#cor.solstice26

"Come on, it's here." She has to follow suit, play the long game; there's no other choice for her survival. She heads to the shelter with the girlfriend of her brother, locking the door behind them. It's only when she turns, flashlight shining off the dark walls, that she realises what they've walked into. Annalise tries hard to hide the glint in her eyes at the opportunity here, but if they can blend like she had done, Anika might never suspect a thing.

In all honesty, the doppelganger didn't really care what happened to Anika. She had no strong feelings either way, so it would depend on what happened here as to how this would pan out for the fellow hunter. "Quite a few people down here, hope there's enough supplies." Annalise murmured to Anika, glancing around the room to try and take stock of the situation, wondering if there were more doppels waiting in the wind ready to step into their new lives. Doubtful, with them all gathered here like this, only recognising them because they're her own kin.

Annabelle had known, for some months, that something was wrong in Port Leiry. Whether it had been the odd winter storms that had caused everything, or something else entirely, she wasn't sure. But there were different creatures among them. Ones that she'd not seen when she was a younger Hunter.

Cries caught her attention and Belle immediately ran towards a child that was cowering in the corner of the boat rental building. "Hey, hey, it's okay! You'll be okay. I promise." She offered the boy a smile. "Where's your parents? Do you know where they are?"

A screech sounded out from outside, along with several human screams. Annabelle's eyes darted around for anyone she might recognize, even just vaguely. "Hey, you!" She shouted towards a dirty blonde haired man she'd seen once or twice in town, but had no idea what his name was. "Can you see how many are out there?"

She brought them there, she's responsible for this, for them. It's a responsibility she doesn't want as a fledgling, but it's hers and she needs to play this right.

"Enough!" She shouts over the parroting vampires, arguing with wolves and humans as they look around one another. "You are right, we don't know if any of us are who we say we are, we don't know these creatures, but if we lose our shit we're going to lose more people than if we just keep a cool head and wait."

If they waited for someone to make a wrong move, to be detected, and worked together to resolve the threat it would be easier. Yet, they were vampires, some of them hungry with humans in front of them, and some of them who hated wolves. "You eat those humans without consent or make a move against a wolf that isn't self-defence and I'll rip your heart out myself, do you hear me? I don't care what clan you are, or who you think you are." She had only done it once, to someone that had wronged her - Thao didn't know if she could follow through on the threat, but these vampires didn't know her, and she was hoping the threat would be enough.

Looking to Ethan, she offers an expression that she can only hope portrays an apology for how some of her kind were acting. Still, she walks to him and dips her voice, "Depending how long we're in here, these vampires might need volunteers to allow a few mouthfuls of blood, to save a bloodbath from happening." Her own control was... a work-in-progress. She was fine, as long as she had her over glamourised sippy cup in hand, but she didn't, not this time. If blood was shed and she was hungry enough, Thao wasn't sure she would be able to keep that trauma-induced perfected control she'd worked so hard to gain.

"Which wolf is stepping forward to speak for you all? That's the only way this has a chance of working." She asks, turning to look at the wolves.

Voices tickled inside his ears, but Riven no longer felt the urge to claw at the tender flesh beneath them. He had learned to listen, to obey to every whisper, every distant murmur buried within the dark had become another thread woven through his veins, another command he allowed himself to follow. He opened himself to them now, letting the magic flow through every nerve, every pulse of blood. Nothing stood between him and his ambition anymore as he navigated through mountains of rusted metal covered in snow, where the cold no longer reached him and his hunger was ever growing but not for flesh, but for the lost things buried inside sleeping minds. Fear and panic had carried their own scent and flavor. Somewhere nearby, mortals were drowning in both, and the taste lingered at the back of his tongue.

He found himself alone, as he often did, until something hit the snow. A heavy thud that had his head turning. There was a hunter knelt in the snow, dagger hanging over the chest of a pale, fanged woman. Snow had gathered in her long hair, turning it white. She bared her teeth and lunged upward, sinking them into his throat.

The scream that followed was sharp enough to make every voice inside Riven hiss at once. The hunter stumbled backward, blood dripping onto the untouched snow, painting it red in uneven circles beneath his boots. He tried to run, but instead he collided with Riven. His gloved hands immediately shoved against his chest, desperate to escape, but Riven's fingers had already closed around his arm. The frantic rhythm of his heart beat against Riven's palm like a trapped bird.

The darkness comes quickly, in a blink rather than a slow fall into the sky. At first, Lara doesn't think much of it - ah, it's night again. But hours pass, and patrons at the club begin to panic. Something doesn't feel right, everyone is on edge, everyone starts to move towards the exits.

Lara peels away from the rests of the crowd once she hears the screams start. Call it being a coward, call it worry for someone else in her life. Things are worse outside - sirens, screams, creatures she'd never seen nor heard of..

So she runs away from it all.

By the time she comes back to herself, she's found herself in the deep snow, out in the forests and too far from home or civilization to realize what's following her. Over the wind and blinding, blistery snow she can hear something or someone, and decides to follow the sound.

She had admittedly left the other vampire to fend for herself as the most mundane objects began to shift and alter in the streets,Madison had never been a protector, her focus was herself. It was what ensured survival. There was only one group she had to be loyal to, and even then, it was to survive.

So sure, maybe it was a bitch move to wish the blonde luck when she saw an opening through the weird-ass creatures that had once been things as inconspicuous as a fire hydrant. But they didn't know one another. So no harm really, right? They'll never see one another again, and if she navigates the side streets well enough, avoids the freaky-ass creatures roaming through this fucking never ending snow she can make it to the mansion. The problem is that the snow isn't letting up and it's becoming more and more disorienting.