As soon as I entered the tavern, Doug the watchman came running at me with his sword drawn, bellowing a ferocious war cry. After letting his blade rebound off my armor, I punched him, knocking him unconscious over a table. I then proceeded to the bar where Jamie, as beautiful as always, stood cleaning the counter with a white towel.

I removed my helmet and took a seat in front of her. Without acknowledging my presence, she gave Doug a considering look and then sighed with disappointment.

“As useless as always,” she muttered.

“Having a tough day?” I asked.

“I’ve had better,” she admitted.

“As have we all,” I said with a nod. “You look great, by the way.”

“Do I? Thank you for noticing,” she said with a light smile quirking at her lips.

“So. It’s my sad duty to now inform you that your kids have been up to shenanigans,” I said somberly.

“Have they?” she asked. “Nothing too serious, I hope?”

“I’m afraid so,” I said. “It fell upon me to chastise them for their poor behavior. I was reluctant to do so, due to the close friendship you and I share, but circumstances would not permit me to spare the rod.”

“They had a few friends with them today,” Jamie said in an offhand manner.

“Those friends are in a better place now,” I replied.

Jamie put the towel down and gave me a hard look in the eye. Then she said, “Well, that’s a shame. But if your business with them has been concluded, then what brings you by?”

“I think you already know,” I said with a frown.

“Are you going to kill me?” she asked baldly.

“I thought about it,” I admitted, as I drummed my fingers on the counter. “I’ve done it before with far less cause than you’ve given me. Far too often, I think. The thought of forgiving you has its appeal.”

“So, you’ve chosen to spare me? How kind of you. Should I perhaps feel grateful for your magnanimity?” Jamie asked with growing bitterness.

“I haven’t decided yet,” I corrected her. “I thought we should speak first before I committed to a course of action.”

“Do you want a drink?” she asked.

“I’d love one,” I nodded. “I’m parched.

Jamie reached under the counter for two clean glasses. Then she poured an amber liquid into each and handed the first one to me. Before I could so much as take a sip, a pistol slid into her hand from a holster hidden beneath her sleeve. Without a moment’s hesitation, she fired six shots which tore into my face and neck.

Once the weapon was empty, I finished my drink. Then I held my hand toward her and gestured for her to surrender her weapon. She glared at me reluctantly but eventually placed it in my palm. I then tossed the pistol into my storage and asked her to refill my glass.

“You really are a bastard,” she cursed before complying.

“That’s been said before,” I replied as I downed my second drink. “Many times.”

“I bet you always deserved it,” she said.

I thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Always,” I agreed.

“I’m not going to be toyed with, Kyler,” Jamie said. “Spare me or kill me, decide right now. I’m not for your amusement.”

“Is that really for you to decide?” I asked her unkindly. “Do you think you get a choice after what you pulled?”

“Fuck you,” was her fearless reply.

I regarded her in silence for a moment.

“Is this who you truly are?” I asked her. “Is this what you kept hidden beneath your smiles and charm? I must admit, I find myself in full approval of it. I think beautiful people with ugly personalities are an endearing contradiction.”

“I don’t care what you think, freak,” she said.

“Is that the truth?” I asked after using [Mesmerize] on her.

“Yes,” she said without hesitation.

“You really are an interesting person,” I said as I finished my second drink. “Is there anything you’d like to ask me?”

“Where’s my daughter?” she asked.

“Entertaining Rachel,” I replied.

“Is she going to kill her?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe? That’s for the two of them to work out. I notice you haven’t asked about poor Nicholas.”

“What’s to know?” Jamie asked with a sour expression. “His only task in life was to protect Cassie. He failed. I should have found someone better.”

“He genuinely loves her,” I said. “She means the world to him.”

“Only because I encouraged it,” she replied.

“I see,” I said thoughtfully. “The deeper his devotion, the harder he’ll fight to defend her. Was that your reasoning?”

“It was. For all the good it did me,” Jamie said. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the son of a loser turned out to be a loser himself.”

“Pankratz?” I asked.

