Moonlight Nocturne

He waits, then grabs for her as soon as she's close, pulling her in and wrenching her off the ground, buttering his teeth into the meat between her neck and shoulder.

 

She goes dead white, giving a tiny whimper at the pain. Everything is cold and clear and focused. It's almost reassuring. Almost.

So, he's a monster. A real monster.

She lashes out as hard as she can, kicking him in the crotch. Hopefully it hurts him as much as it hurt Nick in practice.

(Taking 2 lethal. Health: XXOOOO. Wound penalty: -1 to all rolls, mitigated by Tough 1 to -0.)
(Resolve + Composure to avoid lashing out in rage: 6d10 -> 0 successes.)
(Dex + Brawl + 3 (spending willpower): 7d10 -> 1 success.)
(Spending 1 willpower. 5 willpower remaining.)

 

He grunts in pain, then yips as a woman lets out a furious howl and brings a purse down upside his head.

Elena is dropped to the ground, with teeth still embedded in her skin, as the monster turns to lash out at a blonde woman who has come to her air. His clawed fingers swipe across her stomach, splitting the fabric and the skin beneath.

She lets out a choked sound of pain, and yells at Elena. "RUN, Kid!!!"

 

Elena stares for just a split second, rage breaking in the face of sudden, horrible guilt and terror that rises up to swallow her. No. Oh, no.

She bolts, as fast as she can, grabbing her phone out of her pocket and fumbling to call Nick, as she races toward the shop.

It's... it's the best thing she can do, right?

Oh, god, she's abandoning that woman, that woman in her neighborhood, she's met her. She's leaving her to-- to die? It's hard to imagine the monster won't... won't...

Elena's already starting to sob as she runs, trying to hold it back so she can go faster, coax every bit of speed out of her limbs, for these next few blocks.

If a policeman tries to stop her right now, she doesn't know what she'll do. She has to find Nick right now.

 

"GET BACK HERE, LEAVE HER ALONE!" The woman screams out as Elena runs, leaving more sounds of a scuffle as she tries to keep the man from chasing Elena.

The phone rings once, twice - goes to voicemail. He isn't picking up.

Why isn't he picking up?

But.

Her shirt is already tacky with blood, sticking to her body, and she can feel a broken tooth sliding free and moving down her skin.

There! The shop- She's going to make it-

 

Come on, Nick, pick up, pick up, pickuppickuppickup

She tries to dial again, in a panic, before shoving her phone into her pocket as she approaches the store. She's not taking the knife out of her hand, and she needs a hand free to open the door.

There's... there's a lot of blood. She's lucky that nobody's stopped her; she's a kid, people... people worry, when they see kids covered in blood.

(Oh god, that woman. Oh, god.)

She takes the biggest breath she can manage, as she runs, and screams as she approaches the shop. "NICK!!!"

 

Nick's head jerks up from the counter as the door opens, going from half-asleep to wide-eyed focus in the span of a breath. His eyes are wide as he looks at her, their soft amber colour a feral yellow as he vaults the counter in another heartbeat, running towards her. "Oh. Oh fuck. Elena? Oh god. Elena, what happened?"

 

"Monster-- att-- attacking--" She points wildly, panting for breath, her eyes wide with panic and leaking tears. "You have to save the lady!"

Her knife is all the way upstairs, she doesn't have time to get it. She looks around wildly for something big or sharpish to arm herself with, before just opening up her Swiss Army knife. Why does Mom have to keep all the knives locked up???

"He-- he hurt her, you have to--"

She's crying hysterically now, shaking like a leaf. It hurts. It hurts really bad, and that lady got hurt because she wasn't strong enough, and-- and--

 

"MOVE-" Nick lunges, grabbing her arm and jerking her forwards as he throws himself past her. The glass door shatters as the man who was chasing her crashes through, seemingly unable to remember how to open a door - then lets out a guttural noise of surprise.

"Uratha?!"

