A Vampire's Rotten Heart

The Deal

We trekked through the woods to a tiny hut on the side of a lake, which was surrounded by a lush garden of plants that were entirely unknown to me, save for a patch of wheat.

    There were large, broad-leaved trees that bore fruit the size of my head, low plants with long, thin pods, and not a single hint of snow.

    The moment I stepped near the greenery, the air turned warm. Warmer than any place in Gelgrim could ever get.

    "Ah!" I took a quick step back. "What's this?"

    Estrella slipped off her protective winter boots and beckoned me to do the same. "Just a little slice of home."

    She opened the door to a small, stone-floored room.

"Oh, Willikers! I've got friends for you!"

In the room was a big, fat cat, wholly disinterested is everything going on around him.

"Now don't give me that look!"

Spud jumped out of my arms, frolicked over to Willikers, and begin batting at his face. Wilikers clearly wasn't having it, but he couldn't be bothered to move.

I cracked a smile. A wider smile, at least.

Estrella looked at me. "As long as you don't eat my cat, we're good." She flopped on a wooden, brightly-colored couch. "Come here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" She picked up the wide-eyes Spud.

    "I wasn't thinking that! Promise!"

    "It's a bit hard to tell. To be honest, you constantly look like you're gonna rip out my throat. But I'm guessing you can't help that, eh?"

    She put Spud in her lap, gently picked up his front paws, and made him do a little dance.

    "Nī oru kuṭṭip pūṉai
    Oru kuṭṭip pūṉai
    Oru kuṭṭi kuṭṭi pūṉai
    Vaṇakkam pūṉai kuṭṭi!"

    "So..." I took a seat on the couch, and my wing ended up fluffing on her face.

    "Ah! Sorry!" I cried out and stuffed it away as best I could.

    Estrella cracked up, but she didn't say anything.

"Uh... Anyway... Do you know anything about vampires?"

"Barely. Other than the fact that they're usually much more handsome than you are! Though I did have one for dinner a few years back. Asked me if I wanted to be on some sort of friend list."

"Do you know anyone that does?"

"Nope."

A whistle came from the kitchen.

"Ah! Tea's ready! Would you like some?"

"...No thanks."

She went off and came back with a cup of chai.

"Actually, now that you mention it, I heard there's some rich weirdo named Marvin who opened a whole museum about vampires in Rearing a couple months ago."

"Rearing?" I shivered.

"Yeah. That's where all the weird rich people seem to end up, isn't it?"

"How am I supposed to go to Rearing looking like this?"

     "Well... I do have one thing." She took a sip of her tea. "But it uses a lot of nice ingredients I'd rather use for myself. Namely a few that keep me looking like a woman."