//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Blood Curse Hunters // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Neither of them knew how much time had come to pass, but the moon still stood high in the skies. Both Rarity and Gust had been talking to one another about all sorts of things during all of it. Mostly it was just explaining how vampirism worked in the first place. Rarity sat on her throne while Gust had taken a seat at the bottom of the stairs. Perhaps it was better that Fluttershy wasn’t present at the moment. A danger for another time, thought Rarity to herself. Though during their entire conversation had the mare kept a stoic face. No emotions could be read from it. She wouldn’t have given him anything that could later be used against her. The thought occurred of course that her stoic-ness could be used against her at some point as well. A thought that she waved off with an invisible hoof. In the corner of her eye had she noticed that a blue shade entering the throne hall. Soon enough was the sounds of a magical aura being caught in her ears. Her head moved up just a little bit, silencing Gust with just a hoof. Because in the doorway she stood, ready to walk in and deliver what she had wanted to give them both. Trixie had returned to the throne room and held two cups of fresh blood in her magical hold. Rarity only nodded once and she came to them, levitating the cups to the both of them. “Trixie thought that you both would be thirsty, enjoy.” No other sound came from her when she departed again. She returned to the doorway, only to go through it and end up somewhere else in the castle. Not even Trixie would have known where she would end up. Even before she vanished, Rarity took over the cup with her own magic and rose it in a toasting manner. “Thank you, Trixie,” said the unicorn, while the pegasus only nodded in a thankful manner. They then both began to take gentle sips from it while their conversation continued. Rarity would have taken the word after the first sip, wiping her lips clean with her tongue. “It has come to my attention that you have silver hooves, marks of burn around each of them. Would you care to share that part of your story with me? I’m rather curious about it, especially since you managed to hit me with it.” The sneering words could be taken as an insult to Gust, but he just shrugged it off before he took a big swig. The story was painful to tell, but he would have done it either way. “It’s a long, long story in fact. But the basics of it are rather simple. Long ago, when even I was still mortal, I was outfitted with silver hooves. Lycans had been sighted near my village and fright was placed in every one of us. I was placed as a guard by the town’s entrance. Was the broadest and strongest, may have helped with that.” He leaned back in the seat, allowing his mind to travel back to times long gone by. How many years had been since that incident? How long had he been wandering the lands as an immortal? He had forgotten the track of time as a whole in fact. “So there I was, being a normal sentry for the village, when all of the sudden I heard a noise in the bushes. I followed it, further and further into the woods we were surrounded by. Should have gone back ages ago though, but I did not. It was then, that I met my maker and, well, I got turned.” The story was believable enough in the mind of Rarity, that part was for certain. He spoke with such truth to his voice. His life story was shared with her, or at least the part where he got turned into the monster he was to that day. “That’s quite the story you have there, but it never occurred to you that you might have removed them?” Rarity dared to ask to him. Perhaps a stupid question all together, but one she felt that she had to ask either way. Gust let out a deep chuckle in response to that. He then shook his head and stomped one of the silver hooves to the ground. “I wish that I could have removed them, but no, they were fused together with my natural hooves. Now, I live in constant pain whenever I walk. Good thing I’m a pegasus though, every step I take, my hooves literally burn,” he replied before taking another, bigger sip of his cup. “You can see the little, limitations, I had to live with.” Rarity nodded in an understanding manner to him, she thought to understand how he felt, especially when the memory of her own came back. That one and cursed time she made the mistake to walk into sunlight. But his hooves burned, burned with every step made. Sympathy was almost given to him by her, almost. “That certainly does explain a whole lot about it, yes,” the mare returned, who then took another sip from her blood. Comfort wasn’t something that she found around the stallion. There still was this ominous something about him and that worried her. She wanted to see how far things could have gone of course, but at the other end of the spectrum did she have her own reputation to keep high. Perhaps she would let him stay for the moment. Perhaps she would let him just continue to live in the castle. If anything would have gone down south, she would have retaliated hard and he would get the same punishment as all of the others. ~~~~ Glancing to the throne room from a door that stood in the hallway, Trixie had kept a firm eye on the two of them. Something about that entire being of the stallion didn’t sat right in the mind of the thrall. Something about his entire being, just clashed too hard against one another. She was worried about her mistress and for good reason. She found him a bit too suspicious and would have taken the matter to Rarity, if she wasn’t so taken by the words of him. It horrified Trixie to see the two of them together like that, she was almost furious, disappointed and above all, she wanted to vomit. Rarity was hers and hers alone, that was all she wanted to admit about the entire thing. She had to get away though. Trixie had to leave the scene for what it was an just get away from the two of them. Who knew what danger could have come if she stayed there. The door was closed behind her and she then wandered up the countless flights of stairs. She would have returned to the one place in the castle that was hers. The one place where not even the might of Rarity could have taken her, the one place where she could have been herself again. Trixie would have returned to her room, her own room hidden away in one of the castle’s many spires. Stair after stair was being climbed before Trixie finally had managed to reach the door of her room. A hoof was placed on the doorknob before she turned it with a sigh. She could finally shed off everything for just a moment. The door opened with a gentle creak and she went inside. After which the door closed again. She had sealed herself within the room. Trixie let out a deep exhale when she was in her own little safe haven. She had a gander around and the room revealed to be just a simple one. A bed, a closet, two chairs and a table filled with books from the library were all present there. Not to mention the door leading to the bathroom. It was obvious that all the guestrooms in the castle had the same loadout to them, which was either for better or for worse. The unicorn took place in the chair and with her magic she picked out one of the books. Her eyes wandered off though, they wandered off to the window. The darkness of the night she saw on the world outside gave her a feeling of uncertainty. Everything could have happened to her, to her mistress and with that stallion. “Master Gust,” huffed Trixie in annoyance, “Trixie hopes that you find your demise soon, because something about you isn’t right.” That was her free mind speaking to herself. Rarity’s hold over Trixie was almost absolute in some moments. It wasn’t as tight as it was over Fleur, thankfully. Trixie still had some bits of herself, but she could never leave the castle, not under any circumstances outside she was told so. That castle was her home and her prison at the same time. Trixie wasn’t as tranquil as she appeared to be either. But Rarity had taken care of that in the year she had been there. Even though she wasn’t absolute obedient, Rarity had made certain that Trixie wouldn’t have gotten out of her command. Not to mention that fact that Trixie didn’t have any memories about what happened prior her arrival at the castle anymore. For all that she knew, Trixie could have been both born and raised in that castle. Who was to say that she wasn’t the foal of somepony that had died in the dungeon? A troubling thought that haunted the deepest parts of her. Her whole world had been rocked and not in the good kind. She was a true salve to the vampony but still had some shreds of her old self left inside. A yawn came from the mare before she shook her head. The thoughts vanished from her mind while her eyes shifted over to the pages of the book. Trixie leaned back a little bit before a hoof went over her neck. She felt the scars of Rarity’s fangs clearly, almost making her lust again after her mistress. She wanted to feel those fangs in her veins again. She wanted to feel, how she sucked the blood out of her. Once more was the head shaken to get the thoughts out. It was perhaps one of the very few times that she could have taken it easy and just be who she was, it wasn’t a chance that she would have let slipped away with ease. Her body would be dropped down on the bed and with a book in her hooves, Trixie was ready. While she was reading through, the magical aura began to cover her horn. The haunting feeling that every single second, something could have happened soared through her. Something terrible felt like it was at the verge of erupting. The book was laid down on the pillow and she left the bed. Trixie took a couple of sniffs in the air before she realized just what had gone wrong. “Oh no,” was all that she could say before her eyes went to the window. Staring out of the window, Trixie saw what was going on. The night had been over and the day would have arrived in full force. The cursed dawn had arrived again and was knocking at their very doors. Terror would have filled every single fiber of her body before a gulp was given. How much longer until Rarity had made the mental connection again and called for her aid? But also, how much she desired to see the stallion burn in the morning sun. Who knew, perhaps Trixie would have left