Futuristic The Darkness of Space (Supernatural Scifi)

[Mikotsuhime]

"If we have Renza, and Fenrick makes a big enough show, we can lead him away," Leese said, her teeth gritting. "Probably."



Fenrick was a little surprised. So far this was going... quite well. Maybe it was just because these people weren't used to such displays of power? He had expected more arguing and bluster, but the only one who seemed to be putting up a fight was Pyotr. Hm.

He wondered what Montrose would do in this situation. His brother was a terrible king, but he was very good at intimidation. The vampire who had Renza was slimy, a weasel, and Montrose usually dealt with those by public execution. Fenrick was not about to execute this man in front of his ship. Inciting more violence was only going to kick him in the ass later.

'This isn't a negotiation,' he said instead, once again speaking directly to the time philos. 'The condition is that I help you leave with your lives. If you want to be petty and fight me on this, I'll take him by force, and you and your people will burn here.'

That was... maybe a bit much. Fenrick cringed, but at least he sounded confident, he hoped.

'Come to the satellite before you. Once he's prepared, release him from your air lock. Then you will leave at speed,' he said, more confident than he felt. Morei was hovering back, and Fenrick could practically taste his curiosity from here. He was watching for now, but he didn't know how long it would be before he decided he wanted to take action.

It made shivers go down Fenrick's spine. He said he would protect this ship and its people, and he would do his best, but Morei was an excellent warrior. He was also venemous, which was an advantage Fenrick didn't have. Going up against him foolishly would be dangerous. Leese had her weapons, and Vanya had the ship, but would they be able to pinpoint a Ferendin warrior moving at top speeds? He was a relatively small target.

Fenrick sallowed, then moved to the station and opened the airlock. He clamped his power tight around him, and was grateful that his exoskeleton looked enough like a spacesuit to fool most sensibilities.

'Don't dock. I will catch him, if you release him,' he said, fighting as hard as he could to sound imposing and confident. He had to be imperious. He was the son of a king, and he was making a demand. Not asking a favour. He could do this.

 

[Reynarda]

Pyotr tightened his hands into fists. Captain Inna would mutiny if he announced they were going to not do what she had just said they would do. Something was after them. This little prince sounded... off. Sure, it was a little unnerving that he could speak directly into his mind, but humans had been afraid when they learned vampires could manipulate the universe. This little prince couldn't be as dangerous as he pretended.

And Pyotr had a hunch. And his hunches were usually pretty good.

Bold, he thought at the over-confident voice. You might be powerful, but you've enlisted the aid of someone whose family I could ruin with the wave of a hand. If this is not a negotiation, then as soon as you've taken your priest I'll do just that. You can't come here and throw your weight around without consequences, boy. I'll be glad to tell Vanya Zmey you're the reason his family is in shambles.

Captain Inna was not sure how they were supposed to get Renza out of a radiation suit and into a vacuum suit when he was still not moving. But if the creepy voice would leave them alone if they stuck in him a vac suit and chucked him out their airlock, she would figure out a way to do it. She found a few crewmembers who were not otherwise engaged and passed the ill human off to them.

Reeta had made her way to the bridge to see what was going on and was nearly flattened by a pair of vampires dragging a limp Renza between them. With a yelp of alarm, she followed them, attempting to get them to answer her questions. They did not, except telling her to help them get his radiation suit off.

One that was complete, the three of them got him in a vacuum suit. Reeta had no idea why they were sending the obviously ill priest out the airlock, but she decided to make damn sure the seals were all good. She gave his hand a squeeze once she was certain.

"We're sending you out the airlock, Mr. Priest. Is that ship your friend? Do they have medical?" She hoped so. She squeezed his hand again. "May the stars be bright, Mr. Priest."

She retreated from the airlock and watched with her stomach in knots as they opened the outside airlock, evacuating the air and Renza with it.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Fenrick had been expecting some pushback. He had been expecting a fight of some sort, but he was not expecting Pyotr to threaten to ruin Vanya, somebody who was all but unrelated, just because Fenrick refused to bow to him.

It reminded him of his brother, destroying people just because he could. Throwing his weight around for no good reason, just to piss off people who dared to stand up to him. This man may not be a killer in the same way, but he made disgust rise in Fenrick's chest all the same.

Fear, too. Fenrick didn't want to be afraid of him, but the similarities made a primal dread rise up in him, along with an instinctive need to give in. He wavered, because he knew this man would go through with it. He didn't want Vanya's family to be ruined because of his whims.

But Renza needed him, and Renza was important to Leese. Leese was Fenrick's family, or close enough to it, and he couldn't abandon them.

'You are despicable,' he said, trying his best to keep emotion out of his voice.

A small part of him wanted to let Morei destroy the ship and kill all of them. A small part of him wanted to take Renza and run, and let the consequences be damned. A small part of him wanted to find a tiny corner of this universe and hide with the people important to him until the contamination took over and everything was dead.

He squashed that part down. What would Montrose do?

Well, Montrose would kill them. That was a bad train of thought. What would his father do?

His father would probably kill Pyotr and take control of the ship, and claim it as his. That was also a bad idea. Fenrick was starting to wonder if any of the role model figures he'd grown up with were actually good for this situation.


Renza was barely conscious as he was wrestled out of his radiation suit and into a vac suit. He tried to walk, but his legs shook, and the pain in his stomach blocked out everything around him. He was pretty sure he wasn't seeing in colour right now.

When they stumbled into Reeta, he tried to give her a reassuring smile, but he couldn't quite manage it.

She was a good kid. He really hoped she didn't die.

When she wished him well, he reached out one shaky hand and lightly squeezed her shoulder.

"Be safe, kiddo," he said, his voice soft and scratchy before the airlock was closed.

And then he was in space.

He hadn't spent much time in zero gravity, let alone when his senses were already messed up beyond recognition. He felt like everything was spinning, and he stopped existing for a moment before he collided with something firm.


The second he saw the ship open its airlock, Fenrick leapt from the satellite. It was hard without his wings to give him direction, but he concentrated his energy to give himself the boost he needed. He pulled Renza's form into his arms, cradling him against his chest. He wasn't in good shape. He needed a transfusion, and Fenrick couldn't give it to him here. He doubted he could on the nocturne either. Vanya would be angry if he contaminated his ship.

He shifted the man in his arms, who for once was slightly smaller than him, and looked up to the vessel before him. He licked his lips, then got an idea.

It was not nice. Very, very not nice. But if Pyotr wanted to be a bastard, then Fenrick could be a bastard too.

'Your cooperation is noted, captain,' he said, pushing himself back towards the station. 'But your representative is a different matter. He wants to sell you all out and risk your deaths so he can keep leverage he doesn't even know what to do with.'

He focused on the conversation they'd just had. It was a method of communication primarily used among hunters, and it was slightly easier to portray memories than to communicate two-sidedly.

'Something is hunting you, and he knows it. He's seen it, with his future sight. Did you know he has that? He thinks he can manipulate this situation by using your lives as leverage. I'll guarantee your ship safe passage, but if I were you, I would eject him as well. He clearly sees no problem sacrificing all of your lives to suit his goals.'

 

[Reynarda]

"The evacced something," Kas said. He scanned the sensor data. "Looks like it might be Renza. Begin to pull back, Vanya."

"Copy," Vanya said.

Kas nodded to himself. As harebrained schemes go, this one hadn't gone too badly. They were alive, they hadn't killed any of the escorts, and Renza had been released.

"Nice shooting, Leese," Kas said, honestly impressed she had done so well with Vanya whipping them every which way.



Captain Inna needed alcohol. And then a nap. A very long nap. She had signed up for military service to serve her country. As gratitude for her exceptional service, she had been given a promotion and an "important" assignment. Which had turned out to be babysitting the planet's biggest asshole.