“Obviously,” she said. “His father was even weaker than Doug, but he still had bold plans to make his mark as a hunter. Got himself torn apart by a nest of black ants. When I learned his son had B-rank potential, I was quick to take Nicholas in after his mother died.”

“Out of curiosity, what did his mother die of?” I asked.

“Convenience,” Jamie replied with a stoney expression.

“A beautiful face hides a black heart,” I said bleakly.

“Why should I keep hiding my nature?” Jamie asked with a careless shrug. “I’m caught, aren’t I? After all this time, it would appear my number is up. My principle has always been to never apologize for being who I am.”

“A murderess?” I asked. “A deceiver?”

“A survivor,” she said. “You’re strong Kyler. And strength is what makes all the difference in this horrid world. I’ve watched you here for weeks, playing in this…this fucking nightmare of a forest and having a wonderful old time with that strange girl and your precious dog, all of you just carrying on like children at a playground while the rest of us…well, we’re not having quite the same experience, are we?”

“We aren’t?” I asked with faux surprise.

“No,” she said. “We aren’t.”

“Tell me about the bag of silver coins,” I said. “The one you claimed had a tracking spell on it.”

“What would you like to know?” she asked sullenly.

“I’d just like to confirm that you were the one who paid the bandits with it,” I said. “It’s true, isn’t it? You were the one who facilitated the attack on that girl by the Ringworms.”

Jamie’s expression grew fiercer as I continued speaking.

“What was it like seeing those coins returned to you?” I asked. “You knew that meant I’d dispatched the bandit clan you hired, but you couldn’t be sure of how much I knew of your misdeed. The paranoia you felt in that moment must have been awful.”

“I couldn’t believe that bandit trash was stupid enough to go after you,” she finally confessed. “I told them to stay quiet. That’s all they had to do, stay quiet and wait for further instructions. Instead, they decided to show initiative. And look at all the trouble it brought my way.”

“Minions thinking for themselves can be troublesome,” I said sympathetically.

“I did believe you may have been toying with me,” she continued. “But I couldn’t be certain. Either way, I knew I had to do something about you.”

“Which was the real reason you asked me to join Cassie and Pankratz in the fracture,” I concluded. “To make it look like an accident. To cover your tracks and leave no witnesses behind.”

“Did I hurt your feelings?” she asked sarcastically.

“It’s more like you insulted my intelligence,” I replied. “Did you really think those children were up to the task of slaying me?”

“Cassie and Nick have B-rank potential. The rest of them were C-rankers. Of course, I believed they could kill you. How was I supposed to know you were a freak?”

“There’s that word again,” I said sourly. “Couldn’t you just say I was unexpectedly talented?”

“Why did you have to show up in my town?” she asked.

“Why couldn’t you have just trusted me?” I replied.

Jamie had no response to that. I found that unsatisfying. After what she’d done, didn’t I deserve the pleasure of seeing her squirm? What gave her the right to remain composed as if she hadn’t wronged me? With those feelings in mind, I decided to try and rattle her.

“You should know I threatened your daughter’s life,” I told her. “I promised her an agonizing death, and Pankratz went mad with fury. He fought without fear for his life attempting to protect her. Up until the moment I took his hands.”

“You cut his hands off?” Jamie asked.

“Both of them,” I nodded.

“Good,” she said coldly. “Failure should have its rewards.”

I stared silently at her for a few quiet moments. Then I said, “Perhaps the contradiction I praised is less endearing than I thought.”

“What level are you?” she suddenly asked.

“Twenty,” I replied, surprised by the change of topic. “Why?”

“How long did it take you to reach it?” she asked.

I paused to recall how long I’d been in this world. Then I said, “Perhaps, two months. Maybe a little longer.”

Jamie laughed bitterly upon hearing that. “Truly, the Akashic System is a ruinous and unforgiveable joke played upon us by the so-called gods. Two months to reach level twenty? And you weren’t even trying, were you?”

“Well, I have a daughter to take care of,” I admitted.

“At your age? I’m shocked,” she scoffed.

“Don’t be. Rachel’s adopted. Like Pankratz, but unlike him, she’s been embraced as family,” I said. “I’d never use her in the manner in which you used him.”

