At that point, things really began getting out of hand.

“What the hell is that?” Pankratz asked in alarm as he hurriedly equipped his shield.

“I have no idea,” Cassie said. “Gods, though. I can feel the power emitting from its aura. It’s stronger than any gate beast I’ve ever seen.”

“Shit!” Pankratz swore. “Can you pacify it?”

“I’m trying!” Cassie replied as a white light began emanating from her body which she focused outwardly to her hands. She then pointed at Schulz and said, “[Rest],” with a forceful word of command that was laden with authority and otherworldly power.

Schulz blinked for a moment and paused in his growling. Then he shook his head and began glaring at Cassie as though she had just flicked him on his nose.

“Oh, crap, he resisted it,” she said.

“What percent?” Pankratz asked.

“Complete! One hundred percent!” she said in a nervous voice. “I think I have aggro, Nick.”

“Whatever, I’m on it,” he replied confidently. “Come on, Fido! Let me show you the exit!”

Pankratz then ran towards Schulz with such inhuman speed that I realized he must have used one of his class skills. Some kind of movement enhancer that made it easier for him to intercept any assailants that targeted his other teammates.

He made for an impressive sight when he zipped toward the dog with his shield in front of him. It was clearly a maneuver he’d performed many times before. A bare second later, however, he looked more like a flying ragdoll when Schulz responded by slamming fearlessly into Pankratz and sent him soaring across the room like he was in a zero-gravity environment. Before he could get back on his feet, Schulz was on him, fearlessly tearing into Pankratz’s steel shield with his paws and teeth, causing small sparks to fly as he slowly tore through the steel that Pankratz was hiding behind.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” the big man exclaimed. “A little help here, please?!”

“Shut up, I’m on it,” Cassie said breathlessly as she cast another spell. This time, a solid looking beam of light shot forth from her hand and struck Schulz on the head. As before, it barely affected him, but this time he was having none of the healer’s nonsense.

Using a motion like one he’d used the day before, the dog suddenly gripped Pankratz’s ankle with his mouth and did a quick spin and release, that sent the hapless tank flying across the room once more, this time crashing into his stepsister, knocking them both to the ground.

Schulz then proudly raised his head and performed a very sarcastic sounding series of barks. “Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.” If I could translate it, I bet it would have meant something along the lines of, “Don’t ever fuck with the big dogs.”

I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by his choice of language.

“All right, stop that at once,” I ordered him.

Schulz paused his gloating to turn my way with a quizzical expression on his face.

“Don’t be so pleased with yourself,” I warned him. “I’m not happy with you right now and I think you know why.”

He barked questioningly at me after snapping my bonds and helping me up.

“What do you mean by why not?” I asked him. “Look at this mess!”

Schulz whined in reply and then barked again.

“Don’t give me that,” I told him sternly. “I’m not the one who destroyed the tavern’s entrance. See the door lying over there? You did that, not me! And while we’re on the subject, don’t think I forgot about yesterday when you shattered that patio door by throwing Doug through it! You’re beginning to make a real habit of destroying our friend Jamie’s property, Schulz, and I’m going to need you to knock it off. Be more considerate of your surroundings! We’re guests here.”

After I finished my brief lecture, Schulz collapsed to the floor in embarrassment and covered his eyes with his paws to demonstrate his contrition. When I gauged that his apology was sincere, I nodded and reached down to scratch his ear.

“Thank you for thinking of my safety,” I told him gratefully. “Thus far, despite your forceful methodology, you have proven to be a true and loyal friend, and for that, you are appreciated. Now, please go apologize to Mister Pankratz so that we can put all this unpleasantness behind us.”

Thus prompted, Schulz approached Pankratz and shyly held out his paw. After turning to look at his sister, who gestured for him to hurry up, he turned back to the dog and with exaggerated slowness, carefully shook the proffered paw. Schulz then barked cheerfully at Pankratz, causing him to visibly flinch, before returning to my side.

I then held out a hand to the big man to help him to his feet.

“I forgive you for striking me,” I told him. “That misdeed was borne of honorable intentions, so I shall seek no reprisal for it, nor shall any who serve me. It’s a good man that defends his loved ones, and some blame does lie with me. I did give a lingering glance to your sister, and you were right to object to it.”

Next, I turned to Cassie and bowed deeply.

“I apologize for objectifying you,” I said. “It was gracious of you to ignore such rude behavior, and I can only sincerely hope I haven’t permanently lowered your estimation of my character.”