She was just breathing out a sigh of relief when the voice returned.

She frowned. She wasn't exactly surprised. Politicians tended to be slimy. But when he shared his memories, she frowned. Great. Something was after them. And the apparent time-sighted one hadn't warned them.

She cut a nasty look to Pyotr and thanked the voice for the information. It wasn't enough, but she thought she knew where to get more. She nodded to her communications officer. "Hail the Nocturne."

Pyotr bristled. "I presume you are asking for their surrender."

"One more thing out of you, sir, and I will confine you to your quarters," Inna said evenly. To her surprise, Pyotr Syvestr closed his mouth.

After a few seconds, the communications officer said, "They're listening, Captain."

"Nocturne," she said in English, just in case. "We have been informed by a mutual friend that something is hunting us. Can you elaborate?"

After a pause, Vanya's voice came through the speakers. "Captain Inna. Yes. If you collect your escort and get out of here as fast as possible, we'll cover your retreat."

"Care to elaborate on the threat?" the captain asked.

"Not really. We'll take care of it."

Inna smiled grimly to herself. "Next time, maybe talk before you start shooting, Philosopher Zmey."

The speakers hummed with an awkward chuckle. "Yes ma'am, Captain."

"Oh, and Zmey? Don't worry about your family. We'll keep his excellence locked out of comms. As a thanks for you covering our retreat."

There was a long pause and then Vanya cleared his throat. "You're an angel, Captain. Get clear. Nocturne out."

"You--" Pyotr started, but Captain Inna rounded on him.

"Representative Sylvestr, please stay in your quarters for the remainder of the journey."

"I will have your career for this," Pyotr spat.

"Maybe," Inna said as he left the bridge, "but civilian life will be more pleasant than this."




Kas glanced over at Vanya, but he was doing his best to keep his emotions off his face. "Sylvestr's ship is heading away at what I'm assuming is close to full speed."

"I think it's Captain Inna's ship, now," Vanya said, with a dry chuckle. "Are we going to get out boys?"

"Yup, turn us about," Kas confirmed.

They would get Renza and Fenrick back, and then they would figure out what to do about the royal guard.

"Docking with the satellite," Vanya confirmed. He glanced back at Leese. "I assume Renza is going to need medical attention? I do have a very small medbay will an automated system."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

The ship was leaving. Fenrick breathed out softly, and pulled Renza to the airlock. Morei had stopped, his energy signature static in the distance. Trying to decide whether his trophy was worth the trouble, no doubt, but Fenrick didn't care. Renza's breathing was shallow, and he needed to stabilize him. As long as Morei was indecisive, it gave him a chance to Get Renza inside.


Leese was... surprised that had worked. She had expected everything to fall apart, as it so often did. The fact that everyone seemed to be in one piece was surprising, but definitely not unwelcome. She breathed out a sigh of relief and collapsed against her seat, allowing herself exactly one minute to relax.

"Thanks," she said, closing her eyes. She had grown up as a melee fighter, but she'd found she really liked firearms and ranged combat when she first came to Albaques. She was proud of her skills, and had no problem accepting the compliment.

As soon as the ship was confirmed to be leaving, she opened her eyes again and straightened up.

"You two need to put on radiation suits," she warned. "I understand that the atmosphere in there isn't perfect, but we don't want to risk any contamination. Be careful, and keep your distance from Fenrick until I give you the ok."

Renza had looked very small when he was ejected from the airlock, and Leese was worried about him, but she didn't know how well Vanya's medbay would be able to treat him.

"I'll need to talk to Fenrick--"

'Leese, he needs a transfusion,' Fenrick's voice echoed in her head, and she groaned. That was the absolute worst thing that could happen. Ferens transfusions were risky at the best of time, and could lead to a blood addiction if they weren't careful. For somebody like Renza, that risk was even higher. It was why they had been so desperate to get him away from the vampires to begin with. But if they could use the technology on the ship...

"He needs a blood transfusion," Leese said, standing up as soon as they were docked. "It's a risky procedure doing it the traditional Ferendin way, but if you have the equipment for it on the ship, it'll be easier. Fenrick will provide the blood, but he can't change back until after he does that. Are you two... Are you ok, coming with me?"

She didn't really want to push them. The last thing she wanted to do was scare them off after Vanya referred to Renza and Fenrick as his boys.


The old satellite wasn't in the greatest condition, and the gravity system wasn't working great. The fact that all the systems seemed to still be in tact was a blessing all its own, but Fenrick wanted to move fast.

The armored plates covering his face slid away, tucking back behind his neck like a collar as he looked Renza over. His facial structure as a Ferendin was quite similar to what he looked like as a vampire, with the exception that he had four eyes.

Or, two. The side of his face that was burned as a vampire was still burned now, the scar tissue a dark indigo against his pale skin. He had the slightest blue tint, but otherwise he was all but white, his skin contrasting against the shiny black of his chitin. With the plates protecting his face pulled back, the chitin around his head looked similar to the hairstyle he had as a vampire, if bulkier.

He made a soft, reassuring clicking sound as the armour on his hands pulled back as well, the plates sliding beneath the skin on the back of his hand as he checked the vitals on Renza's suit.

"S'that you, little prince?" Renza asked, his voice a little woozy, and Fenrick tried brushing a soothing tendril of power over him. Renza stiffened for a moment, then relaxed, going boneless, his head lolling to the side. It was worrying. He was like a baby who didn't know how to control his muscles shoved into the body of a mature adult. The added Ferens pollution in the atmosphere would probably make him worse, but at least he wasn't contagious.

He looked up as the ship that had docked in the bay behind them opened up, and Leese came down wearing a vac suit.

"Is he ok?" she asked, worry in her voice. Renza tried to raise a hand to signal to her, but Fenrick gently pushed it down.

"Stop that. Stupid. You almost dead," he grumbled, Renza snorted at him. Fenrick glared, but secretly he was glad that he was at least doing well enough to communicate.

He looked back up to Leese and the Nocturne, the worry clear on his face.

"Should I do the transfusion here? I don't want to make Vanya's ship a biohazard," he said, repeating the word Leese had said before despite not really knowing what it meant.

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya cleared his throat. "Um, I only have vacuum suits so I hope we're talking typical ambient star radiation levels of radiation and not like reactor leak radiation."

"What happened to your radiation suits?" Kas asked with a frown.

"I have one," Vanya said. "I'm the only one on this ship, usually."

Kas grunted, thinking that was not the true fate of the other radiation suits but having no idea what Vanya would have done with them. Probably used them to infiltrate something. "I'm sure it's fine."

When Leese mentioned a transfusion, Kas glanced at Vanya, an oh shit look on his face as vampires didn't do blood transfusions very often. It didn't work well when your blood cells were nucleated. But, to his surprised, Vanya nodded.

"Yeah, I have transfusion stuff. Let me get the kit."

Kas squinted at him, but he decided not to ask about it. He turned back to Leese. "Yes, we'll come."

He followed Vanya down the ladder and then watched as he ducked into the closet he called "the medbay" and produced a transfusion kit. Kas and Vanya got vac suits on and followed Leese through the airlock and onto the station. Vanya passed the transfusion kit to Leese while Kas tried not to stare at Fenrick.

So.

That's what he looked like.

Ok. That was fine. Not weird. Just. Unusual. But he'd get used to it. It'd be fine. It was fine.

Vanya turned off his mic and stood on his tiptoes to rest his helmet against Kas'. "You alright?"

Kas turned off his mic. "Fine. Why wouldn't I be. It's just our friend. With... body armor. Totally fine."

"Has a lot of eyes," Vanya agreed. "I wouldn't mind more eyes."

Kas thought that two was plenty but now he was picturing Vanya with four eyes and it was stressing him out.

