PALE MOONLIGHT

PETAL HINGER-CHILD | 20 | VAMPIRE

[petalhingerchild-blog]

a bump in the night // {open}

The moonlight cast an eerie glow over Sanctuary, bathing the small town in a wash of silvery white light as Petal slipped through the back ally’s of the town.  Snow’s End had never been Petal’s favorite season, and the cold she now felt in her own skin only bolstered that fact. Everything seemed to sleep during that time -- the flowers, the animals around them. It had always been the hardest time of year for her tribe, not so un-like other tribes. 

The cold meant quiet -- and quiet meant she could more easily be caught. Petal hadn't quite learned the secret of vampiric stealth, but for someone without a teacher, she managed well enough. The trek to the Husbandry was easy enough, save for the fright she’d given the sleeping cluster of hens on their night perch. She’d tripped on a root poking up from the dirt while lost in thought, sending them into a flurry of feathers as she’d fled behind the building in a burst of speed. 

It was enough to scare her, too, her chest heaving as she tried to calm the racing of her heart. She clutched at the thin fabric of her shirt -- some kind of cotton blend that had felt like heaven between her fingers when she’d discovered it buried under a stack of tunics and leather pants at the market.

In retrospect, she shouldn’t have worn it. The hunt would mean blood, and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin the garment. But, if she turned back now, she wouldn’t make it home by sunrise. How the times had changed -- once, she’d been in a rush to make it before sunset. It felt like ages ago in the same way it felt like yesterday. 

Once the hens had quieted down and Petal was sure no one had decided to check on them, she walked along the broken wall until she discovered the small hole covered in brambles. Too small for even her to slip through, the hole instead served as a marker for where the wall was lowest. It was a jump Petal easily made, landing on the other side with as much grace she could manage. 

Petal made a wide arc around Sanctuary, skillfully avoiding the hunting parties that had set out only minutes before her as she always did. Far enough to find her own prey, ducking in and out of thickets and rocks until the buck came into view some minutes later.

Petal crouched low, her body tense.

[petalhingerchild-blog]

I S O L A T I O N...a petal hinger-child playlist

a playlist dedicated to the inner thoughts of a girl searching for her place in the world. 

{listen}

[watchxlyrics]

My Chemical Romance // The Light Behind Your Eyes

[petalhingerchild-blog]

dxrkchiild:

Her words, however vague, struck a strange chord within Parnus, and reminded him of the home he was now banished from. Though it had only been a cot and a table, and his strange, half-woken scribblings on the wall in charcoal, he’d really started to think of it like home. The place Ayanna had given him in the meantime, while she tried to smooth things over with Wolfgang to allow him back within the Vampire’s District, was smaller and felt far more empty, though it had the same things.

Associations, Parnus supposed.

He gazed down at the young vampire, and offered her what he hoped was a friendly hand.

 “Parnus, Parnus Dark-Child.” He tried to h=make himself seem as open and inviting as possible. Most vampires, upon hearing of his bastard title, drew away from him. Others recognized him by name and drew away to avoid the scorn of their King. At this point, he just wanted a damned friend.

Petal blinked in surprise, temporary stunned. She’d just rattled off several insults -- had he not found them insulting? -- to the stranger, yet he was holding up his hand for her to shake and introducing himself like she’d just offered him a jeweled smile and a happy disposition.

As in her normal fashion, Petal shook his hand for a  fraction of a second, letting go just as quickly as she’d taken it. The cold never stopped being a shock -- just like human warmth made her remember what she wasn’t, vampire touch was an unsettling reminder of what she wasn’t.

“Parnus?” Petal asked in astonishment as she let go, her mouth practically dropping open before an almost giddy smile slipped onto her mouth. It was almost a miracle. “Oh, my god. They talk about you more than they talk about me!” The young vampire appeared to not have heard his last name -- when it came down to it, Petal was as much as a bastard as he was. The only difference was that she’d had a relationship with her maker prior to being on her own, and somehow hadn’t managed to get on Wolfgang’s bad side.

Hopefully,  she could keep it that way.

“Seriously. It’s like you’re the one who started the Plague or something. What could you possibly have done to get yourself kicked out of the community?”

