bitten_notshy | A Funeral Home, Bristol

George & Annie	George was the last one in through the door, which he closed behind himself with propriety. Before them laid a stark, simple, very typical funeral home waiting room, with scruffy carpets and overly elegant wood all over the walls. Behind the counter, a man in a suit appeared to be hoovering. Annie blinked. "...Are we sure this is Vampire Headquarters?"
Jack	"They'd hardly have giant signs about it," Jack said under his breath, though the place did look terribly ordinary. "Er. Hello!" he called to the vacuuming man. "Is John Mitchell about?"
Seth	Seth pulled himself upright, dropping the vacuum cleaner by the side of the desk. "Wot?" he said, blinking. Then: "Are you out of your mind?! Piss off before I call the others!"
Annie	Annie raised a hand, feebly. "...Can we leave a message, then?"
Seth	"... What the cock is that?"
Annie	"I'm a ghost, actually," Annie said, helpfully, and ducked away from her previous hiding position (behind Jack).
Seth	"Get out!" Seth exclaimed, his face full of childish glee. Eagerly, he asked, "Can you, like, move things about and walk from one room to another?" Seth was also not the world's most stellar example of a vampire.
Jack	Seth was special. "Of course she can walk," Jack pointed out. "How do you think she got in here?" It was inane, but he figured being inane would buy a little time before Seth remembered he was trying to kick them out.
George & Seth	"Yeah," George added, "I'm pretty sure everyone can do that." Fortunately, Jack's assessment had been right, as Seth found himself preoccupied with staring at Annie. "I don't know," he said, thoughtfully. "Float? Apparate?" He'd been reading those Barry Plodder books...
Jack	"I think she can apparate as well," Jack said, tentatively. "I don't know about float..." He eyed Annie to see if she had a contribution to make, realizing they hadn't exactly figured out what their plan was if Mitchell wasn't at the funeral home. Ask this lout politely to stop turning people? Not worth the breath, and he didn't seem to be in charge anyhow.
George & Annie	"It really makes you think, doesn't it?" Seth said, thoughtfully. "I mean, about gh--" "I'm not sure thinking is really your avenue," George interjected. Beside him, Annie gave Jack a magnificent shrug that was sure to... really get his hopes up.
Seth & George	Seth's demeanour swung about instantly at George's comment. "Shut it, Digby!" he snarled. "The only reason why I haven't torn your bastard face off yet is 'cause I've just done the hoovering in here!" George just hummed. The comment had apparently broken him from his mental stalemate, because he was already marching forward. "I'm going to get Mitchell."
Jack	Wonderful, George. Let's provoke the vampire. "I'm going with you," Jack said, a touch of grit in his voice as he smoothly moved to follow George. "No one will tear anyone's face off."
Seth, George & Annie	Tell that to the werewolf and the vampire; George threw himself at Seth with a lot of courage that had no real basis in reality, and Seth pushed him to the wall, hard, his eyes going black and his fangs popping out. "I'm going to call my boys out, and we're going to have a lot of fun with you two," Seth hissed. In the background, Annie ... flailed. Helpfully.
Jack	Okay, so maybe Jack had been wrong about how intimidating a ghost and a werewolf together could be. "Do something," he hissed at Annie, also not helpfully, as he cast about for the heaviest thing he could lay his hands on. He came up with a leather-bound ledger and tossed it at Seth's head, hard.
Seth, George & Annie	"...What the hell is wrong with you!" Seth exclaimed, as the ledger struck him in the... shoulder, rather than the aimed-for-head, and didn't do a lick of damage. George pushed at him, trying to get out of his grasp while he was still distracted, but it wasn't working. "A little more actual help, please?!" he shouted. So Annie followed Jack's example and threw something. Unfortunately, the telephone was as old-fashioned as the rest of the funeral home, and ergo came attached to a cord, which caused the whole thing to bounce right back and send her hopping out of its way.
Jack	Jack considered going back to steady Annie, but decided George's plight was a bit more dire. He moved in quickly, scooping the ledger up from the floor, and swung it at the side of Seth's face. If he got grabbed for his pains ... well, so it went.
