Its in the Blood

Her footsteps echoed in the empty hall. It was neither late, nor was it early. It was in fact just shortly past midday. Some classes had already begun, however most students were still loitering about in the Great Hall, or hiding away in their commonrooms, attempting to squeeze a few more moments of freedom before they were sucked back into the cycle of their day to day life.

This was the time that Faye enjoyed to meander around the halls the most. The few moments when she could wander alone, without offically being in trouble for skipping out on a class.

It was tiring for the young girl to be around people. It was tiring for her to do anything - to be perfectly honest - but emotionally so when everyone was staring (Or at least when she felt sure everyone was staying). Who wouldn't glance at the pale, thin sickly girl weaving between them as silently as if she were already dead and gone.

Faye's steps, although not strong, were once steady, staggared to a noisy hault as her brain seemed to freeze on her, causing her feet to stumble to a clumsy stop, the books she had been hugging close to her chest fell to the floor equally as loud. In normal curcumstances, the small girl's face would heat up in a deep blush of embarassment, but at this moment she had other things to focus on.

Like the way the room was spinning agian. Perhaps she had allowed herself to walk to far, been too stubborn in her attempt to prove to herself that her words to Roman on the boat had been an overraction.

Closing her eyes, she used her now free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, taking deep focused breaths, determined to wait it out.

She would be fine.

Wouldn't she?

Ethon had been trailing the girl, following her movements with extraordinary ease. He was stalking her, he knew, staring at her with a mixture of bemusement and perturbability. To any who might have connected the vampire and the sickly girl he was tracking, they probably looked more like predator and prey.

She hadn't noticed him, at all.

It was... unnatural, the illness in her blood, the manner in which it sickened her whole body. How could blood be ill? Ethon had never understood that, though perhaps that was due to what he was, what Djinn had made him.

The girl had halted abruptly, belongings crashing to the floor as she swayed. Hesitating a moment, Ethon was at her side, gently gripping her by the elbow to lend her support.

"You are most unwell," Ethon stated unnecessarily, expression still that of unnerved incredulity. He couldn't help himself. It was just... wrong.

The hand startled her to say the least. It had been quite obvious that before this moment that she had thought herself completely alone. In a normal situation, the girl probably would have jumped, however at the moment she was far too zapped of energy to do much more then look up with a startled look.

It was that Professor. The one that she'd noticed, every so often...

"I'm fine," she muttered, shaking her head. "Or well... I will be, or something."

She shifted slightly and looked at the hand once more, "Thank you, Sir. Though I think- I think I've regained my balance again."

His gaze remained focused on the girl's face, so gaunt, so thin. She was paler than a great many vampires - and there were many who either did not know about or simply did not utilize lapis lazuli to walk in the sunlight.

"What would you be willing to do, Miss Hansoff," Ethon asked abruptly, "to cure your blood? You do wish to be well again, do you not?"

Faye stood up straighter, blinking her wide eyes at the man, shock and confusion mingling on her face. She wasn't so much surpirsed as to the man knowning what was wrong with her, but more by...

Well not only what he asked but the rather abrupt mannor in which it came about.

"Doesn't everyone wish to be well," she asked softly, avoiding one part of his question in favour to answer the later. Although, she did feel as if she would do almost anything to be better, this offer from the seemingly odd professor had her... hesitant to say the least.

Ethon gauged her response, unsurprised by the information which it gave him.

"You think there must be a catch," Ethon said. "Smart girl, but there isn't one. You are sick, plagued by an illness which has proven nigh incurable for decades. Longer. Your very blood is anathema to you.

"I have the means that would cure you. Your part would be very simple, if somewhat distasteful. Do you know what I am, Miss Hansoff? I'm sure the rumors about me or my brother must have made their rounds."

The words he spoke were certainly both true and daunting. The truth of what she had known almost all along rung in each and every word, and it made her insides run cold.

But Professor Pyrrohs - the name coming back to her finally - appeared to be offering her some sort of out.

"Rumors," she stated slowly, "Have been spreading around; your brother seems to be more... ostentatious about whatever you are. The sixth years, more then the rest I believe have been talking." Of course, out of everyone she speaks to, it was only a particular sixth years authority she trusted. "Vampire has been spread around, though, more than the others."

She was neither stating this to be truth, nor did she say she believed it, however, the man had asked. And his facination was starting to make it seem... more likely to say the least.

"He always has been," Ethon stated, releasing her arm only now that he was certain of her balance.

