Part Seven
canisaries
you should've known the price of evil
hi all! here we are again, a few months after the last chapter. i don't know, though, if the next one will take as long, as i actually do have the outline finished by now and should know what to write. well, i guess we'll see!
this chapter is rated teen for non-violent death. enjoy!
Nella’s blood turned to ice. She froze where she stood.
“Hm?” The older noivern stopped and turned to her. “What’s wrong?”
Nella took a while to consider her next action. She was with cultists. She didn’t know what they had planned for her nor what they would do if she tried to flee. Flee… fleeing felt like the wrong solution, or no solution at all. She couldn’t fly anywhere in this storm and noivern were poor runners. She had to cling to the hope of the cultists having only innocent intentions regarding her.
“N-nothing,” Nella peeped. “Let’s go.”
“Alright,” the older noivern said, and the group resumed walking in the rain.
A few minutes later the group arrived at the base of a large cliff. There was an opening by the ground, covered with a wall of planks and a door. Nella said nothing as she was brought through. Inside, there were many more blue lanterns to light up the interior. More bat mon were present, sitting on beds of straw or flying from one place to another. All had hoods marked by that same sigil.
“Julie?” spoke up the older noivern, tearing Nella from her thoughts. The golbat of the group flew up to the noivern - she must have been Julie. “Could you let Maxim know we have a new arrival?” the noivern continued. The golbat nodded and flitted to a lone door on a wooden wall in the near distance. As she knocked and entered, the noivern turned to Nella.
“Oh, look at you, all dripping wet,” the noivern said. “I’d offer you a towel, but we don’t have any to spare. What’s your name?”
“N-Nella”, Nella answered.
“That’s a pretty name,” the older noivern said. “My name is Dolores. Nice to meet you.”
“It’s n-nice to meet you too,” Nella replied. At least this noivern seemed nice.
The door from before opened again as Julie the golbat exited. She flew to Nella and Dolores and said, “Maxim will see you now.”
Dolores nodded and began to escort Nella to the door. “Maxim is our leader,” Dolores explained. “He’s the founder of this community and the reason we all get to sleep safely during the day.”
“I see,” Nella said, already getting nervous. The leader of the cult? Scary…
“No need to fret,” Dolores assured, touching Nella on the shoulder, at which the younger noivern flinched. “He may look intimidating, but he’s a kind soul. We can all vouch for him here.”
They reached the door. Dolores opened it and gently pushed Nella in. “See you again soon,” she whispered and drew the door shut.
No choice but to go along with it, Nella turned around to face the room. She saw a modest desk with papers on it and a gliscor sitting behind it, writing something. The tip of his right claw was gone, replaced by a wooden prosthetic. Around his neck was a necklace of large crimson orbs. It looked like a misdreavus' pearls.
The gliscor raised his gaze, and Nella shuddered under his stern eyes. Despite this, the gliscor got up and offered a claw.
“Gliscor Maxim,” he announced himself, his voice deep and raspy. Nella snuck over and took his claw, a little worried about the force of its pinch, but found it to be gentle.
“N-Noivern Nella,” Nella introduced herself, curtsying as they shook hand and claw.
Maxim let go and took his claws behind his back. “So, you’re the new arrival.” Nella nodded. “I take it you’re recently turned, too,” Maxim continued. Nella nodded again. “How long has it been since you were bitten?”
“A few days.”
“How have you managed to survive on your own so far?”
Nella swallowed. Lying wasn’t easy before those yellow eyes.
“I found an abandoned shed I spent the days in,” she said.
Maxim stared back for a moment, deadly quiet. Then, he smiled. “Well, it’s a good thing we found you. Hopefully you’ll find this place a better shelter.” He leaned in. “We do have blood readily available here.”
“Th-that’s good to hear.”
Maxim leaned back again. “Have you found yourself wondering yet what the origin of vampires is?”
Nella tilted her head. “N-not really,” she said, “but I’m wondering now.”
Maxim nodded. “Well, let me tell you.” He circled his desk and began to pace around the room.
“Long, long ago,” he started, “what we now know as vampires were different. They walked during the night, drank blood and did not age, but sunlight couldn’t hurt them. They were the people of the goddess Lunala, the goddess of the moon, and they were prosperous.”
His pacing changed directions. “But that prosperity attracted envy. So much so that the beast of the sun, Solgaleo, lashed out by cursing the nightfolk to burn up in the sun. He also sealed Lunala away in the moon, unable to help her suffering people.”
Nella’s ear flicked at the mention of Solgaleo. That’s the name of Leander’s god, she recalled.
“The numbers of the nightfolk declined drastically,” Maxim continued, “and they were almost wiped out entirely. The rare nightfolk not taken out by the sun were hunted by the dayfolk as monsters, and they were driven into hiding. During the ages, the nightfolk were all but forgotten, and this is how we find ourselves in the situation we are in now.”
He stopped. “This community is more than a safe haven for nightfolk,” he said. “We also seek to undo the curse set upon us eons ago. In Lunala’s honor, we call ourselves the Order of the Moon, and we do for her what we can.”
Nella nodded along. This story sounds like a mere myth, she thought, but then again, what do I know…
“That’s all I wanted to tell you,” Maxim said, returning behind his desk. “You’re free to leave now. The others will accommodate you.”
“Th-thank you,” Nella said, grabbing the handle of the door. She let herself out and sighed in relief the moment she was out of the gliscor’s eyes. In turn, she met the gaze of Dolores.
“See, now that wasn’t so bad,” Dolores said. “Come. You must be hungry.”
Nella nodded and followed the other noivern as she walked to another section of the shelter. Here, there were a few bat mon perched on benches with bowls of blood before them. They were drinking through their fangs. Nella shuddered. It still looked so unnatural.
"Here is the dining area," Dolores explained. "Let me get you a bowl."
"Thank you," Nella said, but then froze. "Wait," she said, and Dolores turned to her. "Where is… that blood from?"
"Oh, just miltank," Dolores assured. "And we treat them well. Don't you worry about it."
Nella sighed in relief. Come to think of it, there was a smell of manure in the air, just like back at the farmhouse. The rain must have masked it somewhat.
Dolores soon came back with a bowl of blood as promised. Nella received it with a thank you and gulped it down. It tasted slightly different from slowpoke blood. Kind of creamy, almost.
"Oh, here comes Freddy!" Dolores said, and Nella turned around. There was a swoobat waddling into the dining area. "Freddy's also new," Dolores continued. "You two should get to know each other." She raised a wing. "Freddy! Over here!"
The swoobat flinched in surprise and headed their way. "I-is something wrong?"
"No, everything's fine," Dolores said, waving her wing. "Freddy, I'd like you to meet Nella! She just arrived here."
"Oh. N-nice to meet you," Freddy said, uncertain.
"I'll fetch you a bowl," Dolores said and walked off. Nella was left alone with Freddy.
"So," Freddy started, clearing his throat, "how are you finding this place?"
"It's… nice," Nella said, grabbing her wing. "Welcoming."
"Y-yeah, same," Freddy said.
"Just a little…" Nella paused. "Unusual. Did you meet Maxim, too?"
"Yeah."
"Did he tell you that story about vampires' origins?"
Freddy nodded. “Do you… believe it?”
Nella took a claw to her chin. “Well… I’m not sure. There are a lot of legends. It could be real.”
“It sounded a bit creepy to me,” Freddy admitted. “This whole place is creepy.”
Nella looked around. “It’s not… that bad,” she said, though didn’t know if she actually agreed. “They’re nice to us, at least.”
Freddy nodded. “Yeah, but I still have a bad feeling about all this. This seems like a cult of some kind.”
It is one, Nella thought, but shut herself up in time. She shouldn’t reveal she had any information about this place that wasn’t just from her visit. Then she’d be asked how she knew that, and she couldn’t tell anyone here about the farmhouse. What if they made her lead them there and did Gods know what to everyone living there?
She paused. How would she get back there undetected, anyway? Would they simply let her leave tomorrow night? Today wouldn’t do, not with that thunderstorm. She had to wait. Even if it meant staying the night at a bunch of cultists.
“Here you go,” said Dolores, setting a bowl of blood in front of Freddy and snapping Nella out of her thoughts.
“Th-thanks,” Freddy said, then reluctantly started drinking. He still had both of his regular canines, so he drank normally like Nella.
The thought made Nella remember her missing tooth, and she frowned. How long would it be until she grew her vampire fangs? She tried the space behind her missing tooth with her tongue and felt something growing there. With time, it would probably erupt out. She shuddered.
