Chapter 3C2: Price of Freedom


Year 30

"No, no, no, you can't play that card." You say.
"Oh. Um…okay then this one." Lisa says.

You play your own card that easily beats the rest of Lisa's hand.

"I hate this stupid game." She exclaims and throws her cards down on the table causing you to smile a bit.
"Well you're getting better at it."
"I just don't see the point in us playing games when we could be feeding together or better yet, fucking instead."
"Now Lisa, you know there's more to existence than just the base needs."
"Pfft, not much more, come on lover, I'll let you do whatever you want to me."
"You let me do whatever I want all the time. Maybe later. However, if you don't want to play games though, you can always got feast on those whores we got in the meat room."
"Ohhh! You mean we're not saving them anymore?"
"Well we're saving two of them for the rest of the week. You can go eat the third one though. Pick whichever one you want. I'll join you a little later."

Lisa makes that disturbing squeal and kisses the side of your face before running off to go eat. You still aren't sure if you actually "love" Lisa, but you definitely don't mind her affection again, now that you've gotten her to regularly perfume herself and chew on mint herbs once in awhile.

In fact, you do believe you've trained Lisa fairly well all things considered. Even her personality has changed slightly so that she isn't a complete toadying suck up. Makes you wonder if Isabella was just bullshitting you about it being so difficult.

You pack up your deck of cards and check on some of your tunnels. You thought you saw the support beam warping. You might need to replace it. You don't think you'll ever get this place just right.

As you're inspecting your work, your other senses perk up. You can sense someone coming and its not some idiots trying to get into the topside crypt (It was funny how those Joachimites fell for that blade trap a few years ago). This is someone approaching from the sewer entrance, which means this is a hell of a lot more serious because you keep it well hidden.

And this someone, you don't think is mortal…

You approach your "front door" to the sewers cautiously and fully prepared for a fight when you hear a muffled yet familiar voice from the other side.

"I can tell you're approaching. Yes, you! Your essence to me will always be strong even when you make your home in the middle of some filthy human shithole." Isabella remarks.
"Isabella?" you answer.
"Yes, I'm sure you can tell it was me, unless these sewers have completely destroyed your senses. Why the hell did you make your home in such a place?"
"Seemed like a good idea at the time, besides, nobody bothers me down here."
"Well that I can certainly believe. Look, you going to let me in now so we can talk because standing out here in the muck isn't my idea of a pleasant evening."
"With all respect Isabella, why the hell are you here? Last time we talked, you weren't exactly pleased with me."
"Long story. And I'd argue that we parted ways on fairly amicable terms. You didn't really expect me to share you with that lesser being did you? I told you that."
"You also told me, that you'd kill the both of us."
"Oh, that was just my way of getting you both the hell out, and look it worked. In fact I'm currently extending my courtesy, by simply NOT smashing in this wall and barging in."
"You can't do that. This is my home and I haven't invited you in!"

You hear Isabella chuckling from the other side.

"Oh my sweet young vampire. You still have so much to learn. I'm your maker, I will always be connected to you even if I don't have direct influence anymore. And that means your home will ALWAYS be my home too. So let me in or I'm wrecking this not so secret wall of yours, and I'm sure you don't want that."

You hate these "new rules" that pop up about your current existence.

"Alright, alright, fine." you say and slide open the wall

And there you see Isabella looking the same way as when you left her crypt. Including being naked.

"Glad to see you're still intelligent enough to know when to listen to your betters. Always liked that about you." She says and steps inside.

Isabella sniffs a bit.

"Hmm, the odor is much better in here. Ah, I smell fresh blood nearby and another familiar scent…though somehow different…wait…is that your ghoul? She still around?"
"For your information, yes Lisa is here and if this is some attempt of trying to get me back, forget it, because we're still together."

Isabella smirks.

"Hm, guess good minions are hard to come by. No point in throwing one out right? Tell me, were the sewers her idea? In any case, I hate to break your male ego, but I'm not here in some silly attempt to get you back. I'm here because I need your help." Isabella says.
"Wait, you need MY help?" you say.
"Yes, but don't think that this an opportunity to hold something over my head. I'm a very resourceful woman and you are just one of my resources I need to help accomplish my task."
"Hm, glad to be held in such high esteem."
"As well you should especially because this also involves another old acquaintance of yours. Ral."

