Freaking Me Out

[Idrial]

"By altering your own vitae," he repeated. Guessing Nikolai was not fully aware of the terms that were used in his caste. Taking another huge blast off his blunt, he made no notion to try and control Nikolai.

"Vampire blood its called vitae and it is the source of our power," his tone inviting towards Nikolai, "it is what enables us to live, caught between the worlds of the living and the dead. And why we must drink the blood of the living, we can not create our own vitae."

"What happens after we ingest human blood is our bodies turn it into something crucial for our survival. Similar to how the human body breaks down food for energy," taking the last puff off the blunt before mashing it onto the ashtray.

"If you have mental or other physical skills," since Nikolai had been Caitiff he had no clue what skills he had, " just do the same with your blood. Submit your blood to your will," hoping that explanation would suffice.

[Saiketsu]

Nikolai stayed quiet, not sure he understood fully. He could move fast because he could; there was no thought or command of will there. There was no awareness there, just like there was no awareness when he drank to heal himself.

Vitae.

So his own vampiric nature that inhabited his blood? And there was just supposed to be some way of harnessing that and using it to do whatever he wanted? If it was as simple as sheer willpower, Nikolai would have done it already.

"I don't get it," he answered stubbornly. "What do you do? Physically to control this... vitae nonsense? You want me to try, then show me how."

[Idrial]

"First you are going to have to get used to this," barely pulling on the blood bond careful not to spook Nikolai. "If can you feel how I control my blood it'll make better sense," opening up the connection to Nikolai. Free to feel his blood but nothing more, his mind and memories locked away from his prying fingers.

"The more vitae we use the weaker we feel, and the urge we feel to feed increases. We have a limited amount of vitae to help when it comes to our spell work, the less energy you have the less you have to work with and you NEED to be in an altered state. Mediation, dance, pain and drugs are common forms to use, remember that." Mitch conveyed his lesson in a serious manner, biting his tongue, not mentioning the brat prince that left him that nasty black scar on his chest.

Mitchelletto began to move his blood in his corrupt elder veins and it was similar to how the Ventrue used their discipline Fortitude, moving their blood to generate a type of interior armour for protection. An iron grip abruptly appeared over Mitchelletto's own blood, as if trying to tame a wild horse, his vitae violently thrashing against his will, squirming and twitching hard to break from Mitchelleto's sheer force of submission. Mitchelletto let his grip slip a few times to show Nikolai that one must be confident in their command over their blood, or you could lose your chance to cast a spell or ritual altogether. Mitch had been successful in making his blood submit to his will and Nikolai had felt everything, over five hundreds of years of exemplary practice could be felt waiting to be released.

Mitch had finally moved from his stance of leaning against the wall, looking for an object to turn into sludge and preferably something metal. Turning his attention towards the kitchen, opening some drawers and to his delight grabbed a spoon while twirling it in his hands. His blood calling to be released onto to the dead object as Mitch ambled towards Nikolai, stopping at a safe distance. He once again bit the fleshy part of his palm, reopening the wound and allowed it to flow over the spoon. His blood would feel thick and sap-like to Nikolai, a feeling of putrefaction was apparent in Mitch's state of mind as the spoon corroded immediately in his hand, turning to into a state between a solid and a liquid.

"You want to touch it?" Holding out the spoon to Nikolai for assessment if he so chooses to take it. Appearing to Nikolai as a patient teacher towards his own blood, giving the illusion he was only cruel when he was not teaching about his clan and that was a bold-faced lie.

[Saiketsu]

The tug on the tether between them caught him off guard and he narrowed his eyes on Mitch, withdrawing unconsciously from him. Every moment that Mitchelletto reminded him of who had sired him, Nikolai wanted to spit poison at him. As the sensation of being opened to his sire became stronger, he grimaced but responded to the new connection nonetheless, sitting passenger to Mitch's demonstration reluctantly. Nikolai had - stupidly, he realized now - thought that it would be a visual display of ability, not a psychic one. It set his jaw hard and a hiss began somewhere near his left ear.

As Mitchelletto invited him in to watch his blood move, Nikolai was instantly overwhelmed by a power he had never seen before. This forceful control over the vitae, the strength to wield his own immortality and shape it to his will, made the hair on the back of Nikolai's neck raise. He could feel the struggle in Mitch's blood, vibrating along the thin connection between them and he couldn't help but watch the vampire before him with wide, distrustful eyes. All of his former sneer and attitude had disappeared as he studied the signals from Mitchelletto. It was the submission of the beast that interested Nikolai the most.

