“Jaguars?”
“Yeah, that’s what everyone is saying.”
I sat there taking this in, unsure what to make of it. Then there was a knock at the door. Must be Katarina. I let her in. She was looking beautiful in a new red dress that contrasted with her many dark tattoos.
“Hey Aker, how are you?”
“I’m doing okay. We took out a few of the Starboys yesterday and I’m level six now. How are you?”
“Never better. I hope you don’t need any more blood though. Veruka took so much last time, I still haven’t fully recovered. Partially due to partying so much, I guess, but still.”
“I don’t need any blood at the moment. My next mission is to steal a shipment of ReelC. I was thinking you could stand in the road in front of the transport truck or park a car along its path. When they stop I’ll take out the driver, and we can hopefully put the drugs in your car and make our escape,” I said.
Kat gave me a skeptical glare. Maybe I was asking too much of her. Then she broke the strained silence with a laugh and infectious smile.
“Of course, I like to play on the edge. What’s the point of playing safe?”
I shrugged. I like playing it safe. “Thank you,” I said sincerely.
“Let's get to it, then. Did you have a certain spot where you want to intercept the shipment?” Kat asked.
“I do. The semi will be along Lake Street East in a few hours. I ran along that road a few days ago. Hardly any players seem to venture that way. So it should be a perfect spot. Lake on one side of the road, woods on the other. No one to witness our misdeeds.” I shared the location I was speaking of with Kat via the map. I hardly recognized myself. Stealing, is this really right? It is my mission, and by the sounds of it, the creators are making a fortune off of the drug. Plus I gave a shipment back to the game already. I’m rationalizing bad things. I shook my head and tried to stay in the present moment.
Kat and I walked three blocks to get to her flat, where her car was stored in a one-stall garage. As we approached, the door automatically started lifting. Inside was a slick, glossy black sports car with red trim. The car’s sheen reflected the world with a dark tint nearly perfectly. I noticed how elegant Kat looked. I felt grateful to have such a cool friend.
I got in on the passenger side of her car and buckled the seat belt, more out of habit than for safety. It really wouldn’t matter if I flew straight through the windshield, thanks to my vampirism. Still, I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Kat blasted “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence as we peeled out of her garage. I was thrust backward into the leather seat by the g-forces, hardly able to move. As we cruised down the city streets, I started to relax, then began to enjoy the ride. Something about the emo music from the early 2000s was striking a familiar chord within me. I was finally beginning to have some fun.
We flew across town to Lake Street East. Kat pulled onto the side of the road, parked her car, and turned off the engine.
“How long do we have before the truck arrives?” she asked and looked over at me with a peculiar look in her eyes.
“About two hours. Thanks again for doing this.”
“Want to scope out the area beforehand?”
I agreed and we started walking around the area where we planned to spring our trap. Once we were at home in our surroundings and certain we had a good plan of attack, we got back in her car and waited. We passed the remaining time by playing “would you rather” and coming up with the most ridiculous scenarios we could concoct. We were laughing and smiling. I really liked Katarina. I feel really connected with her. Before I knew it, there were only five minutes until the truck arrived.
“All right, I’ll go to my hiding place, and you’ll park in the middle of the road?” I asked, wishing I could stay and talk with her in the car all night.
“You got it,” she said. I hopped out of the car and hid behind a roadside tree. I crouched down. A message popped up that said, “Sneak mode activated, stay hidden when another player is nearby for a minute to raise your sneak stat.” Okay, I should try to train that next, it sounds easy enough. Kat parked her car in the middle of the street so there wasn’t enough room to pass it on either side. Then she got out and stood on the side of the road.
The night was warm and beautiful. The scent of summer flowers wafted through the air, and a pleasant but quiet chirp of crickets gave a poetic ambiance to the night. I could hear the low rumble of a truck approaching, then I could see its headlights coming closer and closer, eventually illuminating Kat’s black and red car. The truck honked twice, then came to a stop just before her vehicle as the driver realized the obstacle wasn’t moving.
“Hello, I’m driving here!” an angry man yelled. Kat waved and squinted as she approached the truck’s bright headlights.
“Sorry, it just stopped when I was trying to make a U-turn. Any chance you would take a look at it?” she asked.
The driver’s rigid demeanor softened and he nodded. Kat was a natural deceiver and could easily get what she wanted. She manipulated the man and soon he had his head buried deep under her car’s hood as he tried to figure out what was wrong with it. I chugged my bottle of blood. The drink gave me Blood Lust: +25% stats for ten minutes. Then I activated my Time Warp ability and I took off, careful to stay quiet and out of sight. I approached the man from behind, and without hesitation plunged my teeth into his neck and drained his blood until his body lay limp on the ground. His life was hovering at 5%.
I quickly dragged his heavy body off the road and proceeded back to the truck. Too easy. I went to the driver’s side, opened the door, and pulled the keys from the ignition. Then I stepped to the large doors at the back of the truck. After trying a few different keys, finally one slid perfectly into the keyhole. I turned the key and pulled the door open. The front of the container was filled ceiling high with boxes, each carrying various products. The back of the container was empty except for a single chair and a guard dozing with a pistol in his hand.
