Chapter 13

“That was so freakin’ awesome! You were like “I got this” and then you totally owned his ass! Bahahaha!” Aidan roared with laughter. He began re-enacting the whole fight scene as they walked down the streets of the Asylum.

Nate smiled and laughed along with Aidan but his mind was somewhere else. Anza’s words kept resounding in his ears over and over. Millionaires were paying to keep this Asylum running and it was because of them these prisoners had to live in such a squalid lifestyle.

Something has to be done about this first. Nate smiled as a plan began to form in his head.

…

“You sure you’re okay?” Anza repeated for the third time. She had her arm wrapped around Amelia who was currently red-eyed as tears streamed down her face.

“Why’d you have to be so mean to him?!” She cried.

“Why’re you so invested in him? He’s just one human, there are millions of them in this Asylum go pick another.”

“You don’t understand…” Amelia said shaking her head.

“Understand what?” Anza said now confused.

Amelia looked up at her. “Did your mother ever tell you how she found me?”

Anza shook her head. Amelia wiped the tears out of her eyes and took a deep breath. “My family moved to America in 1849, I was only seven years old at the time. For eleven years my father provided for my mother and I. My father even managed to save up to send me off to college. When I returned from college four years later my parents and I had a big celebration. But then… but then some un-invited guests showed up.”

Amelia grew silent for a minute seeming to collect herself. “All I can really remember is a horribly disfigured monster appearing out of a magical doorway that appeared in mid-air. The monster slaughtered my family and the last thing I remember was being sent flying into the air. When I came to, I was in your mother’s arms, a fully-fledged vampire.”

“What does this have to do with Nate?” Anza said softly although she felt like she knew where this was going.

“That first night I drank too deep. His blood tasted so good, so rich! It’s only now I understand it tasted that way to me because he and I were so similar. When I drank too much I saw flashes of his memories. His whole family was wiped out by a demon and he was blamed for the whole thing, that’s why he’s in here.” Fresh tears rolled down Amelia’s face. “Gosh it must’ve been so horrible having to shoulder all that and to be blamed on top of that…” Amelia began sobbing quietly.

Anza curled her arm around Amelia and held her close. They remained that way until Luke showed up in the doorway. “Madam, someone requests an audience.”

“Not now.” She waved him away.

“Madam, he says he’s from the white council.”

“Go.” Amelia pushed her away softly.

Anza sighed and stood up. She went to the living room where she saw a man in his thirties with a full head of white hair sitting down and sipping coffee. He stood up as she walked in. “Madam Anza.” He bowed.

“Why have you come?” Anza frowned as she realized an actual mage was standing in front of her, and not just an errand boy from the white council.

“The council can no longer continue to ignore the mass slaughter of the humans under your care. You’re now under investigation consider this a courtesy call.”

…

Nate sat atop the highest level of a great maple tree. Even though his physical body was there mentally, he was somewhere else.

Eighty feet away there was a camp of hunters making camp for the night. Sounds of skin slapping against skin was heard as the wealthy players forced themselves on the prisoners they’ve captured. Nate’s consciousness drifted through the camp like an ethereal ghost.

There were various black prisoners and some Mexican prisoners. Nate didn’t know who the ‘enemy’ race was that was being kept there as a last minute kill count. But it didn’t matter. He fixed his sights on a middle-aged man that just came back from the woods after using the bathroom.

As the man settled down Nate moved his ethereal ghost inside the man’s body, filling the man with his spirit energy. Nate then tried to take control of the man’s limbs but it was like trying to lift a mountain.

“What the hell?” The man said as his arms seized for a few seconds before turning back to normal.

This is not going to work. Nate sighed. After the incident with the cellphone, and how he always makes himself run faster by infusing telekinetic energy inside his limbs he thought he could control a being using the same methods but it just didn’t work. Getting out of the man’s body he was about to make a trip to the camp with his physical body when he decided to try one last thing.

Most of the ‘hunters’ were up and enjoying the various entertainment but there was one woman that was asleep in her tent. This woman was heavy-set, much heavier than the man he just tried to take control of, this made him almost abandon his attempt but he tried anyways.

