Chapter 3C1: The Beast Unleashed



Year 30

"Well of course there are vampire hunters running around in Holgard now. I told you that you probably needed to start showing a bit of restraint now that the religious factions aren't killing each other anymore." Isabella remarks.
"You said that Holgard was a perfect spot for me to hunt due to all the crime and violence!" you reply.
"Yeah, but still within reason. I mean from some of the tales you've told me in the past, it sounds like you just leave a killing field in your wake half the time. As I said, you probably were only getting away with it due to the religious faction war, but now that that's over with, they're on to you. Look, you had your fun, but it's probably time to rein it in a bit anyway. You had like what five years? Honestly, I probably gave you your freedom a bit too quickly."
"So what, are you cracking the whip on me now?"
"No, but I will say that I'm fond of you enough that I would LIKE you to still be around for a long time to come. You might think a few vampire hunters are no problem, but I imagine they aren't the only ones hunting you. I mean you were taking advantage of the religious faction war, I have to believe that some of them groups aren't vampire friendly either. Wasn't your ex a Dornan? Pretty sure those wizard priests might have discovered a vampire operating in the city by now and I'm not even counting the fanatical Joachimites you told me about."
"So what are you saying exactly?"
"I'm saying that maybe you should give Holgard a break for awhile if you can't restrain yourself. Go find another hunting ground that isn't going to attract attention. I'm sure there are little isolated towns and villages further east of here. I'm sure there are probably bandits preying upon them as well, so you've got a wide selections to choose from."

You somewhat frown at that suggestion.

"If I'm going to skulk about a village luring peasants to their doom, I might as well be grocery shopping for you in Dert." You say.
"Well I dunno, go wipe out an entire hamlet then, I don't care. Just don't be a dumb ass and leave any witnesses. Because I'm going to tell you this as well, it's one thing if you're going to insist on playing with your immortality, but it's quite another if you start fucking with mine. If your actions end up causing a group of adventurers to come barging down here in the middle of the day, waking up my beauty sleep, you are going to wish you'd been staked and beheaded after I get done with you. Understand?" Isabella says with a calm threatening tone that is enough to unnerve even you.
"Yes…dear." You meekly utter.

Isabella gives you a stern look and then leaves you to your own devices.

Isabella may not have any direct power over you, but she's still powerful enough to crush you if she wanted to. You don't actually think she'd kill you, but you don't doubt that she wouldn't make your unlife miserable for a very long time.

If you weren't so grateful for everything she's done for you, you might be inclined to leave and not return. However in the grand scheme of things you're fairly happy with her so there isn't much incentive to do so.

She's usually right anyway. Might be time to settle down a bit. Mass slaughter is starting to lose its appeal anyway. Well not ALL its appeal, but maybe you should change it up, especially if you want to go back to Holgard one day.

For the first few weeks, you don't go to Holgard and instead wander further to the east a bit. Honestly, you've never traveled in that direction for any extended length of time save for when you released Spikey back into the wild. That was slightly harder than you thought it would be, but at least it was better than Isabella killing him.

You sort of wonder if you'll run into him, but you don't, who knows where he is now. (You hope he's happily eating people wherever he is though)

You do know is if you go far enough you'll reach the borders of the Delantium Kingdom. Of course that's still quite the ways even with your speed and you aren't that adventurous.

What you do find are a few small isolated villages. Bigger than Dert and nearly the size of the your old home of Teckleville. Same sort of people too, funny how no matter where you go, places like this are the same everywhere.

You skulk around these minor villages, luring an unsuspecting peasant or two for food, but it's dull since it's basically like when you do it back in Dert.

You encounter nomads, brigands, and raider types of various races. Again, those are more fun since you can let loose a bit more, but a lot of these tend to be on the non-human side and at this point you've acquired more of a taste for human blood as opposed to greenskin or some of the other savage races you've come across.

Upon your return on these daily travels, Isabella almost never asks you what you were up to. She doesn't seem to care as long as you aren't bringing trouble to her crypt. Sometimes you mention what you've been up to and she listens, and sometimes asking basic questions back, nothing more though.

A few months pass, and you're about ready to go back to Holgard just to see if things have died down there a bit, but you decide to stick it out a little while longer and continue doing what you're doing.

You head to Maldito, which is one of the more remote villages, even compared to most on your list. When you get within sight of it however, you're surprised.

The entire village is in flames. You can hear screaming and yelling still coming from the place and the stench of blood and death is thick. You're getting hungry just thinking about it.

You cautiously move towards the village and find where the majority of the voices are coming from. A mixed group of rough looking orcs, gnolls, and even a few hobgoblins are currently lording it over the remaining peasants they haven't killed.

Currently a couple of the women are being raped and they're torturing the shit out of several of the men. Despite the large amount of savage races, a human seems to be the leader. Figures.

He is addressing the peasants who are focused on him despite all the horror around them.

"Know that you lot brought this on yourselves! All you had to do is provide food, basic goods and some time with your daughters, sisters and wives on a regular basis and this shithole of a town would be spared Green Eye's wrath. Instead you've been hiring mercenaries to cut down our men for weeks! NOW you have to pay!" the human bandit says.
"NO! I swear it! We've done no such thing! We would nev…"
"SILENCE!" the human bandit snaps interrupting the older peasant trying to beg for mercy.

The human leader soon picks the old man up off the ground and stabs him in the throat before tossing him back on the floor.

"I don't actually give a shit if it WAS you or not! One of the villages in this area did, and when they get the message of what we're doing to your village, they'll fall in line, or they're going to suffer the same fate! Rape everyone in every fucking orifice, kill them all and shove their dismembered corpses on big fucking spiked sticks."

Grim stuff.

The odd thing is you actually feel slightly sorry for these pitiful peasants since you probably inadvertently caused this. You were slaughtering so many bandits over last couple of months, you didn't think that they were actually united any way. You also didn't think that these bandit types would jump to the conclusions that the villagers were behind it. Though you suppose it makes sense that they would.

After years of just ruthlessly drinking the living and seeing them as nothing more than blood bags, it seems odd that you would feel protective of them for some reason.

Maybe, this is how Isabella feels about Dert in some ways. The people in that village are all food to her, but they're hers and she doesn't want anyone else fucking with them. You guess you've developed a similar attachment. Who knew?