“Don’t lecture me over my choices,” she said angrily. “I won’t be judged by you.”

“Then don’t do things that invite criticism,” I retorted. “A mother crafting her child to be a tool…that hits close to home for me. It’s a bothersome feeling and I resent you for making me recall it.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Being a superior lifeform must be so tiring,” she said mockingly. “Looking down at the rabble from on high and seeing nothing but our flaws. Do the imperfections of the little people distress you, my lord?”

“I’ve never claimed to be superior,” I said defensively. That was a complete lie, but I hated the way she’d just talked down to me. “This isn’t about anything I did.”

“Oh? What’s your ranking potential, then?” Jamie asked. “Be honest. I can take it.”

“S,” I said indifferently.

Jamie cursed loudly and wildly. In a sudden explosion of temper, she grabbed her drinking glass and hurled it as hard as she could against a shelf filled with unopened bottles of various alcoholic beverages, causing many of them to fall and shatter against the floor.

“An S-rank,” she shouted with a maddened laugh. “Fuck my miserable life with a rain of unending shit, you’re a goddamned S-rank! What a joke! What an absolute joke it all is.”

“Is it important enough to warrant such a reaction?” I asked after she’d calmed herself.

She stared at me in astonishment before replying.

“You…really don’t understand, do you?” she asked.

“I know rankings hold some value in society—” I began to say before she interrupted me.

“Some?” Jamie laughed. “You idiot, your ranking decides everything! No matter how hard you work to master your skills, no matter how thoroughly you understand your class, the system reserves its greatest rewards for those who hold the highest ranks. Which is decided completely at random! There are maybe thirty living S-ranks in the entire known world! Don’t you get it? You’re royalty! LIVING FUCKING ROYALTY! Everything you ever want will be handed to you! You are everything I hate about this broken, stupid kingdom and its nobles that oppress and dominate us! You are the embodiment of everything that is wrong with society! Who ARE you? Where do you come from that allows you to remain ignorant of such a basic fact?”

“Not from here,” I replied. “There’s no system in the world I hail from.”

“Stop lying,” Jamie said. “I know you’re Kyler Evans. I know everything about you! Stop lying about who you are and just admit it!”

“Jamie,” I said patiently. “Calm down and listen to me, all right? Appearances can be deceiving. It’s true that if you looked at me and saw Kyler Evans, then you wouldn’t be mistaken. But it’s also true that if you looked inside me, I guarantee you’d see someone else entirely. I’m not Evans; I’ve never been Evans. This isn’t my world.”

“Then which world do you claim to hail from?” she asked with a sneer.

“I don’t know the specifics of it,” I admitted. “Maybe I’ll ask Norey when I see him next. The dwarves seem very knowledgeable about migrating between realities. Perhaps he could point out my version of Earth on a map.”

“You’re insane,” Jamie said. “Absolutely barkers.”

“I don’t believe I am,” I replied. “Use your eye on me. I won’t hide it anymore. What does your ability show?”

I watched as Jamie stared at me for some time, focusing on something that only she could see. Her expression gradually changed the longer her appraisement went, until finally she began laughing to herself.

“True Vampirism?” she asked in a voice filled with disbelief.

“Your pardon?” I asked.

“S-ranks each have an ability unique to them. A singular imbuement that they alone possess,” she said in a slightly tremulous voice. “Your class…Vampire Lord. I’ve never even heard of it before…you’re supposed to be a porter!”

“I have connections,” I said humbly. “You mentioned something about my having an imbuement?”

“Y-yes,” Jamie continued. “True Vampirism. Your class…you become your class. You’re an actual monster in human skin. And you can bestow it upon others…”

Jamie muttered to herself under her breath for a time before returning her gaze to me. “It all makes sense now,” she said excitedly. “The blood missing from the bandits’ bodies. How easily you killed them, how your blood infected Nicholas and warped his mind. You’re a real vampire, aren’t you?”

“Pretty cool, right?” I preened.

“Share it with me,” she said breathlessly. “Share your gift.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, taken aback by her boldness.

