Decision
Iris felt wonderful. She didn't know why she was staring at a rock ceiling or why she felt wet but she felt wonderful all the same. The room was quiet and she was in a bit of an odd position to be sure but that wasn't the worst thing. She didn't even want to try to stand, here was fine.
She would have stayed that way for a while too if someone didn't approach her now and began talking, "So your done... right?" It was a disgusted voice. Iris didn't know what she could have done or why someone would be disgusted with her. She closed her eyes and laid back on the floor she assumed she was on.
"Please just answer me, this is serious," Iris got up now, maybe she get a better picture that way? In front of her now was that kid, standing in a odd way and half covering their mouth. Red seemed to stain the front of her jaw slightly. The child looked at her and backed away just a bit, before dry heaving slightly.
"I... don't know what I was doing so sure?" Iris started to taste something sweet faintly on her breath as she said that. The child regained some of her composure, removing the hand from her mouth and glaring at Iris.
"Listen I hope that's not how you always do," the child seemed to pause for a good half a minute before continuing, "That... not that it matters now," She turned around now and muttered something under her breath, "come on then you have a duty to perform." Iris was confused, none of that statement had made sense to her. She followed anyway to see what was up, she didn't have anything better to do.
They walked to the large center room where the child sat down on the large central chair, Iris followed suit and sat down across from her. They were both silent for a bit after that, Iris looking at the child and the child glaring at her. She eventually pointed at one of the hallways.
"Listen I need you to go there and make sure the next one gets here, alright," The child freaked out briefly, "WHOLE, IN ONE PIECE. GOT IT?"
Iris was confused but nodded, "I mean sure I guess... I don't know what you mean by one piece exactly," a phrase to which the child visibly shook. Iris still didn't exactly know what was being asked of her, or why she would do it to be sure. Slowly she began to remember what she had said to this child earlier.
"So bring them here to die..." When Iris said this the child's glare grew stronger.
"LISTEN I know you don't care about that, seriously look at yourself," the child sighed, "okay do you honestly remember what you did?" Iris nodded her head no. She knew that she felt great and relaxed sure but she didn't know what she did. She also knew that she didn't feel hungry for once. Her arm itched a little at that thought.
"Just... look in a pond or something you'll see. Now go rest, tomorrow you're doing that task for me or else," when the child said that someone came and escorted Iris to a room.
* * *
As soon as Iris was brought to a room she fell asleep and returned to the modern world. It was a bit before the sun fell again but she just wanted out of that cave. She knew that it didn't really get her out of their but that was fine. She got up off her slab and began to screw around on her phone, just waiting for the right time to get ready for work. However after a bit she smelled something odd. The smell of blood did not disappear like it usually did when she returned. Sure her house smelled just a bit bloody but not this bad. She had fallen asleep on the floor over their maybe it was on her clothes? Iris went to the bathroom once again to check.
A different kind of monster from yesterday looked back. Blood covered most of it, a good amount stained from its chin to its upper body. Its fangs looked slightly stained, just enough to be noticeable. Worst of all however was that it looked like Iris if you ignored the gore. It was even smiling when she first looked at it but it wasn't now. Her arm itched again, which was odd. Iris hadn't felt anything in that part of her arm for years now. She scratched it.
The feeling that followed could best be described as a shooting pain followed by understanding. It knocked her to the floor and as it did the life story of someone else shot into her mind. Someone who had lived a modest life in a small forest village, understanding from birth that they would die at the age of sixteen. They seemed to have accepted that fate and simply wished to know why, though no one ever told them. It all ended with a drop and consciousness draining while some dark figures closed in. The oddest thing about it all was that Iris saw it from a first person perspective, whenever that person was talked to they even used her name.
Iris looked down at her wrist and saw a small bump on it where she had scratched. It looked old, almost like a scar or birthmark. It wouldn't be noticeable if one wasn't looking for it but Iris saw it clearly now that she was looking. She put her coat back on over it only to notice it now had a red tint to it, mainly down the front. She couldn't very well go to work bloody however, she personally didn't want to be arrested.
