Fantasy Vampire Corps of Eldergaard

[jones573]

Gigi was prepared for the pain she would feel when she released the wings. She knew it would hurt- Millicent had dislocated a shoulder with one of the early prototypes.

What she wasn’t prepared for was the pain that shot up her arm as they fell, an agonizing feeling like her blood was boiling in her veins or her skin was being peeled off or her bones were being electrocuted. She would have dropped Alyx if she’d thought of it and had the energy to peel the other woman off, but as it was all her concentration was redirected into scrambling with her other hand to deploy the wings.

Putting the coat on her front had been incredibly stupid she realized now, as it made it that much harder to access the sides of the harness. But she got it after a moment and she felt her shoulders yank back with the force of it, and she tried to look around to assess their situation.

Gigi felt a surge of relief when the Nighthawk flickered into sight below them. Even the unnatural winds carrying them closer didn’t dampen it. She let Leo catch them with little complaint and was grateful to be separated from Alyx- The pain had receeded considerably since that first spike, but it still hurt.

She stood somewhat dazed atop the Nighthawk with Leo supporting her as he dealt with her ‘passengers’, as though still in shock that had actually worked. When he addressed her directly, she blinked a few times before realizing he required an answer.

“Ah- It folds back up,” she said, taking off the coat she’d been wearing over her front and passing it to him. The white blouse underneath had been theoretically designed so that the harness controls could be accessed easily and the wings could slip in and out from slits in the back, and maybe that would have worked fine if you were deploying the wings before you took to the air. As it was, the back of the shirt had been completely shredded by the metallic extension, so Gigi pulled it off from the front and tucked the ruined fabric into her belt before it flew away.

She caught sight of her bare arm and looked away before she flinched in front of an enemy soldier- Focus on safety first, she reminded herself. Then assess. Panic later, when you’re alone. She pulled a strap on the harness, and the wings began to collapse. Not quite to their original size, flat and nearly unseen against her back, but enough that she could get down the hatch without problem.

It would be prudent to take this opportunity to push Leo off the side and say it had been an accident, but Gigi noted the safety line he’d attached, and her own unsteadiness. She wasn’t sure she would be standing if she wasn’t leaning against him, so.

She went down the ladder as steadily as she could, peeking at her hand as she did so. Her brown skin was instead a vivid red, her veins standing out in white lines. She imagined it went all the way up her arm. Hopefully it wasn’t permanent. It better not be.

“Cyn, I didn’t know you and Bicksley had gotten married,” she said as evenly as possible once she reached the bottom- Or more accurately, Crane’s outstretched arms, which pulled her to the floor quickly and began looking her over. “I would have sent you something- A card, at least,” she said with a frown, trying to think of an appropriate gift. Once she was back home she’d have to have her secretary look into it.

“Gigi, your arm,” Crane said in worry.

“Still in its socket,” she replied proudly. Millicent’s attempts at improvement had actually worked.

She looked over the group of people stuffed into the small ship, and her smile faltered.

“You brought Captain Astrid?,” she said with obvious annoyance as she wormed her way up front so she could thank Barlow, and Crane bristled.

“If Her Highness wants to complain about who shows up to rescue her, perhaps she should have given more specific instructions,” he shot back. He looked around briefly, eyes landing on Leo with a frown. "Vesper, give the Princess back her coat," he instructed sternly, as though it was Leo's fault she was walking around with her arms and midriff exposed.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx, having regained her sight well enough, shot Leo a dark look at his comment. If she weren't so tired, she might have given him a half-irritated, half-affectionate swat. She was still shaking from the plummet and her use of energy to keep them alive in the Griffin. She had no idea what this ship was or where it had come from, and she guessed she was not going to like it. She allowed Leo to help her down the hatch--there was no use pretending she wasn't wobbly--where Astrid caught her before she stumbled.

"Damn you, you crazy idiot," Astrid grumbled as she caught the commander and helped her over to a wall.

After a brief second in which she stared at the ship she was in, Alyx said, "What the silver?" She turned a scowl up at her captain. "You had one job."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Beggars can't be choosers, commander."

Alyx waved at Rose and the ship. "This is not a rescue."

"We have more pressing concerns." Astrid was eyeing Cyn's hand. "What the heck happened there?"

"He melted a silver ring on Maksim's face," Alyx explained with a huff when Astrid shot her an accusatory glance.

Astrid shook her head. She would have to think more about that later. "We'll have one of the healers attend it when we get back to the ship." She glanced at the princess when Georgiana said her name and frowned at the lines across her skin. "Alyx."

Alyx groaned, sliding to seated and leaning her head back against the wall. "I had few options falling from the sky."

"She's not acclimated to that sort of technique!" Astrid exclaimed. Truthfully, few Eldergaardians could handle pure energy shooting through their bodies. Most who were trained with those techniques worked with amplifier magi, not pure-energy magi.

But Alyx looked entirely unrepentant, and so Astrid shook her head and glanced at Rose. "Take us back to the ship," she said with a sigh.

When Crane addressed Leo by his last name, Alyx slid her eyes opened and arched an eyebrow at Leo. What on earth had happened while she was on the Griffin?

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Cyn looked up as Alyx, Georgiana, and then finally Leo all piled back into the ship. It was a bit of a tight squeeze; he was pressed up against the wall to keep from bumping into anybody. Once Leo was inside, Rose finally hit the button to close the hatch and turned around to face his brother and the rest of his passengers. When Astrid mentioned Cyn’s hand, his eyes traveled down to it and he let out a hiss of breath.

It was not very pretty. The ring was already cutting off blood circulation, and his finger was turning a nice shade of purple besides the bastard blistering. They’d have to get back quickly, or they’d risk it falling off.

“Hyacinth,” Rose groaned, and Cyn at least looked a little sheepish.

“I couldn’t thinka nothin’ else to do,” he said, though he startled a bit when Gigi mentioned his supposed marriage. Right, he had brought that up, hadn’t he? Rose massaged the bridge of his nose with his left hand in the way that only the truly exhausted could.

“Oh! Uh, I kinda exaggerated that,” Cyn admitted, his face turning a light shade of pink. “I ain’t known how his lie detectin’ thing worked, so it’s kinda true, but...” he trailed off, trying to figure out a quick way to explain it. There was a whole ton of context behind their relationship, and some of it were things that should be handled discreetly. Finn wouldn’t mind Cyn talking about it, but his parents very much would, and the last thing Cyn wanted was to get on lady Bicksley’s bad side even more.

“We’re, uh, platonically married,” he said finally. Rose rolled his eyes, but it was technically true, if a terrible explanation.

“Lord Bicksley has kept his marriage quite private, your highness,” Rose explained. “You don’t have to worry about standing on ceremony.”

Leo tried not to flinch visibly when Crane called him by his last name. He hadn’t actually asked him not to, and he had no doubt he was going to report it to the princess anyways, but...

Cyn blinked in surprise and confusion, tilting his head to the side.

“Vesper? Like, Claude? Rose, please tell me you di’n’t bring Claude!” He exclaimed in horror, and Rose rolled his eyes.

“Of /course/ I didn’t,” he said, his exasperation clear in his voice. “Where do you think I would fit him on this thing?”

Leo breathed out a small sigh of relief, happy for once that as intelligent as he could be, Cyn could also be very, very slow. He glanced to Alyx and just sort of shrugged. He’d explain everything once they got back. In the meantime, he handed Georgiana her coat, politely averting his eyes from her front.

Cyn still looked confused, though he was a bit annoyed now as well, and he poked Rose in the back of the head with his uninjured hand.

“Hey, don’t go bein’ mean. You said ya wanted her small! You have any idea how hard it is to design a small airship?” He asked, and Leo was pleased for once that he was distracted easily. It would be much easier to explain things once they weren’t all pressed shoulder to shoulder. For now, he was content to let him rant a bit. “You wanted this thing to shit gold ‘n’ rainbows, ‘n’ I made it work, so you ain’t get to complain about it!”

Rose chuckled softly at his outburst, but at least he had succeeded in distracting him.

Leo leaned back against the pilot seat as Astrid told Rose to return, and he deliberately shifted his feet to look down at him. Rose reached for the controls calmly, as though he were following her orders, and the corner of Leo’s mouth ticked upwards.

