4. Loss

[hismasterpiece]

[Action -- After Nightfall on the 11th]

[A pale young woman wanders into the village, twisting her hair round her fingers compulsively. She's hungry.


She's STARVING.

A whimper escapes her lips as she collapses by the fountain, and she calls out weakly:]

Spikey? Love sundae? The jaws can't bite; the claws can't catch.

[/Action]


[Drusilla has returned from death. Her DP is that she has lost the ability to go gameface and, therefore, to feed on victims using her fangs.]

Comments

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[bloodwaif]

"It keeps all the wolves at bay, does it? Your fancy stick?" She was smiling as she spoke, one hand clutching the fountain's edge being all that was keeping her from losing her balance and toppling to the ground.

[quicktoanger]

"Wizard, remember?"

I didn't lower it.

"What good is a wizard without a staff?"

She was still smiling and talking all creepy, but she seemed like she was on the verge of collapse.

[bloodwaif]

"He could still be a good man." She went down on one knee. "Without a staff."


Good men tasted all the more delicious, somehow.

[quicktoanger]

"Tried that. Almost got me eaten. Done playing nice."

... Why was she so frail all of a sudden?

"... So what happened? Did getting dusted give you weak legs?"

[hismasterpiece]

"Not eating, wizard. Not eating weakens a woman. Would you crawl upon my plate? I do not need a spoon."

A knife, though -- that she needed.

[quicktoanger]

"Remember what I said about playing nice almost getting me eaten? Maybe you should go back to lamb's blood, lady."

[bloodwaif]

"I have tried, but the shepherds are watchful, now." An uncomfortable shift; the bones in her fingers are standing almost through the skin. "And I need a sharp knife."

[quicktoanger]

I blinked.

"... Don't vampires kinda have their knives built in?"

[bloodwaif]

"That, wizard, was an unconscionable joke. You must be shriven upon the hour, and pray ten loops of the beads!"

[quicktoanger]

"Yeah, me and the almighty don't talk much anymore, and my jokes aren't nearly as unconscionable as your demented, unintelligible-"

And then it hit me.

"When you came back to Luceti, you lost your fangs."

A defanged vampire. Not a threat.

... Oh, hell.

[hismasterpiece]

"Lost lost lost lost we're ALL lost!" she snapped in reply, tossing her hair. Maybe it was time to crawl away and drink at the blood of a recently dead animal.


Ugh. Gutter leavings.

[quicktoanger]

"... Maybe if we got you something recently butchered?"

Something nonhuman, mind.

Hell, maybe the grocery store would have blood.

[hismasterpiece]

"Who are you going to kill?" she asked, curious. Perhaps she'd misjudged him.

[quicktoanger]

"Not who, what. An animal of some kind, and if we're lucky, there might be blood in the shop already."

Somehow, I didn't think she'd like that answer. Somehow I didn't think I'd care.

[hismasterpiece]

"Ugh. Animals!" She needs blood to survive at this point, but her lip still curls. "As though I were a beggar in the street!"

[quicktoanger]

"Well, not to put too fine a point on it, lady, but you are in the street. Begging."

[hismasterpiece]

"........I need blood." It was possibly the least-mad thing she'd said since arriving in Luceti.

[quicktoanger]

"Well, I have no intention of giving you the human variety. Call it a refusal on religious grounds if you like. So, really, it's pretty straightforward. Stick to animals., or try and take on another human... and see if you can win round two with the Slayer when you're too weak to walk properly."

It was possible I'd developed a slightly sadistic smile.

Vampires. It's a thing.

[hismasterpiece]

"Very well, wizard. Feed to me the blood of animals. I do not...want.


I do not want to die again."

[quicktoanger]

"Who does?"

The smile faded. I really had no clear idea of what I would do with this, but somehow the idea of just letting her starve seemed needlessly cruel. Hell, maybe I could get her used to animals and then she wouldn't need to kill anybody at all.

"Alright, can you walk, or do you need help?"

[hismasterpiece]

"I need help. I need strong arms. I need...I need my Spikey-boo."

[quicktoanger]

"I'm not sure what a Spikey-boo is supposed to be, lady, but here."

I leaned down and offered her a hand. I figured even if she was faking, she'd have a tough time reaching my neck before I lit her up.

[hismasterpiece]

Very hesitantly, she took that offered hand, leaning heavily on his arm. She probably feels very light to lift, considering how starved she is and how slight to begin with.

"He was here, once; here, but now gone. And I'm pining. He'd be ever so cross with me."

[quicktoanger]

Hell's bells, she felt lighter than a little kid right then. Supporting her weight, I began slowly walking her toward the grocery store.

"This Spikey guy, is he a vampire too?"

Hey, figured if she told me about him, I wouldn't get suckered in again.

Not that I wasn't getting suckered in right now, but that was different, I was fully prepared for the eventuality of her trying to kill me.

[hismasterpiece]

"He is beautiful, like a diamond. Smooth as glass. Not a nick in him, save just above his eye, and it fits right along the lines of my tongue."

"A vampire. A vampire, too."