A cure for bad karma? (Ziare)

[Grey]

Grey was walking around the academy, doing something he hadn't done in a long time. He was looking for help. He had been asking around the academy for a female mage he had heard of, going by the name Ziare. He needed help with his condition, urgently, and after what he had heard she might be one who could help him. He grimaced at the tear in his undead pride it caused for him to ask a mortal for help, but he was desperate and saw no other choice.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where I can find Ziare?" He asked for the thirtieth time, and for the thirtieth time he recieved a completely useless answer. He ended the person's response as politely as he he could by thanking whoever the person was and hurridly moving on down the hallway. He needed to find help as son as he could, and that seemed to be now.

He was afflicted with an ailment that had no real name, but the symptom, known as 'Soul-flayer transformation' was well known among vampires. It was rare, very rare for a vampire to attain this sort of affliction, but when it happened the vampire was usually put down and quickly as possible. There was no known cure, it was said that once you changed you were lost, but Grey had changed back, through the help of his new ally, his new friend, Kegan. Kegan didn't know what had happened and Grey had decided not to tell him, at least not before he was out of the recovery wing. The last thing the soul-flayer had done before the transformatino was reversed was tearing out Kegan's eyes, and he was now healing attended by the school's healers.

He found another person he thought he would ask, a beautiful young lady who at least appeared to be human. You never knew in this place, or anywhere else for that matter. "Pardon me" He said, just loud enough to be heard, as she stood with her back to him. "I'm looking for the sorceress Ziare, could you tell me where to find her?" His tone was polite and calm, like the one his master had taught him when they went to Britain. He didn't intend to be rude, but he didn't want to waste time either

[Ziare]

Ziare Langely was one of the top Wizards in the school. She had been here a long time and been studying her summoning very hard to become the asset she was now. Not only a powerful girl but she was also the leader of a group called Revolution. A defense force that protected the Arcane Academy from the evil outside and in. She was walking down the hall when she was stopped by one of the members and asked a question. About when their next meeting would be. She smiled giving the answer and handing them a flyer to give to any members they saw today and the member ran off to go do that and she stood there for a moment looking through the file in her hands until she heard a soft almost inaudible voice behind her.

Her name was asked for. She was asked for. She turned around and was rather shocked by the dark and rather scary individual behind her. But she smiled her ice blue eyes peered at him with kindness and her hip length platinum blonde hair fell around her body. Ziare was thin, wearing a soft pink sweater and some blue jeans she looked rather cute. She was a pretty girl or so she had been told but she never really worried about that. She just did her own thing and tried to be as strong as she could be.

"Good afternoon, my name is Ziare. What is it you need?" she asked in her soft kindly voice. "Here, come walk with me and tell me what you are hoping to find."

She turned and looped her arm through his her hand on his bicep gently so they could walk together and not seem so strange. She had them step out into a courtyard and she smiled at him. Ziare had always been a rather friendly girl and she led him to a bench where they could sit together.

"What is your name? This way I don't have to call you sir." she chuckled softly. Ziare seemed to have a sense of regalness to her, it was just how she was.

[Grey]

Well, this was unexpected. Grey was used to be scorned for the way he looked, he wasn't as handsome as he had been during his... living days. These days he looked like a drug addict, his face gaunt with eyes red from irritation, and his skin an unhealthy pale. But she was being kind to him, and that made him smile. He could feel her warmth throuhg his grey sweater, a thing he hadn't felt in years. Having no blood circulation tends to make you cold.

"My name is.. Grey" He had paused in the sentence, considering giving her his real name, but had decided not to. So far only two knew, and it was a secret that he preffered to keep to himself as much as possible, not least as it was linked to past. "As much as I appreciate your kindness, I need your help. I'm sorry if I'm being a bit rash, but the truth is, I'm scared. I wish I could say that I dunno what's happening to me, but I do. It's a fate worse than death, far worse." He snickered, looking down on the ground. "But I guess I had it coming. Sorry for being so cryptic 'n all, but it's a complicated story" He looked into her eyes for the first time and held back a gasp. She was beautiful.

"Kor bly me" He muttered, before returning his eyes to the ground, staring with shame. "Sorry I just... No one else knows about this. It's a rare condition, and if the rumours I've hearda bout you are true, you'd be the one to ask for help" He was distancing himself from what he was beginning to feel. Being what he was, he had been secluded from the social aspects of both the human and the vampiric circles for a long time. He had told the story of his life to someone he had begun to consider a friend, and he could feel a lot more inside him beginning to loosen up. He wasn't sure that he liked the feeling

[Ziare]

His name was Grey and as they sat down on the bench she didn't miss the pause there. Either Grey was an alias or he had tried to decide what to tell her his name was. But it mattered little. What mattered was that he seemed to need her help and she yearned to help people it was one of her strengths and one of her faults to say the least. so she still left her arm in through his and leaned agianst him softly as he began to speak to her. She looked at him as he spoke noticing just how sickly he looked. the coldness of his skin seemed to wreak of vampire but she wasn't one to judge and so she waited and listened softly to him because she was honestly eager to help.

He didn't truly explain his situation merely that he needed help and that he had heard rumors that she might be the one that could help him. Her blonde eyebrow rose at that but it was quickly sent back down as she wondered just what she could do to help him. She smiled softly as he told her that he knew exactly what his condition was and that to him it was a fate worse than death. Ziare furrowed her brown and nodded softly.

