OWENOCITY
Спасибо бетам Liyirna и VeraVicca
Night 2
Night 2
Chilly. Good contrast. What more do you need?
Oh yeah. Some big-ass stinky demon chasing you down.
What is she doing with that register every day? Must be boring as hell. Except, wait, hell would probably be all kinds of un-boring. Boring as heaven? Anyway.
Gift, huh? Pants, maybe? But how the heck am I supposed to pick? No, dude, stay away from women's fashions.
Looky-looky, a bar. Come in for a drink? Nah, something comes along to warm you the hell up.
Hey, I guess I never did start a fight in a bar. Well, not that I'm aware of.
Oh right. That's why. I have all this pointy stuff on me, don't I?
"Night, officer."
"Night."
Might be hard to explain if I get arrested.
Ok, steer away from the nice police person. Away and into some dark little streets.
Ngaah!
"Man!"
"Oh, mon Dieu! I'm so sor-- Savior?"
Crazy goth chick?
"Oh, wow. Hi."
"I'm sorry I scared you."
"You nearly gave me a--"
Ok, this just keeps coming up.
"Hey, do you happen to know if you could get a heart attack at the age of twenty-two?"
"No idea. I'm not a big heart-specialist."
Thought as much. But hey, stranger things have happened. And just how old are you? Or should I say, how young?
"Didn't last night teach you anything?"
I'm guessing, senior. High school senior.
"Well, what am I supposed to do now? Never get out of my room after the darkness falls?"
"Well, I don’t know, I guess you’re right…
Like I’m the one to talk.
“Where were you heading anyway, at an hour like this?"
"Home, actually."
"Ok, then where from, at an hour like this?"
"A party."
Gee, they don't make high school boys like they used to. To let such a pretty one go all by herself? Freaks of nature.
"I could walk you home, you know. I feel somewhat responsible."
"Wouldn't want to waste your saving effort, huh?"
Haha.
"That, too."
Help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
Heh. She really is brilliant.
Should I go get my car? Coz--
“Don’t worry though, it’s not far."
Huh. Ok.
“Goody.”
What is it about French girls? This one is barely a woman and yet she manages to look like one, behave like one, and smell like one.
Hey, perfume would actually be a nice gift--
"So do you want to go by Savior or--?"
"Haha, it does have a ring to it."
Ah, and even her laughter is sexy.
Bet she worked with a vocal coach on that one. Heh heh.
"Well, me, I'm Margo."
"Like the Queen?"
“I like to think so.”
No, seriously, how is that possible? Laughter doesn’t have French accent. How?
"Uh, I'm Owen."
Huh?
Oh that’s right, the French always kiss cheeks.
Funny.
And gee, you’d think it was Alaska out here.
"You must be cold in all that lace."
"I'm fine. It's not all lace."
"Heh, yeah, I guess. I think there's leather, and some silk, and what's this then? Like, wire?"
Hope it wasn't offensive.
No.
Just how?! I want a laughter like that too!
"Also lace."
"Gee. What makes it stand up like that?"
"You don't wanna know."
I probably don't.
Ok what’s this then? Could it be something I could slice and dice?
"Yo, dude, you got a light?"
Fuck. Just a mugger. How banal.
“Um, I might. Let me see.”
Ok, look around – of course, where’s a policeman when you need one?
Luckily enough, we can do just as well do without.
That’s the thing, with them it’s too easy.
I mean, all you gotta do is—
Whoa!
Vampire!
Cool!
Guess you are no more crazy about electric shock than your average Joe Regular, huh?
Aw.
Fuck.
Aw.
Thump thump thump.
Ha! Simpleton.
"Ha!"
"Oh my God, are you alright?"
Thump thump thump.
Alive. Alive again.
“I’m great. You?”
“I’m scared. Did you notice how he kept throwing you away and trying to come at me?”
"In fact, yeah, that’s weird. And it’s not the first time, too… Is there a reason vamps might want you dead? Or un-dead, for that matter?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"You never know."
"So I don't."
"Right."
"So... So, you were pretty cool there... With the, you know, what do you call it?"
"Staking? Thanks."
"Are you some kind of vampire hunter?"
Vampire slayer is the term, chica.
"Nah, I just know how to defend myself, that's all."
"Cool."
You betcha.
"It might be."
But, after all--
"You know it is peculiar that you got attacked twice in a row. Guess there's something brewing around you. Are you in some way... special?"
"In many exciting ways."
Whoa.
Now that’s--
"Ok, I'm sorry, I just have to ask, how old are you?"
"What's your guess?"
"Seventeen?"
"Bingo."
"Wow. Where're your parents looking?"
"I don't have parents. Well, not anymore. They passed away."
"Oh, I'm very sorry. Accident?"
"No, they just died. Of illness."
Ok, probably better to live it at that. Explains a lot though.
“I’m terribly sorry.”
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
“Yeah… I’m alright now, though. It happened pretty long ago.”
Well, the aching has most probably been eased, and the pain's been cooled.
But there's your special, in a way.
Who knows. There might be something there.
