Chapter Text
Gods, his back hurt.
“And then she sent me a letter! A fucking letter , can you believe that?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. Your mother sounds absolutely dreadful, so sorry to hear that. Perhaps you don’t need her.”
“My mother? I was talking about my boss , where’d you get my mother from?”
Astarion dragged him back to the present and frowned at the man before him.
“What?” He asked, annoyed.
“Okay. Sure you’re pretty but fuck this.” the man rolled his eyes and left the barstool, walking straight out the tavern.
Oh. Well, you couldn’t win them all. Good for… whatever his name had been. He’d saved himself far more than an inattentive lover that night.
Looking around the tavern Astarion’s eyes were heavy as he searched for his next mark. Perhaps her… maybe him… not him…
He finally found the one. A middle aged human woman who looked positively dull. He was sure even if he was hardly present he’d give her the night of her life. And then her death, of course. What did it matter, really?
She was easy work. Within two minutes of sitting beside her and starting the most basic of banter she was giggling and fawning all over him. Gods, he could use every line in the book on this one and they’d work. Good. He didn’t have the energy for creativity tonight.
“You know… we could take an evening to ourselves. Get out of here… get some privacy. I know a place. Somewhere… intimate. Somewhere we can… indulge in each other.” It was a tired line, trodden in its overuse with planned pauses and movements. Yet still, the poor saps lapped it up as if they were starved. As if they knew the meaning of starvation.
And she ate it up too. Of course she did. He stood and offered her his hand which she took with a pathetic eagerness.
They began to walk out the door and his mind was already beginning to close off to the world when he did a double take. Did he… yes, there! He did see her!
“Is everything okay?” the woman on his arm asked and he waved her off absently. Yes… it’d been her! Though craning his neck he couldn’t see her anymore.
The little purple tiefling with the small journal. Gods, how many times had he seen her in the past month? At least four… no, five times, if not more. He’d noticed after the second. She was particularly notable given how colorful she was. Purple skin, deep purple hair, and usually wearing… you guessed it… purple. She stuck out like a sore thumb, however whenever she caught him noticing her she disappeared soon after, and he could never find where she went.
What was she doing? What did she want from him? Was she even actually following him, or was he just woefully paranoid?
“What are you looking at?” The woman on his arm asked, shaking him, and he pulled his arm away, offended. Fucking impatient bitch. Shaking him for looking away for one second and not giving her the fantasy she wanted. Gods, if she only knew.
He painted the smile back on his face, though, his chest contracting painfully as he continued his performance.
She wouldn’t know that he hadn’t slept in a tenday. She wouldn’t know that two nights prior he’d had his spine broken. She wouldn’t know that he’d give anything - sacrifice anyone - do whatever it took for one putrid, stinking rat.
And she didn’t know. Not when they reached the palace. Not when he stripped her of her clothes. Not when she cried out ‘Astravan!’... apparently she’d misheard him when he’d introduced himself.
And he didn’t hear her when he walked out of the hallway and shut the door, her screams becoming muffled before fading entirely as Cazador bled her dry.
As he stared hopelessly at the wall, everything in him longing for sleep or to sink his teeth into the plump dead rat at the edge of the kennels, he knew that he couldn’t. His compulsion wouldn’t allow him rest. Wouldn’t allow him food. Not until his Master deemed his penance complete. Penance for what? Astarion couldn’t even remember anymore.
He sat awake and his mind drifted to the tiefling girl. Perhaps if he could catch her next time, she’d make a good mark for Cazador, and then he could stop looking over his godsdamned shoulder so much.
Yes, the next time he saw her he’d do just that. Woo the bright little thing and then snuff her out.