This wasn’t part of the plan. I quickly ducked around to the side of the truck to decide what the best course of action would be. I was fighting the urge to hyperventilate. I’ve got to think quickly. I signaled to Kat to be quiet and get to the safety of her car. She seemed to understand and sought shelter. I should use my sneak skill, I can probably drain him before he even wakes up. I crouched down and noticed a timer start counting down from sixty seconds. Might as well level sneak at least once. I waited, stone still, determined not to make even the smallest sound. The timer ticked down steadily, one slow second after another.
After a tense minute, I received a message that read, “Congratulations, your sneak skill has just risen to level 6. Players will have a harder time seeing you when you are sneaking. Your sneak skill will rise again when you successfully sneak for two more minutes. Four more missions until Level 7.”
Should I risk it? I crouched for another minute, then heard a yawn from inside the container. That’s what I get for being greedy. Got to move. I entered the container as fast as I could. The guard had just started getting his bearings and was beginning to get up to investigate why the door was wide open. He saw me as I moved toward him.
“Who are you? Put your hands where I can see them,” he shouted at me, although his voice was distorted by the slowing of time.
My fight or flight instinct kicked in and I rushed him. Adrenaline coursed through my body, making me feel invincible. I reached him quickly, just as he let off a single round from his gun. The bullet entered the right side of my belly, blasting through one of my lower ribs. I instantly saw my health fall to 50%. A searing and intense pain flooded my abdomen, but his efforts were in vain; I was already on him. I grasped the barrel of the gun and pointed it away from myself as he let off another shot, then using both hands, I ripped the gun away from the man. My extra points in strength made me much stronger than this particular human-player. His eyes were wide with fright. I tossed the gun onto the street and turned off
Time Warp.
“What do you want?” the man shrieked, shaking with fear.
“Where is the ReelC?” I asked. The man turned, and after some shuffling produced two cardboard boxes. He slid them to the back of the truck. “Is that all of it?”
“It is, it is, please don’t kill me. I’m just doing this as a mission to gain some Reel Money. I don’t know if I’ll ever save up enough to play again,” the man said sadly.
“Relax, and sit back in your chair. Wait five minutes, then you can do whatever you want, and I won’t lock the doors when I leave.”
“Thank you,” he said quietly, then sat in the chair, looking mortified.
I kept an eye on the man while I stacked the boxes and backed out of the truck. Then I kicked the doors shut, and proceeded over to Katarina’s car. I tossed the boxes in the back seat and reclaimed shotgun. Kat sped off as soon as I closed the door and I felt a twinge of guilt. It seems wrong to have a class of players so much stronger than another class.
Kat looked over at me, and her purple eyes were bright with excitement. “Way to go,” she said, took my hand, and shook it. “That was awesome. Want to celebrate?”
Her smile was so infectious I couldn’t say no.
“Let’s get the ReelC back to Veruka first, and then we can go out?”
“Okay. You gotta do what you gotta do, just hope there’s enough time for you to have some fun. You’re always grinding missions man, you gotta relax. Work hard in the real world, have fun in RLO, that’s what I always say. Your work ethic is so good in-game, I should hire you in the real world.” She chuckled.
“You’re right that I should relax more in-game. I just feel underpowered. I don’t want to be weak in comparison to other players. I want to be able to stick up for myself and my friends, but I still don’t think I can do that.”
Kat seemed to sense I was really being sincere. She squeezed my shoulder for reassurance and said, “I get it. It takes time, but you’ll be stronger soon. Try to lose yourself in the music. We’ll be back at your old abandoned church in no time.” She turned the volume up on the car radio.
“It’s Too Cold Tonight” by Tiny Moving Parts began blasting from her car’s speakers and I found myself singing along with every word. Kat glanced over and raised a surprised eyebrow. I looked down at my lap and stopped singing for a moment, a little ashamed of my exuberance. The next moment, Kat started yelling out the words. I looked over as a big smile spread across my face, and I joined in.
Surprisingly, we were hitting the notes perfectly and laughed as our voices cracked with exertion at the screaming parts. The miles flew past and we were at our guild’s base before I was ready. I turned down the music for a moment.
“Just give me a second, I’ll be right back.”
“Better not take too long,” Kat said and winked. I closed the door and Kat turned the music back up and started rocking out once again.
I put the two boxes of ReelC on top of Veruka’s empty coffin. A mission complete message appeared on my screen with the accompanying notification that I had three more missions until I reached Level 7. The church was devoid of life at the moment, so I hurried back to the car, eager to spend the rest of my night with Katarina.
“Where to?” she asked as I got in the car again.
“I don’t know, what would you normally do on a night like this?” She looked thoughtful, then shot me a devious grin.
“I’ve got something fun for us to do.”
Without explanation, she took off. I looked out the window. I really like life now. Seems I’m finally getting the hang of this world.
I was lost in thought for the remainder of the car ride but was brought back to reality when we came to an abrupt stop. We exited the car and I looked up. We were surrounded by huge buildings that seemed to touch the night sky.
“Where are we?” I asked, stunned by the tall glass skyscrapers.
