//------------------------------// // Encounter // Story: Vampire the Masquerade: Equestria // by Rysthcrg //------------------------------// "Here are my questions, creature. Who are you? What are you? Where am I, and my favorite, why am I here?" She was about to answer but her words interrupted by another voice coming from the otherside of the door. "Hey! Are you guys okay in there? We heard screams." It was a male's voice, carrying a genuine concern. This is bad. My hostage looked at me, waiting for my instructions. "Tell him you are fine and not to come in. If you call for help I will kill you both." She didn't even hesitate to follow my orders. She was really afraid. "We are fine, Sharp Edge, don't worry." Her words came out weepy. I had my doubts about being able to kill more of her kind. I prayed for him to take her word and leave. However, Sharp Edge wasn't satisfied. "You don't sound fine. Were you crying? I'm coming in." Door started to open slowly. "NO!" She shrieked, stopping him from opening the door. I was startled too, but she didn't seem to notice that. "You can't come in. This spell is very unstable. You will blow us up." I was impressed that she was able to come up with a story so quickly. "Okay, I will go then." Though there was still some suspicion in has voice, he took the bait. "Sorry for my interruption. You guys keep doing what you doing." His mumbling faded as he kept walking away from the door. I gave out a sigh of relief but her voice reminded me that I still had things to do. "Will you kill me?" She lowered her head. This time her voice wasn't carrying any fear or sorrow. There was just despair. She had witnessed me beating her friends to death in mere seconds and feeding on their blood. I could imagine how she must be feeling. It brought back the memories of the first night of my embrace. The moment LaCroix's Sheriff beheaded my sire, I was sure that I will go after her. I placed my right hand under her chin and lifted her head to face me. She didn't resist. "No, I won't kill you." She loosened her shoulders. An idea shaped in my mind. "In fact, I have a gift for you." With that I bit my left wrist and let my vitae leak through the wound. She winced at my strange behavior. I brought my wrist closer to her face. "Drink." She looked at me, bewildered. I nodded, pushing my wrist a little closer to her. She moved towards to my wound and slowly opened her mouth. After a small moment of hesitation her mouth lapped on my wrist and she started to suck the vitae. She grimaced but didn't fall back until I told her to stop. There was some blood stains around her mouth, she wiped her mouth to her robe's sleeve. I would expect fur to be much harder to clean but a simple wipe seemed to work well enough. I examined her current state after pulling my wrist back. There was no fear or desperation anymore. She was looking at me with admiration. Then it changed to anger, then to an apologetic attitude. First drink was showing its effect. She wasn't sure how to feel about me anymore. I smiled, she shied away. "Do you remember my questions?" "Yes, sorry, I forgot for a second." Her voice was calm and a bit eager to answer. The change in her behavior was very surprising for me. I have read the effects of blood bond, but my first experience was beyond my expectations. "It's okay, you can start answering now." "I am Charming Star. I am a unicorn pony. You are in Equestria. Because me," she turned her head to her friends, laying on the ground, motionless, "and my fri- my- my fri-" She started crying again. "You killed them! I hate you! You monster!" I couldn't stand to see her crying. I didn't know how to console her so I did the first thing that came into my mind. I pulled her into a hug. She started kicking and punching. "I hate you!" I hugged tighter and she buried her head to my chest. I wanted to say that I'm sorry, but I couldn't show anymore weakness to her. "I hate you." She was slowly kicking me with her hind legs. "Why did you killed them? Why?" She wasn't moving anymore, she was just sobbing. I was stroking her... mane. I'm guessing that's the word, since she is a pony. She slowly calmed herself to a silent cry. After staying like this for a little more, she pushed herself away from me. I let her go, she went back to her old spot and continued her explanation. She was looking at the ground. She wasn't so eager to answer anymore. "You are here because we were trying an experimental spell to extract entities from other worlds." I'm in another world? One that magic is a common thing? "But it wasn't supposed to work on living beings. Apparently we were mistaken." There was no emotion in her voice. She was completely drained. "You weren't mistaken." I said, attracting her attention. "I am not alive. I am an undead." "Like necromancy? We never thought of that possibility." She frowned. "It sure costed us a lot." "Can you send me back to my own world?" Though I was asking this question, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go back. There was nothing left for me there anymore but a city swarming with Kuei-Jin. "No." She shooked her head. "Spell was designed for extraction, not for insertion. Even if we could do insertion there is no way of finding your world among others." "So I'm stuck in your world?" It came out like a question, but it was intended as a statement. She nodded. "Then tell me about your world, your spicies, but first tell me about this place. This is a research facility, I assume?" "Not quite. This place is more like a hideout, intended for secrecy. It is a very large underground structure. We are in the part that reserved for research. They are different research groups in here, working on different fields. Most of them involve dark magic, some of them don't, like our research, but almost all of them are forbidden by the laws." "Basicly you are a kind of illegal organization. What purpose does that researchs serve?" "Our sponsor intends to collect all the information we discover and present it as an evidence to proof that working on these fields can benefit us." She looked at me once more. "Now I understand the reason behind the laws." What she said about their purpose didn't make sense to me. Pursuing illegal occupations and forming an undercover organization isn't the way to prove a point. That sponsor had some different plans than he revealed. "What is that... pony's name? Your sponsor I mean." "His name is Rare Excellence." I was about to burst into laughter. That ridicilous name... But I refrained myself. "I assume he doesn't run this facility personally?" Someone with enough money to built an underground research facility would be expected to have some other things to attent to rather than spending their whole time supervising this. "No, he