Seira Navillera often thought about the various encounters she’s had with different people throughout her entire life; whether or not most of them were sheer coincidence or fated was a question she was unable to answer, but when it came to one person in particular—a woman whose aura remained the same, even in spite of her countless visuals—the vampire was almost certain that it’d been a promised meeting, something neither of them had agreed to and yet here they were.

It was night time again (she rarely left the house when the sun was still up nowadays) and Seira was wandering around the outskirts of Baska Town almost cluelessly. She didn’t have a place she needed to visit, no destination in particular and yet something inside her made her leave the four walls she’d been hiding within for the longest time only to see what was perhaps waiting for her.  

It was quiet inside the forest and even the usually noisy wildlife had been silenced by the presence of a predator. Seira hadn’t hunted animals for blood in a very long time (she very much prefered humans, as did any other vampire), but the instincts of lesser creatures were not to be fooled. Seira had no explanation as to why she kept wandering around in the dark all by herself, she only knew that if she were to stay inside her chambers for even another hour, she would have certainly gone crazy.

And she couldn’t afford losing her mind yet.

The woman remained relatively unfazed by her surroundings and merely enjoyed the cool breeze against her skin, until the wind carried a strangely familiar scent into her direction—an intoxicating fragrance sparked with a foreign essence she wouldn’t come to understand until she actually saw the person emerging from the darkness.

Out of all the people she could have stumbled upon, the vampyress came face to face with the one person that you could say was her weakness (because her other two potential weaknesses were dead and gone). During the time between now and when they last met, Seira was always on her mind, but in the back because normally she had bigger but short-term concerns. The younger vampyress seemed lost, as if she had wandered into the forest with no aim. Despite all the bullshit that she had gone through, Joan remembered Seira, and she knew what her role was to her.

It was a rest day for Joan. She had no work to do, nor did she receive any letters requesting her help. Those were usually from Mattoro. He was either dying or surviving, and the vampyress was not the least bit concerned about his health. Though she knew that if he ended up living, he would have one last request for her. Her mind was somewhat clouded with these thoughts, although they weren’t affecting her mental health. Joan stood in the shadows within the forest, eyes fixed onto a spot on the ground. It was around this time that she caught the familiar scent. Ears perked up as her back straightened. She knew who this scent belonged to.

Taking a few steps forward, Joan was surprised to see the person standing right in front of her. “Seira…” she said in a shaky voice and almost fell onto the petite girl as she attempted to give her a hug. Detaching herself from Seira after a long hug, she would take a good look at the girl before she continued speaking. “You look just like you did last time. Come, walk with me. I have lots to tell you,” she said, somewhat excited.

”It’s you—” Seira began and her voice became a little shaky. Bianca Fleur of Phantom Lord—a name she would certainly never forget—was the vampire who had turned her and thus changed her entire life (mostly for the better, although there were a lot of different aspects to be considered). They ran into each other from time to time and none of their meetings had ever been planned. Seira never knew where this woman was, what her intentions were and whether or not she meant harm; she seemed friendly in her approach, but the younger woman was too careful and suspicious of her even in spite of that.

”You changed again,” she remarked and gently squeezed the other woman, ”you seem to do that quite often.” Seira didn’t mind the visual changes, she actually found them rather interesting. She knew that changing one's appearance was possible with the use of magical potions, but Seira had no interest in doing such a thing unless she really needed to for the sake of her own protection. When Bianca offered to take her on a walk, she happily accepted.

”It’s been a long time since you’ve last visited me,” said Seira and looked over to her fellow vampire as they walked. She was the only other person whom she knew of that was exactly like her—another vampire. She treasured their bond because of that, even though it was still always fragile. ”Are you still a part of Phantom Lord?”

Seira seemed...tense, although Joan could understand why she would be this way. After all, she wasn’t able to take care of her while she was turning, nor was she able to watch over her in any way. Despite the fact that Seira could take care of herself, Joan knew what it must have felt like to be lonely when too many things were happening to her at once, because she had gone through it as well. Seira noticed how she had changed, but to Joan, nothing had changed. This was biggest mystery she was trying to solve at the time being. “See, that’s something I don’t know. In my mind, I have always been this way. Call me by a name I don’t remember having,” she chuckled.

Joan only knew most of this because of a fellow guildmate and she had just started her research to find out what exactly what happened to her. But she didn’t want Seira to get involved, thus why she decided to laugh it off, although of course, the way she said it would probably raise some questions. They began to walk along a path in the forest, side by side like they once did in the forest next to the Hargeon Beach. It was the time she turned Seira. It felt like such a long time ago.

Even though a lot had happened, Joan was glad that they could have a normal conversation to catch up on each others’ lives. That was something special she had with Seira. They were family, in a way, and that would never change. “That’s true. I was in a coma for some time.” That was basically what happened, and she felt like Seira needed to know this. “And yes I am. Tell me what you have been up to this whole time?” Averting her gaze towards her company, Joan gave her a small smile.

