#71 Lady of the Night
I'd kill for hair like that, thought Anya. To be fair, she quite frequently killed for considerably less, but the idioms of mortal speech still lingered in her vocabulary. To Anya, Teresa (or Tes as she preferred) embodied the Soulblight ideal: beautiful, powerful, capable and terrifyingly cruel to her enemies. Despite her agelessness, she moved with the times, not harking back to old-fashioned customs, but always looking forward to new ways. To Anya, she represented the future of vampirism.
The two of them were enjoying an evening together in Anya's quarters. A little earlier, they had picked up a pair of would-be inamoratos whose cadavers now lay discarded in the alley outside. Replete with their blood, Anya and her new confidant were now lounging and chatting as was their wont.
Teresa had approached Lady Beauvoir not long ago seeking to join their Coven. Eager to reassert her status in Barfunweltz, Beauvoir had been keen to accept a new Vampire into her inner circle - once the proper initiations had taken place of course. Now, Tes was one of them and in Anya's opinion, a magnificent addition to their coterie.
"That's a curious candlestick Anya - what's the story behind it?" Tes was examining the triple candelabrum, the very object which had led directly to Anya receiving the Soulblight curse.
"Oh, just the story of my unlife..." smiled Anya.
Tes's eyes gleamed. "Do go on Anya - I'm intrigued!"
Anya spent the next hour happily reminiscing about the fate of her mortal father, mother and twin brother before describing her own ascent into undeath. Tes listened attentively and questioned enthusiastically. Anya even shared her her frustrations at having been granted the blood kiss as a youth, and her annoyance that Lady Beauvoir seemed always to regard her as a child simply because she looked like one.
"Child?!" exclaimed Tes, "More like beautiful young woman! Most mortal women would do anything for your eternal youthfulness!"
Anya's heart may be cold and dead but she felt it warmed by this new friendship. This is the sister I had never had, she mused, gazing at the older Soulblight, someone who'll support me and help me to become the vampire I can be - the vampire I deserve to be!
"May I borrow this please Anya?" asked Teresa, holding up the candelabrum. "Just briefly?"
"What...? Oh, yes, of course." Yes, Tes is good for me. Lady Beauvoir just sees me as a blood-daughter, or worse - a handmaiden. She's more like my mother everyday, especially now she's becoming so religious. No, Beauvoir will never allow me to reach my true potential; she'll never help me rise to the status I deserve. But Teresa may...
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