Into That Darkness Peering

[On Vampirism:

In a perfect world, the detective doesn't have to worry about the extra-normal. We'd have pony magic, changeling magic, and that'd be the end of it. But I live up the street from a mare who has occasional tea with the tyrant of chaos, and my girlfriend has dalliances with vampires, so I have to prepare to contend with these things.

Vampirism is easy enough to spot once you've seen it. All imitations seem pale. Everything is just... hungrier, is I guess the way to put it. You feel that subtle tug before they ever bite into you, and that odd coldness. It's not quite evil - more, sad. Like they've had something warm taken and need to borrow a bit from you.

If you know a vampire who isn't a jerk, by all means contribute. It's a rewarding experience. But don't take anything but a thank-you in return. It'll lead to... complications.

-Scarlet]

“For the record, in this as in all things are there layers of meaning,” reads a note beneath, “I have met more vampires than one, and there are as many types as there are types of other ponies. It is hard to categorize everypony with fangs when you have some yourself.” There is an accompanying doodle of a batpony with her mouth wide open as if ready to bite, her fangs glinting in the light.

Perique sighed and smiled as she carefully brought the mug of coffee up to her lips. She was grateful for the day off, and grateful for a morning to herself.

Sure, things were generally quiet in the shop until a bit after noon, but it was hard to be completely relaxed there. No matter how much she worked to make it home, it was always going to be Work, and relaxing at Work wasn’t exactly something one did.

And she had tried, to be fair. The Ponyville Squire was probably better furnished then some homes, with plush chairs and all of the rustic charm she could cram into a handful of broad rooms.

The day was laid out neatly in front of her. Breakfast was well over, coffee had been brewed, work had been done on the new manuscript, and she had a host of books to occupy her until lunch. Perhaps Scarlet would be free for dinner. Humming, she mentally added that last item to her to-do list for the day. Scarlet’s company was always an excellent way to end a holiday.

It was then that a few hasty knocks rapped against her front door.

She blinked. She wasn’t exactly a hermit, and did occasionally have guests. But it was an unusual thing to have them uninvited. Had she forgotten some thing?

“Er, hello?” she called. “Who is it?”

A voice, but muffled. More insistent knocking. She set her mug down and walked over to open her door.

Scarlet was standing there mid-knock and almost fell over from the force of her own needy momentum. But then she righted herself and coughed. “Oh, hi! Um. Food.”

Perique blinked.

“Food? Did you forget to get groceries at marketday?”

Scarlet blinked back.

Perique shrugged, chuckled, and ushered her in. “Well, love, I was going to be making lunch in an hour or so, if you’d like to join me.”

Scarlet whined. “But ‘m so hungry.”

There was something… off about her. Just something, not any particular obvious thing. It was more that her whole demeanor seemed altered. Perique’s brow furrowed, and somewhere in the back of her head a bit of her that was forever a ranger reared its head.

“Well,” she said slowly. “I could make you something.”

“Fish? Fish is good. I like fish.” Scarlet’s stomach growled. “Fish.”

“I do happen to have some,” Perique replied. “Are you alright?”

But Scarlet didn’t answer. Her attention had moved on and she was already nesting in her favorite chair, bought specifically for her about a year ago. It was worn almost to pieces, well used and well loved. The normalcy of this behavior eased the little knot of tension in her chest. Just a hungry, eccentric little mare with her mind on other things.

So she retrieved her coffee and set about making an early lunch. She would have something else for lunch, but she supposed checking off the last item on her list hours early was a good way to use up her stores.

After she’d served Scarlet and sat comfortably across from her as she ate like, frankly, a starving dog, she witnessed her lover slowly regain a bit of her normal manner.

Scarlet blinked. Again.

“I um. Wow. That was weird.”

“It was. Forget groceries?”

Scarlet shook her head and settled back in her comically large chair. She wiggled around, getting comfortable, and then finally answered. “Nope! Actually, I have plenty. It’s just… I’ve had cravings all week, and even when I eat they don’t go away. You’re the only one in town who I can just, uh, show up and ask for meat.”

Perique chuckled. “Perhaps you know a bit of the sorrow of being a bat far from her cave, then, little one. Was that all?”

“I guess so.” Scarlet smiled sheepishly, and then paused. “Oh, wait. You weren’t saving that, were you? And why are you home now? Don’t you have the shop open?”

“I was, but it’s of no import. Today is a holiday.”

Scarlet furrowed her brow and gnawed on one of her hooves for a second. “What? But I’m sure I would have remembered that… Wait, you were saving it? Oh my gosh, I’m sorry, I--”

“I meant it. It’s no matter. I was happy to share, silly. In fact, it’s quite in the spirit of the day. It is not an Equestrian day, little one. Today is the day that Ulthar was founded, between the river and the mouth of the caves, under the trees. My family had represenatives present, you know. They had left Sarnath centuries after the Night Mother’s exodus east. I decided to celebrate in my own way, with a bit of relaxation. I had meant to see if you were free tonight, in fact. Are you?”