Yeah, you're not going to let bottom-feeding scum throw away perfectly good food…

You enter the village, you don't even try to hide. You break the neck of three hobgoblins and put your fist through an orc before anyone even mounts an attack.

"Shit! Get your dick outta that bitch, can't you see we're being attacked?!" the human bandit shouts.

The gnolls clumsily attempt to chop you with their long axes, but its all too easy to avoid their blows and shatter their spines, you quickly shut their dog like howls up by stomping their heads into mush.

The remaining bandits fair no better against you.

"He's too fucking fast! He's not human! He's not…" are the last words of a half orc before you finish him off, along with his buddies.

Soon it's only the human bandit leader left and to his credit; he hasn't run off (like some of the hobgoblins tried to do)

"Let me guess…vampire?"

You nod silently.

"Shit…I had a feeling it wasn't just mercenaries after seeing the carnage on a couple of those sites. So are…"

You're done entertaining this lesser form, you rush forward and rip out his throat mid sentence. You drink his blood and throw his corpse next to the body of the old man he had just killed not a few moments before.

Meanwhile the peasants that the bandits rounded up haven't even run. They've all just huddled together watching you, probably with just as much fear as they had before you arrived.

You look upon them and they have never looked more like the herd of sheep they truly are. They are prey and always will be in their current form.

You have a mind to finish them all off, until one brave one approaches on his hands and knees.

"You…you have saved us!" he shouts.
"Saved you? You shortsighted sheep, I only saved you because these assholes were killing off my livestock and I hate to waste food. I've been feeding on you lot for months now. Didn't you even notice how some of you had gone missing?" you say.
"We…we assumed perhaps the bandits had taken some of us in the middle of the night. But please, spare us your unholy wrath and we will worship you, my dark lord!"

Well this has turned interesting…

"Worship you say? What exactly are you proposing?" you ask.
"Yes, we…we can't defend ourselves against Green Eye's bandits and now that you've killed this group, he's just going to send more to finish us off. You could defend us and in exchange we could provide…what you need…." The man says.
"I need blood you do know that right?"
"Yes, but if it means just a few of us dying as opposed to all of us dying then it will be worth it. Please, I beg you. Whatever you wish, we will provide."

This could be just the thing to break up the monotony. It's also perfect due to the remoteness of it all. You'd have people willing to give themselves to you, and the bandits you can just massacre as usual.

Of course doing something like this might be slightly more involved than you'd prefer. You can also imagine that it probably wouldn't be as cut and dry as you're going to want it to be.

Lot of factors still at play and you question if you want the headache.

You just kill them all and be done with it

As much as the idea of ruling over this miserable lot like a king appeals to you on some level, the fact is you don't really want to be bothered micromanaging. You imagine it's why Isabella doesn't bother directly controlling Dert. It's much simpler for her to just let them live their own lives and only intervene when absolutely necessary.

Would have been nice to have killed the bandits before they fucked up the village, since then the peasants wouldn't have known about you. Now that they do, you can't very well just let them live. One of them would surely blab at one of the other villages and the whole point of this, was to lay low in the first place.

"Rise." You tell the man groveling before you.

He does so slowly before you.

"Your terms…" you start to say.
"Yes?" he asks with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

You grab him by the throat and break his neck with ease. The light goes out of his eyes and he slumps to the ground.

"Are not acceptable." You add.

The rest of the peasants are paralyzed with fear or crying. Most of the crying comes from the children though. This gives you an idea.

"Listen up sheep! Do not attempt to escape, I guarantee you will not make it. I'm fast and strong enough to kill and catch everyone here! Your lives are forfeit this night. If I had not come here, the bandits would have finished you off. You have nobody to blame but yourselves for being so weak. However, I have a counter proposal to make this necessary deed at least somewhat less horrific."

You stare at the peasants for a bit, making sure you've got their full attention, though they really aren't going anywhere at this point. Actually you aren't sure if they ALL decided to run and scatter if you actually would be able to catch and kill all of them, but so far they're so scared they believe anything you say.

"Provide no resistance, and I will make your deaths quick. Also, some of you have children. I will spare the children and take them away from here so they won't be defenseless against the bandits or the surrounding wilderness. This is the best offer you're going to get."
"How do we know you're telling the truth and that you'll not harm the children?" one asks.
"You don't. But think of it this way, resist me and I'll make sure the children die FIRST before your eyes. Comply and at worst you can die wondering if I kept my word."

That certainly got most of their attention. In typical fashion, most of the parents are more than willing to sacrifice themselves for their children. Even some of the ones who don't have any are compliant.

Amusingly some beg if you can turn them into a vampire instead. You respond that none of them are worthy of "the gift." You of course aren't going to tell the truth that you can't make any of them into vampires if you wanted to anyway, since Isabella has explained that you have to be much older than you currently are before you could even attempt it. You might be able to make them into ghouls at best, but from what Isabella has told you about ghouls, you'd rather not have such disgusting creatures fawning all over you all the time either.

Parents attempt to calm their children, but it's a lost cause, most of them are too upset. You push the parents aside and have them group the children together. You speak in a calming voice to them all. It's hard to focus on all of them like this, but fortunately children seem to be more susceptible to vampiric suggestion.

Soon, the children are in a dazed like condition.

"See? Now they won't even experience the horror of watching me kill you all. Shall we begin?"

Without another word, you unleash terrible violence upon the peasants. Despite their promise to comply, most of them try to run anyway. Human instinct you suppose. Though it doesn't matter much since they stupidly don't scatter very far you easily catch the lot that do run anyway.

Others do thankfully comply. Some of these are the parents who are tearfully spending their last moments with their children (even if they are currently hypnotized).

After you finish off the last mewling mother and drink her dry, you turn your attention to the children who are thankfully still under your suggestion.

"Okay then, let's go children, we've got a lot of ground to cover and unfortunately you lot don't run as fast as me…hmm. Maybe that cart will do…"

You load all the children onto an undamaged cart and push it as fast as you can. It's slower than if you were by yourself, but then its also faster than if they all had to follow you on foot.

Difficulty comes when you reach the forest since you have to start maneuvering between trees, eventually you have to stop, but it's not too bad since you're almost at your destination anyway.

