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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 14, 2010 15:43:22 GMT -8
Striking green eyes surveyed his surroundings as he walked with clothed feet down the bank of the most hideous river he'd ever seen in the hottest jungle he'd ever had the displeasure of traveling in. Idly he wondered if perhaps it would have been a better idea to sneak onto one of the river barges he'd seen outside of town, then dismissed the idea. It was far too crowded, and he could be easily discovered by another if he were to be so careless. However, he thought as he wiped several beads of sweat from his forehead, shaking out his soaked hair, this was the long way, the most arduous, and if he ever took a job that led him here again he'd personally strangle his case manager.
The sky overhead rumbled with the precedence of an oncoming monsoon, it was the season for such, and automatically Naoto took to the cover of the trees. He was familiar with the raging storms, his own country having been the site of quite a few famous ones.
"Kussoooo," he muttered quietly, wringing out a length of cotton he usually kept around his head. He was now using it to pick up the sweat, not caring at this point if a spider monkey saw his face.
Thoughts returning to the task at hand, he ran through his mental checklist of the data he was given and collected himself. Konstantin Belikov was a traitor, once assumed dead, it was very clear to Akoto spies that he was alive and well, and seeking to make a war the likes of which he wouldn't be able to finish, especially against the likes of the Gallu. He'd never personally met one, but it was said that they were very fierce warriors and though this particular new Blackraven was mentally capable, he doubted he'd meet a good end at the blade of the pissed off Gallian Prince-turned-King.
He'd managed to whittle down the possible locations the man had gone after his little stunt in Russia, which had the authorities of his clan crying for his blood. Left on each of his victims was piece of Lapis, blue and with chipped pieces of other minerals within, a very distinct and stupid clue to leave behind. That left two possible locations, being that Lapis was only produced naturally and in quantity in either Iraq or Chile. He'd already swept Iraq, and now it was time to clean house in Chile. He'd started in Brazil, hoping to gather some information in the city, finding out only that there was a vast networking of caves in the Atacama desert, the driest on Earth. The Syrian Desert would seem like a vacation compared to this upcoming trial, and he was now silently thankful that he was a vampire and didn't need too much water to survive, which left him needing to acquire a meal before he set out into the cave system.
He was still a day or two away from the edge of the desert and had heard of peoples living there even though rain had not fallen for over 400 years. Simply amazing.
A weight on his shoulder jerked him from his thought, but he wasn't alarmed. It was not of any human origin, and any werewolf would have come to commit suicide in this heat. A small spider monkey sat on his shoulder, eying him curiously as he polished a small fistful of fruit on his furry chest.
Strange creature...
And so he continued forward with the little creature securely on his shoulder, unafraid of the deadness radiating from his soul. it was a first for him, and he liked the quiet companionship the creature offered though it would have to be stripped from him once he reached the desert void of life before him. Not matter, it was several days yet, and he'd long ago come to the decision that she would enjoy all things life had to offer him, no matter how short the duration.
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Post by MeloraBelikov on Jul 15, 2010 0:50:46 GMT -8
Melora arrived, and her presence was made known by the clicking of about 200 cameras and people shouting questions at her. They wanted to know it all: who had been accompanying her in Russia, why she'd been hospitalized, and why she'd been gone for weeks. To her amazement, her publicist had given possibly the lamest and most uncreative excuse, the same one every celebrity had used at least once: Exhaustion. At least it was better than having to explain to Russian authorities why she was outside that hospital the very same night, gun in her hand and both in Azura's, being held round the waist and firing shots at an old lady. To her relief no one had connected her to the fact that the night before that her family home had burned down, and no one had managed to catch pictures of her dying and bleeding, clinging to life in Azura's lap after kissing him. Her lips still chilled every time she thought of it, and it only served to annoy her, a thought which would make Azura smile for sure if he'd known.
As she made her way though the airport she shrugged off their questions, ignoring them in favor of smiling and waving for the cameras. She'd be happy to be rid of anyone who would be asking her questions.
Finally, after spending her first few days speaking to every local she could find that spoke English, she'd figured out her destination and she was on her way, off to the desert. It was time to find her father and get a little bit of some well deserved payback.
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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 15, 2010 0:59:01 GMT -8
Naoto and his parrot friend finally reached the dry expanse of the desert. In the same night, he'd fed on three humans, killing each one. His brutality was only as a result of the knowledge that he'd die without their precious blood. His feathered hitchhiker had also stocked up on sustenance, almost as if he knew what was going on.
