Chapter 12 (Interlude, Lady Andilet)

Elizibeta Andilet awoke at precisely the same time each day, 6pm. Just early enough to catch the rays of the sun setting behind the twisting city streets. Specifically designed that way to save vampires that woke up too early. While she was never a human, like some of her kind, she sometimes wondered what it would feel like. The golden light of the sun on her face.

Alas it was never to be, and her husband rose beside her as he did every day to greet the night together. Although he grumbled, yawned, and was generally grumpy to start the night, Elizibeta was nothing but focused. Already sitting at the computer they had installed two years ago, and answering emails while her husband grabbed a bag of blood from the fridge.

It was always Moonfolk blood to start the day, Elizibeta had never known her husband to deviate from his routine. Even before the city of Paeth was built, he would rise and hunt down one of the Moonfolks nightly vigils. Now all he had to do was pay ten thousand dollars a month for an unlimited supply. Which was next to nothing when the Andilet family had existed since before the concept of money existed.

Her own thirst grew more and more as Nickolai’s breath began to smell of his feeding. Fangs that had been retracted pushed slightly out of her gums. Grumbling as she sent off a request for further information about a park that Paeth’s human governance board had submitted permits for. Then she saw the final item in her inbox. From Illuminator Cole inquiring about a police force fundraiser. The light mage knew that he was too young to make a bid for the commander's seat, but was recognized enough to it to be well known that the chair would soon be his.

“That boy, he will need our support someday, yes? Soon I hope the old man needs to step down eventually. Garanth isn’t getting any younger. Perhaps he will accept the gift, and become family to some lesser house.”

The elder vampire mused, taking one last sip of his bloodbag before tossing it into the trash. A half second later he was dressed to the nines. This month's bespoke suit fit him like a glove, and Elizibeta looked her husband up and down, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Her fangs peeked out slightly and Nickolai kissed her softly. Sharing the taste of his breakfast with her. She melted into arms.

Arms that had held her nearly every night for two hundred years, strong arms. That made her feel comforted and safe, loved and cherished. Yet when he kissed her atop her head, and squeezed her tightly. She could not help but to think of that human she had followed just yesterday.

Even thinking of it brought her no small amount of shame, regret, and anguish. The slight wince on her face brought Nickolai to his knees, offering yet more kisses and sweetness. She could not bear to tell him, and turned back towards her duties.

“Perhaps. He would be a strong voice for the humans. As Garanth used to be. We shall set aside some funds, pull from the Ornelian accounts. We may lose some influence there, but best to keep the home before tending to others. I take it you will be out tonight? Remember the Cravores’ will be over later. And I am tending to your birthday gifts soon. So run along dear husband.”

Elizibeta made a shooing motion, and Nickolai put on a face of mock hurt before blowing her a kiss. Slipping out of their bedroom without a sound. The smile on her face refused to be pushed down, what a joy it was waking up next to her beloved every morning. Even if he had never once shared his morning meals with her. Ah well, on to the first item on her agenda. Ssera, one of the better known portrait artists amongst the Lizardfolk was set to arrive in thirty minutes to paint her in the nude as a gift to Nickolai. It would likely be hung in his private office, alongside many of her other gifts. To be admired by him in times of stress and need.

Thoughts swirled in her mind as the head of the house of Andilet shut off her computer. Rising from the chair with the practiced grace of three hundred years of life, she made it ten steps out the door of her bedroom before being waylaid by three of her many children.

“Mother, may we please have some fresh food at midnight?”

Her youngest, Arlan, asked politely. Answered by a nod and a generous smile.

“Father said that he would take us to where the armies battle the tribes. And force us to fight there to get a taste for such things!”

Versille, the middle child of the three, was near to tears, avoiding any and all kinds of violence. She ate only the freely given blood, and refused to pay for it. Spouting nonsense about paid blood being coerced by the economic system of Paeth. And for all that Elizibeta thought her daughter was right, she remembered the times before Paeth rose. When they fought and hunted for sustenance. This way was simpler, and cheaper in life.

Her eldest, Naeth simply stared at her for a moment. He was most like his father, and was born soon after Paeth was founded. Named after the city even, in accordance with traditions formed before the Empire of Endless Night that had stretched across the world tens of thousands of years ago. There had always been some sort of disconnect between them, embracing people outside of the family had been difficult for the boy. Now a man, she reminded herself as Naeth simply strode past his two loudmouth siblings. Not that they made any attempt to greet him, and Elizibeta did her best to smile at him as he passed.

