Young Writers Society

And now Emily was hinting at what she'd look like when she lost control - Nubes tried to ignore the mental image as he came up with an answer. "I am not sure people have ever been too observant," he said, giving a small enough smile that it didn't betray any of his awkwardness. "Even in a country littered with assassins, no one seemed to have been particularly bothered by an inebriated pair wandering from the bar towards the depths of the jungle. I suppose my act, and my myriad jobs, led others to trust me. It certainly made my work easier."

"I suppose that would be helpful," she said, "Though that's not really the kind of thing I typically use that particular fact for."

She thought for a second, "No, that's a lie. I once had to hide a body in the middle of the New York subway system. Spent the whole time acting as nonchalant as possible and obeying all he usual social rules. No one batted an eye."

She folded the remaining chocolate back into its wrapped and tucked it in her pocket, freeing up her hands to preform a more elaborate spell to keep them hidden from the cameras.

As she preformed the spell, she kept talking, "Of course that was a one time thing, so it's not usually what I use that fact for."

Nubes shook his head. "Hiding a body in a public place is such an inconvenience," he said. "It took absolutely forever for an inspector to come alone and verify my kill, to say nothing of trying to ward off other assassins from stealing the body in the meantime, so I would sometimes have to escort the body to my own home. At least I had hats and coats on hand, though the store manager seemed a little alarmed at how many I was buying."

Emily laughed, "Yeah. It was this dumbass hunter guy who decided to walk in on the nest I was with alone during feeding time to take a couple of swings at us. Imagine it, this puny little human guy, covered head to toe in silver jewelry, crucifixes, full cloves of garlic, and, like, at least three wooden stakes, walking in on a nest of twenty-one hungry vampires in the middle of a feed. He started hurling threats and slurs and stuff before even attacking any of us. Nathan -this really buff guy who got turned at, like, twenty-eight or something- just kinda snapped his neck and," she shrugged, "well, we drained him. Or, we tried to. The brat had a TON of garlic in his system so we ended up having to take him all the way back to the main bit of the subway and drop him off on the track to make it look accidental. Don't think the police suspected anything. I don't remember."

"What an ego," Nubes said, rolling his eyes. "It's a shame that he didn't live long enough to realize his mistake."

"Eh," Emily shrugged, "Not everyone needs the opportunity to reflect on their terrible choices. Most of the time it's fine to put them out of their misery. Either way, you're one to talk. From what I gathered that friend of yours was a mark? How'd you go from intending to kill him to being all buddy buddy or whatever?"

"I suppose I am one to talk," Nubes mumbled, glancing over at Lunis. Lunis alternated between taking small bites out of one of the bars (he must've almost ran out of food, because the panther never ate that slowly) and trying to brush crumbs off of his fur.

The leopard looked back at Emily. "Can I say that I don't know?" he said. "At first, I was surprised anyone could best me, then I wanted to learn how he did it, and now, somehow, I almost like his company."

She laughed, "Well you've certainly got an interesting view of your companionship. I'm not sure if I'm willing to believe that he actually bested you, though. You appear to be at least a bit more competent than he is, but maybe I'm biased. I don't like getting people out of situations they could have avoided had they listened to my advice. I mean, really, I might look thirteen, but I'm still older than everyone around me at almost all times. Except for that time Lovlay decided to play judge that one time I went to court for mass murder -it's a long story- and people are supposed to listen to their elders. Old women are known for being wise. I'm an old woman, ergo, I am wise."

She dug her chocolate back out and started snacking again.

The leopard smiled. "Considering the old women that I've known, I suppose I can't disagree with that," he said. The smile faded away as he tapped a claw against his chin. "He has a reckless disregard for his own life, but, when he actually finds his life in danger, he can be remarkably clever. The first time I tried to kill him, he managed to sprint his way across town despite being intensely hungover and fatigued. In spite of all the alcohol I had bought for him that night, I still couldn't catch up."

"Really now?" she looked at the current topic of conversation. He was looking as unimpressive as always.

"It's interesting how those who seem to care so little for their lives are usually the ones who truly have the strongest sense of self-preservation. A friend of mine, Kivvien, I think I mentioned him earlier, seems to have a distinct disregard for his own safety. You know, the whole 'running into burning buildings', 'going up against six opponents twice his size', all that reckless nonsense. But then what's-his-face, the king of Rykvor, decided he was too much of a nuisance and put a price on his head. I don't think the bounty hunters quite expected Kiv to be so light on his feet. The guy's a dancer, I don't know how they missed that in the research they should have done, they definitely shouldn't have been caught off guard by that." She shrugged, "Anyway, glad my friend isn't dead yet."

"And I am rather happy to see Lunis still alive, in spite of it all," said the leopard. "Also, this Kivvien fellow sounds remarkably similar, save his job. Were Lunis actually motivated to find work, though, I could see him becoming a dancer."

"Well if he pulls another dumb stunt like before you won't be seeing him alive anymore," she said with a sigh, "so keep him under control. On the bright side, my hunger issues would be solved." She licked her lips. The veins around her eyes were darker than before, more pronounced and the red in her eyes was starting to overtake the brown.

"Being a dancer, though, takes a lot of work. I tried my hand at it back in the day, now, I don't feel pain so sharply as most everyone else because of the whole 'undead' thing, but landing some of those turn things wrong? That freaking hurts. I can't even remember the names of any of the moves anymore, but I do know I hated them all. If Lunis were to become one I would think he would have to get a stronger grasp of physics, seeing as he was still somehow dumb enough not to know what the internal door on the vending machine was for and how it worked."

Nubes had the distinct feeling it'd be a bad idea to look in Emily's direction, so he chose not too. "Any aptitude for technology? No, but he is fairly agile. Spending a few years of his life jumping between trees helped with that."

Gods, why dd his heard have to beat so loud. She drowned her growing hunger in chocolate again and took a step away from Nubes. His pulse was nearly deafening at this point. She hadn't caught what he said.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked, stumbling a step and regaining her balance. Her hands went to her head. She could hear Lunis's heartbeat as well. Two strong pulses beating against her eardrums. She could feel her venom building up as, unseen -but certainly known- to her, the red overtook her eyes. Not just the iris, but the whites as well, leaving only her pupils as pinpricks of black in the blood-colored abyss's that were now her eyes. The veins around her eyes went completely black, stretching back over her temples and disappearing into her hairline.

She fell to her knees, pressing the heels of her palms against her ears. There was only one thought in her head. A thought that made what little humanity hadn't been caged away writhe with nausea.

She was so, so hungry, and, right now, the only meal she could even consider rested in the veins of her companions.

Oh dear.

Nubes glanced at Emily as she stepped away, the leopard unable to look away as blood seeped into her eyes and she feel to her knees.

"Lunis?" the leopard said, voice slightly shaky as he walked to one side of Emily. "We might need to hold her down."

Surprisingly enough, Nubes looked up to find Lunis on the other side of Emily, paws already stretching down to press against Emily's back if needed.