“A moment, please,” I said to Rachel, as I used one of my fingernails to make a small incision in my right palm. As blood began to well up from the wound, I turned my hand to let it drip downward. But instead of splattering against the floor, it hovered in the air and slowly rotated into a perfectly round shape.

“What are you doing?” Rachel asked curiously, as the blood of the dead knights that was spattered throughout the room began floating toward my own blood and gradually combined with it into a dense sphere of red.

“I’ve created a blood orb,” I informed her, once I’d finished with my task. “Isn’t it beautiful? It’s a bit of magic I’ve been working to perfect off and on for the last century. The pinnacle of the art of lifeforce manipulation.”

“Really?” Rachel asked doubtfully as she stared at the orb. “It looks like a mass of floating blood to me. I mean, it’s an unusual sight for sure, but I’ve already seen you do more interesting things.”

“Silly girl,” I said as I fondly ruffled her hair. “Blood orbs are as interesting as it gets. They’re a method of defense, support, and attack, all in one. I’ve always had the most frustrating time getting them to function as I intended, but thanks to the skill tree provided by the system, I’ve finally perfected the process! This is a very exciting moment for me.”

“Well, what’s so great about them?” Rachel asked after she pushed my hand away. “You’re acting like Frankenstein cheering on a lightning storm. It’s alive! It’s alive!”

“It is alive, daughter,” I said. “It doesn’t have perfect awareness, of course. Just a preprogrammed set of instructions seared into it, which it can never disobey. A mindless lump of biomatter bound to my will and determined to serve me until its end. Sort of like how Pankratz is for you, but far more useful.”

“I didn’t even want stupid Pankratz,” she pouted. “That was a complete accident.”

“Well, you’d still better take good care of him,” I advised her. “If he makes a mess anywhere or causes trouble for our neighbors, you’re the one who’ll be punished.”

“Can’t I just kill him?” she asked. “He sounds like he’ll be such a hassle.”

“I can’t believe I let you go anywhere alone with my dog,” I said while shaking my head despairingly. “Your generation is so wasteful.”

“I’m twice your age!” she protested.

“Yet you’re half as responsible,” I said. “Something else for you to work on.”

“Whatever,” she sighed.

__

As we stepped into the next area of the fracture, I was given a splendid opportunity to display the supreme utility of my blood orb to my ignorant daughter. In this large area, which resembled an ancient dining hall filled with rotting wide-benched tables topped with the moldering remains of a forgotten feast, more knights in their rusting armor awaited our approach.

I grabbed Rachel’s shoulder before she could attack them.

“What are you doing?” she asked plaintively, the killing fury shining in her eager eyes.

“Rachel, I know that melee combat is a delight. I enjoy it as much as you do,” I said. “But vampires of our lineage are primarily users of magic. Battling tooth and nail on the frontline can be an invigorating romp, but it’s not the best use of our abilities. It’s much better to stand back and destroy our opponents from a comfortable distance away.”

I pointed toward the knights and asked, “What do you see over there?”

“Enemies,” Rachel said eagerly.

“Incorrect,” I said to her. “Those are the rabble. The mere servants of our true opponents. Why should we dirty our hands on the likes of them? Delivering them a death blow is an honor they haven’t earned. That’s what the blood orb is for.”

To demonstrate my point, I snapped my fingers which signaled the blood orb to hover close by and receive my command. “Destroy them,” I ordered it.

Upon hearing my words, the blood orb dipped lower in the air as if bowing in acknowledgement. Then it flew at the corroding knights to carry out its instructions. Floating just above the reach of the knights’ weaponry, it began peppering their bodies with needle shaped discharges of blood which easily penetrated their ruined armor and threw them back with shotgun-like bursts of force.

“Wow,” Rachel said. The genuine respect I heard in her voice filled me with a warm sense of pride. It felt good for an old soul like me to know he still had it in him to impress an audience.

“That’s not all,” I said. “Don’t forget how interesting things can be when our blood gets into someone’s body.”

One of the corroding knights began screaming in agony as his body began to spasm and convulse before his chest exploded outward and another blood orb came floating out of the gaping wound.

All around the hall, similar scenes took place as the men wounded in the original volley suddenly began shrieking in torment shortly before their mortal wounds gave birth to new blood orbs. Before long, the room was flooded with them and the knights were all dead.

