There was a moment of silence. Then I heard a sigh from Asha and saw her hide her face in her palm. Someone called out, “Isn’t that just Dracula’s name backwards?”

Asha slapped the back of my head, hard. “Yes, it is. His name is Victor Gale.”

“Asha, Victor Gale is not a good vampire name,” I whined and crossed my arms, “I thought it was clever.”

“It’s about as clever as ‘redrum’ or having the hidden villain in a movie wear an eyepatch and a German accent.” She retorted. “Victor is a vampire name because you are a vampire, and your name is Victor. Elia’s left tit, next you’re going to want to walk around in black leather and a cape holding a goblet of blood.”

“No,” I lied.

“Look, if you insist on having a title, take up your old one. You were known as the Necros Tyrant in Veru.”

I cringed, “Ah, I guess I’m good just being Victor, my momma would come down from heaven and slap the shit out of me if I started acting like a crazy monster.” I grinned as I noticed this bit of tomfoolery cut the crowd's tension a bit. “Alrighty. Just call me Victor. Anyways, we need to get to Officer Rodriguez’s precinct.”

“Not going to happen. I’m afraid the huge explosion earlier was likely the precinct. Since gunpowder is much more volatile, my guess is that the boom we heard was the armory going up in flames. There may be hope, we should check it out just in case, but I doubt it. There’s nothing in that area I can think of that would cause an explosion that big.” Rodriguez had a crestfallen look on her face. She would have lost a lot of friends if it was the precinct.

“I’m sorry officer.” I offered my condolences. “Alright, plan B.” I thought for a moment then announced, “There’s a Home Depot next to a Walmart a few blocks to the east. We can get weapons, tools, and food there. We can build fortifications as well. After that, we’ll gather more survivors as well as take down information for any loved ones to look for. For those who have loved ones outside the city, I’m so sorry, but clearly the geography of Earth is no longer the same.” I waved to the giant mountain, “God only knows where we are let alone other places. Just from standing here, I can see that only the surrounding downtown area of Nashville is here. Of course, anyone who doesn’t want to follow us is free to go their own way. However, remember, guns will explode in your hands as will gasoline. I wish you luck.”

Several people left the large group but most stayed, finding safety in numbers. Asha told me that being so close to Godspear Mountain, the main mountain of the nearby range, means that unless the combining of our worlds screwed it up, there is a major Dwarvish city not too far from here. This means the surrounding lands should be patrolled rather well and only weak monsters should be roaming and very few at that. Damn it, I can't even be excited to learn Dwarves exist because of this stupid monster crap.

She explained it was the capital for the Kurvish kingdom. A country that focused on mercantile and smithing skills. They are much more friendly than some of the other Dwarvish powers who like to keep to themselves. I grew a little excited at meeting real Dwarves.

It seems Asha was correct as it was a relatively calm walk to the shopping centers. It appears, however, looting did not take long to occur as people were already trashing the stores. Several were taking food and critical supplies, but there were a scary number of idiots taking material supplies like TVs, gaming systems, and jewels. I shook my head. There were far less people at Home Depot. I sent the survivors inside the Home Depot with orders to secure all the entrances and not to fight with anyone who is looting. The grocery store will be much more volatile.

Asha and I made our way across the street to Walmart and stopped in the parking lot. I glared at her, “There are going to be people in there that are scared. Terrified because they don’t know what’s going on. They may do something stupid. I do not want you to go on a killing spree, and definitely do not eat anyone.”

She scoffed, “Why should I worry about the lives of mortals? Your pets, or servants back at the store are safe, but those fools in there do not matter. Besides, I may be a vampire, but I’m not a monster. I won’t kill a child simply because I see it or something.”

“Yes, yes you are! And you made me into one too.” I growled. “God dammit Asha. Look around. It’s the end of the world. Humanity or whatever type of people from your world may survive, but there is a solid chance that the Earth humans will go extinct because of you. I’ve been playing nice because you’re the only person who seems to have the slightest bit of an idea of how to survive in this twisted world,” I rushed forward before she could react and grabbed her throat, “but if you put so much a toe out of line and disobey me, I will put you down like those Hel-hounds. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?” I punctuated my last words by lifting her by her throat as easily as a kitten and bringing her close to my now glowing eyes.