“Downtown,” she replied coolly. She led the way through the revolving doors and we entered the largest building I had seen in the game so far. The interior had clean chrome pillars and a reception area that appeared to be carved from a single piece of solid granite. “We’re heading to the top, anyone up there?” Kat asked the wise-looking woman behind the desk.
The receptionist peered at us from over the thin upper rims of her glasses. “It’s all yours, Kat,” she said, then went back to typing away at her computer.
I followed Kat to a nearby elevator shaft. She looked completely at home in this urban landscape. Her elegant features were more pronounced in the well-lit and classy environment. Her tattoos weren’t exactly characteristic of the corporate world, but her heels and red dress gave off a classy aristocratic aura. She clicked the button to go up, then turned to me confidently.
“You’re in for a treat,” she said nonchalantly.
“How do you know the receptionist? What is this place?” I asked, amazed.
“I work here in-game occasionally. But I’m part owner of this building in real life, so I have unlimited access to its amenities. Having a big in-game presence boosts our sales in the real world.”
We stepped into the elevator, where I contemplated Katarina in a new light. There’s much more to Kat than I ever knew. She has a rich and influential life that has spilled over into the game. Who am I outside VampQuest? Chill elevator music filled the silence and calmed the nerves that normally would have been bothering me. Kat was looking over at me and smiling. I wonder what she thinks of me? The elevator let out a chime and the doors opened, revealing breathtaking views of the city. Rows of skyscrapers gave way eventually to a large lake surrounded by old oak and pine trees at the edge of the city.
As we neared the sheer edge of the building, we began to peer over. That’s a long drop, I thought and gulped. A few people were walking on the street below, but they looked like ants or perhaps even smaller; they were mere grains of sand from this height. Wind buffeted the two of us and set me off-balance. I took a cautious step away from the edge of the building.
“So how long have you been in-game?” I asked. “It’s amazing up here by the way.”
“I’ve been playing for around five years. Nearly since the game came out. I don’t stay in-game that long usually though. The longest I’ve stayed in is a week of game time, which is about sixteen hours in real time. Normally I’ll come in just for a few hours on the weekend. It’s a great way to unwind from a stressful workweek. Who are you in the real world?”
“Sadly, I have no recollection of my past life. I only know I was human in this game for a few minutes then I was turned into a vampire by Veruka.”
“I would really like to become one too,” she said and looked meaningfully at me.
“I’ll see if I can get Veruka to turn you when we get back,” I said, amazed at how willing I was to do as Kat wished. She was truly charismatic. “We could certainly use more members in our guild.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I lost the first friend I made in-game. The Starboys killed her in cold blood. Ever since then I’ve been trying to become strong enough to protect those who can’t fend for themselves in-game. Maybe it’s because I only know this world, but I can’t stand the thought of people needlessly dying here. It seems like such a perfect and safe world when the vampires aren’t around. The more people we get in our good guild, the better.”
Kat looked thoughtful.
“I would love to help you make this world a better place,” she said. “I’m sure Arthur and Patrick would love to help too.”
“Oh, those are your friends? The other two I recruited? I can’t believe this, but I never caught their names.”
“Yeah, Arthur is the big blond one, Patrick is the short jolly one. You should hang out with all of us more. They’re really good guys.”
“I’d like that,” I replied. A few moments passed in companionable silence as we looked out over the beautiful city.
“Would you like to go hang out with them? They’re drinking at an Iris
h pub right now.”
“Okay, that sounds like fun,” I replied.
We made our way to the lower level, then out onto the street. The pub was close enough to walk to, so we left Kat’s car parked haphazardly at the front of the huge building. I guess parking laws aren’t enforced in-game. After a few minutes walking down the busy city streets, a large sign jutted out above the sidewalk.
Green LED lights lit letters spelling out “Irish Pub.” We walked in and immediately picked out our two friends. They each had a half-full beer mug in front of them on the table. Arthur was telling a story loudly, using grand gestures. We joined them at the table, and a moment later a butler came to take drink orders from Kat and me. We each got a locally brewed lager, which seemed to please the butler.
After a few drinks, I began to feel like I was wasting time. I love hanging, but I still should be training. I don’t have time to squander partying.
“It was great seeing you all, but sadly I’ve got to go,” I said and gave Kat a final farewell hug, then fist-bumped Patrick and Arthur. I hope they understand. “Kat, maybe I’ll see you tomorrow? I had a great time with you tonight.”
“Of course. I can’t wait to see you again,” she said.
Arthur and Patrick bid me goodbye, and I made my way outside. I crouched and ducked around into a dark empty alleyway. A few people were standing outside the pub talking and smoking, but they seemed not to notice me.
The sneak timer picked up where it left off. I crouched in that alley for just over two hours, raising sneak to 12. This was enough to raise me to Level 7 with only five more missions to go before I got to Level 8. I put my new skill point into speed, bringing it to 13.
I should have a big advantage if I keep raising speed and Time Warp. These two skills should keep making me harder to catch and take down.
I made my way back to the church, and there was still about an hour before dawn. This has proven to be an amazing night. I decided to try to sneak into the church undetected with my new skills. I could hear Veruka, Brittany, and Sasha talking in the main room.
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