Deep in the middle of the night a prayer came to me. The voice of a young woman crying out for salvation from a nightmare that stalked her in the depth of the darkness. Her fear filled the prayer with despair as this creature assailed her within her own home. There in the room with the moon shining brightly through the window a figure swiftly moved in to the bed and pressed its hand on her exposed neck. As she screamed the sound was cut off as her throat was pressed tightly.
To me of course it made little sense to go there directly for something like this. I was currently busy with reading up on some of the magical schools of the past in this world. There sequestered away in the library of the mages as I had been before I sat with an interesting book. Such attacks on people were common throughout the kingdom and I handled them all in the same way. This one was no different.
It was easy enough to pinpoint where this woman was in some village near the northern boarder. Inside the room of her cottage there was indeed someone in the room with her, another woman to be specific. It seemed there was a murder in progress and I had a simple solution for that. With my left hand raised in the air I summoned forth a small magic circle, sticking my hand through it and into the room at the location.
Quickly my hand appeared from the portal and I struck the attacker with a weak slap on the arm that was currently their victim. This caused her to release her grip and jump back in surprise. Now with the woman on the bed safe my arm stretched out of the portal and elongated until it could grab the neck of the attacking woman. She tried to dodge of course but was unable to due to my speed.
With the victimizer now the victim I quickly manifested a manacle with a chain around her neck using magic. Then my hand slid down to the floor creating chain along the way, eventually ending with a large knot of rope being created on the floor itself and chaining the person in place. After this was done a key fell out of my hand onto the floor which went to the manacle.
Even though it was spooky to have your attacker locked in the room with you for the night it was better than being hurt or killed. This method of trapping bad people had become my preferred method as it required little involvement from me and human agents of justice could simply come in the morning and deal with it themselves.
All of this took less than ten seconds and once it was finished I withdrew my arm until it was normal length again. It then vanished into the portal as I pulled it back to myself in the library room. The situation was now resolved and I proceeded to forget all about it. Now I could continue reading my books in peace. Or at least I had thought that would be the last I thought about it.
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Time continued forward until morning came into the world, the sun rising up and banishing the darkness of the night. I had been up all night reading and while I wasn't tired at all it made me feel like I had somehow done something wrong. The habits of my old life coming to haunt me once again I suppose. It can't be helped. I should probably head out anyway though.
I stood up and stretched, lifting my arms over my head and letting out a yawn. Maybe I was feeling a bit of mental fatigue from all the reading. It would be nice to lay down and digest the information on history I had just consumed, sort of like taking a nap after a big meal. It seemed my plans would be once again foiled as another strange prayer was brought to my attention.
Far off to the north in the same village from the attack last night there was a large group of people praying to me. In fact it seemed like the entire village was doing it as over a hundred voices could be heard. Bringing up my internal map I zoomed to the location and saw that indeed there was a verified crowd of people standing in the middle of the village and raising their arms and voices in prayer to me.
What were they praying about? They were begging me for my protection from a terrible monster of the night that had killed maidens in their village in the last week. Something that I hadn't been made aware of before now. This monster that had suddenly appeared chained up in a cottage last night and was too fearsome for anyone to slay. Thus they called for aid from their goddess.
“What in the actual cluck?” I swore to myself out loud.
Deciding to head over there immediately I quickly opened a magical circle of teleportation at the location. In true dramatic fashion the other end of the portal appeared up in the air above the heads of the villagers. This allowed for me to slide down out of the glowing circle and float there with a mysterious vibe. My left hand was lifted in front of my chin, opened and turned to the side, while my right hand was held across my chest with a closed fist. Behind my head a glowing halo of brilliant light.
I opened my mouth to speak, my voice loud but still childlike.
“Greetings my faithful worshipers.” I said looking down over them. “I have heard your prayers and have come to save you.”
My dramatic entrance had its intended effect. All the people either bowed and clasped their hands or stood and raised their arms in worship of me. One of the men in the crowed below who was probably some kind of village leader ran forward and called up to me floating in the air.
