Pre-dawn arrival

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"How about with me?" a male voice asked from a nearby shadow.

A young man, appearing 17 or 18 emerged from the shadow silently. His hair was a red-brown color (which was perhaps difficult to discern in the darkness), and his blue eyes regarded the woman in front of him as he grinned at her.

"It gets quite unsafe out here after dark. Bandits and such. Besides, we had a group of monsters attack us not too far from here last night, and a few may still be around," he told her, his smile fading away somewhat. He feared bringing the woman back with him would alert his parents to the fact that he'd wandered out alone again, but nothing could be done about that now. He couldn't very well leave her out here for the night. She'd likely run into some trouble.

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"You don't know I'm not a brigand," Michael shrugged in return. He had no way of proving that he was who he said he was (not that he'd said who he was yet), but he wasn't about to jump through hoops trying to convince anyone that it was safer with him, either. Not when he was already risking his own neck with his mother to help her. "You can choose to trust me or not to. I'd rather not see you get hurt, but it's your choice to take my help or not." Well, not really. He /could/ just throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to the tunnels with him, if he had to, a step he was willing to take if it came to it.

"The safe haven?" Michael responded, blinking. Had the rumors of their colony really begun to reach far and wide? Uncle Radu would be pleased to hear it, if it had. It could mean more people saved. His grin returned twofold. "You're standing on top of it."

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"Michael," the young man replied absently as he peered at what Nari was showing him.

"Who drew /that/ rubbish?" Michael asked, inspecting the proffered piece of paper. "It looks nothing like LA. At least, not LA now." He sighed inwardly; if people believed the entrance to their new 'Utopia,' was where it was indicated on the poorly drawn map, then many people would have difficulty finding their way to them.

"The closest entrance is this way. I can show you," he waved at her to follow. "Though it'd be faster if you let me carry you," he added with a raised eyebrow. He doubted this scared rabbit would actually consent to that, however.

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"Figured as much," the vampire grimaced. This was certainly going to take a lot longer than he would have liked, but he decided it was best to comply with her wishes, for fear of scaring the rabbit off completely... except if...

"Though I reserve the right to pick you up if we need to make a quick exit," he said, keeping a keen eye out for any encroaching danger.

He began walking, sidestepping around the rubble. Nari was a few steps behind him, though he made sure to maintain a slow enough pace that she could catch up to him, if she so chose.

"So you prefer to travel by yourself, even when you have offers to join others?" he asked her over his shoulder. "Are you crazy? Haven't you ever heard of 'safety in numbers?'"

Of course, his mother would be saying the same thing to him in a little while, once he got this girl to the safety of the caverns.

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Michael laughed uproariously as Nari spoke. She obviously had no idea what he was or what he could be capable of, or else she would have known she would have no chance to escape him, if he chose to hunt her. This fact he kept to himself, however. Instead, he replied, "It is what it's claimed to be."

"As for whether we've had any groups arrive in the past few days, I wouldn't necessarily know. THe place is pretty large and I hardly keep tabs of everyone who arrives."

The vampire glanced back at the girl, watching her pick her way through the rubble for a few moments. "Sounds like you've had some less than pleasant experiences out there," he stated, more gently this time. "You'll have to tell me about it sometime. But for now, we're heading down," he informed her, indicating a heavy steel door that sat at the entrance of a long downward-slanting corridor that was carved out of rock. "You're still sure you trust me? It'll get much harder to run once we're in there," he grinned.

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Michael chuckled again, this time quietly as he shook his head. Clearly Nari had /no/ idea who she was dealing with.

"Come in and I'll show you," he answered. As she stepped through the door, he closed the heavy iron barrier behind her, then began moving forward. THough he hardly needed them, the lights nearest to him turned on, seemingly by themselves. As he moved deeper into the caverns, the unneeded lights turned off and those nearest him in turn came to life, as though the light itself was following him. THe lights nearest Nari remained on as well.

"Motion sensors," he explained, peering back at the girl. "It shouldn't take us all that long to get there. So long as you start walking," he quipped, pressing forward ahead of her. If she didn't hustle, he would soon lose her among the twists and turns of the tunnel's vast expanse.

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With a grand sweeping gesture, Michael's voice took on a theatrical lilt. "Nature did!" he exclaimed before bursting out in laughter, his voice returning to its normal cadence. "The rest my family did. Well, at first, though the human inhabitants of this place have done much to improve and change it." In fact, it seemed to him that somehow, though unable to put his finger quite on what, the place had changed in just the few hours since he had last left.

