The Revengeful and The Insane
by Ferreter, a.k.a. Nicole Costa
Based on Sarah Nelson’s Vampire Phantasm
Prologue
The nighttime filled the little girl’s
gaze. The dark hours were
her favorite time of day because her parents were asleep and she could
finally play. The rest of the time, she had to see the good head
shrinker, because apparently, they thought she was not normal.
There
was nothing else to do with her, but keep her home and visit the psycho
fixer. However, they were awake now and she was watching a play
or
some other mild form of entertainment, when she could be under
examining the family’s kitchen knives, the most lethal weapon in
the
household. Of course, she wasn’t supposed to play with
knives, which
happened to be another one of her problems. Sighing, she turned
to see
Dorothy enter the Wicked Witch of the West’s stronghold.
There really
wasn’t anything realistic about it.
A knock at the door, diverted her attention from the
screen, and
with relief, she ran to open it. A tall and stately man entered,
she
wasn’t sure who he was exactly, or what he really looked like
from
behind the door, but he had a powerful presence. And she saw
there was
something more interesting to watch than The Wizard of Oz. As she
turned to close the door, she heard the witch’s final shrieks
from
death, and then the power flickered on and off. Glancing back,
she
heard a scream—as watched as her father was killed before her
eyes.
Then her mom. The stranger licked the blood off his fingers and
looked
around the room. Walking cautiously towards her parents, she
gasped at
the blood oozing out and covering their bodies and faces.
Shocked, she
watched the stranger approach her and say, “Thanks for holding
the
door.”, and left her all alone with the corpses of her entire
family.
She shivered at the feeling of being completely and utterly alone in
the dark. Before the darkness was okay because someone was always
there, even if asleep, but now…she had two courses: stay there
alone or
follow the man.
The girl grabbed her Teddy Bear and walked out of
her house
silently following the now slightly amused murderer. They walked
past
the block and out of the city. She neither knew the way nor saw
where
she was going, only following the man in the dark. They stopped
only
once—at a gas station mini mart. There she calmly followed
him and
watch him finish off another victim—the clerk and lick his
fingers
again. She wondered how he did it exactly. Free to browse,
she
grabbed a flashlight and a sandwich; and followed the cold man
out.
Glancing back at her, he paused and said, “No, No, no. This
will not
do.”, and broke the flashlight. Grabbing the sandwich, he
stomped on
it, escorted her back to the store, and gestured at the clerk.
When
she did not respond to his gesture, he grasped her left arm. He
dipped
her hand it into the man’s blood, telling her to, “Suck
it”. Glancing
back at him, she slowly put her hand into her mouth and licked it.
Leaving the store once again with him, he held her
left hand as
they continued to walk for miles. She saw a large building and
the man
turned to her saying, “This is where I’ll leave you.
If you stay here,
you won’t be alone. Maybe we’ll even meet again
someday.”
Looking at him, she said, “Thanks Daddy”.
Smiling even wider, he replied, “You’re welcome, my
dear. It was a real pleasure meeting you…?”
“Ren,” she answered, “Rendal Phibes Bathory.
And thank you for escorting me here. Will I have fun?”
“Indubitably. But you won’t need this. Or at
least all of this.” And
with that, the stranger grabbed the bear and ripped its head off its
body, handing the head back to her. Clutching the head tightly,
she
was surprised that to see that the bear’s stuffing wasn’t
red like the
people. She called out, “Daddy—“, but he was
gone.
She waited for him the rest of the night. In the morning, she
walked
to the asylum and checked herself in. By Thursday, the doctors
and
nurses especially agreed that she needed help. They received the
papers on her parents’ death and her sequential following of the
murderer and wondered why the girl seemed unfazed.
Ren stared at the television; her father was on. Apparently, he
was
caught after a couple more runs through people’s houses and
convicted a
few days later. His sentence was the electric chair. There
he sat the
chair waiting, so Ren waited too. Then blue bolts traveled into his
skull and he began to fidget under the straps that fastened him to the
chair, but his eyes did not move, instead just staring ahead at
Ren.
Before she saw the final conclusion, a shrieking nurse grabbed her by
the hand and pulled her away. She was not sure whether he
survived or
not.
Almost two decades passed for Ren at the institute, but no treatment
seemed to work. When they had tried Electroconvulsive therapy,
she
shrieked they were trying to finish her off—like her father and
during
the actual therapy, just sat there staring ahead with a vacant
expression on her face and tears falling down from her eyes.
Aromatherapy, caused her to cough and hack, due to her excessive
laughing in there. Antipsychotic and mood stabilizers were used
intermittedly, though there was no sign of improvement on her mental
state. The course to take concerning her therapy was finally
decided
in the hands of a state doctor citing, “Signs of disorders
resulting
from affects in the extra pyramidal system are showing that a movement
disorder may occur if treatment of antipsychotic does halt.
Additionally, signs of dysphoria are beginning to occur, with no signs
that the drugs are having any affect on her mental state, beyond
perhaps hurting it. As mood stabilizers, they have not been
working—one has even lowered her white blood cell count; and when
the
child is over 12, lithium carbonate is not recommended as if the
treatments have not worked now; one that threats her with lithium
toxicity, among other adverse sign effects should not be
administrated. I highly recommend psychotherapy, i.e. counseling
if
there is to be any hope of improvement and nothing else. Have you
ever
considered that perhaps she seems unstable because of all this
excessive treatment? Truly clueless. What was it that you
cited for
her disease? ‘Either a psychosis or cognition personality
disorder of
some sort.’ Does not even mention what she has. And
you call
yourselves physicians.”
Under the states’ orders they proceeded with strictly counseling
and
for while she seemed to get better, but they later theorized that that
was the effect of being taken off those pills, since after a certain
time had passed, she stopped improving. Her condition looked much
better off the other treatment, but she seemed obsessed with weaponry
and refused to give up her bear’s head, which eventually became
only
puffs of cotton. After a point, she received roommates, but had
the
habit of making them more insane and killing themselves in front of
her. The doctors decided it would be to the benefit, if Ren
didn’t have
any roommates. The nurses began to nick name her, “Ren
Batty.”
