Waiting

[Belatucadrus]

The vampire smiled politely as his new guest took a seat on one of the couches. It was a plush and expensive couch, but still stiff to the touch. It, like many things in Kaledin Manor, was there for decoration. Few people had sat where she was sitting. In two centuries there were maybe a handful.

A maid appeared from around a corner, dressed in a conservative black and white dress that hid most of her figure behind waves of cloth and frills. She, like her master, had a pale complexion to her skin that did not match her otherwise flawless appearance and perfect bone structure. Slightly angular features hinted at a touch of elven blood. Her eyes had the glazed look of a drunk, but she seemed otherwise sober, and did not so much as glance at Gia at first. She was too interested in Bela and the blood that covered him. A hint of concern kept her eyebrows pushed together. In her hands she held a cleanly folded white towel, which she held up before her for Bela to take.

"Thank you, Leyssa." He said to her, though words were spoken more for Gia than for her. There was affection in his voice, and as their eyes met a silent exchange assured her that everything had gone well and that he was fine.

The vampire used the towel to clean some of the blood of his hands, and the white of it quickly became the same faded pink that was smeared over his chest and arms. While he was doing this, Leyssa's gaze shifted to Gia on the couch, and Bela turned and introduced them with the same formal discretion that he seemed to always use.

"This is Gia. She will be a guest here during the day. Please make her feel at home. Gia, this is Leyssa. You may ask of her anything you like, and she will oblige."

There was an understanding, a familiarity between Bela and Leyssa that was as plain as day. If Gia was not there, he wouldn't have needed to speak. Leyssa picked up on this and understood the subtleties of his meaning. She nodded in understanding, and even responded verbally, a rarity.

"Yes m'lord."

Looking down at his arms with a mock look of disgust on his face upon seeing that the dried blood was not going to come off so easily, Bela held the towel back out for Leyssa.

She didn't need to be told anything, taking the towel back and offering on her own. "I'll see to a bath."

"Mmm." He agreed, and turned to face Gia again while absently picking at some of the blood from beneath his long black nails. The dim lighting hid the fact that his right hand was not yet the same size or color as his left. He had stolen that hand from one of his victims, and was still assimilating the flesh.

"Gia, my need for you will go beyond protecting this place. I will be plain about it. Do you have any qualms about killing others?"

A bit of gore dropped off his nail onto the carpet.

[Gia Rilan]

The slight... irony, she guessed she could call it, didn't escape her as her potential master dripped others' bodily fluids onto the floor. She shook her head slightly in answer to his question, and murmured "No, my lord. I have no problems with killing people."

She wondered a bit as to why he would ask her a question like that, and who exactly he was. He obviously wasn't just some rich useless nobleman--he didn't smell like one. Granted, all he really smelled like right now was blood and various other dead things, but rich useless noblemen had a certain stink about them that she usually picked up on. Lord Belatucadrus didn't smell like a rich useless nobleman.

So if he wasn't that, who (and what, of course) was he? His manner with the servant was one of great familiarity, and it made Gia feel just a touch out of place. She shifted a bit on the couch as the servant girl spoke. Gia could tell that the girl didn't talk much--there was a roughness, but no more than a slight burr, to her voice. It grated on the wolf ears, but Gia gave no signs of noticing anything out of the ordinary. It would be horribly hypocritical of her to accuse someone of being so devoted to her master that she didn't speak, though Gia wasn't exactly sure where she got that conclusion from. Probably something that the wolf thought.

Gia, as usual, had many questions. However, she only asked, "What will my work here be, if I may ask? You say my duties will go beyond simple guard work--what do you mean by that, my lord?"

[Belatucadrus]

Leyssa left the two of them alone again, presumably to go draw a bath.

"It is difficult for me to travel during the day. I'm sure you've guessed by now that I'm not entirely human. Despite all my abilities, I require aids to assist me in tasks that require travel through the sunlight. I can not enumerate for you all the things I may ask of you. Some may be as simple as keeping an eye on a person. On occasion, though, there will be those who need to be culled from the herd. I have many eyes and ears throughout Marn and Shim. I would like to add you to their numbers."

