CD Chapter Twenty-eight (Patreon)

::Sorry, Alpha,:: Tess’ answer came back immediately. ::I may have already bitten off more than I could chew. I took out one of the runners, but the second one recovered really fast, and the third is on her way back.::

::Mine is down,:: Myles said, calmly. ::Alpha, focus on the easy target. Just dodge the rest until I can get there. You can do it. Tess, I’m on my way.::

Easy target? Alpha snorted, looking at the mage, leering at her from behind his buddy’s back. He already had a potion in his hand and was lifting it to his lips. Oh, hell, no. She’d worked too hard to whittle him down for him to just instantly recover. Growling, she felt her lips roll back over her fangs, and both males stopped, staring.

“Holy crap! What are you?” Partyllax said, vial dropping from his mouth. “I thought you were a prettified half-orc, but dude, that’s legit!”

She wasn’t going to drink their blood, but they didn’t know that, and she stalked forward, sword weaving slow patterns in front of her. “I’m the last vampire, a-” she stopped before she ruined the moment with some kind of dessert-based insult. “And if you don’t run away, I’m going to drink you to death, and you’ll rise tomorrow as one of my vampire minions!”

Partyllax actually squealed. “Oh my god, are you serious? Bite me! Bite me!” He stepped out from behind Mr. Bad, who looked like his brain had broken somewhere around ‘vampire’. The mage tilted his head to the side, baring his throat. “I always wanted to be a-”

She cut off his head, and looked back at Mr. Bad as it rolled away. “Geeks,” she muttered. “Right?”

CRITICAL! You have inflicted an Instant Kill on player Partyllax.

The towering orc looked from her to the still-falling form of his buddy, and visibly shook off whatever spin cycle he’d been stuck in. Roaring, he lunged at Alpha, and, to her own surprise as much as his, she dodged. He was slow. Ponderous, even. If one of those blows connected, she’d be in trouble, but as she danced around him, she realized that none of them ever would, unless she really screwed up. Now that it was one on one, she might even be able to take him down via death by a thousand cuts.

Her long blade flicked out, cutting a slice out of his arm, then another, and another. She dismissed the notifications as he lumbered closer, swinging his four-foot club. She was only taking off twenty or thirty points at a time, but the way this guy looked, he might actually not have that many. If he’d put everything into Strength, with just enough Vitality to keep from keeling over whenever the wind blew his nostril hairs the wrong way, then she really did have a chance.

The spiked club whistled past her head, and she pulled her focus back to reality. Speculations were all well and good, but if he caved her skull in, it wouldn’t matter how much health he had. Which, she supposed, was the point.

“Hey, uh,” she searched for an insult that wouldn’t trigger Amythyst’s profanity filter, “are you a dendrite short of a neuron, or what? I mean, you obviously can’t hit me, so eventually, I’m going to win. This is all just an exercise in futility on your part. Wouldn’t it make more sense to, y’know, run?”

The voice that issued from the tusked mouth was slurred, but young, and the boy said, “No way. I’m gonna hit you eventually, and that’s all it’ll take. I heard about vampires, and if you can stake one, they can’t move. Or something.” He bounced his club on one huge, calloused mitt. “This is wood, so all I gotta do is smack you good and hard.”

He grinned, slime dripping down his chin from his twisted tusks. “Or I can just do this.” He lifted the club, swirling it overhead like he was at the bottom of a blender, shattering the branches surrounding them into scattered leaves and twigs that fell to the ground in a gritty fog. The sun shone down through the hole he’d made, and Alpha barely managed to jump backwards, avoiding the beam of light.

Thick, brawny shoulders wriggled as Mr. Bad attempted to shrug. “My character may be dumb, but I’m not. I know vamps can’t handle sunlight.” He lifted his club and swirled it again, making another hole in the foliage, and allowing in more light. He continued until he was completely surrounded by hazy sunlight, and grinned at Alpha. “Bet you feel dumb now, though.”

She scratched her cheek with one finger. “But how are you going to get me, smart guy? I mean, sure, I can’t reach you, but honestly, I don’t care. You guys attacked us, not the other way around.” She turned around, leaving the orc standing in his safe spot, and headed in the direction her mini-map claimed the road lay.

“Hey!” Mr. Bad shouted after her. She could hear his feet shuffling in the debris from his attack on the tree, but nothing that indicated he was following. “Don’t you wanna loot Partyllax?”

She sighed, glancing back. “You guys are highwaymen, and not particularly competent ones. Are you also stupid enough to keep good items in your secondary inventory?”

She barely waited for the mumbled, “No,” before she thrust her way back out into the open air. Instantly, her skin heated painfully, and she fumbled for her hood, blinking painfully against the burning of her eyes.

“Mistress!”

Alpha looked down. Toggle was standing there, holding a vial of blood up to her, his face streaked with dirt. He had one arm cradled carefully against his chest, but his smile was proud. “I brought you this, Mistress!”

She only had a moment to process the fact that if this was a movie, this would be the tragic moment when the plucky little sidekick bit the big one. Instinctively, she interposed her own body between the gnome and the arrow that came streaking from the far side of the road, aimed straight for the little being’s narrow chest. She grunted as a barbed arrowhead burrowed into her thigh, and her leg buckled under her. As she fell, she flung her arms around Toggle, curling around his small body protectively.

CRITICAL! You have lost 273 Drops of Blood

Your left leg is Impaired.

You have lost 137 Drops of Blood.

You have lost 96 Drops of Blood.

CRITICAL! You have lost 314 Drops of Blood.

You are Bleeding.

You have lost 5 Drops of Blood due to Bleeding.

