Ribs and I stood outside the town wall. Well, a fair distance from it. Guards were patrolling it. Ceres is roughly the same size as Grema, hundred acres wide imperfect circle, an 8 foot tall wall surrounding it. Buildings of varying shape and size behind it. How long has it been since I've seen civilization? Five days? It felt like a month. It was hard to tell the difference given everything that's happened. "Now, are you sure nobody will be able to tell?" I asked Ribs. "When will you learn to trust me? Gods, you're really worked up about this. What's the big deal? Just go in the city, and find this group called; 'The Wicked Jesters', they should sort ya' out.", "You're not accepting the gravity of this situation. And I'm not sure about the guild, I'm not a soldier." I stood crouched at the treeline. "You've killed a few things.", "But not people. Those were monsters, it's not the same.", I had to consider the nuances of life in the city being like this. "What would I do if I get splashed with water or I'm hit with sunlight, there's so much that could go wrong...", "They have their ways. Once you meet up with them, tell them to run. Then, you can sneak me in. And we can find our papa." -Ribs puts a hand on my shoulder. "You owe him an explanation for disappearing on him like that." I just stare at him flat faced. "But that's your fault.", he shakes his head solemnly; "Worked out pretty well though init?".
We've been observing the city gates for awhile, considering our approach. They must've gotten word because the security is tight. They were preparing for war, and preparing well it seemed. Their armors were matching and well made to boot. Silver plates of metal on top of green clothes and leather armors. The grey woods that surrounded the city was also laden with pitfalls and traps. They had no problem getting by them but a charging army would be another story. The flags at the cities gates had a simplistic Capybara painted on them. A few guards were standing next to a large gate, but I could see others patrolling the hastily built parapets as well. "Alright, you wait here." I told Ribs and stepped out towards the gate. No sense in hiding, I didn't look like a vampire and for all intents and purposes I wasn't one. That's what I told myself, forget the past few days. I am a refugee from Grema, that is the truth. As one of the duo guarding the gates notices me he stands to attention and slaps the arm of his partner. "Halt. What's your business?" one of them says.
I tried to bring up the panic I felt that day, but it was hard, given everything else that happened. "I'm a refugee from Grema, the cities been raided!", "So we've heard. People arrived by horseback and said so days ago. Of course we're helping the refugees." He sounded pretty complacent. "But first, we have a small test for you. Evidently, the raiders have a curse that reacts to silver.", I try to keep my face normal, but that immediately worried me, "It only takes a moment." he pulled a silver coin from his pocket. "Just hold this for a minute." he said offering it to me. 'Fuck!', I think internally, I stood there a moment longer than I should have. The guards begins to eye me suspiciously. "Uh, on second though-" I'm snatched up by my collar and pulled close. A guard with a thick bushy mustache was inches from my face- "Let's just see here a moment-" he said gritting through his teeth. He pressed the coin against my arm, after a few moments it tingled, and after another few it burned. I push him off and he goes stumbling into the wall. Damn, good thing I held back.
One of the other guard draws his sword but I'm already running. 'Thoomf' an arrow lands in the dirt next to me. A half-moment later a series of 'thoomfs' follow pelting the dirt around me. One burrows into my shoulder, I begin to stumble, reeling from the force of the impact. Now I'm an easier target. Another, then another, and another. I see a pair of glowing purple eyes in the treeline as I collapse to my stomach. A pin cushion. My legs weren't working. "This is all a huge misunderstanding!" I shout. Other guards shout, but nothing in response to my argument. "Son of a bitch, that ol' ranger was right!" They shout things about arresting me, tying me up, seeing about the nature of this magical 'curse'. "Old? I'm 35 myself." another guard said. I groggily look over my shoulder at the soldiers. "Me too buddy, me too..." And before I know it I'm in a canvas bag the size of a person being drug across cobblestone roads. The arrows snapped off and my wounds tried to heal around what was left. I could hear the murmurs of crowds, the guards calling for them to stand aside. "Give me a second to explain! Ya' fucks!" they don't give me a second to explain. I get a boot to the face.
