Fate - First Reply Naked by Moonlight

[Akiza Sonshal]

SOMEWHERE IN CAMPANIA​

Akiza lay slumped over a rock by the lake's edge in quite the pose. She was on her knees like some kind of supplicant, yet her body fell back against the large stone, and her head had come to rest on the relative smoothness of the rock's skyward surface. Her right arm was draped over her forehead and eyes, her left merely limp at her side. Her mouth hung open, fangs still revealed, and blood spattered her lips all round, even up to her nose and down to her chin. Her hair fell in a rain of black.

Moonlight from Lessat in the clear and starry night gave a silver sheen to the placid surface of the lake. The wind was calm. There was no sound, save for the chittering calls of midnight insects here and there.

And save also for Akiza's deep, sensual, shivering breath.

Now Akiza was aware of two things. One, that she was blood-drunk. In this particular moment she knew that she was blood-drunk, for the pleasure and bliss of it were as always euphoric, but she couldn't quite remember how she became so. The truth of that matter was nearby: the dead man. He lay face down in the lake's shallow edge, naked, blood spilling from his neck and darkening the water.

The second thing she was aware of: she too was naked.

The notion that she may have gotten a little too carried away had yet to dawn on her. It wouldn't, until her blood-drunkenness abated some.

 

[Kerrick Vandergard]

"Aren't you a sorry sight."

It wasn't often that Kerrick Vandergard travelled this far out toward the sea; Something about the salty air made his throat itch, and dried his tongue in a manner most unpleasant. Still, with all the commotion he'd caused in that little town up north, he'd needed to make some distance. In all of his many years, he'd never seen the land of Gild, though he'd heard tale of it's beauty.

He'd been expecting elegant architecture and sweeping vistas, not a fellow Vampire basking in the afterglow of a blood frenzy. The silver-haired bloodsucker kept his hands in the pockets of his coat, letting his unimpressed, dull grey eyes only briefly linger on the naked form of the woman against the rock before sliding them to her victim.

"I'd wager you needed that just as much as this poor sod." Kerrick huffed, flipping the corpse over with his foot to reveal the bloated, red face of a man who'd died of blood loss and drowning at the same time. What a way to go. Hopefully the show had been worth it. "Though clearly you were both looking for different things. A shame, things didn't work out between you."

With a small sigh, Kerrick pulled a leather flask from his coat, unstopping it and bringing the mouth to his lips to sip the viscious liquid stored within. Not particularly fresh blood, but not so old it wouldn't sustain him. Wiping stained lips with his wrist, he turned his attention back to her.

"Humor a tourist. Are all of us so clumsy in this part of the world?"

Akiza Sonshal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

Aren't you a sorry sight.

Akiza twitched. Fidgeted. A little. Another shiver of delight, though far less potent than when she was in the full bloom of her blood-drunkenness. Now it was a mere shadow of that bliss, and fading fast, as it always did.

I'd wager you needed that just as much as this poor sod.

"hemotpooribitem," so came her words in a quiet little slurry of noise.

Though clearly you were both looking for different things. A shame, things didn't work out between you.

And now Akiza tried to move her right arm to uncover her eyes. She managed, though said arm was still draped over her forehead, and but one eye stood revealed. Red searched for the owner of the voice.

Humor a tourist. Are all of us so clumsy in this part of the world?

"I'm not...clumsy..." the tiniest hiccup, a faint and paltry echo of life, sounded from her throat, "...usually..."

Kerrick Vandergard

 

[Kerrick Vandergard]

Try as he might, Kerrick couldn't combat the little smirk of amusement that tugged at his lips as the girl looked drunkenly up at him with an inebriated hiccup.

How long had it been since he'd met another of his own kind? Years, certainly. He didn't regret leaving his home, the clan who'd turned and raised him, but...

There was a nostalgia in the sight looking up at him: A bareskinned woman with soft skin soaked in scarlet, body still trembling with the blissful aftershocks of complete indulgence. There was a time he'd seen such things every day.

Even then, though, the women usually chose better spots.

"Come on." Kerrick reached down to grab ahold of her wrist, using the strength becoming of the unholy to attempt to hoist her up to her feet, fully prepared to support her himself. "By the time you come down from that high, it'll be nearly dawn. I don't know these Gildan folk, but I doubt they're fans of us."

Vandergard had denounced the lifestyle of a Vampire, but that didn't mean he would let one of his own be at risk, so long as he didn't have to spare his own skin for it. "Place will be crawling once they find your friend here. You have somewhere I can take you?"

Akiza Sonshal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

And hoisted to her feet Akiza was. As anticipated, she lacked full command of her legs as of yet, and so Kerrick was the sole means by which she did not simply collapse into a puddle of her own fleeting ecstasy.

I don't know these Gildan folk, but I doubt they're fans of us.

