49

Vivian Maier's eyes burst open and her mouth twists in a silent scream. The stake is almost completely removed from her mangled body, and the pointed tip pulls free of her chest with a disturbingly wet sucking sound. Her shoulders and back arch and she shivers with spasms as her un-life comes rushing back into her. You almost expect her chest to heave with renewed breathing, but of course such concerns are beneath an elder of the Blood.

"Vivian," Qui calls to her gently. You notice he's moved away from her and follow his example accordingly. A vampire brought back from a staking this violent is unpredictable at the very least. "It's Qui, Vivian. We've removed the stake. You have some kine to feed from but you must make sure not to—"

The newly awoken Primogen lurches forward with terrifying swiftness and grabs the closest mortal by the neck, sinking her fangs into his flesh and slurping greedily. Almost half a minute into the feeding, you look over at Qui questioningly. The Sheriff nods and creeps forward to separate the two before she can drain the mortal dry.

"There are two vessels here," Qui says. "This mortal has served me well and I won't have him drained. Move on to the next." Vivian growls like a feral animal and latches on to the man with talon-like fingers. Her skin is mending before your eyes as she drains the life from the officer. "Mekuztli, Jordan, I may need your help to occupy her while I free Officer Dova."

You move quietly behind Vivian, channeling dark gifts to increase your toughness to supernatural levels. On Qui's signal, you wrap your arms around the Primogen and pull her away from her victim as Qui darts in to secure the officer and replace him with the second vessel.

Even with the advantage of surprise on a recently roused foe, you're simply no match for a Primogen's strength of will. Vivian hurls you away within seconds, slamming you back against the far wall with enough concussive force to embed over a foot of discarded barbed wire deep into your leg. Gritting your teeth, you strip it loose and focus on mending the damage as Vivian takes her fill from the second mortal.

"Are you okay?" Jordan rushes over to you and checks your leg. "It doesn't look too bad. I was worried you'd get a lot worse, getting in the way of someone that powerful."