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The 203rd Aerial Mage battalion had a secret.
This probably wasn’t a surprise to anyone.
Certainly not to any Imperial citizen. Gossip regarding the premier mage group in the Empire (and indeed, the world) was rampant, especially after their years of success. They were the elite of elites among magic-bearing humans; there was little question that these two factors alone bore much gossip, and combined bore much, much more.
It also would not surprise any enemy, former or current, of said group of elite elites. How could anyone bearing even the slightest ill-will towards the 203rd turn down the opportunity to assume the worst of them? To believe they held something dark, evil, and twisted within their grasp that allowed them to exist as they were.
Dehumanization of one’s enemy was a founding principle in all of bloodshed, whether it be in a world war or discriminatory violence in one’s hometown.
In truth, this dehumanization of the 203rd was not an odd thing.
Imperial citizens deified their beloved, always-victorious battalion. They’d treat the mages that had, to many, ensured the possibility of success in the Great War as something greater than merely human.
Imperial enemies did the opposite, seeing the 203rd as a symbol to be hated. The “minions of the Devil” who had delivered that terrible Empire victory after devilish victory. The 203rd was something else. They were too powerful, too difficult to face.
These mages could not possibility be human. How could they?
That was the common sentiment between both sides, it seemed.
…Well, they weren’t entirely wrong. Just, mostly incorrect.
The 203rd consisted of human beings. That much was undeniable.
Except… not. There was a secret to be held there. A minor caveat, an asterisk on any claims made to that end.
The secret, as you may have by now surmised, was thus: Tanya von Degurechaff, Head Commander of the 203rd, White Silver, Devil of the Rhine, so on and so forth, was a vampire.
Or rather, she has become a vampire recently.
The hows and whys of this baffled everyone involved, though oddly enough not Tanya herself. But the fact remained that Tanya von Degurechaff was a vampire.
Really, enough people had remarked upon her pale appearance and generally cold demeanor by referring to her as such. Even Tanya’s own 203rd had thought such things, once upon a time. Though, these were naturally in jest.
Never could any of these folk have guessed the inherent prophecy behind such jokes.
But, that is not the point.
Tanya was a vampire. That was established. It had been established for some time now. Months, in fact. There was little conflict to be derived from the hows and whys at this point.
No, what mattered now was a conflict of a different variety, though not unrelated to Tanya’s, ah, slight change in status. Indeed, some would argue this conflict was far more dangerous than anything Tanya had ever faced before.
Allow me to explain.
-=-=-=-
Afternoon, June 1931
Imperial Strategic HQ External Bureau
Capitol City Berun, Empire
Visha was pissed.
No, to say she was such would be a gross understatement, and in part a misdiagnosis.
Visha was extraordinarily angry, yes, but underlying that anger was a deep well of disappointment and righteous confusion mixing and interweaving until she was a veritable melting pot of negative emotion.
Describing this state as “pissed” certainly did not do justice to the depths of Visha’s current emotional state.
And it all stemmed from one thing. One person, really.
Her superior, Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff.
This alone was odd enough. Visha was rarely mad at Tanya. Very rarely.
There were several reasons for that. Tanya did very little that Visha would ever be able to find anger for. Tanya tried her best to not make mistakes, and even while lacking a certain level of emotional intelligence, was a quick learner when mistakes of most kinds were unavoidable.
Also, Visha had a massive crush on the other woman. That certainly helped. There’s that one saying about rose-tinted glasses and all, and damn if red wasn’t a favored color of hers.
Visha, personally would justify such a thing as “optimism” or “seeing the good in things”.
Then again, maybe it was just hard to recognize certain things when all those hearts were floating across her vision.
Maybe that was why it had taken so long for her to realize something. Something fairly important, something that upon realized it had caused her to do exactly what she was doing now and had inflicted such a war of emotion within her.
“What she was doing now” being a swift walk towards Tanya’s office, alongside keeping the lid shut tight on this bottle of jet fuel that was the melting pot of negative emotion rumbling about inside her chest.
At least, the lid would remain shut tight for now. When she reached the office, however…
Well, that was an inevitable storm, no doubt. Gale force winds on that one, at the very least. But for now, she would walk, and keep the storm locked up tight.
What had caused this, you may ask?