Seth	So it went, indeed. Seth let go of George in shock, and flailed around for his target - in the process, he got his hands on Jack's shirt, flying at him fangs and all. He wasn't going to let this one go easily--
Annie & Seth	--or maybe he was. Annie struck him clean across the back with a chair, shattering one of the chairlegs and sending Seth sprawling to the ground at Jack's feet. "What the cock--"
Jack	"Thank you," Jack told Annie, in between heavy breaths. "All I could have thought of was kneeing him. The chair was better." He'd kick Seth while he had the chance. Not elegant fighting, but it'd keep him down for a bit longer.
Seth & Annie	It made Seth roll onto his back as he winced a little in pain, though possibly not as much pain as Jack might be feeling about kicking someone halfway down to concrete. (Only halfway, though, as George could credibly inform anyone ever since the first time he punched Mitchell in the face over something.) "Thanks," Annie panted. "Did you just hit me with a chair?" Seth wheezed. "Yes!" she yelled, triumphantly. "... Sorry!" ... Slightly less so.
Jack	Jack was wearing good boots. ... okay, so maybe he'd have to walk it off a little. And check his toes the next time he had a moment alone. Anyhow. He managed not to wince as he took a few steps toward George, ignoring Seth for the moment. "He can't possibly be the only one here."
George & Seth	Ignoring Seth was... probably a bad idea, because the vampire was slowly but surely crawling onto his feet again. "He said he was calling 'the others'," George said-- disregarding Seth for the moment, too. "They must be deeper into the building. If we--" Thunk. Seth really needed to stop banging George's head against walls.
Jack	It was getting to be a bad habit at this point, Seth. Jack swore under his breath at his own stupidity. The chair had been the only thing to have the slightest effect, so Jack followed Annie's lead, picked another one up, and swung it, trying to whack Seth's legs out from under him.
George & Seth	"Hit him again! Hit him again!" Seth stumbled back as the chair hit at least one of his knees, his hands still tearing at George's shirt-- and then he started screaming, half-tumbling, half-stepping away at the sight of George's Star of David. George, out of breath, hesitated for one long second. (Mostly because he knew how much punching Mitchell had always hurt.) Then, though, he pulled his arm back, shoving all of his strength into it, and punched Seth firmly in the face, sending pain spidering up his arm. The vampire collapsed, and didn't get up again.
George	"...That was pathetic," George said, staring (and shaking his hand because it bloody hurt). "We are like the world's gayest ninjas."
Jack	"We got him down," Jack said practically. "Even if we had to be pathetic about it." He frowned at George. "How's your hand?"
George	"It's fine," said George, sticking up his chin. "I should get used to it. This is our life now--" which was about as long as he lasted, because he suddenly broke out into pathetic puppy-dog eyes and sagged, shaking his hand harder. "...it really hurts."
Jack	"We can make a sling for it if it's still bothering you after we get out of here," Jack promised. "I'm going to have to put my foot up. I wasn't expecting that." As he talked, he started moving through the front room, into the deeper parts of the building. He clutched a chair leg as a makeshift stake. He was too proud to limp.
Annie	Annie had absolutely no idea how covert ops were supposed to work. "I don't get it," she said, loudly, as they searched through the corridors. "Me and Jack, we hit the little twat with chairs, and nothing happens. You strike him with your girly little arm, and he goes down for the count!" George's head was too obscured by the entire chair he was carrying to properly respond.
Jack	"He stepped away before that," Jack said. He'd had a better vantage point. "It was something about George, not just his fists of fury. Either way, I'm glad of it."
George	"I think it's what Jack said," George said, having lowered the chair. "Earlier, I mean. He touched my Star of David." He paused. "I always give it to Mitchell when I transform, but he never even flinches."
Jack	"It's a myth at home, so I didn't think more about it when you said Mitchell was fine around yours," Jack said, with a kind of verbal shrug. "Now this is going to bother me -- it shouldn't work sometimes, should it?" This was ... possibly not the best time to philosophically ponder vampire vulnerabilities, no. It wasn't as if Jack even owned a star of David, anyhow. He crept onward.