[bloodydavvn-blog]

THE WAR OUTSIDE [OPEN]

[petalhingerchild-blog]

bloodydavvn:

Her head snapped up at the first “um”, pointless breath held in an attempt to hold back any further sobs. Her eyes narrowed, then widened at Petal and her obvious question. “Um, yeah,” Rory decided it must have been contagious, because her tone was nowhere near mocking enough to be considered insulting. In fact, the uncertainty made her sound rather small.  She blew out a breath, straightening one leg in front of her.  

“Sorry,” she offered, because the younger vampire seemed uncomfortable. “I’m fine, sometimes one just needs a good cry,” she shook her head and scoffed, getting to her feet in one smooth movement. She didn’t understand Petal – not that she’d tried very hard, either – but there was something about the girl that simply rubbed her the wrong way. Tonight, that made her feel mildly guilty for not trying hard enough. She hadn’t tried to get to know Voleta either, and the realization made her hiccup in a sudden bout of misery and remorse. The sound surprised and embarrassed her and she tried to pat at her face in an attempt to hide her discomfiture. “Are you okay?” she finally asked, trying to breeze past the moment. 

“I didn’t mean to...” Petal swallowed, rolling her wrists as she awkwardly sought the right way to inform the other vampiress that she hadn’t meant to stumble in on her obvious private moment.  When did someone related to Wolfgang ever cry? It was such a contradiction that Petal found her self fumbling over her words, instead standing there and looking uncomfortable -- and if she was being honest to herself -- quite stupid.  Petal, in her opinion, rarely ever looked stupid. It was far too beneath her.

Yet, here she was. Wonderful.

“Right. You. Just crying. Okay,” Totally not weird and totally normal. At the sound of her hiccup, Petal blinked in surprise. “Oh, god, please don’t start again.” The words left her mouth in a rush, all strung together, almost like she’d been winded in a bad fall as she tried some semblance of comfort. “I’m fine -- I guess? Rules are rules, and we can’t... well, it’s not up to us. Everybody makes choices, and... and are you okay? I mean, not if you’re crying. ”

Petal sighed loudly through her nose, looking at her shoes, the wall -- anywhere but Aurora. “Should I go... get someone?”

[ofbuildingwalls-blog]

THE FAULT IS NOT IN OUR STARS, BUT IN OURSELVES [OPEN]

[petalhingerchild-blog]

ofbuildingwalls:

A vampire.  

A vampire on his fucking doorstep. His eyes slid away from her face to look at the drooping sun. It wouldn’t be much longer, but for now he could tell it was falling on her, a deep blue cloak protecting her from its rays.  

He blinked uncomprehendingly as she raised her voice, his grip on the door tightening. He didn’t want to turn his back on her. He didn’t want to ask her inside. He wanted to slam the door in her face. “Right,” his voice was gruff, the word slipping through gritted teeth as he gestured for her to get in. She could find better protection inside, huddle somewhere in a corner away from the windows. The door banged shut a bit too forcefully as he pivoted and used the towel he was still holding to push the kettle off the embers. The relief he ought to have felt at the blessed silence was not forthcoming.  

The muscles in his back rippled as he tensed, feeling her presence behind him, in his very house, like a catastrophe waiting to happen. What the everloving fuck was she doing there? He turned to face her again, barely resisting the urge to cross his arms, fingers tightening and relaxing at his side in an unconscious attempt to work off some of his energy. “Can I help you.” the question fell flat, sounding declarative, the words completely at cross-purposes with his tone. His voice was a stilted mixture of detachment and aversion.  

Petal immediately felt his disdain as if it was something tangible. A thick, heavy cloud that leaked from his tongue and tense frame like some sort of poisoned fog. It didn’t take her more than a moment to come to the conclusion that the man  -- Anton Dashep, if she was in the right house -- was no friend to vampires. 

She tried not to wilt. She’d met his sort before in Sanctuary, but each time was only a reminder of what she was. And each time, she seemed to meet them just as she could almost forget it. Instead of showing her uncomfortable ness, Petal lifted her chin and squared her shoulders as she strategically chose a place to stand that was out of the waning sunlight. A few moments more, and she’d be safe enough to shed her cloak. But until then, she had a shred of gratefulness  for allowing her inside.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” She said cooly, pushing her hood back. “But I think it’s probably important. I might not know anything about walls and the like, but there’s a hole. Not a large one, but it could cause a problem?”

