Stay safe.
Before changing it again, I pushed it across the table to Zuri.
I deposited the Trueblood after Shamash insisted that we wait to use it. Traveling as a Trueblooded vampire had advantages, but also disadvantages. The main disadvantage was that there were far fewer Truebloods, so if I did Drain the blood now, after the word got out that I’d spent my VT on a full body I’d be easier to track down in my Vampire Form.
Just from draining Parth and his men, my bloodline was nearing the half-blooded rank. Parth had been a quarter-blood himself, but his men, though at a lower rank, were still helpful to my advancement. Even if they weren’t the sons of wealthy merchant families, they were still members of one.
The Transport Array was located on the top floor of the Hallow Exchange. It literally took up the entire floor by itself. When I thought of an array, I pictured a bunch of flags in a circle that worked together to concentrate mana for a specific job. In the simplest sense, that was about right, but in the technical sense, there weren’t just a bunch of flags, but pillars of mana-conducting rock meticulously lined up in a specific pattern.
That wasn’t the most incredible thing about the array. Even more incredible was the amount of power I felt being channeled into the room. It was as if we’d entered an ocean of mana. There was only one other time I’d come into contact with such an overwhelming amount. That was when I’d cast Forced Learn on Xaphan, the Primordial Cat.
“How much mana does it take to power this array?” I asked Shamash through mind-speak.
“It depends on the distance, but even just to transport us out of town, close to a billion.”
To say that I turned into a jelly statue in response was a pretty accurate description. I’d expected it to be a lot, maybe one hundred million, but a billion…
“Master Zerin, I’ll leave you here,” Zuri said, returning me to some semblance of my normal jellyless state.
I thanked her again as she handed me a particular mana tablet.
“This is the tally of your remaining VT. Please come and visit us when you return to our fair city.” With this, she hopped into the flight shaft and took her leave.
A middle-aged vampire directed us to stand near the center of the array. Without any further delay, he somehow activated the massive array and disappeared from sight. The countless pillars surrounding us started to light up as mana was funneled in. For more than a minute, the entire roomed seemed to be charging up like an oversized tesla coil. The next moment there was a wall of energy that connected each pillar, then, in a flash of dull light, the room disappeared.
The space in front of me seemed to dissolve, only for a new image to blur into life a moment later. Quickly, I glanced around to see that I was in a lightless tunnel with an enormous howl coming from behind me. We were standing on seemingly nothing a few steps from a picturesque scene before us.
“Hurry,” Shamash said, as he walked forward and out of the tunnel to step into the world beyond.
My steps were slow, but I couldn’t help but to look around in fascination before finally exiting. A few seconds after I did, the tunnel shrank until there was nothing left. It had taken but a moment.
“Good. We are close to one of the better escape routes. Let’s go.”
Just as we were readying to leave, we both felt people approaching from the air coming from the direction of Hallow. I took a quick look around to see that we were on what looked more like a worn path than an actual road that was pinned between two rock faces of cliffs that were a couple hundred feet high.
Immediately, I cast Invisibility. “Do we run, or hide?”
He slowly shook his head. “Neither. It seems someone anticipated that you would be here.”
“Then we fight?”
“No. Make it quick. We still aren’t safely out of harm’s way.”
As he finished speaking, the faces of those incoming came into view. My stomach started to spin like a high-powered washing machine. It had been my intention to say bye to them in a roundabout way, but after sending my message through the Hallow Exchange, the last thing I expected was to see Jale and Sai flying this way escorted by Alexandria.
They touched down less than ten feet away. Shamash walked past them to stand next to Alexandria to keep an eye on anyone traveling from Hallow.
“I knew it. It’s just as I thought,” Sai said while looking to Jale for her approval.
Chapter 33 – Bloody Secrets
“So it is.” She was quiet for a moment as she just looked at me with piercing purple eyes. “It seems your bloodline has already slightly improved. Was it too much for me to ask you to just wait a few days before we got approval back from the main family?”
I found it difficult to look her in the face. She wore a long black skirt that stirred in the wind to reveal black scale boots that had no place in a formal setting. “Nothing you’ve ever asked of me has been too much.”
“Then why? Is it because your fiancée is being held against her will? Sai told me everything—about her and your friends…”
When I tried to respond, I nearly bit my own tongue as I struggled with what to say. Looking to Sai, I could see that he’d stiffened up. I wasn’t angry at him for telling her. How could I be? He just wanted to find a way to stop me from leaving and thought she would have more sway than he’d have alone.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I glared at him. “You’ve betrayed me.”
“I—” He seemed to be looking for some way to respond. “Jale’s smarter than me so…” He laughed uncomfortably. “Sorry.”
“Good answer. You owe me a whole case of Smith’s Dregs.” I didn’t even know if it came in cases, but it was all I could come up with on short notice.
He looked at me as if I’d smacked him on the forehead.
“I’m waiting on an answer,” Jale said as the brutal side of her showed its beautifully savage face. Her aura billowed like bottled up steam and screamed.
I proceeded to tell her what happened tonight with Parth Gul. The strong front she was putting on slowly melted until her bottom lip trembled. I wasn’t sure if it was from sorrow, or rage. Knowing her, probably both.
