*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
I tapped my hooves together idly as I looked downwards at the floor, for a few reasons I guess. One would be that I was scared to try and look up and steal a sneak at Vinyl - which was oddly compelling to me right now - with her mother right beside her. And the other was that I might accidentally meet Vinyl's mother's closed eyes.
Gods it was scary to look at her.
I was amazed by the fact she walked around and located things so precisely despite having her eyes shut at all times, though at the same time I was really disturbed by it. I mean, despite the oddness of it, it looked good on her. Fitting, I suppose, would be a way to describe the look.
I took a choice glance up and saw that she wasn't looking at me, but down at Vinyl with a loving smile that I seemed to catch on her face every time she looked at her daughter.
Maybe some conversation wouldn't be too horrible, if it would get rid of this silence in the process. After all, I had - what I assumed - was a practical encyclopedia of information on Vampires. Assuming that Vinyl's mother was well versed in her species, and for some reason I guessed she was.
"Um," I began, her head going from Vinyl to me and loosing her smile in an instant.
"Yes?" She said curtly.
"Do...Do you know anything about Vampires?"
I felt like face hoofing myself the second the words left my lips.
Her brow raised up at my question.
"I-I'm sorry, I'm just a little bit..." I mumbled off.
She giggled slightly.
"You don't need to be nervous dear." She smiled kindly, getting a small blush out of me.
"What would you like to know?" She asked, leaving her true knowledge of her species up to mind to ponder.
And ponder it did.
Enough questions to write a book with flooded my mind, questions that had been pent up ever since I had first met Vinyl. Not to say that she was a bit uninformed, but Vinyl wasn't the greatest source of information on vampires. She seemed to not necessarily care about what she could do or the powers she had, simply "going with it" as she had told me.
She had even admitted to me that she had forgotten that she was a vampire a few time.
The first question, that I had wondered for a long time now, was their age.
"How long do vampires live?" I asked, excited to know the answer.
Though what I got was what I hardly expected.
"No idea." She said simply.
She seemed to pick up the disappointment in my eyes, somehow, and decided to elaborate.
"Well, think of it this way. If mythology and rumor is true about us living forever, how would anyone be able to verify it? If we lived forever, they couldn't document a case of us dying of old age. We might live forever, though we might not. We might just live for a really long time, and never know it." She admitted, surprisingly logical about the situation.
"So not one of your kind has died of age yet?" I asked.
"Not that I know of. Most of them died because of other reasons."
"What about you? How old are you?"
"Have you no manners? A lady never speaks her age." She said in a mocking tone of someone with etiquette, though it was hard to distinguish.
"Ah, sorry..." I mumbled.
"Oh lighten up dear. Any other questions then? I know you must have a mountain of them after living with my daughter." She said cheerfully.
"What about blood then?" I asked.
It had been a common thing that vampires were after, I might as well bring up the way that some of them mention the taste of it.
"What about it?"
"That stallion brought up something about 'the same taste as a regular with the advantages of a vampire' or something along those lines. What did that mean?" I asked.
"Blood taste wouldn't change. It's just that natural born vampires typically have a more bitter tasting blood to other vampires. Though some times it taste good as well."
"The hunt of the vampire is not limited to just non-vampires dear. Blood is blood, plain and simple."
"Um, well what about turning?" I asked. Vinyl and I's retelling of the castle story had brought back my interest about the whole "turning one into a vampire" process.
"It's a lot simpler than you might think, dear." She said, taking a breath.
"Turning is...well, it is not at all common thanks to the requirement of a rare gift that is necassary to start it. The more common practice to imitate the turning process without actually turning one into a vampire. Fangs and all, just not an actual vampire. The gift I mentioned is the only way to essentially make a purebred vampire from a mixed or non-purebred vampire."
"How it works is basically rewriting your body as a vampire. It's extremely taxing on the body of the one being turned, has a potential to have a negative pay out with the risk of unwanted side-effects, and is not generally accepted by the vampiric community save for under strict standards. It is to us what marriage is to you."
"So what makes being a pure breed so special if vampirism is easily replicated then?" I asked.
"Well, purebreds are quite a gap ahead of half-lings in physical and magical prowess. As well as in blood lust." She said.
"So that's what the master was after then? Make an army of pure breed." I mumbled to myself, quiet enough to be almost be considered thinking.
A fit of giggles came from the mare in front of me, scaring me. What I found was that Vinyl's mother was almost crying from laughter, and I had no idea why.
