Return of the Prodigal
6701
THREADID
18
POSTS
1 - 10
DISPLAYED
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Twice Said Fred and Dirge run into the alley past the Helping Hands Mission. "Come on, come on!" That alley leads to another alley, and another, and before you know it, they've exited onto a street half a mile away. Fred slows down. "I think we're clear. Yeah, we're clear. Not much farther now. Shit, shit, I'm bleeding, look at this, I'm bleeding." He shakes his head. "Fangs and Snakes, Fangs and Snakes."
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Dirge was huffing and puffing due to the running that Fred had recently put her through. While she didn't actually tire, a human would and she had to keep up appearances.
"Thank you so much for getting me out of there." Then she gave him a concerned look as he said he was injured. "Oh my goodness...you're hurt? It isn't bad is it? Will you be alright? Do we need to call someone or get help?"
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"No, no, we've got to get you to the Rev'rend," Fred says, applying the clean side of a rag to the wound in his shoulder. "He's been looking for you a very long time," he says, quickening his pace. Then he looks into the blind woman's eyes, despite the fact it accomplishes nothing. Well, okay. Maybe a little drama.
"Miss Carol?"
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Dirge was more than a little surprised as this Fred person called her by her human name. Then she realized that she had told Jimbo her name and that he must have got it from him.
Frowning at the man she replied, "That is not a name I use anymore, I've left that life behind back when I was somebody and now I'm nobody so people call me Dirge. How do you know that name?"
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Fred nods at Dirge's confirmation. "Everybody's somebody to someone, miss. The Rev'rend told me your name, but I'll call you Dirge if you want. They call me Twice Said Fred, that's what they call me." He smiles weakly at her. "I don't want to say any more. It's not my place, no ma'am, not mine."
Decisions
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Dirge was concerned about this new development and wasn't sure what to make of it. It could be something simple like having said the name to one of the rev'rend's men or it could be something more dangerous. She smiled to the man, "Thank you for the kind words. I would like to think that is the case, but I'm sure that no one would be concerned over me. Perhaps you are right and the Rev'rend is the one to talk to. Here I was thinking he was crazy this whole time...and he was right. Those guys were monsters weren't they?"
Dirge will go with him to the rev'rend.
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Dirge, Cerberus, and Twice Said Fred walk the rest of the way to Squattaville in relative silence. Despite his earlier injury, Fred seems rather enthusiastic, eager to deliver Dirge to the Rev'rend. As they approach the outskirts of the encampment, one of their junk yard mutts starts to growl at the Morlock, but one look from Cerberus is enough to cow it into submission. Fred walks ahead of Dirge, performing various handshakes and dropping codes that would rival the richest fraternities with the sentinels.
Dirge followed silently as the Twice Said Fred led her into the camp. She enhanses the sound of her hearing using the power of her blood and ensures that her mask of tranquility is up. She also pushes blood into maintaining her human masquerade. She heard the sound of clasping hands and silently cursed her bloodline's blindness weakness. Instead she listened to all the code and phrases she could while committing people's names and phrases to her perfect memory.
Fred comes back for Dirge. "Alright, Miss Ca- Dirge? Come on, it's time." Fred leads her through the thick of the homeless encampment. She hears urgent whispers spread like wildfire in their wake, all along the lines of 'that's her.' Speaking of fire, she can smell the smoke, feel the heat of flames near, both light and defense against the creatures of the night that would prey upon them. The Nosferatu exerts her will over the Beast and though it rattles its chains, it does not escape. This is too important. In the center of the camp, more codes are exchanged, and the pair stand before two tents. Dirge can hear two of the Rev'rend's sentries take up position behind her. Fred calls through one, "Sir? I've found the girl." One of the tents opens hurriedly, and an old, gin-soaked voice yells, "No, you don't, fool! Grab her, she's one of them!"
Dirge stopped as the hands were placed on her shoulders. The accusation was unexpected because she had been careful to keep her kindred and life as homeless separate. "You mean those monsters? No, Fred said that he help protect me from them!"
Dirge feels the man get uncomfortably close to her face, smell the stale alcohol on his breath. "Your lies aren't going to help you here, hellspawn. I can feel the gravedirt on you. I know what you are."
The second tent flap opens. A quiet, sad voice that Dirge hasn't heard in many years sighs. "It's alright, Jones." A hand is placed on the rummy's shoulder, and the man relaxes and steps back. "I already know. Carol?" it asks quietly. Yes, Dirge does know that voice.
