One Dark Night (Naaz x Romamaro)

[Naaz]

The night was dreary in the city, the sort of night where gentle rain and a light fog seemed mandatory. The skyscrapers jutted upwards on the horizon, shining like a hundred candles against the inky blackness of the sky, offering safety to those who could afford it, and towering over those who couldn't.

Kaleb was in a less affluent district of the city, where the buildings rarely rose above three stories, not that it mattered: it was a relatively crime free neighborhood, all the people knew each other, and more importantly, the children were safe. Magic was used for the people, not against them, and most people had protective sigils, expensive items that offered some protection from wrongdoers. Kaleb was one of these wrongdoers, and he was fairly certain they wouldn't protect anyone from him.

He prowled the streets in his wolven form, his fur a jet black, in stark contrast to his pearl white teeth, and golden yellow eyes. There was the gentle click - clack of his claws as they tapped the road, a threatening sign to anyone nearby. His eyes scanned the street like searchlights, taking in the nice houses, the well kept gardens, and the fancy cars. This was a much nicer district than the one before, a place full of decrepit shacks and rotting hovels, nowhere even he would sleep, and he was not too picky.

He walked along the streets a while longer, the rain dampening his fur and slickening it against his body. It took him a while to find something, and it turned out to be better than espected: a young girl, books in arm and a bright yellow light emitting from her palm: some sigil no doubt. The wolf would have grinned if it's mouth would have allowed it, but it settled for a slight movement of the tail. He followed the girl around some street corners, keeping far enough back that she wouldn't see him, but close enough that he wouldn't lose her. The rain prevented him from following her by smell alone, and the fog was reducing his visibility; not by too much though.

It took a few minutes for an opportunity to present itself, in the form of a narrow, overgrown alley, leading alongside a house. He saw here wrestling with the decision to go down or not, but eventually, she gave in. It was late, and she no doubt wanted to get home. Anxious parents would be waiting, and Kaleb had no problems letting them down.

He waited until the girl was onto the grass of the alleyway, and followed her, the soft ground masking the sound of his claws. He waited until they were halfway down the alley, and barked once, crouched towards the ground, and started growling, some fearsome sound coming from, the back of his throat, some five or the mares behind the girl. She jumped, slowly turned, and saw the golden orbs in the night time. It took her about half a second to drop the books and run, and for that, Kaleb was thankful: it was boring having to wait for the prey to react.

He barked once more, more like a joyous dog this time, and sprinted after her, tail wagging furiously.

 

[romamaro]

Despite the rain not being much to cough at, Nellie Marshall put her umbrella up when she stepped off of the service bus. As soon as she was under it's cover, rain began to direct itself away from the woman, the ground she stood on dried, and any stray bits of rain that managed to get land on the umbrella or on the woman dried in mere moments. It was the first try of her newly enchanted umbrella, and she smiled at the dry circle of pavement around her feet. Enchanting had always been her strong suit, so she wasn't really surprised that it had worked just as she had wanted it to.

The bus rolled away, turning a corner and disappearing from view. Nellie didn't care to watch it go, turning on her heel and strolling down the street, leaving a trail of dry pavement behind her as she walked back towards her apartment building. She wasn't going to get wet and she wasn't going to get cold, so she could take her time walking home. In her old neighbourhood, she would have rushed back home as fast as she possibly could, even enchanting something on the fly as to not be caught by people with less than savoury intentions. Having moved to where she was now, and having noticed the low crime rate and such things, she knew that she could take her time.

She got into her bottom floor apartment with no problems. She closed up her umbrella and sat it on the rack by the door, slipping off her duffle coat and hanging it up. All this seemed to happen by itself, the umbrella drifting out of her hand and her coat unbuttoning itself and slipping away, drifting through the air like a ghost. She walked into the open kitchen, intending to take a glass of water and then head straight to bed. She started to run the tap, her ginger hair slowly tying itself up into braids so that it would be nice for the morning. Her kitchen sink was directly under a window that faced out into an alleyway. As she was filling her glass up, she noticed a yellow light. She tensed slightly, not yet registering that it was nothing of harm. Eventually, the girl passed by the small window, and Nellie put two and two together upon seeing the girl's lit-up palm. She breathed out a slim sigh of relief, and smiled at her foolishness. She turned around and began to walk towards her bedroom. As she was about to open her bedroom door, she heard a bark. Looking over her shoulder, she could just see two yellow eyes staring down the alley, towards where the girl would be standing. She then heard the sound of things being dropped, and then the sound of feet quickly flying down the pavement. She then saw the pair of eyes - and presumably, the body they were attached to - follow in quick pursuit.

