Chapter LIV (54)- Bloodsucking a Bloodsucker

At first, Kizu feared nothing happened. But after a moment, the clamp of the monster's jaws on Kizu’s neck slackened.

He released his grip on the knife and pushed himself apart from the bloodsucking monster. Stumbling back, Kizu clutched at his bloody neck. The monster struggled as it raised a hand and flickered slightly, like a failing illusion. Kizu had stabbed Sojan soundly into its stomach. But if the monster bled, Sojan must have been drinking it before it exited the wound. Not a drop stained the wound..

“Out of all the creatures,” the monster growled. But it wasn’t the same gravelly voice as before. It now sounded like a distorted version of Sojan. “Thousands of species to choose from. And you chose something semi-incorporeal? Seriously?” The monster flickered again, the knife seeming to drop a centimeter or two closer to the ground before it resolidified. The blade struggled to control the monster’s movements. “And don’t get me started on the blood in this thing. There’s good stuff sure, but it’s like eating something someone else has already chewed up. And it’s mixed in with that same stuff you gave me last time. My complaints about that still stand. It tastes foul.”

“I’ll get you a better meal,” Kizu promised, trying to quell Sojan’s stream of complaints. “But first we need an unfrozen exit.”

Sojan, still muttering his grievances, pointed a bone white finger at the exit. A beam of pure white-hot flames stabbed into the barrier, sending ripples through the ice as it melted.

Kizu dragged Basil and Anata through the steaming hole. Anata stared back at her father’s body as Sojan lurched it around, fighting to maintain control of it. Kizu wasn’t certain if Anata understood what exactly was happening, but she appeared even more catatonic than usual.

Sojan attempted to follow after them, controlling the monster’s body with jerky movements, but when he approached the edge of the room, the body disintegrated completely into smoke.

Thankfully, Kizu managed to snatch the blade off the ground and stumble down the cavern before the mist reformed. Kizu scooped up Anata into his arms, his leg protested at the strain on his leg brace, but Kizu ignored the twinge of pain. They ran.

Basil, thankfully, was able to grow a new pair of legs, though he looked thin and gaunt from the effort. He was significantly less chatty than usual as they hurriedly stumbled up the path.

After a while, unable to keep up their pace, they slowed to a trudging walk. Anata managed to find her feet and walked for herself beside Kizu, though she continued to hold his hand in a death grip and seemed unwilling to let go.

Kizu’s bond with Mort led them through twisting passages. More than once they had to double back due to dead ends, but Basil kept an eye on the World Dungeon Atlas so they avoided all the traps in the paths.

After two dozen turns, Kizu put his hand to the wall. His neck was still bleeding. They had been trudging along for less than ten minutes and their run had lasted only half of that time, but he felt exhausted. The now familiar feel of blood loss threatened his consciousness. Only the poignant ache from his leg managed to distract him from the new pain in his neck. He was about to explain that to Basil, when his leg gave up on him. It collapsed and folded under his weight like a piece of origami paper. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

“Hello,” Sojan’s voice boomed cheerily inside him. It seemed to come from every direction. “Your friend inserted me into you but you’re awfully low on blood right now. Barely anything in your flesh sack besides dry bones.”

Kizu tried to respond, but all he could manage was an internal moan.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I won’t drain you, Kaga Kizu. Please note though that I don’t think in my entire existence I have ever exercised this much restraint. I hate it. Consider yourself deeply in my debt. You promised me a better meal. I will hold you to that promise.”

And just like that, Kizu jolted back into awareness. His feet were moving under him and he instantly felt the dagger jutting out of his back. He reached behind him and grabbed Sojan, yanking the blade out. It felt similar to finally removing a wooden splinter from under his thumbnail after a week of struggle. Strangely though, it didn’t appear to leave a wound after dislodging it. The flesh of his back remained as smooth as ever.

Only then did Kizu realize his legs were moving on their own, walking alongside Basil and Anata.

“You stabbed me with a dagger!” Kizu accused Basil, brandishing the enchanted dagger.

“Yeah, we needed to keep moving,” Basil said defensively. “And it was able to manipulate your blood from inside you. It clotted the wound on your neck closed so you didn’t bleed out.”

Kizu reached up and touched his neck. The touch caused him to wince in pain. Unlike the dagger’s wound, this one had definitely left its mark. Still, it was already scabbed over. That quelled a bit of Kizu’s anger. But he would have still torn into Basil, if he didn’t at that moment round a corner and walk right on top of Ione.

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“Hey! Watch it!” Ione snapped as she lurched to her feet. It looked like she had been sleeping.

Kizu stared at her dumbly. He couldn’t help noting that the current corridor looked like an absolutely abysmal location to nap. He couldn’t even see a decent hiding spot nearby. Anyone could stumble on them. In fact, he literally had just stumbled on them.