"Come on kids, we're running from here."

It's a tedious task of herding these children and having to slow down for them, but eventually you reach your destination. Just in time too since it's almost dawn. You're just glad you haven't attracted any unwanted attention during this whole thing.

You make your way down the steps and probably due to all the footsteps, Isabella comes to meet you. She looks like she was prepared for a fight too.

"What the hell?! With all the footsteps I heard, I thought it was some group of hunters or something!" Isabella remarks.
"Well this should make you a bit happier." You answer and present the children behind you.
"What's all this then? Children? Where did you get them from? Not Dert I hope."
"No, not from Dert, not from Holgard either. They're from a place that actually no longer exists."
"Did you finally lose control and wipe out an entire village? So much for laying low."
"No I only wiped out half of one. Bandits already fucked up the place before I even got there. Killed them and the remaining villagers. The only witnesses are these children, which I thoughtfully brought home to you."
"Really? Just for me huh?"
"Well I know you really like child blood and it isn't like I'm going to have the patience to stretch the little bastards out like you do, so they're all yours."

Isabella is very happy with you right now, she embraces you lovingly and gives you a playful bite which you return.

"Mmm, I knew I picked you for a reason…"
"Just one request though. Could you keep the kids hypnotized? I mean I know you tend to do that with your food anyway, but uh, I sort of promised that no harm would come to them."
"What? What deal is this? I thought you said you didn't leave anyone alive."
"I didn't, and I mean officially I'm NOT harming the kids since I'm giving them to you, but… I dunno…I'd feel a little less like a liar if the kids don't feel any pain while you drink their blood."

Isabella smiles a bit at your odd sense of "morality."

"Aww, that is so adorable. You have a twisted code of honor. Very well, but you didn't really need to worry about it anyway, last thing I need to hear are children caterwauling throughout my crypt. I know some vampires love to hear their lunch beg and scream and claim it makes the blood taste better. Not me. I prefer my food to just be silent so I can eat in peace. In any case, let me get these lovelies locked up and I'll be meeting you in the bedroom. I hope you aren't too tired from your earlier actions, because I suggest you prepare yourself."

Whether you were tired or not, wouldn't make any difference to you anyway.

You make your way to the bedroom thinking that while you might not be a king over some groveling peasants, you'll certainly be king in here and that's a whole lot more fun.

When Isabella comes to the bedroom, she stands in the doorway just staring at you for a moment. At first you think she's just taking in all your manliness, but then she beckons you off the bed.

"You come with me, I got something else in mind. Something special…but don't worry we'll still get to that."

You do so and soon realize that she's taking you to her garden. She's NEVER done that.

When you enter, the garden is quite sizeable and bathed in a glowing blue light. You always knew there was a light source in there due to the glow you could see whenever Isabella exited it, but now you know it comes from some sort of luminescent fungus that is all over the walls and ceiling.

"It's not sunlight, but it works well enough. Come walk with me." Isabella says and takes your hand to enter her garden.

The garden is unsurprisingly very well cared for. There are all sorts of flowers, though you've never been an expert on such matters, but you're fairly certain there are types of plants here that don't normally grow in this environment. You weren't aware there was a small reservoir of water here either, almost like a pond, but then you imagine that would make having a garden here a lot easier with a water source.

Isabella doesn't say anything and just takes you through the garden. She begins pointing to the various plants and giving small histories of them. She also starts to tell you about her own memories of when she first saw these various plants and flowers.

It becomes a very intimate history of her life and who she is. It's actually all very enlightening mainly because even after all these years you STILL didn't know much about her past.

All these years you believed her to be some sort of royalty. Perhaps even a princess of some sort of long lost Empire. But no, her beginnings are actually very humble, possibly even more humble than your own.

She was a simple peasant girl that worked in a flower shop. Then one night she caught the eye of a vampire who was of minor royalty (Though trying very hard to keep it secret from the general public). He revealed his true nature immediately to her, but insisted that he had no intention on hurting her.

Isabella explains that she at first complied with him out of fear, but eventually she didn't mind spending time with him. She says she doesn't know if it was because he was working his dark charms on her, or that she was young and foolish, but she said whatever the reason, she did come to love him.

She says she never really knew why he chose her. She suspects her looks helped initially, but it wasn't like she was special in that regard. He could have easily had any upper class lady, but then perhaps he knew that marrying one of them would have drawn more attention to himself while marrying a lower class girl might just be grateful for the uplifted standing and if he had to silence her, well who would care?

Still, marrying someone of such lowly birth raised eyebrows anyway. Didn't take long before everything started to fall apart and those that would seek to harm him started focusing on various eccentricities, oddities and other things that caused people to start to wonder.

For a time, Isabella mostly stayed on his castle grounds spending much of her time in the gardens. She said it was the only place that put her at ease since she knew even with as much power as her husband had, there would be no way he could fight all the forces gathering against him.

Of course he wouldn't leave either. He would fight and die. Isabella was prepared to die with him, but he realized that none of this would be her concern if he hadn't dragged her into this life in the first place.

So he did the only thing he could think of to save her, he gave her the gift of immortality and told her to live her life as she saw fit. She didn't want to leave at first, but he insisted and perhaps to some degree Isabella did love her own life more than him.

Isabella left in the middle of the night, just before the siege of his castle started. A few months later she had heard that he had died and they had a priest of Joachim dowse his burnt corpse in holy water after removing his head.

Isabella goes on about a few other bits of her life, but her origins are what are most fascinating. Makes you wonder why now all of a sudden she's decided to tell you.

"Because I'm finally comfortable with you. Sure, you mess up every now and then, but ultimately you listen and do something special for me. I know living with me hasn't been easy because you probably were always wondering where exactly you stood with me. Well tonight I revealed my soul to you…so to speak. You must understand that this was very difficult for me. I've tried this before, and it's never ended well." Isabella says.
"Well, I guess you have probably had a very eventful past." You reply.
"You only know a minor bit of it, but enough about the past, I want to embrace the future. Embrace me here in the garden, in the soil and amongst the plants. Maybe we're dead, but I want to make love with life surrounding us."

Rather poetic. You can't say all this doesn't emotionally move you somewhat.

You and Isabella proceed to be intimate in the garden and it's definitely the most positive experience you've ever had.

