Vacation's all I ever wanted~

Consider for a moment, the possibility of accomplishing a stupendous challenge and achieving your greatest immediate desire. What does one do immediately after such a feat? Some, may stubbornly decide that immediate goals are simply stepping stones towards a much greater achievement. While they may be partially correct in that regard, to blindly chase after that final goal so quickly is the mistake of an amateur. Lives, even a supernatural unlife, can be depressingly short, especially when one has such enemies as the mighty Catholic Church set against them. As such, the only reasonable order of business is a bit of enjoyment here and there. A celebration is in order and who was Almos Lorand to deny his own baser instincts which roared for wanton enjoyment and debauchery? Though the decision to celebrate his victory in Rome was already made, the question remained of where he should go. Not one to succumb to overconfidence so soon after a resounding, and a bit insulting, victory over the Papists, Lorand knew that it was in his best interests to leave Europe for a while. Though he was confident that the Americans still believed him to be dead, Lorand was not enough of a gambler to tempt the wrath of Uncle Sam just yet.

What the vampire needed was a location civilized enough to live comfortably in (and cause a fair bit of chaos) while not drawing unnecessarily high amounts of attention from religious parties. Mexico seemed like the best option. A longtime location for outlaws escaping the long arm of the law, it had long been suffering from the violence of the drug cartels that engaged in truly despicable acts against their fellow man. A few more mangled bodies shouldn't have been too suspicious. As long as he kept from making an army of ghouls he could probably relax there for a few weeks enjoying the local delicacies, not to mention the locals themselves. Having convinced himself that it was safe enough to chance, Lorand had found himself aboard a small plane soaring across the sea en route to the one and only Mexico City.

Having never been to Mexico before, it quickly became apparent that Almos was something of a fish out of water. Wandering the streets of the slums at dusk, the vampire had become hopelessly lost within short notice of leaving the airport. Then again, that was really par for the course these days. Though he had a plan or two on the back burner, Almos was by and large a man of the moment. Seek entertainment for the sake of entertainment. Enjoy all that you see and take what you like. Should someone try and stop you, well, that's when you kindly rip them in half and turn the interloper's entire family into raving monsters or mentally shattered shells incapable of ever again enjoying life. Priorities had to be respected after all.

Those priorities were exactly what had led Almos to wander without fear of the area that he found himself in. If anything, he was quite happy to have stumbled across the graffiti covered, dirty streets and storefronts sporting broken windows galore. These areas always had the best games to play. Games such as "how many hookers can I kill and stack in a human pyramid before they tip over" and "how many narcotics does it take to incite a high in a vampire". Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to play either of them just yet. Instead, he would need to make due with "brutally kill the the first bastard that makes a move".

Being the only incredibly pale person in the area, it was not long before a small group of local toughs decided that he was a good mark for a mugging. Three in total, they approached and surrounded the blond man quickly enough and began verbally assaulting him in Spanish. Pity he didn't speak it...yet. Predictably, they dragged the uninterested vampire into a back alley to do whatever it is violent youths in need of money do to a fabulous looking foreigner. At least, they would have if Lorand had been a normal man. The first of them to draw a knife on him was probably the most confused. It wasn't every day that another man grabs your wrist and forced the limb, knife and all, through your own stomach. Tempted to use the young man's hand sticking out of his back to wave at the other two, Almos decided that it would be in bad taste...so of course he did it before tossing the sagging body into a nearby dumpster.

The response from the second criminal was a bit better than the first. Pulling an Uzi was at least a step in the right direction. However, once again the simple fact that Almos was a vampire proved to be their undoing as Lorand was upon him before he could even take aim. One hand controlling the criminal's weapon hand, Almos snaked his other arm around his waist and up his back to hold him by the back of the neck. Frightened and confused as he was, the criminal's state could only have gotten worse when Almos pulled him into a forced kiss, detecting the faint taste of tequilla with experimental flicks of his tongue. The gunman tried his level best to wriggle free, a futile gesture made no better by the rapid departure of his sole surviving ally who began fleeing the alley. Still holding the gun steady, Almos used Enkidu to give chase and ensnare the third man around the neck, dragging him back before abruptly snapping his neck. A swift toss sent him into the same dumpster as his friend, leaving only the gunman still alive.

