Aether Beasts

"I knew it!"

The sound of Zirani's raised voice was the first thing that greeted me when I woke up the next morning. I slowly opened my eyes and sat, to survey what exactly was going on. It took a few seconds for my brain to process what was happening, but when I shot up out of bed my eyes wide. Zirani was out in front of both Misty and an unconscious Sandra, or was she asleep?

Misty was crouched down over Sandra's body, facing Zirani with an expression that seemed more animal than human. Her eyes were bright red with circles of blue, and her nails which had already looked long yesterday were even longer and were coated in aether of a type that didn't seem familiar to me. At first, I assumed it was death aether, but it had tinges of dark blue and crimson.

"Zirani? What the fuck is going on?"

Zirani glanced at me for only a second before she returned her focus to Misty.

"She's an aether vampire," Zirani said. "First a mutation relic and now one of their kind. I never expected the so-called peaceful lands to hold so many treasures and dangers.:

An aether vampire? I'd heard of the phrase vampire, but only in books and I didn't really know much about them except that they drank blood. Misty was an aether vampire? Suddenly some of the stuff she'd been doing made sense. Vampires were said to be undead and bit into one's neck when drinking blood, not to mention the claws. She'd been taking glances at my neck.

I formed bark armor around my arms and legs, and moved closer to Zirani, keeping my eyes on Misty. I had no clue what an aether vampire could do, but I wasn't about to underestimate her.

"Is Sandra ok?" I asked.

"Yes for the most part," Zirani replied. "I caught this one draining the girl in her sleep. If I hadn't then she might have continued until Sandra was dead."

"Why didn't she wake up, she must have noticed her aether being drained."

Zirani shook her head. "It's an innate technique they have that lets them essentially charm and subdue their prey. It makes the draining process easier."

Misty was still staring at Zirani, and now that I was closer I could see the motion in her eyes more clearly. It wasn't anger or ferocity, but fear and confusion.

"Misty?"

She turned to me and her mouth opened, but no words came out.

"Misty step away from Sandra," I said slowly

The blonde-haired girl looked down at Sandra's unconscious form and something shifted in her eyes, they became human once again and she stumbled back, tears beginning to escape her eyes.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

She screamed the last word, falling back against a tree. "I'm sorry, I didn't, I couldn't help it. I was so hungry. No, no, no, no…"

She placed her head in her hands and began sobbing, her body shaking with the motions.

I looked over to Zirani who looked just as shocked as me.

"What the hell is happening?" I said. Why was it just one thing after another? Could I not catch a fucking break for just one damn day. First the raid, then Lucas, then the nightmare, and now this. I clenched my fists and tried to calm myself, though it took more effort than it had the previous day.

"That must have been her first feeding," Zirani muttered to herself. "She's a fledgling, but no sire which means…"

Her words trailed off and she looked over at Misty who was still crying though softer now, with the occasional whimper thrown in.

"Watch her while I check on Sandra," She said, and I nodded, moving in front of her to keep an eye on the blonde. I didn't think she was going to attack, but you never knew. She'd been acting like an animal not a few minutes ago and now she was crying.

Zirani moved to Sandra and after a quick checkup she let out a sigh of relief. "She's fine, she'll be sore and tired when she wakes, but some rest and food will fix her right up. If we can find some herbs then I can make something to help her, but first, we need to deal with her."

"Do you want to…" I trailed off and made a slicing motion on my neck. I didn't want to kill her if I was being honest, but if she was a danger then I'd do what I had to, though the idea did make me feel rather sick.

"No, we're not," Zirani said, and she turned to look at Misty with pity instead of anger. "I think I know what happened."

She moved closer to the crying teen and when she was a few feet away she knelt down so they were eye level.

"Misty, do you know what you are?'

Misty nodded and whimpered. "A monster."

Zirani sighed. "Depends on how you look at it. Do you remember how you became like this, who did it to you?"

Misty froze and a haunted look appeared in her eyes. "I…I was, oh god, I shouldn't have opened it. Dad told me not to, but I didn't listen and then that smoke moved into me. It hurt so bad."

She began sobbing once again, clearly remembering what had happened.

"I see, so you didn't contract it via bite then, that makes more sense since an ether vampire strong enough to infect another wouldn't be able to survive in such a low-level and quality aether area."

"Zirani, you wanna fill me in on what's going on?" I asked, confused. I was trying to keep up but I'd lost her at the monster part.

"She's an aether vampire. A sort of hybrid between an aether beast and a human. It would take a while to explain fully, just know that she has to feed on aether via blood and other means to survive and this was her first time. She'd been fighting the urge and putting it off until now."

Suddenly it clicked. "That's why she looked like a zombie. She was starving herself."

Zirani nodded. "I'm impressed that she'd held out for this long. She must have gotten infected at least a week ago."

"So what do we do with her?"

"Well for now we'll take her with us and I'll figure something out."

"She's not gonna go wild or anything, is she? Those claws looked quite dangerous and I don't want to get drained in my sleep."

"If she was able to hold it for a week then I think we'll be fine until we can figure something out," Zirani replied.

She turned back to Misty. "Misty, I just want to apologize for what I'm about to do."

I frowned as Zirani walked over and plucked a few plants then mashed them up while pulling aether from our core. I don't really understand what she did but soon she had a fine powder in her hand.

"Sleep for me."

She blew the powder over the blonde teen's face, and Misty eyes opened wide for a second before they drooped and closed, her body going limp like a ragdoll.

"You're gonna need to carry her," Zirani said. "I'll carry Sandra. We can't afford to wait until she wakes up. The twin horn sect has probably already sent people to hunt down those that escaped."

"What if she wakes up and attacks me?"

"She won't," Zirani said. "Trust me, now quickly grab her, and let's move."

I opened my mouth to complain again but then closed it and sighed. I trusted Zirani and it's not like carrying her would be particularly hard. I picked her up gently, keeping her claws well away from her face, even though they had shortened when she'd fallen asleep. Better safe than sorry.

Zirani picked up Sandra in a bridal carry and with Misty on my back, together we headed further into the forest.