He stopped picking the gore from beneath his nails and lowered his hand, staring at her with his unblinking red eyes. Everything about him remained so exact and purposeful. He didn't move unless he had a reason to. When he looked, he didn't just look. He stared. For a reason.

"Unlike the others, I invite you to live here, with me, as one of my own. In time you may earn my trust, and I will tell you more. But for now, I wish you only to stay and be comfortable. There will be plenty of time for work later." There was a brief pause, and then he asked as an afterthought. "Show me your wolf form. I wish to see for myself."

Not only did he know enough about the anatomy of werewolves to tell them apart in their native forms, he needed to see that she was what she claimed to be, and nothing else. He felt a strong enough understanding of her and her circumstances to believe he could trust what she said, but he hadn't survived the centuries without double checking everything.

[Gia Rilan]

Gia nodded at his words. She'd expected something like he described in terms of service, though she was pleased and a bit overwhelmed by the thought of him offering up his home to her. Granted, the place was huge and there were bound to be many empty rooms, but it was the idea that had her all happy.

She thought a few seconds before shifting forms. She debated whether to go strong and bold, or agile and quick, then just settled for saying, "I can take different forms of the wolf. Quicker or stronger, more agile or better for fighting. I don't know why I can do this, but... you should know."

It felt a little inadequete and rushed, but she brushed her hesitance aside and fell into the wolf form, a sleek brown mass of muscle and fur. Her clothing puddled on the ground and she kicked it out of the way with her hind paw, stepping forward a bit and meeting her new lord's eyes, unnerving as they were.

Wolf form, as always, felt like slipping into a cool spring on a hot summer day. She felt refreshed and more alert, and the wolf felt a release as well. Gia hadn't gone wolf since she had killed the priest for Krevster, and it was nice to be back in the body. Wolf was easier.

She sat down and waited to see what her lord would think, curling her tail around her front paws.

[Belatucadrus]

His new hireling transformed into a wolf before him, confirming the truth of her claims and his suspicions. He did expect her to take only a half-lupine form, but the complete animal was as good as anything else. Perhaps it was more fitting. After all, he was hiring her as a guard dog more than anything else.

She edged closer to him and he smiled, reaching out to touch the top of her head lightly. He gave her a scratch behind her ears with his claws. There was affection in his touch. He knew where to scratch and how to touch with the familiarity of an old friend. Perhaps he had a dog once.

"Most beautiful, and most fitting."

Little did she know of the fascination he held for transformations of the flesh and body. Her ability was a step beyond what he could do. She did it with such grace and ease, transforming the structure of everything down to her bones in seconds.

In the distant past he had pulled apart a shifter to see what was inside. The notes were buried in the volumes of his books.

"Enjoy your freedom here, Gia."

Leyssa returned then, and froze in her tracks when she saw her master petting a wolf where the woman had been. There was a pile of clothes next to her, and she quickly made the connection.

Bela straightened up and took his hand away from the wolf. "Ah, my bath is ready. Day comes, and I will not be around until night, Gia. We will speak again then."

With that, he left the two women alone, destined down one of the many hallways that extended through Kaledin manor. Leyssa remained there and glanced at Gia only briefly before refusing to make eye contact again. She fidgeted with the sides of her maid's outfit, looking a little uncomfortable and unsure of herself. She was not used to dealing with guests like Gia, but she did know that Bela expected her to tend to Gia like any other guest.

[Gia Rilan]

Gia was content. She felt happy and calm. She was accepted, in a home, getting compliments... and a scratch behind her ear. At least she was clean. Whenever she shifted, dirt, blood, and other nasty things vanished. Not that her lord was exactly clean either, but it was always nice to be clean when she was getting complimented and petted.

He'd spoken of freedom this time. Freedom, a home, work... this man (she was not going to call him a human, for clear reasons) seemed to be perfection in semi-human form. At least, perfection for a werewolf waiting for something better than what she had.

