Chapter Text
Despite what that foolish captain believed, Lime was no idiot.
They knew the death of that obnoxious moneybag was anything but a mere freak accident.
The way their corpse had been dried up like a raisin! Lime knew it all too well.
A vampire had feasted today.
Lime vented away from the chaos and panicking crewmates to hole themselves in the reactor room. They had to prepare, after all.
Which intelligent crewmate wouldn’t have a stake, a crucifix, and a stash of garlic in case of a vampire infestation?
The engineer rubbed a piece of garlic over their visor and clothes, making sure they stunk of it, they would be no tasty meal for a vampire! They stashed the crucifix in their pocket and grabbed the stake.
They felt the hard, sharpened wood of the stake. Weapons were prohibited in the skeld, but no crewmate would mention that when Lime saved them all from a bloodthirsty vampire!
Lime grabbed the stake with their teeth to crawl back into the vent, moving easily through the tight space.
The chatter of the other crewmates still came from the direction of the the cafeteria.
Lime didn’t stop until they were at the cafeteria vent, crawling out, stake in hand.
Blue had already carried the corpse to Medbay, Red and Orange having followed behind.
Most of the pizza was uneaten, yet it was obvious no crewmate had appetite after what happened.
Yellow and Brown made their way back to the kitchen. Cyan was spewing some nonsense about bad vibes they were getting, and it was obvious Black was tuning out Cyan’s chatter.
Green was mopping the bloody floor, looking shaken.
A realization struck Lime. Green was the vampire!
They were the only- well, alive, newcomer to the ship and nobody died before their arrival.
Lime flinched, keeping a fair distance from Green, who gave them a puzzled look, as Lime made their way over to the other side of the cafeteria.
“It’s Green! I tell ya! Green is a murderous vampire!” Lime pointed the sharp end of the stake at the intern.
All crewmates in the cafeteria looked at them with varying expressions, but confusion was clearly the main one.
“I- I’m no bloodsucker!” Green stammered, eyeing the stake pointed at them nervously.
Before Lime could call bullshit, Purple stepped towards them.
“Not to imply I give a shit about MIRA’s rules, but aren’t weapons in the ship, like, not allowed?”
They said flatly, waving a hand haphazardly to point at the stake in Lime’s hands.
“So are gremlins but I hear ‘em every night!” Lime snapped back.
Green squinted, “I don’t think there’s a rule against gremlins,” Lime gripped the stake harder and spat back.
“Silence, demon!”
Purple stepped between them, much to Green’s relief.
“Wooah woah, back off, Lime, you can’t stab anyone in the ship.” They frowned, “or anyone in general.”
Lime narrowed their eyes, their knuckles white from how hard they were gripping the stake. “What are ya standin’ up for a vampire?! I’m tellin' ya that demon will feast on our blood!”
Yellow piped in from the kitchen, “Is it just me or does it sound like Lime has gone nuts?” the chef made a spinning motion beside their head with their finger,
“I thought they were always like that?” Black said with a shrug.
Lime was about to snap something back at them when they felt the stake yanked out of their hands by Purple, who had taken their distraction as an opportunity to snatch away the weapon.
“Alright, no more of this… where’d you even get this?”
Lime felt themselves gasp the moment the wood left their hands. They were defenseless!
Ignoring Purple, Lime made a break for the vent at the far end of cafeteria.
“Ya will see! When that bloodsucker claims another victim! With help from the gremlins, I bet!” They shouted one last time before disappearing into the gloom of the vents.
The crewmates stared after the engineer.
“So Lime has gone nuts.”
-
To say that Blue was freaking out would be an understatement.
They swore they hadn’t meant to… do that.
But the rush had been unresistable.
When White cut their finger on some wires, the red red blood had been all Blue could see. And then it was everywhere.
Usually, the pig blood MIRA provided them satiated their hunger enough. But lately, paperwork has been troubling Blue and they… might have skipped a few meals.
God, what would MIRA do after learning what they did?
There was no doubt they would suspect them, of course, the vampire they hired.
Blue had never meant to tell the company the truth of their origins, but Pink could just… tell. Blue remembered the knowing amusement in the administrator’s eyes the moment they looked at Blue. Perhaps Pink was a vampire as well? Well, there was no need to dwell on that now.
Yet they hired them anyway. Blue thought it was because of their experience and capabilities.
And now what had they done?! Gone and broke that trust.
Despite feeling more energetic and full than they had in years, Blue felt sick to their stomach as they wheeled the corpse to Medbay.
They… couldn’t tell the crew. Blue might have captivating beauty, but there was little that could do against an angry crew.
Blue took a sample of the remaining blood White’s corpse had, and put it through the scanner. They turned to Red and Orange, who were peering at the corpse for any clues as to what might have happened.
“Sooo… can you save 'em, doc?” Red asked with a hand on their hip. Blue turned away from the scanner to face the captain.
“Unfortunately, nothing can be done to save White." Blue spoke with grim certainty. Of course, who wouldn't after seeing the state of the body?
"So they're dead?"
Blue nodded, "Indeed."
"I'll have to run some necessary tests to find out what happened." Blue muttered as they turned to look at the scanner's result.
"But remember, whatever happened is not MIRA'S responsibility, as written in your contracts!" Orange sing-songed.
Blue squinted at the scanner result. It was impossible to tell that it was a vampire's job. Not that any other crewmate in the ship had any medical knowledge to find out if it wasn't.
Though the bite mark wasn't hard to miss, Blue had no reason to bring it up unless one of these two did.
"Hey, there's something here." Red pointed at White's neck. Well, lucky Blue that these two aren't as oblivious as they hoped.
Blue squinted at the bite mark, letting out a "hm".
"It appears White got bitten by something before or after death,"
Orange gasped in horror, "What- what if it was a snake?! A snake in the ship!"
Red waved their hand with a "pfft", "That's ridiculous, Orange. Snakes don't live in spaceships!"
Hm, Blue could work with a snake lie. "It's feasible that one of the new interns unknowingly brought in a snake aboard. I will have to read what the handbook says about snake bites."
Red sputtered, "Yeah- yeah, doc! As your captain, I agree!"
"I suppose it's time for the captain to announce the death of one of our dear crewmates," Red sighed with a hand on their heart as they left Medbay.
Orange stared after Red before jolting as if they just remembered, "And I, have to report this to MIRA as soon as possible!" The HR manager rushed out of Medbay.
Blue let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. It would be okay, no one would find out.
What kind of doctor killed their patient? Who was to say they wouldn't do it again? When the instincts became too strong, and their vision was blinded with red. They buried their head in their hands, unable to look at the corpse any longer.