“You should think very, very carefully about what you want to do, Mr. Barlowe,” he said keeping his voice quiet. Rose hardly looked at him, but Leo could see the twitch in the corner of his eyebrow that said he had heard.

With them packed in as tight as they were, it wasn’t like Leo could threaten him openly. A scuffle would be very dangerous, and he knew Rose’s main priority was Georgiana’s safety.

Rose considered his options, before finally clicking his tongue and resetting their course for the Louisa. His left hand settled on the controls, away from the compartment below the control panel, and Leo noticed his fingers relax.

Hm. A bit odd; he had punched him with his left hand earlier, too. Had he always been left handed? Oh well. Leo’s own hand shifted away from where it had been casually rested over the back of the chair’s headrest, just close enough to reach over and snap the pilot’s neck if he needed to.

“Yes, Hyacinth, you did an excellent job,” Rose said as though nothing had happened, and the ship began to move back towards where the Dragon and Louisa were waiting. “Your highness, I humbly apologize for my tardiness; it resulted in your injury, and I will accept whatever punishment you feel is necessary, once we have landed.”

 

[jones573]

Gigi frowned as she pulled her coat back on, fiddling with her belt once the blue fabric hid her waist again.


“Wait- Vesper?,” she said, putting the names Claude and Leo together in that context and making the connection. She looked up at Leo.


“Didn’t we used to be engaged? Or was that our siblings?”


“You’ve only been properly engaged the two times,” Crane reminded her with a roll of his eyes. “And I know you remember both of their names.”


“All right, almost engaged,” Gigi allowed. “But I’m almost certain there were talks about either me and Lucille being married off to the General’s family, sometime after my ninth birthday- I think I must have met you then! Though I don’t recall having been to happy about it.” She’d had a new set of books she’d wanted to read, not meet with important Allarian officials and their families.


Gigi looked up from the compass she’d been examining to look Leo over with a more critical eye, and she seemed to appreciate her findings. “Well, you’ve certainly grown up since then.”


Crane seemed torn between scolding her and keeping an eye on the Eldergaardians, and settled for the latter, though it was difficult to glare properly at Astrid when they were standing so closely.


“It’s a wonderfully designed little ship,” she agreed, congratulating Cyn. “And you did a wonderful job piloting it, Mr. Barlowe. There is no need for apologies, especially when I imagine I caused you a fair bit of stress,” she told him with a smile. Though she hadn’t heard what Leo had said to Rose, she’d noted their direction- Back towards the Dragon.


“Though I think it’s time to change course. Take us down to land, please,” she said politely, though it was clearly an order.


“Crane,” she said, “Bind the Captain, please.”


His hand was tight around Astrid’s nearest wrist almost before Gigi had finished speaking, the leather belt he’d slipped quietly from its loops in the other.


Gigi produced her own belt from beneath her coat and held it out in Leo's direction.


"Turn around, hands behind your back," she instructed.

 

[Reynarda]

Astrid was squinting at Cyn. She very much understood "platonic marriages". Her parents' marriage was much that way. Her mother had been the most likely candidate to be the next supreme general, and her father had been the new headmage at the academy. Her mother, with little magical talent, had needed an alliance with a strong mage. Her father had resisted it with every fiber of his being, but his parents had pressured him into it. Astrid was pleased that her parents were at least friends now. Other kids at the academy were not so lucky.

But Cyn was an engineer.

Perhaps that was sort of like being a powerful mage? He did seem to know his science. That must be it.

But he kept it quiet? Wasn't the whole purpose of a platonic marriage for it to be public?

Astrid concluded that Allarians were very strange indeed.

Alyx closed her eyes again when Leo shrugged at her, apparently satisfied for now. She leaned her head back against the bulkhead, content to rest and let Astrid bark orders.

However, her eyes slid open when the princess asked if she and Leo had been engaged. Or almost engaged or whatever.

There was a small hiss of warning by Astrid's knee when Georgiana examined Leo, and Astrid glanced down at Alyx. Her commander was eyeing the princess like she might just decide to eat her. Rolling her eyes, Astrid nudged Alyx with her shin and nodded to Leo. He didn't seem too threatened by this, but Alyx was still looking like she might get protective if Georgiana gave her vampire the up-down again.

Astrid was content to lean back and rest her mind while they made their way back to the Dragon. This had been a very stressful day. She could feel the Allarian lieutenant giving her a dirty look, but she didn't much care. Let him glare.

She straightened when Georgiana started making orders. And then Crane had her wrist. Trying to shake him off, she called up the air in between them, but but she froze when Alyx spoke.

"You sure you want to do this, princess?" Alyx stood casually at her captain's side, eyes on Georgiana.

A gust of wind cut along the side of the airship, and Astrid said evenly, "Commander."

Only those who knew her well or the sharp-eyed would have noticed the strain in the commander's posture. As Astrid had predicted, Alyx was exhausted. If a fight did break out, she would be almost entirely useless and would probably release a burst of magic that would then result in her becoming entirely useless. Astrid figured she and Leo could take these two. Rose needed to fly the ship and Cyn wasn't a fighter. They could overpower Georgiana and Crane. It would be fine.

However, Alyx wasn't listening, and Astrid wished that the Allarians were threatening literally anyone else in the entire crew of the Dragon. The commander might be reasoned with otherwise.

Alyx smiled, showing off far more fang than was polite. "This is a pretty small space, and I think we confirmed the truth of the stories your people tell enough for one day."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leo blinked, and he rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly. Rose wasn’t sure if he was actually embarrassed by Georgiana’s comments or if he was acting.

“I believe it was discussed, briefly,” he said, his mouth a tight smile. “It was about two years after my father’s accident, if I’m correct. I apologize, my memories of that time are a bit fuzzy. I don’t recall you in extreme detail.”

He had just been adopted at the time, a small child from the slums who was suddenly expected to be a nobleman. It had been extremely stressful, and when his father had been comfortable enough with his education to show him off to other nobles, he had been extremely reserved quiet the whole time. He doubted he would have been able to recall Gigi’s face any differently from the tens of other young girls and boys he’d been paraded in front of for that entire year. He’d be even more surprised if he had spoken more than a few words to her when they had met.

Cyn was pointedly very quiet during the exchange, pretending to be engrossed in looking out the window. Rose didn’t dare look at him, though. He was focusing on the main window in front of him, and when the princess gave her order, his lips curved into a small smile.

Leo froze. He hadn’t expected the princess to risk her own safety and the safety of her crew members in such a tight space. She had given up so easily at first that he had suspected she would be meek enough, though after her escape from the other ship, clearly he had misjudged. And now they were on an enemy ship, his commander was exhausted and they were in danger.

He had put them in danger.

His face paled as the realization of the situation set in. He turned to look at Alyx for a split second, licking his lips slowly. He certainly wasn’t about to roll over and do as Georgiana said.

He reached for his sword - god he wished that he had anticipated fighting on the nighthawk, he would have gone with a knife - but Rose was out of his seat and on him in an instant. His right hand clenched tight around Leo’s wrist just as he drew the sword and pointed it at Cyn, who looked shocked by the sudden proceedings. Rose’s lip curled up in a snarl, and Leo had only a second to realized that there was something very wrong with his hand before he squeezed.

Leo let out a cry and dropped the sword, his free hand scrabbling at Rose’s fingers. His grip strength was ridiculous. A prosthetic? Mechanical? It felt like metal, but Leo had no idea the technology for prosthetics had advanced to the point that they could go by relatively unnoticed.

“Hyacinth, bring us to the ground,” Rose ordered, and Cyn looked incredibly conflicted. His eyes shot from the princess to Alyx to Leo, and he hesitated before Rose shot him an angry look. The autopilot could keep them in the air unattended for a bit, but they couldn’t land with it. “Cyn, bring us down.”

Cyn bit down hard on his lower lip and nodded. Leo cursed and tried to swipe at him as he snuck past, but Rose grabbed his other hand and pressed him up against the wall. It was much, much harder to restrain him with his flesh and blood hand, especially now that he was hissing and spitting like an angry cat. But Rose had caught the way that Alyx had looked at him earlier, when Gigi was looking him over, and he knew the rumours about the dragon squadron’s vampires being cunning. Clearly the relationship between sire and fledgling was a bit more complicated here than In the squads he’d faced in the past.

“I have been authorized by my employer to eliminate any vampire or enemy soldier who gets in the way of my mission, commander,” he warned. “If you make one wrong move, I’ll break his arm and slit his throat.”