“Make me immortal,” Jamie pleaded as she reached for my arm. “Kyler, Kyler, make me immortal. The things I did, I can make amends for them. I swear I can! I just need the time, and you can give that to me. You can give me all the time there is in the world.”

I could only stare at her with confusion and disappointment. Of course, immortality would be the one aspect of my existence she’d immediately focus on. People like her are obsessed with self-preservation. A narcissist fears death more than anything else in the world. The idea of escaping it brings out their worst instincts.

I was over the counter before a breath had passed between us and pressing her against it. My teeth were exposed in their hideous, pointed rows, which I showed to her before using them to nick her earlobe and lick the drop of blood that slowly welled from where I’d bitten her.

“I came here to kill you,” I said to her in a guttural whisper that betrayed my lack of humanity. “I came here to feed. What gives you the right to ask anything of me? Much less eternal life? A mere animal should know its place.”

“I’ll be an animal for you,” Jamie said. “I’ll be your dog. Humiliate me. Do whatever you like. I’ll do anything* you say. I’ve seen how you look at me, Kyler. Let me be your toy. I know you want me.”

I paused as she slowly pressed her hand against the side of my face.

“Anything you want,” she said with a breathy whisper of her own. “Anything at all. I want you. I need you. Kyler, do it. Please. Do it. Do it. I’m yours. Let me be yours forever. Kyler. Please…”

Jamie arched her back so that her chest pressed against mine, while letting her hair fall back so that her neck was exposed.

“Kyler,” she whispered with half-lidded eyes in a voice that knew no shame.

And in that moment, I was weak. I lowered my face to her throat and felt the warmth of her body and blood. The sensation of her against me was too much. The scent of her was maddening. Unable to resist, I bit into her, and felt her gasp as my teeth penetrated her soft flesh.

She whispered my name again, and in my sudden frenzy, my desire to have her to myself for the rest of time, I bit into my own palm and held the fresh wound out before her. She then grasped it between her own hands and slowly lowered it to her waiting lips.

As Jamie’s pink tongue extended from her mouth to lap at the blood and accept my gift…Rachel’s hand suddenly wrapped itself tightly in her hair and pulled her screaming off the counter, away from my reach.

As I stared in dismay, my daughter proceeded to tear open the other woman’s throat before draining her dry. When she was finished, she gave a contented sigh and tossed Jamie’s body away as thoughtlessly as if she’d disposed of an empty can of soda.

“Nice,” she said contentedly. “She tasted like candy.”

“RACHEL!” I yelled in outrage. “What have you done? She was MY—”

“Enemy,” she finished for me. “She was your enemy, Kyler. Would you like to explain what the hell all of that was about?”

“I was going to CLAIM her!” I shouted furiously as I leapt over the bar to confront her. “She was to be our blood! How dare you interfere!”

“Oh, I see,” Rachel said. She then held a hand to her chin and wore a thoughtful expression as if my words had been an unexpected revelation to her. “So that was what was going on…”

Then she wrapped her fingers into a tight fist and delivered a savage uppercut that sent me flying across the room.

“Are you insane?” she shouted at me after the room finished spinning. “What is WRONG with you?”

“Am I insane?” I shouted in response from my position on the floor. “You attacked your maker! And you murdered Jamie without cause!”

“Without cause?!” thundered Rachel. “Kyler, she lied to you! She tried to kill us both! Look at the state of her children! The woman was an absolute WAD!”

“I wanted her!” I shouted with a stomp of my foot. “She was giving herself to me!”

“Lots of things in this world will give themselves to you!” Rachel replied. “Diseases will give themselves to you! They’re always looking to connect, you pathetic old fool! That doesn’t mean you should accept their offer!”

“You go too far, daughter!” I warned her. “I will not be—"

“All that bilge you fed me about the necessity of self-control and the instant that a pretty face flips her skirt at you, you’re on her like an unclipped hound,” Rachel said, pushing heedlessly through my words.

“I-it wasn’t like that,” I protested feebly.

“It was exactly like that!” she said bullishly.

“You don’t understand, we had a connection—”

“You had a connection?” Rachel scoffed. “You mean she had her hooks in you!”

