Old Blood, New Blood, Spilled Blood

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Tabitha didn’t like people who were not Sharaku. She liked Shar, and other people were just so… well, there was a reason she didn’t really have friends. She had on a long sleeved, low cut red sweater and a black leather vest, unzipped. She also wore her high leather boots and a slightly longer black skirt. She didn’t have anyone to impress today. There was no reason for her to dress in a way to draw attention. Of course it did draw attention. Tabby got attention every time she walked into the guild. Someone made the mistake of asking her where her “friend” was. She informed him that she had several friends, most of them would be perfectly happy to lodge themselves into his spine if he were interested in annoying her.

She hadn’t been annoyed, but she was left alone, thankfully. Gloriously alone. It was unfortunate that she was here to get some company, but not Sharaku. She didn’t want to see him today. She needed someone to help her kill someone. Just kill them. Wetwork. There were consequences for the actions of everyone in Shadow Heart. One day she might leave. Like if it became more trouble than it was worth to say. She hoped no one came running after her trying to kill her like she intended to do with this deserter. Oh well, she’d play the hand she was dealt. She had already gotten the job request, on a slip of paper in, nestled against the handle of one of her four hidden daggers. Now she just needed someone to take the job with her.

Noticing someone new, she sauntered on over. He had that fresh meat look to him. Also she’d never heard any lewd comments from him, and clearly that meant they were not acquainted. Shadow Heart did not attract many gentlemen. “Hello,” she said, eyeing him as she got within a few feet of the stranger. “You’re new, right? I’m Tabitha.”

328/1000

[Cain Tova]

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life" was the thought running through Cain's mind as his soft blue eyes stayed glued to the Shadow Heart symbol on his right hand. It had been roughly two weeks since Cain had bonded with Azazel in the forest of Magnolia and in many ways he was still in a state of shock. So much had happened all at once that Cain was still trying to process and come full circle with his situation. What started as a last hoorah to get rich off some local gangsters somehow turned into an ordeal where Cain was forced to contract himself with a sentient magical weapon, one which happened to be rather evil and used his body to kill a man within the first five minutes of there bonding.

With a hefty sigh Cain replaced the fingerless black leather glove onto his right hand as he looked over to the shirtless man with red hair who has been staring at him silently for the past ten minutes. "Is there something you want Azazel? It's bad enough I know you're in my head, do you really need to manifest just to stare at me as well?" Cain spoke in a hushed voice in an attempt to not draw attention from those around him due to the fact he knows no one else can see the man that stands before him.

Azazel cracked a small smile before walking over, dragging one of his decorative golden talons through the skin of Cain's right arm. It slipped through the fabric like the phantom he is but it tore into his Cain's skin with an amplified amount of pain that didn't suit the minor cut. "Aside from the man from the forest, you've not kept your end of the deal thus far...and I even did the work on that one. Why haven't you fed me yet?" Azazel cooed in his soft almost angelic sounding voice all the while Cain gripped at his arm and clenched his teeth from the ensuing pain. Not a single drop of blood, no actual cut but the pain was real enough.

Azazel continued to drag the claw from Cain's arm to his back before stopping and leaning down to whisper in his ear, the sword's soft tone shifting to something much darker at this point. "I hope you've not forgotten our deal already, I had higher hopes for you Cain. Of course don't misunderstand me, I relish the idea of extracting my meal from you, slowly.." His voice trailed off for a second as if to savor the thought before returning to his point. "..but I was hoping for more entertainment." Azazel hissed out the last part while also plunging one of the talons through Cain's back and out through his breast.

Cain gritted his teeth and gripped his knuckles tight enough to turn his hand white. It was all he could do to keep from screaming out and even then a few small muffled gasp escaped. "Fine.." Cain muttered out in a defeated huff between holding his breath. "You win..I'll feed you today." Cain pushed out once more and with that Azazel removed his talon from Cain's body, leaving no visible injury like before. "Good." he said dryly before melding back into the sword at Cain's left hip.

Cain would finally allow himself to breath again as the pain slowly faded away like the phantom that inflicted it. This was what he had in store for him until he dies it seems. Resist the urges and the callings for as long as he can until the pain and physical torture become too great. Then he'll cave and give Azazel what he wants..pain, suffering and blood. It goes against everything Cain believes in. He should have chosen death that night.

Because of all the inner conflict however, Cain failed to notice the young woman who had approached him. Cain snapped back into reality in time to hear the accusation of him being new and the girl introducing to himself. Having regained his composure, Cain stood to his feet and nodded softly in greeting to the girl. "Nice to meet you Tabitha. My name is Cain and as you guessed I am indeed new here." Cain's voice was still slightly shaky from the shock of the earlier pain but was composed enough to be able to pass it off as mere shyness or surprise perhaps.

Cain couldn't help but wonder though what this girl could want from him. At first glance she seemed nice but she was still a member of Shadow Heart. Odd for one such as himself to be judging but he couldn't really help it. "So is there something I could help you with? Or are you just fond of introducing yourself to new members? If so you'd be unique amongst the bunch thus far." Cain explained, cracking a weak smile as he spoke to the girl.

830/1,250 words

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Tabitha, a cynical sadist, according to some. Not her past friends or lovers, admittedly. They’d liked her. The people who didn’t like her said all sorts of nasty little things about the Shadow Heart member. What did it really matter though? The people who hated her could think all sorts of new ways to hate her. She wasn’t denying a thing.

That being said, Tabitha was no one to think that her life would start anew. Nothing would restart her life. It had neither ended nor began with the death of her mother. It had neither ended nor began when she joined her dark guild years ago, nor when she had joined Shadow Heart at its creation. She was simply someone who had been around a long time, and she did her own thing. People came and went and they made up all these cute little ideas about life. None of it was accurate. People were just fools, and while she could be foolish, she never let her guard down, and that kept her alive. Well, sometimes she let her guard down, but not for most people.

Even given the people she let her guard down for, she still had her layers. Murderous layers even. And today she needed to murder someone, and she was keeping up her guard to the people who had the other guards down. In any case, she was standing next to some man. She couldn’t judge his age. He looked older than her, but people never seemed to really look their age, in her experience. She didn’t guess. Cain. Nice enough name, she supposed.

“So… Cain… yeah, no, I’m not the welcoming committee,” she told him. Should she be upfront, or should she be coy? She did so enjoy both of those things. “I simply intended to do a bit of work… and you look just fresh enough you could use some help getting adjusted. That is, if you came to the guild to do work. Most of us did, I believe.”

665/1000

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