CORY COLLIER
Reaper
Posts: 125
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Sept 30, 2024 19:10:29 GMT
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Limbo
Jun 20, 2024 18:26:07 GMT
JODI likes this
Post by CORY COLLIER on Jun 20, 2024 18:26:07 GMT
Sinking onto a stool at the bar, Cory offered the bartender a small smile. ”Hey, can I get a coke, thanks.” Had that been surprise or judgment that flickered in their expression for a heartbeat? They stepped aside to pour, but he ended up leaning on the bar to get closer. ”Sorry,” he called out, feeling a trace of heart rising into his cheeks before any alcohol had even run down his throat. ”Can you make that a vodka and coke instead, sorry. A double. Please.”
Cory let out a deep breath as the bartender turned away to grab a bottle off the shelf. Elias probably had some sort of a rule about drinking on the job – just like associating with murderers and not trying to save every single soul – but he’d have absolutely no chance of enforcing it. As he pushed a twenty towards the bartender and reaching for that glass that was set down in front of him, he frowned. Could the others even get drunk? He’d never seen any of them look even halfway there, despite sinking multiple drinks. Impervious to the virus and able to drink the place dry, it felt like they had advantages he couldn’t even dream of.
”Well, if you gave me a little more control.”
”No! You’ve done enough already.” This time there was definitely a look. Cory swallowed hard and lifted a hand to cut off a response. ”Sorry. I didn’t mean you. Keep the change.” Fumbling in his pocket Cory pulled out a crumpled five and pushed that across the bar too. ”A tip.” One that he could barely afford. It wasn’t like they got paid a bonus for every soul they collected. They didn’t get paid for it at all. Without Dani paying for the motel room he would’ve been homeless. Augustus tried speaking up again, but he filtered the sound out, hunching over his glass again. The others might have thought he was a boy scout, but better naïve and a goody two-shoes than a thief and manipulator.
He’d never particularly liked the taste of alcohol, but he lifted it to his lips and drank anyway. Setting it down on the bar Cory glanced over at the door that led to the club within the club. Hed had to deal with the souls of a father and daughter that afternoon. A seven year old whose body was so ravaged by leukaemia and chemo that he hadn’t connected the spirit and the body in the bed at first. Recognising the man who had been sobbing at her beside when he’d collapsed from a heart attack an hour later had been far easier. Their deaths, so close to each other’s and the girl’s reaction when he’d taken her father to her heaven, had been rough. Taking a quick trip to see Petyr was meant to ease the ache in his chest, but the second a chubby hand had patted one of the photos he’d given him of his parents, the ’mamama’ slipping out, it had just sharpened.
If he’d been willing to treat this place as self-service the way Leah did, maybe he could drink enough that the grief would fade. Or he could go down and see Hannya. Cory took a gulp from his glass, before glancing at the door again. The blonde drifted across the dance floor towards it. She didn’t pause, didn’t have to duck around people. It was like the dancers were parting for her. For a minute he thought it was Hannya, but then she floated through the door.
Pushing to his feet, Cory took after her. He hadn’t felt the tug of a soul to collect, hadn’t seen or felt any of the other reapers in the crowd either. As he reached the door, he closed his eyes and let the faint collection he had to the spirit carry him through to the other side. Going in blind was a risky move, especially since he didn’t think about turning invisible until after he’d landed.
She stood just inside a door, rage etched across features that must have been pretty as a porcelain doll’s when she was alive. ”It’s alright,” Cory crooned lightly, holding his hands up towards her. ”I can take you away from here, we can go to somewhere better. You don’t have to be scared.” And she wasn’t. She was angry. Scowling, her mouth twisting into a snarl, the woman rushed past him.
Cory spun, then gasped at the man sat in the chair behind his desk. He’d picked up enough of the souls that’d been cut free of their bodies lately to know who he was. ”H-Hector,” he choked, his eyes darting to where the spirit stood just behind Hector’s shoulder. ”I … uh … wouldn’t move I was you. You’ve got a visitor.”
