The downward spiral Who: Graham and several NPCs Where: About Ann Arbor When: Late evening Warning: Violence, gore, and probably scars for life
The last thing Graham remembered was lying on the floor in that one room back in Jezebelle's house, staring at the windows while hysterically murmuring to himself. As far as he was concerned, he was still there, lying peacefully with wide, paranoid eyes as he watched the rain fall. That terrifying rain that kept him awake. That same rain that drove him further into the depths of madness, a place he never dared to fall into. All conscious thoughts were gone. Graham didn't know where he was, didn't know what he was doing, and didn't even flinch as the rain doused him, black clothing clinging to his pale body.
He sat on the rooftop, lingering in the shadows all night and just waited. Waited for him to show up. His fingers twitched with anticipation, digging and clawing at his body as he felt that unpleasant twitch crawl inside of him. When was the last time he fed from Danica? Too long. He hated withdrawals and wanted nothing more than a hard hit of that lovely woman's blood, but this was more important. At least that's what the voices were telling him. Rain drops dripped off of the rim of his hat, eyes locked permanently at the pharmacy door that was down below in the distance. The same door she had stepped out of days ago. And then she was attacked.
"I'llfuckingkillyou," His words laced over the other, making him close in incomprehensible. All he wanted was to claim revenge for Danica and show this motherfucker not to fuck with his blood doll. He promised to protect to Danica and he had failed. Now he had to make up for it.
The sound of the pharmacy door opening made Graham scramble to the edge, watching above as a family walked on out. A mother and father with a precious little, blonde girl. She was stomping in the puddles, giggling all the while as her mother scolded her. He refused to part his eyes from the family, watching them struggle with their umbrella, the father asking the daughter what she wanted for dinner. Such a happy, sweet family, wanting nothing more than to pick up meds for dear mommy before heading home to have a nice family meal.
And then it happened.
From out of nowhere, a dark figure had attacked the family, going straight for the mother. Screams were heard from each individual, the figure knocking out the father as he tried to come to his wife's aid. This was it. This was the vampire that was preying off of helpless victims. The one who made the mistake of laying a finger on Danica. Grinding his teeth, Graham focused on the spot and instantly blinked down below, charging towards the vampire with great speed and plunged his fist into the fucker's face. A pleasant crack rang throughout his ears, watching the man stagger away from the mother and clench his broken nose, instantly snapping it back into place.
"Who the hell are you!?"
Graham refused to answer and charged at the vampire again, only to have the man parry to the side. In a blind rage, Graham spun on his heels and went after him again, blinking to close the distance between the two of them and threw another punch at him. This time, the vampire caught hold of his fist, closing tightly to hear the bones crush in his hand and threw the fledgling to the side. Clutching his hand, Graham gasped while feeling the painful regeneration wash over him, lifting his head up to watch the vampire go back to the mother. Refusing to let this prick have his way, he forced himself onto his feet and lunged at vampire, this time with a kick.
"You just don't know when to give up, do you, boy?" The other vampire sneered, dodging every move that Graham threw at him, eventually punching the Shade in the face to stun him. As Graham felt his jaw snap back into place, he caught sight of the vampire snatching up the blonde girl, her cries echoing throughout the night. Wings had suddenly exploded out of the vampire's back, flapping them rapidly to gain flight. He could hear the parents shouting out at the monster, pleading for him to bring their daughter back, but he answered to no one.
Though Graham refused to let this one slip away. The second he took flight, Graham was there blink into the shadows, desperately trying to catch up with the speedy vampire on the rooftops. He didn't care if he stumbled or if he knocked random objects over. He had to catch up with the other vampire and put an end to this. He could still hear the child screaming, the only indication of where the winged vampire was. A few more shadows to jump through and he was on the vampire's tail. Appearing directly over him, he crashed into the vampire, plunging both of them down into a dark alleyway with a profound crash.
Graham rolled to the side, desperately forcing himself onto his feet as he limped. The other vampire had landed on his back, keeping the child safe in his arms, yet the impact appeared to knock her out. Throwing the child to the side, he turned around in enough time to have Graham come charging at him, only to laugh at the young vampire's attempt. "Why do you wish to kill me, Shade? Is there a bounty on my head I'm not aware of?"
His words fell onto deaf ears, Graham beyond gone to even understand what he was saying. The wide-eyed vampire roared with fury as he continued to attack the vampire, tossed to the side constantly with immense force, only leaving Graham with more broken bones and an overall bloodied body. The winged vampire laughed at Graham as he continued to stand on his feet, face bruised with blood dripping out of his mouth. He never once answered the question, merely focused on one thing - killing him.
