Revamped. (Daci)

[Dacian]

It took a strong resolve to let the young vampire practically gnaw on his arm. Her teeth managed to tear up most of his forearm and he could already tell the damage concentrated around his wrist was going to be severe. Dacian was unused to pain, and this burned like the fires of Hell. Breath hissed through his teeth as he struggled not to start cursing. Since she stopped trying to get at Connery, he stopped trying to pin her and focussed on keeping her teeth buried in one part of his arm. He wasn’t looking forward to healing up more bites like that. At least it was his wrist and not Connery’s neck. The Professor would be dead ten times over if Vivian had performed the same savagery on him.

She did figure out the technique to effectively milk the blood from him. Not being an easy task, she was trying quite commendably to draw the blood from his dormant veins. Concentrating hard, he found that little spark that could beat his heart when the need called for it -- a trick some vampires could do after a few centures of learning the intricacies of their body's inner workings. Every so often as she continued to feed, he could force his retired heart to beat, supplying more blood flow to his tattered forearm. It would make feeding easier for Vivian, but he lost a fair bit of the blood through the wounds she had already inflicted. But like a good parent, he encouraged his ‘newborn’ to feed while some perverse yet familiar sense of pride filled him at her ability to adapt.

When it seemed she was not going to stop until she had drunk him dry, he forcefully removed his wrist from her mouth before he would be starving for blood to replenish himself. The removable tore a couple of new gouges in his already lacerated flesh from her improperly disengaged fangs but what was a few more on top of the damage already done? Absently, he started licking at the wounds and salvaging what blood he could from his skin. He’d already gathered up a few things he’d discovered to be useful at the birth of a new vampire and with his good hand, he picked up a flannel, dipped it in water and wrung it out. Cautious of not having his fingers bitten off (he didn’t want to test the theory of reattaching amputating digits), he used the damp flannel to clean away the blood smeared across Vivian’s face. From past experience, returning to a lucid state with blood all over you was not the least disturbing of events.

[Vivian Nazarova]

Vivian seemed oddly contented now. True, she’d thrown a small fuss and tried continue gnawing at Dacian’s arm after he so rudely pulled it away, but she had relaxed quickly. Freezing cold and semi coagulated as the blood had been, it still did the trick and Vivian was content to lie back on the table and let the effects fill her. It was like being full after days of starv- ... Scratch that, it was exactly like being full after days of starvation. Her pupils, previously wildly dilated from sucking Dacian’s blood slowly returned to normal size as he cleaned her face and she remained still a while afterwards.

Vivian’s return to the world of the sane was signalled by a loud groan like someone waking up after being asleep for a few hours. Peering around blearily she noticed she was still in the same place as before, but this time she reacted with a lot less blind horror. It was, after all, the second time she’d opened her eyes to the sight.

No, it wasn’t the location that bothered her. It was what she was sure had just happened.

With a panicked look Vivian tried to sit up and ran her tongue carefully along the edge of her top row of teeth. What she found was not something she was pleased to discover in the least and she let out a loud, petrified shriek.

Aghast, she looked over at Dacian, but the sight of his brutally mangled arm only confirmed her fears. Vivian suddenly felt violently ill. She wanted to hurl, vomit it out, and get away, far away. Anything to avoid the situation she was now presented with.

”VHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” Vivian screeched shrilly, looking a lot like a frightened animal about to be shot.

[Dacian]

Dacian retreated to the gloomy corner while Vivian came to her senses. As expected, she still wasn’t happy at being tied in a basement, but there was less screaming this time. Until she discovered the teeth. He winced at the sound, feeling a little sensitive after losing a fair amount of blood. It was a situation in which he was never anything less than grumpy, but he was at least civil for Vivian’s sake. He was more exasperated than angry. The additional look on her face at the sight of his arm prompted him to let the sleeve fall down over it and he could feel the fabric stick to the blood he had yet to clean from his skin. So far he’d cleaned the lesser wounds which were starting to heal but the wrist was still oozing blood and he could feel a trickle of it lazily making its way to his hand. With as nonchalant a movement as he could manage, he stepped closer to Vivian and leaned his hand on the wall as is casually as he could as. The blood continued to ooze but it doubled back and started at a snail’s pace down to his elbow for the sole reason that it would not distract Vivian when it crept from his cuff and into view.

