Private Tales To make unclean

[Harlowe]

The branches of vampirism were not things she had ever really considered before. There hadn't been a need to, as a human. Monsters were few and far between in the cold planes she called a home and those that did exist were native to the lands. Southern monsters didn't like the cold it seemed. Vampires, surprisingly, even less so. Their rarity made them occultic superstitions which had been the reason for Harlowe's uneducated horror to begin with. She mulled it over thoughtfully as Victoria philosophised along similar tracks out loud.

She looked up just as Victoria looked across at her and for a moment she was caught like a deer in headlights and merely blinked.

"It's quite lonely," Harlowe said after a period of silence and her eyes cut away from Victorias to study an interesting bit of the wall. "Nobody can really answer the questions I have."

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Victoria didn't look away as Harlowe broke eye contact. So not even the Regiment could offer her the answers she sought? It was even more occult than she thought if none of their number could tell the vampire how or why she had been made.

Made. Made. The word reverberated in Victoria's skull. Harlowe had not been sired, she had been constructed. Transformed by something less than physical, if her memory of the undulating black shadows served her well. Victoria shuddered, feeling impossibly colder in the warm water. She would never be free of those memories, never be rid of the terrifying darkness nor the blazing fiery eye of its nemesis.

"I don't understand all of what I saw in that cathedral, but I know you are the only reason we made it out alive." Some of the dim candles had gone out, and the ever-dimming light shaded Victoria's features. "I would like to help you, Harlowe. I cannot promise to find all the answers you seek, but I have a modest collection of… darker knowledge.”

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe's brows vanished into the unearthly silver of her hair at the offer Victoria extended and the implications behind it. Darker knowledge? What did that even mean? If she accepted the offer would she be dabbling in things she didn't want to be? Harlowe took a breath and rolled her shoulders.

"Truthfully? I'm not sure I want to know, not after... that," she shivered too and it had nothing to do with the cooling water for vampires did not feel such things in the same way as humans did. "I don't remember... how I was made. What happened. And it is not something we watch when others go through it, but I get the sense poking in those types of things is... frowned upon."

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Tread delicately, now. Victoria did not want to risk scaring Harlowe off, after all, and the poor thing had certainly been through some... stress tonight. She must weave around the traumas and gently nudge the thoughts that would set the girl along the right path. Oh, but she had missed this. She had not been at a gathering of vampire high society in some time, and the linguistic warfare they waged upon one another could be... delicious.

She had no malevolent intentions for Harlowe, of course. She felt the girl was being rather unfairly used, and certainly not taught enough about her new un-life. If helping her netted a powerful friend along the way, well, that was just bonus.

”You‘re a vampire dear. Soon enough you’ll realize that you are better than the others. Better than their rules. But, there is no need delve into such things now.“ She stood slowly from the tepid bath and stepped gingerly upon the cool stone floor. She took a soft cloth for herself and lazily through it over her shoulder.

”Rest well, Harlowe. You deserve it.” Then she strode, still dripping, for the door.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe had been prepared for some kind of push from Victoria and so when it did not come the young vampire was left unbalanced. Perhaps she had misjudged the older woman. Maybe she had genuinely been trying to help her figure out what she was. Wouldn't that be a good thing? She could have got herself and others hurt tonight because she didn't know of the darkness harbouring in her soul. Good soldiers made sure they knew and recognised every weakness as well as strength.

She followed not long after Victoria in clambering from the bath though she wrapped herself in towels.

"I'll... I'll think about it. Thank you, Victoria. Goodnight."

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Harlowe would not be disturbed as she slept. The long arc of the sun would make its pass over the castle with little commotion, and human servants lit the evening candles to welcome purple twilight. The moment she awoke, however, she would see Victoria leering over her with a toothy, porcelain grin.

”Good news! Your contract has been extended.”

She was dressed uncharacteristically plainly, though this was still finer than most people on the best of days. At first glance it seemed to be male finery, but it had clearly been cut to match her figure. The jacket was short, angular, and with a high collar that flared widely about her neck. Sleek, form fitting trousers adorned her legs which ended in pointed black boots. A single ruby brooch sat at her throat, pinned to the collar of a simple white blouse.

Her eyes matched the jewelry, though they glittered even brighter in the flickering torchlight.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe did the very un-vampiric thing and gave a girly, strangled scream.

Seeing a fanged face peering over you with sleep clouding your eyes and mind was terrifying even when you were the monster.

"Kress," she muttered when she got her dead heart under control again, sitting up in bed and tugging the covers with her. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and squinted at the window. With black out blinds it was hard to tell the time of day but it had to have been night for Victoria to have woken her up. She really must have been exhausted.

