jonathanparagon | (no subject)

(no subject)

[Some hours after this.]

The sun's slanting toward the western horizon by the time he reaches midtown. It's the last stop he's got planned; none of the others, aside from the first one or two to collect supplies, have borne any fruit at all -- and even on those, people who should have recognized him showed no sign of it.

A heavy shutter is halfway down the storefront of Alcina's when he gets there. The sign on the door still reads OPEN, though.

He ducks to look in under the shutter, knocks on the door. Offers Alcina a hopeful smile, when she looks up.

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...is that voice a little familiar? Maybe, it's hard to be sure. He glances back at her, offering a crooked smile. "Don't smoke, but I do pick stuff up. Let's see..." He rummages, genuinely looking for a lighter. Either it's a genuine question, or it might come in useful in other ways.

It's not the same woman he saw across the street earlier; this one's taller, wearing a long wool coat instead of a parka.

Also, this one's a vampire.

They rush him from both sides, the woman driving a punch into his stomach while the man approaching from ahead slams him backward into the wall.

His head hits the wall hard, and he doesn't have to fake being dazed - much. He does make it look worse than it is, though, dropping to the ground and curling, covering his head (that way, they can't see his lips moving).

A hand closes on the shoulder of his coat (and his shirt underneath it), and hauls him upward.

The woman vampire's got a bottle wrapped in brown paper in one hand. It's a technique he's seen city vamps use before: a blow or a bite to daze the victim, then douse him with alcohol, and nobody will wonder why he's staggering or question the sight of a pair of well-dressed people helping their poor drunk friend home.

They can see his face now, no point in secrecy, and in any case he's almost done. Jonathan sets his back to the wall, offering them a vicious smile, and speaks the last two words of his spell just as he flicks the lighter open.

The flame starts to behave very unusually.

If by "behave very unusually" we mean "channel outward like a very small flamethrower".

The man, who's closer, recoils with a shriek and starts flailing to beat away the flames rising from his coat front and muffler. The stream of fire from the lighter follows him as though magnetized.

The other one makes a strangled noise of pain, but instead of flinching back she moves forward, arms reaching out to grab him as though intending to smother the flames between them -- or as though intending to bite him even as she burns.

Well, if she's going to be like that... Jonathan ignores the male vampire to smirk at the female, then looks pointedly down between them where his miniature crossbow has suddenly appeared when she was distracted.

He fires.

It's point-blank range; he can't miss. The vampire doesn't have time to scream before she dissolves into a pile of ash.

Behind her, holding a sharp stake and looking utterly astonished, is the woman in the parka.

He blinks at her, then at her stake, and only then remembers to lower his crossbow.

"...hello."

The other vampire, still burning, jerks suddenly and falls in another heap of ash.

"You know, Kelly, that wasn't as hard as you made it sound," says another young woman standing behind the first, looking bemused.

"It's not, if you know what you're doing." He offers them a wry smile. "Not with your strength or my little friend here, anyway. Hi, I'm from Sunnydale, can you tell?"

The younger one grins at the mention of Sunnydale. "Seriously? You got out before the big boom, or what?"

"Not that long before." It's true, from a certain point of view. "Didn't seem like a real healthy place to stay."

"Did you know Buffy Summers?"

"Marlie," says Kelly, in mild reproof.

"What?" the younger Slayer protests. "If he's from Sunnydale, and he knows how to fight vampires --"

"Not all that well." He shrugs. "It was a small town, we're about the same age, I heard her name but that's about it."

He doesn't, particularly, want to encounter this universe's Buffy. At least until he's established how she'd feel about him.

"Whatever." Kelly overrides Marlie's next question, addressing Jonathan directly. "I don't know if you're new in town or what, but this block is kind of a complicated spot right now. You can pretty clearly take care of yourself, but I'd still advise you to steer clear of the area at night."

Jonathan nods. "I came to town to look up some people. Haven't found most of them where I was hoping they'd be - I'll make sure to do that."

"Someone else from Sunnydale?" Marlie looks interested. "Vi might know."

"A couple of them, more or less." He tilts his head. "Don't know a Vi. She was there?"

"If we're going to have this conversation," says Kelly sharply, "can I maybe recommend that we don't do it standing right where two of Elie's guys got dusted?"

That gets his attention back off Marlie and onto where they are, and he glances up and down the street. It's empty. Still... "Good plan."

She turns without another word and starts back in the direction of Broadway.

Marlie gives him an apologetic look and a small smile. "You coming with, or what?"

Jonathan considers, then shrugs and smiles back at her. "Got nowhere else particular to be. Where're we going?"

"We were going to patrol downtown," Marlie says, "but we're gonna need to call this in first. When did you get into town?"

He pauses, thinking about it. "A few days. Mostly just been getting the lie of the land."