Neckbeard Vampire: Nightbeard Rising

by David Morgan

The guild members went about their business and left Dex to slowly watch the minutes tick by. He rolled the red pill around in his fingers, pondering his future without it.

  He recalled a particular battle when one of her minions destroyed his stash, forcing him to go without a dosage for three days—he shuddered as he recalled the transformation his body underwent. He didn’t want to find out what might happen should he go further.

  As the sun crept closer to the horizon, Dex decided he would try a half-dosage, perhaps he could slow down the symptoms and avoid total betafication. He laid a knife to the pill and applied pressure, slicing through.

  “Don’t do it!” the door flew open just in time, and Mickey, accompanied by another came running in. “It will kill you!”

  Dex stood up, “I don’t think you understand.”

  “We understand perfectly,” answered the stranger

  “Who are you?” Dex asked.

  “Dex—this is the apothecary I told you about. Doctor Brown.”

  The doctor sat down across from Dex, bidding him to take a seat. “We need to talk about this,” the doctor said, raising the pill up to eye level, perched between thumb and forefinger.

  “What’s there to talk about?”

  “I need to know where you got it from.”

  “I made it.” Dex said.

  The doctor and Mickey exchanged looks, Dex’s response was clearly unexpected.

  “Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Mickey turned to the doctor.

  “I don’t know.”

  The apothecary turned to Dex with a stern look on his face. “Dex,” he began, “why do you take this pill?”

  “I have to take it—or I become like them.”

  “Like who?” After some silence, the doctor added, “Dex—this is a matter of life and death. The pill that you take is having adverse effects. The mark of the Brony is causing your body to change and so it is rejecting this red pill. If you continue to take it—you will die.”

  “When I was young,” Dex sighed, resigning himself to the need to tell, “at an age I can barely remember—I met her.” A twitch of pain became visible on his face.

  “Who, Dex?”

  “The Dakimakura. I will say nothing more of her, for fear that I betray too much—and it is an urgent task that I find her, but I need those pills.”

  “Tell us why.”

  “She bit me—at least so I’m told.” He said, then admitted quickly, “I know very little of my past. My grandfather raised me. He saved me from her.”

  He continued, “I don’t know how he found out about it—but he gave me the red pill. I’ve been taking it regularly all my life.” The doctor and Mickey could see that this history was clearly painful to Dex.

  “Where was your father?” The doctor inquired in a professional tone.

  “He was sick. He had cancer. He couldn’t help—my grandfather took me in.” He stopped speaking abruptly.

  “Go on, Dex.” Fantasia urged. She had entered the room quietly.

  Dex swallowed hard, “The pill was his recipe. Over time, he taught me how to make them…along with everything else I needed to know about the Dakimakura. Then one day…” He stopped short.

  “One day what?” Mickey asked.

  “One day he went out and he did not return. I never saw him again.” Dex sat back in his chair.

  After a minute or so of silence, the doctor broke in abruptly, “But that’s not entirely everything.” And he looked at Dex before turning to the others.

  “These pills,” and he held up the red pill once again, “are the source of Dex’s unnatural strength and speed. They are the reason that he is able to survive—and hunt. They do not merely stay the symptoms of the Dark Gift, for you Dex, they greatly increase your strength and speed.”

  Dex looked at the doctor with anger, as though he had betrayed some great secret.

  Mickey joked, “Sweet! Let’s learn that recipe—level up the guild a bit, yeah?” He said, smiling.

  “No.” The doctor continued, “…it would not have the same effect on you. If you were bitten, it would prevent the full manifestation of symptoms, but it would not endow you with the strength that Dex possesses—that is a gift of his line only.

  Without the Red Pill, he would forever degrade into a fat, slovenly beta slave—ever yearning to fulfill the whimsical requests of the Dakimakura.

  But with the help of the red pill, he is on an endless road of self-improvement. He has been endowed with the strength of the Dark Gift, yet unlike others, he can still resist her.”

  Dex sat up, surprised at the doctor’s immense knowledge of such an intimate subject. “How do you know this?” He said.

  The doctor spoke, “A long time ago, when I was just a student, I interned for an apothecary.” The doctor spoke carefully, as though recalling the intricate details of a history he had not considered for a long time, but one that had stayed in his memory with exceptional clarity.

