15953/Raven's dreams...

Raven's dreams...
Date of Scene:	05 January 2024
Location:	Raven's resting place.
Synopsis:	Raven had the dream so many have had, but unlike them she had a visit from the Lord of the Vampires after.
Cast of Characters:	Dracula, Raven

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Dracula has posed:
A restful sleep moves towards something else and Rachel fades her way into a dream unlike the norm. She can look all around her and see a wide expanse of mountains and trees as far as she can see. The air around her is chilled enough she can see her breath and animals make their way around her.

Unfortunately, she can smell decay and death nearby. If she looks to her right, she will see a dead body. There isn't enough to make up the smell that permeates the air. Something is adding to the smell.

Raven has posed:
Many moments of meditation, many exercises to try and relax down once more were needed for Raven when it comes to going to sleep. Still, it was doable and it was welcome...or at least, normally it was.

The 'chill' in the air, the stench of death...this wasn't the pleasent dream she'd hoped for nor the scorching hellish visions of darkness that her father occasionally sent her.

This was something new...

Slowly she drifts, moving towards the body before her.

Dracula has posed:
The smell gets worse even before she reaches the body. Something has been eating on the body as the chest and stomach have been hollowed out and the edges are jagged like teeth marks.

The situation is complicated more when she realizes that out in the woods around her, something is moving. Something that sounds at least person sized and walking bipedal through the woods, drawing nearer to her.

Raven has posed:
A frown, her eyes narrow as the shadows swirl around her, the stench against her senses in the dream unfortunately not unfamiliar to her. She comes to pause, the wounds taking in has her turning. Awareness of her mind honed with all the demands of her powers and the control or meditation required might mean that she recognises she's in a dream...but that doesn't help her feal that much more comfortable.

With a little shift her gaze sweaps to this dark figure drawing closer from the woods.

Dracula has posed:
From deep in the woods something watches her and she can feel that in the air. All the animals around her have fallen silent. The woods are the kind of quiet that would indicate a predator's presence.

An antlered deer skull looks at her from the brush, body hunched over. Then the head rises, a two legged being emerging. It is tall...real tall. The creature looks like it hasn't eaten in weeks, skinny enough to see its ribs. Blood oozes from its mouth, staining the neck and chest indicating it has recently eaten.

Raven has posed:
She'd seen monsters, creatures of myth, demons alike...this creature's look was similar but...eerie. Enough that she would take a step back instinctively, cautiously...willing her her powers to come to her instinctively even if the dream might not make it so.

Elsewhere, in the world physical around her? Several of the electronic lights around the half-demon flickered, loose items starting to float as the stress of the dream tugged at the more uncontrolled nature of her powers.

Dracula has posed:
The creature cocks its head to the left, like a dog hearing a high pitched noise. Curious. The eyes have a glow that could rival a devil's own for the dread they should inspire. A soft, low groaning sound and then a high pitched whistling sound escape it. It takes a steps towards her and the smell get stronger and it makes a sound. It almost sounds like a word,"..huuunngerr.."

Raven has posed:
The noise brings a whince, harsh as it is, stinging at Raven's ears in the dream as she backs up with her hands raised. Caution? Protective? Somewhere in-between while the creature approaches. Hunger? For her? For the Corpse?

Dracula has posed:
The creature is tall, and so very skinny like it has never eaten despite the fact it ate the person recently. It looks towards where the body lays and contemplates for a moment. Then when it moves it turns its attention towards her again. A low, rumbling growl escapes the throat. The scent is worse now as it breathes at her. Again with the head cocking to the side and then without warning it leaps at her. The teeth look human with elongated canines, pieces of rotted flesh and fabric between them. The creature's deformed, almost human looking face fills her perception and everything goes dark as the dream ends.

Does she awake shouting or sweating, depends on her.

When she wakes, she seems to be in her room. Everything is normal, except for the tall, regal looking man looking down at her from the foot of her bed. His eyes glow a red as he studies her from in the night,"This is when most of you dreamers get an indication to go to Harry Dresden and be furthur confused and potentially put into harm's way." he tells her flatly,"Or you can come to me and learn."