Nella and Dolores waited until Freddy was finished, after which the older noivern led them to the sleeping area, which was the assortment of straw beds from before.
“You get plenty of rest, now,” Dolores said to Nella. “You’ve had a rough day.”
“Thanks,” Nella said. “Goodnight. Or day. Whichever you say here.”
Dolores smiled. “We say goodnight,” she said and began to walk away. “Sleep tight!”
Nella curled up on her new bed. The straws poked at her wings, but she knew better than to complain. Freddy still remained next to her, looking nervous.
“Are you alright?” Nella asked.
The swoobat flinched. “Do you… still wanna talk a bit, maybe?”
Nella was tired, but she wasn’t sleepy. It was hard to be sleepy in a den of cultists, no matter how friendly they seemed. What if they did something to her in her sleep?
“Sure,” Nella replied, trying to shake the thought. “How long have you been here?”
“Two days,” Freddy answered. “You just came in, right?”
Nella nodded. “Got lost in the thunderstorm. Dolores and some others found me.”
“They found me, too,” Freddy said. “I’d been bitten by some feral zubat and had fainted.”
“That happened to me, too!” Nella winced, remembering the bite. “Of course, I was lucky to -- wake up in time and find an abandoned shed,” she lied. “I stayed the days there.”
“That must have been cramped.”
“It was… fine.”
Freddy sat down, seemingly a bit more comfortable now. “So… how about before you got bitten? What was your life like?”
Pathetic, Nella resisted the urge to say. “Well, I was a waitress,” she said. “I worked at a diner called Martha’s in Lepach. Do you know the place?”
Freddy shook his head. “I’m from Wingtown. Never been to Lepach,” he said.
“Oh… well, how about you? What did you do for a living?”
Freddy scratched his wing with his claw. “I was… between jobs, actually,” he admitted. “Got fired from my assistant’s job a month ago for screwing things up too many times.”
Don’t bring up your failures to strangers, Nella heard her mother’s voice say. She cringed. It had been a while since she’d last thought of her, and she preferred it that way.
But she was her own woman now. She had to be. Mother wasn’t around to tell her how to act anymore, so she had to make her own decisions now.
“I’ve been in many jobs before, too,” she said. “I guess we’re both bad at that.”
Freddy let out an amused huff. Nella smiled. They might have been on the way to becoming friends.
“I was lucky to have the place close to my parents’ house,” Freddy said. “I don’t know if I could pull off living by myself. I’d get so lonely.”
Nella remembered the nights she’d cried herself to sleep. “It can get that way, yeah,” she said.
Both stayed quiet for a while. Nella began to feel awkward.
“Do you read any books?” Freddy asked.
Nella gasped. I love books, she almost shouted, but Mother’s voice threatened to resurface. “I-I read them from time to time.”
“What kind of books?” Freddy asked, already excited. “I like mysteries!”
Mysteries and adventures. No one seemed to like romance like she did. She clacked her claws together. “Well… I don’t know how to describe them,” she peeped. “I-I guess they’re about people and how they think and act.”
“Ooh, psychological,” Freddy said. “I’m a big fan. Have you read Oricorio Ophelia’s works?”
“I… don’t think so,” Nella replied.
“Oh, they’re juicy,” Freddy said. “Murder mysteries. Occult stuff. Really exploring the dark side of mon!” He looked around. “Of course, it was much nicer to read about it all when I didn’t have to live it.”
Nella scratched her neck. Freddy’s books sounded scary… and heady. Nella was too stupid for those types of books.
“What’s your favorite book?” Freddy asked. “Mine is Surreal Killer. It’s about this cultist serial killer mightyena who gets possessed by a haunter. Really harrowing stuff.”
“My favorite book is…” Nella hesitated. Would he think she was stupid for liking all that lovey-dovey stuff?
She sighed. “Well, I guess I like The Ice Prince,” she said, her love for the book temporarily overriding her embarrassment. “It’s about a deerling maid working for an icy ninetales prince from a faraway land,” she said. “The prince is haughty and arrogant at first and drives the deerling crazy, but they end up getting closer and the prince’s better side comes through.”
“Oh, is it a romance?”
Nella shrank. “No, it’s…” She sighed. “Yes, it’s a romance. I read romance novels,” she admitted.
“Hm?” Freddy tilted his head. ”There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “You like what you like.”
Nella grasped her arm. “Really? My mother always said those books were for old maids…”
Freddy waved a wing. “Who cares what your mother thinks? You can read what you want.”
Nella felt her cheeks redden. “Th-thanks.”
“I’ve never really read romance,” Freddy said. “Well, I guess there’s a lot of books I’ve read with love in them… but it rarely ends well. Like in Thorned. An Ophelia classic. A deadly roserade who kills all her lovers.”
Nella shuddered. “You seem to like pretty violent books.”
Freddy shrugged. “I find them exciting.”
“I’d find them too exciting, I think,” Nella admitted. “Wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
Freddy raised a claw to his chin. “I’m sure I’ve read some books I could recommend you. It’s not all blood and guts. Like… The Wool Machine. It’s a satire of capitalism, but it has a meek male mareep meet a rowdy female lycanroc. They have pretty good chemistry, even if they don’t hook up in the book. But it’s easy to imagine they do. You can bring your own romance to the book.”
Nella tilted her head. “Mareep? Isn’t that a bit young?”
“Oh, he’s an adult. There’s just a conspiracy in place that makes the lower class members unable to evolve,” Freddy explained. “He evolves later in the book, actually. Oops -- spoilers, kinda.”
“That’s alright,” Nella said. “It’s not like…” She frowned. “It’s not like I’ll get to read that book now that I’m a vampire.”
“Oh.” Freddy’s gaze fell. “You’re right. I guess there’s no way for a vampire to go and buy books anymore.”
Oh no… I’ve ruined the conversation, Nella thought. I shouldn’t have said anything.
The silence continued until Freddy suddenly huffed again. “I guess we’ll have to write our own books.”
Nella’s spirits lifted again. “Oh, I have a friend that does tha-”
She froze. She couldn’t tell him about Paige. She couldn’t tell him about anyone back at the farmhouse.
Or… could she?
“You have a friend that writes?” Freddy asked.
“Um, I…” Nella took a moment to think. Could she risk telling Freddy her actual background? He was new. He didn’t trust the cultists, either.
“Can you keep a secret?” she whispered.
Freddy shuffled closer. “Yes?”
Nella hesitated, but then spoke. “I know a place with more vampires. It’s not creepy like this place.”
Freddy’s ears perked. “Is that where you really came from?” he whispered back. “That shed didn’t sound like the truth.”
Nella blanched, but nodded. I guess ‘bad liar’ is another thing to add to my long list of faults, she thought. Oh no. Did Maxim know I was lying, too?
“I’m gonna go back there as soon as I can,” she said. “You could… come with.”
“I’d love to,” Freddy said and glanced around. “But do you figure they’re gonna let us leave?”
“I’m gonna tell them I need to get some stuff out of my shed,” Nella said. “I just hope that’ll work.”
“Fingers crossed,” Freddy said, then looked at his wings. “You know what I mean.”
Nella nodded. “I’ll try tomorrow morning. I mean, early night.”
“Just don’t forget to tell me,” Freddy said. Nella smiled, and Freddy smiled back.
“I’m glad I bumped into you here,” he said, no longer whispering.
“Me too,” Nella said. “I like talking to you.”
“Hey.”
Nella turned to the voice behind her. It was a gligar, lying on the bed next to hers.
“Could you two pipe down?” the mon asked, irritated. “I’m about to go to sleep.”
“O-oh, of course,” Nella said. “Sorry.”
She turned to Freddy. “Let’s talk more tomorrow.”
Freddy nodded, getting up. “Yes, let’s. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Nella watched the swoobat take flight and fly over to an empty bed three beds from hers. She then turned back around and got comfortable again. Well, as comfortable as she could on this pile of straw.
She closed her eyes, and slowly, very slowly, slumber came to her.
“Attention!”
Nella’s eyes snapped open.
"Everyone to the center hall! We have captured an oppressor!"
Groggily, she got up and looked around. All the other vampires were heading deeper into the cave. Everyone but Freddy, who flew up to Nella.
"What's going on?" Nella asked.
"I don't really know," Freddy said, "but they want us in the center hall. We should go."
Nella nodded, and the two followed the rest of the vampires. They arrived at a high-ceiling opening in the cave and took their places next to the wall. In a minute or so, a group of hooded vampires carrying an unconscious timburr appeared and brought the mon to a horizontal wooden board in the middle of the room. Ropes were attached to the board, and the swoobat of the group tied the timburr down with them with telekinetic powers.
