Meeting of Arms

Hela sniffed the air and sighed in exasperation, her daughter, Claire reaching out to her with her thoughts. 'Are you well, Mother?'
"I smell blood." Hela responded aloud, adjusting the burgundy toga that rested over her left shoulder, on top of a deep navy gown, her pale blue eyes staring ahead at nothing as she was blind.
Claire raised her nose and sniffed.  "I don't smell anything. Are you sure?" she said, but suddenly there was a loud crash and a dark mass landed on the ground in front of them from a tower window high up in the castle they had been approaching. "Mother, look out!" Claire shouted and threw her arm out to stop Hela from getting any closer to whatever it was that had hit the ground.
Hela heard a groan of pain and put her hand on Claire's arm. 'Lend me your eyes, daughter.' She whispered through her thoughts a moment before entering her mind to see through her eyes.  What she saw was a young man with long raven hair, struggling to push himself into a sitting position. One of his arms hung uselessly at his side, a deep gash ran across his face and blood seeped from a wound in his stomach.
"Damn, why does he always go after my innards?" the young man ground out around his gritted teeth and Hela saw the fangs and shadows under his eyes that marked him as a vampire. Unfortunately, further observation was prevented by the opening of the castle door and the appearance of Orlock gliding out onto the front lawn.  Hela retreated from Claire's mind and into her own, welcoming the blackness that came with her sightless eyes. She'd only had the misfortune of meeting Orlock's gaze with her own once, through the eyes of a fellow elder, but that once was more than enough.
"Hela," Orlock said, his voice smooth as silk but holding a sinister tone that made her skin crawl, "what a pleasant surprise."
"Surprise, Orlock?" She questioned, smoothly, "You know I hate them. I followed proper protocol and sent a messenger to announce my coming."
"Did you now, a vampire or a human?"
"Vampire. I would never send a human from my lands unprotected…unless of course they deserve it." She said, not seeing the smile that tugged at Orlock's pale lips.
"I do seem to recall a strange vampire on my lands just last week.  My apologies, Hela, I thought him just another rogue who had wandered into my territory."
"Of course you did." Hela said with a tight lipped smile.  Truth be told, she had known the vampire she had sent wouldn't come back. He had been slated for execution for continuously disrespecting Hela and the laws of her territory, but she had offered him a small chance of survival if he delivered the message of her arrival to Orlock. No doubt Orlock had done worse to the vampire than Hela herself would have done before he was killed, but it was better to let Orlock believe he had insulted her by killing her messenger. It would keep things simple.
"To what do I owe the honor of your visit?" the fellow monarch asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Curiosity." She replied, "I'd heard you had a sireling.  I came to see what kind of human interests you enough to share your…unique bloodline with."
"As the humans say, Hela, curiosity killed the cat." Orlock said, amusement in his tone.
"Then I suppose I should be thankful I'm not a cat. However, you're forgetting the second half of that proverb. Satisfaction brought it back." She said and tilted her head to the side slightly.
Claire watched the exchange between Hela and Orlock with a sense of unease.  She and her vampire siblings would tease one another like these two powerful elders appeared to be, but something was off. This was not the lighthearted banter between friends. There was a coldness to it and by the dangerous gleam in Orlock's blood shot eyes it was some twisted way of searching for weakness. 'Mother, I don't like the look in his eyes. This vampire is evil.' She whispered to Hela's mind.
'You knew that before we came, Claire. Just focus on keeping him from reading your thoughts and don't meet his gaze. You won't stand a chance against a direct assault on your psyche.' She responded then spoke to Orlock. "May I take a look at your fledgeling, Orlock?"
"If you allow me the same, I don't see why not. I assume the young lady behind you is one of your daughters."
"Her name is Claire. She is my first, just as this is yours."
"Jack, my son," Orlock said as he took Hela's hand and led her closer as a proper host would introduce a guest, " this is my dear friend, Hela."
"I'm not your son." Jack growled.
Orlock ignored the comment. "Hela is notorious for how she handles those that are rude to her, but we don't have to worry about that, do we?" He met Jack's gaze with his. "You know how to mind your manners."
Hela felt the mental shift in Jack's psyche, the fear rolling off him in waves and, in an attempt to ease the fledgeling's mind, she stepped closer and held up her hands to him.  "I'm blind, Jack. I mean you no harm, but the only way I can see you is through touch. With your permission, I'd like to touch you." Then, with her thoughts, she whispered to him, 'You have no reason to fear me.' That was apparently the wrong thing to do because she felt a mental wall, albeit a pathetic one, slam into place in his thoughts.  There were a few tense seconds before she slipped in again. 'I'm sorry, but I prefer to speak with you where Orlock cannot hear us.'