Okay, okay so long as they don't throw me in a pool or leave me out in the sun, I'll survive. I'll sell it straight. I'm one of the good ones. My head hits a stair step, and another. "Ugh! Ow! Shit!" I was being dragged across wooden floors now. Maybe Chlorus could speak for me. I'm thrown into a box and I feel it nailed shut around me. I can't move it- there's too many nails. "Who was the fucker who kicked me! Tell me your name!" I shout. No one came forward, but I did hear some guards laughing. "Fuckin'pansiescan'tevenfightfair whenIgetoutofthebagImma'-!" I cussed at them but it seemed to only make them laugh more. I assumed now I was probably in some form of guard station. If it was anything like Grema then it was one of a few command centers. "Move asi- I said move aside!" I hear a familiar voice through the murmurs and heckles of the guards. "Who are you? You're not a peacekeeper." A PK told him. "No- I'm the one who told you about the curse! Now let me by!" he sounded as if he would punch the guard if he didn't respond quickly enough.
"Now, now, Chlorus, no need to be impatient. It's the middle of the night. And how would you even examine it? It took dozens of arrows to bring down." this voice was low and gravelly. "With these.", I hear the clanking of metal. "These are made from alumnite, it's doubly effective with vampires." Chlorus addressed the room. "Still, how do you plan on getting them on his wrist?", "Simple, Orin. Just open the box." I get ready.
The wood crate groans as nails are pried out. "Ready...", I heard Chlorus say. "Ready..." he said again. Multiple pry bars dig into the edges of the lid. "Aaand...", nothing. What seems like a minute passes them *WHOOMF* the lid of the crate flew off and a PK splashes me with a pale of water. "FUURAAAGH" I cry out flailing as I steam. The bag is cut down the middle, my flesh is scalding. I go to stand out of the crate but Chlorus leaned forward a blew a white powder from his palm directly into my face. My vision went white and my eyes burned. I struck out randomly with one hand while covering my eyes. "Now!" Chlorus shouted. I felt multiple PK's grab a hold of my arm -holding it still, then a steel shackle clamped down on my wrist.
I swipe back with the other hand and it is also shackled. The shackles radiated power, it felt like a thousand pins and needles as my strength left me. I've heard of cuffs like these, I think I saw the peacekeeper in Grema use a pair. Their hair would fall out and they would have random lesions on their skin form sometimes.
I slowly blinked away the whiteness and I could see. The PKs all had their weapons drawn around me, ready to slice my head off at the drop of a quill. Chlorus was looking at me with a surprised look. "Jarrath?"
---
It just wasn't fair, just as things were looking up- it all came crumbling down. Everything, ruined. A bunch of evil monsters from fairy tales popped up and ruined his life. The gods hated him, Kyle was sure of it. Just as he and Selendris were growing closer, Jeff had managed to pass his finals... Kyle even discovered a new poison with his graduating thesis. Everything was so complete and finished you could tie a bow on it. Then bleh, everything happened. Kyle couldn't come to terms with it. He sat in the inns lobby with a flagon of ale in his hand Wake up- wake up! He would tell himself in the first hours. And he was still waking up, just not to the reality he wanted. Jeff, the dumb bastard. Why did you have to... Kyle took another large gulp slamming it back down on the table. Next time he would have a poison or something. One that would cause the vampires to foam at the mouth and bleed from their eyes. Kyle smiled at that thought.
Some kind of adventurer *thudded* into the seat next to him causing him to nearly bounce in his stool. "Hello, I can't help but see that you're drinking alone..." a muscular tall women asked him. She had half her head shaved with the rest very long and swept to one side. Kyle didn't want to be rude, but he sighed audibly. He wasn't in the mood. "I'm not interested." he said giving her a serious look. She leaned back into the bar counter with a surprised look and said; "...Really? Huh, who figured." she got back up and walked to the other side of the room. "You son of a bitch!" she shouted slapping a man on the shoulder. She dropped silver coin into his hand. "I'm tellin' ya', losing a fight does that to a man. I mean, just look at him!" he laughed with his crowded table. "Like a whipped dog! It'd be better to die fight'n!" the group laughed and made their jokes at his expense.
