Act IX

by Alexander Gordon

  “Half the region of Glyphmare became the property of Seraphine,” Star explained, earning hushed gasps from the group. “While the other half belonged to her sister, Vindicus.”

  “And that’s where I come in,” Reiko announced with a giggle. “How romantic if you ask me. Star was the champion of VanEllovan, and I was of Elliran. It was only fate that one day we would meet. I remember our first encounter so well…”

  Leaping through the air against the backdrop of a church on fire Star swung her daggers at Reiko, the harvester laughing while flying backwards and parrying the cat’s blades with her own. The jinx warped and leapt atop buildings and off walls, flanking and dodging the undead fighter’s attacks while the two clashed amidst a cobblestone street with fallen villagers lying everywhere around them. Star swiped with her blade, Reiko laughed and whipped at her with a tendril, the two going back and forth while both seeming evenly matched.

  “I don’t understand, how is it I can’t steal your soul?” Reiko laughed while spinning about, blocking fervent strikes that seemed to come from all sides at once from the quickly teleporting jinx. “This is most unheard of, I don’t know what to make of it. Should I be upset I can’t devour your soul, or be glad I have someone to play with? Hahaha!”

  Star dodged the harvester’s stab, she missed the monster’s bony cheek by a hair, she teleported away from a flurry of strikes by the ghostly tendrils, she leapt gracefully into the air to slice the throat of the girl, and then she was ensnared by the quickly moving appendages. Both legs were caught, her arms bound above her while the daggers fell from her grip, tails being tied behind her, and a surprised gasp escaping her lips as the harvester quickly held the jinx close by the hips with a creepy smile on her face.

  “I have no choice, no choice at all, but to make you mine forever!”

  Without warning the harvester plunged two bladeless tendrils up between the jinx’s legs which were held apart, the cat yowling with a flushed face as she was violated in both holes by the monster who quickly ripped off her vest. She began fondling her, squeezing her breasts, sucking her erect nipples while the cat began mindlessly licking a tendril near her face with loving eyes. The two fell to the ground, the harvester who was eagerly swarming the jinx with love while binding her down, and the cat that meowed in absolute ecstasy as she was ravaged by-

  “Star!” Reiko choked before gagging loudly. “Can’t… talk… like… this… stop… choking… me… please…”

  “I’m going to guess based on how she’s glaring at you with rage right now, that part in the story never happened,” Alyssa flatly assumed.

  “But it should have!” Reiko coughed out before struggling to speak with her windpipe being crushed by the furious jinx.

  “Reiko!” Daniel scolded.

  “Fine! Fine! I’ll tell the truth, just stop- ACK!”

  Star and Reiko clashed with their blades, with Reiko’s phasing through the daggers yet then being deflected by the jinx’s own hands, before they quickly backed off and stared one another down while atop a towering building.

  “Who in Eden are you?” Reiko coyly asked. “This isn’t supposed to be. No no no no. My job is to steal the souls of all those that oppose my boss, and yet I can’t take yours? This is very peculiar. I’m actually not sure how to respond to you.”

  “You were working for Vindicus then?” Specca questioned. “Why would you follow anyone’s command?”

  “That’s none of your business,” Reiko snapped. “Let’s just say I was given an offer I couldn’t refuse at the time. Don’t expect me to tell you my life’s story just because Star’s divulging hers.”

  Star warped over and rammed her dagger into the chest of the harvester, the monster grunting at first as the blade pierced her with a crunch before chuckling at the jinx while her tendrils tried and failed repeatedly to cleave the cat’s soul.

  “You can’t kill me so easily, and it appears I can’t with you either. Oh dear, what are we going to do, friend? We’re not able to kill one another! That’s just messed up if you ask me, hee hee!”

  Star growled as she wedged her dagger in deeper, watching in frustration as though the blade pierced where the heart should be the harvester only flinched a little rather than die as most did in this situation.