After a few seconds, Vanya said, "We don't have enough bunks. Some of us are going to have to double up. Want to bunk with me?"

Kas made a face at him. "Yeah... distracting me isn't working."

"Oh, so it works when you've got a gunshot wound but not when you're staring at an extra-dimentional entity? That makes no sense, Kasper."

Were he not trying to not be weirded out by Fenrick, he would have pointed out that Vanya had been doing a better job of being distracting before. He was doing a terrible job as he was too busy staring at Fenrick with unmasked curiosity. But Kas was too busy trying to act like this was normal to think of a good argmuent. Is this how he usually held his arms? Dang, did this suit not have pockets? Maybe if he just hooked his thumbs in his belt.

A thought striking him, Kas glanced at Vanya. "You ok? After... all that. And the... treason?"

Vanya shrugged. "Been wanting to leave the military." Then he frowned and turned his mic back on. "Hey, Fenrick. We spoke with the captain and she knew some things she shouldn't have. You been talking to people you shouldn't be?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Fenrick could tell Kas was a bit nervous, so he turned away from him.

"I could retract armor. Leese, could you get clothes?" he asked, as Renza was cradled in his lap and he didn't want to move. Leese found the clothes where he'd folded them and set them aside earlier, passing them to him. He slipped the shirt on first, the thick chitin sliding beneath his skin. There was still the obvious seams along his limbs and his sides where the plates were hidden, and he didn't look completely human, but he at least looked a little bit less alien.

He couldn't really do anything about the eyes, though.

The shirt was a bit snug where before it had been far too big, and he didn't even bother with the pants. Those would be shorts now if anything, and it was very cold in here as it was.

Leese took the transfusion kit over to Renza. She hadn't done this before. She had basic medical training, but she wasn't a nurse or a medical officer by any means. She knew the theory of how to do a transfusion, but she couldn't deny she was nervous. At least there were instructions.

Fenrick's cheeks flushed as Leese readied the needle, and he looked embarrassed as he avoided Vanya's eyes.

"They were using their ferensnik-- uh. Vampire ferensnik? Energy people. It was hard to pull ship in so I contacted. Told them they needed to give Renza back, and I would give them safe passage from Morei. Your representative said he wanted more. I refuse, and he threaten you. So I showed his secret memories to his crew," he explained sheepishly. "Sorry. I did not want him to hurt your family. Nobody knows specific. I do not know specific either - I do not like reading memories. I would never read with no permission. But he thought terrible things thinking crew could not hear, so I showed them. I am sorry. I should not have."

Renza huffed out a laugh as Leese wrestled his arm out of his vac suit, a disapproving look on her face at how pale his complexion was.

"He was a dick," Renza said, his voice raspy. "He uses kids as spies. He deserves whatever he gets."

Fenrick shushed him, but held out his arm for Leese to insert the needle. At least his veins were fairly prominent, though his blood was cobalt blue rather than red.

"You can sort that afterwards. How bad are your symptoms, Renza?" She asked, and Renza made a face.

"I wanted to kill him. Threatened to rip his spine out with my bare hands - talk about dramatic. It's better now that you're here," he said. Leese unzipped his suit, gently rolling up his shirt to look at his stomach. She couldn't hide her cringe, because the skin was split and hardened in places, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

"We're going to do a blood transfusion. Fenrick's blood should help even your system out, acclimatize it to the parts your human body isn't used to. You're going to be sleepy afterwards, ok?" She said, her voice gentle. Renza shifted, resting his head back on Fenrick's thigh.

"It hurts," he mumbled, and Fenrick looked incredibly guilty. If he hadn't shifted, it likely wouldn't have been so bad, but he hadn't been able to think of another way.

Looking for a distraction, he focused on Morei again. His signature--

Was a lot closer than Fenrick had thought. He'd gotten distracted. He tightened his hands on Renza's shoulders, then gently set him down.

"He is circling us," he warned. "But he is not attacking. I don't know what he wants."

 

[Reynarda]

Kas felt bad because now he had made Fenrick feel bad over what was clearly a him problem and not a Fenrick problem. He almost said it was fine and he didn't have to put clothes on, but Vanya would have a field day with that and he was too tired for that. But then Fenrick blushed and it was such a human thing that Kas couldn't help chuckling. It was good to know that embarrassment was universal.

Vanya was squinting at Fenrick, but Kas guessed he wasn't really mad. Annoyed more than anything, if that.

"He's not my representative," Vanya felt the need to clarify. "My representative is my dad."

Kas patted his helmet. "You don't have to keep telling us. We don't think you're associated with this man in anyway that is legitimate."

Vanya inhaled his own spit and started coughing.

"What?" Kas said. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," Vanya said, between coughs. He cleared his throat and frowned at Fenrick. Kas was honestly impressed that he was frowning in displeasure at someone who was so alien and so much bigger than him.

"His 'secret memories'? Ok, that's a little funny." But then Vanya's frown returned. "Fenrick," he said, his tone suggesting Fenrick think very carefully about how he answer the question that was to follow. "Did you tell his crew that he has time-sight? Please tell me you didn't do that."

"I don't think Vanya is debating that Sylvestr is a dick," Kas put in for Renza's sake. Though he wasn't sure which kid spy Renza was referring to, Kas couldn't help but agree. He did seem to have a bad track record on that front.

When Fenrick stood up, announcing the royal guard was circling them, Kas' hand reached up to shift the rifle he had grabbed from the ship and thrown over his shoulder. In an almost hopeful voice, he asked, "He doesn't want to have a friendly chat, does he?"

Vanya bounced on his toes in the wonky gravity. "Should we go back to the ship? And by 'we', I mean the five of us."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Fenrick frowned, a little unsure what Vanya was angry about.

"But, he is vampire, you are vampire, he is vampire representative. Your representative? Is that not right?" he asked hesitantly, looking a little bit like a puppy that had done something wrong. English was hard, and he didn't like it. When Vanya said that he really hoped Fenrick hadn't told them he had time sight, he hesitated.

"I did not tell," he said, though he still sounded apologetic and sheepish. "But he knew people would die. He knew people would die, and he did not care. He was ok with people dying if he got what he wanted. I hate that. People put their lives in his care, and he would be careless with them? He knew what was coming. I showed them that he knew."

He shifted awkwardly, because he hadn't known that it was something he shouldn't do.

"I am sorry. I changed the plan. I should have ask if I could say something. I did not mean to make things hard for you," he said. He would have probably spent more time being apologetic if the impending threat of Morei didn't take up his attention.

Fenrick didn't want to fight him either, and he shifted on his feet.

"He hasn't attacked us yet," Leese said, though she was preoccupied with putting the needle full of Fenrick's blood in Renza's arm. "I need two more vials, and then we can leave."

Fenrick frowned, then turned towards the airlock. He reached out, feeling Morei still for a moment before their power mingled. It felt weird, and he shivered uncomfortably. Morei was a different subspecies, and his ferens always felt cold to Fenrick; it left his fingers numb.

'I can't believe you ran away to the other side, little prince,' echoed in his head, the voice low and smooth. 'You have a death warrant on your head. Are you coming out, or do I have to get you?'

"Not friendly," Fenrick warned, but he wasn't attacking. Why not? Why was he--

Oh.

He turned back to Kas, his eyebrows rising.

"He is scared of you," he said, a little surprised. Leeselooked up in surprise, a frown on her face.

"What?"

"Kas has no ferens or power. He... Sorry, I am going to try something," he warned, then reached out with the tiniest tendril of energy. It fizzled once it got close, and Fenrick could feel excitement building in him. They had a chance.

"Explain, Fenrick," Leese said through gritted teeth when she noticed that he was grinning. Fenrick tried to subdue his smile, but it was difficult.

