Alek Constantine's Story

Talos did not outwardly react to the approach of Ellie and Alek. He watched them, certainly, but his posturing remained neutral, and for all intensive purposes he was merely a casual, if extravagantly dressed bar-goer who happened to have a couple talking in front of him.

The fact that both of them suggested they be alone amused him greatly, however. If this was indeed some base ploy on his life, it was the shoddiest attempt he'd seen since the El'Guar tried to lure him into giving up his soul. With a dark chuckle, he stands, picking up the bird and keeping it in his left hand.

"As you wish," he rumbles, his voice deeper than the hills. "I will follow." He looks between the two of them, idle fancy and amusement on the outside, cold-blooded readiness on the inside. He couldn't tell which of the two was the leader yet, but both were obviously wary of him, just judging by their body language and tone. Alas that Talos had not been gifted with the power of true sight, but the Light had given him other means of detecting his foes.

He paid little heed to the others in the tavern; once again, even if everyone in the room, or just one or two, plotted to kill him, he would deal with it as it came. Worrying himself over shadow enemies would do no good.

It was a short trip up the stairs into the Whistling Inn. It was owned by the same family, but the employee was of no relation. The innkeeper was a pudgy, dirty, woman dressed in dull colored rags with scraggly hair like a pine broom. Hildagard mumbled some Flash Lingo beneath her breath that Ellie barely understood. The elf-girl just payed the woman with Alek's silver pounds from his cloak pockets. She always spent his money.

When they arrived into the room, Ellie's face twisted into shocked horror. It was so dirty! There was dust caked on every inch of the furniture and motes flying around in the stale air. The bedding on the single bed was rumpled as if someone had slept in it that very morning. Molding bread laid on the lopsided table with a withered apple and a mostly burned candle. There was an awful smell coming from the corner of the room, hidden behind a curtain. It sort of smelled like...

"Window! Someone open a window!" Ellie gasped as she trotted over to the single window. She pushed the table out of the way and tugged on the sill. It was not going to budge. That was obvious from the way nails stuck out from the tracks of the window. It was probably to deter those who used "credit" from leaving without paying the keeper.

Ellie made desperate sounds of needing fresh air.

"Alek! Fresh... air! Please," she cried, breaking out into sobs as she weakly pounded against the window panes.

If Alek was as disturbed, he did not show it. However the smells came to him more strongly than it had for Ellie, he had even started muttering under his breath on the way to the room when the smells had first hit him. He coughed once, as if clearing his throat, but that was all the complaining he did.

His sharp golden eyes searched the room first, noting the dust and the filth. He was sure Ellie would have a fit. She did, but her first words were for fresh air. He gave an apologetic shrug to Talos, the man he was sure was following behind them, and turned to try to assist Ellie. Dust motes swirled about his feet as the shadowy figure made his way there in his own time. He grumbled a bit more. He could have probably forced the frame, breaking the nails in the process. Weary of Talos behind them, however, he'd rather not do feats that normal men could not do.

So, instead, he pulled a single dagger blade from the cloak that Ellie wore, put the tip to the glass and attempted to crack it quietly by ramming his palm into the hilt of it and putting all the force into that tip. If it were to crack, he would be able to break the rest of it more quietly than it would have been if he punched it.

"Next time, Ellie.. Do your research on the Inns, alright..?" He muttered, successful or not.

Talos had followed silently, watched as the elf surreptitiously filched the coin from her... whatever he was' pockets, and then carried on into the room. It wasn't the most disgusting hovel he'd ever stayed in. It reminded him, in fact, of some of the places he had been forced to camp while waiting for spirits to show themselves. Places such as this were often home to the discontent.

He grew in his caution, but at the same time, he couldn't help but be amused; if they were genuinely trying to kill him, this was the most roundabout way of it, and they were making fools of themselves in the process. If they actually had requested him for the help he could provide... Light rest his soul, he was going to have his work cut out for him.

