Just when you think you have experienced everything life has to offer, and you are ready to call it a day and shuffle away from the mortal plane - something comes along and surprises you. The betrayal was perhaps my error in not expecting it. The acceptance, however, was even more of a surprise. Actions speak louder than words, and we had been yelling at each other that we were good people in the hopes that we could save each other. And we would.

I handed my Health Potion over to the Mage. Thankfully, these ones were at least real. Basil didn’t want us to die before reaching the drop-off point.

“I’ve already had mine and Jakob’s, and I think you need that more.” She wrinkled up her face.

Her skin was a lot better now, the magic potions acting miracles on her burns and blisters. She still looked a little raw, and her previously pale skin was now scarred with darkened tan patches. They would fade in time, to some degree.

Reluctantly, I popped the cork and drank the warm liquid. The magic immediately had an effect, calming my nerves wracked with pain and healing my skin that had burned from the paralyzing acid.

I looked back towards the inferno now blazing behind us. “What happened?”

Florence followed my gaze and then looked between me and the floor. “I overdid it a little. It’s a little cliche, but sometimes my anger builds the fire quicker.”

“She literally erupted into flames, burning away the stuff that had us stuck.” Jakob looked exhausted.

“I was able to send it away like a fireball before it consumed me fully.”

“You did… well.” I offered a slight smile. There was still a lingering awkwardness in the air, where I half expected them to turn on me if the light illuminated my fangs in a slightly offensive way.

She shrugged in return with a glum expression. The passion burning behind her eyes had all but dulled now. Emotionally and physically drained. The Ranger’s cloak was wrapped around her, but she still looked cold.

We were heading into nighttime shortly - if the darkened jungle was anything to go by. The assumed intention was to head back to the wagon, but we had just started walking without really outlining a plan. Living in the moment.

I couldn’t handle the silence any longer. “Why?” I stopped and glared at them. “Why try and save me? Even at the cost of becoming like me or worse?”

They exchanged glances before Florence began.

“Heat of the moment, I suppose. It’s what a Hero would do, right?” Her wry smile had enough of a slab of sarcasm to it; I could almost taste it.

“We have known each other for barely a handful of days, and you would risk so much for a monster?” My hands clenched into fists, although I wasn’t angry. Pensive, perhaps. Confused.

Jakob sighed. “Would you have done the same for us?”

I worked my jaw. The question weighed on me, but the answer was clear before he had finished answering it. As much as the old me had no love for humanity, the reborn Victor had at least a place in his circle for two of them. They had proven themselves strong and willing to do selfless acts - even for someone broken and deceitful such as I. Admiration and respect filled the gaps where usually apathy and contempt would sit.

“I would.”

“Then you are no monster, despite your heritage.” The Ranger deflated, clearly in no mood to argue.

“But you have to tell us your full story if we are to trust you.” Florence crossed her arms, shivering. “In turn, we will tell you ours.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“A fair trade,” I nodded slowly, then gestured for us to continue walking. With a deep breath, I began to tell them the tale of the evil that walked amongst them.

I told them of my ascension to S Rank over the course of two centuries and the atrocities committed. Those who I had loved, lost, and murdered. I told them of my muted grey ending, the death of any joy or passion as I sat languishing for decades - removed from the world I had helped shape. I told them of Basil’s plan to breathe new life into my existence, the unranking, and resetting of most of what made me who I had been.

All up to entering the Heroes Guild, where we first met.

They were silent for the most part as I continued through the trail of crimson I had marred this part of the world with. It would be a lot for anyone to take in, in fairness. After finishing up, they took a handful of seconds to further process it all.

“Shit.” Florence eventually offered.

“I can understand if you would like to part ways or kill me.” I looked out to the woods. The jungle felt lifeless now, and nothing had tried to waylay our progress. With the death of the Necromancer, things had lost that spark of ill intent.

Jakob turned his head to me with a grimace. “We knew there was something up with you, but that’s… that’s a lot to take in.”

“The worry would be,” Florence thought out loud, “that you would turn back to Villainy at some point.”

“Understandable.” I nodded; there was no point withholding anything from them now if they intended to take me at face value. “There have been a couple of times I have been tempted to… take my first bite.”

“What if you bit someone willing - or someone who you were going to kill anyway?” Florence wrinkled up her nose at me. “Does that make it an evil act?”

“It’s…” I exhaled. This was something I had not had to think about for quite some years - once you broke the seal, then it seemed like a path you must travel, and any qualms about the act were long behind you at that point. “It’s not that simple. Once I drink the first blood, then I become a full vampire - which has some benefits but also the downside of being required to drink blood to survive.”

“You don’t need it now?”

“No. I have the urge to, which may get worse in time, but my life isn’t dependent on it.”

They returned to silence. If I had allowed myself to sup from them as I had lain dying, then they may have turned to vampires themselves. Or they could have become thralls. The third option was the worst, but most likely. I would have slain them as the quenching of my thirst would have felt impossible. There would be no limit until they were both shredded corpses drained dry.

Eventually, I opened up the conversation again. “What is your story then?”

“Oh,” Jakob looked between the Mage and I, “after all that, I almost forgot. We are cursed.”

I nodded, that seeming like a likelihood given the company they kept.

Florence picked up from where the Ranger left off. “We were trying to kill a Witch. A young one, not very powerful. For the most part, we were successful. But as she lay dying, she cast a curse on the pair of us.”

“I can’t remember the exact wording she used, but essentially we would find no success in gaining ranks with a Party of Heroes.”

“Ah.” I furrowed my brow. An interesting sort of curse, although if it was something they were passionate about - so they could avenge their families - it would be a thread for the Witch to latch onto. “So after our first success…”

“There must be something different about you.” Florence nodded. “Although, we wouldn’t have guessed this.”

Few would have. Vampires usually peaked at B Rank, with a few hitting A Rank. I had been absent from the world for enough decades that my S Rank would have faded away into myths or rumors. Something that suited my current predicament, perhaps.

“Basil is undead, too,” I added.

“A huge asshole as well,” Florence wagged a finger at me. “I don’t know how he could betray you like that - just leave us for dead. That is a Villain.”

I smiled, despite myself. It was true - I’d even say it commendable of the skeleton to have stewed his plan for so long and pull it off without giving away too much. Now it seemed as though the Barbarian class choice was intended to hamper me - roil up the bad emotions that might cause me to fail. To get dejected by my brief comrades and face the ire of the Guild as a weak Vampire.

“How’d you even survive being staked?” Jakob asked, every the astute and perceptive one.

“Demon came back and made a deal with me.”

“What?” Florence stepped over and punched me in the arm. “Why?”

“It was death or the deal,” I relented to her anger. “He… did something to bring me back to life in exchange for a price to pay in the future.”

“You don’t even know the other side of the deal?” Jakob rolled his eyes. “How’d you ever get to S Rank?”

I deflated. Surely, I had lived. But there would be a cost that may make it a mistake in the long term. Part of me was hoping that at that stage, there would be a way to pry myself from the trappings of the deal - but that was always a long shot.

“Cheer up, Victor,” Florence smiled at seeing my dour expression. “We do have one good thing going for us.”

“We do?”

“Basil doesn’t know that we survived and are coming for him.”