All the figures from the past are coming out tonight…

"What does Ral have to do with this?" you ask.
"He fucking destroyed my home and Dert, that's what he has to do with this! Honestly I'm surprised you haven't heard about it since I imagine this haven of scum has a lot of gossip going on."
"Honestly, as the years have worn on, I've been becoming more of a recluse so I don't keep up or even pay attention to most of the shit I hear the mortals talk about unless it really sounds like it's going to affect me directly. If it wasn't for the whole needing to feed situation and requiring the occasional supplies to fix up my home, I'd just stay down here with Lisa and never leave. Still, to my knowledge Dert was never very important and I doubt if anyone in Holgard even gave a shit about the place if they even knew it existed at all."
"Nevertheless, it's gone, along with my home and Ral has to pay for that."
"I think you're going to have to start from the beginning and let's talk some place where I can sit and at least take all this in."

You take Isabella through some of your home and head towards one of your "living areas." Isabella remarks that she is impressed by what you have done given the limitations you had to work with.

"I see you tried your best to emulate the layout of my own crypt and catacombs even if they aren't nearly as tidy." Isabella says.
"Glad you approve. I need to stop here first." You say.

As you're passing the meat room, you see Lisa completely engorging herself on one of the whores that she's completely ripped apart. She's covered in gore and entrails and loving every minute of it. You imagine this would be a horrific sight to the other two chained up, if they weren't under a trance.

Lisa bloody face looks up from her feeding and grins at you, but then her grin becomes a look of worry when she sees Isabella behind you.

"Wha…what…what's she doing here?! I thought it was just you and me from now on! You said so!" Lisa says.
"It is, and it always will be, my grave flower. Isabella just came to visit about something and I have to talk to her about it."
"…you're mad at me, aren't you? Please don't be mad at me! I can do better! I'll…I'll chew more of those mint herbs you want me to! You're bored…you want a threeway don't you? I can go down on Isabella while you ram it into me hard. You can hurt me really good, and split me open. I don't care. Please just let me be around to still worship you. You're my love and my entire life!"

Isabella stifles a snort of laughter, causing you to briefly glare at her, before you approach Lisa. You kneel down in the large blood puddle and caress her face (which is sticky with blood). It's times like this when Lisa's slavish ghoul personality comes out in full force.

"Lisa, Lisa…don't get upset. You're the only woman for me and you always will be. It's why I've always stayed with you. You understand that right?"
"But…she's back now…"
"Isabella is just visiting. We're not getting together. We're just going to talk and that's all I swear. You're my lovely grave flower and nobody can replace you." You say and kiss Lisa who hugs you tightly. She attempts to do more than that, but you have to remind her that later would be a better time.

Lisa accepts your reassurances, but still has a look of concern on her face. Lisa soon goes back to eating the whore's liver, probably in an attempt to comfort herself. You stand up and motion Isabella to follow you. You fully expect to hear taunting comments, but surprisingly you hear none.

When you get to your destination, Isabella tells you what exactly is going on with Ral.

Isabella tells you that a few months ago, during one of her resting periods, her home was completely collapsed from the inside out by an earth elemental. She said it took her weeks to dig herself out and by the time she did she found that the entire graveyard was now a large sinkhole. She doesn't know what happened to the elemental since the attack just suddenly stopped like it just disappeared.

Lacking any other immediate choices, she decided to head to Dert and charm someone there and use their dwelling for a while until she could figure out her next step.

However, when she got to Dert, she found that nearly all the people had been turned to stone. Not just the people though, but most of the plant and animal life in the surrounding area as well. The few people that hadn't been turned to stone were nothing but bits of flesh still hanging off bones. She proceeded cautiously since she was aware that only a few things could cause something like this, either powerful magic or certain creatures.

As it turned out, it was both. She eventually found a family of four that had been hiding in a root cellar for quite some time. They were all very frightened and assumed she was another monster to come to kill them. (Probably due to the whole unnatural paleness and naked thing)

After subduing the father, Isabella demanded to know what had transpired in the village. He explained that a few days ago, a female creature with a snake body appeared in the middle of the village along with four medium-sized reptile like creatures, which seemed to be her pets.

There was a brief moment of confusion from both sides at first, but then the woman spoke something in a hissing type language and all hell broke loose. Most of the village was either turned to stone or ripped apart and consumed by the reptilian beasts.