"I...I'm sorry dear but that stallion was an idiot. Making an army of pure breeds using turning? It would take years maybe, the fluid isn't an abundant one by any stretch; not to mention that not everyone can handle the process either." She said, wiping a tear from her eye and still letting out the occasional chuckle.
"Did he also think that it only took a drop to turn someone too? The more fluid, the more potent and reactive the change would be. Mass producing them would lead to them eventually being just a hair better than a regular half-ling. From what you two told me, it makes since that someone so power hungry and desperate would want to bring up an army of them so quickly."
"A pure breed in good shape would have no problem wiping out has laughable excuse of an army." She said confidently.
That comment got me thinking on how Vinyl seemed to have struggled immensely with just the master. I brought this up with Vinyl's mother, and I saw her visibly stiffen at the mention of her daughter.
"She's... different." She said simply.
I raised a brow to her. I knew very well that Vinyl was "different".
She must have picked up on this, and decided to reluctantly elaborate.
"Well, I'm sure my daughter has explained fasting to you yes?" She asked.
I nodded.
"Fasting, is quite easily the dumbest thing any vampony can do. It puts a vampire in their weakest state after going through the immense blood lust that it provokes; fasting for long enough could even make them seem weak by regular pony standards. Why my daughter does it beyond even me."
So did she have no ideas whatsoever?
"I still have my own questions about my daughter you know. One of them being how strong she might actually be if she kept herself fully fed. Sometimes I wonder if she's even aware of how strong she could be, and maybe denies herself that power deliberately for some reason. Maybe to keep things interesting for herself? Give others a fighting chance against her? For fun? I've no idea myself. It's one of the few things I can't answer about my daughter." She almost sounded sad as she admitted that fact.
Another major thing clicked in my head.
"What about Vinyl's magic? Why does it change color?"
"Change...color?"
I explained to her that Vinyl's magic would occasionally change blackish or deep blue whenever she was feeling mad or something of the likes, and she looked genuinely surprised.
"I've no idea...that sounds quite odd." She hummed.
"Though for the mood changes, I might want to tell you that Vampires are quite emotional creatures. They are hardly ever in control of how they feel, and often end up letting emotion control their actions. Most vampires never see the night that they are masters of their own body."
"Instability?" I asked.
"Somewhat. It is often expressed in random bursts of either strength or magic. In simple terms, the emotions take up to much space in their head and their body seems to vent it automatically through a random spell where they can't control how much strength or magic they put into a task. It typically doesn't last that long, but it happens."
It looked like she had forgotten something.
"It can also make them as emotionally and physically sensitive as a filly going through puberty."
She giggled.
"It's why I come visit my daughter from time to time."
She 'looked' down to Vinyl with a warm smile.
"Anything else dear?" She asked, not looking up.
"No ma'am." I replied.
I still had questions of course, you couldn't simply not have them with what went on in my recent life, but I understood that it was somewhat rude to ask my apparently permanent guest too many questions.
Vinyl let out a small yawn, fidgeting around a little before readjusting and snuggling back into her mother's lap, much to her mothers delight.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
"Your mothers quite... odd, isn't she Vinyl?" I said, peering down the hall to make sure that she wasn't still lingering in the hallway. I was lucky enough to get some time to talk to Vinyl alone thanks to her mother going to the bathroom.
"Mom? What about her?" She asked.
"Well..."
A brief memory of myself pushed up against the wall of my bedroom with her breathing heavily down my neck flashed through my mind.
"Ah....nothing." I said, flushing red at the memory. "She is quite nice though." I said, admitting to the kind nature she had after threatening my life.
"Yeah. Mom's real nice." Vinyl chirped.
I remembered one of the points Vinyl's mother brought up, and decided to ask her about it. Specifically, the one thing Vinyl's mother couldn't explain about her daughter's habits.
"Vinyl, why don't you feed?"
Vinyl kind of stiffened up a little at the question, but remained still quite lax all things considered.
I wondered briefly, because of the way Vinyl reacted, if any of her mother's thoughts were the answer. She might be bit stiffened up at finally being found out that she could be so strong, or if any of her true motives were really found out; or at least now under question.
"You really wanna know?"
She sounded somewhat serious, so I nodded eagerly.
"Well, I kinda don't like how blood tastes." She admitted sheepishly.
'What.' I thought, my jaw slacking open at the idea of a vampire not liking the taste of blood.
