Life Cycles - The Dark Trick's Joke

[Miranda Dunleavy]

Daylight shines upon a metropolis, forcing the ambiguity of light to be seen in perfect clarity. There are no shadows to hide in, unless one is brave enough to dive deep into the lower levels of Coruscant, surrounded by the criminals that control the money and the destitute that curse the world above.

It is why those that are high above the poverty line, wait for night to fall. Shrouded by the comfort that darkness provides, those that have something to hide can walk freely with the ignorant. They could be people who think themselves powerful and above the law, or simply a lost soul searching endlessly for a reason to be.

Then there are those that find themselves in both situations ... And not by choice for Fate's hand spun an elaborate web, ensnaring that victim for years, possibly even centuries, of pain in all it's forms. But fate is never without a sense of humor ....


Midnight, Alderaan Memorial Park, Coruscant


There were very few natural patches of land left on this planet. The ones that remained were revered and protected heavily by politics as powerful as a legion of Star Destroyers. Something that the Vampyre Miranda was grateful for as she toured Coruscant, eventually finding herself in one of its few parks. The city had is special glamour, but Miranda was a lover of nature. Not even being changed into a Blood Drinker would ever take that away. The scars were thick around her jaded heart but her memories of simple bliss back home on Corellia, three hundred years prior when she was human, were always remembered fondly.

An ironic point since this park was about remembrance. At which point she stopped and walked towards the large chunk of rock set into the ground. It was dimly lit by flood lights in the middle of the clearing. A path was paved around the rock where small computers panels could be cued to explain this rather boring looking rock's significance. There were also hidden cameras and a force field that surrounded this galaxy wide treasure, that it provided enough deterrant for any defac ing. Even the most ignorant would not want to be known for harming a piece of the planet Alderaan. Some do value their lives.

When the Alliance finally defeated the Empire and took control of Imperial Center, a team funded by the New Republic was sent into Alderaan Space to retrieve the very rock seen here. Miranda remembered Alderaan fondly. It was a place in her human memories that she felt safe besides Corellia. Now one was destroyed and the other was ruled by Sith. She turned off the display and scolded herself. Miranda was suppose to be hunting, not becoming lost in memory dreams that don't matter; so she turned off the display and scanned the area with eyes of not only a Vampyre but of an Assassin. There were few walking these paths tonight at this hour. It wasn't the weekend when the crowd was heavier. Not that it matter, the few that were here couldn't see her when she was cloaked.

Like a fool, she had gone on for far too long without feeding. Unlike her brothers and sisters of the Shrine, Miranda was still apprehensive in killing for the sake of killing; a realization found when hunting with Valirion. The Lord of Pain, fascinating at first, was not for the Assassin. Their views on everything were so polar opposite that the attraction felt for him was only because of that unfamiliarity and fell back into her lonely pattern of hunting alone. She'd starve herself until the thirst would not be push aside any longer, and the only cure was blood to quell it.

Being out in the open like this could fool the simple minds but there were few, very few, where mind games would fail. She retreated back into the shadows upon the ground, provided by the trees, and fell back into her Assassin training to remain hidden. After all, that was what she was doing anyway out here, Assassinating someone. It wasn't for profit, just survival.

[Morgan Evanar]

Sometimes Morgan ran. Coming from the rual planet of Taanab made for long summers with little to do besides run around in the back woods, that or fidget with gadgets.

He took his shoes off, even though it was a bad idea, and discreetly set them in the roots of a large tree. The pathways were illuiminated by flood lights, which Morgan sincerely wished they would do away with and move to lower, more subtle lighting.

Alderaan memorial park was one of the few places with any sort of nature on Coruscant. GJO's gardens were beautiful and well maintained, but didn't have the open space to reach a dead run in without crashing through a flower of some sort. Morgan breathed in deep while he flexed his long toes in the slightly overgrown grass. While there was no Taanabian pine, the Yoa was better than the carbon monoxide from the oxygen breathers, or the stale, processed air from scrubbers.

The Jedi broke into a dead run, his footfalls pulling up bits of grass as he cut his own path in the darkness. Extra hemoglobin was dumped into Morgan's blood as his muscles devoured oxygen. He cut left, slowing down as he rounded a piece of Alderaan to appear less conspicious. As soon as he hit darkness, he returned to the dead run that would have stopped minutes ago for a human.

[Miranda Dunleavy]

She was perched upon the Mauba branch in perfect stillness. The shadows and leaves provided secure cover as the Vampyre looked towards the humans and aliens walk by, all weak and frail in life blood. Her body was craving sustenance but the part of Miranda that wanted a challenge was still winning the debate between mind and stomach. She would have to make a decision soon before instinct took over and the nearest warm blood would be dinner. With her luck, it would be an Ithorian squirrel.

