The blinds were closed, the clock was ticking and the room was in complete darkness. Although it was already close to 2pm, the female vampire had not gotten out of bed yet—for obvious reasons. Lately she had been doing her best to avoid the sunlight and she had gotten more and more used to it. She spent what remained of the daytime she had left outside, either on jobs or shopping and strolling through the malls, looking for items and other interesting things she could possibly spent money on, whereas during night time she enjoyed being out alone, and either went hunting or simply rested before she had to return to her room. Seira had always been more of a night owl anyways so when she she was turned into a vampire through the bite of another one, this part of her life didn’t change as much as she thought she would. Of course it would have been worse if she couldn’t go out while the sun was out anymore at all, but fortunately that wasn’t the case. After reading some lore on vampires she found out that this part of vampyrism had only been nonsense and vampires didn’t exactly burst into flames as soon as they stepped into the sun. Furthermore, she was also perfectly fine with garlic but that part of the legends had never made sense to her anyways. That they had to drink human blood, however, to survive was very true and even though Seira tried to hate herself for it she couldn’t. In fact, she couldn’t care less about whether or not she drank human blood. After all, she hadn’t asked for this life, it was given to her an she was left without a choice. Might as well make the best out of it, she figured. Furthermore, another thing that wasn’t in the book was the fact that vampires also could live on animal blood and while that seemed gruesome, it was actually very true and very useful. It was probably how vampires had blended into society so easily and survived for so long without being noticed. Animal blood was considerably less delicious and also not as strengthening as human blood but that was okay. If she had to fight a vampire who fed on humans while she fed on animals she would most likely lose due to being weaker than those who fed on humans. But Seira had yet to meet another vampire besides Bianca, the woman who turned her and was now nowhere to be found. Something told her that if she visited Oak Town where the Phantom Lord guild resided she would find more answers, but Seira would postpone that for now until she grew stronger and gained more control over herself. Seira wanted to be prepared for whatever was going to happen once that day came and for now, as a newborn baby vampire she practically had no experience and had yet to get used to everything and learn how to focus more.

[503/2000]

Hunting animals was one thing but stealing blood bags from hospitals was another. She only ever took as many as she needed to not raise any suspicions and it was also why she had to change towns so frequently until she figured out a better way to protect herself. Restraint had never been a problem so far, but then again Seira had also never directly been confronted by large amounts of blood, such as on the battlefield, where she could possibly lose control and give away her true identity. It was also the reason why she fed on human blood in first place, the more she grew used to it the better control she would have. For now, there weren’t many things she did differently and when she slowly got out of bed the one thing that was on her mind was money. Earning money and going through job after job was what kept her sane these days and after looking through the room she noticed a dirty looking bottle of rum standing on her desk. Seira walked over to it, picked it up and gave it a good look. She had never been much of a rum drinker and this drink wasn’t for her. She wasn’t too interested in trying it anyways and considering that it hadn’t been given to her so she could drink it also made the decision not to much easier. Seira had received this bottle yesterday, as a reward more or less. Reagan the smuggler had given it to her, telling her to pass it on to someone else if she wanted more work. Seira couldn’t help but think that she was spiraling down what people considered “the wrong path” but at the same time those people were willing to give her jobs and even recommended her to other people, which really did help her make business. She appreciated that and didn’t really care whether or not what she did was of good or bad nature. As long as the payment sat right she would do it anyways. Reagan had told her to give this bottle to a man named Balthazar and while she couldn’t exactly make out a face it wouldn’t be difficult for her to find out more about who that person was. He was probably infamous in hargeon town so she certainly had to be careful with the questions she asked. Seira left the inn she had been staying at, yet again without eating any breakfast and headed straight towards the docks. This time, instead of going where all the security was, she picked out people whom she thought could tell her more about Balthazar and started questioning them. There was a beggar on the road nearby the docks and Seira kneeled down and dropped some coins into his cup. “Balthazar. I’m looking for Balthazar,” she said while carrying the bottle of rum in a bag with her. The beggar, once he heard that she had given him money, slowly started speaking and revealing information.