She wrung her hands together as she sought the right way to explain herself without revealing the location of where she clambered over the wall on her singular hunts. “Behind the husbandry -- it’s covered by brambles, but it’s definitely there. I’ve seen coyotes on my hunts... near there, and I remember when my tribe tried keeping chickens, they killed several of them right under our noses.”

[petalhingerchild-blog]

ailes-de-fleurs:

Nice recovery, Ayanna thought to herself. Though, despite the almost smooth save, the other had revealed enough of her dislike for the traditions that Ayanna had picked up on it with ease. “Everyone has their own set of traditions which might be important, yes,” she agreed, bobbing her head in a gentle nod.

In Ayanna’s opinion, traditions should evolve with time. The vampire tradition of offering King Wolfgang a sip of their meal though served the purpose of ensuring loyalty, it seemed archaic and unfair to a human like Ayanna who believed in the principles of democracy. However, those were her personal thoughts that she wouldn’t be expressing to anyone, least of all a vampire.

“Touché!” A soft laugh fell from her lips at the vampire’s reply. “Nice to meet you, Petal,” she said amiably. Shaking her head as Petal continued, she replied, “I’m always happy to meet new people. It tends to get quite mundane looking at the same faces and talking to the same people for years. So, it’s always refreshing to meet a new person.”

“So, what do you do in Sanctuary now? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Petal, despite it all her long list of experiences -- forceful turn, loosing her maker, her awful frenzies, moving to Sanctuary and drinking such small rations -- found herself relax ever so slightly in front of the Keeper. She couldn’t quite place why. She wasn’t sure if Ayanna simply reminded her of her father, a keeper himself, or if it was the cheeriness the woman radiated in that moment. It didn’t exactly make her comfortable, but she wasn’t uncomfortable. The exchange felt like it was trying to be friendly. Innocent, perhaps.

Speaking to her felt rather, well... human. 

Petal bobbed her head in agreement, and when the corner of her mouth turned up again for a moment, it felt easy and almost genuine, if not weird. “Nice to meet you, too,” She quipped, surprised herself meaning it. A little. “Officially? I’m a hunter, though... I don’t normally go out with the parties. It’s easier for me to catch something that way. Other than that, I... well, I’m around. I do my part and then wander through the market, mostly.”

She probably didn’t need to mention her secret excursions outside of hunting. Not a good idea.

She played with her hands as she spoke, feeling as if she needed to at least try to show some interest. It would probably do her some good. “And you? Other than your officialness,”

[petalhingerchild-blog]

jina-the-whisperer:

Jina didn’t respond to the girl’s first comment, deciding that at delicate times like these, it probably wasn’t a good idea to call someone out on an attitude. Then again, Jina wasn’t one to call someone out on an attitude ever. 

She nodded when the girl finally answered her, wondering what had been going through her head in the moments that she took to speak once more. The Whisperer was never going to be someone to make much conversation that was irrelevant but she tried to at least seem less odd to some. “Okay,” she responded, “I can only imagine what a difficult choice it was to make”.

Petal didn’t understand the woman before her. She seemed... something that Petal couldn’t quite place a finger on. Distant, and strange -- those were the closest words she could muster to describe the woman, but the young vampire had a hunch that it wasn’t nearly accurate enough. 

“Kings make difficult decisions all the time.” She quipped in response, giving the woman a slow look up and down with a raised eyebrow. Who was she? “Wolfgang -- His Majesty -- is perfectly capable of making them, and it’s not up to us to imagine what he feels. It’s not our business. Now, did you need something, or do you stare at nothing as a hobby?”

It was that Petal was particularly upset about the course of events that made her speak in such a way -- nor did she want to sound like such a fan of the Blood King -- she just simply couldn’t find anything else to say to the stranger.

[petalhingerchild-blog]

brazen-tenacity:

Her shoulders lifted in a short shrug as she nonchalantly approached the blonde vampire. ‘’We live in a place which both vampires and humans call home, so shouldn’t it be casual?’’ she questioned playfully. She saw straight through the facade the female was trying put on due to the bluntness in her words and she was oddly drawn to toy with that knowledge just a little bit. ‘’The hunger for blood can be… overwhelming, can’t it? This much I’m aware of. And yet, accepting such tiny rations? Aren’t you famished?’’ she spoke with exaggerated empathy. She pushed her braid back behind her shoulder seemingly absentmindedly, but very purposely to reveal her jugular. She was just attempting to get a reaction out of the female, even if it was hardly noticeable. She needed to know if she perhaps had a potential new costumer on her hands. ‘’I’m Nadya, by the way.’’ she took a step closer, extending her hand as a greeting, but also to gauge her reaction to physically touching a human when she was clearly in need of a regular sized ration.

