Pain rippled down Casey’s spine and she opened her eyes and reflexively swallowed the bitter and rust-flavored blood so she could speak. “Ow! Fuck! What the hell…” She grabbed the back of Sylvie’s hand and shook until the vampire let go. “What a way to mess up a perfectly good…” Casey felt her words get cut short as Sylvie had her wrist pressed against her lips once again. Reality hit the former ward as she realized what was happening, and she settled down letting the blood flow down her throat without any resistance.
-Thank you.-
Was the last thought Casey had before a cloud of peaceful dark washed out her vision and her chest rose a couple more times before stopping.
Relieved that Casey had awakened long enough to take the blood being offered, Sylvie kept her wrist pressed against Casey’s lips until she’d gone completely still. Licking her wrist closed, Sylvie looked down at herself. “Lovely. Covered in blood.” She looked at her wrist and then back to the stained nightgown she was wearing. “Probably should have thought about that before grabbing a head full of your hair.” She leaned down and kissed Casey’s forehead. “Hey, I haven’t tried this in roughly fifty years, give or take.” Sylvie spoke softly to her unmoving friend.
Climbing off of the bed, Sylvie kept talking aloud. “I think it would be best to get changed, then maybe get you in something more appropriate.” She walked over to her dresser and pulled out an oversized blue and gray tee, slipped out of the thin silk gown and donned the comfy tee. “Much better and more my style.” Sylvie did a little twirl for Casey, “The least you can do is open your eyes when I attempt to dance.” Knowing that she wasn’t going to get a reaction just yet, Sylvie sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “I know that it can take a bit for your body and mind to decide if you want to be a vampire.” Sylvie dug out a small pair of loose-fitting shorts that matched her tee, and slipped them over her panties. “I like to think of it like you are in a coma and can hear what’s going on.” She walked to the door. “I will be right back.”
Quickly going through Casey’s clothing, Sylvie found a full-length nightgown. “Perfect. Here I thought you just wore sexy things.” She held up the long beige garment with little oranges and suns imprinted on the cotton. “This is certainly not sexy.” She snickered and took a bit longer to find a pair of underwear that wasn’t a thong. “However.” Holding up a set of normal white panties with a little pink bow on them, Sylvie sucked on her lip for a second. “These can’t be yours. One normal thing in a drawer of thongs.” Pausing to fold the underwear, Sylvie nodded to herself. “It is what you are getting all the same.”
Within minutes, Sylvie had easily stripped off the bloody garment that Casey wore and had her in the two items she’d picked out from her room. Positioning her friend so that she was lying naturally on the bed, Sylvie grabbed the brush she’d tossed before and started to lightly get the knots out of the curly hair. “What to do?” Sylvie hummed lightly and pursed her lips thinking. “Humm, I don’t have much to say beyond what you should already know.” Looking up at her swirled painted ceiling, Sylvie struggled to figure out how to pass the nervous minutes. “Okay, this is going to probably bore you to death, but it is all I have. How’s a story sound?” She paused and looked at Casey’s fingernails as they turned from normal and clear to black and sharp. “That is a good sign, Casey. So it's story time.” Sylvie commented then kept brushing, “Although the others did the same. Hope, right?” Not waiting for a response, Sylvie resumed. “A story. We have a few options.” Sylvie held up one finger, “First we have current events, boring but passes the time.” Popping up her second finger, she continued, “We could go into what happens next with us, but honestly, I would prefer that to be something you are awake for.” Third finger went up, “I could tell you about how I became a vampire.” Sylvie paused and shook her head and wiped a tear away, “That is emotional too, I would prefer to have you awake to respond.” Sniffling, she dropped her fingers. “So current events it is. Something mindless to discuss, Let’s start with something that concerns us both. Jester.”
Climbing over Casey, Sylvie got to the empty side of the bed and knelt so she could finish brushing Casey’s hair. “His real name is Jason Roderick, He just likes everything to do with jesters, so he picked up the nickname. He runs a small troupe named Sanguine Spark.” Sylvie thought about the vampires she’d taken apart earlier in the evening. “Smaller now thanks to the two of us.” She lightly nudged Casey’s body, “You did great by the way.” Pausing in thought, Sylvie took a few seconds to study Casey’s features. “Nothing visible yet. Right, Jester.” Swiping a few strands of her blue and gray striped hairs from her eyes, Sylvie resumed. “Ultimately, it is a tattoo parlor. He set up shop for himself in Williamsburg and is pretty much the one that knows the news for that area since Vivienne left. With the fact Oscar and Owen were that far east, is almost problematic. It means he is seeking to expand his reach into Virginia Beach.” Once Casey’s hair had been untangled and brushed into a light sheen, Sylvie placed the brush beside her phone and held her friend’s hand. “What you don’t understand is that Virginia Beach has been off-limits thanks to Viv. With her gone, it is a new source of both brethren and blood.” Sylvie sighed, “You probably don’t know the vacuum that was left behind when she left for France.” She laughed, “Face it, our kind doctor is a gravity well, a force that is unbending and can’t be negotiated around. We’ve simply had to make due with what she allowed.”
Sylvie stopped talking and quickly double-checked the house to make sure all of the doors were secure and all of her heavy curtains were in place, then went back to Casey’s side. “Sunrise is in a bit, I needed to make sure we’d make it through the day.” Curling up beside her lifeless friend, Sylvie sniffed the air and smiled. “Good, I can still smell my blood, I can also still taste yours. Better signs than I expected.” Swearing that she saw Casey’s lips move for a split second, She raised one of her thin eyebrows and kept talking, “You already know that the regional council that keeps the veil in operation, was obliterated. My friend Alan is hoping to get a seat and given what I saw tonight, it looks like Jester is looking to occupy the seat for the eastern part of the region.” Wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her, Sylvie studied Casey for a couple minutes in silence before speaking, “Jester is a decent enough guy, he did the tat’s on both shoulders and the third eye.” She scratched the tiny-eyed tattoo lightly, “He’s more heavy-handed than I am, likes structure.” She paused for a breath, “What is concerning is that he was willing to take on Viv’s wrath by letting his minions try and take you down.” She lightly ran her hand over Casey’s unmoving tummy. “It could just be hubris.”
-That you felt. Could it really be? Come on, where is the vision this time?-
Sylvie chastised herself when she felt Casey’s stomach tighten to her touch. “Casey?” Sylvie asked just in time to see Casey’s lips and body barely moving to the beat of a silent song. “Is it true?”