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HECTOR DACRE
Vampire
Posts: 237
Age:
765
Occupation:
Business Owner
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
I made the devil run
Last seen Nov 18, 2024 21:11:04 GMT
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Limbo
Jul 9, 2024 20:02:54 GMT
ANGE likes this
Post by HECTOR DACRE on Jul 9, 2024 20:02:54 GMT
Being back in the real world was bizarre. More bizarre than Hector would care to admit. There was this adjustment period he was going through, trying to settle back into his old life— the life he had before a virus took control of him. It was no longer just him and Linc, but millions of other people in this world. They couldn’t spend their days just cooking good human food and getting drunk. Hector tried chocolate again as soon as he got back to the real world, but immediately spat it back out. It tasted like mud. Pancakes no longer tasted heavenly and whiskey was no longer getting him drunk. Then it hit him. There was actually a part of him that missed being human but he’d never realised it until now. It was something that had been hidden inside him. It had faded away after centuries of being a vampire. Despite his strange adjustment period he was happy to be back, even going as far as saying he was happy to be back at the club, surrounded by the staff. But he knew that could easily be short lived. Someone would do something to irritate him. For now though, they were one big happy dysfunctional family. A family that pulled through for him in his time of need. Even Lawrence crawled out of his depression pit to help. The way everyone pooled together to help him brought a tear to his eye. Hector had quickly nipped into his office to grab his laptop. The club wasn’t just his only business bringing in the money. During his little holiday inside the stone he’d received so many bloody messages via Airbnb regarding various yachts he had for rent around America and South America. Summer had just hit so everyone was keen to hit the ocean. In the midst of that were requests regarding other properties he had around the world. He was about to close his laptop down when Cory appeared in his office, facing the door. It was almost unheard of to catch Hector off guard, but the sudden appearance of the reaper startled him. And he’d brought some kind of spirit into the office with him. Great. Cory spun to face Hector, who didn’t look impressed. Cory’s attention drifted behind Hector. “I don’t care about any visitors. I told you lot no more teleporting in and out of the bar, using this place as some kind of ouija board to speak to your spirits.” He was already on the verge of banning all reapers. It was impossible to keep tabs on them when they were invisible. CORY COLLIER |
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CORY COLLIER
Reaper
Posts: 125
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Sept 30, 2024 19:10:29 GMT
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Limbo
Jul 19, 2024 20:08:46 GMT
JODI likes this
Post by CORY COLLIER on Jul 19, 2024 20:08:46 GMT
If every spirit someone had freed from their body followed them around, instead of getting the option of going to their afterlife, Hector’s office would’ve been crammed wall to wall with them – and that was just from the recent killings. He didn’t want to know how long Hector’s list actually was, how it probably would’ve stretched from here back to the motel. Some men just had layers of blood on their hands.
Cory swallowed hard, his gaze remaining fixed on the spirit behind Hector. The virus had laid the last layers on them, probably turning starched cuffs red and staining the furniture, but if Hector’s reputation was to be believed this woman was the last in a very long line. Maybe she knew it, maybe that was why she was pissed. If Hector had been human and the world was as fair as they all wanted it to be, he probably would’ve been rotting in a cell for life for everything he’d done. The supernatural world was nothing like the human one though. Centuries ago Hector had become something that wasn’t all that bothered about draining people and tossing them aside. It was what he was and unlike him, Hector seemed to have embraced that change – at least until the virus had come along. Would him feeling guilty, if he actually did, do a damn thing for the woman he killed? Probably not.
His gaze flicked back to Hector as he spoke, his brows drawing together as he tried to make out how Hector had ended up pissed at him about this. ”I didn’t ask for a conversation with her,” Cory muttered. He shook his head, freezing as he saw the woman’s hand reach for Hector’s shoulder. ”Don’t,” he warned her, holding up a finger. There were rules that stopped him from dragging a soul off to their final resting place, but if he was lucky she didn’t know that. If he was luckier still, Hector wouldn’t go telling her about it.
