The level 22 vampire beckoned at Aylin insistently, curling her claws.

"Come now, mage." she insisted, as the half-elf readied her wand. Aylin's free hand dropped to her waist, cupping the divine relic protectively. "Convincing Richter here to try the diplomatic approach wasn't easy. Don't let all that work go to waste."

"You have something that Queen Solenix desires." The large man growled in a deep, menacing voice. He clutched a double-bladed battle-axe in a two handed grip, its dark surface glimmering in the amber glow of the cavern. "Hand it over."

"This relic is newly born." Aylin said cautiously, not taking her eyes off the pair. "How did the blood witch find it?"

"You really think she would miss such a powerful source of death essence?" the female vampire, who the system labelled as 'Clara', laughed. "I thought Mystic Order mages were smart, Richter."

"If they were smart, she would have already handed it over." Richter levelled a cool glare at them. "We won't ask again.

Aylin hadn't shared much about the relic, only that its power could be gravely misused in the wrong hands. She'd mentioned this 'blood witch' before, calling her a powerful necromancer and practitioner of dark magic. Jade suspected that she was high on the list of people who shouldn't possess such an artifact. She stepped forward, matching glares with the taller vampire.

"I've got a counterproposal for you." she said, flaring her wings and drawing a pair of daggers. Phantom shimmered in her hand, looking almost ethereal in the gloom. "Fuck off."

Clara's eyes snapped to Jade. She expected her to sneer in derision, or possibly even back down at the challenge. Instead, bizarrely, the vampire appeared confused.

"Wait… What?" she said, looking at Jade for the first time. She glanced uncertainly at Richter, who was also hesitating. "Why are you here?"

"What?" Jade asked, equally confused. She caught Aylin's eye, and the mage gave a slight shrug.

"Zertrolk didn't say anything about… Oh!" Clara's eyes narrowed, focusing on Jade's wayfarer mark. She slapped herself on the forehead. "You're from that new world… Chose a demon race, did you? How daring."

"Who is Zertrolk?" Jade asked. Was that another demon?

"We're not here to answer questions, filth." Richter sneered. He took a menacing step forward. "We gave them their chance. Now, we do it my way."

"Fine." Clara rolled her eyes. She flexed her fingers, extending her wicked claws further. She gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry for what comes next. I tried."

Around her, Jade's companions readied their weapons. The two groups stared each other down for several long moments, sizing each other up. The system tagged Richter as being one level higher than his companion. They'd be tough opponents, but there were only two of them. Jade's group numbered six. Unless vampires were especially strong for their level, they should have the advantage, unless…

Jade expanded her senses, sweeping the area once more. Were there others lying in wait while these two distracted them? She focused, searching-

She was too late.

Movement caught the corner of Jade's eye. She spun just in time to see a figure form in the shadows behind them, lunging for Aylin.

"Luis!"

It all happened in an instant. A flash of red hair, the rustle of dark cloth, and the 'clink' of steel on steel. The newcomer slashed the sealed crystaline relic free from the harness holding it to Aylin's belt, deftly catching it in her hand. She pivoted, slashing her blade across the mage's back just as she was starting to turn-

Only to have her strike be intercepted by an expanding bubble shield as Luis cast his spell. The impact sent Aylin stumbling one way and the thief the other. Jade was already moving, running towards the unknown assailant. The dark-clad woman was off-balance. One hand clutched the relic to her chest, the dark crystal still shielded by Aylin's binding enchantment. Her other arm was flung wide for balance, with a wicked dagger held in her clawed hand.

Jade saw the opening and seized it, blinking forward with 'Mirage Step' and emerging right in front of the thief. She thrust with Phantom, going straight for the kill.

SCHING

The crimson-haired woman moved with supernatural speed, twisting around Jade's strike and parrying with expert skill. Jade struck again with her offhand, scoring a hit against her side. It didn't draw blood, instead absorbed by wards imbued into her dark robes. And then she was past her, dashing into the darkness like a bolt of shadow.

