Colette Filiatraut & Lucilia Riovas | Luna & Lucius Cypher Collaboration
After Grey had left, Lucilia decided to use this time to get away from the feast. She wasn't going to go far, simply give herself time alone. She left the table and headed towards the patio, where things were fairly empty sans a few diners here and there. The moon was high, a few days until a full moon at that. It reminded Lucilia that she'd have to go to another meeting with the vampires of the college, to preform their monthly ritual. Lucilia walked over to the edge of the patio, leaning against the railing. There was a single, almost withered vine spiraled around the marble rail. Using her magic she gave the vine just a bit of life, hopefully long enough for it to survive the winter.
Footsteps were soon heard behind her and the smell of candies filled the air. Colette gulped nervously as she held the a black treasure chest that had a black lock. She had the key on a chain around her neck. She felt Hyllos nearby which made her a bit more relaxed knowing she could be a bit safe. Call her paranoid but after her time in the catacomb had made her a bit...weary of the air around her.
"Um Lucilia...can I talk to you?" she asked as she got just a few few away from the older vampire, if she had a beating heart it would be beating with anticipation. She clutched the chest to her small body as the cold air hit her the exposed parts of her body, but she remained unaffected since she had no feeling of the air around her, one of the curses of being the creature of the night. She began to wonder if she would ever feel the emotions most other creatures called love. She immediately shook her mind out of those dark thoughts knowing that she could not change the past or parts of the future and that she must live the way she can.
It made her wonder what would happened to her if she finally finished school, she had no where else to go and she really didn't want to go back to her home full of loneliness and darkness. She had gotten too used to being arond people that she felt that she could no longer go back to the way she was living.
'I will have to start making plans once I am done with the drought, its the only thing i can do so I don't go back to the way my life use to be' she thought. She looked down at the new outfit she put on.
Her new outfit consisted of a black off the shoulders shirt that was more lace and showed off her arms in medium holes that were various shapes. Under the shirt was a black strapless dress that was treated more like a shirt that reached her knees and blew in the direction of the wind. The shirt flared out a bit at her slim hips. The rest of her legs was covered with her high heeled boots. Her hair was in a side braid a few strains out of the braid and curled up at her pointed ears exposing her upper back and her neck.
Turning her head Lucilia noticed Colette. It's been some time since the two spoke personally: they met with a fair amount of regularity during school hours, either passing each other in the halls or getting their fill at Underhaven. But this would be the first time in a while since they've had a chance to talk.
"Of course my dear. What's on your mind?" Lucilia waved her hand, using her magic to create some seats for herself and Colette. She used some mushrooms which grew to the size of chairs, with a plush and comfty top. "Toadstools", basically.
Colette took a deep cold breath before she walked over sitting on one of the chairs getitng comfortable. She placed the chst on her lap gently looking at the older vampire.
"I wanted to show you something. Its not something that I would show to anyone, but I trust you more than anyone I ever trusted in my entire life, even when I was human. I trust you with this secret item that is currently helping me come up with the blood candies and hopefully with solutions for the drought." She said in a nervous, but determine tone of voice indicating even though she was nervous; she was determine to do what she had planned. She reached up taking the chain that held the key to the lock from around her neck the coloring the chain caused around her neck vanished instantly the second it was off her neck.
The key was an odd shape, instead of it being like any ordinary key in the word, this one would remind anyone of a broken half of a heart. It was red unlike the lock holding the chest closed.She looked at the key for a few moments before she inserted it into the lock. A loud click filled the air as the lock clasp released itself and the lock titled slightly. She carefully took the lock off like it was porcelain glass, though the way she was dressed she looked like a porcelain doll herself, and placed it next to her on the chair away from the edge. She looked at Lucillia with serious eyes.
"Promise me that you will not tell anyone about what I am about to show you. I know that people of our kind still don't like the fact that the I was changed into one of them and that they cannot do anything to change it, so its best that they dont find out about this." she said. Whatever was in that chest was obviously very important to Colette and was inciting curiosity from Hyllos who could hear from where she was flying.
Lucilia gave Colette a soft, but serious smile.
