In the Dead of Knight

A Disturbing Night in the Raven, Mythic...

She woke late, somehow always waking in the evening whenever she stayed within the walls of the Mythic.

Merrique descended the stairs two at a time, the young, petite and wiry half elf woman was clad in a set of faded leathers while a longsword rested on her hip. She ran her fingers through short, boyish black hair then pushed a long white strand from her face as she stood looking about the room.

A young Ayr'dal man was drinking his tea, his head tilted at the rather spooky looking knight that was ordering a bloodwine. Duvessa waved over to the young paladin and greeted her, though she looked quite tired and ill despite her warm sentiments. Merrique stopped short at hearing Scythen's order, eyeing him warily as she made her way towards Duvessa

"Evening, Lady Duvessa," the young knight replied.

The dark knight with the bloodwine nodded to her, quietly saying, "Greetings."

A thin woman looked up at Merrique, remaining quiet as she watched the young girl move through the inn.

The squire still eyed the dark knight warily, almost as if sensing something but not quite sure what. Finally, as she neared Duvessa, the girl asked, "How are you this eve, Lady?"

"Massive... headache, Merrique, and getting worse. I may need to go excuse myself for a little while," the other half elven woman replied, a hand against her temple, as if she were trying to massage away the tension.

Merrique frowned at Duvessa, nodding a little, as she was always bothered by simple things that her skills could not heal, "That's horrible. I'm guessing willow bark isn't helping any?"

The half elven man that had been watching the death knight glanced about for another chair, grabbing a nearby one that he planted near the his seat before flopping back onto the couch. He kicked his feet up onto the chair he moved, slowly relaxing as best he could.

"Not really, no..." Duvessa sighed, "Just need a little rest, I think."

The girl glanced at Kacer, giving a slight double take, her body tensing, before looking back to Duvessa and murmuring, "Ah, understandable..."

The boy reminded her of the man she had faced down in the Thundering Steppes, but she realised his hair was entirely different and looked away, eyes moving to Duvessa as the other woman moved through the tavern.

The half elven boy noticed the chair was a bit too close and scooted the chair with his foot across the floor slightly, until it's distance wass perfect for him. The thin woman's eyes turned from Merrique to him, narrowing with a little annoyance as the chair squeaked across the floor. It was then that Duvessa stood, more than likely the horrid noise a breaking point with her headache, and began to walk towards the private stairs to her rooms.

"I may be back later, I need to get some rest..." she said, her voice fading as she ascended the stairs.

The dark knight nodded to Duvessa after she hugged him, watching her walk up the steps as he quietly called out, "Good night then, Lady Duvessa."

The half elf boy caught the tail end of Merrique's glance and narrowed his eyes slightly, more in curiousity than in malice, but when she turned her
attention to Duvessa's departure, he lost interest in her. He shrugged, lofting his head towards the thin woman who watched him now.

"Help you?" he asked casually, looking at her. She studied him for a moment before turning away without anwering. He merely smirked, making one more squeak across the floor just to purposely irk the woman as he chuckled lightly before he turned away. The woman narrowed her eyes but remained quiet.

The dark knight smiled again as his bottle of bloodwine arrived, uncorking it immediately to pour the dark red liquid into a glass, swirling it slightly before draining it as he walked to a couch. Merrique leaned against the bar, eyeing Scythen warily as she looked about the room, her eyes always returning to him as if morbidly curious. He chuckled as he looked at Merrique.

"Is there something I can help you with M'lady?" he asked quietly.

The girl shrugged slightly at Scythen, her golden eyes studying him as she replied, "I...don't believe so, sir. Something about you...struck me, is all."

"I see. Well, you are welcome to come sit over here with me," the dark man said, making room for her on his couch, "so that you may learn what it is about that struck you."

Merrique took a honey mead from the bartender and nodded slighlty, slowly moving towards the dark man. He smiled darkly to her, his eyes watching her closely as she moved from the bar to his couch.

"Let me introduce myself," he murmured quietly when she reached him, "My name is Scythen R'trev. And you are?"

She extended a hand to Scythen, almost hesitantly as she replied, "I'm Merrique Mai`claire...Paladin of Karana...well, squire really..."

"A pleasure to make your aquantence. And as for what you sensed about me, it is probably due to your being a paladin," Scythen said as they shook hands.

