Vampire Hunter

by Dante Steel

  Gary took to the air once more. The mermaid had been talking to him, but he hadn’t said a word to her then, and he didn’t now. He zoomed toward the smoking volcano. It hadn’t erupted, but three more pressure points from underground caves filled with lava had popped, just like the one Smaug had created.

  With hardly a graceful landing, Gary touched his feet to the sand and began to run. Sand kicked up everywhere as he glanced all around. Elena. How could he have gotten so caught up in fighting Smaug that he had left her? Tears streamed down his face as he found her arm from where it had flown.

  “Elena!” he shrieked. His voice hardly sounded like his. “Elena!”

  He couldn’t find her. The lava sparks, the fog, the darkness, the shadows, he couldn’t see much of anything.

  “Nicoletta! Olivia! Anyone, please!”

  He sank to his knees, crying, trying to figure out how everything had gone so epically wrong.

  No. He had to find her. Crying would solve nothing.

  Gary stumbled to his feet and tripped over a rock.

  Not a rock. Metal.

  Not just metal. Elena.

  She was lying there, on the sand, not moving. Breathing? He couldn’t tell.

  Gary placed her arm where it should attach to her body and gave her a potion to drink. She coughed, her body shuddering, and she opened her eyes, sitting up.

  But her arm wasn’t attached.

  “Gary,” she whispered. “What happened?”

  “Nothing,” he told her as soothingly as he could. “Lie back down.”

  “I… Something’s not right,” she murmured, her head turning from side to side.

  “Don’t worry,” he said almost angrily. “Everything is just right. It’s perfect.”

  She nodded and closed her eyes, maybe drifting off to sleep.

  Gary lifted her arm and placed it against her shoulder joint. It took everything in him to try to use his powers to connect her arm to her body. Once that was done, he forced her to sit up and rotated her arm. It seemed to be in working order, but he would have to wait until she was awake to know for sure.

  He laid her back down as tenderly as he could, but she stirred and opened her eyes.

  “Gary?” she whispered.

  “Yes, Elena?”

  “I had a terrible dream that my arm came off.”

  He stood and held out her hand toward the arm he had just reattached. Wordlessly, she used that arm to grab his hand and stand.

  “How are your arms?” he asked.

  She rotated them and did a few arms moves and stretches. “They’re fine,” she said. “But it seemed so real.”

  The ground rumbled, and he snatched her hand again. “We should get out of here before another lava geyser bursts.”

  She nodded, and they raced away, just before a geyser ripped open right where they had been. Without speaking, they rushed back to the underground tavern where they had been living. Elena hesitated in the tavern, but Gary shook his head. Drinking would not be smart. Not now. Then again, he sorely could do for a drink or five.

  Back in their room, Gary motioned for her to strip, and he carefully inspected every inch of her for injuries. There was nothing sexual about this, and although she was dented and bruised and cut and bloodied in spaces, he was confident she would survive this.

  “You never should’ve come back,” he muttered as she dressed.

  “Like there was any doubt,” she said with a snort.

  Now, it was her turn to examine him. He already knew his injuries, and he was breathing tenderly. He suspected his lungs had some smoke in them, but hopefully, the waters had cleared that out enough for him to not be adversely affected by it. The last thing he needed to was to die from smoke inhalation, so to be safe, he took a potion. Then, he handed Elena another one that she didn’t bother to take.

  “It wasn’t a dream, was it?” she asked. “Smaug ripped off my arm.”

  “He ripped it off?” Gary gasped. “I thought the force of the geyser might’ve been enough.”

  “No. He pulled me to him as soon as the sand gave way to the lava beneath me. It all happened too fast. I couldn’t even punch him or anything. He held me like this.” She demonstrated by having a solid grip around his waist. “With his other hand, he just ripped off my arm like I was a toy. Like I was plastic. I don’t know how he could have that much power to do that. How can he be this powerful? What happened with the volcano? With the others?”

