Chapter 8 - Vampiric Drive

Diggory grabbed a longsword from the corner of his tent. He held it as tight as he could when he was suddenly hit with a thought.

Finding his way to Gillian, he asked, “Did you coat the tent with the howler’s blood?”

“Yes. Why the question?” Gillian asked back.

“Which blood did you use?”

“The freshest one. That is more effective.”

“You used the blood of our most recent kill?” Diggory raised his voice as his face tightened

“Yeah, duh. That’s what I said.” She replied nonchalantly.

“By the gods, did you check the gender of the howler first? Fuck, you made a damn mistake. The howler was a female. I thought you knew that.”

Was she perhaps lacking in the mental faculty? Time and time again, she made absurd blunders during their hunting trips, and now, it seemed her mistake today might just cost them their life.

Diggory peaked out of the tent. Ahead of him were tiny yellow lights gleaming through the night. The ominous sign of the beasts was the only thing present in the hour of blood. He could already hear their encroaching cries.

“Gillian, if we survive this night, I will fucking kill you. I swear on my mother’s name.”

The growls beyond the tent gradually intensified. The beasts lurked closer to them.

Diggory went to the makeshift weapon stand. He grabbed a crossbow and loaded it with an arrow while throwing a quiver on his back. His body tensed as the beastly howls drew closer. Cursing under his breath, Diggory spotted his longsword and held it resolutely. He prayed to the seven gods for the blessing of another day.

Meanwhile, Gillian took the time to comprehend her actions. Coating the tent with the blood of a howler was one way to make it more unassuming during the ‘night parades’. How was she to know the blood she used belonged to a female howler? It didn’t exactly smell different from what they regularly used.

Yet, making such a grievous mistake was every hunter’s nightmare. The blood of a female howler would shine the tent like a beacon of light at night instead of doing otherwise. There was no way the scent of their female kin would escape the barbarous creatures.

A curse slipped from her mouth. “Shit!”

They were doomed. She grabbed a belt of daggers and wore it on her waist while equipping her dominant hands with a shortsword.

The howls got closer and closer.

In less than two minutes, the shadow of a howler grew on the tent's walls.

Then, it was two howlers.

Then, three howlers.

The number of howlers expanded as they surrounded the tent, roaming around it patiently, as was the instinct of a predator.

Inside the tent, Diggory held his hands to his mouth. He signalled the rest to keep quiet.

Meanwhile, Seth watched everything with a quivering frame. By now, he had associated the howls with the creature he encountered before.

‘Ahh, What is this again? Fuck this game!’

The only thing that calmed his raging thoughts was the lack of change in circumstance. There was really nothing different about the strange development from his perspective. Either way, he was in a tight mess.

Seth had a daring thought. ‘But what if I use it to my advantage? How do those brain heads say it, "One and One negate each other"? Something like that. Yeah, I can do this.’

Thus, he begun scheming.

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Diggory whispered to his gang, “We can’t let the howlers damage our tent. We have to kill them!”

“We will die!” countered another member.

“You have any other solution? We will die if we stay here. Moon’s ass, we are sitting ducks here! What do you think will happen once the howlers find out that we killed their potential mate and used her blood to paint our tent?”

“Damn! Damn! Let’s do this.” Droggo flexed his spear without fear.

Following Diggory’s lead, the rest jumped out and chaos ensued.

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The stench of chaos always appears in the minutest of seconds.

As drops of blood from unknown sources splashed on the tent walls, Seth struggled to break free from the chain cuffs. They were loose, but that didn’t mean they were easy to break.

The cuffs were made from a special reddish material that he didn’t recognize. It sure contained enough force to bind supernatural beings like him.

Veins popped on Seth’s face as he summoned all his vampiric strength to break the cuffs.

*Chink!*

Finally, the sound he had been waiting for echoed. He was free!

Seth looked around him. He could hear the wails of the gang as they witnessed yet again another death of one of them. He could smell their fear from far away. Yet, amidst all that, was the bloody euphoric joy of the howlers, who clearly enjoyed their hunt. It was a strange thing to smell, but he couldn’t be bothered with that right now.

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‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this,’ Seth sighed.

