Nightstalker Subdued

[Victria 0]

Sometime Before…

 

Victria sat back on her heels, nothing more than a shadow among shadows. Her coat flapped about her ankles as the Federation shuttle lifted off the street. Lucky. They were extremely lucky to have made it out of there alive. Already she could sense the movement around the area, other Nightstalkers drawn by the foreign scents of the humans. Her ice-blue gaze followed the craft until it flew beyond the range of her vision, disappearing into the upper atmosphere. She let out a breath she had not realized she was holding, finally dropping her gaze to her surroundings.

 

Several buildings over a pair of eyes appeared, the same color as her own. The two Hunters froze, gaze locked as they scented the other. Victria bared her teeth, a gesture barely seen in the dim light, but it was enough. The other melted back into the shadows and slunk back into darkness. She waited for a few moments, waiting for others to appear, but she could feel none about. Gone to other amusements, it seemed.

 

Rising silently from her crouch, she retraced her steps a few blocks and slipped into one of the myriad of narrow alleys that ran through the Old City. The sharp, metallic scent of blood was strong. Victria’s nostrils flared as she neared the lifeless body that lay against one wall, so newly dead that blood still pumped from the gaping wound.

 

Ignoring the blood and the body, she stepped over to the head that had rolled a few feet away. Grasping it by the hair, she lifted it up for inspection. Madai. They had been lovers once and had known each other for many, many years. Only a few minutes prior, their association had been ended. He had tried to prevent the escape of the Federation officers… so she had eliminated him in true Nightstalker fashion. There had been no time for anything else.

 

Reaching inside his mouth, she ripped his fangs free and pocketed them. She would alert Madai’s patron of his fate, but the fangs she claimed as her own by right. They would be added to the collection she kept of her victims, Lucam and Nightstalker alike. Studying his face one last time, she dropped the severed head and turned on her heel, stalking back in the direction of her safehouse. Though she occasionally heard sounds of the Hunt or the infuriated howls of the Lucam, she met no others as she slipped through the city. As she traveled, her thoughts continued to linger on the departing offworlders, especially the one that had been her captive for a short time.

 

It had surprised her to discover that members of his crew had risked their own lives to rescue him. Nightstalkers were notoriously self-sufficient and usually avoided other Hunters while Hunting in the Old City. Deadly altercations erupted when one strayed into another’s territory. Over the years, Victria had killed as few of her own kind as possible, though she would not hesitate to do so if forced into the situation. Madai had been a prime example. Had he been more skilled, it would have been her blood that spilled that day. It was the way of the Hunter and she felt no remorse for what she had done. It was simply a part of her genetic makeup, courtesy of the Scorpiad.

 

When the Al-Ucard were first created by the Scorpiad, their primary purpose was to ruthlessly Hunt and destroy the changelings. Their thirst was used as a means to control them. Deny an Al-Ucard life-sustaining blood and he (or she) would go into a killing rage, unstoppable against whatever target you unleashed him upon. Let an Al-Ucard gorge after being denied and he would become sedate and compliant. For years, the Scorpiad used the Al-Ucard in such a way, dispatching them to the fringes of their galaxy, annihilating the shapeshifters wherever they could be found. And when it seemed that the changelings had finally been driven to extinction, the Al-Ucard were no longer necessary.

 

Their Scorpiad masters bestowed to them a planet to rule and provided the Lucam to enslave and feed upon, but Al-Ucard reign did not prove to be easy. The need to dominate was ingrained into both species, which lead to century upon century of internal conflict and strife. The Lucam refused to submit and often rebelled. If their rebellion ever succeeded, the Al-Ucard would find themselves enslaved and struggling for dominance.

 

The Scorpiad had once been worshiped as the Creators, but once their direct influence was removed, the religion faded to nothing and was quickly replaced by The Hunt. The Hunt was pure sport; a fatal game of skillful tracking, capture, and execution. Though much of the Al-Ucardian drive to hunt and kill had been muted by years of disuse, there still remained a small portion of the population that specialized in The Hunt. They called themselves the Nightstalkers. Those that distinguished themselves were highly sought after by the ruling houses to provide new slaves and gory entertainment.

 

Victria was one such female. She remembered the first age of Lucam rule when the majority of her people had been enslaved, sustained only by feeding on whatever small animals they could catch. When the Al-Ucard revolted and their rule began anew, Victria dedicated herself to The Hunt, determined to kill any Lucam foolish enough to think himself free. She was savage in her chosen profession, giving no quarter and feeling no remorse for the lives she devoured. Once captured, her chosen prey was never spared – either from slavery or from death.

