Taming the shrew [for Thomas III]

[animefangirl]

Ricardo had heard the man running after him, but he didn't care since he was so confident that his monster would be able to kill the intruder and save him. When Cecilia just stood there looking at him with a smirk his eyes widened and his face turned red with anger. Before he could strike her or say anything Vince appeared and pointed his weapon at them. Vince spoke up then, and she understood his point immediately and raised her hands in the traditional gesture of surrender. She backed a few steps away from him and Ricardo in an attempt to make herself seem even less threatening.

"I mean you no harm, go ahead and kill him. That is what you came to do is it not?" She asked, not realizing that she was using more formal speech than was normal for the time. She sometimes slipped back into the dialect she used when she was living. Ricardo looked at the girl, shocked by what he thought of as betrayal. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I ordered you to kill him!" He yelled at Cecilia--ignoring Vince for the moment in his impotent rage, and she shivered slightly as she felt the restriction on her collar coming back full force as Ricardo locked away her strength in his anger.

[Thomas_III]

Vince's eyes wander back and forth from the man to the girl, still trying to assess the situation fully. Judging from the man's reactions, as well as the ripped iron manacles now on the floor, he decides that his previous thought about her being the weapon is somehow correct. However, he still has trouble fathoming that, since she does not appear to have any intention of killing her master on her own. Since the manacles had seemed secure before, he starts to wonder if the man has some kind of control over her abilities, but not enough control to force her to do something that she truly doesn't have any intention of doing. He will have to figure out all of those specifics later, though, after he's gotten himself out of this building safely. With a smirk, he takes aim at Ricardo and fires a bullet into the man's arm. It isn't fatal, but enough to catch his attention.


“So, it seems that your precious weapon is no longer concerned with killing for you. That's a shame. I wonder how it is that she hasn't just killed you, outright. Perhaps she just can't be bothered with having the blood of one as lowly as you on her hands.”


He knows that the truth is probably more convoluted than that, but he hopes that the gambit will pay off and get the man to give up some information before he dies. It is a risky trick, since he's relying on the man's anger and frustration to override his good sense. Plus, if the house's guards weren't already on their way, then the sound of the gunshot would surely bring them running. He figures that he only has a couple of minutes, at best, to get himself out of this situation before he's overrun.

[animefangirl]

She watched him as he tried to work things out, and only then did she start to feel a little concerned that he may be smarter than she had originally thought. If he were an intelligent man he would be more difficult to manipulate but that did not necessarily mean it would be impossible. Still, he had to be better than Ricardo, right? She watched as he shot her current master, then started speaking to him as if he were digging for information. That bothered her but she did not say anything. She had promised to answer his questions if he took her out of here, so him trying to get information from another source irritated her.

Ricardo yelled in pain as the bullet flew into his arm, reaching up with the uninjured hand to put pressure on the wound in an attempt to stem the bleeding. The man taunted him and he laughed, a little unstably. "That monster couldn't kill me if it wanted to. Let's make a deal. You must want something, I can give it to you. You want me to leave you and your family alone, you got it?" He said, his voice coaxing as he tried to get the man to leave without killing him. He was trying to bide his time since he knew his guards would be coming any moment now since they were sure to have heard the gunshot. Sure enough the sound of something heavy hitting the door echoed down the stairs, the guards were attempting to bust through the locked door.

Cecilia had not fed in a few days, because she was being punished by her Master for not killing everyone she'd been ordered to kill on her last job. She had massacred the family, but left the guards, because it amused her to know that she could get in and murder an entire family and get out without the hired security catching her. Ricardo had not been happy with her when he'd found out because he'd thought it was a risk. Anyway, she had not fed since and the smell of Ricardo's blood was so tempting it hurt, but she couldn't feed off his blood any more than she could kill him. Her eyes started to glow slightly in response to the strong smell of blood, but she did not move as she waited to see what would happen.

[Thomas_III]

Vince eyes the man coldly, showing little concern for the situation or the man's flowing blood. What he does notice, though, is the man's careless choice of words, as well as the woman's eerily glowing eyes. He is slowly learning more about the situation, and that was more of what he wanted to accomplish than anything else. Without dropping his weapon an inch, he smirks openly at the man's attempts at coaxing him to let him live.


“Indeed, I do want something, but it has less to do with my family's safety than it has to do with my own rise to power. None of your yapping is giving me what I want, though. All it is doing is aggravating me.”


He pulls the trigger once more, firing a slug into the man's other arm, just under the shoulder. Pleased with himself, he grins smugly as the man bleeds profusely from both wounds.


“I came here tonight for your precious weapon, and it appears that I now know the source of your family's power. Though, I still don't know the nature of that weapon, or how you have some limited control over it, even if that control seems to be waning. You call her a monster, though, which is probably a clue, and her glowing eyes would seem to affirm this.”


He listens to the sound of the doors being broken down upstairs, and knows that time is of the essence. It would still take them a minute or two to get to the hidden staircase and follow it down to this dungeon, but he hopes that he won't need that long to get what he wants.

[animefangirl]

Ricardo tensed as the man told him that he was only interested in his own rise to power. He yelled and dropped his arm as the bullet ripped into his shoulder, unable to stem the flow of blood from either wound now that both arms were out of commission. He was getting a sort of wild and desperate look on his face, the look of someone that knew they were close to death and was quickly trying to save themselves. When Vince spoke again Ricardo wildly turned towards Cecilia, knowing that she was his only hope now. "Kill him and I will give you whatever you want. I'll take it off." he said, being vague on purpose so Vince wouldn't know what he was talking about. Cecilia felt her restriction being lifted again after her Master spoke, and her eyes widened in shock when she heard him promise to remove her collar.

