Ghosts of Christmas Past

[Val Conroy]

Stumbling out of the home of his newest drug dealer and best friend, Mark, Val lurched drunkenly out onto the sidewalk. He shivered as the cold hit him full blast, but it did nothing to dispel the haze that had settled over his mind. The world existed in a blur. He heard the rush of a car passing, but the voices of people walking past him were muted. When he looked down, he could have sworn he saw every pebble and crack in the pavement in painful detail, while the edges of his vision swirled and danced to a kaleidoscope of colors.

Where to next, though? He had already been booted from his last place, by the friend whose couch he'd been crashing on for the past few weeks. Without any money to line his pockets--not even the jingle of a dime or two--he was at a loss. The shelter was probably open, though. He might go there and ride out the high, if he could orient himself in the right direction.

Val set off with determination, despite not having the faintest idea of where he was actually headed. He had no concept of how long he was out there or how far he walked. Street after street, block after block, his feet led him astray and it wasn't until he hit the seedier part of town that he realized he was lost.

Sensing someone behind him, Val turned his head to look, but was met with a blank wall. He frowned. Blinked hard and shook his head, as if he could shake off the fog inside his head. When he looked again, there was still nothing there but now his skin crawled unpleasantly with the feeling of being watched. Val sped up, then turned a corner but didn't keep walking. He waited there, just around the jut of the wall, in the hopes of catching his stalker. 

Eli Oliver? Harzeko?

[Eli Oliver]

Eli had finally found the man he had been looking for for five years.  Val would never get out of Eli's sight again.  He followed Val in the shadows.  He was a vampire now, so he was able to make the mortal feel like someone was following him, without allowing him the confirmation that it indeed was happening.  He liked that.  He felt Val deserved to feel that feeling of dread.  He wasn't sure whether Val would lead him to his home, but he hoped he would.  He wanted to find out where Val lived and because of that, he didn't want to confirm his appearance yet.  He continued to follow the man, a little disconcerted himself by Val's awareness that someone was near.  He remembered he could be cagey when he felt that paranoid feeling, so he was careful not to be caught.  The shadows were so helpful for that.  No one would know he was there. 

As Val turned the corner, Eli moved over to the far end of the sidewalk and moved forward.  Hiding in the shadows, he saw Val waiting for him at the corner and laughed quietly.  It was just like Val.  He never changed.  Unfortunately, Eli had.  Or fortunately, depending how you felt about it.  If Eli hadn't changed, he would've walked right into Val and he didn't want to do that -- not yet.  There was still time for that.  Right now, Eli wanted Val to know the dread of feeling like he was being followed, without having that feeling confirmed.  If Val didn't feel dread, Eli would have to make him feel it. 

@[Val Conroy] @

[Val Conroy]

Dread wasn't exactly the word for what Val felt, but it would be a lie to say that he wasn't incredibly creeped out. He didn't even really know if what he felt was a product of reality, or because he was high off his damn mind. One thing was for sure, though—he didn't like that tingle shivering up and down his spine.

He waited around the corner, but nobody came around it and after a moment, Val turned around again. He made for a more brightly lit street, although it was by no means bright. Brighter than the avenue he'd been walking down, though. As he walked, he rubbed the side of his arm with one hand. He just couldn't shake that feeling of being followed, and several times glanced over his shoulder. Still nothing. Maybe it was the drugs...

Don't be dumb, Val, he chided himself silently as he crossed the street. He still had no idea where the hell he was headed, but nowhere dark or sinister. Preferably he'd find somewhere with people, like the sandwich shop just down the street. Val had no money but he could still hang out outside. Maybe if he looked pathetic enough, somebody would drop a fiver or tenner—enough to buy him a bus pass back downtown. Hey, it happened more often than one might think—especially for somebody not so bad looking. Val knew the value of a handsome face, and wasn't above using it.

He sidled up to the shop and sank down to sit against the strip of brick wall separating it from the next store over, tenting his knees. The light spilling out from the window nearby comforted him, as though it had the power to dispel the monsters chasing him. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he sniffed, turned to look down the street again. Val frowned.

He swore that a shadow moved...

[Eli Oliver]

Eli hid in the shadows and watched Val look at the shadows in the opposite direction where he was.  Did he hear a mew of a cat?  He gazed upwards at the building where Val was sitting and indeed, there on the ledge on the third floor was a black cat.  As a mortal, he was afraid of black cats crossing his way, but now as a vampire, it was the black cat's place to heed him.  He jumped up to where the cat was and even entered the open window where he had crept onto the ledge.  He wondered what exactly he wanted to do with the furry thing.  He certainly wanted to upset Val, but how?  Should he disembowel the cat and throw its entrails down on him or merely kill the cat and throw him at Val instead.  Or at least next to him.  Wake the druggie up as it were.  Hmmmm  He could have so much fun with the mortal, if he wanted.  He didn't have to reunite with him just yet, did he?  He wasn't on any set schedule.  No, he could toy with his prey as long as he wanted, as long as his kill was fun also.  Val was going to be Eli's entertainment tonight.  He would be Eli's work another night.

He sliced open the cat's throat with a simple movement of his claw and aiming at the spot immediately next to Val, he dropped the cat to the ground.  This should be fun, he thought, as he once again hid in the shadows.  He kept a lookout at Val's reaction, of course.  It wouldn't have been entertaining if he didn't.

[Val Conroy]

"What the fu--"

Something wet and solid spattered onto the ground beside Val and he jumped, stumbling to his feet as he stared at the ghastly corpse beside him. It was a... thing. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of one hand, heart thudding a hole through his rib cage. A cat? Was that what it was? It laid in a limp, dark heap, blood seeping out all around it.

Val made a strangled, horrified noise in the back of his throat. He looked up immediately, but all he saw were darkened windows. "Fuck!" He skirted around the thing and, abandoning all pretense, dove into the sandwich place. It wasn't too busy, so when he burst through the doors with that wild look in his eyes, everybody stared. Val looked around, then made for the nearest empty table and sat his ass down hard into a seat.

"...are you all right, sir?" One of the workers there approached him warily.

Val looked up at the guy, nerves jangling and completely taken out of his element. "Uh. Yeah. I just... gimme a minute."