Would You Kindly

[Bellamy Shaw]

2016

With the recent flair of such an unknown enemy, tensions were incredibly high amongst any and all humans. Though the rules to life had already been so thin as it were, they were completely out the window now. Between a plague-type horrific and the unveiling of a phantom race being reality, it was difficult to keep track of all the chaos. Vampires had been romanticised in the western culture Bellamy knew of; for them to exist and offer any kind of twisted aid was practically mind boggling.

Humans were to be registered, now. Like livestock property, and subsequently left to provide a stronger race with something to feed on, else what would become of them? Not registering would practically make her a criminal. She wasn't good enough to outrun a superior set of people who would easily kill her. She wasn't that person. She doubted she could even really fend herself off from those of her own kind who would inevitably want something from her.

She swallowed hard when she was ushered into speak to someone so high above her own head. So high above this world's head, she was sure. Hands clasped together behind her back, fingers curling together tightly. She squeezed them instinctively, like it would rid her of any tension she carried as she stood and waited. Expressing interest in being registered so early must have caught the attention of more than she bargained for. Perhaps she shouldn't have lied about her intention.

[Evelyn Rose]

The system was flawed. Naturally, the system had recently been given birth, but that hardly changed the many flaws they'd have to overcome over the course of the next decades. The head of a newly born empire that could lead the vampires into an new era. And she was stuck at the bottom, working out the kinks.

She supposed she couldn't complain. Along with the rest, they had pushed the Magistrate up through the chaos of the new world and into the light. She would not see it fail.

She heard the door - she could smell the blood. If she focused, she could even hear the faint beating of an unsteady, nervous heart. She couldn't blame the human, of course. This new reality of their lives was terrifying - but for their own good. She was sure they'd come to see that eventually. Then again, the human race had never proved themselves to be the smartest within the circle of life. They had this tedious habit of repeating history.

After a moment, Evelyn finally lifted her gaze, her hands neatly folded on the desk in front of her. She studied the girl for a moment, measuring her up. "Don't be nervous," she spoke, evenly, as if telling someone that felt forced - in retrospect, it did. "I assure you that no harm will befall you in this room." She then nodded towards the ones who had guided the young girl to her and they left the room, leaving the young girl alone with the vampire who found herself oddly intrigued.

[Bellamy Shaw]

There was a step get kind of comfort in the words given. Though they sounded like a stock standard approach to any new meeting, it was far better than what alternatives she could have cooked up in her head. Her hands remained fastened together behind her back. Now, they were on their own.

Bellamy smiled, then. Most people in her position wouldn't have found any kind of strength to stand as she was now. The entire building she found herself in was riddled with a sense of danger. "Forgive me for sounding presumptuous, but this is the safest I've felt in quite a while." She admitted with a strange sense of ease.

"I can't believe you're here." Bellamy started again, and she was fast to correct herself; "You're real."

[Evelyn Rose]

Evelyn's perfectly arched eyebrows raised. This had to be the first time Evelyn had ever heard a human claim that they felt safe anywhere near a vampire. Vampires weren't like they were portrayed in literature. They weren't bleeding hearts, simply waiting for a weaker human to come around and turn everything they once knew around. Vampires were monsters - monsters with an urge to kill, the inner beast who was constantly there. Constantly at the edges of their minds, simply waiting to take control.

"Are you here to state the obvious or were you too naive to realize what was happening around you until just now?" she asked, more curious than not. She hadn't really taken the moment to think about it. Whether humans would allow themselves to let their new reality sink in. Of course, she couldn't really be surprised that some would be at a disbelief, but it just seemed to completely and utterly pointless.

She arched an eyebrow then, engrossed.

[Bellamy Shaw]

The concept of naivety wasn't one totally lost on Bellamy. It could have been insulting but it didn't seem presented that way. More, she didn't take it that way. There were a great many individuals who had no idea what had been waiting for them.

"Surely you know that six months ago, you were mere legends." She explained openly. If they easily watched amongst the shadows, they must have known it all; "Or... Romanticised fables." There was more, but she had no desire to dwell on the inconsistent telling of a race by way of their own media.

"And we - the human race, not myself personally - have never seen ourselves as anything less than the dominant species. Until now, of course."

[Evelyn Rose]

It was easy for Evelyn to forget that times now, weren't the same as it had been back when she'd turned. Today, as the girl was saying, vampires seemed to be romanticized. Back then... They were nothing more than monsters in the dark. Monsters parents told their children about. Monsters that would cause an entire village to pull our their pitchforks.

"Until now," Evelyn repeated evenly. She could hardly blame the human race for trying to make all of this look a little better than what it was - the world had gone to shit, after all. But that didn't change the fact that vampires were and would always be, monsters.

"What can I help you with?"

[Bellamy Shaw]

This felt like idle chatter. Two people who were never destined to meet and who would likely never meet again talking so idly. She didn't have to say much, and yet she still sounded so clever. Bellamy could tell without fail that she was incredibly smart. Of course, she had countless years to perfect that.

"I'd like to tell you that I do not stand with humanity." She admitted. Though most would have a sense of pride in their heritage, Bellamy did not. She did her best to speak kindly despite how the words themselves could have held bite. She almost didn't look like the sort to bite about anything.

"And," Bellamy continued, pausing long enough to take a small breath, "I'd like for you to tell me what your people are like."

Another pause. Without grace before she smiled again; "Please."