John Mitchell	"Those people in that room, who are they?" The room Herrick had dragged him to had no windows, and only some flickering, bad TL light. Going by the amount of wood in the room, Mitchell had his ideas about what was going to happen next, but... ... but it didn't matter so much, after what he'd seen.
William Herrick	Herrick gave it an idle shrug. "Oh, kinda runaways, mostly."
Mitchell	Mitchell shut his eyes. When he opened them again, there was anger in his voice. "You said it was going to be voluntary. This whole thing. That didn't look very voluntary to me!"
Herrick	"How did you think this was going to be done? You know, with "please" and "thank you", "may I be so bold?" Evolution has casualties." Herrick shook his head, and took a step closer towards him. Carefully, even. He gave every word weight. "You know the Romans, you know they devoured almost every inch of the entire world, giving us irrigation, medicine and democracy. The Ottoman Empire conquered three continents, giving us education, a judicial system. Now do you think that all of that was achieved without dropping a single ounce of blood?" He searched Mitchell's expression for some recognition of what he was saying. "This is the natural churn of history, Mitchell." He spread his arms. "We're not good or bad, we're just what happens next."
Mitchell	Ah, those speeches. They had previously turned Mitchell back around-- like they had almost always turned him around, for decades and decades, at least until Josie broke the chain back in 1969-- Like Josie broke it again. "And what about the people in that room?" he snapped. "How do they fit in? You're certainly not looking to convert them!"
Herrick	Herrick shrugged, like Mitchell was being ridiculous, or something. "I never said I wanted a 100% conversion. There'll always be a portion of humanity kept alive, kept pure."
Mitchell	Mitchell's expression hardened. "Why?"
Herrick	Herrick laughed at him, incredulously. "Well," he said, "We've got to eat!"
Mitchell	'We've got to eat'. That's what it always came down to with Herrick in the end, wasn't it? He'd been stupid to think otherwise. So fucking stupid. "And that's what it comes down to. Historical precedents. Slogans. It's smoke and mirrors. You just want to feed. You just want to kill."
Herrick	Herrick smiled like a shark. "But it feels so nice."
Mitchell	"I can't do this." Flatly. He couldn't. This wasn't what Mitchell'd been trying to-- this wasn't what he wanted. This had never been what he wanted.
Herrick	The sigh that Herrick let go of then said everything, really. "I'm sorry, Mitchell." A shake of his head. "But you can't just hop in and out as the mood grabs you, you know. You can't just dip your toe. It sends a message. You understand, don't you?" He leaned in to catch Mitchell's gaze. "We'll be kind."

Cast	The further they got, the louder the echoing voices became. George clung to his chair. They were almost there. Wherever there was... ... and now he could recognize Mitchell's voice. "Do me a favour. Afterwards, don't talk about me the way you do. Don't tell each other those stories about the things I did. That's not how I want to be remembered." And a second, familiar one: "I never had you down as vain." It was coming from a half-open door. George snuck closer.
Jack	Jack followed closely behind George, trying not to wonder what stories Mitchell was talking about. Knowing wouldn't do him any good. He glanced back to Annie to make certain they hadn't lost her.
Cast	Annie offered Jack a feeble smile, as she clung onto... ... the ledger Jack had been using as an impromptu weapon earlier. "I just don't want to be an inspiration like that." Mitchell's voice sounded extremely close, now. George nudged the door open a little more, with his foot. "Better to be forgotten than that." Herrick smiled congenially, and clapped his hands. He turned around and reached for the stake that laid on the table by Mitchell's side. "Shall we?"
George	The sight of that-- of Herrick raising that stake, and Mitchell just standing there-- called George into action. All mad wolf instincts, he dashed forward, Annie quick on his heels. He'd put an end to this now, rescue Mitchell, and storm out triumphantly, like a fierce-- "WHO WANTS A PIECE OF MY CHAIR?!" he shouted, waving it high. A room full of predators turned and stared at him.
Annie	"And I! ...Totally should have prepared something!" Annie yelled, her hands bunched up into fists. Um.