  “There was some kind of mysterious epidemic running throughout the town. People were disappearing, others were changing, and the behavior of many had altered— like they had been enslaved by some force far greater than them.”

  “One day, a strange man came in—armed to the teeth and garbed in clothes that gave me the impression he was always ready for battle. My apothecary led him into the back room and locked the door—something that I had never seen him do with anyone else—and they stayed inside for a long time. Hours went by and I saw the man walk away, stuffing a long sheet of paper into a pouch on his belt.

  He returned a few weeks later, that strange man, and this time he brought with him those pills.”

  Dex listened intently.

  “A bag of the pills were wrapped in the recipe for the pill. My apothecary, swearing me to secrecy, offered them to me for study. I didn’t realize the full significance of this at the time.” His speech was slow and betrayed a remorse long hidden.

  “So what does it all mean?” Dex started.

  “Dex,” the doctor answered. “I believe that man was your grandfather.”

  Dex paused for a minute, thinking about what it could mean. Then he spoke, “So you knew my grandfather?”

  “No. That was the only contact I had ever had with him. I could not say that I knew him—but my teacher did.” He paused for a minute before continuing, “Not long after—maybe a week—I had left some books at the laboratory and returned late to get them. I thought it strange, the door had been left unlocked—it was very unlike my teacher.”

  He spoke now with strain, fighting hard to hold back a deep pain that had not been touched in a long time.

  “Shelves were turned over and beakers had been smashed. The entire place was not just disheveled---it was destroyed. They were looking for something. I walked through the mess at a snail’s pace, careful not to disturb anything lest I destroy some valuable evidence—something drew me to the back room—but I knew I didn’t want to see it.”

  “What was there, doc?” Fantasia asked, “What didn’t you want to see?”

  “I had a sinking feeling that they had murdered him. My apothecary—my teacher and friend—was murdered. I found his body, every bone broken. His throat was slashed out.” The tears rolled down his face as he recalled the terror, and his voice was abandoned to sobs.

  Fantasia offered a hand on his shoulder, “It’s not your fault,” she tried to comfort him.

  “Yes it was! I could have warned him!” The doctor spewed the words out in a mess of tears and choked sobs.

  “How could you have known?”

  “Because I knew the one who had done it!”

  Dex, Mickey, and Fantasia all turned to him in confusion. “Who was it, Doc?!”

  “A man had come in earlier that day, I thought he looked suspicious—he was overweight and covered in ill-kempt facial hair. He wore a fedora.”

  Jaxxon5 muttered, “One of hers?”

  The question went unanswered and the doctor c
ontinued, “He came in demanding to speak to the apothecary. I didn’t like the look of him, and when I told him that the apothecary wasn’t in, he went mad with rage.

  “He kicked and yelled, knocking over anything he could—when a pair of men came in, one ran to get the police while I, with the other, tried to subdue him. He was fiercely strong. He overpowered us both and ran off. I…” The doctor hung his head, “I didn’t warn the apothecary—I didn’t want to him to be concerned—he was a busy man! He had a family…” Tears fell to the floor as he continued to speak.

  “That night, when I discovered the body, I knew who it had been. I ran outside, desperate to find some evidence---to capture and avenge the one who did this. I saw him—or at least I thought I did. A dark silhouette in the alley across the street, the outline of a fedora. I tried to give chase but in a moment he was gone.

  “The police found nothing,” he continued, “Save for a handprint, and some kind of powdery cheese dust. They never found the man who did it.”

  But I knew what it was about. He wanted the recipe; and then I understood: my teacher didn’t give it to me to study…he gave it to me for safekeeping.”

  “So I stored it away, hidden and safe…in the 40 years hence that fateful night, none ever spoke of it to me again—that is until today.” The doctor nodded to Mickey.

  Dex was doubtful, “Ok. So you had one brief interaction with my grandfather—and then his pharmacist was murdered.”

  “Dex—,” the doctor had stopped crying, “I believe that same man murdered your grandfather.”

  “But there are other points you must consider, Dex.” The doctor spoke with urgency, “How will you combat the Dakimakura without the red pill? How will you resist her temptress charms and destroy her? You will grow weaker as she grows stronger. In the best case scenario, you will be rendered slovenly and useless.”

  Mickey spoke up, “And what’s the worst case scenario?”

  “You will succumb to the desire of her power and serve her, placing her on a pedestal. You’ll become her slave. You will live, fight, and die for her. You will become her enemy.”