When she shrieked some coherent words in a foreign accent – Russian, he was glad to see he had identified it correctly before – he flinched a little and his eyes closed as he recoiled just a little. The volume was somewhat deafening. “Don’t look at me like that, I already told you I’m not going to hurt you.” He said calmly, “You were dying from fatal wounds, Vivian, I had to do ‘this’ to save you.”. He looked on in sympathy, wishing all of this was easier. This was like telling someone their loved one had died, it would never get easier, and it would never be received well. Vivian was damned for eternity to walk the night and feed on the blood of mortals to survive. How did you make that easier? He sighed and steeled himself. “I had to turn you into what I am, it was the only way, do you understand that? I am a vampire, Vivian, we are vampires.” He looked almost apologetic. “I’m sorry Vivian, it cannot be undone.”

[Vivian Nazarova]

The words – the reality of the situation – hit Vivian worse than a kick in the gut. More like a kick in the teeth, gut, nose shins and throat for good measure. For a second it looked as though she’d lost the ability to breathe, her mouth opening and closing as a multitude of words flew though her head and she couldn’t decide which ones to say. What could she say? What was there to say in all of this?

After a moment of silence, Vivian seemed to regain a sense of purpose as well as a look of being completely deranged. She attempted to sit up straighter, eyes wide and started trying to rip her right arm loose, staring at the ropes intensely. ”Net,” she said clearly, the Russian word for ‘no’, her voice highly strained, oddly formal, and apparently on the brink of sanity. ”No, zhat never happened. I vould remember. I vould remember.” Vivian continued desperately and redoubling her attempts to get her arm loose. Apparently denial was the way to go.

The rope strained and Vivian began pulling her arm more desperately as she clearly grew more and more agitated. She didn’t want to look at Dacian, it was easier not to. Her breathing was getting heavy again and all it once she seemed to snap. Looking at Dacian with a pained expression of pure hatred, her voice steadily returned to its fever pitch from before as she yelled at him. ”I vant to go home. Get me go! I VANT TO GO HOME! VY DRACHEVYE! VERE IS MY VAND?” she half screamed, eyes filling up with tears all over again.

She wanted to get out, anywhere but here. Anywhere! However, a street full of people was definitely the last place advisable.

|| Vy drachevye = You bastard ||

[Dacian]

Dacian didn't need to speak Russian to know whatever she had just called him was nothing pleasant. It was quite commendable that the usually mercurial vampire was resisting the provocation. It helped that she was female and her felt pity for her. He moved fluidly away from the wall, using his good hand to pin her struggling wrist with more force than necessary. "Desist, you will hurt yourself." A white lie: she would probably break the rope before the friction burns became too painful.

"Vivian, listen to me. Vivian listen." Letting go of her wrist, he took hold of her jaw and forced her to face him. "You cannot go home. I cannot let you go. You cannot have your wand." His voice was tired, bordering on exasperated. "You cannot deny this, Vivian, it will only make it harder." There was a reason he had never changed a mortal without their consent, regardless of the circumstances he gained it under, and this was it. Vivian seemed incapable of accepting what she now was. How did he make her believe? Did he leave her to come to terms with it on her own, or did he force the truth on her? He did not have the patience for the former, but neither was he brutal enough to consider the latter.

Loosening his hold on her jaw, he sighed, expression softening a little. "Stop struggling for a moment. Tell me what you hear." Perhaps her own enhanced senses would help his cause, convince her of the changes for him.

