And so, with Gabe's current situation - questing endlessly to find his lover's murderer - in mind, we can go back to his human life, over a hundred years ago, when he found his sister's new, and altogether mysterious, aversion to the daytime.
For several months their lives continued as normal - as normal as the unwitting brother of a vampire could be, anyway. Gabe had not seen Dawn at all during the day ever since she arrived late all those weeks ago, but she would come in shortly after sunrise and he would go home shortly afterwards.
Dawn was still a wonderful serving maid, talking to her clients and making them laugh at all the right times. She seemed to have gotten even better at it, lately, when Gabe thought about all the extra gifts that the men she worked with were giving her. And, still, that mysterious stranger - Nigel, that was his name - that mysterious Nigel would often come and see Dawn.
And now Gabe noticed that Dawn wasn't eating or drinking anything, either. This was a girl who used to delight in stealing teacakes and sandwiches from the kitchen at every opportunity; a girl who would sit down and share a beer with Gabe - despite how unbecoming of a lady alcohol was, Dawn still used to sneak beers whenever she could. And now she seemed to have sworn off of all the things she used to enjoy. It had to be Nigel!
And so, one evening when Nigel left before Dawn, Gabe was lying in wait outside and followed him. He wanted to see where he went afterwards, and Dawn must have been staying there, because she had stopped sleeping in her bed at home.
Gabe followed for a long time until Nigel reached a small cottage on the other side of town. Odd that Nigel would have walked this far to go to a tavern, when en route there were several others. Nigel entered the house and Gabe stayed outside, waiting in the shadows.
The house itself was old, yet charming. It had a well-kept garden and the door and walls were in very good condition - no holes or cracks anywhere. He also saw the house had window shutters, but he didn't really notice this or think it had any significance. He would know later what it meant.
Nigel remained in the house for a long time - Gabe was now annoyed by the window shutters, since they were all locked it meant he couldn't peek inside. And he was curious as to what Nigel was doing, alone in his house, with no lamp or even candle lit. There was also no smoke coming out of the chimney, he realised, despite the bitterly cold nights of the British winter.
Eventually Nigel left again, closing the door carefully behind him. Gabe sat there, hiding in the shadows, and followed him to his next destination; the more, well, decrepit part of town where the town's lowlifes lived. The beggars, the thieves, even some of the servants. Nigel walked through there with the confidence of a man who has nothing with him worth stealing. Gabe grabbed his pocket knife, keeping it ready.
As Gabe watched, Nigel stood in the middle of the street, clearly waiting for something. A short, skinny woman appeared, dressed in rags with skin so pockmarked she looked as though she had gone through a windmill along with the grain.
With an apparent disregard for the possibility of anyone watching them, Nigel brought the woman close to him, and buried his face in her neck. Gabe squirmed a little, made uncomfortable by a gentleman such as Nigel going so far as to embrace this urchin. The woman, for her part, moaned in ecstasy, sounding for all the world like a harlot except in that her moan, in all its exuberance, seemed to be genuine. Gabe looked on, baffled, and sneaked closer, trying to get a better look.
Then the realization came upon him like a shock - this man was drinking the degenerate woman's blood, wasn't he?
"Vampire."
Gabe murmured to himself, barely audible, for he had heard in the folklore that vampires had a supernatural sense of hearing. They could turn into bats and wolves, too, and he didn't know much about bats but he knew wolves were dangerous and had wicked senses. This knowledge carried with it a terrible weight, despite everything it explained about Nigel - why there was no fire or even candle flame in his house; why they had not once, not ever, seen him during the day, and why, most of all, Dawn's behavior had become so odd of late.
He shuddered, the fateful thought that his sister had to be a supernatural creature of some sort beginning to consume him. She was his best friend, and yet she hadn't told him. He wondered if that had been by choice, or if she wasn't allowed to.
Then he realised something that made his blood run cold - his sister was dead, and there was no way that the Almighty would allow such an awful creature into Heaven.
What a terrible thought - that she would die one day, and her death would be final, with no hereafter!
Story stats etc: http://750words.com/entries/share/357401
Showing posts with label gabe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gabe. Show all posts
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Faruq, Gabe Descriptions; Gabe musing about Faruq's murder
Well, I suppose before I get more into the past of Gabe and of Faruq I'd better explain who they are and why you should care.
Gabe and Faruq are two vampires who lived in Perth for an undisclosed period of time until the present. Well, Faruq didn't quite manage to get to the present; he was ambushed and killed by vampire hunters in early 2010. Gabe and Faruq were lovers, and so they were very close and rather devoted to one another.
