[IC] A Hunt of Blood and Gears { Eisenhorn and Fairy Tale Dreamer }

[Eisenhorn]

The Steam Revolution was in full swing. Scientists and inventors stood shoulder to shoulder, finding and breaking the newest limits of the Steam Engine and the power that it could provide, for every sort of cause. From propelling the brand new means of transport, the Airship which would eventually completely obsolete the older means of crossing the areas impassable through conventional means, to creating factories capable of creating untold amounts of goods and resources, the Revolution saw no boundaries that it couldn't cross, no limits it could not smash. It as inevitable, then, that such means would be applied to war, both man against man and man against beast. And not just the beasts of the wilderness either. Creatures of the supernatural, beings that man could do little more than hope that primitive weapons and talent could stave off the dark long enough for dawn to come once more. Now emboldened by the arms of steam powered warfare, from rifles and pistols capable of matching the output in raw power of dozens of pre steam era weapons to airships specially designed to track such supernatural beings, especially in their most natural environment, mankind had set out to destroy all that had proven hostile to it in the past, or barring that, controlling what they couldn't destroy.

The Order of Her Blessed Knights, an old and venerable house of Vampire Hunters, was one of the first to embrace this new wave of technology in combination with their old methods of tried and true practices. Stakes now modified to be launched from rifles, holy water the same, the first wave of these new Steam Knights thought themselves above their enemies of old. They were slaughtered, all the newest and best technology of the time faltering in the face of hundreds or thousands of years of experience in besting human hunters. The Order, while devastated, now found itself with a small core of survivor veterans, had to adopt new methodology instead of just new technology. Such methodology would find itself being tested in the forests that long provided shelter to the supernatural, old ruins and forts dotting its interior.

---

HMS Resilience, a specialized breed of Airship designed to act as a base of operations more so than a temporary tool or resource, slowly drifted across the moonlit sky. It was the autumn Harvest Moon, so the land was bathed in a reddish light, which made several of the newer recruits aboard the Resilience more than a bit nervous. However, Adrian Shieldworth, former Army Captain, despite his relative inexperience, stood confidently overlooking the forest from the port side of the airship. He was a posted watch currently, observing the forest from their relatively safe vantage point, while several of his superiors stood at the wheel, consulting reports and plotting the most likely places to sweep for their prey this night. The amount of caution being shown was well warrented, due to the slaughter of so many of their fellow hunters early on in the steam era of their order. Adrian was one of the first recruits that was called upon to replace lost men immediately after the slaughter, and was impressed upon time and again by his betters the caution and wariness required to operate in their line of work.

Adrian was not wearing his mask or goggles, goggles perched on his head and mask hanging around his neck, so calm hazel eyes scanned the ground while a slight smirk rested upon his face. He lacked the weary look of those who had been in this job longer, there was not enough time yet for him to have developed those, and his attire was hardly resembling that of a former Captain. A long brown greatcoat, over a buttoned vest that concealed the thin plate of armor that he was issued. He preferred to remain light on his feet, hence the lack of heavier armor. Gauntlets on his arms also provided protection without slowing him overly much. A pair of equally brown slacks and black jackboots finished his obvious attire. Under his greatcoat was a holster for his revolver, which he still carried despite its useless nature against Vampires, and he held his modified rifle, scanning and occassionally looking down its sights at suspicious points of interest. It was from this point he awaited the chance to sound the alarm, that they had finally found something after the last week of nothing.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

The steam power era coming into the world the vampires have slowly found ways to blend in a little for thanks to all the steam that inventions caused the hair to pollute a little and the sun was mostly covered by the smoke of all the crazy inventions that ran off steam or coal making things easier for the vampire king to slowly start taking control of certain things. Though he was hardly seen his minions scowerd everywhere even in the depths of the forest. It was also where he found random humans that were stupid enough to enter after hearing rumors about vampires and other supernatural creatures living there.
One of the vampires that was apart of the vampire kings army was a young girl named Victoria. She does not remember when she was turned into a vampire or where she was born along with who her family was. When she first joined the army she only witnessed horrible things. If you did not obey you were killed, watched how most vampires humiliate their prey before draining them of all their blood, and also how they just randomly attacked each other just to show off their strength. Soon she just ran from them spending most of her life just running from other vampires along from the king. All she had desired was freedom to do as she please and not really harm anyone unless they were bad people or people that were ready to die, or have a dying wish.

---

Victoria was running through the frost under the red blood moon for some of the vampire that were hunter her down were hot on her trail and she was trying to out run them. Thankfully she had been to the city earlier to feed and get some new clothes so she hope it would throw the other vampires off her trail. She speed through the forest with ease for she had spent most of her time hiding there or just exploring so she knew how to get away faster. She came across a stream before hearing the vampires getting closer and started running in the water letting is splash over her in hopes it would wash her scent away. She spent most of her time running until finally she hide behind in a lake near by and went under the water, glad she could hold her breath for a long time. Victoria hide in some of the vegetation of the lake as she watched the figures around the lake stand around for a while and soon disappear. She stayed under for a long time before coming up seeing they were no longer around and got out of the lake and started walking through the forest.

