Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

Busy Nights (darkangel76 and me)

B

Broomhandle45

Guest
January 21st, 2200.

It had been a long time coming, The Byrne had noticed it and could do nothing to stop it. Too many vampires, not enough blood to go around. The long remembered rule of being the shadow of humanity was suddenly broken by The Chzov's heavy expansion out of Russia. What broke out was nothing but widespread war.

Vampires fed left and right on humanity, making more vampires or making more bodies. Humans who walked during the day found and killed more vampires..it was a deadly cycle of death until there was no clear victor. Without a population to feed, the majority of the vampires degenerated into little more than savage beasts. Those that were left had a weary task of saving as many humans as possible from the rampaging hordes.

For the Byrne, lead by the Matriarch Haley Byrne. It was a sworn duty, her most trusted vampires totaled only a hundred fifty as they gathered what humans they could and turned to the Chrysler building into their only safe refuge.

For miles, the only light was within that building. The Chrysler building and the surrounding area became the only safe haven..maybe in the entirety of the United States. The Byrne turned their little safe area into a barracks, weapons and food and everything in-between had to be used and utilized.

And the only people defending it were the one-hundred and fifty vampires during the night..
 
Tiernann Boyd slowly opened her pale eyes and sat up in her bed. She was one of the fortunate ones to have her own private room, though as one of the Byrne Family’s top defenders, she was granted such luxuries. Luxuries that were few and far between given their dire circumstances. She twisted her body so that her feet hung over the side of her bed. The floor was cold, but that hardly mattered to Tiernann. Cold wasn’t something she truly felt any more. Not for a long time.

Standing up, Tiernann walked over to the window and drew open the billowing drapes. She then unbolted the metal shutters and slid them open so that she could look out the window and down upon the streets of what had once been a bustling city. At one time, it had been called ‘the city that didn’t sleep’. But those times were long since past. New York City wasn’t what it had once been. Not by a long shot.

Tiernann heaved a sigh as she looked out upon the dead streets of New York and then turned on her heels and headed toward her armoire. She opened it up and pulled out some clothes to change into. Slipping out of her long black nightdress, she tossed it on her unmade bed. She then slowly slid on her black leather pants, which hugged her legs perfectly, allowing them to move as she needed them to. And then, a black corset-style top with tiny spaghetti straps. Walking over to a mirror, she looked at her pale face and frowned a little. Grabbing a brush, she straightened out her dark brown hair, which fell in waves just to her shoulders. Fully dressed and ready, she put on her black boots and grabbed her jacket.

Swinging open her door, Tiernann walked out into the corridor of what had once been called The Chrysler Building, only now it was the safe haven for the noble family she served along with those who believed as they did. And then, there were the humans they protected. She walked down the long, dimly lit corridor, heading for one of the staircases. She started heading down the stairs when she swung over the side of the railing and let herself drop several flights before reaching out and grabbing a railing and maneuvering herself back onto the stairs once more.

Tiernann opened the door of the staircase and entered another corridor. She began to walk down it, heading towards its end. Once she got there, she grabbed the handle and twisted it.
 
"Ugh.."

The room served as a bar of sorts, a place for the vampires to relax between shifts and missions. And typical of the Irishman that everyone had known since the beginning of things..he was not a pleasant person to wake up early. If he had the choice, Braden would probably sleep through most of the night and get up to do things inside during the day.

So here he was, barely dressed in his combat gear and slumped over the desk, lazily sucking on a blood packet as his tired eyes perked up only a fraction when he saw Teirnann.

"Hey, Boyd." He grumbled between sips. "Good Mornin' " How a vampire didn't get good sleep, he didn't know. He wasn't even really alive, for god sakes!
 
Teirnann gave Braden a nod and a smile as she sat down next to him. She made a gesture toward the human doling out the blood packets signaling that she too wanted one. When she got hers, she immediately tore it open and began sucking down the blood in long, savoring draws.

“Mmm… yummy,” Teirnann spoke, more to herself than to Braden. She looked over at him then and tilted her head. Leaning on an elbow, her fingers becoming buried in her long, dark hair she smiled. “Rough day? You better wake up. The night’s barely begun and we have a long one ahead of us.”

Tiernann felt bad for Braden. She could see he was tired and she hoped that it wouldn’t affect him while they worked. So far he hadn’t let it affect him in the slightest. But still, she worried. Not so much that he couldn’t do his job, but for him. As a vampire. A member of the House of Byrne. They came up against nasty mutated filth that, at one time, could honorably call themselves vampire. But now? She didn’t know what to call them. And she certainly couldn’t classify them as vampires, though their genetics said differently.

