SepticGentleman

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Kyle, Kayla, and Eli

Written with @JunkMail and @Skai

---

“Oooh-oooh, here she comes… she’s a-”

“You two sound like you’re having fun!”

The Fosters both turned their heads to look behind them, stopping there repeated singing of the song’s refrain. A young Filipino woman had approached them, smiling as she greeted the duo by calling attention to their inebriated merriment. Kyle’s amulet began to vibrate, and thankfully, he was not too drunk to notice. He tapped Kayla’s shoulder, and then waved his hand about lightly for a moment before tapping his chest twice. Kayla responded by smiling, and laughing a little bit, patting her brother’s arm with both her hands repeatedly.

“We’re just…” Kyle said to the woman, “We’re… yeah! Fun…”

“It’s been a-uh- a great night.” Kayla said, allowing herself to slur her speech a tad.

“May I ask where you were going?” The woman said.

“Oh, we’re on our way h-” Kyle began, pausing to slur a bit. “H-home. Had a... ffffun night. That’s all.”

“Maybe you could use some company?” The woman responded, stepping towards the two, doing her best to make herself look as unassuming as possible. “I was out looking to do something fun and, here you two are.” She said, passing her gaze to Kayla. “Especially you…” Her last two words were especially… intent.

“Sure! The more the merrier!” Kayla replied, playing into the woman’s game. “We were uh, trying to get back home to get my wallet. We both flew in recently.” Kayla said, leaning against Kyle as if to stop herself from swaying. “Do you know where the closest bus stop is? Probably can't drive or afford a cab right now.”

“Yes, I know where one is nearby.” The woman replied, “We can get there quicker if we cut through a few alleys.”

“Peeeerfect.” Kyle said, nodding and giving a very wry smile. As the woman took the lead towards the nearest alley entrance, Kayla following, Kyle turned his attention towards Eli in the distance. He raised his hand and waved it back in this direction, signalling her to follow behind them. Eli, already cautious of the stranger, crossed the street and continued towards the alleyway. She quickened her pace so that she could keep an eye on them.

As the Fosters and the woman began their trek through the alley, she put herself closer to Kayla’s side, almost brushing shoulders.

“So…” She said, in a rather low voice, “Is he your boyfriend? Husband?” It was clear she was trying to keep Kyle out of the conversation.

“Brother, ‘nd best friend. We haven't been able to see each other inna while.” Kayla answered, only half truthfully. The two of them had been together from the beginning of their supernatural journey.

“Think he wouldn’t mind you and me going on once we get back to your house?” The woman said, “I know a great place nearby. You and I could have so much fun there, I promise!”

As the two spoke Kyle turned his head back around to check on Eli, still following along at a safe distance. They both nodded to each other, and Kyle began creeping his hand closer towards the pocket he was keeping his weapon concealed.

“What kind of fun are ya thinkin’?”

“Dance a little, get a drink or two…” The woman replied, “Get a bite to eat?”

“Sounds I could use a bite to eat.” Kayla commented offhandedly. She was being serious, too. She hadn’t eaten in a few hours today. Once this was done, she’d probably ask Kyle if they could get some fast food.

“Lovely!” The woman replied, “Actually, do you think your brother can handle himself from here? If you and I leave now, everything will be my treat, I promise.”

Kayla hesitated. “I’d prefer to stick with my brother. He’s the reason why I’m visiting town.”

“C’mooon…” The woman said, sidling up to Kayla and placing her hand on her arm. The skin began to morph, and her claws became ever so lightly detectable. “It’ll be worth it, I promise. Just tell him to leave, and-”

Click.

The woman’s deceitful smile dropped immediately as she turned her head, only looking at Kyle - now brandishing his gun - for half a second, before ducking low to the ground, mouth stretching into an abominable maw full of needle-teeth, tongue extending outward. She screeched, and as Kyle fired twice, both shots missing thanks to his light stupor and her freakish agility, the aswang leapt high above him, clinging to a nearby fire escape ladder.

“Now!” Kyle yelled, turned his head back towards Eli for a moment before attempting to retrain his gaze on the aswang.

A few seconds later, their inebriation no longer affected the two as Eli ducked behind a pile of trash cans. She crouched low, keeping her focus more on the Tourists than the position of the aswang. She kept her eyes open, but they glazed over as her ability affected her own vision. Her hand was tucked into the pouch, firmly grasping the grip.

“Neuma!” Kayla shouted, flexing her hands and throwing them down towards the ground, ripping the fire escape that the Aswang was clinging to clear off the building wall to prevent her from escaping. “Natua dina!” she commanded, sealing the sounds of the alleyway off from the rest of the world to prevent unwanted attention.

The aswang turned her head towards her assailants, leaping off of the fire escape ladder and onto the opposing wall. Clinging to the side of the building, she flourished her whip-tongue and swiped at Kayla.

