Misery loves Company

"Ah, another knight on the quest," said Varney. "Well, I defeated the other one and I'll master you, too!"

"I don't think so," said the new arrival. "I have an advantage."

Without waiting to hear what this 'advantage' might be, the ancient monster leaped for the youth and bowled him over. The blood that pulsed within the vampire's brain dripped from his open wound onto the face of the youth. Varney decided to make him an immortal servant as he would the girl in the other room. But before he could do the horrid deed he heard a movement behind him, the click of wood and string. Instinctively the vampire leaped yet again, this time off of his prey and up onto a stack of crates. His acrobatics were immediately followed by a scream. The youth lay on the floor with an arrow in his chest!

"NO!" came a second scream. A woman appeared from the shadows with a crossbow in her hand. Her robe covered her features, but her voice plainly betrayed her emotions; the bolt was meant for the monster not the bait.

The vampire quivered with excitement. He had not smelled so much fresh blood in over a century. He felt almost... giddy. He sniffed the air, it was full of the aroma of life and death. He clicked his fingertips together making an unnerving sound. Jumping off of the crates he faced his attackers. "I can give him eternal life," he said.

The woman, wiping a tear from her cheek did not even look at the monster. She began to cock another bolt. The youth continued to bleed to death.

"Foolish woman, I will give you both eternal life."

The woman, Kyllian Quinn by name, knew that it would take the monster less time to kill her than for her to recock her crossbow. She dropped the weapon and pulled out her knife.

"Ah," said Varney. "You still have a bite, do you?"

She did not speak, she dared not. Her whole being was engulfed in pain; pain at the loss of her parents, at the loss of her clan, the loss of Mikel who was only a few seconds from death - and all because of her. She jerked her head as the creature neared. She noticed, for the first time, that the monster was injured. Its head had a hole, it was losing blood, but only in trickles; Mikel was losing pints. She waited for the beast to come even closer, her reflexes were honed, she was well trained; but she would only get one stab.

Varney ceased speaking as well. Jabber was useful on some occassions, but not on a true hunt. The woman in front of him was special, he could sense it. Her muscles were firm, her stance was strong. He could not help but notice she would not make eye contact with him. He neared her, cautiously, even as a cat before a rat. His thin body was much stronger than it appeared, his muscles more like metal than mere flesh. But he was not invinceable.

He lunged at the woman, aware of both her hands. She side-stepped and hooked to her right aiming for his heart. The whirl of bodies made the dust rise from the cold floor and ancient boxes. Mikel coughed his last even as metal met flesh and Varney coughed out blood! The woman felt her blade slide into the undead beast and smiled as she envisaged his destruction. But he did not crumple to the floor, he did not fall, he did not die. Kyllian stared at this with a horrified calm. She could not believe that the creature was not dead. She could not believe that she was about to die. Varney pulled the knife out of his chest and then showed it to the woman still in his grip, still in his arms. "You cannot kill what is already dead," he whispered to her.

"Your heart..." she said, dazed with disbelief and growing fear.

"...is more than safe," he answered. "My lung is punctured you little she- devil, but I have long existed without the need for air."

"This sucks..." she said as the monster bit into the flesh of her throat.

1. Oh my, Mikel dead, Kyllian undead, Andrea next... and what of Fred and his two 'brides,' indeed, will a new generation of vampires truly rise from the dust?

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