"What do you mean my contacts been extended?"

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

"I mean you will be staying with me, as we put the finishing touches on our great success." She straightened up, noting how different Harlowe looked when she was sleeping. Peaceful, except when obviously dreaming about something unpleasant.

Victoria had slept for a few hours herself that night, which was testament to how draining the previous evening had been. It was not a physical necessity, but it did help to calm her thoughts and rejuvenate her mind.

"I took the liberty of having some clothing set out for you, and we will wash what can be... salvaged of your previous attire." She had picked up one of Harlowe's old garments between her thumb and forefinger, as if it were an item of great disgust, before she set it back where she'd found it.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe took a deep, unnecessary breathe, to calm the ghost of a rapid beating heart, as Victoria cryptically explained why she would be staying. Tying up loose ends was a normal thing for the Regiment and usually meant waiting to get paid, but the young vampire thought that would not be the case with Victoria. She just opened whatever dark master had used her as a puppet would stay firmly out of her mind with whatever this work would entail.

Her eyes travelled to her clothes with a small grimace.

"We don't really get new clothes in the Regiment," money went on feeding the monsters more than clothing them. She slid from the bed and begun to tug on the clothes Victoria had laid out. "What loose ends need sorting?"

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

"I hope you will find my company to be an improvement in more ways than that," her voice had a bounciness to it, a giddiness that could have been entertaining or terrifying, depending on who one was. Victoria in a good mood was often about to kill and/or eat someone, so wariness could be understood.

"What loose ends need sorting?"

"We have killed the nest, but as with any vermin we must seek total eradication, lest they find another hovel in which to breed." Her loathing was abundantly clear, and she punctuated her thought by spinning on her heel to face Harlowe. The ornate hilt of her rapier shimmered on her hip, though the steel didn't have quite the same glimmer as the old silver weapons.

"The cathedral was eradicated with every monk inside, but there were some abroad, elsewhere in my territory. You and I are going to remove them and finally be done with this cult." She smiled again with this thought, as though imagining the untimely demise of each and every clergyman brought her great comfort.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe's reaction couldn't be more different. The regiment had agreed to loan her out as a bounty hunter? Perhaps she was still too close to when she had been a human. She'd become a soldier, a warrior, for a reason. It certainly wasn't to be going off hunting down common criminals like any sellsword. She struggled to hold in a sigh at the feeling of having fallen so hard from where she had been.

"Do you have any leads already?"

She finished cinching her belt and then turned to glance at herself in the mirror. The common wool and patchy tunic she wore beneath shining armour was gone. Instead Victoria had gifted her with leather trousers so soft it moulded to every curve and a deep, dark red blouse with billowing sleeves that felt as though it might be made of silk. She blinked, not recognising herself in the mirror.

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Victoria tried not to take Harlowe's obvious disappointment as an insult. She could be forgiven. This Regiment had certainly not taught her anything about being a (proper) vampire, who knows what other faux pas they had passed on to her? Perhaps gratitude had not been instilled, either.

Victoria had persuaded the regiment to part with one of their soldiers for a hefty sum. Their reluctance had been irksome and frankly unusual for a company that commoditized its soldiers. Why she had to pay almost as much for Harlowe alone as she had for the rest of the mongrels together was unclear. Still, everyone had their price, and now the young thing had a chance to stand out from the crowd! Victoria hoped she would understand the compliment sooner or later.

"Yes. One white-robed individual was seen riding from town shortly after the cathedral collapsed. He was headed to Bathe, an ironically named little mud-hole but the nearest stop on the way out of my lands. I have sent orders to local overseers to watch for similar people, as I suspect others will be trying to either leave my territory or reconvene somewhere, but until we hear back this little mouse is our best lead."

That cathedral had not sprung up out of nowhere. Besides wanting her home free of dangers to herself and kin, Victoria knew that if even one of those clergymen made it back to their foreign masters there would be risk of retaliation. She could remove start-up cults and uppity preachers, but a crusade... Greyrock was not prepared.

Not yet.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe begun to gather her spun silver hair up and tied it off into a high ponytail whilst Victoria explained. Her brows creased into thought and by the end she was beginning to nod almost to herself, her mind following a similar thought pattern to Victoria. Leaving a few of these could fester like an infected wound and ooze forth a new kind of problem when poked. She took a breath.

"I suppose it's a good thing you decided to keep the Regiment's best tracker," her lips shifted into a small smile. Her accent and tone made it hard to judge when she was jesting, she had been told, so she tried to make her mouth show the jest instead. The young vampire was good, certainly had a talent for tracking, but there were older members far better than her. Truly she was still puzzling out why Victoria had chosen her. Was it just their shared vampirism?