You might have thought in the past that you were in love before, but now you truly know it.

You time passes..

Year 34…

The more Holgard changes the more it stays the same.

It's a good thing everyone has such short memories here. Then again, hard for anyone to worry about vampires when nobody actually found you. Most of the real hunters have moved on. There's still the Joachimites, but they're more likely to go burn a poor old woman as a witch before they actually go hunting for a vampire. Lot easier for one thing.

Nowadays Holgard is back to being under the plain old paranoia it normally suffers from. You've heard rumors of that the Delantium Kingdom is going to try to reclaim this city, but that's about the only major thing and it's not likely true anyway.

Still, laying low in the backwoods and only coming here occasionally was a good idea. Of course you tend to spend more time with Isabella now since the two of you are a proper couple now. You find stories about her old life fascinating (Though you tend to want her to gloss over any bits about ex-lovers) though you know who would really find them interesting, your sister. You bet she could make an entire opera or something out of Isabella's life. Probably a couple of them.

You've sort of been thinking about your family lately and how they might all be doing. You assume that they're all still alive of course. You sort of miss them all as strange as that may seem given what you've done and what you are now. Your last shred of humanity you suppose.

Regardless, you'd never be able to visit them even if you weren't wanted for murder in your hometown. Or rather, you could go back because nobody could stop you or you could be stealthy about it, but you don't think you should. It's a closed chapter in your old life and going back in person would just cause more problems.

Still, you wonder if you shouldn't get a message to your mother. You're sure she'd at least like to know if you were doing okay. You'd send one to your sister, but who knows where she is.

Maybe you could write a letter and send it off via one of those courier services. You suppose you better put a quill, ink and parchment on the list of shit you need to get along with the items Isabella sent you to get at the flower nursery here.

Funny that after everything that's occurred in your "life" you still have to do a little roguery the occasional store every once in awhile. You guess the more you change the more you stay the same as well.

You of course find it much simpler now. It also no longer gives you the rush that it once did, but then that's no surprise, you've come a long way since those simple rogue days.

You head to the nursery and easily break in like you've done many times before. You imagine the old couple that run this place wonder where they've misplaced their various seeds, supplies and such on many occasions.

After grabbing the things Isabella sent you to get, you start rummaging through the small office there to find potential writing supplies, then you suddenly sense something living nearby and it's not the plants.

At first you wonder if it's one of the old couple that runs this place because if it is, you'll just stealthily sneak out as you've done before. (No point in killing a business owner of where you do most of your "shopping")

However, you can see that this figure is not carrying a lantern of any sort and is actively trying to stay hidden in the darkness. The form is definitely female and they haven't noticed that YOU'VE noticed them yet.

This person is obviously following you and while it would be a simple matter of just killing her, you'd like to know why first.

You maneuver around behind furniture and aisles a bit and then just when you get behind this person, they turn around and attempt to dodge you. Quick, but not quick enough to avoid your grasp. You easily disarm them and finally get a good look.

The face is older, but you'd still be able to recognize it anywhere. You're still taken aback though.

"Lisa?" you ask.
"Long time no see." Lisa says unruffled.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I might ask you the same. Even when you weren't a vampire you weren't exactly stealing flowers."
"Long story, but I've questions of my own. Like why you were following me. However, I'd rather continue this discussion elsewhere."
"Sure, but are you going to let me go first? Your grip is like fucking iron and it's obvious that if I wished you any harm, I'm far outclassed."

You remember a similar situation like this with another "ex" however that was a little different. You didn't really have a proper relationship with Heather like you did with Lisa and also that was when you were a bit of a "wilder" vampire. You've started having a little more restraint since those earlier years.

You release Lisa who heads outside and you follow her out before relocking the door.

"You re-secure the places you break into now?" Lisa asks.
"Not usually, but this place is a bit different. Alright, let's get in that alley and you can tell me everything." You say and start motioning Lisa to follow.
"An alley? I thought we'd go to a tavern at least if we're going to catch up."
"Yeah, I don't really mingle with the crowds unless I have to anymore. Besides, I actually feel safer in an alley than a tavern given how many eyes are in those places."
"Understandable, I guess it makes sense for you to lay low given that there's a price on your head."
"What?!"
"Yeah, but I figured you knew that already. I mean it's not on your head personally; it's just on the Vampire of Holgard. I was very surprised when I found out that might be you."
"Wait, what?! I thought all that shit had been forgotten about and you're a hunter?!"
"No, of course not. I'm an Ebony Claw assassin. Maybe the general public forgets shit when it dies down, but the ECS NEVER forgets."
"But I haven't even been targeting ECS members."
"Yeah, I've been getting that impression, but so far you're the only vampire I've been able to track in this city."

This is nuts. Lisa is an Ebony Claw assassin. You always wondered if she joined while you were away, but she took a very different path than you thought. You guess she learned how to take care of herself all too well. Strange to think that she was once just a simple peasant girl that longed to see the world. But then Isabella was once a simple peasant girl at one time too.

And the fact you're finding out you have a contract on your head is even more of a shocker. Though you suppose that you may have very well killed some of their members during the religious faction war, but you haven't been killing any of them recently, at least not that you know of.

Is someone setting you up?

"Wait, how long have you followed me and how the hell did I not know it before?" you ask.
"Heh, well I AM a very skilled assassin and I kept my distance for a long time. In fact it wasn't until I figured out it was you that I decided to get close like I did. Had you been any other vampire, I would have been executing you from afar. No way I'd really want to tangle with a real one up close no matter how good I am. As far as how long I've tracked you, well I've noticed you come here over the course of a few months now. I know you must have a lair somewhere nearby but it's probably not actually in the city. In any case since I'm fairly certain it isn't you, I can only imagine it might be another one. Someone you know?"
"I doubt that, I only know one other and she's a bit…reclusive. Look are you even sure if it's a vampire?"
"Well from all the information I've been given the ECS leadership here seems to believe it to be the case. Hmmm, maybe a new approach is in order. I think you should come with me so we can straighten this all out."
"Wait, you seriously expect me to go walking into an ECS hangout? You just told me I got a contract on my head!"
"You mean to tell me you're worried? Judging by your skills, you'd be able to wipe out everyone there. Honestly, the Holgard branch of ECS is hardly anything for you to worry about, that why they got me from the Delantium Kingdom. I'm just suggesting though that maybe it still might be a good idea to clear this all up directly. I mean after all I'm not the only assassin and as good as I am, I'm nothing compared to a Fel touched shadow blade assassin. Now someone like that might actually give you problems. They're also less likely to bother getting down to the truth and just carry out a hit. Better to clear things like this up, trust me. The ECS is not an organization you want on your ass."