They were cordial at the best of times. Downright at each other's throats now and again as well. Naeth believed in…some worrying ideas about vampiric supremacy. Ignoring the fact that they needed humans or other blood carrying species to survive for long. She swept his room for blood magic each day since Illuminator Cole brought him back to the house last week.

Regardless of their strained relationship, she still loved him, and wanted the best for her eldest. He had been the sweetest young boy, so full of joy, eager to greet every shopkeeper and farmer when they had been patrolling for monsters and such in the early days. As the city grew up, so had he, and when the city no longer needed the House of Andilet as much as they used to. Well Naeth had taken that somewhat personally. To the point of openly challenging the humans in the governance council. And with the scandal surrounding the boy right now, well Elizibeta didn’t want to let him out of the house at all. Opening the door to her private study, Elizibeta found Ssera waiting. Canvas already set upon the easel, mixing paints with a palette knife.

“Been waiting long? I tried to get up slightly earlier but…two hundred years of habit is hard to break for one night.”

The vampiress apologized demurely, slipping out of her morning robes and into carefully manipulated moonlight. Reflected off mirrors from outside their building, that turned into opaque surfaces when touched by sunlight. Posing on a dais, with sheer silken robes draped across her legs, bountiful pale tits exposed to the soft moonlight, her stomach was bare and toned. Ssera smiled at her as she painted, asking Elizibeta to move to a few other poses to grow more accustomed to her subject's body.

“Yes bend over just so, shift your legs slightly, we want your calves to pop just a bit more along with your ass. Your husband is going to love this one.”

Ssera guided the ancient vampiress into a series of poses, carefully painting each one with practiced speed and precision befitting her people.

“Forgive me for asking Lady Andilet, but I was a little afraid of coming into your home while your eldest has yet to face trial for his…hunger pangs. Are those under control?”

Trying to make it seem casual, Elizibeta grunted with no small level of annoyance. Life was so much easier when you could be trusted, and Naeth was making that more and more difficult every year.

“No he has not. Although we hope for his trial date to be set soon. His hunger is being managed, a professional is taking care of all his needs. And we will likely send him to a rehab facility deeper into allied territory as part of the sentencing. Have no fear, I will walk you out when we are done.”

The Lizardfolk woman breathed a deep sigh of relief, forked tongue flicking out and tasting her own nervousness in the air. Focusing on painting several scenes of Elizibeta in various states of undress. From lingerie to draped in robes and even a kind of latex harness that Ssera had never even imagined before. The vampiress poured two glasses of wine, and the pair began to chat. Cordially about surface level things, and of course about attraction and men as the sessions drew towards its end.

“Your husband is a lucky man, Lady Andilet. Are you sure these will hang in his office? And not become too sticky?”

Elizibeta laughed, the rich dulcet tones of a predator who had spent hundreds of years learning how to act perfectly. Even holding her sides and breaking her pose. The vampiress looked at the lizardfolk and ended the laughter with an unladylike giggle.

“Perhaps just in his home office. It would not be proper for a Lord to expose his wife like this to prospective clients. How much do you charge for touchups? Just in case.”

The duo negotiated for some time, Lady Andilet was a shrewd negotiator, which Ssera appreciated. So few knew anything these days besides paying whatever price was set. As she continued to paint the vampiress, she noticed the woman's cheeks growing flushed alongside a slight rubbing of the legs together. It was rather common for these types of paintings, and so she ignored it as best she could. The lizardfolk woman simply grinned at Elizibeta and had her switch poses.

“Perhaps when your son has been handled, we can have dinner together? I would paint your husband for you if you wished. Or the two of you together.”

Her words hung in the air as Elizibeta blushed even harder than before. But not for the reasons that Ssera would think. Instead of her and her husband being painted together, for some reason she was thinking of that young man who had bound her in the ancient ritual. She had stalked him, as if he were prey, but she had no desire to feed on him. She wanted to…she didn’t know. Kiss him? Smack him? Punish him? None of those felt right in her head, and her face grew more red with each passing moment as she realized she wasn’t thinking about her husband nor had she answered Ssera.

