While I mull over the letters in my mind and consider how to confront them, I refocus myself on my main quest. The recent rains have sharpened my senses, and I believe I have discovered the hidden den of one of the town's resident vampires. Hopefully, they will be one of those that I have been requested to slay by the humans, so that I can gain more notoriety among them and get closer to becoming their almighty ruler.
The entrance to the den turned out to be a muddy hole. I was rather disappointed, as I had been expecting something more grandiose, but as I crept through the wet, dripping, muddy cave, smelling heavily of fresh dirt and death, I quickly discovered the reason for the dwelling. That reason was the tall, dirty, dripping, slimy green man before me.
Yes, an amphibian man. Their features are somewhat less repulsive than those of a regular human, but they conduct themselves in such an abhorrent manner that I can't decide whether I hate them more or less than their default fleshy counterparts. This one erected himself, and bellowed wetly at my impassive face.
“My name is Gadoc Flukehedge! Prepare to die!”
I could barely contain my laughter, and I believe that enraged him even further, as he immediately charged me without bothering with pleasantries.
Without skipping a beat, my expression became more serious. I took an easy slash at his head, causing him to flinch and dodge backwards as my sword stuck in the wet slurry of the cave wall. Thinking quickly, I used the leverage of the stuck sword to swing myself hard into him, making him lose purchase on the slick ground and tumble over backwards. I yanked my sword easily out of the wall, and while he was in his beautifully prone position, I took what I believed was a surefire strike at his right arm, but to no avail. He was clearly more experienced than the pathetic goblin, and had more methods of combat than merely hopping around like a buffoon.
Not wanting to let him regain his composure, I took another solid swing at his left leg, causing him to have to roll away further into the cave. I would not relent in my assault, as letting him stand would be a disadvantage, so I quickly rushed forward into the space he'd retreated from. Upon the next strike, though, he managed to tumble too far away for me to quickly follow. Not wanting to approach him and give him an opening, I clicked my tongue disapprovingly, and merely stood there waiting.
Simpleminded as ever, he slowly got to his feet, looked at me questioningly for a few seconds, and then approached. Naturally, I took advantage of his approach, and, wanting to cease his incessant dodging, went for a strike in the leg, but his skin was unnaturally tough, and I merely succeeded in knocking him over again. His sense of balance must have been awful.
Luckily, this time he seemed to be distracted by something, and I was able to easily bring my sword down upon his leg with force and cause it significant damage. Just then, though, I saw the source of his distraction; two amphibian women, both vampires such as himself, had just emerged from deeper inside the wet cave. Even I felt a certain amount of trepidation upon realizing that this was not just a single vampires' hideout, but an entire den of vampires, all working in tandem.
They both bellowed their names (which I promptly forgot) stupidly as they blundered forward, and I ignored them for the time being to focus on the newly disabled Flukehedge. Unfortunately, the arrival of his companions had given him increased vigor, and he was too difficult for me to hit. I was forced to retreat back behind the corner, lest I be taken by too many vampires at once. The narrow corridors were perfect for bottlenecking, though, and I waited patiently for the first vampire woman to round the corner.
As I waited, I readied my sword in a position to slash around the corner, but, thinking of something, I pushed it forward a little so that it would be visible to the advancing vampire woman.
Predictably, she fell right into my trap.
Thinking herself some form of genius, she rounded the corner sharply to avoid my outstretched sword, but was promptly met with a faceful of bronze shield. The resounding CRUNCH of her skull falling apart was obscenely satisfying. She was dead instantly.
The other two were shocked at the sudden and violent death of their companion, and I took advantage of their hesitation to charge around the corner, quickly analyzing their stances and aiming quick blows at vulnerable locations. The tactic succeeded, both of them tripping over each other in a useless heap, forced to merely avoid my blows rather than land any themselves. Eventually, I was able to stab directly through the leg of the remaining vampire woman, and she clung to the man as he dragged himself, terrified, away from me. Once again, though, my bloodlust got the best of me, and I laughed wickedly as I advanced on them.
The man seemed to be protecting her (are amphibian vampires into romance?) and I kept my distance, prowling back and forth. To my surprise, the woman was the first to get up and advance on me, and I admire her audacity. I quickly punished her mistake, however, my sword flashing forward like a snakebite and immediately shattering her wrist.
The two stood by each other then, and it seemed clear from their signals that they intended to attack me in unison. I would not allow that, of course, and holding my shield in front of me, I retreated back behind the corner, purposely stepping on the exposed brain matter of the less fortunate vampiress and creating a wonderfully satisfying noise. Again, the woman was the first one to come, and again, I punished her dearly for it. One slash of my sword, and her guts were hanging from her like excess rope on a ship's winch. She was forced to hold in her guts with her mangled hand, as she wouldn't have been able to attack otherwise.
