Lucyfer
Said you'd die for me, well -- there's the ground
It had been an interesting couple of days for Keres Anthos, a triumvir of a group of Mediterranean vampires. It had begun when she went to meet Carmilla, a Styrian vampire she had been gradually befriending over the years as another powerful woman in a world still dominated by men. After all, when people had to show up and do things in the human world, it was still men they preferred to talk with – not centuries old vampire women.
It was a frustration they could commiserate on, and had, for a while.
Unfortunately, that seemed about as far as their friendship was going to go, as it was now at an end after Carmilla used the excuse of a meeting to capture her and bring her before Dracula for her opposition. She avoided immediately execution by giving enough hints of things she knew about the opposing vampires to be dubbed ‘useful’ – and so tossed in a cell, full of light.
Dracula wasn’t stupid, at any rate. The less shadows, the more difficult it was for her to do anything. Being bound and drained didn’t help matters, either. Nor did being left to starve as a form of torture, since Dracula apparently had no generals nor night creatures to spare right then. He was still in Romania, after all.
It would be a while before he needed to think of her.
And Keres would thirst – not that she wasn’t always thirsty.
The bane of her curse.
At least there was nothing nearby she wanted to drink. At least…there hadn’t been, until a woman who clearly was no vampire came into sight. Keres fixed her attention on the stranger, the scent of her blood enticing, despite some oddity to it. Human? Something other?
Keres wasn’t allowed to focus on that. She still had all her facilities, and when a key was waved, and freedom promised, she forced her hunger back and put her attention to just that – escape. She didn’t so much as ask the other woman’s name.
It should have been worth more investigation than that, but Keres didn’t have any other options, and she’d rather die than talk about what she knew.
Next thing she knew, she was out of the cell, and running. Through luck, through a fluke – Keres didn’t know, and Keres didn’t much care – they crashed their way through Dracula’s mirror, uncertain of where it would take them, only certain it would get them out of his castle.
Thankfully, it was night on the other side.
Keres wouldn’t waste time with relief, “We need to—”
Even as she was saying it, she was interrupted by those terrible creatures the forgemasters crafted, not true demons, but night creatures. Keres bared her fangs at them, before she’d grab the arm of the strange woman and step into the shadows, cloaking both of them in an instant, and seemingly vanishing from the spot, only to appear several meters away, under new shadows, before vanishing again, and again.
Shadow-stepping was infinitely useful for making swift get aways, and they needed to be out of sight of the mirror.
That did not, unfortunately, put them out of range of the creatures which spilled out, and could smell the both of them. Those with wings were quick to take to the sky and track them down. Keres had no plans of stopping where she was, when the creature fell from the sky and pinned her to the spot by impaling a corkscrew spear through her shoulder. Other creatures were quick to drop out of the sky as well to engage them when Keres let out a piercing scream at the sudden pain, the whites of her eyes bleeding red.
She was too hungry.
She was too angry.
And now, she was in far too much pain to deal with this shit any longer.
The demon that was nearest was the first to fall, head severed by five long fingernails, before the vampiress ripped the spear out of her arm and chucked it into the next one, impaling them on a tree, and rounding on a third. Demon blood was useless to her as a nutritive substance, but that didn’t stop her fangs from tearing right into their throat to rip it out and put a quick end to them, as well.
~***~
The journey from Gresit had been tedious.
Perhaps Alucard might have considered it exhausting, if he had any capacity to feel tired any longer. The exhaustion he now felt was more of a numbness as they continued onwards, their journey to the Belmont Estate not a short one, and each day made it feel longer as they encountered night creatures, or the remains of night creature attacks. Finding anywhere that was safe, or had much in the way of food or shelter, was next to impossible.
That night, they had set up camp once again just off a main road. Despite the dangers, a fire was still necessary against the chill of the night, as well as to cook any food they would be lucky enough to catch.
Alucard intended to go about hunting something up; his senses for animals were a bit better than Trevor’s.
Alucard was convinced the only thing Trevor could find was alcohol.
“I’ll—”
The wind carried a scream.
Blood. ‘Wait—’ Alucard recognized first vampire blood, then demon. Was another hunter out there fighting? Had vampires found them so soon? He couldn’t imagine vampires in this area, just night creatures. Certainly, Dracula was keeping the vampires close.
Sypha was already climbing to her feet, ever the one to want to go help, “Someone’s in trouble,” not that it wasn’t obvious, but Alucard nodded, agreeing more with the sentiment of her words. Someone needed help, and they were there to provide it.
“This way,” he could scent it out easily enough, and he dashed ahead, knowing Sypha and Trevor would not be long behind him, even if Trevor might be grudgingly following. He wouldn’t leave the pair of them to face down night creatures alone, and which were only likely to come after their little camp next.
When Alucard broke out into the area of the skirmish ahead of the others, he was surprised to see it was a vampire against a night creature. More, that he recognized the vampiress, although he did not know her well. He had seen her about Dracula’s castle a couple of times, and recalled a few tips she’d given Lisa about plants in her keeping – the Greek, “Kore,” the title escaped him in surprise, before he drew his sword, and struck down one of the creatures.
There was another there, he realized, not truly understanding who or what she was in the haze of all the violence, but understanding she was also a target of the nightcreatures, and so he would make sure that the brunette woman was unharmed as well, moving swiftly to shield her from a strike.
Answers could come later – hopefully.
There was the chance of Trevor going right for the vampire, but Alucard imagined he could stop that before one or the other actually got into it.
Ideally, Trevor would recognize that a vampire fighting against night creatures was no friend of Dracula and he’d hold off long enough to find out more – but Alucard didn’t hold his intelligence in high regard.
