Fear of Water (Project Moon Bloodfiend Quest Reboot)

You were just pondering about what to do with your guest when it happened. He stood up from the chair and immediately bolted to the door while you were distracted. Panic flows through you, and reacting by instinct, you rush forward and grab him by his neck before throwing him to the floor.

Your speed and agility ensures that he cannot even react. One moment his hand is gripping the doorknob in search of freedom, and the next moment he was on the floor.

As he wheezed on the ground, the breath hurled out of him. You immediately realize something: he cannot be allowed to live. He's too persistent. And he has already discovered your secret. If the Sevens Association is aware of your kind enough to write a wiki article about you.. well, it could invite all sorts of unwanted attention to your doorstep.

Your body feels like lead. But it must be done. You've never killed anyone like this. Not with a clear mind. Usually you had to be pressured by your fellow Ring Students to take part in their sickening hobbies, and when you slaughtered those Rats in the alley you could barely remember anything through your blood induced fugue. But right now? You're about to kill someone with a clear mind.

You gulp down your guilt, and say: "I'm sorry." He stares at you with hatred, but says nothing more. He knows his fate is sealed. Your hands find his neck..





And you crush.





—
The next day, you head to work with a heavy heart.

Everything that happened next was a blur. You disposed of his body without any issues, and you managed to avoid the Sweepers in doing so. You hope you managed to at least give him a painless death.

It's all you can give in this City.

You tune out the sounds of the students chattering about their newest art pieces, focused only on the Rat's last moments. You realized a disturbing fact about yourself: the more you kill, the easier it becomes. The guilt lasts a lot less than it did before. You should view this as a blessing, but all it does is fill your head with more thoughts of self loathing. A paradox if you've ever seen one.

You try to comfort yourself with your usual mantra: there's nothing you could've done, if he was in your position, he'd do the same thing to you. Plus he was not innocent. Nobody in the Backstreets is truly innocent.

The Docent enters the room, and all conversation immediately grinds to a halt.

She doesn't even bother pretending to be polite today, her voice chipped and clipped as she addresses all of you: "There's been an incident lately." She says, and the entire room immediately stands up straight at that. "We have been targeted. Students amongst you have been going missing." She says, and you look around the room to notice that there are a lot less students than usual.

"It seems that we have a competing artist!" She says, suddenly taking a one hundred degree turn from her previously grim demeanor. "Excellent! Perhaps this shall be the spark you all require! This month's assignment is canceled! Instead, find this culprit for me and recruit them.. and failing that, bring me their head instead! I'd love to dissect the brain that is behind this.. the person who does so will get extra points for the next assignment!" She cheerfully announces.

The room immediately bursts into frenzied whispers. The Docent however, manages to destroy their excitement in a single stroke by announcing that it would be a group project. You groan internally. Group projects are the bane of you. They are the one thing in this world you loathe the most.

Your partners are surprisingly.. two people, while everyone else gets one. Two identical looking twins, a boy and a girl, with bright pink hair and equally bright grins. They cheerfully address you: "Hello! What's your name?" They say at once, when one twin stops speaking, the other continues their sentence. "..Oh.. um. My name's Dustin. Dustin Bright." You say, stuttering a bit. You're not used to being addressed so cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you Dustin! My name's Daeun.." the boy twin says, and the girl twin interjects: "And mine's Chaeun!" They immediately take your hands and clasp it: "We'd love to learn from you, Dustin! Please teach us well!"

You can feel a headache coming up..

—
That day, you politely reject Daeun and Chaeun's frenzied invitations for you to walk back home with them, and stay behind for a while. You just needed to be alone after everything that's happened. You let your mind wander freely, about the mysterious deaths that have been befalling your Ring Members.. about everything, actually. That was when a hand clasped itself on your shoulder and snapped your mind back into reality. You turned around to look at who it was.

It's a boy. His hair is brown, and his skin was unnaturally pale. He looks to be a few years younger than you, but not by much. Two or three years at most. His features are oddly beautiful.. angelic even. That was when you noticed his eyes.

Those red eyes that were the same as yours.

"My name is Hans." He says. "And you are my brother."

—
A few moments later, you're walking back home with Hans in tow. You feel surprisingly numb, but also mad at the same time. So many questions are drifting through your head. When you reach your apartment, you open the door to let him inside without a word, and he does so.

As soon as the door closes, you turn towards him immediately, preparing to unleash a flurry of questions. He raises a hand forward, and you pause. "Stop." He orders you. "You have a lot in mind. Gather your thoughts first and think about what you really want to ask me."

What do you ask?

