“Pain, why do dead people feel pain!” I whined, rising to a seated position.

I was in an unfamiliar tent, lying down on a bedroll, my memories were a blur. I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to sort through my disjointed memories.

I recalled getting my ass handed to me by Titus, that’s a given since he was raised from birth to beat people up. I tilted my head in puzzlement. At least I think he was, I am not sure of his early life.

I just assume that was the case given the lax slavery laws around here. It wasn’t strictly legal to deal in kids, but people still did it. They just made their slaves public after they reached a certain age.

“By the gods shut up.” I chastised my inner monologue.

“You shut up whelp.” A voice said from behind.

Turning to face the intruder, I came face to face with someone I immediately wanted to kill. This visceral feeling only came forth for a select few. And this waste of space was no exception.

“Sven.” I seethed, ready to ring his neck.

“Don’t try it peasant, I can call Titus in to give you another round of pain.” He threatened, oddly wincing after he said it.

“Your not highborn either Sven.” Now on my feet, I glared down at him.

He shrugged in a very not Sven-like manner. The asshole wasn’t acting like his usual self. Sure he was being a prick, I mean its his default state. But usually, he would be more imperious in everything he did or said.

Now looking at him, he seemed afraid or skittish. That did not suit him at all and so I tried to fathom the cause. Memories soon came back of Drelem’s anger at turning Jessica. No doubt he would have been punished, but to have this effect, I wonder what our illustrious lord did to him.

“What happened to you?” I asked, with a slight tinge of pity.

He winced, shaking nervously, he looked like a scared child awaiting the belt. Shaking his head, Sven managed to gather himself enough to speak.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” That was all he said, nothing more.

“Then what are doing here!” I pressed, adding more ice to my voice. “In fact where is Jessica, where did you hide her body?” I added, steel now in my voice.

He flinched, scurrying away from me like I had the plague. I stepped forward, revelling in his fear. This was a long time in the making. I stopped for a second, thinking. I technically already beat him into a bloody pulp. Was this too far? I wondered until the memory of Jessica surfaced and I decided everything was justified.

“You need to help me.” He begged.

I ignored him and pushed forward, he fell like the miserable whelp he was. Into the corner he went, pitiful and not worth my time. But oh did I hate him.

“Our father will kill her!” He managed to get out in between his frantic retreat.

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I stopped in my tracks, trying to parse what he just said. “What?” That is all I could say.

“Our lord father has ordered both of us to command the second wave.” He explained, regaining some of his lost nerve.

Shakily he rose to his feet, tentatively testing whether I would slap him down. I didn’t, I let him rise to eye level and bid him to continue.

“If we don’t achieve success in the second wave, he will order me to.” He trailed off, horror on his face, plain for all to see. “He will have me kill sweet Jessica the moment she opens her eyes.”

We both froze, the weight of that statement setting in. A pin could have dropped at that moment, even the sounds of the bustling camp were drowned out by Sven’s last utterance.

I barely knew her, but the image of that charming lass, being taken and forced to be a bloodsucker for all eternity just. It just made me angry, and wrathful, because it reminded me of what I had lost.

I could no longer walk under the sun, or eat delicious food, along with an eternal hunger for blood that would never leave me. I could have accepted it if it was my choice. But Lord Drelem took that from me, as Sven took that from her.

Now her new life that was thrust upon her, against her will would be snuffed out because it displeased an egomaniacal vampire lord. All because this pathetic piece of trash got a hard-on for her.

Sven stepped back again, there wasn’t much space left. But the look that likely adorned my very angry self, was probably making him worried. I calmed, trying to keep myself in check. Did I need more blood? I don’t think so, I did recall drinking that goat's blood and choking the stuff down.

Did I imagine Titus patting my back and giving soothing words of comfort? That did not sound like the cold and brutal enforcer. I pulled myself from these thoughts and set upon the task at hand.

“So her life or unlife hangs in the balance. You and I must achieve whatever constitutes an achievement with a bunch of zombies at a heavily fortified castle. If we fail, assuming we survive, Jessica is dead?” I glared at him, daring the man to refute me.

“Pretty much.” He confirmed, with a far more cavalier attitude than I had ever seen before.

“I assume the zombie horde is ready?” I asked, firmly defeated by the never-ending current of world events.

“They are outside, waiting for us.”

I nodded and gestured for him to leave. “Ladies first.” I sneered and he replied with the same.

Once out of the tent, we found an impressive lineup of zombies and skeletons. Looks to be two hundred strong if my estimates are correct. They were all surprisingly equipped, mostly axes and clubs. They were going up against humans and undead, so that made sense.

Inspecting the troops, I found Sven commanding a few of the undead to approach him. I had actually forgotten he was a necromancer. It was all drowned out by the fact of his sheer patheticness that I forgot he was remotely competent.

Instead of giving them marching orders, he had the skeletons fetch his robes and staff. I guess that was a given, the pompous fop was likely used to being served in all things.

Casting a glance over the troops, I tried to come up with a strategy. Beyond throwing the whole lot at the wall, I was not well suited for this. Sure I had commanded men in a few sieges. But never commanded undead for the task.

“Can we tag along?” A voice said from the side.

I turned and immediately brightened, finally a friendly face. Both Sig and Edmund had showed up, both decked out in full gear. Edmund had his battle axe strapped to his back and was adorned in a combination of leather and steel plate. Sig on the other hand was in his typical wizard robes, a dagger at his waste, along with many wizardly components on his belt.

“Of course you can, we can all die together. This will be my second time.” I joked.

“Speak for yourself, I will never die and if I do, it will be surrounded by a mountain of corpses.” Edmund proclaimed, proudly.

“I am just going to teleport away and leave you guys in the dust.” Sig added, grinning like a child.

“You can do that?” Edmund asked, incredulous.

“You can’t?” Sig chided.

“Nope, but I can teleport you to that tree, here let me start the spell.” The grinning giant leaned forward to give the wizard a bear hug.

Before he could reach him, water splashed on his face. It came from the wizard, he gestured and the water just appeared, dumped on his head.

“What did you do that for?” Edmund grumbled.

“Thought you needed a bath.”

The moment he said that the lumbering giant smiled and then reached for his axe. Sig ran off, trying to escape the giant's wrath. I watched on as my two companions who were going to aid me, ran around the undead army.

“We are so screwed.” I said, deflating.