  “Not going to lie, it stings a little, but I’m afraid you’re not going to kill me doing anything like that. Want to know how you can kill me? Do you? Would you like to know?”

  Star scoffed and nodded with bared teeth, with Reiko then leaning closer to whisper into her ear.

  “I’ll tell you my secret, if you tell me yours. Explain, why can’t I take your soul?”

  Star shoved her away and sliced a blade across the girl’s face, scratching the bone and causing the harvester to scream in pain.

  “Ow! What was that for? I said I’d tell you my secret if you did the same! What the hell?”

  Without pause Star quickly rushed closer and slashed her daggers from both sides of the harvester’s neck, slicing off her head which she quickly struck through with one of her blades. Holding it off to the side she smiled smugly at the wavering body of the harvester, a look that slowly faded as she saw her opponent still not falling down.

  “Ooo, you’re feisty,” Reiko said, with Star then looking to the severed and skewered head with wide eyes. Reiko was smiling amusing at her while having the blade going through her forehead, no blood being seen while her hair gently dangled below her severed head. Star yowled and threw the head off her dagger, flinging it into the air where her body quickly soared over and caught it. Reattaching it to her neck she then turned to face Star, the hole in her forehead slowly healing however still showing the appearance of rotted flesh afterwards.

  “Oh yes, yes yes yes yes. I’m going to enjoy playing with you, my cute little kitty,” Reiko giggled before racing towards Star with bladed tendrils thrusting forward.

  “Our matches were always so incredible,” Reiko sighed happily. “Wherever I went, there you were. Wherever you went, there I was. We were destined to fight, to both be mortal enemies and best friends!”

  “You were more of a nuisance than anything,” Star scoffed.

  “Nonsense, you loved our encounters just as I did. I know you did so don’t try and deny it.”

  “I will certainly deny it. You were nothing but a pain in my ass, like a persistent barrier that continued to get in my way every time I had a job to do!”

  “I think you were just looking for excuses to come see me, hee hee.”

  “I was not! I never wanted to see you!”

  “Then how come you and I always met at every battle? How come you just ‘happened’ to come across me and try to strike me down every time?”

  “Because I was trying to slay my enemies and their breeding tools, and that included you!”

  “Does that mean you see me as a breeding tool for you? My word, Star, does this mean you wish to mate with me? Star! I knew you loved me!”

  “I hate you with all my being! You are absolutely impossible and insufferable!”

  “Don’t forget delightful and adorable, hee hee!”

  “Does anyone else think it’s odd that Reiko is translating this entire argument for us?” Falla flatly asked.

  “How come she’s talking to herself so much?” Cindy wondered.

  “She’s not… never mind,” Specca sighed.

  “Breeding tools?” Daniel asked, earning silence from everyone. “What do you mean you were trying to slay your enemies and their breeding tools?”

  “It’s what we both were doing,” Reiko told him. “Those that were not on our side were only strengthening the other. If they weren’t with us, they were against us. That’s what Star and I were doing, eliminating the resources of our enemies.”

  “Resources,” Specca scowled. “Of course monsters like you would only see humans like that.”

  “Wait a minute,” Alyssa cautioned. “All these cities and slayings you’ve told us about so far have just bee
n human ones, haven’t they?”

  “Of course,” Reiko snickered. “Her daggers wouldn’t have worked on Vindicus or her followers that she converted. They were only suitable for normal prey.”

  “I feel as though we’re missing an important detail here,” Kroanette mentioned with unease. “What exactly does that mean?”

  “I was about to get to that…” Star sadly admitted.

  Star walked through the hall of her home with a focused look in her eye, the playful and kindhearted girl she once was being masked completely by the colder persona she had adopted during the conflicts. Tales of her exploits and merciless nature had begun to spread further into the region, and those living within Glyphmare had dubbed the feline accordingly with a nickname that her countess had seemed to be amused with.

