Ashelia B'Nargin
Your Presence is Requested at the
Imperial Palace of Archadia
For a Valentine's Dinner
With the Family Solidor
Effective Immediately
…Is what the invitation addressed to Ashe said, written in eerie dark-red ink on cream-colored parchment paper. She found it quite odd to be invited to a dinner on Valentine's Day, since it is a couple's day.
She and Vayne are acquaintances, not lovers. Ashe wondered if Vayne is falling for her, because she sure is falling for Vayne. She loved how he wore all-black armor to match his jet-black hair. His skin is pale, nonetheless, Ashe found him to be rather attractive.
Ashe has always wondered why the Imperial City is constantly dark, even at high noon it looks as if it is eleven in the evening. Rumor has it Archades is full of the undead: Vampires.
Many centuries ago, Archadia was cursed to live in darkness for eternity for their immoral ways, twisting the once-human citizens into blood-hungry creatures. Their punishment is to have the appearance of a normal human, yet they are not human. They will want to love, they will want to cry, they will want to marry and bear children, and they will never experience human emotion. That has been taken away forever.
Ashe pushes the tale out of her mind and reads the invitation once more.
There is something written on the back of it:
----Black is Required----
"Okay, let's see if I have something black," Ashe said while pushing aside red, pink, yellow, white, and lavender gowns in her closet. The last time she wore something black is to Rasler's funeral. She hasn't worn black since.
Just when she is about to give up, one of her maids in waiting bursts into Ashe's bedroom, carrying a beautifully wrapped package in her arms.
"This came for you."
"Who is it from?"
"It is from Lord Vayne."
The maid in waiting plops the package onto Ashe's bed.
"Thank you, Keiko."
Keiko bows and leaves the room.
Ashe stares at the black package. It is standard wrapping paper with a black bow. This package has no color: no red, no white, not a single shred of pink for Valentine's Day. She found the perfect timing to be extremely strange. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she opens the package.
The gift is a black dress---a formal Victorian brocade gown with long sleeves, a snug-fitting bodice that is adorned with a pattern of black velvet roses. Ashe lays the dress aside and digs further into the box. The outfit came with a velvet choker with an inverted pentacle as its charm.
She glances at the invitation once more, and the previous request has been replaced.
Be my Eternal.
Ashe's eyes grow wide with surprise. If she tells one of her maids, none of them will believe her. They would probably think she is tired, or hallucinating, or crazy.
She looks out of her window. The sunset creates radiant streaks of orange and red hues on the horizon.
Ashe looks at the gown and calls Keiko up to her room.
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Her help stared at Ashe as if she were a ghost. None of them are used to seeing her in dark colors, especially dark makeup. Ashe smiled brightly; the black lipstick and velvet choker compliments her attire.
A chauffeur stands outside in front of a chocobo-drawn carriage. He takes Ashe's hand and helps her climb inside. He shuts the carriage's door and sits in his own seat. A crack of the whip makes the chocobos start their steady nine-hour pace to Archades.
This will be the last time Ashe ever sees the light of day again.
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It is deathly quiet when Ashe's carriage arrives at the Imperial Palace's main entrance. A full moon shined eerie silver light on the darkened palace, giving it a very frightening look. Sinister-looking statues of horned demons and misshapen creatures festooned the main yard; two large headed, dwarfed demons adorned both sides of the heavy main doors.
The chocobos become uneasy, squawking and flapping their wings, as if something is scaring them. The chauffeur manages to calm the chocobos. He opens the carriage's rear door and helps Ashe climb out. She looks up at the sky and notices there isn't any starlight, only the large, full moon shining on the windows of the dark palace. The hooting of an owl in the distance adds to the already creepy atmosphere.
"Here we are, Your Highness, the House of Solidor."
Ashe felt a taut chill run down her spine. There wasn't any wind blowing, so why did she feel so cold?
"Do they not believe in lighting?"
"I believe not," said a butler, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. His gravelly voice gave Ashe and her chauffeur a start. "I greatly apologize for…surprising the both of you."
"No ceremony, please," said Ashe.