“Mhm!” Scarlet smiled brightly at her.

That’s when she noticed It, or rather, when she noticed them.

Perique did not rise from her couch. She did not raise her voice or make any outward sign of alarm. Her voice was as even and calm as she could possibly manage.

“Little one, have you noticed that you have fangs yet?”

Her sending flame-sent letter had gotten Fleeting Flame to her door not long after the sun fell in the sky.

In the meantime, she had been writing frantically to half a dozen scholars and even had sent a frantic missive to the expert on all matters vampiric, her once and future liege. Princess Luna had not yet replied, but she was sure that the answer would solve everything.

Scarlet, for her part, seemed rather unbothered by her new fangs. She had taken to examining them in Perique’s hoof mirror, stretching her lips back to get a better look. “They’re kind of small,” she said plaintively. “No sure if I would like them bigger, or if they’re cuter this way. What do you think?”

Perique took a deep breath and stopped pacing. “I’m… I’m not sure either way,” she said.

“You grow into the fangs, I find,” Flame said.

He sat on her ottoman, which had been pulled up to Scarlet’s chair. Perique had been pacing in between letters, all but tearing her mane out. How had this happened? What was this even? Was this vampirism? Had she passed it on?

She let out a low growl of frustration. “How are you not… not angry?” she asked. “At me? At… at… This is… this is terrible! What if you never see the sun again? What if I passed it all on, or… Could she have gotten it through me from you, Flame? Or did I do something? She didn’t feed from anyone! Only the Father could give the dark gift without a true exchange. I was so sure it was safe. Oh Moon, I’m sorry.”

She continued babbling apologies until she landed heavily on her couch and curled into a ball.

Flame and Scarlet exchanged looks, and Scarlet rose and crossed the space between chair and couch to sit at her head and stroke her mane.

She cleared her throat. “Mama?”

Perique whined.

“Perique? It’s okay.” She just kept stroking her mane. “Sit up for a bit? We could snuggle.”

With a wordless nod, Perique moved and they shifted about on the couch.

Flame had turned to face them both, and now looked off into the distance. He seemed intent on something, but Perique was exhausted and overwhelmed, and didn’t have much energy to wonder about it.

There was a soft fhwump as her sending fire flared, and after a nod he rose and retrieved a letter. Flame whistled to himself. “I could swear it’s adorned in silver,” he remarked. “Marked with the moon.”

Perique rose so quickly she almost threw Scarlet off the couch. “Give me that!”

Brows raised, Flame hoofed the letter over and it was opened and shared between Scarlet and Perique. They poured over it.

Scarlet looked up first, thought, and said: “Huh. Neat.”

Perique just sagged against into the cushions. “A thrall,” she said. “I turned you into a thrall. I don’t even know how. Luna doesn’t even know how.”

Flame chuckled. “I was going to suggest that, actually. It is potentially at least in part my fault. It’s likely that a combination of being fed on by a vampire, being fed on by that vampire’s albeit psuedo-kin, and frequency of exposure is to blame. A thrall… but if I may?” He gestured to Scarlet, who tilted her head at him.

“Obey me, child. Rise and walk into the kitchen and wait there until I come for you.”

Scarlet scrunched her nose. “Uh, do I have to? Also, I think only she gets to call me child.”

Flame nodded. “Noted. I was right, then. You felt no draw to me when I entered, and my words do not compel you. A thrall, yes, but only technically. A bit of the, ah, gifts of the night but only the barest taste. I do believe you should be free of any Master’s command, and will probably suffer nothing under the sun. Tell me, did your skin itch? Burn? Ache? Your eyes weren’t blinded in the street?”

“I didn’t really wake up until ten,” Scarlet said. “That’s, uh, I may have stayed up all night working on decks.”

At Flame’s uncomprehending stare, she turned red. “Card games,” she murmured and sought refuge under Perique’s wings.

Perique, reeling, shielded her automatically. “She can still live normally, then?” She sounded desperate even in her own ears.

Flame nodded. “Yes. It is possible she may not exactly enjoy the sun as she did, over time, but it is likely she will not lose the daytime. A craving for meat, and little more. Harmless.”

“I’m not harmless,” Scarlet muttered.

“Comparatively,” Perique answered, again automatically. Her mind was still working through what she’d learned. “So, fangs and fish. That’s it?”

“Probably.”

She sighed and gestured to him before pulling them both into an almost crushing hug. “I’m glad,” she whispered. “I’m so glad.”

Scarlet wiggled free and did her best menacing growl. “‘Sides! I got fangs now so I’m extra scary. Maybe I can be my own bodyguard next time I’m on a case!”

Perique burst into laughter. “Thy fangs are as small as a filly’s, little one, and I think I shall yet love them all the same.”

Flame wriggled free and laughed as well. Perique wiggled her ears and made faces, showing off the tiny points. Flame and Perique shared a look.

“You’ll grow into them,” they said together.