After he time in Koschei Forest hunting down banshees on some morbid idea of a scavenger hunt for Hallow’s Eve. Of course what else would a caravan of dead people and scary creatures come up with but something morbid and terrifying? She was surprised the banshee wails had not turned her hair white from fright and sheer volume. While she was brave around the normal folk of the land, the unknown and the paranormal, while they fascinated her, also scared her. She came back out to the caravan proper, shaking her boots and mud and muck flew and splattered everywhere.
 
While she was trying her best to clean off her high boots and what had gotten on her pants, she kept noticing these odd signs next to rope ladders pointing up. All of them were damaged and you could not quite tell what was up there in the tree tops. Did she want to know? As always curiosity got the better of her. Zephyra was too curious for her own good. It was why her friend was dead and why she was nearly killed herself. All to know and find out and explore. Too much mischief at play.
 
With her pack still slung on her shoulder, Zephyra grabbed one of the rope ladders and started climbing. When she got high enough, she realized all of them were going to the same area- a ghost bridge that hung suspended in the canopy. She climbed over the edge of this bridge and followed it until she got to a large white mass of webbing that she could only assume was the cocoon of a very large spider. All signs indicated, though, to go in. The entrance was even lit. Inside it was even bigger than it looked. A chandelier of web hung and all around were colored spiders hissing and scuttling away.
 
There was another ghost down there, this one a man with his heart ripped out of his chest. Probably from a woman, she thought comically to herself. He was menacing though, saying they needed ‘it’ or they would die and instructed her to collect the spiders’ venom. He mentioned one last thing. That she could not squish a spider or the mother would eat her. She glanced over and saw a huge spider watching very carefully. It gave her stomach a knot to see such a creature who could easily kill her.
 

Taking the vials, she scrambled around and looked a little stupid for it, sometimes tripping and falling over herself. Finally she got one of them and uncorked the vial. Carefully she massaged the mouth area over the bottle and tried to make it angry. Slowly venom spilled out, acidic venom, until it nearly filled the vial. She let the spider back down and it ran away, likely angry with her.

The young vampire bent over and read the sign. The new diamond necklace slipped out of her cleavage and hung out for everyone to see. Her red eyes glimmered as she found herself climbing the robe ladder. It was much easier then anything she had ever done in her human life. She actually had the strength and power to do exciting things. When she got to the ghost bridge she danced across it. Her dark colored dress was dancing in the breeze.

Off in the distance she could hear the banshees wailing at their uninvited guests. Finally she made it to the cocoon and she tilted her head as she was given some vials. “I'm not alive though. I'm undead.” She murmured as the ghost went away. Looking over at what the over girl was doing she popped up behind her and sniffed her black hair. It smelled like flowers.

“You smell good.” She said out of the blue after the girl was done milking the spiders. “How do you do this.” She reached her hand out. “I cannot kill them.. I cannot kill them. Control my strength.” She repeated it a few more times as she got a spider and did the same action as the girl next to her.


“That was easy! My name is Saffron!”

She had been so busy wrangling herself a spider and then getting its glands going to get the venom out that she had not noticed that the menacing ghost man was now talking to someone else- a woman who had come in just the same way she had. Zephyra noted to herself that she needed to work on being aware of her surroundings. One day she might get herself killed for being caught unawares. When she looked up, her dark hair was in a mess and parts of it blocked her face. She ran a hand through an straightened it out.
 
The woman went right to work getting her own spider and mimicking what she had seen Zephyra doing and being successful, even if she had to remind herself not to use all her strength. She must have been supernatural, freaks of nature that humans called them. She always enjoyed meeting other “weird” people, because it was no fun to lonesome in your strangeness.
 
“Thanks, I didn’t know I smelled like flowers.” Zephyra idly wondered if it was because of her mother that she smelled like flowers. After all her mother was very much of the earth. “Pleased to meet you, Saffron. It is a pretty name. It sounds noble, even. I am Zephyra Rose, daughter of Angela Rose of the Red Court and of… many things, really.” She shrugged as if she couldn’t be bothered to keep up with how many things there were to know about her mother.
 

Quickly she stuck out a foot and a spider ran smack into her boot and she was able to pick it up and begin the process of milking it. This one was a bit more feisty and she almost dropped it a few times and several times almost got bitten before she got enough venom in the vial. “This isn’t so bad. What do you think they need it for?”