He bows slightly and tells her,"I am Vlad Tepes III. Dracula to most."

Raven has posed:
She awakes with a start, the flickering lights and disturbances immediately around her room and perhaps several rooms over ceasing at first.

That had been unpleasent, and the young woman actually had a moment enough to try and catch her breath before instincts kicked in.

An intruder in her room that very much wasn't a teammate checking up on her, the swirl of blackness in an already dimly lit room flared around the devil's daughter as she was immediately airborne, eyes aglow with the infernal energy she was known for.

"You were not welcomed in here...the hell are you doing in my room?"

Dracula has posed:
The curiosity of the situation over rides the better sense to leave. He is centuries old and mindful of what she might or might not do. He smiles and when he does she can see the razor sharp canines. A little fear goes a long way.

After that, a more gentleman like posture and tone,"I am merely here to speak with you. I have been tracking these dreams and signs pointed to your tower. The chances of it being anyone other than you is very slim. I wanted you to know there are those that can help you with that."

Raven has posed:
Not a moment of relaxation, not a slight easing of that living shadow wrapped around her...Raven was used to living with a 'monster' tied to her mind pretty much every moment of her day...she wasn't going to be letting her guard down around one.

With a little shift, she frowns towards the legendary vampire. "So you say...but I dream of teeth-filled monsters, and now there's a vampire in my bedroom..."

Dracula has posed:
"Hmmm..." he mutters with an exhale. It isn't a questioning sound so much as a sound of derision,"Make no mistake my dear. You woke in the presence of the Lord of the Vampires. There is none like me. There are few that draw my attention as you do."

His gaze stays steady on hers and the age old game of his hypnotic gaze meeting her will and a time to see who will win. He knows she is not without power, hence he creeps around her defenses as opposed to trying to force his way through her defenses.

"Multiple people ahve had that dream and some have had a different one before that. Vampire slayers, mutants, mystical warriors...all have seen it and few have questioned why."

Raven has posed:
His gaze would find hers, and many had fallen before that hypnotic influence. Many more likely would...but Rachel Roth, the 'Raven' had a will forged with so many years of holding back the influence of Trigon the Terrible...and most of all? She read books, a lot of them.

As he sought her eyes? Her gaze remained focused on the easiest point to maintain without slipping: his mouth and those infamous fangs.

"So you say...but forgive me if you're not the first person I want to consult if it is something...especially after slinkinng into my room.

A flicker of the lighting, perhaps Dracula would appreciate the slight flare for the dramatic that was the shadows warping and twisting to the silhouette of her namesake.

"I'll find out why...you wish to tell me? Talk fast...or every Titan in this building will be here in seconds...assuming that I don't destroy you first."

Confience, if nothing else. But it was the best approach she had...

Dracula has posed:
A smirk touches his features and he lets the hypnosis ease away. The chances of luring the daughter of Trigon against her will, that is very low. The challenge of getting her to do it willingly? That might be fun to try.

Shaking his head when he watches the flare, the warping of the shadow,"There are larger forces at play than a dream and legendary monsters." he replies,"Things that are from the nightmares of the First Nations over this country. The Native American nations. What you saw wasn't even the worst."

"Call your friends. Not all of them have the mental discipline you do. The fire throwing beauty. The egostist that wears the costume of others past. The shapeshifter. Which one will you have to destroy to live if I take them over and put them against you?" Now he's just pushing her buttons.

Raven has posed:
"You touch them, any of them..." she steps forward, actually advancing on the Lord of the Vampires. The air was rippling around her, her eyes shift with a flicker of a red glow, that black and white faltering just a little...but not quite perhaps on the way he might have hope. "I will drag you to the hells myself..."

A shift, she lifts her hand, a warning and a threat both. "I will look into it, I'll find out more...but the next novel about you will end right here if you don't leave while you still can..."

Dracula has posed:
"I have no need to touch them." he replies and moves like he might meet her head out. Then at the last instant he turns into mist and floats away from her and the laugh sounds almost demonic in its own right. Moments later he is lost in the shadows of the night.

She might have to attend to the fact that he has an invitation to enter the tower now. Lucky Rachel.