I heard the vague sound of someone falling from somewhere back in the bathroom.
"Yeah, in all honesty your blood is the best I've tasted. Probably the only blood that I've wanted seconds." She said, blushing a little and twiddling her hooves. It was an adorable sight to see her get a bit nervous about something. A bit of a shame she didn't do it that often.
"W-Well....I-I'm glad you like it." I said, sounding stupid as ever whenever a something serious comes us.
She looked up at me with a bright smile, still a bit red form blushing, though still filled with a look of almost determination to be happy. It was odd to say the least, almost challenging something to try and make her sad.
"Oh my, been a while since I've seen that look in her eyes." The voice of Vinyl's mother chimed in from behind me.
I wondered how she saw it, but decided it be best if I didn't. It would only end in a headache.
She came in and joined me and Vinyl, allowing me to keep the position on the couch near Vinyl as she settled for another spot. I couldn't shake the feeling she was judging me, somehow.
"Our host will be arriving soon to take us out to lunch, wherever that might be." She said slowly.
I nodded.
Vinyl, despite having no knowledge of this agreement, nodded happily as well.
I noticed a grin growing on the face of the Vinyl's mother. It was different than a normal grin; not one of happiness or something similar, but similar to one of having the upperhoof in something.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
"So, you two are from out of town as well?" Vinyl's mother asked the hulking stallion and dusky mare that had invited us to dinner. If I recalled correctly, the stallion's name was Stone and the mare's Flint; the other mare went by Maple - an oddly familiar name - and stuck in the back of the group with me and Vinyl as we walked along the shady sidewalk.
We were currently in the back alleys of town, a business nowhere in sight, so it was needless to say they were taking a scenic route to wherever this restaurant was.
At least Vinyl's mother seemed to have fun toying with the two others in front of us. Even I could hear the flattery and flirtatious tone she was using in an attempt to make the two blush.
And she was surprisingly succeeding.
The bulky stallion seemed to laugh off all of the suggestions of Vinyl's mother, though the smaller mare seemed to take them a lot more personally.
She went on and on with this show for the entirety of the walk, and by the end of it the dusky mare was beet red and flustered beyond what I thought possible.
The restaurant wasn't much to comment about, a low down cobble building with big windows to show of the wooden interior lit with candles. It hadn't a name anywhere on the outside, though that wasn't exactly uncommon to see around Canterlot's restaurants in this side of town. Dad had told me about this part of town plenty of times, mainly sighting that it was either full of the hardworking or the corrupt. Sometimes both.
The mare beside us rushed up past Stone, Flint and Vinyl's mother all of the sudden. She went through the door quickly, and thanks to one of the windows allowing me to see in, met up with another mare which I supposed was going to be joining us as well.
The group in front of me and Vinyl followed her in at a slower pace, leaving just me and Vinyl to enter.
Though a hoof stopped me.
"Vinyl?" I looked back, seeing a conflicted look on her face.
She seemed to realize what she had done and quickly retracted the hoof.
"Ah! Nothing, sorry!" She apologized, going ahead of me and into the building quickly.
I gave her an odd look as she walked away, though passed it off as one of those 'emotion' things that her mother had told me of.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
I gave Rose a brief hug, it had seemed like it had been a long time since I had seen her. It had looked like she had already picked out a table for us, which was conveniently large thanks to our unintentionally large party. It was somewhat of a booth, going in a U shape with easily enough space for a group of seven to fit in. Though with Stone we might have to squeeze a little.
"Thank god you're here," She said, giving me a tight hug as if she had been scared recently.
", you won't believe what happened to me. I think I may ha-" She began, releasing from the hug and looking at me with almost desperate eyes.
I was intent on listening, as the tone sounded dire, but the sound of another voice rang out louder.
"Maple! I don't remember hearing about a guest." Flint said sternly, coming up behind me.
Though Stone was quick to defend me.
"Oh lighten up. I told her t'was fine." Stone groveled.
"Oh my! Are all of the mares in this city so adorable?" The blue maned mare that had talked to the generals the whole way here blurted out.
'How the heck could she even know how we look? Does she even have eyes?' I asked myself before a pushing from besides me drew me back to Rose.
"Maple, I really need to tell you about what happened. That mare you we-" She suddenly cut herself off as her eyes widened in what looked like horror as she watched something.
"Rose?" I asked, following her gaze to the two other mares joining us. The one with the odd glasses and the haughty looking grey one from the forest that seemed to have forgotten about me.