"Ferens doesn't work on Kas. He's like... He's like a black hole. It fizzles, it doesn't affect him. I never really looked at him before, not properly, but he's like a dead end. Morei doesn't know what he is. He's cautious, and he won't attack while Kas is here."

Leese's mouth opened and she spent a moment doing her best goldfish impression before she turned to Kas and Vanya.

"Kas, your biomagnetic field. Apparently it interferes with Ferens. There's nothing like that on the other side, so I never even considered-- Fenrick's right. You're a complete unknown, so he's scared of you."

Triumphant, Fenrick focused once more, feeling his power collide with Morei's a little more aggressively.

'You won't come in. You're bluffing,' he tried, and he could feel the displeasure on the other side. He was right. He couldn't believe he was right.

Renza groaned, and Leese motioned Fenrick over so she could get her next vial of blood.

"We should still hurry. We don't know how good the life support is in here," she warned, and Fenrick nodded his agreement.

"But for now, we are safe. When we board Nocturne, the cloaking will hide us. He hunts by following heat to find weak spot," he explained.

 

[Reynarda]

"Yeesh, Vanya," Kas scolded as the large and mildly frightening person from another dimension shifted worriedly under a short vampire's frown.

"Fenrick, it's fine. It's just going to be annoying, that's all, I'm not mad," Vanya sighed, sounding more exasperated than anything else. "There aren't many time-sighted vampires and it's just going to be annoying, that's all."

Kas frowned when Leese pointed out that Morei hadn't attacked yet. "Yet," he said, shifting his gun.

When Fenrick turned and said that the big scary royal guard was afraid of him, Kas pointed at himself, confusion furrowing his brows. He was pretty sure he was the least frightening one there--well, maybe except for Renza. Was it because he had a gun?

"Wait, try what?" Vanya asked, suddenly worried that Fenrick might do science the way he did science.

Nothing happened that Kas could tell and Fenrick got all excited. When Leese explained, Vanya made a delighted trill through his teeth that reminded Kas of a bird back on Albaques.

"Wait... you mean my weird brain works on ferens too?" Kas asked.

"Yes!" Vanya crowed, hugging his arm. "What if we told him all humans were like this? Oh! We could get the hunter corp!"

Kas made the stupid mistake of trying to run his hands through his hair but his fingers just collided with his helmet. Now he felt extra stupid. It was one thing to be a bane of vampires, but it was another for a very large armored guard with weird magic to be afraid of him. He was embarrassed for Morei. He was good at his job, but he didn't think he could take the scout Montrose had sent.

Vanya, however, apparently thought it was hilarious. Still grinning, he held up his handheld, which had a readout showing the ship. "Well, good. I left the reactor on so I can have us fired up and ready to go in minutes."

"How are we doing Renza?" Kas asked. Hearing him referred to as "Renza" made thinking of him as "Father Richtail" impossible now. Also he had told Pyotr Sylvestr that he was going to rip his spine out, so he just couldn't even seen the mild-mannered priest anymore.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

When Vanya said he wasn't mad, Fenrick brightened. He looked a bit confused, like the concept of 'not mad' was something he wasn't overly familiar with, but happy all the same.

"I still should have asked. I am sorry. I will not tell anyone else anything you say to me," he said, his voice firm, but his delight at finding something that confounded the royal guard and being forgiven made him sound less than sorry.

"Montrose will be less cautious," Fenrick warned. "This will not stop him, but it give us time. I need--"

Leese shot him a look, and he quickly stopped rocking on the balls of his feet, clearing his throat.

"If you are agreeable, I would like to take samples," he said. Leese rolled her eyes and stuck the needle into his arm for the last time.

"You can worry about that after we're out of range. What are the chances he'll go after the ship that left?" she asked, and Fenrick tilted his head to the side.

"He was trophy hunting. Following at distance to take out when least expected. He wanted something to show Montrose, probably. But he will not go after them now that they are gone. No point, too much trouble," he mused.

Leese thought that over, then nodded.

"It will buy us time for now, at least. The Albaques military has made weapons that mimic your brain waves, right? That partially cancel sight?" she asked, and Fenrick brightened again.

"If you can disrupt their Ferens, they cannot be in space. I can't believe I didn't think of it before! If we could apply directionality to the magnetic field, we could prevent the vast majority of soldiers from passing through. Morei is class 5, nearly class 4. I'm class one, and my ferens doesn't work on Kas.We may not be able to close the rip right away, but it would give us time!"

"They're not as effective, I don't think," Leese warned as she finally finished the transfusion.

Renza grumbled weakly, then finally lifted his head to look at Vanya and Kas.

"Hey," he said weakly. "I feel like I was run over by a train. Or stabbed by a giant centipede monster."

Leese flushed and gently slapped his shoulder.

"He's already freaked out, you're going to scare him," she scolded, and Renza laughed.

"I feel a bit better now. Before, it was... Even being near anyone else made me feel like I had to fight them, but now I just feel sore as hell."

"You were weak. Your body has no ferens, saw everyone as a threat. Now, your levels are stable, so your body feels safe. It is temporary measure, but it will let us get away," Fenrick explained, then turned to Kas. "I am going to change back. You should go inside, so you do not have to watch."

"Are you going to become a vampire again?" Leese asked curiously, and Fenrick nodded.

"Energy sight is cool. Humans are boring."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya waved the apology away, feeling a little bad that he had made such a big deal of it. The bigger deal was his current treasonous status, but he assumed he had a good few hours before Sylvestr got back to Yasen and made that a problem.

Mostly because his entire clan was going to be messaging him.

Kas was still feeling a little awkward at being the center of attention. So when Fenrick announced he wanted samples, Kas paled slightly. "Samples? What do you--what kind of samples?"

"Not his brain, I hope. There's precious little of that."

Kas reached to grab Vanya's ear but was thwarted by his helmet. At Leese's question, he nodded. "Yeah, disrupters. I don't carry them, but most other military personnel do."

"No, they are not as effective," Vanya agreed.

"For comparison, Vanya can't leave time when he's within about eight feet of me--"

"I can!"

"--without sucking up his energy and messing himself up for hours," Kas continued. "But, I had to put about ten full-strength disrupters around him to have the same effect."

"And I still broke out," Vanya said proudly.

"Yeah, his plan worked so well I found him face down in the corridor not twenty meters from where I had left him," Kas said. "But anyway, it works best when I'm right next to him or touching him. When I'm touching him..."

Kas raised his eyebrows, and Vanya huffed. "I can't even see time."

"You can't get that effect with a dozen disrupters."

"It's a very specific frequency," Vanya agreed. "And to be fair, Kas' brain is particularly disruptive."

Kas figured that was a veiled insult but was suddenly tired and didn't feel like getting annoyed over it. Anyway, it took Kas a few seconds to realize that the "centipede monster" was not some random idiom but Leese. Kas couldn't picture her as a centipede and decided not to try.

"Humans are so boring," Vanya agreed wisely, and Kas spun him around and gave him a push towards the ship. "Go start her up."

Vanya had wanted to watch Fenrick shift back into a vampire, but he saw the logic in getting back to the ship. He and Kas escaped their vac suits and headed up the ladder. Kas took his place at ops and Vanya settled into his pilot's chair and woke up the idling ship.

Activating the intercoms, Vanya called down to the living area. "Leese, you can put Renza in a bunk. They have straps if you want to make sure he doesn't fall out."

He turned and glanced at Kas. "Where to?"

Kas had no idea. They needed to figure that out. "How about anywhere but here?"

"Aye, aye, Capt'n."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Fenrick shrugged his shoulders.

"Saliva, blood, skin, hair, urine, all samples," he said with a shrug, and Renza let out a croak of a laugh.

"He's been pestering me to open up a rip and give him my piss for like fifteen years," he joked, and Fenrick's face once again turned blue.