As the sounds of the fight reached Eli, something within her convinced herself that more could be done. She inhaled, preparing herself for a moment before she stepped out from her hiding place. Standing directly behind the horrifying creature, Eli felt dazed momentarily as she tried to get a grip on the monster’s senses. She gasped as she felt the connection, an eerie feeling passing over her. Without thinking too much about it, she immediately removed it’s sight while overwhelming her remaining senses. Kayla made a split second decision to allow the tongue to land an indirect strike on her arm instead of her chest or neck. The needle like tip of the tongue dug into her forearm, but before the paralytic agent could fully take effect, she wrapped the creature’s tongue around her arm once and pulled it close to her chest with her good arm as she lost feeling in the injured limb, preventing the creature from moving without dragging a hundred or so pounds of weight. With the creature immobilized in a multitude of ways, Kyle took it as a clear opportunity to aim at the creature and begin firing.

Quickly following Kyle’s lead, Eli pulled the glock from the magic pouch and stepped to the side of the aswang. She cocked the gun and proceeded to unload it into the creature’s side. Both of them riddled the creature with silver bullets, audible screeches of pain sounding out from its mouth. The aswang quickly lost its grip on the building wall, stumbling, and then falling. It slammed into a pair of garbage cans, and immediately scrambled to crawl away from the trio, knowing this was a losing battle. Her blindness, however, caused her to make several poor choices in which direction to escape in. Several trails of black sludge followed behind her as her wounds bled into the alley.

”Entula sinome!” Kayla shouted, her good hand flexing and dragging the Aswang’s body back to them kicking and screaming with an unseen force- her telekinesis. Kyle and Eli both approached the creature on each side as she madly attempted to crawl away, her claws scratching the stained ground beneath her. The duo aimed their weapons down at the aswang, and began firing repeatedly. Bullets riddled her upper back and her head, bits of her flying off along with small shreds of clothes. Within a moment, she became still, the only indicator of her still being the slightest bit alive, a few pained breaths escaping through her teeth. Kyle made his way around the fallen creature and placed two more shots into her head, making certain she was good and gone.

“This is probably going to be painful tomorrow.” Kayla muttered, working the creature’s now limp tongue out of her arm and dropping the appendage with distaste. “Disgusting. Eli, could you help me wrap up my arm?”

Eli turned her attention towards Kayla, preferring not to witness what remained of the creatures head. She nodded, taking a moment to release her effects on the two Tourists. She’d felt the connection to the aswang disappear the moment she heard the bullets enter its head. She quickly made her way towards Kayla, pocketing the gun and helping to bandage the painful looking wound.

“Kyle, could you do the honors this time? I usually need both hands to… dispose of the evidence.” she commented, conveniently ignoring the part of the fire escape that she had pulled off the building wall. “Thank you, Eli.” she followed, giving her friend a smile for her effort.

“Yeah.” Kyle replied, reaching into his inner coat pockets. After a moment of fumbling, he pulled out a small crimson marble, with a light glow to it. “You should stand back.” He said to both Kayla and Eli. As they did so, Kyle raised the marble into the air, and then struck the aswang corpse with it. It burst into a small explosion of flames, quickly enveloping the corpse whole.

The light from the fire illuminated the alley greatly.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Kyle, Kayla, and Eli

---

The doors to the Tír na nÓg swung open, and out stumbled two Foster-folk, both varying in their levels of inebriation. Kayla was snickering about something, somewhat to the chagrin of Kyle, who was simply attempting to keep a straight line in his pace. As they walked a short ways away from the bar, Kayla began to… sing.

“She’ll oonly c-heh-ome out at niiiight… the leeean and huuungry type…”

Kyle just turned his head to watch his sister waver in both step and voice, a confused and slightly worried look etched on his face.

“Nothin’ is new, I’ve- seen ‘er here befooooore…” As she finished the word, she held her hands palms-outward, motioning for her brother to join her. Something on her drunken mug made it seem as though she just knew he knew the lyrics. Kyle just stood there for a moment, silent, mouth just slightly agape. And then, it happened.

“Wwwwatching and waiting…”

Kayla smiled wide, shaking her hands in joy.

“Oh she’s sitting with you, but her eyes are oooon the dooo-hooor…”

Admittedly, Kyle’s singing was rather sub-par. But the man was a little drunk, after all. Something that rarely happened, and Kayla considered herself fortunate to behold. Even rarer was the singing, which by all reasonable accounts, should not happen.

“Ooo-ooh here she comes…” They sang in unison, skipping the latter half of the first verse, “Watch out boy, she’ll chew you up! Ooo-ooh, here she comes… she’s a maaaaneeeater!”

As they moved further away from the nÓg, out came Eli through the entrance herself. Not nearly as inebriated as the Fosters, thankfully. She kept her distance from them, as far as she could so as to keep them in her range of affect. She moved over to the opposing sidewalk, keeping her hand close to the pouch containing the handgun Kyle had lent her, and eyes scanning the surrounding area. As she heard the two Tourists sing in the distance, she couldn’t help but crack a smile.

