Private Midnight Snack

[Alina Tremiru]

Feeding was an every day part of life. Be it the plants that devoured sunlight or the whales in ocean eating thousands of small creatures. No one hated the whale for what it ate. But the same couldn't be said for Sangnir. Drinking the blood of people was reviled and hated. Feared. Early on it was hard to feed. People fought back. People screamed. Alina learned with time how best to hunt. And when she went back to the Sith? It was easy now. She had access to blood without needing to hunt on her own. Willing subjects.

But there was a thrill she was missing. Maybe it was a part of her from the Sith, maybe it was part of the Red Thirst all Sangnir felt. Either way, some days she found herself needing to hunt. She wasn't desperate, at least to the point she didn't think about what she was doing. She could move more freely about the Galaxy as an employee of Aurora. But to hunt, she couldn't use her own face. So, she used her warform. A trait only a high blood could achieve. It was overkill, hunting in a form made literally for war.

At least it was effective.

Jedha was full of refugees from the ongoing war. Aurora was there, helping. Alina was there, helping. By the day that's what she was doing, helping the refugees find places to live. Transporting them where they needed to go. The Maw were butchers, the kind she couldn't support. Worse than the slavers who tended to be her meals.

Like this woman in particular. Outside the camp, amidst the ruined streets of what had been a city, Alina drank freely the blood of her latest prey. She never learned the woman's name, but she heard her all through the camp. Marking tents for her 'friends' to retrieve. Singles predominately. Anyone who camped alone and seemed fit enough for labor were being subtly marked as cattle. It made Alina's cold blood boil. But, now the problem had been handled. The security team would deal with her friends.

And she would get her meal.

Blood dripped from her maw as she dropped the lifeless body. The surge of anima, the warmth of a fresh kill. That's what she'd been missing, then? She chuckled. Maybe she was more like an animal than she thought. Yet the thrill of the hunt faded all at once. Her ear twitched. Her eyes narrowed.

Someone was here.

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

JEDHA
​

Alicio couldn't sleep. So he walked instead.

The dark form of the Count stepped slowly away from lines of grey tents, staring down at the ground beneath his boots. Insomnia wasn't a new sensation to him; between his heavy workload and general anxieties, the night had become a constant companion, where it seemed no one was awake but him and his thoughts.

The Alderaanian had difficulty keeping still. So when he was alone in the cold of the night, and all of his work for the day had been completed, there was nothing he could do but pick a direction, and start walking. Let the Force take him as it would.

Alicio pondered each broken house and cracked city street as he walked, relying more on his senses through the Force than his eyes. He felt the history thrumming in the walls, echoes of past footsteps resonating off the cobblestones, and wondered briefly what would cause such a lovely city to be abandoned.

Something drew Alicio from his musing. The Force brought him the distant feeling of danger, a taste like rotted lilacs on his tongue. He pondered it for only a moment, before rushing towards the feeling.

He rounded a corner to another street, and felt a sudden chill. It was difficult to make out in the darkness, but he could see a body on the ground, above which stood a tall figure. Alicio would have thought it was some kind of animal, were it not for what he tasted in the Force.

Alicio wasn't a warrior. Even so, he had to do something.

"Hey!" he shouted. Despite his fear, the Alderaanian took a step forward. He lit his blade, bathing himself in dark blue shadows.

- Alina Tremiru -

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"A Jedi, here?"

The deep gravely voice echoed out as Alina rose to her full height. Golden eyes glowed in the dark, staring down at the man. The figure, wolfish in nature, stood just shy of ten feet. Another advantage of the Warform. She hunched over, lowering just enough to get eye level once the blade was ignited. From the dark, blue illuminated the figure. Blood dripped from her fangs as her lips pulled into a grin.

"What brings you here, little Jedi?"

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio was a little shocked to hear the enormous being speak.

He was, of course, more shocked by the sense of danger he felt radiating off of her. Fear caught his throat for a moment, before determination won out once more. He took another step forward, blade held low at his side. "Couldn't sleep."

He could see the body on the floor more clearly, now. A woman, with clothes similar to refugees from the camp. Obviously dead, but her skin was strangely pale, though it could have been a trick of the light. He frowned deeply, before turning his eyes back to the killer. It was clear, to him at least, what had happened here.

"I'm not a Jedi," he said, warily taking another step forward. "But I will protect these people with my life. They've been through enough."

- Alina Tremiru -

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I couldn't agree more." Large, clawed hands reached down. Gripping into the dirt, the street. The last thing these people needed were to fear for their lives about a creature of the night stalking them. Especially when it wasn't them she was stalking. Better a not Jedi bravely loosing their life to stop a slaver ring than the truth. "It would've been better if you slept, little non Jedi." Then she took off. She sprang forward, using her claws to leap at the man with all her inhuman speed. Hoping to capitalize on the fear she smelled to give him a quick, painless death.

