Liara knew it wasn’t just her mind playing tricks on her, the man had just verbalized something and it sounded eerily similar to her name.

Was he listening on us all along? No! It is not possible during the Vallakorim… Then? Then how did he know my name?

“Shekin… lodi flor?” he spoke in a questioning manner but the words were completely unintelligible to her. He looked at her expecting a response but Liara was too afraid to speak and just stared back at him with a confused look on her face.

“Shekin?!” the man spoke more forcefully this time, moving his right hand off her face and pointing it in the direction of the bodies lying on the mushroom garden.

“I… I… What?” Liara responded as she thought staying mum anymore would provoke a violent response. After hearing her reply and noticing the apprehensive look persist on her face, the vampire let out a sigh in defeat and annoyance. He tilted his head and gazed at the bloody corpse of the professor for a brief moment. The blood leaking out of the body had flowed in all directions some of it pooling right below them.

The vampire extended his left hand towards the bloody floor and dipped two of his fingers inside the still warm but rapidly cooling red liquid and then retrieved them to put in his mouth. He closed his eyes as the professor's blood entered his body.

“Lover?” He asked after opening his eyes, pointing his right hand in the direction of the bodies once more.

It took Liara a moment to puzzle together the meaning of the man’s word, his tone implying he was asking a question. It was barely intelligible to her but it was definitely Corolion the merchant tongue thickly coated in a bizarre and alien accent.

‘Lover?’ She thought as her frightened mind raced to try and decipher the meaning behind the question. She saw that his right hand was pointed in the direction of the dead brothers. Was he asking her if one of them was her lover? If so why? Why would a monster like him ask such a nonsensical question? Why would he even care about such trivial things?

From the power he had displayed he was clearly an ancient and they rarely showed any interest in mundane matters. Even in here terror-stricken stupor this bizarre question made no sense to her and she was beyond confused now. She should have been dead already if things had gone the way her mind had predicted it to go.

“No!” she blurted out in haste, almost instinctively while shaking her head furiously. This was not the time to ponder on the why. She had to survive.

The ancient looked at her curiously after hearing her answer, his face a mask of stoicism as he studied her. Liara got increasingly anxious as the man’s unflinching gaze lingered on her for what felt to her like an eternity. She had answered him truthfully.

Although she appreciated the three men, even so far as to respecting Roan for his competence, they were far from anything she would consider a lover. She had been so consumed with the thoughts of nothing but exacting vengeance the past year, love had no meaning in her quest, and besides coupling with humans was forbidden to the purebreds.

The ancients gaze lingered on her for a few moments before he sighed and Liara swore she saw a hint of disappointment in his expression before it returned back to the usual stoic state. He stood up from his crouched position and observed his surroundings for a brief moment before glancing towards the stairs and literally vanishing from Liara’s sight, but it was clear to her where he had gone, she could still sense his power.

She sighed in relief as the shadow of certain death lifted from her mind for the moment. She had a million questions and she was still angry at the brutal murder of her companions, which had gotten overshadowed by the overwhelming fear precipitated by her precarious predicament. She had to survive; she had to get back to her guardians in the imperial city. Vengeance for her dear mentor would have to wait.

She stood up slowly still a bit shaken and started making her way towards the stairs. She had thought about retrieving the chalice that had slipped of her hand in the chaos but decided to leave it be as she wasn't sensing any magic coming from the thing any longer. The thing was now also completely soaked in the professor's blood, so retrieving it now could just tempt her to do something unsavory that she might later regret.

Despite the dire situation she still hadn’t given up on bringing justice to Vesilia. She could not allow her murderers to roam free and unpunished. This time she would not make the same mistake as before, if she did survive through this she would not try to achieve the impossible on her own after clearly understanding her own severe limitations, the recent horror being a brutal lesson in humility.

