Refreshed

Damien awoke feeling oddly refreshed and energetic. At first, he wasn't sure why, and then it all came rushing back.

Spare him! Spare us!

Had it been a dream? Or had it really happened? He wasn't sure, but he also didn't care to question it too closely. Whatever it had been, it had made him stronger, more alive than he had felt in days. 

Dezzy was quick to notice, too, when she rolled over and dragged herself out of the adjoining bed, only to stare at Damien with a mixture of puzzled incredulity and utter delight. "Damie!" she exclaimed. "How are you feeling?"

Damien smiled at her. "A lot better, thanks," he said. 

"What happened?" Dezzy demanded. "Did the old rag still have some scent left in it that you managed to wring out of it?" She gestured to the vampire's shirt, which Damien had set on the foot of his bed while he dressed himself. 

"Not exactly," Damien admitted. "It's… tough to explain."

"Try me," Dezzy insisted, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him. 

"It was some kind of werewolf magic, I think?" Damien said. "Something to do with my mate-bond. Something was wrong with it, and I, er…" he trailed off, feeling awkward, suddenly, because Dezzy had no patron god or goddess of her own to lean on for help. "I asked Brinn to help."

Dezzy's expression brightened. "And it worked?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Damien was glad to see she didn't feel upset by the news. "It did!"

"That's amazing! We must be on the right track, then!" Dezzy declared.

Damien blinked twice. "Sorry… what?"

"Taking you to the castle was the right idea!" Dezzy said. "Last time you got this sick, your mate-bond didn't do anything, right?"

"No," Damien admitted. He thought the reason for that might have been because his mate hadn't been the one in danger, but rather he himself. Had the vampire felt the effects of the mate-bond the same way Damien had? He rather doubted it. Vampires probably didn't work the same way as werewolves. 

"But this time, when you were closer to your mate, it worked!" Dezzy sounded like she was ready to find Brinn herself and give the goddess a big hug. "Oh, I'm so glad it's already working!"

Damien wanted to protest that going to the castle wasn't making it work. But he didn't actually know what had caused the incident. Maybe it had been proximity to his mate that had done it? "I'm not sure about that," he warned Dezzy. "But… I'm glad, too."

Dezzy grinned at Damien. "Let's get you to the market and smuggle you into that castle as soon as possible!"

Damien grimaced. He still wasn't looking forward to living amongs vampire-fawning thralls, or coming face-to-face with more of the monsters like the who killed his pack. But he couldn't deny the fact that Dezzy's excitement was contagious. "Let's just make sure we're careful," Damien cautioned. "I don't want to become some greedy vampire's lunch."

"You won't," Dezzy assured him, patting Damien on the shoulder. "Grace will help you, I'm sure."

Damien wasn't sure about that, but he wasn't going to argue over it. "Right. Where do we find her, anyway?"

"Probably the market," Dezzy said, and grinned. "Can you walk there on your own?"

Damien considered the question, and then stood gingerly. To his surprise (and great pleasure), his legs seemed capable of holding his weight. He took one step, and then another. "I think I can," he said, no small amount of wonder in his voice. He turned and looked at Dezzy, whose grin was practically stretching ear-to-ear at this point. 

"Great!" she said. "I hope you're hungry!" 

Damien frowned, suddenly feeling suspicious. "I am… but why does that matter?"

Dezzy's grin turned dangerous. "Don't worry about it," she told him.

Which, of course, had the opposite effect. "Don't worry about what?" Damien asked, following Dezzy as she slung both of their travel packs over her shoulders and headed down the stairs.

"It's nothing to worry about," Dezzy said, glancing back over her shoulder at him. 

"Well I didn't think there was anything to worry about until you said that!" Damien complained, following her at a slower pace, still not quite trusting himself on the steep set of stairs. He held onto the wall, and took his time descending to the tavern area of the inn. Dezzy was already standing by the door, waving him forward impatiently. 

"Come on!" she urged. 

"Coming," Damien sighed, and carefully trudged across the inn, following her through the door and into the dazzling early morning daylight.

Dezzy led the way to the morning market, an obvious spring in her step despite the weight of two traveling bags slung over her shoulders. Damien couldn't help but smile to himself, enjoying seeing his sister so excited to meet her thrall friend. It was obvious to him that Dezzy had been looking forward to seeing her, and while he was a bit nervous about why Dezzy felt the need to tell him not to worry and to be hungry, he wasn't so preoccupied with the questions that he didn't notice Dezzy's rising spirits. 

When they entered the market, Dezzy began leading the way towards a more narrow, dark, seedy part of the market. Damien supposed it made sense - normal humans probably didn't want to associate with the vampires' thralls, so anyone seen selling their wares to the thralls would likely be shunned by polite society. It made sense that the exchanges that took place between humans and thralls would do so under the same auspices as illicit trades did, in the underbelly of the market. 