By ripping his head from his shoulders.

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

The growling tone of the wolfish figure was met with a growing apprehension from the Count. He could see what was about to happen, even without the Force showing him. He was going to die.

But as he said, Alicio wasn't a Jedi. He was used to his fear. It was what drove him. What gave him strength.

Heavy melodies of the Force played around the Count as he focused, channeling it into his very being in preparation. He saw a grisly future, his head being pulled from his body. For a moment, he experienced it.

Alicio chose another future.

As the vampire pounced towards him, Alicio stepped forward into her charge, blade coming up, and slashing downwards, right in the beast's path. If she didn't divert from her breakneck pace, the Count would, in fact, get mangled. But Alina would be bisected vertically.

- Alina Tremiru -

 

[Alina Tremiru]

He wasn't scared stiff. Interesting. If she wasn't in the middle of a charge she'd of appreciated it more. But the dangerous edge of a lightsaber wasn't an experience she wanted to go through again. Her body twisted, shifting from a charge to a desperate attempt to throw herself to the side and away. She succeeded. In going through the nearby wall instead. The monstrous figure growled as wood and stone collapsed.

But soon emerged. Blood dripped from several cuts that were already healing. Anger flashed in the golden eyes staring at him. At herself, anyway. She reached out, taking up one of the chunks of wall before whipping her arm around to throw it at the man.

"Fancy toy for a non Jedi. You sure you should be pointing that around?"

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

The predator was able to turn on a dime, escaping the dark colors of Alicio's lightsaber. The Count would have been relieved, were it not for the fact she had demolished an entire wall to evade him.

If that wasn't an indication that he was far out of his league, Alicio didn't know what was.

The beast returned, and Alicio kept his blade held up in one hand, a simple Makashi pose. But he wasn't fast enough to completely sidestep the creature's attack, getting winged by a stone brick as he dodged.

"No," he said honestly, rolling his injured shoulder, unused to any kind of mid-fight banter.

Alicio, despite his very nature protesting against him, took a few quick steps up to his foe, and began a series of warding jabs and slashes. He wasn't trying to kill her, that much was obvious. He was simply trying to stay alive, and maybe slow down the warform's deadly speed.

- Alina Tremiru -

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"At least you're honest."

Alina chuckled in a low rumble before reaching out to snatch up something close by. Anything that would be useful. A pipe. A water pipe, at one point then? She ripped it clean of the wall, metal tearing in a helpless screech. It was little more than paper to her. And, as a weapon, it'd do. Pulling out her own saber would only make it too obvious what she was. Next time, she'd have to make sure she kept her sword on her.

Lines of burned flesh quickly marred her fir, though. The lack of lethality in them almost made her feel bad for the man wielding it. They hurt, and her body didn't heal. Not like the cuts did. But she had little care if he wasn't going to kill her. They'd heal eventually, like all wounds would. Another strike thrust through one of her arms, piercing muscle and bone. The limb fell limp, but that was fine.

She brought the pipe around, slamming it down with all her might.

"But too soft. Rest in death."

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

"At least you're honest."

Alicio shrugged. A brief moment of cheekiness, before returning to his serious posture.

The Count wasn't a seasoned fighter. He was lucky to get in as many hits as he did, but it didn't seem like the bloodsucker was particularly bothered by that fact. Especially when she brought her pipe down upon him.

He attempted to cross-block, but he forgot a simple, yet extremely important fact; lightsabers cut through things.

The metal pole came down upon his blade, severing Alina's makeshift club. The now free end of the pipe clubbed him in the back, and Alicio felt a definite crack somewhere in his body. The Count fell forward a step, eyes blinded by pain for only a moment, before executing a wide, panicked sweep and retreating a few steps.

He knew he couldn't win by overpowering the creature. There had to be a way to come out alive.

Think, think, think.

- Alina Tremiru -

 

[Alina Tremiru]

And there was the inexperience.

Alina's golden eyes narrowed as she watched the man stumble away. She slipped back as best she could. Her body hurt. Pain was nothing new, but the thrusts he'd done in an attempt to cripple her had done so. A line of burned flesh across her stomach joined countless others as she herself stumbled back. Her body was heavy. Slow. Annoying. She flipped the pipe around, hucking what was left of the pipe shortly after.

"You're terrible at fighting. Why try and protect others? Why try and protect her of all people?"

Her annoyance was bleeding out. Rather than charge again the Warform stepped from the hole in the wall. Stalked around the man to keep the distance. Back to the corpse of the woman. Uninterrupted she'd reach down to lift the body up, a clawed hand around a bloodied throat as she held it aloft. "Why protect slavers?"