“I-I was--,” I blathered.

“Aren’t you always bemoaning the existence of your three wicked wives?” asked Rachel mercilessly. “And what’s your great plan for resolving that situation? Adding a fourth one to the viper’s pit?! That would have worked out perfectly, eh?”

… “I have a type, okay?” I confessed sheepishly. “I find the bad ones very appealing.”

“A type?” asked Rachel incredulously. “No, Kyler. You don’t have a type…YOU HAVE A MENTAL CONDITION!”

I sat on the floor in miserable silence while Rachel continued to glower at me with her hands on her hips. After some time had passed, she held her hand out to me, and I accepted it.

“Thank you for intervening,” I said with some embarrassment. “You’re a good daughter, Rachel.”

“Hmph,” she said. “I’m a good friend, Kyler. Clearly a better one than you deserve.”

“You may very well be,” I admitted with a wry shrug. “I’m sorry. I lost control of myself for a moment.”

“By the goddess, the thought of being around Jamie for all eternity,” Rachel said with a shudder. “Knowing what we now know about her, it would have been unbearable!”

“The sex would have been incredible,” I mumbled.

“Gross,” she said in reply.

“I’ll dearly miss the meals she provided,” I said sadly.

“Her cooking wasn’t that great, Kyler,” Rachel said with a dismissive gesture. “I’ll admit she had some skill, but the meals my mother prepared were far better.”

“Were they really?” I asked.

“I’ll make them for you some time and let you decide,” she said.

“You can cook?” I asked with genuine surprise.

“Of course, I can. I grew up on a farm,” she said with a laugh.

“Why am I just now learning this?” I asked.

“How should I know? Be more curious about the people in your life,” Rachel said with a smirk.

A sudden glow began to emanate from Jamie’s limp body as I felt the Gore Grimoire begin to resonate. It appeared my former friend had one final gift to bestow upon me.

“How ironic,” I said a moment later after absorbing her power. “Jamie nearly held my heart in her hand. But now the opposite is true.”

“Booo,” jeered Rachel at my joke. “That was horrible.”

[Appraisal], the display screen informed me.

You now possess the ability to instantly assess the physical statistics, skills, magical abilities and levels of other beings.

“How very interesting,” I said to myself as Rachel, and I exited the tavern for the final time.

__

I was surprised to see that Cassie was still alive and well, as we stepped back onto the street. The girl was currently huddled over the unconscious body of Pankratz, whom she’d apparently cast healing magic on, delaying his death from blood loss. They made for a tragic visual, sitting there beneath an indifferent sky. Two orphans who’d lost close friends and family both, all within a few short hours.

It really tugged at the old heartstrings.

Sort of.

“So, you decided to spare her,” I said to Rachel with a pleased smile. “I’m proud of you. It takes a strong will to resist vampiric hierarchy.”

“I was going to kill her,” Rachel said. “But in the midst of doing it, I started pitying her instead. It made me wonder why I was getting so bent out of shape. After all, she was just some helpless little doll being played with by her mother. That thought made me realize that perhaps the wrong person was taking the brunt of my anger.”

“Did you heal her?” I asked.

“Yeah. I pulled her into the shade and changed. Then I put three drops down her throat,” Rachel said. “Fixed her up, easy as that.”

“Look at the fast learner!” I said proudly, as I tousled her hair.

“Oh, shut up!” she said as we continued to watch Cassie weeping over Pankratz. After a few moments, she said, “Do you think we should do something for Nick?”

“What for?” I scoffed. “He got what he deserved.”

“I was listening to you and Jamie talk from outside,” Rachel said. “Don’t you feel the least bit sorry for him? From the sound of it, she was a nightmare.”

“He could still make his own choices,” I said stubbornly. “We’re not in the wrong. I’m not in the wrong. He did what he did, and I acted accordingly.”

“It’s doesn't matter who wronged whom,” Rachel said softly. “Mercy isn’t about that. It’s about having the courage to forgive.”

“Sentiments like that only work in a church," I replied. "Forgiveness is a concept that doesn’t exist in the wild.