"Don't let her get away!" Aylin cried, regaining her balance just as the other two vampires struck.

The man surged forward, charging to meet Luis blade to blade. Clara stayed in the rear, raising her hands and chanting. She dodged spells from Naomi and Siora as umbral energy swirled around her outstretched arms, dispersing in a shockwave that sank into the ground around her feet. Clawed hands burst from the earth a moment later, spectral corpses heaving themselves to their feet and shambling towards them.

Jade and Fenrin were already chasing the thief. She was fast enough to keep up, but he wasn't. Instead, the half-elf was loosing arrow after arrow at the retreating vampire, forcing her to duck and weave between crystal outcroppings and giant fungi. Most missed, but one electrically charged shot found its mark. The arrow buried itself in the small of her back, lightning crackling across her body and causing her to stumble.

"I'll get her!" Jade shouted, glancing back at the melee between the rest of their party and the undead. "Help them!"

The specters didn't look strong. They were just a distraction to help their accomplice escape with the relic. Jade wasn't falling for it, but she also didn't want to leave her friends with too little support.

"We'll take care of them." Fenrin said, skidding to a stop and turning his bow on Clara. The blonde vampire was giggling, watching the battle unfold with a delighted expression. He whistled, and a multicolored streak of feathers burst from the darkness, talons poised to strike as he readied an arrow. "Be careful!"

Trusting her friends to take care of themselves, Jade tore off in pursuit of the escaping thief.

----------------------------------------

The thief moved like a shadow, flitting through the dark cavern with uncanny speed. Jade only caught glimpses of her through the encroaching gloom, broken only by the scattered glowing geodes that emerged from the rocky ground in clusters. The terrain was rougher off the road, forcing them to navigate uneven ground and treacherous drops in near total darkness. The only advantage Jade had was Fenrin's arrow, which still sparked with crackling lightning. It burst to life every few seconds, illuminating her target and slowing her down. During one of these flashes, Jade was finally able to pull up her status page.

* Ves Nightshade

* Level: 20 (26)

* Creature Type: Living Dead (Vampire)

* Origin: Labyrinth immigrant

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The level difference was concerning, but Jade didn't necessarily have to defeat her. She just had to swipe the relic back, or at least find out where she was going. She activated 'Vital Sight', overlaying her foe with the highlighted weak points her newly enhanced talent provided. Then, mid-sprint, she hurled Phantom with all the deadly precision her weeks of training had pounded into her.

The blade split as it spun through the air, manifesting a pair of duplicates as Jade channeled the essence of another talent through the strike. They bracketed Ves, one of them slicing into her shoulder as she dodged to the side.

"I was hoping someone would come after me." The vampire called over her shoulder, dancing through a collection of stalagmites that rose from the ground like a field of spears. She had a disconcerting voice. Sweet, but with a underlying hunger. "I was disappointed that I didn't get to kill the mage. A demon will be a nice consolation prize."

"You're welcome to try." Jade shot back, putting on a burst of speed. Phantom blinked back to her hand after each throw. Most missed their mark, but some of the attacks sliced across the vampire's back and shoulders, leaving lines of blood. "You chose the wrong group to mess with."

She didn't imbue any enchantment into her words. Not yet. The vampire was too far away. One thing Jade had learned from her experience with Malice was how much of a power boost charm spells got from eye contact. The closer, the better.

"What group?" Ves laughed, changing course. An expanse of darkness covered the land in front of her, deeper than in the rest of the cavern. "I don't see anyone with you."

It was a chasm. An enormous rift in the land that stretched into the distance. Jade could make it out better as she drew near, hot on her heels. Large pillars of stone rose from the shadowy depths in a jagged line, forming a perilous bridge across the yawning abyss. Ves reached the edge and leaped, her form shifting into a bolt of shadow that skipped across the darkness like a stone across a pond. She reformed three pillars deep on the path, stopping and turning to look back at Jade. Moss grew across the large platforms, emanating an eerie green glow and providing just enough illumination for Jade to see her knowing smirk.