He left, and Gia-wolf eyed the maid girl. The wolf turned and nosed under her fallen cloak, shifting smoothly once more. She drew her cloak around herself and picked up her clothing, saying softly, "I would be grateful for a bed and food. Meat and bread, if it isn't too much of a problem. Raw meat or cooked, it doesn't matter."

Gia was used to looks like that the maid girl was giving her. She was used to being looked at strangly, and her happy glow kept a touch of a smile on her face even as she asked for the services.

[Belatucadrus]

Gia shifted back into her human form while deftly slipping back into her robe and treating the whole situation like a trivial affair. Leyssa could not help but watch when she shifted. She was more used to magic than the average Marnian, but it was still interesting to watch.

The maid was much happier after Gia told her what she wanted. It gave her something to do and broke what was an otherwise awkward silence between them. She may have been a brainwashed, subservient ghoul to a megalomaniac vampire who never left the manor and knew only how to serve his every whim and desire, but she was still human. Taking orders gave her something to do.

Leyssa nodded with a humble, friendly smile, then spoke in a meek voice. "I will cook you something. You can look around if you like, but don't go downstairs. Only master Bela can let people down there."

When Leyssa left Gia alone in the manor, it was in a place full of exotic and intriguing things. Of course there were shelves with books. Some were in Eyropan, most were not. Much of it, like the paintings on the walls or the ornamental weaponry that lined the hallways, appeared to be purely for artistic value. Some of the things in the manor were more suspicious in nature. There was a glass-doored cabinet displaying trinkets and relics that looked like they must have magical value. A silver-white dagger, a human skull painted with tribal designs and inlaid with gems, little figurines carved out of bone, strange shapes carved in stone...

The collection spanned the far reaches of the continent, and perhaps beyond. It had to be worth thousands of bishani. Gia was left alone there for nearly an hour. With her excellent hearing, she could tell there were others in the house beyond Leyssa and Bela. About a half dozen people seemed to occupy the place, but none of them made themselves known.

When Leyssa returned she had with her a silver tray containing roast pork cooked with apples and surrounded by a circle of slices of bread that had been neatly arranged to create a little design. Some green parsley and tomatoes completed the look. A glass of water and a glass of wine were also on the tray.

She set the tray down and then suddenly looked worried. Gasping and reaching up to touch her mouth with the fingertips of her right hand, she stepped back and blushed furiously.

"Oh! I'm sorry... The tray is silver. I didn't think... I will take it away..." Not knowing how sensitive Gia might be to silver, only that werewolves were essentially allergic to it, she began pulling the food off the tray.

[Gia Rilan]

After the maid girl had left, Gia picked up her fallen clothing and put it back on, grimacing at the dirt on it. She'd dropped her pack somewhere after she'd... deserted... and not cared. Which meant that she had no clean clothing. So she settled for the grubby, week-old clothing and suffered. She'd ask for clean clothing later. She had no extra, and these clothes bore the wear of a week of neglect--holey and tattered.

Gia killed time during Leyssa's absence by inhaling the scents of the air, listening, and taking in as much as she could with her eyes. The faint smells drifiting from where Leyssa had vanished to were almost overwhelming to the hungry werewolf--fresh meat and bread, a light scent of wine, vegetables... the wolf didn't care for the last, considering them the food of prey, but the human girl loved the smell.

More pressing in her senses was the smell and subtle taste in the air of old books, stone, wood, fabric... all the things she would expect in such a clearly expensive setting. She walked around the room for a while, running soft fingers over the spines of a thousand books and eyeing the contents of glass cases warily. It wasn't that she was frightened of some of the unknown things, she was just wary. It was a wolf thing.

When Leyssa returned, Gia sensed the silver. She was only harmed by it when she actually touched it, but she could always feel it. It was like a resonation in her mind, an out-of-tune note in the quiet song of the air. Seeing the maid girl scrambling to remove it was almost touching--people usually didn't care about the aversion. "Only if it's not too much trouble. It doesn't bother me all that much, really... just when I touch it."