The butler is well over six feet. He is elderly, and looks like a corpse. His eyes are sunken into his head, and his mouth is devoid of teeth. The butler is ghoulish in appearance, as if he had been freshly dug out of a grave, yet his suit is without dust and grit.
"You must be the Lady Ashe."
"Yes I am."
"Lord Vayne is expecting you." He offers his arm to her and escorts her inside the shadowy palace. The butler's arm feels skeletal, making Ashe feel sick to her stomach. The sound of the heavy doors slamming shut gets the chauffeur's attention.
Something grabs him off of his stagecoach, causing the chocobos to go wild and run off into the night.
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Ashe looks around in the large main living room. It has extremely high ceilings, a fireplace large enough to fit more than one person inside, black furniture, and numerous pictures of family members long past.
Black tapered candles, which emitted very little light, burned in candelabras in every corner of the room. Above the fireplace hangs the Archadian symbol, with a black and red background.
"Make yourself at home, Lady Ashe. I'll return shortly."
Ashe smiles and remains silent.
The palace has a strange ambiance that seemed to linger over her head. There is something about this place that gave Ashe goose pimples, and made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. She felt like running out of there without looking back.
"Lady Ashe, may I present to you His Imperial Highness, Lord Vayne Solidor."
Vayne takes her hand into his own black-gloved hand and kisses it. His lips felt similar to frost touching her skin.
"Happy Valentine's, Ashelia. You look amazing on this fine evening."
Ashe can feel herself blush. "Thank you, Vayne."
"Shall we join Lord Gramis and Lord Larsa then?" Vayne says while offering his arm to Ashe.
"Yes we shall." Ashe slides her arm through his. The both of them walk to the dining room, which is down the hall.
She wondered why Vayne's lips felt so cold on her skin. She tries not to think about it and leans her head on Vayne's arm.
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Gramis and Larsa, both draped in black, stand from their seats.
"Good evening, Lord Gramis," Ashe says sweetly.
He walks to Ashe and kisses her hand. "My son has chosen well."
Ashe feels herself blush. His lips feel like frost touching her skin as well.
"Welcome to our home, Lady Ashelia."
She smiles. "Thank you, Lord Gramis."
"Please, call me Gramis. Too many formalities spoil everything."
She notices Vayne giving his father a very dirty look.
"Here is your seat," Vayne says while pulling out a velvety, high-backed chair for Ashe.
"Thank you, Vayne." Ashe takes her seat and interlocks her fingers together. She observes Larsa, who is deathly pale and silent. His gray eyes are glazed over with an extremely pale tinge to them.
"Hello Larsa."
"Hello," he says in a monotone voice.
"Lucien, could you bring us some red wine?" Vayne asks the corpse-butler.
"Yes sir." He bows and leaves the dining room.
Ashe cannot stop staring at Vayne, as he sits across from her. There is something about Vayne that draws her to him, as a moth to a flame. Lucien places wine glasses in front of all of them. When Lucien starts to pour the wine, the red liquid looks a lot like----
"So, dear Ashelia, how are things in the land of the light?"
"Are you referring to Dalmasca?"
"Yes."
"They are fine. Just fine. Thank you for your concern."
"Shall we toast?" Gramis asks.
"Yes we shall, Dear Father."
Everyone raises their glass.
"To Ashelia, our visitor for the evening, and my Eternal."
Ashe is speechless.
She remembers what the request said on the back of the invitation: Be my Eternal.
They clink their glasses together and start to drink the wine. Ashe takes a sip of it, and it has an entirely different taste from normal red wine. It is thick, it is dark red, and has the metallic flavor of Hume's blood. Ashe's face clinches in disgust. She grabs a black cloth napkin and spits the liquid onto it.
"Are you okay," asks Vayne.
"Yes, I'm fine," Ashe lies. "I…just had a bit of stomach trouble. I've eaten something that…did not agree."
Vayne smiles. "I know that feeling all too well."
"May I ask an honest question?"
"Yes you may."
"Is Larsa feeling unwell?"
"No. He is always silent."
Ashe thought she saw Larsa's eyes change to pitch black, and back to its usual glossy appearance when she looked at him. She writes it off as her overactive imagination and continues her staring at Vayne. She found him to be impeccably handsome, with his ghostly pale skin, all black armor with black cotton gloves, and raven black hair. She silently wished to be alone with him tonight.