Mitchell	"RUN!" Mitchell shouted, pushing through the mob of stunned vampires in a hurry. Seriously? Seriously?!
Jack	"You first," Jack said, as calmly as he could manage given that there was a roomful of predators staring at him, his heart was thudding away, and the chair leg suddenly felt about as useful as a toothpick. He waved it anyhow.
Cast	Annie-- and George-- answered by screaming very loudly. Mitchell had no such trouble; he raced past them, reaching for Jack's wrist to pull him along because they needed to move, now. One of the vampires was already snapping out of it, starting to move, and the expression on Herrick's face was quickly turning around, too. Into the next corridor, and onwards quickly.
Jack	Oh, fine, Mitchell, keep Jack from dying horribly. He picked the wrist Sebastien had used, so there was a slight wince from Jack as he raced through the corridor as fast as he could, almost running into a wall from sheer speed as he rounded a corner.
Mtchell & Annie	They ran and they ran and they ran until the vampires were firmly out of sight. Mitchell let go a few seconds afterwards, and slammed shut the door behind them. "Annie!" She nodded swiftly and dashed on ahead, around the corner. "I'll go see!" Mitchell's back hit the wall, and he breathed in shallowly. "Fuck."
Jack	Jack was bent over, hands resting lightly on his knees as he tried to recover. "Where's Annie going?"
Annie & Mitchell	"I don't--" "Looking to see if the coast is clear," Annie replied, as she popped suddenly back into view. Mitchell ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up considerably. "Well, is it?" he asked. Annie winced. "Very much not!"
Jack	Jack swore under his breath. "We need a better way to get out than being chair ninjas." To Mitchell, and a bit sheepishly, he added, " -- hello. George called me."
Mitchell & co.	"I figured," Mitchell said. It wasn't dry, as such, mostly because of the rush. "But we don't have time to chat, come on! Annie, what's the clearest path--?" "I've got it!" she cried, running on ahead again. George started after her, and Mitchell followed quickly, like he was trying to form something like a (non-)human shield in front of Jack. They quickly wound up in a small box of a room, two doors. One of them was the exit, Mitchell was fairly sure. He went for it.
Jack	"Wasn't chatting," Jack grumbled, but was cut off entirely by the creaking of the door just before several angry vampires charged through. Found them, he heard Seth say (a bit unnecessarily), and he realized he didn't actually want to know what would happen next if they stayed where they were. He recognized the people with actual powers had been shielding him; he felt half grateful and half like an idiot for needing the protection. Either way, it wasn't the time to ruminate over that little fact again. He'd follow Mitchell out the exit instead.
Seth & Lauren	Seth had taken a moment to stand in the doorway, and to leer. Every exit had gotten blocked off by a vampire, leaving the four of them trapped in the room together. The stopping and the leering had been Seth's greatest mistake, though. Or rather, his second. His first mistake had been underestimating a girl called Lauren-- something which he had about two seconds to regret. Because out of nowhere, a stake shot through his heart. He stared, spraying blood from the chest everywhere, then began to topple - leaving Lauren standing behind him. "Well, he won't be staring at my tits when he speaks to me any more."
Mitchell	Mitchell froze for a moment. But it passed in record time. "Let's go!" he snapped, powering through the newly-freed doorway at top speed.
Lauren	"Lauren?" It had been most of a year, but it was a hard face to forget. Jack was still in shock as he tumbled through the open exit.

Lauren	"Where are we going?!" Lauren yelled, as she stumbled through the exit last, into full daylight. "Mitchell!"
Mitchell	"I don't know," Mitchell said, tone clipped. He was busy trying to herd everyone - Jack especially - towards an alleyway near the back. If they just kept moving, they'd be out before the vampires figured out where they'd gone. "We'll find somewhere."
Jack	Jack realized he was being herded. It was a sign of how shaken he was that he wasn't protesting. "The house?" he suggested. "They'll look there, but it would buy time and we'll know the surroundings."
Lauren	"There's nowhere," Lauren choked. She was lagging behind, and visibly so. In fact, she was standing still in the middle of the road, looking like she was halfway to bursting out in tears.