As the creature passed just by the window, she could see it's full form; a black werewolf, with bright white teeth that spread fear through Nellie's body. She stood still for a few seconds, body shaking yet also frozen. After those few seconds, she realised what had happened and her cup slipped out of her hand. Due to it being plastic, it didn't shatter, but the water inside split all over. Not caring for the mess, she flung herself towards the front door, nearly tripping and falling as she did. She wasn't focused on saving the girl, she was more thinking about the werewolf, and how if they weren't scared away, it might come back for her. Hoping that she could do something on the run, she grabbed her umbrella and dashed out the door.

As she picked up speed, her trainers gained a light golden shimmer to them. As the shimmer grew, she grew faster, and became less tired. She found that she could follow the sound of the claws, which she did, trying to stay under the radar until she was prepared. She didn't put her umbrella up, knowing that as she enchanted it again, the original enchantment would wear off. She kept her run at the same pace, breathing in and out steadily as she tried to think of what she could do to scare the werewolf off.

 

[Naaz]

The thrill of the hunt was always Kaleb's favorite feeling, the blood running through his veins, to help him take the blood out of someone else's. It was even more fun when the victim knew to run - more times than he would have liked, people had just given up, or tired after a few steps. Once or twice, some people had tripped over something, but he had been nice enough to let them restart. In his eyes, it was survival of the fittest, or at least, the smartest: anyone walking around this late at night was practically begging to be run down.

He couldn't be sure, but he thought he could hear the girl trying to scream, cry for help. Perhaps her running was stopping her from doing so, but either way, Kaleb couldn't take the chance. He picked up his pace, not even panting as he drew alongside the girl. It was a simple task to nip an ankle, causing her to fall. There was a slight scream as she hit the floor, as well as a crack, possibly a broken arm or hand. With brisk, almost business-like precision, he clamped his jaw around her throat, tearing into her neck, effectively killing her. He watched her eyes go out, and circled on the spot, once more a joyous dog. He knew from experience that it would take about one or two minutes for her to fall unconscious, about five for her to die. Either way, there was no chance for her to survive: her throat was lacerated by jagged teeth, her blood rapidly turning the green grass red.

It was a melodramatic death, the wolf decided, what with the rain falling gently, the girl lying spread eagled on the grass, and the fog descending thick and fast. He lay down beside the girl, some twisted version of Greyfriars Bobby, some evil incarnation, licking the blood oflow the grass.

With the blood pumping through his veins, and the sound of his heart beating in his ears, he didn't hear his own pursuer, a mistake he would rather not have made.

 

[romamaro]

As the fog grew thicker, Nellie got more and more confused, and the enchantment she put on her shoes fell away, forcing her to slow down. She squinted, holding her umbrella in two hands. She changed her grip, holding the umbrella in one hand, and she swung it out to the side of her. The fog cleared somewhat, letting Nellie keep on going, a brisk jog now that she had to focus on clearing the fog. She had barely made it a few steps before she heard something hit the ground, and a slight scream. She sped up, but mere moments after, she heard a sound like tearing flesh. The sound made her dizzy, but she kept on going. By the time she reached the scene, what was done was done.

If she was dizzy before, she was even worse now. She stumbled to her left, then her right, then leaned against a wall, chest rising and falling rapidly. She gagged, then retched towards the wall, using the umbrella to hold herself up. Any courage that she had previously had fell away from her, much like the girls blood flowed away from her body. Once she had emptied her stomach, she stood up straight again and managed to look towards the scene. She would have thrown up again, if she could have. She pushed away from the wall and looked towards the werewolf. She held tighter onto her umbrella, as a thin layer of purple smoke began to swirl around it.

