A thin crack of silver light slipped through the drapes of Fionna's bedroom, creating a sharp line of white along her walls. The princess blinked, her mind numb with sleep, yet restless. Groaning she sat up and pushed her covers off her torso, pressing her palms into her eyes. She knew sleeping early would throw her off, and now she was going to lose sleep because of it. Blinking her eyes open, Fionna wondered about the time, when suddenly the strip of moonlight illuminating her room vanished.
Plunged into darkness, Fionna turned to face her window. She had felt no breeze nor heard the rustling of a tree. "What the stuff?" she muttered. As her eyes adjusted, the princess swung her feet over the edge of the bed and hopped onto the floor, trudging over to the window. The second she pulled the drapes back, the moon became visible once more, bright and impossible to miss. Fionna shrugged and made the decision to turn around and go back to bed when an unknown object settled on top of her head, brushing it lightly. Frozen, she turned her head upward slowly to be greeted by two beaming eyes and glistening fangs.
"Boo."
Fionna screeched as she scrambled backward into her room. A laugh circled around her, light yet mocking. Feeling around frantically, she managed to find her desk, and eventually her lamp. With shaking hands she pulled the chain and light spilled into the room. Fionna blinked, breaths short, and quickly surveyed the room, fists instinctively up in defense. A moment passed before she assumed the room was empty and her shaky breaths collected in a sigh. She slowly dropped her fists, relaxing to sit on the edge of her bed, when a dark figure seemed to materialize in front of her in a respectful, straight-backed stance.
"Well hello there, your highness," it hummed, bowing.
Fionna's heart was thumping wildly behind her ribcage and in her ears. She curled her fingers, grabbing her sheets, and watched as the creature flipped back a curtain of black hair and stepped toward her in pristine red boots. "W-who," she stuttered, shifting backward, "Who are you?"
The creature—a teenage girl?—responded with a fanged smile, stopping just in front of the princess. "I'm Marceline, the Vampire Queen."
"Vampire…?" Fionna repeated, frozen in terror.
"That's right." Marceline leaned in close and slithered her tongue, her hands brought up and fingers curled like claws.
Without hesitation, Fionna grabbed the vampire's shoulders and shoved her backward with all her might. "Get away!" she yelled, fear and anger mingling. Marceline hissed, taken aback and caught off guard. Fionna jumped to her feet, her fists coming up once more in a weak fighting stance. "I'm not letting you suck my blood!"
In an instant, Marceline's shock gave way to laughter. She clutched her stomach, feet rising into the air as she began to float. "Oh man! I'm not gonna suck your blood," she sneered. "At least not tonight." Fionna remained unconvinced and kept her stance, watching in fascination and fear as Marceline floated her way over to her curtains. "I eat shades of red," the queen informed her, and before Fionna could protest she brought the fabric to her lips and drained them of their pale fuschia color, leaving behind a dull gray.
Fionna's fist dropped slowly to her sides and her back straightened. "But, then why are you here?" she implored.
"Eh, thought I'd check the security around here." Marceline then turned her back to Fionna, surveying the land outside her window. "Pretty weak if you ask me."
Security? Fionna thought. It was then that she noticed the large blood-red axe situated on Marceline's back like a pack. Underneath, another object was secured, but Fionna found herself walking backward. "Did you kill my guards?!" she practically yelled.
"Hm?" The vampire queen turned a lazy, pouting face in the princess's direction, noticing her eyeing the axe. "What? Oh, no this is my bass," she clarified, swinging it to her front and twisting her body around. Flipping a switch, she began playing a short riff, flying up and around the room and Fionna.
The blonde girl relaxed slightly. "Oh, heh." She smiled as Marceline swirled around her. "That's pretty math."
Marceline looked up and smiled herself. "Thanks. Made it myself."
Fionna laughed lightly. Her nerves were calmed by the music, and she was beginning to judge Marceline as friendly, but she remained skeptical. Her gaze shifted to the window. "So, if you didn't kill my guards, where are they?"
The vampire shrugged. "Tied up or knocked out, most of them. Some probably went and squealed, but they're all pretty slow." She began thumbing at her bass again, playing a different tune and floating gracefully around the room once more. "Thought I might as well take the chance to scope out Ooo's most prized possession while I'm in the neighborhood."
"Huh?" Fionna looked up, puzzled.
Marceline's playing stopped abruptly. "Duh, you, dorkwad."
"Me…?"
"Come on, you mean you don't know you're the last human on the planet? Or at least that's what they all say. You're like a violently endangered species." The queen chuckled at her own misplaced analogy.
Fionna's breath caught in her throat. She absentmindedly reached a hand up to rub at her collarbones as her gaze shifted to nothing in particular. "The last human…" she murmured.
"Yep," Marceline invaded her thoughts. "And uh, by the way, I managed to snag this, thought I'd return it." Fionna watched as Marceline unlatched the other object she saw earlier from her back and tossed it at her, nearly reacting too late. She caught it, realizing it was a suitcase. Confused, Fionna looked back up at Marceline but she spoke in her place. "Don't worry, I didn't look inside, figured I'd respect your privacy or whatevs."
"But this isn't mine," Fionna immediately interjected. Marceline's floating stilled to a frozen hang. The vampire queen raised an eyebrow at her. "I've never seen this before," she continued. "But, it has a plaque near the lock—"
Without warning, Marceline's blurred figure swooped down and snatched the case out of Fionna's hands. The princess hunched her shoulders as the vampire's breaths grew noticeably short, her eyes staring at the plaque as if they were looking straight through, her hands gripped tight on the edges. "… Petrikov…" she muttered.
A sudden violent knocking from the bedroom door caused both girls to jump. The doorknob began to rattle as a voice yelled from the other side, "FIONNA ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"
Marceline snapped out of her trance immediately, swinging her suitcase and bass onto her back once more. "Whoops, guess that's my cue. It was nice talking to you kid." With a smirk she began to float toward the window.
"Wait!" Fionna lunged out and grabbed her arm. Marceline spun around, but before she could make a sound the princess pleaded, "Am I, really the last human?"
The vampire queen held her breath, hesitating. In the same moment, the crash of the bedroom door being kicked and swung open caught their attention. In the doorway stood a fully-suited Bonnibel, candy-cane sword in hand and eyes wild. Her gaze fell immediately on Marceline like a target.
"YOU!"
The queen chuckled. "Yikes. I'll catch you later kid, it was fun." And with that she swooped out of the window and into the night.
"Rats," Bonnibel sighed, sheathing her sword. She hustled over to Fionna, who was left starting as the rustled curtains. "She didn't hurt you did she?"
Fionna looked at her bodyguard, puzzled. "What, no way, she was actually really cool!"
"'Really cool?' Oh no no no, Fionna, you can't associate with her," she mulled, grabbing Fionna's shoulders. "She's bad news."
"What? But she—"
"You just can't Fionna! You can't…" Bonnibel stressed. She took a deep breath and a long blink. "If she ever makes it back up here again, alert whoever's nearest immediately." The knight then released her grip on the princess and began heading for the doorway.
Fionna looked down at her hands for a moment, then looked up once more. "Peebles?"
Bonnibel stopped and turned.
"Do you, know her?"
A pause. The knight's stoic stance seemed to falter ever so slightly under an unseen weight. She turned her back on the princess.
"Unfortunately."
Bonnibel then left in silence. Two steps and the click of a handle left Fionna alone once more.