“Beautiful. So very, very beautiful,” I said when the original blood orb, now nearly spent, floated down into my hand. “I’ll admit I got the idea from an old horror movie. I bet you can guess which one! One orb infects a single warrior which creates another one and another and another. Before you know it, there’s an infestation of them. Which of course gives rise to an even deadlier predator…”

The dead knights began crawling to their feet and shrieked with mindless hatred and thirst as they ran into the corridors of the castle and left our sight.

“Oh shit, oh no,” Rachel said with fright as she began frantically backing away. “Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls!”

“Pretty cool, right?” I asked.

“How?!”

“The newborn orbs take every trace of blood out of the body with them, similar to when we drain a corpse,” I explained. “As you can see, the results are similar. If the body remains intact, it transforms into a ghoul.”

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“And you’re okay with that?” she asked. “Don’t you remember how crazy these things are? How ravenous?!”

“Relax daughter, we’re fine,” I assured her. “These ghouls have inherited the primary characteristic of the orbs that created them. Which is complete obedience to my will. They’re still vicious killing machines, but they’re not nearly as insane as the wild ones we were forced to create at the pond.”

“You can control them?” she asked.

“Well, I can’t teach them how to fetch, but they can follow rudimentary instructions. Like mapping out the rest of this place and destroying anything hostile. That makes our work a lot simpler, doesn’t it?”

“That is such a cheat,” Rachel said as the orbs and the ghouls departed in search of more prey. “Can we really raise an army this easily? Just wipe this place out while barely lifting a finger?”

Then she shouted in surprise when we both leveled up to seventeen.

“Yep,” I nodded while popping the small orb into my mouth and biting down.

It was delicious.

“Kyler, I don’t get it,” Rachel said after giving the matter some thought. “With an ability like this, why don’t we…I don’t know, take over the world? Who could stop us? We could reshape this entire planet to suit our vision! Doesn’t that sound awesome?”

“Well, you’re not wrong,” I said. “But honestly, Rachel. Do we really want to take over the world? Speaking from personal experience, I ruled a fourth of the west for over two hundred years, and it was a lot of work. So much work.”

“Why? Couldn’t you just do whatever you wanted?” she asked.

“On paper, sure. Killing anyone who defies you is easy. So is turning them into lesser kin,” I said. “But what if those people are doctors and engineers? Or plumbers? Protip, daughter: you’ll never get the best possible results from people whose minds have been forcefully enslaved. Top quality mortals must be negotiated with, not beaten into compliance. And if they ever realize they’re too valuable to be killed, they become a handful.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yes. Ugh, I’ve taken so much crap from plumbers over the years, you wouldn’t believe it. Why are you glaring at me like that? It’s the truth.”

“That wasn’t a dad joke?” she asked suspiciously. “You weren’t trying to be funny?”

“No. That was the awful truth,” I replied honestly. “If you want to keep the hot water flowing and the sewage flushed, you need to keep the plumber’s guild satisfied. And the plumber’s guild is never satisfied.”

“A plumber’s guild?” Rachel asked in disbelief.

“Just one more thing that people never think of when they say they want to rule a nation. And that’s just with the humans! You can’t possibly know how irritating it can be trying to keep the vampire population in line. You haven’t discovered this about our species yet, Rachel, but most of us are preening degenerates with no sense of restraint. If they aren’t carefully managed, they’d devour every resource available to us like locusts on a field of sugarcane.”

“Is that why we haven’t created any others?” Rachel asked. “Because we’re so untrustworthy?”

“Honestly, yes,” I replied. “More of us around would mean more power, especially for me as the Lord of Blood…but I don’t think it would be worth it. Now that my blood orbs have proven to be such a splendid success, I just don’t see the point of having any more progeny. Experience has taught me that today’s family is tomorrow’s competitor. Why take the risk?”

“But…you trust me, right?” asked Rachel with wide, frightened eyes. “Right, Kyler?”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” I said absentmindedly. “You’re great, Rache. Couldn’t get by without you.”

“I know I’ve made some mistakes, but I’m learning, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’ve made so many mistakes,” I agreed.

“But I’m learning! Don’t forget the part where I’m learning!” she said urgently. “That’s why I’m your right hand!”

“My right hand?” I asked doubtfully.

“I’m not?” she asked.

“Well, if we’re being honest, Schulz does catch on a lot faster than you do.”

“But he’s a dog! Dogs can’t be your right hand!”

