Rick continued to groan in pain, his legs now cut in half as blood pooled all over the floor. He attempted to cover the wound with his hands, but he seemed to have only made it worse in the process. He pulled his hands away as they trembled while stained with red. The Rogue frantically looked around, desperately finding somewhere he could escape from Vlad, but the Blood Hunter wouldn’t allow him to leave. Not when he still had some questions for this little rat.
“Isn’t it about time you came clean, Rick?” Vlad asked, his voice cold and filled with venom as he spoke.
Rick took a moment to collect himself, making the occasional grunt and curse before shifting his attention back to the vampire, his eyes seething with rage. “I-I…I don’t know what you’re talking about, alright?!”
“I think you do,” Vlad crouched down, making it so that both he and Rick were at least somewhat face-to-face with one another. “You’re clearly not telling me the truth, so how about you just confess already?”
Rick let out another pained grunt before replying. “I don’t…know, you psychopath!” He spat in rage. “I already told you that I came here for shelter…and I was attacked by those fucking goblins! I-I barely managed to get out alive before coming here!”
So, he was still sticking to this story even though he lost his legs? Either he was extremely persistent in not telling the truth, or he was just a plain idiot. If Vlad had to guess, he would say that this bastard was the latter, rather than the former. If he was smart, this guy would’ve been a bit more truthful while sprinkling in a couple of lies. Instead, he lied right in Vlad’s face, not knowing that he knew the truth and he just dug himself into a rather big grave.
“Did you come here with anyone else?” Vlad suddenly asked, causing Rick to pause, his face wracked with pain and fear.
However, instead of telling the truth, this was his answer. “I-I already told you that I came here alone, alright?! F-fuck…w-why are you doing this to me?! What the hell did I do to you, huh?!”
In response to Rick’s question, Vlad coldly glared at the Rogue, his crimson-red eyes trained on the man without leaving him for a second. Rick couldn’t help but tremble with fear while being faced with this sight, as if he were encountering a predator that saw him as his next meal.
“You know exactly what you did,” Vlad calmly stated, his voice staying neutral yet laced with malice.
“I already told you…I don’t-!”
“Chloe Cribbs, Arthur Woods, and Lucy West,” The vampire interjected, causing Rick to pause immediately. “Do those names ring any bells?”
As soon as the Rogue heard those names, all the color left his face as he laid there on the floor in bewilderment and horror. It was at that moment, that the jig was up…and this bastard was caught red-handed.
“I-I don’t…” He stuttered, still trying to lie his way through this, but Vlad saw through this guy even without [Blood Sense].
“Don’t say that you don’t know them, because you do. These are the same people you came to this warehouse with while completing one of Tyler’s requests, which was gathering materials to strengthen your base’s defenses. Am I wrong?”
Rick could no longer speak, his words now caught in his throat as he failed to make any attempt at tricking Vlad. Sweat beaded down his face along with tears from the pain in his severed legs he was enduring. The moment Vlad saw this, he made a toothy grin, satisfied that the Rogue could no longer lie his way out of this situation. He tried to play the victim, but inevitably dug himself into a rather deep grave.
Once Rick and Vlad finally came to an understanding of the situation, the Blood Hunter dropped all pretenses and immediately grabbed him by the hair, pulling him close while starting the real interrogation.
“Where are my friends, asshole?” He growled; his lips pulled back, revealing his fangs.
“Y-your friends…” Rick was confused for a moment before his eyes widened with realization. “Y-you’re Vlad Stoker…”
At the mention of his name, Vlad couldn’t help but smile again. “Oh, looks like they told you about me. That’s nice. Now, tell me what happened to them before I start chopping off more limbs.”
To make a point, Vlad raised his hand while activating [Blood Strike]. Particles of blood materialized around his hand before slowly condensing into a sharp blade of blood, ready to be thrown at a moment’s notice. Seeing this, Rick grew pale while raising his arms in fear.