“There’ve been several uprisings nearby. The filth have been spotted trying to capture humans during the day,” Tiernann added. “I guess they’re smarter than we thought, setting up traps.” She took another long draw on her blood packet and looked at Braden with her pale eyes, her hand reaching out to touch his shoulder assuredly.
 
"Yeah..I know..I know, I keep hearing that The Lady Byrne is going to do something about it." He mumbled, waving off her concern easily with a wide yawn. "s'that damned bed, though." He muttered, scratching at his red hair in annoyance. "I swear, ever since we moved here I can't sleep worth a dick. Everything seems so nosy.." He remarked, then gave her a flirtatious grin. "Maybe I need one of those fancy beds you got, eh? Complete with a nice lady to keep me company?"

He did it to everyone, mostly harmless in it's scope. Besides, to sleep in a better bed? He'd probably do anything at this point. Not like they found some abandoned mattress factory yet...

Hm..maybe they should start looking..
 
Teirnann just smiled coyly at Braden’s words. “You would like that,” she said as she stood up, taking a final draw on her blood packet. “Yummy,” she added on a whisper.

Tossing out her empty blood packet into a garbage bin, Teirnann headed toward her locker and opened it. The room held several lockers for those such as herself and Braden, those who’d defend the ways of the House of Byrne. She grabbed her Colt Anaconda Revolver and its holster and situated it on her hip. She then grabbed her two hunting knives, already sheathed in their straps and belted one against her free hip and the other along side her boot. Slinging on her jacket, she looked over at Braden.

Smiling, Tiernann tucked some of her dark hair behind her ear and walked back over to where she and Braden had been sitting. “Come on, wake up,” she said, giving his arm a squeeze. “Maybe if you do well tonight, you’ll be granted a better room than you have.” Chuckling, she added, “And bed.”

Tiernann loved the fact that she’d been granted a special room of her own. Not many got one and she knew that. And she was appreciative of being one of the lucky ones too. Braden always seemed to get a kick out of bringing up the fact that she had a nicer room. But she always tried to shrug it off despite his efforts.

“As for a lady? Well…” Tiernann’s voice trailed. “Don’t know what to tell you there.” At that she turned on her heels and headed for the door, glancing over her shoulder to see if Braden was coming or not.
 
"Oi..yeah, yeah..I'm coming, I'm coming.." He sighed, rising himself up with a small smack against his cheeks to follow; adjusting himself to look a little more professional as he slid his hand through his hair to move alongside her.

"Should be quite the fun night tonight, eh?" He grinned easily, the resemblance of tiredness passing with a more exuberant grin. "Lady Byrne is getting tired of us sitting on our duff's all day, so I guess now we're really going to get the gears rolling."
 
Tiernann smiled. Braden always had a way of making her do that. And given the dire straits of their kind, she welcomed it. It wasn’t often that one had a reason to smile any more.

“Maybe she’s getting tired of some of you,” Tiernann said, her lips turned upward letting Braden know she was teasing him a little. “But yes. I think tonight is going to be fairly active.”

The night before Tiernann had heard reports about how the vampires she called filth and a disgrace to their kind were actually setting up traps in the nearby vicinity. Traps to capture humans. It totally threw them since they’d all thought their intelligence levels were much lower than that. The fact that they could organize and set up such things was definitely a blow. It would change their whole entire outlook on how to go after them.

“There are some traps a few blocks up from here that were discovered just last night and they need us to disarm them and make sure no human sprung any. If they did, we have to try and retrieve them.” Tiernann paused. “Let’s just hope that if any were captured, it was a small few.”
 
"Bah, don't worry about that." he said easily. "Whatever happens, we got it. Took a damned god given miracle for us to get this far, I doubt our luck is going to fuck us over now." He grinned. "So don't sound so glum, besides! Any job with me in it is bound to succeed, I'm good like that."

Not that the news wasn't troubling of course, but they would adapt. They have been so far with plenty of success, why would that change now?
 
Tiernann nodded. “I suppose you’re right,” she said chuckling a little to herself.

Braden was indeed good like that. He was a fierce fighter. But he also lifted up Tiernann’s spirits. She had a tendency to get hung up on things and sometimes she needed that slap in the ass to see that not everything was always doom and gloom. She was grateful to know the guy, grateful to be working with him.

“Still,” Tiernann added. “We have to be careful. I don’t like being taken off guard and I feel like we were.” She looked at Braden, her pale eyes flashing a little.

