Dracorex

Gift of Light

People streamed out the doors and down the stairs, now that service was over. Matthew stayed in his seat at the back, watching the pews empty, before he finally got up and slunk out one of the side doors, hands in pockets.

Light peeked out from under the door of a second-floor activity room. He let himself in and locked the door behind him, eyeing the other occupant of the room. The same pale blond hair threaded with grey, the clear, piercing blue-grey eyes, and the same small, serene smile. The vampire could almost believe the man didn't age, and sometimes desperately wished it; wished he hadn't noticed the few more strands of grey. "Pastor Mortimer."

"Matthew." He always sounded quietly pleased to see him; there was a particular quality in that deep voice, something about how the name rolled off his tongue. "I'm glad you joined us today." And that was the real kicker, that the pastor was always entirely sincere, never mind that Matthew hadn't attended service for the past few months.

The vampire shrugged. "No one else today?" he asked, with another shrug of a shoulder indicating the room in general.

"I thought you might appreciate a moment of quiet before speaking with Miss Alina," Pastor Mortimer replied, sitting down. He had already taken off his jacket, and was now neatly folding up one sleeve.

Matthew sat down beside him, opening the first aid kit on the table and drawing out supplies. "It's terrifying, how well you know me."

"Only because you allow it," the other man said warmly, offering his wrist.

Cloud-grey eyes glanced away as he grasped his arm.

Pastor Mortimer, for his part, was unruffled as usual. "Heavenly Father. All that we have, all of it is a gift. It comes from you, O God, and we thank you for it."

"Amen," Matthew murmured together with him, and sank his teeth in.

---

The entrance hall doubled as a dining hall, or simply a place to sit, with long tables and benches filling most of the space. It was not an enclosed space, and was currently filled with people having lunch, making conversation, and all the other things that acquaintances and friends did. They no doubt appreciated the weather: bright, but not too hot and sunny, with a cool breeze blowing.

Matthew glanced out at what was the next best thing to direct sunlight, and suppressed a wince, returning his gaze to the crowd. Today he wore a long-sleeved blue v-neck shirt and white pants; overdressed for the weather, not quite formal enough for Sunday best. Or the other way around, depending on how one looked at it. He was leaning against a pillar in the corner, occasionally waving back as someone recognised him. Pastor Mortimer had come downstairs too, bandaged wrist hidden beneath his jacket sleeve, and was doing the usual rounds, asking after people, taking an interest in them.

It was all warm and friendly, and he never could shake the feeling that he did not belong.

Gift of Light

Matthew took a short stroll about, just to check that the other vampire wasn't lurking anymore; it wasn't like Matthew was in a hurry to go anywhere. There was no sign of the young miscreant, and individual humans were beginning to trickle through the estate as they returned home from work, so he went back to the road and, to his fortune, quickly flagged down a taxi.

Fifteen minutes later, he was home. Home, currently, was a very nice condominium flat, positively a statement in elegance: floor-to-ceiling windows, white and pale blue walls, dark polished wood for flooring; the furniture was steel and glass and pearl-grey leather, while the curtains were dark grey patterned with silver leaves. The place felt lived-in, nonetheless: battered boardgames and books stacked on a set of shelves, a laptop with a few too many things attached to it sitting amid a tangle of wires, cushions piled up on one side of the sofa.

It always felt good to see it.

Even though - or perhaps because - he knew that it couldn't last forever.

Matthew took a quick shower; he didn't perspire, but he picked up dust and dirt like everyone else did. And then he was at his laptop, firing off messages and reading the news. No strange attacks had been reported, nor any strange deaths. Not that it necessarily meant anything. He was plenty prepared to speculate on what possible outcomes there could have been for the woman - what was it, A, right, her name was Alina - but unprepared to guess at the probable outcome. Who knew.

Even he had changed, after all.

And then his phone rang.

He glanced at it - unknown number - and picked it up.

Oh. "I take it you're home and safe?"

---

@VampireOracle

Gift of Light

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 bitten. Rabies came to mind, but both the two men moved too fast. 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."

Kill... evidence... ash... what? 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.

Pull yourself together.

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--" Ash. Ash. 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.

Not funny. 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. She didn't know. Why was she so indecisive? Do something, do something, do something. "So if he's a vampire..." Yeah, right. "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" as I was shown mercy once "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. Pull yourself together. 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. Don't turn your back on him. "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."

Stop smiling. 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. He's joking. He's got to be joking. Giving her his number and asking her to call? 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. Vampire.

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.

Gift of Light

Matthew was stalking a vampire.

It wasn't easy, staying far enough away to go unnoticed, especially given that his target was currently loitering, possibly waiting for someone. But Matthew wanted to know who this stranger was and what he was like without actually going up to the other man and asking, so here he was. People usually showed their true colours when they thought no one else was watching.

And there was no one else. Empty grass fields on one side of the road, apartment blocks on the other side, a gloomy dusk making long shadows of everything. A bus passed by, a brief bout of movement and noise.

The other vampire moved, heading forward with clear purpose. Matthew began walking too, behind the row of bushes, keeping an eye on his target. The stranger had peroxide blonde hair, pale skin, and hunched his shoulders a little every time he stepped out of the shadows. Matthew's own skin still prickled despite his black longcoat and pale grey jeans, and his face felt sunburned, but he knew from experience that the weak sunlight was leaving no physical trace on his skin at the moment; the pain was negligible.

