Rain pattered against the windows. Seira Navillera woke up to the sounds of a thunderstorm raiding through Hargeon Town. The vampire felt fatigued when she opened the tired eyes—it couldn’t possibly be past 1pm yet, but as soon as she glimpsed outside she found the city to be emerged in darkness. Thick, black clouds covered the sky and thunder and rain were falling from above. The ocean, which she could see through her window, was turbulent and not a single soul could be seen outside on the streets. Seira was thankful to have rented a room inside an inn that promised to be able to withhold such horrible weather and she made a mental note to always chose the first floor from now on, never the bottom floor. Seira wasn’t fond of living on the bottom because of all the people who could glimpse through your windows and during weather like this, she didn’t want to suffer from flooding either. Among her most precious belongings, some were made out of paper and the woman didn’t want to risk them being damaged in any possible way. After opening the window for a minute to take a breath of fresh air, Seira quickly closed it again and made sure that all other windows were looked as well. She loved the sounds of thunder, rain storms and the likes. They made her feel calm and at ease and part of her was tempted to leave the house and take a walk in the rain, although that would be a strange thing to do considering how horrible the weather was. It was almost ironic that she was able to enjoy such an event if one were to consider her past. Seira, unbeknownst to most, carried a fairly large scar on her back that resembled a lightning bolt. During her younger years, after her father’s company became bankrupt and they were unable to pay their debts, her family had been assassinated by some sort of mafia esque organization. Even though Seira was only merely a child at that time, twelve years old, they had chosen not to spare her and instead severe her with a scar that would remind her for the rest of her life of what her family had done. A lightning mage had struck her down and left her injured, but alive, so she could carry on whatever legacy was left of her family. Everyone else had died away. Seira held no grudges, however, and the woman had learned to live for more than just her past. She had long forgotten the sorrow she used to carry with herself and no longer paid the scar on her back any attention. Of course it would always be there, but other than Seira there was no one who would ever see it and thus she decided not to worry about it too much. Seira believed that because she had been struck down by lightning before she couldn’t get struck twice and so she didn’t mind it.

[502/3000]

She found peace in walking among rainstorms and thunder didn’t scare the girl. She knew that it was a fairly common fear among most people, but what scared her more than that was arson and the likes—but not lightning by itself. Seira wasn’t scared of fire itself either, but the possibility that her house could burn down worried her a lot. It was also because of her childhood and what had happened to her childhood home, but the more those things fell into the past, the less she started worrying about it. She tried her best to focus on the here and now and took a seat by the desk without turning the lights on. She didn’t need them anymore and she didn’t want people to be able to look inside when she had her curtains open, and she didn’t want to close those so she could see the rainstorm and eventually wait until it improved and the weather got a little bit better before she left the house. Seira had thought about preparing herself a blood bag, only to notice that she had run out of them yesterday. She had been quite careless in that regard, but the vampire needed something to eat. She was most likely going to the hospital and use the storm as an distraction to steal more food. That, or she could finally attempt to drink directly from the vein, but she wasn’t sure whether or not she was ready yet. Surely, death could be faked easier during a storm, and a corpse could be thrown into the ocean, but the wounds on the neck of said person would remain. And if she didn’t kill them? How was she going to explain just what she had done to them? It was causing her a lot of concern, so she decided to simply pick the easy route by going with the hospital later on. For now she was going through her notes to see what else was up for the day. Not many people could do much when the weather was like that, but Seira was naturally different. No longer human, she didn’t think of herself as someone who could be limited to human boundaries either and instead she chose to do things she wouldn’t have done when she was still one of them—simply because she could now. She had already changed in more ways than one and even though she wasn’t quite realizing it, it had happened. Unfortunately, Seira had been alone for many years so there was no one who could tell her whether or not the changes she’s been going through were good or bad and as a result she fell victim to her own desires, thoughts and aspirations unknowingly. Seira pulled out her planner and looked through the pages. Even though it was embarrassing to admit, since she considered herself somewhat a professional, this planner had become some sort of a diary to her, since she began writing down personal thoughts as well.

