Chapter Text
Through the fog rolling off the harbor, you hear the lapping of waves and smell the sour odor of dead fish and sea salt. You’re panting, hard, as you look at the dead body crumpled at your feet, and you can hardly believe you’d done what you just did.
Filth was peppered all over your clothes and exposed skin; horrible little specks of wet clotted blood, already so congealed they had barely slid down your arms.
You couldn’t believe this was happening to you. Tonight was supposed to be your chance to rid your mind of the previous relationship you’d been in that had crashed and burned like a fireball. You had been tired of pining over your old lover, the one who had broken your heart to pieces when they’d left you with only a scrawled note on your nightstand. You had wanted to get out there again and maybe find a fun fling or two. Your best friend had chided you for cooping yourself up as long as you had; you were still young, after all!
The Blushing Mermaid had been your chosen hunting ground this night. Some of the deckhands there were beautiful and sun-kissed and surely eager for a tumble between the sheets. No one had particularly caught your eye until the clink of a glass on the bar beside you quickly grabbed your attention and caused your heart to skip a beat. Turning to meet the owner of the glass, you’d immediately been struck with how beautiful the man was. He was tanned, yet strangely pale-skinned. Long brown hair, straight as an arrow spilled down to curtain half his face. You marveled at his chiseled features and he met your gaze with a heart-melting grin.
He quickly asked for a refill from the bartender after a moment to take you in, then he turned his beautiful crimson eyes back to you, asking if you’d let him buy you a drink. Almost bashful, you’d nodded, too struck by how handsome he was to reply.
Glass in your hand, you two walked towards a more private setting in the back of the establishment, found your seats, and began your introductions. The hours passed quickly as you opened up more and more about yourself to your handsome acquaintance. Rynn was his name, he’d said, short for a full name that he refused to say out of embarrassment. You’d laughed, understanding his reticence. You yourself never told anyone your horrid middle name. It’d belonged to a dead great-aunt who had just happened to kick off the mortal coil right before your birth, so her name was bestowed upon you by an insistent father. You’d told Rynn as much, and his grin made your heart soar. It turned out you both had much in common.
Eventually Rynn stood, nodding his head towards the door to the balcony, where it was less noisy and much more discreet. Your heart was a hummingbird’s when you imagined what he’d want to talk with you about out there under the stars. Maybe he didn’t feel like talking…
You’d kissed gently at first, testing the waters with each other, and then he bit gently on your lower lip. He’d drawn a little blood with the effort, but you felt yourself heat up, wanting a bit more of that.
“I think we should go to my flat… don’t you?” He’d asked with heavy-lidded eyes, to which you nodded, feeling uncharacteristically shy. Rynn’s smile was full of promise and you felt butterflies from within wondering what exactly he had in store for you two.
The fog had rolled in just before you left, and it gave the night a sickly yellow glow wherever it surrounded the lampposts you passed. The two of you continued to flirt with one another as you walked. Rynn was witty and beautiful, and it seemed he was well-aware of it. You suddenly knew you’d give yourself to him tonight.
Eventually he’d stopped near the graveyard and turned to look at you with ruby eyes that almost seemed to glow in the faint lamplight. The cobblestone path had veered behind some abandoned houses across the street, so it was silent as the dead, and very private. You suddenly realized you two might not make it to his flat after all.
“C’mon… let’s do something a little risky, hm?” He’d suggested.
“In the graveyard?” You’d balked.
“Let’s go wake the dead, so-to-speak,” he purred in reply, and suddenly your best friend’s voice chimed in your memory, reminding you to live a little. When Rynn held out his hand to you, you’d taken it, ready for whatever was about to happen.
The two of you had passed headstones and mausoleums, dead trees, withered flowers, and suddenly Rynn had attempted to spook you with a jolted step and a small cry of alarm, which made you jump in fear, and then you scolded him for teasing you when you were such a bundle of nerves. Rynn chuckled and smiled at you.
“You know, tonight has been wonderful. I know it’s only been a few hours but I feel like we’ve just been waiting to meet all this time. I can’t believe how much we have in common!” He’d said. You felt that flutter within you grow warmer and warmer. This was it. You knew what would come next, and you were ready for it.
“Would it be all right if I…” the beautiful man asked you, tentatively raising his hand to your hair, eager to put his fingers through it. You nodded, smiling at how considerate and polite he was being. He was asking first. It made your heart swell with desire.
Rynn closed the distance and you’d begun to kiss. Passion kindled within you as he treated you like his own personal goddess; his kisses soft as feathers on your skin. He slid the shoulders of your dress down, letting them rest on your arms, before kissing your neck again.
By then your breath hitched from the overwhelming sensations across your delicate skin, you were losing yourself in his arms, and his lips moved much more urgently; his breath much more ragged.
And suddenly you’d felt the pain.
Rynn had bitten you.
You were bleeding…
He was drinking the blood leaking from your neck, grunting with desire, and suddenly you’d started to panic. His arms had gripped you like a vice, but still you managed to struggle, and with effort you shoved him off of you.
