A New Vampire's First Hunt. (Attn: Shay))

"Oh, but this is so exciting!"

Shay tried, really hard, to keep the tremor of anticipation, and thrill from her voice, but once the SUV pulled up and parked she just couldn't contain herself any longer.

"It's right out of the movies! We're all 'packing' weapons, and getting ready to stakeout our 'prey'...er...'victims'? I can't tell though if I feel like the good guys, or the bad." Not that it mattered. At the moment Shay saw anything that Ginnie, and Alec told her as being good, and anything that went against them as being bad. So even if some of the things seemed like they would have applied more to the bad guys in the movies, Shay was able to make the transition in her mind to being those of the good guys.

Walking on tip toes, trying to be as stealthy as possible, Shay concentrated on being silent as she followed Ginnie out of the vehicle and up to the roof of the building. Mirroring her mother's actions, she followed her to the 'floor' of the roof, and peered over the side. She wore two knives, and two small guns, but also had to maneuver some so none of them were aggravating in her prone position.

Unfortunately, with her bad experience in consuming drugs with blood, Shay's excitement dropped considerably when Ginnie spoke of selecting their 'victims' after they had done drugs. Though she didn't verbally comment, Shay wanted to reject the idea completely. Not only was it the idea of consuming drugs that she found repellant, but these people Ginnie was talking about seemed a bit disgusting. Even the woman in the salon had an appeal, drugs or no drugs. But addicts? Weren't they all seedy, and smelly, and just...gross?

"Maybe we should try for the dealers then?" Knowing she really had no skills in this area, she had to put her faith in Ginnie's hands, but given the opportunity, she also had to voice her opinion.

"Ready when you are."

Shay had taken time to drink some fortification before leaving her apartment and meeting up with Ginnie, so she wasn't really hungry. She knew eventually she would need to hunt on an empty stomach, but for now she thought it would be to everyone's benefit if she kept a clearer head, and not had to worry with actual hunger pains while learning to hunt.

Ginnie smiled into the night as her eyes remained on the two dealers below. Oh she knew that taking out a couple of dime bag dealers wouldn't keep the junkies from getting their fix for long, but it took two more pieces of scum selling to children off the streets. Vindictive hunting was the best kind, well next to the revenge kind. She gave Shay a nod at her readiness, and watched as two kids already half into the DT's made their way out of the alley to find a nice quiet place to shoot up. No one approached right away, a lull in the traffic.

Ginnie gave Shay the forward go motion and clipped her belt hook to the tow line, and swung her legs over the side of the building. She and Shay were silent blurs down the side of the building, landing soundlessly behind a stack of old tires directly across from the dealers. The one on the left was short and husky, like a high school corner back gone to seed. His companion stood taller than Ginnie, with the lean build of a runner or swimmer. She caught Shay's eyes as she unhooked herself from the rope.

She put two fingers in front of her eyes, then pointed them at the two men. She then pointed to her chest and to the man on the right, then to Shay's chest and the man on the left. With her thumb against her palm she made a motion away from herself then pointed at Shay. Then made a motion in the opposite direction and pointed at herself.

It was a good thing they had outlined the plan in the SUV, otherwise Shay was afraid she might have gotten totally lost in the process once Ginnie started.

Traversing down the side of the building was another one of those moments Shay kept having, where she could imagine herself to be some superhero, or at the least a government agent, plunging into a gang of notorious drug cartel runners, and the adrenalin was pumping so hard by the time she landed, her reactions went a bit overboard. Seeing that Ginnie was giving Shay the guy on the left, and sensing quiet was a necessary commodity now, Shay twisted her wrist, and felt a knife slide into her palm.

Stepping out from behind the tires, but acting with haste, Shay threw the knife, and managed to hit the man in the upper stomach area. Not waiting to see what Ginnie had done, Shay ran to the man, now slumped on the ground, and pulled him upright, as she knelt between his legs. Without further ado, Shay pulled the man even closer, and bit into his neck.