"I did not!" he exclaimed, because that was a very gross exaggeration. It was more like ten years. And he didn't just want urine.

"Boys," Leese said, sounding chagrined, but the smile on her face was undeniable. It was so good to have both of them in the same room for once. It would probably sink in later that this was very very bad, but right now she only wanted to focus on the fact that Renza was safe and Fenrick was alive and here.

Disrupters was definitely an idea. If they weren't nearly as effective as actual human brainwaves, that wasn't reassuring, but if they could get enough of them...

Leese shook her head, and slowly helped Renza to his feet as Fenrick shifted back. The shirt that had been tight on his frame before dwarfed him again, and he stumbled a little bit as he tried to regain his balance. He looked to the pants that he'd been given before, his eyesight adjusting to vampire colour levels again, and swayed as he tried to reach for them.

Leese cursed, then reached out to hold him steady while he put his pants on.

He had been acting like what he did wasn't a big deal, but shifting three times in the same day was an intense energy suck, not to mention yanking a ship out of space with just his own power. He was still up and walking because he was Fenrick, but he would be down for the count for the rest of the day, at least.

She was glad that she was as fit as she was, helping both grown men back onto the ship, one of them leaning on each of her shoulders.

She helped Renza over to the bunk, setting him down gently. He groaned, but let her.

"You don't need to strap me in," he said dryly. "I'm not gonna fall out, promise."

Fenrick lightly swatted his shoulder.

"You stupid. You were almost dead," he argued, but there was a softness to his voice that Leese hadn't heard in a long time. Her mouth quirked in a wry smile, and she squeezed each of their shoulders.

"Well, you're stupid too," she said, and Fenrick gave her an absolutely betrayed look. "You pushed yourself too hard, and then I drew blood. Get to bed now, and we'll talk in the morning."

He had the look on his face that said he wanted to argue, but when Leese just stared back, he eventually conceded. Leese helped him up into the bunk above Renza, and he practically went boneless as soon as he laid down. Leese watched him for a moment, then squeezed his shoulder and headed back up to the bridge.



"Fenrick's out until tomorrow, at least," Leese said, happy to be out of her own vac suit. "Fenrick's sure Morei won't bother us, and he'll have a hard time following us with the shields. I want to check the data readouts as soon as we find a safe place to hunker down just in case, though."

If she could check Fenrick's radiation output, she could figure out the right frequency to identify Morei. She didn't know if the Nocturne had the necessary tech, though.

She flopped back in her chair, and sorely wished for a nap.

"I don't want to go back to my place if there's a chance Morei's still following us. It's too close. If we could go somewhere far enough, and go fast enough, we'll lose him for sure. But if anything happened to those people living there, I'd never be able to live with myself."

 

[Reynarda]

Kas decided he would not be giving any samples. What Fenrick would do with his blood, hair, skin, spit, and pee, he wasn't sure. But he didn't like the idea of it, either. A snicker broke through his thoughts, and he shot Vanya a look.

"What are you giggling about?"

"Your face," he said, accelerating the ship. "You look so displeased."

"You wouldn't be laughing if Fenrick wanted to study you," Kas grumbled. He glanced back as Leese came up the ladder.

"Good," he said to both things. "Vanya is taking us somewhere. Where are we going, Vanya?"

"Outer asteroid belt," he said, locking the autopilot in. Swinging one leg over his armrest, he turned halfway so he could look at them. "It will throw him off even if he figures someway to track us. I'll probably park us on one of the big ones."

Kas nodded. It wasn't too too far from the rip, but it would give them a chance to lose Morei. It should give them some breathing room. And if Morei did find them, it would be easy to take off again.

Kas opened his mouth to talk strategy but closed it. It was late--at least relative to the cycle he was on. And Leese looked exhausted. Vanya was the only one who looked awake and he was nocturnal. Kas knew in the back of his head this might be day for him, but he had also just had a nap.

"I think we should rest," he decided. "Vanya, can you handle everything?"

"You do know I am usually captain, pilot, weapons officer, engineer--"

"Alright, alright," Kas cut him off. "Are you ok if the rest of us sleep?"

"Sure."

Kas nodded. "Come wake me up in... five hours. I'll relieve you."

Vanya hummed acknowledgement, but he had no intention of waking Kas before he had had a full eight hours. "Oh! Wait! Let me get some tea from the kitchen first!"

He hurried off down the ladder and was back a few minutes later with several containers of tea. "Ok. You may sleep now."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leese blinked.

She... hadn't really considered sleeping. She didn't think she would sleep until all of this was taken care of.

Looking back, that was a pretty stupid way of looking at it. If she was tired, she was more likely to make stupid mistakes, and that would be good for nobody. Getting some rest would be a good idea.

"Right," she said, feeling a little flustered. "I... Don't know if I'll be able to sleep, but I'll definitely try."

She looked back to Vanya and his collection of tea, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards.

"If anything happens, wake me up, too. Renza and Fenrick will probably need more sleep, though. Fenrick acts like it was no big deal, but that was a pretty hefty display of power out there, and changing shape so many times in one day is hard. I'd like to let him sleep as long as possible."

If they needed him again, it wouldn't be good if their biggest weapon was too tired to move.

With a call of goodnight, she headed down with Kas to the sleeping quarters. Renza had wrestled off his vac suit,, and was actually sitting up when they arrived. His complexion was still a little ashen, but he looked miles better than he had earlier.

"The little prince up there is passed out," he said when the other two joined him. "Is there a reason why he's here? Or why he's a vampire?"

Leese made a face, because she forgot that she'd need to catch Renza up on everything that had happened in the past eight hours or so.

"A lot's happened. We can debrief tomorrow. Fenrick... I don't know how long he's going to be here. Permanently, maybe. For now, we've accomplished what we can tonight."

She took her shoes off, setting them aside with a sigh. It had been a long day.

Renza turned his head to Kas, resting his chin in his hand as he studied him. After a moment he seemed to have found whatever answer he was looking for, because he flopped back down on the bed.

"Well, goodnight, then. Wake me up when something happens, or if anyone decides they want to sneak in here for a late night quickie."

 

[Reynarda]

Kas was not sure why Renza was staring at him, but he suddenly felt a little self conscious stripping down to his shirt and pants with a priest watching him. That was shattered when Renza suggested someone might want to join him in his bunk. Honestly, the kid was worse than Vanya, but at least he knew Vanya wasn't serious.

For some reason, the fact that Renza might be serious left him feeling less awkward.

"Aren't you a priest?" Kas said a little snidely. "And anyway, I'm pretty sure Vanya would murder you if you did that on his ship."

With that, Kas curled up in the bunk and was asleep before he even closed his eyes.





Someone was whispering his name.

"Kas. Kasper. I really need you to wake up."

Kasper shot bolt upright, nearly banging his head into Vanya's and only just avoiding the bunk above his. "What?! What is it?! Is Montrose here?!"

Vanya frowned at him, her hands on her hips. "No. I need you to wake up so I can use the coffee maker before I bite somebody. I have been tiptoeing around this ship for hours. I need coffee."

Kas rubbed his eyes. "Where are we?"

"Sitting pretty on an asteroid. It's KV522, specifically."

"How long was I out?"

"Five hours."

Kas lowered his hands and squinted at her. She was lying. Glancing at his watch--which was still set for Olive Station Time--Kas swore. "Nine hours! I've been asleep for nine hours! I told you--"

"Shhh," Vanya said, but he couldn't tell who else was still asleep. "Humans need sleep."

Kas flopped back down with a groan. "Make me a cup."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leese hadn't expected to sleep at all, so she was surprised when Vanya and Kas speaking below woke her up. She shifted in her spot on the bunk above Kasper, yawning.

"Nine hours?" she asked, her voice heavy with sleep. That was a long time, but... Well, there wasn't much they could do if they were tired anyways.

