//------------------------------// // -(15)- Fading Hope // Story: Midnight Melody // by Caffeine Junkie //------------------------------// When we entered Victor’s home I was shivering in anticipation. Finally I would know what kind of horror story I had gotten myself into this time. I expected him to lead us to the library offering us some tea and biscuits while explaining everything we wanted to know. My expectations were betrayed. He led us upstairs to another room…a room I have never seen before. Now you probably wonder what kind of room it was. Sure it had to be something special …that colt was a vampire after all…but wrong. The place he led us to was a simple bathroom. Okay the bathroom wasn’t simple…it looked expensive like hell but…you get my point. I was getting angry once again.That had to be a joke and a poor one at that. As soon as those thoughts started to form in my head a smile formed on Victor’s face. Who the hell did he think he was? How could he deny the answers I rightfully deserved! I didn’t have time for silly jokes like that.I just started demanding answers and decided to stomp with my hooves additionally to show him that I was here for serious business. I got even more annoyed when Vinyl suddenly mentioned the bucking hospital again. What was wrong with her? The worst thing however happened after that. Victor laughed her comment off saying…that the fact that we are in the bathroom is related to my strange behaviour. I started arguing with Victor telling him that I had enough of his petty games and that I wasn’t just a peasant he could order around. He didn’t even listen and rudely interrupted me saying that the bath already reached the perfect temperature. He looked at both of us with a smug grin and told me…yes he really did…to continue my tantrum when we were done bathing. At that moment I could have killed him I swear… He proceeded testing my patience by getting on my nerves. He stated, for example, that he would only answer our questions if we properly washed ourselves before…oh could you believe the humiliation. However I decided to play along with his stupid games. When I was done and had all the answers that I needed I would discard any affiliations to Victor anyways. His value for me would be zero by then… So I really went into the bathtub…well considering the huge size I rather say it was a pool. Somehow, as soon as I entered the hot water I felt strange. It was as if every burden was taken away from me…I felt at ease. Looking at Vinyl who entered soon after I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling more comfortable now. Then a horrible realisation crossed my mind. What the hay was I doing all day long? I acted like a tyrant, a spoiled brat and crazy choleric since I came back to my senses. What was I thinking? Embarrassment took a hold of me and I sank deeper into the water letting only me eyes surface. I also realised that I unconsciously created a huge distance between Vinyl and me. While I was there in the southeast corner of the big tub she was still at least 4 yards away at the corner opposed to me surrounded by huge towers of foam… She watched me from there...only Celestia knew since when. However, when our eyes met a grin flashed on her face and she splashed some water in my direction. “Testing out the waters” she said when she saw that she hit me right in the face. She was waiting for a reaction…a reaction that would never come. I just rolled my eyes and tried to get my thoughts together when Vinyl let out a loud moan, took a dive and surfaced next to me. She then moved a front leg around my neck and asked if I’m finally back to normal. I didn’t want to answer that one so I remained silent. That was a bad choice because Vinyl took that as a yes and therefore concluded whatever she did next wouldn’t have any consequences.She gripped me at the waist and pulled me underwater. When I managed to surface I let out a carefree laugh much to my oen surprise. She seemed pretty happy about my reaction… She probably still expected me to act like a douchebag… and well so did I to be honest. Her actions in the bath probably were stupid and inappropriate but why would I care? I wouldn’t expect anything else from my stupid yet loveable flatmate anyways… I could have fooled around in the bath all day long but after some time past Vinyl said she wanted to leave because the pool was getting far too cold. Strange…it still felt as warm to me as when we entered. Well I guess she was just as curious as me about all the things Victor would tell us… When we left the pool we spotted ourselves some towels on a huge shelf on the other side of the room. While crossing the room in fascination Vinyl mentioned that she had to get such an awesome bath as well. I guess even the royal sisters would be envious of Victor’s bath…I most certainly was. Our mood was on a new peak and I had to think about an old pony saying: Water washes away all bad memories. Guess that was true then… When we finally left the bath Victor was already waiting for us outside. He gave us a quick grin and led us into the library where he offered us some tea and biscuits. You would think Victor can’t be surprised easily being a vampire and such but there are some things that could even astonish him. Vinyl’s habit to put more sugar than tea in her cup was one of those things… When all of us were finally comfortable Victor proceeded to business. Victor asked us if we felt any different now looking particularly at me. Both of us answered that we felt a lot better after the bath. “So…what