Leo glared at him, baring his teeth.

“Should have snapped your fucking neck when I had the chance,” he growled, but Rose just looked grimly amused.

“Probably.”

Cyn’s shoulders were unnaturally straight as he disengaged the autopilot and began to descend, trying his best not to look behind him. His hands were shaking, though. He had a feeling it might come to something like this, but he didn’t actually want anybody to get hurt here. Alyx has helped him out earlier, and Leo was... Well, he was Leo.

But he also didn’t want to go back to being a prisoner, and this seemed like their best option. Maybe they could... let the eldergaardians go once they landed. Wishful thinking, but it was all he really had.

 

[jones573]

“I don’t have much use for you alive,” Gigi told the Eldergaardians, though- Were those fangs in Alyx’s mouth? Maybe she might have some use after all. “But I don’t have much use for you dead, either. And I’d rather not kill if I don’t have to.”


Though she supposed, Crane would do it for her if he deemed it necessary. He had before- Never against her orders, though.


She nodded grimly at Cyn when he took over the pilots chair. Rose clearly had some personal issues with Leo, but his fast reaction was admirable and she would definitely need to look into getting him a raise of some sort.


“So,” she continued. “We can make it to the ground and tie you lot to whatever passes for a tree and be on our way. You’ll free yourselves in a couple of hours, or your crew will eventually realize you’re missing and start a search.” It seemed unlikely that Astrid had announced to the Dragon her intention to ally with the enemy and mount an ill-conceived rescue. “Or- You can start a fight in a small space, full of delicate instruments. And when those instruments get damaged, we all go down in flames. So let's just land this bird first, hmm?”


Perhaps she and Astrid could use their respective tricks to fly away- maybe even grab a comrade in time- but it was a big risk to take when the Eldergaardians weren’t in active danger at the moment. Well- Leo sort of was, but it wasn't like Gigi was about to order him executed.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx didn’t move even when Rose grabbed Leo’s hand. Leo could handle himself, and she couldn’t move much anyway. She kept her eyes fixed on Georgiana.

However, her eyes did flick to Leo as he cried out. Alyx glanced around the ship, several plans presenting themselves. If she could threaten the princess, everyone would do what she said. It didn’t matter what Astrid had promised. She was fairly sure they would believe she would do it—because she would.

In the blink of an eye, Leo was figuratively down, the engineer who she didn’t actually want to hurt was flying the ship, and—

When Rose spoke, Alyx turned. And went very still. Her chest did not even rise and fall with breath as she fixed her gaze on the mercenary.

The lights flickered, and the air grew cold as Alyx drew on the energy surrounding her.

“Alyx!” Astrid cried as the water in the air began to crystallize. She had only seen Alyx lose her temper once back just before they had a vampire squadron, and it hadn’t ended well for the ship they were on. “Alyxzandra stop!”

Astrid knew this wouldn’t be fun, but she did it anyway. She shifted her weight, bumping her hip against Alyx. Energy shot through her, and even though they had practiced transferring energy, Astrid let out a cry of pain.

Alyx’s attention snapped to her, her expression shifting from cold fury to shocked concern as energy discharged harmlessly through the air, frizzing Alyx’s and Astrid’s hair. She flicked her eyes between her captain and her fledgling, expression changing again to one of stricken frustration.

Why could she never protect her people? This war was continuously ripping people from her, and she would not let Astrid or Leo be counted among that number. But if she moved, Rose would kill Leo. She didn’t doubt that his duty came first regardless of whether he had known Leo beforehand like Cyn apparently had. She was fast, but she was not sure if she would be fast enough given her current state, and she wasn't willing to risk it. Despite being the only one they had not tried to bind, her hands were tied.

She wanted to snarl at all of them, but no threat that could be uttered would hold any weight.

Alyx held up her hands to show she neither held a weapon nor was generating any magic, and slowly sank to her her knees. It was either lower herself to her knees or keel over, so she had chosen the former.

“What do you intend to do once we land?” Astrid asked Georgiana as she stopped struggling against Crane. She agreed with Georgiana--this was not the place to fight. Even if she was willing to sacrifice vampires like many of the other captains were, they would need all the help they could get once they landed. They were above the Djevel Mountains which was fraught with volcanoes, wild magic, and monsters.

If Georgiana intended to answer, it was cut off by the airship bucking and shuddering. The small ship grew warm, and Astrid swore.

"Get out of their range!" Astrid yelled as the small airship was hit with a second blast. She widened her stance and called up the wind, but a third blast made it through. The Griffin specialized in fire magi, and their projectiles were legendary. One lone wind mage couldn't deflect them, despite her best efforts.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Cyn kept quiet, though his shoulders visibly relaxed when Gigi said she didn’t want anyone dead. He had never seen anybody die before, and he didn’t want to see it now. He knew that it was selfish, in a way, and that the only reason he was able to think that way was because Rose and Camellia were always protecting him. But still.

Leo grit his teeth, and he considered trying to buck Rose off entirely, but he had been hungry before this entire fiasco, and he didn’t know what other tricks the mercenary had up his sleeve. If he made the wrong move he’d be putting everyone he cared about in danger, and he really didn’t like that.

The decision was taken out of his hands a moment later when the ship rocked dangerously, and Cyn let out a yelp. He grabbed the manual controls and tried to veer to the left, but the ship tilted dangerously. Rose may have had a chance of getting them out of this, but Cyn was nowhere near the pilot that he was. He knew the basics, but that was it.

But if Rose moved to take over, Leo would be free. He had no doubt that Cyn and the princess would be unable to handle him. Even right now, Rose knew it would be a struggle to keep him still if he really started fighting.

He hesitated for a brief second, and that was all it took for Leo to take advantage. He had never been good with magic, having not grown up with it, but by virtue of being Alyx’s fledgling he could do a little bit. Not quite in the same way as her, but he had figured out his own little tricks. When Rose was distracted, Leo yanked away his hand from the weaker grip and concentrated. He couldn’t affect the energy around him, but he could concentrate his own power into a burst if he needed to. If he tried to wrench his hand away from arose, he’d break his wrist, but...

He raised his free hand, concentrated all the strength he had into the blow, and brought the edge of his palm down on Rose’s wrist. He heard a very satisfying crunch and tear as the joint disconnected entirely, and with a quick wrench he managed to disconnect Rose’s hand from his arm. Wires snapped and tore as Leo pulled away, the metal hand still clenched to his wrist, and Rose was left with a sparking copper stump at his wrist.

Another blast hit the ship, and Cyn cried out it took out a large chunk of the right wing. The ship couldn’t remain balanced without it, and an alarm blared as they began to dive.

Leo shoved Rose away from him, crowding Alyx and Astrid into the corner and covering them with his body as best he could. They were going to crash for sure, and Leo couldn’t tell exactly how high up they were just from the front window. If he wrenched open the door and they jumped out, they could be falling to their deaths.

Cyn yanked the controls as hard as he could, trying to slow their descent and stabilize the ship. Rose shot one quick glance at the panels, then turned to Georgiana. She was the princess, and her safety was paramount.

He normally would never dream of touching her without her consent, but in the situation he shouted a quick apology and tugged her to the back with his one remaining hand, letting her go to grab hold of the safety straps on the wall. They were meant for the rare occasion he had a passenger for landing, and he strapped her in as fast as he could one-handed.

Moments later, Cyn let out another frightened yell. The largest attack yet hit the top of the ship, ripping off a portion of the roof. Rose crowded Gigi to the wall to protect her as well as he could, and Cyn squeezed his eyes shut with a frightened yell as he tried in vain to balance them.

Their landing was not soft. Though he had done the best they could and they didn’t hit nose-first, they still crashed into the ground at a dangerous speed. Rose managed to hold onto the emergency strap with one hand, and Leo grabbed tight to the wall to keep the two women beneath him as safe and secure as possible. But the ship jerked and skidded, and Cyn was thrown from the pilot seat, crashing forward into the view screen, though the glass thankfully held. A cargo case snapped from its secured cording and hit Leo in the back.

It took what felt like agonizing minutes before the ship ground to a halt, and Rose drew in a sharp intake of air. He had been hit by debris, but his injuries were relatively minor, and surprisingly the belly of the ship had held up well. The emergency systems quelled what little fire there was almost instantly, and though the alarm continued the blare, it felt like nothing more than background noise.

