13. For Science

Last chapter…

We welcomed a beautiful new addition to the Tribe in the form of Princess Raet…

…and I subjected you to a creepy poem where Temulun may or may not have been set upon by this handsome fellow.

Hold on to your loincloths, simmers; it’s about to get talky up in here.

Onward!

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Temulun: “Okay, so don’t freak out…”

The girl was wild-eyed and flushed; apparently she was in need of her own good advice.

Bastet: “You’re worrying me Tem, what’s going on?”

Temulun: “Well, ah, it’s like this, uhm…so, I was attacked last night…”

***

Totec Quetzalcoatl awoke to the the sound of nothing.  His conciousness felt thick and sticky, and his lids fought against the command to open.

Poisoned.  Totec was certain of it…the girl?  Most likely; but how?  So much of his condition was still a mystery to him.

Maybe now he would die; the thought was more appealing than expected.

***

The Queen of Sima-Mighdall stared at the man-creature laying on the cot.

Bastet: “So, it’s like…a demon?”

Temulun: “Oh, no, no, nothing like that, just…a different kind of man, yeah?  Stronger, faster, blah blah blah…oh, and they eat blood, well, drink it I guess…er, no, more like suck…”

Bastet: “I understand.”

Temulun: “Sooo…can I keep it?”

Bastet: “…”

Temulun: “For science!”

***

Temulun waited patiently for the Seneschal to study her captive; after much begging, pleading…and perhaps a little bit of sniveling…Queen Bastet had begrudgingly agreed to let her keep the creature in the crypts, until a decision could be made regarding it’s fate.

Jahi: “A fascinating specimen, Scholar; I have indeed read a great deal about them, though this is my first time observing one in the flesh, so to speak.”

Temulun: “They’re dead, right?  That’s like, an actual thing, isn’t it?  Dead, blood-sucking people?”

Jahi: “The literature certainly seems to suggest so, Scholar; I would be inclined to agree, though I have not seen the proof of it firsthand.”

Temulun: “Do you realize what this means?!  I’ve done it!  I’ve found the loophole!”

***

Totec’s strength had returned, after a fashion, but he still felt as though his mind were sailing through a thick fog; at least he was able to hoist himself up without reeling.

The room was smooth stone and lit with fire.

Whoever had left him there was thoughtful enough to have included a bookshelf, presumably for his entertainment; a shame he could not read.

Totec tried his legs and found them steady enough to support him.

There was a tub for washing and a chamber pot; not that he required it…did they know that?  Perhaps not.  Or perhaps this place had been set up with some other creature in mind.

There was also a large, empty box in the back corner.

It could be that the room was normally used for storage, he supposed.

Totec was separated from the solitary staircase by a wall of metal filled with holes.  His captors had hung garlands of noxious white bulbs along the perimeter, and he felt the fog thicken when he got closer to them.

So he kept his distance and waited; Totec Quetzalcoatl was good at waiting.

***

Bastet: “Is this even safe?  We’ve got kids living here…”

Temulun: “It’s totally safe, Majesty; he’s all messed up on garlic smell.”

Jahi: “Begging your pardon for any impertinence at interjecting, my Queen, but all available texts do concur that the odour of garlic renders these creatures nearly immobile; which certainly seems to be the case with our current guest.”

Temulun: “Yeah, what he said…also, isn’t it worth a little risk?  I mean, dead is dead, right?  We can vamp Aten and Pili after they’ve fathered children…and they’d be dead!  But, you know…alive?  Alive-dead; that’s got to be better than dead-dead…”

Bastet: “Not if they are reduced to savage, blood-craving beasts, Tem; I’d rather see them fully dead!”

Jahi: “I would be honoured, my Queen, if you would allow me to assess the creature for signs of lucidity, and to get a general sense of it’s temperament; I would not see our Scholar placed in harm’s way by interacting with the beast…some of them are known to have powers of mesmerization; if I am lured in and slain, you will know to destroy it.”

The Queen had to agree; alive-dead was preferable to dead-dead…though she’d rather there be no dead at all…still, Athena was to be Obeyed.

Bastet: “Very well.  We will keep this creature contained in the crypts, Jahi will observe and report to you, Tem; if all is well, when the time comes, we will give my sons the choice of their fate.”

It was a far cry from any solution she had hoped for…but it was somewhere to start.

***

Princess Maat was perplexed.

The adults were acting strangely…and not just regular adult strangely.

They were scurrying about the village at all hours, talking in hushed voices, and constantly giving each other those significant looks that adults liked to use when they were trying to convey something without using words.

Just made them all look twitchy and constipated, in her humble opinion.

Then of course there was the secret room.

Maat was no fool; there it was, right behind the Woohoo Bush, a whole extra hut for no good reason.

The adults had been coming and going from the Scholar’s rooms a lot recently, and Maat was pretty sure it wasn’t to use the toity.

Pili, of course, was being useless.

Pili: “It’s probably just a library; there’s lots of books that kids aren’t supposed to read because they have all the grown-up secrets in ’em.”

Llama-dung.  Temulun had a bookshelf next to her bed to put her secret grown-up books in; Maat was sure something else was going on.

Something big; and she was going to find out what.

---

Instead of Footnotes, Amazon Vampire Fun-Notes!

Vampire break-ins go pretty well in Sima-Mighdall; I don’t know whether or not it’s because there’s no ‘front door’, but they just wander around the lot aimlessly, picking up trash, then play some chess and wander away at dawn…

…sometimes those chess games run a little long though!

Sad Vampire: *is burning*

Thank you for not noticing the continuity oopsies 😉

Happy Simming!