Petal felt her mind muddle all at once as Nadya started babbling on about blood and rations. There was a sharp pain in her canines, and her body seemed to lock up in every shape and way possible as her shoulders tensed and her hands squeezed around the straps of her bag. Her grip was tight -- so much so that her knuckles went paler than even she was, and her eyes almost seemed to glaze over as her gaze became trapped on the sight of the woman’s revealed neck and the subtle jump of her pulse there. 

To any on lookers, the exchange might have seemed normal -- a human and a vampire speaking, one uncomfortable while the other tried to extended some sort of friendship. This was Sanctuary -- a place where they were all meant to get along, or at least try. 

But Petal couldn’t help it. It was primal, it was her nature -- her damned, damned nature -- for her mouth to water and for her nose to flare as Nadya’s heart beat became a roar in her ears and the smell of her skin gave hints at the food that flowed beneath. Food, nourishment, blood, craving, her teeth sinking into her throat -- 

“I don’t need someone to question my feeding habits.” Petal suddenly snapped, pulled back from the blooming craze as the woman extended her hand in introduction. Her rattle of thoughts subsided, and soon so did the pain in her fangs. Had it not been from the gesture, Petal might have turned to leave in a burst of speed.

Or worse.

She shoved the ration in her bag, deciding not to shake the woman’s hand, nor extend her name in fear she might have noticed her temporary lapse in control. 

“As long as I’m not killing someone, I’m quite alright, thanks.”

[malviex]

this is the best gif i’ve ever done i’m so proud of it tbh

[wolfgangarcturus-blog]

That’s not what I meant!

Petal! When I said to find a nest I DID NOT mean Brat-Child!

[petalhingerchild-blog]

[heireating]

 BOOK STARTERS VOL.31    ( LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA )   ( GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ )  

❛ Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves. ❜

❛ You’re too young to know that the heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and thanks to that we manage to endure the burden of the past. ❜

❛ Love, no matter what else it might be, is a natural talent. You are either born knowing how, or you never know. ❜

❛ Whatever you do, you will be sorry all the rest of your life. ❜

❛ There is no God worth worrying about. ❜

❛ The only regret I will have in dying is if it is not for love. ❜

❛ Wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good. ❜

❛ Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything, but the very end in itself. ❜

❛ Only God knows how much I love you. ❜

❛ There is no greater glory than to die for love. ❜

❛ Nothing resembles a person as much as the way he dies. ❜

❛ Take advantage of it now, while you are young, and suffer all you can, because these things don’t last your whole life. ❜

❛ Today, when I saw you, I realised that what is between us is nothing more than an illusion. ❜

❛ I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century. ❜

❛ I want to be myself again, to recover all that I was obliged to give up. ❜

❛ The only thing worse than bad health is a bad name. ❜

❛ This soup tastes like windows. ❜

❛ Why do you insist on talking about what does not exist? ❜

❛ One has to live a long time to know a man’s true nature. ❜

❛ No, not rich, I am a poor man with money, which is not the same thing. ❜

❛ My heart has more rooms than a whorehouse. ❜

❛ That may be the reason he does so many things, so that he will not have to think. ❜

❛ Love if it exists, is something separate: another life. ❜

❛ Things did not go as badly for me as they would for you. ❜

❛ There are things you do only for love. ❜

❛ I’ll have plenty of time to rest when I die. ❜

❛ There is no innocence more dangerous than the innocence of age. ❜

❛ You treat me as if I were just anybody. ❜

❛ The symptoms of love are the same as those of cholera. ❜

❛ There is no law, human or divine, that you have not ignored. ❜

[vomitingwords]

She was wrapped in a blanket of petals, surrounded by thorns— a soft beautiful heart guarded by strong walls.

ma.c.a // Rose, Lovely Rose (via vomitingwords)

[petalhingerchild-blog]

brazen-tenacity:

Nadya had been wandering around the marketplace solely out of boredom that night. She tended to roam the vampire district when such feelings arose, but not today. Instead she decided a innocent stroll was in order. She was still going on a dry spell after the happenings around Sanctuary lately. Everyone was on edge, meaning no one was interested in breaking any of the rules, including feeding from a human. It was a shame really, but she was certain clientele would pick up soon enough.