The display had been so pretty too--bread and meat arranged artfully, vegetables creating a nice contrast... Gia felt a little bad for being a troublesome guest. Not that that was a new feeling.

[Belatucadrus]

With the food all removed from the tray, Leyssa pulled the silver thing off of the table and tucked it behind her back, as if putting it out of sight would undo her mistake. Gia didn't look bothered by it, but that didn't matter. Leyssa's mistake was not good form. It was her responsibility to see to the best interests of the guests and make them feel comfortable. Regardless of what harm Gia thought was done, it was a failure on Leyssa's part. She needed to justify it.

"It won't happen again, lady Gia. We don't have many guests but I have a routine I go through..."

She noticed that Gia, at least, appeared pleased by the food in front of her. The werewolf looked rather hungry. Leyssa could take pride in, and make up for her mistakes, with the food she'd prepared on such short notice.

"I cooked it in apples. I hope you like it. I didn't know if you drink so I brought water too."

Leyssa really did have a humility that hung about her like a thick fog. She was a good maid, perhaps the best one Gia had ever encountered. She was bred to fill the role. And yet, she second guessed everything she did. The only friends she had were the other retainers that Bela kept and Bela himself. His retainers made poor company.

Idling for a bit to see if Gia would start eating she eventually said, "I will prepare a room upstairs for you. One where the windows let light through like normal windows. It's easy to find at the top of the stairs. Nobody else stays up there. I will be around if you need me, but master Bela said to let you wander if you want."

With a polite curtsey, Leyssa then saw herself out of the room, back in the direction of Bela and his bath. Gia was left alone to finish the meal and to find her room, unless she needed anything.

[Gia Rilan]

Gia had never encountered a maid who was actually told to serve Gia herself. She had seen servants who served others, and she herself was a servant as well, but she'd never been treated to the experience. And it was strange for her, but not altogether unwelcome. Especially for the wolf, who thought that others should serve her every whim just because... she was the boss.

The human beat the wolf down for the hundredth time and smiled at Leyssa. "Everything is wonderful, really. I love apples. And I drink both water and wine, so thank you."

When the girl left Gia fell to her meal and, for lack of a better word, wolfed it down. She hadn't eaten for a week, though the wolf was built to take alternatly starving and gorging. She was hungry though, and in a short span of time all the food was gone. She licked her fingers clean, not thinking anything of it. In human society her behavior was often looked at strangely, but it was something that she didn't even think about anymore.

Sliding back into wolf form momentarily, she nosed up the last of the crumbs that she dropped. Becoming human again was the work of a few seconds only, and she made her way up the stairs into the room that Leyssa told her about. The windows wre clear as promised, and it was a nice room. Stripping off the clothing she had recently put on she flicked back to wolf. She'd only gone human on the offhand chance that she met someone on her way up the stairs, who didn't know that a werewolf was staying.

In wolf form, she leaped lightly onto the bad, hoping that Lord Belatucadrus didn't mind fur on the sheets. Somewhere in the depths of the lupine mind she frowned. Lord Belatucadrus was such a mouthful to say. He needed a shorter name, and 'Bela' sounded too feminine. The wolf tucked her tail into her chest and buried her nose in it. Master Tuc would work nicely, she thought as she fell sound asleep. Master Tuc.

[Belatucadrus]

Day in the manor passed uneventfully. Shim was an extremely quiet town, even during the day. The people who weren't busy farming the fields milled about in the streets below trading what they had. It was a popular market day in Shim which gathered a crowd of a few dozen at its peak. Roosters crowed here and there. Horses clomped along. Cattle mooed. Nobody came close to Kaledin manor. Not even within several meters of the front gates.

Inside, the maids and servants kept things tidy without having to go upstairs. They cooked, but only for themselves. Sometimes they went outside to tend to the garden. It was warm and pleasant where Gia slept. She might as well have been the owner of the manor.