Finally breaking their kiss, Almos smiled reassuringly before biting down on the man's throat to silence any cries for help. Blood, strength and of course memories began to flow as Almos devoured the man. It would certainly make the next few days here easier at least as memories of growing up in the area and being taught Spanish as a child were included among the many other interesting tidbits Almos was able to draw from his meal. Flipping the husk aside with the other trash, Lorand began paging through his newest collection of information for anything useful. Luckily for the easily bored vampire, the neighborhood he'd found himself in was a rather violent one currently engaged in something of a gang war. Drug cartel leaders were being assassinated left and right. Dangerous new drugs were being sold in mass quantities. Rumors said that the stuff was potent enough to kill a normal man. Now that had the potential for a fun time. It was certainly worth investigating a bit rather than simply settling for street variety alternatives and murder. Even murder get's boring after a while don't you know. Wiping his mouth off, Almos slipped his hands back into his pockets and strolled down the alley. These punks had feared the local cartel boss as a man not to be triffled with. To Almos, he was some fat gangster whose death would allow him to expand his horizons even further. Hardly a challenge for a creature of his caliber.

OOC: More to come in the next post.

OOC: Part 2

Having found a rather interesting method to alleviate his own boredom and potentially experience an enlightening new narcotic, Almos' next step was to seek out one of these cartel leaders that was supposedly being targeted for assassination. A local boss, the memories gained from those local street toughs and a hooker or two had been enough to tell the century old vampire the man's name, appearance and address. However, while he now knew where his prey resided, that did not quite ensure his outright success. Simply strolling through the front gate cutting down every man in sight until he came across the cartel boss was a potential strategy but it flew in the face of the very reason that Lorand had come to Mexico in the first place. In the past few months he'd managed to come into conflict with the anti-vampire organizations of Great Britain, the United States and the entire Catholic Church. He needed to lay low for a while, especially considering he was currently in a relatively Catholic state. With that in mind he couldn't very well engage in a blatantly superhuman attack on the cartel leader's home. Thankfully, there were other options available to the Hungarian vampire.

Standing atop a neighboring roof top, Almos surveyed the cartel leader's home under the cover of darkness. It was an impressive building, a fine two story estate house seemingly ripped straight from Scarface. As expected, there was security. Armed men patrolled the front and back yard with weaponry and a sturdy iron gate surrounded the property line. The main point of interest for the former monk was the driveway. There seemed to be only a single garage attached to the basement of the building which followed a blacktop path towards a private side gate with guards of it's own. That was all he needed to make this work.

Dropping down from the rooftop, Almos went to work with his own preparations. Specifically, that involved tracking down four automobiles on the streets of Mexico with drivers possessing weak wills. To be honest, it wasn't nearly as difficult as Almos had believed it would be. The people of this neighborhood were a broken lot, haggard by the drug trade strangling the life from the area and beating them down lower and lower into poverty. Exerting his own supernatural influence over them, the middle aged drivers became putty in his hands. Luckily for them, Lorand was a kind master...at first. All that he ordered of them was to drive to the nearest gas station to fill up their tanks with fuel as well as many cans of gas as they could a afford. When all was said and done, Lorand's new lemmings were driving three old pickup trucks loaded to capacity with red canisters of gasoline. Grinning at the sight, Almos had them make their way back towards the street which led to the cartel leader's home while remaining several blocks off.

With that accomplished, the next stage of the plan could begin. The caps on the gas cans were removed and in their place one rag per container was jammed in. Using a few lighters, Lorand was kind hearted enough to assist his minions in lighting the ends of the rags ablaze before issuing his final order to the three of them. Drive. Drive as fast as you can to smash your cars into that house. Slaves to his vampiric will, the three Mexican natives quickly entered their vehicles and peeled off at top speed towards the home several blocks away. Weaving between other cars on their suicidal path of destruction, the cars quickly drew the attention of the estate guards as they made their approach. Automatic weapons opened fire on the speeding vehicles but it was to no avail. Half hazard shots made with the intent to make the drivers veer away were useless before lemming with no fear of death left within them.