Nella shrank and leaned towards Freddy. "I don't like the look of this…"
"It'll be alright," said a voice from behind them - Dolores. Both Nella and Freddy flinched.
"Wh-what are they going to do to that timburr?" Nella asked, voice shaking.
"We're going to send him on a noble mission," Dolores said. "It's a happy thing! No need to worry."
Nella and Freddy exchanged a look, but didn't say anything.
The crowd split to enter Maxim, who had a zubat whispering something in his ear. As he walked up to the timburr, the zubat left. Maxim stopped before the unconscious mon, turned around and spread his arms.
"Brothers, sisters," he began. "Another ordinary has found out about us. He has been detained and brought before us tonight so that we may do something that benefits both of us and send him away on Lunala's mission."
He turned back to the timburr. "Stand back, now, as I detach his spirit from his body."
Nella and Freddy exchanged another worried look.
Maxim raised his claws. "O mother of the moon, hear the call of us bound to earth. We wish to send you a spirit to aid you in your escape." As he spoke, the crimson orbs around his neck began to glow, and the timburr gained a whitish-blue glow of his own. Dark clouds began forming on top, snaking across the mon's body.
"Detach the spirit from this vessel and let them ascend high above the clouds to your shining prison."
The bluish glow around the timburr detached from the mon, forming an ethereal replica that slowly levitated upwards. It began to stir and opened its eyes - then, it sat up, looked around and screamed.
"Worry not," Maxim said. "You will go to Lunala. She will take good care of you until she can escape, and then you will descend back once again.
The timburr's spirit seemed confused, but a soft voice cutting through the air caught his attention and everyone else's.
"Come to me… my child…"
It was a gentle, feminine voice, speaking from somewhere distant. Still, it made Nella's fur stand on end - more on end than it had been during the rest of this ritual. Is that… Lunala?
She looked around and saw wonder on everyone's faces except Freddy's. The timburr gasped, looking up at the ceiling with starry eyes, as if someone had just taken all the worry out of his heart and replaced it with peace.
Maxim nodded. "That is the grace of our lady, Lunala. It is yours, my friend. Go and fulfill your destiny."
The timburr closed his eyes, smiling, and raised his arms. He floated upwards, all the way up to the ceiling, and phased through, disappearing.
"We thank you, o mother of the moon," said Maxim. "May your shackles soon be broken."
After a few seconds of silence, the clouds around the timburr's lifeless body dissipated, and Maxim's orbs stopped glowing.
Maxim turned around, bringing his claws to his chest. "It is done. You are dismissed."
The air in the cave relaxed and the vampires disbanded. But Nella could only stare at the timburr’s corpse.
“What… just happened?” asked Freddy.
“Maxim sent his spirit off to help Lunala,” Dolores said. “We’re a little bit closer to salvation again.” She nudged Nella, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Are you alright, dear?”
“Um, yes, yes, I’m fine,” Nella said. “Um, by the way, is it alright if I fly back to my shed and go get my things?”
“Of course, dear! But take Freddy with you. He knows hypnosis, which will come in handy if you come across any dayfolk that try to do you ill.”
“Yes, I was going to, anyway,” Nella said, locking eyes with Freddy for a brief moment. “I-I think I’ll go right away.” She stepped past Dolores and headed for the exit with Freddy.
“Have a safe journey!” Dolores shouted after them. Nella’s steps got a little faster.
The two made it to the door and exited without getting stopped. Once outside, both sighed in relief.
“That place is weird,” Freddy said. “Let’s go.”
“Um, just a heads up…” Nella began. “I kind of… got lost during the thunderstorm, so w-we would have to look for the place for a while. Are you okay with that?”
“Anything to get out of here,” Freddy huffed. “Lead the way.”
Nella nodded, took a running start and flapped her wings until she was airborne. She glanced behind her and saw Freddy right behind her. He gave her a smile. She answered it, but let it slip the moment she faced forward again.
They flew up high to have a better view. It was a clouded night and the air was still humid, but it didn’t look like it was going to rain. The ground below was dark, especially after just having come out of a well-lit cave, but their eyes adjusted in time. Nella knew what to look for, anyway - a lake.
It took them a lot of flying around, but finally, Nella spotted a large body of water among the trees and swerved closer to inspect its shores. Soaring along the edge of the lake, she eventually saw three buildings and recognized them as the farm.
“We found it!” she shouted behind her, where Freddy was still flying. “Get ready to land!”
The two mon descended on the land in front of the barnhouse. Nella walked up to the door, but stopped and sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Freddy asked.
“I sort of left without permission,” Nella said, “to see a… vampire hunter.”
“Vampire hunter?” Freddy repeated a bit too loudly, and Nella quickly raised a claw in front of her lips. “There are vampire hunters now?” Freddy asked in a whisper.
“I was as shocked as you,” Nella said. “But… I’d met the mon in question before. He seemed so nice that I couldn’t believe he would hurt innocent people just because they were vampires.” Nella sighed. “Boy, was I wrong. I had to flee for my life, and… that’s how I ended up at the cult.”
“Okay, so we’re definitely calling it a cult now.”
“Yes…” Nella scratched her arm. “I also left out something else. The vampires I’m staying with know about the cult. They warned me about it, actually. And… I just ended up spending the night -- the day there because I was so stupid.”
Freddy stepped closer and laid a wing on Nella’s arm. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure they’ll mostly be glad you’re okay.”
“Hopefully so,” Nella said. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Nella turned back to the door, took a deep breath and knocked.
A few seconds later, the door opened. On the other side was Teru, whose apprehensive expression turned into a relieved one as he recognized Nella.
"Nella! Thank the Gods you're okay!" he said, opening the door wide to let her in - until he saw Freddy. "Uh, who's your friend?"
"This is Freddy," Nella said. "He's a vampire too. He's nice. Can we come in?"
"Uh, sure," said Teru and moved out of the doorway, but it was clear he still didn't trust Freddy. "Come in. I'll get you some blood. You must be starving."
Nella realized she was quite thirsty, having skipped breakfast at the cult. "Yes, that would be nice."
The two mon entered into the blue-lit room, and Teru closed the door behind them. Freddy looked around and nodded. "Cozy place."
"Thank you," said Teru, slipping into the kitchen. "I find it rather nice myself."
It didn't take long before Teru returned with two bowls of ice-cold blood and set the dishes before the two mon. They thanked the mismagius and drank quickly, having worked up an appetite from flying.
Once the dishes were empty, Teru dared to pop the question. "Nella, tell me, what exactly happened to you? How did you survive the day?"
Nella shrank. It was time to spill the beans. "Well… you remember how I said I saw Leander when I was gathering berries with Paige and got separated from her?"
"Yes?"
"I didn't just see him," Nella said. "I met him."
Teru's eyes went wide. "What happened?"
"He recognized me from the diner before, but he didn't realize that I was a vampire," Nella said. "And he… he was nice. A-and he talked about how he didn't agree with his family, and I thought he meant that he didn't hate vampires… so I thought I'd go see him again the following night…"
"Oh, Nella…"
"I know," said Nella, squeezing her eyes shut, "Stupid. B-but I went. And it went well for a good while, but then we kissed and he pushed on my tooth and blood came out and the tooth came out and… he realized what I was."
"How did you get away?"
"I… bellowed," Nella said, looking down in shame. "It bought me enough time to fly away. But then there was a thunderstorm, and I had to land, and I fell, and then these people showed up, and I went with them before I realized they were cultists…"
Teru's eyes practically bugged out. "You went with the cultists?"
"I didn't have anywhere else to go, and I was already walking… I just hoped for the best," Nella said, tears in her eyes. Teru was so disappointed… "But it didn't turn out that bad. They didn't do anything bad to me. They even gave me blood!"
"That blood could have had anything in it!" Teru shouted, raising his tendrils.
Nella flinched. She really had been careless…
"With all due respect, sir," Freddy spoke up, "she's been through a lot. Could you not yell at her like that?"
"Oh, don't you talk to me like that, little man," Teru snapped. "I'm still not convinced your intentions are good. I take it you came from the cult? How do I know you're not working for them, hmm?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Freddy said. "I haven't even lost my teeth yet. They couldn't have converted me to their batty religion in that time."
"They could have brainwashed you," Teru said. "I've seen it happen with some powerful psychics. I have no reason to trust you!"
"I guess not!" Freddy said, throwing up his wings. "There, I said it. Are you happy now?"