"Allright then. I'll help you in any way I can. Because, it's just something that I do. So first, I need to know what is wrong and why you are so upset. What has happened that you came to me?" she asked gently.

She reached up softly and removed the hood of his cloak from his head before lifting up his chin so that he would look into her eyes. She smiled softly giving him a soft wink.

"I like your eyes. They're lovely. I should like to see them more, if you don't mind." it was a compliment and a nice way to ask him to look at her when he spoke. But it was true his eyes were intriguing. Troubled but still.

[Grey]

She was right. No matter how much he wanted to keep what had happened and what he had done a secret, he would never be able to get help without telling her. He breathed in, his dead lungs sucking in then letting the air go by instinct. He smiled at that, some habits truly did die hard. But before he could begin to talk she removed his hood and brought his face up to hers. He smiled almost shyly at what she said then, but he caught the hint. It was impolite to speak to someone without looking them in the eyes, he knew that, but he hadn't been in company where it mattered for far too long. But it felt so good, so nice to be treated like a person again, like a fellow human being, although he hadn't been human for a good fifteen decades.

"Ok" He said, more to himself than to her. "For starters, I'm a vampire" That did tend to be enough to scare most people off, but Grey could understand them. Being in the company of a being that required to feed of lifeforce in the form of blood was never a cozy thing. "And I'm a runaway from my clan, an outcast. I, I've done things that I only wish I could undo, but I can't, and now I stand to become a Soulflayer" Finally he mustered the guts he needed to follow her simple request and looked into her eyes, his own wide with sorrow.

"Why is it that now, when I'm about to loose grip of my existence, that I treasure it more than ever? Why is it that I only now see the opportunities that hav ebeen in front of me all along? My first friend for twenty years I made after he first time made me change from soulflayer back to this, and now... I'm sorry for sounding this arrogant, but I feel I could have made a lot out of my life than this"

He wasn't crying, not on the outside. Grabbing hold of his sorrow and twisting it as he always did, a small, bitter smile emerged on his lips "Unlife" He corrected himself

[Ziare]

Ziare returned his smile. She liked seeing that smile it was something that looked good on his face. He began to speak and he told her that he was a vampire. He seemed to wait for her to make some kind of move. To run, or to scream but she didn't she merely nodded and smiled not even tensing in the slightest. He wanted her help and she was here to listen she wasn't going to run away at the first sign of trouble that was not her style, not at all. So she listened still and waited. It all became clear when he told her that he was a Soulflayer. She had only read of these things in books and knew in theory there were very few ways to get rid of the extra souls that you had consumed and now she was beginning to see why he had come to her.

"Well, firstly, I don't care whether you are a vampire or not. Just my blood is off limits." she chuckled and winked at him just throwing in a joke to make him smile again.

"So let's asses the situation. You need me to help you get rid of some of the souls that are in your body because if not they're going to kill you. You believe now, that you have found that life is worth living for, and don't go off on that unlife crap or I'm not helping you, so long as you can think, breathe, and interact with the world it's a life. Now, I can help you, it is going to be painful seperating a soul from a body isn't the easiest or most pleasant thing to experience." she explained.

"You should come up to my rooms. You can scream all day up there and no one would here you. I live in the tower, and so I have only one window I can block out the sun easily for you so that isn't a problem. But it's a more comfortable place to do it, and aside from that, I can nurse you afterwards when you are weak." she said softly.

"But, it's a one time offer. No more soul sucking after this. And aside from that, I'm ready when you are." she said softly with a smile. "What do you say?"

[Grey]

She wasn't freaked out that he was a vampire, that wasn't something he hadn't experienced before, but it was nice now. Friends were rare when you were a blood-sucking, soul-devouring vampire with an unquenchable lust for hunting, but he hadn't been like that for almost twenty years. He couldn't help but be impressed at the practical manner she stated her 'demands', it seemed that for once somone were living up to their reputation. The fact that she actually knew what a soulflayer was only impressed him even more

"No probs" He said, after she had finished talking. "I'll need to get blood from somewhere or I'll starve, and I'm not sure whether that'll help or weaken the soul flayer, and honestly I don't feel like finding out" IT was nice of her to just agree to help him like that, she would make the second he had met recently, making tree in total. Jonathan had, accidentally, cured his addiction to souls, Kegan had saved him from the soulflayer, and now Ziare was going to help him extract the souls that he had consumed throughout the ages.

"Alright" He said, smiling slightly "I'll cut the 'unlife' crap, but I hope you don't have any corsses lying around your place" This was really a sort of half-hearted attempt of humor, but Grey regretted it almost immediatly after having said it. There were different breeds of vampires, very many, and they were differentiated by several things. One of these were the age, and Grey was one of the 'younger' vampires, more human than many, and therefore he lacked more strengths and weaknesses of the stereotypical vampires than most as well. His kind, for instance, were not scared by crosses, unless the one who held it against them did so with true faith.

"I dun need a coffin up, and I don't really have anything with me that's heavy or takes up space" Th only material thing he truly treasured was the celtic cross his mother had given him, family heirloom from his Irish side. "If you like, I could move in right now" He knew he wasn't moving in with her, not really. He would be staying there until she had helped him off with the souls, and no longer, he knew that. His instinctive reaction to any sort of mental pain was anger, controlled anger that soothed the pain and didn't affect his behaviour. When you had lived as long as he had, you needed to find ways to deal with your emotions, swiftly and efficiently. "How long do you reckon it's gonna take?" He asked, having supressed his emotional painkiller. " 'Cause I'll definitly be owing you big time when it's over"