He would land a blow on and off, slamming a fist deep into the vampire's side and sending him flying into a wall. He watched the winged one cough up blood, only to growl and come back with even more force at Graham. The two continued their bloodied fight, flinging each other back and forth, exchanging deadly blows while they scrambled back to their feet to start all over again. Meanwhile, the blonde girl slowly came back to conscious, rubbing her bleeding head as she spotted the vampires ripping each other apart like rabid animals. She cowered with terror, crawling up against a trash can, unable to look away.
And as Graham leaned against the wall, rubbing blood out from his eyes, he found himself growing tired of the other vampire's laughter. "You just don't know when to stop, do you? All you Shades are the same. So easy to predict." To that, Graham hissed and forced himself to go at the man again, limping all the while. The other vampire rolled his eyes. "You need to be put out of your misery, boy."
Scraps of metal were lingering nearby, most notably an old steel pole that appeared to have once been a part of a street sign. Now it would be a valuable weapon. Grabbing hold of the metal, he spun on his feet to eye Graham coming at him, his hand open as if to grab a hold of him. Instead of achieving that, the metal pole was plunged right through his left palm, causing him the shriek out into the night with immense agony as he fell to the ground.
"FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK."
The pain was absolutely unbearable, his bones destroyed as blood gushed out from the wound, coating the metal with crimson liquid. Holding the pole firmly to the ground, the vampire smirked while watching Graham squirm and twitch in frustration while he tried to tug himself free from the pain. "Know your place, prick. Don't you know it's bad manners to get between a vampire and his meal, hm?" Graham couldn't coherently respond, too busy swearing to the night about the pain that was flooding his body. "Pathetic. And to think that someone thought it was a brilliant idea to sire you. You make the idiots draining their meals actually look intelligent."
Then Graham stopped his violent lashing about, curling up into a ball as he grew painfully silent. The other vampire swore he heard the Shade whisper something, almost as if it was a chant under his breath. Raising an eyebrow, he leaned in to see what it was the vampire was mumbling about.
His eyes widened as he noticed the impaled hand was twitching, starting to gradually move up the pole, even if it made Graham wince in pain. Not once did he cease his hysterical chant, lifting his head up to eye the vampire with mad eyes, as if possessed by something worse than the devil himself.
The words only grew louder, growled and hissed at the vampire, continuing to slide his hand up the pole. He couldn't help but stare in awe as the vampire struggled to become free. It wasn't until Graham's hand was halfway up the pole that the vampire tried to react, beginning to close his hand into a fist in hopes to pound Graham back down into his place. Instead, the fist fell right into Graham's hand and was instantly twisted a full 360 degrees, though the bone snapping was a mere pin drop in comparison to Graham's booming voice.
"IWILLFUCKINGKILLYOU."
With a surge of adrenaline rushing through his body, the hand shot up the rest of the pole and became free, latching onto the metal piece and swung it right at the vampire's head. The force wasn't enough to send the head flying down the alleyway, but as the body dropped lifelessly to the ground, head barely attached to the spine, it appeared to be enough to take out the enemy. Though Graham didn't stop there. Clutching the metal, he roared out loud while smashing the metal into the vampire's face repeatedly. Over. And over. And over. Even when it became nothing but a beaten pulp of blood and guts, he continued to go on his murderlust, blood coating his hands and face as he watched the vampire turn into nothing.
When he did stop, it was because of the little girl hiding in the corner, crying at the horrible sight she had just witnessed. Thoughts raced in Graham's head, knowing that this was not a part of the plan. A child screaming was a dead giveaway. She was a witness. No, he couldn't have this. He couldn't go back to jail. He couldn't let this all be for nothing. Dropping the metal, he blinked on over to the girl, who simply cried louder at the sight of the tall man looming over her. Graham dropped to his knees, watching her cower before him, pleading for her mommy with chocking sobs. He placed his good hand against her face, the gesture almost calming. She sniffled and looked at him, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, as if he would bring her back to her family.
And then his grip grew tighter.
"Shut.Up."
She didn't have time to scream as he clenched onto her face, cracked her head off her spine and watched her drop to the floor quietly. There. It was done. A dead body couldn't talk. More of a body count than he planned on, but as long as it kept him safe, he didn't care. Stumbling back onto his feet, he heard sirens in the distance, perhaps finally reaching the pharmacy to aid the parents. Graham didn't know. He didn't care. He looked up into the night sky, rain pounding on his face. The rain that had drove him to this insanity. And all he did was laugh, blinking into the shadows and disappearing into the darkness.