It's not like Kyle lost a fight. It's more like his towns defenses lost the fight- it wasn't his duty to defend or enforce the law. He was an apothecary. His duty was to concoct potions. It seemed unfair to expect him to fight. To expect him have to study AND practice swinging a weapon. Kyle chugged the rest of his drink before raising a finger to order another. The adventuring party started heckling another refugee who entered the inn. "I did everything I could! You didn't see these things!" he said. Kyle and the others weren't the only survivors. Some managed to find horses and arrived earlier. And more were still arriving. If only Kyle could somehow concoct a potion that gave him super strength, or agility.
A familiar presence sat down at his side. She's been pestering him to cheer up ever since they reached Ceres. "I thought I'd find you here." She said. "What reason do I have to be anywhere else?" Selendris sighed, "Kyle, we survived. There's no reason to feel guilty for that-" she puts a hand on his arm but he pulled it away. "I'm not guilty of having survived. I'm guilty of having survived and done nothing. Nothing but run." Kyle took another drink. "Jeff's dead, Kyle." Selendris says looking ahead. "Yes, wise observation.", "He's dead and what would he think if he saw you here, now?" Kyle stopped, but then smirked at that. He wondered what Jeff would've said to that women. 'Pfft, why not? She's an adventurer, I say take me on an adventure. Yowza!', the sudden image of his smiling friend flashes through his mind and he spits up a bit of his drink. Selendris chuckles too. "See? In a way, he lives on through us. We should do the things we were planning to do. It's what he would've wanted." Kyle nodded along, thumbing the edges of his drink. "I am. I will. I just... Need some time, Sel." Selendris just smiles solemnly, "Sure.", she sits in solemn silence with Kyle for a few minutes longer. Then she gets up and goes towards the Inn stairs but stops for a moment. She turned back- "I'll give you some time...", then she smiled, "But after a few more days we're taking over the world if you like it or not!" she shouted. There was an awkward silence. Some denizens of the bar looked up towards her and him. Murmurs fill the room again as people talk. "Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it!", "The girl has spunk I'll give her that.", "I like those shoes are they common in Grema?" Kyle just smiles and nods, embarrassed. "Yeah, yeah." She leaves with a wave and he turns back to the bar counter. Selene was right, they had planned on more than just crafting healing potions and selling them. Like what most apothecaries did. A weapon- perhaps there's some texts about the beasts... Chlorus may know. He said water and silver harmed them. Maybe there were more weaknesses. The murmurs of the inn fade to Kyle as he falls deep into thought. He knew just the recipe to reverse engineer.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
---
"Chlorus, thank god! Tell these guys I'm innocent, they got me all wrong!"... Chlorus walked in sitting in a chair across from me. "That you're a vampire?" he asked. "...Well, that part they got right. But I'm still me. And THAT guy kicked me!" I said referencing a nearby PK with my cuffed hands. He just looks around at everyone else shaking his head. "It was probably that guy..." It might be someone else, I honestly just wanted to see how people reacted in the room. The guy who kicked me probably wasn't in here, but I could hold a grudge. Chlorus was pinching his nose in irritation as I looked around the room. There were several peacekeepers. "How?", he asked. I assumed he meant about the vampirism not the kicking. "...Hmm, You know when we were in the catacombs? I was taking a piss. Then there was this skeleton, and I uh... Burned in the sun, and then there was the troll, crazy witches, that monster in the house. -It's a long story.", "So tell it, and start at the beginning. I want EVERY detail.". And so I did, I didn't see why not. I told him everything. Well, mostly. Starving from blood, going feral, the bodies... Stuff like that I left out. I told him whatever I thought would convince him that I'm still me. "So you uh... Snapped it's neck. The baby, just like that?", "Well, it was a monster-", I shake my head- "You're getting hung up on the little details! Listen-", after a few justifications later Chlorus sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Jarrath, you put me in a difficult position here-" he groaned stretching in his chair. He had sat there listening for awhile. "-It's not like it's your fault. Evidently some kind of conspiracy is afoot and you're caught in the center of it. That much at least is evident...", "So... You'll let me go? My father is probably a bit confused." Chlorus looks to the guards that stood in the room and nodded. After a few shared glances they leave. "Your father is fine. But he's first in line to go back to Grema, just to find you.", I wasn't surprised by that. It's obvious that he cares a lot, but since what happened he's been next to mute. People often assumed he was an asshole because of it, but he just didn't feel like talking. He mostly communicated in grunts and nods, hell, even with everything happening now he's only spoken a handful of times. "No, I can't let you see him, I can't just let you walk around.", I go to argue by he talked over me. "-You're contagious. -You're dangerous", "But-", "-without a steady supply of blood, and where would you get it? No, for now, sit tight. This is... Unusual." Towards the end he seemed to be speaking to himself more so than me.