"Perhaps we start at this Bathe then, if we can catch one we might get some information about whether they have a safe hole somewhere."

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

"Be still my dead heart, a smile?" Victoria placed a pale hand on her chest. "Stunning and talented," she lilted playfully, "Yes, it is a good thing indeed. My scouts are reliable, but they do not have the mettle to do what you and I must do."

Victoria caught sight of the mirror just then. She had ignored the things for so long that they blended into the rooms at this point, but her mind suddenly registered that she could see Harlowe's rather flattering angles through it.

"Add another note to your book of tricks," she gestured, and the mirror revealed an empty set of clothing in her place. "Goodness it would be nice to see oneself without commissioning a portrait..."

She stared wistfully for a few moments before rousing. "Anyway, Bathe it is. Tell the servants if you would like breakfast, though I wouldn't fill up too much... how quick are you without a horse?"

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe would have blushed if she were able to at the comment on her smile. She wasn't a woman known for smiling - even less so as a vampire - and compliments on how it changed her face often led her to not wanting to smile even more. Victoria's comment however didn't quite... twist in the way it did when others said it. Maybe it was because she was another vampire or maybe it was because she was a woman and no doubt understood being told to smile was a grating downside to being a woman.

Her eyes flitted to the mirror when Victoria commented on the difference and her eyebrows rose. Both her and her mentor were able to use a mirror and she had simply thought the lack of reflection had been a myth of vampirism. How curious...

"I'm fine," she said softly, her thoughts running through what little she knew of what she was before she shook herself and brought herself back to the task at hand. "Thank you, though," she added for politeness cost nobody anything. "I'm..." she wondered how to explain her speed. "There isn't another in the Regiment that can keep up. Even the other vampire."

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Her eyes crinkled in impish glee. ”Well then, maybe you can keep up with me.” A lighthearted boast to spur Harlowe to playful competition. If she was as quick as she claimed this trip would be even smoother.

~*~

The castle courtyard was very dark, lit by scant distant torches. Victoria and her ilk could see quite clearly, and the human servants were either asleep or well adapted to the darkness. She took long strides down the cold steps and across the packed dirt and stone that lead up to the outer gates, which began to slowly open at her approach. Loud clanking and creaking came from the winches until at last the heavy iron bars were hoisted aloft, and open country spread before them.

The Reach was flat and fertile, a vast green blanket draped across the land. Some rolling hills had been heaped up over the eons, and here in the eastern-most corners there was dark forest between the fields. Victoria had faint memories of how it looked in the daylight, but the vibrant colors had faded over time to the inky ocean she looked at now.

”Bathe is many leagues from here, we must make haste through the woods. It would not do to be spotted on the roads.” She took a deep breath of the crisp night air, and without another word, took off at a run as the heavy gate started to close behind them.

A cloud of dust had erupted behind Victoria as her boots tore into the hard-packed dirt, taking off at an immediate gallop. Even at this endurance pace, far from a sprint, she could easily outpace a horse.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe nodded. Many leagues didn't really tell her just how far but she could gather it would take them most of the night to reach Bathe giving them a short time to get back before daylight. Either that or they would have to whole up somewhere until they could travel again. The cloak she had with her would not protect her from the rays of the sun. When Victoria launched out of the gateway the silver-haired vampire smiled again and bent her knees. Then, with a crack of the earth, she was off.

Her pace slowed when she reached Victoria to match hers beat for beat.

"Not bad, for an older vampire," she quipped.

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Victoria flashed a moonlit face to Harlowe at her words. Cheeky. Her fangs shone through her devil's grin while her brilliant hair streamed out behind her.

The pair of them would run for a few hours straight along dark roads and twisting paths. They cut through forest or hidden fields when nearing towns, weaving around trees and crops with impossible agility. As they moved steadily outward from Greyrock Castle the towns became smaller and spread farther apart. For the last leg of the journey they didn't see a living soul until the faint lights of Bathe appeared over the horizon.

Greyrock's territory extended perhaps a hundred miles at its most distant point from the keep. A fair distance, to be sure, and the pair of them had covered three quarters of it by the time the moon had reached its zenith. Here they stopped, half a mile or so down the road from Bathe.

Victoria breathed deeply, the action having no true benefit beyond filling her nose with the scents of dirt, wheat, ale, and humans. "Well done, pet," she cooed, though Harlowe had kept her pace easily and, Victoria suspected, could have gone much quicker given the chance.