[X] Write-in

You shudder in rage, your breath coming out in wild, frantic gasps. You can scarcely control your anger. You were upset, upset at this boy somehow for having a part in turning you into what you are now. That's not right. He didn't do anything to you, but he is clearly affiliated with the man who turned you into what you are today.

The words come out of your mouth in a blubber before you can stop them: "What I want to ask? Well, how can I help you, good sir? You clearly know what happened to me, so you better tell me before I-" He cuts you off: "You'll what? Attack me?"

That stops you immediately.

You take a deep breath. You're just upset. This entire week has been one nerve wracking incident after another. You're angry, you're grumpy, but above all, you're tired. "My apologies." You bite out. Your voice is rough and tired. "I've been.. having a bad week. Please forgive me." He nods in approval: "You are forgiven. I am sorry as well on behalf of my father. What he has done to you is unacceptable."

"Your.. father?" You ask: and he nods again. "Yes. And technically, he is now your father as well, whether you like it or not." Okay, that's.. not something you want to think about right now. "Now, what do you wish to ask me?"

You think about it for a moment, before your lips find purchase on the question: "I'm part of the Ring.. we're being targeted. Do you happen to know anything?" He stops for a moment, pausing to think about your question. He answers after the brief, momentary pause: "Mm.. unfortunately I have not known. I have only infiltrated the Ring recently in order to find you. The identity of this mysterious murderer eludes me.. for now. But I am sure we can work together to find them. I'm confident that I'm much more competent than those two imbeciles you've been saddled with." Those words are delivered in a matter of fact tone, as if he's not bragging, he just knows that he's better.

"I see.. well next question: What was the purpose of my conversion? Why turn me into.. a Bloodfiend?" You gesture at yourself. Hans simply purses his lips for a moment before answering again: "Father liked you. He has a soft spot for artists. I reckon that he saw something in you that he liked and turned you on a whim." And that answer only upset you even more. Your entire life was turned upside down because of a madman's whimsy.

You push down your annoyance before turning back to him and continuing to ask: "When you speak of your father, are there others like you?" You ask. It'd be better to integrate yourself with another group. "No. It's just me and Father sadly. Father is very picky with his Kindreds, he's only turned the two of us, and I.. personally have no interest in making my own Kindred. Cleaning up after that old man is more than enough to take up my time. I have no desire to possess children."

His eyes gleam with something not unlike pride: "Rest assured, we are still considered a Family. The Petros Family has survived for so long where others have failed, and I do say it's mostly because of me. Cleaning up after Father can be.. exhausting though, so I do expect your help." You sigh: "I don't really have a choice in this, do I?" Your head is spinning.

"You're right about that. This is your life now. The sooner you get used to that, the better." You allow your mind to wander once more in search of more questions. You need to know all you can from Hans. "When I drank from some Rats, they came back different..? What's up with that?" You ask.

"They are your Bloodbags now. It's what we do as Bloodfiends. After we procure the blood of others, they become our thralls. Our servants. I don't really see the use in them, and they just attract more attention, so I usually kill them off. But they can be.. useful. It's up to you if you want to keep them around." Hans says. You take a moment before you speak again, and when you do, your voice is soft and quiet. Hopeful even. "..Is there.. is there a way for me to feed before killing others?"

"No." His voice suddenly becomes sharp. "We cannot coexist with humans." He says. "Our existence is anathema towards them. They seek only to hunt us down and destroy us, and we cannot feed from them without turning them into Bloodbags. You can perhaps.. seek a willing participant, but that is easier said than done. And humans are a dangerous sort. They are scared. Cruel. Selfish. They deign to judge us from their high horse when they regularly perform acts of cruelty even we shy away from." His voice is bitter now, like he's venting out a grudge towards you. You held out hope for a bit. Hope that you could exist without hurting anyone. And again and again, you are reminded that there is no such thing as that in the City. The disappointment that floods through you makes you feel.. weary. Exhausted.


"Okay. I understand." You say. You should just focus on accepting your life now. "So, if I must hunt, what time do you recommend I do so?" He leans back. "Night time would be best. I trust that you are capable enough of avoiding the Sweepers?" You give an involuntary shudder at the thought of those black masked inhuman monsters. "Yes. I am.. capable of avoiding them."

"Excellent." He claps his hands slowly. "All things considered, you are more capable than I thought of. Welcome to the Family, Dustin." He gives you a grin, and his teeth are so, so.. sharp. "Shall we hunt together tonight? It's been so long since I've had someone who can understand me." He says, and although he acts aloof, you can see something in his eyes. Something a bit like desperation. Loneliness.

So you..

[X] Accept. It'd do you good to spend time with him. He's your brother now, after all.
[X] Decline. You just fed. You're not really that hungry.