Sunday, November 24, 2013

Character: Never

Never was originally named Nevel and from Ohio but his parents moved to Las Vegas when he was 14. It was a new town. A place of bright lights, big money and lots of ways to get into trouble. When his friends were sneaking into bars and such - he was never able to get in because he always looked too young. When they were breaking into places to steal something for some extra cash, he was never invited along because he was so thin they thought he couldn't pull his weight. His parents constantly fought over money and things and he was routinely reminded that he would Never amount to anything, never get into a good school, etc. etc. etc. Over and over again, he was told that he would Never be anything. After a while the name stuck.

One weekend during his senior year, he decided to do something that people told him he would never be able to do. He snuck into a club. It was one of the darker bars off the strip in Vegas. There he met a guy who looked to be in his mid-twenties. The guy, Joey, said he was a bouncer and that Never needed to get out of the club. Never refused but the guy was stupidly strong for his size. There was something to the guy's voice that said he wasn't trying to be a dick but was actually trying to help him out. Joey asked who he was, what he was doing at the bar and what he wanted. Never explained by giving his 'new name' and saying that he never wanted to end up like everyone around him. He never wanted to grow old, never wanted to die, or be one of those lifeless, grey people he always saw around the city. No life in them at all. Joey told him to be careful what he wished for.

The bar was a Blood Bar - a place for vampires to hunt in the city. That night, a few minutes after Joey had thrown Never out, the sabbat attacked it with a few fire bombs and shot the place up to be sure. Joey was out back of the club making sure that Never was going to actually leave when they came. Rather than turning to run when the first bottles of flaming napalm hit the building, Joey ran back inside to help and for some reason he couldn't ever understand - Nevel went in with him.

The fire stopped anyone from leaving through the front, and the spray of bullets peppered anyone who was near the door. While the two of them were helping people out the back door, the sabbat had made the circle around the block and were now tossing firebombs to close the exit. When fire blocked the door, it was Never who grabbed a bucket of ice from behind the bar to douse them and clear a path. And for his act of bravery he was shot twice through the chest by one of the gunmen as they drove by. He fell to the ground as though someone cut his strings and everything seemed to go black.

His embrace was quick. His sire, a Gangrel anarch named Joey, only met with him for an hour before he had made up his mind to change Never's life forever. His quick thinking had saved Joey's life and the life of a few other vampires in the club. Joey was not just a gangrel, he was at one time part of the Sabbat; a city gangrel. However, being unbondable by their blood, he eventually fled his birth pack and was hiding in Vegas.

Never's first memory since the embrace has been the first memory he can recall; waking up in what felt like a cool blanket and then realized he was covered in dirt. He was only buried a few inches below the surface but it was enough to freak him out a little. He spent only three nights with his sire - enough to get him past the shaky first few steps and then Joey vanished. Joey called his cellphone to tell him that Vegas wasn't safe for either of them and that he was going to try and get rid of the people who were after him. His sire recommended that he had to California and that he would be in touch when he could.

That was four weeks ago.



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