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

Someone more self-righteous or self-confidant would have responded with an effortless quip demeaning the large figure, or launch into a heartfelt speech about the sanctity of all sentient life. But the catastrophically empathetic Alicio remained silent, head tilted curiously, even as he held his saber in a clenched grip, his other hand cradling his side.

'Her of all people,' she said.

The Count's eyes narrowed suspiciously. His datapad was at his side. In a few short movements, he could send a distress signal to his entourage. He stopped himself from reaching for it. "Slavers?"

He kept Introspect up in a guard position, kept spying into the Future, as he considered the situation. She had already called him soft and weak. He wouldn't let her call him gullible as well. "I'm here to protect the refugees, escaping the Maw."

"Explain." There was genuine interest in his tone. Guarded, mistrustful interest, but interest nonetheless.

- Alina Tremiru -

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"She spent the night marking tents for her buddies to ambush and kidnap. Singles, strong and fit. Far enough at the edge to easily slip out. The guards should already be taking care of it. And I get a meal. Win win, no?" Alina turned her gaze to the body in her hand, idly moving it around as she talked to simply emphasize just how little she viewed this woman as anything more than what she ended up.

A Midnight snack.

Then her claws dug into the bodies neck. Flesh easily gave way, but something far more twisted occurred. Alina didn't do anything such as rip the head off. But instead put her own blood into the corpse. It took only a moment before dead eyes suddenly moved to focus on Alicio.

"There is true terror in this galaxy. If you're going to try and play the hero, you'd best be ready for the darkness you'll have to face." An inhuman groan escaped the now living corpse as Alina set it down on it's own legs. It stumbled forward a step before surging forward at a speed it shouldn't be capable of. Alina watched her ghoul only for a moment before turning to step away.

"Be sure to kill it properly. If it kills you, it'll eat everyone in that camp, little hero."

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio's features sharpened imperiously as the creature spoke, outlining exactly what she meant. Of course, he was skeptical. A rather monstrous looking vampire who openly admitted to killing someone for sustenance debasing her prey.

Who wouldn't be at least a little mistrustful?

Alicio watched on in muted horror as the wolf stuck her claws into the corpse of the woman, reanimating and enslaving it to her will. He had never seen anything like it before, except in old holoflicks. Alicio forgot himself for a moment, his eyes widening in shock.

"Be sure to kill it properly. If it kills you, it'll eat everyone in that camp, little hero."

They fiercened again. He overcame his fear, discarding it without a second thought, replaced by single-minded determination. He didn't think of himself as a hero. He thought the idea was too self-aggrandizing.

But as long as there were people in danger, he would protect them. Given the ultimatum, he knew what he had to do.

As the ghoul charged him, he charged back, Introspect roaring at his side. The Count flashed out his blade with a renewed vigor, in spite of his injured body, driven by his care for the people behind him. People that deserved a life free from oppression.

He would do anything for them.

Even quickly and efficiently drive his lightsaber through the skull of a dead woman.

- Alina Tremiru -

 

[Alina Tremiru]

The Thrall stood little chance against a lightsaber. As fast and as strong as it was, it was still an empty husk with only one simple desire. Feed. A desire that was put to rest as the blade pierced it's skull. But it lived up to it's purpose. Alina slipped away, speeding into the darkness to avoid any further class with the man. Not while she was devoid of her blade, her strength.

"Is it wise to leave?"

Within her head, the Blood Demon spoke. Taunting as always. She rolled her eyes as she sped through the darkness.

"He desires to protect, but lacks the strength. Given time, perhaps he will break."

"You just didn't want to loose, did you?"

Alina kept silent. Next time. Or the time after. Sooner or later he'd break. Or die. Either worked for her.

Alicio Organa

 

[Alicio Organa]

After performing his grim work, and making sure the raised creature was completely dead, Alicio squinted into the surrounding darkness, searching for where the predator had slunk off to. He cast his senses out into the cold, empty town, traveling beyond where his eyes could see, with no luck.

She had escaped. Or maybe he had escaped. Even though it was the other that had run, Alicio had the sneaking suspicion he was the one that had gotten away. Left alone, to ponder what the vampire had revealed.

If it were true, that the dry husk before him was a slaver, did that mean she was trying to help? Then why had she attacked him? Was it a test?

Too many questions for one night. Perhaps answers would come when his back and shoulder weren't throbbing with pain. He hurried back to the refugee camp, holding his side gingerly, and resolving to investigate at break of day. One thought lay unbidden in his mind.

Next time I get antsy, I should just read a book.

- Alina Tremiru -