A Lover Cursed

What They Did

From the desk of the King, Wrath son of Wrath, to all his subjects:

It is with great sorrow that I must inform you of a great tragedy. Three weeks ago, lessers launched an attack on our brothers and sisters in the Old Kingdom. Despite the valiant efforts of many contagious citizens, loss of life and property was enormous. It is the single most devastating attack on our peoples in recorded history, and we are uncertain if there are more than a few survivors.

As we all mourn this enormous loss, please be patient as we continue our investigation. I am confident all of our questions will have answers in the upcoming weeks and months.

The First Family will be holding a memorial service and Fade Ceremony on Tuesday the 18th of February, at 10pm. It will be held in the King's Assembly Hall. We invite all to join us as you desire.

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Calantha lay as still as she possibly could, considering the amount of pain coursing through her lower back and leg. Her chest hurt as well, like someone had punched her there. She was sure her body was covered in bruises. But she knew well enough not to let your captors see weakness. So she lay still with her eyes closed and pretended to be sleeping.

She could smell the humans, but this wasn't a standard human hospital she was in. The smell of vampires was mingled in with the smell of an off-brand cleaning solution. She wasn't aware of how long she lay there, straining to gather information with her nose and ears, but eventually the human doctors entered the room.

"I hadn't been to Mardi Gras since freshman year of my undergrad." one of them was saying. "It was good to get away with Payne, but I feel bad you had to deal with all this on your own."

"We handled it okay" a woman said. They approached her bed, one on either side.

Involuntarily, Calantha's heart began to beat faster and she struggled to keep her breathing even and shallow.

"So, what's going on here? I reviewed her chart, did Havers really bring her back with a precordial thump?"

It was all she could do to not fly out of the bed that instant with relief. She'd thought that bit was a dream, but if Havers was actually nearby, surely she was finally safe.

"That's what he said. She was technically dead for about four minutes, though." The female went through the medical chart, and Calantha listened with intensity. A list - a long list - of the bones that were broken and reset, her blood counts - not great but better than she was expecting, how long she'd been out - two days since the Brotherhood pulled her out of the pit the lessers had thrown her in.

But if the Brotherhood had rescued her from that hell, then WHY did they hand her over to humans? There were few things more dangerous than human doctors, once they got curious, they were relentless in their investigation. And she had the scars to prove it.

"Here, hand me that and I'll check her reflexes." The male said, leaning over her.

Calantha's nerves couldn't take it, and she knew that she might never get a chance like this again with him so close and unsuspecting. With a flash, Calantha opened her eyes and grabbed what was in front of her and bit.

Human flesh and blood filled her mouth as the man let out a yell and pulled his arm. He had a tremendous amount of strength - or Calantha was really that much weaker than she had been - so when he pulled back, Calantha went with him. She used the movement to her advantage and pushed her self off the bed and on top of him. As they tumbled to the ground, she turned her head and pulled a chunk of forearm off her captor and spat it out. Blood went everywhere, and in the chaos of yelling, she jumped off him and sprang towards the open door.