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It was times like this that Ellenore regretted asking Annabelle if she could join her in the dark. She could not remember ever being so uncomfortable. Her guts ached with an empty, clawing hunger. How hard could it be to find something to eat? Pickings were slim on this side of town. Every city block seemed to belong to someone else, and everyone was super fucking territorial. It took the metaphor of the city being like a jungle to a new extreme.
Ellenore wondered if Annabelle had gone through something like this when she was a new vampire. She probably did. She had to assume that she did. They had probably talked about it before Ellenore had been introduced to Ramona. It was hard to remember just now. Hard to think. She was so damn hungry.
Ellenore snuck down an alley, hoping to find something or someone to - No, she had to stop thinking like that. Hunting. She was hunting. She knew she shouldn’t be there, knew that if she were caught by the other gangrel who had claimed this patch, she’d be in trouble. She couldn't think straight with the hunger pains. She didn’t even know that other gangrel’s name, not that it particularly mattered.
A growl from the shadows made Ellenore pause. Her hackles rose, muscles tightening. Sure enough, the Kindred who had claimed these particular LA streets was there, hunched over a homeless man. Ellenore caught a whiff of fresh blood and bared her fangs. The two vampires hissed at each other, sizing each other up.
“This is ridiculous, use your words,” Ellenore thought.
“No words. Use your claws!” snarled a different voice inside her mind, inside her soul.
The other Kindred saw Ellenore’s hesitation and pounced at her, vicious claws outstretched. Ellenore had half a second to react. In her panic, she ducked down, rolling across the filthy alley. Her attacker over-shot and collided with a dumpster, making a loud clang.
Ellenore got back to her feet, growling to herself. She couldn't help it. It felt like a fog was over-taking her brain, pushing her humanity down and allowing her beast to rise to the surface. She tried to fight it, to talk to the other Kindred, but her words would not, or could not, leave her throat. She stared at her rival, at their cat-like eyes glowing in the darkness. They circled each other like animals, each waiting for the other to make a move to strike or flee.
As Ellenore moved, she began to feel like her clothes were too restrictive. Without even thinking about it, she pulled at her shirt, trying to loosen it from around her body. Her attacker saw this as an opening and struck out at her again. She met them with a swipe of gangrel claws of her own. The two of them fought, scrapping like alley cats. They snarled and slashed, biting and tearing. Vitae splashed across the concrete. There were no human tactics to this brawl, just pure bestial, feral brutality.
The fight was over almost as soon as it began. The sound of a siren’s WHOOP WHOOP from the street startled the two gangrel, making them jump. Ellenore’s rival fled, leaping painfully up to a ladder and climbing up and away to the rooftops, vanishing into the darkness. Ellenore ran down the alley, to where it connected to another street a block away. As she ran, she marvelled at how her lungs didn’t need to strain for air, that her heart didn’t feel like it was going to pound out of her chest. She skittered down into the shadows of a studio space that was closed up for the night and waited for the coast to be clear.
Ellenore wiped vitae off her chin, and licked it off her hands like a cat. Her body buzzed with the rush the fight had brought. Was this how Annabelle felt too? Did she always feel this… this feral? Maybe when Ellenore eventually caught up with her again, she’d have to ask her about that. There were a lot of things about this new life Ellenore wanted to ask Annabelle about.
A terrifying little voice inside her reminded Ellenore that while the fight was all well and good, she still hadn’t properly fed. The Vitae she had licked off her skin only whetted her appetite further. Her hunt would have to continue.