Fenrick was still fast asleep in his bunk, and Serlain had found her way in next to him while he slept. She had her tentacles curled around his torso, holding her in place as she slept on his chest, though with the blankets pulled up around them, only her head was visible. Renza, beneath him, was wide awake. Leese wondered how long he'd been up for, but she supposed she should be glad he was awake and alert.

He sat up when Vanya came down, and made a show of yawning as well.

"Yeah, coffee sounds good," he said. "If you have an energy bar or something, too, I'd appreciate it. I ate half a sandwich last night to throw off the spy following me, but I'm still pretty hungry."

He didn't mention that he had snuck to the bathroom in the middle of the night to puke, but he was pretty sure Vanya heard him anyways. It was a pretty small ship, after all.

"Coffee, breakfast, and then we can go over our information," Leese agreed. "Renza, did you tell Hanabelle that you're not dead She's probably worried about you after you had her engineer a drug bust."

Renza groaned, because he had completely forgotten to do that.

"No, I don't even know if my communicator is on me. Would Fenrick have fried it?" he asked, and Leese shrugged. That could have meant anything, but Renza didn't want to push.

He lay back down in bed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"So, uh, are you a guy right now, or a girl? I guessed you kinda change it up sometimes, from how people were talking. Just want to be sure."

 

[Reynarda]

"Yes, Vanya let us sleep for nine hours," Kas sighed.

"Humans need sleep!" Vanya said, her tone defensive.

Kas rolled his eyes and glanced at Fenrick and the sleeping tenta-cat. It was pretty cute when he couldn't tell Serlain had tentacles. He was glad Fenrick was still sleeping, even if he was a little annoyed Vanya had ignored his wake-up request.

"Yes! Human food!" Vanya said, her voice hushed. "I have human food!"

Chuckling, Kas rolled his eyes. He sort of hoped Renza didn't know the vampire rules of hospitality for Vanya's sake. He was getting the feeling that Renza really was a little ass.

Vanya raised her eyebrows at Renza's question, and it seemed to take her a second to process it. "Mm? Oh, girl."

She chuckled, liking the way he had phrased it.

"Titty day," Kas said with a groan as he stretched. Though, Vanya had once confided that the magical titty-disappearing act could be uncomfortable after a while and he had never assumed again.

Vanya gave him a mock frown. "Kasper, not in front of the priest."

Kas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Renza suggested someone join him for a quickie last night so he's not innocent."

Vanya glanced between the two sets of bunks. "Quick what?"

Kas frowned, realizing he didn't know the vampire word for it. He bet they had a word, he just didn't know what it was. "Quick sex."

Nose wrinkling, Vanya gave Renza a displeased frown. "Not on my ship, your holiness. Don't you have more important things to do than--Kas, what's that euphemism?"

Kas was not pleased that she had stuck his name there after asking if Renza more important things to do. But he was more curious about which euphemism Vanya was thinking of. "There are so many euphemisms. Be more specific."

Deciding it wasn't important, Vanya waved him off. "English is such a stupid language. Anyway, I think you have more important things to do. Like sleeping."

Kas shook his head. Vanya was very concerned about how much sleep everyone had gotten. He wondered if Renza hadn't slept as well as he and Leese had.

Still keeping relative quiet so as not to wake Fenrick, Vanya crept over to the kitchenette and turned on the coffee maker. Kas supposed he shouldn't be surprised that she had gotten it all ready to go before waking them. She began pulling down "human food". Most of it looked like freeze-dried and dehydrated ration packages, but he supposed he couldn't complain since a vampire appeared to be making them breakfast in bed.

It took her turning on the hot plate and pulling out what looked like a brand-new pan for Kas to realize she was actually going to cook. Cauciously, he asked, "What are you making?"

"Omelettes!" she said, turning a smile on him. "Who wants what on their omelettes? I have onions, peppers, cheese, mushrooms, and meat."

Kas decided it couldn't be terrible. Surely she couldn't make reconstituted eggs worse. "I'll have everything, please."

"One everything omelette coming right up. What else?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Renza nodded wisely.

"Good to know," he said. He supposed he could judge by the chest area well enough, if that was how she changed her gender presentation. And it gave him an excuse to stare at boobs, and Leese couldn't say anything to him.

But Vanya still thought he was innocent, and he grinned when she suggested he have more important things to do.

"I don't know, Jaager there is pretty high up on my theoretical to-do list, if I had to choose from the people present. He's got nice muscles," he teased, and was promptly hit in the face by a hair tie that Leese had thrown at him.

"Quit being an ass. This is why Fenrick doesn't like you," she grumbled, getting down from her bunk and stretching. "He's not being serious. He flirts with everything."

"I flirt with everything that's hot, there's a difference," Renza pointed out, but he didn't actually get up yet. Instead he chanced a worried look to the bunk above him. Fenrick had slept through their entire conversation so far, and they weren't really making an effort to be especially quiet. It had been nine hours. Was he really that wiped out?

He didn't want to look like he was worried, so he didn't really want to say anything. Leese was acting like it was no big deal, but the kid had barely moved all night.

"Is he ok?" he asked finally, and Leese looked at him with surprise before her expression softened.

"He said he did mind stuff with the vampires. That's tricky even for him," she said. "He might be out of it for a few more hours. If he doesn't wake up by noon, I'll be worried, but so far he probably just needs to sleep it off."

Renza didn't look entirely convinced, because Leese pointedly hadn't brought up the blood transfusion. He knew that sort of thing had a lot more significance in Ferendin culture than it did for humans, and he hoped Fenrick hadn't done something stupid.

Stupider than usual, anyways.

Vanya's comment on his sleeping habits was a pleasant distraction from those thoughts.

"I got plenty of sleep," Renza countered. "I didn't even do anything weird or gross in your bunk beds, so you should thank me."

His grin was incredibly smug, and Leese wouldn't blame Vanya if she beaned him with an onion or something.

"Everything except peppers for me, and Renza will have the same as Kas," she said, while Renza glared at her.

"I can order for myself."

"You need nutrients, so eat the everything omelette. I know you've been sneaking sweets lately. You eat something healthy to counteract it, or I'll clean out your candy cupboard in the church."

 

[Reynarda]

Kas rolled his eyes and Vanya gave Renza another confused frown. He supposed euphemisms and slang terms for sex were not something they taught in language schools on Yasen.

"In English, 'do' can be a slang term for sex."

Vanya stared at him. "But 'do' is a transitive, intransitive, and auxiliary verb. It's one of your most common words. How do you know when it means sex?"

"Context."

Vanya sort of wanted to break something. "Your language is stupid."

Kas almost pointed out that English wasn't his primary language, but figured she actually meant that human languages were stupid. "Vampires have just as many terms for sex," he said. "Most of them involve teeth, which is weird."

Vanya rolled her eyes, turning back to Renza. "Well you and Jaager can take that right off my ship."

"Hey!" Kas protested. "So it's okay for Renza to flirt with me, but not Leese?"

Vanya snorted. "You already said he wasn't your type."

Right. He had, hadn't he.

Vanya looked up from cutting what was definitely a freeze-dried pepper and frowned at Renza. "Wait. Then why are you not flirting with me?"

"You're out of his league," Kas said.

"Very true," Vanya agreed. She glanced over at Fenrick when the topic turned to him and nodded to herself. "He'll be starving when he wakes up."

Kas glanced at her. "Vanya. What about bloodlust? He used a lot of... ferens? So that would be like manipulating for too long, right?"

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Vanya frowned. That was possible. She wasn't really sure how his body would react to using a lot of energy and being a vampire. "I can get him if so."

Kas nodded. He didn't want to freak anyone out--especially since drinking blood had seemed to weird out both Leese and Fenrick. He might be totally fine. If not, he and Vanya could calm him down so Vanya could get some blood in him.