"This isn't fair- I'm a human being you can't lock me up like I'm some kind of animal!" I try to stand up out of my chair but the chains hold me firm. Chlorus gives an exasperated sigh. "Listen, you're lucky it was me you came across, I know you, I know you were human before the outbreak. Just wait here and I'll try to make sure your father doesn't do anything rash.". I look at him with hatred in my eyes. I'll be locked in here for weeks, I know it. Experimented on. Tortured or interrogated. "I can't be trapped like this, not again." I tell him. He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Jarrath." he said stepping from the dark room shutting a heavy iron door behind him. "I'll visit when I can with updates on your situation." his voice fading down the hall. "Chlorus! Get back here you fuck!"- nothing, he's gone. I assumed there was a PK on watch, but I was alone in the cell.
It reminds me of the catacombs. At least I wasn't as hungry as I was then. I just sit, alone with my thoughts, thinking of what the future of captivity entailed. An hour or so past, maybe more, then I hear a body fall outside the heavy iron door. Then the door swung open. Three hooded figures entered the room. All in rapid succession. "Hey?" I ask as they disperse around the room. "What did you tell them?" a hooded figure says, their voice was distorted. With my dark vision I could see beneath their hoods- their faces were covered and the one speaking to me had dark eyes. A feminine face. "I told them... That I was turned into this against my will. I'm a good guy. Who are you all?", "We should kill him, it would be easier." another distorted voice says to my left. "He's a blabbermouth. Dangerous. He'll spread our secrets.". The one I could see ahead of me just shook their head. "No, if he's truly innocent, then it must've been the skeleton.", "He's a fledgling. The skeleton was supposed to pick a Kindred.", often times it would be difficult to tell who the voice came from as they argued, as all the voices were similarly distorted. "Something may of happened." their leader looked at me in consideration for awhile, then sighed. "He probably pissed off the patron, I've heard of it. It's why we have so few kindred" she said.
After a moment of starring at me she said; "-Take him.", "Won't they wonder why he's gone?", a voice from behind said. Another replied; "Either way they're already looking for vampire spies.", I hear a grunt of affirmation and a sack goes over my face. "Keep quiet."
After hours of walking and being guided upstairs, downstairs, who knows where. Eventually I was sat in a chair. "Where am I?" I asked into the nothingness around me. My hood is pulled off. I was in another dark room. But larger. "Hello!?" I say more loudly, my voice echoed a bit. In the edge of the room water streamed in a type of small canal. A sewer? After a few more moments I hear footsteps again. A women walked in followed by one other. A lithe tall figure that had awkward posture. While the women herself was of average size and build. She sat across from me and looked silently. "Uh... Hi. My names Jarrath... Is this your first kidnapping?" I told them. The tall lithe figure began pacing around the room looking into the nooks and crannies. "Aha, that's the spirit.", then she sighed. "I can't believe you walked right up to the gates... Are you an idiot?" She asked. I knew plenty of people who thought so. "I'm sorry I'm not used to being hunted. Just until last week I was a blacksmith.", "A blacksmith? I can respect that. It's hardwork. -You told the ranger that you were turned by a skeleton?", "Yes. He had purple eyes and was insane." the women grinned. "Yes, that's the skeleton we know."