While passing by a stall for game delivery she stopped as she noticed a young woman, a vampire apparently seeing that she accepted a blood ration. The small packet of blood she pushed into her bag could not possibly be large enough to satisfy her needs. Impossible. Nadya knew enough of the vampire thirst to know the need for a sufficient amount of blood was maddening when mid feed. Once a blood born started a feed, stopping was always a struggle, which she’d witnessed more than once.

When she was called out for her stare she caught herself, giving the woman a soft grin. ‘’Oh, just… didn’t seem like you got enough of that.’’ she tipped her head towards the bag she was carrying. ‘’Was just wondering if you’d be okay with just… that.’’

“Well, I am practically two inches tall. It doesn’t take a lot to keep me fed.” Petal couldn’t help the deadpan look that crossed her face as the lie rolled like honey off her tongue. 

The human was completely, utterly correct -- it was barley enough to qualify as a meal, let alone enough to last her the appropriate amount of time. It was something her body had grown used to, though, despite that the temptation for more always seemed to linger in her canines. That craving had been deadly once, but after keeping tally of her kills, she’d made herself control it.

“Do you know a lot about feeding? It isn’t really a... casual conversation piece. All things considered.” Petal wouldn’t go around asking about human eating habits, but she supposed the woman was trying to be kind -- civilized, even. But Petal hadn’t ever been good at that, and it wasn’t as if she could start now. 

Besides, she was hungry -- that probably contributed to her constant snippy mood. 

[bloodydavvn-blog]

THE WAR OUTSIDE [OPEN]

She hadn’t cried at the execution, nor looked away when the sword bore down. She’d known better than to argue with the compulsory attendance, and in truth, she hadn’t wanted to. The humans weren’t going to skip. The Upyr most certainly wouldn’t have stayed in their holes. Voleta deserved better than to be sneered at in the last moments of her life – and Aurora did not trust the Keeper to keep her people in check anymore.

Aurora didn’t trust the Keeper at all.

If one answered a provocation, one died, but no one demanded such severe penalties of the assailant, did they? Those who’d attacked her had, after all, stood front and center to enjoy the spectacle. And still they dared calling her people the monsters, as though they were so pristine themselves.

She left the market as soon as the head hit the ground, not bothering to apologize to those she shoved out of the way in her haste to make it back to her own district.

For the first time, Aurora wanted to go back to the Blood Court. She couldn’t bear this mockery of armistice – at least the vampires wore their viciousness openly, unafraid of being seen for what they were.

She’d hoped, having made it back first, that the silence and stillness around her would help soothe her inner turmoil, but as soon as the sounds of people milling about faded, Rory stopped, frozen for a moment before a dry sob left her lips. Another quickly followed, loud and unwelcome, and she leaned against a rickety building as the whimpering bubbled up from her chest, an overwhelming wave raising up to swallow her whole.  

[petalhingerchild-blog]

Petal’s eyes hadn’t left the ground during the entire execution. As always, she’d lingered at the back of the spectacle, tense in the presence of so many vampires. It was the upyr and the humans that should have worried her, yet it wasn't them who gave her the strangest of looks. Luckily, most of those who had tried to draw her into their families had remained at Court, so those eyes weren't in the crowd -- save for Voleta’s maker. 

The newborn streaked off as soon as she heard the thump on the ground and the smell of dead blood curled into her nose. Petal was barley surviving loosing a maker, yet she couldn’t comprehend what it was like to lose a child. She didn’t want to think about it, yet she found herself lost in thought and an awful pit in her stomach as she weaved her way back to her home. 

She stopped short when the sound of muffled crying -- was that crying? -- shook from her thoughts, and the sight before her was almost as unsettling as the execution had been.

“Um,” She began, then cleared her throat as her eyebrows furrowed together awkwardly. Aurora -- one of Wolfgang’s younger children, and a person she’d never been particularly fond of. “Are you...” With another awkward sound, she looked over her shoulder, praying that someone else might walk up and try to comfort the scout so that she didn’t have to.