A woman came into view, and then the stranger set upon her from behind - one hand clamped over her mouth, the other wrapped around her waist, and he dragged her to the relative privacy of the alcove under the nearest flight of stairs, doing so with ease and speed that would be entirely shocking to a mortal human.

Matthew crossed the couple dozen metres between himself and them in a moment. The other vampire sank his fangs into her neck, and then was promptly yanked away as Matthew seized him and slammed him against the wall.

---

@VampireOracle

Gift of Light

Matthew Stanford

---

Appearance

Lean and spare, Matthew has slightly sunken cheeks, overly prominent cheekbones, a straight, sharp nose and long, bony fingers. He stands at about 5' 9", with slightly curly black hair worn at almost collar length, cloud-grey eyes, and light brown skin free of any blemishes. Or at least, these are the facts one would recite if they had thought to pay attention and then recall to mind the unremarkable man in his mid-20s, dressed neatly in muted colours. Beige turtleneck long-sleeved shirt and grey pants, or perhaps dark blue jeans. A black knee-length longcoat with a hood, almost certainly, and comfortable running shoes.

He has a preference for concealing clothes, if one takes the time and effort to notice; long sleeves regardless of the weather, longcoat close at hand. They hide lean, wiry muscle and flawless brown skin stretched tight over bone; he is thinner than he seems at first glance, and stronger than he looks like he should be. (His canine teeth are longer and sharper than they should be, too. But if you can see it for yourself without a doubt, likely he is showing them to you deliberately.)

The clothes he prefers are also of good quality, a mark of wealth, along with the things one may see him produce from his pockets - handphone, wallet, the cards in his wallet. Not that he acts the part, unless it is the part of a self-centred youngster careless with his money, slouching in his seat, a smirk on his lips, playing with language in a way that suggests both proper education and a disdain for said education.

---

Personality

Cautious courtesy for a stranger, laughter and a careless sprawl when he means to be casual, deadly fearless determination under pressure; Matthew changes, smooth as quicksilver, to be whoever and whatever he wants to be for a particular situation. He's not bluffing or lying, not exactly, and not usually; he throws himself into each moment with the self-confidence of someone who has not only been there and done that but gotten the limited-edition souvenir, unless he's faking uncertainty and vulnerability to mask his decisiveness, which in turn belies the darkness and doubt that he, like all thinking beings, carries with him.

But he usually doesn't need nor want to stage an act, so his usual behaviour is more-or-less who he is, or prefers to be - irreverent, sardonic, prone to voicing harsh truths, generous in both material and spirit. And observant; always observant, keen-eared, and more insightful than is often expected. It can be disconcerting, when he suddenly pauses, with a measured look and a thoughtful gleam in his eye, slightly longer than confortable, and the very act leaves one suspecting that it is an act, that he has allowed his interest to be noticed.

And of course it is his choice; Matthew values control over his life and freedom in his actions, for all that he seems content to sit back and make a sarcastic comment.

---

Background

Background

Matthew is a vampire. He has walked this Earth for a very long time, so long that he has lost count of the years, and lost count yet again as humans changed the ways they reckoned the dates, and changed again. Sustained by blood, and only upon blood (for normal food and drink are as ash in his mouth), he will heal from all injury without a trace, live all of time without its marks upon him, unless he is stabbed through his unbeating heart or decapitated. Sunlight burns his skin, but it will take a great deal of it to kill. All vampires are faster and stronger than humans are, but Matthew is much older than most vampires, and therefore much stronger and faster.

A vampire is created by an exchange of blood with the human who is to be changed, and the human's subsequent death. This is how Matthew was created. He does not know how the first vampire was created.

There are many things Matthew does not know. There are many things he knows and does not wish to speak of. Who sired him? Do the blades in his possession have names? Are there other people in his life? Ask him yourself, if you get the chance.

Introduction.

o/ Another familiar face! XDXD Hope you like it here; I know I do already, even though I've barely dipped my toes XD.

A Vampire's Search [Closed for now]

Hm. I've been thinking of dipping my toes into this forum properly, and I see 'vampires' could be a thing XD. Mark me interested, I'll send you a PM by tonight (it being 11.20am where I am now) with my own thoughts XD.

I Think One or Two of You Might Know Me?

Ahahaha the paleo-nerd joke is one of the reasons I picked my username to begin with, so XDXD. I'm absolutely tickled that someone gets it XD. Thank ye all XD.

I Think One or Two of You Might Know Me?

Hi. I'm Dracorex. I do/did RPing on a couple of other forums before, and this is the latest place I've jumped to, on the recommendation of one of those peeps I RP with. Still using the same username, so.

So. I'm Singaporean Chinese. I work in a board games/hobby shop. I have a hamster, a chinchilla, and an uncertain number of guppies. I'm perpetually tired and always grumpy, don't take it personally. I don't really know how to do this social thing. I'll probably be lurking really quietly around here if I'm on at all, until I find an RPG I like and then get completely sucked into it emotionally, soul held hostage and everything. Or something.

It's 2.24am I'mma go to bed now.