* * *

Twilight descended over Shim and the people followed the sun into hiding. Most left in time to reach the safety of Marn before they could be caught by shadows, while the remainders lingered around in the streets and their homes until the last vestiges of light were gone, and they hid inside.

Lone dogs barked here and there, often so distant only Gia could hear them with her lupine ears, but other than them there was no sound from the town at night. Houses kept their curtains drawn or shutters closed, leaving only tiny slivers of light through the windows. For all intents and purposes, Shim became a ghost town. The people knew better than to stay out unless they had a reason to be.

All of this could be seen from the window in Gia's room. The manor sat in a highly defensible position at the highest elevation for miles around. Her windows faced south, to the village, but there was a balcony accessible by a door in her room from which Marn could be seen in the distance. It was much more alive at night. The sounds from there would carry all the way to Shim if not for the thick buffer of trees provided by the Virdara woods.

Silhouetted off to the north were the mountains of Zeikonspeire, stabbing at the sky like shards of broken glass.

Bela was late getting up. He did not show himself upstairs until all signs of sunlight were gone. Nobody had come up to light candles, and there were no electric lights, so everything in the manor was nearly pitch black. A minimal amount of star and moonlight got through the windows, but no ordinary human could see clearly with so little light.

When he did come, he was quiet about it, and came alone, pausing at her door to see where he was. He rapped on the wooden frame a few times with his knuckles as a courtesy.

[Gia Rilan]

The wolf slept like the dead. She woke up as the sun was setting, ears picking up the distant bark of a mongrel dog whining about something or other. Growling slightly to herself, the wolf sat up on the bed and yawned widely. She jumped lightly off the bed and put a paw out to flick the handle of the door to the balcony, stepping outside. A slight wind ruffled her fur and she gave the lupine equivalent of a smile, feeling the last rays of sunlight touch the reddish ruff around her neck.

Her golden eyes reflected the last of the sun as she looked northwards. The mountains of Zeikonspierre tore the edge of the sky and the wolf looked to the western parts, where the mountains got a touch softer in their peaks and reached down to the sea. Zhaltev was there, somewhere in the shadows of those mountains. Zhaltev, the most home she'd known... until, perhaps, if she dared to her herself hope... the wolf shook her head. Not hoping anything, not yet. Give him time. He may yet still kick us out like all the others, the wolf thought.

She trotted back inside after a few minutes of the sunlight and she left her thoughts outside as well, nosing around her room. She hadn't explored it much the night before, preferring instead to simply sleep, but it was elegant. Even to her unpracticed eye, the room was lovely. The wolf opened a chest of drawers, latching her teeth gently into the wood. She pulled out a shirt in cream and dark pants, shutting the drawers without leaving a mark.

Going back to human form made her just a little wistful, but the greatest thing about being human, besides color vision, was having thumbs. She pulled on her clean clothing quickly and found a brush, smoothing out her hair. Looking at her reflection in a small mirror, she found that she like what she saw. Which was surprising, considering that she hadn't bathed properly in a week.

A knock at her door drew her attention away from the mirror. She walked over and opened it to find her new master. She smiled a bit at him and dipped her head slightly, glad to have some decent clothing and feel slightly presentable. "My lord."

[Belatucadrus]

The vampire gave Gia a smile that could almost be described as cordial when she greeted him at her door. She looked better cleaned up, and so did he. Gone was the gore stained, shirtless monster she had encountered in the woods, replaced by a clean, proud man who fit the title of lord handsomely. His black hair was clean and straight, framing a pale face with sharp and symmetrical features. White tufts of a fancy silk shirt bloomed from the collar and the cuffs of his black coat. The rest of his clothes were, not surprisingly, black, and tightly fit leather gloves covered his hands, from which extended his unusual claws.

"From the shells of demons arise the bodies of men." He said, quoting an obscure piece of Eyropan literature. "Much better. You may keep the clothes. I'll have Leyssa dispose of your old rags."

He turned and began to walk casually down the dark hallway. Now that he was clean of all the blood of the previous night, he no longer had any human smell about him. He did not smell, or move, like he was alive at all.

