Better Than Nothing At All [open]

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

Ophelia knew better than to give her name to a hunter. She wasn't idiotic so she briskly responded: "That's for me to know and you to never find out." Her piercing stone blue eyes glared deeply at the human in front of her. How she longed she could be human again. Her life was taken from her and so she'd live on forever. However, she didn't want to die either, the world was far to interesting to let go of quite yet.

She repeated herself "What business have you here?" The hunter hadn't addressed the red wolf behind her so she assumed he was only after vampires. Ophelia looked the stranger up and down. What a vaggabond, she thought to herself. She hated herself for admiting it but he was rather good looking. It could be worse, she thought, he could be trying to jump my bones or something. She could tell he didn't have any sort of weaponry on him. No pocket seemed stretched or fabric pulled too tightly on him.
What does this person want? She thought silently.

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

Galient knew this wasn't going to end well, whether she dies or I die trying, or maybe I shall run away. No, he thought, I shall see where this conversation goes. Maybe she'll know something about the Vampires that killed my family or the blonde vampire he had followed yesterday because this woman certainly was not her, although she was blonde, he whispered in his head hopefully, unlikely for her to know who the hell I am tracking, but worth a try. He half-smiled at the beautiful blonde Vampire, just now noticing her beauty.

"I got lost trying to...find someone." He mumbled, "Perhaps you could show me where the nearest hotel is? I would appreciate that very much. And..." He hesitated, not sure if he should ask about the mysterious blonde Vampire he had followed, "Do--do you know of a skinny blonde woman with red lips? I was looking for her when I got lost here." He shrugged, like a normal human would. If anything, he could act his way out of this situation. He hoped that his plan would work and he would soon find the beautiful monster he had followed to this quaint city.

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

Ophelia turned her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. Miraculously, this is the one night she was caught without her red lipstick. She knew he couldn't be looking for her. It's true, someone had gone on a hunting rampage back in New York...that's why she left in the first place. However, that person was killing not only vampires but werewolves as well.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't. I just got here myself and am fairly unfamiliar with the town." She responded in a cold, yet some how soft, silvery voice. "I'm sure there are a number of blonde, skinny vampires, with red lipstick in this town. Why don't you go check a club or something." Ophelia didn't mean to be so snarky, it was just how she reacted when incountering someone new...especially someone of such unfriendly circumstances. She slinked her small hands into the pockets of her dark trench, never letting her eyes leave the person in front of her.

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

He sighed sadly, his hopes crushed into millions of pieces. He knew that this, the one standing in front of him, could possibly be the one he followed. He stood with both his hands in his hoodie pockets, over-looking the Vampire. He knew he had heard music the night he had come here, and this girl had a violin with her tonight. Could it be, he thought, that this is the Vampire I was following last night that I let get away. He laughed, why would I let one get away in the first place? I am an utter and complete idiot.

He then noticed that he had laughed out loud, he looked up from her wooden violin and stared at her eyes. What was it about this Vampire that I felt pity for? What was it that held me back from killing her right now? His hands throbbed in his pockets, his physical thoughts wanted to strangle her, to kill her. But, his emotions were different, he wanted to find out about this musical Vampire. He'd never seen her before. Which was likely because he'd only traveled from the west coast to here. He'd never seen any big cities like New York or Washington D.C. He decided to speak again, this time out of courtesy.

He cleared his throat, "Well, I'm afraid I don't have time to go to a club. I'm not much of a clubber anyway, I can't dance." He smiled and glanced at his feet, "I wish you the best of luck here, and I think I'll be staying here for awhile to pass the time. So, I will see you soon..." He drifted off, trying to provoke the Vampire to blurt out her name. He was getting agitated, why wouldn't this Vampire give out her name? I wasn't going to try to stalk her, he thought. I'm not that kind of hunter. I kill first chance I get...usually.

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

"I certainly hope not" she said in that same silver voice. She knew he was trying to catch her name. She gave a small smirk "If you want to know my name think about this." Ophelia knew she was playing with fire, but she was fairly sure a first name wasn't going to hurt her, especially since it wasn't her birthname. "What Shakespearian character do I remind you of?"