Wait! He wasn’t alone in this.

Seth eyed the elves and half-elves. ‘I could use them.’

He moved closer to one female half-elf to attempt a conversation. All this while, they never spoke to him. In fact, he hasn’t heard them say anything since he got here.

Suddenly, something pulsated in him as he got closer. The lovely smell of the female wafted into his nose. The sound of her blood pumping. The sudden withdrawal of her peaceful breath as he moved closer.

Fear. He recognized that sweet scent.

Without knowing, his green eyes glowed, his fangs protruded, and his skin turned paler. Overcome by an instant vampiric drive, Seth bit into the neck of the half-elf. Her blood flowed into his mouth, quenching the barren sea that had been dry for days.

Seth had almost forgotten this feeling. He wanted more of it. More!

The blood of the dark-haired elf was among the best that he had tasted. It wasn't dirty as he had expected. It was pure and undiluted, despite her troubled heritage.

Seth sucked every ounce of her blood until her body shriveled. It became a dry sac, void of any liquid. The female’s eyes closed as she took her last breath.

‘I can feel it. I need more!’ His glowing green eyes terrified the other captives.

If he could just get another taste of sweet elven blood…

‘No, I have to get another taste,’ growled Seth as he set his sight on another elf–a male elf.

Before he could move closer, the fervent light in his eyes dimmed, and a brief sense of rationality washed over him. Instantly, he pushed his fingernails deep into his skin. Blood seeped from his hands. Clarity shone in his eyes.

He took a whiff of the elf’s scent before shaking his head. Finally, his vampiric transformation rescinded.

‘Oh god. So this is what the vampiric drive feels like. Luckily, I could use Rhazien Az Mor’s experience to deal with it. Oh god, what have I done?’

Looking at the dead female elf beside him, Seth wiped her blood off his mouth. He wanted to feel repulsed by his action, but he didn’t know how to feel that. At best, what he felt towards the dead elf was sympathy.

He gazed at the other elves. Their eyes shifted immediately. He could tell they feared him.

‘Fuck!’ His plan was going down the drain!

Nevertheless, he had to try again. He could still hear the terrific screams outside, and that motivated him to escape as soon as possible.

Walking close to the frightened elves, he freed the captives from their cuffs and spoke. “We can use the distraction outside to run away.”

One of them flashed a disgusted expression as he replied, “Demon!”

“Hey, I’m not a demon. I’m a vampire. There are two different things.”

“Demon!”

“I–”

“Demon!”

“For god’s sake, stop this!” Seth glared at them, making them remember his previous glowing eyes.

“You killed her,” whimpered another one.

Seth looked at the dead corpse beside them and sighed. “Right now, we have to survive. Shall we? Whatever comes next, I will take it.”

“...”

“Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

Good. He somehow convinced them.

“So, this is how it would go…”

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Outside the tent.

Diggory caught a flash beside him. When he turned around, he saw another of his men snatched by the tail of a howler.

He loaded his crossbow swiftly and shot at the howler. The arrow dug into the eye of the howler, but its scream caused a horde of howlers to surround it.

“Fuck, how are you guys doing? Flam is dead,” shouted Diggory.

From somewhere else, Droggo reported loudly, “There are five of us left–argh– Make that four.”

“Shit, the horde is more than I expected. Fuck,” cursed Diggory.

From the corner of his eye, he saw something strange. At the center of the horde was a humanoid figure. Diggory couldn’t believe his eye, but after countless eye rubbing, he knew he was not wrong.

“Gillian, cover me. I think I found something.” He shouted as he went deep into the horde.

Gillian’s dagger throws were accurate and powerful. They stopped any howler that sneaked up on Diggory. Now at the center of the horde, Diggory found himself against nothing but more howlers.

“Was I wrong?”

His skin tingled as the shadow of a humanoid figure swallowed him.

‘It is behind me,’ Diggory realized. He froze as he contemplated his next course of action.

Now so close to the humanoid creature, Diggory identified the special features of the creature just by looking at its shadow. Out of nowhere, something clicked in him. Another realization.

“Fuck me, run!—”

Those were his last words as a tentacle stabbed his head. His head rolled to this mystery figure, ever so terrified even after death!