Act IX

by Alexander Gordon

  The Bloodcat of VanEllovan let out a hauntingly loud wail while standing at the border of a large town resting on the bosom of a valley, her warcry instilling confidence in the horde of female zealots behind her while also revealing her vampiric fangs. The many followers of their countess all wore cloaks and cowls of the darkest shade along with long pants that had golden crosses set in a line down their legs, crimson eyes and fangs bared in their scowls seen from the fiery light of their torches, and held in their hands were the very weapons that they themselves were prone to. The same that Star carried in her satchel into this battle as her daggers would be no good against their opponents. Wooden stakes sharpened to a fine tip, held tightly in hand and ready to plunge into the hearts of those that stood before them in this bloody war.

  “I don’t believe it,” Reiko marveled. “Seraphine converted you. You were one of them all this time.”

  The army of VanEllovan stood against another from Elliran, this one comprised of female vampires dressed in dark robes with crimson skirts. Torches and pouches filled with wooden spikes were carried into this conflict while leading them was none other than their own champion, Reiko. The harvester laughed merrily from once again coming across the jinx she had begun to fancy, the two knights of the rivaling factions staring each other down while their followers were set to spring into a fight to the death at a moment’s notice.

  “No, I’m not one of them,” Star said remorsefully. “I’m not like them, I’m far worse. Only human females are able to be converted into true vampires, monsters like I don’t change the same way. We’re turned into lesser vampires, endowed only with a few similar traits while forever transformed into something different than what we once were. I’m not a vampire nor am I jinx. I’m… just an abomination now. A cursed soul.”

  “The resources you spoke of,” Kroanette recalled with dread. “They were human women from the region, weren’t they?”

  “Those that would side with Seraphine were given her blood and became one of us. Those that would not or chose to bow to Vindicus were killed to keep her soldiers from growing too large. The men… were used as sex slaves and… eventually food for the vampires to drink from.”

  “The town you famously wiped out in one night…” Daniel realized.

  “They refused to side with Seraphine, they were drawn to Elliran and voiced support for its countess instead. I was ordered to make sure they couldn’t strengthen our enemy’s army, so… I killed them all for my mother.”

  “Do you drink blood like they do?” Alyssa asked.

  “No, I don’t. I only have the fangs of a vampire, not the thirst. I don’t drink blood at all; I have no taste for it. Only human women can be turned into true vampires. Monsters such as I are only converted into… lesser ones, although we do receive our fair share of ‘gifts’ from our countess.”

  “That’s how you survived the arrow through your eye,” Reiko realized. “How you recovered from a fatal blow. Your vampire blood saved you.”

  “That’s correct. I can only be slain in combat as a vampire can, with a wooden spike piercing my heart.”

  “But you’re a jinx,” Specca pointed out, with everyone then grasping what Seraphine had meant when she said Star would be ‘near-immortal’.

  Star and Reiko led their forces into a mighty brawl to claim the town for their respected countess. The jinx and harvester clashed as usual, neither being able to strike the other down, while their followers began killing each other in a vicious battle all around them. Breaking bones and snapping necks didn’t do anything but slow their opposition down, fire only burned away clothing while flesh regenerated shortly afterward, and tearing throats out in sheer anger only caused blood sprays to coat the aggressor while their foes kept on moving. The only thing that could stop a vampire was slaying them as legends always told of, by driving a wooden stake through their heart. One by one the vampires began to drop, each being slain while the tide of this engagement rocked back and forth with no clear victor in sight.

  However only the zealots fell in battle, as their champions were not only unable to strike each other down in combat, but they were also untouchable to their lesser comrades. Reiko was able to block and parry all attacks from any direction with her numerous tendrils, both from Star and any vampire that tried to take a stab at her. The harvester cleaved soul after soul from the vampires that got near her, however Star was unable to be touched by the spectral cutters. The jinx was not only protected by her magical shield against attackers in that Reiko was unable to hit her with lethal force, but it also prevented any of the vampires from killing her with a wooden stake to her heart. She couldn’t be pierced, anywhere on her body, as misfortune came to all those who tried. Either by tripping to the ground and taking the spike into their own hearts or missing their attacks and accidentally killing one of their own instead, every vampire that tried to take the life of the Bloodcat failed without exception.

  “A jinx cannot be attacked,” Star solemnly explained. “As such, no opponent can drive a wooden stake into my heart.”

  “You’re immortal then,” Kroanette said in awe. “Your magical protection won’t allow anyone to kill you the only way a vampire can be. You’re immortal, Star.”

  “No, I’m not. Don’t you remember, Clover? You shot me with your arrow.”

  “Yeah, but… how the fuck did I do that?” Clover asked.

  “You didn’t aim for me,” Star reasoned with a shrug. “I’m only protected against attacks, harm that is purposely directed towards me. Not accidents. Had your arrow been made entirely of wood and pierced my heart by accident then I would have died. You would have accidentally struck me down while aiming for Reiko; my magic would have done nothing to prevent that.”

  “Your magic doesn’t protect you from accidents?” Kitten questioned.

