Bonds

Cain awoke feeling no more refreshed than he had when he'd fallen asleep. This was not unusual, as vampires did not gain physical recovery through internal means, but rather through drinking blood. Knowing this didn't change the fact that it annoyed him, even after ten years. If what the older, more experienced vampires said was true, then it was likely something he'd never truly get used to. 

He stood, washed up using the basin provided in the room, running his hands through his hair to finger-comb out the worst of the gnarls before braiding it back again, tossing the ropy length of black hair over his shoulder once he'd finished. For not the last time, he wished that he could see his reflection in the wash water. He probably looked terrible, which was not a bad thing, given that he was trying to remain discreet in his travels. But he hated not knowing how ragged he looked - he had a part to play, and leaning too heavily in one direction or the other might start to ring as disingenuous to the humans he had to interact with. Cain was a strong vampire, especially given how young he was, but even he would likely find himself in trouble were he to attempt fighting off an entire town! Not to mention, any sort of panic or indiscriminate slaughter in the area would be a surefire way to alert the rogue vampire of Cain's whereabouts. 

Straightening out his limp and rumpled collar before shrugging on the well-worn traveling cloak over his patched and faded waistcoat, Cain surveyed the room to ensure he'd left nothing behind before wandering down the stairs and into the tavern below. The bartender wasn't either of the women who had greeted him that morning, but rather a portly man with a red face and a scraggly salt-and-pepper beard. 

"Good evening," Cain greeted, aiming for polite but still half-asleep in his mannerisms. He laid the key to the room on the counter. "Thanks for the bed. I'd best be on my way."

"I heard ye paid fer yer supper already," the bartender answered. "Thar's lamb stew an' fresh bread to be had, and a pint er two o' ale to wash it down."

Cain allowed a look of surprise to cross his face, and then growing interest, followed by comprehension. "Oh! That's right, I pre-paid," he said, aiming for sheepish but appreciative in his tone. He flashed a tired grin across his face, saying, "I'd love to stay long enough for a bite or two."

The bartender nodded, "Find a seat," he said, gesturing at the half-occupied room. As Cain turned to do just that, he heard the man shouting in the direction of the kitchen, placing an order for stew and bread.

He mentally apologized to his stomach for the second ordeal (a painful necessity on missions like this) and found his way to an empty bench, settling down somewhere between the fire and the door. It was likely dark enough by now that the sun wasn't a threat, but Cain remained cautious. He never believed the sun was down until he saw the truth of it for himself.

The lamb stew, bread, and tankard of ale were delivered shortly, and Cain swallowed the tasteless food down, all while pretending it tasted good. That was, until one of the patrons at a nearby table leaned over and whispered, "It's all right, stranger, Barty and Jenny know the food's one step above shit itself," he chuckled. "You don't need to put on airs for the likes of us."

Cain swallowed his mouthful of food and feigned relief. "Oh good," he answered in a low tone. "I didn't want to be rude, but…"

The stranger chuckled, patting Cain on the shoulder in a friendly drunkard sort of way. Cain resisted the urge to forcibly remove it. "You're good people," he told Cain, "to fake it as long as you did. At least the ale's tolerable!" he added, delivering his last line in a louder tone. 

"No it ain't," came a low grumble from elsewhere in the room. 

Cain made a mental note, should he return the way he came, to not pretend the food was delicious the next time he ate it. It was a good thing he had an excellent memory, because he had to remember a lot of details like this. All human food tasted like nothing to him. It was just one of the many inconveniences in an undead creature's daily life. Interactions like this were the only hints he had to improve his acting skills, and it was always a struggle to not arouse suspicion during those everyday activities that he no longer had the ability to evaluate himself - things like grooming himself or eating became so much more difficult when he couldn't see his reflection or taste the things he put in his mouth. So he was always grateful when the humans in his vicinity gave him an excuse for any of his odd behaviors. 

Cain shot the friendly drunk another nervous smile as he shoveled another bite into his mouth. "Better than nothing," he said.

The drunk roared with laughter. "That it is, my friend," he clapped Cain's shoulder again, and repeated himself, "that… it… is."

It took Cain rather longer than usual to extricate himself from the company of the small inn and tavern. It took so long, in fact, that he was barely able to stumble behind some bushes before he became violently ill, the ale and lamb stew having no more flavor coming up than they had going down, though the sensation of his stomach wringing itself out was not pleasant whatsoever. 

