Lost and Found

Posted on Sat Sep 28th, 2024 @ 4:54am by Andrea Carter & Gideon Asher
Edited on on Sat Sep 28th, 2024 @ 4:54am

Mission: Daemoniacus Tribulatio

Far removed from the bustling city of Nashville, hidden deep in the forest stood a cabin, a small trail of smoke rising from the chimney, the only sign that the small dwelling was occupied. The shutters over the windows had been boarded shut, concealing the temporary resident. In the old stone fireplace, the fire crackled and popped, casting light and shadow in equal measure to the chaos within; the walls were covered from floor to ceiling in paper, upon which were hastily scrawled mathematical and alchemical formulae. Spun around the room were lengths of twine, connecting elements from one side of the room to the other, creating a web that only the creator could understand. Sitting cross legged on the small camp bed in the epicenter of the web was a slight figure, eyes hollow and sunken and cheeks devoid of color, as she continued to scratch out numbers and variables on a notepad, adding more pages to the works pinned to the walls. Running a hand over what had once been a halo of flaming curls but was now a mass of tangled and frizzing rust, the young woman paused as she turned her ear towards the door; had she heard something? Was Astaroth coming back? No. No, of course she wasn’t, she felt that connection break some time ago. No, she was alone, for now, just until she could finish her work, then she could go back…

Shadows moved in the firelight at the edges of the room. If the woman had been listening carefully, she might have heard whispering. Behind the woman’s back, two of the shadows took an almost human-like shape. They seemed to look at each other, though since shadows are two-dimensional, it would have been difficult for anyone looking at them to tell. Did they nod to each other? Perhaps. Regardless, one appeared to move behind a chair, while the other appeared to slip under the wall. Where did it go?

Back in Nashville, Gideon sat in his favorite chair by the fire, reading a book, and drinking a really fine bottle of Type O. He set down his book when he sensed a presence in his house. A shadow took the form of a small humanoid figure on his wall and a faint whispering was heard. Gideon nodded.

“Well done,” he said. “Go back to your comrades and tell them not to let her out of their sight.” He looked at the bottle on the table next to his chair. He picked it up and drank the whole thing. Andy was going to be hungry, if he was right. Too hungry to drink directly from a human without killing them and too hungry to be sated by anything other than the good stuff. So she’d have to drink from him. He set the bottle down. That wasn’t going to be enough. Gideon picked up the phone and dialed a number. “I need two, willing and healthy. Put a rush on it.”

When his order arrived, Gideon took the lovely young people by the hand. They were clean, fresh, and eager to please. “Please come with me,” he said. “I do apologize. You may find this a bit… disorienting.” Gideon walked straight into the shadows in the corner of his room, his order in tow… and they didn’t run into the wall!

Gideon brought his two companions through the Shadow Roads to the cabin in the woods, but stayed just inside of the shadow, not emerging yet.

“Andy,” he said softly.

Andy bolted upright, then promptly tumbled out of the camp bed and onto the floor in her uncoordinated attempt to stand up. Fighting with the threadbare quilt tangled around her ankles, she finally freed herself, then with a feral growl she stood, her once lively but now sickly pale green eyes darting about in search of the source of the voice. Was that whispering she heard? No, she was just hearing things, and of course that shadow didn’t move…

Gideon came through with his companions, but hid them in the shadows while he emerged from them.

“Andy,” Gideon said, stepping out where she could see him. He looked around the room. “Oh, Andy…” He looked at the vampire witch. “Andy, you’re starving. Let me help you.” He slowly rolled up his left sleeve and bared his wrist. With one of the sharp nails of his right hand, he made a small cut near the artery on his left wrist. Not enough to start any kind of serious blood flow. Just enough to draw blood. “I’ve just fed Andy. You’re starving. Drink from me. I won’t let you hurt me, and there’s more if we need it. Come. Drink.”

Andy shook her head vehemently. “No, I-” she started, staggering back at the smell welling up from his wrist. “Can’t, she’s gone…, no, no distractions, need to finish before her blood fades,” she rambled, staring in wonderment at the small line of blood on his wrist; as much as she fought the offer, the urge to feed was overwhelming, her eyes dilating and her breath quickening in anticipation. She licked her dry, cracked lips, teasing her lower lip with a fang as she stared. “No, need to finish, just go away!”