You have lost 10 Drops of Blood due to Direct Sunlight

You are now Bloodthirsty. +10 to Strength. +10 to Dexterity. -10 to Intelligence. -10 to Wisdom. -40% pain

The gnome in her arms wriggled as a hail of arrows fell around them. The rational part of her mind knew that some archer had just used an Area of Effect spell on her, but the rest of her was screaming resistance as the vampire part of her tried to take over. Toggle’s warm body in her embrace combined with the scent of the spilled vial of blood, and her head spun.

Slowly, she struggled to her knees, warring against the compulsion to bite the only living thing within reach. The gnome looked up at her, blue eyes huge as he took in the multiple arrowheads protruding from her body. More blood trickled from his arm where one of the projectiles had gone all the way through Alpha and still had enough force to injure Toggle, as well.

Alpha didn’t know what she looked like when she was Bloodthirsty, but judging by the gnome’s expression, it was horrifying. Still, he raised a thin little wrist. “Mistress, please,” he whispered. “It’s all right. I trust you.”

Closing her eyes, she bit him. Hot, raspberry blood flowed down her throat, but Toggle never even tried to pull away, even as his skin began to feel cool and clammy.

Myles’ urgent voice intruded into her thoughts. ::Alpha! You need to use [Turn Ally]! You’ve taken too much blood, even for a gnome!::

At first, she didn’t understand, but then a tiny tongue tickled her ear, and surprise made her open her eyes and pull back. Orah fell from Alpha’s shoulder, wrapping around Toggle’s wrist, from which blood now only trickled sluggishly. The tiny serpent’s white scales were stained with red as the snake twisted into the spiral that represented her God.

Without thinking, Alpha reached out and stroked the snake, head to tail-tip, smearing a bead of blood like finger-paint. Please, Quezal, let this work. [Turn Ally], she thought, and Toggle’s body arched as he gasped. Startled blue eyes blinked as they met hers. “Mistress?” the little gnome said, faintly, before his lids fluttered closed.

You have restored 1304 Drops of Blood. Your Health is now full.

You are no longer Bloodthirsty.

Your Left leg is no longer Impaired.

Metal clattered as someone knelt beside her, and she almost struck out before realizing that it was Tess. The dwarf was almost as pale as Toggle when she reached out gauntleted hands. “Alpha? I’ve got him. A few potions and he’ll be good as new. Just… go kill that archer.”

Alpha’s head whipped around, and she glared into the darkness of the shadows cast by the dangling roots of the tree. Her [Darkvision] revealed a young, female archer, already setting another arrow to her bow even as she stared at what had to be the very strange scene unfolding on the road.

Alpha’s legs bunched beneath her as she nearly flew toward the player who had made her nearly kill the gnome. She had a little frustration that needed venting.

The archer’s shot went wide as she saw Alpha coming. The bow vanished, and a pair of pretty little knives appeared in her hands, instead. Fine. She probably had a standard archer build; primarily Dex and Strength, with enough Endurance to use her best skills for the length of an average battle. Which meant if she managed to get away, she’d be able to run. As a distance fighter, she could probably throw those knives with vicious accuracy, too.

Sure enough, the wood elf hurled her blades as Alpha drew near, but the vampire just dodged, letting her instincts override her usual deliberate movements, which were timed to allow for the slight delay between when her pod detected a shift to when Alpha actually moved. It was such a small moment of lag that most players adjusted to it within a few days, and never really thought about it after that.

Now, however, Alpha moved as if she were in the real world. She swiped her sword through the air, batting the weapon from her opponent’s left hand. The woman yelped, eyes widening as Alpha came on like an unstoppable force, dropping the sword on the ground with a heavy thud. The knife in the elf’s right hand slid along Alpha’s ribs like a firebrand, but she ignored it. Reaching out, she grasped the other player’s head between her hands and twisted, putting two hundred and seventy points of Strength into it. With a snap, the player went limp, and dropped at Alpha’s feet like a rag doll.

CRITICAL! You have inflicted an Instant Kill on player Plague Bunny.

She looked up as Myles dropped from the trunk of the toppled tree, landing lightly beside her. He looked down at Plague Bunny with a strangely conflicted expression.

Alpha’s shoulders slumped in exhaustion, and she met the AI’s green gaze. “Is that it? Are we done?”

Tess stepped up beside them, cradling Toggle’s limp body. Orah was still wrapped around the gnome’s wrist, which was folded over his chest. The small, fragile ribcage rose and fell slowly, and the gnome’s injuries were gone, but he was still unconscious. Quietly, Tess said, “I got Bip0larbear, and Myles helped with that Blink guy and D1scourd. How about you?”

Alpha nodded jerkily. “I got Partyllax, but there’s an orc named Mr. Bad still in there.” She managed to force one corner of her mouth into a humorless smile. “He made himself his own little patch of sunshine, and he didn’t want to come out and play.”

The dwarf nodded. “That’s why we’re not out of combat yet.” She looked around. “So… what? Do we just call the horses back and leave? Wait for the fifteen minute delay?”

A garbled voice came from behind them. “No way. You guys took out everybody? What the hell?”

The trio turned, staring at Mr. Bad, who had finally gotten up enough courage to follow Alpha, probably after hearing the sounds of combat start up again. He raised his hands as he backed up, though he carefully stayed in the middle of the road. “I’m cool. I mean,” he swallowed hard, beady yellow eyes darting between them, “I don’t even like doing this stuff, but my sister thinks it’s fun, you know? Mom says I can’t play unless I stick with her, so, uh…” He backed up some more, then turned and ran, though his run was as slow and plodding as everything else he did. With his retreat, the system ended combat.

You have gained 3 levels in [Fear]. [Fear] is now level 6.

[Longsword Mastery] is now level 27.

[Turn Ally] is now level 2.

You have gained 2 Class levels. Master is now level 5.

As the notifications scrolled by, Alpha turned a glare on Myles. “Explain,” she growled.