Chapter 102: Cult Arrangments
I really love waking up without morning fog. Having spent the last few days in my vampiric body to support Helt. He just hit level 4, the only time bottleneck. Over the last few days, we have found 2 people for the cult. Technically 3, but family doesn’t count. Helt is attempting to track down his sister. He lost her during the death of his parents. Finally, with an able body, he can finally start looking.
It is a little more complicated than just a missing person. He has a lead towards a town; someone matching her description was spotted. He couldn’t follow the lead because he lacked money and the ability to walk.
I’ve promised him; once his level is high enough, we can search for her. First, we need more people in the cult and his level high enough to be considered a ‘leader.’ Cant have a level 4 leader.
And that is why Helt is chained to a wall. Releasing blood-curdling screams as I blast him with sun grenades.
“Stop, stop, please, I beg you. It hurts so much.” He whimpers, tears falling down his face.
“Suck it up; I had to do this alone. You only need 2 more blasts.” I have no sympathy after having gone through this myself.
A few banshee screams later, and we now have a level 5 vampire. Knowing how painful it is, I saved a transfixed guard for him to feed on after. He enjoys them with vigor.
He easily lets the guard go. To which I return him to his patrol. “Okay, next level. I am going to power level you until you can turn people yourself.”
He averts his eyes from my predatory gaze. He knows there is no escape. Dragging the petulant child by his collar, I take him to the nether. Having erected a portal earlier. A blaze spawner was fortunately really close.
He has read the manual I made him. He knows what’s coming. “Come on, I’m not your babysitter.”
He finally stops his token effort in resisting. Walking by my side as we approach the blaze spawner. “I will keep your back clear; go get 'em.”
“But I don’t have a weapon?”
“Technically, your fists are weapons,” I say before tossing him a diamond sword and ax.
He runs towards the blaze spawner with a warrior's battle cry. I just sit down and read a book. Apparently, vampiric bodies aren’t as vulnerable to ambient temperature, even heat. Even without my armor, I can barely feel the heat. I watch in amusement as the blazes thrash him. He has enough presence of mind to not go up in the conflagration.
I just sit and read my book. Swatting the occasional hell bat and wandering wither skeleton. Nothing major, no lava serpents or ghasts.
It took several hours of him whittling away at the blazes before he leveled up. Still, I admire his spirit. I pat his shoulder lightly, sweeping the ask from his burnt clothes.
“It’s a good job I brought a change of clothes; here,” I say, passing him some basic clothes, to which he gets into quickly.
“Now, we are on to summoning Lilith,” I say with a smile.
“What’s she like?”
“She looks amazing, but will eat your soul if you try and flirt.” He shivers at that.
“Now, this is where us bottlenecking the leveling for normal vampires is most valuable. The leveling process is complicated and difficult to discover from other sources.”
He nods along, having remained relatively silent since the sun grenade incident. I am sure he will forgive me; it was important.
We find a flat piece of land and start the ritual. I make sure he knows how to do it off by heart. This rite will be the difference between senior vampires and normal vampires. We don’t want idiots spreading vampirism willy nilly.
I allow him to handle the process. Letting him get familiar with it. We bring the apparition towards the nether. He told me he heard a voice in his head – interesting.
Allowing the ghostly women to disappear into the lava. I see a familiar blue void appear in the sky. Having already told Helt about what happens, I expected him to keep a level head. Upon the crack forming, he ran back a hundred paces behind some netherack – coward.
“Get your ass over here,” I say as he reluctantly returns, standing behind me. Intrigue in his eyes as he looks at the rift; it is a very strange dimension.
Eventually, I see the seductive vixon show her face. Stepping out of the portal with a hip sway.
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Wiping the slobber off my collar, I step forward. “Hello, Lilith.”
“Aeternum darling, hello. You bring a child of the night to my home.” She turns a piercing gaze towards my charmed companion.
“Meet the future leader of the vampires.”
She creases her brows slightly, “are you not becoming the leader?”
“Of course not; I will help nurture the vampire species and work in the background. I have enough things to deal with back home.”
She smiles at my response. I nudge Helt; he looks at me confused before realization dawns on him.
He quickly rushes forward and presents Lilith with a poppy. She accepts it, picking It up by the stem between 2 blackened claws. With a smooth motion, she slices a thin cut along her arm. A single drop of blood dripping down her wrist; sickly black blood dripping like molasses down her arm, yet my mouth waters slightly at the sight. She gently picks the droplet up, placing it on Helts lips. I watch as he falls to the floor, convulsing.
After he stops writhing on the floor, he stands. His back straiter, his aura richer. He looks at me and nods in silent appreciation. Then turning to Lilith and bowing. “Thank you, Lilith, for your gift, may I honor it by following your will. Vampires will rein once more.”
He is already sounding like a leader, a good sign. Bidding Lilith farewell, she blows me a goodbye kiss. Which I catch, walk away, and promptly stomp on it. “Damned Vixon!” I say loudly.