[Vivian Nazarova]

Vivian it seemed was not intending to do things the easy way. When Dacian grabbed her arm, rather than stop her attempts she merely stubbornly pulled harder. Her wrist writhed incessantly, trying to get out of his grasp, her teeth grit with the effort and expression murderous. As it slowly dawned on her the endeavour was completely useless she slowed down. Hurt herself? Pah, on what?

Dacian wasn’t in the mood for games by the looks of it, and as Vivian infuriatingly turned her head away like a prepubescent child going ‘I’m not listening!’ he just grabbed her face and forced her to look around at him. She wanted to try and bite again, this time not as a means to feed but for defence, but resisted enough to at least listen. It was just the same garbage as before, this time with an extra helping of ‘no’, ‘no’ and ‘no’ which only ensured Vivian didn’t even internalise the words coming out of his mouth.

The second his grip slacked Vivian impertinently wrenched her head from his grasp before fixing him with a miserable look seething with anger. She knew what she was, she could feel it, but it was easier to sing to the world that it was a lie than to just accept it. ”No! All I can hear is you! I. Vant. To. Go. HOME! Let me GO!” she shouted again, trying to sound as authoritative and demanding as she could, but failing utterly spectacularly. A traumatised teenage girl with a shaky, high pitched voice was not exactly intimidating by any means, especially not to someone like Dacian. To a rat, maybe?

[Dacian]

She was impossible. How was he supposed to help her if she wouldn't even listen? He straightened, looking down into her hate-filled eyes with as dispassionately as possible. As his attempts at kindness were resolutely rebuffed, it seemed he had no choice but to do this the hard way. Time to refer to the old adage, you must be cruel to be kind.

"Fine. I'll let you go. If you can prove to me you don't need me." His expression took on some dogmatic qualities, his smile bitter. He turned, leaving the room for a moment with his mauled arm held up as if there were wet paint on it that he didn't wish to smear anywhere by accident. He took the stairs three at a time, and followed Connery's scent to the bar. "Connery." He growled, "You're needed now." It was like being called into some sinister doctor's appointment. The vampire wheeled without waiting for the Professor's confirmation and returned to the basement.

"Your Professor is coming down now." He told Vivian as he crossed the room to her table. "I'm going to untie you and once you prove you don't need me, you can go with him." The knots were impossible with the state of his right arm, so he took a dagger from his belt and deftly cut the rope bindings. All but one arm was free by the time he heard Connery's feet on the stairs, and he cut the last as the basement door swung hesitantly open. The knife was back in its sheath instantly, and he hovered behind Vivian, his reflexes primed. If her first reaction to a human was anything to go by, this should be an amusing encounter.

[Adrian Connery]

Adrian swirled that last few drops of water in his glass and mulled everything over. His thoughts touched all reaches of what had transpired over the last three days. After thinking everything over, the man had become increasingly furious, so much so he’d had a decent bitch to Ed about the whole vampire situation. Still it hadn’t helped; the thing he really needed to blow up at was Dacian. Adrian took comfort in hearing Vivian’s desperate screams for help. He was having no luck with her, what else had he expected?

Soon the water gave way to harder stuff –soft drink- and the man became angrier and angrier. Being treated like shit did that to a person. It wasn’t just him either, Ed was feeling the same way and had said that if it wasn’t for Vivian, he would have kicked Dacian out days ago. Of course Adrian agreed wholeheartedly, it was time the vampire got a dressing down.

Getting bored of waiting for his royal highness’ permission to go see his student, Adrian picked himself up off his barstool, said a short good night to the barkeep and turned to leave. Before he could reach the door Dacian summoned him. Adrian stalked down the stairs, picking the perfect words to say. Reaching the door, he took a deep breath, stepped in the basement and let rip.