Teru's eyes narrowed as he stared into Freddy's. Then, the mismagius' eyes glowed cyan, and the swoobat closed his eyes, falling limp and collapsing on the table.
"Freddy!" Nella shouted.
"I just used hypnosis, don't worry," Teru muttered. "He was due for a timeout." He turned to Nella. "Did anything else happen at the cult?"
"Well, I met their leader, Maxim," she said. "He was a gliscor."
Teru's jaw dropped.
"What? Is there something special about that?"
"Did he have a prosthetic claw tip?"
"Yes?"
He brought a tendril to his cheek. "So it is him…"
"You know him?"
"Used to know him," Teru said. "I thought he was dead…"
He shook his head. "Not important right now. Did you see anything else?"
"Well, just this morning they had this creepy ritual," Nella said. "They'd captured a timburr and Maxim… detached the timburr's spirit from the mon and sent him to Lunala. That's what it looked like, anyway…"
"So the timburr left behind was a corpse?"
"Yeah."
Teru crossed his tendrils. "Great. So they're killing people."
Nella fidgeted with her claws. "I don't know… it looked like his spirit was still alive."
Teru sighed. "Nella… that was a trick. You can't separate people's spirits from their bodies. He just killed that timburr and made it look like something else."
Nella thought about it. It looked real, though. And there had been no mon that could have created an illusion there. That she knew of…
Her shoulders slumped. Of course she'd fallen for it. Naive little Nella. Had she stayed, could they have converted her too?
Teru sighed, floated closer and put a tendril on Nella's shoulder. It felt cold, and Nella shuddered.
"Don't beat yourself up over it," he said. "Only a few days ago, you thought vampires were the stuff of fairytales. One can't fault you for being open to believing new things."
"So… everyone there is being tricked like I was?"
"Well… it's not that simple," Teru said. "I know these cults. They have a lot of bad people there, people ready to kill, and not just by some spirit-detachment ritual. This is because they gradually get rid of the members that don't have the guts to do those things. They've probably gotten rid of them via more spirit-detachments. I don't know how many people there are that just got caught up in it like you or Freddy - if he really is innocent, that is."
He hovered back and forth, as if pacing, brow knotted. After a while, he sighed. "Maybe it's time we resort to extreme measures."
"Extreme measures?"
Teru looked at Nella. "Seeking out that place and then going to the White Tiger to lead him there."
Nella's eyes widened. "But… he'll kill them all!"
"I know," he said, "but this cult… this cult is bad news, Nella. At their worst, they used to raid and slaughter entire villages. They can't be allowed to rise again."
"B-b-but can't we rescue the innocents first?"
"And how would you tell the difference between an innocent and an evil member?" Teru gestured to Freddy. "They're as impossible to tell from one another as he is. The bad ones know how to lie, exploit your kindness. They're remorseless. They'll do anything to keep themselves and their cult alive. If we take them in, we'll all be in danger of being killed in our sleep just so they can regain power!"
"But we can't just…" Nella thought of Dolores. Sure, she'd been all for the spirit ritual, but she'd been so nice to her.
But what if she was one of the bad people? How could Nella know? And… could Freddy also be a bad guy? Teru thought so, and Teru was wise… and she wasn't. She was stupid, naive, inexperienced. She'd fallen for the spirit ritual, and she'd fallen for Leander's charms. She was practically waltzing into danger over and over again. But Teru had known better about both Leander and the cult. And her mother. Maybe he should get to make the decisions. She only knew how to make bad ones.
"It's for the better," Teru said, hanging his head. "We have to think about the bigger picture. We'll be saving a lot more people this way than by letting the cult keep operating."
He took his tendril off Nella and floated to the door. "One more thing. What did the place look like?"
"It was a cave at the base of a large cliff," Nella answered. "The entrance was covered with planks to keep the light out."
"Thanks," said Teru. "I'm going to go look for it now. You stay behind. You've been in enough peril already."
Nella looked at Freddy. "What about Freddy?"
"He'll wake up on his own in a few hours," Teru said. "Keep an eye on him. In case he really is one of the bad guys, you know."
Nella nodded, though it hurt her heart. Could the one friend she managed to make on her own have been tricking her? She'd feel even worse about her naivete if so.
Teru opened the door. "Let the others know where I've gone," he said. "Paige is spending time with Caramel while Cole is taking a nap."
"Will do."
"Alright. Goodbye."
With that, he exited. Silence fell over the room, and Nella sighed. She looked at Freddy again. She should probably carry him to some bed instead of letting him lie unconscious against the table.
"Is that it? You're just gonna let him go?"
Nella flinched and turned to the voice. She saw Paige at the door to the walkway to the barn.
"Hi, Paige," Nella said. "Did you overhear what we were talking about?"
"I damn surely did," Paige huffed, and Nella thought it sounded strange to hear her swear. "He's gonna get all those innocent people killed!"
Nella's heart sank. "Yeah, but… there's no other option. If the cult is allowed to keep operating…"
Paige flapped her wings angrily. "Don't just chatot what Teru said! I know you don't believe that!"
Nella scratched her arm. "It doesn't matter what I believe. Teru knows better."
"Nella, please! You have to do what you think is right!"
Her throat tightened. "I can't be so naive. I-I'm just some girl that fell for the cult's tricks. I wouldn't know better than someone who's actually dealt with this cult."
Paige's flapping intensified. "You're so stubborn! Can't you just trust your heart? It can't feel right to stand here while those people get slaughtered!"
Nella hugged herself, her face wrinkling up. "It… it doesn't." She shook her head. "But I'm just not thinking about the future. Teru is. That's why we should listen to him."
Paige crossed her wings. "It's easy to give the hard decision to somebody else, isn't it?"
"No, I'm not --"
"You are. You're scared to take responsibility, so you shove it off to Teru so that you can hide behind him. That's not mature, Nella."
Nella opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. Tears welled up in her eyes. Paige was disappointed in her. Paige, the ultra-nice woobat. She must have really screwed up now.
She let out a sob, then another, then broke down. "I-I'm sorry," she blubbered. "I'm such a brat, crying like this…"
Paige uncrossed her wings. "Nella… I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry."
"No, y-you don't have to be sorry," Nella said. "It's my fault for crying…"
Paige sighed. "I don't know what to say," she said. "I want to make you understand me, not to hurt your feelings. Can you tell me how to do that?"
Nella sniffled and looked at Paige through her tears. "I do understand you…"
"But you don't want to go save those people?"
"It's not that I don't, I just don't think I should… I mean, I'm just --"
"No, Nella, you're not 'just' anything. You're your own mon, and your opinion matters. And you should do what you think is right. Now, what do you think would be right?"
Nella looked away and paused. What she thought was right… well, she wanted to go and warn those cultists about Leander coming. They would scatter, and then Leander wouldn't be able to kill them. But where would they go? She wanted to offer the farm, but she couldn't do that. While she didn't agree with Teru, he was probably right about there being bad people - at least Maxim if no one else. It wouldn't be safe with them.
But that didn't matter for her decision, did it? She still had to tell them Leander was coming, that much was certain. So… should she…
She sniffled. Yes, she should.
"Paige," she asked, "would you come with me to warn the cultists about Leander?"
Paige smiled. "It would be my pleasure."
Nella smiled back. A few seconds of silence passed, after which Nella returned her attention to Freddy.
“We should probably move him to a bed,” she said.
“Agreed,” said Paige.
After the two had moved Freddy to Nella’s bed to rest, they entered Cole’s room and woke the crobat up. After explaining the situation to him, they asked if he wanted to help. He took a few seconds to look at the both of them before sighing.
“Well, I can already tell I can’t stop you, and Teru would kill me if I let you go see that cult on your own,” he said. “I’m coming with.”
“Yes!” shouted Paige, jumping for joy. “Vampire rescue team, go!”
“We should hurry,” Cole said. “Teru might need to find both the shelter and the White Tiger before his plan succeeds, but the cultists will need time to figure out where they will hide. That is to say, if they’ll even believe us…”
Nella hadn’t thought of that. Why would they believe a group of strangers like them?
Well… they still had to try.
The group was just about ready to head out, but Nella decided they should do one more thing before that. She asked where Paige kept her writing supplies, and once she found a pen and paper, she wrote a note to Freddy and left it on the nightstand next to him. Going to the cult to save innocents from vampire hunter. Will be back in a few hours, it said.
“Alright, now we’re ready,” said Nella, and the two other vampires nodded. Together, the three of them exited the house and took to the skies with Nella in the lead.
