Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lutetia City: Lupaix

As Valentina made her attempt at escape, the daggers embedded around her body twisted anew, each of them jerking slightly in place to carve deeper into her body. Her knees, back, stomach and arm: all were subject to a flash of new pain, new impairment.

"What pretty wings you have..." Eloi murmured, eyes lighting up gleefully. One hand shot out to close around the girl's throat and forcibly shove her into the dirt, and the dagger she attempted to grab fought back against her grip, her attempts at pulling it free just causing it to saw back and forth in her palm.

The free dagger, Eloi took in his free hand and brushed ever so slightly over her wings. "I wonder, how much can I clip them before you are unable to fly?"
 
Attempt after attempt continued to fail and Valentina had to wonder if the fates were against her this night. The feeling of the blades once again twisting inside of her sent all new waves of agony shooting through every inch of her body and she couldn't help but writhe in pain. Jerking her hand away from the dagger when it began to saw into her palm, she knew jerking them out wasn't going to do her a damn bit of good, but if she could just get away... Grunting when his hand wrapped around her, throat, panic set in, a deep seeded fear of hers surfacing momentarily before she shoved it back down again, just like how he was shoving her into the dirt. "Not a bird..." She growled out, trying to fight through the pain order to salvage her wings and the rest of her. "I'm just a kid... damn it."
 
"You know how to make this stop. Until you speak, it will never stop. We both have all eternity to wait." Eloi smiled, flicking his wrist upwards. As he did, the knives in her back tore free and spun around to hover over the girl's wings threateningly. He pulled her forwards by her neck, so that the blades just brushed against her feathers, and then slammed her into the stone again. "Give me their names," he hissed.
 
Swallowing hard, mouth dry as the desert, she felt a whole new wave of screams welling up inside of her body. They spilled out when the knives were torn free of her back and while there was a brief moment of relief or thankfulness, Valentina knew that things were far from over. Grunting when he tugged her forward, she hissed at the feel of the knives brushing against her wings, knowing if she didn't do anything soon, she would lose her unique ability to soar high. When he slammed her back down again, she yelped and tucked her wings as close as they could get against her body. "Why do you want to know? What does it even matter?" She questioned, still fighting to keep the names a secret.
 
"I merely wish to speak with them," Eloi stated, smiling. "But indeed, what does it matter? You know the consequences for refusing to answer. The reason behind my inquiry does not change that."

Once more, the knives skimmed across the girl's wings. "But if it helps, you have my word that no harm will come to them, should you tell me now."
 
"Like I'm going to believe you. I wasn't born yesterday, you know." Valentina narrowed her eyes, spitting at his feet while fighting the urge to shudder when she felt the blades skimming her wings. If only she had kept them hidden to buy her some time, but deep down the vampire knew it wouldn't matter. He could read her mind and she was not very good at hiding her thoughts or emotions. Hissing, she knew the consequences for not telling, but she also knew what would happen if she gave up the names. She was screwed either way.

"I'm not saying a word..."
 
The torture would have gone on for hours, were it not for the sound of police sirens closing in on their location. Clearly someone in one of the surrounding buildings had heard the screaming.

Eloi sighed, shaking his head as he straightened to his feet. "Your time is up, little one. Rest assured that we will find those that you tried to hide from us before long. We always do." He smiled down at her, tilting his head as the knives began to dig deeper into her body, inch by inch. "Now... show me how beautifully your soul dances as you die..."

The knives plunged in, and as one, began to drag themselves through her body, shredding her just as they had NomNom. There were long, agonising moments of pure white-hot pain, before the knives found her spine, her neck and her heart.

By the time the police arrived, Eloi was gone, as was the girl's body. Only a puddle of blood and the eviscerated remains of the undead tiger were left behind.
 
Viktor and Talyria made their way through Lupaix with some measure of caution. The neighborhood was known werewolf territory, and the werewolves of Lutetia had a reputation for violence and crime - neither of which had gone unnoticed by Viktor since his arrival in Lutetia. It was painted all over the news and streets both.

It wouldn't do to get caught in the midst of a pack skirmish.