As she walked, while ringing water out of her dress she looked up and stopped in her tracks when she saw an airship and thought it was weird to see one in the part of the forest she was in. "What the an airship here?" She said as she watched it and started to follow it out of curiosity for she has never heard of vampire hunters that hunt her kind down. She only would spend a little while in the city to feed the flee before the crack of dawn. So her curiosity got the best of her of wanting to get a closer look at who was flying and and why they were in her neck of the woods.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian was patrolling the port side of the airship still, the airship's engine humming lowly, barely idling the airship forward as its crew scanned the forest for anyone out and about. Even if they grabbed someone and they turned out human, it was suspicious enough to be out in the woods at night, especially as word of the vampires living out here spread and the lethal nature of such beasts became more and more apparent to the masses. There were men from all walks of life aboard the vessel, which would not be immediately apparent as most of the crew wore crude gasmasks, unlike the own, more advanced variant around Adrian's neck, or masks wrapped from the same material as the cloaks and heavy coats that they wore to ward off the night chill. The airship itself was reminiscent of most of the ships that utilized the sea and sail to move, although this was in appearance alone. The propellers were powered by the steam generation from the ships on board generator, providing constant wind for the sails to help drive the ship forward in conjunction with the other engines, and the engines that jutted over the air and ground could be swiveled in place to allow them to maintain the ships elevation. This model could not go very high, heavily reliant on the air to remain airborne, but it was enough to provide a clear advantage over ground forces.

The watchman on the rear of the ship called out that he spotted someone tailing their ship on the ground, which brought Adrian, and several others, running back, looking over the rear of the ship to look for the figure that the watch stander had been called out to the rest of them. The sudden burst of activity would not be readily lost on anyone watching from a distance, as the ship started to slow down even more, starting to turn and several figures on its upper decks running to and fro, detail still not clear from the steam exhaust from the engines. The ship was lowering to the ground, although not actually touching down, the bottom of the ship was clearly not designed for that. The whole affair would take a small bit of time, credit to the agile handling by the ship's helmsman in his control that it did not take far longer, and as it was almost touching the ground, a ramp dropped down from the side's lower deck. Several men came running down the side, lead by Adrian, taking his natural role as a Captain and leader of men. The ramp was withdrawn, hunting party of half a dozen men disgorged, and the airship started rising and immediately started heading right for where the female had been spotted. Said ship would hover just out of reasonable reach, now clearly tracking her.

The half dozen on the ground were those used to this sort of work, tracking and hunting, with the exception of Adrian, who was expected to hang to the rear of the group of six, his rifle having a slow rate of fire and better suited to a distance. Whether this was a thrall of a vampire, an actual vampire, or some poor lass just out at the wrong time, none of them knew. But they knew their orders, which didn't sit too well with them. Something was brewing, an all new high of activity amongst the vampires, and the Order needed to know why. The best way to figure this out? Capture one of their kind, and their job was modified. Take her alive, or not dead again in the case of the vampire, and bring her back. Their kit had sturdy nets, the rounds in Adrian's rifle would not kill a vampire unless it was so vastly underfed that odds were it wouldn't have known anything useful anything, although he carried rounds that were more than lethal to their kind just in case. The crew aboard the airship itself would not try and drop nets or anything, it would hinder the ground team more than help them. Adrain was in de facto control, and snapped out orders. "Alright gentlemen, we know the game. Follow the airship, scan for this girl and, if she's a bloodsucker, take her down. Nothing lethal here, you hear me Finnigen?" The man begrudgingly nodded and fell in, as the started towards the airship, and their prey. If she didn't start running, it shouldn't take long to make visual contact.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria kept up the best she could as she ran through the trees and jumped over, logs, rocks, and roots that were sticking out of the ground. Thanks to her vampire eyes it made it easy to avoid those obstacles as she tried to keep up with the air ship wanting to see what it was and why it was even here. Victoria speed through the area as she watched the airship slowly descend to the ground and she speed up using her speed to help out a little. As she got closer she decided to got into the trees and jump from tree to tree so she can watch from a safe distance. but what she did not know was other vampires saw the airship and knew Victoria's curiosity would lead her there and started to make there way down there so they could capture Victoria again and take her to the vampire king to receive punishment for running away from the clan and army. Though they had no clue it was vampire hunters on that ship for the only things that was on their mind was the deserter.