She nodded the best she could as no air could escape my grasp for her to speak. I let go and she fell gasping and choking on her knees. I glared at her for a moment before sighing and my gaze softened with a touch of confusion. I’m not normally this quick to violence. I chalked it up to the stress of the apocalypse. I offered a hand which she took after a second of hesitation.

I said, “Listen, if you act like a halfway decent person, we’ll get along swimmingly. You were getting on to me about being cliché with me acting like a vampire from a campy horror movie, and yet here you are acting like a heartless vampire bitch. As I said before, we will not butcher people simply because we can, and we will not eat people we do not have to. I am a realist, so of course, as a vampire, we will have to feed to regain mana as you said. If need be, we will kill but that will not be our first choice.” We shared a moment of silence before she nodded and I glanced over at the Walmart, “So, with no vehicles, how do you suppose we get enough food to the hardware store?”

“Actually, I have a gift for you Master.” She was a little subdued, like a spanked puppy as she pulled a pouch from nowhere. Now I feel a little bad, maybe the stress of the apocalypse is getting to me. “I have your dimensional bag right here. It will take a while for you to get to the point where you can learn the dimensional storage spell, so this will have to do until I can give you some lessons on magic. You seem to have a talent for using your mana seeing how fast you figured out how to direct mana throughout your body as well as summon those blood weapons. I’m impressed, the other incarnations took a few weeks to even detect mana even when they had your original memories right off the bat. Some of them were so poorly suited for wielding mana that unleashing your dormant soul burned them up instantly.”

She tossed the school bag sized leather pack to me, and I opened it. Inside the pouch was a pitch-black void. I put my hand inside and it disappeared. Startled, I pulled my arm out to see that my hand was just fine. Asha giggled at my antics, already beginning to cheer up, “Silly Master, you’ll be fine. It’s just a small extradimensional space. You cannot put anything that is living in there as its soul will instinctively rebel against going inside. It has a durability enchantment, a self-repair enchantment, as well as time stasis. You put a hot meal in there and take it out a month later and it will be just as hot and ready as if it was just made.”

I eyed the Vampiress and sighed, “I’m going to be honest with you. You may have known me for centuries, but I just met you. I’m still pissed at you for doing this to me and causing this mess. Those people look at me like I’m a predator and I can't even complain because that's exactly what I am now. Even though I have control, a part of me sees them as food. People, I see living people as a food source. I may have overreacted and I’m sorry. I’m just a little stressed out at the moment and seeing you act so… cavalier about innocent people, I lashed out. As you mentioned before, you didn’t mean for all of this to happen, you were just trying to reunite with someone you care about. I would likely do the same if there was a way to resurrect someone I love, I think. I can’t really complain about having superpowers, and it isn’t like I had anything or anyone in my life.

She smiled, seeing I was only half serious and said, “It’s fine Master. Besides, you’re right. I do not care for the lives of mortals, even before I was a vampire, I was a succubus you bound to yourself. I need to accept that, for the moment at least, you are your own person and not the Master I spent my life with. I will do as you say, I cannot promise I will hold my tongue, but I will not harm anyone unless they try to harm you, myself, or on your orders. Now, inject your mana and visualize what's inside the pouch. I left a little present for you. It’s your robes. Enchanted to self-clean and self-repair along with a slight durability boost. It is nowhere close to even leather armor, but it won’t wear done from everyday use or small scuffles. Try them on and inject a bit of mana into them. Most enchanted gear is used like this. They’ll change to fit you. Also here,” She tossed me an elastic hair band, “this will help keep your hair out of your eyes.”

My current jeans and Three Days Grace work shirt were a bit ratty from the fights along with the bullet hole, not that they were in the best condition to begin with. I nodded my thanks and stepped inside an empty Starbucks and quickly changed. The clothing was black with dark purple trim. They looked like Sith robes were fused with Xianxia combat robes.

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“Not bad Master, they look good on you, as always.”

“Thank you, my Padawan.” I grinned before sighing and shook my head at her puzzled expression, “You've been on Earth since before movies were invented and you've never seen Star Wars?”

She shrugged, "Not my thing. I prefer horror."

