forthedog | (no subject)

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preston

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He's on his way home, and he's not bloody, so it hasn't been the best night. Then again, he's in one piece, and he supposes that any night that ends that way is at least halfway decent.

A few blocks from the necropolis he pauses, pulls out the pack of Neil's cigarettes that he'd stolen before heading out, slides one between his lips and flicks his lighter into flame. It's one of the first really cold nights in a while, and he watches as he exhales steam and smoke together into the night air.

He's hunting alone tonight, but more out of convenience than any desire to be so. He slides the machete into its sheath at his back and turns toward the busier streets. If he's calling it an early night, nothing says he can't catch a drink on the way home.

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My car is a piece of shit. I take Amber home tonight and I'm trying to get home when I stop at a light and it just fucking chokes and dies. I turn the key and nothing happens. God only knows what's wrong...and it's nothing I can fix in the dark. Some nice dude helped me push it through the intersection and park it on the curb, but he took off right after. I don't blame him. In this part of the city I wouldn't just go offering a person a ride.

So I'm walking along, hiking it back home which is hell and gone across the city when I see this guy smoking and taking his time. It's dark but he's in a pool of mercury vapor light so I can make him out. I've never felt so fucking relieved in my life.

"Mike," I call, and start to jog. "Mike, wait up, man. Hey...hey, what are you doing?"

He turns as soon as he hears the voice, mildly surprised. Preston isn't exactly a baby, but it's not a good part of town. He raises an eyebrow and taps ash onto the pavement.

"Heading home. The hell're you doing here, kid?"

"My car broke down. I'll come look at it tomorrow and see if I can fix it. I'm just heading home, too," I tell him. It's funny but I feel so much safer with him close. Maybe because he looks like he's probably the most dangerous person out tonight. I mean, I wouldn't fuck with him.

"Can I walk with you? Or, like, do you have your car close? It's a lot colder than I expected it to be," I say as I move in close. I don't know...it just feels safer, you know?

He shrugs. "Sure. Bike's a few blocks away, but if you're fine riding bitch I'll take you home." Leaving Preston out here to fend for himself isn't exactly the most attractive idea, and Neil would be beyond pissed.

He glances up and down the street. There's almost no traffic, and he's feeling all his senses slipping into higher alert. "Hell of a place to break down. You're lucky you found me."

"Yeah, I know, right? I haven't seen anyone since I left my car. This part of the city is weird. Do people just not go out after dark?" I ask as I fish out my pack to light one up while we make our way to his bike. I don't mind riding bitch. I mean, well, I've never ridden a motorcycle but I can't imagine I'll have any problem with it.

"Oh, no, people come out in the dark." He's almost positive that he feels them being watched now, something stalking them from the shadows, but he's not overly concerned. Preston is a bit of a wrinkle, but he'll deal with it.

"Not people, strictly speaking, but I guess you're close enough."

The way he says that- not people- it gives me a chill that makes me shudder. I hunch my shoulders forward and duck my chin as I take a drag. The smoke swirls up and wafts away on the breeze. I don't do it on purpose but as I walk I get a little closer to him.

"What are you doing out here, anyway? You look like you're looking for trouble," I say, taking note of how he's decked out.

He huffs out a laugh, pointing to the machete. "'Cause I am. I was hunting. Didn't find anything, so I was headed home." He slows, glancing to the side, into the shadows. Things moving, only glimpses. "Think that might be about to change, though."

I'm, like, clueless until he says that and then I look off where he looked and I see something hulking in the darkness. I drop my cigarette to the pavement and the cherry cascades sparks as it hits and then dims.

"Who's hunting who?" I ask, moving in so close that I might as well be crawling up his ass. I'm kind of wishing I had a sword like back in the dragon's cave but the best I've got on me is a studded belt and that isn't going to do shit to keep me safe.

"Y'know, that can be a surprisingly tough question to answer. Usually doesn't matter when you get down to the last one standing, though." It's vampire, he's almost certain. And not just one, which makes things a little more complicated. It would be nice to have backup. Then again, he supposed he does.

He reaches down for the Glock he keeps holstered at his hip - not that he uses it much anymore, but it never hurts to be prepared. "You know how to fire a gun?"

"I know how to fire a gun. I can't make any promises about my aim, though," I tell him. But I've got this feeling that shit's going to be close enough soon that I won't have to aim. Just point and shoot.

And I'm not wrong. A moment later one of the shadows becomes a much more solid form and I can't tear my gaze away from its teeth.

"Your aim's not gonna matter a whole lot. You can't kill these things with a gun. You can distract 'em, which is what I need from you." He upholsters the gun and hands it over, sliding his machete out of its sheath.

So far all it's doing is standing there, half in shadow, grinning at them. But then the other one slides out to his left and laughs, a rough and ugly sound. Mike smiles in response and swings the blade lazily through the air.

"Where the fuck've you been all night?"

"Don't taunt them!" I exclaim, shooting him a look. It's a mistake and as soon as I take my eyes off the toothy one it begins to move in. It only gets a few steps before I notice and I hold the gun with both hands and take a shot. I don't know if I'm surprised when a hole appears in its shoulder...but it sure is. It stops and looks down, snarling and spitting in anger.

"Oh shit," I say under my breath.

To his eyes, it looks more peeved than anything else, but that's one of them whose attention isn't on him, and that gives him enough time to whirl and take the arm off the other one.