He directs his eye towards the curtain in the opposite corner. A chamber pot that hadn't been cleaned in ages, he imagined. Or something dead. Or both, he reflects with an idle fancy. The smell did not bother him either way. Fighting corpses for days on end has a way of destroying one's olfactory senses.

Regardless, he decided to let them handle the matter of the window, while he kept himself patiently alert. He was playing the guest, for the moment, so they could figure it out on their own.

"Alek, stop!" Ellie demanded in a hushed tone. She was not paying the smell of the room any more attention. The hairs on her arms stood on end and a chill ran down her spine. The elf's fingers wrapped around Alek's wrist as tight as it could. "Look," Ellie said as she continued to stare through the murky window.

A woman below, in the small alley between buildings, was walking down the street. Woman was the wrong term. It was a vampire. Her skin was pale as snow, eyes and mouth as black as coal, and too unnaturally thin. There was an ethereal beauty about the vampire, but a bone-shaking horror destroyed the imitation of beauty.

Ellie watched as the vampire summoned a poor woman walking in the alley to herself. The unnatural creature's mouth moved and the woman offered herself up, embracing the vampire. Ellie's breathing stopped as she watched the monster feed on the helpless woman with blond hair wearing the red dress. The body was dropped carelessly and the vampire disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Her lips pursed into a thin line and her brow drew together in a tight knot. A predator made specifically to kill humans and half-breed humans. It terrified Ellie and it infuriated her.

Ellisandre looked up at Alek with tears clinging to her long lashes and then her gaze swept to Talos.

"You have to help us," she pleaded, gripping Alek's wrist even more tight, refusing to release him. "He can't do it on his own and I'm no use to him! I just get in the way. Alek needs someone to destroy the vampires with him, or at least a specific one..." She finally let Alek go and wiped the big droplets of tears from her lashes with the back of her hand. It wasn't easy for her to admit that she was not strong enough to be by Alek's side; that she could not help him.

"I brought you here to hire you," Ellie said to Talos. "I can't do what you can for Alek. There's a vampire. She's not an ordinary vampire." Ellie sank down onto the rumpled bed and sat on it, beyond all caring of its condition. "Her name is Amelia von Rosenberg and she is the most powerful vampire in all of Arcanum. She's the mother of the vampiric line; the oldest."

"When she was human as a young woman, Amelia was into magic, dark magic, blood magic some people call it. The story says that she found a spell to make her immortal, something she had been looking for because Amelia feared to grow old and die. Well, she found it and became the first vampire but she didn't realize that there was a price: an uncontrollable and unsatisfiable hunger for blood; human blood."

"There's a rumor, or a myth. If you kill Amelia then all the others will follow. They will all burn to ashes." Ellie's voice choked and her eyes flicked to Alek and remained. "But there's also another myth. It says that if a blooded turns on its sire and kills them, then they can get their humanity back. Not all vampires have to die..."

Ellisandre stood up and hurried over to Alek. She hugged to his chest and shivered against him, filled with despair and fear for his life.

Alek eyed Ellie for a moment after she ordered him to stop, his gaze shifting to the scene below. He grabbed onto the window seal, hard enough the old cracked wood creaked and complained. His features became more cat-like, with his eyes slitting to a straight line as he watched the vampire woman below drain the unfortunate soul. A half growl, half hiss escaped his lips. He was too late. He was always too late.

The words Ellie had said half escaped him. Something about hiring the guy to help him. He had never needed assistance before, why did Ellie believe he needed it now? His mind raced back to the vampire that had escaped. If there was one, there was a few more. Most likely a nest of them hidden in the city. Ellie brought up the history of Amelia, something that he had told her some about a while ago. Had she researched more about it since then?

When she came to the rumors, he turned his slitted golden yellow hues to Ellie then to Talos. He knew the rumors all too well. It was why he knew he had to go after Amelia. If he died, he would find peace he had rid the world of a blight that threatened the Lord's domain. It would be a good death, despite the monster he had become. The second one was harder to believe, but if possible, then he might actually be able to find salvation.