Whether he was in shock already from the knife wound, or the fact that a mere slip of a girl held onto him like he weighed no more than a feather, the man offered no resistance. Unmindful of much else, Shay drank to the point beyond feeling full, but stopped before she felt stuffed. It was disappointing, when she compared this feeding to the one with the salon woman, but the ultimate result of feeling sated was the same.

Since she had fed not long before, she didn't drain the man, and now felt she had handled the situation badly. She had mortally wounded him, of that she was pretty sure, and yet she was unable to finish him off, and supposed he was destined to now slowly bleed to death. Dropping the now unconscious man back onto the asphalt, Shay turned to see how Ginnie was faring.

Ginnie saw Shay's plan in the look in her eyes and the movement toward her belt. Ginnie had simply rushed her guy, taking him to the ground by sheer surprise. He fought her, but naturally she was stronger. She sat on his chest and he bucked and kicked at her, but never managed to land the blow to her head he was trying so desperately achieve. She slid down his body, until the shock of it stilled him. She wondered if he thought he was being attacked and raped, because she felt him go hard against her thigh. The thought revolted her, and had her lip snarling up to reveal a fang.

"There is no place good enough for the likes of you in hell. Lucifer will have to be creative for you."

With that she sank her fangs into the fast pumping artery in his neck. She gorged on his spicey, almost Italian blood until her stomach began to hurt and his jerking turned to twitches. The blood flow slowed, and so she pushed up from him. She swung her left leg over and sat her bottom on her ankles as she licked the last of his blood from her lips. The euphoria of the feed began to tingle at the edge of her mind as she raised her head to check on her child.

Shay's prey lay unconscious, but still very much alive on the ground before her. Ginnie swung her leg over the now dead dealer and half crawled to Shay. With a gentle smile she spoke to her.

"You need to remove your knife and finish the kill."

Fighting and killing someone in self defense, or with a purpose was one thing. Now that Shay had fed, and the man who'd fed her was just lying there, she cringed to think of finishing him off.

Seeing that Ginnie had accomplished her feeding without the use of knives made Shay understand she could have as easily done the same. Using her knife had been gratuitous, and apparently she had been too caught up in her recent instructions to separate the need to use it, from the desire to.

But like Ginnie had said...they were drug dealers, and responsible for harm that came to the kids who bought from them. While that didn't directly effect Shay, she could imagine in the overall scheme of things, the world would be a better place with the men gone from it.

Looking down at the man beneath her, Shay withdrew her knife, and then without a second thought plunged it into his neck, slicing as she drew it out again. Because he had already bled profusely from his abdomen, and was also missing that which Shay orally removed, it only took seconds for him to bleed to death from the neck wound. Had she left him as he was, he certainly would have died, but she figured it was good to know he had been dispatched before they left the scene.

Wiping her knife off on the man's shirt, Shay reinserted it up her sleeve, and pulled her shirt cuff back down over it. Only then did she stand, and move away from the bodies.

"That it? We just leave now, and let someone else clean up this mess?" Though it seemed a little anti-climatic, Shay couldn't see how else things would go down now.

"I would like to discuss this when we get back to the car...I already know I should have done things differently."

It was a dichotomy, feeling both satisfied, and frustrated in her first kill, and she needed to voice her concerns to her mother. Knowing Ginnie must have experienced the same sort of feelings at one time or another, who better to talk about it with? But the alley was not the place, even if Shay's words were said barely above a whisper.

Ginnie watched as Shay took care of the small mess she'd made of her first kill. It was not the life she wanted her child to lead, but they were Tacharan and that is what Tacharan do, they feed, they kill, they outwit the other guy to do it all again.

She stood, pushing herself up by putting her hands on her thighs. "No we don't leave them."

She turned and with a single heave she threw her own kill over her shoulder and carried him to the nearby dumpster. The thing was locked, but a brief flick of telekinesis had it open and on the ground. She shoved the body in and stood back so Shay could do the same. Then she pulled out a small vial from a pocket in her vest. She pulled out the stopper, and tossed it into the dumpster. Tucking it in the crook of one of the dealers' arm, she pulled a packet of matches from another pocket. She lit it and turned to Shay.

