The air was cold, she remembered she just... laid there, under the painted ceiling of the church. Blood pooled around her as her vision slowly started to blur...

She was dying, this was how she died.
At least she wasn't being forced to marry a wealthy man to make her family happy, shit, how many times had she murdered a suitor before?

Things suddenly fell to black, coldness crept up from her limbs - Her hands and feet felt cold first, it was odd - Was she supposed to be feeling this before she died? Was this her punishment, for what she did? Having to feel herself die like the dozen of men she had killed in the past?

As soon as the coldness slowly reached her stopping heartbeat; everything suddenly exploded with colour. Her body burnt, why did it feel like she was suddenly on fire? Was this the feeling of eternal damnation? She knew she'd never go to heaven for what she did-

Her eyes suddenly fluttered open. She was staring straight to the same ceiling she was looking at before. What the...? She pulled herself up, her gorgeous dress tainted red from the blood. She was... Alive? Somehow? Something felt wrong, off...

---

She leaned out the balcony, overlooking the city that she had started to call home. That memory was starting to haunt her again, the memory of her death and 'rebirth'.
Sophia sighed as she closed her eyes for a moment, it was a cold night; but it was still night - Clear, starless sky. She wondered why the stars were gone, were they hiding from something?

The purple haired woman gave a small sigh, pulling away from the balcony as she stepped through the glass door inside. Should she go out and hunt? She should think about finding some animal blood sometime soon - But she didn't want Euphoria to be home alone if she was gone for too long. She said she wasn't going to be out too long, where was she?

Sophia looked up to the clock on the wall hesitantly, giving a bit of a grumble as she started to pace. Maybe she should go out and find her? She wasn't on a mission, just an odd delivery job - What if someone found her? Was she okay?
Sophia shivered slightly and moved her hands to touch her temples quietly. She needed to stop worrying about Euphoria.

She was an elder Vampire. She knew what she was doing. She wouldn't get caught randomly.
Sophia gave a small sigh, she needed a drink. But she ran out on the stored blood earlier in the day while she was working.

"Chat," she pronounced it like 'chateau', "have I become cooked?"
"Give it up, Fokas! We have you surrounded!"
"'twas not my intention," said Euphoria into her Motorola Backflip's CIF camera. It did not have a selfie camera, so she had to rotate the whole thing around to talk into the rear of the device. "My intention was to uphold my oath and escort this delivery safely and surely to its destination. You who have borne witness know the truth, and I pray that your lips may send it to the Lord's ears -"
"That's her! Open fire!"
Euphoria stood up. Crumpled bullets clattered to the ground around her like rain, broken against her sorcerous black plate. For a moment lines of fire danced across her body. One slashed her cheek, leaving a single faint red trail. A grenade landed at her feet.
"No! Get down, get down -"

A kick sent the grenade soaring so fast that it shattered the skull of the wyrmblood holding the assault rifle. Such was the violence of the motion it actually crushed the trigger mechanism and prevented the grenade from detonating - a stroke of fortune made irrelevant when the unfortunate wyrmblood's two friends were crushed beneath Euphoria's thrown motorcycle. She steps through the smoke and fire. Two more of the assailants - over-muscled bodies crammed into cheap black suits - rushed her with knives. One she took with a point-blank shot from her wheel-lock - hand to her hip, leaning backwards, weapon bent slightly down - and the other she took with a rotational draw-slice-sheathe technique she had learned from a Nipponese blademaster. She reached the wreckage of her motorcycle and threw it again against a sniper upon the nearby water tower. This time the fuel tank detonated and sent a flood of water and steam washing down all around.

All this and she still absentmindedly held the camera. Unfortunately, all it captured was a rough blur of fire, black fabric, and screaming silhouettes in incomprehensible 240pixel resolution. Enough to entice the appetite of a certain stratum of the internet who considered her an avaunt guard found footage filmmaker doing an elaborate bit, who were currently going wild in the chat.

"Twenty dollars from xXxWeedLordxXx?" said Euphoria. "That is appreciated. It shall relieve some of the pressure of failing this delivery. One hopes that you have found happiness in your recent wedding."
"You shall find no happiness, Blood Dragon," said a daemonic voice arising from the pit. "It is to be your end and your death."
"Wrath? Thou has grown bold indeed," said Euphoria.
"Do not thou me! You have grown lax! There is nothing you possess that you can defend against us!"
"It seems you yearn again for the pit," said Euphoria.
"I shall not -"

*Static, stream feed cuts out*

*

A black knight makes her way on foot down the long path towards Sophia's home. She is no longer in possession of a motorcycle, but she has cleaned herself up somewhat from the battle. She imagines that if she plays it sufficiently cool from here she might be able to avoid any questions. She would not want her host to worry about her.