Mitchell	"We'll find somewhere to hide!" Mitchell slowed down, turning to look why she was taking so long. "Come on!"
Lauren	"But I can't hide from me, can I?" she shouted back.
Jack	"Do we have to have vampire angst now?" Jack said, sounding a bit disgusted as he tried to get everyone to keep going through sheer will.
Lauren	It was an effort doomed to fail; vampire angst had that effect on people. Lauren unclipped the stake from her side, and took it into both of her hands. "You brought me into this world," she said, eyes fixed on Mitchell. "I want you to take me out of it." Her existential crisis had quite possibly the worst timing known to man.
Jack	All right, so Lauren was determined to have her angst and to drag Mitchell in. As far as Jack was concerned, that didn't mean he or George needed to stand around and wait to see if they ended up dinner, or if things got worse than that. (Annie was immune from the most terrible possibilities, he thought.) He darted around and into the alley, moving to flatten himself against a wall beside the dumpster so he could keep an eye on things.
Mitchell	George... was caught in between going in there and dragging Mitchell back or running off. Realisation dawned on him, slowly, that Jack had had about the right idea there, and he tugged on Annie's arm and dragged her back towards the dumpster, too. "No," said Mitchell, who had come to a complete stop. "Absolutely not."
Lauren	"You saw the people in that room," she choked out, unsteady on her feet. "I'd go down there, and-- Their faces. Oh, God, sometimes they didn't even fight."
Mitchell	Mitchell watched helplessly, his heart tearing a little in all kinds of directions. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Lauren	"Because you would have stopped me, and I liked it too much." Lauren stared back at him, pleading with her expression.
Mitchell	"Lauren," he sighed, wanting to do something, anything, to turn this back around. He shook his head. "Please don't make me do this."
Jack	Jack's imagination unhelpfully filled in a few rooms he had been in. He didn't want to know any more about what had been going on inside the mortuary, though morbid curiosity kept him focused on Lauren. Would she turn to dust if Mitchell did it, or melt, or - Sometimes he hated his brain. He inched along the wall, barely breathing, hoping Seth and his friends were not on the verge of bursting out.
Lauren	"You have to," she begged. "The me I used to be, the me that got hay fever and was scared her parents would find out she smoked, she's almost gone. Soon all that's going to be left is her." There was no sign of anyone, yet. Maybe they were still all fussing over Seth's corpse, or maybe something else was going on. (Maybe Herrick was just biding his time.)
Mitchell	Or maybe... Maybe something or other. "Lauren, I can't," Mitchell said. This was more important than running away, he couldn't, he'd already let her down before-- "You saved us."
Lauren	"So save me." Lauren stepped closer to him, and closer, until her body was pressed up against his and she was pressing the stake into his hands. "Mitchell, he wants to tear everything down. Somebody has to stop him."
Mitchell	The weight of the stake was damning in his hands. The weight of her against him was something else completely. He couldn't-- he wouldn't-- he cared, even if he'd been avoiding her for this long, and he just-- Mitchell nodded slowly. Curled one arm around her, and pressed the stake to her chest with the other. He searched her eyes for a hint of something, anything... ... and found it.
Lauren	As soon as the stake pierced her heart, blood gushed out from the wound. It leaked into Lauren's clothes, into Mitchell's clothes, pooling down on the ground. She sagged forward against him for an endless moment. "...Here it comes," she said, so much louder than a whisper, but it felt like one anyway. Her legs gave way from underneath her, Mitchell catching her and dropping her down gently as she sagged onto the ground. Her skin began to crack like old paper, and her eyes went black. Little pieces of her began to break off into dust. "Oh, my..." she whispered. And then she was merely a whisp of ashes, curling into the sky and leaving her bloodstained clothing behind on the cool stone.
Jack	And there was one point of morbid curiosity answered. Farewell, Lauren. Jack was just going to try not to vomit. He'd seen death, but not much of people he knew. It was hard even when it had been asked for. He drew a few deep, steadying breaths before he could continue on.
Jack, Annie, Mitchell and George	Mitchell sped after him without a word. The others followed. It felt a little like a miracle, really, by the time they got home and found that no one had come after them.