She had realised that she knew very little to do with werewolves. She'd never even met one before. She didn't know about their weaknesses, their fears, or anything else she could use to defeat this neighbourhood terroriser. The only thing she knew of was that they usually transformed back to human forms in the day, but as far as she knew, that wasn't all that close. She breathed out very slowly, and looked down at the umbrella. The enchantment she had begun to put on the umbrella would never be enough to kill anything. If she had been given more time, she might have been able to do something, but in her rush, she hadn't planned anything at all. In her desire to stop the werewolf for coming back for her, she'd put herself in unfathomable danger.

She took a few steps back, realising that a fight here would not go in her favour, at all. She winced at the scene, not at all wanting to end up like the girl. She began to walk slowly backwards, forgetting about the mud in the alleyway.

In her attempt to escape, her foot slipped and she fell backwards onto her back. She let out a short cry of pain, then realised her fatal mistake. In a panic, she tried to scramble to her feet and run back down the alley, ignoring the pain in her back and neck.

 

[Naaz]

The Wolf lay by the girl, waiting for her eyes to go out, for her chest to stop heaving, and for the noises to stop. He didn't much like eating live people, they either screamed too much, or squirmed around, and both of those things produced messy results. While it waited, the adrenaline left it's system, and the thrill of the hunt subsided. A few moments passed, and then it's ears pricked, it's head whipping around to the left.

Some woman had managed to get behind him, probably trying to be 'heroic'. There was little chance of her saving the girl, but Kaleb hungered, and it would do no good for this newcomer to try and attack him. He springed to his feet, crouching low to the ground and growling in the back of his throat, a classic attack position. He barked once, and then the woman vomited. He jerked backwards, the foul smelling substance hitting him like a physical blow compared to the stench of wet air before. He shook his head violently, trying to rid himself of the smell, but gave up, turning back to the woman. Now she held up an umbrella, at which Kaleb would have laughed, had the item not been shrouded by some purple vapour.

He had not seen this type of magic before, and was uncertain as to what it would do. Was it a shield? A weapon? Some sort of trap? Either way, he didn't really want to find out. He kept his distance, barking and growling at this newcomer. The fact they were here irritated the Wolf, it usually liked to eat in peace, and not have to worry about any concerned cicitizen informing authorities. They could have the corpse back, he'd just like some of the flesh.

And then, the woman took a step back, casting a look of doubt upon the umbrella. Perhaps, this item was not as dangerous as Kaleb had thought... he stepped forwards, closing the distance, his confidence growing with each step he wasn't wiped off this plane by some psychic bolt.

He leapt backwards when she tripped, his caution making him jumpy, but he quickly recovered, barking and growling, and then running as the woman lowered the umbrella, and sprinted down the alley. The Wolf left it's victim in the dirt: a meal would be no good to eat if the police caught him before he ate it,

 

[romamaro]

Nellie didn't notice the wolf's reaction to the enchantment she put on her umbrella - if she had, things would have probably worked out a lot better for her. When she began running, she thought for a moment that she wasn't going to be followed. She very quickly realised how much of a dumb hope it was. She looked over her shoulder and swore, biting her lip. She looked down at her umbrella, trying to think of something that she could do on the fly.

The umbrella started to be surrounded by the same kind of smoke, this time an ice blue colour. She looked over her shoulder again and watched the wolf carefully. She sped up, trying to make some distance between the two of them. When she thought she found a suitable amount, she turned around and crouched down, pointing the umbrella forwards. When she opened the umbrella, it created a small shield that built up a wall between Nellie and the wolf. It was only a little taller than Nellie, who stood at just over five feet.

Using this shield as cover, she began to shuffle backwards. She realised that, with what she could see of the wolf, he could probably bound right over the shield, if he thought of the idea. If that happened, she was as good as dead. She gulped, and kept on shuffling back, arms shaking uncontrollably.

