Make Your Mark [2430-2-2 Thur 10:00 pm]

[Eli Wellington]

"Yeah..." Eli stated, rather distracted in his thoughts. He traced a circle around his wrist as he stared off in a haphazard direction. He couldn't believe the amount of stuff he'd remembered in the last few weeks, all because of his interactions with these humans, with their prodding questions and their... looks.

He glanced back up at the man. "Especially centuries old memories," he confessed. He wouldn't go into details with a complete stranger, though. Especially a compete stranger who had just tried to kill him moments ago. Even if Eli had also just tried to kill him. He stuck out his hand again, this time offering a hand shake. He hadn't done that in a long time either, except maybe with Grace. "Elijah. Or Eli. Whichever you like."

[Titus Vere]

Shaking hands with Elijah seemed like a poor choice, particularly since there was a very good chance the vampire was still hungry. But since they'd reached a temporary truce, shaking hands was the polite thing to do. Titus was rarely rude, even to those he had good reason to distrust. He extended his own hand, shaking Elijah's hand. "Titus."

The hand was cool to the touch. It was fascinating. Titus had touched dead bodies before, but they had certainly never responded. It was almost like some sort of riddle. What is dead but still has a name and shakes your hand?

There was a sound from the side, the grind of boot on pavement. Titus didn't move his head, eyes sliding carefully to their corners. Three dark shapes were coming towards them. Seems like two were better bait than one. Titus stepped in close to Elijah, smiling at him, "Shall you lead, or shall I?"

[Eli Wellington]

Eli could tell the man was shaking his hand warily. Showing politeness, but still on guard. Eli didn't blame him, really. Honestly, he was still waiting for another knife to come flying at him out of nowhere. This guy seemed just as unpredictable as Eli could be.

Titus. Eli found the name interesting, like it was something out of one of his old books. A warrior perhaps. Or an assassin... he smirked in realization.

He smelled them before he heard them. Two... no, three humans nearing. Titus reacted subtly upon hearing their feet, and Eli followed his eyes with his own calm glance in their direction. Maybe they would both get a kill in yet. He let his eyes fall back on Titus when he stepped closer, and grinned at the comment. "I thought you'd never ask."

Eli waited only a few more beats, aiming for perfect timing, before he made a leap towards the figures. This time, unlike the last time, he was finally anticipating possible weapons.

[Titus Vere]

Titus let Elijah take the lead, curious to see the vampire in action. Last time, he'd only caught a glimpse of Eli out of the corner of his eye. This time, as Elijah waited, he was able to see it all. It was like watching a big cat spring into action, the moment it moved from languid to leaping.

Elijah took his shot, and Titus followed, swapping his knife over to his right hand. Though he was ambidextrous, it never felt right to kill with his left hand. The men, clearly unaware that they were no longer the ambushers, but the ambushees, did their best to collect themselves but it wasn't enough. Titus and Elijah were on them in a minute, and Titus got to work on the biggest brute.

The knife was like a brush in Titus' hands, and he sliced here and there. The pressure behind his eyes was back, turning his entire vision red. That didn't stop or slow him. If anything, it made him more dangerous. When the second man attempted to intervene with a crude shiv, Titus deftly cut the tendons in his wrist, following but a knife in the chest before returning to the first man. There was carving left to do with him, and Titus carved.

[Eli Wellington]

Eli picked out the one with some sort of bar at his side. He aimed for that, leaping on the man immediately, taking him down while grabbing the bar out of the air before the man could get any momentum with it to hit him. They hit the ground together, Eli baring his teeth as he wrenched the bar from the man's grasp and shoved it against his throat, pinning him to the ground by his neck.

The familiar rush of power was back, and Eli reveled in it, pressing the bar tightly into the thug's throat. He grinned down at him wildly as he continued to cut off the man's air supply. "Not interested in being the prey tonight, sir," he hissed, leaning closely as the thug gasped and struggled underneath him. "You really should have picked your victims a little smarter."

He kept his weight on the man as he glanced over to see how Titus was faring. He'd made quick work of one of the men, getting him out of the picture. He seemed more interested in taking a longer time with the third man. Eli smirked, and turned back to his own victim as he finally gasped out one last breath before passing out. Eli proudly tossed the bar away and ripped open the man's jacket, trying to get it's collar away from it's wearer's throat. Finally, he lifted the unconscious man up into a sitting position, slid in behind him, and then sank his fangs into his neck.