Not soon after her 25th birthday, she heard a commotion in the
cell
next door and heard then a scream. Becoming very excited, she
waited
in the night’s darkness, practically dancing with glee.
Maybe she’d be
next. She heard a guard yell, “It’s the patient who thinks
he’s a
vampire! Capture him!” and then, “Dear God!
She’s dead!” But the
vampire was gone.
Chapter 2
The asylum slept in the pit of the valley’s stomach. The
darkness of
midnight settled over the concrete bricks that covered the three-story
complex so that the only lights visible to Joe were the occasional
flickers from security and eyes. He licked his lips in
anticipation on
what was to happen next, his mana rising and his blood quickening. He
would be returning to that delightful corridor, where just the other
day he was satisfied with a pretty little thing in Corridor nine.
Derek put a hand on his shoulder hissing, “Not yet my brother. In
your
greed, you’ll ruin everything. Come. Let us take out
the guards and
those who’d escape…before we feast upon the caged
birds.”
Laughter erupted at Joe’s embarrassment of being put back in
place from
11 adjacent figures. Derek let this continue for a moment, releasing a
faint chuckle himself, before silencing them with his hand. Eyes
watching, Derek raised his long sword, and the cloud covering the full
moon fled. The orb lightened the darkness and Derek watched the
vampires skirt down the valley’s sides; that is all but Joe.
Giving his
brother a glare and he silently told Joe, Remember.
Glaring back, Joe advanced towards the asylum with Derek at his heels.
Where the ground leveled, they split up: Joe climbing up the walls with
five others and Derek’s drone to the roof, and Derek crashing
through
the ground floor with his five.
Rendal Phibes Bathory stared at the walls, so boring being all
alone.
And yet, a wonderful sense of anticipation shivered down her
spine. It
had been so long since she had any fun, so she was due for some
fun. A
night or two ago, she really couldn’t tell for her room appeared
like a
cell to her, its walls, stone and blood, she was so close to grasping
such happiness. Her next-door neighbor let out a shriek.
Guards
rushed forth as blood spilled from under her door. Then she had
seen
him—a vampire, with extended fangs dripping with fresh blood and
short
blonde hair contrasting to his glowing black eyes.
A scream entered her ears, bouncing off her eardrums, and then
silence. It was the silence Ren liked best, because she knew it
would
be her turn next.
Chapter 3
Joe knocked down the room’s door; he had long
past ‘lost’ the other
6 vampires, and determined such exercise needed something refreshing to
fulfill his needs. His lips trembled with anticipation as his
mana
built up into a crescendo and his fangs extended at the sight of the
brown haired girl. He thought her shapely, but thin. Sure,
she was a
little nuts, smiling and laughing over in that corner, but that
didn’t
matter as long as she was his type, which she was delightfully.
Ren tried to make out the newcomer in her cell, to no avail. She
walked forwards and gasped. It was he, the vampire from
before. He
had come back for her, finally! And judging from the noises she
heard
earlier, he brought friends. She extended her neck towards him to purr,
“Welcome home darling”.
Joe couldn’t believe his luck, of all the rooms he could have
picked—here was a human who actually approached him offering her
tender, juicy neck, without hassle. Now, if only, more humans
were
like this! Turning towards her ear, and substantially her neck he
whispered back, “Thanks”, before opening his mouth wide and
sucking.
The air coming out of his nostrils, breathed down her neck. His eyes
closed in pleasure, and his other senses became even more vivid.
The
blood was majestic, like fine wine, but better because it was
blood.
As he swallowed her thick warm blood, he felt his throat being
caressed, but then he couldn’t he couldn’t breathe and he
wondered
why. As he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was her
eyes,
turning shining in the dark, and then that she had grasped his throat,
squeezing his veins and arteries, cutting off his air supply. For
a
brief moment, he wondered if he would pass out before she died, not
that he cared, a lack of air never killed any vampire, unlike those
weak humans. But before he received an answer to that question,
his
teeth let go and his mouth tried to gasp for air.
Ren stroked her neck where his teeth entered with one hand, tightening
the other. She moved that hand towards his neck, cackling,
“A kiss?
But we’ve just met…Well let me return the
favor.” Ren opened her mouth
and bite hard on Joe’s neck, chewing deeper and deeper through
the
muscles and blood. She received a sharp tingle down her spine,
and for
a moment her heart skipped a beat and she might have died, but
she
continued to feed upon her sire’s neck drinking in his metallic
blood
and wrapping both arms around his neck as new energy filled her
body.
She probably wouldn’t have stopped until he was dead, if he
hadn’t
begun to struggle, making weird gurgling noises and flailing his arms
around, hitting her. She finally let go of him; he moved
backwards,
bumbling into a wall as he beheld her now vermillion eyes, and magenta
hair.
Wiping blood from her mouth, Ren gleamed, “A gift from me to
you. Now
what do I want? Perhaps, your love, your heart.” With
this, she
reached her hand in and pulled out his still beating heart, its blood
shooting everywhere. It was sensational, especially, when Ren
began to
lick the blood off his heart and nibble at it dancing, for a moment in
Joe’s rain of his blood, before it dripped, like a hose with its
water
supply cut off, slowly fading. Standing erect over Joe, Ren replied to
his silence, “Eager young fellow aren’t chu, chu? But
a tad too quiet
for my tastes, right, Teddy?” She had felt so alive and one
with the
world when she drank his blood, and yet so barbaric and wild and filled
with ecstasy. Yet as she glanced about she didn’t she her
bear and
realized she was practically alone, beside Joe, but he wasn’t
much of a
talker. So she walked out her broken doorframe and into Corridor
nine.
Chapter 4
Joe had felt the tingle of a new vampire in the bloodline, but he
hadn’t expected a death so soon afterwards and somehow he knew it
was
Joe who died. Darn it Joe, why did you have to be so
reckless? After
all, he did for the kid…sure he could be a arrogant little brat
at
times, but still…But Derek couldn’t let himself grieve,
‘less the
others suspect something, they already must know about the new vamp and
the mysterious death that followed it. He’d have to find
out what
happened. Later. First, he must deal with wandering guards and
nurses
and the like here, wouldn’t want them to escape, would we?