“Goddess! Thank heaven you came! Thank you!”
While I kept a somewhat disinterested expression on my face for appearances sake I was actually quite interested to see what kind of monster could they could possibly be talking about. For one thing I was worried one of the werewolves was up to no good, though it really didn't seem like it from last night.
I floated down lower to the ground, now only ten or so feet above it.
“So why have you called me here today? Some monster attacking you?”
Another man came hurrying over next to the first, an older man with a long graying beard.
“Yes goddess! A bloodthirsty monster has been terrorizing the village in the last week. Already two young maidens have been killed with a third narrowly escaping the same fate last night.”
My left eye twitched a little. It was frustrating to be reminded that deaths had happened without even being warned about it.
“Yes I'm aware of the events of last night” I said in an annoyed tone. “It was my doing that saved the woman. Why wasn't I told about the previous deaths until now?”
The first man looked to the ground and seemed embarrassed as he replied.
“We're sorry goddess... We thought we could take care of it ourselves. But eventually we had to admit we couldn't do it without our goddess's help. Please forgive us.”
One of the middle aged women in the crowd that was close by spoke up now.
“The monster is still inside the house! Chained to the floor and thrashing about!”
I let out a sigh and finished floating all the way down to the ground. This must be the mother of last night's victim. Using my goddess vision I did a quick check and saw that the young woman was indeed among the crowd and was currently praying to me once again in thanks for saving her.
“Don't worry about it.” I said dismissively. “What matters is I'm here now. Take me to this monster.”
The woman who had spoken stood up and started leading me towards her house, the rest of the crowed following behind at a short distance. Everyone was very interested in what was about to happen and they were held in suspense. What would the goddess do they wondered? Would this monster be able to harm even a goddess?
“So how were the previous victims killed?” I asked as we walked.
The older man from before was walking behind me and sounded a bit choked up as he spoke.
“They had their throats cut open goddess. T-Then they had their blood drained from their body... It was a grisly sight.”
Damn it all! Attacking at night and stealing the blood of young women. This was that vampire wasn't it? Last night I was so distracted when I took care of that prayer I didn't pay that much attention to what the attacker actually was like. Now I'm beating myself up over missing something so important.
I stayed silently brooding as we walked the short distance to the afflicted cottage, the villagers probably wondering why I looked so steamed. They'd never know the stupid mistake I'd made of course and I'd just let them keep on believing everything was done intentionally.
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“So I had chained the monster up you know” I said. “Is there a reason ya'll didn't do something about it yourselves? It should be helpless.”
The man spoke again and sounded ashamed.
“Well goddess...” he replied. “The monster is quite powerful... We cant even approach without risking being killed. Please forgive us for our incompetence.”
I sighed softly again and shook my head.
“It can't be helped.”
We finally reached the cottage and came to a stop in front of it. The place looked like your average everyday house from the outside, though there was a sinister aura hanging about like a dark mist. The humans wouldn't be able to to see if of course, but they surely would sense it as some foreboding feeling in the air. It didn't surprise me then when they decided to hang far back away from the house.
I looked over my shoulder and smiled gently at them.
“Don't worry everyone. I'll take care of this easily.”
My reassuring reaction seemed to calm them greatly and I heard all sorts of exclamations of praise from those gathered behind me. Taking care of a simple vampire would be easy enough for me, but it was what exactly I should do that I wondered about.
As I walked up to the front door I put my body on auto pilot and descended into the goddess zone. Then as my body crossed over the threshold of the doorway the gloominess obscured my body from those outside.
Down in the goddess zone I appeared nearby Sub-chan. She was sitting at the desk and working on answering prayers as always. Miya was sleeping off in the other side of the space. My arms were crossed as I approached my other side and she looked up with her usual blank expression.
“Yeah yeah” I said still annoyed. “I'm here to talk to you.”
Sub-chan just nodded to me and moved her hands to rest in her lap. She made no other movements and said nothing. While her expression was blank I couldn't help but feel like she was very smug right now.