“You know his intelligence has grown by leaps and bounds, right?” I asked her. “He can understand spoken language perfectly. And he gets nuance! He wouldn’t have tried to kill Cassie like you did.”

“I understand nuance!” she protested. “I do!”

“Yeah, when it’s explained to you.”

“Kyler, if you kill me, I’ll die!”

“You don’t say?”

“I’ll work harder! I promise.”

“Rachel, relax, okay? I would only ever kill you if you tried to kill me first,” I said. “Stay loyal to me and I’ll do you the same courtesy.”

“You promise?” she asked hopefully.

“On my honor as a child of great Crusica,” I said solemnly. “That’s an important vow, Rachel. It’s the strictest possible oath I can make. Breaking it would place me in dire peril, but I’ve sworn it just for your peace of mind.”

“Thank you,” she said happily as she placed her arms around me and squeezed me so tightly that I could feel my bones begin to ache.

Poor Rachel. What kind of a life had she lived where the mere promise of being unharmed was enough to elicit such a positive emotional response? Even before she’d been transformed into a literal weapon of war, it was clear that she’d endured a lot. You have to fear pain to try so desperately to avoid it.

Too bad her tormentors were probably long dead by now. I’d have loved to sit down for a chat with them and offer a critique on their life choices. First, I would politely listen to their excuses, then I would eat them.

Such a shame that wasn’t currently possible.

A light suddenly flashed around us as we reached level eighteen. “Your infestation must really be doing some work,” Rachel said giddily.

“I’m not sure I want to use that word anymore,” I said. “An infestation? The longer I think about it, the more distasteful it sounds. Vermin infest things. I don’t dabble with vermin.”

“Can’t we control rats?” she asked.

“That was my brother’s specialty,” I said. “I’ll admit, I provided a few of the plagues they were famous for spreading, but I never controlled them personally. I find rats utterly loathsome.”

“Rats are adorable little creatures who are clever and cuddly,” she said. “You can teach them lots of things.”

“Can you teach them not to randomly devour their young?” I asked.

While she was trying to think of a response to that question, one of my blood orbs returned and sought my attention.

As I followed it down the broken corridors of the crumbling castle, I saw the dead bodies of corroded knights and slain ghouls lying every which way. The further I went in, the fiercer the fighting had become. Along the way, Rachel claimed the various drops of equipment left in the wake of those battles.

Some of these items were very impressive with their stats, a massive improvement over the gear I’d acquired in the goblin’s lair. I looked forward to selecting the best possible upgrades after we concluded our business here. I knew Rachel was eager to comb through our new toys as well. The loot hadn’t been difficult to earn but that didn’t mean we didn’t deserve it. Well, maybe me more so than her, but I’d still let her pick out a few things before we turned the haul over to Jamie.

A father’s privilege is to spoil his child.

As we followed the orb, I found myself wondering what the story behind this castle was. The knights protecting this place had clearly been under the influence of some manner of curse. Although they were still mostly human, beneath their armor they possessed signs of significant mutation. Hardened flesh, gills, limbs that were gradually turning into tentacles. It was as if they were slowly transforming into some manner of life suited for existence on the ocean floor even though the castle was built on a high cliff above the tide.

It felt familiar somehow. It wasn’t something I’d ever directly experienced, though. More like a recollection of a story I’d once heard. But which one? There were thousands of legends and myths about the terrors of the sea. Pinpointing which one I was now involved in was difficult without further hints.

That was when I heard the singing.

How to describe it? How can I help others to better understand what that magnificent voice invoked within me…

Loneliness.

Fear.

Desire.

Helplessness.

Love.

I shook my head hard and stepped back, amazed at the power contained in that song.

“How impressive,” I said to myself, bemused by my own weakness.

“Kyler? What happened to you?” asked Rachel with a worried expression on her face.

“Did you hear that song?” I asked her.

“Yes. It was annoying,” she said with a frown.

“You felt nothing upon hearing it?” I asked in surprise. “Not a thing?”

“I want to tell whoever warbled it to shut up,” she said. “It sure seemed to catch your attention, though.”

“Momentarily,” I said. “If I’d been wearing my human form, I might very well have been doomed. Luckily the effects of her voice seem much reduced against an undead male.”

“Do you know what we’re up against?” she asked.

“Oh, yes,” I said. “This is a siren’s castle.”