Night games with Eric

[runningred]

{{ooc: from here}}

Jay brings the bike up in the lift, closing his helmet. Eric has the advantage in many ways but Jay has toys, lots of toys. Starting with the bike. It is very, very fast.

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[onceaviking]

Eric is standing outside, still as a statue.
He is very pale in the darkness.


And he is smiling. It's a predatory smile, even without the fangs.

[runningred]

"So, head start?" Jay grins back, licking his lips.

[onceaviking]

"5 minutes?"

[runningred]

Jay grins even brighter and flips the faceplate down, fishtailing the bike into the darkness. It has no lights, relying in Jay's heads-up display for night vision. He makes for the mountain track at top speed.

[onceaviking]

Eric watches him disappear, a small smile on his face.
He gives him four minutes, then he runs after.

Listening.

[runningred]

Jay knew he would cheat. The bike speeds off into the darkness, following one of the lesser know tracks but Jay is no longer on it. Leaving it to run on autopilot, he ditched at speed and has made his way into a gully by one of the small streams that feed the lake, laying low in the rock, Jay trusts the suit to muffle the sound of his heart and breathing as much as possible.

[onceaviking]

The air moves as Eric rushes past.
And then he gets close enough to see the bike and stops.

No Jay.

He throws himself into the air instead.
Turning over in the air, searing for heat and blood and breath.

[runningred]

Jay scans the sky, laying on his back in the hollow. Eric has no heat signature at the moment but the suit detects movement above him. He flicks a switch in the palm of the glove and activates the camouflage. In theory, if he's programmed it right, the suit should now give off the heat and movement signature of a demon bunny.

Another switch activates a decoy further back down the road, a remote controlled car sized bot that crashes through the undergrowth with a heat source comparable to Jay and carrying a recording of his heart beat and breathing. Not a good one, granted but it's only a prototype.

[onceaviking]

Eric pauses, suspended in the air.

There is something like Jay - but probably not Jay - moving a little ways away.
It sounds about right and on the surface it feels about right, but the scent is wrong.

He closes his eyes.

Still.

Silent.

Reaching his senses as far as they can go.

[runningred]

Damn, he hasn't taken the bait. Jay has two choices at this point. Stay very, very still or start moving again. But what's the fun of a chase if you lay still waiting to be caught. He gives himself a little longer, just waiting to see what Eric will do and scans the terrain, mapping a path for when he's ready to move again.

[onceaviking]

And then there's a soft, swishing sound, as Eric lands on the ground a little way away.

Alert.
Listening.

Tasting the air.

[runningred]

Damn! Stay still or run? It's no fun laying here but as soon as he moves, Eric will have him. Oh well, getting caught could be fun too and he has tested at least some of his ideas. They'll work different in an urban landscape.

He slides a vial out of his sleeve and cracks it, letting the contents drip into the earth, careful not to get any on the suit. Demon bunny pheromones. He waits till there are a few dozen moving around him and gets up, moving low and slow through the underbrush, hoping the frenzied bunnies with mask his retreat.

[onceaviking]

He can smell Jay, but he cannot get a fix on him.

He sees movement out of the corner of his eye. It's the damned demon bunnies .
He turns his back on them, but then there's just the barest hint of a sound and he turns slowly, saying,"I am coming to get you, Jay."

[runningred]

Jay's laughs comes floating through the trees, a little tinny as it comes from the speakers in the bike some distance off, echoing from the little remote in the other direction. "Promises, promises." He teases into his throat-mike.

[onceaviking]

"All your toys," Eric purrs and the he lets his fangs drop.
"But I can smell you, Jay. All of your lust. Your fear."

[runningred]

"Gotta play to your strengths." Jay chuckles from the bike which is already circling around.

But he's not afraid. If anything, Jay's enjoyment of the game is more excitement and adrenal. Fear can wait till Eric actually finds him. Right now, he's having far too much fun.

He palms another switch but doesn't flick it. Not yet anyway. It's meant to release scent over the suit, to confuse Jay's natural scents but it's designed for a city, to confuse his trail in a crowd but in the forest, it'll only mark him out faster. No, that can wait till they're planning in a different arena.

Instead he slips through the trees, moving lightly and quickly as he drops another demon bunny scent bomb and changing direction, doubling back a bit.

[onceaviking]

There's the smell of demon bunny again. And a sound, very faint, just before the scent starts spreading.

Eric laughs.

He is enjoying this, even if the chase might be over very, very soon.
And the adrenalin from the night before, the kill, is still coursing through his veins.

He snarls and zips toward where he heard the sound. Almost too fast to see. He hasn't pinpointed Jay exactly, but he is on foot now. He'll find him.

And take him.

[runningred]

Alarms are going off in Jay's heads up display and he bolts, running in hope of meeting with his bike on the way. Eric is on him almost faster than his systems can track and he switches plan, stopping dead against a tree as the bike crosses his path, hoping now that Eric won't be able to stop in time or will follow the bike.

[onceaviking]

What happens is a mix.

Eric collides with the bike and sends it somersaulting through the air.
He rolls across the ground. Towards Jay.

[runningred]

Well, that's going to take some buffing out!

And now Jay's screwed. Nowhere to run without making himself very, very visible. Might as well go out with style. Jay pulls a paintball marker from his hip and fires. It'll wash off but that's not the point.

[onceaviking]

He hits Eric once as he gets to his feet - and then Jay is pinned against a tree.

Eric growls.

[runningred]

Okay, there might be fear is Jay's scent now but he's also laughing. Well, he would be if Eric hadn't just knocked the air out of him. "Gotta."

[onceaviking]

Eric dips his head and breathes in Jay's scent, almost running his lips across his skin.

Almost,

His body is hard and where he is normally still, there is now a faint tremble hiding just beneath his skin.

Eagerness.

[runningred]

Jay shivers too, lifting his head to deactivate and fold back his helmet. His breath comes fast, his heart pounding. He's tempted to make a smart-ass joke but he's too hard to think just yet.

[onceaviking]

"That's better," Eric says hoarsely and repeats the gesture, this time actually running his lips across skin. Just a little above Jay's jawline.

The tremor in his upper lip is palpable.