“But we aren’t of the wild, Kyler,” she said. “Our humanity gives us the right to transcend nature’s brutality. Why did man evolve intelligence and free will if it meant forever acquiescing to Darwinism?”

“My mother would have labeled you defective and ordered me to destroy you,” I said with a mirthless laugh.

“Well, Grandmother sounds like she was a bitch,” Rachel snorted. “So, what will you do?”

First, I gathered Pankratz’s discarded hands. Then I pushed the weeping Cassie aside and pulled him into the shade. Then, as Rachel did earlier with the girl, I gave him three drops of my blood to restore his health.

“What? What happened?” Pankratz asked after gasping into wakefulness.

“Be quiet,” I said impatiently as I used my fingernail to make an incision on the tip of his maimed wrist, over which I spread more of my blood. I then held the end of his severed hand in place against it and pressed tightly. Within seconds of making contact, it began to reconnect with his arm.

“Oh my god,” Pankratz said as he watched his amputation being mended. Soon, not even a scar was left to hint at the disastrous injury he’d suffered earlier.

“All right, that’s that,” I said as I clapped him on the shoulder. “Be seeing you.”

“Wait,” Pankratz said as I began to leave. “Wait! What about the other one?”

He held up his handless left wrist to illustrate his question.

“Oh, right, slipped my mind,” I said. “Sorry.”

I then held up his left hand and promptly tossed it into my storage.

“What are you doing?” Pankratz protested weakly. “Give it back.”

“No, Nick. It’s mine now,” I said to him. “Think of it as a minor penalty for your prior misbehavior. Don’t worry, it won’t decompose so long as it stays in there. It’ll be fresh as can be while waiting to be returned to you. You’re just going to have to earn it back.”

“You bastard,” Nick said miserably. “You utter bastard. What do you want from me?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” I said. “It might take a while. Don’t go climbing any ladders until I get back to you, okay?”

And with that, I turned my back on him and rejoined Rachel and Schulz. I passed Cassie along the way and was treated to a withering look of sheer hatred as a reward for my kind deed.

It seems you can’t do anything nice for anyone nowadays.

“My condolences for the loss of your mom,” I said to her. “She truly was a unique person.”

A bewildered expression was her response.

“What?” Cassie asked. “What happened to my mother?”

Instead of responding, I began walking away more quickly.

Getting out of town as fast as possible now seemed like a lovely idea.

__

On our way to the main gate, we found the transport from earlier crashed against a reinforced wall with black smoke leaking from the engine. From the shattered window, we saw the hunter, Cindy, lying motionless on a pile of glass.

“Whoops,” Rachel said as we examined the wreck. “I don’t suppose you could repair this?”

“Never picked up the skillset,” I said. “What a waste.”

From within the destroyed vehicle, we watched as the blood orb I’d sent after it slowly floated out. I frowned as it approached me and let it know how displeased I was.

“When I told you to bring this vehicle back, I expected it to be intact,” I said in an icy tone of voice.

The blood orb hissed and clicked in embarrassment.

“Stop making excuses. Look at what you’ve done,” I said harshly. “I expected better from you.”

“Kyler, stop,” Rachel said. “Can’t you see he feels bad?”

“Good! He should feel bad,” I said. “Maybe next time he’ll try harder to do as he’s told.”

“It’s okay, Orby,” Rachel said soothingly to the blood orb, which she plucked out of the air and held to her chest like a nervous kitten. “He’s had a difficult day too. He doesn’t mean it.”

“Orby?” I asked. “Orby?”

“I’m keeping him,” Rachel said decisively.

“Rachel, that’s an utterly disposable lifeform. It exists to infect and spread its kind like a virus. I assure you; it has no identity.”

“He’s cute, I like him, I’m keeping him. What do you think, Orby?” Rachel said as she nuzzled the thing with her cheek.

It cooed at her like a happy infant. How? It doesn’t have any lungs!

“All right, that’s decided then,” Rachel said as she released…Orby into the air. It followed behind her obediently, like a gooseling that had been imprinted on her.

“Orby?” I said again as I followed them.

Well, that was unexpected.