Victoria finally got close to where the airship came down before she jumped out of a tree and hid behind a huge boulder peeking from the side as she watched a bunch of humans come out of the ship with weapons that she was not familiar with at all. "What are those?" She said quietly to herself wanting to get a closer look but kept her distance for safety reasons and she did not want to cause a commotion. She watched as they all formed together and she watch this one guy talk to the other men as it he was the leader so Victoria listened in closely to hear what he was saying and heard him say something about her following the airship, she knew it had to be here for she was the only one trailing behind it earlier, and heard that if that she was a bloodsucker to capture here and she freaked out for she did not want to be captured by humans, nor her clan either. "Oh no I better get out of here no way I am being captured." She said as she got ready to run but her foot his the boulder hard and the rocks on top came down and she quickly jumped out of the way in the view in the hunters. "I gotta get out of here." She said realizing what she did as she got out up and started to run for it again. But this time to get away from the humans for she feared they were going to kill her and she did not want to die.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian hear the rocks shifting, as well as seeing the woman jumping out of the way of those rocks, or he assumed she was. One of his fellow hunters prematurely threw his net, which would end up landing behind her, and while the other went to chastise him for his mistake, Adrian took off after the woman, the trees preventing him from getting a clean bead on the woman right now, he would have to wait until she hit another clearing. The other two were quick to catch up, more familiar in the woods than he was, both being natural born hunters of wildlife, that naturally swapped to hunting vampires after their own unpleasant encounters with the beings. They would have rather killed than captured, hence why neither of them carried ranged means of dispatching the vampire, but maintained hand to hand weapons that bore the means of defeating the creatures. What the three hunters didn't know, and the airship couldn't tell them, was of the other vampires that also wanted the same target as the human hunters did, albeit for far different reasons.

The three split up a bit, the two net wielders sprinting ahead of the rifle wielding Adrian to flank and try and slow down the vampire, if nothing else. The left flanker was, unknown to the others on the ground, beset by the tracking vampires and dead before he would have known what was going on. The other net wielder was native to this woodland, before the rise of steam, and vampires along with it, forced him to leave in fear for his life, and now he was back to reclaim it. So he knew as many shortcuts and the way to move in these woods, aiming ahead to try and get a net in front of the vampire woman, at worse to slow her down enough for Adrian to get a shot at the woman. Adrian, to his credit, aimed one of the non lethal bolts at the legs of the fleeing vampire, taking a shot and reloading on the run, also trying to slow her enough to allow the other, now deceased, net wielder to intercede as well. It was a drilled routine for them, this sort of prong approach had worked in eliminating other vampires, but was fairly untested in simply trying to capture them. Adrian and the other did not know that their third man was dead, or how much danger they could very well be in, though Adrian had that gut instinct that he had developed as a soldier, that told him when to duck, what battles would naturally not end well, and how to get through them alive, which was always a cause for concern when it came up hunting vampires. But he had a job, so he kept that thought in mind while he continued after the Vampire woman, taking the occasional potshot to try and slow her and corral her towards the net wielder.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria ran as fast as she could wondering what to do and where she could hide from them. She heard them running right up behind her and knew that there was three of them following her as she ran. "This is no good I need to feed to get my strength back." She said as she tried to keep her pace up as she ran. She then heard two of them disappear all of a sudden and she knew they were planning on trying to trap her or lure her somewhere so she did her best to keep her ears and eyes open to any signs of danger from the humans. AS she ran she heard a sound and then pain jolting up her leg for Adrian had got her and it did cause her to slow a little but she tried to keep running to the best of her ability but it was getting hard for it was painful to run now and tried to do through areas that were really hard to move through but she could for she had been through the area a hundred times already. Victoria made it to a clearing breathing heavy trying to figure out where to go next before they caught up to her.

VIctoria rulled her dress a little and made a bandage for her bleeding leg and tried to figure her next move. "Oh come on where to go where to go?!" she said frantic for she did not want to be caught. "Oh poor little Victoria we must thank the human who got your leg your scent really helped us find you faster." Victoria turned around to see the voice came from the same vampire that was looking for her along with his followers. She backed away slowly. "Come now dear Victoria the Vampire king wants to see you and ask you why you would run away from him." The vampire man said as he approched her along with the other ones. "I am not going back you are all just evil beings and I know that Vampire king is up to no good." She said as she kept backing up but tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. The other vampires just laughed as thier eyes glowed red. "Now now dear time is wasting let us take you back to our leage." The male vampire siad as he reached for her and Victoria hissed and swatted his hand away.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian did not waste much time catching up, pausing just out of sight at the clear presence of other vampires, that were clearly hostile towards the one they were chasing. Well, that simply wouldn't do, he scowled as he made sure he was loaded with lethal rounds this time. That wouldn't do at all, after all, he had gotten here first, they could find their own vampire woman to steal away! That, and he had a gut instinct she would be better in hunter hands than theirs, as odd as that sounded to most. Taking a bead on the one talking to the woman, he did not waste time firing, as the airship pulled up, several men leaning over the sides to fire crossbows modified with blessed bolts, and those were the most mundane weapon assaulting the vampire group. The other man that had accompanied Adrian crept up beside the Captain, and was quickly dispatched to find the missing of them, and to leave his net just in case. Just because he was dealing with the newcomer vampires did not mean he intended to allow the one he had already wounded to escape so readily, after all, he wasn't letting the work go to waste for nothing.