If all their efforts would be dealt a stroke of luck, the aswang would come and make an attempt on their lives. And despite evidence to the contrary, they would be ready for the creature.

@JunkMail
@Skai

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

The Spank Plank is a sacred artifact of the church and you are not allowed to appropriate it for your shenanigans

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

<Snipped quote by Fetzen>

NEXT VICTIM

@JunkMail

NAIL HIM TO THE SPANK PLANK

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Kyle and Kayla Foster

_{Written with @JunkMail}

---

Hexenblut.

Kayla narrowed her brow at the word, hiding the rest of her apparent irritation behind a stalwart expression. Then she sighed. “Y’know, probably not the most tactful thing.” She trailed off. This girl obviously had little barrier between her brain and her mouth- if there was much of a brain up there at all. Tourists and Jagers carried a stigma to most of the undesirables in the supernatural community, and justifiably so. During their last visit, there had been one in the very building that they had removed from the premises for Ellara. “The walls always have ears.”

“Look, we…” Kyle began, motioning his hands towards Kayla in an attempt to get her to not say another word, and then looking at Ellara, “We wanted to apologize for yesterday’s incident. It was unprofessional of us, to be that confrontational with someone we’d never met before.” He passed a look to his sister, wordlessly telling her to add to the ongoing apology. Lord knows she was the one who really had to sell it.

“For what it’s worth, I didn’t... “ Kayla said, trying to find her words. “Y’know, do anything to cause such a reaction. At least, not intentionally. Sorry for setting you off, though. Honesty, I don't think any of the three of us know what that was about.” She sent a look over to her brother before continuing. “At least, not fully.”

“We just want to have a few drinks, and then be on our way.” Kyle said, “We won’t bother you beyond that.”

“Duty calls tonight.” Kayla added, not really expanding on what they were up to. “Just get us a couple shots and something to chase them with. Any spirit will do, really.” Kayla said, then quickly corrected herself, “Except Tequila. No Tequila. Fuck Tequila.”

@Lord Wraith

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

A woman is in her car, driving through Árido Valley, late at night. Late twenties, caucasian, blond. She looks somewhat tired, though she keeps her focus on the road. There are few cars nearby, either falling back or passing her. For a while, she is alone.

She eyes the trees lining the right side of the road, if only briefly. Her mind wanders, thinking about what she’ll do when she gets to her parents’ home. It’d been quite a while since last she saw them. And she-

Clicking noise, outside of the car.

Something slams into the driver’s side.

The car swerves to the right, tires squealing. It slides off the road and onto the grass before the trees. The woman is far too panicked to attempt to regain control of the vehicle. The passenger’s side slams into a tree, and the car comes to a quick stop over shredded grass and dirt. The driver’s airbag is deployed. The woman is tossed around some, but still conscious. She breathes frantically, pushing the airbag down. Once she realizes what’s happened, she attempts to calm herself, but doesn’t quite succeed. After a moment, she wrestles her seatbelt off and slowly pushes the car door open, exiting the vehicle.

She stumbles outside, still somewhat panicked. She looks around, up the incline towards the road. No lights. No one passing by. She takes out her phone, luckily still intact. She attempts to call emergency services, but-

Loud noise.

Something hits the car.

She jumps, nearly dropping her phone. She turns around to look at her car. The first thing she notices is a pair of hands - large, gangly hands - wrapped around the top. She looks up, only seeing the faint outline of something perched on top of her vehicle, before that same outline lunges forth and wraps its enormous maw around her head.

She screams. But it is muffled, and no one is around to hear her. Her phone falls out of her hands as her arms struggle wildly. The creature’s neck stretches over her body, enveloping her completely in wrinkled flesh and red tendrils. She is swallowed whole in a manner of seconds.

The creature clicks and bellows lightly, dismounting itself from on top of the car, scurrying into the forest with its abdomen bloated and loose. The car is left as it was, headlights beaming into the dark.

No one saw.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Kyle and Kayla Foster

Written with @JunkMail

---

With Kyle a few vampires higher in his kill count and Kayla having unburdened a troubled man’s psyche, the Fosters moved to return to the motel and figure out what to do next, now that they had a solid grasp of the creature they were hunting - an aswang, specifically the vampiric manananggal.

Kyle arrived first, due in part to him already being in the truck and closer to the motel, though traffic did keep him a bit. Kayla arrived not too long after via Uber. Kyle waited beside the truck as Kayla approached.

“Hey.” They said to each other.

“How’d you get along?” Kyle asked his sister.

“Got what we needed out of Mr. Whittle.” She said, placing her hand on her hip and giving him a smile. “Name’s Jane Whittle now, by the way. Hopefully, he can start making a recovery from what he’s been through. Mentally, at least. What about you?”

“Raided a small Blood Cult den. Six dead vampires, not all of which were solely my doing.”

“Yeah, tell me about this new friend of yours?”