”I came in for a drink, that was all. No teleporting, no spirits. Just walked through the door and up to the bar. Is that outlawed now too?” If he was Leah, maybe. She had a way of charming people wherever she went and if she’d come in for a drink, it had likely been a freebie, poured with her own two hands when she’d appeared behind the bar. Instead of taking advantage of what he could do, he’d pulled almost all the money he had out of his pocket for a drink that had done nothing to wash away the day he’d had.
Moving closer to the desk, Cory frowned down at Hector. He’d killed the woman, he had to have done if she was looking at him that way, but he wasn’t evil to the bone the same way that Leah was. ”She cares about you,” he said tightly, lifting his chin to the spot behind Hector’s shoulder. ”She’s pissed, probably enough to find the power to hurt you or someone in here. Blonde, about this tall…” His hand hovered at what would’ve been about shoulder height on Hector. ”Big brown eyes and a little tattoo on her wrist. Do you know her?” What he probably should’ve said was, did you kill her? It wasn’t like he wanted to hear the story of what Hector had done after the day he’d had, but the woman deserved more than being trapped here, growing angrier and more violent as the years passed.
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HECTOR DACRE
Vampire
Posts: 237
Age:
765
Occupation:
Business Owner
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
I made the devil run
Last seen Nov 18, 2024 21:11:04 GMT
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Limbo
Aug 5, 2024 20:23:24 GMT
ANGE likes this
Post by HECTOR DACRE on Aug 5, 2024 20:23:24 GMT
The virus had almost taken everything from him. It was so close to erasing every ounce of sanity he had left, turning him into some merciless killing machine. Towards the end he was tired of fighting, on the verge of giving up. There was nothing left inside of him. The virus was about to destroy him when Magnus and Cassie stepped in with some miracle cure. But the battle had left him mentally exhausted and he certainly wasn’t in the mood to argue with a reaper. He’d been alive for over seven hundred and fifty years and he’d never dealt with reapers as much as he was nowadays. He knew they existed before moving to Mystic Falls, but never actually met one— or at least he didn’t think he had. Now it seemed like there was a new reaper in the bar every five minutes and it wasn’t just about collecting souls either. Hector had tried to reduce the number of fatalities, which came in waves of success. They’d all decided Mystic Falls was their hot bed. Next minute they’ll be hosting staff meetings in his bar. He narrowed his eyes slightly at Cory as he spoke, claiming he hadn’t teleported into the bar. “No but you teleported into my bloody office.” Lucky for Cory’s sensitive eyes Hector wasn’t in there with Hannay doing unholy things. “And that’s outlawed.” While he knew he couldn’t kill Cory, he’d be more than happy to pluck the reaper's limbs from his body. But he knew that wouldn’t be necessary. If any of the reapers were going to listen to Hector it was Cory.
“Cares about me?” He said with a chuckle. Everyone who cared about him was still alive. There was of course Evelyn, but she’d been dead for decades. There was a short swell of hope in his chest that maybe it was Evelyn, but Cory shut it down. “No. Should I know her? I don't really know any humans… I am assuming she is… was human?” There was no point building some kind of connection with someone who was only going to live for such a short period of time. He’d learned that lesson harshly with Evelyn. While they only spent three years together it felt like three decades to Hector. CORY COLLIER |
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CORY COLLIER
Reaper
Posts: 125
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Sept 30, 2024 19:10:29 GMT
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Post by CORY COLLIER on Aug 17, 2024 18:36:00 GMT
To help! The argument stuck in Cory’s throat until he swallowed it away. Elias would’ve read chapter and verse to him about souls being their vocation – one that went beyond what any club owner thought about his territory. There were no boundaries when it came to death. It came to everyone eventually and when it did there would be someone waiting for them. After his dad had died he’d tried thinking about all of that, sitting in the church, hoping that the man who’d shot his dad would end up paying for what he’d done for an eternity, praying that his dad had found peace. It’d all eventually faded though, the consideration about where he might eventually end up tucked into that mental box of things he didn’t want to think about until the crash had shaken it all loose and plunged him deep into that box.
