SPOOKY SCARY VAMPIRES

Jasper leaned against a wooden fencepost, puffing his way through his third cigarette since arriving in this forsaken place. Dreary wasn’t a strong enough word to explain his surroundings, in his estimation. The whole place just seemed… foreboding. To begin with, the village itself seemed completely rundown, and what little folk Jasper has managed to see looked completely downtrodden and kept glancing over their shoulders as though something were following them. Jasper had noticed a few of the villagers shoot him worried glances, but not a single one of them seemed willing to approach the crimson haired mage that waited just outside of their village. Jasper could swear he kept seeing movement from the windows, as though even in their own homes they couldn’t help but feel the need to make sure the stranger outside of town wasn’t doing something to imperil them.

It agitated Jackal to see them like this. He didn’t know whether it was entirely due to the guild that went missing on a job in this very town, or perhaps it was even more deep seated than even that, but this wasn’t living. Kids should be out playing and laughing, not huddled behind their mothers skirts any time they even could be seen peaking out. Would taking care of this menace change things?

If Jackal could do something about it, he certainly would, but for the moment he felt hamstrung by his current predicament. He had been told in no uncertain terms to wait until backup arrived to move into the village, as a threat that could take down even a minor guild was not to be trifled with. Jackal understood full well there was more reasoning behind all of this than just that, though he supposed that was justification enough. He was more of an unknown to Dies Irae, having just joined up and having no real work history with them yet, and whomever they sent to help him would likely be watching how he handled things to ensure his own way of doing things coincided with the guilds. He could hardly blame them if they didn’t trust him, as he was somewhat of a wild card to them in his own estimation, just as most of them were by and large unknown to Jasper himself.

Jasper took one final drag from his cigarette, running it down to the filter before dropping it to the ground and crushing the embers beneath his boot. Then, he took out yet another and lit up his fourth cigarette, leaning back on the post and turning his head to the road behind him, hoping to catch sight of whomever the guild would send along next.

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The job boards of Dies Irae weren't the only places this particular job had been listed. While she might not be the reinforcements sent by his guild, there was another mage approaching the dark and dreary little village that had lost its protective guild. She certainly looked the part of a mage as well, what with her large-brimmed witch's hat. A purple and gold accented leotard with dark tights clung to her body as if it were made for it. She even had a cape! Valentina took her role as a magic-wielding heroine rather seriously but found the outfit just quirky enough to be both cute and fun. It made her feel like the legendary adventurer she aspired to be, and the main character of her novel had to look the part, right? Writing from experience was always best.

Her dark pigtails swayed back and forth as she made her way closer, feeling a bit of the heeby-jeebies already. Whether she'd admit it or not was debatable, but she really hoped that someone else had picked up the request so she'd have a partner for this. Some stories were okay solo, but eerie ones like this one were best done in at least a duo. Pale jade eyes immediately landed on the backside of a smoking redhead leaning against a fencepost. He didn't seem to have the terrified vibe that everyone else in view had, so she was willing to bet he was someone here to help. The way he looked over his shoulder, he at least seemed to be waiting for someone. Maybe she could be that someone? Chance meetings like this always held a thrilling spark about them, probably from all of the unknown elements. "Hey! Did you take the job about the genocidal child who somehow took out a whole guild, too?" she asked, coming to stand beside him. She smiled easily up at him as if this was just another day at work that she was one-hundred percent prepared for, but the leather-bound book being squeezed against her chest might be telling of her mild, but growing trepidation. This place just had some really bad vibes!

Valli's eyes moved from the man's face to glance around more closely. Haunted Village was certainly an apt name. Just meeting eyes with a child across the way had her ducking under her mother's skirt, who was trying hard to walk briskly back into her home. The only people out were the ones who absolutely bad to be for necessary errands. For somewhere to actually be called 'Haunted Village', that implied that it was, in fact, haunted. So if people chose to live here with ghosts and whatnot without much fear, how bad did whatever going on have to be to have people unafraid by spirits so scared? The Encan sorceress flopped her book open and manifested a pen, scribbling down a detailed description of everything she saw and felt, no matter how depressing or horror movie like it was.

Was it really a child that had done this? Furthermore, was Valli prepared to have to fight a child, evil or otherwise?

