The first time Finas laid witness to Casimiro losing his humanity had been a truly horrific affair.

They'd been caught up in attempted robbery not too long after they crossed into the French border. The two were lodged comfortably in a carriage Casimiro claimed to have owned, when the driver of the vehicle unknowingly slowed to a halt to assist a distressed rider and his own posse when they'd been ambushed. The men to the side of the road, professional thieves, killed the driver and their horses before closing in to take care of the noblemen inside.

The two vampires had exited the carriage easily enough, and listened on in confusion as the robbers blathered on in French, when something seemed to just snap within Casimiro.

The man who'd seemed calm mere minutes before this eruption of insanity, scowled and burst into a fit of inhumanity when the men attempted to take the money on his person. His skin began to fizzle and crack, blurring into the air as his face took on a monstrous turn; his mouth a gaping maw of scarlet and teeth so impossibly sharp.

Finas could only stare, mouth agape and eyes widened in blatant horror as Casimiro approached the would-be robbers with an anger buzzing wildly in his eyes. The men folded in on themselves, babbling incoherently even to each other before the enraged vampire raised his clawed, crackling hand, and mauled them into non-existence.

"Casimiro!" the shorter vampire finally managed to call out as Casimiro launched into a second round, attempting to maim the corpses further before Finas pulled him back. "Casimiro, enough, please!"

Eventually, Casimiro relented, face an angry snarl as he stared at the thieves' bodies before shrugging Finas' hand off. It was apparent his patience was worn thing as he stalked off down the road, cursing vividly in Italian. Finas, still in brief shock over these recent turn of events, had to shake himself out of it before he followed after his saviour, more questions on his tongue than taste-buds.

"Casimiro, what on earth was that?"

"What?" Casimiro snapped angrily as he followed the gait of his long legs. "That was nothing."

"It most certainly was not!" Finas accused, keeping even with the tall man's long strides. "I may know not anything involving our kind, but that, back there, was most certainly not 'nothing'!"

"It's a transformation we all through should we lose our blasted humanity." He explained, his mouth a thin, grim line of annoyance devoid of any patience. Casimiro's eyes swiveled to the side to eye up Finas before they ran back to the road ahead of him, continuing with his explanation. "So, it's 'nothing' as long as you keep your humanity in check, you understand?"

Finas tagged along silently as Casimiro began to ease his speed, his anger slowly diminishing as the English man mulled over this new information given to him with mild discomfort.

"I was not aware we could lose any part of ourselves, let alone something so…important."

"You've got a lot to learn, then." Casimiro said, chuckling lightly. "Lucky you've got me, right?"

"Casimi-"

"Well now we're in France." The Italian cut in, coming to a halt and gazing about the country. "Albeit a few miles from any real city, but we're in France nonetheless."

Finas too came to a stand-still beside his taller counterpart, realizing then that the man was right. They may have crossed the French border, but they truly were far from any form of civilization that would allow them to board. His eyes drifted upward to the sky in newly awakened apprehension as Casimiro began walking once more, talking aloud more to himself than anything.

"Do you think we'll be able to make it to a city before sunrise?"

"Can bats fly?" was Casimiro's smooth response, said without missing a beat as his rambles slowly diminished into silence.

"Pardon?"

Upon realizing that he must've passed Casimiro on the road, Finas halted once more and turned back around to get some clarification. However, Casimiro was gone.

Confused, he frowned, looking around as he felt a bat fly by low over his head. Still, there was no sign of the Italian man.

"Casimiro? Where've you gone?"

"Right here, darling."

Finas whipped his head around quickly as he felt something furry and light land upon his shoulder and begin to pet his face. The bat perched there laughed loudly at the look of blatant surprise etched onto Finas' face.

"Casimiro?"

The bat, then revealed to be Casimiro in guise of a bat, laughed once more before he flit off Finas' shoulder and transformed back into his human form. Finas was beyond perplexed.

"Casimiro, how in the world-"

"Sometimes I forget you aren't very educated." Casimiro said with an arrogant smirk, amused with Finas' affronted expression.

"I assure you I am well educated in many different affairs. I admit, though, that the learning's of a vampire escape me."

"Relax, relax." Casimiro assuaged, rolling his eyes with a grin. "You've got me now, remember? I'll teach you everything you need to know."

The tall Italian man came and wrapped his an arm around Finas' shoulders, earning himself a disgusted glance.

"Right now, it seems, you look like you could use some flying lessons."