Entering her body, he began to take control of her limbs. This time when he tried he was easily able to maneuver the body as if it were his own. Standing up he picked up the rifle lying by the door. He walked out of the tent, rifle in hand. Spotting his first victim Nate pulled up the rifle and took aim, then squeezed the trigger.

Player killing is not allowed. Weapons are set to automatically lock if pointed at someone wearing a vest. This is to insure players on opposing teams do not attempt to murder each other. Please refrain from future attempts to do so.

Even though it wasn’t Nate’s body he could clearly hear the message. The message was loud enough to wake the woman up. “What the hell?” She said aloud. Nate tried to move but like before the body was as heavy as a mountain.

He withdrew his ghost and returned to his body. “I’ll just have to wait till more of them go to sleep.”

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Three hours later Nate decided to try again. Using the same process, he entered the camp. This time there were more people asleep. Nate picked a ‘Player’ at random and inhabited their body. This time though he searched around for a knife rather than a gun since all guns were useless against those wearing vests.

Once he found a knife he approached the first victim. A young man who slept beside a black prisoner woman on one side and a Mexican prisoner woman on the other. He briefly struggled with the act of killing sleeping individuals but when he recalled all the horrible things these players did to their fellow man he threw his hesitations aside.

“Schlunk” It felt fake, stabbing into the player like that. But the blood that streamed from its body was definitely real. There were twelve players in the camp alive and sleeping peacefully but all that changed in the span of one hour. Now there was only twelve dead players surrounded by a bunch of prisoners. As the final act Nate stabbed the knife into his own temple before ejecting his ethereal ghost.

The body crashed to the floor with a resounding thump. The prisoners would be terrified, or extremely happy in the morning. He was sure no blame would fall on them since there were cameras on the vests. All the administrators would see was a player going on a murderous rampage killing his fellow players before taking his own life.

…

Anderson was in love. All his life he’s been unhappy even though his family was rich. He’d been given everything he ever wanted, all he had to do was simply ask for it. But it wasn’t enough, there was no sense of accomplishment, no challenge to make life interesting. Slowly his attitude turned into something even normal people deemed as anti-social, some even making fun calling him a future mass-murderer.

Roommates would distance themselves, the few friends he had were solely those looking for handouts. He felt completely alone in the world. Even women wouldn’t touch him unless he paid exorbitant amounts. All the pressure from normal life was getting to him, every day he plastered on a fake smile trying to get people to like him but he still couldn’t make real friends and form real relationships.

He began to plot his death. Suicide would put him out of his misery but it would do nothing to quench his anger so he bought rifles, shotguns, and knives. If he was going to die, then he’d make sure he took some people out with him, specifically those who always made fun saying he was going to end up a mass-murder. If they thought that way, then why not prove them right? It was their fault he was reduced to this, if he couldn’t be happy, no one would.

It was like this his mother found him. In a panic he pulled out his gun and was about to shoot when she spoke. “Enough… pack your things we’re going on a trip.” She said it so casually he was too shocked to shoot.

Ten minutes later he walked downstairs unsure what his mother had planned. He still had the rifle in hand when he walked into the living room. His mother was reclined back on the couch cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other. She saw him walk in and pointed to the coffee table.

Anderson went to the table and saw a ticket to Black Watch Asylum. “Is this real?” His heart began to palpitate.

“Look at the time and date... You only have an hour to get there before it starts, your father will meet you there.”

Anderson excitedly picked up the ticket and rushed out the door keys in hand. “Anderson!” His mouther shouted. Anderson looked back at her, she was standing in the doorway looking at him seriously. “I hope this quenches your thirst. Because when you come back I expect better.”

Anderson nodded eagerly and left to Black Watch Asylum. The first day was exactly what he needed, he and his father, along with another group teamed up and went hunting. His first kill was the most satisfying. He could still remember her blubbering face dripping with snot as she begged to be spared. But all he could see was the countless rejections he faced in life, fake girls that had used him for money and strung him along. The feeling he got after pulling the trigger was as if something clicked into place, he finally felt happy.

On the second day he was a little sad because there was only a day left until their trip ended. He made sure to make the most out of each hour, hunting until the late hours even. When everyone was at camp enjoying the women and rutting like pigs, Anderson was still out hunting.

