Crawl 'til dawn
On my hands and knees
God damn these vampires
For what they've done to me
"Who the hell are you?"
"I could ask you the same." Ophelia said, slowly sheathing her sword and looking at the people around her. There were four of them in total, all of them varying in height, age, and ethnicity. There was one, who had spoken to her first, who seemed about her age or maybe a year younger. He had olive toned skin, and judging by that fact and his vaguely Russian accent, Ophelia gathered that he was most likely Serbian. There was a girl, or rather a woman, next to the Serbian that was taller and much older than him. 25, she guessed. The woman had a dark black sking tone, and her long coat stopped at her calfs where as Ophelia's dragged slightly in the snow. The height difference was astonishing, and slightly frightening.
"Oi, we asked first, ye twat." The voice was small but feisty and came from the body of the girl who had jumped from the trees. She couldn't have been any older than 12 and she was clearly British. She had long curly blond hair, and despite the toughness she tried conveying, her legs shook with eaither nervousness or from the cold.
"I..." Ophelia's voice shivered from the cold, her tongue felt frozen in her mouth. "Ophelia. My name's Ophelia." her gloved fingers played with the hilt of her sword, not meaning to suggest violence towards teh group in front of her, but making her feel just a smidge safer.
"No, I mean what's your real name?" asked the Serbian who, despite having a much older woman beside him, seemed to be the leader of the group.
"I..." this time she stuttered out of embarassment. "I don't remember." And she really didn't. Sure, she'd been nine when this all happened. You'd think she'd remember the name she was born with...but she'd been captured by a vampire and his wife so early on in her life. They'd immediately grown to calling her Ophelia, and she did to. The name stuck while the other name left her mind forever. The man didn't seem to question it, and she figured he understood. Maybe he'd met others like her, or maybe he was one of them, considering his age. None of these speculations were important, at the moment however. All Ophelia wanted to know was who these people were and why they were standing in front of her.
"Now, who exactly are YOU?" she questioned, trying to make up for the recent falters in her speech.
"We call ourselves the Banni." Stated the Serbian, taking a large step towards Ophelia. "We mean you no harm. We would never dream of hurting another human...we thought-"
"You thought I was a vampire. Just like I thought you were..." she looked him up and down. He wasn't unattractive, she supposed. Dark black hair that was brushed to one side and it seemed he hadn't gotten a haircut in a while. His skin was a light brown olive color, and despite his age he had a tattoo that was peeping out of the collar of his shirt. A neck tattoo. Ophelia's curiousity now wanted to know what it was. "But that isn't important. I want to know your names. Your individual names."
"Did ye plan on joinin' us?" the little girl asked. Ophelia hadn't thought about it before she said it, but maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. She did fine on her own, but if vampires attacked in a pack she wouldn't stand a chance alone.
"Shut up, Ellie. This doesn't concern you." the older woman spoke with a clean voice, and she didn't seem to have any sort of accent. The man in front of Ophelia ignored the two, and smiled lightly at her.
"I am Aleksi, but you can call my Alek if you wish. The older woman is Jordan. The younger girl is Ellie, as you can tell. And," he waved towards the boy that Ophelia had failed to notice till now. He looked around 18, Ophelia's age, and had short blond hair, but he wear a fur hat to cover his ears. He smiled lightly and waved. Was he Russian? She couldn't be too sure, but it seemed like it. "That is Benedict."
The boy smiled and waved his gloved hand. "Hallo. You can call me Benny." yup. He was Russian. His accent was thick, and it was clear that he didn't know too much english. Perhaps he was who these people met when they got to Russia. Why were they all here, though, in the middle of the woods jumping through trees and scaring strangers? Why weren't they hiding?
"We were about to set up camp," Jordan said, sitting down in the cold snow as if it were nothing. "If you'd like to join us."
"But...what if they find us?" Ophelia asked. Still, she sat down next to the woman as they formed a circle.
"The more the merrier!" Ellie stated, pulling out a bundle of sticks and a small lighter. Ophelia was scared of being found, and also scared at the fact that Ellie didn't seem to mind, but she was raw to the bone. She could use a fire.
"Ophelia. Very Pretty." Ophelia looked up and smiled awkwardly at Benedict. Was he talking about her? Or her name? She couldn't really tell. She hated not knowing things, and these guys seemed to be the epitome of confusion. It erked her slightly, but it seemed better than travelling alone without even being able to light a fre in fear of attracting monsters. "Thank you, Benny...are any of you hungry? I have some life savers I scavanged from a rundown gas station before I went in the Taiga..." she reached into her coat, where her small messenger bag was secured and hidden, and pulled out a packet of lifesavers. There were about three pieces missing that she'd eaten a few days ago, but other than that it was full. "They're a bit...well, they're pretty much frozen over, but better than nothing right?"
Alek smiled at her as he leaned over to take one. "You're gonna fit in well here."