The afterlife wasn’t scary as long as you’d been a decent person in life. It wasn’t about being a saint, nobody ever really was, but as long as you avoided the sort of crimes that carved their mark deep into your soul you wouldn’t end up … down in Hell after. As a human Hector might’ve had to worry about it, but scarred with what he’d done or not, that wasn’t a trip he’d taken in the capable hands of a reaper now. The woman standing behind him might though. Cory didn’t know what she’d done before she’d ended up here, he couldn’t feel which way she’d go yet, not without getting closer and with Hector sat between the two of them complaining about his reaper problem, that wouldn’t happen yet.
Puffing out a breath, Cory licked his lips like he could chase the apology off of him. His gaze flicked back and forth between Hector and the woman. ”I didn’t plan on doing that. I saw something though and I thought it was better to deal with it. I promise I won’t do it again.” Not unless there were extenuating circumstances. Just like the ones he found himself in now. Hector could grumble about it, but what would he prefer? A little visit from a reaper or a pissed off spirit tearing up his office? The woman didn’t exactly look like she was here for a trip down memory lane with someone she’d stuck around on the mortal plane for.
Cares had been the wrong word maybe. The spirit obviously had some sort of connection to Hector, one that concerned her enough to loom over him the way she was now. To his naïve eye she didn’t look particularly happy to be there. It was unnerving him. They weren’t supposed to force souls to go with them, but what if it was to save someone’s life? Would Elias frown upon that? ”She’s bothered about you,” Cory corrected himself, his frown deepening, broad shoulders creeping up towards his ears with the tension running through him. What the hell was he going to do when she did make a move? He shook his head at Hector. ”I don’t know if you should. I don’t have a clue who she is.”
How many years did you have to live before people started just vanishing from your memory almost the second you walked away from them? There were plenty of people, plenty of souls he’d met clogging up his own memory, but keeping them there left him feeling like he was still … normal, human. Cory’s lips pinched and he nodded this time. ”I wouldn’t be seeing her if she wasn’t. We … we don’t deal with people who aren’t. Someone else handles them and I don’t know how many of them can stick around after.” The woman’s eyes filled with tears, sadness over taking the anger for a moment as she reached up a hand to peel the collar away from her throat. Fang marks were carved into the skin just above her collarbone, dark rivulets of blood stretching down from them. ”I think you might’ve killed her. She’s got a bite. M-maybe she’s looking for some payback. Or an apology,” he blurted the suggestion as the soul reached for Hector again. She paused, her fingers an inch from the same spot on Hector’s neck. Could he feel them there? A chill in the air that might plunge into his throat at any moment.