And with
that, he fell into a crazed rage-like state, scaring many of his fellow
clan members, as he knocked the heads off humans, their blood forming a
nice mist, for him to get slightly intoxicated. His wavy
Flamberge,
Flame, dripping blood from the hilt to the tip, in the moonlight one
could barely make out the shape of waves as the blood and muscle hung
from the long sword. Sitting down he gazed at his handy work and
felt
a little bit better, then she came in.
Somehow, whether from Derek’s uncharacteristic rage that beheaded
countless guards and nurses with Flame, or the appearance of this
fledging, the other vampires knew Joe was dead and most likely, she was
the cause. As Ren walked towards the group, they looked to Derek
as
what to do about her, but he didn’t meet their eyes. So
they did
noting as Derek’s drone growled at Ren. Who merely
whispered back to
it, “Isn’t a puppy? Ohhhh! Can I keep
him?” before she continued past
their glares.
Ren moved forward towards the man apparently trying to ignore her, we
can’t have that, can we? He bore a resemblance to Joe and
reaching out
her hand to him, she said, “I’m Ren, but for you, you can
call me
Ren”. She felt calm in the clothes she raided
from the asylum
employee’s lockers: jean pants and a black cotton
shirt—they wouldn’t
need them anymore. Sure, this vampire’s associates were
growling, but
she expected fighting; perhaps even death. Sure, she took a risk
meeting them, but it was better than staying in that ghastly
room’s
silence and boredom. And if she died, well that could be fun.
Looking up, Derek answered, “Oh? I’m Derek.”
“Dereky, know isn’t that a funny name, doesn’t really
roll off the
tongue that easily, do—” Ren bantered,
oblivious to the other
vampires and the sun, which at that moment rose, and she fell asleep
right there, falling on her face at Derek’s feet.
Chapter 5
Upon awakening, Derek and some other vampires were
feasting on the
remaining security guards—those unlucky enough to actually go to
work
during the day. Ren smiled at the irony and even more in delight
of
their fate, they had kept her locked up long enough.
Derek’s drone had
finished them off. Yes that delightful creature, she must
remember to
thank him one day. Now what was it she heard about him?
Yes, he was
the first member of the gang to die, appeasing the saying, when 13 dine
together, the first to rise will be the first to die, or something like
that, Ren supposed.
As Ren walked in, Derek frowned, saying,
“You’ll have to find your
own kill here, and be thankful for that at any case. You
didn’t help
with the hunt or anything, but those in their cells we didn’t
have to
do anything to, to trap, so I guess, it’s alright if you have
one, but
get away before I change my mind. I can do that you know.
Now. Go.”
He said it in more to get rid of her before she carried on than malice,
although he was full of it. He partially hoped she wouldn’t
come back
if she left, but then where would his “fun” be?
But Ren didn’t like his tone, or his message
and moved over towards
him sensually murmuring, “Come on you know you want to share some
with
me, let me be your lioness, and you my lion.”
Derek glared, realizing getting rid of her at all
wouldn’t be so
easy, although her infatuation towards made it much more
interesting.
Opening his mouth in a grin showcasing his blood-drenched fangs he
whispered back, “By all means be my lioness, but where’s my
promised
kill? Lioness provide for their lions and you have nothing that
interests me, absolutely nothing.”
The other vampires laughed, and such laughter
disagreed with Ren,
despite her thrill in its sound. So she replied loudly to all,
“Then
I’ll be the lion and you may be my lionesses.” draping
herself over the
gang’s drone and purring. The drone hissed, to which Ren
hissed back,
followed by a couple of gratifying growls as some of the other vampires
took a few shots at her. She clawed back, getting some good licks
in,
before Derek proclaimed, “Stop. Now, Ren leave or you will
never have
the chance at even joining us, which you are not part of, let alone
hunt or dine in our exclusive company. Now leave or I may as well
kill
you now and rid myself of your trouble.”
And Ren did, more to quench her thirst than his idle
threat, after
all getting her lips on those guards was getting nowhere and she was
sure their were other employees waiting to devour, with the occasional
patients. It was then she decided her favorite color to be
red. As
she was leaving she heard the drone growl at her, grinning she said,
“Au Revoir Lassie!” and heard Derek chuckle.
Derek was chuckling all right, but it was more to
Buster and the
clan’s questioning of why let her live, let alone give her
the chance
to join their ranks. Derek had something else planned and he was
nothing if not a collected, patient, vampire. So he left there
questions unanswered, not caring either way, but he grin told them all
they needed to know. They were tremendously looking forward to
the
outcome, and from Derek had learned to wait.
Chapter 6
Ren sunk her teeth into the nurse, she didn’t
know, whether or not
she knew the woman, but it still satisfied her within and as she turned
to return to the asylum’s lobby, she saw her, Sister Cornelia,
one of
Ren’s old counselors, who perhaps needed residency here at least
as
much as she. The old bat’s wrinkles drooped more than usual
from the
hanging bags beneath her yellow eyes. She pulled at her grizzly
gray
hair crying out at odd times, until she saw Ren and went into a rather
cheerful mood, as often. She began to hum and went back to her
usual
self-saying, “Gosh, Child, what are ye doing out of bed?
Did ye say ye
prayers to the great Lord of Abraham. By thee way, of late have
ye
heard any voices from the heavens, voices from thee heavens
lately! It
must be God, all praise he for he makes such miracles happen!
What is
his great proclamation this evening?”
At this, Ren couldn’t resist replying,
“That ye die, or at least he would if he really existed”.
“Great scarlet, child! How can ye say
such a thing. This is sure,
as any other reason those quacks must make for as why a child like ye,
would be here. Heresy, indeed and you being so blessed and all,
come
we must go to one of my masses, as a sort of therapy, yes that’s
what
I’ll say…”
“Yes, by all means let’s do
therapy.” At this Ren lunged at her,
slashing at her and sinking her teeth at numerous places throughout her
body. The blood was dry and tainted by the woman’s perfume,
yes, but
Ren relished the thrill of the moment, until the nun went limp unto the
floor and she was alone again. But then mirth filled her bones,
and
laughter filled the air because she wasn’t alone anymore.