For a second, he didn’t know where he was. He was back on a larger ship, plummeting towards the ground while an enemy commander stood over him. The alarm was blaring in the background, and the vampire grabbed his arm with unnatural strength and /tore/. He could feel the pain, and his shaking fingers detached from the safety harness holding the princess in place, groping weakly as his shoulder, before they felt the hardness of metal, and he took in another stuttered breath.

Right. He couldn’t actually feel it. It wasn’t real. He gasped for air, then swallowed it down, forcing himself back into the present.

“Your... your highness,” he began, stumbling backwards to give her room. “Are you injured?”

Cyn groaned from where he was laying across the control panel, and there was a bit of blood seeping through the side of his coveralls, as well as dripping down his forehead. His vision swam when he tried to open his eyes, and he coughed weakly. There was a horrible pounding in his head, but he was at least alive.

“‘Ose?” He slurred, trying to push himself up, but he fell forward again. “Sol’mon?”

Leo exhaled slowly as he let go of the wall, his fingers bleeding from where he had dug his nails into the metal.

“Commander? Captain?” He asked, his voice a little wobbly, and clearly worried.

 

[jones573]

“That’s none of your concern,” Gigi answered Astrid’s question. She wasn’t interested in elaborating, not that she would have gotten the chance.


The moment the blast hit, Crane stopped tying Astrid’s wrists- In fact, he whipped the belt away from her as fast as possible, and stepped back so she could brace herself better.


Gigi was knocked off her feet and fell forward over the dashboard. She barely had a chance to right herself before Rose was doing it for her, and strapping her against the wall.


“Wait,” she tried to protest, but everything was happening so fast. A section of the roof blew off near the back hatch. Gigi watched in slow motion as the sudden influx of air threw Crane against the upper wall, too close to the exposed area.

His hands scrambled for something to hold onto and just as his fingers found a grip, the wall’s integrity gave out and crumbled beneath him. He fell backwards with it, and as Rose shifted to brace himself around her, Gigi couldn’t even watch as he vanished from view.


She didn’t scream.


The landing was rough but she was grateful it happened so soon- Maybe they hadn’t been that high up when he’d fallen. He might have survived.


In the long moment after the crash, she became aware of pain in her arm, though it disappeared when Rose moved. The splintered metal remnants of his hand had been digging into her skin.


“I’ll be fine,” she said shakily. “But Cyn- He hit his head.” And Crane was- Gone. And they were stranded in enemy territory. With enemies.


Focus on safety first. Then assess, she repeated to herself. Panic later, when you’re alone.

"We need to get out. Now," she said authoritatively, getting herself out of the safety harness as gracefully as she could with shaking fingers. "If they blew a fuel line, this whole thing could go up any moment," she explained. She hadn't even noticed the dampness on her face and hair that meant the sprinklers had already taken care of any fires that might ignite with spilled fuel.

 

[Reynarda]

Astrid cursed as the Griffin continued to pummel them with missiles. She could soften the blows, by not by much.

Astrid attempted to maintain her balance as they went into a dive, and she shifted her concentration from the blasts coming at them to the little airship they were in. She might not know the mechanics of the Allarians, but every captain of an airship knew aerodynamics, and none knew it better than a wind mage captain.

Astrid increased the air pressure in front of the airship, creating as much drag as possible. Despite her natural ability, her training, and her best efforts, she was only one person. They were still going down. Maybe if she had had a few more wind magi, or, heck, if Alyx wasn’t spent, she could have pulled them out of the dive. But it was just her, and judging by the amount of air beneath them, they would impact soon.

Astrid allowed Leo to push her into a corner, but she wrapped an arm around his waist to make sure he wouldn’t go flying through the window when they hit the ground. She wrapped her other arm around Alyx and held them both close. Then she created a little bubble of air around them as a cushion.

Falling from the sky was one of Alyx’s worst nightmares, and she was doing it from the second time in an hour. She held tightly to both her people, hoping they would survive this. She could theoretically absorb the energy generated by the fall and distribute it across a larger area, but it might kill her. She decided to keep that trick on reserve.

Fortunately, the impact was not as bad as she had feared. When the ship finally came to a halt, Alyx slid one eye open. Well they weren't dead--so, that was good. But what was that smell? It smelled so good.

"Ow," Astrid said in response to Leo's question. She released both vampires and touched the back of her head. Her hand came away sticky, and she sighed at it. Great. She was bleeding.

Alyx was deeply regretting that one time she had gotten in an argument with the captain she had just been assigned to and she challenged the captain's protests that she trusted her by reminding her of the wards that protected her from vampires. And the captain had removed the wards. And she had never put them back up.

Astrid glanced at Alyx and quickly wiped her hands on her pants, giving her an apologetic smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Alyx grunted, forcing her hunger down. She flicked her eyes to Leo. He was bleeding, too, but he looked okay. She would look both her crewmates over with greater concern later.

Astrid looped one arm around Alyx, deciding not to argue with the princess. If Georgiana thought the ship was going to blow, the ship was going to blow. "Are there any supplies you can grab? Who's got the engineer?" She flicked her eyes to Leo. "Can you walk?"

Astrid was fully prepared to throw both vampires over over shoulders and sprint from the airship, but she needed to make sure everyone else got out as well. She swept her eyes over the group, and instantly realized someone was missing. "Where's Crane?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Rose let out a small sigh of relief, though it was dampened by the fact that they had lost a crew member. He hated losing crew members and teammates. Even with people he didn't know well, the sense of guilt was overwhelming. But he couldn't let it affect him. Instead he turned to help Cyn off the control panel. He was blinking rapidly, like he couldn't quite focus on what he was seeing, and Rose prayed that he didn't have a concussion.

The solar battery was a bit different than a traditional fuel-line engine system, but the princess was right that the ship was unstable. As soon as Cyn was on his feet, Rose headed to the back of the ship, prying open a cargo hold with his one hand. He scanned the contents quickly, taking stock of what they had and could carry, and then began pulling things out. First was the first-aid kit, which was a necessity, and then was the rations. He had four water bottles and enough food to last for about a week, but not with seven people. Six people... He banished the thought and thrust the rations into Astrid's arms, as she was the closest.

"We have weapons, but I can come back and get them," he said with a frown. Once everyone was on the ground and safe, he was more comfortable coming back for a return trip. He grabbed an emergency blanket as the last thing he could think of, then turned around.

Cyn was leaning heavily on the captain's chair. He'd have to take care of him quickly...

Leo groaned, wincing. Could he walk? Using his magic was a double edged sword, as it took literally everything out of him. The adrenaline had kept him moving, but it was starting to wear off. He tried to push himself to his feet, but his legs just wouldn't work. His thighs trembled a little, and then he collapsed back to the floor.

"I can," he mumbled as he tried again, though not to much better results. "Just give me a second."

Rose frowned as he watched him, and he clicked his tongue.

"Hyacinth, hold onto my shoulder," he instructed. Cyn nodded, shifting so he could lean on Rose's right side, and he wrapped his arm around his waist to steady him. It was difficult without his hand, but that was still clutched around Leo's wrist, so. Once Cyn was steady, Rose shoved the first aid kit into his hands and then grabbed hold of Leo's shoulder.

"I've got them, you get your commander," he grumbled to Astrid. Leo let out a very disapproving noise as Rose hauled him to his feet, but he clung tightly to his upper arm when he realized that without him, he'd topple down to the ground again.

God, Cyn was so close, and he was bleeding a fair amount. Leo's eyes fell closed, and it was /so/ hard not to lean over and bite him. Rose jostled him towards the door, though, and he didn't actually have the energy to push past him. The door itself had been dented inwards, and Rose couldn't activate the manual open with his hand full anyways, so he braced himself and kicked the door as hard as he could. It took two kicks before it blew open, and he looked down. It wasn't a big drop to the ground, but it was with dead-weight. He frowned, then Cyn down and wrapped his arms around Leo. Leo squawked, but Rose ignored him as he leapt to the ground. He set the vampire down a few meters away from the ship, then turned back for his brother.

"'m fine," Cyn mumbled, but Rose ignored him as he reached up and tugged him into his chest. Once he was down on the ground, he took the first aid kit away.