While you're sure Lisa has a point, you really aren't sure about all this.

"Look, I know this is pretty strange for you seeing me like this under these circumstances. I know it's been a long time and we've both moved on in very different life directions, but I still remember the good times we had. So for old times sake, will you trust me on this?"

You look at Lisa and despite the fact that the years have taken their toll on her and cynicism has taken root in her demeanor, that last bit she said reminded you of the young girl you once were very fond of. Once again some things remain the same.

"Very well, since this is you, I'll go, but as soon as I sense I'm going to get attacked, I'm killing everyone there. I mean if I'm already on a contract list, I might as well give them a reason at this point."
"Fair enough, but I don't think you'll have anything to worry about. Mantis is the current ECS leader here. He's a sonofabitch, but he's pretty reasonable."
"Mantis…that name sounds familiar. I think I spoke to him once when I tried to ask the ECS for help with an affliction I had."
"Oh? You tried to cure your vampire condition?"
"Uh, no. This actually was a different condition I had due to Ral on top of being geased. The vampirism ended up curing me of it actually…yeah things got a bit complicated for a while after we parted ways. In any case, I don't remember him being that high up or all that reasonable."
"Well the original old leader, Rook moved on to bigger things and well, the ECS tends to have enthusiastic violent promotions so to speak and eventually Mantis made his way through the ranks. Still with all the extra responsibility he's learned to be a little more patient I suppose."
"Haven't we all…"

You and Lisa make your way to Mantis's hang out which apparently is still the Poisoned Blade Inn. She mentions he prefers to stay at the "hub" of things

Along the way, Lisa asks why you never met her again since she waited a long time for you; you explain Ral's experiment and what happened exactly to you. Lisa listens intently and offers her sympathies.

She says that during that time you were out of action she had to deal with the Holgard civil war. She mentions this was when she joined the ECS. She said after it was all over, the ECS transferred her to the Delantium Kingdom and there is where she learned to be an assassin.

"So…you've been in the Delantium Kingdom all this time huh? Guess that's why I never ran into you." You say.
"You looked for me?" Lisa asks.
"Initially I did, but as I said, I eventually figured you moved on or were dead. Not to mention I didn't think you'd want me anyway by that point."
"Oh…I dunno. I was falling in love with you even when you were forced to work for Ral. I'm certain I might have been able to look past what you are now. It isn't like I'm in any position to judge you morally after all. Well looks like we're getting close to it."

Before you can reply, you sense several figures lurking nearby.

"You've got some balls showing up here!" a voice shouts and before you know it a person literally materializes in front of you and Lisa.

It's enough to catch you a bit off guard, but you react quick enough to attack your assailant, though apparently not enough to land a hit. This person cannot possibly be a normal human. You wonder if this is one of those Fel touched Lisa mentioned.

You then hear a shot of a pistol, followed by a burning sensation in your upper back. You collapse to the ground on one knee in pain and feel like part of you is on fire.

Good thing you aren't human. However, Lisa's the only one behind you, and it's obvious that she just shot you in the back. You aren't sure if it was an accident or if she's just lead you into a trap.

You accident

Considering that Lisa is supposed to be a well trained assassin that knew what you were before you even met her, seems like if she was going to do any real damage, she would have at least loaded her pistol with silver shot or something similar.

You're going to chalk it up to an accident for now, besides you've already got someone right in front of you trying to kill you.

Your attacker in front of you attempts to stab you in the face while you're still hurt, but you dodge, grab his wrist and make him stab himself in the stomach while breaking his arm at the same time.

Standing up again, you sense another person nearby and sure enough they once again appear right in front of you.

"Get out of the way!" you hear Lisa shout and you hear several more shots fired off. Seems like Lisa has herself one of those fancy repeating pistols.

This time however you avoid getting hit, but dodging to the right while your attacker is hit twice in the chest.

"Shit!" you hear Lisa shout and another Fel assassin materializes in front of her. She's not quick enough and you see her fall to the ground when the assassin shoots her with crossbow.

You're about to run over to help, but another assassin with a shock of white hair appears and throws a lit firebomb in Lisa's direction before running off.

You jump to catch it and throw it to the left, and it ends up going right through a window of the Poisoned Blade Inn.

"Well…so much for diplomacy…" you say and run back to avoid the upcoming blast. Lisa is currently struggling with her attacker, but by the time you get the both of them, the bomb finally goes off.

The impact of the blast knocks you down and the three of you are rolling on the ground on top of one another. At some point in the chaos you feel a blade in your ribs from the person who is on your back. Since this person isn't very heavy and you can feel the tits on your back, you're assuming this person is a woman.

For Lisa's sake, you hope that this is a female EC assassin…

You smash your head as hard as you can backwards into the assassin's face. It's enough for her to lose her grip. You notice that he other figure crawling from underneath you is indeed Lisa, so happily you know she didn't just accidently wound you again.

The female assassin tries blink away or whatever it is they do, but you catch her arm just as she turns herself invisible. Well not invisible to you though. You pull the blade out that she shoved in your rib and shove it into her ear, then you drop her.

While all this is going on, a few EC members have been running out of their now fiery hang out screaming and burning. Lisa is leaning up against a nearby wall looking down at the bolt in her thigh.

"What the hell happened?" she asks.
"Well after you shot me in the back, it all became pretty chaotic." You answer.
"I'm sorry about that…shit…I need to take this…" Lisa says and takes out a vial of something and swallows the contents, and then pulls out the bolt.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, come on, we gotta get that bastard…the Watch is probably coming anyway."
"Wait, what bastard?"
"Mantis, of course. He probably got away through a trapdoor to the sewers, come on there should be a sewer entrance around here. Maybe we can still track him."

Lisa starts limping away as fast as she can, but stumbles.

