As the moon sat high in the sky, covering the streets in its ethereal light, the light of a candle flickered in the middle of a table in a tavern, surrounded by young worldly boys. The children of Barons and Lords played games in the dark taverns of Sibiu. Gambling away their livelihoods before they were even old enough to claim them. This night, like many others they had their gazes fixed upon the single young woman at the table. She looked up over her hand of cards, with two large eyes in dazzling green. The high collar of her white blouse held together by a tie which had been loosened in the last few moments. Her mind seemed to be furiously working, and in fact she seemed to be quite distressed. As the shadows the candlelight danced across her skin, the young men who also held cards, found themselves dreaming of what they would get to do with her instead. If it were ever made clear by her parents that her hand was something they offered.
Raven locks were cut in even bangs across her forehead, hiding brows lightly furrowed, while the rest of her hair was kept neat up in a lace bonnet. Pink lips were lightly reddened by a gentle gnawing at their skin as she peeked over. The voice of one brutish Baron's son came to her mind as she furiously calculated her odds. "You seem stressed Kas, perhaps... you should fold, while you still have your dignity?" the boy teased, causing a great guffaw among his playmates. The girl's eyes shifted towards him, as her long fingers held close the cards in her hands. A deep breath came out of her as her heart skipped a gentle beat. It seemed everything was on the line in this moment and they believed they had her beaten, but... "Hendryk, there is nothing in me this night but elation, knowing I'll own the summer home you never even got to visit..." she said a flare of confidence coming to her as she twisted her single most favored worldly possession, a silver ring on her finger, before she said the words they all feared. "I'm calling, love. Show me?" she asked this caused the other two players on either side to drop their cards, both had hands which didn't show anything worth looking at, and both had lost bank notes of only a meager amount. Their shame was gentle a light reddening of the cheeks as they pushed their lost items forward. The man named Hendryk smirked as if he won, showing his hand which included a pair of threes and a pair of fives. "Two pair deary, if you actually manage to beat that, I'll also give you the deed to my personal stables, I heard you recently lost a mare," the boy chuckled, raising the stakes in light of his own arrogance. It seemed he didn't think himself capable of losing. And the girl's eyes widened as she looked down at the cards. "Oh? I suppose there is something to be said about two pair, but... I am fairly certain a straight flush wins," she said showing in her hand cards in sequence from eight to four in the hearts suit.
The color drained from the blond man's face, the light blue of his eyes drained their color until they were but a pale misty impersonation of their previous selves. He bit his lip, in the corner as his entire face gained a reddened hue, starting at his neck and moving up to the very tips of his ears. In this moment, his defeat was assured. The entire table erupted the tavern itself seemed to be alight with mirth as she held out her hand and waited for her winnings. "You're some kind of witch. I swear, I've given you half my inheritance already," the boy said as he handed over the signed documentation in front of witnesses. "And yet you still bet, Hendryk," a sigh escaped her as she collected her belongings packing them away, in a beat up old briefcase. This night had been fruitful, more so than usual given the addition of stables to her already claimed summer home. As she put these items into the small case she intended to carry out, she turned down offers of continuing to play. "Another hand, at least give me the opportunity to win back what I've lost..." said the boy and his friends whom she'd already milked quite a bit. "Where would all the thrill go if you could simply gain it back~" the girl said laughing.
She'd soon find herself out of the door. Case in hand, held firmly within her grasp, as she navigated the streets back towards her parents modest estate. If she had her way, one day, it'd be larger, even if it didn't include her. As she moved about the streets, her face was given a gentler glow by the full moon. And the sound of her little red heels tapping against the cobblestones could be heard as she moved about. There was a smile on her face and a light in her eyes, the likes of which could only be found like this. In the dead of night, after taking from some bratty male a portion of his inheritance. Somehow in the taverns, surrounded by the smell of ale and the light of candles with the smoke of the blazing hearth fires filling her lungs, she felt alive. All the the moment before the final call, before she decided that she could win. It felt in that moment, like she held a tiny piece of a man's life in her hands, and as she took it away, as she watched the color drain from their faces... in that moment she truly won. It wasn't simply about her goals. It wasn't enough that their loss would secede her victory... they should suffer in that moment, a defeat which was humiliating, with no way to retaliate. And this is why she kept her love of gambling, regardless of the penitence required for the activity by her own god fearing religious beliefs. Even as she thought over the Hail Marys she'd have to perform, she enjoyed taking hold of her own life, with her own two hands, and there was nothing quite like it.
And as she had this thought she took a left turn down a dark alley and as she moved upwards she came upon a shadowed figure. She heard a voice lower than normal not that such a thing was unusual. Lovers often found themselves, incapable of waiting for a more appropriate venue to deal with the necessities of their lusts. But what she was seeing now wasn't simply a lustful young couple's night gone awry. Her emerald green eyes caught sight of something else entirely, a man, drinking the blood of a woman. 'Vampire?!' the mind shouted the word as she watch this face buried in her neck clearly by the light of the moon. He was drinking this poor woman dry, but the woman's voice wouldn't come out. She watched transfixed, paralyzed by fear and unable to speak by virtue of what she was witnessing. There was nothing she could do about what was happening here. Perhaps... she could simply take a step backwards. Several even, until she cleared this alley and hoped that none would notice what she'd seen here.