The room upstairs was quiet, but many people had been startled awake by the mob of newcomers. Shopping carts were being unloaded in the huge foyer, waking people who slept on blankets and backpacks at the edges of the room.

“So much for a night of uninterrupted sleep.” Steve said, yawning. “A day of uninterrupted sleep?”

He was pale, leaning against the wall near the exit into the foyer. Shopping carts full of supplies were stacked to the walls, with more being pulled in as our new survivors sobbed.

“I don’t even feel tired anymore.” I said. “Wait, do vampires need to sleep?”

Steve shrugged, scratching his chin. His stubble was growing back in. His eyes locked onto Cody, following the book as it bobbed up and down to the side of me.

“Do you see that?” Steve asked.

A few people who were crowding the door way turned and stared at the book as well. They were curious too. None were curious enough to have turned and asked. I didn’t blame them. The night was overwhelming.

“I AM — ”

“This is Cody.” I interrupted the book.

Cody managed to look deflated, tilting forward and sinking lower.

“And be quiet, Cody. People are trying to sleep.” I folded my arms against the wall.

Steve looked like he wanted to say something, but was stopping himself, looking between the book and me.

“You weren’t joking about the castle, bloodsucker.” Clarissa said, shouldering up to me. She still held the chainsaw. She looked at me, then Steve. Her eyes lingered on the holster on his waist. When he met her eyes, she introduced herself. “I’m Clare.”

“Hi Clare.” Steve said. “Did you uh… use that?”

Her chainsaw was covered in gore.

“Yes.” Clare smiled cynically. “It wasn’t pleasant for anyone. I think my hands are developing callouses.”

“You can put that down, you know.” I said.

“Not while there are vampires around.” Clarissa replied.

“There aren’t any…” I started to reply. Clarissa just stared at me. “Oh. Me.”

“We have a lot of hungry people.” She said. “Do you have a kitchen? In your castle?”

“Yeah. Come with me. Steve, can you get everyone together? We should make a plan for our next moves after second dinner.”

“Sure.” Steve said. He was scanning the grocery carts and rubbing his side.

I led Clarissa to the kitchen, showing her the stock of food we had. She nodded repeatedly. I started washing the dishes another time as she went back to fetch other food from the store.

Dan helped her haul stuff in, and soon we were cooking another meal for another thirty people.

An hour later, we were sitting over the stone kitchen table. We were using boxes with furniture or appliances in them as chairs. The smell of seasoning hung in the air.

“Did you find Russo?” I asked Steve.

“No.” Steve shook his head. “I couldn’t find him. He might have gone back downstairs.”

I frowned.

“Do you really need to put that chainsaw on the table?” Amber asked Clarissa. “It’s disgusting.”

“I’ll put the chainsaw on the floor when you ash your cigarette.” Clarissa replied.

Amber rolled her eyes, but she put the cigarette out on the stone table. Clarissa set the chainsaw on the floor.

Bea tapped the table nervously, eyes jumping between us. Dan was quiet, staring at the table. He blinked. I watched as his eyes shifted slowly, from a deep brown to a startling crimson. No one else had noticed yet. He gripped at his side, his shirt crumpling in his hand.

Cody hovered behind me.

“We can’t wait all day for Russo.” Amber said, leaning forward with a smirk. “What’s the agenda, Lord Eli?”

The table was cold against my arms. The room was very large, but narrow, which meant the walls pressed in on all sides. It felt like being in a travel trailer or RV.

“When I took control of the territory seat, I started getting alerts for threats to the domain.” I said. “There’s a number of vampires inside of the city. And that number is growing.”

Dan grimaced.

“That means we need to hunt. Kill them all.” Clarissa said. “We need to form hunting teams. Acquire skills. Get more powerful. And hunt that swordsman vampire.”

Steve was nodding along.

“That means there are other survivors.” Amber said. “Can you see how many people are left in the city?”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“Population estimate isn’t available until territory level five. Your territory level was reset when you killed the previous lord.” Cody said, his voice booming. I flinched at the voice.

“Can you talk quietly?” I asked.

“The book can talk?” Amber asked.

“I AM — ” Cody started.

Three of us hushed him. He sunk lower, dejected.

“I am the Codex of Acquisitions, a mighty fragment and single shard of the Catalog!” The book said. It began to glow brighter, hovering in the air above us. “I open the door to the empire’s every good! Bound within me is the knowledge and history of millennium! I grant access to the vast resources of the empire… for a price!”

“Like a… firstborn son type of price?” Amber asked slowly.

“No! What is wrong with this world?” Cody asked. He swirled around the table, hovering over each persons head.

“Cody, what did you mean when you said that the vampire’s purchased this city?” I asked. We needed information.

Cody stopped, spinning around to face us.

“Did you not receive the standard set of informational prompts? No matter. Since the rise of the Catalog, the integration process of new worlds has been privatized. This means that every man can rise to greatness! The sons and daughters of the Great Houses of the Catalog often purchases passes to the world, taking over administration of sections of it to produce more value, extensions of their dynasties reaching out to new worlds.”

“You mean to say that… these vampires purchased the right to treat our city like a safari?” Bea asked. “And they come from a world of vampires? A whole dynasty of them?”

“Of course not!” Cody said happily. “The previous Territory Lord changed species when merging with the new world. Vampire is an exceedingly popular pick due to its immunity to aging.”

“So we killed some noble, alien scion?” Steve asked, leaning forward. He was agitated. “Won’t his family come for us?”