"Shit…that poisoned bolt is still fucking me up…I'll be alright. I just…"
"No you won't. Here." You say and just pick Lisa up over your shoulder and get out of the immediate area before you have to massacre the Holgard Watch.

After ducking into alley a couple blocks away from the chaos, you finally put Lisa down who is looking slightly better. While you don't think she set you up, given all that's happened you are getting the impression that Lisa has not told you everything.

"Alright Lisa, out courtesy for what we once had, you got ONE chance to explain yourself." You say.
"Or what…(ugh) you gonna drink me dry?" Lisa says wincing at the pain of her wound and unconcerned about your tone.

You pick Lisa up by her shoulders and your more monstrous threatening face becomes visible. She tries her best to not look scared, but you can sense the fear.

"You need to drop the tough girl act, right now. Because I've done a hell of a lot worse than kill an old girlfriend since the last time you saw me." You say.
"Oh yeah? Well maybe you'd be doing me a favor if you did. At least it would be you then."

You can see the desperation now in her eyes and it's enough to calm you down.

Well you guess not all of the "human" has left you.

"Lisa, just tell me what the hell is going on already, because I'm getting the impression that I'm not the one that needs to worry about a contract on my head." You say.

Lisa keeps it together and tells you the story.

The contract is actually on her head, specifically Mantis put it on her a few years ago, or at least set it up. She mentions he's been a thorn in her side shortly after she joined the ECS. At first he would constantly hit on her when she was stationed in Holgard.

Then when she got transferred to the Delantium Kingdom to become a better trained assassin, she thought she was done with him, but eventually he was also in the DK for awhile making upwardly mobile moves of his own. For whatever reason he continued to harass her and trying to make things harder for her.

He eventually returned to Holgard when another member, Rook, was promoted. Mantis took over the ECS in this city and now had direct ties to Fel Temple as well. With all this extra influence and power, he set things in motion to set her up on some job that resulted in the death of another high ranking ECS member.

Since then, she's been on the ECS hit list. She knows it was Mantis though that was behind it all and she fully intends on killing him.

You take all this in and ask one question.

"Okay, so where did I come in on all this?" you ask.
"You didn't. Not initially anyway. You might have missed me, but I actually was in Dert for a brief period of time. I was sort of hiding, pondering my next move, along with making peace with my father since I didn't exactly leave that village on good terms. It's funny; when I got there I actually missed how boring it all was. At least I didn't have a crime syndicate trying to kill me when I lived there. Didn't know there was a vampire living in the graveyard nearby though."
"Wait, you saw me? I'm usually so careful."
"You were careful, but you're also probably used to the people in Dert not wandering near there at night. I was actually there lost in thought about my own situation and that's when I saw someone skulking out one of the tombs. It was actually a little unnerving since while I've experienced some out of the ordinary shit in my life, undead was not one of them. I couldn't quite make out your face at first, but for a very brief moment I saw it in moonlight and the resemblance was unmistakable. I couldn't believe it. I mean I thought you were dead, but not like this!"

Lisa holds on to her side and pauses for a moment before continuing.

"So I followed you since you seemed to have purpose about what you were doing. You're very quick of course so I probably caught up to you in Holgard just as you were getting ready to leave it. From there I got a good look at you and knew there was no mistaking who you were."
"So wait, why didn't you contact me then?"
"Because I saw you bite some hooker and drink her dry, that's why! I sort of figured that it might not be the best idea to confront you. I didn't even follow you back to the Dert cemetery, I just stayed in Holgard since I figured I needed to get on with my revenge. That was a couple months ago."
"Seems like you should have gotten on with it before now."
"Well I still had to do some reconnaissance. Get myself prepared and all that other shit."
"Seems like it would be very dangerous being here in the manticore's den and all."
"Actually it seemed like it was easier. Mantis may have security up the ass, but he tends to keep it all around himself. Sort of makes other parts of the city under less watch by his people."
"Yeah, but still seems like something you'd want to do quick and get the hell out as soon as possible."
"Unfortunately, there was no easy way to do it. If I tried what we just did, I would have gotten cut down easily and Mantis himself is a Fel worshipper or at least he pays enough lip service that he has powers of his own. He's never alone either in the rare moments he leaves his place. I couldn't reliably ask for any help on this, but then I randomly noticed you enter the city again. So I followed you again and every other time you came here since despite how stealthy you are, you tend to follow a routine. Always saw you go into that plant nursery and tonight…well I thought I'd risk getting your help."
"Well okay, but why didn't you just tell me that? Why all the subterfuge?"
"Wasn't sure if it was going to work at all first. Second, I got the impression that maybe you'd be more willing to help if YOU were in trouble rather than me. Third, I've relied on subterfuge so much in life now, that it just comes naturally."
"I suppose I understand, but this really would have been easier had you just told me. I mean I would have helped if you had just asked flat out."
"Truly? Even though you have a special vampire lady in your life?"
"How do you know I have a special vampire lady?"
"You mentioned you only knew one other vampire and that SHE was reclusive. I'm willing to bet she's the one that also made you. I'm sure it's an interesting story."
"It is. She really helped me out and in time it became more."
"Hmm, I'm not looking for a rekindling or anything, but is it possible that you could…"
"Ah…no. I mean trust me, I would if I could since I think it would make shit a whole lot easier for you, but yeah, I can't transform anyone into a vampire. Not old enough yet. Best I can do is ghoul and trust me, you definitely don't want that."
"I see. Well figured I'd ask, shit…I've spent so much time resting, Mantis is probably long gone by now."
"Would he have left the city?"
"No, but he's probably at one of his many safehouses or even the Fel Temple. And even with your help, I realize I'm in no condition to assault any of these places. I'm going to have to heal up and try again. It's going to be difficult staying low now that I've made my presence known. Look, I appreciate the help even though I tricked you into it, but this really isn't your concern. You have your own concerns and our paths split long ago. You are under no obligation to help me any further."

You help Lisa

While you don't like that you were lied to, there's not much for it now. While you aren't sure if someone saw your face, at least one of those assassins got away and is probably undoubtedly going to say that Lisa had help.

You might as well help Lisa, if only to potentially save your own ass trouble in the future. Plus, you'd be lying if you didn't feel a little something to actually want to help her.