[Titus Vere]

The remains of one body hit the alley floor with a wet thump, proceeding to bleed out slowly. There was no heartbeat left to pump the blood, and that was the way Titus preferred it. He turned his bloody knife to the remaining victim, alive but injured. The man's mouth opened to scream, and Titus soon fixed that with another well-placed stab. "Shhh." He told the man, twisting his knife to sever the vocal cords, but being carefully not to cut the jugular.

The red haze retreated as Titus worked on this one, giving him time to place his blades instead of letting the rage guide his hand. Two kills in one night was something he didn't have a chance to do very often. One was risky enough. But this was different. He had someone to watch his back... sort of. Elijah was still a wild card, but Titus began to think he might be worth the risk.

He finished his handywork, letting this body drop beside his first kill. His hands were coated in blood, and he could feel splatters on his face. Titus carefully ruffled through the men's clothes, finding the cleanest strip of shirt he could and cleaning his hands with it. His face could be managed in a moment, when he had access to his handkerchief.

Titus turned his eyes to Eli, and stopped to watch him feed. It was... powerful. He'd seen others kill before, but only assassins. This was different, raw and fresh and unrestrained. It was like a mirror.

[Eli Wellington]

It wasn't like the previous feed, which made it a bit disappointing. The previous man he'd killed had been from somewhere else. He'd been cleaner, and better fed. His blood was richer. And, well, there had also been sex involved. But this man was back to the same flavour of a human lacking serious nutrition. Before, Eli wouldn't have complained, having been simply happy to have his pickings of people to kill. But with the taste of more refined blood still in his memory, this kill was only partially satisfying.

Eli eventually let the drained body drop into his lap as he craned his head backwards in pleasure, letting the man's blood run past his chin and down his own neck. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and finally opened his eyes, noticing Titus was watching him. He grinned a bloody grin at the man, "I'm sorry... did you want some?"

[Titus Vere]

Elijah was... magnificent. A true predator. And like all predators, he took great pleasure in the kill. His face was an open book, and Titus carefully read it while it was still open and unguarded. Then he roused himself from his kill-induced stupor, much as Titus had, and spoke.

Titus was powerless to stop the small amused smirk that graced his face for a second. "No thank you." He politely declined, adding in a slightly amused tone, "I ate before I came down."

He slipped a hand into the coat, pulling out a handkerchief, collecting and cleaning his knives, even the one Elijah knocked away during their initial meeting. It would do him no good to leave that lying around as evidence. Even the worst of the Below police would quickly spot that Titus' blades were far too expensive to be carried by some ordinary Below-dwelling maniac. He slipped them away into his sleeves, then slowly began to clean off his face.

[Eli Wellington]

"Suit yourself," Eli shrugged, licking his lips. He hadn't expected Titus to say yes. If there was one thing he could remember about humans, it was that cannibalism wasn't something they normally took part in. Even the killers, like Titus. It was likely why Vampires horrified them so much, even if Vampires were no longer Human. Eli had a sneaking suspicion that a Human consuming another Human would likely be considered an even more shocking offense than a Vampire doing it.

Eli lapped at the dead man's neck a few more times, and then shoved him off his lap. He stood up, stretching his back a bit, and then wiped at his face and licked the blood off his hand. "Mmm. Not the most refined of flavours, but he was alright." He glanced around at the other two bodies in pure amusement. Titus had definitely taken care of them well. "Sure picked the wrong people to try to jump, didn't they?"

[Titus Vere]

Titus finished cleaning his own face. It seemed that Elijah had made even more of a mess than Titus had. But, then again, Titus hadn't consumed any of his prey. He hadn't really thought of it before. His eyes flicked over to the bodies. It wouldn't take too much more effort to butcher them properly-

No. Best not to go there, not while his body was riding the post-kill high. What he wanted now was to find something pretty and sweet to share the high way. But Regan was gone off to wherever he went, and Titus would have to content himself with something else. His eyes flicked over to Elijah. Hmm. Another thought he shouldn't be having.

"They did, but I've found the mental prowess of the average gentleman down here is extraordinarily low." Titus agreed, folding the bloody handkerchief and tucking it away into a pocket. Leaving it down here would be akin to signing his name. The bodies were less trouble. The men would simply look like they'd ambushed the wrong person, which is almost exactly what happened. "You can always count on at least one of them to separate themselves from the herd for you."