She watched the werewolf, and then realised that it was still, technically, part man. To her, this meant that it would understand her if she spoke to it. Wether it could speak back or not, that was to be seen, but it should, at least, understand her. If she could even just make it to her apartment, she could break open the window to get in. She could pay to get it fixed, if it was going to save her life.

Shakily, she cleared her throat. "H-h-hey!" She spluttered, sounding like an old car that was trying to start after years of being left to rust. Her green eyes watched carefully, still moving backwards. "C-can you...u-understand me?"

 

[Naaz]

He sprinted after the woman for a few metres, before he noticed the umbrella, with blue smoke coming out of the tip now. This he was certain was quite weapon; why else would she take the time to use it now? He locked his legs, but kept moving forwards, tumbling over his front paws, and smacking into the blue wall that appeared in front of him. The Wolf yelped in pain, and scrambled to its feet, retreating backwards, limping slightly. It looked back at the wall, and stepped closer, showing greater caution now. It's sniffed at the wall, trying to determine if it would be a good idea to climb it, or if it was better to leave it alone.

The woman was moving backwards, and the Wolf limped forwards in rhythm, still sniffing the wall. Surely people would be starting to wake now: even though it was late, the growling and barking would rouse some people, even if it was only to shout out for whatever dog was barking to be quiet. If that happened, Kaleb had no doubt the woman would shout back... that was a situation he would rather avoid.

And then the woman spoke, interrupting his train of thought.

"C-can you...u-understand me?"

Now, wolves couldn't really smell fear, but if they could, this woman would reek of it. It would be pouring from her, filling the alley like the fog. Kaleb thought for a brief moment, and began pacing the wall, from one side, to the other, keeping his golden eyes on the woman.

"You stink of fear" he rasped, his voice sounding torn and broken: a wolves mouth was not the best for speaking with. "The stench of your terror is obvious"

He left it there, not asking what she wanted, or who she was. What was the point? This was hardly the start of a budding freindship.

 

[romamaro]

When the wolf collided with the shield, the umbrella slipped from Nellie's hands for a moment. It hovered in the air for a second, before the ginger witch scooped it back up again, holding it steady. She followed the wolves eyes with her own, fear-filled ones, watching everywhere that the wolf looked.

She was surprised to get a response back, and couldn't hide a small gasp. She bit her lip, taking slightly larger steps backwards. It took her a little while to fully comprehend what the wolf said, but when she did, the hairs on the back of her neck rose up. She swallowed again.

"I...I w-wasn't expecting a response," she mumbled under her breath, never breaking eye contact with the wolf. "L-l-listen, you leave me alone, a-and I won't mention this to a-anyone." She promised.

 

[Naaz]

The Wolf bared it's teeth in a grin at the woman while she comprehended what he had said, blood dripping from its maw while it's eyes locked with hers. It was itching to get at the woman, itching to break through the barrier, but it was patient. If it could, ot would have laughed at the woman's response, the obvious fear, followed by a desperate plea.

"Pathetic" it's voice still sounded broken. "You plead for your life, knowing some youngling lies dead close by. And I thought you were honourable creatures"

It didn't respond to her question, instead just continuing to pace the wall, watching her intently.

"I can sit here all night if I have to. You'll grow tired, you'll drop that umbrella, and I'll be here. Better do something quick....."

The Wolf sat down, it's fur slicked over its body by the rain, the water starting to run off its pelt in a cascade.

 

[romamaro]

Nellie watched the wolf's teeth uneasily, gaze flicking from its eyes to its mouth. She wanted to run away more than anything, but she knew that if she was going to turn around, she'd be dead in moments. When the wolf spoke, she couldn't help but be repulsed by being called 'pathetic'. She bit her tongue to stop her from firing back a similar insult.

She watched the wolf sit, slightly confused as to why it would do so. She could only see disadvantages for the wolf, but then realised how confident the hunter must be to willingly sit and potentially slow themselves down if Nellie was to run. She swallowed, still shuffling backwards. Her pacifist approach to escaping hadn't worked for her. She had to think of something else as soon as she could.

