Into the Great Unknown (Lurcolm & Greenie)

Greenie

Follow the Strange Trails
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Beginner
  2. Elementary
  3. Intermediate
  4. Adept
  5. Advanced
  6. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Fantasy, Supernatural, Horror
She stood in a rather cramped and dusty alleyway, holding on tightly to... something that was all bundled up on a blanket. It was twitching and first and then wriggling, forcing her to hold on tightly. Her eyes were red, hungry, vampiric. The city was the last place she wanted to be in. She had just left the forest behind, a lovely place with thick, dark trees, roots large and entangling that would trip normal wanderers. Unfortunately for her, those pursuing her weren't normal people. They were hunters, probably hoping to be paid if they presented her head to someone or other. It was hard to remember how many people she'd bitten and drunken from. Never draining though. Nayla was no murderer, after all.

Nayla heard something behind her; she looked back just in time to see a flashlight point in her direction. "There she is!" She recognized the voice of the red-headed huntress who had almost killed her a couple of times previously. Apparently, she still hadn't given up. Nayla would give anything to rip the huntress' throat to shreds, but now wasn't the time.

"Screw it all..." There was the sound of barking dog, increasing as they honed in on her location. "Sons of bitches really went all out."

"I shall take care of them."

"Huh, what?!" Nayla jerked her head forward so quickly she felt an ache in her neck. Standing before her was a tall blond man with light blue eyes, as handsome as could be. "Dad?!"

He gave her a small wink before leaning down and pressing a kiss against her black hair. "Hurry. Leave this path and continue down the road. You should find a way to leave this place."

"You're being kinda vague!" Nayla protested, but the tall man had already walked away in the direction of the noise and lights.

"Good luck, my dear."

She opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it, especially when she heard the first cry of terror. Screams filled the air, but she didn't look back, hurrying through the darkness, her red eyes showing her the path clearly. There was a certain relief in her as she continued forward; she could no longer hear any pursuers. However, she was annoyed. Why couldn't her father have simply told her where to go? And why wouldn't this thing stay still and just go to sleep?

By the time Nayla did stop, she found herself someplace she had never seen before in her life.There were many places the twenty-one-year-old vampire hadn't been, of course, but an aerodrome would probably be on the top of her list of places she had no reason to enter.

"Screw that," she muttered. Just because her father took care of the ones following her now didn't mean other's wouldn't come after her. She looked around at the airships. Yes, she could sneak in one and hide easily along with the little one. No one would find her... and if they did, it would probably be too late to get rid of her anyway.

Nayla took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and the hurried forward, looking from ship to ship. Although she was moving fast, her movements were quieter than a whisper, so if anyone was there, they wouldn't hear her. Her eyes finally caught sight of an airship that with an unattended open door. A smile came to her lips.

Ready or not, here I come.
 
Barent Armbruster growled with frustration.

These airship mechanics knew as much of magitech as the young inventor knew of putting on a corset

They just scratched their heads like sentient monkeys as they gazed at the Radiance Device in the boiler room. The finely tuned light crystals inside serve as an energy source for the network of light crystals throughout the ship. They're all connected by tubing made of mirrored glass all across the inside. It's a very complicated, delicate thing.

And these imbeciles fucked it up worse than an Orcish Orgy.

Barent didn't even know what they were thinking. They put fucking coal in it! Lit the thing's inner light eaters on fucking fire!

The entire thing well and nearly broke irreperably! They should be very glad they had Barent on board, or they wouldn't have any lights for this damnable vessel!

Not something you want to have without, considering the ship's destination.

The Great Unknown...

Several scouting expeditions have been sent over the years, but none ever came back. Not a single barrel.

Now, Barent was signing up. Not because he wanted fame or fortune. He wanted knowledge. He wanted to find out what the fuck was out there.

More importantly, he wanted to study it.

There weren't any guards for the young vampiress to fret over since nobody really thought such a ship would receive stowaways to a perceived death sentence.

Not even the Empire's enemies would bother with them.

* * *​

One night, Barent couldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep for a good thirty minutes after he went to bed usually because his mind took a long while to turn off. This night, however, proved to be rather difficult. He couldn't shut his brain down in the slightest.

