at him. Her hands came up and slid around his neck, fingers tightening slowly as she pressed the back of his head into the pavement, grinding it against the hard material. "Why can't you ever just die? You'd think you'd know how since you've god knows how many babies do it." If she had had even a little doubt, and she had not, then it would have vanished when she saw his body shift. Weres could do that, sure, but it was different. She did not think they had such a perfect blend between. She stopped beating his head and resumed squeezing, as though the blood coming out of the wound she had given him was not going to kill him quick enough for her. It was never quick enough. She wanted him dead five minutes before she had seen his face. Now, with her arm burning as her natural defenses rushed to fight the venom that was, she almost wished that she could draw it out a moment longer so that she could introduce him to yet another way of dying. He deserved it. For eating those babies. But more than that, just because of what he was and because of what she was. This spoke volumes for how much she should never be allowed near anyone who shared DNA with snakes.
Zach cried out when the fist crushed his nose, or he tried. It was more like a mix between a gasp and a whimper that just sounded wrong because his nose had been crushed and his breathing was labored to start with. If he'd been able to get his thoughts all the way around him then he'd have tried to turn into a snake and slide away. He didn't think about how she had another form too, or about how that would tear him open even worse. Zach was thinking far too many things at once and yet at the same time he wasn't thinking enough. In some ways it was like his thoughts were slowing down to gather in memories that he hadn't thought about in years while the rest of it was speeding up and clicking through everything that was happening now. Every breath that he took was painful and he could feel that awful cold seeping out through his limbs. It was different than the cold he'd known his whole life. It was deeper and it burned, seared and scorched and yet faded away bit by aching bit all at the same time. His fingers weren't cold anymore, neither were hie feet. He didn't have feet, his tail. The tail that was weakly flipping in the air and puddle of water, hardly rippling it at all. Zach thought that he heard what was being said to him, but he couldn't be sure. Sounds seemed far away, like they were coming through a barrier, and it took him awhile to even notice that there were fingers around his throat and that his head was being beaten against the road. Tears leaked out of his eyes, but he didn't care. He didn't think he could care about anything then. "Dad..." His dad wouldn't believe this was happening. Zach didn't believe it was happening and he was the one with the knife in his chest while hands smaller than his own crushed his windpipe and he was trying too hard to breathe to pry those fingers off.
Faith sneered at the mention of a dad. She knew that lamiae had families just the same as everyone else. They got raised and taught how to do these things that they did, but even without it they would have to learn how or die. "My dad would be very proud of me right now," Faith informed him, voice clear though she was sure to keep her distance. She did not want those fangs digging into her again, nor did she care to get a scratch because he got a sudden burst of strength at the last moment. Bad enough that he had gotten one bite on her. Had she been anyone, or anything, else then that would have been something to worry about. Either die, nearly die or go into the hospital and try to explain the wounds that you had gotten. Actually, that would not be so bad since her official line of work allowed for her to get weird snake bites at the most random of times. What would be bad was that those would be large bites and people would find this body. She was going to make sure of it. If people got to know about her and vampires and even sirens then they were sure as hell going to know about the lamiae and how dangerous they were. "Yours would be disgusted. Before I did the same to him." No, Faith's confidence in herself knew no bounds. Should another lamia saunter up after she was finished with Zach then she would turn and do the same thing, injury to her arm notwithstanding.
He'd always been lazy when basketball wasn't involved. Stretched out on the couch at home underneath of his heat lamp. Taking the easiest major in college so that he'd have plenty of time for basketball and naps. Waiting to get a job until he wanted his own place and then picking this one that required hardly any effort. Even when he'd stolen Alanna and kept her in that cage he'd taken shortcuts by using the girl's own cage. There was his shining moment -- keeping Alanna for the best entertainment he'd ever had. He didn't even regret it. All he regretted was that he hadn't looked around when he opened that backdoor. He should've known after having that woman in the store with that scent and slightly abrasive attitude. Should've known. "Don't..." Zach tried one more time to bring his hands up, to bat hers away, but his grasp on her wrist was weak at best and hard to keep with the feeling in his hands gone.