She considered just continuing to shuffle backwards until she made it to her apartment, but she didn't exactly want to show the werewolf where she lived. It would just be an easy meal for it next time it got hungry. This escape would have to lead her elsewhere, preferably away from the ground.

She looked at the umbrella and it's swirling blue smoke. Very slowly, the smoke began to change colour, switching from an ice blue to a pale yellow. She began to visibly tire, shoulders drooping and eyelids fluttering with exhaustion. Keeping up the shield enchantment while putting on a new one would only leave her with enough energy to get where she needed to be before she might just collapse.

When the smoke was fully changed, Nellie lifted the umbrella up above her head. As quickly as she could, she kicked off the ground. She pulled her legs up so that they wouldn't be grabbed by the wolf as she began to float upwards, towards the roof of the building to the right of her.

 

[Naaz]

As a werewolf, it was easy to be overestimated, sometimes, human were far better. For instance: shut a wolf in a burning room, and it will bark and yowl. Shut a man in a burning room, and he will merely open the door. A werewolf? They will bark louder, yowl louder, and in general, just make more noise than the wolf. It wouldn't think about shifting form to open the door.

Kaleb was in the same situation. He saw the smoke start to change colour, but also the woman grow tired and weary. It tensed, ready to pounce whenever this human grew tired and whatever spell they tried to cast failed. However, he was taken aback when she started floating. He sat still, frozen on the spot by this strange sight, before he realise that she was getting away. He sprang to his feet, paws scrabbling on the dirt as he ran to where she was, and jumped to reach her feet, jaws snapping. He missed by a good few inches, and stood below her, snarling and growling at the escaping victim. Much like the wolf in the burning room, it didn't occur for him to change form, and climb up the building after her.

"Stop cheating!" he snarled, gnashing his teeth at the ascending figure. "Get down!"

Prey wasn't meant to start flying, surely that disobeyed some unwritten rule: this wasn't how the hunt was supposed to go. She was to drop the shield, and join the corpse at the end of the alley. It paused in it's snarling, thinking for a moment. It would just have to wait, wait for her to get down. She couldn't stay there forever.

The wolf sat down, still visibly seething, and looked up at the woman.

 

[romamaro]

Nellie's eyebrows raised at the werewolf's confusion. From what she had imagined of werewolves, they were intelligent and creative, knowing just what to do to get at their victims. As she watched it's snarling and growling form stare up at her, she felt that her imagination had betrayed her somewhat. It's jeering voice caused her to only try and float faster upwards.

She floated herself up to the top of her apartment building. As soon as her feet were on the ground, she had to use her now un-enchanted umbrella to hold her up. So many spells in such a short amount of time had exhausted her. If she could, she would have slept right then and there. But she was far too paranoid about the wolf on the ground below her feeling that it was either pretending to not know what to do, or would figure it out eventually.
So, using her umbrella like a cane to support herself, she began to walk around the roof, hoping to find an entrance into the building.

She moved as fast as she could and lapped around the roof twice, but she couldn't find anything. On her third lap, her makeshift cane slipped out from underneath her, leaving her to fall onto the roof. Her umbrella skidded and fell over the roof, slipping down into the alleyway right next to the werewolf.

Nellie groaned loudly, having hit her head, and tried to get to her feet, only to find that her tired legs refused to hold her. She lurched forwards again, hands and feet on the roof as she tried to summon the strength to push herself up to her feet and keep on trying to get inside, out of the rain. Her hands slipped on the smooth, wet roof surface, and she found herself forwards, most of her chest and her arms hanging over the roof edge, leaving her staring at her wolf pursuer.

Brain foggy due to fatigue and hurt, she barely noticed the situation she was in. Once she did, she yelped loudly, sounding a bit like a frightened dog. She shuffled backwards a little, but felt her body grow even heavier as she did, before she could pull her arms or head back over the ledge, she had fallen unconscious, arms swinging like a morbid tease to the werewolf below.