Gideon slowly moved closer, his left wrist extended towards Andy. “Andy,” he said. “I’m not sure what you’re doing here, but if you don’t drink, you’re going to go dormant or worse, go on a rampage and kill someone. I can’t let you do that. Drink. Drink and we will figure the rest out once you’re not a danger to yourself or anyone else. Drink.” The sweet young humans remained shrouded in shadow. Even their scent was hidden from Andy. In her condition, she would likely attack them. Gideon was fast, but Andy was ravenous. Hunger and her vampire’s base urge to devour would make her fast, too. And vicious. “Drink, Andy, and I promise we’ll figure everything else out together.”

Andy’s mouth opened and closed, working to form words, but nothing came forth as she fought against her desire to feed; she couldn’t, she would lose her connection to Astaroth and the forbidden knowledge she was chasing! But she was so very hungry, and tired, her brain weary of trying to hold on to concepts that mortal minds simply weren’t meant to know! Tears stung her sleep deprived eyes as the internal struggle continued, but each step Gideon took to bring them closer made her resolve waver, each gentle word offering himself drowned out the arguments in her head until finally she closed the distance, grabbing his arm viciously and pulling him flush against her. She latched on to the bleeding wrist, biting down savagely to cause the blood to flow freely and moaned as the sweet essence of life trickled over her tongue and down her throat. Sweet Gaia, nowhere near as good as Astaroth’s blood, but worlds better than the beef blood!

Gideon hissed sharply when Andy bit his wrist and caused the blood he’d recently consumed to flow from him to her. He resisted the urge to make the experience more intimate by drinking from Andy. She didn’t have enough blood in her.

“Good,” he hissed. “Good, Andy, drink.” Gideon unshrouded the humans he’d brought with him and summoned them with his mind. One was male, the other one female. Both were young. Over 18, but young. And very willing. They’d been watching.

Andy was aware of the eyes on her, but for the moment she was overwhelmed by the feed; perhaps if she had known it could be like this, she might not have fought it so much… Eventually, some instinct in her hindbrain informed her that she’d had enough from this source of food, and with other available sources she was able to pry herself from Gideon’s wrist, licking it clean of blood almost lovingly. She nuzzled the bite mark she’d left behind as her gaze settled on the other male in the room. She briefly glanced up at Gideon, as if asking for permission, then released him to stalk over to the male. The hunger still radiated through her, but something about Gideon’s presence tempered it, assuring her that she was safe to play with her meal instead of savagely jumping in to feast as quickly as possible.

Andy circled the pair of willing victims, her eyes drinking in the healthy and well proportioned bodies, the scent of their life teasing her senses. Why had she been denying herself for so long?! She sniffed and licked at the shoulder of the young woman who replied with a soft moan and a pleasant shiver, then she continued on to the male. She sized him up, grinning. Oh yes, he would be a tasty treat indeed! Andy rose to her toes to claim his lips in a kiss, the blood of her earlier feed still on her tongue, but this didn’t seem to bother this young man, who brought his arms around her to pull her closer.

Gideon licked his savaged wrist and let his vampire saliva speed the sealing of the would and then summoned the young woman over with his eyes. He took her in his arms and drank enough to replenish what Andy had taken, allowing himself a moment to revel in the rush of the girl’s blood slaking his red thirst. The girl moaned and squirmed in his arms. The magic of the vampire’s bite was that it felt good. Really, really good. Better than sex for both parties. That kept “victims”, willing or otherwise, from running away. It’s what kept them in the arms of their night lovers long enough to be drained down to their lifeblood. Gideon stopped well before he felt even the edge of the woman’s fear, that point where her survival instinct would cause her to question her life choices. He sat the girl gently on the floor and pressed a flask into her hand. He kissed her on the forehead. “Drink,” he said. “It will replenish you.” And it would. It wasn’t liquor. It was a solution designed to help humans recover from being fed on by a vampire. Vitamins, minerals, chemicals to stimulate the body to replenish itself. Gideon, now refreshed and far stronger than Andy, despite her desperation, turned to make sure Andy didn’t kill the boy.

“Drink Andy,” he whispered in her ear as he came up behind her. “But not too much. Drink slowly, enjoy it. The boy will enjoy it, but when his fear starts to overwhelm the ecstasy he’s feeling, you must pull away. You must learn. I will help you.”