When Seira learned of Bianca’s coma, she was visibly surprised.

”That’s unfortunate,” the younger woman spoke softly. ”I’m glad you’re okay now—memory loss isn’t nice, but at least you remember me,” she chuckled and shrugged it off. Seira wasn’t sure what exactly it was that Bianca couldn’t remember, but clearly she hadn’t forgotten about what happened such a long time ago in Hargeon Town. As the only other vampire her well-being was rather important to her and Seira wanted to make sure that she knew what she was doing. Of course being the older being between the two of them gave her more experience, but the whole coma incident troubled her a little bit.

When she asked Seira about her life, the girl hesitated for a moment before responding. In the end, she decided to tell her Maker the truth. ”Busy, to say the least. I’ve found a lover—a decently strong human who allows me to feed on him, it’s pure bliss,” a wide smile crept across her face, the mere thought of Finn’s silly face popping up in her mind made her happy.  

”He makes me very happy. What about yourself? What name do you call yourself by now?” She decided not to mention Blue Pegasus for now, unsure as to how she’d react. Back in the day Bianca used to be a member of the Phantom Lord guild already (and apparently still was), but with her coma and partial loss of memories Seira didn’t know whether or not she even still remembered trying to recruit her.

Joan laughed along with Seira when she mentioned the fact that Joan remembered her. “To be honest, I remember everything, except for what people remember about me...I guess. It’s complicated.” She didn’t want to talk about it, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted Seira to know. She was the only person Joan felt genuinely comfortable around; the only person she could trust without considering the risks. The older vampyress threw her hands back, lacing her fingers as her lips curled into a smirk as soon as Seira talked about her lover.

“I see. You should be careful with that...love thing. Fucked me up pretty bad,” she laughed. Every time she thought about it, she felt numb and empty, but putting up an act as if it didn’t affect her was probably the best for now. She didn’t want Seira to think that she was troubled, or weak. ‘He makes me very happy.’ Joan knew what this felt like, but she wasn’t going to talk about it. “If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Within the next few seconds, Joan was having somewhat of a dilemma. She was being very careful with what she told Seira, although she felt like sharing everything there was to share with her. The reason she was being cautious was not because she didn’t trust Seira.

“Joan,” said the vampyress with a smile. “I’m going through a hard time trying to figure something out and I can’t handle it alone. So I’m trying to get someone to help me with it. It’s stressing me out, but with help I’m sure it’ll be less of a pain.” There, she said it. Joan regretted what she said immediately. She shouldn’t have laid it out on Seira like that, but now that she had said it, she felt helpless.

Joan.

It was a beautiful name and of course it suited its owner. Seira was beginning to feel a little different about the entire situation and the woman before her; although they’d never had the chance to properly bond over the similarities they shared, never once had Seira felt as though Joan was a threat to her life or someone she couldn’t trust. In fact, she couldn’t help but notice that the older vampire always wanted the best for her, and when she revealed her relationship status (which was a somewhat difficult topic), Joan was being supportive.

”You’re not wrong, I’ve made that experience before,” she said with a smile on her lips and a heavy sigh, ”I guess even vampires can’t always live without love. We’re not that different from humans after all, sometimes.”

Seira frowned when she listened to what Joan had to say next; none of those things made sense and it was clear that she was struggling with getting her point across—whether that was due to a trauma, fear or simply loss of words was a complete mystery to the Blue Pegasus mage. “If you’d like to tell me, I’m willing to listen. I don’t know if I can help you though, depending on the situation.” The night was still young and the weather was calm. If Joan allowed it, they still had plenty of time to talk about things.

After a while of walking, Joan stopped at a clearing within the forest, one where the moonlight shone down on. Looking upwards, she admired the beauty of the night sky. She felt like these were the kind of moments she needed to keep herself sane. “Being a vampyre intensifies everything. When we love, we love hard,” she said. Bringing her hands from her back and folding them over her chest, she continued. “And when we hurt, we hurt more.” Joan believed this because she had proof -- her whole experience was enough to support this statement. All the things she had to go through because of something so insignificantly stupid, or so she thought.

The moment she had been dreading for the past minute came and the Phantom struggled to find words to patch up her mistake. Seira was offering help, which was very sweet of her, but Joan knew that she couldn’t bring her into this mess. “Oh no, dear. You really don’t have to worry about me. Things happen and I know I’ll be better when it’s over.” There, she did it again -- making it more obvious that she needed help, and covering it up very poorly. Taking a deep breath, she gazed up at the sky once more.

“I really appreciate you offering help. I just don’t want you to worry -- about me, or anything. I’ve already contacted another vampyre, too, so all will be well,” she said, turning to face Seira with a weak smile.