"Run."

She flicked the match inside the dumpster, and took off like a shot behind Shay and they were six blocks down when the dumpster behind them exploded. Fire rolled down the alley, then was sucked back into feed of the fuel of the dumpster. Ginnie grinned at Shay and took off down the alley. She took a turn into one of the larger ones, and stopped. She pulled a duffle out from behind a dumpster there and began to disarm herself.

"Strip down to your street clothes. We don't want to be found ten blocks from a fire armed illegally."

Her vest went in first, followed by Shay's then their weapons were packed carefully, save the one gun Ginnie had a permit in her car for. She zipped up the duffle, slung it over her shoulder and hooked her arm with Shay's.[/i]

"Come on. I'll buy you drink and we'll go over the game reel."

The next several minutes seemed to go in slow motion, and yet they flew by. Before Shay knew it she was taking off her gear, and handing it to Ginnie to pack up.

"I don't know if that was just adrenalin, or my strength really is that good, but that guy seemed to weigh nothing at all." Following Ginnie's example, Shay had lifted the dead drug dealer off the ground and tossed him into the dumpster right after Ginnie had done the same to her victim. Then, without bothering to ask questions, Shay led the way with Ginnie following behind, as the woman set the fire to go off, destroying the evidence.

When they had taken care of everything necessary, it seemed quite natural to just walk away, arm in arm, much like a regular mother and daughter might do after completing a task. Neither woman appeared to have a hair out of place, and both seemed too relaxed to have just killed two men. Seeing humor in the picture she imagined that painted, Shay couldn't help but giggle.

"I just saw a movie the other night..."The Sting"...and while I know what just happened with us was no where near as convoluted, I still feel like I should have given you the signal when we were done." And putting her index finger against the side of her nose, Shay rubbed it forward, much the way Paul Newman had done to Robert Wagner.

"A drink sounds good." And moving in step with her mother, Shay put a little bounce in her walk, now feeling somewhat like Laverne and Shirley.

The euphoria of feeding made her head light and her stomach heavy. The edges of her vision were just a little fuzzy and she knew the ends of her words slurred just a little, but it would wear off soon enough. They walked the last few blocks to the car park where they'd left Ginnie's new car and she place the duffle in the back, the rearmed the alarm.

"There's a cozy little hole in the wall near here. We can walk off our meal before we get that drink."

She hooked her arm back with Shay's and lead her the few blocks to Lucky's. She greeted the bouncer, who waved them inside with out ID check and took Shay to the bar.

"Hey Jimmie, this here's my girl Shay. You'll treat her real good won't you?"

Her accent went from scottish brogue to thick southern when she spoke to the bar tender. "Sure will Miss Ginnie." The big man moved down the bar to them and wiped the already clean surface before them. His own accent was almost as thick as the one Ginnie had used, and his smile was missing a front tooth. "What can I get ya?"

Ginnie gave him her thousand watt bimbo smile and touched his arm. "You are the sweetest. I'll take aaaaaa..."She drummed her hands on the counter in thought. "Oh shoot I guess I'll just have whatever you got on tap, Jimmie."

He grinned at her and asked Shay for her order. When he got it and gave another grin. Ginnie leaned close and spoke in little more than a whisper. "This is a vamp bar, but it's a neutral place. I'll give you the bigger picture later, just know that ol' Jimmie there is a sympathizer."

So caught up in her thoughts, and replays of the recent events, Shay was surprised when they reached the SUV so quickly, and then found herself inside a bar.

Keeping a totally straight face, Shay wondered why Ginnie had assumed yet another character. The accent sounded as real to Shay as the previous one had, and she toyed with the idea of trying one out herself.

