A Scale of Sapphire

Aoife

There was a vampire sucking on Cass’ arm.

There could be stranger things to come home to. I guess.

….

At least everything seemed consensual.

Erica and I had been on our way back from a hunting trip, hauling back the corpse of some giant weird chicken thing, when I smelled blood. Human blood. In an instant, I was fully transformed, soaring up above the treetops and powering my way towards our little complex, but considering the scene before me, it seems that was entirely unnecessary. I landed with a brief stumble a few feet away, trotting towards the two as my draconic form began to slowly melt away. Cass extracted herself from the vampire’s grip and turned to look at me.

“Aoife, you’re back! Good hunt, I hope?”

“I- Uh, yeah!”

Were we not going to address the elephant in the room? There was a vampire, currently tied up in vines, licking her lips clean of Cass’ blood. She cocked her head at me inquisitively.

“You’re a dragon…”

“Umm…” I was entirely unprepared for this conversation. “Yep, I guess I am…”

The vampire tilted her head the other way, smiling languidly. Her pupils practically filled her wide eyes as she stared at me.

“I wonder what you taste like…”

…

What?

…

“Probly like… if I dipped a lizard in cinnamon and sugar… nice…”

Oh.

She was high.

“Maybe we shouldn’t try and find that out today, ok? My name’s Aoife, what’s yours?”

Basic getting to know you stuff, should be simple. Clearly, whatever situation had been going on before had resolved itself, now I just needed to figure out who I was dealing with.

“Um. Huh…” She flopped forwards in her restraints for a moment before leaning back once again. “It’s supposed to be, like Ethan, right..? It’s kinda stupid… Never liked that name much…”

“You never liked it much? Meaning…”

“I dunno. Jus’ never fit right. Why couldn’t I have a cool name like Evelyn or Sabrina or something? Instead I’m stuck with fuckin’ Ethan…”

At some point during our exchange, Willow had returned and was helping Cass to patch herself up. Now though, after hearing that, she dropped what she was doing and just stared at us both.

“You’re kidding me. Another egg?!?”

Ethan(?)

Getting lil’ drippies of blood was good, but drinking from the source was waaaaaaaayyyyy better. I felt like I was floating, and everything was just… perfect. The nice lady had taken her arm away now though, and she was talkin’ to her friends. They were so little, too! A teensy lil’ dragon, and an even littler fairy. Cute kiddos, good kiddos.

The fairy was sayin’ something about eggs. I didn’t really get that, but I didn’t really care either. I was a little sad that I couldn’t eat eggs anymore though.

Oh my god.

I couldn’t eat cakes either!!!!!!!

Willow

The vampire was crying.

What do you even do in this situation? Was this gender stuff or something else? I zipped over, hovering just out of reach.

“H-hey, what’s wrong? What happened?” They just wept. “It’s ok. You can tell us. We want to help.”

They looked up at me, bloody tears running down their face.

“I-I can’t…” Another sob wracked their body. “I can’t eat cake anymore!”

What?

“You were talkin’ about eggs n’ stuff, a-and that made me think of cakes, and I tried eating a chocolate bar once after all this h-h-happened, and it made me really sick… what do I do on my birthday..?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but thankfully, Cass had it covered. She walked back over to our eggy vampire, putting a hand on their head. She smiled warmly at them.

“Let me ask you this. What tastes better to you, cake or blood?”

The reply was instant.

“Blood!”

“And what about… chocolate or blood?”

“Blood!”

“Ok, now imagine your favorite dessert in the whole world. Would you  rather have that or blood?”

“Hmm… prolly blood.”

“You remember what blood tasted like before you changed, right?” They nodded. “Knowing that, would you genuinely rather go back to the way you were before?”

That gave them pause. They froze there, completely still for several minutes. They looked like a corpse again. Eventually, slowly, they locked eyes with Cass once more.

“Yes.”

Cass just raised an eyebrow.

“I like how blood tastes… It’s really, really good. I like that I look like a woman, even if I know I’m not one. I like that I feel strong and graceful and light on my feet.”

“But…” Cass prompted.

“But I hurt people. To survive, I have to hurt people, and when I haven’t had any blood for a while, it doesn’t matter who it is.”

They sounded dead.

“That doesn’t mea-”

“I killed my wife.”

Flat. Monotone.

“I killed my wife while our son was watching. I couldn’t stop myself. Barely even knew what I was doing. I only realized after the fact.”

“That wasn’t you’re fa-”

“I tried to apologize. Tried to say something. What could I say though? What could possibly make things right? Matt grabbed a knife. He tried to kill me for what I did. I wanted to let him, but my body acted on its own. Before I knew it, I jumped through the window and ran away. When I came back to look for him later, he was gone.”

They looked at each of us in turn.

“It doesn’t matter if I like this body. It doesn’t matter if the blood tastes good. I don’t deserve it. At least if I was human my first thoughts when I saw you wouldn’t be wondering how your blood would taste. I’m a monster, and I don’t deserve to be happy.”

“Willow let her go.”

“But-”

“Now!”

I whispered to the grass and vines, and they released their grip on them. Freed from their bindings, they collapsed on the ground, hunched over and crying weakly. Cass just sat down in front of them, pulling them into a tight hug.

“You didn’t hurt me. I fed you because I wanted to. You didn’t hurt me, and you won’t hurt me now. You’re safe here, and we’re all plenty safe from you. I promise.”

Matt

Sweat dripped down my face as I swung again and again and again.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Chelsea danced backwards, her practice sword a blur as she fended off my attacks. I continued to press my advantage, striking hard and fast over and over again, wearing her out. Then, suddenly, I was swinging at air. I’d gotten cocky, again, and I’d left myself open. Before I knew it, she’d darted off to the side, and the edge of her practice sword was brushing lightly against my stomach.

“That makes it 7-3!”

She stepped back with an exaggerated bow.

“6-3! I’m still not counting the time you fuckin’ pocket sanded me!”

“All’s fair in love and war, Matt, and that includes pocket sand.”

“Ugh…” I stepped back as well, wiping my brow with my sleeve. “I don’t get it. How are you not exhausted?”

“Because you still haven’t figured out why they won’t let you be a hunter.”

“Oh yeah? And why is that?”

“Because monsters are stronger than you. They’re stronger, bigger, faster, and more deadly in every conceivable way. No amount of potions is gonna make up for that. The only edge we have is in smarts. Be clever, be tricksy, and use everything you have. You’re stronger than me, so instead of blocking directly, I dodge and redirect, you fight all straightforward, swing after swing after swing, so I wait for you to tucker yourself out, you don’t pay enough attention to your surroundings, so I throw sand in your eyes. Fight smarter, Matt, not harder.”

Together, we walked to a nearby bench and sat down, watching the other guards and hunters train. We might have guns, but ammo wasn’t infinite. Melee training was standard for every capable fighter in sunrise, and you were expected to depend on your blade before your bullets. I guess she was kind of right. I was brute forcing my way through our fights, and that wouldn’t fly against an ogre or something. If I really wanted to get back at the thing that killed mom, I had to be smarter.

“Chelsea, would you be willing to teach me? To fight like you do?”

She smiled.

“Sure Matt, you should know though, I’m a pretty brutal teacher.”

I stood and bowed to her.

“I am your humble student.”

“Dork.”

I winked. I’d be a hunter yet.