Using all his enhanced senses and skills, the rabbit led the young man around and past the guards in the mansion. He’d had enough violence for one day. Staying in [STEALTH] and using [MIRAGE] to hide themselves as well as the opening and closing of doors, they managed to exit the estate without a fuss. Then the chattering started up again. It was only after he felt a measure of safety that the bunny came to a realisation. Abandoning a former vampire prisoner in the middle of a vampire city was probably a bad idea. He really didn’t want the responsibility, but he felt responsible anyways. “Hey Chester, do you have anywhere to go?”
Chester stiffened at the question, finally falling silent for the first time since they’d left the mansion, then his whole body drooped in defeat. “My family sold me so they could afford to buy a house.”
For a moment, [ROGER] thought he had misheard. “Was your family out on the streets? Were they struggling to find food and shelter?”
Chester just shook his head. “We rented a comfortable house in Alto, a main city of the human lands to the east across the mountain range. I was the eighth out of nine boys, but my parents really wanted a girl. Our parents grew to hate the youngest of us. Each boy born received a little more hate than the previous one. In the end, our parents sold the three youngest of their children to set themselves up for a better life. Cole, our seventh brother and the one I was closest to, didn’t survive the trip over. The people turned slaves were packed tight onto the ship and then had to survive the week long journey with the meager amount of water given out. After being dragged from the ship, we were sold from the docks. I haven’t seen Lyle since.”
Chester began to tear up as he told the story. The bunny didn’t blame him. The young man had had a brutal time of it. For a few moments, there was only silence.
“If you want, you could come home with me.”
The rabbit cringed as soon as the words left his lips. Yeah, just follow the newborn vampire home after being enslaved and suffering at the hands of a demented bitch of a vampire. Turns out, the teen didn’t seem to be quite that bright.
“Really, I can stay with you? I’d love to, and its not like I have many other options. But I want to find my brother first if that’s okay” Chester said enthusiastically.
The bunny’s mind summoned up a set of scales. On one side was trouble and on the other was his sense of responsibility. “Quest attained” his thoughts continued “find the brother without catching the attention of any other vampires. Note, once you are found missing from your cell, there is sure to be a group of vampires specifically looking for you.”
Just great. He thought it was going to be one heck of a hassle. Then his instincts told him otherwise. All the skills that had gone into creating [FUTURE SENSE] alerted him to how easy his task could be. “Alright then” he replied, before walking in the direction that Chester’s blood in his veins told him to go.
*DING*
Skill: [TRACE BLOOD] granted.
Your vampiric race enhances this skill.
Skill: [TRACE BLOOD] upgrades to Skill: [BLOOD PERCEPTION]
That’s weird. Chester had said that three brothers had been sold and one had died. Why were there four other traces that matched Chester’s blood? Although, one of them was… off. Did that mean they were dead? There were another two that screamed ‘vampire’ to his senses. Two had been turned then. The one that felt mostly normal must still be human, though the thread leading that way was weakening ever so slowly. It was dying. He decided to head for that one first.
He moved quickly while also trying not to attract too much attention. Chester seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation and didn’t speak, or it could have been because he was struggling to keep up. Heavy breathing followed in the vampire rabbit’s wake. Travelling deeper and deeper into the rougher areas of the city, they eventually began to make their way through what was clearly the slums. After a final few turns the pair stumbled across the slave market. Sellers were hawking their wares as if it were some kind of bazaar. The sight made his stomach turn. Market stalls with merchants offering merchandise, buyers appraising things they might purchase. In any other scenario it would be normal. The chains, sunken skin and hollow faces said otherwise. “Let’s go in and get out, we’re not sticking around” he murmured near the young man’s ear. Chester just nodded.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The trail they were following led to one of the less frequented establishments. “Watcha wont” the seller eloquently asked. Chester looked straight past him to the sickest and weakest body, that was still living. “Clyde” he whispered hoarsely.
[ROGER] glanced over. So, this wasn’t Lyle then. Taking in the situation, a gleam appeared in the merchant’s eyes. “Tha one? Ten gold.” He said smugly while pointing his thumb behind him.
The bunny decided this was the perfect time to let his new nature do the talking. Two canines lengthened and ice blue eyes turned glowing red. Filtering through the bargaining around him he said “We both know just one gold coin would be an extravagance for any of your ‘merchandise’.”