And then again .... A smile crept along her face as a human male caught her attention. He had to be quite the brazen individual to run, like he was doing, through this park. Not only that, his blood was powerful. She could hear the call of his heart pounding inside her ears. Her body shivered at the need of his blood and her fangs elongated without thought. She wanted to take him down fast and drain him hard, feeding off of him until his essence was hers.

The human male was directly below her now and the time for thought had passed. Only a small whisper of leaves in the air announced her presence as Miranda dove at him. She tackled him hard, causing the two of them to tumble to the ground in a spiral. Miranda wrapped her arms around him tightly so she wouldn't be thrown off by the centripetal force. She was careful enough to make sure her Vampyric strength would not crush him. He was no use to her dead.

They continued like this for several yards, stones and branches digging into their clothes and skin. Unfortunately for the human, his luck was worse in the situation. His head cracked against one of the expose tree roots that sent him into a daze. A problem that was quite evident as they came to a sliding halt, with Miranda on top.

Without any hesitation, she tightened her grip with hands that would break bone and sank her fangs into his neck. The first taste of his blood shocked her eyes open in bliss. Feverishly, she closed her eyes and fed from him with gluttony!

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan was dimly aware of his surroundings and himself. He had hit that tree root hard.

Someone had tripped or tackled me errr? He blinked, and then something bit him. Morgan growled, a low, deep sound that reverberated through his whole body. He stood, his "captor" lifted off the ground, his? her? arms clamped around him, their legs now dangling. Blood was flowing out of his body through the bite.

Morgan tightend his arms, forcing hers apart briefly. The sucking paused for a moment while they were forced back down.

"Get off." He gritted his teeth, and ran her straight into the nearest tree. Branches shook, but Miranda still clung. She wrapped her legs around his, tripping him back to the ground.

Morgan closed his eyes, feeling his body flood with adrenaline. His hands grabbed his captors wrists, suprisingly small.

"GET OFF!" he growled, forcing her arms apart. Miranda quickly wrapped her legs around his middle while trying to force his arms back. This time, he chose a different tree, farther away. Morgan sprinted as hard as he could. A voilent crack of wood being splintered echoed through the park, but still she clung, and squeezed his middle.

He was starting to feel light-headed, and he knew it wasn't from the blow. Miranda clung tighter, feeling her prey weaken, forcing his arms back into her grip.

[Miranda Dunleavy]

He wasn't using the Force; Miranda would have sensed its usage immediately even in this state. So the only conclusion was that this male wasn't human. No regular human could move like he did and force her into the trees with such strength. If Miranda wasn't as strong as she was, her grip upon him would have been broken the moment he tried to remove her arms from his body. The bashing she took against the trees was painful but her blood lust was stronger then the emotion, and in mere seconds, the pain was gone as the blood began to regenerate her wounds. The poor soul fought bravely, better then most, but his fate was sealed. No matter how much power you have, once enough blood had been drained, even the mightiest warrior shall fall victim to the Vampyre.

The fight in him was being depleted with each gulp. It was like holding a child in her arms as she overpowered him fully. He was now her prize, a very delicious and potent prize. His blood coursed through her body like a tornado. From her scalp to her toes, Miranda's skin tingled with intense pleasure from this feeding. If someone would ask her what she was feeling now, she would have faltered. No words could describe this intoxication. The last time any sensation like this was felt through her body was when the change had happened.

Her eyes snapped open, painfully aware that something was terribly wrong. "Gruuakkk!!!" She choked from the tremendous pain that shook through her abdomen. Her insides were twisting, cramping, being pulled apart by what she was feeling. Miranda dropped to her knees and screamed so loudly that everyone in the immediate area would have heard her blood curdling cry of anguish.To her horror, the pain began to spread evenly from its source. Now her chest was heaving, her useless lungs on fire. The blood inside began to boil a path to her limbs ... to her head.

Miranda's scream died and was replaced with fearful sobs. "What ... what.... is happening to me??? Oh gods!!!" She stared down at her body in confusion and panic. "Please ... help MEEEEEEEEE!!!"

The burning reached its final destination; her brain. Synapses opened fired in such a flurry of neuronal activity that it caused a storm of neurotransmitters to be released all at once.

And then ... everything went black ...

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan felt terribly hungover, even though he had never had a hangover in his life.

And then the shrieking began, thankfully, he landed in a soft patch of grass.

Large hands clamped over his ears, taking the edge of her shriek. "Frelllllll." His neck hurt, the two holes throbbing, a bit of blood dripped free before it coagulated and sealed the bites shut.

