But Not For You and I

[Lucy Serrano]

Lucy should have known it wouldn't be that simple. A choice in this cloud had never been hers to make; why start now? The connection she made did nothing. Gave nothing.

And while she might have had a surge of strength, but it was nothing to fight off being pulled up. It forced her to have to hold on, for the threat of her feet giving way to her own weight. Fingers worked to curl their way into the fabric she wore, and she held on with what might she had.

"This is insane!" But this girl looked as if she'd never be able to fit the word. Like the word didn't suit her. Like it never could, because she so undoubtedly believed this was the correct course of actions; "Why would you make me do that- Please don't make me do that!"

[Penelope Blaise]

Someone so weak was easy to lift, and just as easy to move. While Lucy's grip might have been barely existent at all, Penny could still feel it. She was the support to help her stand, and the new vampire had no choice but to hold on. To be needed was refreshing in this little relationship they had built.

Her arm snaked around the girl, pulling her in close so that she could carry the weight of them both and still walk out of the bedroom with slow, but steady steps. Even as Lucy yelled, Penny acted as if it were mere conversation rather than actual protest. "It is absurd to let you get to that point," she replied finally. "For both of our sakes."

She lead them down the hall, towards a set of stairs. "However," she reached for a door with her free hand, drawing it open to lead towards a basement of sorts where there were several separated rooms. They stopped in front of another door, and Penelope pushed it open with a turn of her wrist at the handle. Inside was a girl - very much alive and unharmed. "This will be your first."

[Lucy Serrano]

Somehow, this particular person made carrying her easy. Not quite second nature, but she still seemed graceful in her care. The juxtaposition was enough to make Lucy's head spin, if it weren't already so muddled by being caught in two worlds.

Panic ceased quickly, and then filtered back into her eyes the second she felt where they were. She didn't need to take her eyes off her to feel fast, weakened hearts in her vicinity. Like livestock in a larder.

"Why're you doing this to me? Why did you?" She asked finally. It had been the question that burned her mind the second she woke. But she was too fast to catch a reply; "You hate me."

[Penelope Blaise]

With the person awaiting on the opposite side of the small room, Penny paid no attention. Dark eyes had focused solely on the individual she had changed. She looked uneasy at the mere thought, yet it was better than letting her starve until she practically was crazed, as she herself had experienced. It was a dangerous line to walk.

Yet the vampire looked confused as she stared back at Lucy. Her eyebrows twitched together before she regained her composure, allowing something more settled to take over her expression. "Because I don't hate you," she explained.

She brought them in further to the room, and the hand that supported Lucy started to slip with purpose. She would not continue to support her, for now. "Eat."

[Lucy Serrano]

There was little Lucy could do when the secure arm around her waist started to refuse her. Hands could still cling to a set of arms as her feet found their weight on the ground. It took a few moments before she actually managed to find her footing, but she was slower to let go.

Lucy wore obvious confusion. These marks were those of a person who harboured harsh negativity. Why else put her through all this?

She wanted to ask, but knew nothing was to be gained.

So Lucy looked at the person who easily could have mirrored herself had she known what was going to happen to her. It was a prolonged glance, one ripe with a kind of pity. Just like everything else, she doubted a choice existed here.

"I can't."

[Penelope Blaise]

She followed the way dark eyes looked at the person. For someone who could be so outwardly harsh and dismissive, seeing such emotion in those eyes was almost startling. The first couldn't possibly be easy, yet it was still a surprise to see so much emotion. More, the girl spoke as if she had some sort of choice.

"You will." Penny argued, but not harshly. she pressed a hand to Lucy's cheek lightly, encouraging her as best as she could. Yet there was no mistaking the darker look in her face.

"Her blood will spill regardless." She started to move again, to walk towards the human that was now backing herself up against the far wall. Still, Penelope grabbed her, fingers curling into locks of her hair as she tilted the girl's neck up. From a pocket, she pulled out a knife, drawing the blade up and pressing the cool metal against her neck, seemingly oblivious to the struggle being put up against her. "This way will only be more painful for her."

[Lucy Serrano]

Lucy knew not to read anything from the one who did this as sympathy. Even something so seemingly gentle as a hand to her own face couldn't be masked. There was reason in every choice, which was exactly why they were all taken away from her now.

Then she had to watch as the individual argued over was treated like something less than human. A fate, she believed, that could have easily been her own. Hell, given the current circumstances, it was the more preferred place to be. A knife to her throat, and there was the very real possibility that Lucy could let it be.

But what was to become of herself? Wasn't that was this was all about now?

An apology burned at the base of her throat, but she'd never been one to give them, and not even this was enough to push that. Hollowed sympathies were to do nothng for either of them now. She swallowed hard as a weaker hand pressed to that which held a blade so confidently. She moved it away with a genuinely gentle edge, stepping forth and sealing her downturned lips against an unfamiliar form, letting newly developed teeth split the skin as they were made to. As she herself was inevitably made to.

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny knew a large amount of blood could be overwhelming to the senses, especially to someone trying to grow used to them. So she pushed purposefully, ready to tempt her with the real source. Even she herself felt the draw to the quickening pulse of the person she held as Lucy drew closer. Her hand was moved with ease, though ready to place the blade back if more of a fight was put up.