Tiernann opened the door and swung over the rail so that she fell the remaining flights to the bottom floor. She landed with a graceful thud and began walking toward the main door of the Chrysler Building. Before opening it, she looked through the glass to the outside. She could sense the filth outside. It was time. Time for she and Braden to kick some vermin vampire ass.
 
Braden grinned and hopped over to follow her with a content hum. Ah..he did love a woman who had a forward approach to things. Nevertheless, he drew out his Beretta 92 as he stepped out with her, nose twitching in thought.

"Hm...they've certainly been around here lately..we'd better make sure the surrounding area is clean before we start trap hunting." It was hard to patrol every dark nook and cranny at nightfall, even with flashlights. So every hunting group usually spent a few moments doing an area sweep first.
 
Tiernann glanced around, looking up and down the street. She nodded at Braden’s words. He was right. Sweeping the area surrounding the Chrysler Building itself was top priority. They had to make sure the area was secure especially with the innocents residing inside, vampire and human alike. Then and only then could they move on.

Tiernann unsheathed the knife strapped onto her boot and clutched the handle tightly in her right hand. She placed her other hand near her Anaconda resting on her hip. She had a weird feeling and wanted to be ready.

A slight breeze blew and Tiernann immediately caught the scent of the filth calling themselves vampire. It was a disgrace and the smell was putrid making her want to wretch right there.

“Ugh,” Tiernann mumbled. “I smell them. They’re close.” She moved closer to Braden and gestured in the direction she’d caught their scent. “Over there,” she whispered.
 
"Handsome men first." He grinned easily, striding himself in front with his pistol raised before he stalked himself into the darkness. It only took his eyes a few seconds to settle into the darkness, a few more and he likely wouldn't have lived to tell it much.

"Oh, balls." He growled, the first blood curdling roar sent his pistol up. A twin pair of muzzle flashes was all he could get off before the beast was on him, his chest bleeding in pain as he choked and hacked in pain. Bredan had his arm up in defense from his teeth as the beast clawed and scratched at him with hungry snarls, his bloodshot eyes wide.

"Dammit!" He spat, shoving the smoking pistol against his neck and squeezing the trigger. The others were coming with a vengeance.
 
Tiernann just shook her head as Braden moved to be in front of her. It was so like him though and she had to admit it was one of the things she liked about him. They’d been working together for quite a while now and despite how different they were they somehow clicked. She was the dark to his light, the realism to his optimism, both complementing the other making them a kick ass team.

Tiernann watched Braden stalk off into the darkness, a shiver running up her spine as he did so. No sooner did he disappear than he shouted out. He sounded pissed that they’d somehow gotten to him first. But sometimes that was the way of it.

Without hesitation, Tiernann grabbed her Anaconda and cocked it, plunging into the darkness with Braden. She saw the filthy thing on top of him, clawing at him, trying to gnaw on his vampiric flesh. She sneered, but Braden managed to get his pistol up to the thing's neck. And just like that, it went limp.

But it didn’t end there. No, it was just beginning. Tiernann heard the hisses and squeals of the others. She knew they wouldn’t relent, they never did. Just then, one of the things came at her and she kicked it in the face making it shriek. Another came at her and she shot her gun at its head. Still another and she plunged her knife into its chest.

“Fuck!” Tiernann shouted. There were so many. She looked over at Braden. He’d recovered from the blow of the first thing, but he still wasn’t fully healed yet. Regardless, he fought fiercely. Fists flying, pistols firing. She smiled a little as she watched him, all the while keeping focused on those coming after her.
 
There was a sickening snap and one of the filth went down with a twisted neck, Braden sunk himself deeper into the melee, slamming his beretta across the face of one as he ejected the empty magazine of his pistol. They were relentless, trying to get close enough to claw; one such offending claw got grabbed and snapped back in a shower of gore, Braden's head slammed into the filth's with a crack of bone as he slumped down, dead.

The horrid hisses almost ceased as he noted the rest quickly sinking back into the shadows and trying to flee. He frowned, slapping a fresh magazine into his pistol as the slide snapped back into battery.

Flee? When did these freaks ever flee?

"Come on! We can't let them get away!"
 
Tiernann couldn’t agree more with Braden’s statement. The filthy things’ behavior was totally abnormal and it made her stomach feel uneasy. Something was up. Were they close to a trap? Did those things have captured humans nearby? The only way to find out was to follow. So she high-tailed it after Braden and followed the sounds of hisses and shrieks.

As they went after the things, Tiernann plunged a knife another piece of filth’s chest. It squealed as its blood sprayed out from the gaping wound. But Tiernann ignored it all. She ripped her knife away from the thing and plunged it through the eye of another thing, kicking it over with her booted foot as it let out deafening hiss.

