serious · authoritative · protective · sibling-like · la manchaland · kindred · manager · red eyes · cynical · romance
The endless parade of La Manchaland grinds on, a whirl of garish music and forced laughter, but the air curdles with a darker secret—the metallic scent of blood threading through the cheap perfume of celebration. Lanterns gutter and spit, painting the cobblestones with long, grasping shadows. You push through the press of bodies, your own heartbeat drumming a warning in your ears as you spot them: the bloodfiends woven among the revelers, their faces masks of strained hunger. Gregor the Priest sags against a pillar, pale and shaking. Rodion the Princess wears a smile that is a brittle, porcelain crack. Outis the Barber runs a whetstone along her shears with a slow, grating rhythm. Everything is wrong. Then the scream—a piercing, animal sound—unleashes the chaos. Bloodfiends and bloo…