Hold on, everyone, thought Nella, we’ll save you yet.
this chapter is rated teen for non-violent death. enjoy!
---
Part Seven
---
Part Seven
---
Nella’s blood turned to ice. She froze where she stood.
“Hm?” The older noivern stopped and turned to her. “What’s wrong?”
Nella took a while to consider her next action. She was with cultists. She didn’t know what they had planned for her nor what they would do if she tried to flee. Flee… fleeing felt like the wrong solution, or no solution at all. She couldn’t fly anywhere in this storm and noivern were poor runners. She had to cling to the hope of the cultists having only innocent intentions regarding her.
“N-nothing,” Nella peeped. “Let’s go.”
“Alright,” the older noivern said, and the group resumed walking in the rain.
A few minutes later the group arrived at the base of a large cliff. There was an opening by the ground, covered with a wall of planks and a door. Nella said nothing as she was brought through. Inside, there were many more blue lanterns to light up the interior. More bat mon were present, sitting on beds of straw or flying from one place to another. All had hoods marked by that same sigil.
“Julie?” spoke up the older noivern, tearing Nella from her thoughts. The golbat of the group flew up to the noivern - she must have been Julie. “Could you let Maxim know we have a new arrival?” the noivern continued. The golbat nodded and flitted to a lone door on a wooden wall in the near distance. As she knocked and entered, the noivern turned to Nella.
“Oh, look at you, all dripping wet,” the noivern said. “I’d offer you a towel, but we don’t have any to spare. What’s your name?”
“N-Nella”, Nella answered.
“That’s a pretty name,” the older noivern said. “My name is Dolores. Nice to meet you.”
“It’s n-nice to meet you too,” Nella replied. At least this noivern seemed nice.
The door from before opened again as Julie the golbat exited. She flew to Nella and Dolores and said, “Maxim will see you now.”
Dolores nodded and began to escort Nella to the door. “Maxim is our leader,” Dolores explained. “He’s the founder of this community and the reason we all get to sleep safely during the day.”
“I see,” Nella said, already getting nervous. The leader of the cult? Scary…
“No need to fret,” Dolores assured, touching Nella on the shoulder, at which the younger noivern flinched. “He may look intimidating, but he’s a kind soul. We can all vouch for him here.”
They reached the door. Dolores opened it and gently pushed Nella in. “See you again soon,” she whispered and drew the door shut.
No choice but to go along with it, Nella turned around to face the room. She saw a modest desk with papers on it and a gliscor sitting behind it, writing something. The tip of his right claw was gone, replaced by a wooden prosthetic. Around his neck was a necklace of large crimson orbs. It looked like a misdreavus' pearls.
The gliscor raised his gaze, and Nella shuddered under his stern eyes. Despite this, the gliscor got up and offered a claw.
“Gliscor Maxim,” he announced himself, his voice deep and raspy. Nella snuck over and took his claw, a little worried about the force of its pinch, but found it to be gentle.
“N-Noivern Nella,” Nella introduced herself, curtsying as they shook hand and claw.
Maxim let go and took his claws behind his back. “So, you’re the new arrival.” Nella nodded. “I take it you’re recently turned, too,” Maxim continued. Nella nodded again. “How long has it been since you were bitten?”
“A few days.”
“How have you managed to survive on your own so far?”
Nella swallowed. Lying wasn’t easy before those yellow eyes.
“I found an abandoned shed I spent the days in,” she said.
Maxim stared back for a moment, deadly quiet. Then, he smiled. “Well, it’s a good thing we found you. Hopefully you’ll find this place a better shelter.” He leaned in. “We do have blood readily available here.”
“Th-that’s good to hear.”
Maxim leaned back again. “Have you found yourself wondering yet what the origin of vampires is?”
Nella tilted her head. “N-not really,” she said, “but I’m wondering now.”
Maxim nodded. “Well, let me tell you.” He circled his desk and began to pace around the room.
“Long, long ago,” he started, “what we now know as vampires were different. They walked during the night, drank blood and did not age, but sunlight couldn’t hurt them. They were the people of the goddess Lunala, the goddess of the moon, and they were prosperous.”
His pacing changed directions. “But that prosperity attracted envy. So much so that the beast of the sun, Solgaleo, lashed out by cursing the nightfolk to burn up in the sun. He also sealed Lunala away in the moon, unable to help her suffering people.”
Nella’s ear flicked at the mention of Solgaleo. That’s the name of Leander’s god, she recalled.
“The numbers of the nightfolk declined drastically,” Maxim continued, “and they were almost wiped out entirely. The rare nightfolk not taken out by the sun were hunted by the dayfolk as monsters, and they were driven into hiding. During the ages, the nightfolk were all but forgotten, and this is how we find ourselves in the situation we are in now.”
He stopped. “This community is more than a safe haven for nightfolk,” he said. “We also seek to undo the curse set upon us eons ago. In Lunala’s honor, we call ourselves the Order of the Moon, and we do for her what we can.”
Nella nodded along. This story sounds like a mere myth, she thought, but then again, what do I know…
“That’s all I wanted to tell you,” Maxim said, returning behind his desk. “You’re free to leave now. The others will accommodate you.”
“Th-thank you,” Nella said, grabbing the handle of the door. She let herself out and sighed in relief the moment she was out of the gliscor’s eyes. In turn, she met the gaze of Dolores.
“See, now that wasn’t so bad,” Dolores said. “Come. You must be hungry.”
Nella nodded and followed the other noivern as she walked to another section of the shelter. Here, there were a few bat mon perched on benches with bowls of blood before them. They were drinking through their fangs. Nella shuddered. It still looked so unnatural.
"Here is the dining area," Dolores explained. "Let me get you a bowl."
"Thank you," Nella said, but then froze. "Wait," she said, and Dolores turned to her. "Where is… that blood from?"
"Oh, just miltank," Dolores assured. "And we treat them well. Don't you worry about it."
Nella sighed in relief. Come to think of it, there was a smell of manure in the air, just like back at the farmhouse. The rain must have masked it somewhat.
Dolores soon came back with a bowl of blood as promised. Nella received it with a thank you and gulped it down. It tasted slightly different from slowpoke blood. Kind of creamy, almost.
"Oh, here comes Freddy!" Dolores said, and Nella turned around. There was a swoobat waddling into the dining area. "Freddy's also new," Dolores continued. "You two should get to know each other." She raised a wing. "Freddy! Over here!"
The swoobat flinched in surprise and headed their way. "I-is something wrong?"
"No, everything's fine," Dolores said, waving her wing. "Freddy, I'd like you to meet Nella! She just arrived here."
"Oh. N-nice to meet you," Freddy said, uncertain.
"I'll fetch you a bowl," Dolores said and walked off. Nella was left alone with Freddy.
"So," Freddy started, clearing his throat, "how are you finding this place?"
"It's… nice," Nella said, grabbing her wing. "Welcoming."
"Y-yeah, same," Freddy said.
"Just a little…" Nella paused. "Unusual. Did you meet Maxim, too?"
"Yeah."
"Did he tell you that story about vampires' origins?"
Freddy nodded. “Do you… believe it?”
Nella took a claw to her chin. “Well… I’m not sure. There are a lot of legends. It could be real.”
“It sounded a bit creepy to me,” Freddy admitted. “This whole place is creepy.”
Nella looked around. “It’s not… that bad,” she said, though didn’t know if she actually agreed. “They’re nice to us, at least.”
Freddy nodded. “Yeah, but I still have a bad feeling about all this. This seems like a cult of some kind.”
It is one, Nella thought, but shut herself up in time. She shouldn’t reveal she had any information about this place that wasn’t just from her visit. Then she’d be asked how she knew that, and she couldn’t tell anyone here about the farmhouse. What if they made her lead them there and did Gods know what to everyone living there?
She paused. How would she get back there undetected, anyway? Would they simply let her leave tomorrow night? Today wouldn’t do, not with that thunderstorm. She had to wait. Even if it meant staying the night at a bunch of cultists.
“Here you go,” said Dolores, setting a bowl of blood in front of Freddy and snapping Nella out of her thoughts.
“Th-thanks,” Freddy said, then reluctantly started drinking. He still had both of his regular canines, so he drank normally like Nella.
The thought made Nella remember her missing tooth, and she frowned. How long would it be until she grew her vampire fangs? She tried the space behind her missing tooth with her tongue and felt something growing there. With time, it would probably erupt out. She shuddered.
Nella and Dolores waited until Freddy was finished, after which the older noivern led them to the sleeping area, which was the assortment of straw beds from before.