  “I don’t know. I think they logged off. I hope they did. I lost Smaug. I drew him away. I… I’m sorry, Elena. Forgive me. I didn’t mean to leave you behind. I just… I was so furious that he ripped off your arm, and I… I had to draw him away. I had to try to kill him. He needs to die. He must die!”

  “Shh,” she said, cupping his face. “We survived. As far as we know, the other girls survived too. We hadn’t intended to face him, and, yes, our plan failed, but again, no one died, and no one lost any levels.”

  “As far as we know,” he repeated darkly.

  “It could have been worse.” She smiled wanly. “We still have each other.”

  “We do.”

  Elena pulled down on his neck and kissed him. As always, her passion and zeal were there, and she swayed closer, grinding against him. He allowed her to kiss him, for them to make out, but when she tried to pull him toward the bed, he pulled back.

  It wasn’t fair to the others. It wasn’t fair to her. He had to stop playing them. Gary needed to be honest with them all.

  Right now, though, he could hardly stand. He sure as hell couldn’t get into a long and in-depth, serious talk about how he loved them all.

  Instead, he collapsed onto the bed, not for sex but to sleep, and he was out in seconds.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  When Gary woke the next morning, the bed was empty. Elena wasn’t there. He quickly dressed. Before going to bed, he hadn’t bothered to put his superhero attire back on after Elena had him strip so she could check his injuries.

  As he donned his cloak, he considered that he really needed to speak to the girls, and the sooner the better. He vowed to himself that he would talk to them all about his feelings. He loved them all, and he truly didn’t want to have to choose. He knew Elena was the most uncomfortable about that, and if she never could reconcile with that, he couldn’t push her. They would have to figure something else out. The key was to be open and honest. Together, they could determine what their romantic future would hold.

  Still not feeling one hundred percent yet, Gary stumbled into the tavern. Elena wasn’t there. Hardly any gamers were. He ate a quick bite and then noticed a gamer Nicoletta had flirted with a few times.

  Gary made his way over. “Have you seen Nicoletta this morning?” he asked.

  The gamer looked up at him and nodded. “She and your two other lady friends went out about ten minutes or so before you came in here.”

  Gary muttered a curse. “Thanks,” he said.

  He rushed out of there to the surface. Why hadn’t they waited for him? At least the gamer had said all three of them were here. Nicoletta and Olivia had come back. He couldn’t deny that he had been just as worried about them as he had been Elena. Not that he could blame them for just cutting and running, but not knowing where they were hadn’t been easy on him, despite how quickly he had fallen asleep.

  Swiftly, Gary made it up to the surface. He had slept for so long that it was night here on the land. Now that he knew how to distinguish night from day while underground, he had realized that every time he had fought the vampires had been during the nighttime. Granted, the day here lasted only a few hours, so most of the time was at night. Vampires moved freely then but only in certain patches in the world. That was a godsend because otherwise, it would have made the issue impossibly difficult.

  As he glanced around, trying to locate the girls, Gary attempted to figure out how to broach the subject of loving all of them. He did not want to say the word ‘harem,’ and he sure as hell hoped Oliv
ia wouldn’t mention it either. Neither Nicoletta or Elena would appreciate that word.

  Over there. Just past that sand dune. Gary rushed over to them, his feet sinking into the sand slightly with each step.

  “You’re all okay?” he asked as he hugged Nicoletta and Olivia at the same time.

  “I did what I could for the volcano. It didn’t erupt, but the pressure had to be released in other spots,” Nicoletta said. “I couldn’t stop all of it, and when the geysers started to gush, I figured I couldn’t do more and left.”

  “One of the geysers hit me,” Olivia said. “Nearly burned me to death. I had to rebuy my outfit, and I had to drink a crap ton of the burn-cure potions to get rid of the burns. That hurt like a mother. I can’t imagine how it would’ve felt in real life.” She glanced at Nicoletta. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

  “It’s fine.” Nicoletta waved her hand. “You took off then?”