She made her way back through the temple complex, picking up the pace as she went. Stepping over the crumbling ruins of what was once a massive stone door of the temple complex she was once again greeted with the similar sight of the ancient vampire who stood motionless just a few meters away from her, gazing at the city ahead of him. She stopped abruptly, unsure of her next course of action but soon caught herself gawking at his naked form.

She couldn’t help herself from admiring the muscular perfection in front of her. She mentally chided herself for attraction she felt towards the monster, and he was a monster, a simple mindless brute like all men but more man than others.

Now that she could see clearly through the fog of fear clouding her mind, the nonsensical question the brute had asked earlier made more sense. A mindless creature of rage and violence wouldn’t be able to form any coherent thoughts that made sense in the first place. Maybe she would be able to tame the creature and use its power for her own agenda.

She decided to risk it; fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to detect her casting magic. She knew male vampires never inherited the dark gift and are unable to sense the presence of the great mother’s power. She started building up power imagining a simple charm spell in her mind, her eyes glowing brilliant dark green as an invisible wave of power carrying the spell burst from the center of her forehead. The wave crashed behind the man’s head and then… nothing.

Liara was completely dumbfounded as she felt the power of her spell simply vanish out of existence as it touched the man. Her confidence waned and the fear from earlier started creeping back in as she noticed the man twitch a little as the spell crashed over him. She knew the spell hadn’t worked and she also knew somehow that the monster was aware of that same fact.

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Liara awaited the man’s judgment expecting the worse as she had just attacked him and the creature was clearly aware of it. After several moments of silence nothing happened and the man stood still, not even turning around to look at her. She was sure she heard a sigh coming from the man ahead of her before he spoke.

“Don’t be afraid little nightling, I mean you no harm,” the man spoke much more clearly this time but still thick with his unique accent. Without turning around he gestured with his right hand for her to come and stand beside him and she obeyed in a hurry.

“I must apologize for any inconvenience I caused you and urge you to be at ease. I see now that my actions from earlier have clearly caused you distress forcing you to perform your… tricks on my person,” he said.

Liara who now stood right beside the man was completely taken aback after hearing his apology; it was the last thing she had expected to come out of this monster's mouth. Things were not going the way she had imagined.

She had expected him to get angry and lash out as would be expected of a man, but she nonetheless welcomed this unexpected turn of events. Clearly, the great mother smiled on her this night as this was all playing right into her strengths and the one thing she was extremely confident in, her diplomatic skills.

“I must apologize as well for my rudeness. I was unsure of your intentions after you killed my… companions,” She replied honestly, struggling a bit at the end. Lying to an ancient would be dangerous and counterproductive as she was clearly at his mercy and it was clear to her he did not intend to kill her, yet.

“The hunger, it has a mind of its own, it makes us do cruel things. I hope you understand,” he said apologetically, darting his silver eyes in her direction to gauge her reaction before returning to look towards the city in front of him.

“I… I do,” she replied feeling her own dark hunger swelling inside her. The apology sounded genuine to her; maybe he wasn’t just a brute after all.

“I have come to believe that rescuing me wasn’t your objective in coming here, it is quite obvious. I, however, am very grateful for it nonetheless and would like to repay that debt,” the ancient said.

“Oh! Well, it was a pleasure to be of service, my… lord,” she spoke looking at the man beside her with a nervous smile, her voice fumbling a bit at the end. She immediately regretted her words as she noticed a frown form on the man’s face.

“I don’t appreciate the needless flattery and false decorum, you can call me Kal if you need to address me, and I would like for you to be blunt with me from now on. You can start by telling me your true purpose in coming here,” he asked in a firm voice that exuded power, directly looking at the small woman beside him for the first time with a harsh expression.

The sudden change in tone made Liara cringe in fear almost instinctively. She hadn’t expected this response from the man. In her usual encounters, flattery went a long way in generating goodwill between oneself and your intended quarry.

“I wanted vengeance for the murder of my mentor and to achieve that I needed a lot of power quickly. I came to discover about a wise man that had several theories about the supposed locations housing objects of great power. I and my companions along with the old man were in search for one of these items, but instead we found you,” she said.