The airship crew was cautious not to get too over eager, not trusting the means and abilities the vampires might have. Neither did Adrian, who kept to the shadows, moving after each shot, and not always in the same direction, just to buy himself a few seconds extra time, keeping an eye on the woman at all times as well, so she didn't slip away without someone noticing. The airship crew was most likely doing the same, at least the ones who were not busy harassing and gunning for the vampires that were not the one already wounded and marked for capture. That would be bad for their job, after all, failing to do what they were instructed when they were that close to the objective being successful. He would be careful in approaching her, net in hand of course, once the fighting was said and done, assuming it was that simple of course.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria hissed at the other vampires to warn them to stay away from her as he eyes were glowing red at them for she did not want them near her. But she soon heard one of the vampires scream in pain and looked over her shoulder to see the hunter that was following her shoot at them. "Stupid Human you will pay for that." As one of them ran to attack but got shot by the other hunters in the air ship taht were firing with crossbows. Victoria freaked as she got low to the ground and tried to cover herself in hopes she would bland in with the grass a little so they would not hit her or shoot at her. While she did that the other vampires tired to attack the other humans but it proved to futile. "RETREAT THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM AND WE LOST TO MANY OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WE WILL GET VICTORIA LATER!" THe leader of the group said and the other vampires agreed and ran off not wanting to die by the hunters hands but they swore they would be back for thier Victoria.

Victora was still low to the ground shaking for she was very scared and she needed to feed because of all the blood loss she was suffering from the shot in her lef for it only made it worst since she had not feed for a few days already. Once she heard the vampires leave she lifted her head up and looked around with a scared look on her face. She soon saw one of the hunters start to apporach her slowly and she crawled back a little but her leg hurt to much for she lost her adrenalie rush she had earlier. "Please stay away I am not stable." Victoria said for she did not want to attack him and drink him dry since he looked young and had a life ahead of him. "So stay away I have not fed in the last few days please I don't want to hurt you." Victoria siad for she was differnt from all the other vampires since she only feed on the ones that were old and ready to die, people who truely want to die, or people who do horrible crimes and need to punished for them. And she was not about to start killing inoccent people even if they were hunting her and probably going to kill her.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian kept his rifle trained upon the vampiress woman after the others were driven back, leaving him and her alone in the clearing at the moment. The other hunter was on his way back, but as the woman spoke, the captain couldn't really place her as the vampires he had been dealing with, and had been haunting humanity. She was actually trying to drive him off without feeding? That was unusual, and he spoke quietly so no one else could hear. "Why would you risk that to warn a human? Vampires hate humans..." He didn't see any qualms from vampires before, to jump an unwary human and drain them dry, but she was acting different. That was odd, really odd, so it was a good thing they had caught up with her, or she would have lost us in the woods. He wasn't concerned with the curses and threats from the vampires, he and his kind could deal with them if they tried anything, this was their prize, fair and square.

The other hunter came back, reporting the other man dead, drained of all his blood. Adrian sighed, it was an inevitable casualty, but before he could stop the other hunter, he grabbed the net that was holding the starving vampires, going to drag her back to the ship's touch down point a few clearings over. Adrian couldn't warn the man that this was not going to end well, but instead shielded his eyes from what would probably be an inevitable death, with the rest of the airship crew watching. No matter how this situation ended, he would not be getting any respect, whether command hating him for stopping her, or the crew for still following orders after whatever happens now, because its always that one commander's fault, the leader that never really wanted the role but did his best anyways, and always paid for such folly.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria looked at Adrian as she was in the net and looked at him for she heard him when he whispered. "I do not hurt innoccent people that have thier lives ahead of them."She said to him as she trembled a little. "I only feed on those who have done horrible crimes like murder, really old people that are ready to die, and thouse who truely want to die." She explained to the hunter infront of her as she tried to control her hunger for blood. She sat there as she watched the other hunters apporached him and when she heard the news one of thier men was drained of thier blood she knew it was the other vampires doing which only proved that the other vampires did not care about humanity but she did for she had one thing the other vampires have forgotten and that was the fact their were once human also. She then heard footsteps come near her and another hunter was about to grab her net to pull her and the scent of his was starting to make her go a little farel.