While vampires were no longer directly hunted down the penalty for murder had gone up greatly in almost all parts of the world. Excluding a few exception the penalty was death. Iris wanted to say it was just due to the increased value of life in the world but she knew better. If life was so valuable people would be treated better. Iris bathed, put on her less bloody clothes, gathered her dirty clothing and pins, and left the house. She would not be going to work today, she needed to do some chores.
* * *
This part of town could be described as a facade. It was the sort of place that had more night activity than day activity and where old relics of a dangerous past were kept, if one knew where to look at least. Iris did not know much more than what the news sometimes reported on her phone. She knew of a laundromat here that would suit her needs. It was an old place, she wasn't exactly sure when it had been opened but before she was born at the least. It only operated at night and the staff acted more as security than anything. She had used it once before when she had accidentally hurt herself in a way that left her clothing with a 'I murdered a man' look.
That time though it hadn't been her coat. Even if she didn't need to worry about the cold she still felt embarrassed. In her mind she was naked right now. She didn't know how the vampires of old had managed all the staining hazards of their lives. Iris also understood why that child wore all red, or at least why that clothing was all red now.
Iris reached the laundromat. She could tell because of the glowing sign on the wall of the place. It had no windows and followed the standard vampire naming conventions for businesses, stating their use. She began to wonder if anyone had put two and two together yet before remembering that it wouldn't have mattered if they had.
Walking into the place it smelt terrible, though she knew it was just because of how her nose worked. It smelt like someone had dumped a box of soap on a massacre and called it good. Not only that whoever had done the massacre had decided to do so only after a five-mile run with all participants involved. That five-mile run had been done in the middle of summer at its hottest point. Iris continued to add descriptors that meant 'bloody body odor smells covered in soap' as she looked for an open washer and began to prepare her clothes. Her arm ached a little while she did it, where that new mark was. After throwing the result in a washer she sat down. There were other people here but they were all distracted by their phones, everyone seemed to own one now.
Iris waited there for a long time. She would say that the peace was nice but really it was just boring and filled with washing sounds. Around the midpoint she switched her wash around, the arm aching again for a moment, and returned to waiting. She started to count the time on her phones clock slightly. It was all very boring and average, till near the end.
Around the time there was seven minutes left the clock seemed to stop. It stayed at the current number and wouldn't continue. At first she just thought her phone was broken. She stayed thinking that when it wouldn't do anything and put it away. Iris decided she try to watch someones wash now, but that seemed to have stopped too. A shirt was floating in a way it shouldn't, almost frozen in place. She looked around and everyone seemed to be not moving as well. Someone walked into the place now, through the exit door. That in of itself was not too odd. The fact that they were one of the few people who could move in this place was however. They walked up to Iris in fact, sitting down right next to her.
Whoever it was they smelled odd. In fact Iris had no idea what they smelled like, each time her nose made a decision the scent changed. They were adult height and seemed to look like an adult, though every time she tried to look her eyes would change what the person looked like so all she saw was a blur. Iris sat their in silence next to this sensory abnormality for awhile.
Eventually the blur spoke to her, "You can't deny what actually happened you know, that will haunt you forever," Iris wanted to say she had no idea what the blur meant, but she had a guess.
She had been thinking about what occurred the day before and had a good idea what had caused that mess. She didn't like it.
"It's not all bad, you have my attention now. You'll always have it now," Iris was not a fan if a stalker she couldn't fully make sense of, "make sure it's fun to watch," and with that the blur left as soon as it had come. Time began to flow again and the people around her resumed phone surfing as if nothing had gone wrong. Iris waited for her clothing and left, running home as fast as she could.
* * *
Iris got up from the slab in the cave. It was an hour or so before the sun would fall here but she had a few things to figure out first. She had gotten dressed in her now clean coat again, it was cleaner than it ever had been in fact. That fact left her arm to ache again for reasons beyond her. She made her way to the center room. Oddly the child was sleeping in the chair. Iris sat down in front of her and waited. She didn't want to wake her up. Of course when the child did wake up she reasonably freaked out, screaming for a second.
"Listen I don't know how it is where your from but NEVER do that again, this rooms off-limits while I sleep," Iris just nodded at the child, "now why are you just waiting here?"