Gabe is a tall slender man, with pale skin, blue eyes and long, white hair. He does not look wiry, despite being thin; it's all lithe muscle. He moves with an astonishing strength and dexterity that is only appropriate for a supernatural being. In his long life, Gabe has seen a great many things and done a great many things, not all of them good. He has an easy-going nature and revels in sarcasm. He's wily and intelligent, preferring to use his brains over his brawn, but he's as good a shot as anybody. He just knows the right time to shoot and the right time to ask questions.
Following the death of Faruq, he became a lot more cynical, particularly because Judith - the leader of the vampires and his 'boss' - blamed Faruq not only for his own death, but for the death of Fiona who he was charged with protecting. Knowing Judith would not authorize the vendetta Gabe so sorely wanted to pursue in an attempt to kill the vampire hunters responsible for Faruq's death, Gabe went off on his own and started seeking out any vampire hunters he could find. There were no surviving witnesses to Faruq and Fiona's massacre, so Gabe was going to do it the old fashioned way - by killing everyone who it could have possibly been and calling it a day.
The death of his loved one of course caused his psychopathic streak to reassert itself. This was an asset of his when used in interrogation - though he tended to play good cop to Faruq's bad cop, but it was not being well-supervised here. It was untamed and wild as he was cruel to his victims, but in his mind, at least, they deserved it.
~~~~
It goes without saying that Faruq was one of Gabe's great allies. Faruq, himself, was rather short - five foot seven or so, dwarfed a little by Gabe's six foot frame. But you would never know he was that short by looking at him - he was stocky and well-built, rippling with muscle and power. When he punched someone down, they stayed down.
Physically, Faruq had dark skin (though not black), dark eyes, and dark hair that was styled in dreadlocks. He wore simple clothes - dark t-shirts with tribal designs on them, jeans with chains coming off of them, sometimes spiked collars and wrist cuffs. He looked like a thug, and he owned it, even playing it up a little.
He was dumb, but had street smarts. He knew from watching his brother - who held a high position in Vampire society - as well as from watching other Princes and Archbishops, that being the leader was more work than it was worth. It made you a target for assassination. It put you in danger from being usurped by your own people. What was the point, when you could live a perfectly serviceable life by being the hired muscle of the leader? It kept you relatively safe, after all, and gave you control of the guns.
~~~
Unfortunately, Faruq didn't benefit from this; he was killed by four young, wiley vampire hunters and had no way of knowing about it. At least, that's what Gabe kept telling himself. Gabe knew, of course, that there are security measures a vampire can take against having their car set alight - dousing it in water periodically, for example - but they had no way of anticipating that an attack would come.
Now Gabe was on guard, of course. He wouldn't make the mistake - yes, he had to admit, Faruq had made a mistake, even if he couldn't anticipate it. He wouldn't allow himself to be killed. He needed to find Faruq's murderer and avenge the death, regardless of the risk he'd be taking.
Gabe knew a few things: firstly, the murderer was probably not a vampire, as it takes a very strong vampire to keep his cool in the presence of a bonfire like the one that killed Faruq. No vampire would willingly go near such a thing; the risk would be too great. However, it had to be someone with connections to the vampires; who else would know where Faruq was going to be enough to lie in wait?
He also knew that it probably was not someone sympathetic to the Sanctum or the Invictus because of how they were aligned. This left the Carthians. And the Carthians, hiding away in their stupid little graveyard, they had their fingers everywhere in the human world.
That's what the Carthians were - stupid, misguided vampires that thought they were still human. Idiots!
see stats at http://750words.com/entries/share/350817
Gabe and Faruq are two vampires who lived in Perth for an undisclosed period of time until the present. Well, Faruq didn't quite manage to get to the present; he was ambushed and killed by vampire hunters in early 2010. Gabe and Faruq were lovers, and so they were very close and rather devoted to one another.
Gabe is a tall slender man, with pale skin, blue eyes and long, white hair. He does not look wiry, despite being thin; it's all lithe muscle. He moves with an astonishing strength and dexterity that is only appropriate for a supernatural being. In his long life, Gabe has seen a great many things and done a great many things, not all of them good. He has an easy-going nature and revels in sarcasm. He's wily and intelligent, preferring to use his brains over his brawn, but he's as good a shot as anybody. He just knows the right time to shoot and the right time to ask questions.
Following the death of Faruq, he became a lot more cynical, particularly because Judith - the leader of the vampires and his 'boss' - blamed Faruq not only for his own death, but for the death of Fiona who he was charged with protecting. Knowing Judith would not authorize the vendetta Gabe so sorely wanted to pursue in an attempt to kill the vampire hunters responsible for Faruq's death, Gabe went off on his own and started seeking out any vampire hunters he could find. There were no surviving witnesses to Faruq and Fiona's massacre, so Gabe was going to do it the old fashioned way - by killing everyone who it could have possibly been and calling it a day.
