Foreign Territory (Open)

[Alyssa Addison Baker]

Alyssa Baker was a vampire. She woke up buried under heaps of dirt in some guy's backyard with her 'maker' with her. She had to claw her way out of the her own grave only to find that the world and life she knew was now gone - taken.

She'd always held some fascination for the living dead and, more than once, even tried to find ways to be turned but now that it's happened, she just wanted to take it all back. She ran away from Jaceryn, the guy who claimed to have had to do what he did to her to save her life. Save my life? she thought as she ran through the woods by the highway, not really knowing where she was headed. She wasn't used to the vampire speed at all and she was making herself sick, running so fast, unable to steady herself enough to avoid being dizzy, but she kept going. She just wanted to get as far as possible from that man and from that grave - her grave.

"How is this saving my life?" she asked out loud for nobody to hear as she finally stopped in the middle of what looked like a football field. She looked around with he new senses and recognized the bleachers and the school colors. She was in Bon Temps High School - her own alma mater's rival. She ran straight into what she always considered enemy territory.

That was the last straw. She fell to her knees and started crying. She felt like wasn't the person she used to be anymore; maybe she wasn't a person at all. Red liquid fell to the grass right before her eyes, making her freak out even more. Everyone knew that vampires cried blood, not tears but everything was just foreign to her at this state. Alyssa couldn't wrap her head around what's happened and just sat there, bawling.

Unbeknownst to her, someone was watching from just beyond the shadows.

[ray]

The full moon smiled down upon Bon Temps, or perhaps it was just smiling down upon all the Weres who were currently howling their heads off in her glory as for one of the few nights of the month they all ran wild in their phased form. Either way, it was a glorious night. Both for the living and the undead. Ray had always liked full moon nights, ever since he had been a boy in Alabama. It made him think of a better life. A life which he had never managed to obtain until his death actually. How ironic.

The vampire bulleted out from around the building which was Bon Temps High, moving so fast that the backdoor he had jimmied open still had not fallen close but yet he was already halfway across the lawns heading towards the football field. A sack was slung over one of his shoulders and a computer monitor was tucked neatly underneath one arm. A cigar clamped firmly in his mouth. Anybody who was watching would be stunned as to why this man with at least twenty thousand dollars total worth of gold glinting on his neck, around his wrist, and on his finger was burglarizing a high school. Well to those people Ray would say bite him. He liked stealing, it gave him a thrill. Sue him. He had to get his kicks somehow.

The vampire stopped and lowered the stolen goods to the ground before reaching into his pocket and drawing out a lighter. He lit his cigar and took a deep draught before returning the lighter to his pocket. Lets see, he had been in town about five hours and he had been to Fangtasia and mingled with an beautiful ancient Nubian vampire, had even gotten her number. He had been to Merlott’s and had gotten into a less pleasant situation. And now he had burglarized a high school. Wow, how was that for an adventurous night? And it was just a little after two. Still plenty of moonlight left to burn. Ray took another huge pull off the cigar, savoring the flavor.

Just then he heard a funny noise. Was that a sob? What the hell? Quick as lighting he drew one of his guns from his waistband looking around for the enemy. There over on the middle of the field? A figure on her knees crying? Curiosity and caution got the better of Ray. He gathered up his loot and flitted over to the figure. Upon arriving he stopped in and watched in shock. The bloody tears were enough to tell him that this was a vampire. She was still unaware of him. Ray wondered what he should do. Every instinct told him to leave her too it, it was none of his business after all. But on a whimsy he decided to approach her. Maybe if he played his cards right he could make a buck out of this, though admittedly she didn’t look like she had much.
“Hey there,” Ray said announcing himself as he sat down his loot and seated himself on the grass a few feet away. “You know it should be illegal for beautiful women to cry on beautiful nights like these. That’s against nature.” h

[Alyssa Addison Baker]

For a vampire, Alyssa's senses were pretty bad; she didn't even notice the man until he spoke. She jumped up quickly, and took a few steps back as she took the in the sight in front of her. He was tall, dark and blinged. If she wasn't so upset, she would have found him hilarious because, really, who looks like that around here?

Of course, that would have meant that he's not from the area. Alyssa wasn't used to looking horrible, as she undoubtedly did right then, in front of people. She was raised as a southern belle and always looked impeccable in public. Tonight, with her face covered in her bloody tears and her nails dirty from digging herself out of the grave, she felt disgusting and embarrassed.

But then, the stranger spoke again and said, “You know it should be illegal for beautiful women to cry on beautiful nights like these. That’s against nature.”