Surprise returned his pupils to normal when Ellie hurried over to hug him. He gently wrapped his own arms around her, soothingly, fighting back the urge of his hunger. "So you can probably guess what I am now." Alek said, directing his attention to Talos. "And you can stop worrying about us harming you. The unease reeks on you. I will not harm you except if you try to kill me. I use to be a zealot in the way of the light, hunting vampires like this for years until I was.. Turned. I still hold on to the ways, although I have fallen from the graces of my Lord. I have a mission to destroy the vampire race." He looked down to Ellie, a sympathetic gaze in his eyes. "Even if it means my own eternal damnation and death."

Talos remained silent through their brief conversation near the window. He took in their words with a level stare as Ellie pleaded with him for assistance, and then Alek's as he explained what he was, or at least eluded to it, and spoke of his vindication.

Talos took it all in with a straight face and a simple stare. Inside, he was quite ponderous; clearly these two had no forces to train, as he had initially been led to believe. They also sought his help to not slay just any old Vampire, but a Vampire Queen, a Progenitor, the first of a line.

They asked a challenge of him.

He decided to speak first to Alek. "My 'unease'," he rumbles in an annoyed tone, "Will not be leaving your nostrils soon, creature. I am always uneasy when there are Undead afoot." He meant this as both a warning and a point of peace.

"But, let me make things clear," he continues, pulling his hammer out and using it as a post to lean on. "I had thought to come here and train an army to defend itself against the Dark, much as I had in Innistrad. Instead, you beg me assist, with just those present, the destruction of a Vampire of legendary quality."

With a frown, he laughs darkly. "You ask me to do what it took a Goddess and an Army on Innistrad. Ask me as a Fiend, no less." His last words were pointed towards Alek. "But," he continues, before they consider him a lost cause; "A challenge is meaningful, and to destroy the Darkness is my life. If you," he says, again pointed towards Alek, "Truly work in the interest of the Light... grant me one concession." He proffers the bird icon to Alek, allowing him to come take it.

He could sense the honest desperation in them, and knew that if nothing else they legitimately sought his aid. But, he still had one test he had to bring to bear before he agreed. And a demonstration.

Alek was not going to die, Ellie thought to herself. She was not going to allow it, ever. Sacrificing herself was more an option to save his life than for Alek to give up his own. His death was not going to happen. Alek couldn't leave her. She cared about him too much to let him go. Her thoughts on Alek's death stayed and remained a secret.

"He is not a fiend and his name is not creature!" Ellie said. "His name is Alek and what is that?" she demanded, pointing at the bird figure.

"If that even hurts Alek, I will do anything in my power to make sure you hurt too. I swear it on Wundrano!" Ellie yelled. It was not often that she spoke of the forbidden gods in mixed company. Wundrano was the Creator of the Elves, and had never been mentioned by Ellie before. Alek would be able to tell that she was angry and fearful for him.

Unease was clear in the hunter's eyes as soon as the hammer had come out. With a stony expression, Alek listened to Talos and for a moment, he thought he may have to find some way to protect himself in order to get away from this fellow.

"A boy once stood against an army and a giant. That boy won his war with only a sling and a stone." The vampire said simply. "It isn't going to be easy, but nothing in life ever is. Every bit is a test to see if you will waver from the light."

He gently petted Ellie's head. "I cannot blame him, Ellie, calling me what is true. I am a creature, a monster that feeds on the living with the face of a man who once lived. I pray I some day can find my salvation.." He said gently. "But this is my path, and my path is hidden in darkness. If I am to find it once again, I must have help from the light." He turned to Talos once again. "..Even if it takes a risk." He scoffed as she threatened Talos. "Please Ellie, there is no need for threats.." Gently he placed a kiss on the top of her forehead. Hopefully that would be enough to stun her for a moment, he thought.