Leo was just sort of sitting where he had been placed, only half upright, and he groaned as Rose set Cyn down nearby and took off his shirt. There was a gash in his side, long but shallow. Rose fumbled with the first aid kit, kneeling down as he tried to clean the wound so he could dress it. Leo slumped forward weakly. He couldn't reach Cyn, but the whole world was just sort of fizzling down to hunger. The smell of blood wasn't as strong here, but he could reach it, and--

He sunk his fangs into the meat of Rose's calf, tearing through his pantleg like paper. Rose stiffened, his eyes snapping wide open. His first instinct was to kick and fight, to smash Leo's head in and get /away/, but Cyn grabbed hold of his shoulders before he could truly panic.

"Rose, don't, it's just-- It's Sol," he said, and Rose took in shallow breaths as he tried to calm down, but it was so hard. Every memory of being bitten was flashing back all at once, and his hand shook as he reached back and grabbed at Leo's hair. It had come out of its neatly knotted style, and hung in three braids down his back.

"Get off me, Vesper," he snapped, though Leo did not look inclined to follow the order. He had been starved and /exhausted/, and he was finally starting to feel a little better. A little more surely couldn't hurt.

 

[jones573]

"He fell," Gigi said flatly.

Alyx was also probably going to need help moving, so Gigi took the supplies from Astrid with a nod. She was a bit surprised that Rose helped up Leo so readily- But she supposed the situation had changed. She followed them down a bit more gracefully by sitting on the edge and then letting herself down from there, then turned back to help Astrid get Alyx out as well. She didn't exactly enjoy it, but at least this time when she put her arms on the Commander she was relatively certain the other woman wasn't going to shoot her through with pain, so.

She motioned to the other women to move clear of the ship- she'd been stupid to forget in her shock that the Nighthawk didn't have fuel lines, but it was still a large and unsteady bulk that might shift and collapse- but she was quickly distracted by a scuffle. What the-?

Gigi swore under her breath and rushed over. "Vesper," she shouted angrily. "Get off him. Now."

She got a firm grip on each of Leo's ears and tugged upwards, shoving him back once she was sure his teeth weren't in Rose's leg anymore. She planted her knee on his chest and glared at him. He was absolutely strong enough to throw her off, but she was hoping his weakened state and his shock would keep him down until Rose and Cyn could get some distance.

They were both bleeding now, and so was- Shit.

"Commander Alyx," she barked in a rather good impression of the Allarian king's stern commanding tone. "Step back from Captain Astrid," she ordered, though she didn't take her eyes off Leo to even check the proximity of the two women. "Now, please, before you do something you might regret."

The reality was that the vampires were going to need blood, sooner rather than later. But the dazed expressions they'd had didn't give her a whole lot of confidence that either would be able to easily stop themselves. If they were going to have to be... Fed, she'd rather not do so until the others could get their bearings about them and decide on the safest way to make such a thing happen.

 

[Reynarda]

Astrid gave Leo a look. That was a straight-up lie. But Rose was there--to her surprise--and he was huge, anyway, so she let him have Leo. Alyx hissed at this, but Astrid didn't think Rose would hurt Leo--right now, any way.

Astrid nodded when Georgiana answered her question. She had a feeling the princess and the lieutenant were closer than just royal and protector. He had seemed very agitated about her capture--and not just because he feared punishment. There were traditional words for this, but Astrid didn't know if an Allarian would appreciate them. She would address the loss after everyone else was safe.

Astrid handed over the rations. She would have called up a wind and floated Alyx and herself down from the ship, but her father had taught her that there was a lot to be said for letting other people help. It built trust, and they would need that.

Alyx hissed in displeasure about this arrangement, but Astrid ignored her and passed her off to Georgiana. She stepped off the edge and floated to the ground, where she reclaimed Alyx from the princess.

She ducked her head and put Alyx's arm over her shoulders and wrapped her arm around the vampire's waist. Closing her eyes, Alyx sagged against her. This wasn't good. Several of them were injured. Alyx could technically accelerate the healing process, but she wouldn't be doing any magic until she got some blood in her. Astrid had healing ward training--all military personal did--but she wasn't sure how much she would be able to do.

Astrid was broken from her thoughts by Georgiana's cry. She turned--jostling Alyx, who grunted--and was horrified to see Leo had bitten one of the Allarians. They wanted to not make the Allarians into even worse enemies, and she also didn't want Rose to kick him and break his rib cage. But Georgiana had already pulled Leo off.

Alyx shifted to see what was happening, and Astrid felt her tense against her. Astrid glanced down at her commander in confusion as Georgiana began barking orders at her. She was confused until Alyx stepped back from her, teeth bared.

"You think I would attack my own captain?" Alyx snarled.

Astrid had no idea how she was standing. It was probably out of spite.

Alyx stalked over to Georgiana and crouched next to Leo's head. After the day she'd had and the trouble the princess had caused her, Alyx felt no need to continue to be polite, so she spoke with her lips pulled back from her fangs. "With your high opinion of us, I'm surprised you didn't just murder him while he was weak." Alyx rested a hand on Leo's shoulder and got in Georgiana's face. "Now. Get. Off."

Astrid hesitated. To be honest, Alyx might not be strong enough to pin Leo if he tried to go after one of them again. And really, it might end up being Leo holding Alyx back. But looking after her fledgling gave Alyx something to focus on besides her hunger. And after Rose had threatened to kill him, Astrid doubted Alyx would let any Allarian around him for the foreseeable future.

How had Rose known that targeting Leo would get Alyx to surrender? Alyx was an annomaly amongst--no, focus. There were more immediate problems.

Both vampires needed blood, and Astrid was not sure how best to get it. And the others were bleeding--heck, she was bleeding. They all needed medical attention. Deciding to tackle one problem at a time, Astrid strode over to Rose and knelt next to Cyn. He was the most injured, so they needed to deal with him first.

"I have healing ward training," she said, pulling a small kit from her belt. From that, she drew out a ribbon with symbols written on it. Astrid wrapped it around Cyn's injured hand. Clapping her hands together, she exhaled onto the ribbon, which was a little trick her dad had taught her. The runes on the ribbon began to glow, and Cyn's hand began to heal. She smiled, pleased with herself. That had not been too bad of a spell. It would keep him from losing the finger, anyway. "We'll probably have to cut that ring off, though."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Rose was very relieved when Georgiana lifted Leo off of him. He grunted as he scooted away to a safe distance. He wanted to take care of Cyn before he even looked at his own injuries, but he didn't want to risk the scent of his blood setting Leo off anymore, so he rolled his pant leg up to his knee to inspect the damage.

The two pinpricks were neat, set in the centre of his calf. He knew that there were a set of scars just like them about three inches up and to the left, though they weren't immediately visible. Starting just above his ankle was an elaborate tattoo that went all the way up his leg, disappearing under his pants. It depicted a swirling wave, a koi fish curled around his leg so that the tail started near his kneecap and the head was near his heel. The artwork was neat and delicate, with clean lines and vivid colour. His entire body was full of them, though he made sure they were only in places that were normally covered by clothes.

He had originally balked at the idea of getting them, but Carmine had insisted he let her do the work. She said she was tired of looking at all his scars all the time. Nowadays it was more of a routine than anything, to cover up injuries as they happened.

Blood trickled down to the head of the koi fish, and he reached into the first aid kit to grab a pad of gauze and taped it to the wound. He eyed his pant leg, which had seen better days, and grabbed the sheers from the kit to cut it off and use it as a rag. Once the blood was wiped up, he tossed it to the side.

Cyn looked to Astrid, a little more nervous around her than Alyx, but he held out his hand to her anyways. Rose watched her like a hawk, his hand protective around Cyn's shoulder, though when she did actually manage to heal his hand, he seemed to relax a little.

"Don't exhaust yourself," he warned, because they were likely going to be spending quite a few nights out in the wild. The last thing he wanted was one of the few members of their expedition in relatively good condition to end up as dead weight.

Cyn gave him a disappointed look, before he turned back to her and smiled.

"Thanks," he said. "That was, uh, pretty cool."

Rose sighed, then moved Cyn's hand to where he had placed the gauze on his side.

"Hold this in place, and I'll wrap it. Then we'll take a look at your head," he said, while Cyn frowned and looked to the two vampires just a little ways away.

