The dance never changes (OPEN)

by **Shekel Umec** Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:47 am

Shekel breathed in deeply as he walked into the arena. It was the middle of the night, literally midnight, but the air was warm and fresh. The sand was soft beneath his bare feet, even though he could smell that it was saturated with the blood of mortals. He sighed a little bit, smiling faintly as he twirled the gladius around in his hand.

It had been a long time since he'd used a gladius but the sword fit in his hand like an old friend holding his hand. The instinctive way of holding a sword, only found in seasoned soldiers and warriors, was something he had learnt thousands of years ago and only reinforced with time. Drawing the sword across his body in a slashing motion, Skehel began to fight phantom opponents, his sword nothing but a streak of silver in the night as he danced the dance that had not changed in over five thousand years.

The dance of battle.

by **Charlotte Smith** Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:57 pm

Charlotte had been out late at night again doing some of the paintings that she enjoyed, the landscapes of places in the dark and this time she had been out in the Ampitheatre, she knew that she was going to be able to finish the painting tonight, and she hoped it would be sooner rather than later, the arena smelled horrible of blood and sweat...

Even the idea of what had gone on in here made Charlotte tremble and it was even worse at night.

Suddenly she heard a noise from down below and she let her eyes take in what was below, her mouth popped open and her heart fell through her stomach, someone was down there and they were fighting so fast that they could only be one thing! A vampire!

"Shit." she whispered, and quickly started packing her stuff away "Please do not kill me." she chanted quietly just to keep her nerves down.

She tried to keep her eyes down, but the moonlight was reflecting off her white hair, so she was sure that if the vampire turned he would spot her, and if he knew who shew as she was dead for sure! Her Uncle was James, and by extention her other Uncle was Jack! She would be deadder than a really dead thing.

by **Shekel Umec** Sun Oct 07, 2012 3:44 am

Shekel chuckled a little bit as he finished one of his many 'katas' as the Japanese used to call their sword fighting exercises. It was a little bit amusing to him how the teenager seemed to think that her version of walking away quickly, and quietly, was enough to stop him from spotting her.

Deciding to have a little fun, and noticing that she had her head bowed so she was looking at the ground, Shekel flitted up into the stands just two steps in front of her. She bumped into him and he grinned, flashing his teeth at her when she looked up at him,

"Why hello little rabbit..." he purred huskily, "Leaving so soon?"

by **Charlotte Smith** Tue Oct 09, 2012 7:52 am

Charlotte felt herself bump into something and immediately the blood drained from her cheeks in fright, he heard her, and she had bumped into him, and now she was going to be drained dry and left to rot in some god forsaken unmarked grave where nobody would ever find her!

"Holy sh*t!" she squeaked out and all but fell back like she had been shocked by a sudden jolt of electricity, looking up into the eyes of the vampire in front of her, she could immediately tell one very key thing, she could just feel it in her bones, this vampire, was very, very old.

"Uh...uhm...uh...yes I-I was I d-didn't want to interrupt your v-very important looking training so if you'll excuse me." she laughed gently, and feeling her chest beginning to seize up, desperately tried to remember her calming techniques.

by **Ophelia Zabini** Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:46 pm

Ophelia loved to be outside on nights like this - and when sleep had decided to evade her, she decided to force it to return to her by tiring herself out. She'd painfully transfigured herself into a tiger and gone for a run, ending up at a place she remembered fondly, the place she'd first met Cain.

Shifting back, she bit down on her lip to keep in a yelp of agony and shook her head, running her hands through her hair. The air was lovely against her skin and she breathed in heavily, though something tainted the air. Her senses were still slightly heightened as her body hadn't taken away her acute awareness that she got from the tiger, though it was fading fast. The scent was familiar.

Vampire.

She grit her teeth and saw a bright, luminous glow from down below. That girl's hair was like a beacon in such a dark night. She sensed the girl wasn't the vampire though - in fact, she knew the girl. The tiger senses faded and she made her way down, immediately making out the figure of a man. And - was that Charlotte? She was a student at Hogwarts, Ophelia remembered.

Drawing her wand, she slipped it up her sleeve and made her way over to the duo, hearing the frightened tone in Charlotte's voice. "Cassandra, what are you doing out here?" Using the girl's real name might put her in danger.

by **Shekel Umec** Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:51 pm

Shekel chuckled a little bit. It was cute really, that she thought that he was going to buy such a rediculous line. Of course he had not intention of biting her. She was much too young to kill, she hadn't experienced life yet and to take it away would be wrong of him. That and really young blood, like hers, tasted sweet to vampires and Shekel really didn't like sweet tasting things,

"Oh it's not important little rabbit." he told her with a grin, showing his fangs intentionally, "Definately not as important as meeting you."

Hearing someone else approaching them, Shekel grinned a little wider and spoke just before the other person could,

"Hello there. Wanting to join our lovely conversation?" he joked before raising an eyebrow, "I thought her name was Charlotte Smith? I've been keeping an eye on her father for a little bit after all."

by **Charlotte Smith** Sun Oct 14, 2012 6:36 am

Charlotte blinked a little bit when she saw one of the Professors from Hogwarts coming over to her, she wondered why she was here of all places at this time of night but she supposed it was really none of her business, and oddly, she was more worried about keeping her blood in her veins at this moment in time.

"Uh I was just painting Professor, I didn't mean to cause any trouble to anybody." she blushed a little bit and looked down at the floor.

As scary as this guy was, he didn't seem to want to hurt her. After all if he had he would have done so when she was still painting, and he could do so now if he wanted to, but, he didn't. Although Charlotte was often famed for trusting people she shouldn't, she couldn't help but think this was another of those cases.