[1003/3000]

Seira did wonder whether or not doing something like that was a good or a bad idea, but the girl couldn’t help it. She didn’t want anyone to find this planner and granted, perhaps this was a stupid idea after all. It was way too revealing and she had no means of properly protecting a book. Furthermore, what would she do if she ever lost it? When all those thoughts raced through her mind the girl shook her head ever so slightly and closed it again. She had made herself a note which stated that Balthazar, the local pirate captain, had expressed interest in her services and considered working with her and hiring her for a job he needed to be done. That was two days ago. Since then she had yet to receive word from him, or anyone really and she hadn’t been able to find him either. Seira wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted from her and what that was supposed to mean, but she was more than willing to work for him if he was hiring her, considering that he paid very well. Seira knew that Captain Barbossa was an acquaintance of Reagan Hullston, one of her best and right now also almost her only client here in Hargeon Town. Reagan was a smuggler, so to speak. He transported wares he got from pirates into Hargeon and into the mainland of Fiore because apparently he was making quite a lot of profit that way and Seira was interested in the items he sold as well as the jobs he had to offer. Of course some were more sneaky than others and it wasn’t for everyone and Seira assumed that because of her cold demeanor and apathetic attitude he had chosen to work with her more frequently as well as to recommend her to others. The work she did wasn’t considered legal at all and she had even killed a page before in his name. Not even a revenge killing, it was simply to get rid of a minor annoyance that had bothered Hullston. Seira didn’t know she could act so cold and disinterested in other human life and it was one of those moments that she remembered that it was because she had lost the majority of her humanity already. She was a vampire now, above humans in the food chain and that’s what she saw most of them as. Food. Nothing more and nothing less. Of course that wasn’t exactly the nicest thing to say but it couldn’t be helped either. The rainstorm hadn’t really calmed down yet but she heard significantly less thunder than an hour ago so Seira put on her clothes and walked outside. She walked down the streets with the hood deeply pulled into her face. She was heading for the hospital where she could hopefully sneak out with at least one blood bag for now before she was getting too hungry. Hargeon’s Hospital was fairly small compared to Magnolia and Crocus, so they didn’t have many resources.

[1509/3000]

Seira knew she shouldn’t feel bad about taking too much from them, but a small part of her still did. These people needed the blood as much as she did, but at the same time none of them needed it to survive on a daily basis. Of course it would be stupid to take more than she actually needed and she didn’t want to make her actions too obvious either. So when Seira snuck into the hospital and rushed through the dark corridors and towards the room where they kept the blood bags cooled, she picked out a single one that had B+ and hid it underneath her cloak before leaving again into the rainstorm. Since there was nothing and no one around but her she started drinking from it right away and finished it off relatively quickly. Blood wasn’t something she enjoyed over a long course of time, especially not from bags. It was more like a quick meal that had to be downed immediately and once she had finished the entire bag which was about 500ml, or half a liter, she threw it into the trash and made sure that something else was covering it before leaving towards the harbour. Seira hadn’t been to the docks yesterday and she was curious what she would find there this time. Of course this weather was bad weather for ships to go in and out and she assumed that there would probably be no one there anyways and in a way she was right, because when she arrived there was no one there. Or so she thought. Seira thought back to where she had seen the pirate ship the last time and, low and behold, after she went to the exact same location she found not the pirate ship but Balthazar Barbossa there, seemingly preparing some things and scouting the area. When he saw her he waved her close and Seira immediately approached him. “I have work for you,” he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Seira frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I know that, but somehow I thought you would find other ways to contact me rather than waiting for me to arrive by chance. If the weather was any better I don’t know if I would have showed up in first place!” Some may considered unreliable but it seemed that he had counted on her arriving at the harbour sooner or later. “This weather is the only reason I’m even on land in first place,” he responded coldly and Seira nodded. “I had a feeling it would bring you out as well. So, here is the deal. I’m planning a raid on the city, this weather is perfect, my ship can sail the short distance into the harbour, but I want all of this to remain unknown before the Rune Knights appear. I need you to remove the lighthouse lamp so we can sail into the harbour without being seen.”