"Wahy Hah Jimmie! It's a pleashah meetin y'all, and Ah'll have the sayme." In addition to the thick southern twang Shay flavored her speech with, she included overt batting of her eyes at the man, and concluded the introduction with a thousand watt smile. Ginnie had paved the way for the tone of the meeting, being extremely friendly herself, so Shay found no reason not to continue on with the charade. She just hoped she didn't sound as terribly phoney to the man, as she had to her own ears.

Hearing Jimmie was in on the vampire aspect, Shay still didn't relax totally. Just because someone knew who you were, didn't mean they could be trusted implicitly. The woman in the salon knew, and still Shay had suffered for it. Not that Shay had been hurt, what happened was more comical than anything else, but Shay knew enough to realize she'd been lucky. Tougher and stronger she was, but indestructible she was not.

Once both women had a cold beer in their hands, Shay walked over to a small booth, and sat down. She wanted to speak freely, and keeping her voice low was easier than trying to remember to whisper.

"I apologize for getting a little over zealous back in the alley. I guess it's going to take some time for me to remember I have a little more strength than the average woman, and won't need to rely on knives and guns to subdue everyone I come up against. I have to tell you, what you did was amazing. I only caught part of it, but next time I'd like to watch you go first. I'm sure I'd learn a lot more that way."

If Shay had to have a role model, she doubted she could have picked one better than Ginnie. The woman obviously knew what she was doing, and the way to go about it best. If Shay could learn from her, she'd be doing very well.

Taking a good size gulp of the beer, Shay took a minute to glance around the bar.

"Jimmie is a sympathizer, but does that mean everyone in here is as well?"

First the ladies at the salon, and now guys in a bar. Shay wondered why they...being vampires...had to go after anyone on the 'outside' at all.

Ginnie took her beer and slid in the booth across from Shay. Shay had chosen to put her back to the door which was fine with Ginnie since it meant she didn't have to. She took a short pull from the bottle as she listened to Shay.

"Sometimes it's best to use a weapon and sometimes it's not. I put a risk in doing what I did. The guy could have known a martial art and might have given me a run for my money at the least or done me harm at the worst. He didn't have the look of a martial artist about him so I chose the method I did. If you want to observe next time that's fine. Though I would like to show you an entirely different way to hunt as well. Most of the time the hunt doesn't end in a kill. I thought you might like your first hunt to go full out."

She offered Shay a smile, then took another swallow of beer. "God, this tastes like piss." She wrinkled her nose and pushed her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she studied the label. It was American beer which explained that entirely. She'd have to go get a real drink shortly.

"No, not everyone here is part of the underground. This place is...dangerous. There are vampires in here from all three clans, as well as some human factions that are well...seedy at best. Jimmie is a frequent donor for me, and I'm sure others, but you'd do well not to venture in here alone. There are some that will lay flat such a new vampire with out so much as a thought, and some of those are your clan mates."

She took another sip, grimaced and pushed the bottle away. "You see, Shay, Tacharan is a killing machine. It is the duty of our mercenary force to remove and or capture new blood. They subscribe to the philosophy of shoot now, shoot some more and when everyones dead try and ask a question or two. They won't ask if you're clan or not, they will simply hunt you. I hate to have to tell you such things, but the truth will keep you alive and well." She sighed, licked her lips, and pushed at her hair.

"Even Alec wouldn't be safe here alone, well he might do alright, but I know he wouldn't risk it. "

A waitress stopped by their booth, and Ginnie put on the southern charm again and ask for a coconut rum and cherry coke. It was a girly drink she knew, but it would obliterate the taste of dog piss passing as beer from her mouth. When the waitress walked off, Ginnie smiled at Shay.

"Well enough of that. Let's play a little game. Look around the room and see if you can spot any vampires. If I know the person in question I'll tell you if you're right. If I don't we can make up a story for them."

She played this particular game a lot. It was a fun way to pass the time when on a job.

