RP:Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids
Part of the Welcome To The End Of Eras Arc
Summary: Lhyrin and Scarlet gain an ally in one another, the two helping to achieve each other's goals of finding the vampire that turned Scarlet and ridding Lithrydel of feral vampires.
Behind a Hemlock Grove, Larket
Scarlet || She’d had a name, once. A family. A home. Dreams for the future. That was another life, a life taken for granted and cut all too short. Existence now was nothing for her but a series of hours, minutes, days spent searching for her next victim. Her first had been her own father, some months ago now. Monster, he’d called her. Wretch. Unholy creature. Well, if she had fallen so far, what did that make -him- for exposing her to the abominable man who’d turned her in the first place?
Scarlet || The family home had been seized in the ensuing investigation, a “civil forfeiture” of historic property the Kelay city authorities had been openly coveting for decades, but there was nothing left there for her, anyway. She was on the hunt now. If she couldn’t find the vampire who’d done this to her, she’d take it out on every man who got in her way until she did. Revenge against the seedier half of the population had been a long time in coming, and there was no shortage of evil men just -asking- to receive their final comeuppance.
Scarlet || Take this one, for example. She’d led him to an isolated grove off the main streets of Larket, and he’d been all too eager to follow. She knew the kind of thoughts that were in his head -- greed, and lust, and worse. He saw in her a naive young maiden -- the kind she’d been before all this. Before men had used her, before they’d taken her for their own foul purposes. Before they’d destroyed her. She let him think his evil thoughts all the way up until the moment his lust overcame him, until thoughts turned to action and he threw her up against the nearest wall, groping drunkenly under her dress. In a flash, the illusion of innocence faded. Same as all the others, he’d see a hint of fangs in the moonlight and the glowing scarlet of her eyes -- and then he would see nothing at all, ever ever again.
Lhyrin || The ferals of Larket were just as unchecked there as they were anywhere else and this was good news for Lhyrin. They’d known they were there, of course, from those few times they’d hunted in the area, but they had never fully been concerned with them as they had been dubbed inedible for Lhyrin’s palate (eating undead of any sort was disgusting, back before Lhyrin was one of them, and remained as such now). They dragged three of them along through the forest and along the edge of the Vibrance River, looking for their fourth for the day--the one that was to be sacrificed to Vakmatharas, rather than brought back to House Markan for their experiments. The feral vampires were chained, muzzled, and tranquilized, and Lhyrin left the sleeping creatures hidden in some brush for now as they went to check out the nearby grove of hemlock.
Lhyrin || They long since caught the scent of blood on their way and soon their tall shadow was looming over the garden and the cottage as the vampire stopped just in front of it all, the moons shining from behind them. Things seemed… different, however. It wasn’t the full on bloodbath they’d come to associate with the ferals, the creatures acting as if they were ghouls rather than vampires. Nevertheless, stormy eyes kept a watch out for the other predator as Lhyrin pulled their yew bow and an arrow from their back, nocking the latter into place. “Come out, come out wherever you are…” The singsongness of their words sounded odd mixed with the usual monotone of their voice.
Scarlet || What was that stench? It was new to her, strange and overpowering. With her feast complete, she’d slip out of sight long before the undead elf arrived on the scene. When Lhyrin called out, the broken corpse of the man she’d just killed stumbled out into the light -- a trick of enchantment, not actual necromancy. For a moment he’d seem alive and well. He’d even wave a little! Hopefully it would be enough distraction for her to approach the elf from behind, where she’d attempt to disarm them and put them into a compromising enough position -- with a kick to the knees and a knife to the throat -- to interrogate and/or kill them. The latter, probably, just as soon as she understood why that smell seemed so… familiar and yet unfamiliar, all at once.
Lhyrin caught sight of the corpse and its puppetry just as it heard the girl sneak up behind them, the elf doing their best to keep a smirk from showing. They allowed the other vampire to disarm them, and put that knife to their throat, a look of feigned fright plastered all over their gaunt, pale face. “Oh no, you’ve got me. Please have mercy! I-If King Macon finds out about this he’ll--” The elf couldn’t hide it anymore and broke out into waves of laughter. It seemed tame at first, like the kind of laughter that came from someone playing a practical joke on someone else, but it soon edged into hysterical and unnerving. They pressed their throat closer into the knife, letting the blade sink in a little, as a way to distract the girl for only a moment before jerking their head backward to headbutt her and turn around to grab her by the arms, the elf still kneeling somewhat. “Just what is it that you think you can do to me, hm?”