As if to punctuate his concerns the sounds of police sirens wailed past them, heading down the street in the direction they were headed. Viktor's first impulse was to simply cut down a side street and avoid whatever recent crisis had struck Lupaix, and he likely would have followed said impulse if not for a familiar scent upon the air.

Valentina?

He frowned. What was Valentina doing in Lupaix? She should have been back at the Lessard Family Manor with Sanina and the others. The City was no place for her. If House Sylvestre uncovered -

"Stay close," Viktor whispered to Talyria as he followed after the police cars.

He could see the lights flashing up ahead where the vehicles had pulled over.
 
She watched as the car passed them and almost in a daze of curiosity of what happened to cause the ruckus, almost missed Viktor's instruction to her. She felt a chill run down her back at his instruction, she inhaled deep and kept on his heels sensing something was involved that had his interest. Her eyes widened slightly at the familiar scent of the child vampire she had met being there. She thought hard as she kept up with Viktor, trying to remember if there was reason to her being out or if she may had disobeyed. She felt a familiar twinge of intuition hit her. Something was wrong. She felt a cold sensation in her stomach, was it something to do with Valentina. Maybe that was what had Viktor's interest piqued. Either way, she had a bad feeling, she fell back a step or two lost in the attempted unraveling of the clues her intuition was feeding her. She quickly realized her error and regained her lost steps by adjusting her stride slightly, once back up next to him she again readjusted her stride to compensate.

She watched in unease as they approached the flashing lights. She had good instincts and intuition, those had saved her thus far for these centuries. It made her look to Viktor, a look of unease apparent on her face. She wasn't so sure if they were ready for whatever it was that was gonna be found. She hoped the child was okay. Please just say something has you cornered we can handle child. She thought to herself in a chant-like fashion as they continued down the street.

"Vicktor?" She whispered softly, a sense of her unease in her voice. "Why are we going toward where trouble may be?" She hoped in a sense he hadn't heard her, but knew he would have at the same time prayed it wasn't more bad news. They had left where they had lived over chaos, Please say the chaos has not followed them. She thought, struggling wo keep her mind alert instead of roaming to infinite chaos in her mind.
 
Heart thundering a pounding beat in her chest, the little cat raced through the dark streets of Lupaix. She was way out of her element here in a much larger town than from whence she came, and the traffic and people were just more than what she was used to. Sleek black fur wove between the legs of walking pedestrians, a glint of gold as eyes peeked upward to read street signs, not that the cat knew what any of it meant in terms of where she was exactly, but perhaps it would keep her from running in circles.

Finally, hungry and exhausted, the cat ducked into a narrow alley between two buildings, sinking her body down onto her paws. Her eyes narrowed into slits, but her ears remained pricked and twitching at every sound. After a brief respite there in the darkness, the cat decided it would be best to plunge on to find safety and shelter instead of simply remaining on the streets as she had been for days.

A collar of interwoven links of silver was cinched about the cat’s throat, and before she dashed out into the streets once more, she flipped onto her back and used her hind legs to snag her toe claws into the metal and push up toward her head in a feeble attempt to thrust the collar from her neck. This act of feline contortionism only served to wrench a toe and painfully rip a claw.

Defeated by the collar but not quite by circumstance, the feline familiar padded to the mouth of the alley and sat, tail curling over her toes as she considered each person as they approached and then passed the alley. She rested there for a time, completely alert and poised in case she needed to spring into action. A decision of what to do would be needed soon if she was to remain in hiding.
 
After everything that had happened in such a short period, Aimee’s mind was whirling. Despite the offer of bus fare by Ragenard, she declined, needing to clear her mind and figure out what she was going to do now that her life was forever changed. She didn’t have to go into work, her boss was nice enough to give her some time off to mourn, but that just made it even worse, because that meant she had a lot of time on her hands. Unfortunately, her bowling league wasn’t in season, which left her very little to do with her time. That, for a mourning alcoholic trying to stop drinking wasn’t a good thing.

“Damn it… you better have left me a damn letter at home with your reasonings.” She muttered, though she knew Jacques didn’t do that.