“Oh,” she said, sitting back down. “It’s you. We were wondering when you would turn up. And look, you found Basil. And a very dirty looking girl wearing an old potato sack.”

Mort leaped onto Kizu’s head and hummed. Kizu could feel the monkey’s relief mingle with his own.

“Glad you’re both safe,” Kizu said. “I’m sorry I was gone for so long.”

“Your monkey started chewing on my hair yesterday,” Ione complained. “We’re half starved. Three days and barely a cockroach to eat.”

“Three days?” Kizu said, a little confused. “I’ve been gone for weeks. I’m surprised you didn’t try to find the surface already.”

Basil looked at him then over to Anata. “Oh, I get it! I bet you found her in a time dilation pod. That’s what Kekkon meant when he monologued about how it would be more time for her than him.”

“Kekkon? Time dilation?”

“You’ve been in some sort of sealed off room, right? While stuck wherever you were,” Basil explained. “Time probably moved a great deal slower outside than it did for you. It’s an ancient enchanting method that’s been lost. There are a few pods that have resurfaced across the overworld, but nobody’s managed to reproduce them.”

“Okay,” Kizu said, thinking about that. It made logical sense. Though now he regretted not studying the glyphs in the room further. “And who’s Kekkon?”

“The vampire lord we encountered,” Basil said reluctantly. “I, um, assume that must be him. I overheard his name while scouting.”

“What’s a vampire lord?”

“Vampire lord?” Ione perked up. “I thought they were a myth. Or long since extinct. You actually saw one?”

“According to Basil, ask him yourself,” Kizu admitted.

She pointed at a small hole in her earlobe. “Had to toss my earring. I don’t understand a word he’s saying.”

“Do we have the time to chat about this?” Basil cut in. “Grab some chalk and sketch us out another locator spell so we can find you sister. Better to know where we’re going and get moving. We put some distance between us and the spawn, but this is their home territory. They likely know their way around.”

Kizu decided to follow through with the idea. After practicing it for months now, it took only a couple minutes to finish a divination circle with chalk. Unfortunately, it was as he had assumed. It directed him to Anata, who stood to the side, watching wide eyed.

“It’s useless,” Kizu said glumly. “Anata interferes with the divination spell every time.” He had suspected as much, but the attempt still left him feeling hollow. “Anna probably isn’t down here. We might as well leave.”

Ione asked about Anata while they prepared to set out. Kizu gave a quick summary of what had happened after their separation and explained to her that Anata was his half-monster niece. That sparked Ione’s interest in the girl. Kizu felt a bit relieved to see Ione coax Anata into riding with her on her summoned giant lizard mount with her. She even was able to fasten the girl onto the lizard using the creature’s skip flaps, strapping her in place. Not carrying her around freed his hands and let him focus on navigating them with the World Dungeon Atlas.

“It feels good to have my summons back,” Ione confided in Kizu during one of her infrequent breaks from pestering Anata. “Three days of hiding without being able to cast a spell was miserable. Not only did I leave behind my earring, I had to break the enchantments on my clothes.” She paused. “Your necklace is still working, right?”

Kizu confirmed that fact. He felt a new wave of guilt about their separation. Not only had Mort and her been stuck without a map, guide, or food, they also were left completely defenseless. But he did his best to try not to think about it. Everything had turned out fine in the end.

Ascending the World Dungeon turned out to be a great deal easier and quicker than their descent. Ione passed the time by continuing to poke and prod Anata, who was looking progressively more uncomfortable under the summoner’s scrutiny. Basil hummed as he walked along. Kizu thought it sounded a bit off key though. He suspected Basil might be putting up a charade of ease.

Kizu couldn’t figure out what was up with Basil. He obviously had spent time down in the vampiric spawn lair. And as a guest, Kizu figured. When Kizu had stumbled into him, Basil had been strolling the corridors of the lair seemingly without a care in the world. He only hopped into action once Kizu encountered him.

On the other hand, Basil had only ever assisted Kizu, with the exception of taking the atlas. He appeared completely genuine about wanting to help. However, whenever Kizu tried to return to the subject of his disappearance, Basil continued to reply with painfully obvious lies about scouting and surveillance.

A noise broke his musings. It sounded like a bell dinging in the distance. The echo reverberated down the tunnel, making a shiver run up his spine.

“Ah!” Ione cried out. Her giant lizard reeled back at the noise, almost causing Anata (whose hands covered her ears) to slip out from under the creature’s skin flaps. Only Basil’s quick hand, steadying her, stopped the girl from meeting the ground.

“Anything suspicious ahead?” Basil asked as he helped Anata regain her balance.

Kizu checked the atlas, scanning it for anything that looked like a trap.

“Nothing. There’s an enchanted trap down a tunnel parallel to here though. The details in the book are too difficult for me to understand, but maybe the sound was just that.”

They pushed on ahead, even more attentive than before.

Unfortunately, not attentive enough.