"I think if you know my name, then you have me at a disadvantage." she spoke, slightly more confidently, she'd stolen the line from Cobalt, she had heard him say it a few times and thought it sounded cool.

by **Shekel Umec** Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:11 pm

Shekel looked between the girl and the professor with a small amount of amusement. Sometimes even the insects were interesting. And this time he hadn't had to play the troubled child, burning them with a magnifying glass. He raised an eyebrow when the smaller one said that she had been painting,

"You have been painting have you child?" he asked with an eyebrow raised in mild interest, "May I see you work little one? I can assure you that I have been following art for a very long time."

He was a little bit disappointed that the girl didn't seem to be afraid of him but only a little. He'd grown out of his 'fear me mortals' stage when he was 300. Of course the professor seemed very concerned,

"Oh please do lighten up professor. If I had wanted to kill her she'd be dead and you'd be chasing a shadow." he told the woman casually. He smirked a little bit, "I remember when your father said that to me some 40 years ago. But to answer you, Charlotte Smith, my name is Shekel Umec."

by **Charlotte Smith** Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:18 am

Charlotte still had her guard up, but Viktor had been chasing her around a maze with a flaming whip when they had first met and now look at them? They were getting on like a house on fire, and more besides. So it just showed that, it took a little faith to get the best out of a person, maybe this applied here too?

Biting her lip she turned the canvas around to show the vampire the painting she had been doing of the ampitheatre, it was blurred with black around the edges, as if it was fading into focus at the center of the canvas.

"It's not finished yet...so I have a few more details to add to it, but, it's almost done." she elaborated on her work a little bit before turning it slightly so that the professor could see, with a small smile on her lips.

Blushing at the way that the vampire addressed the professor, she knew that Professor Zabini was lovely, but she could be deadly when she needed to be, she had seen her fighting after all. However her attention was diverted when Shekel told her he'd met her father before.

"How do you know my papa?" she asked out of interest "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Umec."

by **Ophelia Zabini** Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:54 am

Ophelia relaxed her position slightly but she still gripped her wand inside of her pocket tightly, prepared to defend the lovely mannered young blonde if need be. A vampire was known to be cocky, and though she was sure he could have a good go, Ophelia was good at fighting herself and she'd be able to fend him off long enough to protect Charlotte. Even if it meant her own life.

She shook her head, ignoring the vampire as her eyes turned to Charlotte to see if the girl was frightened. She seemed to hold a little confidence which was good in a situation like this, and she didn't show any fear of the vampire - if she had any, that was.

"It's beautiful, Charlotte. I have heard of your painting talents." She smiled softly at the young girl, her eyes then returning back to watch the vampire carefully. Any sign that he was going to attack and she'd step in before he could harm Charlotte.

"Pride is often a sin developed through a false belief of one's own abilities." Ophelia responded cooly, frowning slightly at the vampire. "And personally, I would prefer to always have my guard up regardless of your claims not to have any ill intentions towards Miss Smith, in case that you are lying." She continued in the same, cold tone. She didn't like to be talked down to.

by **Charlotte Smith** Tue Oct 16, 2012 6:24 am

Charlotte smiled happily at Professor Zabini when she complimented her art work, she had never really spoken to the professor much before as she didn't take Charms as a class, however she was glad that she had heard good things about her, it would be awful if it was otherwise.

"Thank you Professor." she flushed gently "I was planning on putting this painting up in the school when I was finished with it, Headmistress Briony wanted a few more paintings in the staff room I think."

Blinking when she witnessed the interaction between the two adults Charlotte looked up at Ophelia and sighed internally, she wished she could be that cool in a situation like this, the Professor was even standing up to the vampire, regardless of his power...how awesome.

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:21 pm

Shekel looked over Charlotte's art work with an impressed smile. The girl certainly had talent. She reminded him of a young Leonardo Da Vinci. Of course she reminded him of a five year old Da Vinci but that was still mighty praise considering that man had been a genius in all things artistic while he knew Charlotte had not devoted her entire life to painting,

"That is very good work my young rabbit." he teased her lightly, "I would hang that in my own home and proudly show anyone who visited."

He paused and looked at the professor, facing her properly for the first time. It was rather annoying when insects tried to challenge him. Worse when they tried to bait him,

"Pride is indeed a sin. Confidence is not. When you have lived the time I have, then you may attempt to lecture me on my abilities child." he told her simply. He did hate it when some people just had to try and challenge him. Turning back to Charlotte he grinned, all teeth, "I know your father because he tried to kill me. He came very close to succeeding so I didn't seek any revenge. Respect for one's opponents is a dying value."

by **Charlotte Smith** Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:12 am

Charlotte was interested in this vampire and the stories that he might know, would he be willing to tell her them at some point, maybe not now, but perhaps if they met a second time, when they weren't so pressed for being civil to each other, maybe then they could be more...relaxed and she could ask more questions?

"Well...thank you." she blushed a little bit "I just hope that Briony will be happy with it, although I think that she will be, most of the time she's not very artistically based so...she'd probably think that anything was good." Charlotte grinned.

Wanting to sink into the floor when Shekel talked to professor Zabini like that, Charlotte didn't know what to do and so laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head, hoping to diffuse the tension in the atmosphere. When Shekel smiled at her she peered at his teeth, huh, they weren't that scary.

"I...I guess I'm very glad that you didn't...although I think Papa is good at what he did, I don't think he's that good to beat a really old vampire...just how old are you?" she asked, intrugued.