[2011/3000]

Seira was surprised to hear what he had to say. “You want me to do what? Remove the lighthouse lamp? And how exactly do you plan on invading a city without light? This storm affects you too,” she said and arched a brow, but the Captain only laughed at her. “Don’t be silly, little girl. I’ve been a pirate for many, many years. I know Hargeon better than my own cabin. You, however, must not let anyone see you, so for your sake I hope that you are a good swimmer.” Seira shrugged. “I’m an excellent swimmer,” but only because she was a vampire now, of course, that she had the strength and endurance to move like that, even under these circumstances. “We will wait until nighttime, once the sun has gone down the lamp needs to be gone as well. You can get all the equipment you need from Reagan and you have until nightfall to get it, so go ahead now. I will see you tonight, do not fail me.” Seira nodded slowly to his words. “I won’t. Easy enough.” She was still glad that he didn’t send her out to the ocean during a rainstorm like this, and while it was still supposed to rain throughout the entire day she had heard in the news that the weather was supposed to calm down significantly by the time night came. How convenient. “You’ll find him by one of the warehouses close by the docks,” Balthazar said and then turned around and left to go wherever. Seira walked down the streets the opposite direction to look for Reagan. She knew that Reagan was a man of many resources and once she informed him about what he needed he would surely help out. She had a feeling that those two worked together more often than they would like to admit and it shouldn’t be difficult for her to obtain the equipment, especially considering that she had become one of his henchmen as well. It took her quite some time but Seira eventually found Reagan Hullston. He didn’t say much when he saw her, but he probably already knew what was going on. “I suppose you already know why I’m here,” Seira said and without a word, Reagan pointed her to a bag standing in the corner and Seira picked it up, it had all the equipment she needed, just like she had expected. Then, she went into hiding somewhere and waited for the night to come. The weather did indeed clear up and although it was still somewhat raining and windy, it was nearly as bad as it used to be. The lighthouse wasn’t too far away from the shore, but Seira still had to make sure that she wasn’t seen by entering through the normal entrance, since there were a few guards here and there, so she jumped into the icy cold water and started swimming towards it quickly. The light was focused on the distance, thankfully, so it wouldn’t spot her.

[2514/3000]

The lamp was, of course, located on the very top of the light house so she had to make her way all the way up there by climbing up the stairs. Seira was completely wet of course, but she could still move without making even the tiniest of sounds and she could also see in the dark which, yet again, came in extremely handy. There were only two guards on the bottom floor and neither of them was guarding the stairs when Seira entered the building. Both of them were in the kitchen talking to each other and Seira walked past them with relative easy. She then quickly started climbing up and she could already see the lamp. There were two guards, one controlling the lamp itself and scanning the ocean, the other one was resting in a corner, seemingly napping. Seira decided to make this quick and approached the man who was awake, snapped his neck and let his body to the ground. After that she went to the one who was asleep, snapped his neck quietly as well and then went to get the lamp. The lamp was bolted deeply into the ground but fortunately Seira possessed enough physical strength to remove it quickly. She used some of the gloves she had gotten from Reagan to avoid her hands from being burned and also locked the door when she removed the lamp. Once that was done she stuffed all the things into the bag Reagan had given her, bursted through the window and jumped down from the window straight into the ocean. The night was pitch black and nothing and no one could be seen now. Seira swam back to the shore together with her belongings and shivered. It was cold, but not too cold. She couldn’t have handled these temperatures as a human but as a vampire she was doing surprisingly well with it. Seira started walking back to the town where, moments later, the sound of Balthazar’s raid could be heard. His ship had entered the harbour and his men were ravaging the warehouses that were close by the docks. Seira used this moment of confusion to quickly climb atop of Balthazar's boat, where the Captain Was already waiting. “I have your precious lamp,” she said and handed him the bag. He smiled when he noticed how wet she was from head to toe and looked into the bag to confirm that it was truly there. “It’s not easy to swim in the ocean during weather like this,” he said, “even less for a normal little girl.” His words somehow indicated that he knew that she was everything but normal, but Seira chose to ignore it. “Yeah, whatever. I did the job, now give me the money so I can leave.” Balthazar laughed yet again and handed her the bag of jewels he had prepared for her. Seira counted the money and made sure that everything was alright, then she left to return to the inn and get some rest.

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