“You get plenty of rest, now,” Dolores said to Nella. “You’ve had a rough day.”
“Thanks,” Nella said. “Goodnight. Or day. Whichever you say here.”
Dolores smiled. “We say goodnight,” she said and began to walk away. “Sleep tight!”
Nella curled up on her new bed. The straws poked at her wings, but she knew better than to complain. Freddy still remained next to her, looking nervous.
“Are you alright?” Nella asked.
The swoobat flinched. “Do you… still wanna talk a bit, maybe?”
Nella was tired, but she wasn’t sleepy. It was hard to be sleepy in a den of cultists, no matter how friendly they seemed. What if they did something to her in her sleep?
“Sure,” Nella replied, trying to shake the thought. “How long have you been here?”
“Two days,” Freddy answered. “You just came in, right?”
Nella nodded. “Got lost in the thunderstorm. Dolores and some others found me.”
“They found me, too,” Freddy said. “I’d been bitten by some feral zubat and had fainted.”
“That happened to me, too!” Nella winced, remembering the bite. “Of course, I was lucky to -- wake up in time and find an abandoned shed,” she lied. “I stayed the days there.”
“That must have been cramped.”
“It was… fine.”
Freddy sat down, seemingly a bit more comfortable now. “So… how about before you got bitten? What was your life like?”
Pathetic, Nella resisted the urge to say. “Well, I was a waitress,” she said. “I worked at a diner called Martha’s in Lepach. Do you know the place?”
Freddy shook his head. “I’m from Wingtown. Never been to Lepach,” he said.
“Oh… well, how about you? What did you do for a living?”
Freddy scratched his wing with his claw. “I was… between jobs, actually,” he admitted. “Got fired from my assistant’s job a month ago for screwing things up too many times.”
Don’t bring up your failures to strangers, Nella heard her mother’s voice say. She cringed. It had been a while since she’d last thought of her, and she preferred it that way.
But she was her own woman now. She had to be. Mother wasn’t around to tell her how to act anymore, so she had to make her own decisions now.
“I’ve been in many jobs before, too,” she said. “I guess we’re both bad at that.”
Freddy let out an amused huff. Nella smiled. They might have been on the way to becoming friends.
“I was lucky to have the place close to my parents’ house,” Freddy said. “I don’t know if I could pull off living by myself. I’d get so lonely.”
Nella remembered the nights she’d cried herself to sleep. “It can get that way, yeah,” she said.
Both stayed quiet for a while. Nella began to feel awkward.
“Do you read any books?” Freddy asked.
Nella gasped. I love books, she almost shouted, but Mother’s voice threatened to resurface. “I-I read them from time to time.”
“What kind of books?” Freddy asked, already excited. “I like mysteries!”
Mysteries and adventures. No one seemed to like romance like she did. She clacked her claws together. “Well… I don’t know how to describe them,” she peeped. “I-I guess they’re about people and how they think and act.”
“Ooh, psychological,” Freddy said. “I’m a big fan. Have you read Oricorio Ophelia’s works?”
“I… don’t think so,” Nella replied.
“Oh, they’re juicy,” Freddy said. “Murder mysteries. Occult stuff. Really exploring the dark side of mon!” He looked around. “Of course, it was much nicer to read about it all when I didn’t have to live it.”
Nella scratched her neck. Freddy’s books sounded scary… and heady. Nella was too stupid for those types of books.
“What’s your favorite book?” Freddy asked. “Mine is Surreal Killer. It’s about this cultist serial killer mightyena who gets possessed by a haunter. Really harrowing stuff.”
“My favorite book is…” Nella hesitated. Would he think she was stupid for liking all that lovey-dovey stuff?
She sighed. “Well, I guess I like The Ice Prince,” she said, her love for the book temporarily overriding her embarrassment. “It’s about a deerling maid working for an icy ninetales prince from a faraway land,” she said. “The prince is haughty and arrogant at first and drives the deerling crazy, but they end up getting closer and the prince’s better side comes through.”
“Oh, is it a romance?”
Nella shrank. “No, it’s…” She sighed. “Yes, it’s a romance. I read romance novels,” she admitted.
“Hm?” Freddy tilted his head. ”There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “You like what you like.”
Nella grasped her arm. “Really? My mother always said those books were for old maids…”
Freddy waved a wing. “Who cares what your mother thinks? You can read what you want.”
Nella felt her cheeks redden. “Th-thanks.”
“I’ve never really read romance,” Freddy said. “Well, I guess there’s a lot of books I’ve read with love in them… but it rarely ends well. Like in Thorned. An Ophelia classic. A deadly roserade who kills all her lovers.”
Nella shuddered. “You seem to like pretty violent books.”
Freddy shrugged. “I find them exciting.”
“I’d find them too exciting, I think,” Nella admitted. “Wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
Freddy raised a claw to his chin. “I’m sure I’ve read some books I could recommend you. It’s not all blood and guts. Like… The Wool Machine. It’s a satire of capitalism, but it has a meek male mareep meet a rowdy female lycanroc. They have pretty good chemistry, even if they don’t hook up in the book. But it’s easy to imagine they do. You can bring your own romance to the book.”
Nella tilted her head. “Mareep? Isn’t that a bit young?”
“Oh, he’s an adult. There’s just a conspiracy in place that makes the lower class members unable to evolve,” Freddy explained. “He evolves later in the book, actually. Oops -- spoilers, kinda.”
“That’s alright,” Nella said. “It’s not like…” She frowned. “It’s not like I’ll get to read that book now that I’m a vampire.”
“Oh.” Freddy’s gaze fell. “You’re right. I guess there’s no way for a vampire to go and buy books anymore.”
Oh no… I’ve ruined the conversation, Nella thought. I shouldn’t have said anything.
The silence continued until Freddy suddenly huffed again. “I guess we’ll have to write our own books.”
Nella’s spirits lifted again. “Oh, I have a friend that does tha-”
She froze. She couldn’t tell him about Paige. She couldn’t tell him about anyone back at the farmhouse.
Or… could she?
“You have a friend that writes?” Freddy asked.
“Um, I…” Nella took a moment to think. Could she risk telling Freddy her actual background? He was new. He didn’t trust the cultists, either.
“Can you keep a secret?” she whispered.
Freddy shuffled closer. “Yes?”
Nella hesitated, but then spoke. “I know a place with more vampires. It’s not creepy like this place.”
Freddy’s ears perked. “Is that where you really came from?” he whispered back. “That shed didn’t sound like the truth.”
Nella blanched, but nodded. I guess ‘bad liar’ is another thing to add to my long list of faults, she thought. Oh no. Did Maxim know I was lying, too?
“I’m gonna go back there as soon as I can,” she said. “You could… come with.”
“I’d love to,” Freddy said and glanced around. “But do you figure they’re gonna let us leave?”
“I’m gonna tell them I need to get some stuff out of my shed,” Nella said. “I just hope that’ll work.”
“Fingers crossed,” Freddy said, then looked at his wings. “You know what I mean.”
Nella nodded. “I’ll try tomorrow morning. I mean, early night.”
“Just don’t forget to tell me,” Freddy said. Nella smiled, and Freddy smiled back.
“I’m glad I bumped into you here,” he said, no longer whispering.
“Me too,” Nella said. “I like talking to you.”
“Hey.”
Nella turned to the voice behind her. It was a gligar, lying on the bed next to hers.
“Could you two pipe down?” the mon asked, irritated. “I’m about to go to sleep.”
“O-oh, of course,” Nella said. “Sorry.”
She turned to Freddy. “Let’s talk more tomorrow.”
Freddy nodded, getting up. “Yes, let’s. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Nella watched the swoobat take flight and fly over to an empty bed three beds from hers. She then turned back around and got comfortable again. Well, as comfortable as she could on this pile of straw.
She closed her eyes, and slowly, very slowly, slumber came to her.
---
“Attention!”
Nella’s eyes snapped open.
"Everyone to the center hall! We have captured an oppressor!"
Groggily, she got up and looked around. All the other vampires were heading deeper into the cave. Everyone but Freddy, who flew up to Nella.
"What's going on?" Nella asked.
"I don't really know," Freddy said, "but they want us in the center hall. We should go."
Nella nodded, and the two followed the rest of the vampires. They arrived at a high-ceiling opening in the cave and took their places next to the wall. In a minute or so, a group of hooded vampires carrying an unconscious timburr appeared and brought the mon to a horizontal wooden board in the middle of the room. Ropes were attached to the board, and the swoobat of the group tied the timburr down with them with telekinetic powers.