A small smile pulled at the man's lips. "You needn't be quite so politically correct with me, milady," he said. "You'd be hard-pressed to find vampires older than my brother and I." He felt no need to inform her that they didn't exist.

"Vampire blood," Ethon said, sweeping their surroundings with all his senses, even as his voice grew quieter, "my blood has unique healing properties. It is how new vampires are brought back from death to continue their existence. My blood could cure yours, Miss Hansoff, and I would give it to you, no strings attached."

Her head tilted to the side, as she felt like she could feel the blood pounding in her ears. He could- he could- make her better. Better - that was a word that she had hardly dared to think of in months. When she said she was fine, she wouldn't actually be just talking, she would be...

She would be fine.

But... at what cost? He said there was no strings attached and yet... this all seemed, well, too good to be true.

"And I-I..." she frowned for a moment, calming down enough from the wonder of the possible outcome, to think about how she would get there. "I would have to... would I have to... drink it?"

Ethon could hear her heart rate pick up at his words, he could see the yearning she felt for what he had offered in her eyes. The man did not blame her in the least. If there was a cure what ailed him, he would take it in a heartbeat.

He inclined his head as she asked the inevitable question. Of course she would need to ask. Ethon had expected nothing else.

"You would," he confirmed, tone matter-of-fact.

Swallowing, the girl could feel her stomach churn at the thought. Then again, the feeling from her stomach was nothing new - thats particular organ had done nothing of late except for attempt to get her to pass back up its already almost empty contents.

"And it would just..." a frown mared her face as she thought. She was having trouble understanding how, graspong the concept of blood that could heal her own, do what over a year of potions and Tre's attemps to heal her couldn't. "It would just heal me? Make me better? I wouldn't... become, dependant on it, or, or turn into some, some..." she stuttered for a moment before discovering she had no tactful way of stating such a question. "There wouldn't be any... side affects? It would just... work?"

"Blood exchange and death are co-requisites for vampirism, Miss Hansoff," Ethon informed. "You would neither be dying nor would I be partaking of your blood. I understand that it must be a difficult concept to grasp. In a sense, I suppose you can say vampires have the healthiest blood on the planet. We do not contract blood-borne illnesses or diseases and as you are aware, blood actually sustains us."

The man paused, studying her another moment before letting out a quiet sigh. "Perhaps, not all vampire blood would prove effective in healing a human. You'll just have to trust when I say that mine will. The only side effect you would experience is that you would no longer be ill. There'd no addiction, no vampirism, just an opportunity to live out your life free of the sickness which plagues you.

"Blood is not meant to be ill," Ethon stated. "It's unnatural. Quite honestly, I find the idea unsettling - and there isn't much that unsettles me, anymore. I just wish to help you, Miss Hansoff. You are not obligated to accept."

Although the answers she looked for were in those statements all Faye could focus on was one word.

Live.

She could live. How could she turn down something like that? What kind of person would that make her, if she said no? If she rejected what could quite possibly the only thing that would make her better then...

Then she wouldn't live.

She would die.

She would knowningly be letting herself die. But she didn't want that did she? She wanted- she wanted...

The young girl ran a frusterated hand through her hair. Her head seemed to be throbbing, though she couldn't say if it was because of her illness (which was apt to make it do so) or if it was everything that was swirling in her head.

"Forgive me Professor," she said after a moment, closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath through her nose before looking back at the man, "I do believe you- you wish to help, this is all just so-so- may I think about it a little longer? I need to, wrap my mind around the whole thing before-"

She shrugged her shoulders and gave a tiny wavering smile.

"I'm afriad I'm rather... confused at the moment."

Ethon inclined his head. "There's nothing to forgive," he assured. "It's perfectly understandable. Take your time to consider your new option. When you have your answer, come find me." He studied her intently for another moment. Stooping, he picked her belongings off the ground and handed them to her.

"Do take care, milady. Your well-being is worth far more than your pride," Ethon advised. "Good day to you, Miss Hansoff."

She took her books with a muted, distracted thank you. Her greeting was equally as quiet. Her brain continued to whirl as she watched the man disappear, and then the empty space for much longer.

This was...

His offer continued to whirl in her head. It was the only option wasn't it? What better offer did she have? Who else was going to...

Students began to fill the space, starting the girl into some awareness of what was going on around her. It was time for class. Sighing slightly, she weaved her way through the crowd, heading in the opposite way of the flow. She just couldn't go to class right then. She needed...

Something.