<div class="floatleft">(http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7824/post4km.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Todd Wainwright<br/><strong>Species:</strong>Tarrack Daemonling<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Parts Unknown, Redemption<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>None<br/><br/><hr/>Todd was not in the most ideal position. There were six - no, seven - vampires, and they had him surrounded. He was unarmed, too boot. It was carelessness, really - he had been out on long patrol, and the exertion and weariness had caught up with him all at once. He had not taken care to put out cloves of garlic or other vampire wards . . . and he had awoken to a vampire with mouth agape and ready to take a drink. Apparently Todd was human enough for a vampire to feed on him, or this pack was desperate enough that his mixed blood would just have to do it. They were hissing at him, drawing his attention to several different points, just waiting for an opening to bring him down. One on one, Todd could handle each of these vampires without any trouble. Together, there were just enough of them to make the prospects swing to their favour. Todd was sure that he could win, but even one bite was too much. He needed his blood. It needed to be in his body to keep him alive. Bleeding out was a very real concern, and if things went badly enough for the vamps they might just try to make that happen. They might even just try to bleed him to tire him out, and take whatever was left once exhaustion and blood loss took enough of a toll that he could not put up any more of a fight.<br/><br/>Damn. Things sucked. There was a time when things were different and -<br/><br/>Todd pulled his head back as a vampire lunged forward with a quick jab. It almost made contact. Too close. The daemonling cursed himself. He could not afford to lose focus now and think about the 'good old days.' But maybe there was no point in fighting anymore. Things were broken and they were not going to get fixed. There was no cavalry coming. There were no angels. And if Jesus was on his way back, he probably just took one look down and decided to stay up in heaven. Salvation caught the last train out, back when there were still trains. Maybe he ought to just give up, and let the monsters have this world. Then again . . . that included Todd, did it not? He was not a purely human being. Did he even have a soul? To be saved? These were questions that had answers, but Todd had never really sought answers. He was too scared. Too frightened that he was just still casting shadows and doomed for perdition after the errors of his youth. Was it really his fault? He was born into a world that had had no real place for him, one that had been softer, kinder, and gentler. It had allowed mistakes. And Todd had made them. When it came time to cowboy up, to pay debts, and face comeuppance, he had tried. There had been others, better people who shone with inner light . . . who had stumbled and fallen. In the old world they never would have given up, but once things got broken, they broke along with it.<br/><br/>Todd ducked as a vampire sailed over him. He let out a long breath, staying low. It would be easy to just lie down.<br/><br/>One of the vampires came from behind, kicking Todd in the jaw area. The heel of the vamp's boot cut his cheek, and Todd could feel 'it.' 'It' was not pain. 'It' was that peculiar legacy of the Tarrack daemon that had sired him. The rage that suffused him to a genetic level. Unlike most of his kind, Todd had a lid on that shit and kept himself under control. Now, tired as he was, he just did not have it in him to reign it in. With the anger came energy, and the rush of adrenaline. Todd felt a restlessness, and for his limbs to be in motion. They no longer felt leaden and heavy, but strangely light as if they were no longer his own. But the vamps did not know. They saw the blood oozing down his cheek and jaw, dripping to the parched earth. Another rushed in, and Todd turned. He was not as fast as the vampire, but he did not need to be. The vampire's speed did all the work, and Todd had the thing by the neck and waistband of its pants. He hefted it up bodily, and then brought its back down on his knee in one smooth, swift motion. The thing broke, but that would not kill a vampire. But damned if it would ever have the time to heal. It was tantamount to a death sentence. If somehow Todd did not seal the deal, something else would.<br/><br/>The daemonling hurled the broken vampire at a pair of its fellows, whirling to backhand a charging vampire with such force that he did decapitate it. The thing quickly dusted, and it was<em>on</em>.<br/><br/>Todd could not identify the leader of the pack, but with the agitated state of the things, the scent of blood in the air, and how they were all vamped out it was unlikely that having their leader killed would put enough fear in them to make them back the fuck off. Two came at Todd from either side, barreling into him and trying to take him off his feet. They knocked him slightly off-kilter, but he kept his feet. And, more importantly, he got a hand on one's face and around another's throat, controlling the fanged mouths that hissed and sought the blood pounding just beneath taut skin. The veins bulged over powerful muscles, taunting the vampires just inches from the eager maws. Todd pivoted, throwing one away, where it struck a tree. The tree, dead and petrified, did not give under the impact. Todd was not so lucky that the vamp was impaled on a branch through the heart; the thing fell to the ground in a heap. It did not immediately stir, and its neck was at an odd angle. That was good. The other vamp Todd smashed into the ground, ruining enough of the head on a rock that whatever cosmic forces remained chalked it up on the decap board, because it dusted too.<br/><br/>A vamp took the opportunity to leap on Todd's back, and before he could stop it, the thing had its fangs in his shoulder. He could hear it slurping and suckling at the drawn blood, and his stomach did a bit of a flip-flop in nausea at the sound. Todd roared. One armed wrapped around the creature, and he stood up and whipped it around throwing it off. The vamp landed on its back and bounced, but quickly scrabbled on its feet. Todd did not have time to check the injury; he was facing an attack on three fronts. He fended off one vampire with an uppercut that put it into unconsciousness, took a kick to the midsection from another, and blocked a haymaker from a third. The trio circled, and too late Todd realized they had maneuvered him so his back was to the one that had bit his shoulder. The thing was on his back, legs wrapped around his midsection, arms around his shoulders, and mouth moving quickly to his neck. Todd moved his head and tipped himself backwards, falling to the ground. His mass and the force of impact stunned the vampire, loosening its grasp, but the fangs found flesh. They missed the desired blood vessels, but he was still bleeding.