"Don't what?" Faith leaned down just a little, feeling how weak that grip on her was. He hardly had anything at all left in him and she loved it. There was no difference between this right here and when she was a mongoose with her jaws clamped around a cobra's neck, shaking the ever-loving life out of the thing. The only thing that kept her from doing that was knowing that this was over. The fight was gone, the thrill was gone. The fight was over and she had won. Again. "Promise boy, if I find your family - and I know you have to have one since you weren't born out of the earth - I'll do the same. So don't worry about them." Faith pushed herself off of him before reaching down to retrieve her knife, making sure to twist it as she did. Ugh, the thing was a mess. She really needed to stop overdoing it by pushing it in so much further than it needed to go. Sighing, she stretched her arms up above her head and did a few twists before bouncing up on her toes. It felt good. Oh wait, wait no that was definitely a bit of wooziness coming through. It had been awhile since her body had needed to deal with processing venom and it looked like she was going to need to lay down to help the process. Awesome, that left her with less time than she had wanted to take care of this whole mess. Sliding the knife back into her sheath - one thing her father had taught her was that there was no such thing as getting rid of a so-called 'murder' weapon. She knew of a way to get rid of it though and grinned as she glanced down at the half-snake at her feet, mouth twisted into a sneer. Wait... oh wait, she could still use that knife for something. "Dead yet?"
Never in Zach's life had he welcomed coldness or even numbness. He preferred heat in all of its forms. But right then, for the first time in nineteen years, he welcomed this cold. It got rid of the pain that he couldn't begin to describe. It made the woman who was still saying things vanish as it crept up to his sight, filming over his vision. His breath was coming faster, harsher, but it wasn't doing anything. I was going to be the best. Basketball. He'd always loved everything about it. How quick he could be on the court, how it felt to have everyone cheering when he sunk a three-pointer, what it was like to be part of a team that knew his worth as much as he did. Zach's head was filled with thoughts of basketball as his heart and breathing slowed, stopped. Everything went impossibly quiet and still and Zach Temple didn't think a single thing again.
Good, he was dead, or so close to it that it made no difference. Faith knelt in the water next to him and used her knife to slice the front of his shirt. She felt no remorse for what she had just done and she did not even think of this dead thing on the ground as a person - he was a lamiae. They were no more people than the snakes she studied in her lab. If anything in the world deserved to die then it was them. Faith repeated that almost-mantra in her mind as she worked. Anders Gohr had instilled in his two children and one niece that this was why they were born what they were, this was what they had to do. Truth be told, even if she had not gotten those lessons from her father then Faith knew she would have still turned out doing the same things that she did with the same basic opinion that she held now. Why? Because she was a were-mongoose and their very scent made her see red. Finished with her task, Faith wiped the blood on the remnants of the shirt before leaning in to snap the boy's fangs off. That was a sort of thing that she had been doing for as long as she could remember and besides, it could make some processes harder. Pocketing the blood-stained things she slipped her now-clean knife away and surveyed her handiwork. Dead lamia in a puddle that was a mix between his blood and the heavy rain that was still pouring blessedly out of the sky. Faith loved killing in the rain. She had taken quite a bit of effort with her last bit of work, sure that no matter how much it rained it would remain clear for whoever came across this body the next morning. Carved into that boy's chest, clearly though Faith would not have recognized it as her own handwriting, was the word 'lamiae'. A moment longer to admire her handiwork before Faith called up those fae abilities her mother had taught her so well. A simple enough one altered her appearance, most notably her blood-stained clothes. She wished that she trusted things enough to call a cab so that she could get home faster, but she had heard far too many stories to risk anything. She would be walking and no one would know who she was. Until she got home and then Sonic would know, but just him. And he would care about nothing so much as getting his food before she bandaged herself, took care of a few things and collapsed for the next few days.
The important thing? There was a dead lamia behind her and nothing that could happen the rest of the night would wipe the smile off her face.