He'd returned to camp around ten when things had calmed down a bit more. Entering his tent, he saw his father was out but someone else was sitting up nearby.

“Hey Ellis.” Andersson greeted the girl. She was his age and was here with her parents. Ellis wasn’t like the other girls, she was someone like him, someone rejected by society. Her face was horribly disfigured from a cosmetic surgery gone wrong.

She grunted in greeting. Andersson lied down on his mattress and ordered one of the prisoner girls standing around to pleasure him. He fell asleep with a warm mouth on his member.

Screaming woke him up from his sleep. Anderson sat up in bed excited to kill some more but the constant screams coming from camp got him a little worried. He reached for his rifle and woke Ellis up. She snapped at him but then heard the commotion going on and grabbed her own rifle.

The Camp was a mess. Bodies lie strewn about everywhere, but what frightened Anderson the most was that the bodies weren’t prisoners. “What the hell?” Ellis said.

A woman burst out of the tent screaming, red blood all over her torso and upper body. Another woman ran out as well only this woman was wearing a wide grin on her face, a large axe that still dripped with blood carried in her right hand.

“Mom?!” Ellis yelled. Elis’s mom launched the axe at the woman running, it embedded itself into her back. She went over and dug it out with a wet squelch sound. “Mom stop this! Turn your axe on the prisoners, not us!” She screamed.

But that only seemed to anger the woman. She ran at Ellis and Anderson, bloody axe in hand. Anderson held his ground and aimed his rifle. He clicked, but the gun didn’t shoot. Some message about not being able to shoot other players popped into his head.

“Run!” He yelled but it was too late. Ellis’s head went flying as the gash from her neck spurted blood. Anderson turned tail and ran but something struck his leg. He fell on the floor and tried to scramble to stand up but his leg collapsed.

He looked up at the bloodstained woman. “Please.” He begged. The woman didn’t speak. The last thing he remembered was a bloody axe coming down on him.

…

Anza strode into the Black Watch Surveillance building on the outside of the Asylum. As soon as she walked into the building she saw a chaotic scene, dozens of workers were running to and fro as people yelled out orders.

When they saw her they froze in place and waited silently. Few whispers of: “That’s the Boss’ daughter.” Was heard throughout the room.

Anza ignored them and went to the elevator, up to the third floor, and barged into the conference room where she saw dozens of men in suits sitting around. They looked up in anger that someone would enter so rudely but once they saw her they adopted respectful expressions.

“What happened?” She hissed in a very low voice.

“We’d tell you but its better if you see it for yourself. Play the tape.” One of the board men said. Anza looked up at the giant flat screen as a video came on the screen. It showed players going on a rampage and attacking each other.

“Thirty-seven people lost their lives in the span of three days. All of them influential people and have substantial backing. This is a shit storm Ms. Greywall.” The board man said when the video stopped.

“Leave us.” Anza ordered.

“What?” The members on the board all looked at her dumbfounded.

“LEAVE!” She yelled startling the board members out of their seats. They quickly left the conference room leaving behind Luke, Amelia, and a few other vampires.

“What could’ve done this.” Anza said sitting down in a chair.

“Isn’t it obvious, these humans are blood thirsty creatures. It’s in their nature-“

“Charlie not another goddam word about your hate for humans. We both know humans didn’t do this.” She hissed.

Charlie remained silent. “Was it the mage?” She asked turning to Luke.

“No, we’ve had surveillance on him the whole time. Besides, slaughtering humans goes against everything they believe in.” Luke answered.

“Maybe it was a demon.” Amelia said her face going pale with fear.

“I’m afraid that’s the most likely scenario.” Anza nodded in agreement.

“What can we do…” Amelia said with a distraught look on her face.

“It’s out of our hands. The Founding will soon hear of this if they haven’t already, they’ll send their own team to investigate.” She sighed. “Worst case scenario we end up hunting down the demon who caused this.”

“You mean… enter the NetherRealm and hunt them down in there?”

“Amelia, you forget not only are you a vampire you’re also a shaman. Show some backbone for Christ sake.” Anza said, getting annoyed although she couldn’t blame Amelia for her fear. The NetherRealm was a place fraught with danger, and often lead to the death of even the oldest vampires.