Wyrd Tales (updated Mar 6, '24)
I am moving and continuing my Wyrd Girls story from What Happened In Your Game Today? over here to Creative Corner. I plan to repost and possibly expand the existing story here and, of course, continu...
Forum Discussion
Chapter 27 - Awakening
Xander Goth acknowledged that his family had a rather macabre reputation. The stories about his ancestors tended to involve various combinations of tragedy, misery and dread. Popular opinion held that the family mansion was haunted. A fact his father had embraced openly, while adding to the family fortune as a successful horror novelist. His sister Cassie's musical and performance style played on the Goth name and reputation.
Xander had been trying for years to distance himself from it all. He was a computer programmer. He lived in a modern apartment in the city. Maybe he'd never quite shaken the family tendency to dress in black but, he insisted, black went with everything. Really, Xander Goth had no use for ghosts and spirits and things that go bump in the night.
Waking up in a coffin, with his pale, spooky, blood-play girlfriend looming over him, was therefore a rather unsettling experience for him.
https://i.imgur.com/KoK8Pyw.png
Spoiler
He didn't really hand it well... Lilith just calming let him shout himself out, observing to herself that he'd inherited some of his father's literary flare at least when it came to creative profanity.
https://i.imgur.com/CqebCzK.png
She waiting until his emotional outburst brought him around to the actual events of the night before...
"Oh my God! Max shot me. He shot me!" Xander yelled before considering an impossible possibility. "Lilith... did I... am I dead."
https://i.imgur.com/bpuADsh.png
"Not yet," Lilith said sadly, "but you are dying."
"What?"
"Max shot you and you were going to die of it. I did the only thing I could do. I took you blood and gave you my own. In the next day, maybe two, your body will die and rise again. You will be like me - a vampire."
https://i.imgur.com/eT9S7bO.png
He didn't really hand it well... Lilith just calming let him shout himself out, observing to herself that he'd inherited some of his father's literary flare at least when it came to creative profanity.
https://i.imgur.com/CqebCzK.png
She waiting until his emotional outburst brought him around to the actual events of the night before...
"Oh my God! Max shot me. He shot me!" Xander yelled before considering an impossible possibility. "Lilith... did I... am I dead."
https://i.imgur.com/bpuADsh.png
"Not yet," Lilith said sadly, "but you are dying."
"What?"
"Max shot you and you were going to die of it. I did the only thing I could do. I took you blood and gave you my own. In the next day, maybe two, your body will die and rise again. You will be like me - a vampire."
https://i.imgur.com/eT9S7bO.png
"A vampire," Xander whispered. "That's impossible."
"Perhaps," Lilith agreed, "but it is also true. Now you need to learn what it means... and met my family."
Spoiler
"My brother, Caleb."
"Caleb Vatore, the writer?" Xander was surprised. "My dad talks about you. I thought you were older."
"I am," Caleb laughed.
"Caleb's wife, Irma," Lilith continued.
"Wait, Irma Gold?" Xander said. "Didn't you host the fundraiser for World United?"
"I'm glad you remember me," Irma smiled. "You see Xander, we're not all that different from you."
https://i.imgur.com/DVZYaY2.png
"Vampires," Caleb expounded, "are only monsters if we choose to be... much like mortals."
https://i.imgur.com/9ZF8zoj.png
"My brother, Caleb."
"Caleb Vatore, the writer?" Xander was surprised. "My dad talks about you. I thought you were older."
"I am," Caleb laughed.
"Caleb's wife, Irma," Lilith continued.
"Wait, Irma Gold?" Xander said. "Didn't you host the fundraiser for World United?"
"I'm glad you remember me," Irma smiled. "You see Xander, we're not all that different from you."
https://i.imgur.com/DVZYaY2.png
"Vampires," Caleb expounded, "are only monsters if we choose to be... much like mortals."
https://i.imgur.com/9ZF8zoj.png
Caleb, Lilith knew, was prepared to go on at great length about the nature of the curse and his philosophy on controlling it. She decided to spare Xander that - for now - and reminded her brother he had a deadline with his publisher.
Recognizing that Xander was, and always had been, a lover of books she instead provided him with some - tomes of vampire lore and secrets.
"You know," Xander mused. "We have a copy of this in the library at home. Cassie read the whole thing. I started it but I never really took it seriously."
"Now you should," Lilith purred.
https://i.imgur.com/CU8I0p6.png
Spoiler
Lilith had brought him clothes to change into. For the most part, they left him alone to read the books Lilith gave him.
https://i.imgur.com/UzIl1Zi.png
Honestly, Xander still didn't believe it. Lilith had always been dark and intense, but so was Cassie. Caleb was a bit odd, in the way that eccentric rich people were odd and Irma, well she was fairly normal for a powerful woman - focused and very self-contained. The idea that these people were vampires... that he was become one... seemed crazy.
Still, he couldn't shake the memory of Max shooting him.
https://i.imgur.com/GsX9DxO.png
A gnawing hunger set in... but the Vatores cupboards yielded only dry pasta and an old jar of tomato sauce. Xander was pretty sure the sauce had gone off... eating made him feel sick and didn't do much for the hunger.
https://i.imgur.com/JzpoVdK.png
Lilith had brought him clothes to change into. For the most part, they left him alone to read the books Lilith gave him.
https://i.imgur.com/UzIl1Zi.png
Honestly, Xander still didn't believe it. Lilith had always been dark and intense, but so was Cassie. Caleb was a bit odd, in the way that eccentric rich people were odd and Irma, well she was fairly normal for a powerful woman - focused and very self-contained. The idea that these people were vampires... that he was become one... seemed crazy.
Still, he couldn't shake the memory of Max shooting him.
https://i.imgur.com/GsX9DxO.png
A gnawing hunger set in... but the Vatores cupboards yielded only dry pasta and an old jar of tomato sauce. Xander was pretty sure the sauce had gone off... eating made him feel sick and didn't do much for the hunger.
https://i.imgur.com/JzpoVdK.png
Alone, in the tower room, the three vampires discussed him.
"You shouldn't have done this," Caleb said.
"He would have died," Lilith countered.
"Why shouldn't she bring him over?" Irma said. "She cares for him, like you cared for me... and it is good to have a new member of the family."
https://i.imgur.com/rBBwHYa.png
Spoiler
"It's too late now anyway," Lilith said. "It's done. Soon, he will be part of the family."
"I hope so," Caleb said. "If he embraces our ways."
https://i.imgur.com/79jvXuN.png
"He will," Lilith said...
https://i.imgur.com/1cmOJEO.png
"I know he will."
https://i.imgur.com/TdKxPmp.png
"It's too late now anyway," Lilith said. "It's done. Soon, he will be part of the family."
"I hope so," Caleb said. "If he embraces our ways."
https://i.imgur.com/79jvXuN.png
"He will," Lilith said...
https://i.imgur.com/1cmOJEO.png
"I know he will."
https://i.imgur.com/TdKxPmp.png