I uncrossed my arms and leaned forward onto the desk, flipping my hair behind my shoulders before sighing.
“So what're we going to do about this vampire?”
As I spoke I motioned with my head to the map display across the room from us. It was zoomed in on the house we were standing in and the only other soul inside the place was a female one currently located in one of the bedrooms. She was chained to the floor and her aura was tainted by something strange and unnatural. It was indeed a vampire, it had to be.
Sub-chan looked over to the map and then back up at me. She shrugged.
“Kill it. Kill her. Though I suppose that wouldn't be the most logical option active self would say.”
Another sigh escaped me and I bonked my forehead down on the desk before pushing myself upright again.
“No Sub-chan it wouldn't! Like are we really going to pass up this discovery?” I was starting to sound excited now. “I mean think of all the things we could learn about this world! About magic itsself!”
While I was ranting I stepped back from the desk and raised my arms into the air. Then after a brief pause I dropped my arms again and grunted with a frown.
“But she's killed people. Probably a lot of people. I mean we don't even know if this is the same one that's been pretending to be the demon mage either.”
Sub-chan leaned forward and propped herself up with her hands under her chin.
“We can always capture her and interrogate her. Just because she needs to die doesn't mean it has to be immediately we suppose. Does that satisfy active self?”
I thought about it for a moment and huffed air from between my lips. It did seem like a good way to play it. Hopefully I'd be able to get some information out of the vampire and then finish her off with ease. After all I'm a holy being and its not like even a super powered and hyped up vampire like Dracula himself would stand a chance against me in this body. Damn! I wonder how much of that myth stuff was true in this world? This was so cool!
“You done over there?” Sub-chan asked dryly.
I snapped back to reality and gave her a quick glare.
“Yes princess. I'll go take care of business now.” I then smiled a little. “And thanks.”
A small smile appeared on Sub-chan's lips but she said nothing.
Now with the full support of, well myself, I returned to my body fully and found myself once again in the gloomy cottage.
The place was somehow cold and quiet despite the sun being up outside. It wasn't a literal cold of course but more of a supernatural chill that came over the soul. This vampire, whoever she was, is indeed a powerful one. Thankfully as the embodiment of light itself I could simply will the oppressive feeling away. A small warm glow surrounded me as I walked through the house towards the bedroom.
As I got closer I paid more attention to the sounds I had previously not given much notice to. There in the bedroom was the scraping of metal on wood as the chain was dragged around. Also the sounds of muffled speech, profanities of course. Seems this woman wasn't very happy with her current predicament.
The shuffling about and swearing stopped as I approached the open doorway. Suddenly the vampire woman went silent and still, her head looking at me through the wall. When I appeared in the doorway she quickly threw herself backwards against the wall, the shackle biting a her neck as she howled in pure terror.
“Stay away from me!” she screamed.
I sort of just stood there in the doorway blinking in surprise. This wasn't the reaction I had expected. She could probably sense my goddess-hood or at least my magical ability. Seeing something like me waltz into the room easily made normal people terrified. It was quite the revelation that I was a monster even to monsters. Having her in a panic wasn't going to be very helpful though so I tried calming her down by talking to her.
“No need to get yourself worked up” I said calmly as I stepped into the room. “I'm not going to kill you, yet anyway.”
The woman kept herself pressed up into the wall, the chain still limiting her movement any further. She glared at me with hatred and fear but didn't say anything more. This woman was beautiful by human standards except with deathly pale skin. Her hair was long, curly, and blood red. She was dressed in pretty black garb and her eyes were gray with the only spark of life she displayed within them.
I took it upon myself to continue speaking then.
“So vampire. You got a name?”
She didn't answer.
I crossed my arms and took another step forward.
“I guess you can tell I'm a goddess? I could rip the roof right off and let the sunlight take of you right now if you want.”
The vampire paused for a moment and looked up at the ceiling. Something clearly went through her head before she looked back down at me. There was defiance in her eyes.