Finally, she heard a grudging response. 'He can hear anything. I can't stop him from getting into my head.'
'You don't need to worry about keeping him out. You don't have to believe me, but Orlock is incapable of reading my thoughts. I am the only elder I know of that he cannot intimidate with his mind games.'
'How?'
'I believe it's because I'm blind. Much of Orlock's psychic power appears to come from his terrible eyes. However, I cannot see them or any illusions he may cast and without sight to hinder it, my psychic capabilities have become the most powerful we've found among vampires. As long as we speak like this, I can shield both our thoughts from his prying. Now, may I see you before we continue?'
There was a long pause before he answered. 'Yes.'
'Thank you, young Jack.' She said and finally laid her hands on him, slowly running them over his chest, shoulders, and arms to gauge his strength and height. She felt the brush of long hair and thread her fingers through it to see its length when Claire's panicked voice shouted through her mind.
'Mother! Orlock is trying to break into my thoughts!'
Hela pulled her hands away and pivoted to where she had left Claire. "Orlock, I'd appreciate if you refrained from prying your way into my daughter's mind." Her voice was sharp and angry.
"You are within Jack's thoughts, my dear. I'm only following your lead." He replied.
"With Jack's permission, Orlock. I recall a time when you also tried to pry your way into my own mind. This is the second time you have insulted me with your unwanted intrusions. I will not tolerate a third."
"My apologies, Hela, you are correct. It was uncouth of me to intrude on your daughter as I did. An old habit I'm afraid."
"Yes, they do die hard don't they." She replied curtly and turned back to Jack, placing her hands on the sides of his face.  His fear slammed into her and she reached into his mind. 'It's alright, Jack.'
'You wouldn't be saying that if you could see the look on his face.' He said, 'You don't know what he's capable of.' Hela caught a glimpse of a beautiful woman drift through his thoughts as well as a name whispered in the deepest recesses.
'Emily?' she felt him go rigid and curiosity got the best of her. 'Show me, Jack. Take down the wall you've built around those memories. Let me see what he's done; all of it. If I don't know, then allow me to see what he's capable of.' To her surprise, he did and if she hadn't been as experienced with her powers as she was, his memories would have crippled her with all the pain and emotion they contained.  She saw everything.  The slaughter of his wife and baby, his forced turning and every second of torture that came after, including his trip through the window. 'Disgusting.' She hissed into his mind. 'I'm so sorry, young Jack, for everything you've been through and everything that's yet to come. Know this, my territory is in Northern Germany.  It is considered a sanctuary for vampires and humans alike.  You are more than welcome there and will be safe from Orlock.'
'No where is safe from Orlock. He always finds me.'
Hela inhaled, fighting the urge to assure him that Orlock would be a fool to go to war against her.  Instead she said, 'Never the less, you have gained an ally in me this night. Seek me out should you ever need my aid...with anything.' Then she pulled from his thoughts and reached forward, pressing her hand into Jack's stomach where she could still smell fresh blood flowing from. Her hand squished against what was left of his flesh, it felt like it had been shredded, and he grunted in pain. "The wound hasn't even begun to heal." She said aloud.  "Surely Orlock's blood isn't that weak in you."
"No, lack of food makes my healing slow." He said.
"Lack of food?" Hela turned to where she could sense Orlock watching her. "You don't feed him?"
"Of course I do.  The boy simply refuses to eat what I give him." Orlock replied and Hela picked up on the disapproval in his voice.  She thought a moment, weighing the possible consequences before she turned to her daughter.
"Claire, show them."
"But mother…"
"Hush and do as I say. If Jack doesn't want blood it's only fair that we share an alternative method with him."
"Alternative method?" Jack asked and Hela felt Claire press a blood packet into her hand.  However, it wasn't blood that it held. She extended her hand to him.
"This is the newest version of the blood alternative my Claire has been working on."
Jack studied the substance in the blood bag. It looked like Pepto Bismol and, out of curiosity, he took it from her hand, surprised to find that it was warm. Orlock's interest was lost. "More of your milk mixtures." He said, boredom etched in his tone.
"Milk?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at the bag in his hand.
"I don't suppose you know this, Jack, but it's not blood we vampires need to survive.  We feed on blood because it is the proteins and minerals in the blood we need and the transformation makes us unable to process these proteins and minerals from normal food. That's why it makes us so sick."
"Milk contains the same proteins and minerals as blood, just in different quantities." Clair explained. Dairy cow milk can sustain a vampire if they choose to live that way, but they would need a lot more milk than blood and too much will cause illness just like human food."