"I have a question is all," The child leaned in closer, "can I see your wrist?" The child rather than giving that question an answer just laughed. She laughed for a while and Iris joined in, only so she didn't feel so awkward. The child finally answered, "No, just no. I want to continue my undeath thanks."
Iris felt a bit offended by that line. She had no intent to bite the child, nor did she think she survive doing so, most likely she get herself blasted across the room for trying, then murdered. She had just wanted to see if the child had some marks on her as well. Iris calmed herself.
"Then can you tell me something," As Iris said that the child cocked her head to the side, "Why did you call what I had yesterday poison?" The child grabbed their chin and stared into space for a moment. She then bit her own finger and began to write in the air with that finger. Blood lingered in the air for a moment, leaving a bookish shape when the child was done, finally falling to the floor.
"Well for one it's just awful tasting," The child had a point, "secondly though its like blood it's actually caustic to a vampire and would over time burn out their heart, lethal you know." That was news to Iris. She had never been told that by anyone before and no study ever done had shown any issues with the stuff. Maybe the child was exaggerating?
"Oh and if one were to drink that stuff for a while then taste the real thing they probably, if it was from the source, enter a rage and bloodily kill every living thing nearby," The child said that last thing in a very dull tone, like she had commented on the weather, "of course I wouldn't imagine there be anyone stupid enough to try, they have to be tricked surely." With that last line the child looked at Iris and smiled. Iris felt like the child was implying something
Iris decided to act like she didn't know, "Oh I see thanks, I just found that is al-"
The child interrupted, "Sure you did."
Iris continued, "SO... anyway who do you need me to find and where am I going?" The child pointed down one of the hallways.
"There should be a map of the way there, I made sure of it. Just ask about the pilgrimage they will know. Again one piece." Iris nodded and went on her way.
* * *
Iris had been walking around outside of the cave for a good hour now. The map made sense to be sure but this village was supposedly a long ways away, lot of bends in the path as well. Every mile or so and at each intersection one of those small houses dotted the path. She guessed they were in case it got to dark. Well that and whatever ritual they did on the desks. It was at least a nice night, then again it never seemed to rain.
The map showed a large number of villages in this forest, 80 to be exact. Each connected to the vampire's cave and all except this one were a fair ways away from the forest edge. They did not have names on this map, instead being labeled based on which of the twelve hallways were closer to it then a number based on how far to the left of its range it was. This one was 5-1 for instance. Iris assumed they actually had names but vampires really didn't care about those so the system made sense to her.
Iris still wondered what was outside the child's domain. She assumed something more dangerous than a vampire who could easily force others to follow them. Maybe there were dragons or demons out there? Of course Iris didn't believe in those kinds of things but still. The irony of a vampire who didn't believe in mythical beings wasn't lost on her either.
She heard rusting in the forest. Not only that she smelled three humanoids coming through the forest. Though she doubted any of them could see her in the dark she ducked behind a local bush. She hoped that they were just some villagers doing who knows what. Iris assumed the villagers of this forest were semi-nocturnal for some reason. Might just be the night sermons though.
The figures kept approaching, though Iris couldn't see them yet. One of them was definitely human but the other two not so much. One smelled a bit like a flesh pile and the other one smelled sour. Usually when she smelled someone it was just a way to locate who was around though today something in her was a bit off and some small part of her brain was debating flavor. She shook her head and kept waiting.
Eventually a man walked out of the forest. He was tall and grayish, unlike Iris who was pale. He walked proudly and carried a rope. After looking around for a bit he motioned behind him. A second male walked out of the forest now. This one was hunched over, carried a bow and grinned at everything with a mouth full of interlocking fangs. The taller one pulled on his rope now, pulling a human with their head covered with a bag out of the forest. None of them noticed Iris.
The toothy one began to talk quietly, in English no less, "Is it safe to walk about now lord, they might notice us." Each word he spoke was followed by spittle, though besides that he talked clearly.
The tall one laughed loudly before speaking, "They couldn't stop us if they tried, not long as I got this," he pointed to something on his side though Iris couldn't see it. The tall one continued to laugh as they both passed her. Iris didn't exactly like the look of those two, but she had a place to go and honestly wasn't a fighter. She got out of the bush and continued on her way. She had people to pick up.