Night Walker War

[psychotic__Gal]

Cian woke early for the day at 4:30. He glanced to his right—Daphne was still curled up, dead to the world for all intents and purposes. Cian rose from the bed without jostling it—a feat most married men would be impressed with. For a vampire it was no different—superhuman hearing often thwarted rising silently. Cian quietly opened drawers, choosing his outfit before heading into the adjacent bathroom. He took a quick shower before drying himself off. He pulled on his black trousers and his fingers nimbly buttoned his shirt up over his undershirt. When he came back into the room, not 10 minutes had passed and Daphne was still asleep. He gave her a soft smile before opening the door. He would grab their mail, he decided. She would probably be awake by the time he returned.

--

Cian reentered his and Daphne’s room carrying a small stack of letters. He could feel something different in the house as he had walked swiftly through it…Something was new. He could hear faint voices but he didn’t attempt to lisen. Things always changed around this house. At first, it annoyed him; he liked stable living conditions and often developed long-lasting habits forged in routine. He did not like change. Cian shut the door without a sound as he walked into the room, shuffling through the envelopes.

”Anything interesting?” Cian looked up, his red eyes meeting his wife’s. She wasn’t wearing her colored contacts so her true color showed—the red matched his. He felt a rush of self-satisfaction. He was correct in his early assessment: she was awake. She was not, however, dressed for the day. She perched on the edge of the bed, one of her long legs underneath her, her loose nightgown clinging slightly to her bust. Her blond hair was drawn into a thick braid that fell over her shoulder. Her gaze was curious. Though her laptop was open on the bed in front of her, her attention was all his. Cian smiled. He liked that she kept up with the technology of the times but he still thought it was odd. Not many of their kind did so.

Cian flipped again through the envelopes as he walked further into the room. He bent down to kiss Daphne’s head before settling in an arm chair near the bed. He held out an envelope addressed to Daphne. ”This one is for you, love.” He said, ”Other than that…the usual…” He trailed off as he stared down at the thick parchment envelope now facing up at him. The ink was thick on the envelope, although almost scrawled. He sniffed the air; sure enough…Her scent was on it. As a rule, the vampires Cian came into contact with over the years generally didn’t smell of anything. One theory was that this made them better predators. That was one hypothesis Cian had heard, anyway. His sire had disagreed. He clearly remembered the conversation he had had with her regarding this topic during his early years as a vampire. ”The humans will know,” She related, her eyes meeting his in spite of the differences of their stature, ”They will know something is off, even if they don’t know exactly what it is. Everything has a scent.” He had argued that it risked their location to other predators but she had just smiled and agreed. She had left the choice to use the knowledge or to disregard it to him. Ever the empiricist, Cian had experimented. Her theory didn’t work with wild animals but it held true to domesticated animals and humans. It was a minute detail many missed. He couldn’t help but wonder why she knew it. But then…she always seemed to know little things like that.

Cian took another sniff. Under the mail carrier’s scent, it was there. The same mixture of cinnamon, jasmine, and wild blackberries she had worn for centuries clung to it. Involuntarily, his fingers caressed the paper. There were faint traces of Sybil’s rune magic embedded in it. Cian turned it over and ran a finger under the tab to open it. The wax seal was crimson and plain. The letter folded open. It wasn’t long. Extremely short, actually. But that was to be expected. She hated writing (he was actually surprised she hadn’t just called). Several words were written on the page in the same thick, dark ink. They were written in an Ancient Greek script that Cian remembered teaching her. “Are you okay?” roughly translated (though closer to the UK’s slang “Alright?”). So she had heard of the events leading up to Cian’s marriage. The message seemed to shift, emotions rising off the pages as if they too were words or as if the pages were a face and the emotions were expressions on it. His sire’s embedded runes finally became clear. The shortness of the note was added to by the emotions of concern and curiosity. The longer he stared, the more emotions became legible…they shifted to anger, irritation, some sense of joy and surprise…She wanted to meet Daphne.  

[psychotic__Gal]

Daphne awoke to an empty bed. She snuggled deeper into the covers, blinking the tiredness for her eyes. Her hair was still in the braid she’d made last night. It was neat, if only slightly ratty in the back. It was nothing compared to how it looked when she woke up as a human. In those days she had tossed and turned, unable to sleep for extended periods of time. When she had woken as a vampire and after the insatiable hunger phase, she had expected the same thing. She had been wrong. Now, she slept deeply. Not much could wake her…except talking. Social interactions happening around her often woke her.