“You’re crying?” That wasn’t a sight Petal thought she’d ever see.

[ofbuildingwalls-blog]

THE FAULT IS NOT IN OUR STARS, BUT IN OURSELVES [OPEN]

Anton had slept through the night, and most of the following day, and for a few moments after waking, he couldn’t make sense of the time. At first, he thought the sun must be raising, and couldn’t reconcile that with the bruising color of the sky. Concern warred with drowsiness – it had been a long time since he’d slept this long and the world now felt out of sync – it might not have been wisest to perform a vanishing act for a whole day with the latest events, but he eventually decided to wake himself up properly before braving the outside, so he set the kettle for boiling and went in the shower.

Not that he had any hope the water would help his discomfiture, but he felt too muggy to forego it. He was towel drying his hair, having pulled on a pair of clean working pants, when someone knocked and he headed towards it, bunching up the linen in his hand.

The kettle began screeching the moment he turned the knob, drawing his attention away as he pulled the door open.

[petalhingerchild-blog]

Petal held the thick cloak closely around her shoulders, her head bowed beneath the too-large hood. The garment was one of her favorites, a rich royal blue dyed from the dogwood trees that lingered on Sanctuary’s boarders. While it wasn’t nearly as nice as something an Upyr might own, it was good enough to keep the sun off her back as it set. It would never due for Daywalking, but at least she could know she was out in some of the sunshine without being able to look at it or feel it. 

What a life this is.

Petal’s fisted hand was still lifted to knock again -- the shade from the doorframe protected her hand from burning, the hood her face as she looked up -- when the door swung open, and a turned head greeted her. The man’s hair was still damp, and well. She’d clearly caught him at a bad time, if the sound of the screaming kettle and his sate of undress was any indicator. Petal cringed, the sound harsh and practically murderous on her sensitive ears. 

“I think,” She began, lifting her voice above the sound as best she could in a bit of a yell. “I think your water is done boiling!” 

[petalhingerchild-blog]

ailes-de-fleurs:

“Traditions can be burdensome,” she commented with a lofty shake of her head. Though, she kept her thoughts on the vampire’s last sentence to herself. Another loner vampire? She was sure Wolfgang wasn’t best pleased with her but, it was interesting to know that there were vampires who preferred to be alone. Though that begged the question, were there more such vampires? And if so, what were their intentions?

However, Ayanna’s thoughts didn’t show on her face as she offered the young-looking vampire her hand for a shake with a smile. It was a quick handshake, with the other blonde snatching her hand away first. Ayanna was used to their cold touch, having interacted with Parnus quite frequently, so she didn’t find it disconcerting in the least.

She gave a small bow of her head in acknowledgement when the blonde called her the Keeper. “I prefer Ayanna. Though, I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.” The vampire’s next words made her brows quirk up. “I hope good things?” She jested, letting a well-practiced chuckle fall from her lips.

Petal could only nod in agreement. The vampiric traditions were burdensome. It was an understatement, even -- the Blood Hunts, sharing rations, hunting as a group, the rituals after a kill... she supposed it was hypocritical of her to dislike them so much. Though few knew it, she wanted to fit in. To perhaps find her place here, or at least something close to her. Attending all those strange things would be the easiest way, yet the sinking feeling in her stomach reminded her it wasn’t enough.

“They’re... long.” She paused a moment, sighing through her nose. She shouldn’t be so blatantly rude in front of someone with ties to both Blood and Bone Courts.  “I’m sure they’re important -- the king wouldn’t enforce them otherwise.” 

Petal’s loyalty to Wolfgang was a strange thing, even to her. She might not have liked being a vampire, nor how they lived, but even she wouldn’t push her luck too much. A king was a king, and Petal would much rather live another day rather than fully earn his scorn. Despite her longing to walk among them, the humans wouldn’t ever accept her as she was. Her life with the vampires could very well have been all she’d ever have -- she wouldn’t lose that, too.

“As good as they can be, coming from vampires talking about a human. I’m Petal,” She tugged at a strand of hair and shifted her weight on her feet. “I used to live at Court, but since moving here I stay in the Vampire Community mostly. Not anybody a Keeper would need to know about. You have much more important things to handle.”

Like making sure everybody didn’t murder each other, for example.