She felt a moment of hope before her distrust and hate rose twice as strong as before. He was lying. She knew he was lying because they both knew that if her collar was removed she would murder him. She just shook her head in disgust and moved at super speed to stand behind Vince. To the humans it would look like she disappeared but she really just ran faster than their eye could follow. "Kill him, and my services are yours. You'll have your weapon, hurry!" She urged Vince, standing behind him and speaking in a coaxing voice as she listened to the guards upstairs throwing the books off of Ricardo's bookshelf to find the hidden switch. Once Vince killed her master, he could order her to destroy the guards and it would take her mere seconds and they would be able to leave scot free.

[Thomas_III]

Vince growls under his breath when the woman tries to issue orders into his ear. However, his mind starts to filter through the myriad bits of information that the two are unwittingly giving him. Ricardo's reference to taking something off for her, sticks in his memory for some reason, and his eyes wander to the side and scan the woman behind him. His mind ponders the inhuman speed that she's demonstrated, as well as her own assertion that she would be his if he just kills Ricardo. Things start to add up inside of his head, and then he looks back to the man with a smile.


“I do believe that I have everything that I need, dear man. You've outlived your usefulness to me.”


When he pulls the trigger, Vince's third bullet lodges itself firmly into the man's skull, piercing bone and brain with the same sickening ease. When Ricardo falls limp, Vince puts his weapon down, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe away the gunpowder residue from firing it. Behind them, the sounds of footsteps once again echo down the staircase as the man's goons finally find the way down to the dungeon.

[animefangirl]

She heard his irritated noise when she tried to tell him what to do and frowned, since that did not bode too well for her plan to wrap him around her finger later. Still, almost anyone was better than Ricardo so she would just have to toss her dice and see how they landed. She didn't care that he'd overheard the bits he'd managed to overhear, she could still try to twist things to her advantage later if it meant getting out of here. She breathed a sigh of relief when Vince spoke up again and finally pulled the trigger. She felt the moment the bullet flew into his brain because the instant he died her bond transferred to Vince and she felt all of her restrictions lifting since he did not yet know how they worked.

She watched as he coolly cleaned his gun as if killing someone didn't bother him in the least and she smiled a little, liking the idea of a ruthless master instead of a spineless coward. She turned to face the stairs as the sounds of footsteps started to echo down the hall. "Shall I get rid of them for you?" She asked, needing him to say the word for her to be able to kill. It was irritating beyond words that she needed a direct order, or a 'yes' before she could kill but she'd gotten used to it over the years. She was unaware that her body was tense as she waited for him to issue the command, the way she looked now was very similar to a hunting dog awaiting the go-ahead to kill the bird.

[Thomas_III]

Vince looks up from his weapon, his gaze falling on the girl. He can see how eager she is to be allowed to satisfy her darker urges, even though she seemed to have been unable to do so with the man that she wanted dead so badly. He assumes, of course, that this is simply because something kept her from harming the man, and allowed him some level of control over her. Since she is now asking for his permission to handle the guards, his suspicion that her ownership would transfer to him when Ricardo died seems to be verified.


“Very well. You may sate yourself with the guards. There are others in this home, though, and I have no need or interest in their deaths at the moment. Dispense with those blocking our exit, and then we will leave.”

[animefangirl]

She shot him a frosty look when he spoke, not at all liking the fact that he seemed to have pieced a bit more together then she had thought. His choice of specifying which ones she could kill meant he had figured out she could not kill unless he let her. And he already knew that she could not kill him thanks to Ricardo and her trying so hard to get Vince to kill the man for her. What else had he figured out? Well, she would figure that out later. Right now she went up the stairs and her super-speed and quickly broke the necks of all but one of the guards.

That one happened to be the unlucky one that had chosen to enter the tunnel last, she grabbed him from behind with one arm and yanked his head back and to the side with the other before sinking her teeth into his now exposed neck. Her eyes had been glowing softly before but now that she was actually feeding they glowed brightly. It was a side effect of drinking blood and she could make them stop if she wanted to, she just chose not to. Once the man was drained she dropped him and looked for Vince, unsure if he'd seen her feeding or not since she had not been paying attention to him in her urge to finally feed after many days of deprivation.

[Thomas_III]

After the girl had disappeared up the staircase, Vince had followed up behind her at a leisurely pace, not wanting to dirty himself in the expected bloodshed. He is quite pleased with the results, seeing that this woman had abilities that would make her a formidable weapon against almost any possible opponent. He simply can't fathom why Ricardo would waste her skills using her simply as a family enforcer. Vince already has greater plans than that. Watching as she drops the drained guard, he now has the final clue that he needs to judge her nature, though some questions still seem to remain in his mind. Now, however, is not the time to try to answer them.


“If you have had your fill, it is now time to leave. We will make a quick search of Ricardo's possessions for anything of significant value, and then we'll be on our way. The sun will be up soon, though I assume that you have no problem with sunlight, given that you were exposed to the elements in your cage. I hope that you don't sparkle, like that dreadful series of movies.”


Reaching the end of the stairs, he steps up into Ricardo's bedroom and begins to inspect his belongings for anything of worth that he may take interest in. As a powerful mob boss, Ricardo could have had some interesting mementos in his collections, though Vince doubted that the man truly had the mind for anything more interesting than a few knick-knacks.