(Thanks for the encouragement. A few answers in this update, though it's another short one with just a few screenshots thrown together. I haven't got a copy of Bruce just yet, but will try and make one for the next, if he even appears in that chapter. Apologies for the little slivers of picture slipping through my frames, I'll get better at it sooner or later.

Tasia: Thanks for the comment. I have to confess a weakness for vampire fiction myself from a young age, I always try them when playing them is an option in games. Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen was my first favorite game to feature vampires. I like movies and books too, though I've skipped over Anne Rice's books (saw the movies, though) and Twilight. Twilight: to think, when I was a lad, Anne Rice was reviled for making vampires too soft...

H: In fact I get a bit paranoid after a while, when a few things go wrong on my system. Every six months or so I reformat it, just to be on the safe side. Next time I'll be more conscientious and save my games for the new loadout, though my MO is generally to nuke things from orbit.)


They were in the dark for three days.

Cecilia quickly realized that Vera was with her, sobbing in the dark, and tried to comfort her as best she could. The moments after she was bitten were a blank, and from what she gathered from Vera, she could remember little beyond the first moments of her initial attack. How long had they been under? It was hard to count time from the moment they regained conciousness, while no light shone. They were fully clothed, unbound, and not wounded except for the bite marks, and could tell nothing nefarious (as if a vampire attack wasn't vile enough) had gone on after they were attacked. Did vampires even have woohoo? Cecilia had grown up in a neighborhood where they lived in the open, and even she was unsure. Maybe that answered her question, as she'd assume whatever their deal was would be obvious. She did know that not all were entirely evil.

"What do you think he wants." Vera asked shakily.

Cecilia shrugged, "I don't know, just wait, maybe he'll let us go." It'd seem cruel to tell her the most likely scenario, that they would probably just be kept here as regular meals until they were too weak to support his thirst. She didn't want to tell Vera what he heard him say during the attack, fearing it might be taken poorly.

More time passed in darkness, before a sliver of light appeared at the other end of the room they were in. Their eyes narrowed painfully at the assault of light, maybe it was Cecilia's imagination, but she thought it was more than the darkness that made her recoil from it.

The Silhouette of Bruce appeared in the doorway, and he walked forward. Without words his mind reached out to each of them, and there was a short melding of one's thoughts to the other. Gradually, Cecilia felt her worries melt away. She knew, for whatever reason, Bruce's purpose with them wasn't what she feared. Cecilia's mind defied the intrusion, and she thought perhaps this was another stage of the seduction to making them living plasma factories. Then he revealed his purpose to her.

"You are to be my pets, my children." Bruce smiled, showing his fangs, "Look on yourselves, and see your companion has already changed."

Cecilia looked at Vera, saw the fangs, the pallid complexion and a dark heaviness around her eyes, rimmed by dark red. Then she touched behind her own lips, and felt the fangs that had grown.

"I will gift you a flat Downtown, where you will live apart from me. For my own security, our contact must be limited, but I will allow you to hunt outside of my stalking grounds, and supply you with an allowance of plasma for your refrigerator. From there, you must pay with your usefulness to me. I know much of each of you, that you, Cecilia have an aspiration to a medical career. And you, Vera, have a history of participating in cyber crime and are an expert hacker. I will give you some time to familiarize yourself with your surroundings before I call on you again. I trust you will not abuse my trust by forsaking my gift. I am far less accommodating to those who are prey."

--------------------------------------------

The next day, they followed directions to what would be their flat, given an account to spend on housing supplies and getting their start in the city. Cecilia was conflicted about her nature, never having seen herself becoming one of the night's creatures. She pondered how her parents would've seen this. Likely they'd be sending her to the hospital to get cured the first thing. But from what he said, that seemed not to be an option, and leaving the city probably wouldn't save her from his wrath, should she cure herself.

She slept most of the day, while Vera went to her own quarters in the flat. There were two bedrooms. Vera graciously allowed Cecilia to take the larger one, while she had the room with a computer desk and cable connection.



Cecilia awoke hours later, feeling strangely. She got dressed and signed onto her own computer terminal in the living room, determined to shrug off the feeling with a distraction. Vera was already logged on, and made it a point to send Cecilia a message.

[V: Hi there, see you're up. I've been busy here, getting acquainted with our network.]

[C: I feel weird. Like I'm hungry, but without the feeling in my throat. But more like I want to go outside.]

[V: You sound weird. Definitely could do with an outing myself. I'll put my sandals on and join you.]

[C: I think I want to go it alone. Feel free to leave though, he gave us both keys, afterall.]

So Cecilia left the apartment. After having a ride from a taxi, she told him to stop by a local Coffee shop near the center of town. After paying him, she went in. Once inside, a rush of sensation flooded from her throat to her head. The nerves in her fangs (there were nerves!?) went on fire, and she went into autodrive, scoping out the place to her surprise with a sense of predation.



She found a portly specimen on the stage that called to her with his blood. Her conscious thoughts were all she could do not to pounce on him then and there. She knew well enough that Vampires weren't tolerated in every neighborhood, and murderous, feral vampires were tolerated nowhere.

Unfortunately no one else was there in the coffee shop, so her hunger went unrequited. Just then she received a text from Vera, telling her to hit up the Sensei's Dojo, which was still opening while the coffee shop was closing.

Vera was already there when Cecilia arrived. The late comer was weary, and thirsty for what she now knew was plasma. Disgusted with herself, she didn't even indulge the desire to hunt, but watched Vera make her way on one of the Sim-Fu students.



Without listening to the words, indeed, through some shared bond of their minds Cecilia could intuit what was occurring between the predator and her prey. Vera had entered the young woman's mind. At first she resisted, but eventually, when pressed and caressed psychically by the young cybercriminal, she capitulated.



That didn't prevent her from crying out when the bite was made.



Cecilia resigned to her apartment, taking the same cab as Vera back, where her companion would sleep off her first meal, while she contented herself with a pack of plasma, and a sense of restlessness for the remainder of the night.