Slowly he moved away from Ellie, towards Talos, and would gently take the bird icon, bracing for whatever were to happen next.

As soon as Talos lifted his fingers from the icon, allowing it to be fully in Alek's grip, it would burst into light.

Talos explained as it occurred, for both their benefits. "It will hurt him," he says to Ellie, his voice grave. "But if he is of Light spirit, no more than a burn." Even as he spoke, the Holy light of the icon would scald Alek's hands. The light had taken the form of a true bird, simply encasing the icon itself, and it now peered into his face as the wings flutter.

"If he is of dark spirit, he will sustain far more than that, and I would receive a regrettable advantage in the battle that would be fought. Either way, you will have your chance to harm me soon enough." He seemed to either not consider her a threat, or considered her words fair enough trade for his certainty.

Looking at Alek, he nods briefly. "And so, Alek... how does it feel? Does your undead flesh burn alone, or does your soul join it?" He already knew the answer; but he was making the necessary point.

Ellie was stunned. Never before had Alek done such a thing as kiss the top of her head. Her knees wanted to buckle beneath her body and her heart raced in her chest. A bright blush crept up onto her pale cheeks and her head felt light. It was just a kiss on her hair but Ellie could not help to imagine what it would have been like if it had been a real kiss.

Talos speaking, however, brought her back down to the earth. Ellie reached out for Alek as he took the icon, but she took a step back as it burst into light. Her eyes squinted and then she screamed in horror. He was not supposed to be near the light, not at all. Alek would burn from light.

"You monster!" Ellie screamed at Talos. "You're going to kill him!" She ran at him and pushed at his chest, hitting him with her small fists. It hurt her to hit Talos but she wasn't about to stop.

"Make it stop, please! Don't kill him! Please!" Tears flowed down her cheeks.

The man's eyes slit as they had before as soon as the light erupted from the bird, growling painfully as it burned into his flesh. He wanted to drop it. More than anything did he wish to fling the thing away from him, but he held on to it. He held on, to prove to not only Talos, but himself that he still served this light, although it pained him now.

When it turned to the bird, he released it, gazing at his hand shakily. "E-ellie, I'm alright.." He muttered. He turned his pained gaze to Talos. "It's just a burn.." He muttered quietly. He would have done the same thing to Talos, if the tides were turned. His hand was seared worst than anything else, and the smell of burning flesh and ash was in the air.

"Ellie, stop hitting and shouting, or so help me, you'll be tied down in this room for a day.." He grumbled. His temper was short now. "Do you believe me now?" The last question was directed to Talos as he showed him his ruined hand.

Talos was pleased. He didn't care much for Ellie hitting him, though he would rectify that. No, he was pleased. The icon returned to him and the light dispersed, allowing him to place the innocuous item back into the folks of his cloak. Raising his hammer- Ellie still pounding on his chest, more than likely hurting her fists more than she was disturbing him- he places it onto his back once more.

"I am convinced," he says, his voice revealing an emotion behind the deep, gravelly tone. An emotion something like comraderie. "And I beg forgiveness, my Brother. I would embrace you, but that would probably bring more pain upon you." He looks down at Ellie with a frown. "I will need to train you before you can do any sort of harm to me," he rumbles out.

Looking between the two of them, he nods. "Allow me to introduce myself, then. I am Talos, Paladin and Templar of the Twilight Guard; and I am yours in battle."

Talos may have held hope for Ellisandre but now there was nothing but contempt for the monster. She hated him. He had caused Alek pain and burned him with the one weakness that Alek truly had. Talos tortured Alek and it was unacceptable. Ellie was close to calling it all off. She wanted to tell Talos that he needed to go back to where he had come from and they no longer needed his help.

Ellie stopped hitting the man and hurried back over to Alek. She tried to grab his hand to nurse it in anyway that she could. Her eyes searched for his and when they met, Ellie's silently asked if this was what he wanted.