She's got something up her sleeve.

Jade leaped the gap between the edge of the chasm and the first pillar, landing lightly. She threw Phantom in mid-air, flinging it towards Ves before her feet even hit the ground. The instant her boots brushed stone she blinked forward, phasing between the first and second pillars in a heartbeat. Ves leaned to the side, casually avoiding the thrown blade as it whipped past her. With one hand she still held the sealed relic. Ves raised the other, snapping her clawed fingers.

BOOM

Runes flashed, and a violent explosion of shadowy energy ripped across the first two pillars, cracking them down the middle. Pieces fell away into the dark abyss, smashing their way down into whatever lay in its depths.

But Jade wasn't there.

The succubus lunged for Ves from behind, Phantom back in her hand. The blade was still flickering with dimensional energy, having transported her to it the instant it pierced the mound of moss behind her foe. She was swift and silent, making no more noise than the faint scuff of boot against stone as she aimed a vicious slash at the back of Ves's neck.

Even that was enough to give her away. The vampire spun, fast as flowing smoke, throwing off Jade's aim. The surprise attack had caught her off guard, though, and she wasn't able to avoid it completely. Another spray of blood, this one from the side of her neck.

Missed!

It hadn't hit her vulnerable throat. Jade swiped again, daggers in both hands, aiming to keep her higher-level foe on the defensive. Ves darted away, elusive, retreating to the edge of the pillar. It was twenty feet across, a small arena that didn't give much room to maneuver. Jade gave chase, keeping pressure on her, and then gasped as several sharp impacts pierced her in the back.

"Aghh!"

Jade reacted instinctively, twisting aside and avoiding the second barrage of needle-thin projectiles. They were crimson droplets, small and sharp. Blood.

"That's the thing about fighting vampires." Ves said lightly, stalking closer to where Jade waited, weapons at the ready. "Wounds just give us more tools to play with."

She held up a clawed hand, tendrils of blood swirling around it. They twisted and writhed like the lashes of sanguine whips, ending in wicked tips. Jade's back throbbed from where it had been pelted, but her defenses had held well enough. She was still in good shape.

"You're an insightful fighter, demon. I'm impressed." Ves continued. A cruel smile twisted her lips, revealing twin fangs. "But it won't be enough. I'm glad you gave chase. I've always wanted to taste demon blood."

"We'll see about that." Jade growled, resuming her offensive.

The tendrils of twisting blood erupted towards Jade, striking like writhing serpents. She darted between two, blinked through a third, and struck for the hand holding the relic. Ves reacted with speed and skill, sidestepping her strike and sending another pair of blood lances at Jade's chest. She rolled to the side, dodging one, but the other punched straight through her wing. Jade snarled, slicing through the crystalline tendril and flinging Phantom at her in one smooth motion. The blade split once more, a fan of projectiles that even the vampire couldn't avoid at this range. Ves grunted as two caught her in the chest, wrenching them free and drawing the spray of blood into another pair of sanguine spears.

The battle was short and furious, made all the more brutal by the small confines of the pillar. It quickly became apparent that Jade was at a disadvantage. While she matched her hit for hit Ves had spoken the truth. Every drop of blood Jade spilled was turned against her as another wicked weapon, striking at her from all sides. None of the attacks were individually strong, but in aggregate they were quickly adding up. For her part, the vampire was calm and confident, completely in control. Jade could taste her eager anticipation for victory. She thought she'd already won.

Just what Jade had been waiting for.

A crimson spear sliced across Jade's stomach, sharp pain blossoming from the wound like fire. She dropped to one knee, clutching her chest. Ves's grin broadened, stretching across her face. In the glowing green light of the moss, she cut a sinister figure. Pale, beautiful, wreathed in black robes and swirling blood. Numerous wounds covered her body, but she paid them no mind as she stalked up to Jade, baring her fangs.