"'re they, uh, gonna be ok?" he asked, unable to keep the worry out of his voice. He would offer his own blood, as he had before, but he had a feeling Rose would veto it. Besides, he'd already lost some, and didn't know how much more he could give away before it got a bit dicey.



Leo let out a strangled noise as Gigi yanked him off and flipped him over, his eyes opening wide and blinking a few times. He seemed disoriented, and he shook his head to try and clear it, licking his lips of the few stray drops of blood left.

He didn't feel great. He was still hungry, and he wanted /more/, but his head had cleared enough for him to realize exactly what had happened, and he couldn't help but look rather guilty. Shit. As much as he and Rose didn't get along, he didn't actually mean to /bite/ him. Killing him for the sake of his captain and commander's safety was one thing, but hurting him for his own hunger was completely another.

"Shit," he groaned, though he was very happy when the princess' knee was removed from his chest. "Shit, I didn't mean to..."

He didn't bother asking if he was ok, because a glance in his direction showed that he was very much alive, and probably still being a jerk. But he couldn't deny that for a second he had been very afraid. He tried to play it off, though, because he did not want Georgiana to see his fear.

He can't believe he had thought she was cute when they first met. She was probably the scariest person here.

"Guess that probably wasn't the best way to help our situation," he admitted to Alyx, forcing a little smile, but it was very tight.

 

[jones573]

Gigi stepped away from Leo, hands raised in a placating gesture.

"I only meant-"

She'd spoken because she'd genuinely thought Alyx would regret feeding from the captain. If Gigi had been thinking more strategically, she should have said nothing- Astrid Leon was the daughter of the supreme general. What should Gigi care if she got drained dry by her own crew?

Gigi bit back several retorts and settled for rolling her eyes. Whatever.

She watched Astrid's magic with interest, though also kept an eye on the vampires to make sure they stayed their distance from the humans.

"They're going to be a liability if they don't get blood soon, aren't they," she asked the captain in hushed tones. "What's the safest way to get it to them?"

For both the feeder and the... Meal.

If the only danger was the vampires overfeeding, she would suggest the force of the sword at neckpoint as a gentle reminder of when they'd had enough. But she doubted the Eldergaardians would feel comfortable with an Allarian holding the sword, anymore than the Allarians would feel comfortable with Leon holding the sword. She might just let the vampires go wild.

If she had some vials, they could be collecting the blood off of Cyn and Astrid instead of just blotting it up, but- As many things as Gigi had hidden away on her person, glass vials weren't among them.

 

[Reynarda]

After giving Georgiana a final nasty look, Alyx dropped her eyes to Leo and let out a small huff. "It's not your fault." She looked over him, scowling. Then, smirking slightly, she arched an eyebrow at Leo. "'You look like you've had a bad day'," she said, echoing his own words back at him.

She shifted forward and began checking him over. While he wasn't dripping blood like some of the humans were, he did looked pretty roughed up. She eyed the mechanical hand still clamped around his wrist. She inspected it, then tapped it with her index finger, sending a small jolt of energy into it. The hand sprung open, and Alyx smiled to herself in self-satisfaction. Part of her wanted to saunter over to Rose and drop the hand into his lap, but she also knew they needed to be trying to make alliances with the Allarians, so she didn't. Besides, Rose was pretty high on her 'danger' list and she didn't want to give him any reason to go after Leo again.

"Did you get much blood?" she asked. He didn't look like he did. "How much more do you think you need?"



Astrid shot Rose a small smile. She didn't exactly want to be his enemy even if they weren't in a life or death situation, but she would need to put in some more effort to smooth things over after one of her crew bit him.

"The wards on the ribbon do most of the work," she said, wrapping up the aforementioned object. "I just provide the activation energy."

She brightened at Cyn's compliment. No wonder Alyx liked him. He was just like Cyril. "Thanks."

Astrid glanced over her shoulder at where Alyx was fussing over Leo like a worried mother hen. "Yeah, they'll be alright."

She turned back around to look at the princess. Astrid let out a sigh. There was no point in hiding it. "We don't usually feed them with our own blood," she admitted. "And when we do, we take the blood out of the human and give it to the vampires in a seperate space." But they didn't have the equipment for that. Astrid shrugged. "We obviously can't do that. But I asked Alyx once what to do in that situation, and she said the best way was to let the vampire bite the wrist. It's far enough from the core body that the human can escape if something goes awry, and the vampire can't take blood as quickly from a smaller vein. Plus, the human won't succumb to their saliva." Astrid paused. "The only drawback is that--without the saliva--the human is fully conscious the entire time, and I assume being fed on isn't super enjoyable."

Astrid shrugged. "I'll feed Alyx." She would have to fight the commander over it, but she would. "She won't take too much, so don't be worried about that. But Leo is, uh, younger, so he might be more likely to take more than he intended," she added with a small shrug. It was just a fact. "The best course of action might be to let Alyx feed first, because then she can monitor Leo."

Astrid paused. "I can't feed them both, though, unless you want to trade two vampire liabilities for one human liability."

Astrid glanced between the other three. The best option would be the largest and most fit human--that was probably Rose, but somehow she doubted Rose would feel inclined to do that after Leo already bit him once. Cyn was pretty injured, so that wasn't him either. That left only one other person.

Astrid fixed her eyes on Georgiana. "You might have to feed Leo--though, that depends if you really want to tie us to some trees and go marching off into the Djevel Mountains on your lonesome. You might want to tell me your plans, because quite frankly, I wouldn't traverse this land without a vampire commander to guide me. And Alyx would probably rather bite off her own hand than help you if you leave Leo to die."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leo groaned and covered his face with his hands. He should have expected her to say that. He winced and sighed in relief as the hand finally let go, leaving a dark purple ring of bruises where the fingers had been. It wasn’t too bad, though. If the situation had been reversed, Leo would have snapped Rose’s wrist. Maybe he had gotten soft in the two years since Leo had seen him last.

He tried not to flinch too bad when Alyx checked his back. He’d been hit by that box pretty hard, and he was pretty sure he had cracked a rib. His lungs felt ok, though, and it didn’t feel like anything was severely broken.

“I got a bit,” he said with a little frown. He could sit up on his own now, and he could probably stand up and walk around, but any real fighting would be dangerous. “I don’t know the fauna around here very well, what’s the chances of trapping something? I know we’d have to rely on them for that, but...”

He had always had his meals provided by the military. He didn’t even know if animal blood would work as a substitute. It made him feel a bit silly and embarrassed, really.


Rose immediately slammed his hand down on the ground.

“Absolutely not,” he said firmly. “He is not feeding on the princess.”

He didn’t really LIKE the idea of Leo biting him again, but if he was prepared for it, maybe...

Cyn’s brow creased in worry.

“He’s gotta eat something,” he said. “We can’t just let him starve.” He frowned, looking down at the ground as he tried to figure out a solution. He knew Rose would balk at Leo biting him or Georgiana, but his priority was Gigi’s safety, and he would not put her in a dangerous situation if he could possibly avoid it. Cyn didn’t know much about the specifics of the work his brother did for Finn, but he had seen some of his scars, and he knew he had been bitten before. He doubted he would enjoy it very much to happen again.

“What if,” Cyn began, looking to the first aid kit. “Do you have Camellia’s emergency insulin?”

Rose frowned, though he looked pensive rather than completely opposed to the idea.

“We don’t have anything to put the blood in, though,” he said as he lifted up the first tray of the first aid kit. There were three syringes on the bottom, small and wrapped in plastic. The insulin itself was in a small sealed vial, but they didn’t really need that.

Cyn crossed his arms, consternation clear on his face.

“I don’t think he’d /hurt/ her,” he argued, but Rose didn’t look convinced.

“I do not approve. He’s dangerous.”

“He’s a /kid/!” Cyn exclaimed. “We used to feed him baby food and he would throw mashed peas in your hair and laugh at it. Just because he’s a vampire now doesn’t mean he’s not /Sol/.”

Leo winced a little from where he and Alyx were sitting together. Cyn had raised his voice a bit, as he was clearly agitated.

 

[jones573]

"Marching off into the Djevel Mountains on my lonesome was not currently on the agenda, no," Gigi admitted with a wry smile. She was reckless, not stupid.

"The princess can speak for herself," she told Rose, a bit more harshly than intended. She had already assumed she might have to offer herself- Cyn was in no condition, and she wasn't letting Rose do it. She needed him focused on the here and now. Frankly, she'd assumed the captain might have lost too much blood as well, but if she felt confident in feeding Draya, Gigi wasn't going to stop her.

