Girls Night Out

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Ayden's confidence made Emily feel a lot better. It wasn't easy, but she could try. She would have to find someone she could trust. Maybe Ayden could help. The thought of getting a gun was interesting, although the thought of herself with a gun was funny. She could easily get one though and she tried to think if she knew anyone that would teach her how to use it.

Emily smiled at Ayden. "Thanks for the kind words. I'll try. Maybe we can do this again while I'm here, and find a guy I can dance with. It would be nice to find one that can understand and won't go to fast. I don't know...what do you think? Maybe the cutie from the coffee shop that you came in with...Bas?"
She remembered him seeming like a nice guy.

"I've never used a gun before. I'd have to find out how to do that. Forgive me, I grew up pampered ok?"
It was a joke, but Emily knew it to be true. It was the bane of being a rich kid.

Ayden touched her shoulder and stopped, giving Emily a nod to pause. Emily frowned. "Is something wrong?"


A woman turned the corner and flashed a mouth full of fangs at them. Emily's eyes widened. "A vampire!?"


The thing ran towards them, more specifically towards Emily, as if it knew she was the weaker target. Emily raised her hand and yelled "Fire!"
trying to summon her magic. She could see it's light, but felt nothing. It was as if she was trying to grab water. The thing was fast and closing quickly. Emily tried again. "Fire...wall...fire...anything! Oh...god..."
Her words became more panicked as her magic refused to cooperate, and the vampire suddenly ran into her and the both fell to the ground.

The vampire started tearing at her coat, trying to get to Emily's neck. Emily carried mace like any good Chicago woman and moved her right hand to go for it. The vampire caught her arm as soon as it moved, moving like it knew what she planned. The things claws dug into her wrist and she felt them enter her arm.

Pain shot through Emily's arm like she had never felt before. "Fuck!"
she yelled, the pain enough to elicit a curse from someone who hardly ever cursed.

The pain though sent adrenaline through Emily and her thoughts cleared. She still couldn't grasp the light of her magic, but a plan began to formulate and she started to swivel on her back. She could feel the vampire trying to counter it. How did the thing know what she wanted to do? It was strong, but the adrenaline gave Emily strength to counter it - like when mother's suddenly had the strength to pull a car off of their child. The ploy also distracted the think from her now exposed neck which was an added bonus.

Emily built up momentum and with a shout like a battle cry started rolling towards the wall of a building away from Ayden. She knew Ayden couldn't attack without hurting her, but still felt the energy of her magic. She needed to get away. As she neared the wall she put all of her force into the roll, slamming the vampire into the wall and stunning it. Emily felt the grip loosen and gave the vampire a kick. She felt the pain again as the claw pulled from her wrist. Emily hobbled away in a backwards crab crawl, slipping as her injured wrist didn't want to support her weight. She flipped over and scrambled away, leaving some of her blood on the asphalt, and hid behind some trash cans. The adrenaline began to wear off and shock took over as she pulled her knees to her chest and shook, no longer aware of what going on.

[Ayden]

Emily mentioned Bas. Ayden laughed. "Uh, no, Bas is not the type of guy you want to wet your whistle with so to speak. He's more, well, a thug, you don't want anything to do with Bas."
He was definitely not the type of guy for the CEO of some company for a self proclaimed pampered girl who was afraid of men. Ayden laughed, Bas. She could go for Bas, but she wasn't some rich kid either.

But there was little time to think on the situation. The woman attacked, but it wasn't a woman. It was a vampire? Seriously? First that thing in the river, and now this? Connor had mentioned something about monsters being real, but she didn't really believe him. It went for Emily, it knew who to attack. Ayden wondered how long she, it, had been watching them?

Ayden wove a weave of air to try to separate the two but Emily kept moving and it was hard to get things just right with all that moving. But Emily was smart, she moved and rolled into the wall and the creature stopped long enough for Ayden to wrap it in weave of air. Ayden had it's attention now. She dropped the weave of air and wove a net of fire, wrapping it around the thing as it ran towards her. She knew it's movement, could predict it now. One more step, and Ayden finished the weave and the creature lit up like a Christmas tree. Well not quite so pretty, and definitely not so nice smelling. The smell made Ayden gag, she pushed it hotter, the creature screamed and then gurgled to a quiet burning hiss. The stench was awful, but the creature was almost gone.

The fire and the screaming would catch attention. Ayden dropped the weave and doused it with water and hurried towards Emily. "We got to go."
Ayden pulled her along and hurried them both through the streets, walking casually but hurrying until they were well away from the scene of the crime. Was it really a crime? It didn't matter, they had gotten away, hopefully unseen.

Her apartment, was around the corner, she took Emily there, they'd have to patch her up. Hopefully Connor wasn't home.