The beer tasted fine to Shay, though since she didn't drink a lot of the amber liquid, she was no connoisseur. Not feeling the need to 'de-edge', she just ordered a second of the same when Ginnie switched drinks. She could have ordered a soda and been equally fine, but didn't see the need to confuse anyone. The path of least resistance, and ease seemed to be her way of going these days.

At the idea that the two in the alley could have had any 'martial arts' talents, Shay laughed out loud.

"No, he didn't have that look, and had I put a little more thought into it at the time, I would have agreed, and hopefully acted differently."

But what was done, was done, so Shay shrugged of any more worries about it.

The topic of clans reminded Shay she had wanted to ask either Ginnie, Alec, or Dayle more about that subject.

"Okay, I was curious...there are three clans, Tacharan, Anantya, and... oh yea, Evenhet...and I know some of the differences, or the more obvious ones, like...Anantya is the oldest, and Evenhet is the least likely to cause waves...then of course Tacharan is the newest... But from what else I've heard, that you more or less just confirmed, is us Tachs are a blood thirsty lot. Isn't that rather dangerous? And though I'm new to the fold, and so far finding it probably not the ideal lifestyle, are all other Tachs satisfied with this way to live?"

Even with all the skills and experience Ginnie and Alec had with weapons, to Shay neither epitomized evil, or what she visualized as being true mercenaries. But here they both were, Tacharans, and in no hurry to step out of the clan.

"Couldn't there possibly be a happy medium between all three clans?"

The suggestion of playing a game really wasn't what Shay wanted to do. She was too caught up in the moment, and the residual effects of her first kill. But sensing it was something Ginnie really wanted to do, she decided to play along for a bit.

"I spy, with my little eye..." And checking out the three men standing at the far end of the bar, Shay chose them for her first attempts.

"Those three guys...at first glance I was about to say they all looked too stupid to be vampires, but now...now I think the one in the middle is, and the two on his sides aren't. In fact, it's possible the one in the middle is staking out the other two for his meals..."

Yes, there was something about the way the one in the middle looked to be in charge, and even with a facade that matched his drinking buddies, he retained an air of superiority, and knowledge.

He must have sensed Shay staring his way, because he then gave her a pointedly smug look, one eyebrow raised. It startled her some to be caught that way, and she immediately blushed, and looked towards Ginnie as if seeking protection.

"The danger is what draws most of us to the work. We are the...blacksheep, the dregs, the monsters in the closet. We are what truly goes bump in the night. Our natural needs, wants, and inclinations are contemptible even among our kind. We like who and want we are, Alec and me included, and generally enjoy the lives we live."

Ginnie couldn't help but laugh at Shay's next question. She hadn't meant to but it just startled it out of her.

"My dear, that is the question that has been asked for centuries. It is not possible, those among our kind that are peace makers could wish it, but it is just not meant. When we get home, I'll give you another history lesson that might help explain why."

Ginnie turned her head to look at the three in question. She was both happy and unhappy to know the trio. Well two of the trio anyway. Shay had it half right.

"That's almost right. The one in the middle is a Familiar. He's human, and the man to our left of him is a Tacharan vampire. He's one of our assassin Mercs. Incredibly good at his job, thorough, clean, efficient. He uses the Familiar as a cover. It works most times. I'm not a big fan of the guy myself. He's incredibly cocky, so I'm just waiting for the day Dominic screws up and lets him walk around the Domicile alone."

She gave Shay's hand a gentle caress, which brought the Familiar's eyes to her own. She lifted a single eyebrow at him, and he returned his attention to what she could only assume was the mark across the room.

"As to the little human, or I assume it's human, because I've never seen him before, it's possibly their meal. Then again he could be a Tach operative. I've not met every single member of Tacharan, that would be impossible, but I know most of our Mercs and operatives that reside in Nachton, because I work with all of them at one point or another."

She returned her attention to Shay and smiled. "Nice work. The point I'm trying to make here, is that it is virtually impossible to know a human from a vampire, unless you've met the vamp before. There is not a vampire in here, that knows me, that believes you are human, I don't bring humans in here. However, there are folks in here that don't know what side of the fence we are on, folks that don't know anything about our kind, along with folks who know me by sight, but nothing more, those folks think we are both human."