He felt the sludge in his sire's veins, the sharp pinch of pain as his teeth opened his own flesh. It was an eerie thing that he wanted to distance himself from. When Mitchelletto held out the melted spoon, he took it cautiously. The metal was soft, and bubbled, glowing warmly and threatening to drip as it cooled.

Tentatively Nikolai tried to do what Mitchelletto had shown him - like pinning a fish to the bottom of a river bed with his bare hands. He missed, feeling the lingering sensation of controlling his own immortality - vitae? - deep within. The sensation wasn't dissimilar to the thirst that clung to the back of his throat and propelled him forward into a human's neck, or the snake-like hiss that erupted from his mouth when he felt threatened in the past. Animalistic self-perseverance mixed with a deep force of life - his own life. He didn't look to his sire for help or advice, but backed off immediately as soon as his failed at capturing the beast. As he pulled back from his attempt, a spasm of pain flashed through the side of his head, forcing his eyes closed for a brief moment.

"Why do you have to be in an altered state?" He asked lowly, pinching the bridge between his eyes as the spasm stretched dirty little fingers throughout his head.

[Idrial]

"It's needed to focus our blood sorcery magic. And certain rituals or paths can not be discovered or wielded without the help of transcendental means. We use a drug called Kalif to put us in a sort of trance to acquire particular rituals or paths," knowing Nikolai wouldn't be happy to hear about spirits, illusions or apparitions being involved with their magic. He might be happy to hear he had to be high. Maybe?

"Every Assamite is unique. You could have one hundred sorcerers cast Lure of Flames and each one would have a different method in accomplishing their objective. And why? Because spirits or if you are powerful enough to covenant with a God are unique in their own instructions," studying Nikolai's face as Mitch continued with his education.

"I can show you the tools to succeed but I can't do it for you, even though we share blood its different than mine," Nikolai was not going to like being reminded they share the same blood but it was easier to keep it simple rather than dance around the frustrating truth.

[Saiketsu]

"A god? Really?" He rolled his eyes. Of course there would be some made-up deity combined with this shit. At least there were drugs involved. Hopefully they would allow him to reach some sort of pinnacle of insanity in order to deal with this nonsense.

He looked down at the spoon again, running his thumb over the grooved and bubbled metal. The sharp, electric pain in his head had settled into something gnawing instead, a throbbing in his left ear like a heartbeat. Nikolai did his best to ignore it and closed his eyes, readying himself to try again.

There was that dissociative feeling again, like retracting from his own skin, shedding it much like a snake. With another mental hand, he reached into that same river as before, relaxing fingers until he felt his prey. The vitae was like some current deep in the river, some conveyer belt of energy. Nikolai brushed against it and a sensation like panic surged through him, rattling the chains around Judas again. Instinctively he retracted himself and almost returned to his skin... but something told him to stay. So again he dipped his hands back in the river, carefully, knowing what he was looking for now, hovered above the current. There was a moment of hesitation where he feared the lurching panic that would undoubtedly flow through him again, but he plunged on before the thought could sway him.

When he made his grip on the thing in him, needles pushed into his flesh and the deafening screech in his head began. Mitchelletto would notice a grimace and groan, his weight falling more heavily against the wall he leaned on. But his eyes remained closed as he struggled to close his will around the thing that made him immortal. Just like he had felt through his connection with his sire, the vitae bucked his grasp hard, threatening to topple Nikolai completely from his own consciousness. It was a wild thing, slippery and powerful. In the end, the vitae won and forced its way out of Nikolai's grip.

The younger vampire opened his eyes and steadied himself with a curse against the wall. His legs shook and the pain that had shot through his head like a bullet before now exploded like a grenade. Groaning and swaying, he grappled his way to the couch and dropped himself onto it in a sitting position, burying his face in the cushions to avoid the light which was only making the screaming worse. Judas broke a chain and there was so much laughter and mirth from somewhere he couldn't find. Nikolai swore again, forgetting entirely about the other vampire in the room for a minute. He breathed a trail of curses and nonsensical words as the madness threatened him.

He laughed, brisk and mirthless. "Altered state, huh? You caught me on the one fucking night I'm sober."

[Idrial]

Mitch paid no mind to Nikolai's snooty remark on Gods. Normal sane vampires would have swelled up with pride seeing a beginner attempt to wrestle with his own vitae. That satisfaction that their own vitae would now succeed where their mortal blood have merely failed. Not Mitch. The curiosity that crept upon his face cloaked the darker meaning behind his inquisitive stare, the boy was trying and for the most part receptive to Mitchelletto's instructions. Paying close attention through the bond how Nikolai would fare at a second undertaking to tame his wild vitae, alarm and uncertainty were all common for any individual grasping for blood sorcery the first time. Mitch was pleased he didn't have to coax Nikolai into a second endeavour but it generated consequences that genuinely surprised the elder vampire.

