Hestra was furious. These people were insane, absolutely, positively, undeniably insane. They had knowingly let a vampire loose in the camp of the traveling healers. The gods alone know how many of her companions he could have sucked dry. She clutched her own neck and swallowed hard. She thought of last night, the flash of white she had seen in the darkness, now all but having been confirmed to have been him, this garish and dangerous, obstinant creature. She thought of how close he had been to her that night, how vulnerable she had been, and she wondered how closely he had stalked her as she slept. She could feel her heart beating faster than a warhorse, equally enraged and afraid. Even now, she could see the pointed tips of his fangs as he smiled brightly at her. Hestra let her hand fall from her neck and took a deep breath. She prided herself on her ability to keep her emotions level. It was a very rare occasion that would cause Hestra the Healer to lose her temper, but she could feel herself growing very precariously close. At this moment, she was finding it nearly impossible to keep the rage out of her voice. "You might have told me that you were traveling with a vampire companion."She said. The dark-haired woman sighed deeply. "You saw how difficult it was to get any healers to join our party. Now imagine how well received our cause would have been if we showcased our more...well, bloodthirsty members." Hestra stammered in frustration, and the vampire huffed at his companion. "Now, now, I like to believe I am one of the more well-adjusted members of the group." He said while gesturing at the others. His companions in question looked to one another, and aside from a very heavy moment of silence, Hestra heard more than one barely concealed snicker. "Now you're all just being mean." The vampire harrumphed, turning his attention to you once more. "I won't take a bite out of you, my sweet little treat." He said with another fanged, brilliantly white smile. He was a little difficult to look at directly. Everything about him was a little too bright, too shining, too beautiful. It was even worse when he smiled. He had a cunning, charming sort of smile. Her stomach dropped as she strangely felt herself wanting desperately to believe him. Hestra wondered if all vampires had this overwhelming charm. Perhaps this is how they lured their victims. She shuddered, "...unless, of course, you ask me to." He finished with a wink.
With informal introductions having been had, Hestra now had names ascribed to the faces of her deceitful travelling compainons. She supposed she could understand why they chose not to disclose their vampire dandy, but that didn't make her feel very inclined to relinquish her rage at the deception. Not yet, anyway. Hestra despised nothing more in any realm than being lied to, and while they had not lied to her, exactly, they had not been forthcoming and truthful either. Hestra took another breath and recited her mantra to herself. Everyone is deserving of care; everyone is worthy of healing. She took another cleansing breath, and the party set off once more. The dark-haired man in the purple she now knew was called Gale, and the dark-haired man clothed in furs was Halsin. Their feminine companion they referred to as Shadowheart, and the cloaked figure, having shed her hood, you now realized was a feminine figure with green skin called La'zel. Time had been lost as the party retraced their steps to find her as she unknowingly chased after one of the only predators her kind knew. The day was wearing thin, and the ground had to be recovered, so introductions having been had, Hestra and the party of five continued their journey North.