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HECTOR DACRE
Vampire
Posts: 237
Age:
765
Occupation:
Business Owner
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
I made the devil run
Last seen Nov 18, 2024 21:11:04 GMT
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Limbo
Sept 1, 2024 17:00:32 GMT
ANGE likes this
Post by HECTOR DACRE on Sept 1, 2024 17:00:32 GMT
Hector watched Cory with narrowed eyes, a deep furrow etched between his brows. He wasn’t wholly convinced by Cory’s promise. There was something about reapers that he couldn’t trust. The ones like Leah and Elias didn’t help the cause either. It was as if Mystic Falls had been assigned their own personal reapers, floating around town, hiding behind their invisible. There would have been a time where Hector single handedly kept them in a job, but centuries had passed. Even though he didn’t admit it out loud so much had changed him since he made the move from water to land. Those rough edges had been smoothed over in a way. Life was different now. There was no need to rip someone's throat out just to prove a point. Over the past few months though Hector had been keeping the likes of Cory and Damien busy though. Damien had enough brain cells to realise something was off with Hector. He was being sloppy with his kills, not even bothering to try and cover his tracks. Cory went on, his words tumbling out in a rush, trying to explain himself. Something about her being bothered about him. Hector’s mouth twisted into a grimace. None of it was making sense. Who the hell would be bothered enough about him to show up in his office? It was chilling to think of how many other souls had done the same to him. Lingering in his office, watching him while he goes about his day. Hector held back a sigh, “Yes I’m aware how your job works… reapers for humans and hellhounds for everything else.” Although he’d yet to meet these infamous hellhounds and hopefully he never would. This time he didn’t hold back the sigh though. It rolled out of him with a hint of sadness. “This sounds awful, but it doesn’t exactly narrow it down for me.” He wasn’t going to let some ghost tear into him over something he could barely remember. But guilt gnawed at him, the edges of it scraping his insides raw. Maybe he had done it—maybe she had been one of those faces, one of those lives he’d left in the dust without a second thought. There was change in the atmosphere. If Cory hadn’t mentioned it he would have had no idea someone was standing behind him. “That virus got inside my head and turned me into a murderous lunatic… turned me into something I’m not.” And no one was more furious at him than he was with himself. “I’m sorry I killed her. It was nothing personal. I was very sick.” That was the best answer he could give Cory. CORY COLLIER |
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CORY COLLIER
Reaper
Posts: 125
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Sept 30, 2024 19:10:29 GMT
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Limbo
Sept 23, 2024 21:16:30 GMT
JODI likes this
Post by CORY COLLIER on Sept 23, 2024 21:16:30 GMT
This would’ve been a hundred times easier if Hector could just swivel around in his chair to see the woman looming over him. Hundreds of years of life probably meant you had millions of faces rolling around in your head, making it a frustrating and nearly endless game of Guess Who as you tried to recognise any of them. She could’ve aired her grievances without him having to play the middle man, risking pissing them both off when he couldn’t pass things on the way they wanted to. A ticked off spirit on one side of him, a vampire who’d been slaughtering people without a second thought on a short while ago on the other. It wasn’t a spot he’d wanted to be in, but when you’d made a deal with a lying asshole, you didn’t have much choice about it.
Augustus probably would’ve left Hector to it, not caring about the mess left to clean up afterwards, but Cory knew he couldn’t. He’d seen too many spirits trapped by their thirst for vengeance or burning need to try and hold on to the shredded remnants of the life they’d had. This one was definitely pissed off – more than Hector and his frown – he couldn’t walk away from her. Scarecrow tall and thin, he stood in front of Hector and let it all spill out. Some little detail would trigger the memory and Hector would realise exactly what was going on.
”Right,” Cory puffed. He pressed his lips together, rubbing his knuckles over them as he continued to watch the spirit behind Hector’s shoulder. It felt like if he just blinked she’d snap and do … whatever she’d been planning to do to Hector when she’d drifted in here. Wasn’t like it felt like it was just a friendly visit. ”That’s gotta shorten the list, right?” Although maybe not. How many humans had Hector slaughtered in the last couple of months, let alone over the centuries that he’d been alive? If all of them were still hanging around they’d probably fill the club a dozen times over. The dead would outnumber the living and the sheer amount of spirit energy would have driven anybody with a heartbeat screaming out of here – him included if he could’ve gotten away with it. One at a time was bad enough.
Apparently he’d been wrong about the options being limited enough that Hector could pluck a name out of thin air. Cory stared at Hector, slowly dropping his hand. The spirit wasn’t the only one sad about this whole thing. ”There’s really been that many?” The woman didn’t seem too pleased with the idea. Anger flamed back up in her eyes, her face growing mask like again. ”What’s your name?” he asked her, a thin thread of desperation in his voice. Either she couldn’t speak or she didn’t give a shit about offering it up, she stayed silent, just moving closer until he maybe wouldn’t have enough time to stop her if she did try and do something to him.