Scarlet || She’d never admit it, but she’d been caught off guard. This curse had brought with it an unnatural strength that she’d quickly learned to use to her advantage. Not just any person would have been able to break free as easily as the elf had. It should have been impossible, unless…
Scarlet || Recognition hit her, and with it she bucked free from the elf’s grasp and circled them from some few feet away, knife still brandished angrily before her. “You’re like me, then. What is your relation to the king? What business brings you here?” The elf’s eerie calm had certainly gone a long way toward unnerving her, but like hell was she going to show it.
Lhyrin || The elf complied with her escape, musing on how it all was like a sort of dance between the two. As she made her discovery and let it be known, Lhyrin bent at the waist, bowing to her with an air of nobility one wouldn’t expect to find from a ranger. “And you are no mere feral vampire, apparently. As for the king, he is a pawn and nothing more. An idiot with a brain about as hard as his famed Larketian stone that can’t even manage to worship the God of Death properly.” The self-proclaimed Avatar of Vakmatharas scoffed at the thought and waved dismissively at it. “But that is not why I’m here. No, I’m here to catch ferals and you… would be my fourth. Every fourth is a tribute to my dark Lord, as per my contract with Lord Azakhaer, and I daresay, you might be the best of one all so far. It’s a pity, however, that you -are- undead… and therefore inedible.” Alas, poor Lhyrin. They were quite hungry after all that rounding up of feral undead. “I will be a gracious enough killer and let you choose how I do it. Typically, I remove several organs and put them into what I call Vakopic jars and offer them up in whichever temple of Vakmatharas’ that I’m closest to, but…” They shrugged. “I will leave it up to you. How do you wish to die?” Lhyrin took several slow steps towards the other vampire, their stormy gaze studying her form carefully. “Will it be slow and painful…? Quick and with a hint of mercy? Choose quickly or I will choose for you.”
Scarlet || Her knife lowered momentarily. She’d thought about death every day since she’d been turned, in truth. It would be so easy to turn herself in to some uptight human officer of the law, confess her crimes and allow herself to be staked or put to the torch. All the lawmen she’d ever known thought creatures like what she’d become to be naturally and unavoidably criminal, anyway. They hardly needed an excuse to put her out of her misery. The only thing keeping her from ending things that way was…
Scarlet || “No. I can’t die yet.” Her determination was steeled once more, and she raised her knife again. “I’m hunting for the man who did this to me. If you’re after feral vampires, there’s a good chance he’s one of the ones making them as he made me, turning them on the brink of death after a long night of violation and torture.” She stared at the elf a while longer, sizing them up, then shrugged and sheathed her knife. If they wouldn’t take her proposal, she’d likely have better luck escaping via her magic than via combat, anyway. “You’re a hunter, yes? Help me get my revenge, and then… and then you kill me if you like, after.”
Lhyrin stopped in front of the girl, as she spoke. They listened, but their mind trailed elsewhere, lingering on the similar sentiment Lhyrin had held over a century ago toward their own abusers and that need for revenge that had long since dulled and left them. Now it was obviously alive and well within this person before them and there was a twinge of emotion that they couldn’t quite place… “Fine. I suppose each one of your kills goes to Vakmatharas regardless,” they said at length. “But you do realize that they might not be what you think they are? This man may very well be someone higher in station than you or I. He may not even reside in Larket at all. I know full well what it’s like to deal with people like that and they know precisely how to get what they want with everyone else being none the wiser.”
Scarlet || The woman’s line of sight trailed to one side. “Larket deserves a cleansing either way, and I know the man at least has contacts here. He and my father were acquainted. Business partners. And the tax records are publicly available… I have him narrowed down to one of a handful of names. The list grows shorter with every passing month.” She drew her gaze back to the elf. “I know a different sort of hunting, I suppose. I can hunt down information and barter in social currency. High society types have loose lips when they think you’re one of them. It… helps that I -was-, once.”
