The next morning, Day 2 on the Island
Alesha sat up in her "bed" -- really, it was just a pile of leaves -- feeling sore all over. Her nighttime adventure the night before had been thrilling, sure, but she was definitely feeling it today. She felt sluggish, her hair was matted, and she was still covered in debris despite having thoroughly brushed herself off the night before. After changing back, of course -- it would have been way too difficult to remove all that from fur.
Strangely enough, she didn't feel disgusted when she recalled how it felt to have fur. She almost missed it. Her hand was reaching for the pendant in her inventory before she caught herself and left it inside. Nope. No way was she transforming in broad daylight just to feel her fur again.
Not when there was a Werewolf Hunter after her, hiding amongst the participants in this camp.
By some unspoken agreement, the participants gathered around the previous night's fire pit (Tristen had an unexpected talent for lighting fires) for a morning discussion.
"4, 5, 6, 7," CJ muttered, counting off. "We're missing 2 people. Where are Olphen and Shelby?"
Jasper stood up quickly, looking enraged. "Did she find out? No, she couldn't have," she muttered, clearly expecting the words to be too quiet for anyone else to hear. Jasper wasn't good at controlling her volume, however, so everyone in the circle heard.
The circle of participants was silent. Everyone had the same question on their minds, but who was going to ask it?
Jasper chewed on her lip and clenched her fists.
Nobody spoke.
"Hey, Jasper," Alesha finally said, breaking the silence. She was more confused than anyone right now, since she was certain Layla had been the Vampire, but judging by Jasper's reaction and the fact that Shelby wouldn't waste time chasing a Villager, she had to ask. "By any chance, is Olphen a Vampire?"
Jasper's shell-shocked reaction told her everything she needed to know. Alesha had lots of questions, and a part of her really wanted to save the man since he seemed like a good guy, but at the same time, her own situation was already precarious. She'd been implicated in Layla's death the day before -- could she really afford to save a Vampire? Further, what if Olphen, just like Flynn, was merely a beast hiding his true colors? The fact that he was a Vampire didn't help at all, either. She knew it was just a ridiculous, unconnected prejudice. But once Jasper had confirmed that Olphen was a handsome, seemingly kind Vampire… it was just too soon.
She didn't have it in her to forgive handsome, seemingly kind Vampires just yet.
It had only been a few days.
She buried her face in her hands, breathing deeply, trying to wipe her mind clean of all thoughts. Emptiness. Her mind would be empty, and she would not feel pain or fear, she would not remember all those terrible things that had happened, she would just sit here and breathe. In, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2, 3, 4, out, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2, 3, 4, repeat. Square breathing, that's all she would do. Nothing more, nothing less -- just breathing in squares.
The rest of the discussion continued without Alesha's participation, and she continued sitting there, simply breathing, for a long time after everyone else had left.
----
Olphen woke up somewhere unfamiliar, lying on his face amidst a pile of rotting leaves. He felt completely empty, devoid of energy, and knew his gamble had failed. His stomach was still empty, his thirst still unsatisfied. "Dammit," he cursed, tears coming to his eyes. "I'm already such a useless son, why'd I have to be a useless Priest, and now a useless Vampire, too?" He clenched his fists and cried, unable to move the rest of his body at all.
"Found you," a dreaded, familiarly bratty voice announced. "Vampire!"
Hours later, Hallie sniffed out, then buried, the second Vampire corpse in as many days.
----
Alesha didn't take the news well. When Shelby returned, proudly announcing to everyone that she'd completed her second role's goal, she wasn't quite sure how to react. What if I had swallowed my prejudice against handsome Vampires and gone to look for him? Would I have been able to sniff him out before Shelby?
Two sides seemed to war within her. One argued that she'd done the logical, safe, and wise thing in holding back. She couldn't afford to aggravate everyone and have them thinking she was against the Villagers, not when she was already treading in unsafe waters since she'd been the only one present for Layla's death. Nor could she afford to trust the kind facade of a handsome Vampire -- never again would she make that mistake. She'd make sure to keep all such beasts far away at all times. Arguing in favor of extreme caution, this side of her was largely rational but perhaps backed a bit too strongly by fear.
The other side within her argued for compassion. She felt guilty for projecting Flynn's misdeeds onto Olphen. They were two entirely different individuals, after all, and it wasn't Olphen's fault that his assigned role had been that of a Vampire. He was probably what he had seemed to be -- a kind, albeit timid, good man. She, a Werewolf, could have saved him if only she'd not been so wrapped up in her own self-preservation. If she'd have abandoned thoughts of her own safety, she could have transformed, tracked down his scent and protected him from Shelby.
Most ironically, Olphen's death had confirmed the Game would not end even if someone fulfilled their secondary role's goal. Everyone still had to survive 7 days on this island no matter what. So what benefit was there to completing those secondary goals at all? There was none. Olphen's death proved that his death was unnecessary. There was no reason to kill anyone, there was no purpose in pursuing their role's assigned goals to begin with.
It was all a trap.
"Some Game this is," Alesha muttered, kicking a rock by her foot.
"Yeah," a young boy's voice agreed nearby.
Alesha looked up sharply, having been too engrossed in her thoughts to notice Tristen's approach. "Ah, hi Tristen. What's up?"
"I think you know what I'm gonna ask you for."
"Oh? Do I now?" Alesha cocked her head. She had an inkling, but how had he figured it out?
"Yeah. Turn me."
"Sure, but, tell me how you knew first." She'd already decided to turn the boy, even before getting the quest from Rogork, so there was no reason to back out now. He was clearly much more clever than he appeared, and it would therefore not be a big risk to do this for him.
"I happened to need to pee last night, heard you get up and leave. Then, you came back covered in sand, leaves, twigs, and," he lifted something held between two fingers, "fur."
"Wh- what?! Where did you get that?" Alesha asked, dumbfounded as she stared at the gray furs between his fingers. Considering there were very few mammals they'd been able to spot let alone catch, those were definitely hers.
"I guess you brushed it off or something? Not all of it came off. Also, that's not all." He pocketed the strands of fur and took a monocle out of his Inventory. "This is the Paranoid Man's Lens. With it, I can tell whether the person I'm looking at through it is human. I would have been screwed had Zorhellian not modified our species to fit our roles. He's very thorough."
Tristen then clutched his head in pain. "Ah, whoops. Guess his name is banned now?"
Alesha didn't know how to react. Should she be impressed? Shocked? Horrified? Amazed? This kid was only 11 years old, but was thinking and speaking at a level beyond his age -- in a calculative manner, at that. Was this his real face? Was the wide-eyed admirer of dragons just a front?
"Now turn me," he demanded, still wincing a bit from the headache.
She sighed and acquiesced, biting him on his torso when he insisted that he didn't want the mark to be visible.
What a clever kid.