Chapter Text
Camp – First Night
+++Astarion+++
He had gone off to wash his face when he heard humming and footsteps. He quickly hid amongst the reeds and spotted the human woman… What was her name, Lolly? No, it was Lottie!
She carried what he assumed was an expensive purple velvet pouch in one hand. Lottie was a plain little thing. The standard peachy rosy skin, bronze hair, average height. Nothing overly extraordinary about her, at first glance that is.
She was a strange one. Didn’t talk much. Even when they took out the Tieflings, she had no issue with the fighting itself. If you could call it that. He and Tav easily got the drop on those unfortunate Tieflings who had the Gith, Lae’zel, in a cage.
No, this human woman was blasé about killing. Lottie was more interested in the loot they carried. She was like himself and Tav in that respect. Whereas Tav collected weapons to sell later, and Astarion himself searched for valuables, Lottie… She collected the less desirable things, like strings off broken bows, the tips of broken arrows, blunt knives, rocks, inkpots, empty bottles and her most unusual finds, rocks.
Who in the hells collected rocks? Something was off about her.
Now that she was away from the others, he focused on her with no distractions. Curious, her breaths were far few in between. Her heart beat, was faint. On the surface, although healthy skin tone, didn’t exactly change color now that he thought about it. She didn’t get flush after all that time walking under the sun. Nor were there the usual tells of faint or fatigue like Shadowheart after almost a whole day of no food. Something was definitely off about her. Those big round brown eyes of hers were quite the sight but they lacked emotion. She wore a careful mask, that much he knew for certain.
She kicked her boots off. Then began to strip down, taking her white long sleeve blouse off, and peeling off her tight dark brown trousers. She had a nice body. Not lithe but full, soft and curvaceous enough that he wondered what exactly her profession was, she never did say. Probably a maid or governess of some sort. He did overhear her talking about fauna with the Wizard, Gale.
She set aside her small clothes and waded into the water with a rag and soap bar.
As she got fully wet, he picked up a scent that had been lingering in small undertones but now it was more pronounced albeit not as strong as his. The stench of death. It was hard to miss but he was familiar with it.
She began washing and the scent faded under honey, lavender and vanillin. It wasn’t the only thing that faded. Her hair seemed to lighten until it was a silvery white. Her eyes were closed as she lathered the soap into her hair. Her skin lost its soft healthy glow. Now she was pale as he was and her body was covered in scars. What looked like knife stabs, littered her flank, a set of scratch marks on her back and he stilled as he spotted familiar ones. Vampire bite scars on her neck, chest and shoulders. More prominently was the big thick scar down her sternum. The water hid how low the scar went but it looked painful. It was when she opened her eyes that his breath hitched.
Her eyes were no longer earthy pools. They were blood red irises.
A single thought floated in his mind: She is like me.
+++Lottie+++
“I’ll take second watch.” She heard the pretty white haired elf, Astarion say to the white Dragonborn leader, Tav.
Lottie rolled her eyes and resumed fixing the inside of her tent. She pulled out of her Bag of Holding a few crochet pillows and set them over her bed roll. She grabbed the woolen blanket and tossed it in too. All this was a ruse. She wouldn’t sleep but she would be comfy for the hardest part of her day.
Pretending to sleep was easy but when her mind drifted and unlocked the bad memories, jumbled as they were, it paralyzed her and it was impossible to escape them until first light.
She shuddered dreading what may or may not come. Hopefully, tonight would be good to her. Untying the black ribbon off the end of her braid and letting her bronze hair down, she grabbed her bag of holding and turned to the tent next to hers.
“Hey Shadowheart, I’m going to grab a quick wash. Feel free to grab a wine from my tent if you need it. I know I do to fall asleep.” Lottie offered. The cleric quickly perked up from her offer.
“Oh, you have wine on you? Well don’t mind if I do. Thank you Lottie.” The cleric said. Lottie headed down to the river and relaxed when she found an area that wasn’t too well noticed. It was a bit away and obscured from camp but it was necessary.
She stripped and dipped in the water and felt her disguise wash away. She hated the feeling as the magic faded. It made her feel, exposed.
“The things I do to be free.” She mumbled.
Lottie made sure to be thorough in taking a wash. She didn’t want anyone call out her scent. That scent that constantly reminded her of her condition. Careful with her soap bar and rag she washed meticulously, covering every inch of her body in the suds. Once she was fully clean and smelled of honey, lavender, vanillin and small hits of coffee to clear anyone’s sensitive nose palette; she waded out of the water.