Without taking her eyes off of her prey, Andy nodded at his words; she could feel Gideon’s eyes on her, like that of a cautious, yet approving parent. She’d actually never felt that kind of thing before, her relationship with her mother being somewhat bitter and jaded, but feeling it now gave her the confidence to move forward, nuzzling into her prey’s neck and breathing in his scent; yes, she could do this, Gideon would not let her hurt this man. She offered the man a teasing scrape of her fang to gauge his own confidence, pleased with the moan he offered in return, then pierced the taut flesh to let the blood flow. Andy’s eyes fluttered closed with an enraptured gasp as she drank from the man, the ecstasy flowing through her heady in its intensity.

Gideon came up behind Andy and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “That’s it,” he said. “Easy… slowly… when you’re better at this, you can drink more quickly. For now, go slow. Enjoy it. Let your prey enjoy it.”

If Andy wasn’t so starved, Gideon would have taken a share of the boy. The lower elder vampire wasn’t hungry, not really (vampires were always a bit hungry), but it would be an intimate experience to share the same prey. But not today. Today, his now Daughter in Darkness needed to feed and to know when to stop and Gideon had to be the one to show her when to stop.

Gideon extended his senses through Andy and the boy. He could feel the boy’s excitement. When Andy learned to go slower, to take her time, to sip at her prey, she’d be able to have more fun and so would her prey. Today, however, the boy would have to be satisfied with surviving the experience as it was. The boy was getting close.

Mindful of her mentor watching her so closely, Andy did her best to pay attention to her prey, the way his body quivered with pleasure and his heart raced with excitement; she so desperately wanted everything he could give her, but she heeded Gideon’s words and paced herself. When the man’s heart rate became erratic and the first tinge of fear hit his scent, she knew this was the moment Gideon warned her about. She whimpered at having to give up her feast, but did so without further complaint, instinct guiding her to then lick at the wound to encourage clotting. Once the wound no longer bled, Andy looked to Gideon for approval.

“Well done, Daughter in Darkness,” Gideon said. “One moment.”

He guided the boy to the wall and helped him sit. He grinned. “She’ll learn, boy, and then we’ll have more fun with you and your friend. Another time. However, for tonight…” Gideon reached into his other pocket and pulled out another flask. “You know what this is?” he asked. The boy nodded dreamily. Gideon pressed the flask into the boy’s hand. “Drink it.” The boy nodded.

Gideon rose and turned to Andy. “How do you feel?”

“Better,” Andy replied, then offered a gaping yawn. “Tired.” She took a staggering step towards Gideon then almost fell into his arms. “I really messed up, didn’t I?” she asked in a strained tone, her eyes once again a vibrant green darting to the papers littering the walls. “Do they hate me?”

Gideon chuckled. “No, Daughter,” he said. “They don’t hate you.” Gideon’s nose wrinkled. When he spoke, there was a gleam of mischief in his eyes. “Though you might want to shower and change your clothing before you meet them again. The Lycans’ and the Hounds’ noses are even more sensitive than ours.”

Andy whimpered and hid her embarrassment in his shoulder. “I feel so gross…” she groused, then sighed. “Can you take me home? I don’t think I’m safe to drive right now.”

“We’ll walk the Shadow Roads to my house,” he said. “You can clean up there, and I’m sure there’s something you can wear while I have a Ranger go to your place and get something of yours. There’s a spare bedroom. You can spend the day. Take a moment to center yourself.” Gideon looked around. “But first: Is there something to all of this? Should I place a guard on it so we can come back and figure it out? Or do we forget it and move on? I suspect the latter would be best, but I can’t make heads nor tails of even a small part of it.”

Andy sighed and lifted her head to look at her work; she understood the concepts, but now that she had fresh blood drowning out Astaroth’s offering, she could no longer comprehend much of what was written. “It’s…” she started, searching for the right words, “not meant for this world, you should probably burn it.” A small part of her heart shriveled up and died at the very thought of burning any sort of advancement in knowledge, but she also knew how dangerous ill-gotten knowledge could be. Besides, if it was left to be found, she would only become obsessed with understanding and completing the work and wouldn’t be able to move on. This was for the best. “Yes, burn it,” she said with more resolve, resting her head against his shoulder and breathed in his calming scent to help center herself for travel down the Shadow Road.