As Kain woke, he had to admit - much as he didn't want to - that he felt a good deal better. The desire to feed was still there... but it was considerably less than what it had been when he agreed to sleep. It would seem that Seras had been correct, after all - sleep did indeed bring respite and healing, and cut back their bodies demands for blood.
He just knew she was going to be insufferable after this.
Opening the lid of his coffin, he stretched, and then looked around, and wondered, for a moment, if he had somehow ended up in a different tomb.
Paintings now adorned the walls of his crypt, interspersed with a few magical lamps providing a soft light. The north wall also now played host to a sturdy writing desk, complete with a chair. It took Kain several moments to realize that all these things were objects he had seen at Nupraptor's Retreat... but how did they end up here?!
Well, really, there was only one answer to that, wasn't there?
"SERAS!" Kain Roared as he stalked from his chamber into the main part of the crypt.
It was no better out there.
The chamber he stepped into was not the dark, oppressive place he remembered, but a clean, well lit chamber. A small table with a decorative vase stood in one corner - something that had no place in a crypt such as his. Kain stormed up the stairs to the next room.
Here, a set of decorative screens divided a room that once held two other coffins - obviously, Seras had claimed the greater portion of this chamber as her own room. Like the other chambers, it was now cleaned, illuminated by soft magical lamps, and decorated with a couple of artistic pieces.
Entering into the fourth of the inner chambers, he finally found where Seras' alterations ended. This room too was cleaned and lit, but held new furnishings, rather than artwork. A couch rested along the southern wall, a bookshelf was shoved away in the eastern alcove, and a small table and a pair of chairs rested in the middle of the room.
It was at the table that Seras Victoria sat, apparently trying to decipher some text she had gotten from who-knows-where. Turning to his bellow, she smiled. "Oh, are you awake now? I was beginning to think that you had really passed on. Like what I've done with the place?"
Kain stared at her speechless for a few seconds. "What is all this?! What did you do? How did you do this?"
"This..." she said, waving her arms around to indicate the entire place, "Is now a place more livable. Not that we are alive, but that doesn't mean we need to surround ourselves with death while we sleep. And I needed something to do while you slept..."
Kain glared at the female vampire. "I thought you were going to purchase your own coffin and then sleep, yourself."
Seras nodded. "Oh, I did. It was easier than I thought it would be - playing the 'outraged relative' over the poor condition of a distant cousin's coffin... and the grave diggers were more than willing to look the other way for a few coins."
"That still doesn't explain how you did all this in the time I was asleep!"
Seras suddenly realized what the problem was. "Oh, didn't you realize? Kain... you must have been pushing yourself far, far beyond what you should have been... you've been asleep for eight days."
"WHAT?!"
Seras nodded. "That's right, eight days. That's what you get when don't sleep regularly, I guess. We can last longer than humans, but we do really need to take at least a few hours of sleep every few days."
Kain scowled at Seras, but she paid it no mind as she continued her explanation. "Anyway, when I realized you weren't going to wake up anytime soon, I decided to clean up this place - washing the walls was the easy part. Then I decided to get a few decoration, and some furniture... well, I raided Nupraptor's place for most of it. Would you believe that the people of Vasserbünde still don't know that the old codger's dead? Not even the thieves have risked breaking into the keep. And it wasn't like the former owner needed any of this... so I brought it here. I also raided his vault a few more times, to make a few purchases of things I couldn't take."
Kain shook his head in wonder. "But how did you get these things here, so quickly?"
Seras shrugged. "I did a little experimenting... as long as I can lift something, it will transform with me when I change into a colony of bats. I'd suspect the same holds true for you."
Kain nodded, lost in thought for a moment. "That is good to know..."
"So, I did some redecorating. I also had my uniform fixed to the best the locals could manage, and got us both some new clothes. Although yours might be a bit big... I had to guess on the size. I also got myself some hard, studded leather, so there's something a bit more substantial between me and whatever wants to hurt me, than simple cloth."
Kain just shook his head in wonder at what the woman had done with eight uncontested day in his crypt. "And... what are you doing, now?"
Seras shrugged again, and sighed. "I'm trying to decipher this book. I'm glad to know that the local written language is enough like my own to read it, but this old script... I still can't make heads nor tails of it."
"The old blood script is a rare form of writing," Kain admitted. "Few these days would possess the skills needed to read it."
Seras sighed again, and stood up. "So, now that you are up and about, I guess it's time to head to this Malek's place?"
Kain shook his head at that. "Not... quite yet. It has obviously waited for more than a week already... another day or two shall not matter. Instead, I think it best if I pass on the magic and skills I have learned... starting with how to read the Blood Script."
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(Posted Mon, 28 Mar 2005 22:52)
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