"Not to mention the taste isn't fantastic and it does nothing but make the thirst for blood bearable." Hela added.
"But that's where I come in." Claire continued.  "When I was a human, I was one of the leading scientists working on the development of synthetic blood."
Jack eyed the package in his hand. "This looks nothing like blood."
Hela chuckled and Claire smiled. "The synthetic blood I worked on as a human was meant for supplying oxygen and blood volume to trauma victims and anemic patients.  It was not capable of sustaining us, but it does quiet the thirst.  What you hold in your hand is a blend of the synthetic blood I worked on as a human and a new batch that I made using milk as a base."
"With humans in such dire need of protection because of their diminishing numbers there soon won't be enough to feed us.  We will face extinction if we don't find a better way." Hela said. "My bloodline is the one that is working to make a synthetic blood that both sustains and eliminates the thirst without the nasty side effects that milk causes."
"I'm also working on the taste." Claire added.
"Jack, I'd like you to be the first to drink from this batch. With that wound in your stomach you will be perfect for proving that our synthetics can keep us just as strong as human blood, with Orlock's permission of course. I'd like him to bear witness to our work."  Hela said.
"I'll gladly bear witness, Hela.  I must admit you now have me intrigued.  Go on, Jack, eat up."
Still uncertain and expecting the worse, Jack did as told and bit into the package nearly gagging as he swallowed the first mouth full.  It wasn't that it tasted bad, it was just that it burned like the strongest alcohol he'd ever drank as it went down.  He felt the heat flood through his entire body and by the second swallow the gash across his face and his broken arm was healed.  The third drink healed the gaping hole in his stomach and as the last drops were squeezed from the bag, Jack felt invigorated and refreshed.  It wasn't until a few seconds later that he noticed the sickly sweet aftertaste that reminded him of the sugary coating that covered some human medicines to make them more tolerable to swallow.  In a way he figured the synthetic blood was medicine for vampires so it only made sense that it would taste like it.
"Well?" Orlock asked.
"It works." He said.
"How do you feel?" Hela asked, reaching to press her hand against where his wound had once been.
"Refreshed.  I actually haven't felt this good in a long time."
'Eat what you are given and you would feel fine, Jack.' Orlock whispered through his thoughts and Jack stiffened.
"And the taste?" Claire asked hopefully.
Jack focused on the other two vampires, trying, and failing, to block Orlock from his mind.  "It burns like fire going down and there's a strange aftertaste.  Very sweet, almost sweet enough to bring the synthetic back up if you don't have a strong stomach."
"Oh." Claire said, sounding dejected and Orlock's eyes gleamed at her failure.
Jack frowned, knowing he would probably suffer for it, but added, "It's not that bad.  It reminds me of a good strong whiskey."
Orlock's eyes narrowed dangerously, making a cold sweat break out on Jack's brow.  Yep, he would pay for that, but was Orlock displeased because he was against an alternative food source or did he just enjoy watching Hela's bloodline fail in their mission?  He wanted to think it was the later, but then again he never understood his sire and he prayed he never would because the idea of ever understanding Orlock terrified him.
"Claire," Hela said, "leave the remaining samples here for Jack in case of an emergency.Take only enough for our return home."
"Yes, mother." Claire said and handed Jack a small briefcase she had been carrying.
"Leaving so soon, Hela?" Orlock asked, taking her hand and brushing a gentlemanly kiss across the back of her knuckles.
"Dawn approaches us." She said, removing her hand from his grasp, "However, I seem to be short one messenger thanks to your...misidentification."
"So it would seem." Orlock said, "What do you propose we do to remedy the situation? I'm afraid I have no vampires to offer you as a fair replacement."
"No, you have something far more valuable, a human.  Allow me to take one of your human servants to replace my messenger."
Orlock keened with laughter.  "You drive a hard bargain, my dear Hela, but alas you are fair in requesting compensation for your loss.  Jack, go inside and choose one of the servants to go with our guest." He said then added through thought, 'Bring her Maila.'
Maila was one of the servants that Orlock had been preparing to consume and though he would regret the loss of a meal, if he was forced to give compensation in the form of a human then he would give her one that was useless.  The girl was more fractured mentally than an egg dropped from a ten story building.
Hela slipped into Claire's thoughts again to look over the human through her daughter's eyes. She was a petite girl with short disheveled brown hair.  She appeared to be well fed, but her brown eyes darted about wildly and she muttered incoherently to herself. "Maila," Orlock said, "this is my friend, Hela.  Be a pet and go with her. She'll take good care of you."
"Pet," Maila said, "pet…pet collar….color…red…red is a color…red is blood….no, no, no….blood is…blood is black. Black like dark and shadows and…and…and…STOP STARING AT ME!" she shrieked before her muttering turned low and incoherent again.