We began to walk towards the entrance of the grocery side of Walmart as she continued explaining, “Downside of the bag is that it isn’t nearly as big as an extradimensional spell. There are three tiers of the spells. The first and easiest is called Dimensional Pocket. This is an infinite storage space with a stasis effect. It has the same rules as your bag. In fact, Dimensional Pocket is the enchantment used on the bag. Dimensional Pocket is fixed as opposed to the next tier, Dimensional Vault. Like Dimensional Pocket, it creates a spatial rift where you can store items, however the spell grows with you, the larger your mana pool, the higher storage space you unlock. The higher tier spell is called Soul Space. It is a highly advanced spell that creates a dimensional space within your soul, as the name suggests. This means that the infinite energy within your soul, as all souls are unending sources of energy, infuses the soul space with the energy and resources needed to sustain life. This means you can store living beings along with normal objects in your soul space.”

“That’s insane. When can I learn that? Seems rather useful.”

She laughed, “You are far from learning that Master. I’m sorry to say that not only does it take an incredible source of mana to even cast the spell, but you must also purify your core. Once we begin our lessons, I’ll teach you about cultivation. You’ll have a head start compared to others due to the nature of your reincarnations, but living as a mortal for so many decades has polluted your soul and body with impurities that will need to be cycled out. Again, that will come later.”

I nodded, “Alright Mrs. Miyagi, let's just get this loaded up with food for the folks back at base.”

“Seriously Master, I can understand not wanting to kill people, sure, but why are you bothering with this? Our survival is necessary, and the humans are likely in shock and hanging on to anything they can in this disaster. Once they calm down and think about it, they’ll see you as a monster.” She clenched her fist and muttered, “They always do.”

I shrugged, “My mother raised me to help others in need if I can and if it won’t put me into any real danger. She told me, ‘Now if you see another person in need and you can help, you should. If doing so can get you hurt or killed, save that for those you truly care about. A little kindness can bring a lot of joy into the world, but it is also a cruel place where people will take advantage of you and if you get yourself killed trying to help someone you don’t know, then you won’t be there for the people who love you if they need help.”

“Wise words. I often hear stories of people being told to help others no matter the cost. It’s a load of bull.”

I smirked, “It’s a matter of perspective, you can only take it day by day and do what’s right for you. I’m too selfish to be a hero. I won’t give my life to save some random people I don’t know. But if I can help and there’s a chance, I’ll survive then I’ll do it. To be fair, in the moment I may not have time to think about it and may just rush in like an idiot, but whatever. Now if it is for someone I care about, then I will walk into hell and tear down anything in my way to save them; but again, the world is already cruel, no need to add to it.”

On that note, we entered the grocery store and saw that the lights were out, the AC as well. The electric grid must be decimated. I hadn’t noticed before due to the insane situation I had found myself in, but this makes sense. Ignoring the fact no one is manning electrical stations, the mana saturation and shuffling of the planet must have screwed up the grid beyond function.

We made our way through the store bagging as much food and useful supplies along the way. People mostly ignored us though many gave me strange looks, but I wasn't the only one who looked like they were cosplaying, I spotted a few who decided zombie movies were the best guide to armor, decked out in cheap ballistic vests and football helmets.

It was about ten minutes in our looting spree when I heard someone behind us call out, “I don’t know what the fuck is going on with that bag of yours, but you need to give me it before you get hurt.” I'm surprised it took this long for someone to comment on our magic bag.

We turned around to see a scraggly man with a patchy beard. He was definitely some sort of meth head, or something based on the scabs on his skin and missing teeth. He wore a leather jacket and a t-shirt with some death metal band logo. He had a machete in his hands that he likely grabbed from the hardware aisle based on how clean it was and the barcode still on it.

Asha and I glanced at each other. “Listen man,” I said, “You really don’t want to do this. There’s plenty of food and luggage. This is for a lot of people, not us. I know you’re stressed out, but you can come with us and share with the other survivors. It isn’t safe to be alone.”

“I don’t give a fuck dude, just give me that trippy ass bag and I won’t gut you right through your dumbass clothes. Matter of fact, why don’t you hand over your fine ass bitch as well. Me and her can have some fun.”

Yeah, fuck that. “I see. Well, I hereby rescind my offer and put forth another; fuck off and I won’t beat the shit out of you.” I glared at him.