"Rose?" I asked again, waving a hoof in front of her face.
She seemed to partially be broken of her trance, and stammered out a few words.
"I-I need to u-use the b-athroom." She choked.
"Well the stalls are somewhere over-" I began, only to have her hooves rip me from my seat and all but drag me off with her.
As it turned out, she knew perfectly well where the bathroom was and, feverishly breathing as she did it, shoved me into the first open stall she could fit us both in. She wasn't done panicking when we got in their either as she began to trot back and forth inside of the stall despite how cramped it was. I could see beads of sweat running down her as well as wide eyes of panic. It was odd to see her like this, and almost just as disturbing.
I tried my best to calm her, but it was quite difficult.
"I-I can't... th-that mare- she's-" She was mumbling almost like an insane person.
"Rose. Please. Use words." I said, a bit annoyed at her lack of coherent sentences.
"Th-That mare. W-With the blue hair and glasses." She said, taking deep breaths as if she were about to pass out.
I recalled the mare, noting how well she seemed to be getting along with Flint and Stone. She was a bit of an air head if anything, but it worked with her. Though the one beside her, with the closed eyes, kind of scared me a little. Was she blind or something?
"What about her Rose?" I asked.
"Th-that's-" She sucked air in sharply.
"Words Rose."
"That's Vinyl Scratch." She blurted, almost fainting as the words left her mouth. Though it also seemed like a burden was lifted from her when she did.
My eyes widened.
"Her?" I asked again.
She nodded feverishly.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
"Sh-She came in and told me. Even flashed her fangs to me as proof. S-She wrote out a contract with her name in both the target and signer of the contract with her description and everything." She stammered.
'That's the so called infamous mare that's been being hunted for so long? An friendly airhead of a mare that had a hard time frowning?' I thought to myself.
It was hard to believe, but Rose wasn't exactly one to deliver false information.
"I....I guess I'll tell Flint." I said solemnly.
It almost felt bad to tell on the mare, as I knew how Flint would react, though my orders were my orders. I was to help Flint and Stone get rid of Vinyl Scratch, and that included telling them who she was.
Rose looked relieved at the idea of telling Flint, and nodded with reassurance as we exited the stall.
It was a bit awkward getting back to the table, and we were lucky enough to make it back before they ordered, but I had the sneaking suspicion that there wouldn't be much eating once I broke the news to Flint. She had a tendency to act rather... hot headed.
We took out seats, mine next to Flint, and were silent as the others continued talking.
I took another glance at the white mare who was apparently Vinyl Scratch.
She was sitting there with content painted all over her face, laughing at Stone's stories and adding in her own occasional joke from time to time. She seemed close with the grey one, moving her head a little in her direction and seeming to smile wider at the sight of her. She was happy.
I felt a nudge from beside me and knew it was Rose.
I looked at the mare as I tapped Flint on the side and brought her ear close to my mouth and whispered almost regretfully what Rose had told me.
"Vinyl Scratch is here." I said shakily.
She seized up and paused. Then nodded.
"Mare with the glasses at our table. Rose said she came into the office and gave a contract with a description of herself and flashed her fangs as well. The name on the contract was Vinyl Scratch." I whispered.
I felt a faint heat come from Flint. A steadily increasing heat at that.
She then turned to me, a deadly look in her eyes with brows knitted and nodded to me. I caught the sight of the silverware in her hooves slowly beginning to sloop over as it began to melt.
This might get bad.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
I honestly hadn't expected this whole lunch thing with the neighbors to go so well. In fact, it had went flawlessly save for the other grey mare having a small silverware malfunction. Vinyl seemed to be comfortable with the group thus far, her mother certainly was able to keep a conversation going, and Stone and Flint served as an excellent audience.
Though Flint did seem to be trying to burn a hole in Vinyl with her eyes.
I just passed that off as nothing, though in hindsight I probably should have seen something wrong with, and continued to eat.
Though, suddenly, the mare spoke up with a different tone than one that should be used at the table.
"Say," She said, speaking to Vinyl.
Vinyl perked up with a smile.
"Hm?"
"Mind if we talk a bit in private? I know it sounds a bit odd as a request, but I got something I'd like to tell ya. Just between me and you." She sounded a bit awkward, though made out a sort of visage that she wasn't entirely comfortable with herself.
It was pretty adorable.
Vinyl's ears perked up.
"Like a secret?" She said eagerly.
The mare smiled.
"Yeah, something like that."