Meteor Effect

Danse Macabre: Sapping Sting

A few days pass and nothing else has happened, he still has his fangs. Doc hasn't been able to figure out what's happening and for some reason Joe has been exhausted; sleeping well into the day at times.

Doc has been relentlessly attempting to find what animals teeth match Joe's fangs. He's even gone off world to see if the watchers know anything, they did not.

Slowly Joe learns how to speak with his fangs, at times his voice is still a bit lost with lisps but he's learning. The fangs are still sensitive so sometimes they hurt when he bites down. Eating is a completely different problem that ends in a mess more often than not. The length of the fangs makes chewing food pretty difficult.

Snagging an apple from his countertop Joe bites in and freezes. Instead of protesting the sudden contact his fangs don't hurt, in fact something seems to click. Instead of taking a bite he drinks the juice that drips from the apple. It's almost like his brain has fuzzed out slightly. Nearby a chicken clucks and suddenly everything is in perfect clarity.

Silently Joe stalks outside and grabs the chicken. Darting back inside he shakes his head and looks at the chicken confused. As he sits and stares at the chicken everything goes dark.

Doc slowly walks up the path to Joe's winery, everything is deathly still. Nothing dares to move or make a sound.

Pushing the door open Doc stumbles back. Blood is splattered across the wine vats, and Joe is lying unconscious nearby.

After a heart stopping moment Doc realizes that it's not Joe's blood and a chicken is laying dead on the floor nearby. Carefully with his metallic arm Doc brings the chicken outside and buries it. Kneeling next to Joe, Doc gags slightly at the amount of blood smeared across his face.

Pulling out his communicator Doc calls Xisuma, "Hey, uh I think I know what's happened to Joe... he's a vampire."

Xisuma gasps softly, "Is he ok?"

"I think so, he's drained a chicken and made a mess."

"Bring him over to Bdubs village, I'll clean his house, you get him cleaned up."

"Gotcha," Doc hangs up and picks Joe up carefully. As he walks out towards Bdubs, Doc realizes what's been off the entire time, it's been overcast and gray this entire time that Joe's been affected. Once out of Joe's 'territory' the weather returns to normal. Shaking the sense of foreboding off Doc does his best to get the poet cleaned off.

Once all the blood is washed of his skin, Doc brings him over to one of the homes. Xisuma walks over a few minutes later.

"It's so obvious," Doc groans.

"Well, now it it's, before we just knew that his senses were all messed up and he had fangs."

"So, uh what now?"

Xisuma shrugs, "We should probably get some more animals over here for him then see if he needs, uh player blood."

Doc frowns as he sets the poet on a bed. He hasn't stirred this entire time. Walking over to the castle where Bdubs is working he explains what happened. As he walks back to the house where Joe is, he pauses, this all seems vaguely familiar.

"Howdy Xisuma," Joe grins as he sits up, "Oh, uh what happened?"

Xisuma's spines bristle as he sits next to Joe, "Good news and bad news. We know what you are and it's a vampire."

Gasping he tucks his fangs inside his mouth and blinks down at his hands, "What happened?"

"Well, you killed a chicken and drank its blood, I'm not entirely sure what else."