Once he'd swiped a hand over his mouth once or twice, hopefully removing the evidence of his weakness, Cain headed back to the main road, pulling his traveling cloak low over his brow and keeping a sharp eye out for signs of trouble. While it was most likely that the Solveig vampire he was seeking had run off on his own, there was still that troubling bit with the Fae that was nagging at him. The fact that the mage he'd killed had been intending to contact them meant that they had reason to learn this information. The Fae were hardly likely to move against the Solveig in the heart of their territory without a great deal of foreknowledge and weapons at their disposal. However, a lone vampire in neutral territory was certainly fair game, especially if they could finish one off with none being the wiser.

He knew his value to the Solveig clan, and it only lasted so long as he was alive. If he died in the course of duty, his sire would shed no tears and would at most send another enforcer to ensure he hadn't run away. There would be no mourning his loss, and another vampire could easily be assigned the duties that were currently shouldered by Cain. He was disposable and reliable - that's why he was often sent away from the fortress. 

Many vampires saw this as an honor - they assumed that being allowed to leave the Solveig fortress meant that the Lord Sire had trust in you, that he valued the strength of those who were allowed freedom of movement. Vampires of the lower ranks foolishly saw this special treatment as evidence of the Solveig sire's favor. Cain, and the other highly ranked vampires who were assigned special missions at the sire's behest, knew better. There was no favor to be earned from the Sire - he cared not for any of the thralls beneath his boot. A thrall, no matter how powerful, no matter how far they might be allowed to wander, was still a thrall. None could escape the demands of their master. So what did it matter, if one was a favored slave, instead of an invisible slave? There was still no freedom to be found in this farce of a life. True freedom was incredibly difficult to attain, as it required a vampire to sever the bond between themself and their sire.

As far as Cain knew, there was only one way to accomplish this - a vampire needed to replace the bond of thrall and sire with a stronger bond. This was incredibly difficult to do. From what Cain had learned in his time as an enforcer, only two methods were known to be successful, and they were both incredibly arduous and painful to attempt. He'd yet to witness a successful breaking of the bond, though his time as a Solveig clan enforcer had given him the chance to observe countless attempts at both methods.

The most commonly attempted method was that of calling on demonic power to sever the bond. A vampire would most often attempt to contact a demon at a crossroads - such fiends were well known to make bargains, and seal those bargains with a form of bond. Given a sufficiently powerful demon and a strong enough bond, it was theoretically possible to subsume the bond of vampire and thrall with that of promisor and beneficiary. However, vampires do not possess souls. As souls were typically the highest-sought form of currency among demonic-aligned individuals, it was nigh impossible to convince a demon to form a contract for anything less. Even if a vampire succeeded in calling a demon to the crossroads, they were not typically strong enough to threaten the stability of the bond. Sometimes a demon could be persuaded to try, but this rarely ended in a successful supplanting of the bond.

There were two ways to try and form a bond that could overcome the bond of a vampire and its thrall - the first was through blood. Because a vampire's blood is tied heavily to the blood of its sire, the first option would be to offer blood to the demon. But the amount of blood required was often all (or nearly all) of the blood carried in the vampire's veins. Even if the vampire succeeded in forming a blood-bond with the demon, the time immediately following the formation of such a contract left the vampire intolerably weak. And as the demon they contracted with was rarely one of incredible power, it was quite easy for Cain to find the vampire and pick them off - the demons had no real obligation to help the vampire after the bond was broken, and they'd already been granted the boon of a vampire's blood. They had no real reason to try and help the vampire, which left the creature entirely at Cain's mercy. 

If they even survived the blood-letting. 

The second way to form a bond with a demon was less invasive, but perhaps more macabre than the first. The second way that a bond between vampire and thrall was enforced was through the eye - a sire's gaze held the power to bond at an intensity far greater than that of the average vampire. In the same way that vampires could use their own eyes to control humans, the power of a sire could be reinforced through eye contact, to much greater effect. If a vampire felt anxious about draining themselves of all their blood, they could always try to weaken or destroy the bond with their sire by plucking out their own eyes and offering them to the demon.

Akin to the bloodletting, the severing of the bond between vampire and thrall would leave the vampire quite weakened, and also blinded. Which, again, gave Cain a distinct advantage. And the Demon still cared little to nothing for the impaired vampire, leaving them entirely at the mercy of the people around them.

Far more often than when he pursued blood-drained vampires, Cain found that by the time he reached the blinded vampire, they had already been killed. Vampires, unlike bats, were not especially good at navigating sightlessly, and that wasn't even accounting for how weak a vampire was in the aftermath of a severed bond. All the strength and power they received from their sire would be cut off, and the demons were hardly likely to lend a bit of their own power to tend to a wounded and likely doomed vampire. 

But even this end was preferable to the agony a vampire suffered in pursuit of the second method. Because while it was not particularly antithetical to a vampire's nature to form a bond with a demon, nothing could truly prepare a vampire for the pain and purging that would be endured through the forming of a bond with a deity.