Still, the suspicious looks he and Dezzy got, followed by a disgusted sort of understanding as they made their way to the narrow alleys of the back market, made him feel a bit small. He knew that he stood out as a werewolf, but he'd never really felt the stares so keenly. Where he hailed from, there weren't many werewolves around, and no packs at all. Mother had treated the odd werewolf, but he was the only werewolf that spent any amount of time in the area. Since mother was well-known, he and Dezzy had been fortunate enough to escape the usual distrust and prejudice that would be levelled against supernatural creatures. But here, in a city far from mother's influence and far more likely to be biased against creatures of magic given the presence of the vampires' castle, Damien felt the full force of their distaste. Dezzy seemed blissfully unaware of it. Whether that was due to absent-mindedness or merely willful ignorance was something only Dezzy herself knew. Damien only knew that he felt keenly each stare and judgemental glance that slid in their direction.

He hoped they would meet Grace soon, or he might lose his appetite. 

It was around this time that Dezzy turned abruptly, scurrying down a narrow alley. Damien followed as quickly as he could, and nearly ran into Dezzy's back when she drew up short.

"Yessss!" Dezzy exclaimed, drawing out the sibilant and doing a little two-step dance before turning to grinning at Damien. "The bakery has tarts left!" She pointed, and Damien's gaze followed the trajectory of her extended finger until he saw the small, faded sign hanging in a window. The little wooden plaque was so grimy and caked in smoke-grease that it was almost impossible to read from a distance, but Dezzy was already hurrying towards it, so Damien found his footing and followed at a more reasonable pace. As he drew closer, Damien could finally make out the lettering on the sign, which read: Aunt Tabitha's Treats and Trinkets, and in smaller text, sweets for someone sweet.

Damien glanced at Dezzy with a curious look. "Is this why I should be hungry?" he asked, glancing meaningfully at the little bake shop.

"Grace was the one who introduced me to Tabitha's bakery last time," Dezzy explained. "So I thought we could grab her an egg tart as thanks for her help getting you settled!"

Damien held Dezzy's gaze for several more seconds, until his sister finally admitted, "...and maybe grab a baker's dozen for my afternoon snack…"

That sounded more like the truth to Damien, and he chuckled. "I'm glad the bakery still has tarts for you," he said, then pretended to remember some forgotten information. "Oh, and Grace, too, I guess."

Dezzy punched him lightly in the shoulder, but she was still being careful with him, so it didn't actually hurt all that much. "Hey, I really did think I should get a tart for her," she protested.

"Yeah, but l'll wager you didn't think of it until after we'd walked halfway here," Damien smirked.

Dezzy opened her mouth, closed it, and then looked away, a sheepish expression on her face. "It wasn't halfway," she grumbled under her breath. 

Damien just chuckled and shook his head at Dezzy. "Let's just get in there and buy you your tarts," he encouraged her. "We need to meet Grace soon, right?"

Dezzy brightened up immediately. "Right!"

Damien followed her into the bake shop, and immediately felt as though the delicious scents of the baked goods were enfolding him in a warm hug of comforting sweetness. He could smell all sorts of different breads and cakes, and other, less familiar scents. There was butter, sugar, fruits, and a myriad of other scents all blended together. 

"I'll make sure you don't get anything with chocolate on it,"Dezzy teased.

"For the last time, Dezzy, I'm not a dog," Damien grumbled, rolling his eyes at the stupid joke. "I can eat chocolate. And grapes, too!" There were other foods he had to avoid, but they were usually of the medicinal variety, and not the typical foods you found in bakeries, so he had a feeling he would probably be fine to eat anything produced in the shop.

"Yeah, yeah," Dezzy waved him off. "I just wanted to keep all the chocolate to myself."

Considering that chocolate was a rare treat, Damien didn't blame her. "You can have whatever I don't eat," he offered. Although he was still feeling marvelously better than before, he didn't want to risk upsetting his stomach with a lot of heavy and rich foods after eating so little the past few days. 

"That's very thoughtful of you," Dezzy grinned, and began poring over the baked goods lining the shelves. She picked up a basket near the door, and began piling bread and mini tarts and other pastries in it, stacking them so high that Damien began to worry the pile might topple over before she managed to pay for it. 

He needn't have worried, though - if there was one thing Dezzy was good at, it was making sure not to waste a single bite of food. She balanced her way to the front of the shop once more, set the basket down gingerly, and withdrew her coin purse. "How much?" she asked, and that was when Damien realized that there was a little old lady sitting behind one of the counters! He did a double-take, and nearly fell over from the shock of it. 

The little old woman gave Damien a hint of a smirk at his obvious startle, then said to Dezzy, "Two golds, three silver, and a copper."

Dezzy rummaged in her coin purse for a few moments. "You drive a hard bargain," she groaned. "How about two golds, three silver, and we call it square?"

"Two golds and four silver?" the old lady lifted an eyebrow.

"That's highway robbery!" Dezzy complained.

"You're welcome to buy your baked goods elsewhere," the old woman said, a glint of challenge in her eyes.

Dezzy sighed loudly. "Fine, Tabitha, have it your way," and she plunked down two gold coins and four silver coins. 

The lady primly collected the coins and said, "It's a pleasure doing business with you."

Dezzy grinned back at her. "As always," she agreed, and then eyed the basket of breads. "Damie, do you have an extra bag?"

Damien frowned. "No, why?"

Dezzy grimaced, and turned to look at Tabitha, whose smirk was back. The two of them answered him in unison:

"Because the basket costs extra."