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Jasper turned his attention to the cheerful voice calling out to him, surprised by just how much it clashed with the surroundings that were the haunted village. Much like stepping into the sun after being in the pitch black of a cave for hours, it was an almost painfully jarring change yet... more than welcome at the same time.

Jasper blinked a bit as he caught sight of the eager jade eyes peering at him from an almost comically oversized witches hat of lavender with golden trim. The golden stars that dotted the hat and the great red jewel that adorned it stood in stark contrast to the drab colours of mottled brown of the dirt path the newcomer traveled up, as well as the yellow-green of the sickly overgrown grass on either side of the path. The cute, youthful face that held those jade orbs was framed by long black pigtails, each ending in an intricate gold and ruby jeweled ornament and Jasper may have taken her to be a teen if not for the rest of her outfit.

The embers on the end of Jasper’s cigarette brightened with an intake of breathe as Jasper’s eyes wandered further down. The girl wore a skintight leotard of the same colour pattern that left extremely little to the imagination, in Jasper’s opinion, and the leatherbound tome that the girl held tightly to her chest only served to accentuate her breasts. If not for the look of eager innocence on her face, Jasper could have sworn she was doing this on purpose! Her entire body was outlined in a red cape, serving to outline her surprisingly full figure in a way that definitely didn’t befit someone underage.

“Thats… uh.. Quite the outfit you have there.” Jasper stammered, realizing he had been staring a little longer than was likely polite and averting his eyes back to her own. The outfit had the gold and looked fancy enough to be of the Dies Irae make, if a bit too underdressed, but he hadn’t seen anyone with purple… they were all shades of red, white and black to go with the gold. Still, Jasper wasn’t going to question it. He was eager to get started on this job, and having someone pleasant to look at was definitely a perk right now. It’s not as though Jasper were any better, as he lacked the Dies Irae uniform himself. This job had been rather sudden after all, they hadn’t quite finished tailoring his uniform yet. He supposed they might be waiting to hear back on his completion of this task before fully accepting him into their ranks.

This feeling was only reinforced when the girl in question opened her book and summoned a pen in middair, then began to jot something down in it while glancing at the drab village that was their destination. He supposed those notes would include details of his handling of events, and therefore his place in the guild.

Jasper realized he had let the girls question hang in the air whilst he was… distracted. He cleared his throat then responded to her question. “Yeah, the genocidal vampire. I wonder if thats what has all these people scared out of their wits...” He looked towards the village, taking another long drag off his cigarette and adding his smoke to the dense fog that swirled around them. “Whelp, I’m glad you’re here now. I suppose we should start seeing about getting some answers from these townfolk, if we can get them to talk to us, eh?”


Word Count: 592
Personal Word Count: 1039
Thread Word Count: 1561

Oh, distracted was he? Her eyes crinkled in the corners as she watched him, though returned to their doe-eyed nature once he glanced back up. Not that she'd say anything, but older men were always more appealing to her than the ones her age. Shame he smoked. "Oh, you think so?" Valentina chirped with a smile, twisting her body as if to show it off a little. She was rather proud of it and absolutely aware of what it did for her figure, but she pretended not to be aware of his lingering eyes. She could be a coy witch when she wanted to, enjoying a bit of the game. It made things interesting, and there was nothing more that Valli wanted than to have thrilling adventures that were good enough to read!

Getting down to business, the mage finished up her literary embellishment of the downright creepy town, complete with questions as to why anyone would willingly live here and a hypothesis that it rested on some sort of fantastic burial ground of ancient, unrested mages. The fog and dead plants weren't due to the murderous vampire. No, this place was already inhabiting some bad juju. "To be haunted is to glimpse a truth that might best be hidden," quoted the young woman, snapping her book shut for now and waving away her pen. "The author Hames Jerbert said that, and I feel like it fits here. These people have seen more than one truth that should have stayed unknown. Funny things about truths, though. They always come out," she said eagerly, walking off ahead of him with unwarranted confidence. "C'mon, Smoky," her Encan accented voice lilted, not knowing his name, but certain he'd tell her soon enough. "Valentina Capricho is on the case!"