Helt turns to me, confusion on his face. “Don’t be too rude to Lilith; she did gift you with immortality.”
“Trust me, she's a monster. A beautiful monster, but still a carnivores predator that will eat you for dinner.”
His eyes unfocus as he thinks for a moment but doesn’t respond. We silently walk home, finding the portal quickly. Once inside, he collapses on the nearest sofa. I don’t blame him; that looked painful. In fact, vampirism involves a lot of pain while maturing.
Putting the thought aside, I take some time to rest. I consider if I should let Helt achieve level 8 naturally or cheat it as I did. I ponder the thought but eventually decide that I am too impatient. Having to sit around for 4 days babying him sucked.
“Okay, Helt; time for level 8.” He looks at me with a mix of horror and excitement.
I raise my arms defensively, “Don’t worry, we are going to cheat this level.”
He visibly deflates, mimicking a balloon. Taking his arm, I teleport him to his first village. He becomes a bat, flying around in excitement for a time. After his thirst gets too bad, he returns to the ground. We grab a quick meal for him to top off before going from town to town. Teleporting from each to each, he leveled very quickly.
Now, the annoying level. We need to get 5 people to half in special cages. My thought, let's find 5 candidates for the cult and turn all 5 at the same time.
It was a great plan on paper, but it also took a lot of paperwork. Documenting potential people, following them. Figuring out who they are and their natural nature. It was a nightmare, but eventually, we had a comprehensive list of 9 people.
Including the 2 we had already found, it took over 2 weeks. Forcing me to return to my human form for a break of all things. Helt unfortunately doesn’t have that option.
Going to each person one by one; I have 5 he has 4. I slowly knock onto each door, giving them each the offer. I had 2 women and 3 men in my group. Slowly introducing myself, saying hello. Being honest gives you surprisingly large amounts of goodwill.
Eventually, I walked away with 3 people; a failed vigilante, a young adult hero idolizer, and an extremely smart woman. This woman, in particular, reminded me of Lilith a little; but her heart is in the right place. She used sly and intelligent questions to fish far more information out of me than I was comfortable giving. Thanking myself for catching on to her schemes.
They talked among themselves as we walked to the cult hideout.
“What made you take the offer?” The young man asks the middle-aged vigilante.
“I need the power; too much injustice happens in this world.” He replies.
“I know right.”
The women interject; “And it had absolutely nothing to do with the immortality?”
Both men go a shade pinker, the young man averts his eyes while the older man replies. “It definitely made me more interested. I think I would have accepted without it, but it was a nice bonus.”
She nods appreciatively; “Names Jena, I like the way you think.”
He holds his hand out, shaking her hand. “Renowld, pleasure.”
We come to the secret entrance; I go first to prove it’s a ghost wall.
Watching the same amazed and awed faces on the woman and young man. The aged man doesn’t bat an eye, interesting. “Place your hand on the relic.” Pointing towards the dislocator. They all do in order.
Finding are selves at the cult hideout, Helt, and 3 other people already there. I gave him the sick and weak, they are far more likely to accept the offer. Nodding at Helt, he replies with the same nod.
Allowing my small group to join the other people. Helt begins a small speech, “Hello, I will be in charge of you as fledglings. You are taking your first steps towards power, immortality, and control. Please follow me; I will turn you shortly.”
They all enter the special cages, some more nervous than others. He carefully goes through them all, draining them until half. Reaching the fifth person, he pulls away breathing deeply. The poor man looks horrified. He had gathered a group of 2 women and a man. Finally reaching and draining the last person, he begins to change them. Spilling his blood into a goblet. He passes it to each of them, allowing them to drink. As he worked along the line, the people became more and more nervous. The man he scared half to death nearly flaking.
Eventually, they are all on the floor convulsing. While they are incapacitated I walk towards Helt. Tapping him on his shoulder, “Nice job.” You just need to educate them on Lilith and Felix.
“Thank you, I will do so.”
“I will go and get some victims for the new fledglings.” He nods.
I disappear, mesmerizing a platoon of guards and bringing them to the fledglings. All but 2 of the fledglings attempted to drain the guard dry; having to interfere. The smart women and the scared man having resisted the temptation - interesting.
Eventually, I return the dazed guards. Releasing the fledglings out of the cage. They begin to test out their new bodies, a natural reaction. Some began to talk noisily among themselves. Nothing interesting, so I excuse myself. This is why Helt is the leader. Shamelessly dumping my job on him.
Before managing to leave, Jena stops me. The smart women already having spotted an irregularity. “What are you in all this? He's the leader but clearly subservient to you. What's your agenda?”
Wow, very suspicious. “Don’t worry, I have no evil intentions.” I leave, disappearing with my teleport so she doesn’t berate me with more questions.
Nearly finished my quest, maybe 1 or 2 days, sweet.