“You have the bodies?” Alexandria said, flying forward to stand next to Jale.
I hesitated, before taking Parth and his men’s skeletons out of my inventory and lining them up side by side to my right.
All three of them, including Alexandria, looked as if they’d found a cockroach in their drink.
“Not only did you drain them, but where’s their skin?!” Sai cried.
“I didn’t eat it if that’s what you’re getting at.” I couldn’t help but grin. “I have an ability similar to Vampire’s Might that leeches stats out of a monster’s flesh. I also have a habit of not leaving evidence behind after I kill someone.”
“Happens a lot, huh?” Sai gave a nervous laugh.
I didn’t respond.
“It would have been better if you didn’t drain them,” Alexandria said. “Why are there so many?”
Before they got the wrong idea that I’d attacked some innocents, I clarified. “They were all Parth’s men. Three of them were level 40,000 and focused on my master, while the other three were between 20,000 and 30,000 and focused on me.”
“You killed three bodyguards between 20,000 and 30,000?” Jale asked before turning back to look at Shamash who was still watching the city.
“Pretty much.” I didn’t think admitting that I’d killed all seven of them would go over well. “Let’s just say I have a bright future.” I couldn’t help the pun even if I was all alone in understanding it.
“There’s no way I can let you go like this,” Jale said as she halved the distance between us.
“I have to, Jale. I have no choice.”
“I know. That’s why I’m coming with you.”
“Same here,” Sai said, hurrying to stand beside her.
“You can’t,” I said, trying to hide the panic rising up in my gut. “You
really don’t understand.”
Jale didn’t seem to care. “I have offered you my help and I know the reason you won’t accept it is because you want to protect us. That’s why I have to, even if you insist otherwise.”
I let myself look at her in that moment. Really look at her. Her allure was unreal, and I’d constantly had my guard up against it. I’d let it slip through once or twice, but it wasn’t just her perfect features and outward beauty that attracted me.
“Shamash,” I said, stepping past her.
He turned as I marched toward him.
“Can you raise a barrier to give us some privacy?” I said.
“This isn’t wise,” he replied. He knew exactly what I was about to do.
“I know, but I’m going to do it whether you set up the barrier or not.”
He didn’t reply but stretched out his hand. The barrier I’d used to hide my Light Magic suddenly encompassed a large portion of the trail we were on now.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m still getting used to this mind-speak thing. Can you project what I have to say for all of them to hear?”
When it was done, I turned to face the two monsters who I now considered true friends. “I’m speaking to you this way because it’s the only way my captor can’t hear what we’re saying. She will probably guess most of it, but it’s better than nothing.”
Sai seemed to buy that there might be more that he didn’t know, but Jale looked back at me as if she was daring me to try and find an excuse to change her mind.
“If it was just a high level vampire or a vampire family that had my friends,” I began, “then you might be able to help, but it’s not that simple... About a year ago now, an imp broke into my home and captured me before I knew what was going on.”
Sai snorted at the thought of a weak imp capturing a vampire. How could I not understand how ridiculous it sounded?
I held up my hands to entreat him to let me continue. He did. “I woke up amongst 19 other kids my age to find myself in a world that I hadn’t known existed.” Though I was watching Sai out of the corner of my eye, it was Jale who I studied closely. “I was soon greeted by a lich and the succubus Head Mistress Lilith.”
As I dropped the Head Mistress’s name, Jale’s entire body twitched, and her strong stance began to deflate.
I continued, “She unlocked our magic talents and told us to fight the monsters in her personal dungeon to grow stronger, so we did. Eventually we had the opportunity to leave her dungeon and found an abandoned one to call our own. We began the process of creating a home for ourselves.”
Jale’s hand slowly rose to cover her mouth.
I tried offering her an encouraging grin, but it felt awkward. “Because of some bad decisions on my part, a succubus named Mistress Nava sent people to kill us, repeatedly, but when that didn’t work, she came herself. We thought we had her beaten, but then she revealed she was just playing with us all along. Because I personally fought her, the Head Mistress threw me out of our dungeon and took the girls, including my fiancée. Only after I’ve stolen something from one of her vampire enemies will she allow the girls to come back to us and for me to return to our home.”
The hand over Jale’s mouth had balled into a fist. I couldn’t tell if it was her mouth or arm that was shaking.
“Uh, Zerin,” Sai said with a look of disbelief. “So you’re saying that there is a place with vampires that haven’t unlocked their magic talent who are so weak that an imp could kidnap them? That doesn’t make any sense. And why would the succubi want weak vampires?”
I laughed at his question because it seemed better than crying. “I came to the Vampire Realm to steal the required item, but I was far too weak. So I began to kill. I have a talent that’s very specialized and proficient at killing certain monsters. Specifically, vampires. At first, it didn’t bother me, even after I’d killed hundreds. But then I came here to Hallow to gain experience…”
As I looked at the both of them I faltered. Sai still didn’t fully believe me, but I knew Jale had already figured much of it out. I could see it in her eyes. It was time that I showed them.
