Al-Adil (al_adil) wrote in sons_of_cain, @ 2009-11-27 21:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | al-adil husayn, complete, human, mike vega, monday: mid january, vampire |
Monday: mid January
Who: Mike Vega, Al-Adil, and his girls
What: Al-Adil makes a trip to the human encampment
Where: Bed & Breakfast, Boulder City
When: Afternoon
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
The highway stretched out into the desert, a wide ribbon of asphalt that rolled out across the rocky terrain. Once, it would have been black and smooth, diligently maintained by human hands, but now it was broken, and faded, scarred and scoured by the elements. A little wind swept up the dust and set the dry fronds of greasewood and white bursage to waving. Overhead, the sky was grey and heavy with the promise of rain or snow. In the empty air, a dark shape stood out against the clouds. A red-shouldered hawk dipped and wheeled, circling a mile or two distant. The faint kee-kee-kee of its cry carried on the wind.
On this lonely road, there were only three travellers: a man who walked with a young girl beside him and carried another in his arms. They had been walking along this road the whole morning. The younger of the two girls was half-drowsing in the arms of the man, her head drooping against his shoulder and her arms limp around his neck. The older girl walked with a steady and stubborn determination, but even her steps had grown slow and heavy in the last hour. If she would have accepted it, the man would have offered to carry her as well, but he knew she would not have it. The man himself showed no sign of fatigue, but he, unlike his companions, was not human.
Presently, the travellers came to a sign as weathered as the road it stood beside. Boulder City, Nevada, it proclaimed. Best City by a Dam Site. This was their destination. Now they would have to be careful. They were entering an area where the man's kind was not welcome. But this did not concern him. He was expected. He had come here to meet with free humans.
Al-Adil jostled Antonia gently to wake her, and he set her down on her feet. He looked up at the sky, and his keen eyes found the shape of the hawk where it still circled, keeping watch. Something passed between man and bird. The hawk came winging back to its master. Al-Adil held up his arm and the bird alit and perched there docilely. Al-Adil stroked the soft feathers of its head and the bird trilled softly. The man thanked the bird for the use of its eyes, and with that, the hawk took to the air again.
Before taking flight, it gave him one last message: the humans were approaching.