"Tell me everything you told the ranger.". The lithe figure that was with her stepped behind me. "You seem to already know what I told him..." I didn't hear a single one of their footsteps as they walked around me. "...And my father is this city I need to-" 'smack' the figure swatted the back of my head. It felt like an iron skillet except it was just an open palm. "Ow, what the fuck man?" the figure is just quiet. "That's Bryce, they just don't like it when people waste time.", "Fine, but just make sure they know I can hold a grudge." another smack, I look back at the figure angrily. They shrug. "Tell me what I've asked you about, Jarrath." the women said annoyed. So I did, a bit irritated but I recounted the things I told Chlorus. My journey the past week or so. I left out my meeting with Penelope, the feral bit, the same things I left out when I told Chlorus. "An eventful few days... you've wasted quite a bit of time fighting beasts..", "Well I didn't have much choice did I?" the women shook her head. "If you made some better choices you wouldn't of had to go through any of that... Yet... You did make it here, somehow. I'll cut to the chase- there's some things you need to hear.", "What?", she scooted her chair closer. "The skeleton is a familiar of our patron, the person who started our little outfit... We're supposed to build an army to fight what's coming.".
In that case Ribs didn't choose very wisely. "It's simple, we're the good guys." she said, referencing the space around her. "I'm Joyce.", "I thought it was something like that. So you're vampires that don't torture and murder people. He told me about you. Uh... Could you cure me and let me leave?", at that Joyce gave me a sympathetic grin. "It doesn't work like that Jarrath." -So I'm locked into a path that I didn't choose. Likely incurable like the witch said. I gritted my teeth- "Piss off, I'm supposed to play along with this? The is insane! Ribs obviously picked the wrong guy.... I couldn't care less about all this! I just want to get back to smithing and get away from the war!", "Calm down Jarrath. This isn't a loss cause, we have a real chance at this. We've won before. Our predecessors that is. For hundreds of years the vampires were trapped- kept from the world.", "Great, put them back or whatever and leave me alone.", "-Someone is freeing them. Now, one of those ancient beings is our patron and has tasked us with helping the humans retain dominance over the world. If you help us, get your kindred power back- when can add to our battle strength and meet them on equal odds. Better even, with the humans help."
"I see... And what if I don't want to help you? What if I just want to be a blacksmith who works the night shift?", Joyces' face became stern and she leaned forward. "Then we'd have no choice but to kill you, Jarrath. As a Kindred you have the ability to create fledglings. The others would have the same idea. A stray Kindred is intolerable." I could turn people? Make others like me? No, impossible. Maybe when I was a Kindred, my eyes glowed and my finger nails were as long as dinner knives. "Whatever Ribs gave me it wore off or something...", "Oh, I can tell. Your eyes, your aura, you're about fledgling level now maybe a little higher. But the scaffolding is still there... In any case you're with us now." she stood up from her chair. "This isn't a choice Jarrath.. Think of this as a call to action. You're a natural, you want to do it. Admit it. Or else why would you kill that wendigo?" she asked. The look on my face must've said enough as she kept speaking. "We'll train you, teach you the ins of out of being remaining undiscovered, we'll even pay you. You'll see. It's a good job- no a calling." it was annoying, but she made a convincing case. I didn't have much choice, as usual. For now, I'd pretend to cooperate, and maybe hit the road as soon as I could. But for now... It'd be in my best interest to stick around for a bit. I didn't even know I could turn people, so I had best learn a bit more before even attempting to go back. But I would at least get a message out to my father, that I was alright. Not to go to Grema. Maybe Chlorus would tell him now that I've escaped.
I sigh. "Alright, I'll play along, for now. But if you don't keep up your end of the deal, I'm out of here. I refuse to be kept prisoner any longer.", honestly, it was beginning to be annoying how often I was being kept in confined spaces. It's like a side effect to my new powers, everyone wanted to stop me from using them. "Good point.", Bryce untied me. "Welcome to The Wicked Jesters, the best adventuring guild in Ceres.". Joyce said.