Shaking her head, she paused at the opening to an alley and just leaned against the brick wall, glaring angrily at nothing in particular. She was currently wearing a metallic blue hooded jacket with the hood pulled over her hair to cover the majority of her face. Hidden within the pockets was the guns and ammo she had picked up from the Med Center as well as a couple of daggers. Black hip hugger cargo pants were the only thing that was showing other than a pair of red and black tennis shoes. Her hands were shoved into the pockets of her jacket and she closed her Prussian blue eyes for a moment, the orbs hidden behind a pair of square wire framed sunglasses with red lenses.
 
As the young woman moved toward the alley, the cat made no move to leave from her spot only shifting enough to raise her chin and gaze up at her stoically. And then the mixture of odors hit her: blood, sweat, alcohol...and was that...dog? Or at least some sort of fur smell, and there were other, less savory undertones to the scents wafting from what could only be the girl standing there. The cat fought the urge not to sneeze and twitched her long, black whiskers in mild distaste, but there was also concern in the slitted, golden eyes considering the blood smell.

The options here were extremely limited: reveal herself and ask for help or continue on, but perhaps, thought the cat, help could be two-fold. She had always heard friends could be found in the most unlikely places, and this narrow alley was definitely an unusual place.

Backing away from the mouth of the alley, the familiar shifted. Short limps lengthened, paw pads elongated into long, slender fingers, fur receded, and springy curls erupted in a mass from her head. Crouching there on the ground (because standing up completely naked would be sure to scare the girl away as well as most normal people), Millicent called out soft, “Um...hey, excuse me?”

She was a tiny thing crouching there in the darkened alley. Her skin was a smooth, dusky bronze, and her hair was a riot of dark brown and honey-colored corkscrew curls. Her eyes remained the same gold as those of the cat, but the pupils were circular instead of slitted. The only piece of anything upon her body was the linked collar about her throat, gleaming silver.

“I, uh, well...this is awkward, but I was wondering if you had a spare set of clothes? And maybe a shower?” Being on the run for several days, she had a feeling she did not smell much better than other girl.
 
Her mind was elsewhere and for the first time, Aimee wasn’t paying attention to any of her scents. Her fingers on her good hand slid out of her jacket and ran through her hair beneath the hood and she was about to leave when a voice caught her attention. Blinking her eyes back open, the female looked around, trying to figure out where the words were coming from. It took her a few more minutes before she determined it was coming from the alley. Making her way towards the entrance, her eyes scanned the darkness before she spotted the crouching female.

“No… I don’t have a spare set of clothes, but if you want to come home with me, you can shower at my place. I uhh…” Aimee paused, tugging on the jacket a bit, not wanting to relinquish it because it was hiding her bandaged face and wrapped up hand. Swearing beneath her breath, she sighed, nose wrinkling up a bit.

“You can have my jacket, I guess.” Without waiting for an answer, smelling that the female needed a shower almost as bad as she did, Aimee slid the jacket off, holding it over towards the stranger.
 
To say Millicent was surprised that the girl did not jump in shock and run away at being addressed by a nude woman in an alley was to be an understatement. She offered a smile as the girl offered her shower, and she nodded exuberantly sending her curls bouncing furiously. “That would be amazing! And...well, thank you so much for offering your jacket, but I don't exactly have any pants. I can just follow you in my cat form. Do you live nearby at least?”

After speaking, she placed her hands onto the grimy ground. Ebony fur sprouted over her skin, and she shrank down into the form of a petite black cat. Prancing over to the girl, she managed to refrain from happily arching her back and rubbing against the girl's shin. Not everyone liked cats, after all, not to mention they had just met.
 
Taking back the jacket, Aimee slid it over her body and tugged the hood back over her hair and face, hiding once again in the shadows. Her original thoughts had been that the jacket would be long enough to cover the female’s butt, but that wasn’t the case, apparently. When the stranger mentioned she could follow in her cat form, Aimee couldn’t help but step back a little in surprise, though it wasn’t long that her senses picked up the feline scent.