[Evelyn Rose]

There was something profound about the way the young woman before her so simply threw her own race away. In some ways, to some people, one would wonder where the girl's sense of loyalty was. Although, for Eve, she couldn't quite help the bemused smile that crossed her lips.

Then the smile fell and was replaced by two raised eyebrows. Surprise layered the brunette's features like a veil.

She took a moment to consider the young woman's words. One could easily enough reason it with the girl being a fan, but something told Evelyn that wasn't quite right. After all, the girl didn't struck her as a dumbstruck groupie.

Rising to her feet, the brunette moved towards the window. With her arms crossed, she looked at the city below. "How much do you know?"

[Bellamy Shaw]

Bellamy doubted that she could be given all that much. She wondered if it was odd to have someone ask about the Phantom race now proved to be very much real. She took a breath in slowly to fill her lungs as this woman stood. Though she felt the urge to move herself, she remained stagnant.

"Very little, if anything at all." She admitted. After all, now wasn't exactly the time to lie and act if she knew more than she did.

[Evelyn Rose]

It was the first time Evelyn had ever encountered a human so willing to find out so much about the vampire race. More often than not, vampires were met with fear or hatred. In some cases, they were met with awe, but never curiosity. Then again, Evelyn had never made it a habit to stay around humans long enough to really get to know which path they'd eventually walk down on.

She found herself not minding the curiosity.

"We became tales of horror for a reason," she pointed out. "At what moment we became something teenage girls longed for, I don't know - nor do I really know why anyone would ever view a vampire that way." She looked at the girl, studying her features before she continued. "We're predators and the only reason your kind is still alive is because you're our only source of food." There was little point in sugar coating it. Many of her peers seemed to prefer coddling the humans. Creating a space of false safety. Evelyn, on the other hand, didn't really care.

"We're monsters. We'll always be monsters and there is no turning back from that. But..." she paused, considering. "-what type of monster you become is entirely up to you."

[Bellamy Shaw]

Listening with the utmost effort and attention, Bellamy felt struck by the concept of being a monster. She spoke about it like it was an easy fact. Like she knew it already. Now she saw the floor as hers, at least, for the moment. Questions could pile up but she wanted to address what was the most important first.

"You could enslave everyone with a beating heart. No quality of life. No courtesy." She pointed out. But obviously they both knew that. Perhaps not so obviously was how that had been the human way of thinking about that.

"But we - again, humanity, not myself - wouldn't offer that courtesy if the power was reversed." If they lived for as long as it was told, surely they knew of what brutality came from the hands of their source of food.

She looked more confused than ever then, and Bellamy put in no effort to strip the emotion from her question; "Why would you give us anything when you know we would give you nothing if we had the choice?"

[Evelyn Rose]

In hindsight, the question the young woman had offered was a complicated one. It deserved a lot more meaning and hard thought than what Evelyn herself was capable of providing. To Evelyn - there was little point in even wondering what would happen if the roles were reversed, because at the end of the day, unless the entire human race somehow managed to put their differences aside and create an army large enough to slay every single vampire out there... Well, she didn't see it happening anytime soon.

A small smile formed on the brunette's lips. Even though the words offered where filled with gloom, Evelyn couldn't quite keep the humor out of her voice. "You think being treated like cattle and only taken care of like cattle is courtesy?"

[Bellamy Shaw]

There was a smile on her mouth, and it had Bellamy looking. More to the point, she couldn't help the way she stared. Though she stood with a type of fear she couldn't control, there was still a sense of beauty to be seen. There wasn't shame in that, was there? She snapped her eyes back up again. Somehow, she'd said something funny. It forced a little smile to catch her own mouth, morbid as those words were. Surely, she was supposed to disagree.

But eventually, she nodded her head. Though it sounded ridiculous, she agreed to it.

"I think I've been treated worse, ma'am." She admitted then, and it forced her to swallow but hold her smile in check; "I'd rather be cattle than in the hands of those people. If not for you - your people, I mean - I might as well be dead."

[Evelyn Rose]

Her reply was surprising. Evelyn's decades long encounter with humans had shown her that they were usually proud. Being forced down was usually something that never worked well. The strength of the human race when they put their differences aside and rose up, together, as one unit was rather beautiful if nothing else.

And yet, this girl, this human was casting everything - all of it, aside. Just like that.

"So," she finally said, nodding as if finally realizing what the girl was doing here. "You're grateful." Turning fully then, Evelyn let her crossed arms fall. "And where does that leave you?"

[Bellamy Shaw]

Bellamy tried to remain stoic as she was questioned. She could see that she had her full attention now. It was enough to warrant a thought to the way this interaction had gone. It was short. It was very to the point. Open and honest, at least from her own side of things. She had everything to give and she didn't need to take much. It blew her mind to be standing here as it was.

"My name is Bellamy," She started finally, now that she felt she had the floor to do so. Maybe she even wanted her name. Maybe she'd somehow gotten it already. "If you'd like, I'll register." She admitted. If that were to be the end of all their interactions, then so be it. It was better than the life that waited for her.

"But I'd like to... Join you?"

And then she laughed. It was almost awkward, but once the words hit the air between them, she wouldn't have been surprised if she laughed too. She certainly seemed to find Bellamy amusing in some way.

"Though I suppose I don't seem entirely loyal, do I." She continued. In turn, that idea would force her out of any kind of familiar situation. She could only see that as fair.