 

All that had changed when Victria encountered a Lucam that had not been a Lucam at all. Her capture and subsequent release of Ah-Windu Corizon had changed her in ways she still did not understand. It had taken some convincing before she had believed that the Starfleet officer was not one of the enemy. She had never even heard of his Federation (though would soon after) and had believed him to be some sort of Lucam mutation. Once she realized that he was simply a victim of unfortunate circumstances, she had helped him escape from the sector of the Imperial Palace where he had murdered members of the Imperial guard (in self-defense, of course). While they took refuge in the Old City, she had several hours to study him.

 

Why did I help him?

 

He had tried to persuade her to aid in his escape by insisting the situation was her doing, intending to place blame and make her feel guilty. He had assumed that she possessed a conscience. But she hadn’t… not at that point. She supposed that she had helped him because he intrigued her. He was vastly different from those that she hunted in that he had an intelligence and wit that closely matched her own. And though he seemed civilized, she had sensed the feral beast that lay just under the surface. His scent was different from the Lucam. It permeated her safehouse even still, driving her to distraction as she entered her sanctuary.

 

My first close encounter with an offworlder. She tongued one of her fangs absently as she cleaned up the dried blood he’d left behind. And I didn’t even get a taste.

 

 

 

Sometime After…

 

The Hunter in her rose to the surface and it was all that Victria could do to keep it from taking over. It was not an urge that could easily be denied. For so long it had ruled her and there had been little reason for her to restrain herself. Now, she found it difficult to conform to another species idea of good behavior. She had been engineered to Hunt and she could not help but see those around her as prey.

 

Though her expression remained smug, she was feeling overwhelmed by her environment. The sleek design of the starship clashed with her personal tastes, having lived among the remains of the Old City for longer than she cared to remember. Though the city had been a maze of streets and alleys, she had every inch of her territory ingrained in her mind. In this maze of drab corridors and utilitarian design, she was totally lost. The only thing that could guide her was her sense of smell, but that, too, was overwhelmed by the presence of so many bodies packed into such confined space. In time she would learn to distinguish those smells, but she did not have enough knowledge of Federation species to do so now.

 

Thankfully, the strongest smell about her was one familiar to her. She threw a sidelong glance at Ah-Windu, trying to read something beyond his closed expression. Along with the natural musk he exuded, she could sense his underlying emotions. Anxious- curious-excited. Muted, but recognizable. Even deeper lay something else. She suppressed a grin once she defined it. Her gaze returned to the closed doors they stood before, assumingly waiting on some type of internal conveyance.

 

“I’m going to need some sort of protection for my eyes. The glare here is distracting. They are light sensitive, better equipped for night. Lucam are nocturnal, as are we, so I have not had much reason to go out during the day. If my things can be salvaged from the fighter, there should be a case of lenses that I normally use for that purpose.”

 

“If not, I’m sure our medical team will be able to replicate something that will suffice.” He turned his head slightly to study her. “I did not think your kind were able to tolerate ultraviolet light.”

 

“Who told you that?” Victria arched a brow, returning his gaze. “We can withstand it if needed. Our eyes, our skin… they aren’t made for the light of the sun. Sunlight is irritating to us, more like an allergy. Continued exposure can lead to some very serious conditions.”

 

“Ah. I see. And garlic?”

 

She gave him a very odd look. “I searched through our database for that when you made a reference to it the last time we met, but found nothing.”

 

“It is a type of plant, an herb used in food dishes. I thought it was toxic to your species.”

 

“A wild assumption considering that I had never heard of it. From what source are you getting these facts?”

 

“Well… humans have several legends about fanged creatures that stalk the night in search of victims to feast upon. They suck the blood of the living, turning them into their own kind. It was said that they could take the form of a bat – that’s a winged mammal – or sometimes mist. They cannot stand garlic and sunlight is fatal to them. Also… you can kill one of them by driving a wooden stake through its heart.”

 

“And these blood-sucking creatures… what are they called?”

 

“Vampires.”

 

“Vampires. And do many people know of these legends?”

 

“I would imagine that most of the humans have heard of them. They were feared at one time as evil monsters.”

 

A slow smile formed upon her lips. “Interesting.”

Edited March 23, 2009 by Victria