  “Yes.”

  “I already told you my story,” Elena said. “This guy was the real hero.”

  “Me?” Gary pointed at himself. “All I did was—look alive, ladies. We have company.”

  Gary settled into a fighting stance, but inwardly, he was cursing himself. He should’ve had them all go back underground. He could’ve been telling them about his love. Instead, they had to deal with twenty or so vampires.

  “Don’t worry,” Nicoletta said. “It’s only about a half hour until dawn. We might not have to kill them all.”

  “I wouldn’t mind killing them all,” Elena said.

  “Let’s get ready to rumble!” Olivia shouted.

  Gary shook his head. He wasn’t as thrilled as them to be fighting again. Honestly, it was wearing on him a little, the constant battle, the fight for survival. If it were only a game, that would be different, but for him, this was his life now. He had to fight to survive. He was living underground. The land above was a barren wasteland. Not exactly ideal at all.

  The first of the vampires headed straight for Nicoletta. She burned his face, and Olivia flew the burning vampire as it smoldered to ashes into the next two vampires. They also caught on fire.

  Elena rushed forward and smashed into them, one fist, the other, one-two punches, on and on.

  Gary cleared his throat. “Set up a fire line again,” he told Nicoletta. “That way, I can help.”

  Either she didn’t hear him or she was too busy sending out small fireballs. Maybe she hadn’t recovered enough from the night before to be able to.

  Gary grimaced. He wasn’t sure he could hit the vampires with enough force to kill them, not unless he had something metallic to use as a weapon. He had donated everything metal he had to the Kill Smaug fund.

  The three of them seemed to have matters under control, so Gary rushed away only long enough to find a thin metal rod. It was lying on the ground. Strange. Maybe an enemy had dropped it earlier, but for the most part, the enemies here hadn’t been dropping loot like they had in the first issue.

  Not wasting time worrying about it, Gary telekinetically controlled the rod so it went through one vampire’s brain and then another’s, in one ear and out the other again and again and again. The vampires dropped like flies, and the experience points were adding up, but the vampires were still coming. They had dropped the initial twenty already, maybe even more, but the swarm had doubled that, and more were heading their way.

  “Has to only be about five minutes until dawn now,” Nicoletta shouted.

  Gary nodded. “This battle’s gone on long enough,” he grumbled. He wasn’t in the mood for this.

  But those five minutes passed, and the sky lightened ever so slightly, the only indication above ground that it was daytime.

  Did the vampires burn to a crisp?

  Did they flee?

  Did they continue to rush them, even more intent on biting them, killing them?

  No, no, and an emphatic yes.

  How could it be that the vampires were still trying to destroy them? Vampires being around during the day hadn’t ever been an issue before. Granted, the issue always had a short window for the day, but Gary couldn’t help wondering if something was off.

  Not that he could worry about that for long. The vampire horde was so fierce and powerful that they were pressing the team back.

  “That fire line sure would help as backup,” Elena called.

  Nicoletta nodded. “I’m trying!”

  She held out her hand, which sputtered and sparked before turning a weak yellow-orange. By the time she was able to get the color to that of the red-orange she needed for the fire, a huge number of vampires had gotten through. Gary had to use a blast to keep them back. The sand wouldn’t have been enough, so he just telekinetically held as many of the vampires back as he could.

  “Elena!” he called as two broke through and were heading for Olivia.

  She crushed a vampire’s skull and then turned, holding out her fist. Gary hadn’t needed to worry because Olivia grabbed the vampires by their hair and threw them over one, two, at Elena, who punched the one and kicked the other to end them.

  “Now that’s what I call teamwork!” Olivia called.

  Gary skittered back a step. Holding back so many vampires at once wasn’t easy. “Are you okay?” he asked Nicoletta.

  “I… I’m fine.”

  He risked glancing at her. She was pale and shaking. Her fire was sputtering out. A mental thing? Was she having too many memories resurge from when she had been burned? Or was it a physical thing? They all weren’t nearly at full power, and vampires were fierce and powerful. They were stronger than the supervillains in the previous issue.