"Shartha!" Nick's voice comes out in a guttural snarl.

 

She muffles a scream with her other hand, as Nick's jerk tugs at her wound, making it bleed even more. Ithurts...

She follows his orders, going to hide by the office door, trying to get her breath back, trying to keep quiet as she sobs. She's watching, wide-eyed, her knife shaking in her sweaty palm. If she has to run more... maybe she can get out the window. But Nick will fix this, right? He has to.

Nick's voice sounds... wrong.

 

..no, no.

It isn't just his voice, it's-

Nick lets out a guttural, snarling howl, muscle rippling under his skin as he shoots up in height, shoes kicked off, shirt shredding, jeans somehow intact as his body mass increases. His mouth opens wider, sharp teeth visible through cords of flesh as his face reshapes itself.

The man in the doorway lets out a terrified, ratlike screech, then dodges under his grip, mouth of broken teeth opening wide as he tries to get inside Nick's guard and rip out some of his flesh.

 

Elena whimpers softly in panic, her sobs turning to panicked hyperventilation. Nonononononono.

She loves Nick, Nick is safe, Nick is hers, but there's something in her that can't take the sight of him turning into a... into a thing too, a thing full of teeth and claws. She keeps her knife up, eyes huge as she huddles as far into the corner as she can.

He's. He's Nick. He has to win. He has to stop them and he's not going to hurt her. He's not a monster, they're not monsters like the monster.

There's blood everywhere, blood and rot and death, and she can't breathe, she can't stop hyperventilating. No...

 

The man lets out a screech of pain as Nick moves, and Elena can hear the sickening snap-crunch of bone as Nick’s mouth closes down on one of his arms, head jerking to one side, then the other, lifting the man like a ragdoll before one leg pins him to the floor and the arm is ripped off.


He stinks of rot, and Nick lets out another loud snarl.


Elena feels something small skitter up her leg, but right now the thing that’s more terrifying is the dark, rotting blood painting Nick’s face as he turns and lunges across the shop towards her, one clawed arm held towards her like he’s about to grab her.

 

That is not a human thing to do. That is... it's terrifying. It's terrifying.

She kicks her leg violently, trying to shake the thing off, but her eyes are fixed on Nick's teeth, on the blood and worse things, painting him red and black, the shard of bone in his teeth.

When he gets within reach, she moves to stab his arm, in unthinking panic. No!

(Str + Weaponry: 2d10 -> 1 success)

 

The thing races up, and she feels a sharp pain in her side as something small, furry, and squirming tries to eat into her skin - Nick's clawed fingers grab it, ripping it away, fingers digging in until his clawlike nails penetrate its' stomach, sending a spill of stomach acid and gore down their length.

He moves too quick, and the knife finds its place in his gut, instead. He blinks.

( Elena takes 1 lethal )

 

She cries out in pain, trying to claw the monster away, letting go of her knife. "No!"

She freezes at Nick's blink, eyes locked with his like a deer faced with an oncoming truck. If he wants to hurt her, she can't stop him. She's too scared even to act, to figure out whether he's angry with her, or going to hurt her.

(Health: XXX000. Wound penalty: No 10-again.)

 

He snaps the rat's neck, gold eyes locked on Elena, expression twisting, like he's fighting some kind of internal battle... then snaps his teeth and plonks back onto his ass, growling low and pushing the hand that doesn't have the rat through his hair, starting to breathe in slow, deep breaths.

 

She curls up tight in a ball, face hidden in her knees, starting to cry again. "... 'msorry."

She didn't mean to stab him. Even if he looks really, really scary right now. He wasn't trying to hurt her. Why would she have doubted Nick?

 

He grinds his teeth, hesitates, then carefully reaches towards her, touching her shoulder, with the hand that doesn't have a dead rat in it. "H...hey. hey. You're okay-"

 

That's apparently all the impetus she needs to latch onto him, hiding her face against his chest, like he's the last safe thing in the world. "Sorry..."