Tainted

[Revyia]

Days had bled into months that had bled into… however long it had been since she’d last brought herself back into the light of the moon. Her time as a returned vampire had not gone as planned. She had attempted to assimilate back into the living, but each time it had proved too much for her to overcome and she’d succumbed back into the Earth. There was a comfort to being there, surrounded by nothing but dirt and the living beings who dwell therein.


The Fade had been a horrific experience, one that had stripped all of the strength and will from her until there was nothing left. Almost nothing. She hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of the modern world on her feeble senses when she had returned. It was one thing to witness the world while it could not touch you, another thing entirely to be of flesh. So, Revyia had fled, multiple times, returning to a place where she could recuperate.


And so she rose again. Her body fighting off the long slumber she’d forced upon it as the desire to feed became greater. It always did, her nature not allowing her to suppress it forever. Sometimes she would claw her way up only long enough to satiate the beast inside of her, while other times she wandered back towards the city in an attempt to try again.

---

The ground around her started to feel more of an imprisonment than a place of safety. She was emaciated and she felt every day since her last feeding.


Heartbeats. She could feel them vibrating through the earth. Their sound carries through, thumping in her ears until her fangs descended. It was maddening. Far too much for her to take in her current state.


The elder vampire began to dig her way out of her self imprisonment. Unkempt fingernails tearing at the dirt until moonlight found its way down into her grave. Oh how she had missed it. It was moments like this that made her wonder how anything could be severe enough to make her hide away from something so beautiful.


The pause was slight. The newly created opening brought with it the scent of human. The sound of beating hearts magnified in her ears. Revyia wasted no time in digging herself the rest of the way out.

---

There was no path to be followed, but she could feel her way to Harper Rock without one. It pulled her, much as it had while she had remained in the Fade. The hunters she had drained had little on them that was of any use to her. The weapons she had carried had laid in the dirt with her through her slumber and were hers again. The ratty old hunter’s cloak that she’d stolen soon after regaining her flesh had not arisen with her this time. Too many days sitting in the dirt. Too many worms and other beings taking their fill of the fabric. Nothing had remained when she had risen up other than a nice sheen of dirt.


Out of the trees, the road to Harper Rock lay waiting for her. She wore no shoes, her hair was an unkempt mess that barely resembled hair at all, complete with dirt and twigs. The ruined jacked she had replaced with a plaid shirt stolen from the camping humans that had awoken her. It was more a dress than a shirt on her, but still hardly what one would call appropriate. It wasn’t of any concern to the elder vampire, other than her desire to not attract too much attention.