Victoria was trying her best to control her farel side. She just sat there and just tried to breath from her moth and not her nose to help her not smell him but her breathing was getting raspy bust she just curled up in the net knowing she was only going to be dragged back to where ever they were going to take her. "If I am going to be killed please make it quick." She mumbled to herself as she stayed all curled up and looked over at Adrian noticing he had shielded his eyes thinking she was going to attack and feed on the one that wanted to grab her net and take her back to the airship but she just ast there breathing from her mouth and not her nose.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian looked at the other hunter, and yelled up to the ship above. "Get some of that bait blood you lot have, this one is close to going feral, don't want to test the brig on that kind of insanity." From the humans perspective, it was because he was looking out for their own safety rather than for any reason on the vampires side. In reality, a prisoner was a prisoner, and they would be treated as well as one could manage. It was the way wars were fought, and by god he was still a soldier, even if he was called a hunter some days. The ship landed, and Adrian helped lift the netted vampiress into the ship, as she was shuffled down into the holding cell aboard the ship, several bottles of blood were already waiting, and the former army captain sighed, looking into the cage, slinging his rifle on his back. She would feel the ship start to move, while Adrian kept a steady vigil on her, making sure she didn't try to escape. He did explain the blood bottles though, still speaking barely above a whisper. "The other hunters aren't soldiers, so don't expect a proper prisoner's treatment from them. The blood is human, from the slain victim of vampires and their thralls. Baited quite a few of your kin into traps."

Adrian was silent for awhile, the ship moving steadily farther away from the forest, racing back to the safety of the Order's keep, both their own and to prevent dawn from slaying their prisoner. He broke his silence, no other humans having come down in the interim, trusting the guard enough to call for help if it was needed. "Your not going to be executed, the Order wants information on this Vampire King. Granted, I'm more curious about what turned your kind against you, really." He was soft spoken the entire time, whether this was an act or not would be unclear to most. In reality, it wasn't, but one couldn't be blamed for assuming such. Part of the reason he had called for the blood was because she hadn't ferally turned on that idiot who refused to stop and hear out his warning. They could have more safely moved this vampiress, but he was impatient, and had no idea he nearly paid for such a mistake. If she had, he wouldn't have been as polite thus far, which was probably a change of pace compared to other hunters and humans.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria did not thrash around or anyhting as she was moved but her thirst was getting strong and she did start to bare her fangs a little showing she was on the edge that she could snap any second. But she was glad to hear they had blood they used as bait but to give to her so she would not go insane. Victoria looked up at the airship as tehy took her in and was kind of amazed by it a little th size od it and the fact that it could fly for she wondered how something so big could lift off the ground and into the air. Once she was in her cell she noticed the bottles with blood in it and opened it fast and drank them down fast for she did not care where it came from at the time all she cared was to quench her enormuse thirst that was consuming her. Once she finished drinking off the blood she wiped her face from the blood that spilled on her before loking at Adrian when he explained what the blood was and what it was used for. "Serves my kind right honestly they only care about being in control and have forgoten that we were once human." She siad as she sat in the Corner of her cell hugging her legs.

She soon felt the airship move and it scared her a little because she had never flown or anything like this before. She was amazed but scared by it at the same time only because it was new and she did nit know how it was working. After awhile she was laying in her cell not really knowing what to do when Adrian came back and she listen. "But I do not know much of what the Vampire King is doing all I know is heis planning something bad." Victoria explained to him as she stayed laying on the floow with her hair flared on on the ground. She listend to him also on why her own kind turned on her. "Beacuase as you can tell I am differnt from other vampires I hate hurting innocent people, and I broke a tabboo you see there was a family the vampires captured a few years back and ther was this little girl with a terrified look, she watched her parents and brother tortured then killed for their blood." Victoria said as she curled up and hugged herself. "Something in me snapped when I saw her and I snatched her and ran off with her as fast as my vampire speed could take me, I ran through rivers, streams, anything to throw are scent off until I found a town that did not know about our kind I gave her to a new family to raise her and that made the clan hate me for we are not suppose to help humans we are suppose to feed on them and not care it was to put fear in the other humans." Victoria finished explaining and sighed a little as she turned so her back was facing him. "you must think I a making this up who would trust a creature of the night that needs blood to survive and was only turned into one because the king is creating an army."

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian was quiet, listening to the disdain for the vampires and other stories as to how she had arrived in her current predicament. She had retreated to the cell's corner, not something he could rightly blame the vampiress for in this particular situation, as she recited her tale. He might not have been inclined to believe the vampiress under most circumstances, but this was hardly such. Even if the story wasn't completely true, she had been under the hunting gaze of the vampires of her kind rather than just the humans like him. Her apparent knowledge on the Vampire King being limited honestly was irrelevant at this point. She was proof they could be captured now, which would mean more attempts and lives would be lost trying to take stronger, more ruthless ones that cared not for the survival of humans in the slightest. Her tale was harrowing, to say the least, and her last statement caught his attention. "Why would the Vampire King require...does he intend to take over the world, rather than simply rule a large sect of his species?"

