Severance: Sword and Fang

Sword and Fang {P.VII}

All heads instinctively inclined themselves to the ceiling where a figure, materializing from the shadows, descended slowly upon them. The figure was not falling, as he should have been from such a height, but rather it was 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 towards them at a gradual pace.

Mariam gasped, Cerysipha was startled- levitation was a higher-level magic that most mages never acquired. The figure hovered over the floor before the busted doors for a moment, as if narcissitically showcasing his unique, latent abilities in front of an audience, before dropping noiselessly to his feet.

He blocked the only exit. 

"The correct term is 'Vampire'."
The voice was phlegmatically gelid, completely devoid of any natural emotion or expression. It was the voice of someone with distinct indifference towards the world, of someone who did not burden themselves with the tedious philosophy of morality. 

It was the voice of someone no longer human. 

"And just who might you be, fly boy?" Jarvin flaunted his battleaxe at the stranger. He was not intimidated. 

The figure reached up and let down his dark cowl in a dramatically deliberate pace. Cerysipha could not contain her surprise, gasping sharply at what she saw. He had the same face as the one carved into the sarcophagus. The only exceptions were his slightly narrower eyes and pointed ears. He was a half elf. The man showed pointed teeth with a sinister smile and bowed with such a grace that a jealous itch taunted Cerysipha. 

"A pleasure to make your acquaintances. I am the honorific prince Emric Lodron." 

Prince Emric adorned his lean physique with an elegant, but simple, black robe of fine fabric and boots matching in color and simplicity. His dark hair, loose and cut evenly, hung freely above his slender shoulders. Much like Cerysipha his pigment was eerily pallid and he shared the same yellow eyes as his fellow vampire. Despite being intentionally opulent with his exterior semblance, Emric evinced a disquieting countenance that only rightfully suited the ambiance of the ruined necropolis. 

"And what're you supposed to be, then, prince? Some scary lookin' blood enthusiast with a god complex?" 

The prince sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose with long fingers. Waving his other hand in clear dismissal of the dwarf's ignorance, he said "I think I've heard enough from you for one night, dwarf." 

"I'll give you something to have -"
Jarvin's protest died on his tongue as the sleep spell took effect immediately.

Mariam caught her companion before he squashed his face on the stone, grunting under the weight of the bear like warrior.

"Hey!" She shouted at the sorcerer.
 
"Not another word dwarf, you've not worn my patience thus far. Be wise and do not end up like your companion."

Emric swept his yellow eyes over Saaryn, who was studying him with suspicious perplexity.
"Now that you've uncovered dear Cerysipha's twisted secret, what do you plan to do?" 
Saaryn's tongue was already moving. "You're a vampire as well, correct?" 
"Come now, Saaryn, do you truly need to ask? You have read, after all, my journal, which describes exactly what I, or shall I say," cold fingers pulled at Cerysipha's skin as Emric turned his eyes on her, "we are."
"How do you know my name?" 
The prince chuckled, a hollow laugh plagued with depravity, at the impudent question.
"Cerysipha told me, of course. Until presently she has been relaying information, through her thoughts, to me here." 
"What? I have done no such thing!"

Even as the sorceress protested she knew he was right, there was desperation in her dispute. Her brain was pounding like someone was repeatedly striking her with a hammer.