"Here we are."
"Ok. Do you live alone?"
"Couple of roommates."
"Good. I don't think they will try anything--"
"I don't know, I'm kinda scared. Do you wanna come up and stay with me?"
"Really, I think you're gonna be fine, they didn't attack you again last night - did they?"
"No."
"So it's one attempt per night then."
"Great. That is very, uh, lénitif, you know?"
"No, but I'll look it up. Anyway, they can't enter your home without your expressed invitation, so you just gotta watch out for those tendencies, um--"
--of yours--
"--like maybe warn your roomies too."
"Oh. Ok. Will do. But you're going to sort it out?"
"I'll try."
"Thank you so much. It's all freaking me out."
I shall not live in vain.
God, I hope I can help her.
"You just try not to be alone, and let's exchange phone numbers, and I'll meet you some time tomorrow, ok?"
"Sure."
Day 2
Day 2
Owen couldn't wait to get out of class. But the goddamn seminar just wouldn't end. Why did he even show up? Guess, wasn't thinking all that clearly so early in the morning after so little sleep. That's ok, he'd blow the rest of them. After all, hello? Priorities check. It's someone's life we're talking about. What's she doing so far from home anyway? Must have been here a while though, her English is so good. Except that accent, but she doesn't wanna lose that. What with the name and the queen-y look of hers, it all comes together very nicely. Wonder where she gets that stuff.
Owen lifted his head from his doodle of a sword and looked around. Somebody was answering some question, Professor Sexy managed to look both skeptical and pleased. The guy must be babbling but she appreciated the effort. Sometimes she'd get mushy like that. He looked around. Faces - some bored, some focused. Wonder, how many of you have faced something... interesting and then just moved on, conjuring up some dumb but reasonable explanation? How many of you didn't move on? How many of you actually appreciated the experience and understood something real about life?
No, no, don't look at me. I don't even know what the question was.
"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom."
And how the hell will he help her? Sure he can escort her once or twice, but first, he's no slayer, and second, he can't do it forever. Damn! Anniversary, we have that whole thing tomorrow, and I need to get some stupid gift... Hire some supernatural detectives, maybe? He's seen some ads in the papers, but how do you know which ones are real and which are crooks? Also, who's going to pay? No, can’t do that, I don't grown money in backyard after all. Don't even have a backyard. Ok, anyway, first of all, she'll need a cross on her. Not panacea, but still. Then, some self-defense - electric shocker, stake. Some moves. But how the hell is he going to find out who's hunting her and why? He contemplated not returning to class at all. Looking out of the window in the hall, he watched the students milling about under the morning sun, reading, talking, eating. How many of you? Reading's good though. This Travel may the poorest take. Heh. Ok, hit the Internet first, there should be some sites, some forums. These days, There is no Frigate like the world wide web, To take us Lands away. Bet I'll find something there, if not answers, at least advice.
Smell of coffee, deep, rich. Owen breathed in, the way he always did whenever he felt - well, felt anything worthy of savoring. For a while he just sat there, smelling it, watching it. Thick blue glass, brown fluid, white foam. Muffin, also brown. Mmm. Owen rubbed his eyes. They were tired, dry, and, most probably, red. He's been staring at the screen of his laptop for the last five hours. He's found sites, forums, chats, blogs. Lotta stuff. He even felt less special now that he knew how many yahoos out there claimed to be vampire and demon experts, travelers through dimensions, ghost whisperers. The question remained of course, how many? But hey, even if it's 10 per cent then it's still a lot. He snapped out of it. So what? Of course he's not the only one. Doesn't make his experiences any less real. Anyway, what he had gathered was that they should do some kind of spell, ask the spirits or some such, or sing to an aura-reading demon. Wow. He sure did learn a lot. To take us Lands away, indeed. Aura-reading demon? C'mon!
His cell phone went off. No one was calling, but it was his reminder to go get the present for Loona already. He shut the laptop. He'd talk to Margo tonight, they'll discuss the options. Who knows, after all, she might be crazy rich. Ok then. Girly present now, dance macabre later. He paid for his countless cups of different beverages and the fattening stuff he's wolfed down while searching and brooding. Went out in the street, started walking, looking around trying to spot a shop that would look like there would be potential girly presents in there. While looking he continued thinking about his investigation. It was frightening and exciting at the same time. Exciting - coz hey, it was the night world, the underworld, the other world - whatever you call it - it was the world that fascinated him, that intoxicated him, that made him feel so deliciously alive. Frightening - coz someone's life depended on him. A bit too much for him. It's all fun and kittens when the only person you can get killed is yourself. But when someone's relying on you, and not in a fluffy what-should-I-order way... She was so petite. French word for French lady. Strangely, she wasn't thin, but in no way whatsoever was she fat. Curvy is the term, I believe. And with that black lace framing her white skin, purple feather brushing softly against that neck, sparkling pins in that black hair... Suddenly something caught his eyes. He stopped in front of the window display of a small shop. He looked at the stuff for a while with a slight sneer. Wouldn't that be interesting?