“Inside.” Kyle said, and the two made their way up to the second floor.

...

“Illusions?” Kayla asked.

“Seemed like it.” Kyle replied, “She was messing with their heads somehow. Fooling them into traps or just incapacitating them.”

“And it wasn’t magic?”

“My amulet went quiet as soon as the last vampire was dead. It was some form of natural mentalism.”

“Huh.”

“We have heard of a few cases of them before, at the Center. Never had any around though.” Kyle stated, “They’re a phenomenon, to put it plainly.”

“I see.” Kayla replied, “Well, this ‘Vertigo’ lady… how much did you tell her?”

“Just enough. She made herself sound like a novice but she was well composed during the raid.”

“So did you give her your info, or- heh, did she give you hers?” She said hopefully.

“Kayla.”

“Oh c’mon! Honest question!” she replied, throwing her arms in the air in self defense.

“That is not what we are here for.” Kyle retorted.

“I’m just saying, it would be a pleasant surprise if one of these days, you actually made an effort to get to know a nice girl.”

“I’m gonna put a stop, to this topic…” Kyle said, motioning his hand in a halting fashion, “And ask you, politely, to move on to the more important matter. This… ‘manananggal’ creature.”

“Okay so, you know chameleons right?” Kayla began, “They’re like… lizards that were tricked out by Q Branch in James Bond. Got that long ass tongue? Imagine that, but on a vampire.” she explained. “That’s their… proboscis of sorts. The teeth just make the wound. Likely human sized, or only slightly larger. Long claws, too. Whittle was carved up pretty bad.” she went quiet for a moment, but Kyle knew better than to speak. His sister always had at least one more thing to add in situations like this. Something about dramatic flair.

“Some folklore say that they have wings too, but that could be a subspecies or an undescribed species. Either way, hope you’ve been practicing your skeet shooting.”

“Alright.” Kyle replied, taking in all the info he was dealt. He then asked, “How do we go about finding it?”

Kayla sighed. “From what I saw of Oliver’s memory, this one seems to like playing helpless and picking unprepared or unarmed victims. I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.”

“You want to set me up as bait for a trap.” Kyle replied, very plainly. Like he’d said those exact words many times before.

“Well, it likes men. But it gets worse. We have to replicate what happened to Oliver.” She explained, motioning with her hands. “Oliver was inebriated when he was attacked. I’m not going to ask you to get drunk, but a shot or two before taking to the streets may make you smell enough like alcohol to make it think you’re an easy target.”

Kyle just blew a puff of air out of his nose in mild annoyance. “Fine.” He replied, “And you’ll be doing what, exactly?”

“From what happened with Oliver, it didn’t take issue with attacking two people at once. I’ll be right behind you as backup. Likely also somewhat inebriated.” she said, looking down and then up at Kyle again with somewhat odd mixture that could only be a distraught smile. “So, at least it’s not just you as bait. It’s US as bait.”

Kyle just shook his head a bit.

“Only been here two days and I already hate this town.”

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Kyle Foster and Vertigo

_{Written with @Skai}

---

The newfound duo of a gun toting Tourist and an illusionist vigilante made their way upstairs through the tenement. Five dead vampires behind them, only one left to go. They stopped at the top floor of the tenement, Kyle motioning for Eli to stay behind him. As they neared the top of the stairs, shots rang from the end of the hallway leading to the last vampire’s assumed-to-be office. Seems he had one more pair of human guards to serve as his last line of defense - in place of all his vampiric cohorts. Probably wouldn’t be his first choice in better circumstances.

The two ducked and moved to cover behind the hallway corner. The guards were keeping them pinned. Kyle looked down at his pistol for a brief moment, thinking of what proper course of action to take.

Eli had been wondering if their journey upstairs was a bit too easy, and as she ducked behind the hallway corner she realized that her thoughts had been answered. She pressed her back against the wall. First a franken-vamp and now a gunfight? She thought bitterly. She couldn’t tell which was worse between the two. It didn’t help that this was the first time she had faced both.

”I thought you said there was only one more!”

“One more vampire. Couldn’t see the guards.”

Eli nodded and rolled her eyes. Of course not. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled through her nose. Her eyes closed, and her mind focused on the remaining minds left in the building. It took her a few moments to push the limit of her ability, but as soon as she felt ready she took control of the situation. The two gunmens’ vision blurred, and a nauseous feeling overcame them as they lost the ability to distinguish up from down. They collapsed to their knees and as Eli heard the thumps she tapped her partner’s arm. ”Take care of them. I can only hold this for a little bit.”

Kyle acted without hesitation, exiting from cover and darting down the hallway. The moment he entered the office, he slammed his fist into the left guard’s nose, the right one’s, the left one’s throat, and then the right one’s. Both of them went down, dazed and incapacitated.

