Archie did not move at first.
Hot, thick darkness was enclosing him, something not night, but one that came To live. The air was colder than it ought to have been, it was not winter cold, but it was empty and it made its way to his bones without the slightest warning.
He breathed in slowly.
The scent was wrong.
The smell of wet stone, old smoke and something sweet and rotten at the same time, of blood, but not of fresh blood, stored blood.
His feet felt the floor that was smooth, like old streets worn out by so many centuries of feet of those who pass. Then there were clangings of metal somewhere out in the distance. Someone in the distance answered with a sharp and short laugh, and then as if nothing has happened there was silence again.
Archie lifted his head.
The sky was not empty. Skyscrapers sprung up on each side, and reclined like black fangs. There were windows over there which faintly lit through heavy curtains. No sunlight. No stars. There was no more than the grey mist that increased the shadow strength rather than weakness.
He blinked once.
Reality felt stable.
He changed position marginally, trying out the ground he was on and sense of space. The laws here held firm. Some terrifying force was holding the space firm stopping anyone from touching the laws of nature.
One figure was passing over a street a long distance on either side, and going too rapidly to be expected of a normal human being but too disciplined to be a panic. Another trailed, more slow, set shoulders, brought down eyes. Neither looked toward him.
Strange.
Some intrusion would have been noticed in his world, mortals are people with lots of curiosity so seeing them no glance at him surprised him.
Archie walked forward.
His steps made little sound. This was an opening led into a broad road flanked by cramped constructions. There were signs painted on, and words were even written crookedly, suspended over doors. Some lantern was swinging above with its feeble red light, giving long curves as the lines traced over the rock.
He paused near a window.
Glass had a glow in his silver hair, but the mirror image was lacking by a tenth part of a second. He watched it carefully.
Shouts went on in an adjacent alley.
Not talk of comfort but a ngotiation conversation.
Archie did not turn his head but listened.
Footsteps been pulled upon his heels, and then they stopped. Someone had noticed him. The air moved and the hint of hunger combined with curiosity to an extent now permeated the air.
He kept on walking as though nothing was out of place.
The pressure was observed after a few seconds, and died. His identity as it was not to be known. In this world were things out of the ordinary happens, the less people knows about you the better.
He needs useful information.
He came to one side of a small square where a few people went by with poor illumination.
This was not a city that slept.
This was a city were everyone was on the edge.
Archie slowly exhaled and made use of his sense organs to the maximum to sense the construction beneath the surface. Layers of meaning traversed the space; there were nuances of how to act. Territory. Hierarchy. Everything in an area 5km could be sensed by him.
He smiled faintly.
"Interesting turn of events," he murmured.
"Vampires."
In feeble response a trembling ran through the square. One of the figures that were close to the lantern moved a little; a woman at a little metal table raised her head, her glass half-raised to her lips.
In the shadow of a doorway across the square a tall man got straight.
None of them panicked; they all made an adaptation and looked at Archie with a facinated expression. Archie continued to walk as if he didn't feel the change in the atmosphere. The lantern in the air was shaken to give a burst of light over his face. He saw it, more distinct than ever, eyes, some of them, checking meanings, mass, purpose.
The killers take their time. He went onto the middle of the square.
A low murmur was floating over the air; faint, but harmonious.
The female at the table broke in at last with a smooth voice with no hurry. "You're not marked." There was no noise that had to be made. Archie swung about and looked at her. "Should I be?" he asked. A weak smile lingered on her mouth. Her eyes were very wide, nearly devouring the colour of her eyes. "In this district, everyone is especially quality men like you" Interesting. Territory confirmed.
The long man came out of the door. He moved in a controlled manner, almost elegantly, too fine to be a man. Without any demonstration of aggravated feelings, he said firmly, with no count of being angry," You walked in without permission" Archie looked at him: Fair skin, no breathing in the cold air, no heart to hear, no breathing. "I had no idea a man needed to be marked to walk around here nor was I aware that one had to ask permission to go down a road" Archie thought evenly. The audience was shaken with a wave of laughter.
The man walked three paces forward just in good view to subdue space and yet not too near to assault without prior notice. "You're new," the man said. "Yes. And you do not smell like prey to me" The atmosphere became somewhat heavier. Archie eased himself; he made no claim of dominance, neither made nor lost ground, a neutral position. The woman set her glass down. "But then, if not prey, what is he, then what?" she asked herself. That question was as a blade that hung in the square. Archie experienced a squeeze of the city.
"I am passing through" he said "I prefer not to cause trouble." The tall man looked at him a few silent seconds, and then smiled, a repressed smile. "Everybody is a trouble maker" he said. "The only question is whom they bother". The lantern on the peak had jerked back and forth. Another metal clang was heard somewhere in the distance, in the night.
Suddenly the woman disappeared from her sit before sinking her fangs into Archie's neck, "Werewolf" She said as she spat out his blood. Instantly every vampire in the square stood up ready to attack at any given moment. "What do you seek in a land of vampires wolf" the tall man said in disgust.