the place once and for all? That thought was crushed an instant later, she would have never come to leave the place. She was bound to Rarity and only Rarity would have been able to let her go. A thing that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Not by the ivory unicorn’s own doing at least. Time would have been the decisive key player in the matter and Trixie knew that fact. “Dawn has come, time has come to shed the skin of night and shine bright. Trixie shall see soon, what her mistress wants to her.” With those words would the book on the pillow be closed whole. She levitated it back to the table and Trixie dove again on the bed. She wanted to get at least some sleep before Rarity’s orders would have gotten through her mind once more. Sleep was a precious something and she hoped that her mistress would have enough of it as well, with or without that stallion still roaming their halls. ~~~~ While the night continued to crawl on, both Rarity and Gust hadn’t been quiet either. They had been speaking about a couple of things that were of importance to Rarity. The unicorn vampony never took her eyes away from him, nor did she shift her emotions from any other than stoic. She wasn’t a pleasant interlocutor for Gust, that much was true. Yet he still had to deal with her nonetheless. At one point or the other, their conversation had turned back and he was placed in the spotlight. “You’re a hard lady to crack, Rarity, that much I do have to admit,” the stallion spoke to her while he wandered through the throne room. His eyes had a deep gander at all of the paintings and portraits that hung there. All of them showed to him that she loved herself, but there was one that caught his attention. There was one portrait at the end of the long stream, near the doorway that caught his attention. He had just one glance over it and he knew more than enough. He knew more than enough about her. For he had taken a gander on the portrait that belonged to her family. Rarity’s family could be used against her, only if he didn’t like where everything was going. “You’re not the first one that is telling me that, and you certainly won’t be the last. A lady has to keep her secrets close. Besides, it would be a shame if you got to know your adversary right from the beginning, wouldn’t it?” Rarity countered while the stoic face shifted. For the first time since they had begun talking, Rarity’s face showed a toothy grin. One that revealed just one of her fangs. It was obvious now to him, she was toying with him all day long. Not that he minded it that much of course, it was what vamponies did after all. All of them would have been toying, testing and watching the others. But Gust sensed that there might have been more to the grin. Perhaps he could chart the family matters to her? He hoped so at least. “Say, that last portrait, depicted your family, right? They seem like good folk to me. Question for you, are they still alive?” In that very moment did her face droop again. He really had to ask that question to her? Rarity almost let out a deep sigh in response, almost. But she kept herself strong against him. She wouldn’t have answered him in a truthful manner though. No, she would lie about them, for their safety. The eyes were shut for just a moment while the mare took her sweet time. Gust would have come closer to the throne again, hoping to hear any words that she might have whispered just to herself. Even with his advanced hearing, not all spoken words were caught by him. But he heard nothing, she truly was as silent as the grave. Gust began to realize that he might have tugged on a heartstring too much already. Just when he wanted to take another step, Rarity’s head went up. Her eyes shifted to him with a gentle expression in them. All of her hardness, all of her coldness, all of her malice had just vanished. On the vampiric throne sat a pony who had lost everything dear to her. And the words that she spoke next, were true in some sense. “They came to pass a long, long time ago. Good ponies you said? Yes, yes they were. Loved them with my whole heart and now, cast in shadows like me. But they found rest, refuge even. I, won’t speak about the time as to how it came to be. My history, is not something that you desire to hear, nor want to share.” Gust only nodded to her words. He understood them perfectly. It was always a hard thing for a vampony to be reminded of family. Even he had that issue still, and h had already lived for so many years. He had been to their graves many times, while the grandfoals even grew older. “I understand,” he said in a low toned voice before another question left, “have you considered, my services?” He wanted to change the subject and she was glad for it. Even though she hadn’t fully thought about what service and use he could have been to her, but she would have company of another vampony in her midst. Perhaps the chance would never be given again. “One chance,” said Rarity to him. “One chance to prove yourself is all I am going to give yourself. Disappoint me, and you will never see the light of the moon again. Please me, and you stay welcome here. It is as simple as that. Welcome, master Gust, to my court.”