Trust Maria To Find An Opportunity To Try And Manipulate A Baby Vampire She Can Control Fsankfa She's Awful But We Love Her - Blog Posts

The mention of slayers makes Maria's skin crawl, jaw and shoulders tensing like a cats hackles standing on end. "Los bichos." She mutters, spitting at the ground to show exactly where she felt such hunters belonged. She had put many there herself; she'd also lost many friends and progeny to the overpowered and self-righteous humans. "They know not to come here." While her voice is still tense with anger, there is a sprinkling of pride, a slight curl at her lips at that very fact. About a century ago the stake-wielding vigilantes had seemed to give up on trying to rid the region of her and her army. Maria had been there a lot longer than them and her numbers only grew with every decade. Slinking back over to her captive, the dagger still dangles menacingly in Maria's hands. "I intend to keep it that way, comprender?"

Sharp browns drink in Madison's features; the commander saw no reason for the younger vampire to lie. Pity was perhaps not the word for what the Maria felt at the tangible fear and hopelessness seeping from the blonde, that was a sentiment she'd had to long rid herself of. No, it was more curiosity, the wheels turning in her mind as she ponders on a potential opportunity. A certain naivety she only ever saw in her newly turned or those abandoned by a creator, something she could meld in her hands like putty. "Catching the attention of the wrong people is exactly what has landed you here, chiquita. You need to learn how to be more discreet." The dagger is shoved into the sand swept in from the broken windows of the warehouse over time, dangerously close to the others leg. Maria leans in closer, a sharp nail coaxing the chin of the young vampire to face her like a feline toying with their prey. "Who is your maker? Did they not teach you the rules?" Of course there weren't exactly rules to vampirism, simply advice that kept you living longer than the average human lifespan. Something Maria had succeeded at nearly five times over. There were those who set the rules and those who knew how to bend them, and Maria would consider herself both. The former had served her well at keeping her progeny in line and the region under her command for so long.

The desert night had fallen in a spectacle of color and drama as Madison fled from her pursuers. When the kaleidoscope of hues finally faded, it left behind a black velvet sky scattered with the biggest, brightest stars she had ever seen. Despite the frantic pounding of her heart, the stark, desolate beauty of the landscape offered a strange sense of solace. But the truth remained—this land was treacherous and unforgiving, and she was woefully unprepared. Her pursuers were older, more experienced—true predators of the night, while she was nothing more than a desperate moth drawn to a deadly flame.

Her senses hadn't picked up the telltale prickle of being watched and followed, but she knew the terrain well enough to be certain of one thing: visibility was low, and the rugged folds of the mountains would conceal her well. A human tracker would have no chance of spotting even the faintest glimmer of movement from a distance. But vampires weren’t human. The relentless desert storm, with its howling winds and punishing heat, would make tracking impossible for anyone else—but she wasn’t relying on a trail, just the path of least resistance to escape.

There were no trees or rocks to shelter behind, only endless stretches of barren ground lashed by the storm, and yet her instincts remained razor-sharp. Just because she couldn’t see danger didn’t mean it wasn’t there. Her nerves had been forged in past conflicts with lycans, her instincts honed through survival. A lifetime away from wolves wouldn’t be enough to dull them. And in the space of a heartbeat, those instincts screamed a single, undeniable truth.

She was utterly, thoroughly fucked.

The memory of her humiliating defeat and capture burned through Madison, and her mouth twitched with the sudden impulse to peel her lips back and hiss at the formidable woman before her. But common sense—and sheer fear—kept her from giving in to her instincts.

Better to do nothing to provoke Maria’s fury this time and wait until she was in better shape to negotiate. Madison had to remember that Maria was far stronger than she looked; after all, she had trapped her like a bear in a cage without breaking a sweat. But then again, Maria had centuries on her. She hadn’t needed to expend much effort to have Madison bound.

“…I’m being hunted.”

No sense in lying. Madison was so woozy she could barely sit up—hell, she couldn't, not without help—but she knew better than to ask for it. The thought of looking weak turned her stomach, but she had to focus on easing Maria’s suspicions. If that meant slumping like a puppet with its strings cut, then so be it.

“I caught the attention of vampire slayers, and they won’t leave me alone.” No pouting lips. No batting eyelashes. No twirling her blonde curls. Madison was too exhausted to keep up the facade of a ditzy blonde, and too frustrated to entertain her captor. This was her true face—a young vampire at the end of her rope, with no prospects and no connections.

“To be fair, I did nothing to provoke them. I don’t go out of my way to reveal myself or fight them. The last thing I want is to kill a slayer with children—because then those children will grow up with a vendetta, and I’ll never know peace.” She shook her head in disgust, blonde ringlets bouncing. “But this group… they don’t hunt vampires out of duty or righteousness. They do it for fun, and they never let up. Your territory is safe, and I thought I could finally rest after running from them for so long. I thought laying low here was smart. But I was wrong.”

Her gaze darkened and she exhaled sharply.

“…And here we are.”

@prairieghcsts