Fallen
Utterly dead in both spirit and life two fallen vampires find each other once again and talk.
Soooo… hi. The archive seems rather dead in general so I thought I'd lighten the mood with a miserable one shot! Whoooooo!
Enjoy?
Fallen
You've fallen. How you fell. Toppled like a line of dominoes on a ravine. From the most powerful being in existence to nothing more than an evil, deadly plague of vermin. Was this what you wanted? Did you want to fall? Well you did.
Never seen you fall so hard, do you know where you are? Of course you don't. You didn't know where you were when you fell in the first place. It's admirable really; how one so strong could be so confused.
That's why you're looking at the flickering neon sign of a dying bar. The dark corners where the cheap lights can't reach and the rusty, dusty setting makes you feel at home. Your dulled azure eyes flicker over your surrounding environment searching for a threat but it's okay. You don't have anything that could threaten you. You've already fallen and you're still powerful.
You enter and three pairs of inquisitive, afraid eyes shoot to you, looking with interest and fear at the brand on your left cheek. Your palm aches to reach up and run your finger across the pale puckered skin of the scar. You still remember how it hurt as the burning metal scraping across your skin, the unbearable heat exploding in the surface of your humanlike hide. It feels like cool blood is still streaming down your cheek but you know it's not.
Then you looked to the one member of the diner who did not bother to look at you. Probably because she could sense you just as you sense her.
You slide into the seat next to her and order a drink that you won't take a single sip of. She tilts her head slightly pale green eyes just as dull as your own looking at the glass with no interest.
"Look where we've ended up." She murmurs and your eyes meet hers. Jade boring into sapphire. An entire century they'd been apart. An entire century trying to save yourselves from falling apart.
Well done; you failed.
She stirs her straw in her drink and your eyes trail along the scar, like yours, marring her colourless cheeks. It shines as light reflects off it and you wonder if it's like the one on your face, you wonder if she thinks that too.
"In a bar," Your voice is harsh, like sand grating on wood. It was from when you screamed yourself hoarse as they implemented their revenge on your face with a burning argentalium branding iron coated in garlic juice. The only way they could ever mark you was to unload with all they had and even then they still died. They still won though. You are still suffering. Fire lights your dreams and you cannot forget.
You wonder if Erin can forget. You know you can't but maybe she can free herself then you remember that she remembered you. She'd forget you given the chance but you can't forget agony like yours.
Your fingers trace a silvery scar on your hand. It's round, like a circle. You look at her and remember her face as she drove the nail into your skin. Her dimmed eyes find what you're looking at and she gives a small smile.
"Good times," She reminisces. You are inclined to agree as you remember too. You remember your teeth scraping along her flesh, leaving lines of scarlet in their wake. Her hand brushes her collar and you know she remembers and bears a scar of their encounter.
Erin's eyes scan the bar and you recognise the familiar burn of hunger in her eyes. Your stomach clenches with need. You also glance round then turn back to find her eyes deep in yours. You don't need to telepathy to understand the silent message.
It's tempting to say the least. Your eyes glitter with an energy long since dead and you know that you could do it. You'd take the bartender and she'd snag your meal and you'd have a month's worth of blood to share. Her eyes glow with the same light and you know that nothing would stop you.
You'd tear the restaurant apart and paint the town red. You'd find the orchestrators of your fate and-
Your scar burns and you realise Erin's hand is clenched around yours. The light dies in both of your eyes. You and Erin remember the price of your survival and your tongue finds the argentalium brace strung around your fangs. Erin's fingers brush her teeth and your hands break apart.
It was a nice delusion. Reality was that you are prisoners. Prisoners in a world of meals you can't eat.
You rise from your chair, your drink still full. Erin watches you her pale green eyes full of dead light once again. Her lips tighten slightly and she gazes at him for a moment.
"See you next year."
She turns back to her undrunk drink and you exit the bar, eyes following you as you leave.
How you've fallen. But every year you find a ledge at the Garside bar as does Erin.
You've fallen but at least you've fallen together.
My opinion of Vlad and Erin has changed a lot and now I see them as a love-hate relationship. I don't loathe Erin anymore and find her character an interesting factor.
This is what I'd see happening if Jonno turned on Vlad and Vlad lost.
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