The death of his loved one of course caused his psychopathic streak to reassert itself. This was an asset of his when used in interrogation - though he tended to play good cop to Faruq's bad cop, but it was not being well-supervised here. It was untamed and wild as he was cruel to his victims, but in his mind, at least, they deserved it.
~~~~
It goes without saying that Faruq was one of Gabe's great allies. Faruq, himself, was rather short - five foot seven or so, dwarfed a little by Gabe's six foot frame. But you would never know he was that short by looking at him - he was stocky and well-built, rippling with muscle and power. When he punched someone down, they stayed down.
Physically, Faruq had dark skin (though not black), dark eyes, and dark hair that was styled in dreadlocks. He wore simple clothes - dark t-shirts with tribal designs on them, jeans with chains coming off of them, sometimes spiked collars and wrist cuffs. He looked like a thug, and he owned it, even playing it up a little.
He was dumb, but had street smarts. He knew from watching his brother - who held a high position in Vampire society - as well as from watching other Princes and Archbishops, that being the leader was more work than it was worth. It made you a target for assassination. It put you in danger from being usurped by your own people. What was the point, when you could live a perfectly serviceable life by being the hired muscle of the leader? It kept you relatively safe, after all, and gave you control of the guns.
~~~
Unfortunately, Faruq didn't benefit from this; he was killed by four young, wiley vampire hunters and had no way of knowing about it. At least, that's what Gabe kept telling himself. Gabe knew, of course, that there are security measures a vampire can take against having their car set alight - dousing it in water periodically, for example - but they had no way of anticipating that an attack would come.
Now Gabe was on guard, of course. He wouldn't make the mistake - yes, he had to admit, Faruq had made a mistake, even if he couldn't anticipate it. He wouldn't allow himself to be killed. He needed to find Faruq's murderer and avenge the death, regardless of the risk he'd be taking.
Gabe knew a few things: firstly, the murderer was probably not a vampire, as it takes a very strong vampire to keep his cool in the presence of a bonfire like the one that killed Faruq. No vampire would willingly go near such a thing; the risk would be too great. However, it had to be someone with connections to the vampires; who else would know where Faruq was going to be enough to lie in wait?
He also knew that it probably was not someone sympathetic to the Sanctum or the Invictus because of how they were aligned. This left the Carthians. And the Carthians, hiding away in their stupid little graveyard, they had their fingers everywhere in the human world.
That's what the Carthians were - stupid, misguided vampires that thought they were still human. Idiots!
see stats at http://750words.com/entries/share/350817
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Gabe/Faruq backstories, part 1 - Gabe and Dawn
Gabe and Faruq had met a long time ago, and were together for a very long time. They needed to be, I guess - they needed each other. But let me first go back in time, and tell you how they came to be:
Gabe was a simple man from the 1850s. He worked at a family-owned tavern with his parents and sister. They both worked in the front of the bar, so they had a lot in common; greeting the patrons, getting them their usual orders, and the more dull duties such as cleaning. His sister was named Dawn - maybe not originally, over the past 150 years these sorts of things became harder to keep track of - but Dawn was what he'd called her for quite some time, and so it is what we call her today.
Dawn was a friendly young girl - blonde hair, blue eyes, friendly smile. Gabe had always had white hair - who knows how it came about, but before his death he was never really clean enough for all that hair to be white, anyway. Gabe and Dawn always got along well; they had to when they worked together so closely.
Then, one day, they had an unusual regular begin showing up. He arrived a few hours after sunset, and sat there, looking at the other patrons, until he saw one he apparently liked and struck up a conversation. Then they went away together, apparently for a walk, though nobody could really be sure. The man never ate or drank anything, though he was always buying drinks for others.
After a week of this, Gabe and Dawn had come to know him as a regular, though not on a personal level. When he came into the tavern, he was quickly handed a newspaper and gave them a shilling for their trouble.
Dawn seemed drawn to this man - he was good looking, and Gabe knew it, too. Gabe and Dawn spent much of their time together, discussing the men they saw, which ones were cute and all the rest of it. Dawn always thought it was just her brother being entertaining, being a friend, chatting with her; but he was really interested in the men as much as he was the women. After all, couldn't one appreciate beauty in a man's features as well as a woman's?
And so, Dawn kept talking to this man every time she got an opportunity, and reporting back to Gabe what they discussed. The man kept on coming to the tavern and leaving with different people each night. When Gabe asked these companions of his, they said the man was just lonely, wanted someone to go for a walk with, have a chat with. None of them said he did anything untoward or indeed anything sexual. This last part was a bit disappointing for Gabe, who had been known to have the odd fling with patrons - male and female alike.
