Blood of Lathander

1: Stranded

Dezi's POV:

'A vampire, an honest to Gods vampire, right before my eyes', I thought, unable to grasp how this unholy being was able to stand in my fathers light without instantly turning to cinders.

After my - less than desired - trip on a mindflayer Nautiloid and the subsequent crash I was just busy looking for survivors. Helping people was somewhat in my nature, or was it just what I was raised to do? My childhood was quite long ago so I don't remember small details such as this. One thing I know for sure though, that a vampire should not be able to just stand around and act like your run-of-the-mill moon elf. But as daughter of Lathander it was pretty much impossible not to sense the otherness in him. 'No', I thought, 'Otherness is too weak a word. The void that is his un-life simply feels wrong', I had to control myself from snarling in his face.

'I know I asked for a break from the ennui that is immortal life but a tadpole in my brain and a pretend-not-to-be-vampire was not what I had in mind Father', I thought.

"We should help him", Shadowheart said next to me, obviously she had no clue what he really was and we weren't yet close enough to him to actually see any other traits of vampirism.

"You think he's a survivor too? With a tadpole like us?", I asked her. She'd been the first survivor I found when walking around the beach. Another one with secrets as she was wearing the attire of a Sharran. Another group of people I didn't actually want to be involved with. But right now she wasn't as much of a problem. After all she was just a child, misled by whatever twist of fate that made her a follower of the wicked Goddess that wished darkness upon the world. The vampire however... now he could be a problem. I wasn't yet sure if he was a true vampire or just one of their spawn. A spawn would be easier to control, they were used to obey their masters so if I played my cards right he'd be like my personal attack dog.

I shook my head to get rid of the wicked thought. 'It's thoughts like that, that remind me of my age', I thought to myself, 'Being alive for so long does things to your humanity.'

"Well father, let's see what path you have thrust me upon", I muttered out and walked towards the vampire pretending to be in dire need of help.

---

Astarion's POV:

Finally they were approaching. I'd pretended to be the helpless whelp for long enough to lure them here, having spied on them from the moment I woke up. The Elf with the Drow armor had strolled right past my pod on that Nautiloid. I opted not to get her attention but in hindsight that might've been a mistake as she had found a way to get the half-elf out of her pod when asked to do so.

Had I been set free on the crashing ship I might've been able to figure out what exactly it was they did to me. But I still couldn't be sure that this person wasn't in league with the mindflayers after all, so it was probably best to stay on my guard.

"Come on, I've got one of those brain-things cornered", I told her once she was close enough, "You can kill it can't you? Like you killed the others?"

She gave me a raised eyebrow and folded her arms. "Kill it yourself. You look capable enough."

'Fine then', I thought, 'You're close enough by now anyways.'

Jumping her and putting my dagger to her throat was easier than it should've been for someone that gave off her level of magic power. I demanded answers of her, wanted to know if she was allied to the monsters that tore me away from Master's grasp.

But she didn't even fight back, just smirked at me with a look in her eyes that made me feel like a rare butterfly being inspected by a scholar.

Then, all of a sudden, I was in her mind and she was in mine, I tried to push deeper into hers with this unknown new power of mine but it felt as if I was being burned by a radiant presence.

"What in the hells was that?", I asked as I rolled away from her and got up.

"It's the mindflayers worm, it connected us", again those folded arms, her eyes staring me down as if I was a lesser being. 'Could she suspect what I am?', I panicked for a second, 'No, it can't be. I'm standing in the sun, no one would suspect I'm a vampire if I'm alive in daylight.'

"So they took you too", I said, "And to think I was ready to decorate the ground with your innards. Apologies", I smiled.

She smiled back but once again it held a cold edge to it. "Apology accepted", she said though, "I wouldn't have died anyways even if you had managed to spilled my guts", she shrugged.

---

Dezi's POV:

As he gave me an introduction I took in the power I could sense from him. 'Definitely not a full vampire. A Spawn then. Good. The tadpole must've changed his condition slightly to keep him alive in the sun like that. Well if nothing else at least it'll be amusing to see how long he can keep his hunger at bay before attacking one of us', I thought all while listening to what he was saying. A small feat one learns when living as long as I did.

"They'll turn us into mindflayers", I answered his question about my knowledge of those tadpoles.

"Ha!", he laughed, "Of course it'll turn me into a monster. What else did I expect", his voice held an emotion that I could only place as resignation, but I couldn't be sure only meeting the guy minutes ago.

"Well I'm going to try looking for a cure. You're welcome to join me", I shrugged.

That lifted his mood a little and he graciously accepted. All I could think of though was how I would keep him around after the tadpole business. There was something I had always wanted to try in relation to vampires...