Nikolai's body quivered against the wall with overwhelming distress yet Nikolai pushed on but still failed in the end. However, the information Mitch received through the bond was a trauma that rattled his bones with pleasure, it was the entity. Observing Nikolai in his twitch of distress knowing if Motch went to help it would end up in failure, this was a success in his depraved mind and he would let Nikolai suffer on his own.

Could it be that Nikolai's terrorizing embrace had formulated an extra amount of forced strength onto his blood sorcery? Or it is that Nikolai's embrace was devastating to the point he created an identity for his vitae?! Mitchelletto kept all this to himself and not sharing a single impression across the blood bond. But his mesmerizing questions to himself that we're cut short by a statement that shouldn't have been possible, he was sober?!

"What?!" Mitch cawed crisply at Nikolai. Losing his composure for a mere second, his tone mixed with disbelief matched with a wide-open stare and yet Mitch knew it not to be a lie.

"If you're sober... what you just did should not have happened, the fact you can find your vitae sober is impressive," rubbing his chin in a serious manner. It was factual statement nothing further, and whether Nikolai took it as recognition to his surprising capabilities was left up to him.

"You can not be sober if you want to utilize your blood sorcery capabilities, you will fail each time. Even you can find the source of your powers like you just did, you will not be able to manipulate them to your will and that's the cold hard truth. Try to keep something on you at all times and if you HAVE to be sober merely look sober," like he had done when he went for his meeting with Zeus. Keeping that thought from Nikolai.

Mitch came to be hesitant about offering drugs to Nikolai in a hotel room, for Mitch it was causing Deja Vu for the older vampire. He did not want to freak Nikolai out and end the lesson, not when Mitch has made far more progress than he would have anticipated for tonight. Mitch would give him drugs if Nikolai wanted to proceed and he wanted Nikolai to succeed tonight but only for personal notes for Mitch's experimentation justifications. If Nikolai could uncover his vitae abilities sober what could he do under the influence?

[Saiketsu]

"Yeah, well," Nikolai grunted, his face still buried in the cushion. His emotionless praise offered him nothing. Thirst pulled at the soft tissues in his throat, and the throbbing scream in his ear blew out one eardrum. "Unless you got something to fix this, I'm done."

He didn't like the idea of asking for anything from Mitchelletto, but if he wanted him to continue doing this voodoo-assassin-witchcraft bullshit, Nikolai would need something. The thought of blood laced with heroin, warm in his mouth made his jaw quake. He didn't even care if Mitch felt the craving - being as depraved as he was, that kind of a craving probably meant nothing to him. Fuck it, he thought, thinking about this Kalif that Mitchelletto had mentioned. Whatever it took to make the ringing stop.

[Idrial]

"I know what you need. Try not to pass out," Mitch has a special treat in store for Nikolai from his new pal Apep. The demons venom he had acquired weeks earlier, that sexy encounter fresh in his mind.

Walking off towards his bedroom he rummaged around for a needle and the vial of snake venom. Nikolai would need blood before Mitch injected the toxin directly into his veins, holding the needle and vial in one hand he proceeded to the kitchen, threw some baggies in the microwave, having Nikolai drink from a donar was too risky. Mitch did not want to ruin his track record for zero kills in the hotel, a disappointment but he agree to the terms set by Laurent.

The microwave beeped, grabbing the bags and sloshing the blood around to even out the temperature. He made his way over to Nikolai and bent down at the couch, "Here take this and try not to drink too fast," holding out the bag for Nikolai to easily grab in his state.

"You need more? I'm not giving you this until you have sufficient blood in your system," brining Nikolai's attention the needle and vial if he hadnt noticed by now.

[Saiketsu]

He was barely aware of Mitchelletto leaving the room, too focused on keeping his seat on the couch from being usurped by another. Nikolai held fast to the sensation of his pain as Judas wriggled in his container. Laughter that turned his stomach - he was incapable of telling if it was Judas or Laurent's shadowy leeches. Either way he kept his face buried deep, avoiding the light as nausea crept upon him and thirst stung his mouth.

