The Predator

Wow! This vampire-girl was out of it! Fatima didn't think she'd affected her that badly, but then she was used to feeling hunger and lust all the time, so it was possible she'd either misjudged or could just handle it better. Either way, at least the girl was coming along willingly and was hopefully so out of it that she wouldn't attack anyone Fatima stopped to ask directions from.

They were barely out of the side-street when the vampiress suddenly stopped stock-still. Fatima looked around wondering what she had seen, but they still weren't on a populated street yet. She couldn't see anything. Then the other girl fell down and vomited. Gross. The young horseman was so taken aback she only barely avoided getting splashed, and a bit actually landed on her shoes. The redhead quickly removed them and tried to get the vomit off by rubbing her shoes in some snow at the side of the street. It mostly worked, except now her socks were wet when she put the shoes back on.

That done, she sighed and looked at the kneeling girl. Trying to be comforting, she said, "Hey! Don't give up on me now. We'll find you some food. I'm just a little unsure of where we're headed, so I'm going to get directions. You only have to make it a little longer, okay?" Then Fatima pulled some napkins out of her bag and gave them to the vampiress. "Here - just clean yourself up a little and we'll keep going. It's gonna be okay."

Although Fatima did have some sympathy for the girl kneeling on the ground, she would've had a lot more if she had realised that she had thrown up from a flashback and not just from hunger pangs. Aside from the really vivid nightmares she'd had at the New Year's party, she hadn't experienced much of her bad childhood memories, probably because she was an emotional mess and very good at distracting herself. But she did have empathy for people who had bad memories of a traumatic past, even something as simple as the vampire's case.

But the young horseman did not realise that was what had stopped the girl. She thought it had all been from hunger, which while she knew from personal experience that it could be painful, didn't seem quite as demanding of sympathy as emotional backlash. She let the girl wipe off her face and then held out a hand to help her back to her feet.

Attempting to remain calming and anchor the girl, she repeated her reassurances, then asked, "What's your name? Mine's Fatima, if I didn't tell you already. I don't think we're too far from people. I was thinking the school might be able to help you with ... food. You are a student right?"

Fatima looked closely at the girl when she heard her quiet tone. Christina seemed more sad than hungry right now, and Fatima was not quite sure why. She had assumed that the vampiress was older than she looked, but the way this one was acting seemed more like a teenager than anyone ancient or even an adult. Plus - the girl did not seem able to deal with her hunger. The horseman hadn't really noticed that at first because she had been accidentally increasing it.

Acting on her hunch, Fatima asked, "You're new at this aren't you? You haven't been a vampire long?" She didn't know much about vampires, but she had heard that they were usually made, not born. "Do you have a - um I don't know - someone who watches after you?" Feeling more sympathy for this girl who might have been shoved into the supernatural abruptly and against her will, the young horseman awkwardly patter her arm. It might've seemed funny considering they had just been kissing, but that had been a special case.

Trying to find some comfort when she was just as much at a loss for what to do as before, she said, "Hey, I'm pretty sure the school will be able to help us out anyways. Whatever your age, I think they'd not want a starving vampire running around. And if you are young enough, maybe you could actually be a student? I - I'd be your friend, if you need one. It's scary being alone."