The ship was sailing steadily over the great blue ocean as he stepped out, rubbing his eyes with a yawn.
 
Nayla had her arms around her stomach, grumbling softly to herself. How long had it been since this damn airship had been flying? A day? A week? A month? It felt like an eternity, that much was for sure. She had already been hungry when she'd stowed away on the dirigible, but she had expected it to be a couple of days flight maximum. Not however long this was.

She had managed to find a place to hide in before the ship took flight, a closet of sorts. She wasn't sure what exactly it was for since it was empty. It was narrow and cramped, but there had been enough place for her and her little bundle of joy... a joy that was hungry as well. She'd had the foresight to had some jerky on herself while she'd been on the run, but now it was finished as well. She could tell her fingers were looking mighty tasty to the little beast.

Maybe I shouldn't have stolen this little bugger, she thought with a sigh, the latter turning to a whimper as another hunger pang raced through her belly.

"S**t, I can't take this anymore." Nayla rubbed hard at her stomach before carefully getting to her feet. There had to be some food on board. Just a little blood, she didn't need much. Licking at her dried lips, she reached for the door and slid it open, quickly stepping out and shutting it behind her. She heard the indignant sound of the little one, but he was fine, the greedy guts.

As she stepped out, her nose went into overdrive, sniffing about, trying to catch a whiff of somebody, anybody. She was no longer using her eyes, acting more like a dog than a vampire. Her stomach growled once more. There... she could smell something. Her fangs elongated as she hurried forward, following after the scent. She vaguely hoped that there was more than one person on the ship; she really didn't want to incapacitate someone and then have no one take care of the ship in case of emergency.

Of course, all thoughts seemed to leave her but the one when she finally caught sight of her prey. It was mind over hunger now, and hunger was nearly winning. Can't... kill... him! Her hands clenched and then relaxed; she shot forward, stopping only a foot away from him.

"Hi," she said, grabbing onto his arm. "Sorry about this, but I'm f**cking hungry. I won't kill you, promise."​
 
"Hi," she said, grabbing onto his arm. "Sorry about this, but I'm f**cking hungry. I won't kill you, promise."

"What the fuck?" Barent hissed at her sudden appearance. He pulled out a revolver and shoved it into her open mouth as he took several deep breaths and tried to analyse the situation.

Glancing about proved that they were alone, but he's never seen this girl in the entire month of the voyage. He took another deep breath, before he caught sight of her fangs and red eyes.

"Holy shit!" he spat, jerking away and levelling his gun at her "You're a fucking vampire, aren't you! Fuck fuck fuck!"

He took another deep breath, then looked at her with curiosity.

"You're hungry."
 
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If there was one thing Nayla had never expected to experience, it was having a gun shoved down her mouth. Shot at, sure. Shoot someone, maybe, though she wasn't found of guns as weapons for herself. Even being threatened by having someone wave it in her face... it happens! But this caught her by surprise, enough that she remained quite still, simply blinking at the fellow, her mind completely blank save for one word.

Oops.

She visibly relaxed, body slumping when the revolver was removed from her mouth. Damn that tastes nasty. Note to self, never have that happen again. Amidst her thoughts, her eyes jerked up to look at the man, taking note of his expression.

"Yes, I'm a vampire, guilty as charged." She raised her hands slightly, shoulders shrugging. "And yeah, I'm hungry. No, wait, I'm starving, actually. It's pretty much taking all I have to not just rip your throat open. The gun in the mouth kinda surprised me there though, so I'm a little... well my hunger state's shifted more to keep myself alive state."

She looked around impatiently before speaking again. "Look, if there is someone else here, I'll go after them. But I only caught your scent. I'm not gonna kill you or anything, promise. I don't have to. But I am bloody hungry, so...?" Hopefully, he got the point?​
 
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Barent opened his mouth to speak, then closed it with a frown. He was debating what to do. He was the only one who had access to her and wouldn't kill her, not something he wanted to do in most cases.