In her panic and confusion, his orange-haired assailant began to sob. Morgan slowly sat up, looking at her through glassy, tired eyes.

Miranda's body siezured violently, her limbs spazmsaming as his blood hit her brain. Obviously, she was a bloodsucker of some sort, probably preyed mostly on mamals. Morgan had enough physiological differences that something had gone wrong.

"eeeeeeee..." She spazmed once more, making an eerie moan, her musculature fighting itself, and then the Vampyre fell silent, unmoving.

A bit unsteadily, he got to his feet, and grabbed one of her wrists. No pulse. Shock?

Morgan stuck a pair of fingers beneath her nose, looking at her chest, which lay still. He tilted her head back, pinched her nose, and gave two deep, full, if slighty haggard breaths, and then six compressions. Rinse, repeat.

Repeat. Another repetition.

"You were probably dead anyway. Or something." Taanab was suprisingly sparse on vampire myths, beyond "Sith bathing in blood of the fallen innocent." Absentmindedly, he rubbed the bites, and then punched her where the heart should be.

"I dunno why I even bothered." he muttered to himself, looking around for the water bottle he lost in the tumble a meters back. He stopped with a very, very quiet thump. Morgan forced himself to concentrate, and put two fingers beneath her nose: still the air was stagnant. Two deep breaths. Pause, one two three. Two more breaths, check.

A cough. Morgan rolled Miranda onto her stomach, sat on her legs and pulled her arms until her fingertips touched her neck, and leaned down as hard as he could.

"Hallo bloodsucker."

[Miranda Dunleavy]

She coughed, what blood that was left in her mouth sputtered forward, coloring the grass. It tasted bitter and unpleasant, thankful to be rid of it. Her arms felt wobbly, like they were dangling from off of strings. Miranda managed to bring herself to kneel, but it was still so difficult to move her uncooperative arms. Now they felt like dead weight to her as she lifted them, trying to hug herself for warmth. Chills were forcing her body to shake. An after effect of the poisoned blood?

Miranda clutched at her body desperate to stop the shakes. Her teeth were rattling together now, the sound of teeth upon teeth grating to her ears. Still, it was nothing compared to the sound that pulsed steadily under her fingertips ... "Oh gods ...."

"Hallo bloodsucker."

The man's voice was speaking to deaf ears at this point. Only sound that she heard was the vein under her skin pumping blood giving life. She thought it was a trick. Some flight of fancy because of what had happened. Miranda pressed her fingers harder into her skin and gasped loudly. "No ... no. This is not possible." Each pulse continued to speak loudly as the actually truth. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" She slammed her fingers against her neck in outrage and defiance, clawing at the ground in fear and confusion. "This isn't possible!" Finally her emerald eyes, that held such a mystical wonder once upon a time, settled on Morgan's cocky face. "What did you do to me??" She reached out and grabs the sides of his shirt with pleading eyes full of fright. "Tell me!! Please ....."

[Morgan Evanar]

He grabbed her by the biceps, staring down into her eyes. His eyes dialated, narrowed to slits, and dialated out again, leaving a rim of green around reflective black. He gave her a shake.

"You jumped me, and started sucking my blood. I was out for a run. Lass, I'm not human, and I don't know what in the name of Zim's mother you are, either." Morgan almost never got irritated, but being jumped and having the closet thing to a hangover you can without having a hangover gets to a guy. He let her go. Frelling headache. Where did that bottle get to.

She looked at him with confused, still pleading, even terrified eyes.

"I don't know what happend! You jumped me, you tell me." He took a deep breath, extending his senses, and reached out. Slowly, the bottle tumbled twoard him, accellerating, and then up into his hand. Morgan drank greedily, trying to replenish lost fluids. She still looked terrified.

"What, do you want a full medical history or something?"

[Miranda Dunleavy]

Her arms had fallen in her lap, stunned, trying to decipher what was going on. Morgan's words were like jibber jabber to her. She tried to answer him but Miranda's mouth only open and closed several times without uttering a word.

Then she blinked. Something fell into her right eye and it stung. Rain? She would have sensed the weather change if it was going to rain. A shaky hand rose upwards to touch her eye to her surprise, she felt moisture everywhere!

"The blood sweat ..." She whispered and dropped her hand only to find her hand not covered in blood, but only in regular salty human sweat. Panic overwhelmed her. The truth could not be denied. Her heart began to pound in anxiety. Each beat pounding within her ears with life. If shock had not taken hold, she would have felt every bruise and cut that lacerated her body in that struggle.