The smell of warmed blood - bagged, he knew - reached him, he could feel that Mitchelletto was next to him again and offering him that disgusting bag. His head wouldn't let him refuse it and so Nikolai's arm shot out and snatched the first bag from his sire's hand. With eyes squinted closed against the intensity of the soft lighting in the suite, he tore into the bag and gulped it as fast as he could, easing that awful scratching in his esophagus. He surfaced with reddened lips and opened his eyes only once the first bag was completely drained and the blood had begun to work on his head.

It was then that he saw the needle and the vial filled with a vivid green liquid in Mitchelletto's hand.

"What the fuck is that?" Fear, anger, and intrigue mixed together in his his expression as he studied Mitchelletto closely.

In all of his years, Nikolai had become intimately familiar with a lot of drugs and compounds. Hell, he had tried most of them himself. He knew all their names, all their forms, all their highs. But he had never set eyes on any drug that looked like that before. The idea excited some deep part of him that always liked the chase of the high and ideas of being strung out on something new played passingly in his head. Had that needle and vial been in anyone else's hands, he probably wouldn't have hesitated.

"Fuck you, you're not putting that in me." His eyes moved from the needle up to Mitch and back again. "Get me a warm body - I've got enough smack on me."

[Idrial]

"This is better than your smack," carefully looking over Nikolai as the blood had taken some effect on his physique.

An eerie silence had fallen over Mitch. Contemplating whether he should call up a donor or two for Nikolai instead of giving him more bagged blood, the last thing he wanted was the boy to lose restraint, if they weren't at the hotel he wouldn't have given a damn. Mitch preferred to hurt his human targets, you could taste a variety of different blood resonances if you drink deep enough. It rises to the surface with an intense taste on your tongue, initially coming through as pictures, whispers or even feelings of unresolved trauma or that foolish emotion called hope, pathetic. And a fresh kill will always give the strongest, most lasting taste than a little sheep donor brought to your door and the temptation was always there.

In time Nikolai would learn in time that blood types are expressed as resonances and unless your only looking to survive or fuel it was important to care what prey to feed from and how. Similar to fine dining for vampires with cultivated taste, like aged beef or drinking an outstanding wine.

There were four types or humors that go back to ancient Egyptian and Babylonian medicine, but they were coded for the West around 400 B.C. Choleric, Melancholy, Phlegmatic, and Sanguine were the proper terms, but for the less scholarly and extra hungry it was angry, sad, lazy and horny.

Choleric focuses on feeling and it relied on the hormone adrenaline which could be produced by anger, violence, bullying, passion or even being envious. Melancholy focuses on thinking and relies on the thyroid hormone which could be produced by being sad, scared, being intelligent, depressed, and someone who is naturally grounded. Phlegmatic focuses on intuition and relies on the hormone pituitary which can be produced through being lazy, apathetic, calm, controlling or even being sentimental. Sanguine focuses on sensation which relies on testosterone and estrogen hormones, through being horny, happy, addicted, flighty and enthusiastic.

There are three temperaments, fleeting, intense and acute to invoke a blood resonance. A fleeting temperament occurs at the moment thanks too momentary stimuli. Humans in basic emotional equilibrium or well-adjusted humans experience fleeting bursts of all four resonances in their day to day lives. An intense temperament indicates a human is incredibly strong to one or another blood resonance, this connection might have to do with mental illness, past trauma, blood addiction or just a very active reward loop; a good looking person who enjoys sex can easily become Sanguine thanks to seeking thrill and getting their kicks in every night. An acute blood resonance is so intense that it creates a self-sustaining reaction within the blood and vampires called this Dyscrasia or bad mixture to refer to this effect but young vampire shit heads not educated in alchemy and hematology it was referred to as a clot.

Each humor or resonance can blend with a vampires blood to energize and boost their disciplines, Melancholy blood boosts Fortitude and Obfuscate. Sanguine blood boosts Blood Sorcery and Presence to name a few examples, all that Nikolai would learn if he was a good little boy like he was being now.

"Can you drink from a human without killing it?" Finally breaking the awful and deafening silence between the two.

[Saiketsu]

The insinuation was utterly moronic. "Of course I can," he snapped back at the question. And then without thinking he added, "No thanks to you."

Apprehension lingered in his chest, thinking about how dangerous it would be to trust anything coming from Mitchelletto - especially some kind of mystery drug. There he was again - in some hotel room thinking about trusting and relying on Mitch's expectations where his life balanced in the middle, dangling from his own hands. "What the fuck is that?" He repeated with a nod, seeing how the elder vampire avoided his question conveniently.

[Idrial]

"Scaeri venom," answering the shit heads question, "its gives you an intense high, like crack cocaine injected straight from the vial but its short." His voice steady and relaxed towards Nikolai.