Nella shrank and leaned towards Freddy. "I don't like the look of this…"
"It'll be alright," said a voice from behind them - Dolores. Both Nella and Freddy flinched.
"Wh-what are they going to do to that timburr?" Nella asked, voice shaking.
"We're going to send him on a noble mission," Dolores said. "It's a happy thing! No need to worry."
Nella and Freddy exchanged a look, but didn't say anything.
The crowd split to enter Maxim, who had a zubat whispering something in his ear. As he walked up to the timburr, the zubat left. Maxim stopped before the unconscious mon, turned around and spread his arms.
"Brothers, sisters," he began. "Another ordinary has found out about us. He has been detained and brought before us tonight so that we may do something that benefits both of us and send him away on Lunala's mission."
He turned back to the timburr. "Stand back, now, as I detach his spirit from his body."
Nella and Freddy exchanged another worried look.
Maxim raised his claws. "O mother of the moon, hear the call of us bound to earth. We wish to send you a spirit to aid you in your escape." As he spoke, the crimson orbs around his neck began to glow, and the timburr gained a whitish-blue glow of his own. Dark clouds began forming on top, snaking across the mon's body.
"Detach the spirit from this vessel and let them ascend high above the clouds to your shining prison."
The bluish glow around the timburr detached from the mon, forming an ethereal replica that slowly levitated upwards. It began to stir and opened its eyes - then, it sat up, looked around and screamed.
"Worry not," Maxim said. "You will go to Lunala. She will take good care of you until she can escape, and then you will descend back once again.
The timburr's spirit seemed confused, but a soft voice cutting through the air caught his attention and everyone else's.
"Come to me… my child…"
It was a gentle, feminine voice, speaking from somewhere distant. Still, it made Nella's fur stand on end - more on end than it had been during the rest of this ritual. Is that… Lunala?
She looked around and saw wonder on everyone's faces except Freddy's. The timburr gasped, looking up at the ceiling with starry eyes, as if someone had just taken all the worry out of his heart and replaced it with peace.
Maxim nodded. "That is the grace of our lady, Lunala. It is yours, my friend. Go and fulfill your destiny."
The timburr closed his eyes, smiling, and raised his arms. He floated upwards, all the way up to the ceiling, and phased through, disappearing.
"We thank you, o mother of the moon," said Maxim. "May your shackles soon be broken."
After a few seconds of silence, the clouds around the timburr's lifeless body dissipated, and Maxim's orbs stopped glowing.
Maxim turned around, bringing his claws to his chest. "It is done. You are dismissed."
The air in the cave relaxed and the vampires disbanded. But Nella could only stare at the timburr’s corpse.
“What… just happened?” asked Freddy.
“Maxim sent his spirit off to help Lunala,” Dolores said. “We’re a little bit closer to salvation again.” She nudged Nella, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Are you alright, dear?”
“Um, yes, yes, I’m fine,” Nella said. “Um, by the way, is it alright if I fly back to my shed and go get my things?”
“Of course, dear! But take Freddy with you. He knows hypnosis, which will come in handy if you come across any dayfolk that try to do you ill.”
“Yes, I was going to, anyway,” Nella said, locking eyes with Freddy for a brief moment. “I-I think I’ll go right away.” She stepped past Dolores and headed for the exit with Freddy.
“Have a safe journey!” Dolores shouted after them. Nella’s steps got a little faster.
The two made it to the door and exited without getting stopped. Once outside, both sighed in relief.
“That place is weird,” Freddy said. “Let’s go.”
“Um, just a heads up…” Nella began. “I kind of… got lost during the thunderstorm, so w-we would have to look for the place for a while. Are you okay with that?”
“Anything to get out of here,” Freddy huffed. “Lead the way.”
Nella nodded, took a running start and flapped her wings until she was airborne. She glanced behind her and saw Freddy right behind her. He gave her a smile. She answered it, but let it slip the moment she faced forward again.
They flew up high to have a better view. It was a clouded night and the air was still humid, but it didn’t look like it was going to rain. The ground below was dark, especially after just having come out of a well-lit cave, but their eyes adjusted in time. Nella knew what to look for, anyway - a lake.
It took them a lot of flying around, but finally, Nella spotted a large body of water among the trees and swerved closer to inspect its shores. Soaring along the edge of the lake, she eventually saw three buildings and recognized them as the farm.
“We found it!” she shouted behind her, where Freddy was still flying. “Get ready to land!”
The two mon descended on the land in front of the barnhouse. Nella walked up to the door, but stopped and sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Freddy asked.
“I sort of left without permission,” Nella said, “to see a… vampire hunter.”
“Vampire hunter?” Freddy repeated a bit too loudly, and Nella quickly raised a claw in front of her lips. “There are vampire hunters now?” Freddy asked in a whisper.
“I was as shocked as you,” Nella said. “But… I’d met the mon in question before. He seemed so nice that I couldn’t believe he would hurt innocent people just because they were vampires.” Nella sighed. “Boy, was I wrong. I had to flee for my life, and… that’s how I ended up at the cult.”
“Okay, so we’re definitely calling it a cult now.”
“Yes…” Nella scratched her arm. “I also left out something else. The vampires I’m staying with know about the cult. They warned me about it, actually. And… I just ended up spending the night -- the day there because I was so stupid.”
Freddy stepped closer and laid a wing on Nella’s arm. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure they’ll mostly be glad you’re okay.”
“Hopefully so,” Nella said. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Nella turned back to the door, took a deep breath and knocked.
A few seconds later, the door opened. On the other side was Teru, whose apprehensive expression turned into a relieved one as he recognized Nella.
"Nella! Thank the Gods you're okay!" he said, opening the door wide to let her in - until he saw Freddy. "Uh, who's your friend?"
"This is Freddy," Nella said. "He's a vampire too. He's nice. Can we come in?"
"Uh, sure," said Teru and moved out of the doorway, but it was clear he still didn't trust Freddy. "Come in. I'll get you some blood. You must be starving."
Nella realized she was quite thirsty, having skipped breakfast at the cult. "Yes, that would be nice."
The two mon entered into the blue-lit room, and Teru closed the door behind them. Freddy looked around and nodded. "Cozy place."
"Thank you," said Teru, slipping into the kitchen. "I find it rather nice myself."
It didn't take long before Teru returned with two bowls of ice-cold blood and set the dishes before the two mon. They thanked the mismagius and drank quickly, having worked up an appetite from flying.
Once the dishes were empty, Teru dared to pop the question. "Nella, tell me, what exactly happened to you? How did you survive the day?"
Nella shrank. It was time to spill the beans. "Well… you remember how I said I saw Leander when I was gathering berries with Paige and got separated from her?"
"Yes?"
"I didn't just see him," Nella said. "I met him."
Teru's eyes went wide. "What happened?"
"He recognized me from the diner before, but he didn't realize that I was a vampire," Nella said. "And he… he was nice. A-and he talked about how he didn't agree with his family, and I thought he meant that he didn't hate vampires… so I thought I'd go see him again the following night…"
"Oh, Nella…"
"I know," said Nella, squeezing her eyes shut, "Stupid. B-but I went. And it went well for a good while, but then we kissed and he pushed on my tooth and blood came out and the tooth came out and… he realized what I was."
"How did you get away?"
"I… bellowed," Nella said, looking down in shame. "It bought me enough time to fly away. But then there was a thunderstorm, and I had to land, and I fell, and then these people showed up, and I went with them before I realized they were cultists…"
Teru's eyes practically bugged out. "You went with the cultists?"
"I didn't have anywhere else to go, and I was already walking… I just hoped for the best," Nella said, tears in her eyes. Teru was so disappointed… "But it didn't turn out that bad. They didn't do anything bad to me. They even gave me blood!"
"That blood could have had anything in it!" Teru shouted, raising his tendrils.
Nella flinched. She really had been careless…
"With all due respect, sir," Freddy spoke up, "she's been through a lot. Could you not yell at her like that?"
"Oh, don't you talk to me like that, little man," Teru snapped. "I'm still not convinced your intentions are good. I take it you came from the cult? How do I know you're not working for them, hmm?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Freddy said. "I haven't even lost my teeth yet. They couldn't have converted me to their batty religion in that time."
"They could have brainwashed you," Teru said. "I've seen it happen with some powerful psychics. I have no reason to trust you!"
"I guess not!" Freddy said, throwing up his wings. "There, I said it. Are you happy now?"
Teru's eyes narrowed as he stared into Freddy's. Then, the mismagius' eyes glowed cyan, and the swoobat closed his eyes, falling limp and collapsing on the table.
"Freddy!" Nella shouted.
"I just used hypnosis, don't worry," Teru muttered. "He was due for a timeout." He turned to Nella. "Did anything else happen at the cult?"
"Well, I met their leader, Maxim," she said. "He was a gliscor."
Teru's jaw dropped.
"What? Is there something special about that?"
"Did he have a prosthetic claw tip?"
"Yes?"
He brought a tendril to his cheek. "So it is him…"
"You know him?"
"Used to know him," Teru said. "I thought he was dead…"
He shook his head. "Not important right now. Did you see anything else?"
"Well, just this morning they had this creepy ritual," Nella said. "They'd captured a timburr and Maxim… detached the timburr's spirit from the mon and sent him to Lunala. That's what it looked like, anyway…"
"So the timburr left behind was a corpse?"
"Yeah."
Teru crossed his tendrils. "Great. So they're killing people."
Nella fidgeted with her claws. "I don't know… it looked like his spirit was still alive."
Teru sighed. "Nella… that was a trick. You can't separate people's spirits from their bodies. He just killed that timburr and made it look like something else."
Nella thought about it. It looked real, though. And there had been no mon that could have created an illusion there. That she knew of…
Her shoulders slumped. Of course she'd fallen for it. Naive little Nella. Had she stayed, could they have converted her too?
Teru sighed, floated closer and put a tendril on Nella's shoulder. It felt cold, and Nella shuddered.
"Don't beat yourself up over it," he said. "Only a few days ago, you thought vampires were the stuff of fairytales. One can't fault you for being open to believing new things."
"So… everyone there is being tricked like I was?"
"Well… it's not that simple," Teru said. "I know these cults. They have a lot of bad people there, people ready to kill, and not just by some spirit-detachment ritual. This is because they gradually get rid of the members that don't have the guts to do those things. They've probably gotten rid of them via more spirit-detachments. I don't know how many people there are that just got caught up in it like you or Freddy - if he really is innocent, that is."
He hovered back and forth, as if pacing, brow knotted. After a while, he sighed. "Maybe it's time we resort to extreme measures."
"Extreme measures?"
Teru looked at Nella. "Seeking out that place and then going to the White Tiger to lead him there."
Nella's eyes widened. "But… he'll kill them all!"
"I know," he said, "but this cult… this cult is bad news, Nella. At their worst, they used to raid and slaughter entire villages. They can't be allowed to rise again."
"B-b-but can't we rescue the innocents first?"
"And how would you tell the difference between an innocent and an evil member?" Teru gestured to Freddy. "They're as impossible to tell from one another as he is. The bad ones know how to lie, exploit your kindness. They're remorseless. They'll do anything to keep themselves and their cult alive. If we take them in, we'll all be in danger of being killed in our sleep just so they can regain power!"
"But we can't just…" Nella thought of Dolores. Sure, she'd been all for the spirit ritual, but she'd been so nice to her.
But what if she was one of the bad people? How could Nella know? And… could Freddy also be a bad guy? Teru thought so, and Teru was wise… and she wasn't. She was stupid, naive, inexperienced. She'd fallen for the spirit ritual, and she'd fallen for Leander's charms. She was practically waltzing into danger over and over again. But Teru had known better about both Leander and the cult. And her mother. Maybe he should get to make the decisions. She only knew how to make bad ones.
"It's for the better," Teru said, hanging his head. "We have to think about the bigger picture. We'll be saving a lot more people this way than by letting the cult keep operating."
He took his tendril off Nella and floated to the door. "One more thing. What did the place look like?"
"It was a cave at the base of a large cliff," Nella answered. "The entrance was covered with planks to keep the light out."
"Thanks," said Teru. "I'm going to go look for it now. You stay behind. You've been in enough peril already."
Nella looked at Freddy. "What about Freddy?"
"He'll wake up on his own in a few hours," Teru said. "Keep an eye on him. In case he really is one of the bad guys, you know."
Nella nodded, though it hurt her heart. Could the one friend she managed to make on her own have been tricking her? She'd feel even worse about her naivete if so.
Teru opened the door. "Let the others know where I've gone," he said. "Paige is spending time with Caramel while Cole is taking a nap."
"Will do."
"Alright. Goodbye."
With that, he exited. Silence fell over the room, and Nella sighed. She looked at Freddy again. She should probably carry him to some bed instead of letting him lie unconscious against the table.
"Is that it? You're just gonna let him go?"
Nella flinched and turned to the voice. She saw Paige at the door to the walkway to the barn.
"Hi, Paige," Nella said. "Did you overhear what we were talking about?"
"I damn surely did," Paige huffed, and Nella thought it sounded strange to hear her swear. "He's gonna get all those innocent people killed!"
Nella's heart sank. "Yeah, but… there's no other option. If the cult is allowed to keep operating…"
Paige flapped her wings angrily. "Don't just chatot what Teru said! I know you don't believe that!"
Nella scratched her arm. "It doesn't matter what I believe. Teru knows better."
"Nella, please! You have to do what you think is right!"
Her throat tightened. "I can't be so naive. I-I'm just some girl that fell for the cult's tricks. I wouldn't know better than someone who's actually dealt with this cult."
Paige's flapping intensified. "You're so stubborn! Can't you just trust your heart? It can't feel right to stand here while those people get slaughtered!"
Nella hugged herself, her face wrinkling up. "It… it doesn't." She shook her head. "But I'm just not thinking about the future. Teru is. That's why we should listen to him."
Paige crossed her wings. "It's easy to give the hard decision to somebody else, isn't it?"
"No, I'm not --"
"You are. You're scared to take responsibility, so you shove it off to Teru so that you can hide behind him. That's not mature, Nella."
Nella opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. Tears welled up in her eyes. Paige was disappointed in her. Paige, the ultra-nice woobat. She must have really screwed up now.
She let out a sob, then another, then broke down. "I-I'm sorry," she blubbered. "I'm such a brat, crying like this…"
Paige uncrossed her wings. "Nella… I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry."
"No, y-you don't have to be sorry," Nella said. "It's my fault for crying…"
Paige sighed. "I don't know what to say," she said. "I want to make you understand me, not to hurt your feelings. Can you tell me how to do that?"
Nella sniffled and looked at Paige through her tears. "I do understand you…"
"But you don't want to go save those people?"
"It's not that I don't, I just don't think I should… I mean, I'm just --"
"No, Nella, you're not 'just' anything. You're your own mon, and your opinion matters. And you should do what you think is right. Now, what do you think would be right?"
Nella looked away and paused. What she thought was right… well, she wanted to go and warn those cultists about Leander coming. They would scatter, and then Leander wouldn't be able to kill them. But where would they go? She wanted to offer the farm, but she couldn't do that. While she didn't agree with Teru, he was probably right about there being bad people - at least Maxim if no one else. It wouldn't be safe with them.
But that didn't matter for her decision, did it? She still had to tell them Leander was coming, that much was certain. So… should she…
She sniffled. Yes, she should.
"Paige," she asked, "would you come with me to warn the cultists about Leander?"
Paige smiled. "It would be my pleasure."
Nella smiled back. A few seconds of silence passed, after which Nella returned her attention to Freddy.
“We should probably move him to a bed,” she said.
“Agreed,” said Paige.
After the two had moved Freddy to Nella’s bed to rest, they entered Cole’s room and woke the crobat up. After explaining the situation to him, they asked if he wanted to help. He took a few seconds to look at the both of them before sighing.
“Well, I can already tell I can’t stop you, and Teru would kill me if I let you go see that cult on your own,” he said. “I’m coming with.”
“Yes!” shouted Paige, jumping for joy. “Vampire rescue team, go!”
“We should hurry,” Cole said. “Teru might need to find both the shelter and the White Tiger before his plan succeeds, but the cultists will need time to figure out where they will hide. That is to say, if they’ll even believe us…”
Nella hadn’t thought of that. Why would they believe a group of strangers like them?
Well… they still had to try.
The group was just about ready to head out, but Nella decided they should do one more thing before that. She asked where Paige kept her writing supplies, and once she found a pen and paper, she wrote a note to Freddy and left it on the nightstand next to him. Going to the cult to save innocents from vampire hunter. Will be back in a few hours, it said.
“Alright, now we’re ready,” said Nella, and the two other vampires nodded. Together, the three of them exited the house and took to the skies with Nella in the lead.
Hold on, everyone, thought Nella, we’ll save you yet.
---
.