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily was aware of being pulled away, but didn't verbally respond. She resisted a bit, feeling safe in her hiding place, but whoever it was that grabbed her kept pulling and so she gave in. She didn't speak a word as she was led away. Her eyes remained unfocused.

When Emily came to her senses she was in an unfamiliar place, but it looked like someone's home. She looked around for a bit and felt a prick on her right wrist. Emily looked down and saw Ayden stitching up the wound on her wrist. It all came back to her then and everything made sense. Ayden took Emily to her place. Ayden finished and Emily looked down at her.

[color=[pink]"I'm...I'm...sorry...I tried to use my magic but couldn't. It didn't work."[/color] A wash of emotion came over her and she started to cry. Emily caught herself and started to take deep breaths and soon calmed down. The tears were still falling, but she could speak. "It..was trying to eat me, Ayden."


Emily kept focusing on her breathing and felt a little more calm. To help out she said some things that would at least make herself smile. "We really kicked it's ass didn't we, but suddenly, men aren't so scary anymore. If I can take on a vampire, I should be able to take on a man right?"
Emily smiled a bit feeling a little more like herself.

She let Ayden do what she needed to do, mentioning that it still hurt and some aspirin would be nice. "I think...I'm going to get a gun, because if my magic doesn't work again. I want something else."
Emily used her uninjured hand to wipe the tears away. She had to look awful now.

[Ayden]

Ayden was glad to see that Emily was getting a little more confidence in herself but the crying was not something Ayden wanted to deal with. She stitched the woman's wounds up. She was also glad to hear that she was going to be getting a gun. It was something Ayden needed to speak with Connor about, getting a gun just for safety. It wouldn't be hard to get one, she could get anything she wanted really. But she'd do it the legal way this time.

Ayden smiled at her. "I can show you how to use one, help you pick it out too"
Ayden hoped she'd not ask too many questions, but it would be nice to go to a shooting range and hear that familiar pop pop for a while.

Ayden would have to take Emily out shooting sometime while she was away on vacation here in Moscow.

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily had calmed down again and she felt completely like herself now. She was really glad for Ayden and their friendship. She took a couple aspirin to dull the pain in her arm. She was really glad that Ayden offered to help her find a gun and learn how to use it. She wondered how Ayden knew so much, but she knew Texans liked their guns, so she guess it made sense.

"That would be a good adventure. Then I can become "Emily Shale, CEO by day, Secret Agent by night!"
She mimed holding a gun and hummed the Mission:Impossible theme. She was just being silly, and didn't really know if it was the fact that she felt free or the fact that she almost got eaten by a creature she hadn't believed existed that caused the goofiness. It was probably a combination of both.

"We should also go dancing again sometime. I'm going to try to dance with someone next time Ayden, and it would be nice to have a friend their for encouragement."
Emily paused and gave Ayden a genuine smile, holding up her stitched up arm. "You're a good friend Ayden. I want you to know that. I'm very glad we met. If you and Connor ever find yourselves in Chicago, you always have a place to stay. Anytime."

[Ayden]

Ayden smiled, she was glad that Emily was doing better, and her confidence seemed to be up. Life or death situations tend to do that to a person.

"We can go dancing again, and take you out to a range too. If you really want to meet up with Bas again, I can call him. I owe him a call to chat with Connor anyway. But I don't suggest you do that."
Ayden glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. "I've an early shift tomorrow I need to get some shut eye. You are welcome to crash on the couch, if not that's cool too."


"But I need to crash. We'll chat later."
Ayden got up, she didn't really care what Emily did after that, her body ached from the adrenaline crash, and she just wanted to curl up next to Connor and go to sleep.

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily smiled at Ayden. "The couch sounds really nice. I think I'll take advantage of that. I've had enough adventure for one night."


Ayden got Emily a blanket and a pillow and then headed to bed. Emily curled up on the couch and tried to sleep, but the excitement of the day made it difficult to get her mind to shut off.

It gave her a lot of time to think. She hadn't realized how lonely she had felt since her parents died. She was surrounded by people who loved and supported her, but had very few friends. Her friends from work were now her subordinates and her sisters were family. Her staff was - well - her staff. She missed having friends to just do things for fun with.

It was a lot of the reason why she came back to Moscow. To unwind and be around a friend. It made her happier than she had been in a long time, and she smiled and let out a soft chuckle.

She heard footsteps outside and keys moving in the lock of the door. Ayden's fiance must be returning. Emily closed her eyes. It was late and she didn't want him to stay up longer than he had to. He was probably tired.

She heard the footsteps continue, and suddenly stop before they returned much softer. Perhaps he had noticed the stranger on his couch, but doubtless Ayden had told him something about it.

Emily shifted on the couch, and tried to calm her mind down enough to sleep. She yawned and eventually, her tiredness overcame her and she fell into a dream.

((Connor With Permission))


Edited by Emily Shale, Nov 17 2014, 05:15 PM.