“Maybe! I think that would be fun. Same price?”

Hissing with laughter the Lizardfolk woman finished her first painting and began putting away her supplies. Shaking her head, neck spines flashing in the light.

“Same price. For you Lady Andilet, but only for you. Tell your friends I am very expensive please.”

The pair laughed together as Elizibeta led her through the building. Carefully avoiding the larger spaces where her eldest might be cooped up. It simply wouldn't be good at all to have another scandal so soon. She really had to send that boy away somewhere to heal. Perhaps an old farm, if Oliver was still alive she’d send him there for a decade or two. Perhaps Oliver's daughter would be willing. She had some emails to send.

Ssera departed without much fanfare into the night. Leaving Lady Andilet alone in her home, besides her children of course. She wrote a note for Naeth and his siblings, dropping it off in the kitchen. Letting them all know that their father would protect them, and to call her if they needed help. She doubted that they would, but still kept her phone on just in case. Nickolai was a warrior that stood above most of the mortals, and for good reason. Their skirmishes against the tribes were an unfortunate reality of the world. Hopefully a much more ironclad peace treaty would be signed soon.

When Elizibeta left the building, she didn’t even realize where she was going at first. Her feet simply swept her along the twisting shadowed paths of Paeth. Even as a vampire noble, she didn’t fly like the rest of them. Wanting to be discreet, she pulled around a corner to see an apartment building. There was something about it that drew her in. So she followed it, the half scent of something wonderful just tingling at the edge of her nose. Leading her to something, she strode through the small lobby to the awe of the few people who were awake to see her taking the stairs. Her eyes widening, pupils expanding as her fangs emerged. She was…hungy? No that wasn’t it. But something was going on, something she couldn’t quite…

Stopping instantly at one of the doors to the stairs, Lady Andilet opened it and stepped into the hallway. Something was here, something she wanted. Trawling the hallway like a bloodhound, she found two doors where the scent of her desire lay. Placing an ear to one of the doors, she heard a heartbeat. Strong and powerful, thumping away even as the body sneezed. Sick, but strong. She did the same to the other door and heard nothing. No movement, no breathing, no heartbeat.

Moving quickly, the vampiress placed a hand on the doorknob and concentrated. A thin strand of darkness emerged from her fingertip. Filling the locking mechanism and turning with a click. Opening the door to a surprisingly well kept apartment. Closing the door behind her, the vampire inspected each and every item. Pictures, memorabilia, the fridge full of…half rotting food? Typical for a mothkin, it took nearly thirty minutes to put a name to the face. Xrn. Inspecting the cabinets revealed nothing beyond bags of peppermint tea and a collection of barely used pots and pans.

Her prize was in the bedroom, among folded sheets, the scent that had drawn her here was right there. Pooled along the floor, soaked into the bed itself. She threw herself into it, drinking it in with every breath. Letting it ferment in her mind as she rolled about. Images of that human once again rolled through her mind as she soaked in what must be his scent. So that meant that he was just next door, and involved with this mothgirl. A flash of jealousy ran through her for a moment. Subsiding within the twisted shame and guilt of what her husband might think of her.

Over the years they had fought and bickered, he had even slept with another at one point. So had she. They always resolved their issues together, taking blood and flesh, even magically enforced contracts at times. They had gone through so much together. But she had never been so infatuated with the scent of a mere human. It was degrading for a lady such as herself. Which made it all the sweeter.

She stopped rolling about and shoving her head into the mattress, gathered the willpower to stand up and leave the room. Relocking the door and making it one step into the hallway before it hit her again. Fangs lengthening, Lady Andilet stood outside of Dereks apartment and just breathed heavily. Drawing him into her, listening for his discomfort.

Drool escaped her ruby red lips, splattering across the floor as she simply waited and watched. A hunger had risen in her, but not for blood. For the man just beyond the doorway. Time passed in a blur, several times she was forced to retreat back into the mothgirls room to hide from passerbys. But always returned to stand just outside Derek's door.

Eventually the need left her, and she departed in shame. Face burning red as she flew into the night sky. Why had she done that? What purpose did it serve? And just who was that man to entrance her so? All these questions ran through her head as she disappeared into the night. Hoping that the darkness would hide her body and bury her guilt.