"And we certainly know when someone enters. There are several security cameras placed in strategic locations, and the motion sensors do more than just turn on the lights for us," he informed her. "But I can't give you /all/ of this place's secrets. How do I know you're not just scoping it as some spy for an enemy camp?" he winked.

"This way," he indicated, making a sharp left turn. "Not too far now," he informed her before settling into a silence for a few moments. "Where do you hail from, then?" he asked her, finally.

"That would be our Uncle," a voice just ahead of them replied. Having been so still for so long, the lights had gone out. Not something he cared about, one way or another, but he realized she might. Moving slightly, so the light would come on, Min stood there grinning at the rest. "Your mom won't like that you've wandered out into the night alone, nephew mine. Do you not suppose you could, just once, let me know ahead of time if I'm to alibi you for these thing?"

"Yes, Uncle Radu did play the pivotal role in getting everything functional," Michael sighed at Nari before grimacing in Min's direction.

"My mother wasn't supposed to find out. It was just a short stroll," he groaned. "Please tell me she hasn't? She'd have me cleaning the lavatories by myself for weeks if she knew," he said, in that moment resembling more the teenager than the centuries old vampire.

"Besides, if I hadn't gone out, I wouldn't have found Nari here, and she'd still be trying to make heads or tails of that piece of scrap paper that's supposed to pass for a map," he informed his uncle. "With all that' sgoing on out there, she might not have survived the night."

It was as though his justification for his actions made Michael realize that Nari was still there with them.

"Oh, um, Uncle Min, this is Nari. Nari, my uncle Minhea."

Min bowed, "A pleasure," he tells Nari. To Michael, he laughs, "None noticed your departure but me. So here I've waited. Officially, you've been out with me ... again ... and we've found another survivor. I'll leave you to guiding her while I go ahead and alert them to her coming. No doubt she's due a hot meal, a bath, and a soft bed."

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Michael eyed Nari sympathetically. Sadly, her story wasn't all that different from others he had heard recently, though still his heart went out to her. He /was/ surprised she hadn't gone all-out and ran in the opposite direction given Min's grand entrance and her skittish nature, however.

"No need to look so scared. He might /look/ frightening," Michael grinned in his uncle's direction, "but he's rather harmless. Most of the time," he added, his grin broadening. "Though if you're still not sure, I can always lead you back to the surface, too," he told her, his expression becoming somewhat more serious. "I'll just have to make sure someone else gets that meal, and I doubt we'll have any trouble filling that bed."

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"It /isn't/ safe out there," Michael responded, his mischievous grin returning, "but I wouldn't want to pressure you into joining us either. Don't worry, the meal and bath will be saved for you. So long as we get a move on," he told her, waving her ahead. "And we have plenty of beds," he added. He almost made a joke of the kind Minhea surely would have made, something about sharing her bed if she was too scared, but he managed to bite his tongue. He doubted Nari would have taken such a quip with humor.

"It sounds like it's pretty bad out there," he said, as he ushered her through another set of steel doors and into a better lit corridor. "I'm glad you made it here safely. You've gotta be pretty good at looking out for yourself, then," he obvserved. Judging by the increased light and lighter atmosphere, it was obvious they were approaching 'civilization.'

Min hurries into the main room, waving to Soraya. "Hey, sis. Guess what Mikey and I found." He grins, knowing full well she'd get what he meant. Hearing his greeting, KC sets off to make certain there was food ready.

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"Just around this corner," he responded, marveling quietly at how resourceful the girl had been. She certainly had spunk.

Nari was quickly greeted by a flourish of people, and most importantly, a table set with a warm meal.

"I assumed eating would take precedence over a bath," a young red-haired woman greeted, approaching Michael and Nari with a warm smile. "Welcome," she said, indicating that the girl should walk further into the common room.

"Oh, right," Michael fidgeted, trying to act inconspicuous. Soraya had given no indication of knowing that he had been out alone again, and he gave Minhea a grateful look for that. "Mom, this is Nari. Nari, this is my mother, Soraya," he introduced.

"Pleased to meet you, Nari," Soraya smiled. "You must be famished. Please, sit and eat," she said, offering the girl a seat where a pot of hot stew, and a pitcher of water had been set.

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