Lhyrin || Despite that strange tickle, that weird feeling in the back of their mind, the expression of Lhyrin’s face was emotionless. They looked completely unimpressed with her sob story. But on the inside, something gnawed at them. Those damned dreams they’d been having lately were likely the culprit of it all, as well as meeting Kanna finally. Ugh. What was it? Pity? The barest hints of compassion? Stuffing down your feelings into the void of nothingness for over a hundred years really made a person lose touch with even remembering what the emotions were called in the first place and what names associated with what emotion. They really only knew pleasure, that bit of happiness that came from watching the light in their victim’s eyes die out and the anticipation of eating them once they returned home. There had been anger and even sadness lately as well--it had been those damn dreams but now here these things were bubbling up again and eventually the elf could do naught else but sigh and pinch the bridge of their nose in irritation. “Then you and I both had an unfortunate birth.” They did not divulge further, turning their mind back to the task at hand. “If you are to help me while you search for him, then do not kill the ferals you find. Lord Azakhaer and I have an agreement: for every three ferals I find and supply to another vampire house that requires them, the fourth is for the God of Death. I do not know what it is they’re doing with them. I didn’t ask. I don’t care. They just need to be alive. The majority of them are so far gone that they have no purpose in the first place.”
Scarlet || “Ferals,” Scarlet mused, “meaning, I assume, newborn vampires left to fend for themselves like I was?” She’d taken a step closer to the undead elf, but her gaze lingered somewhere just past their shoulder. “I suppose I got lucky then, in a way. I still have my wits about me.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. It certainly would have been easier to be a mindless thrall, wouldn’t it? But she shuddered at the thought of her body doing such things as a feral vampire would do without her mind present to stop it.
Lhyrin watched as the other vampire approached somewhat, nodding a little. “Precisely. You’re the first I’ve come across so far, that has all of their faculties intact. A pity, really. It’s such a waste of time and blood. And I’m going to assume your creator is not from one of the vampire houses in Vailkrin, or else this would make things too easy.” Their gaze trailed away from the girl, a hand moving to their chin in thought. “I have been wondering of late if I should allow myself out into society, seeing as how I’ve been making connections both in Vailkrin and in Rynvale. I may have a solution for both of us. Or, at least, a way that might help you attempt to bring your creator out into the open for you to get eyes on them, even if you don’t end up killing them right away.”
Scarlet || “I’m all ears,” Scarlet said flatly. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested--she was, very--but she found herself feeling a bit drained all of a sudden. (Heh. Drained. Much like her new fresh victim.) This must be the comedown from the rush of feeding, and the rush of thinking she might have to fight Lhyrin to the death. Were she her old self still, she might like to lay down for a nap soon. But that… wasn’t really a thing her body could do, anymore. Or, it was, but not in nearly the same way.
Lhyrin tilted their head at Scarlet. Her tiredness was not lost on them and after a few moments of contemplation, they outstretched their arm in offering to her. “I dined on pixie recently, before coming out to hunt tonight. The dust helps to perk things up a bit, if you need something.” It was a sort of peace offering, if their agreement on working together had not been enough. “And, the idea was hosting a ball. Halloween is coming up soon and the place I stay at occasionally would work well for such a thing, as it’s technically been abandoned nearly a decade now.” They paused for a moment, then eventually continued. “Do you require a place to stay? Vhys is quite far away, but if you find yourself there before the ball, I can find you accommodations there, in Elimdor.” They wondered to themselves why they felt the need to offer not only their blood, but their money as well to this girl, but Lhyrin couldn’t quite pinpoint the reason, though they eventually partially blamed Kanna for it and the kindness she had shown them. “I suppose you’d have to tell me your name first, however.”
Scarlet hesitated. Of course she did. This person had just declared intent to kill her a moment ago. But, truly, did she have much other choice? This could turn out to be the best lead she’d gotten on her crusade of revenge since she’d started it. And she sure could use a proper base of operations… very well, then. She’d take Lhyrin’s arm in her hands, uncertainty at first and then with more resolve. “I’m not sure I -have- a name anymore. Certainly not a family name. But you can call me Scarlet, at least until such time as I’ve found a better one.” With her name now given, it was time to take the feast that was offered to her (and hope it wasn’t an attempt to get her guard down again).