[Eli Wellington]

"Sounds like constant easy prey," Eli stated, nudging the body he'd just killed with his toe. "That's almost disappointing." His eyes shifted back to Titus, his mind still lingering on how it might have turned out had he continued to fight with him. Most of him still wanted to engage once more, with Titus representing a real challenge in a sea of easy pickings.

But something in the back of his mind kept him from it. Right now, he might be more intriguing while still breathing. Certainly more attractive while still breathing, that was for sure. Eli suddenly remembered back to his thought stream from the week earlier, about Grace and the idea that maybe some people were more useful alive than dead. Titus could very well be one who fit in that category as well.

"So, I don't know how you do things around here, but now that I've fanged the hell out of his neck, I need to get rid of the evidence. Last thing I need them to see is bite marks when someone finds the body." Eli wiped more blood off his face as he spoke. "I've found a few decent ways to get rid of the last ones, but do you have any suggestions?"

[Titus Vere]

"In the Below, yes. But I don't come here for a challenge. Or... at least not much of one." He came here for the madness in his head. Too much of a challenge while indulging the madness could leave him dead. Titus found that in the throes of the kill, he gained a sort of tunnel vision. It made it quite difficult if he was fighting more than one vagrant at a time. "My work is challenging enough."

Titus glanced at Eli's body. He was right, those fang marks would give away his presence to even the thickest of police officers. And once an alarm was sounded? Well, even the vampire would have trouble fighting off the military, and the army of bounty hunters and assassins that would follow in in their wake. A vampire on Terra could net you a hefty bounty.

"Butcher your fellow and leave him with mine. They're producing enough blood for three corpses. This area of the Below is controlled by a gentleman by the name of Stripe. He's known for his rather messy executions." Titus slid out a knife, offering it to Eli. "Take off your man's head. It's not uncommon for Stripe to take trophies. The head, and neck, will be small enough to fit into the garbage incinerator a few blocks from here."

[Eli Wellington]

Take off the head and dispose of it. Seemed like a simple enough solution. He should have thought of that earlier, instead of overworking himself in the act of getting rid of an entire body. "Huh. I suppose I'll have to find an axe."

His mind lingered on the phrase 'controlled by a man named Stripe'. So, this was someone's territory after all. No wonder Titus was quick to leave it to someone else. This Stripe fellow sure wouldn't like Eli's sudden presence in this area. He might cause a problem in the future if Eli didn't deal with him eventually. "This... Stripe. What do you know about him? Is he human?"

[Titus Vere]

"No need." Titus didn't assist others in disposing of corpses, but... it wasn't as though he couldn't make an exception this time. Better to do what needed to be done here now than let the authorities find the unsevered body and then Elijah. Titus didn't need to have his dirty little secret outed in such a manner. He drew out his knife and went over to the body. The knife easily cut through the flesh of the neck, and with a little force, he broke through the cervical vertebrae. The knife would need to be sharpened, but that was hardly an issue. He tossed the head to Elijah.

Titus got to his feet, fishing the handkerchief out again and cleaning his knife once more. Elijah was clearly quite new to the Below if he was unaware of Stripe. "Yes, he's human. Stripe is a crime lord. This entire sector of the Below is under his direct control. I imagine you've already noticed his henchmen. They're the rather large gentlemen who appear to be well-fed, and better clothed than the rest of the population. He controls most of the major supply lines, offers 'protection' to businesses, and has his fingers in a dozen other pies."

He slid his knife away, refolding the handkerchief. He would probably simply toss it into the incinerator as well, since it was now bloody enough to make cleaning it more or less worthless. "I would suggest you steer clear of him. I have no doubt you're skilled, but Stripe is a very important man, and he has very dangerous friends. If you continue to feed from vagrants and thugs, you should be fine. But better dressed men will raise alarms."

[Eli Wellington]

Eli watched in surprise as Titus did his work for him, cutting off the dead man's head with ease. He picked it up from where Titus tossed it at his feet. "Nice. Thanks, I guess." He couldn't help but allow his mind to wander to Titus' knife. The same knife that had been in his chest moments ago. He glanced down at his own wound, noting it was still sort of bleeding. It wasn't helping the blood that he was already covered in. He wrinkled his nose. "Damn I'm gonna need a bath."

He glanced around at the dead bodies once more. "Crime lord, huh? Is that like an evil mayor or something? Governor?" He wasn't sure who else there might be that could run such a large area. Then again, Eli wasn't very familiar with "cities". Maybe they had even further levels of government he'd never had to learn about.

"Steer clear of well dressed men..." he noted Titus' last warning, mulling it over in his thoughts a bit. "...oops."