  “That’s right. It only protects me from danger directed at me. Should you swing your sword and I were to jump in front of it, it would cut through me because it wasn’t an attack on me but rather an accident. It still wouldn’t kill me because of my vampire blood, but it would hit nonetheless. Probably hurt like hell too.”

  “So the only way you can be killed is for someone to accidentally pierce your heart with a wooden stake? There’s really no other way for you to die?”

  “I still need to eat, all living things need to eat to stay alive. Though to be honest I haven’t tested any other method of dying as I didn’t wish to find another way.”

  “But why couldn’t I kill you?” Reiko whined hopping up and down. “I don’t understand, I’ve never been able to cleave your soul before or after you turned into a vampire. I could kill other vampires just fine, their souls were dark and delicious, but I could never taste yours! What gives? Tell me your secret, Star! I need to know, I need to know why I could never kill you!”

  “Because you can’t attack a jinx,” Star plainly replied. “Reiko, you can’t attack me with your cutters, my magic won’t let you. Remember?”

  “…oh my good golly gosh, you’re right.”

  “You never understood that until now?” Star cried out.

  “I never… but I… and you… I mean… it’s not my fault you were so sexy while killing all those vampires and trying to kill me too! You distracted me! Leave me alone!”

  “You mean to tell me all this time you never realized me being a jinx would repel your attacks from me?”

  “I never noticed, alright? Quit picking on me!”

  “You’re such an idiot!”

  “You’re such a mean person!”

  “Again, why is she translating their argument for us?” Falla mentioned.

  “And if that were true then how come I was never cursed with misfortune?” Reiko demanded. “How come I could attack you without consequence?”

  Reiko and Star took their fight all throughout the village as it started to catch fire during the battle, both warping, flying, dodging, spinning, and leaping through the air as they constantly tried to take the other d
own once and for all. Star was able to strike the harvester with stakes or her daggers, however the monster would just get back up and come at her again without so much as a complaint. And Reiko tried and failed repeatedly to cleave the cat’s soul, her cutters always being deflected by the jinx’s bare hands as her magic protected her from the deadly attack. And in doing so cursed the harvester to grave misfortune… or at least it would have been grave if she weren’t undead.

  “Haha, I’m going to take your-” Reiko cheered as she rushed at Star, right before a burning wall of a building dropped down onto her with a crash. “-soul…”

  ***

  “Come here little kitty ca-” Reiko yelled as she emerged from the rubble and swiped wildly at Star, only for the remainder of the towering structure beside her to fall over and crush the harvester into the ground while the jinx merely teleported away.

  ***

  “I’ve got you now!” Reiko laughed as she soared up at the jinx high into the air, striking at her with a flurry of ghostly tendrils. A moment later a stake that had been fired by a crossbow from below promptly struck through her head with a crunch, having missed Star thanks to her reflecting aura and instead jammed into the harvester’s skull. Reiko twitched with a smile frozen on her face before she fell to the ground with a soft thump.

  ***

  “Star,” Reiko taunted as she slowly phased through the wall while the jinx was taking a bath, the undead monster creeping her tendrils forward to pierce Star’s head from behind. After the sneak attack was repelled she then froze with a high-pitched whine and deep blush as she saw the cat slowly standing up while water dripped down her naked body. Star blinked then noticed Reiko staring at her with a stunned smile in her bathing room, right before she promptly kicked the harvester clear through the wall and out into the air under the night sky.

  ***

  “Die!” Reiko cheered as she raced down at Star in her disembodied mouth form, the harvester wailing with tendrils flailing about, teeth ready to strike, maniacal laughter being made, and then missing Star who merely teleported away before crashing through a stone bridge and falling into the swiftly moving river below with the heavy debris raining down after her.

  ***

  “So what you’re saying is everything bad that happened to me is because I’ve been trying to kill you?” Reiko curiously asked.

  “It sure sounds like it,” Clover reasoned.

  “But I attacked you earlier in that cave! What came of that?”

  “Look at you,” Kroanette said waving at the tiny harvester. “You were nearly killed by Kitten and have been reduced to a fraction of your original size and strength.”

  “…oh.”

  “You don’t understand what karma is at all, do you?” Falla flatly asked.

  “I only understand my undying love for this jinx!” Reiko squealed as she nuzzled against Star’s cheek. “Or vampire, or whatever she is! Hee hee!”

  “What a sad, poor, little soul,” Alyssa dryly said.

  “So what happened next?” Daniel asked. “How did you end up over here and not over there with Seraphine? What happened after she… changed you?”

  “VanEllovan fell in the end,” Reiko recalled. “My time with Vindicus had already ended by then, however I heard that she too vanished along with all her followers. Star, what happened to them? Who truly won in the end?”

  Star stood amidst the aftermath of yet another battle she had waged in Seraphine’s name. Many of her fellow vampire sisters had fallen that day, their lives likely going unremembered by their countess as all she would care about is the newest addition of territory that now belonged to her. Reiko had retreated as the support Star had was greater than what remained of her own, with the followers of Vindicus accepting defeat this time in order to plot their counterattack another day. This was another victory for VanEllovan, another conquest with more land and support for the countess. Yet as the number of lives Star claimed grew higher, as her title being the Bloodcat of VanEllovan became a foreboding legend in the world, and as time passed with her serving the countess with any cruel or unfair judgment she sentenced upon the land, something began to feel different for the jinx.