Adrian formed his question like that for a reason, being able to see the difference between her and normal vampires, even if he couldn't bring himself to sympathize for a vampire, even in dire straits like these, he had his own deep seated horror story from his first encounter with the blood suckers. But her last comment implied this was forced, and he sat down, next to the bars on a stool, rifle resting on his back. "I can't guarantee your safety once we arrive at the keep. Each of us has a horror story comparable to yours, without that ray of hope at the end in many cases, but I'll do what I can to see you properly treated with all dues to a prisoner." A commotion above the brig level made Adrian stand, rifle in hand as he trained it on the door. It was fortunate that he had, as the hinges of the door were blown off as a vampire warrior came roaring through, only to slam backwards hard, one of the Slayer bolts from his rifle having found its mark within the beasts chest. From the sounds from the now open doorway, there was heavy fighting, and realization dawned on Adrian's face. "That blasted fool of a navigator! He flew us too low to the trees, and your hunters found enough purchase to board the ship. This is bad, there is no way in hell they are going to win this..." He was clearly not prepared to die here, rifle braced with his one arm, an old Webley Revolver in his other hand, a fixed snarl on his face. He was not giving up his life, this ship, or their prisoner lightly. It hadn't even dawned on him about even considering unlocking her cage, as he was in full fight mode right at this moment, ready for the next intruder.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria kept her back towards Adrian as she listend to him ask her a question. "All I know is that he wants an army to take over humanity saying something about how humans took soething precious from him and now he was going to make all humanity pay for it." She said to him as she stayed in her little corner not wanting to deal with anything for either or she knew that once they get their information out of her or if they don;t get what they want they will just kill her. She just laid there not knowing what else to do except just sit there and litsten to her own thought before she heard him say taht she would be treated like a proprer prisoner. "Even if you promise that I still will be mistreated no one likes my kind at all." She sad as she curled up more into a ball not knowing what else to do. She thought she could live freely without really causing great hearm and just live off the blood of those who are old and ready to die and those who are murders.

As she sat there she also heard the comotion as she sat up and looked at the door to see the vampire warriar come in and try to attack Adrain. "They are after me again and now your men will be killed because of me. Victoria said feeling worst now and wished she was dead so all this craziness will just end. She listened to Adrian say how the navigator flew to low in the trees. "You guys are close to the vampire hideout that is also the other reason why they are attacking like crazy." She siad and the only reason why she knew that because she still rememebers the smell of those people that were killed at the hideout and some smells she could not forget from there.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian shot the vampire warrior right in the chest, sidestepping his hurtling body and reloading, sighing. This was unattainable, at this rate. The ship wasn't going to manage to make it on its own at this rate, and if he left this room, either they'd lose the prisoner or he would be slaughtered, whichever happened first. Well, if the hunters couldn't have the prisoner, neither would the vampires. He made the choice right then, walking over to her cell and unlocking it, pulling the door aside, and speaking quickly. "I hate vampires, hell, I have more than my fair share reason to hate you bloodsuckers, but that doesn't mean I'm still not a soldier. I don't care what my others, my betters think, I treat a prisoner with dignity. This ship ain't gonna make it against the vampires boarding it, and I ain't gonna see a prisoner mistreated that easily in their hands. In gods honest truth, the Order would do little better, despite my best attempts, so to hell with them." He managed to catch another one mid leap, rifle stock slamming it into the ground and dazing it before it took an a slayer bolt into the chest, ending its existence and reloading.

"So I won't execute you, like the others would. They would shoot you dead, not caring that the vampires are after you for some reason. Well, damn me, I'm curious, and figure shooting you doesn't do any good now. The escape hatch is in the back, I would go that way, but the drop into the trees would probably kill me, or what is waiting down there if there is a lair. I might try my luck anyways, considering they are up here still, especially if that coward of a navigator can put this damn ship upwards, trap the vampires up here until dawn. I don't plan to be on this ship with a bunch of pissed off vamps, and I doubt you want to be either." There was no point in trying to save the ship or its crew, who were probably being drained alive, and Adrian ran to the brig door, slamming it shut and bracing it with several benches, knowing he was barricading himself in with a vampire he had just captured and wounded prior. But a potentially peaceful one beat the hell out of the clearly vicious ones outside. Or at least they had a mutual enemy, even if his hatred towards the vampire race was great. He walked away from the door, slinging his rifle on his back and pulling some carpeting aside, revealing a trapdoor with a combination lock on it, but several revolver shots later, the hatch was open, treeline visible right beneath them. The barricade on the main door was splintering, and he glanced at the free vampiress, unable to believe the situation he was in today. "The Order is little better than your Vampire Lord, from the sounds of it in ideology. Complete, total annihilation of the target of their ire for the sake of vengeance. My men deserved better than what they got from the vampires that day, but I suppose vengeance will have to stand aside in favor of survival. I suppose my hatred for your kind will do the same."

