"I've been walking this road of desire
I've been begging for blood on the wall
I don't care if I'm playing with fire
I'm aware that I'm frozen inside

In the middle of the night
I don't understand what's going on, it's a world gone astray
Someone keeps searching and shatters your life
It will never be afraid

In the middle of the night..."


Del awoke suddenly later that same night to a stabbing pain in his neck. He opened his eyes, expecting to see some kind of animal or biting insect - and instead found a figure hovering over him, its teeth locked into his throat. Letting out a huff of surprise, Del slammed both hands into its chest and shoved the dark visitor away from his body.

"Hells!" it cursed, catching itself in the furs of his bedroll. Due to Del's darkvision, the shadowy figure rather quickly resolved itself into that of a familiar white-haired elf.

"Astarion? Is that you?"

The elf in question wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, looking rather sheepish.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Del said. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

He cringed as he realized that his first instinctive reaction to the sudden awakening had been to attack his companion. He'd gotten jumpy during the weeks of travel to Baldur's Gate, and the nautiloid abduction certainly hadn't helped things. But that was no excuse to act as he did. Such a reaction could get him killed if he did it to one of the Masters by accident...

Astarion looked at him as if he'd sprouted a second head. "You? Hurt me? You're the one who's bleeding, darling."

Del touched a hand to the side of his neck and found that his fingers came away wet with blood. He looked at Astarion questioningly, waiting for the elf to explain just what he had been doing biting Del in the middle of the night.

"I suppose I'm the one who should be sorry," Astarion sighed. "I only needed a little. Just a bit of your blood so I can be ready for the fight ahead. I was slow today; weak. Almost got caught by those goblins."

"Wait," Del said slowly, finally catching on. "You're a vampire? "

He'd sensed something off about the pale elf since the day they'd met, but Astarion seemed to handle the bright sunlight of the Sword Coast better than Del himself! So he hadn't even properly considered the prospect of vampirism, not until Astarion had confirmed it by sinking his fangs into Del's neck.

"Vampire spawn, to be exact. Few of the powers of a true vampire, but all of the weaknesses, at least until the tadpole somehow got rid of those. Anyways, I can leave, if my... condition bothers you," the pale elf added hastily. "Just don't wake the others, and I'll be out of here before you know it."

"Wait, Astarion!" Del hissed as the other man turned to leave. "You don't need to go. I was just surprised, that's all. I'm used to dealing with people who have... unusual diets. All you needed to do was give me a bit of warning before biting."

"Really? You'll let me drink your blood, just like that?" Astarion furrowed his brow, hunting for a hidden catch in the offer that seemed nearly too good to be true.

"We need you sharp for the fight," Del explained. "Maybe we can work something out with the others later, but you can drink mine for now. Just... try not to kill me or anything? If you can help it, I mean..."

Astarion gave him an unreadable look. "Thank you," he said, the words sounding heavy and foreign in his mouth. "You can tell me when to stop. Ideally, before you pass out or die. I don't want to deal with all the questions that would follow an unexplained death in camp."

The vampire knelt over Del and bit down again in the same spot as the first time. It didn't hurt nearly as much this time – Del could handle almost any sensation as long as he was ready for it. He actually found himself relaxing as the initial sting from the bite ebbed away, replaced by numbness and a subtle pulling sensation as the blood was drawn out of him.

Astarion let out a soft moan of satisfaction as he drank, clearly gaining some kind of pleasure from the act besides mere sustenance. Del, too, felt oddly warm and fuzzy inside, considering what was happening. His mind drifted, and he imagined himself lying in Eldriss's mossy bed as his master draped a tentacle over his shoulder...

His head lolled back as he realized the world had become a bit foggy around the edges. At some point, Astarion shifted on top of him, realizing that his victim had stopped speaking or moving and was staring blankly at nothing in particular.

"Well, this is a bit awkward," the vampire drawled. "Don't tell me you've died on me - I can still hear your heart beating. But aren't you going to… oh, I don't know, tell me to stop or something?"

"I dunno," Del said groggily. "You seemed like you needed it."

Astarion scoffed and shook his head. "See, darling, if you want me to stop drinking your blood, this is the way to do it. It's like kicking a puppy; I just feel sorry for you now."

"At least you can do this without killing me," Del said, rousing himself enough to pull a rag from beside his bedroll and hold it against the wound. "Not too bad, in my book." A few seconds of pressure was enough to stop the bleeding – it wasn't a large wound, more like two small puncture marks. The suction of the bite and Astarion's anticoagulant saliva had done most of the work, really, in removing the portion of Del's blood that was currently bringing a flush of color to the vampire's cheeks.

"I'd hate to see who wrote your book," Astarion said quietly, looking almost... concerned? "But thank you again, my friend. I won't forget this." And with that, he slipped out of Del's tent into the night.

In the morning, Astarion acted as if nothing had happened. If it hadn't been for the scabbed-over marks on Del's neck and the lingering feeling of weakness, he would almost believe he had dreamed the whole thing.

He stumbled as he stepped into his boots that morning, and later nearly dropped the bucket of water he was carrying into camp.

"Are you sure you want to be doing that?" Astarion asked him, looking concerned. "Maybe you should take it easy today."

"Can't afford to," Del grunted. "Besides, I've done my chores while feeling worse."

A small crease appeared between Astarion's eyebrows. Gale materialized seemingly out of nowhere, having overheard this little exchange.

"Are you feeling any other symptoms of ceremorphosis?" Gale asked worriedly. "Fever? Headache? Myalgia? Diaphoresis?"