"I do not like him as I thought I would but if this is what you want, Alek..." Ellie said and then swallowed down her fears. He was going to say yes. She had found Alek someone to help in Alek's mission and there was no taking that back. She feared that she had set Alek down the path to his death because she wanted to chase after a rumor.

Ellie was killing Alek.

"It's not too late. We can just go home and sleep. We'll find another way. I don't like this man, Alek."

Alek relaxed some, leaning heavily against a wall as he looked down at his hand. It was already mending, but since light was what caused it, it would still take a couple of days for it to mend fully. A great risk, that was. The light would normally kill a normal vampire. But, Alek wasn't exactly normal, was he?

"Well met, Brother Talos.. I am Alek, former member of the Temple, Templar of the Light." He said, his voice carrying a hint of lost pride in his voice. It was extremely obvious why it was 'former'. "I am honored you offer your blade, but there is no need to have such formalities to a monster, Brother.."

He allowed Ellie to grab his hand, and his golden yellow hues met her own. Contentment was in his eyes, as if he had proven himself worthy still. "Ellie.." He whispered. "This is something I have to do.. And you are right, I cannot do it alone and I cannot risk you.." He whispered. Gently, he caressed Ellie's cheek with his good hand, wiping away tears she had already shed. "I cannot see you die because of me, or worse. If I sit around, I risk these things as well." He gave her one of his rare smiles. "Your life is worth more than a dead man.. This is what needs to be done.."

He looked back towards Talos. "The city is crawling with monsters. I don't know if you noticed when you walked through."

"You are no longer a monster in my eyes," Talos says, a deep rumble of respect behind his words. "You are a former Champion of the Light, whom has been tainted and seeks absolution. Those in the dark may step into the light, given a branch of shade." The last part was a verse from the Chant of Valor, which Alek may or may not have been familiar.

His full concern was now with Alek. While he had been wary at first, he had a final certainty that this man was like unto him, and thus it was his duty- privilege- to assist him. Ellie had taken a back-seat to this mission, in his opinion. If she forgave him, he could train her. If nothing else but to protect herself. If she despised him, then if nothing else he would need her to stay out of the way. That was as far as his concern went.

Or... not quite. He reflected, in that moment, that perhaps she had been crucial to Alek's maintaining his humanity. She, too, would need to be protected at all costs. And he did owe her for bringing the matter to his attention... and, well, she was probably a follower of the Light, maybe.

It no longer mattered. "Yes," he replies after a moments pause. "I encountered a few of the more beastly denizens who came to investigate my arrival. Grayflame," he gestures to the hammer over his shoulder, "Dispatched them quickly enough."

He pauses again and looks between the two of them. "So is it just the three of us against them all, or have we other resources to bring against the Darkness?"

Alek wasn't dead. Not in Ellie's eyes. She pulled away from him and turned her back to him, showing Alek that she was not pleased at all which this decision. However, Ellie was not out of the game. Even though she disliked what he was doing, despite her being the one to start it all, Ellie was going to support Alek. He was all she had in the world. They were a team and for now, they were still going to remain a team.

While Alek was the brawn, Ellie was the brain. She was the researcher, staying up many times during the day to read over old tomes and books. There was not a thing about Arcanum that she did not know. Only the Old Powers of the Earth were a mystery left to Ellie as all the written history on them had been burned, or destroyed.

"There is no army, if that's what you're asking. There is just Alek and me," Ellie spoke as she looked out the window. Coppers were investigating the body after it had been looted. She placed her hands on the window sill and leaned forward on them.

"We don't need an army or a force. All we need is Feldumon," Ellie said. "It's a language. The language of the Old Powers of the Earth. What I've read about it so far is that it is the language of the lost gods and of the dragons which are now extinct. It is the Language of Making, and with a single word Arcanum, our entire world was born."