Rynn’s eyes glowed. Your blood ran down his chin, and he wiped it off with his fingers then cleaned them with a slow lick of his tongue.
“You’re a vampire?!” You’d cried out, but suddenly he closed the distance between you again, lightning fast, and covered your mouth with his bloodied hand. You could taste the iron on his cold flesh.
“This need not be painful, my dear. I only need a little drink,” whispered Rynn, so lovingly. Your eyes were wide with fear and tears fell down your cheeks. You were starting to panic. Desperately you searched your surroundings, looking for a way out of the graveyard. A place to run. Somewhere to hide.
Then your eyes settled on a gnarled tree, long dead, its branches little more than kindling.
Suddenly you broke free of Rynn’s grasp again and you’d darted to the tree. You knew you only had seconds left to fight for your life. Your neck burned and bled.
Grabbing a low branch you pulled down until it snapped, but Rynn was already closing the distance, picking up on your plan far too late. You’d swung around to face him, dead tree limb held steadfast in your hands like a spear, the moment he’d reached you. He’d almost latched on to your neck again when he realized something was terribly wrong. Rynn couldn’t quite reach you to bite. He slowly looked at his chest, to see the branch protruding through it.
Straight through his unbeating heart.
With a hissing cry Rynn crumpled to his knees and you darted away from him. He was terrifying to behold. As he once attracted you, he now repulsed you. His face was smeared with red; his long, beautiful hair was now matted and sticky with your blood; his eyes were glowing in rage…or disbelief.
Huge clots of blood dropped with sickening wet noises onto the cobbled path beneath Rynn, spattering you with flecks of sickly crimson. Tears streamed down your face still but you did not know why.
“Master…” Rynn whispered, bereft. He fell forward right before you, truly dead, splattering his own rotted blood around him.
Now you were here in the fog, alone, bleeding, covered in gore, and you had no idea what to do. Stumbling backward, you found a graveside bench underneath a weeping willow, and you sat upon it before your legs gave out. The scene before you was like a still-life painting of a nightmare. You’d very nearly died. You still might, if you didn’t get your neck tended to.
While you fought off panic and wondered about your next move, the fog grew darker around you; blacker, like ink. You whipped your aching neck around to figure out what was happening, but the mist consumed you.
Suddenly, a voice cut through the night, smooth as silk.
“You’ve killed my favorite pet, darling…”
It was too dark to see. You couldn’t find the tree again to grab another branch. You were defenseless. The phantom voice sounded like it had been right against your ear. You were already on borrowed time. There was nowhere to run. You couldn’t run now even if you wanted to.
The dark mists began to coalesce in front of you; the inky cloud forming into a solid humanoid shape, which suddenly apparated into a terrifying figure.
The elf was the most beautiful person you’d ever laid eyes upon in your short life. Rynn paled in comparison. The stranger was clad head-to-toe in black silk and brocade. His doublet bore the only flash of color upon his person: a deep and bloody claret, embroidered into the wings of a bat, paired with elegant filigree threadwork befitting a patriar.
His eyes were the same hue that Rynn’s had been, though they lacked any of Rynn’s warmth and charm. They studied you with chilling indifference. You were beneath this figure before you and you both knew it. This creature was a predator. You were his prey.
His hair was moon-white, immaculately coiffed, and it smelled of bergamot and brandy. The heavenly scent would have made you calm if you weren’t certain you were about to die.
“Now what should I do with his murderer?”
“Please…” you began to gasp, fear warbling your voice, betraying you. Your tears flow anew.
“Hm?”
“Please, don’t… don’t kill me!” You managed, holding your wounded neck protectively, ”I don’t want to die!”
The pale elf tilted his head, a movement that somehow seemed unnatural.
“You’ve taken a precious possession from me, my dear,” he paused to look at the gory scene, then looked back at you with eyes that were pinpoints of hot, murderous, red-white light, “Rynn here was my latest project; a budding vampiric masterpiece. Why shouldn’t I kill you?”
You couldn’t reply, you were too frightened. Too light-headed. The elven vampire took a few steps towards you, head tilting predatorily once more, a sardonic smile upon his perfect lips, “Though, by the look of it, love… you may die anyway without my assistance.”
He was right; you were bleeding out. You felt queasy and lightheaded. It was taking everything within you to stay conscious.
The elf did not touch you, but he walked in a semicircle before you, studying you intently. You felt yourself cower before his imposing presence. You could tell he enjoyed it when you flinched.
He addressed you once more. “Get on your knees, girl.”
It was not a request. You stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. Your knew your life was already forfeit, so you obeyed him as quickly as you were able. Slowly you slid off the stone bench and knelt before the terrifying vampire before you.
“Good. You know your place.”
Your tears fell to the cobblestones. Your lifeblood dripped down beside them.
The elf stood before you, looked deeply into your eyes, studied you a moment, and then spoke a soft command: “Sleep.”
And then you knew no more.