After a moment, he pulled his hand away from her, motioning for her to sit down beside him. Merrique sat down beside him, eyeing the bloodwine as she took a sip of her honey mead, her golden eyes watching him intently.

"You see, I believe it is a usual thing for a paladin to be able to sense undead, is it not?" Scythen asked casually, swirling his glass of bloodwine.

She nodded slowly as she replied, "Yes, it's one of the things we learn almost immediately..."

"Well then, that would explain it. You see, I am not jsut a shadow knight," Scythen explained, pausing ever so slightly, "but a vampire as well."

With that, the man opened his mouth in a wide smile, two sharp fangs visible for anyone nearby to see. Almost reflexively, Merrique reached for her sword, stopping short of grasping the hilt. She leaned back, away from him, staring with morbid curiousity at the sparkling white teeth.

"That is a usual reaction I get from paladins," Scythen said without a trace of fear, relaxing as he watched the young knight. "However, most who get to know me, see me as a surprisingly nice person, yet understand that there is a much more violent me underneath."

For a long moment, she simply stared at him, unsure of what to say for a moment before blurting out, "What's it like?"

Her curiosity was piqued already from Duvessa's tales about a paladin she knew that had become a vampire, yet the woman had still been able to use all of the gifts of Light that a paladin knew. Such an idea intrigued and disgusted Merrique all at once, and now she had the chance to talk to a vampire, to learn a little bit more about them.

"Being a vampire? well," he paused before continuing, "think of it this way. You are a blind and deaf person who's nerve endings send some of the signals, sensing, touching. As a vampire, all senses are strengthed. Yes, I have to drink living blood to survive. However, I do not always have to kill. If the person lets me drink from them, willingly, they can live. Or if I am able to sneak up behind someone and drink from them without their seeing my face. Otherwise, I must kill. If I did not, then I would have vampire hunters constantly trying to make me their next trophy."

The girl frowned slightly as she asked, "What does it feel like for your...um, food?"

"It feels marvelous," a silky voice said, its owner walking slowly through the inn door.

"I do not call them food," Scythen said hautily, "and yes, as Savriel just said, it feels quite nice to them. A small prick of pain at first and then a
feeling of pleasure to those who are fed from."

For a long moment, the young knight puzzled at Scythen, the rest of the inn fading into the background. Finally, she asked quietly, "They feel...pleasure from it?"

"Yes. It is something in the connection that it makes. The feeling of two beings, although quite unlike each other, coming together to make one," Scythen breathed quietly. "Basically in a sense, sex. It gives around the same pleasure."

"Only without the diseases," Savriel purred playfully, winking at the young paladin.

Merrique looked from Savriel to Scythen, blushing as she stammered out, "I...don't know much about that..."

After a moment, the young knight regained her composure by drinking down a great deal of her mead. Once a bit more under control, she asked "But, what side affects do they have?"

"You know I honestly can't say.. I've only fed from others of the," Savriel said as she gestured vaguely at Scythen, "Kin."

"I leave them on the ground. I never drink enough to make them not recover from it. And the side effects would just be a sort of, for lack of better words, drained feeling," Scythen continued, "as though you are rather tired. Other then that, maybe feeling cold, and thirsty."

The vampire's eyes swept over to his kinswoman, making a biting motion before chuckling, "I still need to feed from you sometime, Savriel."

Nodding slowly, the girl said, "So you leave them defenseless..."

"It's like drowning," Savriel said flippantly, her gold eyes on Scythen as she smirked, "only you don't run out of air..."

"You can drink from each other?" Merrique asked, blinking as their words finally registered in her head.

"In a sense, yes. They are defenseless, but most guards go on a route and they get discovered," Scythen answered, "And yes, we can drink from each other. It tastes the same and still gives the pleasure, but it wont sustain our life."

Merrique nodded slightly, her eyes darting between Savriel and Scythen, warily but interested none the less. She again recalled what Duvessa had said about the knightly vampire, of how her powers of a Paladin did not wane, and that she had been a strong woman. For a moment, she wondered if such a state would be a boon against her friend turned Nemesis, but her ingrained senses pushed the thought from her mind quickly. Savriel tilted her head at Merrique before finding a seat at the bar, sitting down with a sigh.

"Scythen's the expert on this stuff, really. I'm... different," she muttered.

"So you really are...dead?" Merrique finally asked.