  “My, my,” Seraphine said from the stairwell before the hall. “If it isn’t our infamous Bloodcat, back from her journey to Reinhale. I trust all went well?”

  Star knelt down before the stairs and meowed up at the woman, a small scowl coming across the face of the countess as she understood the words of her jinx and found them to be rather grating.

  “I see. Vindicus has already spread her influence to Reinhale before we could. My sisterly love for her has nearly run dry with this persistence of hers. Not only does her harvester hinder you at every turn but that undead pest has been reaping souls of our potential followers before I could reach them. We’re running out of neutral ground to claim, soon there will be only us and them in this region. The monster races have all hidden like cowards, refusing to join either of us in glory. They are all weak, hardly worthy of gracing with our divine touch. They’re all beneath us now.”

  Star meowed and tilted her head, awaiting her next order from the countess.

  “The time to strike back is at hand. Send the order to the zealots at the front lines, our truce among our own kind is at an end. Vindicus will not retreat, I know she won’t. Once she’s claimed all the ground she can she will invade our land soon after, she won’t hesitate to draw first blood. We’re going to move our pawns first before she can strike.”

  Star meowed with a cold look behind her eyes, showing she wasn’t in a peaceful mood with their opposition either.

  “Truthfully, I would have you kill her if you could, however she’s too deeply nestled in her forsaken country. You may be a jinx but that doesn’t make you invincible, I don’t believe you would be able to reach her before tragedy befell you. I want you leading our sisters with taking back Reinhale. We’re done gathering fresh humans for our cause. It’s time we show our depraved sisters that resistance to our order is futile.”

  Star nodded slowly and bowed her head with a single meow.

  “I’ve taught you how to fight our kind, how to prevail when all others would surely fall. Show no mercy to them, for they are not sisters of ours. They are traitors to our order, and as such are condemned to death.”

  Star meowed then turned to walk away, her stride proud while her tails slowly swayed behind her as she set out on another bloody crusade in the name of her countess.

  “Star,” Seraphine called out, the cat halting and glancing back to her. “Before you go, I wish to give you something. A special gift, that will make you near-immortal, and my perfect Bloodcat.”

  “I’m starting to feel scared now,” Luna whimpered.

  The jinx calmly walked up the stairs towards her countess, hair waving behind her while her twin daggers which had drawn untold amounts of blood were sheathed at either hip.

  “What did she mean by making you near-immortal?” Specca asked.

  Standing before her ruler Star had a solemn expression on her face. She didn’t express joy for serving Seraphine, rather she only seemed to wait for her next order as if there was nothing else for her in life.

  “I’m still lost,” Falla said shaking her head. “Star, what kind of monsters were your countess and her followers?”

  Seraphine gently rested a hand on Star’s shoulder, seeming to be taking a moment to admire the one dubbed as her country’s Bloodcat in the world. However even such a title wasn’t enough for her, she wanted more from her prized fighter. She wanted her to be more than just a jinx.

  “Okay, this is getting too complicated,” Clover argued. “The questions keep piling up here about you, and this is only making it more confusing.”

  “Specca,” Star asked the nixie. “What do jinxes look like?”

  “They’re cat-like monsters,” Specca answered. “They’re like nekos. Their bodies aren’t covered in fur though, and they have two tails instead of one. Also they have magical abilities whereas nekos do not.”

  “What else is there about us that’s different? What is it that you haven’t noticed yet?”

  “That I haven’t noticed yet?” Specca slowly asked.

  “Look at me, Specca,” Star ordered. “You’re the monster expert here, aren’t you? You’ve read about us before, right? What is wrong with that which stands before you now?”

  “Reiko, why are you giving her a foreboding voice while translating for her?” Specca worried.

  “I think it suits her in this case,” Reiko giggled. “She’s got that bad girl vibe going on now, and I love it. Though I honestly have no idea what she’s getting at.”

  “Why did everyone think I was a neko?” Star quizzed them. “It wasn’t just the ears and tail; it wasn’t me sounding like a cat. There’s one difference between us that none of you have noticed.”