Sophia wasn't sure why she even had a fridge, well, other than keeping her blood bags of different farm mammal species - But apart from that...
She looked at the almost gone gallon of chocolate milk and almost swore to herself, she might have to do the online shopping again sooner than she thought.

Even as a Vampire, not needing to eat always felt weird - of course whatever she did eat was always burnt off whenever the full and new moons happen. She always kept her taste for chocolate, and throughout everywhen she lived through, she had to admit, now was the best time for getting multiple different types of chocolate.

She pulled out the bottle, closing the fridge with her elbow before she walked back to the balcony. She used her fingers easily to open the bottle as she moved to drink its contents, which disappeared all too quickly. Sophia grimaced, that likely wouldn't help her stress levels.
Her phone beeped, a message from one of her seamstresses she was working with.

>I know it's late, and I apologize for messaging you at such a time; but just wanted to let you know your latest sketch came through & I'm looking ova it.

Mmm, good. She thought to herself before she looked back over the balcony, she was expecting to hear the sound of a Motorbike before she saw her, but as she looked out, she spotted the taller woman from her higher perch. She's okay! She almost leapt over the Balcony to go over to her.
No Sophia. That is not a roommate thing. She had to tell herself, she shouldn't push any boundaries.

Hadn't they already pushed boundaries in the past?
Surely roommates don't help each other down from panic attacks that cause you to lose control of your own curse and cause you to twist into a horrible beast - Well, maybe roommates do. Did... Did werewolves have roommates? Her fingers twitched against her phone slightly. Don't... Don't google it. She thought to herself as she breathed out slowly, calming herself down a bit.

She moved herself to sit on the large plush couch they had just brought - After she accidentally tore the old black leather one in an accidental transformation. If she just managed to relax and not panic about Euphoria as she walked in, she could play it cool and not like she had been worried.

"I have made," Euphoria announced as she entered, "twenty dollars!"

She held up the red note proudly. That was enough to pay for petrol for a year[1]! She should consult the Wed Lord and see if he was looking for a retainer.

She placed the note inside the glass jar that represented her contribution to the household finances. Honourably won, every dollar. It would become even moreso once the insurance merchants replaced her motorcycle.

"How goes thy war with the beast that bysets thy soul?" she asked, smoothly pulling her only slightly scorched gloves from her long white fingers. It was good to be in the cool and dark once more (it was good to feel the silver hilt of her blade with her own fingertips). "Doth thou - apologies. Do you yet have control of your humours?"

[1] circa 1950

Sophia looked up as she entered, stopping herself from hopping up to see her immediately. She couldn't help but chuckle softly at her housemates words before she gave a small sigh at the mention of her own problems.
"I can happily say I haven't changed at least today, so it's a start." She said with a bit of a sigh.

"Unless you're talking about work stuff, I got a few more designs sketched and sent off to the others to have a second pair of eyes." Sophia gave a small smile, she was excited for this line of clothes to come out, it was mostly based off her time as a Noble; higher fashion for the common man.
"I do have some feelers out for a doctor to see if we can get things under control on the moon cycle; so. We're getting somewhere." She gave a weak smile, an arm wrapping around her torso for a moment in a way of trying to calm herself down. "How was your job? It seems well since you got some money! I'm proud of you."

"I was dubious about the living streaming when it debut, but I am increasingly coming around. A Lord has joined my following and was generous with his patronage. It seems a clever solution to a difficult problem; nobles who would sponsor crusaders in foreign lands but cannot be sure of their virtue and mettle. This allows meritorious deeds to be rewarded directly -" she frowned, "- though I fear that if the viewing nobility are unvirtuous, then they might lead streamers astray with incentives for wicked behaviour. Has anyone considered this possibility before? Should I write the merchants operating the system a letter?"

Sophia listened quietly as Euphoria spoke, she couldn't help but give a small chuckle at her words; but she didn't laugh too much, she didn't want to offend the woman. Sure she was from an older era, but she seemed to be working well with the current era - Even if she still spoke like she was from another time.

"I'm sure they've got that handled, really." Sophia said with a soft smile, "They have... How do I explain it;" She pressed her hands together as she tried to thing, "They have people of power - Who have been tested to show they mean well - who monitor different streamers. People are more than welcome to bring up problematic Behavior to these people of staff, be it the Streamers themselves or those watching them." She explained with a small smile, "Appropriate action will be taken if its' needed to, hopefully."

She texted with a single hand quickly, trying to figure out what else they'd need for the house to get delivered - She didn't just want to get chocolate milk delivered, that would be a waste of money.
"Shouldn't hurt throwing them an email if you're worried about it?" Sophia looked up towards Euphoria with a soft smile.