  “So how much time does he have?” Mickey looked to the doctor.

  “I don’t know---a few weeks? Maybe a few days?—But there is still hope! Having the pill, we may be able to alter the recipe to overcome the Brony mark. He might again be able to take the pills.”

  “So what do I do in the meantime—I just lay on a couch and wait to die?” Dex could not mask his impatience.

  Fantasia interrupted, “We’ll help him! Maybe he’s not able to take her alone—but with The Guild, we can do it! After all, we already saved him once, didn’t we?!”

  “I’m afraid this is different.” Dex spoke.

  “The circumstances with the Dakimakura are a bit different than with the Bronies. They may be overpowered easily, but she—she could have an entire army by the time we meet with her. And that’s only the beginning—you couldn’t do battle with her alone.”

  The doctor interjected, “Dex is right. It must be Dex—or one of his line—that kills her. He is the only one powerful enough.

  “Then it’s hopeless.” Jaxxon5 said.

  “Yeah, with that attitude it is.” Fantasia responded.

  Jaxxon began to spell it out, “Dex needs the red pill: Dex can’t have the red pill. We might be able to cure the Brony mark, but it might be too late by the time we do. Dex is the only one who can do it—but he can’t do it. Sounds pretty hopeless to me.”

  “No—the doctor said it must be one of his line.” She pointed out. “Dex, do you have any relatives?”

  “I have no brothers, no sisters, I have no children. My grandfather had one son and who also had one son: me.”

  “No, that’s not right.” The doctor said suddenly.

  “What? How would you know?” Dex was not willing to dispute the obvious.

  “All that you said is correct, Dex. Except one thing.”

  “What are you going to tell me he had some secret lover somewhere that you just ‘happened’ to know about? Quite a busy pharmacy!” Dex was getting tired of this know-it-all, nay-saying doctor.

  “Dex, your father had a sibling.” The doctor said.

  “What?” Dex said. “How do you know this?” Dex demanded. He didn’t give the doctor a chance to respond, “You’re telling me I have an aunt or uncle somewhere that I have never met, nor seen any pictures of, nor of whom my grandfather ever spoke?”

  “Yes. That is what I am telling you.”

  “Who is he? Where is he?” Then added, “or she?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then how can I trust this? How do we know you’re even telling the truth?”

  “On the counter, by the register, we had a little jar of candy. They were little fruit chews, and my apothecary would include them with the orders for the customers who had children.”

  “And?”

  “And whenever your grandfather came in—he would include the candies.”

  “Yeah…for my father.” Dex said.

  “And then, when he would hand your grandfather his order he’d give him the little bag of candies, and say ‘for your kids.’”

  “Yeah—for my father.” Dex repeated.

  “KIDS, Dex.” Fantasia interrupted. “As in—more than one!” She exclaimed, “We can find them! The relatives—give them the red pill, train them!”

  Mickey raised a hand, “Fantasia, can I speak to you for a minute privately?” He motioned to an adjacent room and led her in.

  “What is it?” She asked.

  “You need to calm down before you get too excited—let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

  “He needs our help!” She insisted.

  “Look,” he raised his open hands to her, “We need to slow down. We don’t know this guy—we don’t even know if we can trust him. And a Dakimakura? It all sounds a little fantastical, don’t you think?”

  “So what do you suggest?”

  “I suggest we humor him for now—let him rest up and watch him closely. See what’s going to happen, find out a bit more about him and his mission—he could be a psychopath for all we know. How do you get mixed up with the furries, anyways?!”

  He stopped Fantasia as she seemed ready to protest the plan, “I’m not saying it’s not true, I’m just saying we should be careful—we’ll keep an open mind, but let’s just tread carefully, Fantasia. Deal?”

  “Okay, okay,” she resigned.

  “Good.”

  At that moment, the front door swung open and Cruxx walked in. “Where’s Dex?” He demanded, ploughing through the hallway. His tone was serious and marked with urgency.

  “He’s in the living room,” Fantasia said. “Wait, why?! Cruxx?!” She called after him.

  He barged into the room, towering over everyone and carrying himself with authority. Fantasia and Mickey, afraid something bad was about to go down, followed him to the room, calling after him.

  “Dex.” Cruxx announced.

  “Yeah?”

  “You’ve got to go.” He said, raising an arm and pointing to the door. “Right now.”