”P-please don’t,” he whispered. Cory stepped forward, his hand held out towards her, only inches away from Hector now. The explanation spilled out of him, an apology close enough behind that it snapped the woman’s eyes down towards the back of Hector’s head. ”I think that helped. You honestly think it was while you were sick?” His gaze locked with the spirit’s, an apology writing itself over his face in an echo of the look on Hector’s. ”He’s telling the truth. There’s some sickness in the town that’s stopping people from being able to control themselves. We managed to heal him, I know it’s too late for you, but he won’t hurt people like that again. Will you?”
Tears coursed down the woman’s cheeks again. She took a half step back, her hand falling away before she edged around the desk. Cory turned with her, his hand reaching out to her. ”Tell her again,” he told Hector. ”The sorry bit, I think it’s working. I think she’s ready to let go.” Like always there was a faint chill that crept up his arm as he held the spirit’s hand. ”I can take you somewhere better, somewhere you’ll be at peace. I promise I’ll watch over him for you, make sure he doesn’t hurt anybody again.” The lie threatened to stick in Cory’s voice. He could try and watch out for Hector, but there was no way on Earth (or up in Heaven) he’d really be able to stop him if he decided to just snap a neck or feed a little too long. It wasn’t his job to really.
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HECTOR DACRE
Vampire
Posts: 237
Age:
765
Occupation:
Business Owner
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
I made the devil run
Last seen Nov 18, 2024 21:11:04 GMT
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Limbo
Oct 4, 2024 22:35:12 GMT
ANGE likes this
Post by HECTOR DACRE on Oct 4, 2024 22:35:12 GMT
Hector was doing his best to keep his patience in check with Cory. The guy was just trying to do his job, but Hector didn’t have time to play some ghostly version of Guess Who. He had far more pressing matters to attend to, like researching their next vacation spot. “There’s no way to shorten this list you speak of. Almost all my victims were humans. I’m a vampire. If there was a witch behind me, we could’ve figured this out ten minutes ago,” he said dryly. Sure, there were the occasional vampires he’d turned, and maybe a stray werewolf or two, but ninety percent of his victims were human. Not exactly something he was bragging about, but it was the reality of his long, brutal existence. He’d done plenty of terrible things he regretted, but unlike the baby vampires, Hector knew how to process the guilt: you acknowledge it, then move on. No wallowing. Either Cory was incredibly naive, or he had no idea how old Hector really was. “I’m over seven hundred years old. I haven’t exactly been spending my time rescuing stray puppies.” Hector had no intention of outlining the past seven centuries for him, especially not the two-hundred-year period where he and his crew had torn through villages like a plague. Again, nothing to boast about. He settled back into his chair as Cory continued speaking to the invisible woman, the ghost Hector had apparently wronged. She had no clue what kind of man Hector was, other than the one who had ripped out her throat and ended her life abruptly. He nodded slowly when Cory asked about the virus. “Look, I don’t make a habit of killing humans for no reason. I’m not that kind of vampire anymore. I’m too old for reckless killing.” He and Magnus had long passed the age where stalking humans down dark alleys and pouncing on them was entertaining. “Not without good reason.” Hector wasn’t going to make some hollow promise that he’d never kill again—he would—but it wouldn’t be mindless. Holding back a sigh, he wondered how many other ghosts would creep into his office demanding apologies. “I’m sorry I killed you.” His voice softened, genuine in its apology, though a frown crossed his face at Cory’s next remark. There was no way Cory was going to ‘watch over’ him. That was a conversation for another time. Once Cory finally disappeared, Hector let out the long sigh he’d been holding since the start of their chat. CORY COLLIER - end! |
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hope to see you in the discord! 
