CHAPTER 3 – BROKEN MEMORIES
Sanguine Necropolis – Home of the Unhallowed – Erebus
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L’Sana took another mailed fist to the face followed by a couple more to her ribs. She felt two cracking to join another that had already been broken earlier. The pain was excruciating but she’d had a long history of dealing with pain. She was doing her best to not allow her broken memories to take over. She knew Gideon would be coming. She had no doubt. That the shit stain in front of her thought he was safe in his Fortress surrounded by his army made him a dumb ass in her mind. Another mailed fist cracked her jaw, this time shattering it. It was the third time in the hours this had been going on. She’d been told she’d been unconscious for half a day before they had begun the torture. It was late evening based on the slight sight of sky through the small barred window in the cell.
She was in some makeshift see through scraps that covered absolutely nothing as the shit stain Blood King leered at her body as he pummeled her again like he had been for the last six hours while every hour having some Zombie looking fucker that was some kind of Grave Born Healer bring her back to health though in reality he was a shitty one. The Pillar didn’t seem to be made to really flourish in the healing department. He was sucking life out of slaves and giving it to her. He’d already drained three of them, their corpses trundled out like trash. They were all elderly people who were considered useless for anything other than blood meals for the Vamps or for such as this. That was explained slowly and with great glee by the Spider Bitch. Another new one had been brought in at some point as an elderly Shade Elf woman who wore her own slave collar sat listless and mentally broken next to the Zombie Healer.
The Spider Vamp Woman stood over her licking her lips as if she was having an orgasm. Several times she’d reached forward and swiped some of L’Sana’s blood with a finger to shove it in her mouth with her disgusting tiny white spiders roaming her dead flesh. Two of the large ones were acting as guard dogs towards the back of the room near the door to the cell. L’Sana vowed the woman would find the end of her claws.
They’d forced her to will her armor and claws to her storage by torturing Ari and threatening to kill her. Another blow rocked her as her eyes sought the small cage on a marble table in the middle of the dungeon cell. Ari lay brutalized, barely conscious from the strikes of lightning that were attached to the device connected to her slave collar. The device itself was controlled by another device attached to the Blood King’s waist. He seemed to not like her lack of reaction from the beating like she’d done at first, showing her fangs and promising retribution but this man had nothing on all the depredations and torture she’d spent a lifetime the victim of. He was an amateur. A bolt of electricity shot through Ari bringing her enough to consciousness to let out screams of agony. It was slowly breaking L’Sana’s mind.
The door to the cell opened and the Arcane Vamp came in with a look of disgust at what was transpiring. He didn’t seem to be a fan of his Lord’s amusements. He held an ornate staff and azure blue battle robes. L’Sana could swear she saw a glimpse of sympathy in the Shade Elf turned Vampire’s eyes. It was gone as a ghost as the Blood King turned his head.
“Have you changed your mind K’Asar? Care to partake in some of the fun?”
The Arcane Mage shook his head while keeping his face passive.
“No Lord. You have been called to the Spirit Totem. Your Patron would like a word.”
L’Sana whose eyes were almost closed from the beating she’d been taking still registered a flash of fear in the Blood King’s eyes before it switched to anger as he turned and punched her again with his chain-mailed fist. All of her Abilities were cut off by the slave collar including her racial ones and her Attributes were muted to less than half what they should be. She saw her storage ring on the table near Ari’s cage, everything a blurred double image but one she could still make out. The Spider Bitch spoke up.
“Lord. She is not going anywhere and we still have the real fun planned for tomorrow. Might be good to allow her to heal and get cleaned up a bit and some rest before being used as the party toy.”
The grin flashed back to the Blood King’s lips. He took a step back towards her broken form leaning down with a grin and his incisors prominent. Unlike hers which were a beast’s fangs meant to tear and rip, his were needle-like, meant to puncture. His mailed hand lifted her broken jaw causing her to grimace from the pain, almost blacking out but she gritted her entire body to not give him the satisfaction. It made him smile even more.
“Tomorrow is going to be a reunion for you of sorts. I plan on having a celebration with all my Elites and you are going to be the chained up part favor they are all going to run a train on. Should bring back a lot of memories for you. In fact now that I’m thinking about it, if what the Old Elf said is true, you should feel right at home and will probably enjoy it, and if you don’t, you better act as if you do or your little lizard will be having a horrible evening. In fact Alissa here plans on wearing a strap-on and joining in the line, aren’t you sweet?”
He grabbed the Spider Bitch kissing her roughly as he grabbed her ass and she seemed to enjoy every moment of it. He then turned once more to the Zombie Healer fucker.
“Heal her up and get her clean then allow her to rest. Bring her to the throne room at mid-afternoon tomorrow. I will send some Elites to make sure she behaves and I will take her lizard with me to guarantee it.”
L’Sana wanted to scream at him, eviscerate him but she knew he would just torture Ari more so she stayed silent which was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her entire existence.
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The Blood King’s Private Rooms – Sanguine Necropolis – Erebus
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David Benjamin, 47 years old, Ex-Neuro Surgeon, a man married four times and divorced four times within a year of marriage each time for cheating and getting caught fucking any young woman his money and looks could get into bed, which was a lot. What could he say? He’d always been a selfish bastard, a hedonist that did what he wanted as he wanted. Luckily he hadn’t been pinned with any kids along the way. When the System came he finally understood true freedom. He didn’t have to put on an act anymore, a mask of decency that was expected by one with his vocation.
