The Song of the Shrike

Khalid tucked his hands into his pockets, a feeling of apprehension wriggling about under his skin as he entered the crowded club. The tall and slim heir to assassins had never learned to relax in such a swarm of people. His senses were overwhelmed as his vigilant instincts catalogued near every detail out of pure habit. The burbling sea of conversations, the lights, the glamour and decadence of the place...he hated it. Yet he knew what he'd come here for, and he wouldn't get turned away by something as petty as a spot of social anxiety. Moving quickly through the labyrinthine venue, following the sound and signs over to his destination, a stage. The simply stage, reminiscent of those found in a classy flapper era club, was currently empty except for a stool and a prop microphone, but he knew it wouldn't be for long. So for now he simply sat on one of the seats boarding the guard rails of the stage, and waited for his target to arrive.

It took about 15 minutes or so as the crowd settled down, then a violin player stepped out from behind the curtains carrying a violin case. It was Rowan, the musician, who plays the violin often in this establishment for entertainment for the crowd. He sits down on the stool, opening his violin case, taking out his instrument gently and putting the case on the stage floor. Then he began to play the violin, a fine tune that woke feelings of sadness, Khalid knows this tune from Rowan's memories, it was from a song he learnt from his mother.

A sense of deja vu and nostalgia washed over the tall undead as he watched the show, perfectly positioned in the crowd so that Rowan wouldn't notice him. He didn't want to alarm the younger vampire, but he had felt a strange yearning to see him play. He had seen something in the vamp in that alley, in his memories, and now he felt in a way drawn to him. If things went his way he'd have this vamp as a valuable ally soon.

Rowan would play for 30 minutes, he ended it and stood up to bow as the crowd clapped for his performance. He gently places his violin back in its case and leaves the stage, while a duo of guitar players took his place for now. Rowan went into his waiting room, there he would relax a bit and see if any of the guests would come meet him today. But if not guess that was fine, he will drink from the staff then...

A few minutes into his relaxation he heard the tap of footsteps approaching him...yet he couldn't smell any blood, or hear the thump of a heartbeat.

Rowan was not sure what this was, someone who didn't seem alive was coming closer, was one of the members of Blood Ark coming to meet him today at work or what? He waited patiently to see if this was the case...

Quite the opposite in fact, it seemed to be a guest after all...though not the type he was expecting. Khalid smiled in sly fashion as he walked into view, hands still tucked firmly into the pockets of his black jeans.

Rowan narrowed his eyes as he appeared, he at least expects Khalid to close the door so no one will hear them talk. "Is there a reason why you are here? Come to ruin my show?" Rowan asked having a passive aggressive tone towards the other vampire.

"No, I rather enjoyed it actually, you play beautifully." He replied with a simple shrug as he closed the door behind him. "I remember the tune, very melancholy though, like the song of a bird trapped in a cage."

Rowan was unsure what else to say but... "...Thank you, was that all? Don't make it a habit coming over here to talk with me, you will make me look bad to the Blood Ark." Rowan said as he sat in front of a mirror.

A slim black brow rose inquisitively "So I assume you reported back on me?" He surmised, he couldn't blame him after what had happened "Good...I would like them to know of me."

Rowan huffed a little at that. "Yeah, I did, told them what a dangerous violent vampire you are, they are discussing how to handle you before you start trouble." Rowan told him, though in his report he left out the fact that he was practically begging for his life and that Khalid had bitten him, it was too embarrassing to tell. "...You are not here to kill me are you? The establishment wouldn't like that... Neither would I." Rowan tells him, still not understanding why Khalid doesn't just fuck off already?

"No, no I am not, I don't kill innocents, I find those who do repugnant. Besides I see in you something I haven't seen in a vampire in a long time, something even I have trouble holding on to, Humanity." His words were sincere, it didn't take a psychic to hear that much "Oh I know your elders have tried to snuff it out of you, they see it as disgraceful for an undead...But I can hear it when you play."

Rowan didn't look at him, he felt awkward at best when he said all that. It is true that the other members of the Blood Ark has been telling him to 'be more like a vampire' instead of a human, human things no longer concerned him after all. He was a creature of the night, a monster that craved blood of mortals, best if he behaved like one and forget any human ties he has and only behave human to mix in with the prey better before the beast would strike to sate its appetite. "True, I have yet to shake my human morals and feelings away completely, but I am giving myself time, I'll be a true vampire someday. No need for me to dwell in the past, when I was still human and weak, now I am so much more... Aren't you the same? You are older than me, surely you have abandoned your humanity a long time ago?" Rowan asks him as he grabs his comb and uses it to straighten his white hair a bit.

"I did..For the same reason as yourself, but I found the path led somewhere that didn't sit well with me. For a time I dedicated myself to it, became a creature of blood and shadow,an Assassin who killed both man and vampire, I hollowed myself out and became a vessel for my master's will. It didn't make me better, it made me empty, vulnerable to the Beast."

Rowan listened to what Khalid said, he spoke. "...Beast? Are you using metaphors now?" He asked him uncertain what he meant, was Khalid just being a drama queen over natural blood lust?

"Wow they really aren't teaching you that well are they?...It is rare that I'm grateful for that Old Man but at least he taught me these things." He replied with a sigh and a faux condescending chuckle "You've felt it before, the natural tension that fills a room when two vampires meet, the sizing up, the latent threat. Or the constant urge to overgorge on blood and drain one's victim dry, even when you feel full....It follows all of us, from the day we are embraced to our final death."

"Wait, slow down, are you for real? Is that the cause of all those feelings? Is it supposed to be a bad thing or what? I mean I had to learn to not kill my victims and all that but... I never thought of it that way..." Rowan said a little intimidated by Khalid's story about the Beast that was inside all of them as vampires.

Khalid's eyes turned serious "Do I seem like a liar to you?" He replied flatly "Of course I'm serious, the beast follows all of our kind, it's part of our curse. The more you reject your humanity the more you'll need to supplant it with something else in order to keep from falling to this sickness."

Rowan was kinda staring at Khalid at this point, unsure if he should be worried or something. "But... The others, they are encouraging me to be less human... I mean, I am not human anymore, what does it matter?" Rowan asked, his tone serious and full of uncertainty, as he was a bit spooked and didn't know what to think of this.

"They encourage it because they made you this way, you didn't chose this curse, they chose it for you....Sires always fear the resentment of their Childer and for good reason, an eternal existence as a cold, dead inside kindred is a poor one unless you find a purpose in it. And I'd suggest that if you're so eager to be a vampire, you find one not linked to another's ambition."

"Linked to another's ambition...? You mean, do what I want? But my purpose is to help the Blood Ark to revitalize our kind, is it not? I... I was so stuck in doing what the others wanted me to do that I forgot about myself..." Rowan confessed, it was like a spark of life had been rekindled in his eyes, he was thinking about what he wants to do with his future.

And so the bird has escaped the cage, Khalid thought to himself as he headed back to the door " I don't have the wisdom to guide you any further, though I've been a vampire longer than you I'm still young and finding my own way. But if you ever need someone to talk to about it all, I wouldn't mind helping. After all even the undead need friends ."

Rowan just looks as he leaves saying those words to him, he didn't say any goodbyes, just watched him leave. Rowan would get ready for another show, to play his violin again, then return home for the night thinking about what Khalid had said and how he will proceed further with his vampirism. Khalid could hear the tune play before he completely was out, it was full of joy and color, like a butterfly breaking its way from its cocoon and showing the world its beauty.

And as the vampire snaked his way through the crowds and back onto the street he smiled, something felt...good about that, about helping someone else break free, about teaching. He supposed he'd like to try it again.