(no subject)

[jonathanparagon]

[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.

Comments

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

Vampire heaven, if you know what you're looking at. And the sun is all but gone...

Jonathan's steps slow and he starts to look more nervous as he continues up the street.

[sunnydalealum]

On the other side of the street there's a woman walking toward him, bundled in a heavy parka and scarf.

She throws him a wary look as she passes, and walks faster.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

He doesn't blame her, from what he's picked up so far.

Glancing back at her, he mutters a quick and dirty ward for her protection. Should be enough to get her home, if she's not unusually unlucky.

[sunnydalealum]

A truck rumbles down the street between them.

When it passes, she's gone.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

He hopes she just got to her destination. There's no sign of anything else, at least.

Jonathan keeps walking, pretending he's not paying any special attention to the construction site.

[sunnydalealum]

The light dims as he walks through under the scaffolding.

There's a figure coming toward him, up ahead.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

He tenses slightly, peering through the dimness to try and make out the details of the approaching person.

[sunnydalealum]

Details are difficult, in this weather; about all he can tell is that the person's wearing a bulky coat, a woolly hat, and a thick muffling scarf.

A car goes past, on the other side of the scaffolding.

(Under cover of its noise, someone's moving up swiftly behind him.)

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

Or something. It's always easier for even the most different-looking to get about in winter, when everyone's muffled up and covering as much skin as possible.

He doesn't turn his head, but slips his hands into his pockets, shivering a little for effect.

[sunnydalealum]

"Hey," says a voice behind him; female, teasing. "Hey, mister. Got a light?"

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

...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.

[sunnydalealum]

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.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

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).

[sunnydalealum]

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.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

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.

[sunnydalealum]

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.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

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.

[sunnydalealum]

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.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

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

"...hello."

[sunnydalealum]

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.

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

"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?"

[sunnydalealum]

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

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

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

[sunnydalealum]

"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 --"

[jonathanparagon.livejournal.com]

"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.