“A-alright, alright! C-Chloe and the others are on the first floor!”
Vlad paused, realizing that his worst fears had come true. Panic gripped his Stillborn heart while his mind raced. Were they dead? Were they still alive? Did the goblins do something to them? What was happening to them?!
As more and more questions flooded Vlad’s mind, he peered over at Rick before remembering that this bastard was with his friends before showing up in front of him. This meant that he was also the last person to see them alive. Making no effort to hide his disgust and hostility, he glared at the Thief before questioning him further.
“Tell me everything that happened, you understand? Don’t leave a single detail out that pertains to my friend’s current conditions. If you do, then you know what happens, got it?” Vlad once again raised his hand where the blood condensed around it, once again ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.
Without even skipping a beat, Rick frantically nodded his head, desperately conveying that he understood the consequences before going into a brief yet slightly long story of how he and Vlad’s friends ended up here.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
By the end of his confession, Vlad had more or less a good understanding of how the four of them got into this bad situation. They entered the building in hopes of finding materials but realized too soon that they actually entered a monster nest. Soon after discovering the monster nest, they received a quest much like Vlad’s to destroy it and weren’t allowed to leave until then or they would die.
At that point, the group tried to find a place to hide before getting ambushed by dozens of goblins, barely making it out while heading towards some catwalks that managed to keep them safe for a little while. The next part is where things got juicy, while on the catwalks, Chloe told Rick to lure away some monsters that were near the stairs that led to the second floor, which he did. However, before the four of them could climb the stairs and get to the second level, the goblins that were lured away returned shortly after, immediately spotting the group and attacking.
And then…
“You left them?!” Vlad snapped, his eyes shimmering red with anger. “Instead of clearing the way for my friends to get to the second floor, you fucking left them to die?!”
In a fit of rage, the vampire grabbed Rick by the collar and effortlessly lifted him in the air. Rick panicked, grabbing onto Vlad’s arms out of fear of falling.
“W-what was I supposed to do?! W-we were outnumbered! I-I had no other choice, dammit!”
Even when his sins were as plain as day, this guy made no attempts to atone for them. He had a chance to make it to the floor with the others, and yet he decided to flee on his own. Just the fact that he still thought he wasn’t in the wrong was enough to enrage Vlad.
“No excuses!” He snarled. “Because of what you did, Chloe and the others are in even more danger than I thought! And it’s your fault, you piece of shit!”
In Vlad’s eyes, Rick was the reason why his friends were in danger. Even if what he did sounded natural and reasonable, the Blood Hunter didn’t care. The only thing that he knew was that this guy was the cause of his friends' future demise. And that reason alone was enough for the vampire at the moment.
Without any remorse, Vlad tossed Rick to the ground before turning his back to him. Just as the vampire walked away, the Thief panicked.
“W-where are you going?! Y-you can’t just leave me here!” Desperate to survive, the thief pleaded for Vlad to save him, clinging to life like a pathetic rat.
“You left my friends to die. So, I’m returning the favor.”
After telling Vlad everything, Rick was no longer useful to him. If anything, thanks to his severed legs, this bastard was no different than a liability. A Rogue’s specialty was stealth and also possibly lock-picking and pick-pocketing. Aside from the two latter skills, Vlad already had the stealth factor covered. And again, he had no legs, so Vlad was also going to have to carry him around like in the one movie with the space blond guy transporting the green alien on his back. With that in mind, Vlad gladly left the bastard to fend for himself.
And with that, the vampire marched toward the exit, determined to find his friends and save them before it was too late. However, Rick wasn’t yet ready to let things go yet and continued to badger Vlad.
“Y-you think you’ll get away with this?! Huh?!” He sneered, his tone filled with anger and resentment. “Y-you’ll regret leaving me here, you hear me?! I-I’ll make sure you suffer from this!”