He bird whistled low, as if to echo Naoto's thoughts on the massive sea of sand before their eyes. With a grunt, he started forward, feet becoming frigid even in his dead state from the icy ground beneath. Unbearably hot during the day, insanely cold at night, this was only the first of the dangers of the Atacama.
Within a quarter hour he'd reached the first of the cave systems he'd mapped and deemed worth enough to explore. He sensed a presence here, and thought it even more of a good omen that his contract would be over soon and without much hassle.
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Post by MeloraBelikov on Jul 15, 2010 1:26:21 GMT -8
Melora was entirely used to the cold, but this was a bit different. This was an insane cold, even for a Russian to have to deal with. She still wasn't feeling her absolute best, but at least she could get by in the frigid weather. As she trudged along the sand banks she kicked some of the sand in her wake, annoyed that her travels had brought her here of all places.
As she came over the sand bank she noticed movement below her. It wasn't her father's energy, but instead someone else's. Still a vampire, but not nearly as threatening and dark. Melora remembered Anshel's words, and instead of running blindly into whoever it was down there, she turned and decided she'd investigate him from afar. As it turned out, that was the wrong choice entirely.
In the same moment she'd turned a dark mass formed in front of her, and then detail came, starting with a smile and filling itself in fairly slowly. She had time to pull out her gun and take a shot, but it went directly through the shadow. "Oh Hell." She swore as the shadow grabbed her. When she looked up again from struggling with it she was once again face to face with her father. He looked overjoyed to see her again, Melora was much less than pleased, as was apparent that she was less than happy to see him, and she cried out unwillingly , continuing to struggle against his shadow grip.
"I see you are feeling better, цветок." His fangs flashed in the moonlight. "I was worried for you, my dear." He pulled her closer, breath now on her neck, still just as cold as the night air.
"Fuck off." She growled in response, still struggling to get free.
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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 15, 2010 1:34:10 GMT -8
Naoto's head snapped up at the feminine scream he'd heard echo from the open mouth of the cave. It was almost a discombobulating effect, but his senses were sharp enough that he'd noticed the sound had actual come from behind him.
He turned, clothed feet padding silently on the cracked earth beneath him. His eyes flitted upward, seeing the man holding the young girl, and then as he drew closer, realized the man was his target.
How fortunate.
He withdrew his short sword, lifting it over his right shoulder, point forward as he prepared to charge. He'd end this with a quick thrust into the heart.
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Post by MeloraBelikov on Jul 15, 2010 1:48:11 GMT -8
Melora managed to maneuver her pistol to her father's face, but he had already started to fade away again. The bullet went right through his shadowy form, and he dropped her to the sand as his dissipated into the night.
"Dammit, come back! Come BACK!" She shouted to the night air around her. "Отец! Я убью вас!" Defeated again she hit the sand, sending it up into the air. She hadn't even noticed the other vampire draw close to her until she looked up, startled. Her gun was drawn once more, this time aimed for the man. The old Melora would have shot him. The new Melora still wanted to shoot him, but only after finding out why he was in a sparsely populated area as a vampire. Suspicious.
"Melora Belikov of the Banglaire Hunter Clan. Who are you?" It must have looked silly that she had her pistol aimed at him from her place on the ground.
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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 15, 2010 1:52:23 GMT -8
He paused, mildly startled that the bullet had gone through what seemed like a solid man before the projectile whizzed just past his ear, ruffling his hair with its passing breeze.
"Fuck!" The bird on his shoulder squawked, ruffling its feathers.
He passed an irritated narrowing of the eyes its way before looking back to the human who had her gun pointed on him now.
A Hunter, he decided.
Having no quarrel with her, he slowly lowered his sword, resheathing it easily and in the blink of an eye. He paused again, trying to decide the best course of action to take. With a stiffness most would deem as awkward, he slowly lifted a hand, as if to wave and say hi.
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Post by MeloraBelikov on Jul 15, 2010 2:01:51 GMT -8
Melora watched as the man put away his weapon. He didn't seem willing to attack her, and was even....timid, for a vampire. As he fucking should be, Melora reminded herself. She looked the man up and down, careful to note each detail, including his clothing, where his weapons were held, and his face. His eyes were a deep green the same way hers were. Slowly she stood, watching him intently, making sure he made no sudden movements. With her left hand she mirrored his motion, lifting a hand to wave. Her right hand lowered her gun, though her finger stayed on the trigger, ready if needed. Time to try a different approach.
"Hello." She said, trying to sound friendly for someone who had just accidentally shot at him. "May I have your name, please?"