  “Star, what are you trying to tell us?” Daniel carefully asked. “What’s different about you?”

  Seraphine gently brushed aside Star’s hair, caressing her cheek then holding her chin while the jinx remained still and awaited her command. With a single finger the countess then opened the cat’s mouth, seeing something that was clearly different about her then as it was now.

  “Jinxes don’t have pronounced canines,” Star solemnly explained.

  The teeth of the cat all looked human, with nothing standing out or seeming animalistic about them.

  “But… you have those,” Specca nervously pointed out.

  “Yes, I do now. That’s why many assumed I was a neko; they have larger fangs than jinxes do.”

  “Then… why do you have the fangs of a neko?” Alyssa carefully asked.

  “These aren’t the fangs of a neko, Alyssa.”

  Seraphine hugged Star close, the cat closing her eyes as she adored the embrace yet showed no emotion to it now. She was focused on the upcoming battle, all of them in fact, and couldn’t stop her mind from plotting her numerous assaults upon the enemy to claim glory for her countess. Her combat ability was beyond lethal, resolve unbreakable, empathy towards those before her non-existent, and her loyalty towards Seraphine was absolute. She didn’t allow herself to feel any doubt for her mother’s actions or behavior, she wouldn’t allow anything to take away the home she cherished, and she vowed to do whatever it would take in order to ensure her mother’s happiness.

  Even if it meant sacrificing who, and what, she was.

  The countess then bit down onto her neck, the piercing bite of her fangs both shocking and amazing to Star.

  “Oh my god…” Specca breathed out in horror.

  A dark power began to flow into the jinx’s body, something that caused her blood to heat up and her aura to turn darker.

  “Star?” Reiko said in awe.

  There was no going back now, no returning to how she was. Star gazed up at the ceiling with eyes that struggled to focus as her countess infused her with a gift that was both incredible and terrible at the same time.

  “It can’t be,” Daniel insisted shaking his head. “Those monsters were all wiped out ages ago. They don’t exist anymore.”

  Time became a blur to Star, her world fading to black again and again while her mind began swimming with thoughts of her mother in life. The feeling etching into her heart was cold at first, painfully, then became warm again, very warm. She knew what was happening to her,
she knew what it meant and what could never be undone, but she didn’t care. She wanted her mother to be happy, she wanted their life together to remain for all time, and nothing was more important to her than achieving that goal.

  “Okay,” Kitten slowly commented. “This just got really interesting.”

  Leaning back from the embrace Seraphine’s fangs dripped with blood, the droplets hitting the ground while letting off steam as they were hotter than normal.

  “She bit you?” Luna wondered. “Why did she do that?”

  Reeling from the sudden flux of power surging through her Star wavered on her feet, the girl appearing to be in a trance as her body twitched now and again. Slowly she came back to her senses, eyes wearily turning to her countess who had a slick smile on her face along with blood dripping down her chin.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding us,” Clover said through clenched teeth. “You’re one of them? You’re one of those monsters?”

  “Now go, my perfect Star,” Seraphine ordered. “Bring glory and honor to our home, and send those that refuse our order down to hell without mercy. Nothing shall stop you, nothing shall make you fall in this world.”

  Star nodded slowly then warped back down to the base of the stairs, the girl landing on her knee before she stood up and walked towards the exit. As she did her eyes glanced to her hand that she formed into a fist before her, the raw feeling of her increased strength being evident along with a noticeable feeling coursing through her veins.

  “I don’t get it,” Cindy whined. “What does that mean? What is she?”

  Upon reaching the grand doorway Star paused for a moment, hand then slowly reaching up to her mouth where she felt her new fangs that had formed. They were a sign that she wasn’t just a jinx anymore. She had become something far more terrifying, and all in the name of her countess.

  “Star,” Specca said in total shock. “You… you’re a vampire!”