Scythen chuckled lightly and nodded, replying, "Indeed. If you came close enough, I could show you that I can start or stop my heart at will, but somehow I doubt that will happen."

The male half elf started fidgeting, his feet rocking back and forth on their heels, making slight noises as they knocked lightly against the chair. He
paused at Merrique's question, a small smile dancing across his face.

"We're all dead at some point, just some more than others," the boy said mischeviously. Savriel merely frowned, shrugging a bit before laughing at his comment.

"Well it's true," he said, tossing a glance at Savriel.

"I know a vampire that will never again have a heartbeat, but he is far from cold and stiff," the strange woman said. "I am different for everyone. I'm...not fully dead."

Tearing her eyes from Savriel, Merrique extended her hand towards Scythen, slowly, gently placing it over his heart, still mostly leaning away. Scythen's heart beat against her hand and then suddenly it stopped, not continuing as he looked at her, gauging her reaction. At that moment, Savriel snapped her teeth, clacking them loudly enough for Merrique to hear. The young knight cringed slightly, staring wide eyed at Scythen.

"Yes, savriel is a rare case that I have noticed," Scythen answered, his heart still unmoving in his chest, "There are a few who are born mortal, yet have the thrist for blood just as much as any immortal."

Hand still on Scythen's chest, she glanced at Savriel a moment and muttered, "How strange...," before looking back at Scythen.

The teenage woman laughed softly, her voice like the hissing clink of cold bells against each other.

"And I was born.. mostly mortal," she quipped.

"I however, was not born mortal. My home was another plane of existance, one in which all are born vampiric," Scythen said simply.

Merrique blinked at Scythen, asking, "How did you survive if there were no mortals?"

"Our air was a mixture of oxygen and blood. We recieved our blood in small doses from the air," the vampire paused, grinning, "But, when there was a party of sorts, they would send parties here to Norrath to capture mortals. Ones who were unmissed, unloved. We brought them back with magic over them so they could breath our air and then would use their blood as a delicacy."

Savriel twirled her finger around her head, the universal symbol for "He's nuts", behind Scythen's back, but looked interested as the older vampire spoke quietly to the knight. Merrique blinked at Scythen, as if not sure how to respond. The inn faded again from her attention, her golden eyes slowly looking back to her hand on Scythen's chest. Slowly retracted her hand from Scrythen's chest, becoming aware of what was around her.

"I...see," she whispered.

"Greetings Linian," she heard Scythen say to a robed Teir'dal.

At that same moment, Savriel was wolloped in the head with a pillow that the male half elf had thrown from his couch, crying out, "What the...!"

"Vendui Scythen," the Teir'dal named Linian replied, taking a seat at the bar. "How is everything?"

Merrique looked up at the dark elven man, frowning still from speaking with Scythen. The half elf boy on the couch caught himself from nearly falling off the couch, laughing at the sight of Savriel being hit by his pillow toss. Savriel tucked the pillow behind her head, smiling serenely to Linian and greeting him, just to spite the boy. Merrique glanced back to Scythen, the inn again dropping away as she thought over what the vampire had said and what Duvessa had mentioned in her story. Rising from her seat beside him, downing her honey mead, she began to walk towards the stairs to the guest rooms.

"I...need to go train...g-good eve," she stammered, practically running up the stairs.

"Good eve, Merrique," she heard Scythen call after her.

Panicked, the young girl nearly broke the door to her room as she hastily tried to open the door. Quickly, she stripped out of the leather clothing and put on her light under armour, shaking as she pulled the tight chainmail shirt over her head. With haste, she pulled on the chain pants then slipped into her plate pauldrons, boots and gauntlets. Her long sword was slung low on her left hip, her two handed sword quickly strapped to her back before she slung her sheild across it.

Once dressed, the girl practically ran down the back staircase, bursting out the door and trotting to the stables. The hand on duty quickly fetched her steed, and within minutes, the sound of thundering hooves broke out behind the inn, rushing up the side and across the front before fading off into the night as the young knight rode away from the inn full of vampires.

Inside, Scythen sighed as he sipped his bloodwine, "I think I scared the poor girl."

"Paladins... blegh," Savriel quipped, "She took that well, considering..."

A small ratonga woman perked one of her ears to the sound of Merrique's horse and added, "I guess she doesnt like your parties, Scythen."