Surprisingly enough, the vampire seated in the leather swivel chair before him did naught but clap a few times. “Very nice,” he exclaimed, “very nice. Looks like Van Helsing and his honey have come to-”

Kyle, not one to put up with anymore nonsense than he preferred to, cut the vampire’s little speech short with a shot to one of his kneecaps. His arrogant grin was replaced with a pain-induced snarl as he grabbed his wounded leg, the silver lodged inside stinging something awful. Kyle didn’t stop there however, putting one more shot into the vampire’s hand - one of his fingers flying off and falling on the floor.

“You... fucker!” The vampire called out, falling out of his chair and onto the floor. He didn’t give the impression of being someone very experienced with his undead condition. He held his wounds as best he could, his hand not hurting quite so much with no bullet lodged inside. Kyle stepped forward and held the gun to the vampire’s forehead.

“Everything you have on the Blood Cult. Now.”

“Fuck you!”

Kyle’s response was whipping the vampire’s face with the blunt end of the pistol’s grip, and then aiming down at him once again once he was down on his side.

“You give me what I want and you get to limp out of here and tell your superiors what happened,” Kyle began, “or I can kill you now and ransack the place. It’s your choice.”

The vampire grunted in pain again, still holding his knee. He reached into his coat pocket and, after some fiddling, pulled out his phone, holding it up to Kyle. He took it with his free hand and eyed it for a moment, turning it on and seeing the passcode screen.

“Eveything I got’s… on there,” the vampire said, pained, “Happy?”

“Passcode,” Kyle said sternly.

“Five-five-nine-two…”

Kyle input the code on the phone, bringing it up to the home screen. He nodded, satisfied, and said to the vampire, “Thanks.” And he then proceeded to shoot him thrice in his brainpan. He went limp, slumping onto the floor, ichor pooling around his torn-up head.

In the doorway behind Kyle, Eli stood in silence. She had only reached the door by the time to hear the vampire receive an ultimatum. Since then, she had simply observed the two. She now looked from the bloody body and up at the man who, she realized, was still a stranger. She still didn’t feel threatened by him, although the man had just brutally murdered the vampire.

”I suppose now is the time for explanations.” She said, eyeing the phone in his hand.

“No,” Kyle responded, “Cops’ll be here soon. Need to leave. Follow me and we’ll talk outside.” He shut the phone off completely and then passed Eli, making his way back through the hallway, confident that he got everything he needed. Eli, not necessarily presented with any other options, followed suit.

…

They’d made their way out of the building through use of the fire escape ladder leading into the alleyway. Kyle led Eli to his truck parked a short ways away from the tenement. They heard sirens in the distance as they neared the vehicle, Kyle directing Eli to get in the passenger’s seat. Once they were both inside, Kyle put down his hood and did away with his mask and goggles, finally revealing his face to the stranger he’d been working with for the duration of the raid. He took his glasses out of his inner coat pocket and put them on. Once they were mobile, and confident no one was on their tail, Kyle spoke.

“You okay?”

Eli nodded, yet she felt odd riding through the city with a mask on in daylight. She reached up to remove her mask, calmly tucking it into her jacket before she zipped it up. Her eyes turned to face the now unmasked man before her and she briefly took in the face that had been completely covered minutes ago.

”Nothing a day of rest can’t cure,” she mused. It felt a little strange to reveal her face to someone who now knew what she could do.

“I’m… sorry, you got caught up in all that,” Kyle said to the best of his confidence, maintaining his focus on the road. He proceeded to ask her, “How did you end up in there in the first place?”

Eli watched him as he apologized, but as soon as he asked the second question she averted her eyes. Her gaze moved towards the traffic before them. She took a moment to think over exactly how she had gotten herself there. ”I was resting in the alley behind a club. The pile of ashes you saw near me were the remains of a vampire who lured a woman into it. He attacked her, and I tried to stop it.” She furrowed her brows. ”Next thing I know I wake up on their couch.”

“Well, you handled yourself very well afterwards,” Kyle said. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to divulge a couple more important details.

“Kyle Foster. I’m a Tourist.”

Eli looked over at the man with a raised eyebrow. His concern amused her. She chuckled softly before she introduced herself. ”My name is Eli. It’s nice to meet you.” She glanced around at the truck, trying to figure out what this man was doing there. ”I’m assuming you aren’t a normal tourist?” His truck revealed no signs of corny tourist items.

Realizing the error in his wordplay, Kyle replied, “No, we’re… it’s… it’d take a while to explain fully. How much do you… know?”

”Today is my first day, really. I had no idea they existed until last night. Does that mean…?”

“Yeah, it’s a… bit of a bombshell. Not just them either. Monsters, magic… all real. Although judging by what you… did, back in there, you’re at least somewhat aware of things that fall out of the… mundane variety. Right?”

”At least I’m human.” A brief pause. ”I haven’t exactly met a human like me either. I know they’re out there, but I didn’t expect to meet a monster hunter before that.”