Going down a floor and turning slightly left, she
found herself in
her old death row corridor. Looking into her room, she saw her
last
roommate, as with all her other roommates, dead. However, this
time
she actually got to do the job, instead of merely watching. Sure,
they
say she might have said a few things to unhinge them slightly, but all
she said was all in fun and games. Besides they were crazy,
perhaps
insane, because crazy isn’t a bad thing.
Glancing around the room, Ren noticed that the walls
were not of
stone, but rather padded white, or at least that’s what she was
guessing from the night. She saw some lint, but her bear was
unrecognizable. Besides, there she wanted, except…,and
with that,
thought she walked over to Joe’s chopped off head and kissed him,
biting down hard on his tender lips devoid of blood. Yes, it was
time
to put her past behind her and have fun. Goodbye bear. And
at that
moment, Ren didn’t see a ball of lint, but rather a bear.
She left the
room empty handed the bear and Joe back there with each other’s
company.
Chapter 7
It began to rain. Ren felt the drops fall into her hair, like the
blood earlier. Looking up and stretching her fingers wide, she
shrieked, crying, “I’m melting. Splick-a-dy.
Splash. All over the
world.”
Derek laid a hand on her shoulder before he punched her in the nose
yelling, “That is not the right line! It’s
‘Oh! You cursed brat.
Look what you’ve done. I’m melting. I’m
melting. Oh, what a world.
What a world. Who would have thought a good little girl like you
could
destroy my beautiful wickedness. And secondly—“
“Ah! You’re just like meeee! Just like
me! Derek is just like mee.
Derek is just like meeeeeee!” Chanted Ren in ecstasy,
dancing and
twirling all around him, with him yelling, “You’re not
melting!” over
and over again.
Then his eyes bugged out and his voice rose to a yell, with rage
sweeping over his body, desiring to strike out at the closest thing
available, which just happened to be Ren’s face.
“Will you cut that
out! Shut up, you crazy bitch!”
Ren finally became quiet, looking at him
expectantly. She was
very tempted to chant that she got made him lose his cool, but before
she brought herself up to the proper frenzy, he sighed calmly saying,
“Now, listen…You are not melting…This is
rain.” And with this, the
night’s fun was over. Ren went into her old room, lying
besides Joe’s
remains and beginning to count goats. She figured this would be
the
last time, if ever she’d be in this room and she was content with
Joe
and her bear’s company. As dawn swept over the valley,
illuminating
the horrors of the nights to the uncaring world, Ren caught a goat
sinking her teeth into its neck and fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter 8
“Grab some meat boys! Today we’re going to visit the
Bat. And the Bat
likes ‘em fresh.” Derek yelled enthusiastically,
lugging a few
patients over his shoulders, much like a human would a sweater.
Turning towards Ren, he gestured, “Hey you. I’ll
train you so you
don’t become a burden on the clan. I train just about
everyone here,
anyway. But first you’ll need a weapon. So argue,
persuade, seduce,
or whatever but get your own, without costing the
clan.” Smirking,
Ren knew she’d fine some way. Elation pumped through her
body, moving
around as with her blood, as she thought of weapons and a weapon maker.
Half the clan left the asylum, while the others remained with the
drone, rounding up humans to take their blood directly from their
hearts and into containers with a spell Derek had shown them.
They
planned a blood cache, so if pillaging failed, or they just did not
feel like hunting and were in the area, well then they’d drink
and be
filled. Upon arriving at a house in the middle of nowhere, Ren
saw
possibly the oldest vampire in physical appearance, looking to be
around 50. The gender of the vampire was questionable at best,
its
clothes drabbed a folded around its body in a type of cloak, the skin
around its face also had wrinkles, although it appear the vampire curse
had gave it a small face lift—areas remained smooth. It was
a wonder
that the vampire even survived being turned.
With its slate hair and coral with a tint of orange eyes, it searched
the group. Turning to Derek it grinned, “Well, well,
well, look who
we have here, with fresh and stored blood I presume? But
where’s Joe?”
Derek glared, “Ren this is the old Bat, Cato. Cato, this is
Ren.”
Sniffing, “I won’t ask the details, the weaponry on the
table,” Cato
replied. Ren gazed at the weapons on the table, her blood flowing
and
realized that what she really wanted was not to get a weapon, but to
make one and further be a part of the sinking into a blood.
“I don’t see—what’s the big deal, with having
your weapons.” Ren
asked, overwhelmed at the thought that perhaps she could make her own
and that would be much better than letting someone take half the fun
away.
“Spunky, but that’s what Derek said and he still
hasn’t provided me
with apprenticeship. You trying to swindle me girl?”
Cato barked
remembering all too well her experiences with Derek and his broken
promises. Glancing at Flame, she smiled, for one day, she would
have
her revenge, and so would her sword.
“I’d rather make my own, but lack the necessary materials
or skill.” Ren shrugged.
“I promised you’d have an apprentice, but I didn’t
say who or when,”
Derek replied taking advantage of the situation, and thinking to
himself, ‘or how long.’ He continued with,
“She’ll be your
apprentice. Take her or leave her.”
“Let me see what she can do and we’ll go from
there…Come on, let’s get
started. I might give you a weapon along the way, but I’d
hate to
curse you like I did Derek.” Cato considered, curious
at the girl’s
desire to fulfill her own needs in a sword, and desire to risk herself
with a lesser one than an experienced master.
“I’d prefer my own,” Ren insisted.
“Come back in a few days with some more blood and I’ll
finish your
order. You wanted some specialties, eh? You’ll get
the girl back
then.” Cato said, dragging Ren with her into her workshop
of horrors,
parts and metal and bones, hanging from the ceiling with a fire blazing
through the center.
When the days had passed, Derek returned to Cato stating,
“She’ll do.
Mind you she’ll need to come back for extensive
training.” She threw
Ren a sword, saying, “Here’s a blade kid. I know you
want your own,
but until it’s finished—you’ll need it with him
around.”