Euphoria nodded. "Oh, one other event occurred today! Through my network, I have made contact with an organization of experts in human-animal transformation. From what I have seen, these hardy souls voluntarily walk the liminal line between man and beast in order to unlock their full spiritual potential. Perhaps their expertise in these matters will provide further context for your own affliction?"

She hands Sophia a flyer for AnthroCon.

"I would, of course, escort you," said Euphoria. "One cannot be certain of how strong their control is."

Sophia blinked at Euphoria's words, she had managed what?
She looked down to the flyer that she was handed and hesitated, unsure exactly what to say.

"Thanks Euph." She said after a moment, not wanting to be ungrateful, "I'll look into it definitely, but it might not be what you're expecting it to be." She said with a bit of a chuckle. She didn't blame the woman for not knowing that Furries were, and there were probably Were's that did go to AnthroCon - Maybe it wouldn't help to have a look into it.
"What else did you get up to today?" Sophia tucked the Flyer under her thigh as she looked to Euphoria, motioning for her to sit down; hoping she would relax.

It wasn't clear if Euphoria missed or disregarded the gesture to sit; something about the gesture just did not penetrate her knightly aura. She remained standing, hand comfortably on the pommel of her sword. "Nothing yet conclusive, but I have observed several deficiencies in my stance when dealing with explosive projectiles. I intend to drill until they are rectified - unless you had anything you wished to do instead?"

Sophia couldn't help but sigh as Euphoria didn't move, she listened before she furrowed her brow slightly.
"Wait, explosives?" She asked, moving to stand up and take a half-step towards her housemate, "What do you mean explosives? Are you okay?" Her brow furrowed as she looked over Euphoria carefully.

"Do not concern yourself. They were limited to man-portable designs," said Euphoria.

It was... hard to tell if she was injured. Her black robes had tears and fissures in them which may have spoken of bullets, blades and shrapnel, but there were no bloodstains or any change to her perfect posture to indicate that damage had been done. If it had, it might have healed already - or simply not be an inconvenience to her undead body.

"Things have, on the whole, been far easier since the victory over the Holy Roman Empire by Tsar Stalin," said Euphoria. "I contented myself that evil in the world was losing influence, though it seems to be making a resurgence of late. Is the cause commonly known, I wonder? I have not looked into it as much as I should have."

Sophia couldn't help but furrow her brow at Euphoria's words - How could she not be concerned or worried about her friend being injured? But she sat down again, since Euphoria didn't seem too bothered.

She stayed quiet for a moment as she listened to Euphoria's words, tilting her head at her words - She had a point.
"Greed is likely a big thing." Sophia explained softly, "That's what I can really expect from it, I'm sure you've seen human Greed a lot throughout your life." She almost laughed.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Greed has gotten stronger since our respective times." Sophia said with a small sigh, closing her eyes for a moment.

The atmosphere was tense; a tall figure, which looked to be made of stone and marble, stood facing the large stained glass window that radiated sunlight over him, the coloured rays reflecting gently against the figures own pieces of stained glass mixed into their body.
They were huge, easily taller than eight feet in height, the metal Halo - that came from his collarbone up over his head at the back - easily adding on a solid few inches.

The air felt dusty to any human who entered, the figure had moved for a good hour; his large great-hammer - made from an old Altar - slammed into the ground beside them after they had entered.
There was silence before the doors creaked open, a flood of clergymen, priests - general men of the church - entered; soft whispers all between them before they all fell to silence at the sight of this fallen angel.

The angel moved his head away from the stained glass window, his ruby eyes glimmering with anger as he turned to face the group of mortals.
"Is there news of the disgusting creature of Sin that I told you to watch?" He rumbled as his eyes looked over the group, his torn wings of metal window frames and stained glass flexed behind him at the words he said.

That horrible, filthy creature - Euphoria, her name caused his blood to boil and his muscles to tense. How dare she do what she had done, to his town, his church - And for what? A petty version of Immortality? A reason to stalk along the human lambs, corrupting and destroying the minds of Gods' men and women?
And then daring to say that she fought for the right of God? Pretending to be against the very sins that shaped her?

"My Lord!" said Friar Pennsetucky - although a more fair transcription of her statement would have involved more 'r's than any other letter. "Praise He Above for your return on this blessed day!"

She had the aspect of a stone chimney that was still standing alone in a desolate cornfield long after all the wooden parts of the house had rotten away. Tall and sturdy and half-blind and with enough muscles to deadlift a sheep into the back of a station wagon at midnight, all held together by a voice that sounded like an offensive parody of... something. Southern preacher by way of southeast asia, with more than a touch of French? All of that woman was stuffed into a black gloved, double breasted penguin suit, barely visible beneath an enormous golden amulet that Central Casting sent in response to a request for 'cursed jewelry'.

They'd broken the mold when they made her.