“Yeah. I’m… well, me and one other person, my sister - another Tourist - we came here to… basically, to take care of all the problems involving anything supernatural. That includes the Blood Cult, and this string of murders we’ve heard about.”

”The string of murders aren’t related to the vampires?”

“I don’t think they are. At least, I don’t think who or whatever’s behind them is involved with the Blood Cult. What we gathered on the last victim didn’t point to the work of a typical vampire. My sister is pursuing a lead to see if she can nail down what exactly it is.”

”I wish her luck… Did you find what you were looking for back there?”

“Hopefully. I’m trying to get a sense of just how serious the Blood Cult is as an overall threat. The phone could be a decent start to telling me what they have going on. Not gonna set my expectations… too high, though.”

A moment of silence passed between them.

“Is there somewhere I can drop you off? A… safehouse of yours? If you have one?”

”Somewhere up the street will do fine.” Eli said with a laugh. ”Thank you.”

Kyle nodded. After a bit, he pulled up to a fairly active sidewalk, parking the truck. He took a moment to grab a notebook and pen out of the middle compartment between the truck’s driver and passenger seats, writing down a phone number on it.

“I know this seems rather forward,” he said, handing the note to Eli, “but having some form of network helps in situations like this. My sister and I… we’ll be getting involved in some dangerous things here. And you’ve more than demonstrated you’re capable of handling stuff like that. So… would it be too bold of me to assume we can count on each other’s aid?”

Eli looked at the note, and after a short moment of hesitation she took it from his hand. ”I’ll send you a message so you have my number.” She said, acknowledging that she accepted. She turned to open the door, stepping out onto the sidewalk before pausing. ”I wish you luck, Foster.”

“Same to you, Eli,” Kyle replied with a nod, “Stay safe out there.”

With that, Eli closed the truck door and made her way away from the Tourist, as Kyle proceeded to rejoin the flow of traffic.

A strange circumstance to make acquaintances under.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Kyle Foster and Vertigo

_{Written with @Skai}

---

Kyle made his way up the first set of stairs, gun raised. He could see the red shapes of the vampires moving about now, alerted to the commotion. One floor above where he was, two were situated at the opposite end of the building. One appeared to be on the floor, writhing in pain - not Kyle’s doing. Did someone open a window? Who else in this building was fighting these things but him?

He stopped paying all the questions anymore of his mind and moved up to the second floor. Hearing footsteps, he took cover behind the hallway corner. Shots from two guards’ handguns rang through, splintering the walls. Kyle took a moment to reach into his coat pocket, fiddling a bit with whatever was inside. He took out a small pouch and-

No, no, wrong pouch. Explosives. Not right.

He put the pouch back quick and reached for the next pocket down, just as the the two guards had stopped firing. They began moving up. Kyle took out the correct pouch this time, taking out a small marble-like object. He tossed it down the hallway, the two guards reacting immediately, albeit with some confusion as to what the hell a marble was supposed to do.

Then, it gave off a faint, pale-blue glow, and detonated with extreme concussive force. As it was in-between the two guards, one was sent flying back, slamming into the wall at the end of the hallway, while the forward guard came flying towards Kyle, making an impact on the wooden staircase railing, neatly breaking right through it. Slumped on the ground but still moving a bit, Kyle proceeded to kick his nose, putting him out for the count.

Just then, another guard lunged forward from the stairs leading to the next floor, armed with a metal bat this time rather than a firearm. He brought the bat down on Kyle, the latter dodging right, now pinned on the broken wooden rail, dropping his pistol on the floor. The guard raised the bat again, with Kyle proceeding to push forward, slamming his own body against the guard’s. He grabbed his hands and attempted to wrestle the bat from him, the two quickly collapsing onto the floor. Kyle managed to free the bat from the guard’s grasp, tossing it aside. Now unarmed, the guard proceeded to repeatedly slam his fist against the side of Kyle’s head. Kyle, after taking two hits to the noggin, flung his right arm back and grabbed the guard’s arm, quickly and repeatedly elbowing his face with his free one. The guard was dazed, with Kyle throwing himself forward and twisting around. A kick to the guard’s face put him out of commission.

Kyle took a hurried moment to regain his composure and pick up his gun. He made his way upstairs, in the direction of the two vampires at the other end of the third floor. But before he could get a shot at the one at the end of the hall, someone grabbed him from behind - another female vampire - and threw him forward. Kyle sailed through the hall, landing at the feet of the male vampire across the way, who proceeded to turn around and look down at him. He exclaimed, “Who the fuck is this!?”

His received answer was Kyle proceeding to aim his gun upwards and shoot the vampire a total of five times, the silver bullets turning his head and upper torso into a bloody mess. Kyle attempted once more to regain his composure, only for the female vampire who jumped him to quickly rush forward and toss him against another wall. He landed on the wooden floor, fairly dazed, his vision filled a bright light - not from any serious concussive injury, but from the light from outside flooding into the room. There was heavily burned vampire lying on the sunlit section of the floor. And an unfamiliar female figure standing there, across from the attacking vampire.