Bullets pinged off the front of the trucks, peppering the windshield of one of the cars as well as the driver. But it was much too late. Their momentum had been established and the dying driver and his vehicle barreled through the front gate as gunfire continued to rain upon them. Too late did the guards realize the full cargo of these interlopers and the mass quantities of gasoline ignited in three massive fireballs as their suicidal charge sent them crashing into the target's house. Burning fuel flew through the arm, spraying over the house and quickly spreading the blaze in the dry air. As the vehicles other gas tanks were finally ignited, the inferno only grew to envelope the entire front of the manor. Firefighters or no, there was little hope of saving that house at this point and with that blaze, no one would be escaping through the front of the building.

That left only the garage exit readily available. Though visually impressive, those car crashes would not likely kill the cartel leader. They were intended to flush him out of this little stronghold while his men attempted to reestablish some measure of order over the blazing fire all around them. Assuming his prey to be a competent individual, Lorand was assuming that a man in his position would leave the scene of the attack lest even more attackers make themselves known. After all, what sort of mad man would just sit in a burning building out of pride?

His guess paid off well enough as the garage door opened and a single black sedan made it's way down the driveway towards the side exit as expected. Lorand was already lying in wait from a solid vantage point atop a nearby apartment building. Watching carefully for any other cars to leave the manor, Lorand was finally convinced that the single car he'd seen was carrying his prey. Flashing a satisfied grin, Almos leaped high into the air, his coat tails flapping behind him in the dry breeze. The sedan was passing by the apartment so it was now or never. His aim would need to be spot on. He began to fall as gravity took hold, the ground coming up faster and faster. The sedan was entering his field of vision. Lining up the heels of his boots, Almos braced himself for impact. Supernatural strength or not, this landing might sting a bit.

It was with a resounding crash that the vampire slammed feet first onto the top of the sedan which understandably swerved violently out of sheer shock. It would take them only a moment to figure out something had landed on them. Lorand had no intention of giving the driver, and likely the guard in the passenger seat, a chance to get on the ball. Driving his right hand through the sky light, the vampire grabbed onto the scalp of the screaming man in the backseat and violently yanked him upward until his entire head was pulled through the recently made hole in the top of the sedan. There he was, a perfect match for the man that had filled those gangster's hearts with so much fear. Oddly satisfying to see him absolutely terrified like this. His smile widening, Almos wasted no time on theatrics. With a sharp twist and mighty heave, the former monk snapped the cartel leader's neck and tore his head from his shoulders.

As the head came free, the car came to a stop and the front doors began to open. No doubt to be followed by a pair of armed men. Pity they'd have nothing to shoot at. Pushing off hard, Almos vaulted into the air again, sailing a bit to land on the nearest rooftop before speeding off into the night. At best, the guards would have gotten a blurry glance at a blond man in dark clothing before being left with their astonished mouths agape. He couldn't really blame them for such a reaction. They were trained to shoot people and hustle street corners, not react to a high class vampire out for blood.

Putting those thoughts aside, Almos made his way across town to the neighborhood specified in the advertisements those punks in the alley had seen. He was happy to be rid of the bloody remains. It had been such a bother hanging onto it without allowing his clothes to become ruined by his foul smelling blood. Tossing the severed head into the dumpster as instructed, Almos included the contact information for a cheap "pay as you go" phone that could be easily disposed of once he actually met this mysterious drug dealer. All that should be left now was the wait until his future seller retrieved the head and gave him a call. But whatever to do until then? The normal response would be to cause a bit more chaos in the city to kill time but in all fairness, he'd just managed to piss off a major cartel that was most likely in chaos now. Positive i.d. or not, he didn't want to risk leaving a trail of mutilated bodies in his wake until after he'd made contact with this drug dealer. No reason to cut his vacation short just yet.

OOC: Hopefully that should just about do it.