The family hid in some sort of community root cellar when they couldn't get to their home proper, they told Isabella that they could hear the screams of people that apparently tried to hide as well, but the creatures stayed in the village to make sure they had wiped out everyone. In fact, the family was very surprised that Isabella didn't see them since they were certain they were still lurking about.

Isabella at this point tells you that she imagines that the creatures were most definitely a medusa and basilisks. She also says neither of them make their homes anywhere near this area either and it would be rare enough for one to show up, let alone a group like that. And given that they just suddenly appeared (and then apparently disappeared at some point, since there were no signs that they left the area to go elsewhere, yet they also were no longer around) the way they did, there had to be powerful magic at work.

She goes on to tell you that both creatures do not normally make their homes in this area and it would be rare enough for one of them to turn up and wipe out an entire village, let alone a group of them. This combined with the earth elemental incident, and the cause of all this could only be Ral. She doesn't know why he would do something like this and she doesn't much care, all she cares about is the fact that Ral fucked up her home and convenient feeding grounds and for that he has to pay.

"He's been on borrowed time as it is." Isabella says.
"Are you sure it was him? I mean Ral was an asshole, but he never seemed to deliberately be the type to cause destruction for the shits and giggles. I mean is there proof?" you ask.
"I don't need fucking proof, I got instinct! And as I said, I don't care if it was just some spell that went wrong, he's gotta fucking pay for what he did. And YOU are going to help me."
"How the hell am I supposed to do that? I mean earth elementals, creatures that turn shit to stone, and wizard shit on top of all of it? I dealt with Ral before and it didn't go well, not sure if I'm too keen on facing him again."
"You're also not a weak human anymore! You're a fucking vampire with all the advantages that go along with it! I'm going to be doing most of the heavy lifting anyway. I just need you to get in his home and if possible try to get me in there as well."
"How? His home isn't my home. I wouldn't be able to get in it anymore than you would."
"Yes you would, you were his servant were you not? Think back. Ral invited you in to his home long before you became a vampire."

As strange as it may seem, you do remember his exact words to you during that time. "My home is your home." Weird that you never really thought about before, but then your mind was preoccupied with other things you suppose.

"Well, maybe I guess…but I just don't see how any of this is my problem! YOU said you released me and I thought…perhaps foolishly that you were at least a woman with a sense of honor. I mean I stayed out of your way and made a life for myself elsewhere, I don't see why I should have to help you."
"You're saying you don't even want to do this even out of a sense of revenge on Ral?"
"Maybe at one time I would have if I'd known I could enter his home so easily. But now? It's all in the past and I've made a life not just for myself here, but for Lisa as well. I just don't see why I should go potentially fucking that up when things are good. I mean…obviously you're a hundred times more powerful than me and I can't stop you from forcing me to help you under threat of death, but…I dunno…whatever…I just thought things were finally going well for me."

You slump in your chair and despair a bit about your situation. Isabella studies you a moment and then addresses you.

"You're right. You're right about everything. I did release you and you aren't really any under obligation to help. You're also right in that I could just threaten to kill you and your little fuck toy if you don't help me, though I'd probably go for extended torture since I don't think you'd fear immediate death as much." Isabella remarks.
"So where are we then?" you ask.
"So, I'm going to give you a reasonable compromise, because I still have a soft spot for you. If you help me kill Ral, I can promise that I will never darken your path again. At least not on purpose. However, if you don't want to help me in that way, I'm going to give you another option and that is you must leave this place."
"What?"
"If you're not going to help me kill Ral, I need to plan another method of attack without you, and for that, I'm going to need my own home to do that from. I don't want to waste time finding or building my own right now, so yours…such as it is, will have to do. Give me this place and I will never darken your doorstep again."
"That's mostly because I won't have a doorstep any longer."
"Well be that as it may, the option is there. You can be truly free and go find somewhere else to live. I don't doubt you couldn't set yourself up just as well somewhere else, but I also don't doubt that somewhere within you, that you wouldn't mind getting revenge on Ral."

You leave Holgard

You're not getting wrapped up in Isabella's shit with Ral. You thought you were done with both of them and you intend on keeping it that way, even if that means you need to find some new place to live.

"It's all yours." You say and stand up.
"What seriously? You're not helping? You don't want revenge?" Isabella asks in a genuinely surprised manner.
"Not particularly. I mean sure I don't have any love for Ral, but unless the man is coming to magically enslave me again, I just really don't feel the need to go looking for trouble. I moved on and made a new life for myself and I'm happy with it. I dunno Isabella, maybe you should do the same."

