Page 20 of Captive
To what? To finish whatever transformation they'd begun? To understand what Sebastian was becoming? To find some balance between blood and artificial components, between natural and constructed, between what was and what could be?
"The vampires can't penetrate the Heart Tree's strongest magic," Ochrehand said, her hands weaving protective patterns that sent power coursing through living wood. "Their instruments fail where the magic runs deepest."
"But they adapt," Thornmaker warned. "When their mechanical scouts fail, they switch to older methods. The blood rituals. The tracking spells from before they embraced brass and technology."
"Even those magics have limits," Moonsinger replied, though her voice held less certainty. "The Heart Tree's power has protected us since before the great divide between our peoples."
The Heart Tree's crystals pulsed with ancient power, casting shadows across the living walls. And in those shadows, something new took shape in Sebastian's unconscious form. Something that walked the boundary between organic and artificial. Between what vampiresociety had created and what it might become.
Whether that something would save or destroy them remained to be seen. They could only continue their strange vigil. And hope the scouts didn't breach the Heart Tree's defenses before they understood what they'd awakened in this sacred place where old magic ran deep.
"He needs blood soon," Moonsinger said after what felt like hours. Her magic weavings had grown increasingly complex, trying to track the changes none of them fully comprehended. "His heart rate drops, but... differently now."
Boarstaff studied Sebastian's still form where he lay on the sacred floor. The endless stream of steam still drifted up from his collar, but it moved like morning mist rather than mechanical venting. The brass itself had taken on a different quality, less like processed metal and more like something grown from earth. Raw and vibrant.
When he drew his knife, the blade caught crystal light in new ways. The scars on his wrists seemed to pulse in time with the chamber's magic, each dot of feeding carrying its own faint resonance. In this sacred space beneath the Heart Tree, even the simplest actions held deeper meaning.
"Careful," Ochrehand warned as he counted out the first drop. "The magic here... it changes things. Makes them more..."
The blood fell before she could finish. As it passed Sebastian's teeth, the Heart Tree's crystals flared with colors beyond a deep sunset purple. The lights swirled around and small copper stars appeared, but never grew beyond tiny sparks.
Sebastian's body responded differently. Instead of the usual convulsion, his back arched in an almost graceful, fluid motion. The components that had been failing shifted in ways that seemed natural. As if they were becoming part of him rather than things imposed upon him.
"The blood reaches deeper here," Moonsinger's voice held wonder as her magic merged with the crystal-lit air. The reds and yellows of her magic contrasted with the chamber's natural light. "The magic guides it to places the mechanical systems never touched. Helps it wake things long dormant..."
The second drop fell. Where it touched brass, tiny patterns formed like frost on autumn leaves. The metal rippled. Sebastian'sfangs caught the light differently. Less artificial. More like something that had grown naturally from bone.
"His heart strengthens," Ochrehand reported, her magic focused despite her exhaustion. "But not like before. The pattern changes. Becomes more..." She struggled for words. "More true to what it should be. What it was meant to be."
The third drop brought something new. As it passed Sebastian's lips, the steam rose, forming shapes like the copper patterns some vampires had on their skin, but more like leaf veins, like the natural paths water takes through living wood. His body shuddered not with rejection but with... recognition.
"His body responds differently now," Moonsinger said as her hands wove their magic. The illuminated vampire form above Sebastian shifted. "Not fighting against the blood but... accepting it. Learning from it."
A distant horn reminded them of the danger above. The scouts drew closer with each passing moment, searching with practiced precision for their missing noble. It was like they were racing the sunrise, trying to get as far as possible before they had to retreat to spell-shielded tents that would leave them vulnerable to orcish attacks.
But in the sacred chamber, precision gave way to older patterns. To transformations that followed natural law rather than imposed structure.
The fourth drop fell. Sebastian's head turned not with predatory instinct, but with something closer to plant growth seeking sun. His fangs caught crystal light like dew on metal leaves.
The movement held nothing mechanical. Nothing artificial. Just the natural motion of something growing into its true form. The steam rose from his collar in patterns like unfurling leaves, like water wearing paths through living wood.
"Enough," Moonsinger said. "Let us see how he processes this feeding. How the magic guides the blood through systems that become less artificial with each drop."
The crystal light played across Sebastian's still form, highlighting the places where his body had begun to respond differently to the Heart Tree's magic. The steam rose in new patterns, suggesting changes none of them yet understood.
Hours passed as they watched over Sebastian's transformation, the sacred chamber increasingly isolated as the outer wards stood strong and the daylight forced the vampires to retreat, at least for a while. The blood Boarstaff had given seemed to integrate differently with each passing moment, altering Sebastian's nature in ways that defied simple understanding.
The first sign that something had changed came during what should have been a routine feeding. Instead of the usual response to Boarstaff's blood, Sebastian's body convulsed violently.
"Something's wrong," Moonsinger's magic form flared with alarm. "His heart rhythm changes. The balance we achieved..."
Steam poured from his spine where copper threading emerged from beneath grey-tinged skin. The Heart Tree's crystals pulsed with answering distress, their light taking on dark red colors that spoke of wrongness. Of systems failing in new and dangerous ways.
"The magic fights harder against his parts now," Ochrehand reported, her exhausted magic reaching out to understand. "As if something deeper awakens that rejects artificial components entirely." Her voice caught. "He suffers more than before. More than when we first..."
She couldn't finish. They all saw it. Sebastian's body writhing as natural power warred with artificial design. The careful balance they'd maintained through feeding began to collapse.
"Perhaps this was inevitable," Rockbreaker said as the council gathered just beyond the vampire's thrashing. "We thought we could maintain him between living and dying. Between organic and constructed. But nature demands truth in the end."