Today was no different. She could sense something new in the air around THoR. Unlike her husband, she did not mind change. It had taken her some time to adopt this attitude (because honestly, who doesn’t wish for the ‘good ol’ days’?). The new voice was too quiet to hear, however, too distant. Daph stretched out her body and sat up, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn. She retrieved her laptop and opened it, staring blankly at the screen as it booted up. She would just surf the internet for a little while…

----

Daphne looked up from her laptop as her husband opened their door and walked into the room. He was perfectly put together for the day. As he closed the door, he flipped through a stack of envelopes—no doubt mail for the day.

”Anything interesting?” She asked. She was expecting a letter from a friend—a vampire that she had met on their honeymoon, actually. She knew her husband received something in the mail almost every day. She wondered why he didn’t learn to use a computer for its emailing capabilities. It would save him time and money. He had scoffed when she had mentioned it once—he teased her for using it and maintained that many of his friends wouldn’t use it.

Cian walked into the room and kissed the top of her head. A feeling of love flooded into Daphne’s chest. She smiled. Cian took a seat on the easy chair by the bed and held out a letter for her before answering her question. His voice trailed off as his gaze was drawn downward. Daphne paused in opening her letter. He sniffed the air, and touched the letter with a soft caress. His reaction was strange but she wouldn’t interrupt him just yet. She knew better. She tore open her letter, her eyes skimming its content swiftly. James apologized but they would have to communicate via post. He didn’t have a computer or even access to one. He admitted apprehension about using one—felt it was too new, too foreign. Daphne rolled her crimson eyes. She wouldn’t tell her husband that he was right about vampires and technology—this was only one case, after all.

Daphne looked up at her husband again. He was sitting completely still, his eyes the only thing moving. Daphne stood, pulling down her short, cotton night gown. She stood behind her husband, looking down at the ancient script. She couldn’t read it but almost immediately emotions flooded into her. It was one of the strangest things she had experienced concerning the post. ”Well, this seems interesting.” She said, ”Who is it from?” She kissed his cheek before moving to their closet.
”My Sire.”Cian responded. Daphne turned around, eyebrows raised.
”Oh? How is she?” She asked, somewhat irritated that his responses were becoming shorter and shorter in spite of the intriguing content of them. Her question was somewhat not needed. She had gained a short emotional window into the letter when she had looked over her husband’s shoulder.
”She wants to know if I’m okay…She also wants to meet you. She was… irritated that she wasn’t at the wedding.”
”Didn’t we send her an invitation?”
”Yes but we should have called and extended it that way as well”
”You gathered all of that from that letter?” It had seemed so short.
”Yes. Well, no actually. She embedded runes into it—magic.” He sighed, ”We will set a later date to go to see her. For now, I will just write back. Groveling. I do not want to call in response to this.” Daphne looked over to see a quick grin appear on her husband’s lips. She shrugged, opening their closet door. She went through clothing options as she heard Cian move to his desk, retrieving paper and his writing case in the process.

Daphne pulled her night gown over her head as she decided on a light blush shirt-dress and a pair of black leggings. She retrieved her dark brown riding boots and put them on over her feet. Daphne stood at the vanity for a moment, twisting her wedding ring on her finger. ”Something feels off today.” She said, turning to her husband.
 

[psychotic__Gal]

”Something feels off today.” Cian looked up at Daphne as she spoke to him. He nodded.
”It does.” He allowed softly. He unscrewed the cap of his fountain pen.

”There were voices sometime earlier. Maybe something happened.” Cian watched as Daphne unbraided her hair, pulling her fingers through it before using the hairbrush.

”We might have a new guest in the house… I was not able to hear all that the voices were discussing on my short trip downstairs.” Cian’s protective instincts began to kick in. Before, he had had things to distract himself with but now…he wondered who could be downstairs. He turned back stiffly to the letter on the desk before him. He would focus on the letter. It could not be too long but it could not be too short either. He needed her satisfied for now. If she was left wanting, she would call him back to Europe immediate…or worse: she would appear here. He was not convinced she would find herself welcome here. It had taken time for even Cian to become somewhat accepted. Even now, sometimes he wondered if he ever was. His sire would likely be annoyed about having to cross the ocean. She hated to leave her hillside manor. Hated it.

”Should we go down to meet them?” Daphne wondered out loud, styling her hair.

”We will, we will.” He responded, distracted ”I just need to finish this note…I am not convinced you understand what this could mean for us here. We wouldn’t want Sophia—Lavinia? Whatever name she uses these days—paying us a surprise visit?” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Daphne nod.

---

Finally, Cian was able to seal his letter and address it. In it, he had apologized profusely and explained the sitatuation. He noted their current living situation and explained that they would set a future date to see her. Cian thought it brief but informative—just the way he knew his sire liked it. He dropped his dark green wax onto the back of the envelope and pressed his seal into it. He turned to his wife, and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. He was surprised...although he shouldn't have been. He should have heard whoever it was approach the door. He stood and walked to the door. Opening it, he found Veni and Sephiroth...No, that wasn't quite right. Veni was holding Sephiroth. ”Is everything okay?” He asked. He heard Daphne's feet move across the floor and she brushed past him. ”Oh, Veni, bring him in!” She opened the door, even more and slightly pushed her husband out of the way. Cian could only watch.  