kind of magical water was that?” I asked him curiously. “Nothing special, just some plain water I heated up a little.” he replied. “But I feel so much better now…” I told him in surprise. “That was because you washed away the pheromones…” Victor said with a grin. While Victor asked me to tell him the story of our day Vinyl’s eyes began to wander to the box. Victor knew as well but it didn’t bother him at the moment. He knew how to stay in control of such a situation or he was just at ease because his gift to read minds would allow him to react fast enough no matter what happened… While I told him the story as I remembered it, Vinyl also added her view of what happened. Victor assured us that both of our versions were accurate at least according to our thoughts. That was puzzling. How could such a thing be? Both Vinyl and I waited for an explanation but it never came...Victor just sat there thinking about it himself. After a long time he sighed and just said that we should forget about it for now. He would consult a friend about that soon. When I changed the topic and asked him about the possible content of the can I drank Victor seemed to cringe. Oh…that didn’t seem good. “The thing you drank was probably an ordinary drink mixed with a little bit of venom. Normally it takes a pony out for at least a few hours. The equine stomach repels it forcing the one who drank it to throw up. A little portion however penetrates the stomach trying to spread inside the victim. We call that “planting a seed”…” Victor said. “What? So I’ll turn into a vampire? Just like that?” I asked in horror. “Did I say anything about that? Victor replied amused. “That guy sure likes to make it dramatic…” Vinyl said and rolled her eyes half jesting. “The seed is something vampires use on ponies that have become aware…” “Aware of vampires?” I asked. “Usually ponies we interact with lose their memories of us. However if they don’t forget about us we classify them as aware.Now to the bad part: There are three ways for my kind to deal with those ponies. “ he said in a more serious tune. “First one is…” Victor started. “You have to die!” Vinly interrupted him. “That is correct.” Victor said in a casual tone. “How do you know Vinyl?” I asked in surprise. “Duh, logic? Vinyl then answered and rolled her eyes while Victor chuckled already in response to her thoughts. “For most of us it wouldn’t make a difference if we squash a bug or kill a pony.“ “Oh…” was the only thing I could get out. “The second possibility is to offer you a place in our world. The seed acts as catalyst for vampiric powers. Sometimes if we find a pony rather intriguing we test if their special abilities would be a valuable addition to a clan. When they show signs of their ability we call that blooming. If it is something useful they probably will be turned at some point.” “But I haven’t shown signs of anything…” I asked completely shocked still thinking about the first possibility. “Possibility number three is that you work for them as a normal pony. Offering your blood, or just being one of their pawns in society, things like that. It is also the most common course of action.” he went on. I sighed in relief. Well it was better than death and becoming one of them so I guess I was lucky with the way things went. Still, my fortune looked very devastating… “However…you already displayed something rather strange to them. After taking in the seed you should have been out for hours Octavia…” My mind went blank and every part of my body froze. Even though Vinyl’s eyes were probably as widened in horror as mine Victor went on as if nothing happened. “They also made you emotionally unstable with all those different pheromone layers. Abilities normally awaken if an emotional requirement is fulfilled. Your friend must have been affected by all the pheromones on you and in that place as well…” Finally things started to make sense. The feelings of love, anger, superiority etc. were just forced on me so I wasn’t mentally unstable after all. Best news today... “Hey…why was I just acting like a love struck idiot and didn’t go through all of the other emotions Tavi displayed? I would have loved to go through the defiant age as well.” Vinyl said half joking half serious. “You are a unicorn she is an earth pony. Pheromones are directed at a certain species and sometimes even gender. I could for instance use love pheromones in this room. Octavia would be all over me while you would feel nothing. If you were affected by the pheromones than someone wanted Octavia to fall in love with a unicorn and…” Then Victor fell into silence. His face became unreadable. He was thinking about something that made no sense to him. Well we couldn’t do anything but wait until he was finished anyways. “What is the problem?” I asked in confusion. “Unicorns…well they can’t use pheromones…” Victor said flat. “What?” Vinyl and I asked at the same time. “There are three types of vampires. Every type roots in one of the three pony races. According to their race they inherit certain abilities in addition to their nature manipulation ability. Earth ponies either get inequine strength, speed or the power of attraction depending on their personality.” “So whoever used the pheromones on Tavi had to be an earth pony who wanted her to fall for a unicorn? So what is the deal…two of them worked together? Doesn’t seem that hard to figure out.” Vinyl said. “Our society doesn’t work that way. Normally we don’t work together that tightly outside of our respective clans. Could you describe the unicorn to