He mulled over what to do, then heaved out a sigh "If let you feed on someone else, they'll freak out and lynch you. Otherwise, you'll kill them. I kill you, then I have to deal with that. I don't particularly want to do that. I can just ignore you, but..."

He made a throat tearing motion "Not something I particularly fancy experiencing."

He exhaled slowly, then holstered his revolver, turned around and moved his head to one side to make his neck exposed.

"Do it and do it quickly."
 
"Hey, it's not like I really go randomly tearing into people," Nayla muttered. She knew how it looked, but was it really her fault that she was so hungry? Yes, yes it is, her mind insisted on reminding her. If she hadn't been so adamant on grabbing that little dragon, she would have been as inconspicuous as ever, back on land, stealing blood from the scum of the city.

For a moment she wondered whether to tell him that she wasn't alone. Nah, not right now. If he was scared of dragons, that might potentially rob her of the meal he seemed okay in offering. After, then. If there was normal food on board, then the little beast would be alright. Thankfully he couldn't breathe fire yet, at least.

"Right, I'll try to make this as painless as possible. Er... thanks. My name's Nayla, by the way." She figured she might as well introduce herself before biting somebody. "Runaway vampire, etcetera, etcetera." She took hold of his arm once more, though not as tightly as she had earlier. She brought her face close to his neck, pausing momentarily. "Bloody hell, this is awkward..." Usually, she went after people in various states of criminal activity. Someone just waiting there was very odd for her.

Just do it! And so she did, quickly piercing the soft flesh with her elongated fangs. As soon as she tasted the blood, she retracted her fangs, letting the blood flow freely in her mouth. It was rather hard not to drink greedily, but after a good fifteen seconds, she pulled herself away. "Thanks." She didn't want to drink any more than she had to.​
 
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"I know," Barent reassured her. "If you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'd have fish laughing at my face of shock when you dumped me overboard in the sea."

A grim image, but an image he had missed thanks to her kindness nonetheless.

He waved her reassurances of making it painless aside "Believe me when I say, I believe you. It's still gonna hurt, though."

He felt a smile spread across his face as she introduced herself. He decided to do so in kind as she walked towards him "Barent. Mad scientist, inventor, etcetera etcetera."

He tensed up in anticipation as she grabbed his arm, probably to keep him from pushing her away when she bites. He could feel her as she went close to his neck, hovering above his skin as she muttered about how awkward a situation this was.

That made him laugh, and that turned into choked howl of pain as she bit into him.

True to habit, his arm closest to her bite bolted upwards to try and stop the pain, but she held it fast. By then, he managed to regain his senses enough to stand still and wait for it to be over.

He tried and failed to hold back a shudder as the feeding went on. His head began to swim when she finally stopped.

Absently, he put a handkerchief he dug out of one of his pockets to his neck. The thing stained red.

"Not a problem."

He didn't know what happened next, but suddenly he was flat on his back, staring up at the sky as shadows danced across his vision.

"Huh"
 
It looked like a problem from where Nayla was standing, especially when Barent had fallen to the ground. She hoped she hadn't drunken too much of his blood. Dammit, she thought to herself, quickly crouching down beside him. Her eyes were a little narrowed as she looked him over, trying to figure out what to do.

"Uh... maybe you should get some rest or something, like on a bed." He had to have one of those on the ship, right? She scratched at her head momentarily before standing up, reaching out with a hand for him to take so she could help him back to his feet. Now that she was had enough fresh blood running through her system to last her a week, she was feeling stronger than ever. She guessed the least she could do was help the person whose ship she hitched a ride on.

Maybe something to eat or drink would be better? Her eyes moved to look and the handkerchief. No, none of that, first it would probably be best to get the bite bandaged. Normally she didn't have to worry about such things with others. It was always a bite and leave process. That or simply visit a blood-bank; her father had known some humans who supplied vampires with blood in exchange for cozy homes and money.

"Where do you keep your medical supplies?" she asked Barent. She pulled her hand back, looking away from him and toward the ship in general. For reasons of safety as well as generally wishing to stay hidden, she hadn't actually ventured through the dirigible, so she had no idea what lead to where. In hindsight, maybe some night-time wanderings could have helped the situation, but that was water under the bridge now.