"Done already?" She shook her head sadly. "I thought demons were supposed to be strong. And the Queen barely ever lets me have any real fun."

Blood seeped from the gash in Jade's chest, leaking between her fingers. She was tough. Far tougher than she looked, but even her enhanced succubus defenses had limits. Jade felt Ves's clawed fingers grip her face, lifting her head and exposing her neck.

"Now to see what all the fuss is about..." The vampire said, bending closer.

Jade looked up at her face, matching her grin. She could taste Ves's arrogant confidence in her own superiority. It had been palpable from their first clash, when the difference in raw strength became apparent. But a succubus's true power lay in a different realm.

Their eyes met.

"I have a better idea." Jade said, pouring all the magic she could muster into her words. "Hand over the relic, and I'll give you a firsthand experience with a demon's kiss."

Jade channeled the arrogant authority Malice had used when charming her. Perhaps Ves had been confident in the strength of her willpower, or believed that the level disparity would protect her from the succubus's most notorious ability. If so, she was wrong. Jade's commanding presence imbued her words with power and left no room for disobedience. The magic took hold, freezing the vampire in place.

Jade could feel her foe raging against the mental bindings that held her will, her furious assault already sending cracks through the spell and tingling pain through Jade's head. Ves's level wasn't just for show, and she knew she couldn't hold her for long. Jade didn't wait for the vampire to comply, if indeed she would. Instead, she grabbed her by the arm and heaved her off balance, sending the robed woman stumbling across the platform with a kick. Ves reeled, staggering right into the rune trap Jade had dropped with a whisper the instant she teleported to the pillar.

The magic circle flashed violet, dark chains surging from the ground to bind her in place. The arcane restraints jerked her to a sudden stop, tearing the relic from her grasp. It landed hard on the stone ground, Aylin's sealing spell shattering under the impact, the magical barrier dissipating as the dark crystal shard bounced. An aura of deep shadow enveloped the divine relic and the temperature plunged, frost crystalizing on the ground around it. It rolled towards the edge of the pillar, its momentum carrying it to the edge of the abyss.

"Shit!"

Jade lunged for the relic, dropping her weapons and diving for the priceless artifact before it slipped off the edge and was lost forever in the depths of the chasm. If she'd had time to think, she might have remembered Aylin's warning back in the stronghold about touching the unshielded divine splinter. As it was, she acted purely on reflex, moving to preserve the artifact that the mage thought may hold answers on the Labyrinth's strange behavior.

Jade's fingers closed around the fragmented relic just as it bounced over the lip of the chasm. She jerked herself away before she followed it over the edge, sprawling onto her back, wings splayed to her sides. The instant she came to stop, power pulsed through her body, travelling up her arm and through the rest of her form like a frigid wave.

Pain. Blistering, searing pain.

Jade screamed as pure cosmic energy rushed into her body, dropping the relic and writhing on the ground. Images flashed through her mind one after the other, too fast to take in. Lights in the sky, millions of them, going out one by one. She could feel it, the death sweeping across the cosmos, countless souls of the departed slipping into the astral.

Flash! A tall figure wreathed in living shadow strode at the vanguard of an endless army filled with rage. Flash! The powers of the cosmos coming together, directing their wills against this odious entity who, even against the combined might of the universe, stood his ground. Flash! Sadness. Pain. A long, hard-fought battle that raged across the stars. Flash! Resolve. An understanding. And then… Nothing. The will was gone, and only the power remained.

The power, and the figure in shadow. He had been stopped, but not destroyed. Jade could feel his wrath, the righteous anger of one who had been wronged. The sensation faded as the visions melted away, leaving her gasping and shuddering on the ground, her body filled to the brim with a power it was never meant to channel.

And it had nowhere to go.