  “I can do this,” Nicoletta muttered.

  The fire line finally appeared. Shit. It was behind Gary.

  He released his hold on the vampires and just before they could converge on him as they raced forward, he flew into the air. The vampires collided with the fire and died, melting to ashes.

  The vampires who tried to jump over, Olivia forced back down into the flames. The ones who tried to go around to the right met Elena. The ones to the left Gary handled by throwing them back into the fire wall.

  They just might be able to survive this. Maybe. Just maybe.

  Gary took back to the sky, flying high, and he slowly sank back down. “Uh, guys, we got this.”

  “We totally do!” Olivia agreed.

  He gulped. He wasn’t so sure actually because the line of darkness that marched toward them seemed endless. This particular horde of vampires wasn’t going to end any time soon. They had their work cut out for them, that much was for sure.

  “Any other day,” he muttered. “Any other day, we could handle this, no problem.”

  But on the heels of a stalemate against Smaug? Yeah, this was a problem. A big one.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Gary shifted back over to Nicoletta. “Do you need a potion?” he murmured.

  “I’m fine. I told you.”

  “Your fire looks a little weak. No offense.”

  It really was. The fire line was sputtering in places, and she was having a hard time reforging life into it. She collapsed, falling to one knee before standing again.

  “Okay, you need a potion.”

  “It’s not the potion,” she murmured. “I… It’s too much.”

  “Then go.”

  She gritted her teeth. “I’m not leaving you.”

  Elena was fighting, but even her punches seemed to be slower. Her one arm, the one he had reattached, locked up once as she was fighting and then again. Shit.

  At least Olivia seemed to be holding her own, but unless she had fire to toss the vampires into, she couldn’t do more than fly away to safety. At least she could bring Nicoletta with her if it came down to that.

  “We need more fire,” he told the Hispanic. “I’ll get it. If you need to, have Olivia fly you and Elena out of here.”

  Nicoletta nodded. “That won’t happen,” she said fiercely, but her body did not
lend credence to her words. “Elena will have us as backup. We won’t leave her.”

  “I know you won’t. I trust you.”

  Gary took off, flying toward the nearest lava geysers. Who knew they would be a blessing in disguise? He used his telekinesis to spiral the fire and snapped it like a fire whip toward the horde of vampires. All along its length, vampires transformed to ash.

  In all, Gary was able to use the fire whip two more times before the fire was too embedded in the ground and became a second fire line.

  Undeterred, he flew back and this time claimed the lava from two of the geysers. He snapped one, two against the vampiric horde, and he killed a great deal more. Great, right? But the number of vampires advancing against them never seemed to diminish.

  “Where are they all coming from?” Elena asked between grunts as she killed some more. She staggered back a step before settling in to throw more punches.

  “I don’t know,” Gary said. “We might need to retreat.”

  “We can handle them,” Nicoletta said. Her fire line was looking a little stronger.

  “There’s at least five hundred more,” he said.

  “You’re exaggerating,” Olivia accused with narrowed eyes.

  “Maybe fifty.” He shrugged. “Go check yourself.”

  The flier did, and when she landed, she turned to the ladies.

  “Yeah, we better beat a retreat.”

  “I’ll hold them back,” Gary said. “Get to the tavern. I’ll meet you there.”

  “But—” Nicoletta started.

  “No way.” Elena went to throw a punch, but her arm locked up.

  “Take them,” he growled to Olivia.

  “Please, ladies?” Olivia asked.

  Gary didn’t bother to wait around to find out if they gave permission. He shoved five vampires at a time back into the fires, the four fire lines. He did that a few more times before he beat a retreat himself. The vampires dashed forward, trying to stay beneath him. They even climbed onto each other’s back, but he flew too high for them to reach him, and then he even ducked into the darkness of the sky. He could see them, but they couldn’t see him, and they took off after another group of gamers.