“It’s fine,” Cassie said evenly. “I grew up working here in my mother’s tavern. Some people have tried to do worse over the years than give me a look.”

“That still doesn’t excuse my actions,” I said. “I’m…human after all. It’s my responsibility to see to my own maturation.”

Then I paused to consider her words.

“Wait, did you say this was your mother’s place?” I asked.

At that moment, Jamie walked in through the destroyed entrance and stared at the messy condition of the serving room in dismay.

“And just what the hell happened here?” she asked numbly.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Mom!” Cassie said.

“Jamie!” Pankratz said.

“Jamie?” I asked her with some confusion.

“Cassie! Nick!” said Jamie. Then she saw me. “Stragos?”

“Stragos?” asked Pankratz and Cassie.

“Kyler?” asked Rachel as she slowly entered the room with a yawn.

“Kyler?” asked Pankratz and Cassie. Then they both stared at me for a long moment as they realized who I was.

“KYLER?” they said in shock.

“Kyler?” asked Jamie.

“RACHEL!” I yelled in frustration.

“Oops,” she said with an embarrassed blush before running upstairs to hide in my room.

Damn it, Rachel.

___

“Holy shit, my mind is reeling,” Pankratz said in disbelief as we cleaned up the serving room under Jamie’s annoyed supervision. “Evans, what the hell, man? You’re supposed to be dead!”

“My name isn’t Evans,” I said irritably as I helped him lift a heavy table. “You’ve got the wrong person.”

“Like hell I do,” Pankratz scoffed. “Bro, what happened to you? How’d you put on all that weight? And where’d you get the fancy duds from?”

“So, you did attend Vandal Academy,” Jamie said smugly. “I knew there was something a little off about your story. Are you a runaway or a castoff?”

“Neither!” Pankratz said excitedly. “He’s a ghost! Seriously! The school said he had an accident while under questioning and died while receiving treatment. But here he is, barely a week later! My mind is fucking blown!”

“Language,” Jamie and I said at the same time.

“I don’t understand it,” Cassie said as she stared at me. “I had to help examine your body as part of my healing training. Kyler, you were dead. As dead as can be. You had a sword sheathed in your heart.”

“Someone stuck him with a sword?” Pankratz asked excitedly. “You never mentioned that!”

“I was sworn to secrecy,” Cassie said. “I had to sign a paper made of spellscript and everything. It was binding. Like, I literally couldn’t speak of what I’d seen. But I guess learning that Evans isn’t really dead has somehow dissolved the contract. Can you…can you tell us what happened?”

“Yeah, man, what happened?” Pankratz asked eagerly. “Did the Velas family try to assassinate you or something? I knew that Thalia chick was psycho!”

“I’m not Kyler Evans,” I insisted. “You’re mistaken.”

“Bro, you totally are,” Pankratz laughed. “God, the more I look at you, the more you resemble that brother of yours. Cat’s out of the bag, dude.”

I grunted in irritation. “I think I liked you better when you were violating my Miranda rights.”

“Water under the bridge!” Pankratz said cheerfully as he threw an arm over my shoulder. “Also, who’s Miranda? Is she hot?”

“You’re an idiot,” I said flatly.

“I might have taken too many shots to the noggin over the years,” he replied. “Getting tossed around by that pooch of yours didn’t help. Jeez, what have you been feeding him? And can I have some if there’s any left over?”

Schulz barked cheerfully at the mention of himself.

“Have you known…Kyler very long, Nicholas?” Jamie asked him after flashing a smug grin my way. “You two seem very close.”

“Totally, we go back ages!” Pankratz said. “I was always trying to get him as a porter for my squad. Dude’s got a mutant capacity for storage, it’s unreal! I never understood why his family treated him so poorly over it. I mean, yeah, most porters aren’t that great, but this kid is something else.”

“Not a kid, not your friend, not Evans,” I said more forcefully. “Let’s be clear on that. Kyler Evans’ family has nothing to do with me, and you and I have only met on two occasions. I’m not who you think I am.”

“Do you want to elaborate on that?” Pankratz asked with a slight frown on his face.

“No, I do not,” I said bluntly.

I know what you’re probably thinking. “Why not just play along with them and make things easier for yourself?”

The answer is that I didn’t want to. Deception is an important aspect of being a vampire. Tricking people into believing that you’re a human being so that you can catch them unaware is an essential part of survival as an undead being. It’s a sort of…masquerade, you could say. And one that I had grown weary of in my prior existence as the Lord of Blood.