She moved to where she left her things. Grabbing the scented oils in her Bag of Holding, she applied them behind her ears, armpits, the inside of her wrists. Whatever was left in her hands, she ran through her white hair as her body air dried. Once she felt dry enough, she pulled on a clean set of white panties and a bustier that doubled as a top. She pulled on tan high waist linen breeches and slipped on a pair of strappy sandals.
Lottie grabbed her dirty laundry and extended it out. It reeked of mindflayer fluids, her own tumultuous scent under the heavy tones of smoked squid. She stood there for a minute before deciding how to clean her things. She silently prayed to Gond this worked. She took out a brown lacquered box from her bag and knelt down as she set it down and took the lid off.
She channeled her magic into the silver ring with the peridot gem, on her right hand. She felt it, her magic took. A relieved smile broke out on her face as out of the box crawled three hand-sized, metallic spiders, her mechanical contraptions. They clinked and made their way to the clothes. The three metallic spiders slightly glowed a gold hue as they crawled over every inch of her clothes, threading the magic and once it was all crisscrossed in a crochet net pattern, the magic vanished and the little metal spiders clinked each other’s legs in success.
“Well, that certainly is a surprise.” Lottie stilled and then shot up to stand and pivot, turning around to spot one of her companions. The pale elf, Astarion. He had a small little smug smile.
“I didn’t peg you for an Artificer, darling.” His eyes met hers as he looked her up and down. That is when she realized in horror that she didn’t have her disguise on! Lottie took a step back and her little spiders came clinking into a protective position. She wasn’t sure if it would work but she had prepared Sanctuary long ago. Hopefully it would work as she had yet to use it.
“Sooo, you too have to hide our… Condition.” Astarion started. Lottie blinked and stared dumbfound at his wording.
“Excuse me?” She narrowed her eyes and he laughed. LAUGHED AT HER. Astarion’s red eyes lit up with amusement. She met his devious gaze with her own serious one and then she saw it. Those eyes, initially she presumed they were Drow Red. She was wrong. So, so wrong. They were a familiar red, the red that haunted her nightly. Astarion interrupted her thoughts with his words.
“Now, now, don’t be coy. I could smell it off you, you know. The undeniable stench of the undead.” His nose scrunched up as he said it.
“You mask it quite well but without your disguise and perfumes, you give away yourself.” He had a toothy grin and took a step forward. Lottie stood her ground, she would not cower but then her eyes met his. Her heart hammered in fear, well it beat too much, too fast than what she was used to.
‘Sanguine red eyes.’
Her eyes trailed down to his lips and she saw the fangs. Then her eyes went to his neck and sure enough, not even hiding it properly, a scarred bite mark.
“Vampire...” She quickly forced her magic into the ring and her spiders glowed gold and shot at her a web, covering her skin in protection.
“I’m not going back!” She jumped back and her spiders assumed the position to defend her. Astarion wasn’t slow. He took a step back and bent his knees. He was either going to lunge at her or run. She was proven wrong when he held up his hands.
“Take you back? I’m not here to take you… Gods, no. I’m here to talk. If I had any malicious intent, trust me, you’d be down already. ” His voice went from panicked to threateningly cocky.
Lottie read Astarion’s gaze, for a second he was confused but his confidence returned in full. He quickly dropped the dagger on his belt and kept his palms open for her to see.
“All we’re doing is talking. Nothing more. I swear.” He sounded serious but soft. He took a step forward but one of her spiders stepped in the way.
“Not a step closer. We can talk from this distance.” Lottie snapped but in the flash of a moment, he was before her. He looked down at her. She froze out of fear. Her heart stilled as his hand reached out and she flinched. She shut her eyes. She still had Sanctuary active. If he so much as hurt her it would take.
She felt his cool fingers against her cheek, he brushed her hair out of the way, would be bite her? He couldn’t! She reminded herself that Sanctuary was still in place. She quickly opened her eyes and took in his face. His eyes were sad. They were locked on her litter of bite marks down her neck, and shoulders. The sad gaze morphed into triumph.
“So they turned you too. Gruesomely by the looks of it..” Her mind went blank.
‘Did he just- Does he think I am-’
“You think I’m like you?” She asked a bit disgusted he would even think she was. Now he was the one that was lost. His smug expression dropped. Her brow creased as he frowned. It dawned on her that he really did think she was a vampire.
“Oh Gond.” She broke out in a fit of laughter. Her straight hair curtained her face as she hugged her stomach. She hadn’t laughed so much in so long. Her, a Vampire? That was the stupidest thing she ever heard!
“What the hells are you laughing about?” He snapped and she straightened out and bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing.
“You are off the mark, well, just slightly.” She managed to say as she controlled herself.