"While I wished you had told me the truth immediately, I'm not going to just leave you hanging because honestly, I think this is a suicide mission for you. You can't take down this Mantis without some help."
"Well I'm not going to turn down your help and I will fully appreciate it, but you helping me isn't going to be a problem is it?"
"Oh, you mean with my special lady vampire as you put it? Well, I'm inclined not to tell her, but I probably shouldn't since she's not an idiot and will find out anyway."
"Won't she be upset with you?"
"You might think that, but I dunno she's been around a long time and certain things don't necessarily bother her the way you might think they would. I mean I'll explain the situation…and well I guess I'll think of something."
"Hey, I don't want to mess your shit up so if you can't do it. That's perfectly fine. I mean this is my problem and we aren't together anyway. However, if you can help, meet me in five days at the Holgard graveyard at night. I need to heal up a bit and probably track down where Mantis is actually hiding out at now anyway. Who knows, maybe if we're really lucky that firebomb killed him after all."
"Well, I guess I'll leave you to it. Take care in the mean time and hopefully we'll meet up later."

You take your leave of Lisa and get out of Holgard as quick as possible.

When you get home, Isabella immediately notices you look a little battle worn.

"You run into trouble dear?" Isabella asks.
"Ran into an old…acquaintance. It was a mess and uh...well there's still unfinished business." You answer awaiting the storm.

Isabella looks at you for a moment.

"Okay, first question. Did you at least get my supplies?" Isabella asks.
"Yes, I have them right here." You say handing over your pack to her.
"Good. Second question. This acquaintance, wouldn't happen to be a girl would it? Possibly even an ex from your mortal life?"
"She is. Or was. She was a girl from Dert that I was with during my time enslaved to Ral. I lost contact with her during my time getting experimented on by Ral."
"Truly? Odd that you've never mentioned her before."
"I didn't want to talk about my old flames with you."
"You really think I'd get jealous about that?"
"No, I just felt it was respectful not to bring them up."
"Hah…nice answer. You always do know how to say the right things. Okay, so I guess my next question would have been are you fucking this mortal, but I'm going to guess that's a no, so just tell me what's going on and why you're involved."

As short as you can, you explain your entire night; you also add that part of the reason you want to help is you think that in all the chaos one of the assassins got away and while probably not recognizing you they will definitely know there was another helper and the last thing you want is to bring chaos home.

"I see. Well under normal circumstances, I'd say kill this little mortal bitch for lying and present her head to the Ebony Claw since she got you into this mess in the first place. However, I get that you probably don't want to do that and knowing the ECS, that might not help anyway. Pftt. The Syndicate. I remember when they were still just a petty gang of thugs in the fledging Delantium Kingdom at one point. Okay, you're supposed to meet her in five days right?" Isabella asks.
"Yes, in the graveyard there."
"How original. Okay, since this is potentially going to impact our home and life together, I'm going to help you and your little human ex out. However that means I'm going to do some of my own investigation."
"Um, okay! That's great! I mean this will definitely make everything easier. I guess we can…"
"We? Oh no no no no my dear. I'm going to do this by myself. I work better alone in situations like this. You are going to stay as far away as possible from Holgard."
"Wait, you're not going to attack the ECS yourself are you?"
"Of course not, I'm just going to do my own reconnaissance because I haven't been to the city in decades and it might help if I knew the lay out. Not to mention I can probably gain information that you or this Lisa girl would not be able to. You just take a break and I dunno, collect dinner from Dert while I'm out. Then in five days we'll meet up with your human."

Isabella's reaction to this wasn't at all what you were expecting. You thought that maybe she'd be mildly annoyed and maybe she'd be fine with you taking care of this due to potential repercussions. You didn't however expect her direct help. You guess it makes sense as you are mated after all, but the fact she doesn't want you to get in her way is puzzling.

Well in any case, she trusts you, so you trust her and if this is how she wants to do it, then this is how its going.

You spend the next four nights basically hanging around the home. You go to Dert once to lure a couple of people to the cells, but for the most part that's it. Meanwhile Isabella nearly leaves immediately when the sun goes down and then stays out until it's nearly time for it to come back up.

She never elaborates on what she's doing except to mention that Holgard has only gotten worse since the last time she was there and says the whole city should be cleansed from the map for the good of everyone.

On the fourth night she comes home a little earlier and is entirely in the mood to have a round of wild rough sex. You aren't sure what's prompting this, though it could be the potential idea that you'll all be going into battle soon. Either way, you've never complained before so why start now?

Finally the fifth night arrives.

"Get up my love. It's time to end this." Isabella remarks.

As you and Isabella make your way to Holgard, you start to ask her questions about what she was doing during her time in Holgard, but she just smiles and says to not worry about it since she'll reaveal all when you get to the graveyard.

"You trust me don't you?" she asks.
"…well I trust that you aren't planning anything sinister for me, but I must admit all this secrecy is a bit concerning." You answer.
"You worry too much."

Eventually you get to the graveyard. Lisa isn't really hanging around in plain site, but you can sense she must be around, Isabella on the other hand calls her own immediately.

"Little human, come on out from behind the fifth tomb from the left with the broken statue on top of it. Don't worry it's safe, nothing but us vampires out here." She says.

Reluctantly and very cautiously Lisa steps out from her hiding space. Her guard is up causing Isabella to roll her eyes.

"Honestly, your ex offers to bail your ass out after you lied and you give this sort of welcome? And please, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead so put that away." Isabella remarks.
"I take it this is your better half? Didn't expect her to actually help. Where are her clothes?" Lisa remarks putting her weapon away.
"Isabella has long since abandoned the desire to wear such things." You answer.
"I thought maybe it was just her way of bragging of how beautiful she was."
"Hm. I'll take that as a compliment, human. And I suppose you were probably pretty back in your younger years. I can see how he would have had a fondness for you."

This is getting weird, so you step in before it turns worse.