[1006/2000]

“Child, what could someone like you possibly want from Balthazar Barbossa? He’s a feared pirate captain and not even the security from Hargeon Town dares to remove him from his place.” Seira frowned when she heard the word pirate but to be fair it only made sense. Pirates loved rum, that was almost a cliche and he probably would pay her well if she did work for him on the land. From what she had heard those people belonged to the sea and weren’t interested in walking on land, even though it sometimes couldn’t be helped. The girl pulled out the bottle of Rum, threw a few more coins into the beggar’s cup and waved the bottle in front of his face. “There is something I have to give to him,” she said and the old man, upon seeing the bottle started laughing. “Ah, you don’t even look like you could be one of his henchmen, but I suppose I was wrong. You won’t find him at the dock, but behind the large mountain on the left side where he keeps his pirate ship hidden from the security. Not that they would dare to invade him anyways.” Seira thanked him and dropped a few more coins before leaving. Finding out where that pirate ship was located actually took a while and it was indeed very well hidden. Outside of it many pirates could be seen and this was Seira’s first direct confrontation with them. Back then maybe she would have been worried about that but since she was a vampire now, those things hardly bothered her. It wasn’t very difficult to make out which one of them was the Captain either, since Balthazar was large, intimidating and your stereotypical pirate captain. “Balthazar Barbossa?” She called him out and caught his attention. He seemed irritated by the sight of a young girl but Seira didn’t care about that. Instead, she approached him and took a seat in front of him. “What do you want, small one?” He grunted and Seira smirked and pulled out the bottle of rum. “I suppose you could say we have business with each other.” His expression, albeit only shortly, changed when he saw the rum and he took the bottle from Seira to open it and smell it. Clearly pleased by the scent he took a sip from it and his expression changed yet again, he was clearly happy and the taste of the rum satisfied him. “So it does taste really good after all, mh?” The woman murmured to herself. “It does,” he commented and nodded. “That’s why this rum is so expensive. You can’t find rum like this anywhere in the country. It’s one of the best rums you can drink, thanks to Reagan I find a way to get my hands on it. I thank you for this gift. And since you are already here I believe there is something else you can help me with.” Seira perked up and looked at him.

[1506/2000]

“I need you to go to the outskirts of the docks around Hargeon, towards the west. Someone going by the name of Maxwell will be waiting there for you. He is one of my customers and he has ordered this bag of of smoke bombs. Be very careful when you handle it, both Maxwell and the smoke bombs. That man is a ticking time bomb and loses it quite easily. But he is a loyal customer. Don’t get into a fight with him. He has already paid for his wares so all you need to do is drop of this bag and return to me. If you do well you will receive your payment right away.” He gave Seira the bag of smoke bombs and she nodded. Fortunately she was not only quick but also nearly soundless so that shouldn’t be a problem for her at all. Seira grabbed the bag and left the pirates camp and as soon as she stepped outside and started going for the outskirts, looking for this person named Maxwell who had been described to her as a tall man with blonde hair, a long black coat and a rather rude appearance, Seira realized that she was being followed by a bunch of Rune Knights. Instead of engaging in combat she decided to make a run for it, knowing that there was no way these people could keep up with her. The outskirts were full of large containers, like a typical harbour, and hiding between them and getting lost in between them should be fairly easy. Seira disappeared between the containers and people several times until she figured that she had gotten rid of the Rune Knights. Shortly after she also arrived where she was supposed to meet Maxwell and handed him the bag. After he had taken a look inside and confirmed everything with her Seira decided to disappear really quick again and lure the Rune Knights away from Maxwell as well as the pirate ship. The Knights caught on to her at first but this time Seira decided to blend into the masses of the people visiting the docks and of course there was no way for them to keep track of her and they had lost her again. Once Seira was out of sight she returned to Balthazar. “You are back already, I see,” he said and Seira could read on his face that he was more than pleased to see that she had returned so quickly and seemingly without causing any problems or trouble. “Did you find Maxwell?” The woman nodded. “Sure did. I dropped of the wares like you said and then came back as soon as I could. He seemed pleased with how everything went and expressed his gratitude to you.” She stated and crossed her arms. “Well done, well done. It seems that Reagan has found a very capable henchman for himself, perhaps we will see each other again soon. For now, take your reward and leave.” He handed her a bag of jewels and Seira did what he said and left.

[2020/2000]