“Shit,” Tiernann muttered to herself as more things swarmed around them as they fled. It was weird. It was as if they were purposefully leading her and Braden somewhere.

Pale eyes wide at the realization, Tiernann looked over at Braden who was pounding the hell out of anything and everything coming at him. They made eye contact for the briefest of moments and she wondered if he noticed it too. Noticed the strange, yet almost intelligent, actions of the things they were fighting.
 
Braden gave a passive shrug at the silent question, they couldn't really do anything about it besides try to get the drop on them first. Having so many filth near the Chrysler building would be very bad to morale, and not to mention the humans were already scared enough without knowing it.

"Let HQ know what's going on." Braden grunted. They were baiting them, there was no doubt about that. They'd get just enough of them to know where they were going, but not enough to kill anyone. "They might lead us to the other humans, anyway."
 
Tiernann nodded. Oh yeah, this was definitely something that HQ needed to know about after they got back at around dawn. No doubt this would upset Lady Byrne. But better to know and prepare than to do nothing at all. The tricky part would be trying to keep things somewhat hushed up around the civilian vampires… and the humans.

“They might lead us to other humans, anyway,” Braden said. And Tiernann couldn’t agree more. She thought the very same thing. And if this was true then they had to spring them free. Hopefully they were unscathed or at least healthy enough to be healed by their medics back at the Chrysler Building. Given this new form of attack by those filthy things calling themselves vampires, she just couldn’t say until something was revealed to them.

Suddenly, a few more blocks up, Tiernann caught sight of what looked like about five or so humans caught in a tarp hanging high off a lamppost. Beneath them she saw an opened sewer grate. One of the larger ones. Oh these things were indeed smarter than they’d thought.

“Braden!” Tiernann shouted. When he looked over to her, she gestured toward the trapped humans. It was clear that these things wanted them to see what they truly were capable of, to know that they’d been underestimating them this whole time. It made her wonder what other things they could do, what other things they had planned. “We have to free them!”

Angry at what she saw, Tiernann pointed her Anaconda and began shooting at any filthy thing that moved, each shot striking its mark right in their heads.
 
"Hey, hey. Easy." Breden said quickly. "We can't rush into it, Boyd. They're waiting for us to grab them, so we need to be smarter, here." He said, glancing around. "But..if they want us to grab them..then that's what we'll do." He grinned easily.

Boy, this was likely going to hurt..though.

"Think you can cover me, Boyd? I'm pretty sure they're going to drop them one way or another. Better if they dropped with one of us into the sewers." The sewers were all but filled with the filth..it was practically a death sentence.
 
“Of course, I can,” Tiernann shouted. Her cheeks were flushed, for a vampire, as she was a bit sore from Braden calling her out when she let her emotions get in the way.

Tiernann wasn’t mad at Braden though. She needed the slap in the ass or else she’d not only waste ammo needlessly, but possibly endanger them both, not to mention the human captives, as well. She reloaded her Anaconda as swiftly as she could until she was ready. Gun in one hand, knife in the other and her second knife aching to be unsheathed the moment her gun ran out of bullets.

“Ready!” Tiernann shouted, fear and worry in her heart, as she watched Braden haul ass toward the sewers, a suicidal move for most. But for him? Unlike the other defenders, he had a chance of survival.

Tiernann watched Braden run. She followed him with all her vampiric skill, hoping that she wouldn’t fuck up. That she wouldn’t see him, or anyone else for that matter, get injured.
 
Just like clockwork, the filth carried out their plan. The rope was severed with a claw as the humans plunged down into the depths with a scream. Braden grabbed them halfway down and cursed, his feet giving way as he sunk into the sewer as well, the group hitting the water with a splash.

Those tricky bastards! They weighed the humans down! He was grateful for the fact that his eyes could adjust to darkness quickly, because he sure as hell needed it when the first set of eyes came closer and got rewarded with a bullet between between them. He fumbled in the dark a moment before he grabbed his combat knife and hacked the bindings holding the humans down.

"Stay close." He growled, his voice echoing but all-together drowned out against the larger chorus of hisses and snarls. Up above, they all but swarmed to keep the manhole secure...

Hah! This was turning into a hell of a fun night!
 
“Fuck!” Tiernann shouted as the tarp of humans suddenly plunged down toward the open sewer.

Braden ran toward the falling captives and managed to catch them. But it wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot. Tiernann ran after Braden, shooting and slashing at anything that came at her. When her gun ran out of ammo, she quickly placed it on her hip and grabbed for her other knife and began kicking and cutting the filthy things that tried to claw at her in any way they could.