Sypha was wise enough that, once she made it through – despite the gasp – she launched fire at the night creature’s and avoided hitting the vampire, and the woman.
She’d have plenty of questions soon.
Asteria
It was a frustration they could commiserate on, and had, for a while.
Unfortunately, that seemed about as far as their friendship was going to go, as it was now at an end after Carmilla used the excuse of a meeting to capture her and bring her before Dracula for her opposition. She avoided immediately execution by giving enough hints of things she knew about the opposing vampires to be dubbed ‘useful’ – and so tossed in a cell, full of light.
Dracula wasn’t stupid, at any rate. The less shadows, the more difficult it was for her to do anything. Being bound and drained didn’t help matters, either. Nor did being left to starve as a form of torture, since Dracula apparently had no generals nor night creatures to spare right then. He was still in Romania, after all.
It would be a while before he needed to think of her.
And Keres would thirst – not that she wasn’t always thirsty.
The bane of her curse.
At least there was nothing nearby she wanted to drink. At least…there hadn’t been, until a woman who clearly was no vampire came into sight. Keres fixed her attention on the stranger, the scent of her blood enticing, despite some oddity to it. Human? Something other?
Keres wasn’t allowed to focus on that. She still had all her facilities, and when a key was waved, and freedom promised, she forced her hunger back and put her attention to just that – escape. She didn’t so much as ask the other woman’s name.
It should have been worth more investigation than that, but Keres didn’t have any other options, and she’d rather die than talk about what she knew.
Next thing she knew, she was out of the cell, and running. Through luck, through a fluke – Keres didn’t know, and Keres didn’t much care – they crashed their way through Dracula’s mirror, uncertain of where it would take them, only certain it would get them out of his castle.
Thankfully, it was night on the other side.
Keres wouldn’t waste time with relief, “We need to—”
Even as she was saying it, she was interrupted by those terrible creatures the forgemasters crafted, not true demons, but night creatures. Keres bared her fangs at them, before she’d grab the arm of the strange woman and step into the shadows, cloaking both of them in an instant, and seemingly vanishing from the spot, only to appear several meters away, under new shadows, before vanishing again, and again.
Shadow-stepping was infinitely useful for making swift get aways, and they needed to be out of sight of the mirror.
That did not, unfortunately, put them out of range of the creatures which spilled out, and could smell the both of them. Those with wings were quick to take to the sky and track them down. Keres had no plans of stopping where she was, when the creature fell from the sky and pinned her to the spot by impaling a corkscrew spear through her shoulder. Other creatures were quick to drop out of the sky as well to engage them when Keres let out a piercing scream at the sudden pain, the whites of her eyes bleeding red.
She was too hungry.
She was too angry.
And now, she was in far too much pain to deal with this shit any longer.
The demon that was nearest was the first to fall, head severed by five long fingernails, before the vampiress ripped the spear out of her arm and chucked it into the next one, impaling them on a tree, and rounding on a third. Demon blood was useless to her as a nutritive substance, but that didn’t stop her fangs from tearing right into their throat to rip it out and put a quick end to them, as well.
~***~
The journey from Gresit had been tedious.
Perhaps Alucard might have considered it exhausting, if he had any capacity to feel tired any longer. The exhaustion he now felt was more of a numbness as they continued onwards, their journey to the Belmont Estate not a short one, and each day made it feel longer as they encountered night creatures, or the remains of night creature attacks. Finding anywhere that was safe, or had much in the way of food or shelter, was next to impossible.
That night, they had set up camp once again just off a main road. Despite the dangers, a fire was still necessary against the chill of the night, as well as to cook any food they would be lucky enough to catch.
Alucard intended to go about hunting something up; his senses for animals were a bit better than Trevor’s.
Alucard was convinced the only thing Trevor could find was alcohol.
“I’ll—”
The wind carried a scream.
Blood. ‘Wait—’ Alucard recognized first vampire blood, then demon. Was another hunter out there fighting? Had vampires found them so soon? He couldn’t imagine vampires in this area, just night creatures. Certainly, Dracula was keeping the vampires close.
Sypha was already climbing to her feet, ever the one to want to go help, “Someone’s in trouble,” not that it wasn’t obvious, but Alucard nodded, agreeing more with the sentiment of her words. Someone needed help, and they were there to provide it.
“This way,” he could scent it out easily enough, and he dashed ahead, knowing Sypha and Trevor would not be long behind him, even if Trevor might be grudgingly following. He wouldn’t leave the pair of them to face down night creatures alone, and which were only likely to come after their little camp next.
When Alucard broke out into the area of the skirmish ahead of the others, he was surprised to see it was a vampire against a night creature. More, that he recognized the vampiress, although he did not know her well. He had seen her about Dracula’s castle a couple of times, and recalled a few tips she’d given Lisa about plants in her keeping – the Greek, “Kore,” the title escaped him in surprise, before he drew his sword, and struck down one of the creatures.
There was another there, he realized, not truly understanding who or what she was in the haze of all the violence, but understanding she was also a target of the nightcreatures, and so he would make sure that the brunette woman was unharmed as well, moving swiftly to shield her from a strike.
Answers could come later – hopefully.
There was the chance of Trevor going right for the vampire, but Alucard imagined he could stop that before one or the other actually got into it.
Ideally, Trevor would recognize that a vampire fighting against night creatures was no friend of Dracula and he’d hold off long enough to find out more – but Alucard didn’t hold his intelligence in high regard.
Sypha was wise enough that, once she made it through – despite the gasp – she launched fire at the night creature’s and avoided hitting the vampire, and the woman.
She’d have plenty of questions soon.
Asteria