Well, it all started, as many plots and conflicts do, with an overheard conversation.
-=-
“Has the Colonel seemed… off to you?”
Visha froze, as the question from Grantz from just around the corner reached her ears.
“How so?” Weiss’ voice echoed next.
Visha leaned against the corner, as close to turning it as she could without making herself known. For some reason, the others refrained from discussing the Colonel while she was around. Or at least, she believed they avoided certain topics in her presence. Staying hidden was likely a good idea here.
“She’s been a little, uh, spacy? I feel like she’s just looking through me lately.” Grantz took on a slightly more hushed tone. Visha had to strain her ears to hear his next words, “Has it been a while since she’s… you know.”
After a brief pause, likely the result of both men checking down to either end of the hallway, Weiss responded, his voice quieter as well.
“I’m sure you’ve noticed, but the Colonel’s been very busy, lately. The General Staff is running her ragged with paperwork, and I believe the Intelligence Department is borrowing her skillset as well.” He paused, possibly with a frown or a grimace, “Further, the latest acquisition of materials for her, ah, unique constitution fell through.”
“That’s it then.” Grantz said, with a sigh, “She’s probably feeling it terribly by now, then.”
“If only she didn’t have that compunction of hers towards her more readily available resources.”
“Well, I get the hesitance. I don’t know many people that would accept such a biting experience, so being the one on the opposite end must lend itself to a similar distaste.”
Weiss chuckled, “If that’s what you believe, then you’ve clearly never been to the Red Light.”
“Hah?! Excuse me, what-”
Visha tuned them out by this point. She was already leaving.
-=-
Why didn’t I notice it sooner?
The answer to this, though Visha was unaware, was that Tanya had done her well best to keep it hidden form her adjutant in particular. This, in addition to much of her recent workload keeping her and Visha working in separate places much of the time, meant that Visha had little to no opportunity to notice anything gone awry.
Visha, however, did not know this fact specifically. All she was really aware of was that Tanya had been keeping her… thirst, hidden.
She’d kept it hidden enough that now, that famed mask of the White Silver had started to slip up, ever so slightly.
Well, no matter. That all ended now.
Regardless of the complexity of her feelings, right now it was certain that Visha was unhappy with her superior. And she was about to make that unhappiness well known.
Visha came to a stop, her destination in front of her. She raised her hand, knocking twice.
“Colonel.” She called. “First Lieutenant Serebryakov reporting.”
Silence, drawn out for a few seconds longer than was comfortable or expected.
Visha raised her hand to knock again.
“Come in.” Came the muffled reply, stemming the motion.
Visha lowered her hand to the door know, twisting it and stepping inside, before easing the door shut behind her. Her fingers brushed over the lock, flipping it sideways with a small click.
“Good afternoon, Colonel.”
“To you as well, Lieutenant.”
“I have a question for you.” Visha strolled across the office, coming to stand across from Tanya.
“…Go ahead.” Tanya, seated behind her desk, nodded.
“Why won’t you drink my blood?”
Tanya blinked. “What?”
“No, I didn’t mean-” Visha blushed, “Sorry, I mean to ask, why are you against asking your subordinates for their blood? You know plenty of us would happily provide.”
I certainly wouldn’t mind. Visha thought.
“I’ve already explained before. One of the conditions of this is a sporadic need for blood. Of ny kind. And I refuse to drink human blood. That’s that. I know we’ve gone over this.”
“But it’s clearly hurting you!”
“And that’s the choice I’ve made, Visha. It’s a matter of principle.”
“I won’t accept that answer.”
“You won’t-” Tanya pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I want a real answer. Is that how vampires are actually made? Is that why? You don’t want to turn any of us?”
Tanya didn’t respond for a moment, seemingly gathering herself.
“…No, that’s not it. Vampires are created through the bite and the action of sucking blood. But it’s not a guarantee or a fact that humans become vampires after being bitten. Here’s the thing, Visha,” Tanya let her hand drop, leaning back in her chair, “There has to be intent behind the process. If biting and sucking blood alone could turn people, then we’d have a hell of a lot more running around.”
“Oh. It’s that simple?” Visha blinked, several different thoughts racing through her head.