"Some news has been coming to my attention recently. Two events in one day, in fact. Quite unusual for this quiet place. I have an errand for you, but first I must consult an ally of mine and gather some information about one of these... Problems."

The two of them traveled down the stairs to the main floor of the manor. Bela continued to lead the way, taking her toward a second set of stairs which would take them to a different section of the building. It was a big place. They didn't pass any of the servants on their way.

"I trust you don't share the same repulsion for magic that has been so carefully ingrained in the people of Marn. There may be some things useful for you to hear, so I would like for you to attend the meeting."

Opening another door, he led her into a room that looked no different from the others except that it had more strange things stored in it. Things that looked like they were either magical or mechanical devices covered a set of tables around the room. Tubes, rings, a crystal ball, bowls of powders and liquids.

On one table, which Bela approached, was a large mirror surrounded by ornate gold and silverwork. Around the mirror were a few candles, which provided a glow to the room which was generally absent in the rest of the manor. The candles cast complicated, angular shadows on the walls from all the things on the table around them.

"Have you ever seen a scrying device before?" He asked.

[Gia Rilan]

"Thank you, my lord." Clean clothing works wonders on a werewolf's attitude, Gia mused as she followed Master Tuc around the great house. She bit back a slight smile. So does not having to scrounge clothing from whatever fabric was lying around. It was a lesser known werewolf skill, fashioning clothing from whatever bits of fabric she could find.

She paid attention as he talked. She had little idea what he was talking about, having been in the forests tracking down crazy priests for a crazier master the past few days, and before that guarding a temple for the most deranged of them all. The reality of what she'd been up to finally started to hit her, and she stifled a growl at herself. Now that she had a decent master, the others looked like petty children. She had been stupid to follow them.

She shook her head. "No issues with magic, my lord. I don't have any problems with magic. That would be slightly unfortunate, given what I am."

She followed him into the room, blinking at the sudden candlelight. It was a change from the dark of the rest of the manor, but her sight quickly adjusted. Her eyes caught the slightly luminous gleam of an animal's eyes as she looked around, taking in the scene. "I've seen a scrying device before, my lord. At--in Zhaltev. Not one as pretty as this, though."

[Belatucadrus]

Belatucadrus spoke while absently looking over and adjusting the mirror. "Ah, Zhaltev. So you are from there."

He did something with a twine of metal that extended from the base of the mirror and it gave off a spark and a snapping sound. He then placed the tip of the metal coil in the bowl, into which he poured liquid silver from a glass jar.

"I have been to Zhaltev. Long ago. Perhaps three centuries. I'm not sure of the date. I had to keep my nature a secret then, they didn't want word getting out to humans about it... and it was full of infighting at the time. I'm sure much has changed since."

The vampire sprinkled some colored powder onto the table and drew something in it with the base of his index finger. A faint blue glow emerged from the mirror, but nothing more happened.

"What was his name... Iordan. He had promise..." He trailed off, placing his hands on the table and staring at the mirror. He spoke into it. "Come now, Dubrindja. Do not keep me waiting."

A figure appeared, at first just a silhouette in the green glow, and then the image of a woman's face began to form. She was old, dark haired and brown skinned. Snakes of gray lightened much of her hair and she had deeply set wrinkles all around her eyes and lips. Her almond eyes looked ahead as if she was focusing on a mirror of her own.

Her voice might have been clean and clear, but something about the scrying device made it sound strange, almost like she was speaking into a metal drum. "A thousand apologies old demon. This contraption must be as old as you are," she said.

"The new ones never work better, my dear," he replied. The two of them surely knew each other well to be using such nicknames as casually as they did.

"Excuses are not..." She began to say something, and then seemed to notice Gia standing behind him. "You brought a friend? Surely you could have replaced me with someone more attractive."

"Than you? Not possible, I'm afraid. This is Gia. I thought she could hear this news you have to tell me."

"I'm sure you did," the woman chided. Somehow, the old crone could speak to him in ways nobody else would dare. He didn't mind. It was part of a game they played.