Chapter 9
A week before, the clan pillaged a
farm—drinking their fill. It
had been Ren’s seventh pillage to date, and she believed she was
doing
quite nicely. Subsequently, they ended up at a vampire village,
hearing rumors and whispers that the great vampire lord, son of Dracula
or something, had an announcement. Usually by now the clan had
pillaged again, so Ren supposed the message had something with limiting
feedings, but with a vampire human war on the horizon, it seemed
slightly pointless. Afterwards, Derek left the village. Ren
would
have liked to stay and hear more about the “The Demon
King.” According
to one vampire lad, “Was the key to eternal salvation” of
some sort
and, “Chanting his name, and sacrificing one’s blood to a
statue in the
image of the Blood Master” would give invincibility to anyone
before a
fight, unless of course, it was against Orlock. Unfortunate for
him,
Derek heard his proclamation and chopped off his head in midst stride.
If there was a bright side, to less gore, than Ren
supposed it was
the increased teachings she received from Cato and Derek—if you
could
call defending yourself against his onslaught without advice or
explanation, “teaching.” Although, she wasn’t
sure whether her
training was the same as the rest; it was a type of training, she
supposed, but the mastery of a skill was obtained more in between
sessions. And now, it was her turn.
Derek flew, while Ren remained on the ground.
He swooped down at
her at his heightened speed—not only from flying, but also his
age.
She tried again to parry, but by the time she moved her sword, he had
already struck, leaving slashes everywhere and laughing. When she
was
done with this, she vowed, she’d learn to fly and speed up,
although
she knew it would be a long time, before she was close to his skill in
speed or flight. He struck again. Blood squirted out of her
new
wounds, the previous ones almost healed. She loved the sensation,
of
seeing her own blood, but longed to stink her sword into him. Her
mana
built up and the next strike, she finally blocked a strike, but the
force of it knocked her down. Her hair screamed as he yanked her
by
the hair upwards and flew, whispering, “This is what it means to
fly,”
and dropped her. Her body bounced off the ground and she heard a
crunch somewhere as pain filled her once more and he struck again.
Chapter 10
The newest member of the gang walked up to Derek. Ren was tempted
to
throw something at the little bitch, but she figured there was little
time for her to spare from smelting and smiting her newest creation, a
chainsaw sword. After all, the little snot could not possibly
influence Derek and if she threw what she wanted to at the girl, it
would put Derek in a foul mood. Then he would avoid her, and the
rest
of the ‘clan’, never really accepted her so it’s
almost like being
alone, except if she had some fun with the new girl, what’s her
name
again? Anyway, what she would love to do, more than messing with
the
girl—bashing her face in and the like, was fighting. How
she would
love to sink her newest sword into the shoulder of Derek and lick his
blood from his wounds, of course, despite their numerous brawls, she
still has yet to taste his blood, though on numerous times, he’d
been
sprayed with hers. Sometimes life is boring, sometimes is lonely,
but
most of the time is unfair. How she would love to do both, but
she may
get neither. Oh well, aside from fighting and drinking blood,
and
mayhap a little something else, there is nothing better than creating
weapons. Yes, weapons to sink their teeth into someone
else’s skin,
especially, if she could sink her teeth in as well. She
wasn’t exactly
sure which materials were the best, but she preferred human, vampire,
and dhampire bones. The final touch is enchanting them, like
leaving
your mark after a good kill and fulfilling your vampiric desires, the
thrill in enchanting weapons puts it all together, without it they
break too easily, become too useless and the like.
Gazing longingly, at the bones she reached down and stroked them,
occasionally licking their bloodstains away. Drawing on mana, she
began to work the stone over a fire, mixing in various elements and
making it sharper and sharper into a very fine battle-axe indeed,
unfortunately this axe was to be Buster’s. It still needed
enchantments to enhance its proficiency and gleaming in the
fire’s
crackle, Ren knew she could not refuse its wish—to slay and
spread
overall havoc until it wore out or was destroyed—hopefully, in
battle.
And the more enchantments, the longer this weapon could embrace its
dream and fulfill its destiny! Her grief in losing such a kindred
heart almost, brought tears to her eyes, but she wasn’t
that
sentimental and when she finished this one, she could start the next,
or do something else to fulfill her lust for fun. Additionally,
that
new girl wrapped herself on Derek. Now, why would she do a thing
like
that?
Taking careful aim, she christened the axe in an arm of that
girl’s
blood. Of course, Dereky didn’t like that, it stained his
white shirt,
it hurt the bitch, it was nutty, yelling, “Ren what the hell is
the
meaning of this?” and such.
Smiling, Ren exclaimed, “Why, to warn
her!”
Derek, in disbelief asked a valid point, “Warn
her of what?”, while
Buster noticed it was his sword-in-the making that was used to create
this mess. He started to say something, but Ren interrupted,
saying,
“Warn her of touching you, you know how you get when I do it, so
she
best be prepared, of course I am a special case. I like to think
you,
attacking, or whatever, go easy on me. Besides, it will make the
axe
stronger. The axe wanted it, you know. Couldn’t you
just feel its
overwhelming bloodlust?”
The rather obnoxious girl, in Ren’s mind,
exclaimed “The why didn’t you use your blood?”
“Oh, the sword and I are special
friends. I create ‘em, make ‘em
stronger, and it gives me a reason to attack splotchy bitches like
you.”
“Yes, Ren, you have many a special friends,
right Derek?” Buster
smirked, “In fact it may be you have too many friends…all
except the
Flame, of course”.
“The Flame and I get along quite fine, thank
you very much.”
“Then why is it that he never lets you give
Derek a lick?” other
vampires catcalled, laughing. That girl, Ren was annoyed to see,
looked rather smug and satisfied, too satisfied, but she didn’t
have
any weapons-in-progress handy, and she just hated to put her personal
swords’ hopes down in a fight that doesn’t end in death or
severe blood
loss, except with Derek, but her sword was understanding that way.