The waitress brought their drinks, and set them down with a smile. "The gentleman at the bar says, they're on him. He said to say; 'I must make restitution for my companions actions. Saloo-tay'"

Ginnie looked over to Dominic and his human with an eyebrow lifted. He lifted his drink and tipped it toward her. The human made a point not to look at her and he looked incredibly unhappy about it. Ginnie offered the vampire a smile and lifted her drink to him. "Tell him thank you for me, honey."

She pulled a bill from her pocket and stuck it on the waitress' tray. "That's for your trouble." With a delighted thank you, the waitress went on with her work. "Well that was interesting."


Ginnie shook her head, cleared her throat, and sipped the rum and coke. "Back to where I was going with that. If I was feeling a bit more together, meaning if I hadn't just fed, I would like to conduct an experiment. It is my belief and almost certain knowledge, that if I were to appear to leave you here, possibly stranded, you would be approached, propositioned and forced out of this bar, where someone would make either a mess out of you or find out you're not human."

She sipped again, sighing at the disappearance of dog piss in her mouth. "However, I did just feed, so I'm still a bit fuzzy in the brain and belly, and I have no intention of making a target out of you. I just want you to understand why we don't want you here alone, or really anywhere alone for a while."

She gave Shay a smile, and a gentle caress on her hand, before taking a longer sip of her drink.

Shay was glad Ginnie hadn't taken her 'mothering' role too far, and continued to harp on her misadventure in the alley. Though she understood that she would need to prove herself to Ginnie, at least she didn't need to worry about the woman riding her.

And her assertion that Shay had been half correct, when she hadn't guessed right at all, pushed a rather undignified snort from Shay's lips. She didn't really care much about Ginnie's explanation of the man, or what he did. If she found she'd be working with him, she'd refresh her knowledge. But as Ginnie herself had said, there were too many Tacharans out there. Shay's chances of meeting them all were next to nil as well. Consequently, knowledge of Dominic, or his familiar didn't interest Shay.

Hearing there was no visible way to detect a vampire both reinforced Shay's sense of security, and yet also added a bit more anxiety to her night to night living. With her new found strengths, and skills she knew she had been a little leery of getting too cocky. Knowing anyone looking at her couldn't make her was also two fold. She didn't need to be concerned that she might frighten people, but she also lost the edge that fear would have given her.

"I guess that's just as well...it sorta levels the playing field."

The soft caress of Ginnie's hand had a very calming effect on Shay, which at first she didn't even feel. Not that Shay was keyed up or anything, beyond what might normally be expected after the past few hours. And the beer might have contributed as well, Shay still didn't know what her limits were.

The exchange between Ginnie and the waitress was a little lost on Shay. Yet again, since it didn't directly involve her, she didn't fret over it. It had occurred to her recently that she might be a tad self centered...but the idea was fleeting, and no matter how true it was, it was something else she didn't worry about at the moment.

"So after you feed, you get a little lethargic? I find I react similarly if I feed heavily, but the more often I drink, the better control I seem to have, and now find two or three smaller meals work better for me. I can see how that might not always be an option though, so I hope eventually I'll be able to find the best way to make feeding work for me. Personally, I don't like the 'heavy' feeling I get from too much food."

For now though, probably because she was still so young, and new, her feelings of heaviness didn't last too long. That was also a two edged sword, in that she could just as easily forget what the result of over feeding could do to her.

"Just to put your mind at ease...it really doesn't appeal to me to come to these places by myself. In fact, there aren't that many places I do like going alone." Including the shower these days, she smirked.

"But an experiment sounds fun! So much of what I'm learning these days is from watching...it would be exciting to learn from doing...like today...this is much better than television."

Shay giggled again, feeling just a bit lightheaded from the beer.