"Or if you want a longer-lasting high you just mix it with some blood but it won't be as intense of a high. And you don't need to inject it into a human first but you can," finally moving from his position to call up a donor, once Nikolai had some more nourishment then he would let Nikolai try this foreign drug.

Grabbing the phone in the kitchen and ringing up the front desk to send up another mortal, hanging up the phone and shortly after there was a knock at the door. Striding over to the door and allowing the mortal inside and pointing him in the direction of Nikolai, the young brunette with golden eyes sat down next to Nikolai with his neck exposed for Nikolai to drink.

[Saiketsu]

He watched Mitch move away from him and considered his options silently.

He had tried crack when it had first hit the streets of Miami and liked it immensely, despite the twitches and worsened hallucinations it gave him. But the euphoria - hard and fast like a good fuck. Nikolai closed his eyes and remembered, Judas growling darkly. Chasing that first great high had been his sole purpose for a few months before other drugs had distracted him enough to pull him away. It was the skin itching and violent humans that made him give it up - drinking end up with too many kills that he had difficulty hiding. And then there was the problem of his own violence - but not blackout violence, just the manic, uncontrolled violence for no reason. He was always irresponsible and unpredictable on crack. But fuck, was it good.

But this was from Mitchelletto. And it wasn't crack - it was Scaeri venom... or so Mitch claimed. Which meant that the situation would be too unpredictable to be so wild and high. No, his best option - if he had to go through with it - would be to melt down some smack and shoot it into the human and feed. Then at least he could control some of the components of the night.

There was a hesitation, though, as he thought about his former desire to visit Awelfor Manor. So far, Nikolai had managed two miserable nights of sobriety and for what? To visit a ghost of a memory? To taunt himself with an empty house and an angry shore which had surely swallowed up the one good part of this city--

His head snapped to the right with a groan and Judas shifted himself out of the last chain that restrained him, slithering like smoke to caress the inside of Nikolai's head. Greyness threatened in a tsunami wave and Nikolai tried to stay afloat. He was vaguely aware of taking the needle and vial from Mitch, the fingers numb and unfeeling. His hold on his own skin was slipping and he knew it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to his own madness. Another wild twist of his head, another wave threatening to drown him.

Nikolai could remember pulling the human's arm onto his lap, filling the syringe with the entirety of the venom and jabbing it roughly into the boy's veins. There was a yelp of pain and fear that finally loosened Nikolai from his own consciousness, Judas clawing his way up to the surface.

Judas watched the syringe empty, pinching the kid's arm with a harsh grip like a tourniquet as the venom pushed its way in at the crux of his elbow. His mouth watered and Judas waited until the human was in his euphoric swoon before making his move. In one swift motion, Judas was on the boy's lap with knees facing the back of the couch and his face buried in that tender neck, drinking deep of the blood that would let him get control of himself and this vitae.

The drink was not a sensual one, evidenced by the groans and whimpers of the human beneath him, but Judas bucked his hips nonetheless, grinding a new hardness against his own pants as he drank deeply. There was no corresponding bulge in the human's pants, yet he moved as if to coax one into being. Joy clenched at his heart instantly and he wanted to laugh, his erection thickening, his mood lifted significantly. With ruby lips, he released the drowsy human and let him slump along the couch as Judas stood, his dick pressing against the zipper of his jeans. The smirk he offered Mitchelletto was tainted with hatred.

[Idrial]

Mitchelletto froze outright with enthusiasm, daring not to move a single muscle, enjoying the transformation through the bond, enjoying the feeling of Nikolai battling to stay conscious and Mitch did not reach out... to Nikolai? Standing perfectly still to the predator that loomed near him currently, glints and flashes of Nikolai gradually evaporating, his fingers frigid reaching for the vial and syringe, and Mitch let it go voluntarily into Nikolai's custody. A violent crack of thunder rolled through Mitch as the mortal boy cried out in pain, Nikolai no longer existed in this time period and it thrilled the older vampire. Permitting his fledge to have free range of the mortal who attained a state of bliss relatively fast, the mortal's sobs did nothing to shake Judas from his feeding and Mitch watched with glee at the actions of the youth; mortals were cattle and slaves and should be treated as such.

"You want to try again?" Looking past the entity in front of him to take a sneak peek at the mortal. Good still breathing. Returning his full attention to Judas now that he knew the mortal was alive.

Mitchelletto disregarded hate rolling off this entity in waves, lips stained with blood and that teasing erection pleased Mitch. Remaining steady and reasonable towards this new character, wondering if this entity would play ball like Nikolai or would he have to start the game all over again?