As the weeks wore on, Dawn got more and more tight-lipped about what the man was saying to her. Gabe knew better than to ask; if she wanted to keep something a secret, she would have a good reason. These siblings kept very few secrets from one another. And so, on the night that Dawn left work early, left with the mysterious man whose name they didn't even know, Gabe let her do it. He knew she wasn't stupid. He knew she wouldn't do anything rash or dangerous; it wasn't the sort of person she was.
The next morning, she didn't show up for work. Gabe was worried, and asked around town if anyone had seen her. Nobody had; it was Gabe, and the now still mysterious - but a bit less strange - stranger that had seen her last. He didn't know what the man could have done to her, didn't want to think about it; but the stranger had seemed harmless enough. Hadn't he?
Then that evening, just after sunset, Dawn arrived at the tavern for work as if nothing had happened. She smiled at Gabe:
"Hi, brother. Sorry I'm late."
"You're not just late, Dawn! It's been hours. You were meant to be here for lunch..."
"I know." She shrugged and smiled a carefree smile. "But I couldn't make it. In fact, I'm not sure I will ever be able to come in for a lunch shift again. You'll be able to take care of it, won't you?"
He gave her a suspicious look.
"Dawn - what's happened? Are you okay? Is everything alright?"
Dawn nodded.
"Yes. Everything's fine. I just... I just would prefer to work nights now."
Gabe gave her another suspicious look. He knew she still had a secret, but he would find out what it was soon enough.
If you're that way inclined, for story stats, check out http://750words.com/entries/stats/348855
Gabe was a simple man from the 1850s. He worked at a family-owned tavern with his parents and sister. They both worked in the front of the bar, so they had a lot in common; greeting the patrons, getting them their usual orders, and the more dull duties such as cleaning. His sister was named Dawn - maybe not originally, over the past 150 years these sorts of things became harder to keep track of - but Dawn was what he'd called her for quite some time, and so it is what we call her today.
Dawn was a friendly young girl - blonde hair, blue eyes, friendly smile. Gabe had always had white hair - who knows how it came about, but before his death he was never really clean enough for all that hair to be white, anyway. Gabe and Dawn always got along well; they had to when they worked together so closely.
Then, one day, they had an unusual regular begin showing up. He arrived a few hours after sunset, and sat there, looking at the other patrons, until he saw one he apparently liked and struck up a conversation. Then they went away together, apparently for a walk, though nobody could really be sure. The man never ate or drank anything, though he was always buying drinks for others.
After a week of this, Gabe and Dawn had come to know him as a regular, though not on a personal level. When he came into the tavern, he was quickly handed a newspaper and gave them a shilling for their trouble.
Dawn seemed drawn to this man - he was good looking, and Gabe knew it, too. Gabe and Dawn spent much of their time together, discussing the men they saw, which ones were cute and all the rest of it. Dawn always thought it was just her brother being entertaining, being a friend, chatting with her; but he was really interested in the men as much as he was the women. After all, couldn't one appreciate beauty in a man's features as well as a woman's?
And so, Dawn kept talking to this man every time she got an opportunity, and reporting back to Gabe what they discussed. The man kept on coming to the tavern and leaving with different people each night. When Gabe asked these companions of his, they said the man was just lonely, wanted someone to go for a walk with, have a chat with. None of them said he did anything untoward or indeed anything sexual. This last part was a bit disappointing for Gabe, who had been known to have the odd fling with patrons - male and female alike.
As the weeks wore on, Dawn got more and more tight-lipped about what the man was saying to her. Gabe knew better than to ask; if she wanted to keep something a secret, she would have a good reason. These siblings kept very few secrets from one another. And so, on the night that Dawn left work early, left with the mysterious man whose name they didn't even know, Gabe let her do it. He knew she wasn't stupid. He knew she wouldn't do anything rash or dangerous; it wasn't the sort of person she was.
The next morning, she didn't show up for work. Gabe was worried, and asked around town if anyone had seen her. Nobody had; it was Gabe, and the now still mysterious - but a bit less strange - stranger that had seen her last. He didn't know what the man could have done to her, didn't want to think about it; but the stranger had seemed harmless enough. Hadn't he?
Then that evening, just after sunset, Dawn arrived at the tavern for work as if nothing had happened. She smiled at Gabe:
"Hi, brother. Sorry I'm late."
"You're not just late, Dawn! It's been hours. You were meant to be here for lunch..."
"I know." She shrugged and smiled a carefree smile. "But I couldn't make it. In fact, I'm not sure I will ever be able to come in for a lunch shift again. You'll be able to take care of it, won't you?"
He gave her a suspicious look.
"Dawn - what's happened? Are you okay? Is everything alright?"
Dawn nodded.
"Yes. Everything's fine. I just... I just would prefer to work nights now."
Gabe gave her another suspicious look. He knew she still had a secret, but he would find out what it was soon enough.
If you're that way inclined, for story stats, check out http://750words.com/entries/stats/348855
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