Hexus: Neo

}15{ Enamel

[2:47PM, January 9, UTC +02:00]

Would you like to perform another transaction?_

DAMILARE pressed the button beside the "NO" option. The ATM's display flickered, its cursive gold font reverting to blocky white text over a black background as it whirred and ejected the card with a click. He pulled out and examined the flimsy-looking piece of plastic. It was the same size as the average bank card, except its only features were a holographic gold 'H' on its plain white face and a line of unintelligible symbols below the gold-rimmed magnetic stripe on the back. He had received it from Ecru, who said that it was meant to cover all expenditures in the house, and when he asked about the PIN, the vampire only gave him a weird look and dashed out the window. Damilare still pondered over the strange behaviour. He knew Ecru had been an emotional mess since Adam lost consciousness, but over the last two days he seemed to be on some urgent secretive self-imposed mission.

"Excuse me, is it working?"

Damilare pushed the card into his pocket as he turned around and tried to ease the frown off his face.

"Yes..." he said, but then he stopped and reconsidered. There was no telling what his unusual card had actually done to the machine. "Actually, I'm not sure. Try it and see."

The young man responded with a confused look and Damilare shrugged as he stepped out of the ATM booth. The cold wind blew harshly against his parka, and he pulled up his hood and pushed his hands deep into his pockets. Given the weather and security circumstances, he would have preferred to sit at home, but the Grand Mage Wynter Erwith had decided to move into the basement - because it 'sort of smells like a tree' - and after two days of complaining and one near-fatal attempt at trying to fix the radiator using magic, Damilare had to be the responsible adult and call the repairmen. He felt an unusual wave of energy and looked around. A bell dinged as the door of a small café opened, releasing the delicious aroma of fresh pastries. A young couple cursed as they struggled to load heavy bags into their car. A group of children were running down the street and kicking snow at each other. He smiled. It was a nice change of pace after the three days of heavy snowfall, and he tried not to slip as he moved across the wet sidewalk of the car park.

Someone screamed.

He looked forward sharply. A teenage girl, with a frightened expression on her face, turned and ran away from him. He quickly and self-consciously examined himself. His tail was still tucked in, his wings had not made an appearance, and though he could not see his face, he was sure there weren't any changes obvious enough to elicit such a reaction. A man skidded around him from behind and fell, then frantically got up to continue running. Damilare stumbled as he looked back to see what was happening.

The ATM booth collapsed, metal squeaking as the fibreglass panels cracked and crunched unnaturally. Blood leaked out from beneath the compressed mass and Damilare gasped when he remembered the young man who had been using the machine just moments before. Grit and sand sprayed as the top corner of the bank's wall broke and fell, crushing the windscreen of a car parked beside. The car's alarm rang out and there was a loud guttural growl over the shrill sound as two more cars were crushed under an invisible weight. Damilare turned and ran, cursing the drag of his heavy winter boots. Metal crunched and car alarms blared as more vehicles collapsed in succession behind him. He powered his muscles to move faster as his heart thundered. His overwhelming instinct was to flee, but there was an inkling in his rational mind to overlook the immediate sense of danger and examine his situation logically.

Maybe Kojiro's rubbing off on me...

He forced himself to think past the haze of adrenalin, trying as much as he could to ignore the crunching footfalls of the invisible pursuer as it closed the gap between them.