"They're not," Akiza said, now at least cognizant enough to track conversation adequately...even if her voice still had a distant fancy about it.

Little bits she did remember now—like the dead man. Oh, yes, she'd killed someone. Not on purpose, but she did. Which was a shame. She figured these trysts could have been a reliable way to feed, had she not accidentally sent him to be reaped on merely their second outing. He wasn't Gildan, though. That she knew. She wasn't foolish enough to spoil the good thing she had going with Nemeska Elissal's "Devils" by breaking the rules.

Her pale savior asked if there was anywhere to take her.

"Wherever you want," she said, half from that carefree high, half from her more facetious nature. If she were completely sober and could in a detached way see her own actions in this moment, Akiza would've kicked the holy hell out of herself for allowing such vulnerability. Hardly was this the survivor's mindset she'd fashioned for herself, and which had kept her alive for so long.

"Are my clothes...?"

She didn't know where they'd gone.

Kerrick Vandergard

 

[Kerrick Vandergard]

Kerrick too found himself wondering how she'd managed to make it this long with such behaviors. Those of their creed who operated with such abandon were usually the ones greeting sunrise on the end of a pike in the ground, or with their heads in a basket.

The male vampire wrapped Akiza's arm across his broad shoulders, keeping ahold of her wrist as his other hand rested on her back to guide her forward. He saw a few scattered pieces of clothing, but not enough to scrounge up any decency for her, most of it had ended up...

"In the water." He answered plainly. "Undergarments haven't been washed away yet, though. Here..." Kerrick guided her to sit up on the rock she'd been slumped over moments earlier, stepping away for a moment to gather what he could without going for a swim. Sliding off his jacket, he shoved the garments into the pocket before returning to her and draping the jacket over her shoulders.

"If they're important, you can come back for the rest of it later, once you've sobered up. We don't have time now. Put that on and let's move."

Helping her back to her feet, he quickly ushered them away from the mess she'd left behind. He couldn't just take her back to the tavern he'd been staying at in the nearby town. Not looking like this. The wagon, then. It wasn't far, just back on the road. In the quiet moonlight, this far out towards the water, the only company they had was the sound of pond frogs and insects.

"You're lucky." He broke that peace with an observation. "Anybody else had found you like that, there'd be even more to clean up." But he didn't chastise her further. No doubt she'd be embarrassed enough when she came back to her senses.

Akiza Sonshal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

"Lucky is my middle name," Akiza said. The sensual rush of feeding had a tendency to fade with ever increasing quickness, but still its last vestiges remained, and thence came another of her carefree commentary. Only a fool relied on luck as a first means rather than a last hope, so sober Akiza would have said.

Kerrick was right. Had it been anybody else, and she'd not see another moon rise.

But luck had played its part, and she—beneath the vestiges of her blood drunkenness—was grateful. She freely accepted his help when rested her arm across his shoulder, sat down on the rock as guided as he secured her undergarments from the lake, and donned the jacket he placed upon her.

And now they were away, leaving behind at brisk pace the site of her mistake.

"I'm...well, I just got carried away," she said, all in a matter-of-fact tone. "I didn't mean to kill him. It would have been inconvenient. It is...inconvenient."

Kerrick Vandergard

 

[Kerrick Vandergard]

"Is it, now? I suppose I haven't seen evidence to the contrary yet. You can call me Kerrick, if you must call me anything."

Kerrick wasn't out to embarrass her any further. There was a time, years and years ago, when he'd made such mistakes himself. He'd been a young vampire, binging on sex and blood, far too confident in his own ability to weasel his way out of any trouble that may find him.

Far be it from him to throw stones at her now.

"Can't always be helped, can it? When we feed on the life of others." The pair neared the main road now, where a one-horse cart sat parked underneath tree, some distance away. A dwindling fire still glowed, illuminating the cozy little campsite where Kerrick had been resting when he'd heard the commotion. "The inconvenience of it all is rather thrust upon us. Athough..." He smirked. "I can't remember when I had a drink that satisfying."

The campsite wasn't much, but it was better than the rock she'd been laying on before. Two tents had been erected, and as they approached Akiza would note a young man sleeping in one of them-- human, judging by his scent. Kerrick quietly gestured towards the empty tent and gently unwound his arm from her shoulder, allowing her to steady herself.

"I'm going to work on the fire, get it going again. Relax, sleep if you desire." He'd turned from her before he'd even finished speaking, kneeling down in the dirt and prodding at the flames with a stick, stirring them back to life. His own eyes were heavy with exhaustion, but that was more from a lack of food than anything else. There'd been little time to hunt since taking on the straggler in the other tent...

"The one you killed," Kerrick spoke back to her, looking only halfway over his shoulder. "Should I expect trouble? It dawns on me that I might be getting dragged into some messy business. That being the case, I'd like some warning."

Akiza Sonshal