"You can trust me Colette. This will just be between you and me." Though Lucilia was honestly curious what Colette had that was so important. While Lucilia always gave the girl her privacy, she generally knew most of Colette's secrets, if only because Lucilia liked to pry. But she's never seen this box before, and if it would help prefect the draught, than it was all the more important for Lucilia to listen.
"Go on."Colette nodded her head when she received permission to continue. She slowly opened the chest, which was surprisingly silent but it looked liked it hadn't been opened for long time. When it was completely opened Colette slowly reached inside and pulled out a pure black chain, but that was not what caught Lucilia's attention. What caught her attention was what was hanging from the chain. It was a heart shaped amulet of some kind that was all black but in the center is what looked like glass filled with red that seem to move with the movement of the necklace, like water did. Colette held her close and put the amulet part of the necklace in her bare hands letting the chain dangle in the air.
"Lucillia..this is the amulet the vampire left me after he turned me. I never told anyone about this because there was no one there I could trust or anyone to talk to this about. The red inside the glass part here... Is his blood." She said.
Lucilia's eyes widen.
"Vampire blood? That's..." Lucilia knew that vampire blood normally wouldn't last this long. Something of a side effect of their nature: unlike mortal blood which congeals, vampire blood turns into dust. Just about everything turns into dust when a vampire's life isn't sustaining it. The blood of a vampire was quite potent but difficult to isolate, so much that even Lucilia doesn't bother to do it. While powerful, the resources needed to keep it in it's liquid state was just too much for the cost. And yet here was Colette, with an amulet containing some.
"I can see why you would keep this a secret. Especially since... Well... Vampire Blood is needed to cure vampirism. The difficulty of keeping it long enough for the ritual is too costly for most however. Even for me. The fact that you have it... I'm not entirely sure what to think. Did that vampire intend to... Cure you at some point?" Lucilia couldn't look at Colette when she mentioned that. Many times before Lucilia thought about curing herself. It wasn't impossible, even for those who submitted themselves to Aarem. But at this point, it'd be too late for both Lucilia and Colette. Curing themselves of vampirism would return them back to their mortal state, both in time and body. Which meant that if Lucilia cured herself, her body would rapidly age to match her true age. And considering that she's a little over two centuries year old, curing herself wasn't an option.
"Never mind that. I'm glad you are willing to show this to me Colette. How do you think this would perfect the draught though?""I don't know yet, but I think this is what he wanted to me to try." Colette said putting it back in the box. She stood and walked over to the edge looking out into the distance. She looked ready to cry as she began to speak.
"When I was turned...I didn't want to believe that I was anything but human, but when I saw the fear of the people I was forced to kill. I knew that...that there was no turning back for me. My life was forever different and I was helpless to change it. My parents feared and loved me to the point they mysteriously disappeared one night." she said tears in her eyes as she spoke each syllable.
"For two centuries...I felt like my life was on a tight rope like in a circus.Every move I did or every word I spoke neither helped me or ruined my balance to stay upon the tight rope I felt like I was standing. I had so many questions yet there was no one there to help me, no one to comfort me." she said in a cracked voice. It was hard to believe that she was so young with her recent actions, but in her heart she was only a young child that was once naive to the world of vampire and was forced to live a life she never thought she would have to.
"I felt so isolated from both worlds: human and vampires...except for the vampire who changed me and used his last visit to give that amulet to me....I felt like I was a broken doll just wanting to be put back together. To keep me from hurting person after person." she clenched her hands into fist cutting into her hands as potent red blood like tears went down her reddening cheeks onto the concrete balcony railing.
"Everyday..I never got to cry because it was a world of survival for me from the moment when I was awake at night to when I fell asleep during the day. I had to deal with people who would come to my home trying to find me and hang me at the stake to wait for the sun to finally kill me....it was either kill or be killed for me and it only fed my blood lust to slaughter more and more innocent people." Colette said falling to her knees not even reacting to the way the skin of her knees scraped against the concrete.
"I want to use that amulet to help vampires who are just like me, vampires who are perhaps even younger than I am...vampires that don't have the luxury to be rescued like I was...to be saved from the blood lust that haunts them every waking moment even if it means some go back to their mortal state and living their lives again. I will to do anything it takes...anything even if it means my own life" she said.