The Tutorial had made him alive. The first part with all the mewling fools where he was still stuck attempting to hold to some semblance of social acceptance was a drain on his truth. The only saving grace was Alissa who’d been in there with him. By the third day and numerous monsters dead he made the decision that had changed everything. Well, not a conscious decision so much rather than a reaction but one he truly thought was mired in his true self, carved of the veneer of civilization he’d been trapped within.
One of the people, a twenty something nerd who had been moaning and bitching for over an hour because his Mommy had died to some beast, boohoo. Without thought he’d killed the annoying fucker than before he knew what he was doing he killed them all and Alissa, cackling, joined in, until they were all that was left. They’d fucked on top of one of the corpses when they were done. It had been an aphrodisiac truth be told. Then the second best thing in the start of his new life had transpired when they’d exited the Tutorial after killing the Boss. It looked like his 87% Affinity in the Grave was the second highest on all of Erebus and the bitch he had down below had stupidly turned down one of the most powerful Factions in the Multi-Verse, the Unhallowed. He’d been their second choice but still he was the choice they had. He leveraged that. They wanted him so bad they’d spent a ridiculous amount of resources to put a Spirit Totem right in his path as they exited the tutorial.
He’d taken their offer and they spent all the rest of their resources on giving him a City Stone and something even more precious, that cost more than most Factions would have even been able to afford but they really wanted Erebus under their thumb. He had a feeling they beggared themselves to do it. They gave him a Soul Stone, Totem, a creation that gifted people Bloodlines. They said they would not be able to give him any help beyond that but he didn’t need any.
It’s only limitation was what allowed them to be able to purchase one of the most powerful items in the Multi-Verse. It was a lesser version that could only gift Bloodlines whose origin was in the Grave Soul-Pillar and could give nothing better than a C+ Bloodline unless there was extraneous circumstances like powerful Titles to boost it.
He, being who he was, asked for more. And they gave it to him. The most powerful God of the Ministry of the Dead made him his Champion, the Father of all Vampires. The exact Title he needed to do what he envisioned. His only other Title was a good one but he hadn’t been sure if it would have been enough. It was called Kin-Slayer and he was really proud of it. Alissa had the same Title.
He of course was the first to use the Soul Stone and because the new Title did what he’d needed and boosted what the Stone was capable of. He was offered an unbelievably powerful Bloodline, Cadaver Sanguins, an ‘A’ Ranked Ancient Vampire race that made him more powerful than anything upon this planet he was sure. It had been the original Race created by his Patron himself, the first-born of all Vampires. And with that Bloodline the Blood King emerged, all masks and veneer of civility thrown away.
It also gave him another option, the ability to gift a weaker version of his Bloodline but still a ‘B’ Ranking. It cost him Levels though and a loss of Attributes to do so. He’d only done it twice because of it, for his two Seconds, Alissa and his Arcane Scion, K’Asar, who was a bit too honorable for his taste but powerful, second only to himself if he was being honest, and loyal for all his faults.
The Soul Stone had been the key to their rise up the Faction list. It proved the biggest lure and gift he could have ever asked for. His Settlement once the Network was up attracted an endless amount of self-serving power hungry despots wanting the strength a Bloodline would give them. His entire army had a Bloodline now which made them ultimately above every other Faction. Not even all the most powerful people at the Council had a Bloodline and seeing what a Bloodline brought he knew they were weaker for it.
He filled the rest of his Settlement with slaves and blood thralls, the weak who deserved nothing more, like the whiny bitch nerd from the Tutorial.
That's why what had just happened made him so fucking angry. The Father of all Vampires, bullshit. The man was cowing to some kind of political pressure like he’d used to, wearing a mask to placate someone, to hide his true self to appease some kind of societal stricture. To say he was disappointed in his Patron would be an understatement and a huge part of him wanted to ignore the God but his self preservation was stronger than his ego, not by much, but enough and he knew he wasn’t in a position yet to refute an order from a God.
Alissa looked at him with a question but than K’Asar stepped in and had a shift of apprehension within him which was rare. His tomb laced vampiric voice cut the quiet and irritated the Blood King even more.
“So should I give the order to let her go and have her and the Dragonling dropped near where we took her?”
The sound out of Alissa’s voice was shrill and piercing and music to his ears.
“What the fuck are you talking about you weak willed limp-dicked fool!!!!”
Her crazed lust licked eyes hammered to his, querying what the fuck K’Asar was talking about. The Blood King, the ruler of Sanguine Necropolis spat through gritted jaw. He slipped a look at the cage that sat atop a table in the corner and the half-burned unconscious lizard. That lifted his mood slightly.
“My Patron has told me to release the woman and her lizard. And no he didn’t explain why besides saying there are powers moving beyond just Erebus and the Unhallowed are not ready for the reprisal her death would cause.”
His anger was a bitter taste in his mouth but it wasn’t until he shifted his gaze from Alissa to K’Asar and his vampire senses picked up the scent and heartbeats of his woman’s extreme anger and thwarted lust and the satisfied scent and relived heartbeat of the other that he made his decision.
“I think there is a lesson here, one to learn and one to be taught. We will do our Patron’s bidding but at the same time we need to show our own autonomy as well if we are to lead Erebus in the name of the Unhallowed. We shall still have our feast tomorrow and enjoy the bitch than we shall release them after she has been taught her place. They both shall be alive but broken and a good message to all. The rise of Sanguine Necropolis and the Blood King is inevitable.”
Alissa slid into him with a hungry growl as she sank her fangs into his neck to feed while he smiled at his uncomfortable Arcane Scion. Yes, this shall all play out perfectly. The mask is gone and civility was over-rated.