Seeing Kas' worry, Vanya pulled out a large package of dehydrated blood and dumped it into hot water. It was better when the blood cells were alive, but it was what she had. Blood was a heavy food to cart around on a ship where every gram of weight counted. She had some emergency refrigerated live blood and would get that if the dried blood didn't work.

"Do you usually defile the beds of your host when you are a guest?" Vanya asked dryly and Kas snorted. "One no-peppers and one more everything, got it."

She pulled out a tub of already-chopped dehydrated onions, and Kas was a little glad. He had been picturing her sobbing into the onions or something. He had made the mistake of eating something with onions near her and her eyes had been so irritated she had been nearly unable to see.

She finally put an omelette on her little pan. It was almost like watching a chemist. She timed the omelette, then added the ingredients in a specific order that made sense only to her. Then she measured spices like her chemical reaction depended on i. tKas wasn't sure he had seen her this focused on anything other than science and piloting. He realized with no small amount of dread that he was going to have to tell her it was amazing regardless.

Vanya set the omelette on a plate and put it on the table before the seat closest to Kas with a lack of concern that was obviously fake. Kas gave himself a firm nod and sat down, picking up his fork. After psyching himself up, he tried it.

It was obviously reconstituted egg, but it was the best damn reconstituted-egg omelette he had ever had in his life. She had put some spices in it, spices he didn't even recognize. It almost tasted like a mix between sage and star anise, and cayenne with a hint of thyme.

Vanya was pretending to focus on what was probably Renza's omelette, but Kas could feel her attention on him. He needed to say something. "This is... really good."

Her lips curled up. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Did you put Yasen spices in there?"

She nodded. "Salverum and Thycaps. You like it?"

"Yeah," Kas said, stuffing another bite in his mouth.

Vanya smirked to herself and slid Renza's omelette on a plate. When Kas ate without saying much, he really liked the food. All her cooking trials had paid off. The twins had thought her panicked substitution of Yasen spices when she realized she didn't have enough salt or black pepper was an improvement. She didn't think that twelve-year-old vampire palates would substitute for a human test subject, but she had been desperate and the twins had been willing.

She put Renza's and Leese's plates in front of them before grabbing four low-gravity mugs and filling them with coffee. Pleased as the cat that ate the canary, Vanya sat next to Kas with her own omelette.

She looked around. "Omelettes to everyone's liking?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Renza looked Vanya over thoughtfully.

"Honestly, the fact that you can do weird time stuff is part of it," he mused. "If I piss you off, I'm pretty sure you'd have tons more ways to dispose of a body. Kas, however, is just a typical straight guy in the military. But I can flirt with you if you want. You're pretty sexy, Vanya, meet me in the closet after--"

He was hit in the face with a pillow, and glared up at Leese.

"You're being annoying. Stop overcompensating because you're nervous and eat your omelette," she demanded.

There were precious few times she could count that she had actually seen Renza flush genuinely, so she took great pleasure in the look on his face as he grumbled and pulled himself to the table.

The omelette was good. Renza made some very pleased noises, and Leese would have hit him again, but she knew that he wasn't actually doing it to be annoying. He always got enthusiastic over food. She had a feeling it had to do with growing up in a place where rations were limited, and trying to feed a child on below an adult's daily nutrition intake. Leese wasn't sure Renza had tasted actual, real food that wasn't dehydrated ration bars before she met him.

She could forgive him for being a bit dramatic.

"This is good," he said over a mouthful of egg. "I hate peppers and mushrooms, but the spices make up for it. You should cook more often. Maybe if we get out of this alive, I'll pay you to come down to Albaques and cook for the kids."

It was a fanciful idea. Leese cooked for the orphanage often enough, and Renza himself wasn't bad when he was cooking one of the recipes he'd perfected, but there were only about eight of those. With the same meal schedule pretty much every week, the kids grew tired of it pretty quickly. Leese could just imagine a bunch of eager orphans hounding a vampire when they'd only ever read about them in books. The image made her roll her eyes.

"Eat your food, and then we can focus on other things. No war talk at the table," she reminded him, and Renza gave her a mock salute.

"I don't defile anything. I'm just a healthy man who has healthy needs--"

Ok, so maybe he deserved to get hit on the shoulder for that one. He glared at Leese and rubbed the sore spot, looking betrayed.

"That's abuse. You're abusing me, Kas and Vanya are my witnesses," he whined, and she huffed.

"Stop talking and eat your food, or I'll do it again," she warned. Renza considered pushing his luck just to be a little shit.

Kas and Vanya weren't used to him, though. He remembered that they had only ever seen his kind and wise priest act, so maybe it would be a good idea to tone it down a little bit.

"Fine, fine. Why is Fenrick a vampire, anyways? That's not war talk, it's Fenrick talk, so I can ask."

 

[Reynarda]

"That's true," Vanya agreed. She had many, many ways to dispose of a body.

"'Just a typical straight guy in the military'?" Kas echoed, his tone indignant.

Vanya patted his arm. "And yet we choose to hang out with you."

Kas grumbled into his omelette about people assuming he was straight. Personally, he was pretty glad Renza was not flirting with Vanya. That would be weird on so many levels. So when he actually did, Kas nearly aspirated egg and mushrooms.

Vanya expression was unimpressed. "You're terrible at flirting."

Kas laughed and did choke on his eggs, so Vanya helpfully patted his back until his airway was clear. But Vanya wasn't done.

"You don't go straight to 'sexy' and closets. You start out small and build to that. You tell them they have good choice in apparel or good taste in food or whatever. Then you build to them being enchanting and then you can move on to sexy and closets."

Kas had wondered for a brief second if Vanya had taken a class on flirting, but he realized she was just applying vampire communication etiquette. Then he was just annoyed that it seemed to apply.

"Or, you can do like Kas and flirt without words."

"Flirt without words?" Kas said. "When do I do that?"

"You made eyes at that woman on Juniper and she gave you her communication details. Neither of you said a word."

Kas frowned, thinking. Juniper station had been the one mission that he and Vanya had actually worked together. They had stopped at a bar where he had tried to convince Vanya that gin was good and--ah. There had been a pretty woman there.

Kas shook his head. "You done, professor?"

Vanya waved him away and then flushed slightly when Renza suggested she cook for the kids. She knew how to make three dishes. They were the three dishes one extranet chef claimed every cook should have in their arsenal. If Renza wanted her to cook for kids, she would need to learn more dishes. Her brother and sisters would probably be willing test subjects again. Edwin had liked her pasta dish even if he had had to take enzymes to help him digest it. Still, she had a soft spot for kids and sort of liked the idea of cooking a meal for them.

"You buy the ingredients and I'll cook a meal for them for free," Vanya said. "And mushrooms are very good for your immune system. Next time I'll cut them really small so you don't notice them."

"You deserved that," Kas said when Renza whined about abuse. He was starting to get the feeling that Leese was Renza's mom.

"Fenrick is a vampire because humans are boring," Vanya supplied.

Kas rolled his eyes. "He, uh, shifted? Shifted on a vampire station and it had vampire DNA I guess?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

"I mean, that's just the vibe I got. You could be gayer than mister sleepyhead up there, and I'll gladly take it back," Renza said with a shrug. He glanced at Fenrick to see if his jibe had woken him, but he just shifted and made a small sound in his sleep before rolling over. Serlain crawled over to his back, and Renza jumped when she emerged from the blanket.

"Dude, what the hell is that?" he asked in alarm, and Leese shrugged.

"Fenrick's pet."

"It's a goddamned octopus cat why the hell is it an octopus?"

He figured his alarm was understandable, but everybody else in the room seemed more or less used to it, suggesting it was probably some weird Ferendin thing rather than a mutant vampire space monster. Or it could be both.

