[center][h3]Southern France - Hyères
(unknown location)[/h3][/center]

In what seemed to be a dark room, a ragged looking man with a white button shirt and black slacks looked at what appeared to be a pulsating orb.  Attached by what appeared to be fleshy vines that reached up to the ceiling, the orb fluctuated like a live heartbeat.  Every second he could hear the orb give out another thump of life, though an inhuman life at that.

[i]Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. [indent]Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. SPLAT! Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. [/indent]Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.  SPLAT![/i]

The man watched with disgust whenever a chunk of what looked like some dark mud ejected itself from the orb and stuck the ground with a sickening sound.  The strange substance would then scurry off into the darkness and out of sight.  This cycle had been continuing for almost two weeks now and it was feeding off of the blood he was collecting.

This orb was an EGG of the dead apostle Echidna.  The EGG was connected to the man through a magical ritual, the man was a vampire, albeit a rather unhappy one.  The reason he was so unhappy was that he had a new master now, one that was using him like a tool.  He had happily remained quite inconspicuous, blending in with the local populace to live a quiet but fulfilling life.  That life had been shattered when that overbearing woman had appeared and bit him, replacing his blood with her own in order to control him.

[b]"If I ever get the chance I'll make sure to murder that woman for what she did!"[/b]  The man seethed in rage, his eyes turning a dangerous yellow in his anger.  Frankly it was impossible to kill her, he knew that, not at his current level anyway, but until her EGG could fully hatch that would have to wait.  At the moment all of the blood he and his Dead collected went straight into nurturing her EGG, and since he couldn't keep any excess blood except the minimum needed to keep his body from degenerating it was impossible for him to increase his powers.  Still he could at least imagine killing that abomination in every painfully slow way possible.

He glared at the pulsating egg wishing he had the willpower to go against Echidna's domination to smash the EGG on the spot but the contract was in place and he was helpless to resist.  He had tried smashing it before but as soon as he got close enough to potentially damage the EGG his body was paralyzed with helplessness until he moved away.  Until it was done producing offspring the EGG would remain intact.

Suddenly the EGG started to quiver with joy as a fresh blood supply was being transferred over by a Dead's catch.  He spat at the EGG but it just readily absorbed the liquid like the bloodsucker it was.

[b]"Shit!  How much longer do I have to nurture you!  I can smell The Church sniffing around all over the place, even with my sense deceiving barrier in place I don't know much longer it will work on them!"[/b]  The man ground his foot into the ground and turned to head out, it would be night soon and then he could increase the flow of blood into the EGG without worry of the sun.

When night fell it would be hunting season, maybe if he increased his activity he could speed up the process and be free of the cursed EGG.