Saffron gave Zephyra a smile and nodded her head. “Like a whole pretty field. Back home we had a meadow just off to the side of the farm. You smell like a whole cluster of flowers.” She began to have her head swirl for a moment thinking back to those bad times but she calmed down she milked the spider. “It's not noble. I am a farmer's daughter. Master saved me. Master kept me because I am a good girl.” She set the last spider she milked down and leaped onto another one.

She was careful not to quash it. “I don't know any Angela. My mother and father had me practically brainwashed to stay home and never leave. I didn't know much about the outside world until Master came. He saved me.” She pushed the spider's fangs into the vial and milked it gently. 

“They probably need it to kill all the bad people. There are lots of bad people. Like my parents. Who would be stabbed, gutted, poisoned.” She shook a bit and dropped the spider but caught it quickly before letting it go. Looking back at Zephyra. “I made them hurt you know. I made them hurt a lot. Then Master told me that for his help I needed to give him my life. I agreed ahead of time to dying. I just did not know he had this in mind.” She gave a smile. “I'm happy now. Master takes good care of me. He is the only man I will ever love.” She nodded firmly. “He's the only man I will ever need. So I have to get strong so he doesn't have to worry about me.”

Zephyra shrugged when the girl mentioned that she smelled like a whole bunch of flowers. It was nice to be sure, but it wasn’t like she was trying to attract anyone right now. She was far too young for such things. “Some of the most special people are not noble. I have seen farmers become knights and likewise knights become stable boys.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. She had seen such in stories, not truly having seen and experienced them in real life. She didn’t need to experience it herself in order to encourage the woman who thought so little of being a farmers daughter.
 
She mentioned that ‘Master’ saved her and that Master kept her because she was a good girl. It raised a brow with her, wondering what odd relationship must be going on, though she was far more accepting than others. Zephyra realized by now most people would be backing away slowly and then running for it, finding her weird and unnatural. That was not the way she saw things, though. She never wished anyone to be alone because they had something strange about them.
 
Her parents sounded awful if they had, indeed, been brainwashing her to stay on the farm and never pursue any desire she might have. Zeph had a hard time imagining such things for her mother loved her so much and allowed her to do whatever her heart desired. At times, of course, she taught her hard lessons when they were there to be learned. “I’m sorry about your parents. They sound terrible.”
 
She looked around and snatched up her last spider, milking its fangs over the vial until it was full and then letting it go. She returned the vials to the ghostly man but did not leave. Instead she walked back over to Saffron, who was lamenting about the bad people in the world and how they needed to be punished. “I agree, bad people should be punished. But there are good people to. Like me. I try very hard to be good.” She tried to corral some spiders around Saffron for easier catching. “But I am glad you are happy now.” She didn’t mention or even flinch at the fact that the woman admitted to murdering her family.
 
Zephyra’s powers reached out. It was just a tickle at the mind. Most people didn’t even notice it. She felt the overwhelming sadness from her, then the love for the light haired vampire. So that’s what she was… a vampire. Then at her very core was a scary amount of pent up anger and rage. One day it would let loose. It couldn’t stay forever. She pulled her powers back. “So you’re a vampire. You know, you are a very interesting person. I’d like to know more about you. Maybe we could do something outside of milking spiders sometime?”’

Thinking on it Saffron knew that most likely Zephyra was right. “Maybe Desmond will get me a pretty dress like I saw all the women in Kurayo wearing.” She looked like that was the very first dream she had in a long time. It was simple and maybe it was not something to truly look forward to but now that she had a long life span she wanted to experience everything. 

She looked up at the dark haired girl and smiled. “They are gone now. It makes everything much better but master says not to trust just anyone. When we got to Kurayo another tried taking me away.. So Master ripped his heart out. I am Master's and he is mine.” She smiled more and blushed while thinking about it. Even if that was not how a sire and childe relationship worked it was certainly how she thought it did.

She was finishing up her second spider while going on about bad people when Zephyra came back. Crimson eyes sparkled a bit more and she smiled. “I try hard to be good too but  certain people would kill me if they saw me.. Master says we have to fight to survive even if the other side thinks they are doing good for the world.”

She gave a thank you as she grabbed a spider easily from the ones Zephyra corralled. She milked the last one while she thought about her question. She did not even feel when the girl looked into her soul. It must have been scary. “Yup! Newly vampire at that, only been a few months. Master and I are living in Kurayo right now! Maybe you could come visit us. He isn't so scary and most of the time he is nice. He will be happy to know I made a friend.” She turned in her vials and took Zephyra's hand leaving.

“Thank you for milking spiders with me!”