Who is a fuck of a lot more than peeved.

it lunges at him, but he dodges just as he and Spike have practiced a hundred times, machete held out in front of him, watching it as it turns and starts to circle again. "Keep shooting," he says, mostly casual. "I think the first time worked out pretty well."

The thing is that I don't want to run out of bullets and wind up like some tool in a movie that has no other option but to throw an empty gun at the fucker.

But I squeeze off another round, this one hitting right in the center of its chest. That does make in look down and if he'd been a man it would have laid him out, I'm sure. Instead I'm rewarded with a snarl and it lunges at me so I duck and dodge and run away. Never let it be said I didn't learn anything in high school. I can always outrun a bully. This thing just happens to want me dead- which is a good reason to keep moving.

He keeps watching long enough to be sure that Preston is, for the moment, all right, then turns his attention back to the one coming at him. He doesn't have time here to play much, not anywhere near as much as he'd like to, and really his first concern should be for Preston's safety.

But when he swings at the vamp's head and takes off its left arm instead... It might not be all accident. Not completely.

I fire off another round and it slows the vampire down but it sure as hell doesn't stop him. He gets close and my heart leaps as panic overtakes me. I take a couple steps back but the fucker is faster than I am and in an instant he's on me, grabbing at me. I'm kind of boned because all I have is the gun and it's not doing dick.

Until I put it right under his chin and pull the trigger. His grip slips and I look to see the exit wound and...I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty fucking proud of myself even if firing the gun that close did make me a little deaf.

Time to stop fucking around. He takes its head off with another couple of swings and then whirls before it falls, burying the blade in the other one's neck.

It stumbles back, still snarling - though a large part of its head is a pulpy mess and it's clearly nowhere near as mobile as it was - and two more hard chops does the job.

He stands there, panting, watching as it turns to dust, before he looks up at Preston again. "You okay?"

My ears are ringing still but I get what he's asking and I nod. It's fucking surreal because six months ago I would have been a mess but now? Now I'm just pumped.

"That was so fucking cool!" I exclaim. "Did you see the way that fucking thing turned to dust? That was amazing!" I'm grinning ear to ear as I hand him his gun back. I mean, it's over. I don't need it anymore. "I can't hear a fucking thing out of this ear, man. Is that normal?"

It's not usually the level on which he enjoys this kind of thing, but Preston's enthusiasm is contagious, and he laughs, shaking his head and raising his voice. "Yeah, for what you did, it's normal. I mean, hopefully it's not permanent or anything."

He holsters the gun, then his machete, after wiping what little blood there is off on the leg of his pants. "Gotta say, kid, that was some pretty decent shooting."

He hadn't panicked, had thought on his feet. For someone with very little combat experience, that's something.

I stick my finger in my ear and jiggle it, like that might make the ringing go away. It doesn't, of course, but it doesn't make it worse, either.

I look around, peering into the darkness. Part of me kind of hopes some more of those fuckers come out of the shadows because that was fun. Not that I'm into murder or anything...but it was a rush. And it's not like they were people. But then reason takes over and I reluctantly say, "We should probably get out of here, huh?"

I can't hide the disappointment I feel at suggesting that, but it is probably the smart decision.

"Probably." He nudges one of the dust piles with the toe of his boot. It's good that they aren't the kind that leave bodies. Those are always a bit more complicated to deal with.

He grins as he starts walking. "You didn't completely hate that, did you?"

I huff out a laugh and steal one more glance behind me, just to make sure. there's no more. Now that I'm wound up it's not easy to shrug it off. I fumble in my pocket for a fresh cigarette and I spark it to life.

"I didn't hate it, no," I reply and I can't wipe the grin off my face. "I wouldn't go looking for it but...I didn't hate it. I'd do it again."

"Yeah, well, I'm not about to take you out hunting." It's not nearly so much about ability as it is that he's not sure that he wants Preston seeing everything that he does on these nights. Though there's a lot that he's discovered in the last few minutes that he appreciates knowing.

"But it's good to know you got my back if I need you." He considers a moment, then adds, "You should think about getting a gun."

"You think so?" I ask, but the seed's been planted and I start thinking about what kind of gun I could get. "I guess now I get why Neil's armed most of the time. With that knife or whatever. But...the gun didn't really work. I think I was just pissing that vampire off."

"Yeah, but it can still slow it down long enough for you to get away." He fingers the handle of the machete. "If you wanna kill 'em, you gotta take the heads off. Or with some of 'em you can use a wooden stake." He grins. "Just like in the movies."

"I'm not sure I'm up to taking anything's head off," I admit, just being honest. But then I think about it and my lips quirk into a smile around the cigarette before I pluck it from my lips. "I could handle a stake, though. I could do that."

"Takes a strong arm," he points out, but it's not meant to discourage. It might not even be such a bad thing to know. He's not exactly into dragging anyone else into the world he spends a significant amount of his time in, but there's no harm in knowing how to defend yourself.

"Tell you what. You really wanna know how, I'll show you sometime."

"I think I'd like that," I tell him and I can feel the way the corner of my mouth tugs up on the left side. It's kind of exciting, thinking about it.

Maybe if that vampire with those blue eyes ever finds me again I could actually do something about it.

"We should probably get to the bike, huh?" I ask, because even though I want to learn I think it might be smart right now to get the fuck out of Dodge.

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