TShara

The Rebel Vampire

Alright, not sure if my question phrasing will come out well, but oh well.

Also, self-hatred stemming from all of that. He hates himself even more than he hates Alexi.

The Rebel Vampire

Hmm... are Erik's emotions clear enough that Alexi could tell the reasons for them? If Erik asks him the true cause of his hatred, as a test, could Alexi answer it? Or is it not that clear yet?

The Rebel Vampire

A fury that was not entirely rational threatened to consume Erik once again as the retraction began in the chains. For a moment, he feared that all of this could be some kind of cruel joke, and he very nearly railed at Alexi once again. But he did his best to push that idea from his mind, deciding that, just for the moment, he would trust the human just barely, just enough to see what was happening. His anger was not erased, but once again he could smother it. Focusing on breathing deeply, he walked back with the chains, until they finally pinned him to the wall. As he was immobilized, another jolt of fear bolted through him, but once again he forced it beneath the surface.

He watched carefully as Alexi sliced himself open and drained his blood into the bottle. The smell drove him insane and seemed to intensify his agony, but he could see the point well enough. The blood was untainted by the potion, an offering of pure trust. Practically unconsciously, he fruitlessly tried to pull against his restraints to reach it, until he realized Alexi was slicing his arm as well. Even in his current state, the vampire would heal from the wound within minutes.

The second the chains were finally loosened, he grabbed the bottle hungrily and drained it of the blood, going so far as to use his claws to break it apart and lick the remainder from the inside. Completely indecent, but he felt that not a drop should be wasted.

But he paid enough attention to what Alexi was doing, and watched with incredulity as he added the potion to Erik's blood and drank it.

What?! That can't be the Binding potion, can it? First of all, I thought it didn't work on humans? Then again, no one has tried. Secondly, it is not supposed to cause such horrible horrible pain. Maybe he's faking all of it, and maybe that potion was just colored water or something.... But no one could fake that agony in his eyes. I don't understand.

He watched as Alexi struggled with the agony, and a tiny part of his conscience even wished he could assist the human, despite his anger at him. But the least he could do was wait several minutes until the spasms of pain were through before he began his barrage of questions.

“What exactly was that? I thought the potion didn't work on humans, and even if it did, I've never seen results like that. What exactly did you do? And why did you do it? Why would you cause yourself such horrible pain?” Erik asked, curiosity overtaking his voice, and his anger at being chained temporarily evaporated. His mind was much more clear now, thanks to the infusion of blood, and the pain, nausea, and other symptoms had already evaporated while he had been watching Alexi.

~*~*~

Joseph smiled, and bowed respectfully before leaving the room once again, glad that he had been able to relieve his old friend's stress in some small way. The faintest of smiles traversed his lips as he resumed his normal chores.

The Rebel Vampire

Actually, I was already going to do that. You made it pretty clear.

He's going to have his doubts, but I was going to say the potion could be a fake... and then have him decide that no one could have faked the pain in his eyes, and with a tiny leap of faith and Alexi's explanation, decide to trust him.

The Rebel Vampire

That's... an interesting change. You weren't going to do it that way before. :-)

Yeah, Erik is a very passionate person, but he's usually much better at directing it. He has learned to control his temper over the years because that's part of effective leadership. But his emotions are very raw.

That does make sense though, that Alexi has never felt that. A lot of Erik's anger stems from the shame of failure, of having been tricked and captured, having put his own people at risk over a false lead. That's on top of well... everything else. If Alexi has truly never failed, then he would not really understand any of that.

The Rebel Vampire

So, what Alexi did was basically let himself feel Erik's emotions towards him? The pain is the pain of his hatred, humiliation, and anger at what Alexi has done to him. It doesn't really have any correlation with the pain from his bloodlust, right?

I R so confused... Erik is even more confuzzled. He ... didn't even know the potion could work on humans, and he's never heard of it causing pain. Actually, I thought it just caused pain from people refusing to take it, and that once they did they were fine? Was I totally wrong about that?

The Rebel Vampire

Yay! Done. I hope you like it. I doubt this is going to be the end of the problems between the two of them, but maybe things will smooth out a bit. Part of the problem is that any way you spin it, Alexi is totally just pulling everyone's strings here, and Erik hates being someone else's puppet. It's actually... a pretty huge deal for him to agree to take the potion, not just because he thinks the potion itself will turn him into a slave, but because he has problems with trust and being controlled. The only people he's ever really trusted were those in his resistance cell.

The Rebel Vampire

Joseph smiled back at Master Mois, but on his dark visage, it appeared more as a grimace. He was not accustomed to smiling any more. He continued the massage until he felt the elder brother's upper back, shoulder, and neck muscles completely relax, and then patted him on the shoulder as he stopped.

“I can't reach your lower back with you in this chair. But if you like, I'll schedule a daily massage for you when you get home from work. And yes, I can do it myself if you'd prefer, though with the current situation, I might not always be able to come immediately,” the vampire offered, his voice kind and soothing.

~*~*~

Despite his obvious pain and anger, Erik listened carefully to Alexi's words, watching the human's eyes for any signs of deception. Almost to his disappointment, there were none. He could almost feel the waves of emotion passing through the human, and for the briefest of moments, he almost believed him right then and there. It was two minutes, that must have felt like two hours, before the vampire finally scooted himself to the edge of the bed, fully facing Alexi, and replied.

“You have no idea how much I wish I could believe you, Alexi. Don't you believe that I would drink that potion in an instant if I truly thought you were telling the truth?! You're claiming that you will grant me the one thing I have fought for for over 200 years, the vast majority of my life. I would gladly sell my soul for that, because in truth, I already have. When you spend your life killing others, it does not take long before there is not much left.” Erik's blood red eyes and fully extended fangs provided a sharp contrast to the pleading look that his entire expression wore. Without consciously realizing it, he stood and walked to the very edge of the chains as he spoke, but he was too lost in his entreaty, unaware of their clanking.

“But how can I believe you?! How can I believe that you are even capable of granting something like that? How can I trust that this is not some cruel trick to get me to drink that breaking potion under false pretenses? That potion will destroy me and everything I am. That is it's only purpose. You may not see it as destruction, but it is. It will imprint your will onto mine. And my free will is not something I can relinquish so lightly. I have to entirely believe you before I will give up what remains of my soul. Explain your plan to me! Give me some kind of proof! If I can believe you, I'll drink it, not to end my suffering, but to end theirs. I have said more than once that I will die before I take it, and I meant that, but I will not let others continue to suffer for my own pride. Give me some proof, some concrete reason to trust your words.

Please, if this is a lie it is among the cruelest lies you could possibly tell me. However, if you can prove that it is the truth, then I will be your puppet, Alexi Vandros.”

The Rebel Vampire

Sorry, fucking autocorrect. I don't know where that came from. The electricity is out for the whole neighborhood, despite the fact that its a clear and sunny day, so I'm on my cell.

Well, we shall see. Ill reply when the electricity is back up. No way am I typing a whole post on my phone.

The Rebel Vampire

Well, I'm fine with either one, really. In my next post Erik will practically beg Alexi for some explanation and some proof. He does really want to believe him, because Alexi is promising the one thing he has fought for for the vast majority of his life. To him, that would be worth surrendering his soul. If the explanation and proof are good enough, he might take the potion sooner. It might ruin the minor twist I had planned parenthood though, as thats predicated on Erik's torture continuing.

If they aren't, then Erik will just look stupid, stubborn, a ngsty, and needlessly tragic, hopefully in ways that seem at least understandable rather than childish. I guess my worst fear is that you wont like what I'm doing with him.