“Woah, wasn’t expecting that. Naked person? Yeah, no issue. Cat.. a little unexpected.” Aimee just watched as the individual returned to her cat form and she reached down to ruffle her fur before scooping her up to place her on her shoulder. “It’s not too far, but far enough it might exhaust you.” With that, she made her way down the street, glad she hadn’t taken the bus.
 
Millicent purred as the girl slid her hand over her soft fur, and she arched her back in delight, sleek tail rising happily into the air; however, she tensed a bit as she was plucked unceremoniously from the ground. It had been a while since she'd been held, and she really had not expected her new friend to bodily handle her, not that she minded, really. As she was placed upon the girl's shoulder, she rubbed the top of her furred head against her new friend's cheek.

Most familiars never used their telepathy with anyone not their witch or warlock master or other familiars, but Millie had never considered mentally speaking with others as something taboo, but even if she had seen it as such, this constituted an emergency. She opened her mind to that of her friend, and if the girl did not have mental wards in place, she would hear Millie's voice clearly, “I suppose shape shifting is a little bit odd, but should I be worried that a naked person did not phase you at all? I mean, are there many nudes wandering about the city because if so, I was really not paying close enough attention!” Amusement could be felt in her tone.

As they began to walk down the street, well, her new friend walked while she, herself, rode, she decided it would probably be a good idea to introduce herself. “I'm Millie by the way. I can't thank you enough for helping me, and I promise I won't stay long. I...this is going to sound rude, but are you okay? I smell blood.”
 
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Aimee smiled when the kitty rubbed the top of her furry head against her cheek, thankfully not her injured side. Her fingers ghosted across the soft fur of the beast’s head as she headed down the sidewalk, moving through the crowd with ease, as if she truly wasn’t even a part of them. When she was spoken to via telepathy, the dark-haired female paused a moment in her step, not expecting it at all. Once she recovered, she mused a moment about the question.

“Let’s just say that naked people don’t really bother me that much, but no… there’s not many nudes wandering around the city. That’s a bit frowned upon.” Aimee spoke back with ease, giggling a little before shaking her head.

“It’s nice to meet you, Millie. I’m Aimee and it’s no trouble if you stay long… it’s been a bit lonely at my apartment lately.” She frowned a bit as she thought the words to the cat before clearing her mind a little of the negative thoughts. “I’m alright, just need a shower.” Aimee added, knowing she smelled like blood, smoke, sweat, among many other things.
 
Millicent was amazed at the way Aimee moved through the crowded streets, sidestepping, easily drifting between and among the people like a fleet-footed cat, herself. She rode upon her new friend's shoulder, feeling much reassured in the presence of someone for the first time in a while, and she had to suppress and swallow the purr which wanted to form a rumble in her throat as that might be a little bit awkward.

Thinking to herself that Aimee may change her mind about Millie's length of stay if she found out about her runaway status, Millie made no comment, nor did she address her new friend's stinky status considering she, herself, was in dire need of bathing. Three days on the run did that to a person, and as a cat wandering through grass and mud from the countryside and into the streets of oil and refuse, she knew she was not the cleanest feline on the block (and a dirty cat was not a happy cat).

She settled her head down on her paws and let her bright golden eyes slide to sleepy slits. For the first time in days, she could finally relax.
 
Focusing back on the sidewalk to keep from bumping into anyone, Aimee let Millie remain where she was at, knowing the cat was safe where she currently rested. Musing on everything that had happened the last few days, she wondered if this meeting was fated. It would definitely be nice to have someone around, especially after losing her father. At that thought, her chest tightened up and she clenched her one good fist, forcing back the tears yet again.

“We’re almost there.” She whispered, not wanting people to think she was a complete weirdo. Her body relaxed a little as she walked, still weaving in and out of the crowds, annoyed by people bunching up in the middle of the sidewalk instead of scooting to the side. It didn’t take her long to reach the front of the apartment building she was living in and with a quick grasp of her keys, she unlocked the building door and moved inside. The building wasn’t the best, but it was clean and updated, which was all that mattered to Aimee. Stepping up the stairs, she moved to the third floor and down the hallway. Pausing in front of room 340, she unlocked it and stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.

“Home sweet home…” Aimee muttered, shaking her head a little.
 
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