A hole was punched in the door, and Adrian spun, putting several shots through the door with his revolver, doing no more than pissing them off, and he reloaded and jerked his head at the escape hatch, and spoke quietly, despite the life or death situation. "Ladies first, I believe is the etiquette." He would follow her out, and none too soon as he was out the hatch, the ship took a steep rise upwards, the navigator's last spiteful act towards the vampires. A moment longer, the two of them would probably have been dead for certain. Adrian didn't land well, rolling several dozen feet and landing sprawled, barely grabbing his rifle before a vampire, a hostile one, that escaped the ship was on him, trying to suck him dry, and he got his rifle between him and its teeth, holding it back for now, although it was going to be a losing battle if it ran for much longer.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria sat in her cell as she watched him and listen to him while he fought off the vampires that kept running in trying to kill him and capture her. She wondered why this had to happen why did they have to hurt humans that did not deserve being hurt and why do they care so much about her that the vampires had to hunt her down and take her back to that awful vampire king. "You are right that the ship not last for long for their are over thousands of vampires in this forest along in the lair and maybe more in other areas that I might not know about." She said to him as she watched the whole fight from her imprisonment. But Victoria was shocked when he opened her cell to let her out but she was to scared to move because of the commotion.

Victoria listened to him explain how she would only be executed because of the invasion from the other vampires. "I can smell most of the crew members blood all over this ship and it is strong." She said knowing that it was probably to late for most of the crew and the ship. She watched him try to barricade the door and she decided to help because of her vampire strength which helped with pushing stuff up as tight as she could get it. She then watched him open a hatch and explain to her about the craziness in the world they live in about hatred and vengeance. "Hatred and vengeance is the one that that cause many wars and for many innocent people to get hurt." Victoria said to him as he explained about jumping out of the ship which she thought was still crazy even for a vampire like her.

She soon jumped at the sound of a hole being made into the door as she looked over her shoulder. She told him ladies first and she nodded and jumped out of the ship landing on her feet with no problem but she watched Adrian jump out when the ship made an all of a sudden rise upward. She saw the vampire go after Adrian and she ran up to it. "Oh no you don't! She said as she tackled the vampire and fought it before getting her fangs into the vampire and sucking it dry before ripping its head off and threw it against some rocks. After she did that she wiped her mouth from the blood and walked over to him before another vampire came out and Victoria attack it also and killed it. "Man they do not give up." She said before looking at Adrian. "Hey you ok?" She asked as he approached him.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian groaned, watching the vampiress rip the hostile one off of him, draining it and tossing it aside, hard, scattering it against the rocks. Another one arrived and got killed, and he forced himself onto his feet, limping clearly but shouldering his rifle, and his prayers were answered when it fired, killing a third vampire that was charging the friendly vampiress from behind, and grimaced. "Probably sprained ankle, battered and jarred to all hell, but I can run and live. Running might be necessary, considering you said this area is just swamped with the hostile vampires. Maybe if we keep up with the airship..." Several booming noises cut him off, and slammed into the ship, igniting it and sending it crashing into the ground. The flames and noise would probably attract attention, and he sighed, glancing at the vampiress. "Alright, that was bad. Order fired from an aerial gunship, and are on the hunt now. And they won't be friendly, I had hoped the Grandmaster wouldn't resort to such actions..." He shouldered his rifle, looking around the two of them.

"Know anywhere we can lay low within running distance of dawn? I ain't precisely from this neck of the woods." Pragmatism and survival took over right now, literally stuck on the ground, with large amounts of angry vampires and only one remotely sympathetic one with him right now, and he himself wasn't looking too hot, to put it mildly. He managed to keep his hat, somehow, and he readjusted it, scanning their surroundings. It was quiet, for the moment, since the hostile creatures had probably gone to swamp the shot down ship, and might be going to ground before dawn, or the gunship's teeth, found the lot of them and incinerated them. She probably realized how dangerous this was right now, and this was her game on the ground, as much as he hated to admit it, and said as much. "Way I see it, we both have large, powerful enemies. I don't like your kind, even if you were forced, and you'd rather not be dealing with any of this at all. But I figure that, well..." He swallowed hard and continued, not sure what prompted him to extend the offer. "We should probably stick together right now, with the vamps kicked like a riled up beehive and the Order out for blood now. I figure, a few days, things calm down, I can get back their way, and we can find you someplace that is quiet and has your preferred feed. If things work out in that ways favor. I don't think they will, though." He sighed, giving her the chance to choose here, she got drug into this unwillingly, after all.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria looked at him after he shot the third vampire behind her. "Nice shot." She said as she walked up to him as he explained to her that his ankle might be sprained. "Should probably have your ankle looked at still." She said to him after hearing the explosion happen and turned around to see what was going on and watching the airship, that she was once on, go down in a bright blaze. She was shocked that humans were willing to take the risk of maybe killing human survivors because they want to get ride of all the vampires that invaded the ship. She soon heard him explain about how the ship was shot down because of the order having it shot down. "Sometimes humans just amaze me at the rash and weird decisions you all make now and I have been around for I think a few hundred years can't remember." Victoria said as she walked to his side.