"We shall return," says Vayne. "I would like to show her around."
"Very well. I will send Lucien when dinner is ready."
"Come, Ashelia. I want to show you around."
She takes his hand and walks out of the dining room with Vayne.
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"Welcome to my room," Vayne says.
Vayne's room is all black: black curtains, a very large bed, black satin sheets, black pillowcases, the same black candles in silver candelabras she has seen earlier tonight. Ashe marveled at the bat-winged figurines on the top of his fireplace mantel. While she is busy looking at the marble and pewter demons, Vayne locks his bedroom door, shutting the both of them inside.
"Where did you find these?" she asks.
Vayne picks up one of the pewter collectibles. "This horned gremlin was made by an unknown man around the same time the Dynast-King existed. Before this person had a chance to present his work, he was killed."
"Why?"
"Because in those days, religious fanatics hated everything 'unholy'. They accused the poor man of making a pact with an evil spirit, saying that is where he got the inspiration to sculpt such an ugly thing. Those fanatic bastards stoned the sculptor to death and destroyed his work. Luckily, this one survived." He places the gremlin back onto its mantel.
Ashe remains silent; envisioning the pain the man must have went through.
"Whomever he was, I'm sure he is at peace," Ashe says softly.
Vayne slides his hands onto her petite waist, bringing her closer to his body. He kisses the steady pulse of her feminine neck, smelling her skin, feeling the warmth of her buttery flesh. He turns her around to face him.
"You smell amazing."
"I'm not wearing any perfume."
"No, your skin smells amazing. Warm and lovely."
Vayne creeps his hand behind her head, slowly tightening his hand on her hair.
"You do know, Ashelia, that I want you to be my eternal."
With that, he gently tilts back her head, and gently kisses her neck. Ashe enjoys the feel of his lips on her skin, making her close her eyes.
Vayne's eyes change from gray to pitch black; his canine teeth grow long and sharpen at the ends. He jerks her head back and takes a nice sized bite out of Ashe's neck. His fangs pierce her jugular vein, making her life's blood drip down her neck. She can't scream, she can't make a single noise, and she can't push Vayne off of her.
Ashe feels herself fall onto his bed. Her eyes are glossy and wide with terror as she gasps for air. Her fingers feel two holes on the side of her neck, as the blood steadily spurts out of the bite with each slowing beat of her heart. She can see Vayne take off his glove and slice the palm of his hand with some sort of blade.
"Now, Ashelia, you will drink of me. You will become me."
Vayne straddles her so she may not move. His mouth and chin are stained with her blood. He then shoves his hand onto Ashe's mouth.
"Drink!"
His blood is dark, coagulated, and has the smell of rotting corpses. Ashe has no choice but to drink the vampire's blood.
Ashe sees nothing but darkness as her eyes roll into the back of her head, feeding on Vayne's blood.
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Valentine's Day, 707, Rabanastre's Lowtown
"Look Vaan! We've got an invitation!"
"An invitation to what?"
"We've been invited to a Valentine's Dinner at the Palace Solidor!"
"Count me out."
"Aww, c'mon!"
"Do you remember the story of Ashe? How she was never seen again?"
"That's only a rumor. Let's go, Vaan!"
Vaan sighs heavily. "Fine, Penelo. If we never return to Lowtown, it's your fault!"
"Whatever." She grabs his hand and the both of them leave.
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House of Solidor
"Our prey," Vayne says while looking at Vaan and Penelo step out of a chocobo-drawn carriage. "They're here."
Ashe slides her arm through his. "Yes, I know. Young, fresh blood. And it's ours."
They embrace one another lovingly and look into each other's black, lifeless eyes.
"This is my gift to you, my Eternal. Which do you want?"
"Mmm…Vaan." Ashe purrs.
"Then I'll have Penelo. Happy Valentine's, Ashelia."
She slides her hands onto his shoulders and leans her head onto his chest, glaring out of the window at their new victims.
"Happy Valentine's, dearest Vayne."
The tale is true: Darkadia is full of the undead: Vampires.