The process had been long, arduous, awkward and uncertain for the most part on Finas' end, and earned many a laugh from the taller man. Soon, though, he managed to get into the swing of things and found he could navigate the air currents just as well as Casimiro could, matching his even speed and flying quickly toward what they hoped would be a city.

Taking to the air had been a smart idea, as they covered far more ground then they would have walking, or even riding in the carriage to have begun with. Of course, when Finas had asked why they didn't decide to fly into France in the first place, Casimiro had just shrugged (as well as he could in bat form).

"Personally I rather like carriage rides." He'd said casually. "I find them pleasant."

Although it was hardly a proper answer, those were the only words that were exchanged during their flight before they touched down in a back alley in a small city they'd spotted from a distance.

"Welcome to France." Casimio said as they changed back into their human shapes once they were certain the coast was clear. "Home of filthy rats and beggars."

Finas ignored Casimiro's rude jabs about the apparent state the city was in and took his time in getting his bearings. However, true to Casimiro's word, there truly wasn't much, other than the occasional skittering rodent and deranged looking peasant.

"I doubt this is any reputable city with which we can expect much from." Finas commented, avoiding the filth littering the alley as he stepped out of it. "We'll have to find someplace to regroup and figure out where we want to go."

"I told you France had nothing Italy couldn't offer; where do you expect to go, if you have no idea where you want to go?"

"I don't know; I suppose Paris is always an option." Finas said with a casual shrug. In all honesty, he hadn't really thought this through to the point where they would know what to do, know that they'd arrived at his destination of choice.

"Paris? Really? Jesus, Finny, you're killing me."

Finas sighed as Casimiro began to make grotesque gagging noises behind him, over-exaggerating his sentiments toward his suggestion. He should've known better to have thought that anything he'd suggested would appease Casimiro's whimsy. The Italian would probably bicker and complain about most everything as long as they were in France. A disheartening thought, but one Finas managed to shrug off all the same.

"Well at the very least let's find someplace to reside for when the sun rises. It won't be too much longer till it does if we keep bickering like this."

"Alright; lead the way, Finnigan."

Choosing not to say anything about the annoying and ridiculous manipulations of his name (lest Casimiro take it as some form of encouragement), Finas led the way down a street, ambling along with no direction in mind. The city, they were loathe to find, was actually quite bare. A few businesses and a couple of less than refutable places lined the streets, though surprisingly enough it didn't take them long to come across an inn of sorts.

It appeared to be on the rather shabby side, and looked positively dumpy, but being on a very strict time limit didn't allow for them to be too choosey with these things.

Casimiro handled the negotiations with the clerk on duty as he asked about a room ("Con due basi, prego signore"), as they were fortunate enough in that the man spoke Italian, although very little.

Upon receiving the keys and paying off the man, they made their way upstairs into the room they'd rented. They found, however, that the room was no better than they'd expected it to be. Finas himself scowled at the overall trashiness of it, and stomped down hard on a roach that had dared crawl close to him. Casimiro was more preoccupied with the state of the drapes, full of holes and thin as could be.

"These won't protect us from anything, let alone from the sun's rays."

"What do we do?"

Casimiro shrugged and made as though to pull them down completely, when an establishment through the window across the street caught his eye.

"Hey, Finas, look; is that what I think it is?"

Curious, Finas came up beside Casimiro and peered out the small window, wondering what it was that had grasped his partner's attention. However, when he saw precisely what it was Casimiro had mentioned, he scowled and turned away.

"If what you're thinking it is happens to be a courtesan home, than yes, it is in fact what you are thinking it is." Casimiro whistled low and rubbed his hands together, a wolfish grin on his face; an excited look in his eye. Finas scoffed. "Please restrain yourself until at least tomorrow evening, Casimiro."

The tanned man laughed and drew the curtains shut before moving to take one of the thicker quilts off the bed and set to work fixing it over the less than competent drapes. Once finished and certain that that would do in protecting them for the day, he sat back and admired his handiwork before laying himself out on the bed that retained all its blankets, leaving the shorthanded one to Finas.

"Your generosity knows no bound." Finas quipped as he removed his jacket, laying it over one of the rotted looking chairs before creeping onto the bed Casimiro had left him.

"Hey, I'm the one with the money; if I'm gonna pay to stay and share a room with you, than I ought to at least be entitled to the better bits."

"True." Finas said with great reluctance, agreeing with Casimiro as he turned over in bed to blow out the lamp that was currently keeping the room lit. As the flame went out, the room was enveloped in darkness, and Finas sighed. "My apologies."

"I was kidding Finas; it's only that I'm really selfish."

"Not sure if that's any better, to be honest."

"Ha!"