Planar Chaos

One Shots: The Grip of the Obzedat Pt. 2

Teysa leaned heavily against Vilhelm, looking up at him with pleading eyes. He knew what she wanted even before she asked.

"I just fed yesterday," Vilhelm said, pushing her away from him gently. He couldn't have her interpret it as a rejection. Teysa had more or less volunteered to be his source of fresh blood. She believed he was slowly turning her into a vampire, the necessity of the pace being so Karlov and the rest of the Obzedat wouldn't notice. It worked well for the both of them. Teysa believed she would be free of the grip of the Obzedat and Vilhelm received a supply of living blood.

It was so much better than the dead blood the guild had been supplying him with. Nevertheless, he still had to find a use for the phials that had been drained from corpses. In his youth Vilhelm had wanted to be something of an artist, before being chosen by one of the three high houses of Innistrad's vampires. He'd found blood to be an agreeable medium, creating lovely moving images by enchanting the stuff.

"Please, Vilhelm?" Teysa reached around to unfasten her collar. Underneath the white fabric was a series of twin pinprick scars from Vilhelm's past feedings. They'd started out as a weekly ritual carried out in the privacy of Teysa's bedchamber, a room the Obzedat and their cronies didn't enter. However, they had graduated to two a week at Teysa's insistence. She craved the feeling, sometimes pulling Vilhelm into unoccupied rooms due to her impatience. In less than a month Teysa had become so much more loyal than Mikael had ever been. She felt the call of the bloodline burning in her veins at all hours of the day and channeled that calling into complete and utter devotion to Vilhelm. She did whatever he asked, whenever he asked it just for the promise that he'd slake his thirst from her veins alone. Becoming a vampire wasn't even at the forefront of the Orzhov scion's mind anymore.

The vampire scowled. Vilhelm and his loyal servant Mikael had been sired by the same vampire and were, in essence, brothers. So much for the call of the bloodline.

"Teysa, I can't right now. You're too weak from yesterday." The previous day Teysa had demanded what would be Vilhelm's third feeding that week. She'd used much the same strategy as she was using now. Vilhelm had to close his eyes to keep from seeing the pounding of her pulse in her veins. His predator's instincts were strong, but he had learned better than to overindulge. The sound of her heartbeat, so fluttery and fragile like a nestling of some songbird, pounded in his ears. He wasn't thirsty, but he could easily feed again.

"Vilhelm please. I need you to do it. Just for a moment." She'd grown bolder since he started feeding on her, and also more petulant. Her mood was directly connected to the amount of time since Vilhelm's fangs last pierced her skin. The Obzedat took no notice, though. To them Teysa had always been a moody, disruptive, nettlesome child.

"Teysa you know it's never 'just for a moment'." Vilhelm held her back at arm's length. "You have to understand that to me you're food. And when a predator has their prey in their grasp they seldom let it go without finishing it. I can't accidentally kill you before the transformation is complete. We can't let it move too fast or Karlov and the others will find out. I can't do it today." He hastily refastened her collar with shaking hands. "We agreed on once per week, then you insisted on two. Occasionally I'll move up to three, but you're asking too much of me."

"You don't want me anymore," she said darkly, moving back and crossing her arms. "Is that it? Do you have someone else?"

"No. That isn't it at all. I just don't want to hurt you." Vilhelm couldn't have his pawn dying in his arms. Not only would the Orzhov guild be without its envoy but then Teysa would hate Vilhelm in the afterlife. She would be forced join the Obzedat, that council which she despised more than anything. Faithful servants were hard to come by. Willing ones were even rarer. Teysa was certainly more loyal to him after only a few weeks than Mikael had ever been before Vilhelm showed him the truth. During their feedings she revealed to him all the secrets of the guild. Anything he asked, she freely answered with the fullest extent of her knowledge.

"There is someone else, isn't there?" Teysa was on the verge of tears. Her voice had risen in volume until it echoed through the abandoned hallway in which they were hiding.

"Shh. Teysa, I promise there is nobody else," Vilhelm whispered. He motioned for her to keep her voice down.

"Liar!" She flung herself at him, lashing out with her long nails. Vilhelm grabbed her wrists in one hand, tossed her off balance, and caught her in a dip that featured prominently in the traditional dances of his home plane. His mouth was dangerously close to her throat. He could smell her blood through the thin, white fabric of her collar. Vilhelm had a brief flash of red blooming up through the silk.

It would be so easy. She'd let herself go limp in his arms, trembling with anticipation.

"Go ahead," she said, closing her eyes. "I know you want to."

Vilhelm felt rather than saw a spirit floating down the hallway. Its mind was just like any mortal's, but at the same time more mysterious. The veil of death masked some of their thoughts.

"And then," Vilhelm said, pulling Teysa back up into something resembling a modified waltz position, "Your partner leads with the left foot and you follow with your right in a sweeping motion."

"What is going on here?" the spirit, Teysa's grandfather Karlov, asked as he crossed his spectral arms.

"Ah, Mr. Karlov," Vilhelm gave the ghost a winning smile. "You no doubt know of the gala taking place in a few weeks. I'm simply helping Ms. Teysa adapt popular styles of dancing to her handicap. It would be most embarrassing for the leader of the Orzhov to be unable to conduct herself on the dance floor, would it not?"

Teysa had stepped away and was blushing in embarrassment, refusing to meet her grandfather's eyes.

"It would be most embarrassing," Karlov assented. "Teysa has done a satisfactory job of representing the will of the Obzedat so far. I am pleased she is taking some initiative to improve her image. That leg of hers makes people think she's weak, that the guild is weak."

"When I'm through with her, nobody will even notice." Vilhelm maintained the smile until Karlov had left the hallway. Teysa sidled up to the vampire, delicately wrapping one of his arms around her waist. She pulled him around to face her with surprising strength, unhooking her collar with one hand. She flung her arms around his neck and once again his mouth was dangerously close to her throat. He felt her burning skin, her erratic pulse, and the deep, shuddering breaths rattling her lungs.

"Teysa, I-" The predator took over.