How long she laid in her casket, Cian didn't know. There was always the thirst, made worse by the ever present drain that left her unable to move in the slightest. From time to time, animal's blood would drip into her mouth, providing brief relief but without the essence, and never enough to satisfy.

And then one day, something else dripped in her mouth, cold, wet, cloying, with a flavor she hadn't had since... since...

Wordless agony ripped through her as her body cramped against this vile, disgusting fluid, this... milk?! And yet there was nothing she could do, frozen, as it continued to drip into her mouth!


Yet in the midst of this torture, her tongue picked up a hint, a bare trace of the essence she hadn't tasted in ages...! [i]Human[/i] blood.


The iron lid of her casket protested as it was pushed away, and she could feel her strength starting to return. Opening her eyes in the torchlight, she could see three human faces peering down at her. The ever-present thirst roared in her and she latched onto the nearest throat...

[hr]
Something bit her. By reflex, she grabbed it, coming face to face with a rat. Instinct took over as she bit it, ignoring its anguished squeal, and began feeding. Sitting up, she took in the dim room and the other rats.

"This... isn't the crypt," she muttered, wringing its neck before tossing the rat away and catching the next one. All their eyes were on her, watching despite themselves as she broke the neck of the second before tossing it at the first, then reaching for the the next to feed on.

[hr]
In the dim light, Cian examined the door. This had to be one of the doors down from the punishment room underneath Mor's house, what the staff whispered were the cells. It wasn't much, a mattress stuffed with straw, a bucket in the corner, and a sturdy door bolted on the other side. Had she not been wearing the necklace bearing the seal of the Dead God, she might have easily battered it down, fortified as she were with human and rat blood.

"Does she really think I would turn one of the girls...?" the vampire said softly, shaking her head. It was clear Mor wasn't going to let her out until she was ready. But she needed no [s]mirror[/s] to know she and her leathers were caked with filth. 

"Attendant!" Cian calls out, banging on the door. "Attendant! I need a bath! Lots of hot water! Soap! My box with the combs and brushes! Attendant! Where are you?"

[hr]
It may have been hours or days, she couldn't be sure, when something heavy rolled past outside the door before stopping. The flap at the bottom of the door was unbolted and latched up. 

"Bucket," orders the man on the other side.
"Attendant! Where have you been?" Cian demands. "I called for a bath hours..."

The flap slams shut then bolted. 

"Where are you going?" Cian demands angrily. "I told you I need a bath! Clean clothes! My combs and brushes...!"
 
The cart rolls on.

[hr]
The next time the flap opens, she wordlessly passes through the bucket and the dead rats. The empty bucket was slid back, then she got a small jug of water and a cracked bowl with a hunk of coarse bread and a lump of hard cheese. Cian scowls at the vile lump, then sets it aside on the floor, waiting for the next rat to show up.

Let Mor play her games.

[hr]
She'd lost count of the times the flap opened, but this time only two rats crawled through the crack in the wall and were mesmerized. After draining the first, Cian studies the second one, a gravid female, before placing it on the floor and gave it a kick to the rump. It wakes up with a squeal and darts for the crack. Fetching the lump of moldering cheese, she shoves it in the crack after it.

"Go have babies," she orders. "I grow thirs..."

[b][color=#6ecff6]Sleep.[/color][/b]

Cian's eyes roll up and she falls to the floor, unmoving.

[hr]
There was buzzing, like some fly near her ear. Cian's hand jerked, but the buzzing continues. She scowls as consciousness slowly returns. This wasn't buzzing, this was words...!

She bolts upright, hearing the jangling of her necklace. 

There were others around her, stirring like she had been, but her eyes were on the woman.

"Who are you?" she demands. "Where is Mor? Do you know how long I've been waiting for a...."

[b][color=#6ecff6]Be silent.[/color][/b]

To the vampire's horror, her mouth clamps shut. Her hands fly to her face, but she couldn't open her mouth! Cian stares with horror at the woman standing there.