Kasia checked the time and hours had passed while she got answers from the dim zombie. She knew there were gaps in her knowledge, things she didn't know to ask about, but she couldn't do anything about that. She was trying to decide how to keep his phone device though, it sounded useful. He had explained how people could identify it as stolen when she asked, but most of the details went over her head so she just accepted his word on it.
The same was true of an odd card in his wallet that he called a credit chit and the identification card in there as well. Everything else was traceless, provided by his loan shark for the job and purposely removed from records. That was useful, and they couldn't identify anything to call it stolen either. Or so Gregory thought anyway.
Did she want to head to civilization or stay out here? It sounded like even if she was found out here she might be able to claim this bunker as her nest legally. She could settle in and enjoy the simple life, safe from hunters and the fear of mortals. She could hunt animals, if they had magic like Gregory suspected then they would even be filling. She might avoid the unicorns however, the only one she had ever met had nearly killed her just for existing.
Which was fair, they were guardians of nature and she was unnatural to say the least. She enjoyed nature too, she could cast aside all the trappings of man and embrace the stars completely. It wasn't like there were many people she cared for left alive after a hundred and fifty years. Anyone that was left was like her, immortal and otherworldly. Had it really been that long? No, think on that later, she had to focus. If she stayed out here then she could probably visit mortal cities whenever she wanted right?
But it isolated her too. She didn't know how to go about claiming territory but she assumed it meant she had to publicly declare herself as a vampire. Why would the others be out of the shadows if they didn't need to be? And she liked living among the mortals, learning new things from them, watching their short lives play out. She had tried going feral once after her first century but kept gravitating back to villages and towns anyway. She took some more time to think before finally deciding she just didn't know enough yet. She would need more information first, and Gregory was tapped out.
Or at least she was sick and tired of talking to him. She looked at the corpse and hesitated. What about him? She could leave him here but that could lead people back to her. She felt bad for eating him, but she wasn't going to let herself be hunted down over it. She could destroy the body, but then the family wouldn't find closure. She spoke softly, “I'm sorry about your death. I couldn't stop myself from killing you. I went blank from the moment I smelled you to the moment I drank the last drop. It's not… an excuse though. It's still my fault for existing in the first place.” She sighed, “The selfishness of a vampire. Taking from others to live.”
After a moment of silence she decided to be productive while she put off the decision. She went through his pack and set aside anything that wasn't useful to her, replacing it with what was. Admittedly it wasn't a lot, a change of clothes, the lights, extra magazines for the pistol, a couple boxes of matching pistol caliber from the armory. She would test a few rounds from those on the way, if they fired then she would swap the rounds in most of the magazines so she could use up the older ammunition first. She would always keep one mag of fresh ammunition on hand though, just in case. She made sure to take her new notebook too, she had a good memory but it seemed like the entire world had changed while she was out. She would need a way to keep things straight.
She stopped in front of the animated body of Gregory. She hesitated and then spoke, “I am a monster and killer once more. But this has always been true, from the moment I was turned to the moment I killed you. I know either purgatory or hell awaits me when I pass, heaven is for the innocent after all. And I am a monster. But the stars tell me of another path, whisper of how I might join them rather than be cursed to nothingness. So I will not deny my guilt in your murder, but I will continue on seeking that path. I don't know if you've passed on to your ultimate fate, but if you linger then haunt me. Haunt me that I might never forget this sin and begone only when that sin is forgiven. Or until I am dead and you have seen this monster judged for her sins. Whichever comes first, I will not deny you this right.”
She turned away, “Dead thing, take your wallet and phone and put them in your pockets. Then take your rifle and go out into the exclusion zone. Find something that will rip you to shreds and make it destroy you. You are forbidden from firing your rifle to do so. You may not leave the exclusion zone in your efforts to do this. Do not kill anything doing this. If you have not found anything to destroy you after three days find an ant hill, lay next to it, and use the rifle to simulate committing suicide.” The destruction of his head should de-animate him, but even if it didn't she would feel damage like that through the connection.
She would just end the spell herself if she felt that. If she was lucky the unicorns would destroy him, and they would probably do it completely. They've always been reclusive creatures so they probably won't tell anyone. It wasn't perfect but she couldn't bring herself to do more to him. She waited for him to be long gone before she stepped out of the darkness bunker into the dim light of the night, taking a moment to smile up at the glow of the stars despite them being partially hidden. Cold lights shone between the branches of the trees overhead, and she enjoyed the fresh air.
There was a spice to the air, a clean bite that stung at her sensitive nose, like the spruce trees she knew but sharper and stronger. The trees themselves were odd, they had needles like spruce trees but the branches started far up the trunks to create an almost lollipop effect, it made it feel like the forest was an open empty place with a tall ceiling despite the thick underbrush. She picked up dead needles off the ground and gave them a sniff, yes they were the source of the scent. She looked around and then set out to look for her first goal, a real clearing where she could see the glow of the stars clearly. It was necessary for her ritual to work.
