Ranloo snapped out of his memories as people walked by outside, talking and laughing. He stepped up to the boarded windows and peered through a crack. A rowdy group of five or six people stumbled down the uneven street. Ranloo leaned against the boards, the rough wood pressing against his skin. He could smell them and hear their heartbeats. So close, so easy to get to. His new craving screamed for them. If he'd been outside, he'd have charged right into the group, tearing with hands and teeth.

Sharp canines extended in his mouth at the thought, aching to bite into their soft necks. Drinking their hot blood would bring life and warmth into his cold body again, at least for a while. Catching the dangerous thoughts, he pushed himself away from the window.

´Oh please, stop,` he whined. ´Blessed goddess, why have you left me?` His eyes stung, another annoyance. He couldn't bear these emotional swings. He felt like he was going mad. Fluctuating between hunger and lust for blood, desperation, anger, and fear like a crazy pendulum. Moaning, he grasped both sides of his head. If only he could go back to his old life.

´Life,` he whispered and let his hands fall down again. Was he really dead, he wondered suddenly. He didn't exactly feel dead. But then, he had never reflected on how the dead felt before. He placed two fingers against his neck, feeling his pulse. Odd.

´If I'm dead, why does my heart beat?` he asked aloud. ´Why am I breathing?` He realized he could hold his breath as a test, to see how long he could go without air.

He took a deep breath. Waited. The need for air grew in his chest, and with it a sense of stupidity. Stubbornly he refused to breathe. As time passed, the need for another breath lessened. The realization frightened him so much that he gasped and started pacing in a circle.

´Oh, my goddess!` he whispered in shock, his hand going for the medallion. Finding nothing there, his hand dropped back down. What was he going to do? He stopped pacing. He knew what he should do. The right thing would be to go to a temple. Right now. Find a priest and accept death and any punishment the gods deemed fit to give before it got any worse.

He trembled, his feet rooted to the floor. Maybe not now, he told himself. Maybe tomorrow. Panic rose and fell in waves, constricted his chest. He knew, but wouldn't admit, that he didn't dare to go. He was afraid of death. Even though he was already dead.

Cursing loudly, he grabbed the chair and flung it into the wall. It splintered into smithereens. A small piece of wood grazed his cheek below his right eye and caused him to flinch. Stupid. He touched the cut and looked at his fingers. Dark blood. As if he needed to mess himself up any more. Now he didn't have anywhere left to sit but the floor either. Anger bubbling inside, he began pacing in circles again.

Too occupied by his thoughts, he didn't immediately react to the sound of the door opening. But scraping and clattering, accompanied by the heavy breathing and muttering of a human shook him from his brooding state. A living human. Food.

Ranloo forgot his resolution not to kill and charged into the hallway. But no sooner had he entered the hall than he was brought up short by the sight of the thief pulling a goat on a rope and attempting to close the door while holding a candle. The boy froze, his blue-grey eyes wide in a face instantly drained of all colour. Letting the goat go, he pulled the sun-symbol out and held it up as a ward against evil. Surprise turned to annoyance and Ranloo's eyes narrowed as he looked at the distracting symbol. It glared in his eyes.

Relaxing his tense stance and feral visage, Ranloo took a deep breath and studied the goat in the hallway. A goat? ´What is this?` He waved a hand at the animal.

´It's a goat,` the thief said.

He clearly had a talent for pointing out the obvious. ´Yes? Why?` Ranloo asked, irritation creeping into his voice. ´What are you doing?`

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The boy eyed him for a few heartbeats, then lowered the symbol again. ´Well, you gotta eat, right?` he said. ´An' I thought it'd be more... acceptable if you could... y'know. Eat animals?`

Ranloo glared at him. ´You seriously want me to bite a goat?`

He shrugged. ´I thought it'd be worth a try.` He glanced at the animal. ´'Twasn't easy t' get it here y'know.`

Ranloo stared at him. The idea hadn't even crossed his mind. It was so stupid. A sudden laugh escaped him. Then he turned serious again. ´No.`

The thief fidgeted. ´Why not? 'Twon't hurt t' try, will it?` Their eyes met in uncomfortable silence for a moment.

´Where did you get that?` Ranloo asked.

´I snaffled it,` he stated.

Ranloo blinked. ´Huh?`

´I stole it,` he clarified. ´'Twas harder than I thought it'd be,` he added a moment later.

Ranloo regarded the goat as it roamed the hallway. It wasn't actually a bad idea. It might even work. But then again, the thought of biting a goat wasn't exactly tempting. Biting the boy was a lot harder to resist. Listening to his heartbeats, Ranloo's eyes lingered on the thief's neck. But if it worked, he didn't have to kill people anymore. It would be a huge relief. Getting animals was a lot easier too, and it didn't attract attention. Everyone killed animals for food. Being a hunter, Ranloo wasn't averse to killing. But the whole situation was absurd. He forced his eyes away from the thief before the temptation became too great.

´Alright,` he said hesitantly. ´I'll try it. But if it doesn't work, what do we do?`

The boy squirmed. ´I guess we're gonna do it the hard way,` he mumbled.

Ranloo didn't like the sound of that. Instead, he focused on the goat. It had moved into the next room, chewing on a wood splinter.

The young thief looked at the pieces and the cut on Ranloo's face. ´What'd you do?`

´Give me your knife,` Ranloo said, ignoring the question.

He hurriedly handed it over.

Ranloo picked up the goat, bleating and kicking in protest, and walked into the kitchen. He wouldn't mess up another room, not as long as he had to stay here. The goat struggled but was easier to carry than expected. He stabbed it in the throat. It bleated and twitched in his hands as blood spurted, spilling over his hand. He didn't care. He drank the blood. It didn't have the same life-giving impact. Weak. But it relieved his hunger and pain. It would do for now.

Sern waited in the other room and poked the wooden splinters on the floor with his foot as he listened to the sounds. He was morbidly curious but didn't dare impose on the vampire's privacy, afraid the darkelf might get angry and attack him. It wasn't exactly safe to be around him. Sern's blood ran cold half the time he was near. But if he could befriend the monster, that was a good thing.

After a few moments of silence, Sern dared to approach the kitchen.

´Hello?` he asked and peeked around the doorway.

The vampire stood with his back turned, staring at the dead goat on the floor. Blood everywhere, the stench of putrefying flesh strong in the air, flies buzzing. Sern's stomach churned. Blood, dead bodies, and bad conscience. He didn't want to look. Turning his back on it, he took a deep breath to steady himself. In the few seconds he'd looked into the room, he'd seen Storca's body, stiff and bloated.

Forcing the thoughts away, he asked, ´Did it work?` and waited for a response.

A cold hand landed on Sern's shoulder and he almost jumped out of his shoes in horror. He spun around with an alarmed yelp. The vampire grinned at him. It wasn't a reassuring sight. He staggered back, hand over his heart, panting.

´Calm down,` the vampire said, his smile evaporating. ´Don't tempt me.`

Sern pointed at him, exclaiming, ´I'm not! You near scared me t' death, an' that's your fault!` His heart thumped loudly in his ears.

The vampire stared at his neck, then averted his eyes. ´Thank you. It helped.`

´Don't ever do that t' me again.` Sern sighed in relief and sank down onto the floor in the hallway, suddenly overwhelmingly tired.

The vampire smiled sadly and sat down on the other side of the corridor, facing him.