"The Order of Keepers believe that where there is one rune to create something there is also its opposite. It is equally as powerful of the Word of Making. It is the Word of Unmaking, or the Final Glyph." The information that Ellie had been storing was going to be a surprise, even to Alek. She had never shared the details of how to kill Amelia von Rosenberg to him before.

"I think if we find and learn the glyph that Alek can use it to undo Amelia's entire existence. It makes sense..."

"He would kill his sire, and even erase the history of him being Blooded. He would be human again or the rune could kill him too. Or maybe I am mad because I fear so greatly to lose him to death or to Amelia. Maybe it will not work at all."

Alek let a silent sigh pass through his lips as Ellie displayed her dislike for her own plan. Women were truly confusing at times, and so he thought it best he'd leave it be for now. He would surly hear about it later when they were alone again. So instead, guided himself back to the window to watch the investigation that was being held below.

He remained silent as Ellie explained her plan. He kept the surprise from his face as she explained that there was possibly a rune of unmaking, although he was truly surprised at the concept. The Language of Making was used to create the very world they lived in, a dangerous concept in itself sought after by those who wished to be as powerful as gods themselves. But the fact there could be a word of Unmaking escaped him, or he had not wanted to think about it. That too, had its own dangers that he was not sure he wanted to attempt. However, he let Ellie ramble on about killing Amelia, which was his plan all along.

Amelia had placed a special interest in him, it seemed to him. Out of his entire group that was sent to destroy the nest, only he remained although tainted. She had spared him, to remind him of the failure he had committed. It only drove him to find an end of the oldest Vampire.

His breath caught when he noticed below, one of the investigators cut his hand on an object around the body below. He felt his fangs draw downward, and the boards around the window seal creaked again. How long had it been since he last fed..? He couldn't remember, but longer than he felt comfortable letting it go. He had found that the blood had an effect on him that was addicting. He had never felt truly alive until he had tasted the first bit of blood, and the urge of it made him want it that much sooner. When he had been a fledgling, he could not control those urges. Now he could. Sometimes.

"E-ellie.." He muttered, his voice more a deep groan than anything. "I-it might be safer for you two to go elsewhere to discuss this for a-a while.." He was struggling to keep composed.

He had expected some form of response from Alek, either to his own statement or to Ellie's plan, but instead he simply suggested they go elsewhere. Perhaps he had been harmed more than he showed by the Light.

Regardless, Talos was not going to attempt a confrontation now. He did not see the point in it, when there was a battle plan to be drawn. "Very well," he replies to Alek, before heading through the door. He holds it for Ellie, then follows beside her and replies.

"Words of power are dangerous when used properly," Talos begins in a warning tone. "Improperly, they can wreak havoc like you have never seen. There is also the matter of finding this glyph, and learning to use it at all... unless you have some prior insight into that." He looks down at her questioningly.

"Regardless. We need a backup plan. If this Word fails, or is lost, we would be fighting blind. Powerful though she may be, any creature of darkness may be slain with a liberal application of Light. Without a proper battle plan, that is what I will be for, I imagine; utilize the fullest of my power to distract, and potentially defeat, the Vampire until a better action could be resolved."

"Alek, I-I..." Ellie frowned and ignored Talos. What he said to her went through one ear and out the other. She had to leave Alek and go with the man that had hurt him. If Talos had not hurt him in the first place then Alek would not have been more thirsty than before!

Ellie knew that she could not stay. Not only for her sake, but for Alek's pride, she had to let him deal with his vampiric hunger.

"You should let me help you. You are strong enough for it," she whispered, knowing that Alek could hear her, along with the beating of her heart and the blood pumping through her arteries. Ellie did not move and she watched Alek suffer; fight against his dark taint. It broke her heart each time she witnessed him struggling.

And she knew it pained him to feed the monster growing inside of himself. It did not register in her mind that feeding from her would make Alek feel even more like a monster than he already did. The only thing Ellisandre could think of was to help him.

"Find me, please," Ellie asked before she choked on a sob and dashed through the door.