 

[Harlowe]

If it had been Matias saying such a thing she might have got annoyed at the quip. She might have been annoyed at Victoria too but she was still riding the high of being able to run like that without concern for keeping to a pace others could keep up with. Only another vampire - made in the traditional way or otherwise - would be able to and she saw her mentor so little they didn't often get the chance to just... run together.

She flashed a fanged grin at the redhead then turned and looked out over the town twinkling in the twilight. It looked innocent all tucked up between two hills.

"He would have changed his clothes, washed as much of the monastery scent off that he could," she clicked her tongue. It would be hard to figure out who it was without speaking to someone.

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

She liked seeing Harlowe smile, it made her feel like she might be getting through that prickly exterior.

"If he were smart, yes," she answered, starting towards the town at a leisurely walk. She scented the air again. They were still a ways off from town, but Harlowe seemed to be right. She could not detect any traces of the cathedral on the air, at least none strong enough to be found through the other fragrances.

"If I were a frightened, devout man, where would I go to hide?" Her eyes scanned the town's low roofline. No obvious steeples or symbols to indicate a chapel, though would he even go to such a place if he were trying to stay hidden?

"Perhaps there is an inn that is still open, he'll need to eat after such a long ride. I'm quite hungry myself." She licked her lips wickedly.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe arched a slender brow at her theatrical lip-licking but passed no comment on it. She'd gotten used to the regiment and their odd assortment of humour she had learnt was their unique ways of dealing with the curse of eating human flesh.

"An inn," she nodded in agreement and turned her keen eyes back to the town laid out before them. Something this size couldn't have more than two or three, most likely close to the different roads that led in and out of it. "We'll probably find one following the road, easiest to cross them off as we come to them," she theorised and then went as if to take a step before pausing.

"Is anyone likely to recognise you?" she was their Lady afterall.

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Bathe was small, but it was near the border of Greyrock's territory and along a main road. This combination gave it two things: a fair tolerance for foreigners, and more travel accommodations than its population would suggest.

She nodded at Harlowe's assessment. The methodical soldier to the core, it seemed, and ever the pragmatist.

"Not likely," she answered as she walked in-stride with the silver-haired woman. "They know my name better than my face. Frankly I don't think these farmers give two shits who owns the land, so long as their share is fair." She couldn't fault them for that, and she wasn't about to put up portraits of herself everywhere. How garish.

They were the only ones on the street as they entered the town. There was likely a guardsman wandering somewhere, but the west road was apparently not worth observing. It didn't take long to sniff out one of the only buildings with candlelight still coming through its windows.

"The Muddy Trout," she read off the sign with a note of disapproval and a shrug. "I've heard worse. I suppose this is our first stop."

 

[Harlowe]

"I suppose so," Harlowe echoed as she stared up at the windows on the first floor. There were candles lit in three of the four meaning the occupants had to be home. The missing one likely was in the hall down below. The soft, keening wail of a badly played fiddle did little to entice her to want to enter but with a roll of her shoulders Harlowe stepped forward to push open the thick oaken door.

The door had been doing a sterling job of keeping out a large proportion of the noise. The roaring laughter, music and clinking of plates and glasses hit them like a charging bull and the young vampire winced at the assault on her sensitive ears.

And nose.

She scrunched her nose up in disgust.

"Are monks picky about what they eat?" one sniff and any wise man would have kept moving.

 

[Victoria O'Connor]

Victoria strode in after Harlowe. Her eyes blurred at the sudden torchlight and squinted against the heat of the roaring fire in the hearth. ”You know, I have no idea,” she answered. ”But I hope they are.” Any amount of additional suffering she could wish on the fugitive was not enough.

The food did smell truly awful, but Victoria’s senses had shifted to a different focus. She was on the hunt, and after running so far she was keen to slake her thirst. Her sanguine eyes darted from patron to patron at flicker pace. Too ugly. Too old. Too… mannish. Finally she found a plump young barmaid that met… at least some of her criteria.

”See what you can find out and meet me at the bar.” She undid the top few buttons of her high-collared shirt and moved gracefully for the girl.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe rolled her eyes up towards the heavens and silently murmured for the Saint to give her strength. Victoria was almost as bad as Felice. Almost. The hair demon didn't have the charism that Victoria had to back up her flirtatious ideas and the results were often disastrous - and hilarious. With a soft sigh she shook her head and left the red head to her own devices. Instead she headed for the stairs to investigate the rooms above.

The smell was not much better up here and there were different scents that made it an altogether different but still unpleasant experience. Quietly she prowled to the first room and slid inside. That and the second room proved to hold nobody and nothing of consequence inside. Rooms no doubt one of the patrons below would occupy later on. The third room however was more interesting.