Yet it was not, and the Brit watched the way she ducked down to bite against the form. She could hear the skin breaking, and the flow of blood spill out into the new vampire's mouth. It was satisfying to hear. To smell, and to see. Surely this girl would understand now that she had a taste. At least, Penny felt sure of it.

Knife tucked away, she drew a hand up through her hair, drawing the dark strands out of the way as she waited.

[Lucy Serrano]

Knowing she was to be the cause of a person's death either was was never to be a satisfying thought. The concept of humanity still clung to every edge of her mentality and took over in a wave. This was ridiculous. Even she couldn't piece together why this had to be done. It felt selfish. It absolutely was.

Because the weaker nature of her own form seemed to jolt with newer life. Was this what it was supposed to be? How unfair for the race she had unwillingly left behind, that they might exist as nothing more than a power source for a set of people.

She didn't fight the hand that tracked its way through her hair, because it didn't seem right to. If she had to take a life, surely that life deserved all her attention.

The second she was free of it - or rather, the second there was nothing left - he reel herself back slowly. The first thing she did was no support the lifeless form she had left drained. Instead, wide, practically frightened eyes turned themselves to the one who turned her. There, she stared for a countless set of seconds before that stint of fear turned to pointed aggression.

Another second, and she was making a dead bolt with newer speed out of the room that made her so uncomfortable.

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny could practically see the change in her counterpart. How a drained body could offer so much in a grander perspective. Minutes before, she could barely bring herself up to stand, and now had the strength to hold the weight of a lifeless person without the help of Penny herself. The eyes that looked back at her were wide. They perplexed her, because there was something more than hunger behind them - if there was even hunger at all. She looked afraid.

The turn of events happened quickly enough where Penny was unsure if she misread what she saw staring back at her, because very suddenly the new vampire was running. It hauled a pained sigh out of Penelope as she started to chase her.

"Where are you trying to go?" She questioned, reaching for her arm the moment she managed to catch up. If she could grab hold of her, she had every intent on stopping the girl. "Running will do you no good here."

[Lucy Serrano]

Free of what she could only describe as the most fucked up larder situation she'd ever encountered, Lucy felt the very real fact that no matter how she ran, she didn't need to breathe. It was enough to squeeze her eyes shut; a shock to the senses to lose the most basic human instinct. The very thing every soul never thought of.

Stumbled footing had a hand reach for her and collide, which hauled her eyes back open. Aggression still pooled. She was still angry. And it was all at her.

So she swung around, curling fingers around the arm that held her, and with a step back she did her best to haul the aged vampire past her with the force of her own faster steps before she let go. If she collided with any of her precious extravagance, then it could only be a needed bonus.

[Penelope Blaise]

When Penny caught up with the fresh vampire, she expected resistance, and thus prepared her balance accordingly to keep the girl held back. Instead, she found herself caught off guard by the way Lucy moved. Her footing, still determined to keep up, stumbled as she was forced forward past her completely.

She came crashing against a table, the force of a vampire's strength breaking it entirely, as well as sending a nearby painting off its hooks and crashing to the floor, damaged. And though it only took her a moment to push herself up again, a new expression took over her features. Annoyance turned into something more dangerous.

"You really are an idiot." Penny pointed out, lifting a hand to dust herself off. Though she didn't think the girl to be stupid enough to swing twice.

[Lucy Serrano]

Lucy had never been a fighter. She'd never been as good at it as she was an evading people who went looking for her. Hiding was a much more acceptable forte for the one who had done it right for so much of her life so far.

But instincts? They were new. At least, the thought to send someone far better than herself hurling away was a new thought. It was a bad judgement call, but she felt too blind to acknowledge that. She dusted herself off like she didn't have a single care. But she looked scorned.

Biting the hand that fed? Really bad judgement call.

She did swing twice with something of an aggressive call to her own newer nature; hands to reach her and try to force them both back to the wall. Because there was something oddly satisfying about ruining the most perfect home in the ruins of Old Chicago. And there was something better when she did so with her body.

[Penelope Blaise]

She hadn't thought to block an attack she wasn't expecting, because she never considered that this girl would try twice. Stupid as that decision was, it was Penny's own lack of judgement that sent them both crashing against the wall. She heard the crack of the drywall break against her own spine, and while the damage wasn't enough to put her down, it still made her seethe.

She pushed to be closer - whether she did so purposefully or not - and so her own hands wrapped around the vampire's form. Nails dug into her skin with an overruling strength, unafraid to pierce through the thin protective layer of fabric between them.

But she wouldn't shove her away. Instead, the opposite thought pumped through her veins like the new energy she had just experienced. The Brit forced her head forward, lips colliding harshly against Lucy's.

[Lucy Serrano]

The strength in Lucy's own hands was something she couldn't possibly realise. She didn't factor in how much greater this girl's skills would be. Now that she'd been successful in that, she had every momentum to keep moving.

But did she really want to kill her? Did she think to really try? Her hands wrapped the shoulders she held so harshly, her fingernails digging in the second opposing hands threatened her own skin. She obviously had great power, but it only made her burn more. There was no getting away now; she felt the urge to bare the teeth she'd only just grown in contrast to the new pain at her back.

But Lucy didn't get the chance, because a harsh pressure hit against her mouth instead. The distraction was instant, and her hands lost their skill immediately. Eyes remained wide, and she never thought to close them as she stared. Her hands might have been quick to move to the curve of her neck, but she couldn't find the means to apply the pressure she thought she needed to.