Issue 1 Downtime

After bundling up in clothes that shaded her from any wayward sunbeams (which was unlikely, I mean, England and everything) Molly followed Haley to Nailah's door.

"I am so screwed."

"You'll be fine. Professor Weaver is cool. She helped get rid of almost all of my nightmares caused by the ghosts at this place."

Haley reached up to knock on the door.

"You're so nice," Molly says, "So, nice. And sweet. And full of blood."

"...That was weird, right? That was weird to says."

"Come in..." she calls, sounding not quite surprised but somewhat curious as to what someone would want from her so early in the morning.

"...yeah. That...was kinda creepy actually. Please don't say it again," Haley said as she pushed open the door.

"So..uhhh...my best friend's roommate here may or may not be a vampire?"

Molly tackled Haley from behind, hissing with fangs exposed.

"What in the name of... Get off her at once!" Nailah jumps up, toppling her chair backwards.

"God, DAMNIT Molly!" Haley growled as she fell to the floor, a wave of TK slamming into Molly to push her off Haley and into the wall

"Ow." Molly says, shakily getting back to her feet after hitting the wall, "Sorry. That one...yeah...I deserved that one. Ow."

"I think you better have a seat over there. And start at the beginning."

Molly meekly sat down and recounted the entire story. Starting from sneaking out and going all the way up to just before she got bitten.

Okay, she edited out the rated R parts, but Nailah didn't want to hear that anyway.

Nailah manages to stay polite for a while but by the end she's pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

"I hope I don't have to tell you how incredibly stupid that was of you."

"Sid did a good job of that earlier," Haley nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure I'm the first girl to sneak out to go see her boyfriend," Molly says sharply. She glares at Haley.

"Of course not. But generally people don't come back starved for blood. I'm not quite sure you understand the ramifications of this..."

Molly stares at Nailah blankly.

"Isn't there like. Somethjng magic-y you can do, Professor?"

"There are plenty of ways to deal with vampires, some of them probably true, some of them not. But there are no known ways to lift this curse. I don't mean to scare you but this is the truth that you need to realize. This is one of the actual paths of damnation. This is not the thing of Gothic romance some people imagine it to be. You're anathema to life itself, you only continue to exist because you steal it from others."

Most people probably wouldn't really notice or pay attention to it but there are an awful lot of sun motifs in the decorations of Nailah's office.

Haley tried not to gasp. She sort of succeeded

Well....shit. That wasn't the kind of help I was really looking to get her.

For a moment, Molly looks like she's been slapped. Then she quietly stands up and starts walking to the door.

Nailah barely beats her there, putting her hand against the door.

"You go out there and you will most certainly die. The sun is out by now and gloomy English weather or not, that is going to be a problem for you from now on. I can't cure you, but that doesn't mean I can't try to help you."

"Why do you even care? According to you, apparently your God just damns people for becoming vampires. 'Oh, some guy forced you into becoming a vampire? Rough luck, guess you're going to hell'."

Molly shakes her head, wiping tears off her face, "No. Fuck that. I'm still a god damn person."

"We don't always get a say in the things that happen around us. Or to us. It doesn't mean you're not a person. It may not even have to mean you're going to hell. But it does mean you're tainted by a blood curse likely older than even our dear history professor. And I need you to realize this if you want me to help you. Because if you don't then the next time you jump somebody it may well cost you your humanity."

Molly's lip quivers and she looks up at Nailah with vampiric puppy dog eyes. She looks absolutely brokenhearted.

"For what it's worth, according to Christian teachings I'm going to hell right along with you for a multitude of reasons..." she musters a smile. She's not particularly good at this whole cheering-people-up thing.

No offense, but you're kind of sucking at this Prof. Haley thought to Nailah.

Nailah shoots Haley a quick glance that's somewhere between annoyed and... almost sad. "I'm well aware of that."

Molly leans her head on Nailah and buries her face into her, starting to sob again.

She was very emotional right now.

At which point Nailah's expression slides into borderline helpless. Still, she puts her hand on the back of Molly's head. "Look I'll... I'll see what I can do to help you, okay? I don't think you'll go to hell..."

"I'm only really good at the scaring part, Haley..."

"Really?" Molly sniffs.

"Really. We'll just... have to figure out what to do about all this..."

It's probably a good thing Molly can't see Nailah's face right now.

Well you always tell us we need to always practice and make ourselves better at the things we're not good at, so here's your chance to do as you say. You made me feel safe--just do the same thing for her. You can do it Haley tried to reassure Nailah.

"Thage you," Molly says, her face still buried into Nailah's shirt.

"It'll be fine..." she pats her back. "And... I'm really sorry for what happened to you."

Molly nods, hugging Nailah for an awkward moment.

"...I do really want to drink your blood though," Molly admits.

Haley gave Nailah a smile and a nod of encouragement.

At that point Nailah puts her hands on Molly's shoulders and gently holds her at arm's length. "I... appreciate your honesty."

Molly licks her lips nervously, trying to distract herself. "So, what do we do now? Breakfast?"

"I believe what 'we' need to do now is figure out how to keep you from hurting anybody without having to starve."