Derek gave Buster a look; it was time. Sure,
he’d preferred Ren
had finished those swords, but he couldn’t stand the thought of
waiting
anymore, yes as his blood swirled and he became to lose his calm, it
was finally time for the kill. Vina, her arm healing quite
nicely,
held on to Derek, smirked at the thought of a bloodbath, she had heard
a tale long ago about a countess who bathed in the blood of young
maidens to stay beautiful, perhaps she’ll try that.
Chapter 11
Derek sat atop a hill by the edge of a city, not far
from the
asylum: 5 miles away. At his feet lay a tombstone. As the
gang gather
towards him, he stood up and proclaimed robustly, “Clansmen, we
have
gathered here in the memory of Joe. However, one among our
members
before us, neither mourns nor holds him precious in memory, but in fact
has brutally murdered him. This must be reified.”
As he finished that sentence, he threw hunting knives at Ren’s
legs.
Whispering under his breath, “Ah, how I’ve waited for
this…” His eyes
the color of slate, matching the tombstone perfectly, he walked towards
her, until he came to a halt, lifting Ren’s chin up with his
fingers.
He stared into her vacant expression, her mind elsewhere, and he wished
again that she could have been a normal female vampire; things would be
so much easier. But knowing that not to be the case, he sighed
and
slapped her bringing her back to reality, or whatever it was, he lived
in, grinning at him.
He continued on, with his well-rehearsed speech, sneering, “Do
you
realize what you’ve done? You, for lack of better word,
female
vamp…although in your case maybe crazed bitch is better.
What do you
think?”
Ren shrugged it off, “Been there heard that, but the vampire part
is
new…” much to Derek’s dismay. Was she even
paying attention? What
could possibly hold her interest so much?
“Go on honey, I’m listening, just let me deal with
something first” and
with that, Ren raised her cutlass and cut off an approaching
ant’s
head. Derek smiled at the irony, so many times, she strived for
his
attention, and now he was losing to an ant. If it weren’t
Ren, he’d
think it was intentional, and made part of it was, but the drool
hanging her lower lip suggested otherwise. And that would not do.
Ren didn’t care what about what Derek was saying, that is until
he mentioned ‘love.’ Finally meeting his gaze she
asked, “Eh?”
“I said—I loved him! Much more than I possibly could
you anyway, even
if you weren’t insane...You’re insane! Of course
sometimes he was a
pain in the ass, but—”
Interrupting, Ren gleamed, “Like our
hot—”
“If you don’t shut up, I won’t wait.”
Derek yelled with extreme
furry. Ren looked at him, mischief in her eyes saying why
wait? Derek
continued, before she could pop the question, and really get on his
nerves, “Do you know what pain I went through trying to protect
him?
No. How could you? This is you we’re talking
about.”
Ren wrapped her arms around his head and whispered, “Enlighten
me. I
just love Buddha stories.”, before Derek pushed her down.
Ren landed
on her bum, but it was her legs, that hurt. Noticing, the knives,
perhaps for the first time, she reached to remove one. Derek
stepped
on the offending hand over the knife, pushing it deeper into her calf.
Chapter 12
Derek decided to tell Ren his story because it
needed to be told.
“I was born and raised near the shores of Lake Erie; I my skill
in
swimming adept, to say the least. I went to Cape Cod for college
in my
late teens, leaving my kid brother behind. I to gain extra cash I
had
a part time job as a lifeguard for a beach through the late spring and
early fall—my shift in the late afternoon to the early hours of
night.
Tessa, Charlotte, Maggie, and Leila were a few of the many girls I was
with, but Leila was the most memorable. I met her by one of those
bonfires. Her hair was auburn with a hint of red and her eyes
glowed a
sea green, looking back, they were too green and glowed too much.
We
hit it off pretty well, and I continued too see more and more of
her.
I only saw her after dusk, and when I asked about it, she shrugged it
off, mentioning some job of some sort. Anyway, she was very
possessive
glaring daggers at any woman who came my way and scaring them
off—even
my lady friends. Around that time, I also began to find young
women in
the beach, all murdered, for no creature of the sea or land could rip
at their necks or occasionally slash at their stomachs. The most
peculiar thing was despite being stabbed or whatever, there was too
little blood on the beach and in their bodies, which asked the
question, where did it go? For being unable to protect visitors
of the
beach, I was canned. It was around Thanksgiving and I was due
home.
After she pleaded, I decided it wouldn’t harm me to take her with
me.”
“There, she took my room, while I took the
couch. My parents were
smitten with her. However, neither she nor my brother got along
well
the night we arrived. Shrugging it off, I went to the
couch, but
heard her voice calling me. I felt compelled to answer it, and
walked
to the room, closing the door behind me. She grasped me and sunk
her
teeth into my neck licking her lips, while I stood in shock. Then
she
took out a knife and slit her wrist. She opened my mouth and put
my
wrist in. She then whispered I wasn’t human anymore,
and I knew it
for a fact, as my tongue felt my fangs. She warned me that
sunlight
would kill us and that unless I cooperated, my brother would die.
And
being a weak fledgling, I was powerless to stop her. We left that
night, driving to her home.
I was her prisoner. I neither could leave the
house nor contact
the outside world. She didn’t treat me badly or
anything. I was just
trapped there, where I practiced Light skills and drank the blood of
humans. Every now and then, she left for extended periods at a
time,
leaving me to await her return. I knew I didn’t stand a
chance
reaching my brother or family before the sun rose. I knew neither
knew
where I was nor had the proper transportation to get away—I did
not
know how to fly back then. Finally, one time, she did not
return. I
later out she was killed by Maximilian Orlock, but although he freed
me, the things I heard of him doing took away any sign of
gratitude.
Besides, by then I realized, despite being trapped with her, I might
have loved her, so I hated him as well.
Years had passed and I found out from an old friend
from Cape Cod,
that my brother was also attending a college in Massachusetts,
but not
the same one as I. I finally found him under a bridge in a shady
neighborhood cut up with drugs in his pockets. Time was running
short. He was unconscious and too far from any means of
communication,
let alone for an ambulance to arrive. So I turned him.
We were together again, but he seemed more
interested in forming a
gang or becoming wealthy than developing his powers. He had
changed
while I was gone, but I loved him. I constantly watched the big
jerk
forming gangs, only to have them turn on him, which in turn caused him
to drink their blood.