"Okay, you're both pretty princesses, now let's get on with this. The both of you have been stalking these city streets so what's the situation?" you ask.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I mean I've interrogated a few EC members and done what investigating I could without alerting the EC of my presence. All I know is Mantis is indeed alive and he's either in a safehouse down in the sewers under Dagger Row or he's hiding out in the Temple of Fel. I'm really hoping it's the safehouse, because I don't fancy the chances of attacking a Fel Temple and I doubt if we'll even be able to sneak in. I mean these are followers of the God of Shadow."
"Oh he's definitely in the Fel Temple, in fact we should go make our way there now." Isabella remarks.
"Wait, you're saying he's there for certain? How do you know that?"
"Because I'm better than you human, that's why, now are we settling this or what?"
"Isabella, you have been fairly mysterious about what you've been doing here."
"And that's because I don't want to ruin the surprise for you dear. Both of you just follow my lead in all this and we'll all get home before the dawn."
"Okay, I know you're probably old and…"

Isabella glares at Lisa for that remark. Meanwhile Lisa looks like she just pissed herself.

"Um… powerful, but…"
"Dear, tell your human to stop speaking before this act of kindness becomes for naught." Isabella remarks in an annoyed tone.
"I think you better just keep quiet Lisa." You say.

The three of you make your way to the Temple of Fel. Isabella gives exactly zero fucks as she walks naked through the streets of Holgard. As expected she gets more than a few looks by the few folks still out at night, but nobody says anything. Not lewd comments, not protests, nothing. Not even the group of watchmen that you walk by say anything. Isabella's powers of mind control are in full affect.

"Your girlfriend isn't exactly subtle." Lisa whispers to you.
"Yeah well when you're that powerful, you tend to not give a shit about things. I'm actually less concerned about the Watch and more concerned about EC assassins, Fel touched or not. I feel like being so obvious like this we'd be getting attacked by now given that they've been looking for you."
"And they won't, I told you, all will be revealed when we get to the temple now cut the chatter and keep up." Isabella snaps.

The rest of your journey is uneventful until you get close to the Fel Temple and that's when you see a group dressed purple and blue robes. Dornans? What are they doing here?

An old man steps from the group when the three of you approach.

"Isabella, always a pleasure to see you." He remarks with a bit of a upbeat tone.
"Yes, yes, Flynn I know you love me, but we're here on important business. Is all the shit sorted out with the Felians? Because I was planning on getting this done with quick." Isabella remarks.
"Yes, The Felians are more interested in keeping the religious peace rather than protecting one of their Ebony Claw associates. So yes, they are completely willing to turn this Mantis character over and apparently his treachery has been exposed by whatever limited process that their shadow magic does anyway, so this appears to be a settled affair as soon as you meet with them." Flynn remarks.

You and Lisa are overwhelmed with surprise. You can't believe this.

"Wait. That's it? We're not fighting anyone?" you say.
"Mantis is just being turned over? Just like that? I'm actually cleared?!" Lisa adds.
"Yes, you may provide your undying thanks to me later, for now though let's continue." Isabella remarks eager to get on with it.

As the three of you start to leave, Flynn calls out.

"Isabella…" Flynn says, causing Isabella to turn around exasperated.
"Flynn, look, I thanked you for this already, but that's all it was okay? Nothing more."
"But I just thought…"
"Yeah I know what you thought and you were wrong as usual. This is why I always went for Ral instead of you back in the day. You were a spineless worm that thought just being a compliant was good enough for me. Goodbye Flynn."

Isabella looks at you.

"What?" she asks.
"Didn't know you went out with the leader of the Dornan temple." You say.
"Yeah well I used my ex to help out your ex. Come on."

The three of you head to the Fel Temple, which you see a single cloaked figured looming at the bottom of the steps of it. Near him is a crumpled figure. You notice that this is the same assassin with the shock of white hair throwing around firebombs last time. He nods at the three of you.

The crumpled figure on the ground is Mantis, he's alive, but he doesn't look too good. He's pale and emaciated looking and he's shivering the entire time while mumbling nonsense quietly. Certainly looks different than the last time you saw him years ago.

"Greetings again. I am here on the behalf of the Master of Shadows as he has other important matters. As I remember you are the one called Lisa?" he asks, pointing to her.
"I am…what did you do to Mantis?" Lisa asks.
"Only what was required to keep order and peace. This man attempted to use Fel to hide his actions, but he didn't realize that he can't hide his actions from Fel who sees all things hidden. Things might have gone better had he not resisted. Perhaps even a compromise could have been reached, but as you can see he chose otherwise and by the time he begged for mercy…well it was far too late."

Lisa steps forward.

"And what about me?" Lisa asks.
"Your name has been cleared…well more or less. I'm sure thanks to your actions, you have most likely angered other EC members and you will most likely still have to watch your back, such is the nature of the business. However, the general order of elimination will be lifted and more importantly, Fel is not seeking retribution. Still, you may want to watch yourself for awhile." The man says.
"So that's it then."
"That is indeed it for this situation. I leave you with your revenge, though perhaps it may be a mercy now. And since you have caught the attention of Fel, perhaps if you ever feel you're up to the challenge, you would be more than welcome to join the shadow of Fel. You will find that being obedient to him, will make you much more efficient in your tasks."
"I'll keep that in mind."

The man then turns around and then suddenly cloaks into invisibility, though you can still sense him until he goes back into the temple.

"Okay, looks like that's done. Let's go." Isabella remarks.
"Wait. I don't know how to thank you." Lisa says.
"You can't mortal, think of this as your lucky night."
"Actually I can think of a way." You say.
"You best pick your next words with care." Isabella remarks.

"No, not that! It's just before all this shit happened, I was thinking about home and getting a message to my family. Lisa, do you remember my stories to you about Teckleville?" you say.
"Yes, I do remember." Lisa remarks.
"Well, do you think in between your assassinations, you could go see my family and assure them that I'm doing okay? I mean I'd do it…but…"
"Say no more. I'd be more than willing to relay a general message of your happiness."
"Thanks Lisa."
"No, thank you. I mean that and will never forget this."
"Alright now we really are going. Say goodbye to your little human and for her sake she better never cross your path, let alone mine ever again." Isabella remarks.

You and Isabella leave Lisa to her revenge on Mantis. You turn to look one last time and see her finish him off.

Odd night, you were expecting a huge and very likely deadly battle, but it all worked out very easy. In any case, you follow Isabella who probably is anxious to get back to her garden. She's been away from it for far too long for her.

You know she went out of her way to help you and you also know that she's annoyed that she had to, but you also know that she must care about you very much that she did.

And that's why you love this woman.