“Yes!” Cody said, still happy. “However, the maximum level and technology of newly integrated worlds is restricted. In order to join as an Integrator, the Allodyn scion had to forsake all of his levels and most of his equipment.”

“So the family will have to give up their power if they want to come and fight us?” I asked.

“No! They just have to wait for the level restriction to rise high enough. That will take years!” Cody provided.

Bea looked like she was going to be sick. Amber was staring longingly at her dead cigarette. Dan was still staring at the table.

“Can we actually trust this book?” Clarissa asked. “You’re sure I shouldn’t just cut it in half?”

“It’s the best we have to work on.” I replied, looking around the table. Then, with a sigh, I asked Dan the question I had been dreading. “Dan, what does it say you’ll convert into?”

I didn’t realize he could look even more pale. He stared up to me, fear in his eyes.

“What?” Clarissa asked. Her expression turned to hurt.

“He’s turning?” Amber stared at him sharply. “Shit.”

“Blood-Spawn.” Dan said, staring at the table.

“No.” Clarissa said. She stood off the table and backed up. “Dan, you said you — you lied to me?”

“I’m sorry.” He said. “I don’t want to die.”

“Fuck.” Bea said.

“I don’t think you have to.” I said, arms folded over the table.

“There’s no way he’d want to be turned into a bloodsucker like you.” Clarissa said.

“I think I can remove the poison.” I clarified. “I’ve done it before.”

“Give me a single reason to trust you.” Clarissa said.

“This isn’t your decision.” Steve replied. “It’s Dan’s. Plus, Eli kind of did save you all.”

Dan looked up at me, searching my face for something.

“Can you really stop it?”

Cody coughed, somehow, despite being a book.

“If I may…” he asked, pausing before continuing. [Progenitor’s Will] should be completely capable of removing the poison.”

“Then do it.” Dan said, decisively.

I scooted back and walked around the table slowly. Amber’s eyes followed me. I sent a meaningful look at Steve.

“I’m going to bite your neck. It’s going to hurt for a second.” I said.

Dan paled a little further.

“I’m — I’m not okay with this.” Clarissa said.

“You don’t have to be.” Steve replied. Then, he repeated, “It’s not your choice.”

“If you turn him, I’ll kill you.” Clarissa said.

Steve started to get offended on my behalf.

I rested one hand on Dan’s shoulder and lifted the other to forestall Steve.

“That’s fine.” I said. “He will be fine. Just give it a minute.”

Dan’s hair was scruffy and brown. Flecks of ash still lingered in it. We didn’t have showers. His eyelids fluttered as I tilted his head back, resting my fingers under his chin. He smelled like fire and sweat.

I sunk my teeth into his neck. His skin was warm. His blood was ambrosia. Rich and powerful, strong in the way that good beef is. I lost myself for a moment as I sunk into the sense provided by [Progenitor’s Will.] Then I pulled myself back, but I had already tasted a single drink.

Vampire blood had nothing on human blood.

I felt the black shadow of the infection interlaced with the entirety of his blood. He didn’t have long left. With a single pull, the poison jumped to my command. Unlike before, it was almost submissive, like a well trained dog.

The poison tasted bitter, like oversteeped tea, nothing like the ambrosia of the blood. I pulled it out. Spikes of poison tore from inside him where it was already corrupting flesh and shifting muscle.

I heard Dan gasp distantly, then Clarissa shouting. It sounded like it was coming from another room. I scoured every last piece of Dan, pulling out the poison drop by drop. When there was nothing left, I staggered backward, gasping. My face was warm and wet. I wiped it away, finding my arm covered in a mix of red blood and black.

Clarissa stared at us, eyes watery. Russo held her back. Her chainsaw had moved across the room.

Dan stared at his hands. He was still pale, but his eyes were brown again.

I stumbled to the table, panting as I leaned over it. The exertion necessary to hold back my desire to drink his blood had exhausted me more than the previous night of events. Dan met my eyes with a grateful look.

Hunger burned in me with a knife edged sharpness.

“I — we need to gather the remaining supplies from the grocery store.” I said.

I spun and left the room, not waiting to see who would follow me. I needed to get away. I descended into the basement, blowing by the people still unloading goods, and down into the stair well. I threw myself into the wine-cellar like room full of bottles of blood. Cody shot ahead of me.

I slammed the door behind me.

“Cody, is it going to get harder to control my thirst?” I asked.

“Only if you try to control it!” Cody replied, tone still happy.

“Stop joking.” I said. “No sarcasm. How do I word this so… do vampires get progressively more thirst?”

“No. Vampire thirst does increase during long periods of deprivation, but will not reach that level. Additionally, vampire’s do not need to drink their chattel to death.” Cody replied, mechanically this time, in the way that indicated he was being compelled. The book made a noise like a shutter. “I hate when you do that. I could tell you way more if you worked with me.

I stalked around the room, staring at the bottles of blood. My blood was still just around half after the fight underground in the grocery store.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like for instance, if you acquire a temporary skill via drinking blood, then train and level that skill, you’ll keep the difference in levels and can continue progressing the skill.”

“What?” I asked, incredulous. “But that means I could just accumulate power without needing to rely on skill points for levels.”

“Aren’t you glad you have me? Vampires are a popular choice for a reason.” Somehow, the book exuded smugness. I wondered if that was magic.

My eyes flew around the room.

“Can you tell me what’s in these bottles? Are there skills I can gather in them? Something to raise my willpower…”

I grabbed one of the bottles.