Without any more delay, I let my Vampire Form fade. I suddenly felt naked even though my Skeletal Armor still covered my human form. I dropped In The Buff immediately so that my aura would affect them as little as possible.
“Then I met you at Manu Shah’s party,” I said, nodding at Sai, who had taken a step back and tripped over his own feet. He looked up at me from the ground like a lost puppy. He finally understood. “You were far too friendly for a vampire and were as unfond of the strange rules as I was. It was nice to have someone to joke around with so I didn’t mind when you started to hang around—even if I thought you’d immediately tear my throat out the moment you found out what I was. Then I learned about why you were there. I learned about your desire to be a beast-feeder. It was the first time I started to suspect that there might be more to vampires than human-eating machines with a high intellect.”
I turned away from him and tried to look at Jale. Immediately I looked away before forcing myself to look back. She had lowered both of her arms to her sides where they were now both clenched into fists. Her face was deadly still, but streams of tears flowed down the sides of her cheeks.
“Then I met the Princess of Tir.” I bowed my head, as if to show my respect, before steeling myself and looking her in the eye. “And it wasn’t long until I could no longer deny it. I’d murdered hundreds of vampires thinking they were nothing but monsters and stepping stones that could make me powerful. But now I know that some of you are as noble, if not more so, than my own people…”
Sai moved to get up from the ground and began chuckling to himself. “You know, it would be hilarious if we suddenly attacked and drained you after your speech about us being noble. If you weren’t so shiny I’d be tempted to take a bite just to mess with you.”
It appeared the revelation about my nature hadn’t changed him a bit.
I allowed myself some brief laughter, but quickly turned to Jale. She seemed frozen in thought. I was also just as worried about what Alexandria was thinking. She was the one that could kill me the swiftest if she so decided, but she wasn’t looking at me at all, but sending a sideways glance in Shamash’s direction. He’d turned away already to watch Hallow.
“Do you now understand why you can’t come with me?” I said. “Besides the fact that I’m actually human, which is a little more than inconvenient, the Head Mistress is not a monster you can tangle with. Do you know the level of power I’m talking about? As magnificent as Hallow is, she could show up here and level it to the ground for no other reason than the mood struck her. I don’t know if she’d be pleased for you to help me or wipe out your entire family just to further control me.”
Jale had been quiet since I’d started my explanation. She was looking off into the distance instead of glaring at me. That was good, right?
Suddenly, Alexandria spun and called out, “Jale!”
At that moment, Jale looked up and the purple in her eyes seemed to pierce right through me. She erupted from where she stood. Even though I ramped up Mana Sight immediately, she’d already reached me before I could react. I watched her fist land firmly on my jaw before the world spun and I was launched backward.
I planted my hand on the ground while still sliding to help me regain some semblance of balance. I skated another ten feet before coming to a stop. “I deserve that,” I said as I picked myself off the ground—thankful that I was able to communicate through mind-speak with my jaw suddenly in such bad shape.
Holding my face in my hand, I cast Heal, but then my eyes widened as Jale came again. I tried to call out for her to stop so that she wouldn’t be injured by the Light Magic in the air, but her fist had already pierced its cloud and caught me on the temple on the opposite side of my head.
She was more than strong enough to push through the weak Heal spell I cast. As I was pushed back, she kept coming.
Her ja
w flexed, and her nostrils flared. It was like a raging dragon had taken the shape of a flawless queen. If I weren’t being beaten to a pulp it would have been something to admire.
I didn’t change forms and neither did I buff myself while trying to draw in my Light Mana as much as I could. When I’d reached the end of Shamash’s barrier, she made a conscious effort to knock me in the opposite direction.
After more than twenty exchanges, there was nothing on my body that didn’t hurt. She certainly wasn’t trying to really hurt me, for her fists weren’t even covered in aura, which meant her bare skin was taking the brunt of the impact against my Light Aligned face. Her knuckles were covered in blood, and much of it was her own.
I looked up at her from the ground when she gave me a short reprieve. Knowing that she wasn’t finished, I started to get up anyway.
“Niece, stop,” Alexandria commanded.
As if running into Shamash’s barrier, she halted. I’d never heard Alexandria speak to her in anything but a respectful manner. It was as if her aunt had pulled out the ultimate trump card.
“Clean yourself up,” the elder vampire said to me with a glance.
As I made it to my feet, I reached out and cast Dark Magic Heal on Jale before casting anything on myself. Her eyes shot to me as if it angered her more.
Only then did I Heal myself.
Alexandria appeared at Jale’s side and looked up at her niece’s face. “I warned you that there was more to this than you knew, yet you still persisted with honor. Now that we’ve found out that it’s not just some powerful enemy, but one that even the royal family wouldn’t easily offend, instead of acting honorably, you’re acting like some heart-wounded girl.”
Jale gave a sharp nod before catching her breath and stepping back, out of her fighting stance.
Seeing her anger deflate was more painful than eating her fists. I was glad she was angry. I deserved every wound. She’d practically been willing to adopt me into her family and made concession after concession. Even now, after all she’d done, and been willing to do, I’d thrown it all away and yet she’d still been willing to leave with me to help with my mission.
Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series Page 31