"Maybe sometime soon we could try that...in conjunction with another feeding lesson. We couldn't very well call it a hunting lesson, since I would be the 'prey'..." Shay did think the whole plan sounded quite intriguing though, and hoped they could try it out before too much time passed.

All in all the only topic discussed right then, that put Shay off at all, was the one about Tacharans. Though she didn't appear to have any strict feelings on morality, she didn't like hearing how her 'kind' were considered to be the 'dregs' of vampire society.

"Not that I have any interests, mind you, but is it possible to change clans?"

And her preface was very truthful. Shay had no reason to consider another clan. Ginnie, and Alec were her parents, and both Tacharans. Her closest friend was as well. But the curiosity still existed.

Ginnie thought for a moment. "Lethargy isn't the right word. More euphoric. I'm crazy energized, but the sides of my vision are a bit hazy and my head swims. It happens every time I feed. I has since my very first. It's much less now then it was then, and I think in another two hundred years it will be mostly gone. I hope it doesn't completely go, I rather enjoy it."

She sipped her drink, and nodded at Shay. "Good I'm glad."

She chuckled softly, she figured it was good for Shay to take an interest in learning how to play bait. It might one day be part of her job. Ginnie did it often enough for her own.

"Alright, we'll try it out, but not here. It will have to be another vamp bar or club. It wouldn't work here, since the bar tender has seen you with me once."

Ginnie took another drink and nearly choked on it. She managed to swallow, and wiped her damp chin with the little bar napkin. Composed she addressed Shay's question with the seriousness it deserved.

"Yes and no. I know it is possible to go from Anantya to Evenhet, and from Evenhet to Tacharan and even Anantya to Tacharan, but I don't think you can go the other direction. You would never be allowed into Anantya, and Evenhet would most likely never trust you, and then Tacharan would hunt you. I'm not sure how that would work for an Evenhet trying to go back to Anantya. They might accept them with open arms, that whole prodigal son thing. But we have no place with them..." The rum turned bitter in her throat, as certain memories pressed against her skull.

"Or so I understand. I could be completely wrong, Shay. It might be very possible to change your affiliation and be accepted into the folds of another clan. However, Tacharan would still hunt the one that left to join another clan."

She tossed down the rest of her drink and signaled the waitress for another. It was difficult business she was dealing with here. She knew Shay needed to learn all these things, but she honestly hated being the teacher sometimes.







((ooc speculations on how the clans would react to a vampire changing clans are entirely my own and do not reflect the actual feelings and policies of the clans. Ginnie is a bit jaded...))

Energized was a good word, since Shay felt pretty 'up' now as well. In fact, the longer they sat in the booth, the more anxious Shay began to feel. Sitting in one place for any length of time just wasn't something she enjoyed, and even when she watched movies on tv at home she found herself up and moving about after the first hour or so. Usually, she felt these urges more so after feeding, and less so shortly before sunrise.

While it still disturbed her a small bit to hear such things about the clans, Shay reasoned that for now she would just accept her fate, and learn to live with it. Maybe some day, if she found the need so great as to need more information, she could look into the matter more fully. But she guessed it might not be such a bad thing, if she could keep her distance from those Tacharan who might wish her ill. Not that she'd made any enemies yet, that she knew of, but then from the way Ginnie spoke, Shay couldn't rule out that some crazy Tacharan might come after her without reasons at all.

"That's okay...it's not like I'm looking to leave...I was just mildly curious." It was just a little lie, and one that Shay felt Ginnie would deal better with than had she been totally honest, and told Ginnie parts of the Tacharan issue scared the shit out of her.

Drumming her nails on the table top, Shay finished her second beer, and found herself needing to use the bathroom.

"Can you tell me which direction the little girl's room is? I think I need to freshen something."

Giggling, had Shay been home she would have just said she needed to pee, but out in public she was trying to learn some modicum of decorum.

Ginnie offered Shay a smile. Something about this whole conversation unnerved her to no end. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. Maybe Shay needed not know the whole truth about her Clan yet. Ginnie had screwed up, she just knew it. Well, the truth was the truth no matter how you turn it. She sighed and chuckled when Shay asked for the little girls' room.