Her eyes lit up when she saw the syringes. She had other uses in mind for those.

"That'll be too inefficient," she pointed out.

"Vesper can feed from my wrist," she allowed, but added for Rose's sake, "Once Draya is strong enough to monitor him. And if Barlow holds the sword. Which he is to use only if it appears both vampires have disregarded my safety."

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx did not miss the wincing, and she scowled. If she had blood, she could heal it--heck, if he had blood, he could heal it. She had a ward kit on her belt as well, but she didn't want to use up all the wards. Who knew how long they would be out there?

She prodded gently, making she there were no bones she would need to pop back into their sockets. But they all seemed fine enough that he could heal them once he got some blood into him.

Running a hand through her messy hair, she sighed at his question. "I've only been to the Djevel Mountains a few times. There are some deer and goat species. But animal blood will only get us so far."

She shifted so she was crouched next to Leo rather than behind him. "And I'm not particular keen on meeting up with the clan here, to be honest, or else I might suggest we take refuge with them."

Alyx tilted her head, catching Cyn's outburst. "That engineer is quite sweet," she said, her tone casual. "He certainly seems to care about you. But then, he seems the caring type."

She glanced at Leo out of the corner of her eye and lifted her eyebrow. A kid, hm? She supposed he was. But then her species would not classify any of those present as being more than a "kid".



Astrid shook her head, exasperated. She was gaining new respect for Crane--may his magic find rest in the beyond. This princess was something else.

Astrid scowled. "He won't hurt Georgiana. Even if he got carried away, we'd have Alyx to manage him." And even though Georgiana was speaking for herself, Astrid appealed to Rose, "You seem to know more about our vampires than the average Allarian. Alyx is Leo's commander--she can keep him from hurting the princess."

Astrid sighed. Alyx would be about as happy as anyone would expect about Rose holding a sword to Leo's neck, but she doubted she would get much more than this. She stood. "We better do this before one of them keels over."

Or Astrid lost her nerve. It wasn't that she was worried about Alyx taking too much--she just did not think being fed on was something that sounded like fun.

Astrid strode over to Alyx and crouched next to her. Alyx raised her eyebrows at her captain's determined expression. That shifted to confusion as Astrid began rolling up the sleeve of her left arm, then horror as Astrid presented her wrist to her.

"Here," Astrid said.

Eyes wide, Alyx shook her head.

"Don't argue," Astrid huffed. A younger Astrid would have pulled rank, but older Astrid was wiser. "Leo and I both need you in good health, and I'm one of the least injured here."

Alyx narrowed her eyes, but Astrid could see how dilated her pupils were.

"I trust you," Astrid said, shifting to a more comfortable seated position.

Alyx winced, remembering Astrid dismantling the wards protecting her from vampires. She glanced at the others who were definitely watching, and the last thing she wanted was an audience. But if she got carried away and Astrid was not able to push her off, one of them should be able to step in. Or would they? What if they let her hurt her captain? She caught Leo's eye for a second. He could at least startle her off their captain if nothing else.

Alyx took Astrid's wrist gently and bent over it. She allowed as much of her shoulder-length hair as possible to fall over her face before she bit Astrid.

Astrid shifted slightly as Alyx bit her, but it was not as bad as she had worried. Her commander was as careful as possible, and being fed on turned out to be not as bad as she had thought. Astrid kept her eyes fixed on Alyx and did her best not to dwell on the sensation.

After a few minutes, Astrid felt just a little bit light-headed, and she shifted.

Alyx jerked backwards, her eyes wide. Throwing her arm across her mouth, she scooted backwards.

Astrid chuckled. "I'm fine. Did you get enough?"

Alyx was feeling far better. She nodded and did her best to discretely lick the blood from her lips before lowering her arm from her mouth. "Yes, thank you."

Astrid nodded and glanced up at Georgiana. "See? Midsummer's breeze." Astrid turned back to Alyx. "Princess Georgiana is offering her blood to Leo. You'll monitor."

Alyx nodded, flicking her eyes to Leo.

"And Barlowe is going to hold a sword just in case," Astrid added quickly.

"He what." Alyx asked, her tone flat. She shifted her eyes to the aforementioned mercenary and eyed him darkly.

Astrid groaned. "Compromise, Alyx."

"Does he have permission to kill Leo." Alyx asked, her tone still flat.

Astrid knew she wasn't going to like where this ended up. "Only if both of you disregard Princess Georgiana's safety."

Alyx kept her eyes fixed on Rose. "Do I have permission to kill him if he disregards Leo's safety and the princess is fine?"

Astrid hesitated. Alyx got away with a lot based on how she worded things. "If he goes after Leo when the princess if in no danger, you may stop him."

Alyx twisted her lip, but ultimately shrugged. She gave Leo a small nod. "Proceed."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Rose immediately bowed his head, realizing that he had made a mistake. Dealing with royalty was more Camellia's gig than his. He could do it occasionally, but there were usually buffers, social niceties and other things that kept him from being too overbearing or making a fool of himself.

"I apologize for my rudeness," he said, not daring to look up at her until she mentioned his role in the feeding. He still wasn't /comfortable/ with it, but he wasn't about to argue with her directly. Instead he got to his feet and headed to the ship to retrieve the sword, and a few other weapons, just in case.


Leo nodded. He had not ever had any interactions with a vampire who was not actively involved in service, but he could imagine that they would not take too kindly to bringing the enemy straight to their doorstep.

He had been about to make some other comment, but then Alyx's comment about Cyn caught him off guard. His cheeks turned a little red, and he quickly snapped his mouth shut.

"Yes, he is," he said, his mouth twisting a bit. It didn't really /bother/ him so much that Cyn was nice to everyone. That was just the way he was. Though Leo was considerably more selfish, and would maybe admit sometimes that he wanted special treatment. "More than anyone here, he's trustworthy. I don't think he'd hurt anyone if he could help it."

He looked up as Astrid approached. He looked to Alyx, trying to gauge exactly what he should do if she did go too far. He doubted he could overpower her, but... Luckily it didn't come to that, and she finished quickly as anything.

He did stiffen, however, when Rose returned with the sword that Leo had dropped earlier, as well as a small duffel bag on his shoulder. Things that were not immediately essential, but that would likely be useful, probably. He narrowed his eyes as he locked eyes with him, and Rose returned his gaze stoicly. Leo, however, seemed satisfied, and relaxed a bit, leaning back on his hands.

"You don't have to worry too much, commander," he said with a snide smirk. "He's not going to hurt me."

Rose scrunched up his nose in annoyance. He wasn't wrong, which was why Rose was so annoyed.

"Quit trying to read me," he grumbled, and Leo just looked smug. Rose had run the math, and he knew that Alyx's assistance was essential for them to survive. He probably would have preferred to feed Leo himself, because he was a martyr like that, but for the time being, keeping Alyx relatively happy to ensure her cooperation was paramount. And that meant that he would play nice.

It also meant that Leo had a little wiggle room to be a shithead.

When Georgiana approached and Rose pulled out the sword, Leo placed one hand to his chest in mock scandal.

"Why Rose, this is horribly kinky, even for a threesome. I didn't know you had such inclinations. Is that why your girlfriend dumped you for your sister?"

Rose gave the incredibly satisfying look of somebody who wanted so badly to beat Leo up, but couldn't because it wouldn't be appropriate. It almost, /almost/ made all the bad things that had happened worth it.

"If you're energetic enough to talk so much, maybe you don't need to eat," he warned, and Leo was only 80% sure he wouldn't follow through, so he drew a zipper across his lips and reached for the princess' wrist.

Having already gotten a little earlier, he wasn't as starved out of his mind as he had been. He eyed the vein as he felt the blade hover near his neck, but never close enough to touch his skin. He was a little nervous, honestly, though he'd never admit it. He'd never fed directly before (Rose's leg didn't count). Was there a special way to make sure it didn't hurt? Was he supposed to do something first? He hadn't seen Alyx do anything special, so...

He opened his mouth and bit down, deciding to trust instinct. Rose was watching him like a hawk, so he knew better than to take his time. He took a few mouthfuls, just enough so that he felt like he could use his magic again if he absolutely needed to, and then drew back. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand daintily, and Rose withdrew the sword.