Lying every day for centuries is mentally draining. Always checking to make sure you’ve kept your background story straight and that it aligns with whatever fiction that you’re spinning at the moment, it’s exhausting.

I may not have wanted to participate in Great Crusica’s besieging of humanity, but one of the few things I found surprisingly beneficial about it was that I got to announce to the world who I truly was. And in the two hundred years since then, I never went back to hiding it.

So now, with my current situation being what it was, I was extremely reluctant to return to the old way of doing things. And you know what? I didn’t have to. It was just as Rachel had told me earlier; Vampire Lord was merely my class. I wasn’t beholden to it. It no longer defined my existence.

That also meant that I didn’t need to steal a dead boy’s identity. I had decided that I would live more honestly in this new life. And part of that honesty would include being myself: Kyler Stragos.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t going to run around proclaiming to the masses that I was a resurrected civilization-wrecking mass-murdering tyrant who was going to live forever. Some things should just be kept to yourself. I also saw no purpose in sharing the nature of my dual classes. If someone was curious about the things I was capable of and wanted to know how I could do them, then let them wonder. It was no business of theirs. Just because I wanted to live a more honest life, didn’t mean I was going to become a careless fool.

“Kyler, there are going to be a lot of questions about what happened,” Cassie said. “I know there may be some trauma involved, you clearly went through something awful but—”

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine,” I said, cutting her off. “And I feel no obligation to answer anyone’s inquiries. I’m obligated to do nothing but serve my own self-interest. If any feel otherwise, then that’s on them.”

“But the Velas family,” she protested. “And your brother—"

“Have nothing to do with me,” I said decisively. “I live on my own terms.”

“But bro, they completely smashed your reputation,” Pankratz said. “Doesn’t it bug you? They made you the fall guy for some really hinky shit. Are you just going to let them get away with it?”

“Who cares?” I said with growing annoyance. “It’s got nothing to do with me. Although I might have to relocate if people keep mistaking me for this Evans person.”

“Right, so the nobles get to notch another win for themselves,” Pankratz said. “That’s pretty fucking weak, man.”

“They’re on top and life isn’t fair. What’s it to do with me?”

“Try thinking about other people,” Pankratz said heatedly. “Your example shows that the best solution to everything involving those bastards is to just let them keep walking over us. Are you really okay with that?”

“Says the guy wearing their uniform and training to be one of their little lackeys?” I wondered sarcastically.

“If you want to change the world, you need to start somewhere,” he said as he crossed his arms and glowered at me. “It still beats running away like some chickenshit coward.”

“I’m sorry, I think I need to clean my ears a bit,” I said. “Would you like to step closer and repeat what you just said?”

“Nick,” Cassie said with concern in her voice as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Nick, just let it go.”

“You gonna hide behind your dog again?” Pankratz asked as he squared up with me.

“You should thank that dog,” I said as I began rolling up my sleeves. “He was protecting you from me.”

“Whoa, let’s calm our horses there, why don’t we?” Jamie suddenly said as she cut in between the two of us. “Boys let’s have something with a little ice in it to cool those hot heads of yours. Cassie, go get us some drinks poured, sweetie.”

Cassie went to the bar to do as her mother requested, leaving Jaimie to try to calm things down.

“Hmm," I said. "You know what, Pankratz? If I were as tough as you seem to think you are, then I think I’d rather hide behind a dog than a pair of women. That’s just a thought I had.”

“Ha, ha, ha,” Pankratz said with an ugly smile. “This fucking guy’s got some jokes, I see.”

“I have a million of ‘em, big guy,” I said.

“Then make me laugh,” he replied.

“What did the five fingers say to the face?” I riddled him.

“STOP,” Jamie said, now with no trace of humor left in her voice. “Enough, you two. I don’t allow fighting in my place of business. If neither of you can control yourselves, then Nick, you can go back to your fancy academy, and Stragos, you can hike your ass on out of the Narrows. Those are the rules everyone abides by.”

Pankratz reluctantly stepped back. His eyes still signaled his willingness for a fight, but he made no further attempts to agitate me.

“I’ll do as you say, Jamie,” I said. “But I won’t be disrespected again.”

“That’s perfectly fine, so long as you respect the rules of this establishment,” she replied. “Now, all of you sit down and have a drink. Let’s put all this bad energy behind us, while I warm up the dinner I prepared earlier. You know, before you broke my window when you jumped out the second floor.”

“You noticed that?” I asked sheepishly.

“It’s hard not to, honey,” she replied.

Hmm. I may have owed my dog an apology.