Eli stood in shock as she looked over the man that had just obliterated her opponent. She lowered the rail a small distance, struggling to decide whether he was friend or foe. Who the hell is that? She thought. Before she could assume anything about the man, an infuriated hiss sounded in the hallway. Eli moved quickly towards the doorway, swinging the rail around into the hallway in time to connect with the head of a female vampire. Let’s hope this man is quick to draw. She thought, realizing that she wasn’t under the protection of the light anymore.

Upon this discovery, she decided that she wasn’t going to rely on the man’s help. Without another moment wasted, Eli stepped further into the hallway and faced the vamp. She’d retracted a few feet from the two humans and was pushing her wild hair out of her face. “You’ve messed with the wrong vamp, little girl!” She spat with a voice as eerie as the row of teeth in her mouth. She came at Eli with full force, but this time Eli was prepared to react quickly. She focused on the woman’s perception, altering the hallway to appear a foot or two longer than it was. It was a subtle enough distance that the vampire wouldn’t notice, but it gave Eli an advantage. The vampire quickened her pace to reach her faster, and the second she was in spitting distance Eli shoved the rail against the walls. It stuck in place, and Eli slipped underneath of it as the vampire ducked to miss it. The vampire spun around to face Eli again, baring her teeth in a snarl.

Kyle was slowly making his way back to an upright position. He had a better overall perception of the room now, the smell of the sunbaked vampire corpse just now piercing his nostrils. Wincing a bit under his mask, he quickly put it past him and stood upright, looking in the direction of the ongoing commotion. He stepped towards the hallway, gun raised. The moment he caught sight of the red shape of the female vampire, he opened fire. Within the two shots he got off before the vampire took action, he only managed to hit her shoulder. Still somewhat dazed, his aim was taking a hit. The vampire jumped upward, clinging to the ceiling with claws extending from both her hands and her bare feet. Kyle shot at her several more times, missing due to her rapidly skittering across the wooden surface. The vampire headed down the hall in Eli’s direction, lunging forward and disappearing down the staircase.

Kyle lowered his gun. The red shape quickly darted around the second floor, before moving down another, and then even further down again - out of the goggles’ perceivable range. He could be heard letting out labored breaths beneath his cloth mask. He turned his attention towards Eli, without saying anything.

Eli stood straight from her ducked position, looking rather shocked and disgusted after watching the vampire’s escape. She turned to face the man, at a loss for words. She began by removing the rail from the walls, gently letting it drop to the floor. She cleared her throat and looked towards the man. ”Are there any more up here?” She asked, deciding that it was best to ensure their safety before any small talk began.

Kyle paused for a moment before looking upward. He caught sight of another red shape, the vampire he’d followed in here, but only a faint trace. Just near the edge of the range limit.

“There’s one above us.” Kyle said, “Other two are below. Basement, most likely.” After a brief moment of silence between the two, Kyle proceeded to ask Eli, “Who are you?”

Eli nodded in response to his answers, glancing between the stairs that led down and the ones that led upwards. She raised an eyebrow beneath the mask as the man questioned her identity. ”I should ask you the same, but I suppose we can get to that later.” She gave the stranger a soft smile. ”They call me Vertigo, but there aren’t many that know me.” She observed the way the man stood, looking over the goggles he wore on his eyes and the gun within his hands. Her eyes soon returned to his masked face. ”Well, are we going up or down first?”

“I need the one above us alive, so-”

Kyle’s response cut off by a distant roar, emanating from several floors down. He looked down at the floor, as did Eli - though she couldn’t see what Kyle was seeing. A faint red shimmer came into view, away from the stairs, as if it burst through the floor entirely. It did so again, coming into clearer view - and its bulk becoming more apparent. Kyle immediately stepped back as the figure lunged upward once more, bursting through the floor between him and Eli. An absolutely massive vampire, riddled with musculature, acting more like a beast than a man, or even a proper vampire. The brute looked at Kyle, roaring with his jagged teeth bared.

A ways behind Eli, the female vampire from before crept up the staircase, eyeing her prey.

They were in for a fight - all four of them.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Kyle Foster

---

The following day…

Kyle had begun his reconnaissance fairly early in the day. While Kayla was handling leads on the murder victim, he was set about discerning the overall threat level of the 6^th Street Blood Cult. He’d taken the truck and started driving through town, covering whatever grounds he could. As he was looking for vampires, he needed a better way to pinpoint them. Hard to do when the sun was up, and especially without Kayla around, but he had a solution saved for times like this.

Kyle was wearing an old pair of welding goggles that had been enchanted to detect supernatural entities. Much like how his sister did, but far less subtle. Plus they didn’t last forever - needed to be recharged with arcane energy after about an hour of consecutive use. So he was being sparing with how often he had them activated.