It belongs to her father.
Dirge stood there silently. It was impossible...he couldn't possibly be here. It can't be him. After was seemed an eternity she finally spoke, her voice choked with emotion. "Daddy? Is that really you?"
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Her father's voice is very sad. "You really can't see anymore, can you, sweetheart? Yes, it's me." He tells his security detail to, "Let her go. She's still my little girl. She won't hurt any of us." They may be of a different opinion, but they do as asked. Mister Stewart, the Rev'rend, takes Carol's hand and places it on his face. "It's me, Carol." She never had to learn her father's face in the same way as she's had to learn others, but she can tell, this man is the genuine article. The face is the right shape. The scar along the forehead he got during the short time he spent in the Marines, long before she was born, was still present. The facial hair had the same coarseness that tickled her when she would kiss him good night.
He moves in to hug her. "I've been looking for you for so long, Carol," he says, tears streaming down his face and wetting Dirge's dead skin. "There's no easy way to tell you this. A year after you went missing, we had no idea what had happened to you, and your mother...well, the grief was too much for her, baby. She killed herself. I couldn't go on without both of you..."
After a moment, he resumes. Neither Fred, nor Jones, nor the sentinels leave. All stay to hear the story they've heard many times. "The police weren't investigating any longer. So I did. It cost me everything, but I found what they didn't know. The homeless told stories, and I listened, and we set a trap for one. I couldn't believe it." There is a coldness to Mister Stewart's voice that his daughter has never heard before, like arctic steel, when he says, "He told us everything. Eventually." Then it warms again, like spring after a harsh winter. "He knew about you, the one that turned you, that you had left town. I've been looking for you ever since and tellin my story to the only people who would believe me." He looks away from Carol to his entourage. "Thank you all so much. I couldn't have done this without your help." There is the sound of embarrassed foot-shuffling.
He looks back to Dirge, wiping away his tears. "So. How are you?" He laughs self-consciously, aware of how silly the question sounds.
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Dirge wordlessly shook her head no in agreement when he asked her about her vision. Still stunned she let him grab her hands and place them on his face. Then as she explored his features recognition dawned on her face and she accepted the man was who he said he was.
When he moves in closer she allows him to take her up in his arms and after several awkward seconds she gently returned his embrace. "I'm sorry daddy," was all that she could get out after his revelation. She never thought that her absence or death would effect her parents so profoundly.
But even as she began to remember old feelings toward her father and mother, in the back of her mind, she recognized the value of the hardship they had been through. He had been through hell these past five years, yet it made him stronger for it. The man had rallied a group of loyal followers all to help him find his baby girl. Had she not been under the orders she was and had the city's homeless not been such a threat to her and her friends she would be far more proud of him.
Tribulation brings enlightenment father.
She silently listened as he continued his story and was surprised that her father had resorted to such extreme methods to find her. As he explained what he did to her sire her face didn't show any of what she might be feeling, her self preservation kicking in. Instead her thoughts turned to her coven back in San Francisco and of her sire. The long nights that all of them filled the tunnels beneath the city with music and song. How many of her family had her father murdered? How much knowledge was lost there and here in Sacramento? Hiding her growing fury she faced him for some time trying to think of the right words to say.
"Dad. I'm sorry that things turned out this way. I'm grateful for all that you and mom have done in raising me and the love you showed me. I'll always love you as well. But, I've got a new life here in Sacramento, and all of this," she said with a sweeping gesture to those gathered here. "Is making it difficult. Things have been going well for me and I have learned to live with my blindness and accept it." Dirge paused for some time before asking him, "What exactly are you looking for?"
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"Going well for you? Going well for you?" her father asks, incredulous. "Preying on innocent people like these men is 'a new life'? Allying yourself with the snake creatures that steal my people off the streets, this is what you want now?"
The crew hold their breath. Now they feel like they're intruding on something personal.
"You had the most beautiful voice, baby girl. You should be filling concert halls, not bodybags. I'm so sorry killing the one that turned you didn't work, I really thought it would. Listen. We can bring you back to life. I know there's a way. Somewhere, someone knows how." Dirge's father speaks with such passion, such blind faith in the Good, that she can easily understand how he's inspired so many to his cause.
"Carol. Don't you want to be alive again? Trust your father. We'll find a way together."
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