CHAPTER 6.

"No way, no fucking way." I thought to myself, this had to be a dream because there was no fucking way that I was staring at was vampire. What the fuck was going on, who are these people. All I wanted was to clear the bone dungeon and my student loan debt; and not necessarily in that order.

I tried raising my neck from the floor to ask God why I had to be so unlucky in my life.

Who did I offend in my previous life and how can I atone for the unknown transgression to end this madness?

For some reason, both women wanted me and we're willing to fight to the death to have me. I chuckled a bit manically. How many men can say with a straight face that they had been in such a situation before and mean it.

I knew my mind was slowly giving in to hysteria, but right now I was too spent to care. Either I was heading to the "vault" and dying at the hands of my parent's murderers or I was moving from this futuristic house of alien horrors to wherever the "vampire" called home.

This was a no brainer, both options were shit and like that guy in that Robert Frost poem should have done; I ignored the two options and began looking around for a metaphorical tunnel.

I was not going to be kidnapped by a fucking vampire, that was a giant no-no and there was no way I was staying here to die.

I began to crawl frantically trying to get away from the two women. Let them duke it out, I'm outta here.

"Your pathetic tools are useless against a daughter of Lamashtu, lay down your weapon and seek my glorious mercy."

Suddenly I felt weak and pliable, like my mind was made of dough ready to be shaped whatever way she wanted.

I turned towards her; ready to do exactly as she commanded. I felt a buzz in my mind as a number of warnings flashed through my thoughts.

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Warning: Unauthorized mental manipulation detected, deploying neural countermeasures.

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Slowly I started to gather my wits as my mind cleared and I felt a rush of anger at the blatant manipulation of my person. I don’t know how she did it, but she had some ability to compel obedience with her voice

Even Ivelina had begun to comply as her gun hand started to waver. But suddenly she stopped and the look in her eyes was one of pure hatred. Her hand steadied and she fired the gun; and boy did the gun fucking fire. The bullet or whatever projectile the strange gun used, tore out of the gun almost soundlessly and launched itself towards the vampire but to my surprise the projectile stopped a couple of inches from the vampire's face and exploded, a red pulsing shield had suddenly formed in front of her, covering her from head to toe.

Then Ivelina, screaming in hatred and frustration; opens fire again, but this time, she went full auto on the vampire. The vampire began to move forward, calm and clearly unhurried, unbothered by powerful explosions that pressed against her shield. She was clearly in no hurry, that sinister smile she entered the passageway with had yet to leave her face, like a cat playing with its food..

"Your worthless essence starved realm may limit my power, but even diminished, you're no match for me."

Ivelina must have exhausted all her ammo because she threw the gun and pressed a button on her bracelet. Just like the evil bastard Avery, she was covered suddenly in some kind of liquid metal that morphed into armor, electric sparks ran across the armor and she took off faster than I could follow towards the vampire.

"Finally some mettle, at least you won't die broken on your back mechanist." The vampire said even as blood red swirls began to spread over her body and she moved in what seemed like a blink towards Ivelina.

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Suddenly they met with a large explosion of force that threw my already bruised body across the room. My entire body flared in agony and I nearly passed out from the sheer influx of pain.

I looked to see the two ladies duking it out in the middle of the hallway, barely visible at the speeds they moved.

I tried to get up but felt something lying next to me; it was Ivelina's gun. I crawled resolutely towards the gun, determined to get some leverage in this seemingly hopeless situation. I felt impotent against the forces before me. I needed to get that gun and send these bitches to hell while they were focused on taking each other out.

I knew my thoughts were cowardly, but right now, I had to prioritize not dying or going with Countess Bathory over my pride. Because even though I could barely keep up with the movements of the two women, I could see enough to tell that Ivelina doing too well

I picked up the gun, looking it over. The weapon was clearly beyond my ability to understand. First it had no trigger, in fact nothing about the weapon was familiar save for the muzzle; which was several times smaller than you would find on your standard handgun. It seemed to me from a cursory glance that the weapon used some kind of fingerprint sensor as a trigger or some other kind of control that was beyond me..

I knew I was rambling but screw it, anything to take my mind off the terrifying flash of barely seen movement that represented the battle between these two Amazons.

I looked down at the gun; it was unlikely that I'd figure out how to use it, but the gun was a symbol of safety in a world gone mad. I picked it up and clutched it to my chest looking at the massive display of power before me and knowing that I was screwed no matter who won.

When the fighting slowed to barely perceptible, I could see a blade in Ivelina's hands, no... scratch that, the liquid metal stuff had covered her hands and formed blades. Her armor had taken severe damage; several pieces had been ripped off and she bled freely.

"How do you like that bitch, hope it hurts as bad as it looks." I chuckled with a crazy smile on my face. The vampire in contrast looked unruffled, a rapier forged from red glowing energy in one hand(I'd played enough games to know what a rapier looked like) and her other hand extended in red glowing claws.

She stretched out her hand and suddenly Ivelina was bound in red glowing chains that sprung out from dark red circles on the ground.

Again I was stupefied by the power and ability of this mysterious being. That settled it for me. I guess I was going to discover what a vampire’s cave looks like after all

"Clever trick playing on his weak male sensibilities to escape my thralls, but this outcome was inevitable, you spurned my mercy, you worthless mechanist maggot. I shall let you bleed out while you meditate on your failure."

And then my awe faded somewhat as I came crashing back to earth. Great another villain obsessed with overblown monologues.

She pulled out a round glowing stone from the little bag at her hip and threw it against the wall next to her.

Suddenly a vortex appeared and sucked in the solid concrete of the wall and even some of the floor as it widened into a glowing disc of swirling white light.

She stepped over to me, pulled out a small bottle with some black liquid in it from the bag at her hip,held my jaw open and forced it down my throat. I tried to struggle in her grip, but one look into her ruby eyes and all thoughts of resistance left me, leaving only enthusiastic compliance, the warnings of my implant fading into the background.

The stuff tasted like rotten onions and unwashed socks. But I was unable to look away or fight her, mesmerized as I was by her eyes. More warnings flashed inside my skull and more countermeasures were deployed but my mind refused to obey. After a few seconds, I noticed my body begin to slowly knit itself. Hot white fire flashed through me and I screamed as my body was wracked in pain.

Whatever it was she gave me was obviously healing me but at the same time ripping me apart. But despite the pain piercing every part of me, I was unable to look away from her entrapping gaze even as my body burned in agony. My wounds began to close and even broken bones began to mend.

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Warning: Unauthorized mental manipulation detected, deploying neural countermeasures.

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Soon most of my injuries were healed, but I was weak and tired from the pain I'd just recently suffered. But I felt much better than I'd been since I left the auto shop. Maybe "vampire babe" wasn't so bad.

I raised my head from the ground, about to thank her for healing me when I saw Ivelina launch herself from behind her. I tried to let out a warning but faster than I could blink, she spun caught Ivelina outstretched bladed hands in her glowing red ones, her hands seemingly protected by the red glow suffusing them and with a smile on her face, the glow on her hands intensified and she broke the blades.

With indiscernible speed she retaliated, stabbing the blades into Ivelina's shoulder blade and stomach. Ivelina's scream was gut wrenching as the vampire shoved her across the room like a ragdoll.

She turned to me and smiled. "Come my pet, let me take you to your new home." She stretched her right hand towards me and before I could tell myself to run, I placed my hand in hers, my gaze lost in her luminous eyes as we stepped into the swirling lights.