After she explained her purpose in being here the man’s face softened a bit and he turned his head to look forward once more, pondering on what the girl had just told him.

“Hmm… Vengeance for your beloved, a noble venture indeed. If it is power that you seek I can lend you mine in your endeavors and I can aid you in your search for this vengeance you so desperately seek,” he said flatly.

Liara was now sure as ever that the Great Mother was watching over her. This creature in front of her was strong. She didn’t know how strong but at least as strong as an enforcer. If he truly did wish to aid her it would certainly make it easier to achieve her goals. But could he be trusted? Of course not, but what other option did she have? She had the suspicion that refusal was not really a valid option in this situation.

The search for powerful weapons was not an option any longer with the death of the professor, and even with the help of a monster like him by her side, she wasn’t sure she could win against an enemy as powerful as the Rokaal. She would need more help. Beginnings of a plan started formulating in her mind and she looked at the man beside her and smiled.

“I humbly accept your generous offer, but I must warn you my enemies are the Rokaal. Helping me might get you killed,” she warned, trying to test if he would keep his word knowing what he would be facing if he decided to help. This was a dangerous gamble telling the man about the Rokaal, maybe the man was an ally of them and would just kill her outright, but as she had decided to accept the man’s help it would be unwise to hide such an important detail from him.

The ancient looked directly at her, his stoic expression remaining unchanged at the mention of the Rokaal.

“And who might these Rokaal be?” he asked in a dispassionate tone.

Liara frowned at his question. Was he really that ignorant or was this a trick question? Did he really not know about the Rokaal Clan? What had he been doing all this time? Hiding under a rock? Ok, he sort of was, but still, every vampire who has ever lived knows about the Clans. They have existed since the beginning of time. Maybe his brain had decayed along with his body and his memories must have been affected. Yes, that could be the only explanation, she decided.

“Do you really not know who they are?” she asked trying to confirm his ignorance and when he continued staring at her apathetically she decided to explain. “They are a powerful Clan of our race, the followers of the Priestess Rokaalin.”

She waited to see if he atleast knew about the priestess but from his unchanged expression, it was clear he had no idea about anything. Now she was sure he had lost his memories, so she continued. “Don’t you know about the seven priestesses of the Great Mother?” she asked

“Great Mother? Who is that?” he questioned in reply.

Liara thought this was getting ridiculous now; explaining everything about the history of their race would take months. She decided to stick to what was relevant for now. “She is the creator of our race. Anyways I am just trying to warn you about the great danger in aiding me.”

“Don’t worry about me, little one, I am quite capable of handling anything that comes in my path,” he stated flatly without any trepidation.

‘Wow! Such hubris,’ Liara thought but decided against arguing any further and antagonizing the man.

“Alright then, we should get going,” she said and slowly started to move forward and the man followed behind. After walking halfway across the city she sneaked a look behind to see if the ancient man was still there as his movements were so silent, but she immediately regretted that decision and snapped her head back in a hurry and blushed. She had almost forgotten about the man’s nakedness, with his member hanging out in full glory. She really needed to get him some clothes.

They soon made it out of the caves and Liara looked behind to find no one, the man named Kal was missing. She tried searching for his power and was surprised find that he was already above her, he had somehow managed to make it up there without even alerting her senses. She followed using the small stone ledges embedded in the cliff face as she climbed, her strength boosted by her power.

“We need to get back to our wagon, if you would follow me,” Liara said standing behind Kal who was looking around almost in amazement and wonder. She walked forward setting a brisk pace with Kal following behind, his attention occupied by his surroundings.

“This place, I don’t remember there being so much green. What is this place?” he asked.

“It is called the Milanka forest,” she replied earnestly.

“Huh! A forest, things really have changed.” He said in almost a whisper, looking a bit awed as he surveyed the giant forest surrounding them.