Except, the case was all but closed. Every single warm body her perky posterior prepared to pester literally ran away from her! Every "Hello!" was met with a "Goodbye!" and every "Hi" was either ignored or resulted in her being told, in no uncertain terms, to either make their home safe specifically from the genocidal maniac or get out. They offered no help! Not even the children, exactly three of which she made smile simply by smiling before their parent yanked them into a home. "¡Veeeenga!" she groaned, completely exasperated. To keep her hands from wildly gesturing, as was a rather common habit her entire large family, she placed them sassily on her hips. "They really like to slame doors around here," she tutted, a scowl marring her pretty face.

"You're gonna die here!"

The menacing whisper sounded somewhere out of sight, causing her to twist around. The only other person she saw was Smoky. "What did you say to me?" Valli asked, shocked and a bit accusatory. That wasn't a very nice thing for him to say. Was he trying to scare her, or perhaps was he not the friendly mage helping her with this job that she'd assumed? Now she was very suspicious.

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Jasper smiled wryly as the young woman began making her way towards the village. He kind of liked the flirty, upbeat minx already. At the very least, she was a breath of fresh air in this stagnant, woeful place… and the fact she was easy on the eyes certainly didn’t hurt. “Smokey, eh? I suppose that’d make you the bandit...” Jasper said quietly, more to himself than the young mage who was quickly walking away from him to start the investigation. Valentina was kind of a cute name. Perhaps Val for short? He mused on her name as he straightened from leaning on the fence, then stuck his hands in his pockets almost nonchalantly and followed after her. As much as the cape did to highlight her figure from the front, Jasper couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed by the fact it hid so much from the angle he was currently stuck at. Still, it was likely for the best, as they had a job to do and it wouldn’t do for him to be too busy ogling his partner and miss something important. What if the guild took it as a sign not to assign him any more cute partners? What a horrid thought!

Jasper almost felt bad for the upbeat little mage as he followed after her relentless yet futile attempt to find answers. Door after door slammed in her face as the villagers hurriedly rebuked her friendly advances, though Jasper noted several children seemed to almost warm to her kind smile before being pulled away by their parents. While the parents might be a lost cause for this place, the children still showed at least a sign that they could show anything other than raw unadulterated fear and resignation to their fate and that gave Jasper some hope in this village that seemed completely devoid of it otherwise.

He brought his mind back to the present as Val’s frustration mounted and she let out what Jasper could only assume was an explicative in a language Jasper couldn’t place right off. She paused for a moment to complain about the villagers reactions, then inexplicably shot a look at Jasper as though he had somehow insulted her. “What did you say to me?”

“Wait, what?” Jasper asked, a look of utter befuddlement on his face. Was she just now registering that he had said something about her being the bandit in reaction to her calling him smoky? Or worse, was she hearing voices? Was he partnered with a crazy person now? The questions barely came to his mind before he too bagan to hear the whispers.

You can’t save her… you can’t even save yourself…

Jasper’s eyes widened in shock at the menacing feminine voice that breached his mind. His first reaction was to look around himself, in a futile attempt to find the source. It had sounded like it was whispered directly into his ear, yet aside from the Val the street had been emptied in their attempt to converse with the villagers. Finding absolutely nothing nearby him, he turned his attention back to Val just in time to see the glint of metal behind her fast approaching. His mind was made up almost instantly; screw that voice, he would most definitely save the both of them!

“Get down!” Jasper roared, rushing at Val in an attempt to tackle her out of the way of what was now close enough he could make it out to be a sword flying almost directly at her back.

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"What?? OOF!"

As was the common consensus on capes, they were fashion before function, and usually quite a hazard in the long run. Valentina would learn this first-hand because just as the man she suspected of making creepy threats tackled her, the flying sword ripped through her beautiful cape as it lagged behind. The hilt tangled in it and ripped the whole thing loose from her neck as it zoomed over top of them, taking her witchy garment with it into...what must have been the void because when she was able to get her bearings and look up, it was one-hundred percent gone. "¡Dios mio! What was that, Smoky?!" she asked him in a sharp, fear-filled voice, rubbing her neck and coughing from where the accessory had been yanked away. She felt silly calling him that, but it was the only name she had for him so far, and her panicked brain went with what it knew.