Isabella's face is noticeably annoyed by your remark, but she doesn't threaten you or anything, just more of an expression of exasperation and disappointment.

"Very well, but I didn't think that you were the type to run and hide when opportunity presented itself. Some just aren't meant for greater things I guess. After you leave, you needn't concern yourself with me interfering with your little boring life in the future."

You nearly want to argue with Isabella and bring up several things, but you decide that if you really do want to get out of this situation with minimal conflict, your best bet is to just let it go.

Without another word, you stand up and leave Isabella to brood. Despite her sneering words at you, you can't help but notice her glancing at you leave with a bit of melancholy in her eyes. Maybe she was hoping to rekindle something that wasn't there in the first place. Who knows? She never really did open up to you even in all those years you were forced to be together, maybe if she had, things would have been different like she thought they would be.

You're about to head back to the meat room, when you notice blood puddles and small trails in the hallway. You follow them to a small dead end to another tunnel you've been recently working on and that's where you find Lisa huddled in a corner chewing on a bone and making a weird (yet relatively quiet) noise. Almost like she's crying, but not quite.

She looks up at you mournfully.

"Lisa, I'm not mad if you were listening to us." you say.
"You're leaving with her aren't you?" Lisa asks.
"No. Not at all. In fact me and you are leaving together."
"We are? Where are we going?"
"Not sure honestly, but we're not going to be living here anymore."
"Why? Are we being kicked out?"
"In a manner of speaking yes. But I'd rather us have to start all over again and be free, than have to be a servant again. So, we'll be hitting the road so to speak. You have anywhere in mind that you'd like to go?"
"Um…I dunno…I've never been anywhere other than here and Dert."
"True I suppose. But I didn't know if you'd heard of any place you might like to go…though I suppose you don't bother making conversation with too many people."

Lisa looks introspective for a moment and then speaks again.

"The Delantium Kingdom?" she asks.
"Really? Didn't know you had any interest to go there." You say.
"One time, I stumbled upon a fancy dressed man in the sewers who was from the Delantium Kingdom."
"He told you that?"
"Oh yes, he claimed that he was a very important man there and if I killed him, people would come looking for him and seek revenge. Of course I didn't worry about that."
"Of course. I don't suppose you know what such an important man was doing in the sewers do you?"
"No, I dunno what he was doing in the sewers, maybe he was lost, but in any event he tasted better than anyone from Holgard."

You smile a bit at Lisa's reasons for suggesting the Delantium Kingdom. A very simple pleasure of food and the possibility of it tasting better there. It's as good of a reason as any you suppose, since you don't have many ideas at the moment.

"Okay, then if you want to go to the Delantium Kingdom then that's where we'll go to start over. It's going to be a long way, so maybe we should take a ship rather than travelling over land." You say.
"Ohh, I've never been on a ship before!" Lisa exclaims.
"Neither have I, so it'll be a new experience for the pair of us. I of course also imagine we'll have to stowaway on a ship heading there, but that shouldn't be too hard. Even hiding aboard the vessel shouldn't pose too much of a challenge."
"I might get hungry though."
"I'm sure I will too, but I'm confident that they'll be able to afford losing a few crew members without arousing too much suspicion. If it starts getting risky, you can always feed on me a little more and I'll worry about getting sustenance so that I can keep both of our strength up."

Lisa displays a big smile at that idea. Anything that allows her to suck on you more than usual is always a good thing in her eyes. With a hug and a kiss, Lisa is once again happy since she knows that Isabella isn't threatening her position anymore. (Not that she was in the first place)

You don't bother taking much with you, save for a few of your old thief tools and that's mainly for sentimental value, as you don't really do much of that sort of thing anymore. But things change, just like they are right now and just like how they probably will in the future.

You and Lisa sneak aboard a trading vessel carrying a lot of cargo. Makes hiding in the bowels of the ship a lot easier with all the crates and boxes around. Occasionally one of you leaves the confines of one of the crates to feed, but mostly the pair of you just lie next to each other and enjoying each other's company as you wait to reach your destination.

Your days as a common rogue might be over, but you remain positive that your best days as a vampire have yet to be realized and hopefully those are coming soon.