[B]"I know of an area that we can law low for a while its a little far but it will be safe." Victoria explained to him as she placed his arm over her shoulder and had him lean on her so he would not put weight on his sprain ankle and not make it worst. She then started walking towards the place she was talking about. "Probably be a good idea to stick together since my senses are more heighten then yours are and also I am worried about your ankle and that it might be worst then you say it might be." Victoria explained to him as they left the area where the airship had crash and to get as far away as they can so they would not end up getting killed by either group. She walked a steady pace so it would not make Adrian feel like he was being dragged by her as she took him to a far off part of the forest that not vampire, except her, would go. "By the way my name is Victoria, just Victoria I don't remember my last name at all." She said to him. After a few hours they finally made it to the area that was completely surrounded by trees so light from the day can't shine through at all. Victoria placed him down on a rock to let him rest as she went over to a place where a makeshift bed was that had a bag near it. "This is the place don't worry no vampire comes here not even the vampire king there is some legend about this spot but I have lived here for about 6 years and there is nothing bad here but it keeps them away." Victoria explained as she brought the bag over and bent down to examine his ankle to really see if it was just sprained and even if it was she placed a splint on it to help with the healing process.

[Eisenhorn]

Adrian shook his head, it was typical human behavior. The ship was lost, better destroyed than have vampires flying about on an unregistered, relatively unnoticeable ship. "Thanks, I suppose." He did nod in agreement, the sprain would probably have to wait until he was back in the land of civilized, human, people though, he didn't expect her to actually do much to help yet. Her comment got a nod in agreement, leaning on his rifle like a cane, taking the weight off his bad ankle at the moment. Her comment was true, but he did offer a counter argument. "Imagine a foe that is stronger, faster, and more durable than you, that your only advantage is technology. And now imagine they have one of your greatest advantages in that field, you'd sooner break it than allow them to have it, right?" It was cold arithmetic of war. Casualties of few, to save hte lives of many. Not that he liked it, such waste was not something that sat well with him, which was probably all too obvious.

Any other day of the week, had you told Adrian he would be relying on a sympathetic vampiress, that he wounded and helped capture, to half carry him to safety after being, in essence, boarded and shotdown on one of the nicer airships in the fleet, he would have gawked. But, here he was, metaphorical horse shot out from under him, a vampiress bringing his arm about her shoulders to support his weight and help carry him to safety. "I appreciate the concern ma'am, and agree with the sticking together. I'll know if Order goons are after us, signs you'd miss a mile wide, and I'm one of their better ones, whether they realized it or not." He wasn't comfortable being limped along like that, but he kinda had to suck it up and deal with it. The grove unnerved him, the utter lack of daylight would do that to a man. He returned the introduction in kind, inclining his head her way. "Adrian, Adrian Shieldworth, former Commenwealth Captain. I suppose at your service is also appropriate?" As she sat him down on the rock, he flinched a bit, holding his comments and pain inside as she checked his ankle. His ankle was shattered clean across the bone, not just sprained, and proved a key injury to take care of, and flinched a few times until she finished. "Thank you, I didn't expect you to help more than your stuck doing right now, honestly." Might as well be civil, since they were going to be here for awhile, and so was he.

[Fairy Tale Dreamer]

Victoria listened to him as he explained about the foe and taking them down before using someone else wepon against other people. She thought it made sense as they walked before making it to her hiding spot where she did his splint and everything. "That splint should help for a while but your ankle feels shatters and you will need someone with medical knowledge to look at it and have them properly treat it this will just help prevent it from going all over the place." She siad to him as she went over to a stream and used a bowl like thing to collect water from it and gave it to him to drink something. "Daylight will be soon but this part of the forest has no sunligh shining through I can take you as far as the edge of the forest after that you have to go the rest of the way on your own though thank fully the town at the edge is not that far." Victoria said for she can't be in sunlight it was not good for her especially her eyes. She then went around and found some stuff to make another make shift bed like hers so he had a place to rest also. "And I don't mind helping besides its my fault that the ship got attack in the first place for I know they were mainly after me and of course having you jump out of the airship." She explained to him as she finsihed making the bed walked over to him and sat on the rock.

"What do you want to do though because I can take you to where the town is so they can get a better look at your ankle or I can take you ate night? Victoria asked him as she looked at him so she can figure out what the next step was becuase if he decided to wait she would go hunt for something that he could eat and get a fire going so its not so dark for him. She had feed on enough to keep her sustained for a few days as long as she does not over do it or anything.