me Octavia?” Victor asked with a curious tone. Well, he asked for it and I gave him the description of that certain, gorgeous, unicorn. Victor looked as if he knew him. His face looked darker and darker the more I told him about the colt. In the end Victor’s face looked unreal. Even though he tried to keep his appearance as neutral as possible it became a terrible grimace. His face was distorted by disgust and pure hate. When he finally decided to speak again his voice sounded like it came straight up from a grave. “That was Elusive Bliss.” and Victor pronounced every syllable with as much hate as possible. “So is he the major bad guy or something?” Vinyl asked what I was unable to. “He is one of the keepers…a clan leader” he added when he met our questioning eyes. “So he is one of how many head vampires exactly?” I asked in confusion and disbelief. “Yes he is, however my kind refers to them as keepers of the bloodlines. Together with the guardian those seven represent the council, the highest authority to vampires.“ “So why is it so bad that Tavi met that colt in particular?” Vinyl asked. “Bliss is a brilliant schemer who primarily uses nobility as his pawns. Whatever his goals are…we can only guess… ” “So…that shady guy wants me to be a vampire?” “I don’t understand what he wants myself. He can’t turn you into vampire because he is a unicorn and you are an earth pony. It isn’t possible. It would only work if he was an earth pony. However at least now we know that he works together with somepony else… Still, I don’t know with whom or why and what role “you” play in all of this dear Octavia…“ “So what should I do now? I neither want to be a vampire nor his pawn.” I said feeling slightly more uncomfortable now. “You won’t be. You can’t become a vampire without the council’s approval. Every new vampire has to be approved of. There is a simple reason why you can’t become a vampire as of now.” “What reason?” both me and Vinyl asked in wonder. “You could enter my domain which gives you the power to state a wish. Now think about what would happen if you were a vampire who could state a wish but had to obey the commands of your respective clan.” “One of the keepers could state a wish through me?” I asked and my eyes widened. “Exactly.” “So they rather let Tavi go to no one than to give her to another clan?” Vinyl asked. “You catch on pretty quick and no…they won’t kill her either.” he answered the question that formed in her mind. “Why are you so sure?” Vinyl asked with a raised eyebrow. “The council decided upon that topic hundreds of years ago. Irregular beings that can’t be classified as simple ponies mustn’t be touched at any cost. As harbingers of chaos you fall under that category and are therefore off the charts.” Victor said. “Harbingers of chaos?” I asked now completely confused. “That is how we call ponies like you who are able to cast a wish that bypasses the laws of this world. However do not read too much into that name. A wish that defies logic and natural order could only be classified as chaotic, thus the name harbinger of chaos.” That explanation was a bit strange. Somehow I missed a very important point at that explanation but I couldn’t put my hoof on what it was. Just when I nearly figured out what wasn’t right I got interrupted by Vinyl… “So…now both of us are those harbinger thingies?” Vinyl said with a thoughtful expression. “Yes…” “So…” “Yes…just for the time being…” Victor responded with deep sadness in his voice. “Ah…” Vinyl said with a nod. “I am truly sorry…” Victor added seriously. “Oh don’t worry…I still have some time left…” Vinyl went on while her face seemed unable to move. “Destiny… isn’t always a pleasant thing…” Victor continued nearly voiceless. Wait…what? What did I miss there? It took me a few moments but then something in my head connected. At first i may have been just my faults and my problems yes…but now I realised I doomed her as well. The whole time my mind couldn’t work right because the lingering fear in the back of my head paralyzed my thoughts. I was acting so egoistic, only thinking about myself. I should have known I was pulling her into this mess. Even though she acted emotionless on the outside deep down she had to be devastated…and she probably would hate me. After all I was the source of this. Oh you couldn’t know how I regretted telling her all that stuff about vampires and leading her here … She probably tried to avoid thinking about how her days were numbered now. Ponies often refuse to believe what they hear if it isn’t to their liking. I knew someone who had been through it as well. My grandfather was diagnosed with a terminal disease. He laughed it off as a joke for approximately two weeks until he broke down under the terrible truth. Sometimes we simply can’t believe that our world was crumbling appart. Some of us need a lot of time to let it get through to them. Vinyl reacted like my grandfather…in denial. Thinking how Vinyl had to suffer because of me didn’t feel good. It was bad enough I was doomed but it was even worse if a friend had to suffer for my errors. There simply had to be a way to make everything work out. Think Octavia think... The solution I came up with wasn’t perfect but I thought at least it could sooth the situation a little. “So we both just won’t use that wish, then we are not to be touched by them. Everything will be just fine.” I said trying to raise Vinyl’s mood but I guess it looked very forced and was more a lie to myself than anything else. It backfired…of course. Both Victor and Vinyl looked at