Seeing the situation, a new price was suddenly offered “For sumwun of ya standin’ sir, I offa for five silva.”
Despite knowing the price was still a bit high, the storm rabbit agreed. Money and keys were then exchanged. Chester ended up having to carry what was assumed to be another of his brothers. This wouldn’t do. Taking two humans, one nearly dead, to see vampires was not a good idea. “You two need to get out of the city, I’ll look for Lyle myself.”
Chester looked about to protest, but the bunny continued, “Clyde needs water, food and rest. Also having humans trailing behind is slowing me down.”
At that the young man closed his mouth and nodded. Chester turned for the closest gate, but the rabbit didn’t want to risk it. He led them instead to the closest part of the city wall right next to the slums. As Chester looked at him in confusion, they were suddenly teleported quite a ways outside the wall. That had been hard. Just that teleport had made his skill jump two levels. He collapsed in exhaustion as soon as their feet hit the grass. While the vampiric storm rabbit imitated a dying fish out of water, Chester looked around in wonder. A few minutes later a white haired, blue eyed man stood up as if nothing had happened. Chester wisely decided not to comment.
Around a kilometre from the city, a suitable small hill was found. The burrower softened the soil with [WATER] magic, then carved out chunks with [WIND BLADE]. There. A perfectly safe and cozy burrow. “Why do you look so proud of a cave?” Chester asked in bewilderment.
Startled and a bit embarrassed, the monster waved off his companion’s confusion, muttering about how he couldn’t appreciate complex magic.
After leaving the humans with water and some precooked meat, the bunny teleported back to the spot just inside the wall. That had been a lot easier. From there he decided to track the trail that was off. Probably the dead brother. The threads he followed led to a small, very run down estate. From the gate he could hear only five heartbeats. But that didn’t match the movements he heard. The movements were all humanoid as far as he could tell, but there were at least one hundred in the building. It didn’t make sense.
Once again combining [MIRAGE] and [STEALTH] he crept into the building.
Humanoid – [HUMAN] – [LEVEL 21]
Humanoid – [HUMAN] – [LEVEL 25]
Humanoid – [HALF ELF] – [LEVEL 31]
Greenskin/Humanoid – [HALF OGRE] – [LEVEL 33]
Humanoid – [HUMAN] – [LEVEL 42]
On the ground floor, he found the five with beating hearts. The two lowest levelled [HUMAN]s appeared to be the servants. The [HALF OGRE] was clearly for security as it was constantly on alert. There was one point where he almost thought the guard had seen through his magic. That didn’t end up being the case though. The two others appeared to be researchers of some kind. As they poured over papers in the large study and made notes, the male [HUMAN] took the lead. The female [HALF ELF] was an assistant by the looks of it.
This all seemed interesting, but the interest faded once he figured out what exactly they were researching. Undead. Any and all kinds. With this in mind, he had a feeling Cole was no longer dead dead. He was probably undead dead. Just great. He didn’t yet know if this was a good or bad thing. If the seventh brother was now like a mindless zombie it would probably be better to just put it out of its misery and tell Chester that he had just found the body. If a consciousness had actually been reawakened though, then it could be a happy reunion. Maybe.
First, he would have to follow the thread all the way to his target and find out what the situation was. From the sounds coming from below there were five underground floors. The door leading underground reminded him of the bitch’s dungeon door. He shivered in revulsion and a hint of fear. It was fine. He was fine. He was the one in control this time. No one else.
Using [TELEKINESIS] he unlocked the door and entered the practical side of the lunatics theoretical research. On the first floor were nearly thirty of the weakest creations. They were also all clearly mindless.
Humanoid – [HUMAN ZOMBIE] – [LEVEL 10]
Humanoid – [ELF GHOUL] – [LEVEL 12]
Humanoid – [DWARF REVENANT] – [LEVEL 13]
They were all in separate cells, the explanation for which was obvious. They would have ripped each other apart. Chewing at the bars, climbing up the walls with no regard for their own bodies. Bones cracked and muscle tore as they tried to escape their prisons. Communication was a no no. They just growled hoarsely at him. There were no signs that anyone was home upstairs. Disgusted at the scene, he sent a bolt of [LIGHT] magic through each of their skulls. The entire floor fell silent.