Seira’s eyes caught glimpse of a beautiful forest clearing ahead of them and it seemed as though Joan was heading towards the same location. ”It’s nice here,” she murmured and glanced around—she’d been unaware that Baska Town could be so beautiful at night. Otherwise, there was hardly anything remarkable about this place and if it wasn’t for Finn, she would have certainly left already a long time ago.

When Joan explained the heightened senses of a vampire—which were both, a blessing and a curse—she nodded quietly in agreement. She’d noticed something similar happening to her after her transformation and everything had become much more intense, perhaps even too much to handle. Seira had never thought about how vampires were created outside of her own story and whether or not there were vampires who were born as such, so when Joan mentioned another one of their kind her ears immediately perked up.

”You know someone else who’s like us?" She asked right away, with an expression of confusion taking place on her pretty face. ”Who are they? And where are they? And what exactly is it that you need them for?” Seira’s voice had taken on a higher note—it was a sign of distress.

Seira seemed to like the spot that they were standing in. Joan couldn’t agree more. She loved the feeling of being exposed during the nighttime, basking in the light of the half moon. It made her feel stronger. “It is,” she said, in agreement to what Seira said. “Though I came here for specific reasons. I’ll probably leave as soon as I can.” A laugh followed, and now they were on the topic of the ‘other vampire’. Joan honestly didn’t know how she was going to talk about Adelaide to Seira, but she was able to weave together an explanation.

Joan noticed the change of pitch in Seira’s voice. This meant that she was either concerned or unhappy after hearing what she was just told. “Yes of course I do, Seira.” She cleared her throat and shoved her hands into her pockets, a gesture that meant that she was going to do some serious explaining. “Her name is Adelaide. She is from Fiore as well, but she is currently in a different country. Minstrel, to be precise. But she is different from us. We--” Joan stiffly made a gesture to emphasize what she was saying, “--aren’t as powerful as vampyres like Adelaide. She’s what you could call a pureblood. Born from two vampyres.”

It was probably too much for Seira to take in at the moment, since this was brand new information. Joan never really had the time to tell her about all these things, but she was doing it now and she hoped that Seira wasn’t upset with her. “I’ve planned to invite her back to Fiore so that she can help me. One of the reasons I’m in Baska, is because I know that if she even considers coming here, she’ll want to know what the vampyres here are up to.” This was the complete truth. Joan had been gathering information to present to Adelaide in the letter she would write to her as an invitation -- well, more like a request. “I’d really like her to meet you when she gets here.”

The atmosphere had changed within that very moment; it was an abrupt shift in the air and suddenly their meeting under the stars felt final. Seira’s eyes widened, shock and surprise tinted her lilac orbs and Joan’s words were followed by an eerie silence.

Impossible.

She had never, not once, considered the fact that vampires could after all reproduce with one another—it was a shocking discovery, mostly because she learned that she wasn’t as strong as she could have been. Seira didn’t think that there was something beyond the power she already possessed and although she certainly wasn’t arrogant or prideful, she knew she was strong. Knowing that there was someone far stronger out there scared her.

Furthermore, she’d never thought of vampires as creatures capable of reproducing with anyone—it was something she completely ignored when being together with Finn. ”I had no idea,” she finally spoke breathlessly, ”to think that there was so much more I did not know.” The smile that had formed during their previous conversation had completely faded.

Adelaide.

A name that reeked of power and mischief.

”You are bringing pureblood vampires from other countries into ours? What for?” Seira’s voice was calm still, but she had uncertainty written all over her. Truth be told, the petite girl wasn’t a fighter—she never had been—so when a threat presented itself, she grew nervous and anxious.

The expression on Seira’s small face showed Joan exactly what she was feeling right now. Of course she had expected this to happen and now that it had, she had to make sure that Seira wouldn’t freak out and do something unreasonable. With a scoff, the vampyress said, “The more you know.” It was said in a joking manner, another poor attempt to ease things up. She gave Seira some time to process this information, while she watched her facial expressions shift. It seemed she wasn’t done with explaining because Seira had more questions for her.

“Well, like I said. I need help and she is the first person I can think of who can actually help me. She has way more experience than I do and there’s no harm in bringing her to Fiore. This is where she was born, so it’d be like she was returning home.” This was all very weird, to say the least. Joan had no idea how she wanted to put these sentences together but her mouth was working on its own now. “I’m in a very difficult situation right now, and I’m only reaching out to her because I can’t handle it on my own.”

There was more to Adelaide than what Joan was saying about her. Beating around the bush about the purpose she wanted Adelaide here wasn’t really working, since Seira kept asking about it. “You don’t have to be scared, Seira. She won’t hurt you. She would never hurt her own kind unless there was a reason to.”