"Dia-what?"

"Excessive sweating," the wizard clarified.

"No, none of that." Del warded him off with the wave of a hand. "Just tired."

Shadowheart had joined them now, drawn in as always by the sound of any conversation that didn't include her. Her sharp eyes zeroed in almost instantly on the marks at Del's throat, which he had forgotten to hide.

"You've been bitten! By a vampire!" She whirled around accusingly, looking at everyone in turn. At this point, Karlach and Lae'zel had also stopped their morning preparations to see what all the commotion was about. "It must have been pretty stealthy not to wake you. Did anyone else in camp hear anything?"

"I couldn't sleep," Karlach volunteered. "Too excited to be free from that bitch Zariel. Left my tent flap open, and I thought I saw Astarion creeping around out there... Didn't want to say anything in case he was out on the prowl, but guess he was prowling in a different way, huh?"

Astarion had been slinking slowly backwards this whole time, trying to fade into the background, but Shadowheart's accusatory shout made him freeze. "You!" she shrieked, pointing at the pale elf. "Are you the vampire?"

"It's sunny out," Astarion motioned to the sky. "Aren't vampires supposed to burn up in the daylight?"

"A fair point," said Shadowheart, nodding grimly. "So you won't mind if I cast Turn Undead on you then, just to make sure? Shouldn't hurt if you're actually alive."

"Come on," Del held up a hand. "No one's turning anyone. He's not a full vampire, just a spawn, and last night I said he could bite me. No harm done, okay?"

Shadowheart still looked mutinous, and Lae'zel seemed like for once she agreed with the cleric.

"Abominations upon abominations," the Githyanki muttered. "Ghaik parasites, undead monsters... We must purge this creature from our camp."

Del looked pleadingly at Karlach and Gale. Even though he disagreed with Lae'zel, Del still found it really hard to say so directly to her face.

"Aw, let the vamp stay," Karlach said. "As long as he asks before biting, I don't see the problem."

"I taste awful, for the record," Gale chimed in. "In case you were getting any ideas. But we need all the help we can get with our mission, so I'm with our fiery friend on this one. You can stay as long as you don't go sampling everyone's necks."

"Really?" Shadowheart asked. "We're okay with this? Ugh, all right. But if I wake up to you biting me, I'll smite you to a crisp. And go easy on Del, will you? He can barely stand up straight, for gods' sakes."

"I'm fine," Del said stubbornly, but Shadowheart guided him to sit down on a tree stump and started saying some kind of prayer.

He felt better almost immediately as the healing magic did its work on the blood loss and the bite at his throat.

"What god are you praying to?" Del was just trying to make conversation, but apparently he'd struck some kind of nerve. Shadowheart's hands tensed, then withdrew as she finished the healing.

"We've been through a lot together, you and I," she said slowly. "So I suppose it's only fair to be open about it. And compared to having a vampire in our midst, maybe my faith isn't even much of a revelation. I worship Shar, the lady of darkness and loss. So there." She glared at the rest of the group. "Anyone got a problem with that?"

No one seemed to, at least not a problem they were willing to verbalize.

"Shar? Never heard of her," Del replied.

"You do you, girl," Karlach said offhandedly. "None of our business who you pray to, as long as she lets you heal us."

"Wait, Del, you've never heard of Shar before? Selune and Shar, divine sisters locked in eternal battle in the heavens?"

Del shook his head, realizing he'd made a bigger mistake than he thought. Why couldn't he just keep his damn mouth closed? Eldriss should've had it sewn shut when they had the chance.

"Maybe I just... forgot," he said weakly.

"Watch that tadpole, istik," Lae'zel warned. "Memory loss is a symptom."

"Perhaps there was simply no need for Shar worship in the Underdark."

Del glared at Gale as he said that last line. Damn it all, telling the wizard anything about his past had been a mistake...

"Bit racist there, bud," Karlach spoke up. "Assuming cause he's part drow he must be from the Underdark? Unless you guys have all gotten to know each other without me." Her tail drooped slightly at the thought of being left out of camp bonding. "C'mon, Del. We know about Astarion and Shadowheart now, but what's the deal with you? Got any tragic backstory for us?"

"Enough about me," Del grumbled, trying to hide his growing anxiety behind a veneer of annoyance. "I'm pretty boring, anyway. At least I was till the nautiloid got me. No good stories you guys'd wanna to hear." Pretty much nobody looked convinced by that. If anything, they seemed even more intrigued. Great, now it just sounded like he was hiding something...

He wasn't sure if his commands left him capable of even discussing life in the Underdark in general terms. He thought they would, based on that conversation with Gale the other night - but he didn't want to find out the hard way in front of everyone.

'Orb,' Del mouthed silently with a pointed look in Gale's direction. Luckily, the wizard got the message loud and clear, finally stepping in to rescue Del from the awkward moment that he himself had created.

"Well, it seems that so far we've got ourselves a vampire spawn, a Shar worshipper, and an escaped soldier from the Blood War. Enough history to fill a book, eh? Certainly one that I'd like to sit down and peruse with a cup of tea, but we haven't the time for it. Now instead of sitting around gossiping like schoolgirls, shall we go help the Grove prepare for battle?"

Karlach seemed a bit disappointed, but the rest of them were more than relieved to hear the end of that particular conversation.

Del stalked out of camp after the others, hoping no one could hear the hammering of his pulse as he tried to calm himself down after that near-miss. He'd forgotten, for a moment, that the vampire among them could hear his heartbeat loud and clear.