[psychotic__Gal]

When the door opened and Daphne saw Veni holding Sephiroth, she knew something was amiss even before either vampire spoke. She moved across the floor quickly as Cian spoke and invited the other vampire into the room. She led him to the bed and had him lay Sephiroth on top of the covers. She herself climbed up on the bed as well and kneeled before him.

Daphne lifted her hands over Sephiroth, excitement building in her chest. She had not done this in ages. She closed her eyes and there it was...the map of his body on the back of her eyelids. Ribs cracked... head injury...high spiking core temperature. Daphne was not certain that she could affect the body temperature as she was pretty sure that had to do with Sephiroth's own abilities but she could help with the other injuries.

Her hands hovered over the cracked ribs, speaking softly in the language of the body, asking them to heal. Her hands glowed just slightly and the bones mended,causing Sephiroth to take one sharp intake of breath. Satisfied, Daphne moved to the head injury. Something solid had hit him. There was no serious damage...Still...Daphne sent some of her healing powers at the injury, healing the forming bruise.

The blond opened her eyes, and stared at her patient, willing him to open his. She had no doubt that he would soon do so.

"How did this happen?" She asked of the Roman vampire.  

[psychotic__Gal]

So focused was Daphne on healing Sephiroth that she only heard bits and pieces of what Veni was saying. She stored the rest of the verbal data in her memory for the moment. She would return to the words when she could. On any normal mortal, this healing process would have taken a lot of the (comparatively) young vampire’s energy, but Sephiroth wasn’t “normal”. It was as if his body wanted to heal. It did not resist the magic as Daphne had experienced before. But then…it could have also been attributed to the unserious nature f his injuries. Even without Veni’s words, Daphne could sense from the injuries that the older vampire did not intend to kill. She may even have been playing with the man.

Daphne was finished in a matter of minutes. I almost cannot believe that he was bested, came her passing thought. She could remember only a few instances in which Sephiroth had been severely hurt. One had been right before her marriage to Cian…unpleasant flashbacks popped into her head like a photo wheel of bad vacation pictures. She grimaced and shook them away. Her eyes calmly looked at Sephiroth’s face. Any moment now… She didn’t have to wait long. His eyes blinked open and his hand went to his neck. At first, Daphne thought this reaction (instead of reaching for his head as he might be expected to do) could be attributed to her superb healing prowess. As she thought about it though, taking into account the fact that Veni’s mother had engaged Sephiroth in battle (and had won) the movement became significant to something else entirely.

”Did she take any?” Daphne asked, softly. She could find out how much blood (if any) he lost by laying hands on him but that was rude. Instead, she had decided to ask. If Veni’s mother took a lot of Sephiroth’s blood, it was within Daphne’s power to ask the body to rapidly replace it. It would take time and much more effort but it could be done. Gently, she moved his hand so as to see the skin of his neck. It didn’t look like Nefretiri had bitten him.

”Well, I should hope your mother was pleased with his abilities. The ‘test’ certainly took a toll on him…Physically as well as mentally, I think.” Daphne clasped her hands together in front of her. ”I wonder how serious her burn is…” She let her sentence trail off, unsure if she wanted to offer her healing services to an unfamiliar vampire or not.

Daphne then pulled the missed dialogue out of her memory, trying to remember each of the details that Veni had related to them. He had used a foreign word, Xenia, that she was unfamiliar with. She was not concerned, however. The fear aura was the more pressing piece of conversation as far as Daphne was concerned. She knew Rosemary liked to tease her every once and awhile with her own fear aura…But to have someone who wasn’t, for the most part, trying to reign it in? Daphne was not sure how to feel about this. ”I didn’t know that fear had a taste to it.” She offered, although it wasn’t strictly true. She thought she could remember a time where Rosemary had said something similar.

Well, at least Veni had said that his mother was in a “good mood”, whatever that meant.  

[psychotic__Gal]

Cian watched his wife as she healed their friend…but only for a moment. The bulk of his attention was directed toward his Roman friend. Veni shot him a weary smile but otherwise kept his expression neutral. He seemed ready to say something…so, Cian waited.

”My mother has returned.” Veni finally stated. Cian’s mind was already working out what this meant for himself and his mate. He flipped through memories of all the times Veni mentioned his mother. Some time before Cian’s arrival to the House but sometime after Daphne’s, a portal to Hell had opened, drawing Veni’s sire into it, narrowly missing Dan, Daisy, Ma Jianshen and several others. Daphne, of course, had been relatively safe at the House. Because of this incident, no one had been especially sure of Nefretiri’s state. Cian didn’t say anything but he nodded, signaling for Veni to continue. Cian’s letter from his own sire was surprising…He couldn’t imagine Sybil showing up out of the blue. On some small level, Cian could relate to Veni’s situation.