'This girl is insane, Mother.' Claire whispered to Hela's thoughts.
'No doubt it is Orlock's doing, but at least we saved one from his grasp.' She responded then held her hand out toward the human. "Come, Maila." She said and took the human's arm and lead her away from the castle.
'What about Jack?' Claire asked.
'What about him? We accomplished what we came here for.  Jack knows there is a better way and he knows where to find sanctuary from his sire. It's up to him what he chooses to do with that knowledge, but there is no doubt in my mind that we have made an invaluable ally in Orlock's young fledgling tonight.'
They didn't speak again until they reached a safe house some distance away in which they would wait out the coming day. Claire had just turned out the lights in preparation for sleep when Maila started shrieking. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!" she screamed, clawing at her hair and ears. Hela could feel the human's terror, it was so tangible it could have easily been her own and, for the first time, she slipped into someone's thoughts without their permission.  What she saw there froze her in fear for staring at her from the blackness was a set of bloodshot eyes she had only seen once before, through the eyes of another.  Orlock was inside the human, though why he was there Hela had no intention of finding out.  
Without a second thought, she pulled out of Maila's mind and slammed a barrier into place in the human's thoughts to prevent Orlock from doing any more harm. The human stopped screaming instantly and just sat there starting at nothing.  She braced herself, expecting Orlock to try and break through the barrier, but apparently he had taken her words earlier about not tolerating a third intrusion to heart because he didn't even press against the barrier. "Is that better, Maila?" Hela asked the girl when she felt it safe.
"It's quiet." The human responded.
"I can make it stay quiet, Maila. Would you like that?"
'You can't guarantee that, Mother.'
'I can teach her the same way I taught you.' Then to the human she asked again, "Would you like it to stay silent permanently?"
"Yes," the human whispered.
"She is weak willed, Mother. Even if you can teach her that doesn't mean someone won't be able to compel her actions. She's easily manipulated."
"Claire, no matter what you say, I will help this human if she wishes it."
"Help me." Maila said and whether or not she was just repeating what she had heard or if she had actually been pleading, Hela leaned in and pierced the girl's flesh with her fangs, draining her.  After a few moments, she pulled away and opened a vein in her wrist, pressing it to Maila's lips.  
"Drink." She commanded, fighting to ignore the thirst that beckoned her to take more.  Maila drank hungrily and Hela cradled her in her arms without trying to stop her. It wouldn't be long, the coming dawn would force Maila into sleep with the sun's rising and sure enough she felt her new daughter go limp in slumber as a rooster crowed from far away.
They awoke the next evening to find Maila watching the moon rise above the horizon and Hela slipped into Claire's mind to observe the newborn vampire through her daughter's eyes. Maila looked much healthier in her vampiric body. She sat quietly, no sign of her earlier insanity visible, and her eyes had turned from brown to a most pleasant green shade. "How are you feeling, Maila?" She asked her new daughter.
"Thirsty." Was the reply.
"And your mind?" Claire asked, eyeing her new "sister" wearily. She wasn't entirely convinced that her mother's blood was enough to cure the damage Orlock had done to Maila's psyche.
"It's quiet. No voices or hallucinations, and I can remember a lot of what happened to me at Orlock's castle.  Before it was like the pieces where all jumbled up," She smiled, "but when I turned it's like everything was put back in order." She paused then asked, "Can I have something to eat?"
"We don't drink blood." Claire said, "You'll have to deal with what little synthetic we have left with us. We weren't planning on a newborn coming with us."
Maila made a face. "Orlock's castle reeked of blood.  He was always torturing someone. You won't hear any complaints from me about not drinking it."
Hela smiled and removed herself from Claire's thoughts, welcoming the blackness of her sightless eyes. "I think you'll do just fine.  Tell me, Maila, what do you think of young Jack?"
"Orlock's fledgling?  That guy needs more help than any of us in that castle. You wouldn't believe the things Orlock puts him through."
"I'm sure I would, my dear." Hela said, remembering what Jack had shared with her. "How would you feel about being a liaison between myself and young Jack if Orlock were to free him from the castle?"
"Point me in his direction and tell me what you want me to do. You saved me from that maniac, I've got no problem helping someone else under that psycho's hand in any way I can."
Hela's smile widened, "A fine addition to my bloodline, but remember your words, Maila. As one of my daughters, you represent me while in another's territory. Your actions reflect on me, if you dishonor me you will be punished accordingly."
"I understand, but nothing you do can possibly compare to what Orlock can."
"Don't try me, my dear. We all have our ways."