"What did you do to me???!!! Why won't you tell me???!!!" She begged between sobs. Real tears rolled down her cheeks in anguish. "Why am I alive???!!!"

[Morgan Evanar]

"I don't know, I'm trying to, I DON'T KNOW!" Morgan ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. He sat, looking at her for a moment before taking another swallow of water.

"Eyes of Reguna, calm down woman." Miranda continued to sob. Normally, he didn't hit anyone unless he hit first... which she had. Her face suddenly stung. He hadn't hit the Vampyre very hard, really, but he now had her attention. He hoped.

"Are we ready to calm down and listen?" Morgan growled.

That hit shocked her into awareness but in a way Morgan wasn't expecting. It hurt. It actually hurt. Even with the realization she was alive again, sensations of pain were new to her. Gingerly, she touched her cheek and focused on Morgan. Her eyes were still wild with fear but at least she wasn't freaking out.

"First: I am not human. I'm... something." Morgan took his gloves off, three six inch claws were folded across the back of his hand.

"Lass, the stuff in my blood didn't agree with you, whatever you are. As for being alive, I don't understand. You went into siezures, your heart stopped, and you weren't breathing. I did CPR." He shrugged.

[Miranda Dunleavy]

Her mouth twitched at the sight of the claws. That would have been one hell of a fight if Miranda had not gotten the drop on him. It also finally registered that he was a Force user. They were the only ones in the galaxy that could move objects like he did with the water bottle.

Morgan's words were helping to calm her down somewhat. She was still frazzled, but Miranda was listening to him. He looked so normal on the outside except... except for his eyes. They dilated like a lizard's. If she was more coherent at the time she would have noticed that sooner.

His last sentence was definitely the most bizarre notion that was ever uttered by an intelligent being. "You knew I was a Vampyre and thought CPR would help?" The absurdity of the entire situation finally broke Miranda's spirit and sent her to the ground in a giggling fit.

[Morgan Evanar]

"A Vampyre?" he looked distant and confused. "I dun't even know what a Vampyre is." Miranda continued to giggle, even harder until it was a full out, deep laugh.

"Really. I've no idea what a Vampyre is, or why not to give you CPR." Morgan shrugged at the laughing red head, taking another swallow of water, hoping his faux-hangover would go away. He looked over at her.

"Whats so funny?"

[Miranda Dunleavy]

His ignorance of Vampyres was sincere. It was actually a shock to Miranda and caused her laughing to stop. Most civilized races had stories and legends about the race in some form or another.

She cleared her throat, thankful for the moment of mirth. The serverity of the situation was momentarily forgotten, but as Miranda explained what a Vampyre was, Morgan could hear her voice crack near the end. "Vampyres are beings that need blood to survive. Blood is what gives us... "She stopped and corrected herself. "Them their power and immortality. It was why even with your natural strength and Force abilities I could surprise you."

Perhaps it was the humanity within her creeping back into her soul, or the fact that Morgan had saved her life, but an emotion not felt in so long overtook Miranda. She felt a pang in her heart for what had happened, what could have happened to Morgan. She would have killed him if not for his blood changing her.

The red head frowned, fighting off tears of various reasons and lowered her eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry." Miranda was never an evil person. She only did what she had to do through the centuries to survive as a Vampyre and Slave to a cruel Master. With both of those traits taken away from her, she could finally begin to feel remorse for atrocities committed by her hand, starting with Morgan before her.

[Morgan Evanar]

The introspection was so severe that it was as if she was drawing the wind to her. Morgan frowned. Vampyrism seemed as much parasitic as predatory.

"Some of us are a product of our environment. Its very hard to move against it." He shrugged. "Immortality sounds over-rated: think about it, you have this internal obligation to keep your existence indeffinately, and what happens when you've seen just about everything? You keep on living for self preservation?" He shrugged again.

"Water?" He offered the bottle, outstretched from his hand.

[Miranda Dunleavy]

Her eyes blinked upward at the water bottle. Water. Not blood. Water. It was a word Miranda was trying to wrap her mind around and remember that water was what her body needed now to survive. A simple and pure liquid that could be found anywhere and almost at anytime to replenish her system. She could take it willingly from Morgan's hand without any struggle and or any need to harm him ... or other's.

Slowly her shaky hand began to rise towards the bottle as Miranda tried to remember what water tasted like. It tasted like nothing, as she recalled, unlike the bitter saltiness of blood.

"... Thanks." Unsure voice matched the grip of the bottle as Miranda brought it down to her chest. "I don't know. I never had a choice in the matter of what I became." She sloshed the bottle around, hearing the water splash back and forth. Would she even like water after all this time?