The ground cover was odd, the undergrowth was all rough foliage that snagged at her pants, rugged stubborn looking plants. Yet finding a clear path was easier than expected in some ways but those places were always carpeted thickly in needles that felt slick under foot. She frowned as something nagged at her, something about the trees. She stopped walking a moment before slowly moving around the area, studying the trees from different angles until she finally saw it. The rows. There were gaps and misfits, places trees fell and where smaller trees now competed haphazardly for space, but many of the trees were in neat machine rows that felt… wrong. Unnatural.
The thought brought a toothy smile to her face, she was calling something unnatural? Then it must be, these neat little lines of trees like a farmer had planted his crop in the fields. Maybe that was even it, human made forests that were uncanny by their efforts. She didn't know why though. Maybe something had happened to make it necessary? She couldn't be certain but eventually she chose to ignore the odd effect and continue on. It wasn't important now anyway, she could investigate later.
She found a small clearing, not big enough for her intended ritual but big enough for her ministrations at least. She knelt under the small patch of stars and prayed to them, giving thanks that she spent another night outside hell and for the gifts they gave her. She basked in their cold gazes, listening to the soft whispers they sent down to her. She listened to prophecies meant for the dead and gone, messages that the farthest reaching of the stars had sent long ago in a vain hope. They only greeted her at first, welcoming her back into their embrace. Then. He spoke.
She dared not think His name, dared not look Him face on. It would be too much for her, as weak as she was. He spoke of things that pushed her into the dirt, secrets He thought she must know even when she couldn't stand to hear. She felt warmth trickle from her ears and tasted lightning on her tongue. But there was one thing that came clear of His words, a simple command. Look. She calls you. Kasia turned and saw the dark shape of a woman moving between the trees, beckoning her into the darker forest. Golden, lupine eyes gleamed from the matte black face that showed few other features.
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She knew the specter, a rare gift. Guidance from her dark mother was always worth following. She stopped and followed the phantom of Lilith into the deep night, feeling the forest shift uneasily around her. She didn't stop walking but that was important. A forest spirit? Of course but which one? It felt as though it didn't want her following the phantom. She strode forward faster, forest spirits were capricious entities. She wouldn't trust one over her own vampiric blood or the whispered words of Him. Their paths were never easy, but always worth the cost.
The phantom stayed well ahead of her, always stepping out of sight before she closed with it and reappearing further on, always urging her onwards. Then the phantom was still, those glowing eyes peering out from the dark. Kasia approach it cautiously, slowing as the figure grew with each step, becoming a towering and thin black shape topped with those animal eyes. Spindly fingers reached out and parted the underbrush that grew thick here. On the other side was a clearing filled with old death, the cloying scent of rot pouring out to strangle her throat and bring up bile.
She pushed through the wall of putrid air despite that, stepping into the desecrated clearing to gaze over the devastation. She had only seen death like this a few times in her life, and only in times of siege and merciless war. But it wasn't a battlefield. Kasia carefully stepped over unspeakable carnage that was left to rot, almost fascinated with how intact it all was. The crows and insects should have been feasting for days, but it was like not even the lowest carrion eaters wanted to be near this place. Her nose slowly grew used to the smell enough to find other, underlying scents.
She shivered at them. Dark magic, cruel and cold. Soul magic. She carefully picked her way through the field of carnage, stepping over corpses that had been torn apart, sniffing the air. There had been an effort made to clear the place of anything that would identify the caster or spell. She frowned at the carnage, the longer she studied it the more she started to see the patterns hidden there. Maybe the caster hadn't been that careful, she pulled out her notebook and carefully started to draw out what she found. A complex magic circle, a Solomonic working alright. Not an uncommon design but a powerful one.
A summoning then. Fae? Maybe. A spirit? A powerful one if so. A shade? A vicious one if it took this many lives in the summoning. The circle was generic though, so they hadn't cared about which spirit they got, just what type it was. She finally stopped in the center of the circle where dead grass marked where the summoned being had entered the material plain. A life eater of course, no surprise there.
But the real question was why she had been led here. She looked for the aspect of Lilith, the specter had vanished as silently as it had arrived. She clicked her tongue and put her notebook away. Dismissing this would be foolish, she ended up here for a reason. But there wasn't much to learn here. In the end she left the horrific sight and slipped back into the forest.
She wouldn't forget the sight though and it haunted her mind even as she trudged on. She needed more information. She needed a starting place. She needed to find a good sized clearing damn it, and she could feel the forest twisting on itself. It was deeper than it should be, a mana infused pocket of sudoreality that connected to the real world where it pleased without rhyme or rhythm.
She would have to keep an eye out for static pathways in case they led the way out. The rest of the night passed fruitlessly, and in the end she dug a shallow pit beneath the underbrush and settled in with the sleeping bag there. The bag was actually too big for her but that was a plus when you were trying to stay out of direct sunlight. She slept undisturbed through the day, falling into the deep slumber of the dead in the light of the day.