"We need to make a plan for nightfall," Rose said as he stowed the sword back in its scabbard. "We don't have too much daylight left, and it might be better to weather the night here by the ship than to get stuck making camp elsewhere. Commander Draya, what are the chances of the locals being drawn by the crash? If we need to put distance between us and it, we need to move soon."

 

[jones573]

Gigi watched Alyx feed from the captain with interest, trying to gauge what it would be like for her.

She rolled up her sleeve and shot an imperious glance at Leo. "Do not involve royal persons in your vulgarity," she said, in a frankly impeccable impersonation of her sister Lucille. But her stern disapproval cracked as the corners of her mouth lifted up at the thought of what Lucille would say about anything that had happened today.

"Though I do prefer you when you're trying to be all strong and stoic," she added with a slight smile. She didn't wince when he bit down, though it did hurt- Not anywhere near like when Alyx had gripped her arm, though. And it was over relatively quickly- Too quickly, she suspected. But depending on how long they spent out here, the vampires were going to have to feed again regardless.

"I'd prefer to stay here if possible," Gigi said, though she was careful not to phrase it as an order. "If some of the solar panels could be salvaged, we might be able to get the radio or nav systems working."

It was probably at least a day of walking to where she herself wanted to be- When she'd wanted to off-load the Eldergaardians, she'd observed it would still be a few hours flying for the Nighthawk. But knowing how to get there from the air was very different than being able to get there by foot. Especially when she had only one boot.

And the professor's radio should hypothetically be in range- assuming being inside a mountain didn't limit it too much more than she was predicting- and if they could get word ahead.... Well. It might make things simpler.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx eyed the mercenary and his sword. She didn't exactly relax when Leo assured her Rose wouldn't pull something. She did relax, however, when Leo returned to his typical punky antics.

"Well, he's feeling better," Astrid muttered. "Why are you fond of him, again?"

Alyx rolled her eyes, but Astrid still caught the affectionate smirk. "I'm fond of spirited people. Bite me."

"You mean 'pain in the ass' people," Astrid corrected.

Alyx did tense when Rose put his sword near Leo and shifted into a crouch. But it passed without incident, and Leo only took a small amount of Georgiana's blood. When Rose stepped back, Alyx rocked to her feet. She stretched her arms over her head and bent backwards.

Astrid was glad to see her return to her typical confident, collected manner. She had been so tense since they had boarded the Louisa.

"That depends," Alyx said, straightening, "where we are. Despite falling from the air twice I didn't happen to notice our location."

"About twenty knots from our location when the Griffin boarded us," Astrid answered. "Judging by our angle as we plummeted."

Alyx nodded. She closed one eye as she thought. Then she slid her hands into her pockets. "Very likely. There's a clan just ten or so clicks from here. Their only source of food is a stubborn village four clicks west of them." She tilted her head. "And they won't be excited to see any of us."

Astrid frowned. The clan rankings were actually something they had to study at the academy. She was pretty sure Clan Draya was about as powerful as they came. "Can't you pull rank?"

Alyx snorted. "You have an inflated opinion of my clan's status. Besides, even if this clan respected my 'rank', they would consider it void due to my current rank."

Astrid wasn't exactly wrong. She absolutely could remind the Salazar clan who she was, but Alyx did not want to deal with the Salazar clan. They might not eat any of the group if Alyx claimed them as her own, but they would bring up so many things Alyx had purposefully kept quiet, and they would absolutely be horrible the entire time to everyone--including Alyx. They were disgusted by her "giving in" to the Eldergaardians and becoming one of their "blood-whores", and Alyx was not in the mood to deal with that.

Alyx scrunched her nose. “You and yours can remain here,” she told Georgiana. “But I think the three of us will not be doing that.”

“Alyx,” Astrid sighed. “We can’t just leave them. She did feed Leo. If any of that clan shows up, they’ve got injuries. Besides, the clan might not have spotted the crash from so far away.”

Alyx crossed her arms over her chest. “No, but do you really think the admiral is going to just assume we’re dead?”

Astrid hesitated and then turned to Georgiana. “She’s got a point, princess.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leo grinned at Astrid’s comment.

“I’m incredibly loveable,” he said. He hardly seemed bothered by Georgiana’s disapproval, though when she smiled it did throw him a bit. He had never been able to act like himself around royalty and nobles before. For a second he worried that relaxing enough to slip had been a bad idea, but...

He had no doubt that his father would kill him if or when he found out he was still alive anyways. There was no real point in pretending to be upright and noble anymore, no matter of company. The thought was a little freeing.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere, your highness, I can be as vulgar as I want. I can even tell you that I think you’re a bit of a—“ he began, but Rose cut him off.

“You /cannot/. You might not be a noble or Allarian anymore, but you will still respect the throne. I’m not above knocking you around a bit,” he said coolly. Leo rolled his eyes.

“I can knock /you/ around a bit, you oversized lap dog,” he snapped back, though there was no real sense of hostility between them. Cyn tried to hide his smile, but the relief in his posture was obvious. He had worried that they wouldn’t be able to see each other as anything other than enemies, but they were acting exactly like they used to. It gave him a little bit of hope that things wouldn’t turn out to be completely horrible when this was all over.

He looked to the ship, a frown coming to his face.

“The roof was damaged, so I aint know if the solar panels’ll be salvageable....” he paused for a second and then looked at Rose. “‘Nless we use your arm? The battery’s a lot smaller, but if we hook it up to the short-wave portable radio...”

Rose didn’t look too enthused about this option, but he nodded. It was technically possible.

“The battery would only last for maybe a few minutes. It’s not intended to power that kind of system, and the range would be questionable.” He grimaced a bit, because he was not entirely comfortable contradicting Gigi, but...

“I agree that it would be wise to move. We could try to travel south towards the border,” he suggested. “The ship offers some protection, but not enough depending on the numbers we’ll be facing, and...”

His face twisted unpleasantly.

“I’ll be at a disadvantage one handed.”

He absolutely hated to admit it, but...

Cyn placed a hand on his flesh shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.

“We should probably move, ‘en,” he agreed. “I ain’t really like the idea of splittin’ up. I know we’re enemies ‘n’ all, but...” he looked down. It would be a lot easier for them to work together.

Rose sighed, and slid the duffel bag he had been holding off his shoulder. He crouched down and began to rummage inside, pulling out a pistol and handing it to Georgiana.

“I will do my utmost best to protect you, your highness, but I would feel better if you could also protect yourself,” he explained. His own weapons were stowed away safely on his person, so he didn’t bother to get them out, though he handed a serrated hunting knife to Astrid.

“I don’t know if you captains carry anti-vampire weapons. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have them,” he explained, and Leo raised his eyebrows.

“You’re being awfully nice,” he said, and Rose grunted.

“I want to ensure the survival of as many people as possible,” he muttered, before tossing the sheathed sword he had been holding to Leo. “If you stab me in the back, you know I won’t go down quietly.”

Leo caught the blade and hummed.

“I’ll wait until you’re asleep, at least.”

 

[jones573]

"Boys, please," Gigi said with a roll of the eyes at Leo and Rose's bickering.

She sighed, but seemed to accept that the others thought it would be best to move on. The crash site was too easy of a way to track them- Even if that was part of the reason she'd wanted to stay.

But if Crane was alive- and that was a big 'if', she reminded herself- he would be fine with or without her. She should probably worry more about herself.

Gigi took the pistol and its holster from Rose, examining the gun before strapping it to her waist. It wasn't one she might have chosen, but she was at least pretty familiar with the model, and it had bullets, so.

"No chance of reattaching the hand?," she asked Cyn grimly. Though she could out-engineer the captain and the commander, and maybe Vesper, it was much Cyn's area of expertise than her own.

"I've no idea what the Admiral will think," Gigi admitted with a shrug. "You'd have a better idea of what sort of resources he's got at his disposal and what his next move might be."

In the past, technological feedback had made it difficult for mages to determine if Allarian crashes had any survivors, just as magical interference had made it hard to confirm the crew of an Eldergaardian ship was alive after it had gone down. But magic-users were a creative bunch and seemed to be getting stronger ever day. It was possible he had mage on the Griffin who could enhance their vision enough to have seen them stumble off the Nighthawk.

"When it comes to the locals," Gigi admitted hesitantly. "If we are where I think we are- I might be... Expected."