03 [voice]

[spawnedbywar]

[the NV activates right when it hits the floor, clattering noisily and switching the audio on right in the midst of what appears to be a screaming match between two men, one of them a very startled--practically horrified--Kaz.]--can lie to anyone, maybe even get away with it, but you must have cracked your skull in that accident if you think you

Comments

Voice

[ysobritish]

Father. Master. What the hell is going on?!

[Liquid sounds more irritable than normal.]

If one of you kills the other, I'm going to damn well eviscerate the one that's left!

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

[panting, then a very loud CRACK! followed by an equally loud yell. you can practically hear kaz bleeding all over the microphone.]

Hey... [pantpant] How -- how much do you know about -- vampires?

Voice

[ysobritish]

...

That they don't exist. Also that they don't like garlic or sunlight, can't cross running water and only die from decapitation or stakes to the heart.

He's not a vampire, Master.

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

Zombie, then. But just to be sure, do we have any spare wood lying around?

Voice

[ysobritish]

He's not a zombie either. If you kill him, you'll regret it.

...you know, I thought you were meant to be resourceful.

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

Not as much as he'll regret fighting back. [or sticking that glass in his leg. ow.]

Sorry, did you expect me to impale him on a bedpost or strangle him with the telephone cord? Zombie or vampire or whatever wacky sort of monster he's become, I want to do this properly. There are rules for this sort of thing.

Voice

[ysobritish]

No, I think you'll regret killing him once you find yourself lynched afterwards. He's not a zombie or a vampire. Those things don't exist. Reanimation is possible via cyberkinetics but it's complex and you'd lose your mind from it. He wouldn't be acting normal.

...I actually meant "Try breaking some wood off of something", but far be it for me to offer advice. Master, you're acting like a superstitious fool. Besides, it's best to have a priest do something like that.

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

You're living in a city where monsters are considered a pest problem but you think zombies and vampires don't exist? [pffffft] And there's that little detail about the people who die that come back as monsters to consider, but hey, I'm just being superstitious, right?

[huff huff]

A priest might actually be a good idea. 'Cause if he isn't a zombie or a vampire, this could very well be something demonic. It would explain the eye, anyway...

Voice

[ysobritish]

Yes, you are. Father has been alive for quite a while since his death, if he even was dead when I arrived. Why would he only show signs of it now? And of course I don't believe in zombies or vampires. There have been no documented cases of them here yet.

[Sigh.]

We are not bringing a priest here. If you're so concerned, tie him up, we'll take him somewhere and call them there.

...

The eye?

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

That doesn't mean they don't exist. If you were a vampire, would you want to make it known right off the bat? It's like holding a neon sign above your head that says "HEY! KILLER HERE!"

It's a good alternative. If he can be exorcised in this state, he won't have to stay blind when he returns to normal.

[long suffering; a "you should know this already" type of tone:] His eye regrew itself, except now it's yellow and it glows. How's that for justification?

Voice

[ysobritish]

[He just sighs.]

I suppose that makes sense, in a disturbing way. But I would sooner refrain from belie- [Wait. Waaaait.]

Grew? [A pause.] Wait. He said something about a transplant up there. Why do you think it grew?

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

I've been in and out of the hospital since the night he was admitted to check up on him and make sure he's getting the care he needs. I've spoken to his nurse and the only thing he has scheduled right now is physical therapy; at no point was a transplant mentioned nor were any potential donors lined up.

Hell, he shouldn't even be home. When I came back from shopping today, I found him in our room with all the lights off and his eye-- [stops short, suppressing a cringe.] ...You get the picture, don't you?

Voice

[ysobritish]

...that's absurd. Where the devil would he get something like that without going through official channels? If he was getting it done unofficially, the hospital would have at least been aware of his disappearing in order to go through it.

[Congratulations, Miller, you're making the paranoid psychopath ever more paranoid by the minute.]

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

[this isn't going to end well...]

That's what I've been saying! He says he can see just fine, but a transplant that drastic would take weeks--maybe months--of therapy to get used to. And don't even get me started on the glow.

Voice

[ysobritish]

Vampire eyes don't normally glow, if I'm recalling my mythology correct. That's demons. Or ghosts, sometimes.

[...yes, the man who just derided the idea of vampires and zombies believes thoroughly in ghosts.]

Voice

[spawnedbywar]

The ghosts that haunted Selva de la Muerte back in Costa Rica didn't give us any problems on that end. But if it's a ghost, it would be easier to exorcise than a demon, I'd imagine.

...On the other hand, I remember reading somewhere that demons are notorious liars. Whatever's inside of him is apparently very good at mimicking his characteristics and speech patterns.