"Other side of the bar through that little hall with the orange restrooms sign over it."

Finding the lady's room was easy, and Shay made quick about her business. As she washed her hands, and looked into the mirror over the sink, she could feel some of the tension, and anxiety had left her just by her getting up and walking around some.

As she left the bathroom, she looked toward the booth she was headed for, and noticed a rather seedy, and burly looking man skulking. The walls of the booth were high enough, and projected enough from the sides of the walls, that the man was able to approach Ginnie so far, without being seen.

When Shay noticed the man reaching into his jacket for something, she immediately reached for her knife, but found nothing. She had forgotten removing them earlier, but was so fearful of anything happening to Ginnie that she did the next thing she could think of, and she flung the man's head into the wall behind him...without using anything but her mind.

It all happened so quickly, and startled her so much, that she just stood, stock still, and looked to the booth.

"Oh my fucking hell...what did I just do?"

Ginnie sat spinning her cup with her fingers, making spirals out of the water rings. She'd sip the drink, look around, smile if a man caught her eye, then went back to making the circles. She sipped again, and this look around had her eyes landing on her child. She smiled, but her eyes narrowed as Shay reached for a weapon she didn't hold. In the time it took her to register that someone was behind her and began to turn a sickening thud shook the wall.

She turned in that way you do when you hear a car wreck and you know it's going to be bad, but you can't help but look, so everything slows and your eyes only take in little bits at a time. She watched the man slide down the wall in a sort of stop-motion animation type of way. She turned back to Shay and stared wide-eyed for a moment. Then she was up out of the booth and across the room. She tucked Shay's arm in her own and lead her out of the bar and down the street.

She didn't say a word until she had them locked in the Trailblazer.

"Ok tell me exactly what happened."

Once again Ginnie saved Shay's ass, and the day, when she ushered them both from the bar in haste. Had she not taken control of the situation, Shay would have probably still been standing there in shock.

Had she really just done, what she thought she had done? Had she really just slammed that man's head against the wall, with just a thought? How was that possible? And why had she done it with such force? She'd only meant to stop the man from approaching Ginnie any further...she hadn't wanted to hear that sickening crunch of bone meeting wall, and see blood spurt from the wound in the man's head. Had she killed him too? Was she becoming just a killing machine...acting without thinking things through, to the extent of laying waste to whatever was in her path? As she found herself sitting in Ginnie's car, she also found herself shivering on occasion, still trying to wrap her mind around what she'd done.

"It was all so fast...and I'm not sure what exactly happened... I came out of the bathroom, saw the man, and got the feeling he had more than a friendly greeting on his mind. I got afraid for you, and before I knew it...I think I made him smash his head into the wall. At least the image of that crossed my mind, but more than that..."

She'd been staring out the front windshield as she spoke, but now turned to Ginnie with a horrific look on her face.

"...I really think it was my thoughts that made him do it. Well, no...I don't think I wanted him dead...or mortally wounded. It was more like I just wanted to stop him, and maybe shake him up enough that he'd turn tail and leave."

Wrapping her arms around herself, Shay almost wished she could curl up into a ball, and escape the realizations she was coming to.

"Do you think that's what happened? Do you think I just thought him into doing that?"

Ginnie sat sideways in her seat staring at Shay. Her child had just displayed one of her own abilities and it was both exciting and unnerving. She was nodding by the time Shay finished her questions.

"Yes, Shay that is exactly what happened." A small smile curled the corners of her mouth. "It seems, my dove, that you have uncovered another ability. It is called Telekinesis and it is the power to move things with your mind. It happens to be something I know a great deal about."

Teaching out with that ability she picked up a blanket from the back of the SUV and danced it up into the front, unfolded it, and lay it around Shay's hunched shoulders.

"Let's get you home and we can tell your dad about it and perhaps put you to bed. I think you've had enough for one night."