 

[Naaz]

The rain was starting to get to the wolf now. Water was pouring off its fur, pooling on the grass around it, and the fog was only serving as a nuisance, making it so that he could barely see the top of the building the human had floated up to. He thought he saw her walk towards the edge a few time, and realised she must be looking for a way down. This make the creature nervous, but then it realise that if there was a way down, she would be using it. She was either going to stay up there, or try and get down with that strange umbrella.

As the wolf had this thought, the strange umbrella fell from the roof, and landed next to the wolf, which leapt out of the way in surprise. It crouched low in a defensive stance, growling at the item before batting it with a paw. Once he was satisfied it wasn't some sort of trap, he looked back up, and was bemused to see the woman half hanging from the roof, apparently asleep. Was there some other creature up there that did this? Or was this all some elaborate trap?

By now, the wolf was getting hungry, having not eaten, and decided that seeing as the human wasn't moving anywhere, it should continue what it had started. It padded away from the woman, and a few minutes later, came back, dragging the body of its initial victim with it. By now, the bleeding had stopped, but there was still a thin trail of blood along the grass. The wolf lay beside the corpse, and once more clamped it's teeth around the neck. Waiting for the human above to wake up. It would a be a gruesome site to wake up to, the eating a younger human.

 

[romamaro]

Nellie stayed asleep for around fifteen minutes, but in that time, she was practically comatose. She didn't move an inch, body swaying in the wind, and barely any breath passed through her lungs, and any that did passed slowly. Normally, using two enchantments on the same item like that wouldn't have this big of an effect on her; it would normally take four or five to do her in, well and truly. It was the stress that was causing this huge reaction. Nothing in the world would have woke her up, not drowning, not being burned, not being eaten alive.

After those fifteen minutes, her big eyes flew open and her body seemed to come alive all at once in a massive shiver and a loud gasp that scooted her only farther off the roof edge. She stared down into the fog for a few moments, not remembering previous events. When she did, they all came flooding back at once, and a yelp passed her lips in reaction, loud enough for the wolf - that she did not realise was still below her - to hear. She skittered backwards, back onto her feet on the roof.

She looked around the roof frantically, trying to find an escape she knew she wouldn't find. She began to shiver from the cold, now soaked to the bone and without her umbrella. If she survived this, she would need to see a doctor soon after. Or at least take some medicine to try and ward off the inevitable cold. After a little while of looking around, she calmed down a little, deciding that if she was to get off the roof, she would likely have to come down first, or get to another building.

She began to lap around the building again, this time looking over the edge. The fog cleared at just the right point for her to see straight down on the wolf and the murdered girl. She retched, but nothing came out of her stomach, thankfully; the last thing she needed was an even angrier, vomit-soaked wolf coming at her. She backed away from the roof edge again, her options now narrowed. She couldn't go down anymore. She would have to get onto - or preferably into - another building.

She looked around her again, this time looking for shelter on top of buildings. Around her immediate area, there were only the same flat concrete roofs. The closest thing she could see was around two or three blocks away, there was an elevator that lead down into the building. If she could even just get into the elevator, she could sleep until morning and then get herself home. It wasn't the most appealing option, but it would work.

Now was the matter of how she was going to get over there. She had never been the best jumper, and with slippery concrete beneath her, she'd be pancaked on the pavement in seconds, so that option was crossed out. She looked at her jumper and jeans. There was no way she was going to take either of them off. Her gaze drifted to her shoes, their laces bringing ideas into her head of tightropes and bungee cords, but all those ideas were implausible. If only she had her umbrella back...

She absentmindedly tugged on her right braid as she looked down at her umbrella. She had had that thing for so long, and it could do so much with the right enchanting. Her hand passed over her hair tie as she thought, and she got an idea. She tugged the hair tie out, and stretched it out. As she focused on it, it swirled with pink smoke, and never stopped stretching out until Nellie stopped pulling. She grinned in delight, and hung the looped rope over the edge.

The enchantress kept on elongating the hair tie rope, until it was so long it touched her umbrella down below. Now, if she was very careful...

She began to try and hook the umbrella with her hair tie, muttering a quiet prayer that the wolf wouldn't notice and doom her to plans of shoelace tightropes.