Even if Alina would have been paying attention to her surroundings, she would not have known that there were in fact two vampires nearby. All had been quiet and still to her, so she was taken off guard as a hand suddenly clamped around her mouth and she was pulled aside. Dropping the bag she had been holding, her first instinct was naturally to struggle, panic welling up. She tried to squirm away from the person's grasp, but it was too strong, too iron. She couldn't. This couldn't be happening. No.

She drew in breath to attempt to scream out some words through her attacker's hand, but before she could, a spark of pain in her neck made her freeze. Teeth. Sinking into her neck. Her mind reeled with confusion and more panic, but before she could figure out what was happening or continue her struggle, the teeth were torn out of her neck as the hold on her was released. Pain lanced through the area, one hand clamping over her wound as she scrambled backwards. Screaming was an option, but she didn't want them to remember she was here. If she could just get away... get away...

The other vampire struggled, trying to push him off, black-brown eyes wide with shock at being confronted by a foe who was stronger than him. Matthew punched him - felt something crack - and shoved him to the concrete ground with contemptuous ease. 

One hand pinning his opponent by the neck, knee pressed against his back, Matthew finally looked at the woman properly, eyes drawn briefly to the wet redness on her fingers where they were pressed to her neck. "Good, keep pressure on that. Are you hurt otherwise?"

Another foot backwards, then another. Getting away, slowly. The place where blood had been drawn throbbed as Alina tried to figure out why she had been [i]bitten[/i]. Rabies came to mind, [i]but both the two men moved too fast[/i]. Her mind whirled as she backed away, moving slowly but steadily... until attention was fixed on her once more. She froze and tensed, gripping that spot tighter and wincing as it caused the dull pain to flare up again. 

He had asked a question. A question. No, she wasn't hurt. But was this man on "her side"? It took the flustered woman a few seconds to respond with a shaky word. "No."

A hand slipped into a flat pocket and made a fist as if grasping something. "If you try anything, I'll scream and get the authorities."

"I will do nothing to you," Matthew responded seriously, turning his gaze back to the other vampire. "This man, however.... would you like me to kill him? You needn't worry about evidence; his body will turn to ash within minutes."

[i]Kill... evidence... ash... what?[/i] This man was offering... to kill her attacker and telling her that there would be no evidence of her condemning a man to death. (Did she want him dead?) Because he would turn to ash in minutes. What. the. fuck. Alina was scared, she was tired, she was confused. 

[i]Pull yourself together.[/i]

A few breaths were taken, as deep as she could make them at the moment. "Look," she began. "I don't know what your deal is with this man, I don't know who he is, I don't know who you are. But I want nothing to do with this--" [i]Ash. Ash.[/i] Was he joking? There was that nagging curiosity appearing, despite the situation. "What do you mean by ash?"

"He's a vampire," Matthew replied plainly, glancing sidelong at her. "My 'deal' with him is that he clearly attacked you. Were you planning to kill her?" he remarked to the man under him.

"No! Of course not! Please don't kill me!" The trapped vampire's fingers dug shallow scratches into the concrete, but he could not budge his assailant at all.

"I can't tell whether you're telling the truth," Matthew observed coldly, over his cries, "and truth be told, it doesn't matter. Shut up." With a blurred flick of his free hand, he was holding a long black-bladed knife, its point pressing lightly to the other vampire's back.

[i]Not funny.[/i] That was the first thought that popped into Alina's head, but then, after what she had just seen... was he joking? She couldn't focus, couldn't put proper thoughts together. Especially not when someone was potentially going to be murdered in front of her. 

But she needed to do something. Walk away, call the police, scream, talk to this man, ask this man not to murder someone now... she needed to do something. [i]She didn't know.[/i] Why was she so indecisive? [i]Do something, do something, do something.[/i] "So if he's a vampire..." [i]Yeah, right.[/i] "Then you are...?" Alina was stalling, and she knew it. The second man had the same speed and reflexes as her attacker, and seemed, was stronger. But no, no, it couldn't be. That wasn't possible. 

"I'm Matthew," he replied with a faint, wry twist of his mouth, giving her a look of consideration. ".... And I'm a vampire too."

He looked back down at his captive, coming to a decision. "I don't think she wants you dead. So I will show you mercy" [i]as I was shown mercy once[/i] "and you will not behave so disgracefully again. Animal blood will do. Or try asking someone for permission." Matthew sheathed his knife inside his longcoat with another quick flick of the hand, and rose to his feet.

The other vampire stammered thanks as he scrambled to his feet, and ran. He vanished from sight in moments.

Matthew eyed the woman soberly, waiting for her response.

Right. Wonderful. Both... vampires. [i]Pull yourself together.[/i] Alina watched the vampire flee the area, staring at the spot he had disappeared for a few more moments before turning back to... Matthew. "Thank you." The words were surprisingly genuine, despite the situation. "I'm Alina." She briefly considered shaking hands, but with her right hand coated with quickly drying blood, that didn't seem like such a good idea. She winced. Perhaps she was trying too hard to make this situation normal. "Uh..." Alina forced a smile. "It's not everyday I meet a vampire. "

The corner of Matthew's lips quirked in a slight smile. "I try to keep a low profile." He glanced about. "You may want to go home and wash that up-" he gestured at the drying blood on her "-and, ahem, is that your bag?" 

Low profile... right. She really wasn't sure how she was feeling about all this vampire business. Still wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not. The smile dropped and a grimace replaced it as Alina's thoughts returned full force to the bite on her neck. Very, very, unsanitary. And now her blouse was ruined, meaning she would have to buy another one to replace it. As well as hope that she had enough shirts that could cover that spot while it healed. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it, but didn't. 

Instead, her snapped to the place where her bag had been dropped as Matthew brought it up, turning halfway to go retrieve it before stopping. [i]Don't turn your back on him.[/i] "Right, mhmm." She knew it must look absurd and silly, but instead of turning around, Alina backed away instead before stooping down to pick it up. There was a slight flush on her cheeks by the time she had gotten her bag back, hanging it off one arm.

Matthew had a small, wry smile on his face. "If I was going to attack you, I would have by now."

He shrugged, pulling out his phone from one of his coat pockets and glancing down at the screen; his long, thin fingers tapped swiftly across it, and then he held it up for Alina to see a handphone number on display. "I don't imagine you're all that keen on giving your phone number to a random stranger," he said seriously, "nor for said random stranger to follow you home, so here's my number instead. I hope you'll call me; I would like to know that my heroic efforts haven't been in vain."

[i]Stop smiling.[/i] Of course it had occurred to Alina that it would not be any trouble for this Matthew here to attack her or whatever, but  still... it seemed like a good thing to do. If he were to change his mind, she wanted to at least see him coming. Or did she? A hint of a scowl flickered across Alina's face, deepening as the phone was held up. [i]He's joking. He's got to be joking.[/i] Giving her his number and asking her to [i]call[/i]? She supposed that she was actually in his debt. In his debt. Those words were not appealing, far from so. 

How would it look if she actually put his number in? But even as she struggled over whether she should or not, her hands were moving. Pulling her phone from her bag, opening the contacts and copying the number before saving it. It was for identification, if she ever wanted to report this incident. That's what she told herself. But another part... this man was intriguing, to say the least. [i]Vampire.[/i]

Putting her phone away, Alina nodded tersely at Matthew-- "Thank you."-- before promptly turning and beginning to walk away. It went against her instincts to turn her back on him, but she made herself look ahead and not turn around. 

Matthew pressed his lips together, suppressing a chuckle; his gaze lingered on her for a moment, and then he walked away, hands in his pockets.