DARK DUCK: FOWLed

CHAPTER ONE

PART 5

A Vampire

While the three of them were waiting in the silent lift, Gosalyn noticed her dad had gone all stiff as if he was unconsciously bracing himself. She held his hand and he relaxed a little, but not much.

They walked out of the elevator onto the security level in silence. The chief of security, Mister Eider, addressed the officer at the security level's front desk. The woman there had brown hair in a bob-cut style. "Joss, could you please look after Gosalyn for a little while?"

"Oh, no way!" Gosalyn grabbed her dad's arm. He needed her! Didn't Eider get that?

"Please, Gosalyn." Eider knelt down to her eye-level. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Sit this one round out for me."

Gosalyn blinked at him for a brief moment. That meant he had stuff he needed to explain to her dad. "I knew it," she declared, letting go of her dad's arm. If anything was for sure, though, Eider at least looked like he was trying to help. Gosalyn wasn't planning on trusting him too much, though.

Eider led her father away, who turned his head to look back at Gosalyn. By the expression on Drake's face, she could read the question in his mind: 'You knew what? What do you know?' Eider ushered her father into a nearby room and shut the door. The instant she heard the latch click, Gosalyn rushed down the corridor and pressed her ear up against the door.

Drake's feathers prickled in response to Eider's unhappiness. "I know what happened. I was there."

Eider shook his head. He covered his face with his hands for a moment. He looked at Drake. The security guard had gone decidedly pale. "Drake, what Steelbeak did to you was ..." Eider let out another strangled sound.

"I got hit with a poison dart. I only lost consciousness for a few seconds."
"Stop," Eider circled Drake. "You've got to realise that if it hadn't been for your Vespers, you'd be dead."
"Sure okay, so then I woke up ..."
"No." Eider stopped him again.
"Are you saying I'm in a coma, dreaming all of this?" Drake felt properly ruffled. He had also contracted Eider's discomfort, and that knowledge only worsened his mood.

"Unfortunately not," Eider rubbed his eyes again. "The dart injected vampire DNA and Vespers into your bloodstream. They affected every other Vesper in your body like a super delivery system. It was while this was happening that you were unconscious."
"Vampire DNA? Are you trying to ...?" Drake grimaced as the reality crept up on him. It was starting to make sense, and Drake didn't like where the conclusion was heading.

"Excuse me?" Gosalyn jumped a foot and whirled around from the door at the sound of the woman's voice. "Sorry."

Gosalyn looked up at Joss expectantly.

"I'm supposed to keep an eye on you."
"Well, I'm just here, and I'm not interfering." Gosalyn crossed her arms. "I'm worried about my dad," she explained.
Joss's face softened, "I understand," she nodded and went back to her desk.

Gosalyn put her ear to the door again.

"Yeah! Vegetables are a healthy alternative. You don't get full on them, of course." Eider's voice wavered in a mirthless chuckle.
Drake sank down to the floor. "What am I going to do?" His brain was fuzzy and the answer was nowhere in sight.
"For a start, reassure yourself that you don't need to be full. It's perfectly fine to be hungry. It just might take a bit of getting used to."

The turbulent emotions were overwhelming. Somehow, he'd been turned into a monstrous animal. Drake felt his whole world crashing in on him. And what about poor Gosalyn, what would happen to her?

"No, you are not!" Eider pulled Drake to a stand, snapping down on his thoughts. "I know you too well. Animals are not in control of their hunger. But you are in control! Even when the hunger is so extreme, threatening to make you an animal! You still have a chance to do something about it and stay in control."

Eider crossed his arms. "I went for months without food once, when I was hunting a Drescamorphic demon." Eider licked his beak. "So you can see that's a significant resistance level. The only trick is to stay focused on the task, pay attention, and know that you will get food for yourself soon enough."

"Yes ..." Drake paused. His brain felt like it had half-melted from shock. He shook his head in a daze. "This can't be real."
"Oh, no?" Eider twisted about, tripped him up and pinned Drake to the floor. "You gotta think fast, Drakey."
Eider wedged his lower arm in Drake's beak. "Get ophmm."

Drake struggled, feeling a horror increasing in his mind that he could not prevent. Then blood filled his mouth. In a mixture of relief and grief, he found himself swallowing. Drake pushed Eider away as soon as he got control back. He closed his eyes, the taste of blood in his mouth. He swallowed the remnants.

"A vampire," Eider watched Drake patiently. "Now your Vespers know what mine know. It's just a matter of connecting the tools with your own knowledge." Drake stood up, summoning enough strength to shake free of the turbulent sea of feelings at last.

"No thanks. I don't want to be a vampire."
"Are you forgetting? You're in my departmental expenses now."
Drake looked at him incredulously. Eider was presenting Drake with the same thing as Malduck; "What's with you vampires?"
"Alright, you want to walk out that door? Tell me first, what's on the other side of that door. Then you can open it. No, don't guess. Know. Push your mind out." Drake closed his eyes: Gosalyn, heart racing. He leapt to the door and yanked it open.

"Hiyah, dad?" She was lounging against the opposite wall, trying to appear innocent.
"Well, I could've guessed that one." Drake swept Gosalyn up into his arms, giving her a warm hug. Oh, how he loved his crafty little girl. As he held her, the world made sense again. The sea of emotions was infinitely calmer.

"The point I'm trying to make is that training can be useful to you."
"Yes ... I'd really appreciate it if you could train me. Thank you."
Eider blinked in surprise. Then he grinned. "I take that as a compliment."

Drake kept hold of Gosalyn. Her mental state was stable, and it gave him great relief to have found the cause for his recent mental off-road adventure. In fact ... Drake cast his mind back. Since he'd become a vampire, the only times he'd been thinking straight, was when Gosalyn was by his side. He set her down, his heart swelling with pride for his daughter. He turned back to Eider, folding his arms. "First, perhaps, you could teach me how to keep from being overrun by other people's angst? Such as yours?"

Eider blushed, and then nodded.

Moral/Overview: Surround yourself with positive people, and you will be positive too.