Edmund saw her across the street from Morgana Beach clubhouse as he left Victoria’s party. She was just standing there, silently, as if waiting for someone. Edmund could feel the waves of magic radiating from her. He was drawn like a moth to flame.

“My lady?” He called into the silence. Do you need help? May I be of some assistance? ”

She whipped around. “You,” she said. “Who are you?”

“I am called Edmund Sample” he said. “I am at your service.”

A smile played over her lips. “I would be careful pledging service to strangers you meet in the dark,” she said. “Anyway, I’m Marisela Flynn.”

You look like you’re searching for something, ” Edmund said. “This is an odd place to wander at night.”

“I’m always searching for something,” she said. “Sometimes I find it.”

As she spoke, the moonlight glinted of her teeth. Edmund started in surprise. Before he could be sure of what he saw, they were gone.

“I see that I’ve badly overstepped the bounds of propriety,” Edmund said. “It’s no business of mine what you’re looking for. I had the sudden thought that I could help. I’ll leave you in peace.”

“No!” Marisela said. “I’m sorry I have been so cold. I’m not used to people noticing me when I wander at night. Please stay. I’d like to know more about you.”

Edmund found himself talking about his fae blood and his quest to understand the unique magical underbelly of Avalon.

He even introduced her to Kalai.

Marisela hung on his every word and encouraged him to tell her more.

At last, Edmund realized just how lopsided the conversation was. “Now you know everything about me,” he said, “but I know almost nothing about you. I know you are magical as well. Tell me how.”

Marisela hesitated. “You’re right,” she said. “It’s not really a magical gift like yours, though. It’s more of a curse.”

“A curse!” Edmund said. “I have never encountered such a thing. Let me try to help.”

“I think you can help,” Marisela said, “but probably not the way you intended.”

She caught his hand, and suddenly he couldn’t pull away.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll try to make this hurt as little as possible.”

Then she sank her teeth into the tender flesh of his wrist.

Edmund gasped, unable to cry out. His wrist burned as she drank his blood. She held him firmly against his involuntary flinching so that her teeth tore his flesh as little as possible.

“What have you done to me?” he rasped as she let him go.

Marisela looked at him tenderly. When she spoke, her voice was sad. “I’ve done you no permanent harm. I’m sorry. It’s what I am.”

Before he could move again, she was gone.

He returned home, so lost in his brooding that he barely noticed the world around him.

He stumbled distractedly to a chair, where he could rest and let the last of the tremors from the blood-sucking subside.

Which left him victim to another one of Gamora’s pranks.

“A whoopie cushion? Seriously? Are we five?”

“What’s up, big brother?” Victoria asked. “You left the party early. Did you have a good time?”

“I think I have stumbled upon a creature of the night,” Edmund said without preamble. “I should have guessed that if fae lived on Avalon, there could be more sinister monsters as well.”

“There are rumors that one of our ancestors was a vampire,” Victoria said. “I guess it doesn’t shock me. There’s a lot about Avalonian magic that we don’t understand. Like, almost all of it.”

“It’s true,” Edmund mused. “There have been so many secrets for so long. We understand so little, even about ourselves, much less anything else magical here. It doesn’t have to be this way. I want to help bring enlightenment to our home.”

“I’m sure you can do it,” Victoria said. “Dark magical things are right up your alley.”

Edmund no longer felt sick. He felt energized. He hurried up to his room to begin sorting through old tomes of magical lore.”

There was a lot to find.

———-

I’m happy to kick January on the ass on the way out. I’ve played a lot ahead at this point, but I have had absolutely no inspiration to write. It feels like a victory to get something out! We’ll see if I can keep it up.

Marisela Flynn is Sean Flynn’s daughter from before I remembered to turn off fertility for him and Forest. She’s not Forest’s daughter. She and Edmund not only have heart-farts, they seem to have a lot of autonomous chemistry. I don’t know what her traits are.

Edmund is still sort of casually dating Joy Reacher. The threads are not resolved by current gameplay, so we’ll have to see how they all play out.