Perhaps this wasn't a good idea. But she wasn't giving him her address...her phone number, anything like that. However, she noticed the look in his eyes. They were swelled with pity. She didn't understand. She knew she looked as if she had been drowned..and for good reason. Ophelia didn't think she looked that pitiful. "Please don't look at me like that..." She had to admit, when someone gave her that look it reminded her of her oldest sister, Azsmaria. She didn't understand this being. Not one bit.

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

Galient was suprised by her accusation of his staring. "Like what?" He asked. He was confused; why would a Vampire care how a Hunter was staring at her? This creature had no sense, he thought. But, something intrigued him to her. He had already said his goodbye, yet he didn't want to leave. For once, he looked over the Vampire's shoulder and noticed the short, red-headed Werewolf. She was staring off into space. He chuckled once and shook his head. He opened his mouth, "Perhaps I shall see you soon, even if my decision to see you denies you the pleasure of killing me. And then perhaps I shall get my wish. I'm sure you know what it is by now." He hadn't wanted to end his sentence so coldly. And why was that? He still felt that surge of pity shoot up and down his spine. He cringed at the enormity of the surges.

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

Ophelia gave a very annoyed look. "Who said anything about killing you? I have no reason to." She shruged. She was babbling to some human that had some agenda against vampires for no good reason. Probably just revenge; one of those "if one or more did this then they're all the same"-ideas. How dull. Oh well she thought, I suppose it's better this way. I rather not get too close to a hunter anyway.

Besides, she had no real reason to be hunted. She didn't kill humans for food or sport, she didn't see the point. She drank from medical blood packs. It tasted horrible but it got her by. She knew she was strange, she knew it. She knew she was more human than most of her kind. "I just hope our paths never cross again..." Ophelia responded in that same sliver-toned voice. "I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine."

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

The exact thing was, he wanted to see this creature again. No denying that, she was interesting. He stood up straight and bowed politely, his hood fell down upon his face. Whoops, he thought, that's not supposed to happen. He bent back to his original standing position and flopped the hood back down on his shoulders.

"If you hadn't guessed, Vampire, I'm trying to be polite. It's not my fault that your attitude is over-working itself. Be careful, don't blow a fuse." He made an exaggerated hand gesture and bowed to the Werewolf, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have better business to take care. More important things to do than rambling with some rude, blonde Vampire." The surge cam again, only this time, he felt it as real pain. He fell to his knees on the pavement and grunted. The mist was covering his elbows. He stared at the Vampire's boots and trailed along her trench coat until he found her face once again. That pitiful look struck him once again, as if trying to say 'I'm sorry.'

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

Something struck her funny about this human. Usually, she was overly defensive, however she was not heartless. She slowly sauntered forward to him and offered him her pale hand. "My name is Ophelia." She whispered, "and I wish you luck on whatever wild goose chase you're on." She gave him the sweetest smile she could muster at the time, yet she didn't truely understand why.

Why am I doing this? she thought to herself. This is ridiculous. My instincts are going nuts and yet here I am. Her humanity was still strong within her. She wouldn't let it die, she knew she was going to get killed one day because of it. It's better than pretending she was never human at all. True, she knew she looked rather pitiful, but that wasn't her fault. She was the one that was drowned and her light of life stolen. Just because someone was as cruel as that to take her life, doesn't mean she could hide the kindness she truely wanted to show.
She was just cautious, nothing wrong with that.

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

He looked at the hand she lent, and smiled back to her the best smile he could, even when he was enduring this pain. And the pain was softening now that she had accepted him, it seemed. He slid his hand into hers and felt a jolt of some sort. He was a very good liar, good enough that he could lie to himself. Was that what he was doing? Did he really care for this 'Ophelia', or did he just want to trick her into friendship, and then kill her when he had the chance. No, he thought sternly, I really do think we could start a friendship.

"Thank you. And I think that this might take me to hell for doing this, but I really do think we could be friends. Something..." He hesitated again, "Something about you..." He drifted off, feeling her hand in his.