The things were everywhere, swarming all over the place. The sheer number of them made Tiernann’s heart sink. There was no way they could win this battle, not that she could see anyway. And that scared the shit out of her. Her only thoughts were to get the humans and themselves out of there. Fast.

“Braden!” Tiernann shouted as she fought the filth in hand-to-hand combat. Feet and legs kicking, fists flying, knives slashing and cutting. “We’ve gotta get outta here!” She tried to get closer to the open sewer, but the things wouldn’t let her near it.

Feeling the barest bit of panic, Tiernann hauled ass up the road to where her vampiric eyes caught sight of another sewer. She tore off the lid and dove down into it, landing in the inky water with a loud, yet graceful, splash. She looked up, her eyes catching sight of Braden and the humans further up the tunnel. Angry, she began stalking her way towards them. As she closed the distance between them, the hisses and growls of the things grew louder and louder. They were hiding in the shadows, waiting for them to make a mistake.
 
"Boyd! Get the others!" He called out. "We can't drag these humans back ourselves! I'll be fine!" He said, slamming his knife into the skull of a charging filth and ripping it out in an arc of blood. Two defenders against what felt like the entire damned population wasn't exactly good odds..but here he could hold out..for the moment, anyway.
 
Tiernann didn’t hesitate for a second the moment Braden told her to get the others. It was clear that he was right. There was no way they could win this battle. And if they wanted to even remotely attempt to save the humans, they’d need help. Lots of it.

Tiernann ran back to the opening of the sewer she’d just come down and leapt out of it, landing on the black pavement. She ran as fast as she could back the the Chrysler Building, knives in hand and at the ready for anything that tried to come at her. Fortunately, little did. They were too consumed with hovering over the large open sewer.

Braden. Tiernann feared for him greatly. She didn’t like leaving him behind. It made her stomach tie up into knots. But she really had had no choice. Plus, he told her to get the help she knew deep down they needed.

Still uneasy about what had to be done, Tiernann ran up to the Chrysler Building and swung open the door. She ran across the main entrance to the door to one of the stair cases. Immediately, she began leaping up the stairs, about ten or more at a time until she reached the floor she wanted.

Thrusting open the door, Tiernann’s panicked gaze caught the attention of every defender in the room.

“We are so fucked!” Tiernann shouted. “We need you all. Now. Braden needs us. The humans need us.”

At that, Tiernann didn’t even stop to see who followed. She grabbed her M4A1 from her locker, a gun she didn’t think she’d have to ever use again during a typical nightly sweep, and ran back to the staircase door. She swung over the railing and fell down the flights until she landed on the ground floor with a graceful thud. She heard the others follow her, but she didn’t want to spare the second it would take to turn around. Instead, she ran for the main door and then out into the night to where Braden and the humans were fighting for their lives.
 
Blood splattered across the sewer walls, the dirty water was floating with bodies. The horrid pounding of their fists was giving Braden a headache, he glanced over to the huddled group of humans with a light sigh. They were fine, a little scratched up from the chase..they all made it into a maintenance room and shoved everything that was possible against the door.

He took count of his ammo..he hadn't wasted too much yet. They were cornered in a room, with only one avenue of exit. At this rate, they were going to be finding a bunch of bodies ripped into pieces. He glanced over to the nearby flood tunnel

He rose up after a moment, spinning his knife in thought before grinning at the humans. "Sit tight, okay?" He said, handing off his pistol and all his ammo to one of the women. "You know how to use it?"

"I'll figure it out." She replied stiffly, fiddling with it a little. He grinned at that, good to see they had some courage at least. "Good." He smirked, "Barricade whatever you can on the flood tunnel when I leave, alright?

At their nod, he moved to the flood tunnel and yanked the grating off with a grunt, sinking into the small passageway. He had to move quick, so he stalked himself through the tunnel-way and took a right. Sure enough, he found himself in the mass of filth stalking around in front of their barricade.

And their eyes all turned on him.

"Oh, balls." He growled. Smarter they may be, but they still acted like animals. Animals with a pack mentality. They thought they were in control, he was about to ruin that idea. Instead of running, he charged head on. The boldness caught them temporarily off guard as he planted his knife into the skull of one and ripped it out, cutting another across the eyes as he scrambled back in pain.

Moving through the line, he sent one filth sprawling into the dirty water from a brutal punch and stabbed another when he tried to attack. The eyes didn't seem so focused on the door anymore, good..now he just needed to kill them before they killed him. Easy enough..

..maybe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom