21 ROVA (IX) 4707 AR
It is raining, hard, outside – one of those stormy nights that says Autumn is on the way out, and Winter will be arriving soon. Lightning brightens the sky as it stabs down, and the crash of thunder almost drowns out the gentle tapping at the bedroom window. Even in the pure light of day, a climb up the outside of the temple would be ridiculous foolishness – in the pitch dark of night, with the stone slicked by rain, it is suicide. But Siobhan knows from experience that Savram can see in the dark just fine; and can climb so well that maybe there is credence to those myths of vampires that could scale sheer surfaces like a spider does.
Either way, she’s here now, hunched on the windowsill in a waterlogged cloak, her pale cheeks pinched with a cold that she never seems to feel (or maybe it’s just that she’s always cold) as she raps once more on the window pane of the bedroom. She peers in at Siobhan. “You weren’t sleeping, were you?” For Savram, night is the time to be alive, when she can go around unseen by the few unfriendly locals who are still up. Day is when she sleeps. She shows her teeth in a grin “It’s me! You gonna let me in, or what?”
"Come in you silly goose!" Siobhan replies, throwing open the window. "I don't want one of my best friends to fall off the temple!"
Once Savram is safely inside Siobhan grabs a towel and tosses it towards the dhampir. "Dry yourself off before you sit down, I don't need my bed getting soaked through. Again!" She commands with a good natured grin.
Savram climbs through in one sinuous, slightly unnatural-looking movement, draping her sopping wet cloak over a chair and gratefully accepting the towel which she uses to dry her long, black hair. "If I fall off the temple, at least it'd be quick, from this height." She peers out into the darkness only she can see through. "Might be easier, in some ways. Just give in and accept I belong dead, right?" She fiddles with her sleeve, trying to hide the bandage wrapped round her wrist; it's obvious that (despite the previous talk they had) she's been Feeding again, biting at herself to get the blood out. She catches Siobhan's stare and guiltily hides her arm behind her back.
The grin drops into a frown. "Sav, we talked about this." Siobhan says firmly. "Biting yourself isn't going to make anything better. I told you before, if you feel the urge, come and find me." She tugs up the arm of the long woollen shirt that forms her nightwear and shoves her arm in front of the dhampir. "Come on. Drink."
Savram gives an audible gasp at Siobhan’s action, and she scrambles backwards; but she remains staring at the arm, as if transfixed. “Th-that’s not what I came here for.” But she keeps staring, unable to take her eyes away, and takes a step towards her friend, her entire face betraying the longing she feels.
“What if I don’t – stop?” When they first became friends, Savram told Siobhan three things: Never turn your back on me. Never let me in your reach. And never, never forget I can kill you with a bite.
She takes another step, helpless to prevent herself.
“What if – what if I want… more than that?” For many dhampirs, blood-lust and sex-lust are so closely related they can be hard to separate. Throw in a raging mess of hormones, a total lack of self-worth, a desperate need for affection and validation, along with a complete inability to handle same, and you get Savram.
"I can stop you." Siobhan says gently. "You weigh a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet Sav. I've pulled a longbow with more weight than that. Besides, I can fix my arm up with a prayer. I'd do it for you if it wasn't... going to hurt you."
The other question is more awkward. Savram is a friend, a dear friend. Not a romantic partner. "I'm not going to sleep with you though Sav. That would be like kissing my sister. I love you, you know that, but kissing you would be like kissing Vy. You're both my friends, my best friends. That's why I'm offering you my blood, because you're my friend and I care about you. Now stop worrying so much and drink. I'll say 'Abadar' when I want you to stop. OK?"
It’s not clear how much of Siobhan’s speech Savram has consciously taken in or even heard at all, as she grabs the young woman’s arm with surprising strength and bites deep. Vampires of course have true fangs rather than teeth, and they feed as much by draining life as they do the blood; their victims are left looking neat, unless the vampire wishes otherwise. Dhampirs, as a mere imitation of true vampires, don’t have those advantages; Savram literally tears Siobhan’s wrist open with her long, sharp, teeth and probes her tongue into the severed blood vessels, slurping greedily as the blood spurts out over her face and chin.
There’s a pounding in her ears, and someone (probably her) is giving a feral growl of satisfaction and delight as the taste of that wonderful life essence sends her into ecstasy, pushing every button she didn’t know she had.
If Siobhan has said “Abadar” at any point, Savram genuinely hasn’t heard it. If she heard it, she’d stop. She truly, genuinely believes that.
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Siobhan hangs on for as long as she can, trying to give her friend what she needs, but once her head is starting to spin she murmurs "Abadar and then, when Savram doesn't respond calls louder "Abadar!"
The dhampir keeps drinking and with her legs threatening to give out Siobhan infuses her next words with power.
"Savram, stop!"
Siobhan's tightly focused words (with power attached) slam right into Savram's mind, overwhelming even the urge to feed as her psyche is torn apart by visions of the pain, the physical hurt, she's causing her friend; and (over and beyond that) she experiences in its full, raw entirety the concern, the affection, and yes, the love that Siobhan has for her: you don't need this, you aren't your worst desires, you're not a monster, I have faith in you
Siobhan's arm is released from Savram's nerveless grasp as the dhampir's legs give way and she collapses to the floor in a crumpled heap, sobbing.
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Siobhan collapses next to Savram, a motion that's not really of her own volition - once Savram stops holding her up her legs really aren't strong enough to do the job by themselves. She murmurs a soft prayer to Sarenrae, asking for her light and healing strength for her friend before putting an arm around the weeping dhampir as divine power closes the damage done by sharp teeth.
"Hey sweetie, don't cry. It's ok, I'm ok. You're ok. You don't need to cry. It's alright."
Savram continues to cry for some minutes, but eventually her shoulders stop shaking and she sniffs, before wiping her face on her sleeve, cleaning off Siobhan's blood. She brushes her hair back from her face and stares at her friend for a moment; the feral gleam that was in her eyes earlier is gone so completely it's hard to believe it was ever there at all.
"Sorry. I - I just... sorry." She presses a hand to her forehead, and rubs her temples to try and clear whatever it was that the nascent paladin did to her brain. "Dizzy."
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"I'm sorry about that." Siobhan replies, genuinely remorseful. "I tried telling you to stop but you couldn't hear me, so I had to make you stop. I hope you're ok?"
Now that the adrenaline of the situation has faded Siobhan is feeling very light-headed herself and while her bed is extremely tempting, actually getting into it seems like a huge challenge.
"Do you want to stay?" She asks. "I don't think you should be climbing right now."
Savram gives the ghost of a wan smile. "'Hundred and ten pounds soaking wet,' hey." She leans against her friend as they sprawl on the floor. "Tried to warn you, maybe you shouldn't go flaunting your bare arms in front of me like - like some brazen... shameless hussy." Savram has eagerly read every single one of the trashy romance novels that Siobhan has shared with her; she hasn't picked up her friend's beliefs in "One True Love" but she has acquired a more ... colourful vocabulary as a result.
When Siobhan asks if she wants to stay, the dhampir goes quiet. "That's actually what I came here for, before ... well, before. He had some weirdo visitor last year and ever since then he's - well, I can't really talk about it. I promised." Savram is somewhat flexible on her morality, but promises are sacred, no matter what. And there's only one "he" that she talks about in that tone of voice: her father, the necromancer who gives truth to the old saying that humans are the real monsters. "I've seen it before, he goes through phases like this, and I'm better off away for a bit." She clearly doesn't want to say any more than that. Her father would not be pleased if she was spilling his secrets in the temple of Iomedae.
"Also, I came to - to give you this." The young woman carefully fishes around in her pocket before pulling out a handkerchief which she carefully unwraps. "I found this in Goose N Gander when I was there last night, had to bargain a bit with the gnome but when I saw it I had to have it." Nestled against the (mostly) white cloth is a small bronze pin, fashioned in a stylised sunburst of the Dawnflower. "I want you to have it. It's the real thing, took the skin off my hand when I picked it up. I can count the friends who'd let me in like that on the fingers of... one finger. I hope you like it."
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"I love it!" Siobhan replies, not needing to pretend the joy that the gift gives her. "Thanks Sav, that means so much to me that you'd do that!" She pulls the dhampir into a tight hug and only lets go when she's fairly sure she hears Savram's ribs creaking. "You're the best Sav, you really are, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise!"
Siobhan pulls herself onto the bed and points to the simple chest of drawers across the room. "Spare nightshirt in there, second drawer. Get out of those damp clothes and then come join me." She looks away as the dhampir changes and by the time Savram is back at the bed Siobhan is already under the covers.
"Now I don't mind you getting warm, but try touching anything and you'll find out just how huffy this hussy can be!" She says with a grin, patting the mattress beside her. The pin is sitting proudly on the rough nightstand and Siobhan rolls over so that she can see it, and allow Savram to snuggle into her back if she wants.
"Thanks Sav, it really does mean a lot."
"Hmmmm." Savram gives an oddly contented sound as she wraps her arms around her friend, drawing in her warmth.
She winces as Siobhan throws the word back at her. "I'm sorry for calling you that - I don't ever want to lose control like that, it scared me, but it wasn't your fault. I'm glad you're OK."
The night is normally when she's active, but sated on blood and warmer than she has been in a long time, she drifts off to sleep.