@bloodpsalm
The news didn't reach Tatia all at once.
First, it was just silence from some of her contacts. Not enough to make her suspicious. Then, the difficulty reaching others. No one having heard from them. The numbers grew and grew, until the majority of her network went silent. Eerily silent.
Which is what drove Tatia to leave her hiding spot and meet with her main link, the only one from her network that she'd actually meet face-to-face. Even if he would never remember what she looked like afterwards...
But when she entered the abandoned house that was the agreed meeting point, Tatia was met not with her vampire ally — but rather what remained of him.
❝No...❞
Tatia's face became contorted with pain as she rushed to the mauled body. Her hands were shaking as she examined his wounds. The sight was gruesome beyond description; it was clear Ash must have been subjected to hours of intense torture before he was given the mercy of death. Ash... her oldest ally, the closest thing she had to a friend; a vampire that survived centuries... only to be violently torn from the face of this earth, as if he were nothing.
This hasn't been the first time Tatia came across a dead friend, and so she forced the cold composure onto her features, before releasing a sigh and closing the vampire's eyes out of respect. ❝I'm sorry, friend,❞ she whispered, her voice still marked by grief. ❝I'm sorry I didn't make it in time...❞
She closed her own eyes, allowing herself this one last moment of goodbye, when she was suddenly pulled out of her musings with the sound of steps. Right behind her...















