Bryce Heathcliffe - he/they - vampire - Location: The House - Tags: Nyx, Silver
Bryce listened to Nyx carefully, wanting to learn as much about the house, and indeed her as he could. He picked up on the very serious tone she had when speaking of protecting others. Clearly she had a much better heart than him, and he wondered if anything had happened in her life to give her that drive to help others like her, or if she was just as good a person as she seemed. He filed that away for further inspection, preferring instead in the moment to reach forward to scratch the cat curled around the witch's shoulders. The moment his fingers touched the soft fur, however, he heard a thunk from the fireplace, and saw the heavyset stone statue emerge. He cocked an eyebrow in curiosity, regarding it and Nyx as they appeared to communicate. Something was afoot - and Bryce did love drama. He skipped after Nyx as she swept through the halls. He couldn't help the grin that crept across his features.
"Not a problem my dear - we can always do the tour some other time," he grinned. "Dare I ask what trouble has arisen? Or is it better left to surprise?"
He noted the tones of a sombre violin in the distance with some surprise. He would have liked to stop and meet the individual playing, had more interesting matters not currently grasped his attention. He followed Nyx to the front door, running into a pale young woman on the way - Silver, apparently as Nyx greeted her. As Nyx peeked outside, Bryse took the opportunity to introduce himself.
"Bryce Heathcliffe, at your service," he smiled, showing off his glinting fangs as he did so. "I'm sure it'll be a pleasure to meet you properly, once whatever drama we have at hand has passed.
Ellis Harlowe - they/them - human - Location - the forest - tags: the humans, nikolav
Ellis' breath hitched in their throat as the creature snapped at them. They were only slightly aware of what the group was doing behind them - all of their attention was focused on the beast in front of them. They did, however, notice Maria falling to the ground in apparent agony. A part of Ellis was frustrated with her - is now really the time? - but hearing the snapping and growling sounds coming from where she was, they guessed it wasn't just some regular fainting fit. Of course. Of course. They were starting to curse themself for coming along on this trip altogether - but also it seemed a good idea that they did, since no one else in the group seemed to be keeping their head abuot the whole affair. Understandable. Ellis could hardly believe they were managing to stay calm. They'd probably have a breakdown over the whole ordeal later on - provided they survived the encounter.
Speaking of... from next to him he saw Leslie pull something out of their bag. Pepper spray? Ellis wasn't terribly surprised they carried it - they'd known a lot of people who didn't feel safe in the streets, especially after dark, and Leslie had ran here, but now was hardly the time! Even if it would be effective against the creature, which Ellis highly doubted it would be, it would be read as a hostile action, and then they'd definitely be in trouble.
"What are you doing?" they demanded, more aggressive than they'd ever been in their life. They rounded on Leslie, with the intention of grabbing the pepper spray from their hand. And in the moment their back was to the massive wolf, it lunged.
Mostly by chance, Ellis' body was guarding Leslie, just from the angle they were standing, so they took the brunt of the attack. A sharp, tearing pain in their shoulder and the warm wetness of - blood? The wolf's mouth? Ellis had no intention of looking to check. They yelled out in pain, falling into Leslie slightly and accidently pushing them into the rest of the group. Okay, alright. Definitely hostile then. But what was the best course of action here? They couldn't run back into town and lead the creature to the other people, and that was even provided they successfully outran the creature for that long, which seemed impressively unlikely. There was only one option they could think of, seeing the imposing silhouette not too far from them.
"Everyone! Try and get to the house!" If even a few of them could make it inside and try and barricade the wolf out, they'd just have to wait until dawn before it was safe to leave. That was how those legends went, right? Though Ellis was unsure how far they'd make it themself - the pain in their shoulder was intense, and they were having a hard time pushing past it, not to mention the other wolf that had apparently appeared, that Ellis absolutley did not have the brain power to try and unpack right now. And then there was the wolf itself - Ellis was honestly too frightened to look and see if the wolf's jaw was still clamped down on them. They gritted their teeth, ready to at least try and make a break for it.