“Do your worst goddess scum!”
She sure had an attitude for someone at my mercy. I wonder what made her hate goddesses so much? Just the fact they protected humans as a general rule. Not like it mattered until I could interrogate her I suppose.
“Are you the one that attacked the werewolves?” I asked curiously. “The one they were calling the demon mage?”
This seemed to make her angry for a whole different reason and she spat at me.
“Don't you dare call me that! I'm not worthy of that title!” She then glared out the window. “Those dogs deserve to die. My only regret is not finishing them off when I had the chance.”
This confirmed my suspicions and meant the big threat was taken care of. Who knows if there were other vampires out there though. I'd have to get that information from her. In the mean time it was time to capture her.
I walked closer to the chain in the floor and she hissed at me but didn't move from her position on the wall. She was trapped and she knew it. Because she knew I was a goddess she probably had a better idea of my combat capabilities than I did myself. I wonder how long she's been alive?
“Very interesting” I said as I leaned down to the touch the chain. “You'll be coming with me for now. Hope you don't mind.”
The chain started disappearing after I touched it, vanishing into sparkling light that continued as a chain reaction all the way up to the shackle around the woman's neck. Then just as the shackle vanished the vampire made her move.
In an instant she leapt for the window with blinding speed. Wither she planned to end her own life or had some way to escape mattered not, for her escape plans were foiled in spectacular fashion. Regardless if she moved faster than the human eye could pick up it was not a human that was her opponent this day. It was a goddess.
I leapt forward faster than even she did and grabbed her around the waist using my left arm. I then swung her around midair and threw her back into the middle of the room. As I did this I summoned forth several stone slabs that broke through the floor with a shower of splinters.
These stone slabs formed a tall four sides box, like a coffin, and the vampire was slammed right into the middle of it. All four corners clapped together with a thoom as the bottom was closed off with another smaller slab. Then I leapt into the air as another slab burst from the floor. I caught it and brought it with me to the top of the stone rectangle and slammed it down, sealing the entire thing fully.
With the stone crate completed I landed down on the floor again and looked at it with an excited smirk. My hair settled down around my shoulders after it had so wildly fluttered during my movements. As the dust and wood splinters settled I stood up straight and put my hands on my hips, looking at my little trap proudly.
Inside the stone rectangle I could hear yelling and scraping, though it died down after only a few moments. Even if she had the ability to turn into mist she wouldn't be getting out of this. It was airtight. Vampires were undead anyway so she didn't need to breathe.
Using my telekinesis I lifted the stone prison up into the air behind me. It was at least six feet tall and three wide leaving plenty of space inside for its prisoner. The thing had to be tilted around in the air to get it through the doorways of the cottage but I had it outside in short order. Already the place seemed to have a more positive atmosphere as if just locking up the vampire removed the gloominess.
The villagers were all still standing outside and looking in anticipation. When they saw me come out the front door with the stone locker they all cheered happily. They had heard the commotion and knew that if I was here the vampire was surely in the box I had.
Smiling widely I lifted my hands to calm down the crowd. Then I spoke with a loud voice so they could all hear me.
“Now now! Settle down everyone! The monster is taken care of. Praise me of course!” I then lowered my hands. “But I want ya'll to understand that you need to pray to me sooner about this stuff. Don't wait until another victim shows up, tell me immediately ok?”
There were replies of confirmation from the crowd and I nodded satisfied that they understood. Now that they weren't in danger I had other things to concern myself with anyway. For starters where would I take this vampire for interrogation?
Since we were in Voorhaul it made sense to take her to Quarely's castle and stick her in the dungeons. The cell would need some modifications to keep her contained but it seemed like the best solution. It'd probably be best to let him know about the werewolves and vampire issue anyway, since it seemed supernatural monsters were popping up in his province now.
It seemed like a solid plan to me and as I thought about how to properly secure the dungeon cell I lifted up into the air and left the villagers behind. Then I dragged the stone box behind me and opened a portal to the city of Vinedenne.