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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 15, 2010 3:04:52 GMT -8
He dropped his hand, crossing both arms over his chest as he assessed her, looking pointedly at the gun in her hand before lifting his eyes to hers.
He nodded, closing his eyes with the action, opening them when he straightened again. "Ito" He said simply, giving his last name. Like hell he'd give her his full name. If he did that, he might as well have stuck an apple in his mouth, built a fire and started roasting himself over it.
The parrot ruffled its feathers and he tried to shoo it off his shoulder, but the damn thing wouldn't budge.
His eyes continued to stare at her, considering and steady, like those of a statue. He was thankful that his wrap obscured the lower half of his face at well. If she was a Hunter, as he'd suspected, then he needed to remain expertly anonymous, or at least as well as he could be. He supposed he could always change his name and pretend to be human.
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Post by MeloraBelikov on Jul 15, 2010 11:10:18 GMT -8
"Riiiiight..." Her thick accent drew from her mouth, holding the word for the duration of her consideration of the situation. Apparently the man was foreign, though she couldn't pin where, seeing as he'd spoken a total of two words to her. No, wait. One word, she reminded herself. The large bird sitting on the man's shoulder, a peculiar creature, had spoken the other.
Still, the man spoke enough English to at least catch the general drift of what she was saying, so she might as well explain. "Okay, Ito, long story short is that I would have killed a vampire like you some short time ago, but I've changed a bit." Her mind strayed to Azura, who was probably dealing with some sort of incompetent asshole at the very moment, or perhaps even Anshel, not that there was much of a difference, she mentally scoffed. "So I'm telling you now that this is a dangerous place and you should go somewhere....away from here." She was completely at a loss as to where he was supposed to be, but as of right now this was one of the more dangerous places to be. "That guy was my father, a really terrible vampire who will kill you."
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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 15, 2010 16:50:15 GMT -8
Naoto's shoulders shook with silent laughter. Ah, so this was the Hunter Melora Belikov, famous heir of the Belikov fortune which, timbers and all, went down in a ball of flames naught two months ago. And how precious, she was telling him it was dangerous. If only she knew the why of what he was doing here. Apparently, she wanted in on his action, though she didn't know it.
"No," he replied, one worded, again, head lifting to tilt lazily to the side as if he were examining a bug pinned to a collecter's wall.
"You leave"
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Post by MeloraBelikov on Jul 15, 2010 17:00:07 GMT -8
"No, you don't get it." She raised an eyebrow at him, now clearly annoyed with his presence. "You leave. I kill the bad guy so I don't spend an eternity in Hell. Get it?" She ran her hands through her hair. Not only was she dealing with yet another vampire, but this time he couldn't even make fun of her. He wasn't endearing like Azura and his snide remarks, he was just annoying. "In other words, this is my investigation, so go away." Melora pointed in the opposite direction to make her point even more clear. It's too bad her friendship with Azura had changed her. Unless this Ito person attacked her she saw no proper reason to kill him.
Where had her fun side gone?
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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 15, 2010 17:23:15 GMT -8
"Hell?" he asked curiously, stance unchanging but for the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath, though uneeded. For Naoto it was force of habit, and actually completed his camoflauge quite nicely amidst his human cover.
With her mention of...whatever the fuck she was talking about, he grew increasingly interested, praying a thanks to Kami that this mission had indeed proved, at times a bit annoying, intensely studiable.
His eyes narrowed on her, seeming to demand an explanation.
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Post by MeloraBelikov on Jul 15, 2010 17:34:03 GMT -8
"Uhg, I don't have time for this shit..." Melora mumbled to herself before looking back up to meet his eyes, which he'd narrowed on her. That was....unsettling.
"Hell. You know, where terrible people go where they die. Um...." She paused, collecting her thoughts. There was no cross-culture way to explain this. "I am possessed by a demon because my friend" she explained, using the term friend rather loosely, "made a deal with the devil to keep me alive when I died. So I need to kill that man who just grabbed me. I mean, I need to kill him, not anyone else." This story was beginning to sound far-fetched, even by vampire hunter standards.
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Post by Naoto Ito on Jul 15, 2010 18:07:19 GMT -8
Naoto nodded once, accepting that story, simply for the fact that it was so far fetched. Often, even the most simple of tails were wrought with lies.
"Good. I shall go."
He needed to stick with this Hunter, knowing that where she failed, he would succeed undoubtedly. However, she had put a certain amount of stress on the fact that she needed to kill him. Perhaps that question would be answered as he followed her.
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