"My Lord!" repeated the Friar. "The Beast has taken a bride! My Lord! Within an unholy inversion of the marriage shall a creature beyond nightmares be born! My Lord!"
"That," said a voice, putting as much emphasis on that 'a' as the Friar put on those 'r's, "is something of a guess. My Lord."
"It was revealed to me in a vision!" said the Friar.
"Nyes, well," said the dusty old human resources lady in a dress so modest the colour of her socks would forever be a mystery. She wore pince-nez glasses, the golden frames of which blinked with a dozen sapphire eyes. "My astrological charts indicate no such coming calamity, and they have a somewhat larger body of evidence behind them."

The Angel hesitated as the women spoke, listening carefully with narrowing eyes. A bride? Was this just another way to spit in the eyes of the Lord Himself? His annoyance almost met his eyes, a mere flex of his hand showing his emotion.

He had to stay emotionless, he was an Angel after all; A Stoic protector of these mortal lambs of God. He had stayed quiet for maybe a bit too long as his eyes lingered back to the humaniods in front of him.
"A 'bride'?" He spoke his question out loud much softer than he had in his head, his hatred weakly held back in his words. "Someone would stand the mere existence of such an unholy creature?" He almost grumbled.

His hand leaned softly against the handle of his great-hammer, his eyes lingering up towards the door as he stopped himself sighing Audibly.
Do not stress yourself, Darrien. He thought to himself, Maybe the other doesn't know of the Beast's... He mulled on the word before he looked back over to Friar.
"What of this... 'bride'? How much do we know?" Would he need to send people to watch? Friars' dreams were usually something to go by, but everyone interpreted their own dreams all too differently to really know something. Before he turned to the woman with a tilt of his head, "What do the charts claim? I need to know as much as we can to take her down; who knows how many she's twisted against us, against God."

"We have photographs, my Lord!" said Friar Pennsetucky. "We have -"
"Vampires do not show up on cameras, you halfwit," said Mrs. Hwost, slapping the empty photographs from the Friar's hand.
"A sign of the devil?" said the Friar as though this was new to her.
"Lacking souls, they cannot be reflected in the physical," said Hwost. "Paintings of them fade, sculptures crumble - you cannot copy what is not truly there."
"God's Wounds!" said the Friar.
"By a likewise principle there will be little astrological evidence," said Hwost. "We primarily locate the forces of the Archenemy when they interfere with the destinies of mortals. When they simply cower they are difficult to track."
"We must drive the beast into the open!" said the Friar.
"On this, the good Friar is correct," said Hwost. "If they can be made to interfere in the destinies of mortals then they shall become increasingly visible to the Sight - and plans can be laid around them."

Darrien listened to the two women bicker a little before Hwost spoke about driving them to the open. His eyes narrowed at those words before he let out a bit of a huff. "And pray-tell, how do we cause them to interfere?" He asked, he could hope that they wouldn't bicker over each other as he got the information from them.

They hadn't even told him what they know of the 'Bride', possibly another Vampire? They weren't too known to gather in numbers, it drove up risk and food sources would run dry all too easily. "We could plant some spies in the city they stay in." He added as he crossed his arms, some of the cracks in his arms etched out more as he narrowed his eyes with a bit of a sneer.

They needed to find them quickly, otherwise it could get out of hand too quickly. He felt his teeth grit together as his halo glimmered from his own anger.

"Statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries indicates a blight on large beasts in the region," said Hwost. "I suspect that the Bride is attempting to stave off the symptoms of her curse by taking on the blood of beasts. We should -"
"Ignite a wildfire!" cried the Friar. "Desolate the landscape for miles in every direction! Scorch their hunting grounds dry! Drive them into the open!"
"... a rather drastic move," demurred Hwost. "We should not drive our prey to ground all together. Perhaps the threat of such a thing would be sufficient to force their hands."
"The fire provokes immediacy, My Lord!" said the Friar. "In the book of Genesis it is written that God sought to destroy all living things. He had grown tired of his creation and its ceaseless violence, as have you!"
"Either option should provoke some kind of activity we should be able to observe," said Hwost, touching her glasses to her nose.

The Angel listened to Hwost as she spoke of the Bride feeding off beasts. "Why would one stave off hunger with beast blood and not human blood?" He uttered, more to himself as he felt his brow furrow.
Friars' words made him shake his head, "No, Fire for something like this is too dangerous." He said, he flexed his jaw as he thought, "It means we could harm innocents, and if we do something like that, then I fear the Lord will turn his fury against us."

He hoped his words would make Friar to think more... Rationally, if that was possible for the woman to do so.
"I am however, curious, about the Bride using Beast Blood." He tilted his head to the side as his glimmering stained glass eyes shone in the light that drifted down inside the church. "Is this Bride important? Has she got legacy behind her? I don't understand to why Euphoria would hitch up with another beast such as herself."