Venipuncture

Chapter 2: Breaking In/Out

Willow awoke once, fell back asleep, woke up once more, dimly realized that her pillow had been soaked through from drool, then fell to slumber once again.

The third time she woke up, Willow was only somewhat, vaguely, viewed under a microscope by an eye doctor, and perhaps an elf from Lord of the Rings? Willow was aware that she was no longer in her clinic. Instead, she was lying on her back, somewhere dark, cold, with a towel for a pillow. What she wanted to do was close her eyes, and drift away once more.

But a small, quiet voice in her head told her to rise, and so, Willow forced her eyes open, ignoring the strain placed on them as she did. Her brain floated in her head as she willed her aching arms to press her up onto a sitting position, her spine crying out in newfound soreness as she examined her new location with blurry vision.

It was a basement bedroom, or, at least, what appeared to be one. On the side, there was a computer from the early 2000s, the kind that had a bigger monitor than a watermelon and had a clunky mouse at that. It sat on an even older desk, filled to the brim with papers and, of all things, aged scrolls that looked like they belonged in a fantasy game, or a old European catholic church.

But what truly drew Willow's jade eyes was the coffin sitting in the corner of the room. It was made out of fine dark oak, partially opened, revealing a velvet interior inside. Curiously enough though, on the underside of the lid, there was a screen of some sort taped to it. As if someone would watch a movie while lying in the coffin itself.

Willow gave it a moment's examination more before she let out a breath, she hadn't known she had been holding. She then recounted why and how she might have come to this basement.

“Okay, let's see. I came home from the bar…and Powell's…there was a robber and…"

She rubbed her arm and found a speckle of dried blood.

“Right," Willow muttered. “Vampire…or…" She looked around the room. “A wanna be."

There was no time to figure out where her captor was, how she was brought here, or why the vampire lady thing decided to kidnap her. It was time go.

Willow rose to her feet on shaking legs, and found her clothes remained intact. Even so, she rubbed her neck, and found no puncture marks.

“Good," Willow muttered, and glanced to the side. There, a wooden door sat, marked with the symbol of a blood red rose in the center.

Willow rolled her eyes and took another deep breath. She told herself that she could mock her captor's décor taste after she made it back home.

Willow took one step to the door, and her leg almost gave out on her. A thousand invisible needles poked and prodded at her muscles, and she held back a curse as she fell to her knee.

“Godd*mnit," she muttered, and looked around once more.

There, kneeling on the floor, was a fairly tall woman with long blonde hair, tanned skin, jade green eyes, dressed in a hoodie with an exposed arm, and with a stream of dried saliva dripping down her chin.

Willow blinked once, twice, then breathed out when she realized all that faced her was a reflection coming from a body length mirror on the wall. She wheezed and clutched her chest.

“Oh, oh god, I just…yikes. I'm really glad Dave isn't here to see this. Scared by my own reflection…" She shook her head, and stood up once more on shaking, but working legs.

Though Willow knew, intellectually, that the door was only about ten feet or so away from her, every step toward it may as well been a mile. Her arms shook from numbness. She knew her feet only hit the ground by gravity's fall, and her breath was labored with the rise and fall of her legs.

But eventually, she made it.

With a shaking hand, Willow opened the door, revealing a staircase upwards, with a handrail thankfully on the wall. With a grumble, she willed her aching muscles to awaken once more, and climbed up the steps.

***

Willow, after making it out of the basement, found herself in a foyer of some old building. For a moment, she wondered if, by some means, she was taken to a different part of the world, or another one entirely. She wondered as she twisted the doorknob aside, if the vampire had killed her, and now, she was in some sort of afterlife.

But the answer came when the familiar, salty smell of the Columbia River drifted into her nose as she stumbled out onto the sidewalk. The night sky hung over her, and the moon was out in force. She stood on the downtown streets of Portland, and in the distance, she could spy the twin bridges leading to Vancouver, WA. But…it was different.

Something was wrong. The air itself was thick, far too thick for Portland in the summer. Like smog. Something played at the corner of her vision. Not movement, but something clawed at it, like someone, or something, was trying to place a veil over her eyes and was stitching it in place, thread by thread.

“Hey, are you alright miss?" someone with a starchy voice asked, and Willow waved her hand.

“Oh, I've…had—had, worse nights than this," she said, trying to sound more put together then she actually felt. Which, at this point, was comparable to an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. Willow turned to face who had spoken and found empty air. “Eh?" she searched the air for the speaker and found nothing.

“I…can't believe…down here," the voice said, and Willow looked down.

And staring back up at her was a small, about the size of a tall child, creature with bright yellow, goat like eyes with green skin, wide ears, and wearing, of all things, a business suit. The creature reached down and checked its—his(?) phone.

“…What?" Willow asked after a few minutes.

“You came out of the Princess' house," the creature, who Willow vaguely recalled as looking like a goblin, answered. “Not many people come out of there. Or go into, for that matter."

“…Who? What?" Willow shook her head. “Okay, um…listen…sir?"

“The name's Run-Run, though my 'human' name is Robert," he answered. “Now, if you're okay, I must be running along."

“I…um, sure," Willow nodded. “Sorry for wasting your time."

The goblin ('What the hell?!' Willow thought) gave her a quick nod before walking along. Dimly, Willow became aware of the mist that drifted by it (him?) as Run-Run walked on by.

“I…what?"

“You should consider yourself lucky," a voice said, silky and smooth.

Willow glanced to her left and found a woman leaning against the wall next to her. A mane of the finest, silkiest hair Willow had ever seen trailed down her head and across her back. Bright yellow eyes glimmered in the moon's light, a coy smile was spread upon her lips. She was thin, but healthy so. Just enough meat and bones to remain healthy, and just enough spread to become appealing. Like a painting, Willow realized, like something out of a Japanese manga.

And the woman's smirk only grew as three fox tails swayed into view. “Normally, a goblin would charge you for their time," the....fox person said.

“I…what?" Willow blinked. “Who…what are you?"

The fox lady blinked, and the ears on her head ('She has fox ears? And…are those whiskers?' Willow thought) flattened. “Forgive me, you must be new to the Underground. What are you? Fae? No, you're too solid. Undead? You did come out of Lilith's home, so…"

“Human!" Willow barked. “Human, all the way!"

“…Hm," The fox lady—Kitsune, Willow dimly recalled, they're called Kitsune—pressed a finger to her chin. “....Demigod?"

“No, look!" Willow ran a hand over her face. “I just want to go home, where…"

The fox woman laughed a sweet, gentle sound that reminded Willow of morning bells found in shrines. “Oh, my dear," she leaned in close, and placed a hand on Willow's shoulder. “The fun I could have with you."

“That's enough," a stern, commanding voice called. And sure enough, Willow turned. Standing there, with a bag of groceries under one arm, wearing a blue jacket with the hood and mask down, was the vampire lady. “Yuki, go back to work," she said.

The kitsune, who was named Yuki, apparently, nodded, and bowed. “As you wish, Lilith."

Lilith, who Willow was starting to realize may not have been cosplaying, shook her head in annoyance as Yuki took her leave. With every step, Yuki's hips and tails swayed behind her, drawing Willow's gaze once more.

And then a sharp 'snap!' echoed in her ears. “Oi, Earth to Doctor Willow, are you there?"

Willow turned and found Lilith the vampire standing next to her with an annoyed glare. “....Nope!" Willow replied, and promptly fell down once again as her knees gave out.

Lilith sighed. “This is going to be a long night."