"I know I can never go back to what or who I once was, but it is not too late to help others Lucillia, this may be our only chance to do it." she said before Lucillia had the chance to say anything.
The first thing Lucilia did was help Colette up. The second thing Lucilia did was give Colette a great, big hug. Then she put Colette back onto the toadstool.
"I'm so sorry Colette. I've been a vampire for so long... Sometimes I forget that deep down, we're all still human, with sadness, regret, and so much more. Things like hope." Taking out a handkerchief Lucilia took Colette's hands and wiped the blood off of them, then wiping away her tears with a clean handkerchief.
"And what I see right now is hope for the future. That you'll bring hope to other vampires, not just because you're able to, but because you are a kind, noble soul who wants to. I'm glad that you're willing to share this with me Colette. Now maybe I could share something with you." But then Lucilia froze up. She didn't mean to say. She was caught up in the emotions of the moment. Lucilia's own past was something she's been trying to forget. But hearing Colette's tale just reminded the elder vampire that once upon a time, she was just like Colette. A young girl naive to the world, forced into the dark and bloody realm of vampires and the evils within. It gave Lucilia a harsh reminder that ultimately, she could never control her life like she did before. At least, not now.
"... I think, Colette, that you and I are quite similar. In fact I think we both may have known each other once, in the past. Because I used to be a girl just like you. I was young, naive, and didn't know what the world had in store for me... I knew I wasn't invincible, but surely there was some light. But then... Then I became a vampire. The hunger took me... I remember killing my own family. Back then, I used to be attending the College, but there wasn't many vampires there to help me. I was... I became feral. I fled into the dark woods and became a monster. It wasn't until a very long time that someone came and saved me. Another vampire who wanted to give me a second chance. Every since then I wanted to do the same for all the other vampires, so I invited them to stay at the college, just like what I did with you. I sought them out whever the rumors said they would be. But instead of hunting them down like some, I did everything I could to help them regain their senses."Most of this Colette already knew, and Lucilia's beginnings weren't too different from many other vampires. She simply didn't want to remember the pain: Lucilia was a strong woman, but the memories of her tearing apart her mother and father just to lick the blood off the floor, it was sickening to the vampire teacher. Shaking herself out of her self-loathing Lucilia looked up towards the moon.
"Colette, I'm proud of you. I think you'll do even better than me. I've spent years trying to perfect the Marrow Draught to no anvil. I was about to give up. But thanks to you, we're getting closer to defeating the curse that all vampires share. Something that will help all of us live a normal life. So... Don't be sad! I'm not sad! I'm happy I got to save you! I'm grateful that you've become such a wonderful woman! What happened to you in the past is always going to be harsh and unforgettable. But that's why you're here. To beat your dark past, for a brighter future."She blushed as she recieved complements from the woman who saved her from a terrible future. She then remember she wanted to show Lucilia her progress of changing the world of the vampires.
"Thank you so much Lucilia for listening to me. I really need that a lot. But i also want to show you this since I promise I would when I got the time to do it." She pulled out from under her dress a neatly wrapped sphere that reminded them both of the wrappers they saw as they were humans. The wrapper was black and red and had the initials "CL" on it in the large red part in bold black print.
"This is the very first candy I managed to make and I want you to try it for me. It suppose to make you last a week without the marrow draught. I really burned myself trying to make it in my room and after almost 12 hours I managed to make this" she said, her cheeks still a light red color as she down-casted her maroon red eyes to the ground in a modest fashion.
"I made sure it actually tasted like candy because I know I miss the luxery of tasting the sweetness they put in candies. I always looked forward to getting candy every time I ate dinner. I guess it was my parent's way to black mail me into eating my vegetables." she giggled out, this was the first time she ever talked about her past without getitng upset.
"Thank you Colette. Well, down the hatch!" Lucilia took the candy from Colette. She was a bit hesitant at first, but she put it into her mouth and tasted it. At first, it tasted like a hard piece of jelly. Soon it soften, and Lucilia could taste the blood trickle into her mouth. But then... Then there was another taste that Lucilia couldn't pinpoint. She thought perhaps it had to do with the vampire blood Colette may or added to it. But then Lucilia realized what was going on.