"Who are you?" she asked, suppressing the urge to run and hide. She had left her shoes where she and Jaceryn had spoken and she thought her feet may be bleeding from running all the way from Shreveport. She wasn't looking forward to making those cuts worse by running any farther.

She wiped her eyes clean with her grimy hands and, for the first time, noticed the man seemed to have luggage with him. Or, loot, maybe. She looked back up to the school and saw all lights were off except for what she knew was the main office. She was starting to put two and two together and as much as she had the old high school rivalry dislike for anything connected with Bon Temps High, she worried for the old janitor she knew worked there. She hoped he had left long before this man came.

Her eyes returned to him, with anger this time. She was a vampire and this man was a thief - a human one, she assumed. She could over power him and take him to the cops, maybe. "I asked you a question, punk," she said with more force that she thought she had. "Who the hell are you?"

[ray]

Ray watched in amusement as the vampire jumped up obviously startled. She definitely wasn’t from Mobile, such a reaction was enough to get every predator within a ten mile radius on you within a minute. You kept your guard up at all time. Ray continued sitting calmly, looking up at her with a slight smile. Now that she was standing he could see that minus the blood, the dirt, and the general fact that she looked like she had just spend the night buried underground, she was quite pretty.

Flashing green eyes, long dark hair, a Playboy model body. Ray only gave her a quick once over. Pretty as she was he wasn’t really interested. He had grown up in a time where white people like her were the bogeyman and nightmares to black people like him, a lifetime of hate wasn’t so easily forgotten despite his best efforts.

Ray’s eyebrow arched as the girl twice asked who he was and called him a punk. Now that wasn’t very polite now was it? He really didn’t appreciate her tone as well. Ray’s hand was almost halfway to his waistband before he realized it and managed to stop himself. There was no need to gun her down, least not yet. He actually did not like killing women. He didn’t do it unless he had to generally. He guessed he could let her get away with done on the excuse that she wasn’t in her right mind as yet. He at least hoped that was the case.

“Generally when people get to talking to me like that I start shooting them,” Ray said in a pleasant voice with an even pleasanter smile. “But I’m a make an exception I guess. To answer your question the name is Ray.” He inclined his head in a slight bow of mock salute.

[Alyssa Addison Baker]

The man had taken his sweet time responding to her. Alyssa could see that he was taken her in and once again, she felt conscious about how big a mess she must look. She figured once she kicks his ass, the dirt under her fingernails wouldn't matter as much.

However, the tone he took when he finally spoke caught her off guard. He had a kind smile on his face though his words were rather threatening, she thought. Alyssa's eyes feel on his waistband where she found a gun holstered and a slight fear rushed through her. Vampire or not, she was still a girl; one who has always been a bit on the cautious side and would never have done anything as stupid as challenge a guy who was packing heat.

"Ray," she said, acknowledging his introduction. She had calmed herself down some in an effort not to be tempted to attack him. She was a new vampire and he was a human, or so she thought, with a gun - it could go either way if a fight broke out. She sighed and said, "Oh, nevermind! I'm so no good at this, i can't even scare a human..."

Alyssa looked down upon him as he sat close to the ground. Obviously, he had stolen for the mere thrill of it and nothing else since the items were practically scattered around him, seemingly forgotten. She sat back down, herself, the tears starting to well up again. Furiously dusting her dress that had been blowing in the wind, she continued,"I thought I wanted this, I really did."

[ray]

She thought he was a human? What was she, stupid? However Ray so no reason to correct her misinterpretation. He merely remained silent and took a few puffs off his cigar before tossing it behind him as she continued to speak. Standing there with her dress flapping in the slight wind and bloody tears running down her face she definitely looked the epitome of a damsel in distress. That image would have touched the heart of most any man, but sad to say that Ray wasn’t one of them.

The sympathetic look that he wore on his face when she sat back down beside him and began crying again was merely for show. He couldn’t care less what she was sad about to tell the truth. It didn’t move him in anyway. Only thing that her tears and distress meant to him was that she was probably not in the mood to buy anything, which completely sucked. But hey, nothing beats a trial but a failure.

“Hey little lady,” Ray said in as gentle a voice as he could muster. “I know that you’re probably going through hell now and you don’t want to hear this. But its not that bad. Its not. Try to think of the positives. Really, is living forever that bad?”

He gave her a few seconds to take in his words then sidled a little closer to her before continuing.
“It just takes some getting use to is all. You’ll see, I think they’ll come a time soon where you might even begin enjoying it. But you know what I do when I’m really sad?”
He gave her a little smile and reached behind him for the computer monitor which he presented to her.

“I buy some electronics. Its seriously been proven to make you feel better. It just so happens that I’ve got what you need right here. How’s about a nice new monitor huh? I’ll give you a good price.”