“It’s time we got some things straight vampire,” he snarled. He knew very well that he could end up with several broken bones by the end of his speech but hell it would be worth it just to get what he had to say off his chest. “Listen here you bastard, you should be kissing my arse right now. I’m the one who has to chase the vampire hunters out of town, I’m the one who scored shelter for you here and I’m the one putting my neck on the line trying to find your fucking friend. I’ve done all this for you and you treat me like a fucking punching bag. If it wasn’t for Viv I would’ve sent the vampire hunters straight to you long ago, ungrateful arsehole. So fuck you, I’m going home!” Adrian practically yelled at Dacian, he’d had enough of the vampire for one night.

Breathing hard, he suddenly felt happier after saying what he felt. Adrian almost welcomed Dacian’s response. Before the vampire could give it he turned to Viv and smirked apologetically. It was a little horrifying to see that she was loose but whatever happened, happened.

[Vivian Nazarova]

That was... unexpected. After agreeing in a fashion that sounded more sinister than another rebuff, Dacian disappeared upstairs. Vivian was left downstairs staring in surprise, mouth open, at the spot he’d just left. Wow, okay. Now she actually had to repress the urge to call him back. She was glad he was gone, yes, but she was still tied to a table. Clicking back into the ‘I don’t need him!’ mentality Vivian set on trying to work her hand loose again, the hope always there she could get out before he got back by crawling through a- ... crap, no windows. Never mind, she’d find a way.

It felt like only two seconds had passed before she heard him come back down again and Vivian felt her throat catch in panic like a five year old caught with a broken vase. The way he’d left had not been heartening and for a moment she was convinced he was coming back with some medieval torture device to test her worthiness or something. Her head snapped around to look as the door opened, but all there was Dacian, being Dacian.

The news that Connery was coming however was quite worrying. What happened last time jumped to the forefront of her mind and all Vivian could do was gape like a fish again, her head reeling from the question of just how sane this idea was. She nearly jumped when Dacian sharply cut the ropes, but she took the hint and scurried off the table to stand awkwardly at a very reserved distance from Dacian and wait for her teacher, rubbing her wrists frantically.

The door opened, and whole process started. The heartbeat was in her head again. Vivian scrunched up her eyes, looking agonized as she tried to force it out. It was elevated. Angry. Adrian was shouting but Vivian wasn’t listening. With a whimper she clamped her hands to her ears and bowed her head in the hope that would drown it out. It didn’t. She was salivating again. Vivian wanted to cry.

It was too much.

She lasted only long enough for Dacian to have time to make one response before her mind snapped back into whatever horrible auto-pilot had made her attack Dacian the first time. With another unearthly shriek Vivian made another lunge at Connery like an addict like a cocaine line, fangs beared and headed straight for the throat.

[Dacian]

Dacian sneered. Connery's attempt at 'dressing him down' would have been laughable if he wasn't carefully watching Vivian out of the corner of his eye. The darling mortal though he was actually helping? That was a joke. He had never and would never need the help of a wizard to conduct his affairs. The only reason he put up with the dear Professor and his cronies was so Vivian would have somewhere semi-familiar to adjust to her new life in.

As Connery ranted, Vivian was coping as well as was to be expected. The closing of the eyes was a typical response. She could stop herself from seeing him, maybe even smelling him, but she would never be able to block out the sheer volume of that heartbeat. He kept his eyes on her at all times, looking away only to reply. "Connery, you forget. This isn't about me, it's about Vivian." As if on cue, the distraught changeling lunged.

Dacian caught her round the waist with his good arm as if catching a rambunctious puppy. Stopping her up short, he held onto her firmly but made no effort to distract her from Connery. "Vivian needs this place, Connery. Let me look after the important things, you just try not to look like bait, alright?" He said casually, smiling over Vivian's shoulder at the almost-food Professor.

"I think you've outlasted your usefulness for tonight, Connery. Now you can go home." He hefted Vivian, reaffirming his hold on her. It might have been a lot easier with two arms, but the other was busy drooling blood onto the flagstone floor. He lowered his voice to a hush, looking away from Connery dismissively. "I am sorry, Vivian, but you do need me. You cannot do this alone."