“I gave you a chance, shit-ass.” He slashed the blade in my general direction, it was clear he had less of an idea of how to use a blade than I did. Trusting my enhanced physicality, I grabbed the blade with my bare hand and clenched hard. The cheap stamped steel machete snapped in half, unable to cope with the forces being applied. The thug went as pale as I was as he stared at the shattered blade. I grabbed him by the scruff of his tattered shirt and lifted him above my head.

I snarled at him, baring my large fangs, the red of my irises glowing slightly and reflecting off of his panicked eyes. “Shit man, what the ass, what the ass, what the ASS.” he babbled.

“You’re lucky I don’t want to risk tasting whatever filth is in your blood, human, otherwise I would leave your corpse drained of its lifeblood. I would hand you over to her, but I am not that cruel. Be grateful for my mercy.” I barely managed to hold in the rage and hunger that welled up within me, restraining enough just to scare him. It seemed to work rather well as the tang of urine filled the air as he lost control of his bladder. I threw him into a nearby shelf hard enough that it shouldn’t kill him. I gazed at his unmoving body and nodded when I saw him breathing, albeit unconscious. "That guy really liked the word ass, huh?"

Her face twisted in disgust, Asha snarled, “Why spare that filth Master?” Though angry at the unconscious man, she seemed rather pleased with how I reacted when he threatened her.

“Three reasons, really. First, he might just be some petty thug with a bark bigger than his bite. Idiots like him try to show dominance by treating women like objects to be taken from a rival male. Second, I was telling the truth, I don’t want to absorb his blood and risk catching something, even if that something is a bad aftertaste. Finally, I didn’t want to kill him and cause the people watching to become more panicked than they are. If they freak out and flee, someone could get trampled to death and an innocent person would have died alongside that idiot. No, better to knock him out and have people wary of messing with us rather than running around in a blind panic.” I explained as I popped some can openers inside the bag.

“Ah, I see.” She replied then muttered under her breath, “This incarnation is a lot different than his other awakenings.”

About an hour later, the bag refused to accept any further items after I stored a final set of bow and arrows. We had enough food and water to last us a month at the current head count. We made our way back to the Home Depot and saw some basic fortifications were being made. Windows and unnecessary doorways were being boarded up. We headed to the main entrance that was still unbarricaded and opened the door. “Good work on the barricades. Asha, do you think they’ll hold?” I complemented the group that was working on the defenses.

She looked at the plywood and two by four barricades and shrugged, “It should for now. People are the primary threat at the moment, and they’ll be hard pressed to get past it. Most monsters will struggle with them enough for us to take them out, but we should get some metal up sooner rather than later.”

“Gotcha. How y’all holding up? Any trouble, monsters, etcetera?”

“N, no sir,” A young man, no older than 18 called out. He was thin but athletic, like a track runner. He had shaggy hair and pimple scars. He wore thick glasses and a raggedy shirt that said, I paused my game to be here. He had gray sweatpants that did not match his shirt very well. “It was pretty calm, all things considered. We had a couple people join us who were gathering supplies and a few that we turned away after they threw some threats towards us. We have about thirty people I believe.”

I nodded and extended my hand, “Good job. Name’s Victor.”

“James.” He replied but only looked at my hand as if it were a rattlesnake, “Um, what’s the long-term plan?" He looked around with a worried look, "Not able to get any supplies?”

“Still have to think on that one, but yes, we have plenty of supplies. We may have to head out for supplies that slipped our minds, but we should be good for a few weeks at worst, three or four months at best. We need to get a true head count, a list of things we need from people, along with a list of friends and family to keep an eye out for. What about you? Any family you want us to look for?”

He shook his head, “Not really, it’s just me and my sister, Elizabeth, here. Our parents live in Texas. She was visiting because she had some big cosplay convention she wanted to go to, and I go to college here.” I nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Alright, we’re going to set out the supplies we gathered. I turned to Asha, “Hey, do I have to take each item out one by one?”

She smirked, “Unfortunately yes. If you knew the spells, you could unload in bulk, but with the bag you have to take items out one at a time. I wish I could perform the spell. I know enough to teach you the basic spell, but I have no skill in the dimensional school.”

I sighed, alright, “let’s get the non-perishables out. We’ll keep the veggies and meat inside. Asha, I’ll trust you with that, take a couple volunteers and work out a storage system. I need to get a grip on our situation and come up with where to go from here.” Asha nodded but the others within hearing range looked on in confusion. I tossed the bag to her and headed outside.