Arlo James

See what it's like to be a vulture's lunch

He could hear it. Like a drum. The rhythm shifting and changing with the tempo of her own anxiety and yet those vampiric aspects off his nature so effortlessly picked up on the woman's anxiety and too that fear that seemed to permeate the air around her as her heartbeat increased with his words. His explanation, somehow, seeming to....panic her. It was subtle, the woman attempting to conceal it and yet he was a predator by nature even if he hardly desired to be, even when he tried not to be. Those palpitations a sound he would know anywhere. Even if she was hardly to his taste it did not mean he could not picture that blood singing in her veins. Yet, unlike so many of his kind, Arlo simply chose to ignore it. All blood sung to a vampire, any vampire, but few ever played his own favoured tune and those that didn't wear easier to ignore. Provided they weren't openly bleeding all the same. That so tended to bring even Arlo undone. Ignoring flowing blood or open wounds still outside of his abilities. Patrick never had taught him that. His own thoughts cast aside for now as she very near spat a response at him. Prickly thing she was. She had chased him down and she had the nerve to be snarky. His features frowning slightly in response and beneath that hood before his shoulders lifted slightly in a shrug.

"My type is....rare I guess. The other vampires get rid of us pretty quick. We, well, don't usually survive that long. I never wanted to be a vampire though. I had a life. A great one. If I can stop them from taking anyone else's then why shouldn't I? I get a meal and someone innocent gets to live."

It was a waste of time, after all, to chase after those of his own kind who 'sipped' as Arlo called it. Taking just enough to survive and letting the victims go. They had barely any blood to pilfer from their veins. So he hunted those that fed often and heavily, who drained their victims entirely and fed him in turn. Twisted, perhaps, but it worked for him. The man offering her just what she had wanted to hear. Her own response however was less than forthcoming. Hit a nerve had he? His lip quirked slightly all the same as she declared her reasoning to be for council purposes alone. One striking blue eye arching slightly upward- both of them, it seemed, shared the same target. Her request to have him drain the next one completely seeing that slightly lopsided grin return as she sighed, peering over the edge and clearing the way for him. Hmm. A Hunter that didn't lie. Maybe she was worth knowing. Even if she glared at him a lot.

"I would have drained him. You interrupted."

There was no true blame in his voice all the same. The offering of her name was unexpected, Arlo shifting slightly from his place to stand beside her (though not too close) as she turned back to face him, his own gaze peering down that ledge as if trying to see what she was looking at, his feet hanging just over the edge. Buffy? Like the vampire hunter? Was she kidding? Maybe it was better not to ask her.

"Arlo."

He responded simply, his gaze glancing sideways now, eyeing her properly for the first time. She was an attractive creature, even sodden as she was and beneath what he is sure is a permanent scowl. She might have even been pleasant- if she tried. Her fear of his kind however, even hidden, was hardly lost upon him. The dark-haired young man assured his offer would be rejected else met with the point of her knife and yet he'd always been impulsive in some fashion.

"You want to hunt vampires and I want to eat. I'm designed to bring them down. If you ever want help...."

His shoulders shrugged once more, leaving the rest unsaid. He shadowed hunters on occasion as it was though usually without their knowledge. Her kind left blood in their wake and he liked cleaning it up. It was a cheap meal and yet his own kind already saw him as a vulture, what did it matter if he picked a few more carcasses clean?

"You have to fix your attitude though, Chicka. You need to smile more or get laid or something."

Somewhere beneath that hoody he grinned once more, teasing her, bright blue eyes watching her still. A little more of his nature so beginning to shine beneath the rain and in the dark.