[ While the corridor she guides him down may seem to stretch on endlessly, eventually he will reach a fork in the path where he can turn down the left hallway. The electrical room is well known to her by now, as is the security room at the end of the right path. There she waits with only her whispers and shadows for company until Astarion is summoned. This space is easy for her to control; there are no windows, the walls are thick, and the mall is not exactly a hive of activity, not after the horrors it once trapped so much of the populace with. Figments of their worst nightmares had haunted them for days while they sought escape, and killed them, killed them, killed them–

So it makes her little better, but she knows herself to be a monster. This isn't an honorable tactic. Honor is not her concern as much as keeping hers safe, and in certain cases, that is enough cause to commit any atrocity. It doesn’t mean that she enjoys torture; it only haunts her, hurts her. If she had her way, she could eradicate the threat quickly, without torment, and her loved ones would then be safer. But the captor of this city has tied her hands. More than once, now.

It won't be the first time she'll have been involved with imprisoning and torturing a vampire, only this time she's to be the one wielding the whip before offering the apple.

The visions that had been haunting Astarion were of his own making, not hers. She had only been certain he hadn't forgotten about them, even if she herself had lost so many of the details once she returned to the waking world. Many, but not all, and that pain has built to weigh on her chest. Vanessa has never been naive enough to think that revenge would lighten one’s heart.

But this is a vampire, and he had hurt Peter. It could have been worse. For the minutes that Vanessa had raced to his apartment and her blood had become ice, she had wondered if she would even find Peter when she got there, or if she was once again too late to save a loved one from being corrupted and lost. She will never forget how they took Mina or how she died as their pawn. She will never forget all the years that they hunted and tormented her. Peter has his own demons, and he has suffered enough, which she has been so determined to alleviate. There is no one better than her to help him. At times she has wondered if it is the purpose of her being here. ...And then this crude thing dares to encroach on her territory and threaten what little good she can create?

Perhaps some of it has been for spite.

Vampires can't be trusted beyond the commands of their master and such things don't seem to be so different in his world. So now he will tell her such things as that, and he will tell her truthfully, and she will discern if he will continue to be a threat or not.

Once Astarion turns the corner to head toward the dim electrical room that carries a faint hum, Vanessa will stand from the other end of the hall to follow. Beyond her whispers, the shadow of a scorpion reaches him first. It stretches just behind with a creeping hiss and tail poised to obscure any vision of her, should he think to look toward the sound. Click, click, echoes the sharp impact of her heels on concrete–they tap along with the scorpion’s crawl, hunting from behind its shadow. This is one of the rare times that she doesn’t bother with her usual form of quiet stalking.

As soon as he’s inside the room, the scorpion melts into the shadows that shift beneath the buzzing flicker of the fluorescent lights, leaving Vanessa standing in the doorway to observe him with a silent once-over. Whatever he was expecting to see, there is no more illusion. Only a dark-haired woman with a pale gaze. ]