Unlike some of her cousins, sunlight didn't actually hurt her when she wasn't a shambling mummy from starvation. Instead it stripped her of almost all of her vampiric gifts and left her what she was. A slip of a girl that was barely a hundred pounds wet. Like this she would probably struggle with the backpack even after slimming the thing down, with the ammunition she had packed it might actually weigh as much as she did. She did need sleep too of course, she could push through exhaustion better than most people but that was just a matter of practice. She felt uneasy whenever she slept without something solid between herself and the world though.
Her nature meant that she wouldn't rise unless something was already attacking her and even then she would struggle to do anything to stop it. Sleeping was just a necessary risk. But her luck seemed to hold and she rose at sunset with a stretch. She needed to find a river too, she didn't sweat like the living did but it didn't mean she didn't feel dirty. Dusty too, she was fairly certain she had dug out a tombs worth from her ears alone. She hunted on and off as she traveled, picking up the scent of deer and following it to a dissatisfying lunch. Two weeks passed, enough time for her to become nervous she was going in circles.
Long enough to get lost in thought over everything she had lost. Over a hundred years. Her people were long dead, her archive must be gone, everything inside looted or sold. She was starting all over with nothing. Not the first time, but it hurt all the same. On the third day she felt the connection to the corpse of Gregory sever. She prayed for his forgiveness again before pushing on stubbornly. She ran out of cigarettes before the first week ended too. She needed to find civilization.
Eventually she found the clearing she was hoping for. Not large, barely ten feet across, but large enough. She pulled out a small mirror she had found in Gregory's gear and then stripped out of her salvaged clothes before she walked into the clearing to kneel in the star light. She used the mirror to see what she was doing as she used a claw to cut into her arm, dipping the tip in like a pen in ink, and she started drawing arcane symbols on her body, starting with her face using the mirror.
When she was done the runes ran from her forehead to down below her navel, going from her chest out across each arm. She turned her gaze skyward and spoke the language of stars, swaying in an unfelt breeze as she offered herself to those cold lights in the sky. She could feel the familiar energy of them rising in her, a torrent of liquid ice that filled her veins and burned through her body. A cold so deep that it felt like a fire, a sharp pain that would never let go. She embraced it without hesitation or fear, letting the cold fire of the stars overflow from her body to wash across the forest around her, hoarfrost forming on the trees and undergrowth around the break in the forest line that she had found.
She became the center of her own cold star for a moment, the uncaring glow bathing the forest around her in more of that same deep cold. When the ritual was complete she was left panting, her face flushed with power and the fresh blood still running through her veins. The pact was renewed and she was whole once more. The sound of a branch breaking had her head snapping around, her pupils once more dark pits of eternity that swallowed the light. Two pale humanoid forms stood frozen under her gaze, one mid step with a foot on the broken branch. They were slim figures, one with slight curves that implied femininity and the other with broad shoulders that did the same towards masculinity. He was the one that had broken the branch.
The moment was as frozen as the air as they regarded each other, both sides processing the unexpected sight. Slowly Katarzyna covered her chest. That broke the spell it seemed, the female seeming to only then realize how naked the vampire was and spinning on the male. She smacked his arm rapidly and snapped out words that Kasia needed no translation to understand. He had the decency to blush as he spun to face away from her as she hurried over to where she had left her clothes while attempting to preserve her modesty.
It was probably a pointless gesture. If they had been watching then they had already seen most if not all there was to see. As much as there was to see anyway. It didn't take long to dress, most of that time was knocking frost off her things. When she stood up she was mildly surprised to see that the two were still there, waiting almost meekly while she dressed.
She still tucked the pistol into the back of her pants, making sure to drape the shirt over it for now. She probably didn't need it, but it helped center her. She approached the pair and could hear them arguing now. Her hearing was more than sharp enough to pick out words but it wasn't a language she spoke. She did recognize it though, frowning slightly at the familiar words. Fae speak? What were fae doing so far from the old world?
Her hunger growled that it didn't matter, prey was prey, but she quieted it with an effort of will. She wasn't going to blindly offend the fae by eating one of them. That had to be carefully considered and planned out first. She caught their scent as she got close though and it was off, there were hints of human in it. Maybe they weren't full fae then. Neither were wi?a or borowy, their auras were wrong for it. Something from Western Europe or the British Isles? They were both roughly the same height and stood head and shoulders over her, their eyes had an animal gleam that reflected the dim light of the moon and stars. Their skin was marble pale and flawless. Definitely fairfolk of some kind.
She made an effort to make noise on her approach, she would act mortal for now, not let them know what exactly she was. Maybe pass herself off as a witch, she knew more than enough magic to pull it off. She would smile, charm them, find out if they lived near here and if so where. She might even ask if anyone had gone missing recently or if there were any rumors that might link back to the ritual site. This was also a great opportunity to confirm some of the wilder aspects of what the zombie had told her. Then the female called out to her in English. Ah. Right. This was America. That might make this more complicated.