Before he could take another step, Vlad paused, hearing the utter audacity coming from the Rogue’s mouth. This bastard was going to make Vlad feel regretful? He was going to make him suffer? Even when he was on his last non-existent legs, he actually had the nerve to spout such nonsense in front of Vlad. Like hell he was allowing this.
Without hesitation, Vlad turned around and marched back over to Rick. At first, the thief looked afraid, but then a smug grin plastered on his face as if he won the fight, expecting that the vampire was going to save him. But it wasn’t. It was something else. Something far worse.
Standing before Rick, Vlad lifted him by the collar until both of them were face to face. The thief’s smug grin was still present as he arrogantly spoke to him.
“T-that’s right…y-you need me!” He spat. “Y-your friends are most likely dead, so that leaves just you and me, you got that? W-we need each other!”
Vlad remained quiet while ignoring Rick, his cold crimson eyes staring deeply at him. Then, they trailed over to his neck, briefly flashing red in response. Suddenly, he felt a pang of hunger as his stomach slightly rumbled, demanding sustenance.
“You’re right about one thing, asshole,” Vlad said calmly. “I do need you. Far more than you could ever imagine.”
Rick smiled in response, likely feeling arrogant that he was getting what he wanted. But in reality, this little rat subjected himself to an even worse fate than dying alone from blood loss.
A moment later, Vlad opened his mouth, displaying his vampiric fangs in full view. Rick was surprised by this, but before he could do or say anything, the vampire sunk his teeth into the player’s neck.
“A-aagh?!” Rick let out a startled yelp as he felt his blood draining from his body. “W-what the hell are yo-aaaghhh!”
The moment Rick’s blood entered Vlad’s mouth, a wave of flavor and texture overcame him, filling his tastebuds with a delicious tang. It was so good that the Blood Hunter couldn’t help but drink more of it. With each gulp of Rick’s blood, Vlad felt a euphoric sensation wash over him as if he were taking drugs. This was better than monster blood and even those Blood vials in his pack. Like ten times better! In the back of his mind, he wanted to keep drinking this forever, not wanting to let this kind of flavor leave him.
However, for a brief moment, Vlad managed to catch himself, realizing that he was about to kill Rick before pulling away in an instant. Vlad gasped as blood dripped from his mouth, a satisfied expression coated on his face. As for Rick, his eyes were rolled back while he groaned in pain. Much like how Vlad was in a daze from the blood, it seemed that the Thief was in a similar situation. Maybe his fangs had some kind of numbing effect that made it easier for vampires to consume blood. Either that or Rick was just really out of it from the blood loss.
While contemplating this, a couple of panels appeared.
[Player has consumed the blood of another player! 140 BP has been collected!]
[Skill [Hemophagia] has been activated! An additional 30 BP has been collected!]
Vlad couldn’t help but gawk at the screen. He managed to get 170 Blood Points from consuming the blood of a player? That was insane! Why was he just learning about this now?!
He was almost immediately pulled away from the panel at the sound of Rick’s groan, prompting the vampire to turn to him. Then a hit of realization overcame him.
He just consumed another player’s blood. And he liked it. It wasn’t just the taste that he enjoyed by the very act itself, as if it was a very basic thing for Vlad to do. As if it was instinctual. Even when he felt remorse for his actions, that feeling faded away after he remembered what this rat did to his friends, immediately letting his vampiric instincts take hold.
“You’re certainly right that I need you, Rick…as my blood bag, of course.”
Knowing how much BP Vlad was able to get from drinking a Player’s blood, he knew exactly what to do with Rick. And that was to keep him as his blood reserve so he could replenish his Blood Points when they got low. It may sound inhumane…but this bastard deserved such a fate. Vlad wanted to feel bad for doing something like that, but considering that this was Rick, he just couldn’t bring himself to feel any pity.
Suddenly, a new panel appeared that piqued Vlad’s interest.
[Would you like to turn Player into your Kin or a Thrall?
* Thrall (100 BP)
* Kin (300 BP)
“Well, what do we have here?” Vlad smiled.