The Vampires of Ravila

Sky’s eyes widened, then narrowed on the Elder. She was about to pull the sword the rest of the of the way from its sheath when Scottie put a hand on her arm. She looked to him and he shook his head. Sky scowled and sheathed her sword.

The Elder’s icy demeanor melted and he threw his hands in the air, laughing enthusiastically, “See! So much more civilized! Now we can speak. So, what brings you two here after spending…” he sniffed, “one night in the company of the Builders?”

Scottie settled back in his seat and casually regarded the Elder. Sky settled back as well, but she was still visibly tense. Scottie left his hand on her arm as he addressed the Elder, “We did enjoy the hospitality of the Builders and took part in a dance for the Hanging Festival. I’m surprised they actually hang criminals. They could turn them over to you for a public draining and save a mint on rope.”

The Elder waved his hand dismissively, but his eyes rolled and a dreamy look crossed the heavy coat of stage make-up that had been spackled to his face, “Ah, that we could. Unfortunately being known about publicly and showing our public face are two entirely separate ideas. You see, most people have learned to accept vampires as a fact of life as long as we keep our activities confined to our quarter and out of sight.”

Scottie leaned forward in his chair, nodding slowly in agreement, “I can see how that works. Why did the vampire community ever make itself known in the first place? It must have been an awfully risky move.”

The Elder’s drawn on brows arched and his mouth broke into a wide grin, revealing his elongated canines as they dropped from his gums. He clearly seemed to enjoy telling this tale, “Ooh, well, we must go back quite a ways. You see, my family has controlled this quarter of the city since it was a fishing village. Let’s see, I was turned 300 years ago, and back then all of this was called the Bludeau Quarter. When the Empire fell many city-states went to war in the ensuing chaos, and several made a play for Ravila.”

He batted his eyes and tilted his head, pressing his hand to his chest as he wistfully recalled, “I was simply a humble actor when war came to Ravila. The Elder at the time rounded up all of the vampires and told us we would not get involved. But as I saw my homeland under seige, I challenged him for the leadership of Ravila.” The Elder’s voice turned cold and deep, his soft features hardening again as he growled, “And I ripped his head off.”

The temperature in the theater seemed to drop 20 degrees when he said that, but as quickly as it had the Elder brightened up, discarded that memory and moved on, “And with that we attacked at night and helped to repel our enemies. We were content to keep it to that one battle, but another army came, and another. Finally I revealed our existence to just the Ravilan war council. At first they had been horrified, but when I demonstrated our usefulness to keeping Ravila free by bringing them the spines of 20 officers of the next army as they slept, they embraced us…”

He tittered girlishly, “Excuse the expression.” and continued on, “It had been agreed to keep the secret to Ravila’s military success within the war council, but it inevitably leaked. The humans do what they often do when they learn of our existence. They ignore it, they come to terms with it, or they hunt us. To my surprise, and that should mean something because humans rarely surprise me anymore, most chose to accept us. Those that came to terms with it started calling it the Blood Quarter. And yet there are those choose to hunt us. They don’t live long, poor fools.”

There was no hint of malice in his voice at those last sentences. It was just the way it was. Scottie sat back in his chair, mulling over this new information, “And how does the Church fit into all of this?”

The Elder’s features hardened again and his cold blue eyes narrowed on them, “We once had a mutually beneficial arrangement with the Church. Now they move against us. Which brings me to a question of my own.” He growled, “What are you doing with the Church and why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”