  As she beheld the sight of burning buildings and fallen vampire sisters she felt a strange sense of emptiness within her. She wasn’t happy. She was numb inside. Pushing aside that thought she slowly began making her way back to her home, the one place she cherished more than anything. The one place she could be happy still.

  However, during her trek back to the mansion where she had grown up with the woman who gave her so much in life, she began to fear the truth. She started worrying that the home and life she once had was already gone. Struggling to hold onto hope that her worries weren’t true she started running, sprinting even, back to where she wished to find solace and reassurance that what she had been fighting for was still there. And as she did she sang her song, all by herself in the tongue of a jinx-turned-vampire, with words carried in shaky tones of sorrow.

  “Asilinte, majenti, vol rummus de allienti.”

  Chapter 15

  Eternal Dream

  In the world of Eden mistakes are always made, some being small while others were more damaging. It could have been an honest blunder, maybe something that could be laughed about later on. Or perhaps it was a fatal error, and the consequences would forever scar the lives of those involved. Sometimes the mistake could be recognized as it was being made, with the realization of what went wrong occurring before the repercussions could grew direr. In these moments of clarity when the tragic path being taken could be questioned there might be hope for averting the final outcome. If one was lucky there would be a way to stop their actions from doing any more harm if they acted quickly, and could possibly save themselves from a worse fate in the end.

  Of course, a cost for their mistake might still need to be paid.

  *****

  The crackling of the fire was all that could be heard amidst the silence that had befallen the camp. Daniel and the girls were watching Star as she had her head hung low with Reiko hovering above her shoulder, everyone taking a moment to gather their thoughts and come to grips with the truth that the jinx in their group was no ordinary jinx by far.

  “You’re really a vampire?” Clover asked again, with Star nodding at first then shrugging with a meow.

  “Part vampire,” Reiko relayed. “If that makes a difference.”

  “I thought all those monsters were gone from this world,” Daniel questioned.

  “As did I,” Specca agreed. “I’ve only heard of them being referenced in story books, almost as if they were in fact fictitious entirely. The way they spread like a plague, infecting all human women they can find while killing the men by draining them dry of blood, they were Darker Ones by far. Too dark, as they posed the greatest threat to world. Being near-immortal and having such bloodlust, they were a true threat to everyone. At least that’s how the fables portrayed them.”

  “I’ve heard about them in stories too,” Clover added. “Nasty creatures. They were said to drain all the blood from any man or monster they could get their hands on, and they turned human women into more vampires that went on to do the same. They were like swarm in a way, wiping out all life and leaving only their own kind to walk Eden in their wake.”

  “They were?” Cindy wondered before holding Snapper up high with a bright smile. “Are you a vampire too? Let me see your teeth.”

  She held Snapper close and, as expected, the swarm latched onto her head and started mauling her face, something that only made the wraith laugh as if she were being tickled playfully. The group watched Snapper ravaging Cindy’s face with snarls and growls while not showing any further reaction to seeing such a familiar sight then turned to each other in question again.

  “So what happened to the vampires?” Falla asked while she and Luna were sticking close to each other. “I never heard of anything like them running about in the world before.”

  “They were k
illed off, assumingly by monster hunters,” Specca recalled. “That’s another part of their tale that seemed fabricated, the stories told of human hunters killing them all off ages ago. Women that slew all the vampires and drove them out from the world entirely to protect their men from being drained of all their blood. It’s almost hard to believe they’re out there, there hasn’t been any sign of vampires anywhere in so many years. Star, is what you’re saying true? There really are vampires in Glyphmare still?”

  Star shrugged while meowing, keeping her eyes down at the ground while seeming detached in her own thoughts.

  “She doesn’t know,” Reiko explained. “She left Glyphmare behind long ago. I know I remember hearing that VanEllovan fell after I left Vindicus’ employ, and that she herself vanished as well. Though how they did I’m not sure of. Star, do you know what happened to them?”

  Star remained silent, still lost in the memories of her past and the time she spent with her mother. After a long while she slowly turned her eyes back to Daniel, seeing him and all the girls waiting anxiously for her answer. She remembered what happened with her countess, knew fully well how her home fell into ruin and her life into ashes, and although she couldn’t answer what happened with Vindicus or her followers she felt that after coming this far she might as well tell the rest of the story. The painful wounds of her past were already open, there was no point in stopping now. Especially since the tale was nearing its end.

  *****

  The gentle ticking of a clock accompanied by the rhythmic meowing of a cat filled the hall as Star was once again seated in her usual spot before the grandfather clock. In her home this was the one place the jinx always came to without fail, the one area that could be considered her true home as it always gave her comfort. She swayed side to side, singing her song endlessly, while watching the pendulum swinging within the glass chamber. After every bloody mission she went on, every day when not with her countess, this was where she could be found.