only comes here in case of an important discovery. He has a representative here, Silver Ore. She is the one who is in charge of the facility." "How long do we have until the sunrise?" She seemed surprised. "How can you say it's night time? There is no way for you to see outside." "Let's say the sun tires me." She looked at me suspiciously. "So, how long?" "It's not that late in the night. I think sun will not rise in six hours." "Then we will go and see this Silver Ore. You will be my escort on the way. Do your best to avoid from others. I don't want to kill anymore of your kind." She was dumbfounded by the idea. "But- but it's impossible to avoid others. This facility has a security team of its own. We cannot pass them without being seen." "I see..." I had a good idea about how to pass them without being attacked. "It won't be a problem, just take me to her." She seemed nervous. "Why? What do you want from her? Are you going to kill her?" I was taken aback by her question. I realized I was nothing but a bloodthirsty monster for her. What reason does she have to think otherwise? "No. I'm not planning to hurt anyone unless they try to hurt me." She didn't seem to believe. "The only reason I did this," I waved my hand, pointing her friends. "was to protect myself from that explosive beams of yours." I said, pointing at her horn. "You attacked us! You leaped on him and bit him like an animal! We were the ones that defending ourselves!" She was furious. I could see her point of view and she was right to think that. I was the reason for this massacre, atleast in her eyes. I could tell her about the beast, but she wouldn't understand. So I didn't. "I just want to talk to her, okay? I have no intention to hurt her." She isn't going to like what I will say, though. "She is- No, I don't want to do this anymore. You killed my friends. I don't even know why am I helping you. But that's it, you can kill me if you want. I won't answer anymore of your questions and I'm definitely not going to take you anywhere." She really seemed determined about her decision. Well, so far for the death threats and first drink. Fortunately, I have other ways persuade her. "The problem is, my dear Charming Star, the lack of your help won't stop me from leaving this room and exploring this facility on my own, and until I find what I want everyone who gets in my way will die, or atleast get hurt in a way that will prevent them from moving." Her determination was fading. She was unsure about what to do and I had no intention to leave her time to think. I stood up and started walking towards the door. "You have been warned. You can sit here while I'm busy killing more of your friends." "No! Wait!" She said, loudly. I grinned. "I will take you to her, but promise me you won't hurt anypony anymore." "I'm making no promises. If they attack, I will defend myself. Now please, lead the way." She frowned, but started walking towards the door. I left the room walking behind her. We entered a large hallway. Walls were made with the same material used in the circular room. Light was being provided by oil lamps hanging down from the ceiling. It reminded me the Giovanni Stronghold's catacombs for some reason, without the walking corpses and eastern vampire brothers. We turned a corner and saw two guards in leather armor coming on our way. They didn't have horns like Charming Star did, but one of them had wings. Their... hooves went for their swords as they saw us and we all stopped moving. Charming Star looked at me with concerned eyes. "Just tell them you are taking me to Silver Ore as an extraordinary specimen." I whispered. "No need for that, guys. I'm taking him to Silver Ore as an extraordinary specimen." They weren't taking the bait this time. "Step away from the creature Charming, I get it when I see someone who cried. Don't worry, we got this." The one with winged spoke. It was a voice that I heard before. Sharp Edge? They unsheathed their swords. Charming didn't move, she was nibbling her lower lip, her eyes were looking around in panic to find a way out of this. "Step away, Charming!" "No! You don't und-" I stepped forward, interrupting her words. "No." Her objection was weak. She was on the brink of bursting into tears. Fortunately for her, I had no intention to kill those guards. I activated the simplest ability that presence dicipline gives me; awe. If it works on them, they were going to lean towards believing everything I utter, no matter how stupid it is. "Gentlemen please, there is no need for violence." Their eyes focused on me with great interest in my words. It was working, they weren't holding their weapons so tight anymore. "My friend Charming here was crying because of joy, not because anything terrible, I assure you." "Joy?" Sharp Edge asked. "Your friend?" Other one looked at me with expectant eyes. "Yes and yes." I crouched down beside her and wrapped my right arm around her shoulders. "She said that I was one of their greatest discoveries and then she bursted into tears of joy." She glared at me, hatred burning in her eyes. Presence didn't seem to effect her. However, she was relieved that I wasn't going to kill them. I smiled to her and stood up. "Now, if you would be so kind to let us pass, we really need to see Miss Silver Ore. It is told to me that Charming's division was starting to seem like a failure to Mr. Excellence and I am their chance to save that division from being dismissed." "Dismissed! Charming, you never said anything about being dismissed." The guards were looking surprized by the information. "Yes." Charming answered. "I didn't know anything about that until today either. Apperantly we were going to be dismissed soon." She said mockingly. It was my turn to return the glare. You are gambling high. "But our newest discovery will save us, I hope." Fortunately, guards were under the effect of my presence, so they didn't take notice of her mockery. "Then you should go right away." Sharp Edge said. Both of them sheathed their weapons. "I'm sure after hearing about... him, he will reconsider the idea." We started walking again and they went back to patroling. We were about to turn another corner when Sharp Edge called for us. "Wait a second!" Charming tensed up and I prepared myself for a fight. We turned around at the same time. Sharp Edge was trotting towards us. To my relief he didn't show any hostility. He handed something seemed like a pin. "If any other guard tries to stop you, just show them this. They should let you go." "Thanks." Charming took the pin and put it in one of the pockets of her robe. "Yeah, no problem. But I want it back. See you later." With that he trotted back to the other guard. Charming gave a sigh of relief. "Come on, let's go." We continued walking down the hallway.