They seemed to want me to advance, but I refused. I stood my ground, and waited for them to become impatient. Every time they came forward, I punished them. I say “them,” but it was really only the woman. Is the amphibian man really such a coward?
My next strike was to her lower body again, and my sword became firmly lodged in her loose intestines. Rather than pulling out immediately, though, I used the sword as an anchor to deliver several blows to her body with the trusty bronze shield. I hit her in the head, and there was a wonderful shattering, cracking noise as I believe part of her spine was fractured and broken.
I took great pleasure in beating her over and over again with the bronze shield, with resounding CLANG and CRUNCH sounds filling the damp cavern. I looked off to the right to see the vampire man standing helplessly, supporting himself on the wall in spite of his bad leg and watching his companion get beaten senseless.
It wasn't very effective overall, however, so I eventually leapt backwards, yanking her along with me further back into the corridor. She stumbled heavily, and I grinned rather rudely as I plunged my sword hard into the flesh of her foot, tearing it apart wonderfully.
She refused to give up, however, and let out an enraged cry as she continued to attack me. Unimpressed, I chose to end it quickly, and slammed her in the face with my shield as I had her equally worthless companion. She fell with a heavy THUD to the floor, and, would you believe it? She managed to finally get a hit in on me, as with her dying breath, she bit me in the foot.
I do not believe she broke the skin, however. Commendable effort, anyway. She bled to death shortly thereafter.
With her taken care of, I advanced on the man, who had been standing helpless the entire time.
He was just as flighty as ever, but I was growing tired of this game. I focused my eyes, trying to see if their continued redness meant that I had retained my full visual power, and lo! I had!
I was easily able to see his weakest points, now. Every single movement he made revealed to me the best ways to attack him. He was expecting the sword to swing, and yet I suddenly punched him in the arm. He looked utterly shocked, as I had hit him in just the right place at just the right time to completely shatter the bone of his arm, rendering it nearly useless. I smiled widely, satisfied with myself for having successfully used my skill to the fullest, and increased the intensity of my onslaught.
I could feel something welling up within me as I landed precise strike after precise strike. My body felt nimbler, more capable. My movements were easier to control. I felt as though I was becoming my old self again, and a great heat washed over me. I let out a loud growl of bloodlust, and, seeing the vampire's shock and surprise, I bit him firmly in the face.
While he screamed and cried out, I focused on gouging out his eyes with my teeth (no easy task!), simultaneously taking advantage of his surprise and paralysis to bring my sword up swiftly, stabbing through his ribcage and tearing apart at least one of his lungs. I was pressed against him heavily as if in an embrace, and I could feel the warmth of his blood soaking the front of my outfit, his body writhing against mine. In that moment, I felt that we were truly sharing something special.
It was rather difficult to attack from that lovely position, however, so I was eventually forced to relent. I released my fangs' grip on his now-mangled face and gave him a soft kiss, ripping my sword out from its place in his ribcage and taking a step back as I watched him crumple to the floor. I smiled lovingly at him, my tail (my tail?) swaying back and forth gleefully as I quickly advanced again. This time, I stabbed directly forward as he fell, tearing open several beautiful arteries and spilling more of his lovely blood onto my already-crimson skin.
Suffice it to say, he was utterly useless at this point. He didn't even bother to try and land a single blow. I got on top of him again, caressing his thigh lovingly, before suddenly bringing my claws down heavily, severing the motor nerves in the middle and rendering it permanently useless. Not that he was going to need it for much longer.
I'm afraid to say that I have rather forgotten exactly what transpired after that point. All I can remember is a great, heavy heat, a flurry of blows, scratches, strikes, bites, and other such exchanges of love as the vampire's body quickly degraded and fell apart before me.
Suddenly, he finally lunged to bite at me, even while knocking on heaven's proverbial door. I instinctively dodged backwards, and was startled out of my blood rage. I stood there, panting heavily, dripping with his exquisite blood, and I shuddered with ecstasy as I watched him breathe his last. I felt the great heat leaving me, its rushed exit making me feel something of a chill, and I rubbed my blood-stained brown skin for comfort. No claws, no tail. Had I been imagining things?
Either way, my blood rage was over. The three vampires lay thoroughly broken and defeated on the floor around me, and I was firmly the victor. I wanted to drink their blood a little in celebration, but I was wary of vampire blood's effect on the human body, and erred on the side of caution. I spent some time admiring my handiwork before finally trudging out of the cave, back into the rainy afternoon as though nothing had happened.
Though I was still dripping with blood, of course.
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Topic: Fun with Bloodlust: The Twisted Tale of the Demoness Adventurer (interactive!) (Read 1638 times)