While he was failing miserably at his desire of
wealth, I met other
vampires and some connections. I learned from them an excellent
weapon
creator—Cato, who had been making weapons for vampires for years
in
secret and whose skill was to be reckoned with. Together we
formed our
own little gang, Blaze, which decided to go over to Europe.
Grudgingly
my brother went along with us. Somehow, I became the clan’s
leader,
and a clan was what we were, as we were close. We decided to
limit our
number to thirteen, to prevent conflict, but still some members, lefts
or were killed. When my close friend, Jasper died, I made him
into a
drone.
Overtime, our number became thirteen again,
including Buster, who
happens to have been my brother’s best friend. Along the
way, we
roamed the countryside and had missions to ensure our prosperity.
We
trained hard, except for Joe—but I always managed to protect him,
and
lived a content life, training and feeding and just having overall
fun—although we did lose members, but we always found new
members. And
then we went to an asylum, where you killed Joe, my brother.”
Chapter 13
Glancing up when Derek had finished, Ren edged
closer to him,
chattering, “As the good ole doc would say, have you ever
considered it
was your fault?”
Kicking her down the hill, over dead grass and other
shrub, he
yelled, “How dare you! You because my brother was a jerk, I
could have
found it in my ‘itty bitty’ vampire heart to forgive you,
if you’d
only—”
“Ohhh, now it’s my turn!” squealed
Ren, “I was born and raised near
the shores of Lake Erie; I my skill in swimming adept, to say the
least. I went to Cape Cod for college in my late teens, leaving
my kid
brother behind. I to gain extra cash I had a part time job as
a—”
Seething, with increasing rage, Derek extended his hand towards Buster,
who happily obliged with the newly christened sword. He threw the
sword, aiming for her heart, hissing, “Ren!” but instead
getting her
arm, thankfully.
Looking at her arm, pinned to the ground with a sword sticking out of
it, she looked curiously at Derek, “No, a
lifeguard…Oh? Is it your
turn already? And here I was, just getting to the fun part!
But you
go on ahead—I won’t stop you, interrupt, etcetera like
someone…or at
least until I change my mind.”
“What the Fuck are you doing?” Afterwards he
regretted saying it, for
her ears perked up and her face held the expression of a hyper-poodle
looking for a treat.
After a couple of seconds, Ren sang, oblivious to the attempts to stop
her through catcalls and the like, in fact, if anything, they seem to
goad her on, “My turn already? Now, why did you interrupt
me for that
little tidbit of news, especially as in was in words. Now, I
would do
an interpret dance on my feelings, but you might throw some more knives
at me. You’re so cruel. I was a cheerful girl,
unsuspectingly hanging
around such a dangerous man. But he did a cruel and terrible
thing—he
forced me to chop off my long, flowing hair of felinity! Such a
day I
have never seen, whe—”
Derek had clapped his hand over her mouth, trying to silence her long
enough for him to continue. Of course, she bit him, but a moment
of
her silence was worth it. And before he released her mouth, he
began,
“Okay, let me kill the monologue business for a bit to explain
why I
trained and helped you. I wanted you to become sane, happy, put
up a
real fight before I broke you. But no, it seems little Renny
can’t be
sane for me. A pity really, now my revenge won’t be so
sweet.”
Glowered Derek.
“Can we go back to monologging, I can’t figure out who
this, ‘you’ is,
could it be you, you? Then how have you angered yourself
so…made you
want to break yourself because you’re broken.” Ren
said.
“The point is you, as in Ren, killed Derek’s brother!
His brother!” cried Buster.
“The drone’s his brother…never saw that coming, but
he was already dead and is standing there…”
“The asylum! Your sire! Blonde hair…black
eyes! Looks like Derek”, continued Buster, as Derek had
gone silent.
“Oh him! I didn’t kill him. Just kissed him and
stole his heart. Does a lack of heart, ever kill anyone?”
“Why don’t we find out!” lunged Buster, dragged away
by alarmed other members of the clan.
Derek had grown sullen, his skin gray and hair limp, why does it seem
at times nothing gets through to her? A Derek thought, maybe he
should
make it…Looking at the unfazed Ren, Derek said,
“Quiet. You’re life
shall end here Ren. Good bye.” Swooping forward he
advanced upon Ren,
she throwing his knives back at his, and calling her enchanted weapons
to her side swinging them with her mind and free arm. The other
vampires crouched to spring upon her, but with a wave of his hand, they
understood that he was to be the one to take her out, like a rapid dog
or raccoon with rabies. Although, perhaps deep down inside he
wondered
at her sanity, still hoping that he could defeat her completely.
Waving his arm in her direction, she sent blasts of light at her
weapons, and they lay at her feet, melted into a mess of steel and
bones. But she wasn’t horrified at their destruction, for
an instant,
Derek had become a living light and her sent to her flashes of white,
blinding her eyes and making her pupils and irises even smaller,
completely vermillion. Stumbling around in the dark, she felt
with a
sickening slurp, her stomach cut open with something that felt like
claws. She heard a tongue brush against moist fingers, sucking,
and
longed to be that tongue.
Derek had not felt that good in so long, especially considering what he
planned to do next, it had come to him, mid swing of his sword by her
head, when he instantly blinded her by his mana. He could tell
Buster
wanted to get some good licks in, but he was not going to share his
moment. For as patient as he was, he couldn’t wait to see
the
expression on her face. Sticking more swords and daggers into her
exhausted body, he told her, “I’m leaving you.
Forever.” He began to
walk away from her, pleased at her confusion showing on her face, mixed
with a slight tint of fear.
Looking in his general direction, but seeing nothing, Ren gloated,
“I thought you said my life would end here and now”.
Laughing and continuing to walk, Derek answered, “No, just
here.
Alone. I would have finished you off, but you talked yourself
into a
more painful fate—it’s almost day. Think of it as
prolonged torture.
Bye Rendal Phibes Bathory.”
Straining to sit up, she replied, “You’d make such a nice
drone.”