She was tasting sugar. It was sweet, if a bit grainy. But for once, Lucilia actually tasted something that wasn't just blood. For a moment, her mouth was alive again. If it wasn't made of fresh blood or had a texture to it, Lucilia wouldn't have been able to taste it. But this... Lucilia had to confirm it. She took out an apple seed and used her magic to make it grow into an apple, skipping the process of turning into a tree. She bite into it and tasted the flavor of the fruit, it's tangy sweet and sourness. It was a fleeting feeling, but it was certainly shocking to Lucilia. She had no words.
Colette watched her biting her lip wondering what the older vampire would say. She hoped she would like them since she spent so much of her time to make it. If she was mortal her hands would have began to sweat. When she saw her grow an apple from out of no where and bite into it she smiled a bit knowing that she was probably shocked that she could taste the sugar in the candle.
"I used just a drop of the vampire blood in the amulet to cure the vampirism to a small extend, though it wont fully heal us. It can give us the ability to gain back one sense we lost when we were turned. The ability to taste. I could see it in you eyes, though I know you were trying to hide it, whenever you were in the dining room eating that you missed that, so I made this candy mostly for you in return for helping me and giving me the honor to fix something you spent years trying to fix for all vampires" she said.
Lucilia had no words to express the things she was feeling. It was such a simple thing. Something that everyone is born to do. But to taste the sugar, to eat an apple, where things that Lucilia had forgotten so long ago. Colette spoke more about what she did, adding vampire blood into the marrow draught. Lucilia never thought it would work, considering the difficulty of isolating vampire blood and the fact it seemed counter intuative. but sure enough for just a moment Lucilia was able to regain her taste buds, and her thirst for blood was gone. She wasn't sure how long she could go without but if Colette is right she wouldn't feel the need to drink for at least a week. This was so much to take in.
Lucilia had to compose herself. By now she could only taste the lingering sweetness of the candy. Colette's Marrow Draught wasn't perfect, but it was getting there. Turning to the younger vampire Lucilia reached out and hugged her.
"Thank you Colette. It's... It's perfect. Everything I could have ever hoped for."She smiled and hugged the older vampire back. "I am glad I could be at home help for you. Consider this a gift for you... If i get the next batch ready, do you think I can give some to the vampires at the next ritual" she asked shyly. She was definitely optimistic about this working and it seem that it could work. The wind blew Colette's braided hair making it brush against her pale skin.
"If you don't I don't mind the no answer. I just want to get started on this quickly so I have time to improve the drought." she said blushing running her fingers through her silky black hair. One thing about vampires is that they didn't have to worry about washing their hair, but the one problem is that vampire's hair could grow so long that some either cut it over and over or brush it over and over.
"Oh, of course. It'll be on the next full moon however, which I think is... A day or two away. If that's enough time. But this is certainly a breakthrough Colette! In fact, there's one thing I want from you. I don't know where you've made the new Marrow Drought, but if you want feel free to use my personal laboratory. It has access to practically all the resources the college provides and more. I can't say I have much vampire blood in stock, but I can make arrangements to obtain more." While this wasn't the sort of good news she was expecting on a night like this, Lucilia was happy that something good came out from today.
Sitting back onto her toadstool Lucilia looked up into the skies. It was the same darkness as always, but there were lights in the stars. A reminder that for all the bleakness in this world, there was something to grasp that could change it. A sort of... Noble darkness.
As a stiff breeze rolled by Lucilia turned back towards the feast. She should return to her seat before people begin to wonder if she had left the feast without so much as a farewell.
"Ah... That's one problem down, but now I must return to my duties. Colette, you should try to enjoy the festival a bit. I wish I could go, but I have to attend to the diplomats and others in the dinning hall. But perhaps... One day, I could take some time off and we could just... Have fun. For once." Lucilia was certain she had some vacation days she could call in, assuming her punishment won't stop her from taking a little break every now and again.
Colette smiled and nodded. She walked back to her chest and closed it back up. She re-locked it with the black lock and carefully put the chain back around her neck. She turned back to the older vampire and smiled brightly for the first time in a long time.
"Thank you so much. I won't let you down Lucillia" she said in a determined voice before she turned back to head back to her room with the chest to put it back where she had it a smile on her face. This is one the best nights she had in a long long time.
