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Scene - I Still Forgive You - Spooptober Day 3

While it was a bit of a pain that Nate couldn't join them, The Waffle Crew, plus Erika Ishii, gathered in the BibleThump Theatre for their live session of their Strahd campaign. They were all in costume, even Erika, and Chris was, predictably, dressed as Strahd. Or rather a generic vampire. 

The session seemed to go off without a hitch, besides the unfortunate rolls which left Jared with his head on the table after Diath got KO'ed by a pair of brooms. At one point, however, Chris' collar slipped, revealing his neck, and Jared caught a glimpse of something odd out of the corner of his eye; two pinpricks, side by side on the nape of his neck. He gave a small smile, it was a nice touch.

After the session ended and the room was empty aside from them, Jared approached Chris and brought them up, "Hey Chris, I couldn't help but notice that fake bite mark on your neck. Neat touch dude, no one was gonna see it but you went all the way anyway."

The DM merely smiled demurely, a hand straying to his neck while his eyes moved to Jared's. "Fake, yes. Of course."

Jared cocked an eyebrow in bemusement, he didn't know why but there was something about his tone that bothered him. He subconsciously mirrored Chris' movement, his slender fingers straying to his own neck. He could feel Chris' gaze and it made him very uneasy. "Chris? You feeling okay buddy?"

Anna, Holly and Erika were talking with Heidi behind him, discussing cosplay things and the battle reenactment people that Erika had gotten her outfit from, so they were distracted, not paying any attention to the two men.

Chris pouted a little, like he was disappointed in Jared. "Of course I'm okay. What makes you think I'm not?"

The other's expression shifted from one of confusion to one of suspicion, "Well for one, the way you responded when I brought up the 'fake' bite marks and for another, the way that you're looking at my neck is really creeping me out." He squinted, "Not only that but you haven't taken out those fangs all evening. You said this was a cheap vampire costume and the fangs that come with those are uncomfortable as hell."

Chris grinned, the aforementioned fangs glittering in the stage lights, sharp and keen. He stalked forward, getting closer to Jared as the other backed away, moving in such a way that the green-eyed man had his back to the backdrop of the stage. He could almost smell Jared's fear and my was it delectable.

Jared was paralysed under Chris' gaze, not by any form of magic, but from sheer terror. Vampires? No, they didn't exist, they couldn't exist. This was the real world, not Barovia. "C-chris, please snap outta this okay? Vampires aren't real, you're not a vampire, you're just dressed as one. You're human, you're Chris Perkins. D-don't--"

Jared was cut off by a sharp and stabbing pain in his neck and cried out in pain. 

Bitten...

He'd been... bitten...

The women looked over in puzzlement and saw Jared struggling to separate himself from Chris, the latter seemingly having his face buried in the former's neck.

Heidi laughed, calling out jokingly to her husband. "Hey Jared, if you're into biting all you gotta do is ask y'know!"

Jared gasped out a response, it was all he could manage with fangs in his neck, with blood leaving him at a frightening rate, with the very essence of life draining from him under the DM's lips. "H..e....l..p..."

Tilting her head, Heidi motioned for Anna to follow her and approached her husband, placing a hand on Chris' shoulder. "Hey Chris? What's going on here?"

The vampire spawn that used to be a human Chris released Jared, letting him drop to the ground, and turned, bloodstained lips curved in a sickening smile. "Oh, not much; just getting a bit of a snack is all."

Jared slid to the ground, blood flowing freely from the puncture wounds on his neck. He was still conscious, but barely. While he hadn't lost much blood, the necrotic damage was crippling. 

Heidi and Anna backed away in horror, both of them paling at the sight. What the hell was going on?

The DM gave a chuckle, turning back to Jared and hauling him up, dark brown eyes meeting pale green ones. Any humanity those dark eyes once held was gone, replaced by hunger. "No hard feelings, I just wanna save you the trauma of watching me kill the others. Of watching me feed on your darling wife."

As drowsy as he was, Jared saw something strange in Chris' eyes in the instant before fangs sunk into his neck again; a sort of haze. He'd DMed campaigns himself and he almost immediately recognised it. Not only had Chris been turned, he'd been charmed too. "Chris," he breathed, "this isn't you. I know this isn't you. Whoever it was that turned you charmed you as well. That's why you're doing this. You can stop, you can just...." his voice trailed off, he was so tired. He could barely keep his eyes open. Suddenly he heard a quiet voice in his mind, a hushed whisper, full of regret. A familiar voice.

"ᴵ'ᵐ ˢᵒʳʳʸ..."

Chris... Jared smiled weakly, a light and breathy chuckle escaping him. "I... I knew you were... were still in there..."

"ᴵ'ᵐ ˢᵒʳʳʸ..."

Fainter, was it Chris getting weaker or him? Jared didn't know.

"ᴶᵃʳᵉᵈ... ᴵ'ᵐ ˢᵒʳʳʸ..."

He was fading, he could just about make out the ladies tugging at Chris, trying to seperate them. But he knew it was too late. He could sense that, whatever he did next, would be his last action. "Chris... I don't... know if you can.. can hear this..." his eyes drifted closed and he forced them open again, he had to say it, to ease his friend's guilt. "But I.... ᴵ ᶠᵒʳᵍᶦᵛᵉ ʸᵒᵘ...."