<br/><br/>He knew, even though he could not see, that his eyes had changed.<br/><br/>Todd was a whole lot angrier. Sometimes that did not help. Sometimes it did.<br/><br/>This was one of those times.<br/><br/>He grasped the vampire's arms, and then pulled outwards. With a sickening sound and a loud pop, Todd ripped them from their sockets. The vampire shrieked in an unearthly way, causing the rest to give pause at the sound of pain on of their own emitted. It was opening enough. Todd kipped up, and he was on them. He wailed away on them, while he could, with the arms ripped from the vampire's sockets. They were messy weapons, not ideal in any sense of the word. But Todd had the strength and the motivation to make them suffice to the task at hand. He beat the vampires down. He could not inflict a killing blow, but that was of no consequence if he could disable. Thinning their numbers was more important. Todd took hits, but he was tough enough and mad enough that it just fed a vicious circle of wrath. He had to discard the torn arms eventually, but by then it was just him and one vamp. Probably the leader, since it was the last one. Todd was breathing hard, bleeding in about seven places, but he felt so terribly alive and so sure of the fearful might of his body that it did not matter how much it would hurt when the adrenaline fugue wore off.<br/><br/>The vampire looked as if it might run, but Todd knew it would not. Every second worked in the vampire's favour; it brought him closer to weakness and pain. The fire of his anger would gutter out and extinguish, unable to sustain itself. Todd moved forward, charging with a guttural roar. The vampire bared its fangs and leapt forward. Todd thrust his right hand forward, and its pierced through the vampire's midsection as they met. He grasped the vampire's spine in his hand and wrenched, hard, severing it. The vampire's lower half went limp as it clawed at his face. Todd pulled his hand free and discarded the vertebrae that came with it, pushing the vampire back with his other hand. He went to one knee, breathing heavily. Todd wiped sweat from his eyes. There it was: the first hints of fatigue set in. The lightness of limbs was fading, replaced by the omnipresent weariness of the new world.<br/><br/>Todd closed his eyes, for just a moment, before opening them again as he heard the vampire scrabbling away, dragging itself with its arms. Todd flexed his gory red right hand and stood up. He walked to his pack, and withdrew a hatchet with his left hand.<br/><br/>Fucking vampires.<br/><br/><hr/>Todd lumbered up to the gates. He had a pack slung over one shoulder, and he was so tired that he failed to notice the special arrivals. He noted, on some logical level, their presence, and on that same intellectual level he knew the significance, but Todd was just a ground-pounding pair of boots on the ground. It did not fall to him to deal with the leaders of foreign tribes and other powers, such as they were, in this world. And he was just too fucking tired. Maybe after six hours and some hot chow it would sink that, holy shit!, there were all kinds of important big-wigs from every major faction that was not primarily composed of daemons who wanted to maim, kill, and torture anything remotely human was in town. Maybe.<br/><br/>At the gate, a young vamp waited. Todd paid no mind to him, and an outstretched arm drew a curious glance.<br/><br/>"Are you fucking kidding." It was a statement. Not a question.<br/><br/>"Well, uh, you see . . ." Mitchel the vampire began. "Rae ordered me to ask the people arriving who they were and-"<br/><br/>"Are. You. Fucking. Kidding." Todd clearly enunciated each word in a low, tired tone that grew increasingly malevolent. He could feel 'it' rising inside him at this petty inconvenience. His eyes were changing, but he had his goggles on so it would escape notice. He would appear to be just a slab of grade A human, weary, wounded, and fresh back in from long patrol.<br/><br/>"Look, guy, orders are orders. I'm not going to end up as the new torture doll." Mitchel said. His fear of Rae, Cortez, and the vampire upper echelon outweighed whatever intimidation factor Todd possessed.<br/><br/>Todd sighed, brushed the arm aside before lumbering in. New people drew Mitchel's attention, and torn, he opted to return to obeying the word of Rae's commands. She did not say that they had to<em>answer</em>, after all.<br/><br/>The hulking daemonling made his way to Ranger Central. There was probably a better name for it, but fucked it Todd cared right now. He reported in with the on-duty senior ranger, who rattled off a series of questions that Todd answered in a perfunctory manner. Todd put his backpack on the table, and opened it. He pulled out a second sack, made of canvas, and opened up the flaps on it. Tipping it over, several boxes tumbled onto the desk. There were fourteen of them, all of them somewhat dog-eared and in less than pristine condition. It was a marvel that the cardboard had stood up as long as it had. They were a pale blue, with a brown-ish lozenge in the center and the word 'Allenbury's' in black script.<br/><br/>"It's soap. From before." Todd said. "Got it from a trader. Saved his daughter from a pack of Drokken Beasts." He wiped his face with the palm of one hand. "Payment was especially rich." Todd added. The debriefing ranger nodded.<br/><br/>"Well, I guess that about wraps everything up. Everyone'll be damned happy you brought this back." The older ranger said, tempted to keep a bar for himself and lie about the bounty Todd had brought back.<br/><br/>"I fought a pack of vamps about a three kliks south-west of here. Seven of them. I think they were displaced by something else; they had a hungry, scavenger look to them. Probably scared off by something moving into their territory." Todd added, and the other ranger simply nodded.<br/><br/>"Someone's going to try something . . . security's as good as it can get under the circumstances." Was the answer Todd received, and it sounded a little bit too much like someone was toeing the party line. But Todd was not inclined or in a position to argue, so he nodded, got up, and went to his room in the ranger barracks. He happily collapsed onto his bed with a sigh, taking only long enough to remove his boots before he lay back in the hopes of what dreams might come.