“Impossible. You have the red eyes, white hair, the undead odor, albeit weak, and the bite marks of your turning.” She snorted at that last bit.
“I’m not a vampire.” She scoffed and he stepped in closer. She realized he was a whole head taller. She looked up at him and saw his confusion further irritate him.
“Then why the disguise? Why go through all the effort to hide all this.” He waved his hand up and down. Lottie grinned this time.
“What do you know of a Reborn?” She asked tentatively. He blinked and said the word back to her.
“Reborn? What is that? You?” He asked rapidly and Lottie nodded.
“Yes and I had best get back to camp before Shadowheart comes looking for me. I told her I’d be quick to bathe.” Lottie turned away from him and looked to her mechanical spiders that were already moving to grab her things and toss them inside the bag of holding. Lottie watched her little spiders crawl back into the box and flatten out. She closed it up and put her box inside the Bag of Holding.
She then remembered to put her disguise back on. She touched her silver conduit ring and the golden magic washed over her. Her disguise re-fitted. Wavy golden bronze hair, brown eyes, her skin was colored to a healthy peach and her scarring, gone.
The entire time, she felt Astarion’s stare on her. She turned and he was still there, still close.
“Excuse me.” She tried to go around him but he stepped in her way. He looked like he was mulling something over.
“Explain. What is a Reborn? Why the disguise?” He demanded. Lottie hugged her Bag of Holding to her chest.
“That is none of your business.” She coolly snapped and he growled. His hand grabbed her roughly. He got into her face and bared his fangs. All her coolness faded, she flinched and shut her eyes. Her body trembled as a hazy memory surfaced, her worm wriggled and connected with Astarion’s.
Red eyes, fangs snapping in her face, growling echoing around her. Cold fingers dug into her waist, into her jaw. The scent of iron began, a numbing chill in her fingers began to draw out that crippling fear from the pits of her memory.
“Get away from me!” She shoved him hard and crouched down, trying to make herself small. The worm stopped wriggling under her skull.
“What is going on here?” That was Shadowheart’s voice. Lottie heard Astarion curse under his breath.
“Lottie? Astarion? What are you doing here… What did you do to her?” Shadowheart accused the pale elf. She heard footsteps and more people coming over.
“I didn’t do anything to her, she was having a panic attack, I was helping her through it and it just got worse.” He lied so easily.
“Lottie? Is this true?” She heard Tav. The Dragonborn leader asked. She felt warmth as he must’ve approached close but refrained from touching her.
“Don’t touch me!” Astarion snarled. This was getting complicated and out of hand quickly. The pale elf that knew her secret, she couldn’t just let him get in trouble. He could expose her. Lottie forced herself to stand up but she felt nothing but fear, echoes of fear. Astarion was not that vampire that haunted her memories on the bad nights. He was not but, he could be her ally.
“I-Its been a long day and I just… Was processing everything after a wash and A-Astarion tried to help.” She blinked away the tears that were threatening to come out. Tav took over her entire sight, blocking Astarion and Shadowheart who probably had pushed the pale elf away.
“It has been a long day and we should get some rest. Lae’zel wants us moving by sunrise. She claims her people know a cure and that is our only lead. That and the healer from the Grove.” The white Dragonborn held out his hand to Lottie.
“I’ll help you to camp. You look a bit weak around the knees.” He pointed out but Lottie shook her head.
“I can walk. I-I, just, give me a moment.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. No one would be carrying her. She was in control of herself, her emotions that shouldn’t be this strong and vampire be damned, no one would take away her autonomy. Never again.
“Lets head back.” She said more firmly. Tav smiled at her and walked beside her the entire way back. Astarion lurked on her other side and kept giving her side-glances. As they entered Camp, Lae’zel was dead asleep. Gale was up but he just eyed Lottie and then Astarion as they all quietly went to their tents.
“Lottie, you alright?” Shadowheart asked. Lottie nodded.
“I am now. Thank you for looking out for me.” Lottie smiled a little and Shadowheart nodded.
“Us women must stick together. Have a good rest.” Shadowheart went into her tent and Lottie, she crept into her tent and belly flopped on her bed roll. She almost gave away herself and Astarion and for what? She needed to remain under disguise. She needed to maintain her freedom at all costs. She was never going back.
She curled up on her side, grabbed a pillow to tuck between her knees and another to hug. She closed her eyes and eased her breathing to a nice slow rhythm. Sleep was ever so elusive, so she let her mind wander in the darkness. Taking in the crackling sounds of the campfire. It would be a long night and she had a ruse to fulfill. Hopefully no agonizing paralysis tonight. She didn’t want to sit up screaming if it got particularly bad.