Vampiric Interdiction

[19] Lack Bared

Karolinna didn’t speak more than a few words the last meal they shared together, and although Villahr was trying his hardest to be furtively inquisitive, she gave nothing away but the basics. She kept mostly to herself whilst she ate, and was surprisingly pleasant to the help. This worried the elna most, as with a staff comprised completely of humans — of which Karolinna considered to be nothing more than dirt beneath her shoes, and undeserving of civil attitude — she was entirely too courteous not to be up to something.

Villahr walked with purpose as he took big steps towards home. He swirled his keychain around in small circles as it hung down from his hand. His body felt weary, perhaps even near exhaustion, and although he could definitely use a few winks he would be just as contented with a glass of wine and his best friend’s company. Though worn from countless hours before his work station, cutting and shaving several infradai blades into intricate and spectacular shapes and designs, Villahr was otherwise happy because for the first time in a while he had a day off to do as he pleased. 

The sun was descending in the sky and Villahr was quick to yank his hood down over his face and pull on his black leather gloves for protection. He would be safe as long as the day’s torch was still brightly shining in the sky, but just to be safe he directed his gaze to the ground and put more power in his strides.

The streets were generally deserted around this time, so the fact that there were still some stragglers about was perplexing. Villahr shrugged off the thought as he kept walking, deciding that it would be their problem if they found themselves out in the night with the very demons that filled them with fear. He would be lying if he said he didn’t care for the humans at all, but that being said, their well-being wasn’t exactly top priority.

After several twists and turns down darkened paths and structures too close together casting grand shadows over him and his surroundings, Villahr found himself finally on the main streets. He  quite enjoyed his shop being located where it was, as it was far enough in the depths of the Region that very few humans wandered in, but not too far that his clientele couldn’t find him.

Falling faster from the sky than earlier, the sun was taking it’s leave quite expeditiously as well, which sped the male’s steps further. As he walked along the edge of the street, every building he passed bearing a sign that read ‘Closed’ either in bright neon or red lettering on a board made of thick card, Villahr didn’t take much notice to where he was going. 

His feet travelled mostly of their own accord, tracing the invisible pattern along the ground that he travelled home on every day. Villahr looked up briefly to check the sun’s position in the sky and noticed a familiar edifice coming up fast on his left. 

The building was about as wide as a basketball court, close to twenty-eight meters, but in height it was hardly even twice Villahr’s standing. He had been inside it many times with Karolinna. He recalled dropping her off when she was too hung over to safely arrive before the liquor — most likely Chilla — had fully dissipated within her body. Quite frequently the vici was also called from his bed, where he was taking much deserved rest, to walk his hammered friend back to the estate. 

Villahr often wondered if working with humans was really that agonizing to Karolinna’s fragile mind that she needed to down whatever alcoholic substance she could get her hands on the moment the session ended, or whether she was just being over-dramatic. Villahr settled on the latter.

Were she mortal as well one might say she had a problem; this brought to mind the room just down the hall from where Karolinna held her sessions where hoards of men and women gathered with similar substance abuse issues regarding the sauce. Villahr couldn’t help but to grin, albeit inappropriately, at the thought.