They could see faint traces of supernatural beings through walls, but not from very far away. Kyle was driving from block to block, occasionally stopping and scanning various buildings around him. After about an hour and a half of work, he wasn’t coming up with anything. He didn’t expect the Blood Cult to be literally everywhere of course, but he was starting to figure he wasn’t going to get incredibly lucky with his findings.

He was scanning another building with the goggles activated - nothing, as per usual - and that’s when it happened.

From the seat of his truck, Kyle saw a smaller car head past him. Without deactivating the goggles, he gave the car a quick glance, doing a double-take. Inside was a red, shimmering clouds in the shape of a man, sitting in the back middle seat. A vampire having someone else drive him through town in the morning, probably all bundled up to avoid direct sunlight. Kyle obviously didn’t know for sure if he was Blood Cult but, this was the best lead he’d gotten so far.

He took to following them, taking care not to drive too closely behind, changing up routes every now and again. He almost lost track of them once or twice, but eventually followed them quite a few blocks down to a tenement building on a street corner. No windows were open. Absolutely none of them.

Parked a ways away, Kyle watched with a pair of binoculars as the two men exited the car - a guard who had been sitting in the passenger seat, and the vampire himself. Slick coat, gloves, wide brim hat, all fitting clothes to keep the sunlight at bay. He made a brisk walk towards the front door, heading inside with his cohort while the car went off to who-knows-where. Another guard was stationed outside, sitting on the stairs, looking out for trouble.

Either this vampire was Blood Cult, or he simply had his own little gang of thralls and confidants, but Kyle was confident in the former idea. He was set to get some information out of him - whatever he could, at least. He sat in the truck for a moment, pondering. There was probably a more subtle way to go about this, but he wasn’t about to sit around making plans and not taking direct action once again.

He had to prepare himself.

…

The guard was still seated, more focused on his phone than his surroundings. He was completely oblivious to the man approaching him along the sidewalk. Kyle, now dressed in a heavy brown coat with a gray padded mantle and hood. Black gloves, and a full black face mask covering all but his eyes - which were now shielded by the enchanted goggles. Once Kyle was standing directly in front of the seated guard, he looked up at the unfamiliar figure and began to speak.

“Who the fuck are y-”

Kyle interrupted the man by grabbing his phone out of his hands and tossing it onto the sidewalk, very visibly breaking it. The guard wasn’t given any time to react to the affront as Kyle proceeded to deliver a swift punch to his nose, and then grabbing him and slamming his head against the metal rails on the sides of the front stairs. The guard was out cold, and Kyle proceeded to lift him halfway up and toss him down the stairs on the side, leading into the basement section of the tenement. Out of sight, for the most part.

Kyle turned his attention upward, scanning the building. A few red human shapes stuck out thanks to the goggles. Vampires just lounging about on multiple floors, in the dark. Didn’t look to be no more than six in total. One was right inside past the front door, in a seated position. Kyle reached into his inner coat pocket and brandished an M1911, heavily engraved with a pearl grip. A flashlight, or similar device, was attached to the underside of the barrel, with a small rune etched on it. He took out the clip - a small rune was etched on its base, ‘stretching’ the interior and effectively quintupling its bullet capacity. Not as much reloading needed. He double checked to make sure he had silver bullets loaded in, and then put the clip back into the gun.

He didn’t bother scanning the area outside for any onlookers. He figured being quick would benefit him most. He readied the pistol, marching up to the front door. He proceeded to barge in, arm outstretched. The room was dimly lit by a ceiling lamp, with multiple couches claimed by loosely dressed women, dazed out of their minds or fully asleep. A mismatch of drugs lied on the table they all surrounded.

They all turned their attention to Kyle as he barged in - the ones who still had some sense in them, at least. Kyle aimed his pistol at the one girl who was fully awake. She immediately stood up, her eyes turning bloodshot and her mouth opening wide, teeth bared. Kyle immediately shot her head from across the room, her black blood splattering across the wall behind her as her body slumped back, falling to the feet of several drugged-up women.

The ones who didn’t immediately start screaming were either spurning themselves awake or making for the still-open door. Kyle let them pass, not wanting to bring harm to any human beings in the building, thrall or otherwise.

“We got trouble!” Kyle heard a man loudly shout, as down the hall from the room he was in, a guard proceeded to draw his own firearm. Kyle reacted immediately, aiming his gun but not firing. He pressed a button on the flashlight at the end, causing it to emit an extremely bright, flashing light. The guard immediately shielded his eyes and ducked behind the corner at the end of the wall. Kyle ran forward, darting to the guard’s side and grabbing his shirt collar. He threw him down and kicked the gun out of his hand, then proceeding to stomp his face twice, rendering him unconscious - and rather damaged. Kyle wasn’t gonna kill any humans, but he wasn’t above inflicting heavy bodily harm on them.

Make through the building. Kill all vampires, neutralize any hostile humans. Find the vampire from earlier and get some info on the Blood Cult out of him.

Kyle could hear movement and shouts above him on the upper floors of the building. He had to move, and fast.