Serlain looked at him and meowed, and he shivered.

"The octopus cat doesn't have teeth. Why doesn't it have teeth? That's so weird."

He was kind of hoping that would wake Fenrick up, so he could excitedly explain about the animal's eating habits. It was weird that he was still sleeping. Renza was pretty sure he was the only one who was worried, but wasn't that weird? He had slept for over nine hours now. That was weird.

"He flirts terribly because if you actually took him up on it, he'd be terrified," Leese clarified for Vanya, and Renza grumbled as he settled back in his chair. That wasn't true. He had experience with lurid sexual escapades, and Vanya was pretty. He could totally do it with her if she was up for it. But he certainly wasn't in a mind to actively pursue her, or anyone here. While the first thing on the tip of his tongue in awkward situations, sex was usually the last thing actually on his mind.

And anyways, she had just offered to cook for his kids.

"They'd love it. Leese never cuts the vegetables small, she just says 'you need to develop a varied palate so you don't become a picky eater later in life', like that's ever helped anyone."

Leese gave him her best stink eye at his horrible impression, but she didn't rise to the bait. Shame. He was kind of hoping he could annoy somebody, to distract him from the fact that he was the only one in the room who was worried.

Especially when Kas explained that Fenrick had shown up on a vampire satellite.

"Wait, wait, you didn't go get him?" he asked Leese, his expression pinching. "Why was he here? I know you said there's weird political shit going on over there, but he's not involved in that. He should have no reason to come here."

Leese shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and she had a feeling Renza wouldn't like what she said next.

"He tried to get involved, is the thing. He got caught, so now he's on the run."

Renza stared at her, then looked back up at Fenrick, an ugly sneer coming to his face.

"Is he stupid? He can't fight for shit, he's practically blind. Why would he go out of his way for that? He's never even been here before--"

"You are loud," Fenrick groaned from his bunk, and Renza's head immediately shot up to look at him.

"You're awake. I thought you died or something," he said snidely, and Fenrick made a gesture with his hand that he didn't recognize but was certain was impolite.

Leese's mouth pulled into a thin line, because Fenrick hadn't actually moved from the bunk.

"Do you need to eat?" she asked cautiously, and he didn't respond for a long moment. She thought maybe he fell back asleep, but then he weakly pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"I'm dizzy and thirsty. I feel like I got trampled by a herd of Szlenik, and my throat hurts," he complained, but his voice really did sound terrible. Leese turned to Vanya, hoping she had some blood for him.

 

[Reynarda]

Kas considered pointing out that "mister sleepyhead" might have different ideals about sexuality and perhaps Fenrick didn't consider himself gay--though, Kas had sort of got those vibes, himself. But he figured Renza--who he was trying to picture as the priest he had first met and failing--didn't actually care.

Kas felt a little justified when Renza was alarmed by Serlain. See. It wasn't just him that thought cats should not have tentacles.

"That," Kas said wisely, "is Serlain. She's a Kaltsrist, and she doesn't have teeth because she eats rocks."

Vanya smirked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Why does Serlian have tentacles? I have no idea. It's a little freaky, but we're getting used to it."

"And she likes me," Vanya said.

Kas shook his head. He was pretty sure Vanya was the sort of person who went to parties and spent the entire time trying to befriend the pets of the household instead of partying.

When Leese explained the reason for Renza's poor attempt at flirting, Kas snorted. "Like Vanya, then."

"I only flirt with you because it was the only tried and true way to get you so confused you'd let go," Vanya grumbled. That and it was funny. He would get so flustered.

"Leese is right," Kas said. "My mom was a firm believer in 'no thank you' helpings. Now I eat everything."

Vanya shook her head and waved her fork. "No, because kids do not have adult digestive systems. Their taste buds warn them something might make them sick. So you hide the taste when you know it's safe for them. They can learn to eat better when they're in that preadolescent stage."

Kas arched an eyebrow. "Do vampires do that?"

"Vampire children are very sensitive to the taste of certain immune proteins in blood because it could indicate disease," Vanya said. "The twins would just spit their blood out all the time, it was very annoying. Iona would just let it drool out of her mouth, but Leksi would spit it. Right into my face."

Kas was a little sorry he asked, because picturing a vampire child letting blood just ooze out of her mouth was making him lose his appetite.

Sipping her coffee, Vanya watched Renza repeatedly insult Fenrick. But his pupils were slightly dilated and his muscles tense. That was confusing. It sort of reminded her of the time she had used her sight to stop Kas from getting shot and he had called her a whole lot of names in various languages the entire time he fussed over her. Her lips twitched in amusement. Renza was worried about Fenrick.

Who was awake, probably after all Renza's babbling. Kas tensed, but Vanya just stood smoothly and pulled the blood out of the warmer. He wasn't panting, and he wasn't acting like he couldn't see very well, so he was probably fine.

Vanya pulled herself up onto the bunk so she could sit at his feet, her legs dangling.

"I've got something for you to drink." She held up the travel container. She had figured that would be best so he wouldn't have to look at it. "Can you sit up or should I help you?"

Kas watched them, every muscle tense. A vampire in the throws of bloodlust didn't usually attack another vampire, but it wasn't entirely unheard of. And Fenrick's desperate brain not recognize Vanya as the same species as him. Vanya seemed completely relaxed, but that wasn't really helping his own nerves.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Renza was still eyeing the tenta-cat with wariness, but the fact that everybody else seemed to be mostly ok with it settled his nerves a bit.

"Oh, I'm sure once he's up and at 'em, Fenny'll tell us all about why the octo-pussy has tentacles," he said, his voice a little snide.

He hoped he would. He would feel terrible if Fenrick had burnt himself out trying to rescue Renza from a situation he'd put himself into. Leese seemed to notice the tension in his body language, because she pulled out her communicator and handed it to him.

"Text Bell and let her know you're alright," she said, her voice soft but firm. Renza looked back at her for a moment before he nodded, taking the communicator and looking for Hanabelle's number. It was good to have something to do. Having something to do kept him from worrying and fretting too much, and he didn't want to worry and fret at all. Fenrick was an adult, stupid or not, annoying or not, weird or not, and he could make his own decisions. It wasn't Renza's business if he died because he did something idiotic because he thought it was heroic.

Fenrick looked at Vanya, his one good eye a bit glazed.

He really couldn't see very well. It was worse than normal, and his vision felt like it was doubling. The smell from whatever was in the container she offered him made his mouth water, and he nodded vigorously. Then he groaned, because that made his headache and dizziness worse.

He was very pointedly not looking at any of the humans in the room, because he could smell blood under the skin from here, and it terrified him. Drinking blood was one thing he swore he'd never, ever do. It was the easiest way to lose yourself, dining on the power and energy of other people. It had its uses, and Fenrick couldn't disavow the practice when it was for medical reasons, but he was terrified of doing it himself.

But Vanya assured him this blood was from an animal. He licked his lips, staring at the container, then gently pushed her hand back.

"I-- Yes. Just. First..."

He closed his eyes, breathing in through his mouth rather than his nose.

"Thank you for your sacrifice. It will not be in vain, and I will use the power it brings me only for the sake of others," he said, his voice a low murmur. Leese blinked and gave him a funny look from the table, but she stayed quiet. He had altered the traditional saying used when taking up a fallen warrior's weapon, but if that was how he coped, she could hardly fault him for it. Ferendin were a violent people and hunting was common, though some liked to thank the fallen animals for their service afterwards. She didn't understand it, but she wasn't particularly surprised. Fenrick was a kind kid.

His thanks given, Fenrick took the thermos and brought it to his lips. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but when it just tasted... mostly like a normal beverage, he could feel relief soar through his chest. He tipped it back and took deep gulps, his thirst slowly easing as he finished it off.

"Do you have more?" he asked, a little sheepish.