Deep in the Void

Chapter 14: Comfort

Arabella

Arabella gave a soft giggle. Ceris's blood was warm and sweet, staining her lips dark red as it poured out of the perfectly round wounds her fangs had made in Ceris's neck.
Beneath her, the End Queen squirmed weakly, desperate to extricate herself from the predatory embrace, but still half immobile from Arabella's paralyzing gaze.
The vampire sipped from the wounds once more, before unsealing her lips from Ceris's neck. More blood trickled out of the bite, leaving red streaks on her meal's neck, but Arabella refrained from licking it off.
Best to leave her some dignity, thought Arabella. She was not feeling particularly guilty about drinking from Ceris, but decided she may already have pushed the boundaries far further than was sensible.
It took Ceris a moment to come out of the half-languor Arabella had induced; she lay still for a moment, then spasmed violently, hand flying to her neck.
For a moment she seemed half blind, staring sightlessly round the room, then her pupils shrunk and came into sharp focus on Arabella.
The pirate captain raised her eyebrows.
'Feeling ok? Not too dizzy?'
Ceris scrambled out from under Arabella and backed away towards the wall with the porthole in it. She was shaking, but looked more shocked than physically hurt.
Arabella got up from the bed and walked towards her, hands held out in a placating gesture.
'No need to be scared. I'm not going to hurt you–'
Ceris flicked her arm up, her armblade appearing an inch from Arabella's face.
'You'd better explain, before I cut your head open.'

Ceris

Arabella stepped backwards, but she didn't look worried, and Ceris thought she knew exactly what was making the pirate's lips twitch.
Her arm was shaking, she had blood running down her neck, and she was dressed in nothing but dark blue night clothes. There was little she could do about the latter two, but she tried to control the hand keeping Arabella away with an armblade.
Don't show weakness!
Arabella looked amused.
'Explain? I'm a vampire. As you yourself said, I need blood to survive.'
Ceris glared at her. She felt weak, angry and betrayed.
'I was starting to trust you, just a little bit. And then you use me like a wine bottle.'
Arabella looked genuinely hurt, which surprised her. Did the pirate actually care what Ceris thought about her?
Ceris tried to quell the rising tears stemming from days of confusion and emotional turmoil. Her eyes still pricked with moisture though.
Arabella's face softened.
'I don't just think of you as a toy. Perhaps I should have restrained myself better. But you know tradition. I was in my rights to take payment from you for hosting you.'
Ceris stared at her for a moment, before crumpling onto the floor, curling up into a foetal position. Her armblade flickered like a dying ember, passing straight through her chest before fading entirely.
She hated herself, hated herself for failing the End, hated herself for being subdued so easily, hated herself for showing weakness when she should have been eviscerating Arabella for this, but she just couldn't take it anymore.
For a moment she cried silently into her knees, feeling utterly alone. Then footsteps crossed the room, and a hand came to rest gently on her shoulder. She looked up, and for a moment stared uncomprehendingly into Arabella's face. Her tear tracks burned on her cheeks like lines of fire. Then she allowed herself to be pulled closer, and sobbed unashamedly into the vampire's shoulder.
The contact was not intimate, but somehow the affection got to her like nothing before.

Arabella

For a moment they were still like that, Ceris's head on her shoulder, her own arm curling round the other's shoulders, Ceris's tears darkening the blue fabric covering her shoulders. Then the tension left Ceris's body, and Arabella gently lay her down, head in her lap, face up, the better to wipe away the tears.
Ceris stared up at her, but her eyes were unseeing, glow an indistinct haze as she slowly relaxed, becoming a dead weight in Arabella's lap. Then her eyes closed,and she was asleep.
Smiling a little sadly, but somehow the happier because of it, Arabella gently lifted her, placing Ceris in bed for the second time in ten minutes.
Smoothing back the former End Queen's hair, she kissed her forehead tenderly, and left.