It was one thing to lose her cape, but quite another to swallow the second casualty of the job. It seemed her wide-brimmed hat, her pride and joy, also paid the price. "My hat..." the pigtailed mage said sadly. As she quite literally sat on her red-headed savior, a look of grief pulled her lips into a pout as she held it, her blue eyes coming to terms with its mangled shape. It looked like a hard taco shell with a weird purple peak in the middle. She tried to bend it back, but no dice. It seemed to be made of cardboard in the end, and once it was creased it could never be straight again. As with most cosplay items, they looked better constructed than they really were due to the bright colors and blingy accessories. Valli had been too optimistic that her reward from her days earning jewels from the Cosplay Cafe would last forever... didn't mean her eyes wouldn't water in its honor. Why hadn't she left it at home, if she loved it so much? Well, the heroine of an adventure novel should look both stylish and interesting, of course! At least in the beginning. It seemed she was no longer in the prologue chapters...

With a sniffle, she finally focused back on the present and tossed the ruined item away. She quickly got off the man who saved her and reached out her hand to pull him up. So it wasn't him that was messing around with the voices and blades. It'd make no sense to make a sword attack only to tackle the target out of the way at the last moment when he had her dead to rights. "Sorry I suspected you for a second! I thought you said the creepy whisper," she admitted, smiling sheepishly but preferring honesty over defensiveness. "I guess we've found the hauntress and the reason everyone stays off the streets. I never saw her though. Did you? You think we're going the right way and that's why she's starting to mess with us?"

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“I’m.. I’m not sure…” Jasper mumbled, more to himself than the spunky young mage he responded to. He had been lucky to even notice the glint of that metal in the encroaching fog that seemed to be blanketing the village around them. If his eyes had noticed it even a moment later he was afraid the young womans clothes may not have been the only casualty of that surprise attack.

Jasper was surprised when the woman sat down upon him in her melancholy, and he couldn't help but notice how cute she was, even as she moped over her poor outfit. His eyes unconsciously scanned those vivacious curves before he managed to avert his gaze, his face redding slightly from embarrassment. He wasn’t embarrassed from admiring the womans physique, which under normal circumstances he might be flirting even now, but because he had let his mind wander when they might be in danger. If this woman died because he couldn’t keep his desires in check he would regret it for the rest of his days! There might be time for flirting after all was said and done, but first, they had work to do.

Jasper’s eyes scanned their surroundings, trying to find a glimpse of movement or anything that might give them a clue as to where their current antagonist might be hiding. Unfortunately, as with before, the small village seemed almost devoid of life now that the villagers had made their way inside their respective homes. Jasper could kind of understand why they had been so afraid to converse with the cutie who sat atop him… it was possible they knew that the two mages who had arrived would be hunted and didn’t want to risk drawing the ire of whatever seemed to be after the mages lives. Maybe they just didnt want to get caught up in the crossfire? Whatever the case, it was up to Jasper and his attractive teammate to put an end to this and hopefully bring a bit of relief to the villagers.

The girl came out of her stupor after a moment, and got up, offering Jasper a hand back to his feet. Jasper gladly took it and rose to his feet, though he tried to keep his gaze from lingering on her curves. This was neither the time nor the place for that, though his lack of self control didn’t make it easy.

“No offense taken. I’m not gonna pretend to have a better idea than you of exactly what’s going on.” Jasper replied, taking another cigarette out of the pack that rested in his coat. He frowned at it, noticing it was bent slightly. It had likely been crinkled when Jasper had unceremoniously tackled his partner out of the way in the midst of his panic for her safety. He sighed, lighting it anyway and taking a long drag before continuing. “I’ll be honest, I barely saw the blade much less whoever it came from. But… we’re close enough to get it’s attention, at the very least. We’re on the right track I think.”

“Oh, and it’s Jasper by the way.” Jasper said, bringing his gaze back to the spunky mages jade eyes. In the commotion he had forgot himself and hadn’t even offered an introduction! It was a little late now, but it would be better to know who he might be fighting beside than continue to risk death with a stranger. He had to imagine things would only get more dangerous from here.

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Personal: 2213
Thread:3738