me with big eyes. Victor could only force a fake smirk on his face but Vinyl let out a constrained and hysteric laugh before she told me that I could be right in a unusually high pitched voice. The only thing that could have made my performance even worse would have been if one of my eyes had twitched the whole time while I said that. Still I had hopes that destiny wasn’t cut in stone… “So what about the seed you mentioned before? Will it disappear?” I asked mainly to get away from our unpleasant little topic even though my curiosity played it’s part as well. “Yes. It will probably evaporate through your skin in a matter of days. Just tell me if you feel some changes within your body. It would be nice to know where your speciality lies…” “Does getting yourself in trouble count as ability?” Vinyl asked with a smile and her usual carefree attitude. “Oh I had that one since birth so I guess it doesn’t …” I said with a giggle. Changing the topic seemed to work. We both fled into a world of forced happiness und useless chit-chat. It may be enough to raise the mood for now…or so I thought. “Both of you amaze me…even though the world looks so grim you can still enjoy yourselves. Don’t you fear the sword of Damocles at all?” Victor said with pure curiosity and interrupted our carefree chat. Silence fell on the room. I kept my mouth shut…and so did Vinyl. Both of us couldn’t even fully comprehend the situation we got in. Everything happened far too fast. We only kept up a happy façade and tried to distract ourselves by fooling around or asking rather trivial questions. Victor probably did not realise that we tried to avoid our upcoming demise in our thoughts. I wasn’t sure if he messed up like that because he was a vampire, an eccentric, an ancient being, a colt or just a fool who couldn’t read the mood but I guess it probably was a healthy mix of all those things. Well I wasn’t surprised by that…I had already seen that common sense wasn’t one of his strengths… Victor cringed when he read my mind. He probably only realised now that he had been completely tactless. Thanks to him we had to think about our approaching situations…once again. However deep inside there was still this spark of hope that if I tried hard enough I could make a difference… For a short moment it looked like Victor caught on to my thoughts and acknowledged my view by giving me a light nod while letting his crimson eyes meet mine. Oh yes, the eyes…they reminded me of something… “Victor…about the eyes…” “Yes…I figured what you want to ask. No, not all vampires have red eyes. The keepers of the bloodline for example retained their natural eye colours. The closer you are to the original bloodline the stronger your powers will be. Vampires with red eyes belong to the fourth generation and below. They are normally rather weak…in relation to other vampires that is. Just think of the keeper as generation one, the one changed by him as generation two and so forth.” So Victor must be pretty weak in relation to the other vampires. Well that was quite unexpected. I thought he would be rather strong considering how he was acting at the front door. He didn’t seem to me like a vampire who can’t lift a hoof when push comes to shove and... “Also my eyes aren’t crimson as a result of vampirism. They became that way because the box chose me to protect it. Vampirism was also born through that box so we could think about a possible connection there but…I guess that wouldn’t really interest you much …” he answered my unspoken words with. When we asked Victor about more information related to vampires he stated that he rather not provide us with more than necessary because every piece of knowledge could just get us deeper into trouble. We weren’t really satisfied with that answer but we both knew that we wouldn’t get anywhere if he had already decided on it. The last thing vampire related topic he mentioned was that he would have to inform the council that both of us were harbingers. So at least we wouldn’t have to worry about them for now. After the vampire talk had ceased Victor shifted his attention to Vinyl. He was fascinated by the fact that he had two harbingers under his roof and both of them didn’t use their wish on the spot. He stated a few theories related to the phenomenon. There were plausible theories like a change of values in society resulting in more cautiousness and less greed or farfetched ones like destiny wanted one of us to cancel out the wish of the other because one of us would bring death and devastation to the world. He really liked to talk every possibility through…and we really did not mind. We were happy about every distraction and Victor was happy because he had some new and exciting things to talk about. I guess Victor doesn't have it easy either. The world must look rather plain to somepony who had already lived for so long… Soon the discussion turned out to be less and less serious and we chatted the day away. Oh, what a strange bunch we were; an eccentric vampire and two ponies talking and laughing about stupid and casual things as if we had no cares in the world… Oh it was truly sad that such moments couldn’t last forever. At that time we had each other but soon the night would fall and we would have to go home. Could you think about sleeping…all alone with nothing but your darkest thoughts? The truth would sicker more and more through our consciousnesses and eventually tears would flow…of that I was sure. There was simply no pony who was cold enough to simply accept death or worse without batting an eye.