Lucia heard her apprentice rise during the night, leaving the room with a pewter mug in her hand. She waited before rising herself. Lucia carefully slipped her calf skin boots onto her feet before following her apprentice out into the courtyard. She watched as Nicola frantically tried to quench her thirst with water from the fountain.

“You won’t get rid of the dry feeling in your throat like that.” She murmured to herself.

Suddenly she caught a scent on the air, the scent of a meal. Lucia watched as her apprentice stopped drinking the water from the fountain and walked towards the source of the scent.

“That is it. You know what to do, just let your instincts take over.” Encouraged Lucia silently.

She walked onwards through the dark midnight streets of Permulcere: each step moving her closer and closer to her prey.

Her Prey? Thought Nicola to herself, yes that was what it was. She moved closer and closer to it as she moved faster and faster. Eventually she saw it: a young man was sleeping outside, presumably because he was unable to find an inn to stay at. Even better was that he was visibly injured, causing the scent to be transmitted through the air.

Carefully she crept up to his sleeping body, smelling every inch of him, looking for the most ideal place in which to plunge her fangs. Briefly Nicola remembered where her mistress had fed from her: the neck on the left side. She smiled seeing how the man’s head was slumped exposing his neck tantalisingly to the vampire girl. Cautiously she crouched down next to him: placing one hand on the wall next to him: and leaned forwards slowly before biting down and puncturing his neck.

The taste which filled her mouth was so intoxicating that she could not get enough: as Nicholas she had sucked her own blood from an injury, or others from a snake bite: that was common sense, but this. She continued feeding, drawing as much blood as she could from the helpless man.

“Hey stop.” Commanded a female voice from behind her.

Nicola ignored it and continued feeding.

“I said for you to stop.” Snarled Lucia: pulling back Nicola’s hair, forcing her to let go from her bite.

Nicola snarled and flailed at her mistress, but she could do nothing against the older woman’s iron grip.

“Do not try to fight me you will only loose.” Warned Lucia; releasing her grip on Nicola’s hair, before stepping forwards and pinning her apprentice to the ground.

Nicola continued panting for a few seconds before regaining composure. “I am sorry mistress.”

“Good.” Lucia Growled. “I expected you to eat someone like this, but not to this extent.”

She manoeuvred herself and Nicola around so that they could see the girl’s victim.

“See. Just see what you have done.”

Nicola began to calm down as she slowly realised how badly wounded her feeding had injured the man.

“What have I done?” she whispered with some fear as to her actions.

“What I expected and more.” Replied Lucia letting go of her.

“Is he?”

“Dead? No not yet.” Replied her mistress: inspecting the badly bleeding man.

“What do we?”

“What do you do? I suggest that you get back to the Chapterhouse as soon as possible: If you are not there before I get back there will be hell to pay.”

“But: what about?”

“Go. I will deal with him.”

Lucia watched as her apprentice began running back towards the Chapterhouse.

“Well then, what do we do with you then?” she asked the slowly fading man before her.

The woman flitted between her four children. It had not been long since the Caeruleus plague had arrived in the city of Rhaeadr. She worried about when the healers would find this house. If they did not find it soon, then there would be little chance of her children surviving the week out.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. She quickly went to answer it.

“Good evening madam. I have been sent by the healer’s chapterhouse to deal with any cases of plague. I believe some of your relatives are stricken with the malady?" asked a young woman hidden by a large dark cloth cloak.

“Come in.” offered the desperate woman.

That night there were screams across the streets of Rhaeadr.