“Simple is not quite how I’d describe it.” Tanya looked away, “Of course, there’s another way to create vampires. If the one being bitten desires it enough, or is even somehow in love with-”
“No, it is that simple!” Visha, missing that last part, circled the desk, stepping next to Tanya’s chair and leaning in. “If you can’t turn people unintentionally, then there’s no problem! There’s no need for you to suffer like this. Drink my blood! Right now!”
“No.” Tanya turned back to face her, “I told you, I’m not going to bite a human.”
“Yes, you are. Right now.”
“No. End of story.”
“Yes!” Visha moved forward, until her legs bumped against the armrest to Tanya’s chair.
Tanya glared. “I said no, Visha.”
“And I said yes!” Visha leaned forward, gripping the other woman’s shoulders, “You’re being so stubborn! Just bite me already! Suck my blood!”
Tanya reached up, grabbing Visha’s forearms, “I’m not going to-”
“I won’t accept that!” Visha stared at her furiously, “Tell me, Tanya! Tell me right now, give me a reason for this! Why are you being so, so… obtuse! Why won’t you just-”
“Because I’m not a monster!!!”
Visha froze.
Tanya continued to glare at her. Her hands trembled ever so slightly, a vein on her neck pulsing.
No doubt, it was taking every ounce of her considerable self-restraint to keep herself back.
Visha wished she wouldn’t. She wanted Tanya to just let go. Why suffer? Why do this to herself? And that was the friend and longtime comrade in her talking, not anything else.
Not that she would exactly complain about-
No, not the time.
“I am not a monster.” Tanya repeated, a burning light in her eyes, “I refuse to be. I refuse. I never asked for this. I never wanted to be anything except human, but here I am!”
Her grip tightened slightly, also painfully around Visha’s forearms.
Yet, Visha did not allow herself to be scared, or even worried in any way.
Tanya would never hurt her intentionally.
“I won’t allow myself to fall into it any deeper than I have to.” Her head dropped, “No. No, I won’t become anything other than me. I will not be a monster, not Tanya von Degurechaff. So there, Visha. There’s your reason.”
Tanya let go, letting her arms drop back to rest in her own lap.
“Tanya…”
Visha, however, had not let go. She leaned down, pulling Tanya into a hug before she could react and avoid it.
“That’s so fucking stupid.”
“Huh?!”
“You’ll always be Tanya, no matter what.” Visha tightened her hold, as uncomfortable as it was to be leaning and hugging hunched over the armrest of a chair like this. “You’ll never be a monster. Not to me. So please. Stop being so stubborn. Let me help you.”
Tanya’s resolve cracked, then shattered into a million pieces.
Fuck it.
“Unbutton your collar.”
Visha loosened her hug, leaning back slightly.
“Huh?”
“Visha.” Tanya stared at her, eyes alight with something Visha didn’t quite know how to describe, other than the fact that it made her stomach do summersaults and her heart pound in her chest. “Unbutton your collar. Now.”
Visha did not need to be told twice.
In fact, there were very few worlds in which Visha would not acquiesce to such a request from her superior, Tanya von Degurechaff. And right here, right now, in this world, Visha simply could not move her hands any faster to comply.
She actually ripped the top button to her white button up, then nearly ripped the second one as well.
After several heart stopping seconds, each of which individually felt like much, much longer, Visha’s throat and collarbone were exposed.
“That’s enough. Now, come closer.”
It was a good thing the room was fairly well soundproof.
Visha, turns out, was not at all averse to being bitten.
Not in the slightest.
-=-
When it was all said and done… naturally, it turns out that there was a bit more to overall situation than anyone deigned to let on.
Having stepped back slightly and buttoned her shirt back up (as much as she could, anyway), Visha blinked, as an odd sensation made itself known.
She opened her mouth, pressing her thumb up lightly against her rightmost canine. The tooth was ever so slightly longer, she felt, with a slightly different texture as well.
Huh, so that’s how they feel.
“Lieutenant.” Tanya’s voice had an odd note to it.
“Yes?” Visha looked up.
“Why did you turn into a vampire?”
There has to be intent to turn a human into a vampire. One such way was intent on the vampire’s part. Another was intent on the human’s part.
It just so happens that a human being in love with a vampire was considered the correct amount of intent to facilitate to process.
In other words, it was all Visha’s fault.
Oops.