As Veni explained what had happened, pieces started fitting together in Cian’s mind. He was sure Sybil would have done the same. There was something about the older generation and their tests. In his mother’s case, Cian wondered if that had to do with the war she seldom (if ever) mentioned. Some desire to test those close to herself and her family in order to make sure they were worthy or to be trusted. ”This makes me wonder what would have happened if he had not ‘passed’ her test.” Cian allowed, cautiously. He couldn’t put his finger on it but something about Veni seemed off throughout their conversation. Not normal, somehow. Again, Cian wondered if this had to do with his mother. The Greek vampire kept his thoughts to himself, however.

”Aha!” Veni’s exclamation broke through Cian’s thoughts. He followed Veni’s line of sight and stared at Sephiroth soon enough to see him rub his neck and right as his wife asked him a question. He surveyed the silver-haired male and predicted that she didn’t take any. Veni began speaking once more, drawing Cian’s attention back to his blond friend.

Cian’s maker wanted to meet Daphne and himself…it seemed reasonable. They had to meet her. There was nothing they could say to prolong or evade it. Then there was the matter of Cian’s simple curiosity. ”It’s kind of her to offer xenia.” Cian commented, ”Not many would offer it before meeting the guests in question.” His strategic mind continued to take everything in and process it. He listened as Veni told them of his mother’s power and her aura. It sounded powerful. He wondered if there were some rune or magic that could hold it off…But he decided that that could wait. He did not want to insult her before even meeting her. His eyes slid over to Daphne. If Rosemary liked teasing Daphne with feat, what were the chances that the older vampire would do similarly? But Cian wouldn’t create a shield for her either. Sometimes it was better to accidentally face another’s power than to defensively provoke it. Cian was not even sure if a shield would work properly against her.

Veni bowed to them, appearing for a moment just as young as he was when he was turned. Strategically, Cian couldn’t see any way around it even if he had wanted to avoid it.

”It would be our pleasure to meet your mother.” Cian responded, answering for both himself and his mate. After all, the sooner they met the better.
 

[psychotic__Gal]

Daphne glanced down at her patient even as Cian agreed to Nefretiri’s request. ”Are you feeling well enough to move or would you like to rest a bit longer? She asked, ”You may stay here if you do not feel like leaving just yet. We don’t mind. I am also assuming Veni’s mother would not mind either--” She glanced at Veni, ”Especially considering your state of health when Veni brought you here.”

Daphne got off the bed and smoothed down her shirt dress. She glanced down at herself. Was she presentable enough? She moved to the closet and withdrew a brown leather jacket. She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. Well, it would have to do. ”I’m ready when you are Veni.” She stated.

Veni led them out of the room. He led them to the “throne room”. Daphne had enjoyed their stay at Veni’s house. It was beautiful and spacious. They had been here for several weeks already and had planned on staying a few more. Daphne wondered if Veni’s mother’s appearance would change this plan. When they entered the room, the found the older vampire and Ma Jianshen. Ma Jianshen was bowing lowly to Nefretiri and she was holding a bag of blood candy.

From behind Cian, Daphne took in Nefretiri’s appearance. The older vampire appeared to be smaller and more full bodied than the Irish vampire. Her hair was an Egyptian wig—black and somewhat short. She had markings all over her body—designs looping around her skin. She had light brown skin and the makeup framing her eyes was cat eye. The burn was visible on Nefretiri’s skin. It had not healed just yet.

Daphne didn’t yet know what to make of the older vampire. From this distance, she didn’t appear threatening but Daphne knew not to trust that assumption. She expected Nefretiri to hold more power than she let off. She was unnerving and somewhat intimidating to the young vampire.  

[psychotic__Gal]

Cian’s assessment of Veni’s sire was similar to that of his mate’s, however, he did not think that she looked nonthreatening. He knew better than to assume such a thing about an old vampire. His maker had taught him that. His maker had been turned when she was a child. She often made the most of a situation if her opponent misjudged her power.

Cian’s eyes took in Nefretiri’s henna. They had magic properties to them. There were many Cian did not recognize...Others, Cian was able to recognize protective symbols. It was interesting but not at all unexpected. Vampires tended to be somewhat eclectic in their beliefs and traditions. It was one of the features of immortality. He stayed silent, waiting for Veni to introduce them, even as he saw Daphne’s eyes fixed on the burns on Veni’s sire’s arms. He knew what she wanted to do but he hoped she would wait until after the introductions were made.