”I’m not sure how I feel about all of this,” Seira was stating her concerns, ”but I will trust you with this one. I’m sure you know what you are doing.” Joan wasn’t a child anymore—she was clearly older than Seira, and even in spite of their inhuman blood she’d always known that the vampire who turned her was more experienced in the many aspects of life. Surely she knew what she was doing. “I understand, I guess. If that’s what you have to do then I won’t stand in your way,” Seira wasn’t going to make this any more difficult for the other woman. She could tell by a look into her face that Joan was already struggling to find the right words and she even felt a little bit bad for her.

Seira had never met another vampire—let alone a pureblood vampire—and the thought worried her a little bit. From what she could tell, Joan’s feeding habits weren’t as controlled as her own (but then again, Seira was lucky to have Finn after all) and having too many vampires in one place might make everything more difficult. She kept her race a secret from anyone, unless there was a reason for her to reveal herself.

”I will run into her eventually, I suppose,” she said with a shrug and a heavy sigh rolled over her tongue. The night had gotten unexpectedly complicated and Seira would need some time to think all of this through. ”Whatever it is that you have to do with the help of that other vampire.. I wish you the best of luck with it.”

The Phantom realised her mistake as soon as she saw Seira’s reaction, but it was too late now. She couldn’t take it back, or say that she was just joking. It was all true, and it was better that Seira knew this from her instead of someone else who could possibly harm her. Adelaide wasn’t going to harm her own kind, but she wasn’t exactly someone who cared for them either. If anyone did so much as give her negative vibes, there was no hope for that person. Joan trusted Seira wouldn’t do anything stupid like that, but there was a voice in the back of her mind that said that anything could happen.

Joan made sure to write about Seira in the letter for Adelaide, to make sure that she kept her hands off the girl. If Joan didn’t want Seira to be hurt, Adelaide would surely keep her hands off of Seira. But there was the big ‘unless’. Unless Seira crossed her. Unless Joan crossed her. Unless Adelaide thought both of them were not worth living.

“Thank you for trusting me,” said Joan, wild thoughts running rampant in her mind. From talking about Adelaide -- a friend she was reaching out to for help -- now she was feeling regret. Looking on the bright side, if Adelaide looked at both of them in a positive light, then there was no reason to worry at all in the first place. Now Joan had to make sure of that. When Seira wished her good luck, she couldn’t help but smile. She appreciated it, and she also appreciated that she wasn’t pushing further to ask more about it.

“Thank you,” said Bianca, reaching for a hug if Seira would allow. “I guess this is goodbye for now. If you don’t mind traveling a bit, come see me at the Phantom Lord guild at Oak Town. I’m there most of the time.” She didn’t add the fact that she was the guildmaster of Phantom Lord because she didn’t want to seem braggy, or the fact that there was a higher chance that she was probably not going to be there.

The truth was that Joan simply wanted Seira to see her home. She had been trying to get her to come home with her, but because of her lack of skill when it came to convincing people, it failed every time, and now Seira was affiliated to a guild that was on the opposing side. Assuming they hugged, Joan would squeeze Seira gently before releasing her from her hold. She was taller and generally bigger, which made it seem like a mother hugging her daughter.

Little did she know, that this was their last goodbye. And in three years, if Seira ever decided to visit her guild at Oak Town, she wouldn’t find Joan.

It’s strange, the vampire thought to herself, lilac orbs focused on the person before them; the other woman carried with her an aura that was unlike anything—or anyone—she had ever seen. Joan’s vibes were difficult to explain, mostly because there were so many facades beneath her pretty face. Seira always found it hard to pinpoint her intentions and she knew for certain that the sorceress of Phantom Lord wasn’t good by any means—nor was she evil. She happened to exist above and beyond those things and what exactly her purpose in life was seemed impossible to tell.    

Perhaps once I meet Adelaide she will tell me more about herself.

When Joan brought Seira in for a hug, she did not resist. “You don’t have to thank me for anything,” she began, explaining what she’d thought of many times before, “you’re the one who made me like this. It’s nothing I asked for, but I couldn’t imagine my life without it anymore.” Seira was grateful for being made a vampire, she was grateful for becoming stronger and it was all because this woman had chosen her. “One day I will be able to make it up to you, and I will definitely visit you in Oak Town, just you wait for me.” She returned her squeeze with one of her own and sighed quietly.

As they stood under the moonlight the world around them fell silent.

It was a peculiar feeling, one Seira could hardly describe—the embrace they shared felt final and for reasons she couldn’t explain the girl was too afraid to let go. She found comfort in the way Joan treated her, almost as if they had always been this close. She never realized how much she still appreciated the existence of these emotions, even if her human partner wasn’t the source of them. Perhaps she had been too focused on the same person for too long to understand that life had more to offer than just that.  

“Be careful,” she whispered, “you have to promise me that.”