However, Derek did neither replied nor cared. He thought that Ren
wanted a reaction from him, so she’d know she was not alone, but
she
would be, just like his brother, or what remains of him, if anything at
all.
Chapter 14
Ren lay panting on her back, as her blood trickled down her sides,
repeating repeatedly, “I won’t die, I won’t
die”. Her eyes finally
unblended, she yelled at the top of her lungs, “You can’t
kill me!” but
they were gone. Looking at herself, she mumbled, “I
won’t let them.”
Weapons stuck out of her body, weapons that were her friends, now
wanting to be withdrawn from her, to pour her body over the Earth,
baptizing it; feeding the weapons blood lust like she fed her
own. But
she refused to pull them out; otherwise, she might even die of blood
loss before the sun rose. Besides, she needed her
strength—her blood.
Her knees wobbled, as did her legs as she tried to stand, only to fall
and sink the knives in her legs even deeper. Drawing her mana to
her,
she crawled with her arms, legs dragging behind her. She dared
not
sleep, though her vision was hazy and stumbled to the ground a couple
of times, determined to overcome his prophecy. All the way, she
mumbled to herself, just barely over a whisper, her voice raspy,
“And
here I am alone. Bored. Curse you…Why if I was
better…Why ya leave
me... Am I…Fine then…” With that, Ren
grabbed at the closest thing in
front of her. Felling its raised bumps, she grew excited opening
her
eyes wide and moved her long fingernails, now caked with her own blood
under it. Grunting and huffing, she lifted with the force of her
little mana unto the pavement. Lowering herself gingerly into the
gaping hole in front of her, and moving her legs unto a ladder on the
side, she dragged the manhole cover over its opening. And with
that,
she began to laugh, hissing at the walls of the dank sewer, slipping
down its ladder and falling at its last couple of rungs unto its
floors. The pain at falling, fiery though it was, lasted only a
second, for a moment later Ren had fallen asleep, the morning star
glowering over the valley after being born of the Egyptian goddess Nut.
Derek stood above the body of a sleeping vampire of
his clan,
overlooking all of his ‘family.’ Sighing, he sat
against the wall of
the basement of an old farmhouse, miles from the city. From a
distance
he may have been keeping guard next to his drone, or even watching
contently the rise and fall of the vampires’ breaths, or maybe
even
scheming to exploit the remaining ‘resources’ of the city
to feed the
clan. But no, instead, he was full of turmoil; he smiled
ruefully.
He wished he finished things with Ren differently,
but she just
drove him mad with her insistent chattering and being her. He
would
have liked to tell her that he was using her to vent his frustrations
of losing his brother and when he fought her before, he never held
back, aside from not using his Light powers and the Flame and the full
extent of his mana or speed or other vampire powers. Well, so he
did
hold back a lot, but he did so more or less unconsciously; otherwise,
it might drive him insane having her in front of him. Sweating,
he
remembered a couple of times when he was almost too impatient for her
demise and had to force himself to walk away. As it was, he
believed
she had rushed him or prolonged it until he was rushed, he grunted to
himself. He wanted to kill her with his own hands and watch her
died
slowly and agonizing to her death, regretting the day she ever met him
and annihilated his brother. And no, that’s not too strong
a word.
After the bitch feel at his feet, he waited until, all but he and the
drone were asleep and crept into Corridor 9, the one his brother took
that other human girl before returning to the clan with his
scouting.
At the corridor blood spilled out of a room, its door askew. His
heart
thumping, he peeked into the room. It looked like a werewolf or a
rapid dog attacked him, though there was no such thing as a werewolf,
and neither would tear out the heart of its victim like that.
Where
the heart was, a pool of blood filled the hole and down its sides from
spilling out. The neck—had shavings of skin and muscle
hanging down
from another gaping hole. For a second he was afraid to go back
down
to that thing. But now, and with this Derek laughed at his own
foolish
thoughts. He knows that she’s able to die like the rest of
us. But
did she? Startled, Derek realized, he’s not even sure if
she’s dead.
Looking over at his drone, he saw himself staring into its vacant
expression and was reminded of her again. Angrily, he ripped out
his
arm and spliced off the drone’s head.
The green blood spilled out of the drone’s
shoulders, pleasing
Derek immensely. Now if only it was Ren…Looking up he
thought he saw
Ren for a moment, but no, it was Vina. Gazing lovingly at him she
reached over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and whispered,
“Now why did you do a thing like that? Oooh, look at the
tension in
your shoulders!” and with that she began to massage his
shoulders. He
turned away from her, disinterested in her and not really in the
mood.
Looking at the drone, he said, “Need to fix this,” and
proceeded to
cast the necessary spell to reattach the drone’s head to its
body.
Nut ate her only son and it was night, but she was destined to birth
him again at dawn. Ren woke in the dark of the sewer, mildly
surprised
to be alive. She noticed a large rodent chewing at her boots,
reaching
down, she smashed the rodent’s skull. She wondered what she
ought to
do next and a shiver went down her spine. Derek was obviously
stronger
than she so she’d have to avoid him for now. She
didn’t want to die
when she just started living. At least Ren could count on Cato to
keep
her company and teach her more about weapons, with the threat of
betrayal to Derek. But, that didn’t seem interesting enough
a life.
What would her father do? No, not the balding middle-aged man,
her
hard faced human slaying “real” father. Yes, my
father. Maybe this
Orlock fellow is my father. She should see him, perhaps ally with
him. And along the way, she’d get stronger to someday take
Derek out.
Yes, she’d like that. Ripping a sword out of his
body. His warm flesh
and blood getting colder as he pleads for mercy and she sucks him
dry.
Ren found her calling. She would just have to rest some more,
before
searching to feed and beginning.
She shivered again. Unsure on whether it was from the thought of
Derek
or Orlock, she was afraid from the first time in her life and loving
it. That and the prospect of drinking blood and having fun
indicated
to her, she was living.
A couple hours later, Ren emerged from the manhole and walked down the
street. A truck approached her. The driver said,
“It’s not safe to be
out at this time of night. Ever since the bridge massacre a
couple
decades ago, vampires have been popping up all over. And the
things
they do—ghastly, first the Price murder and then things just got
worse. Even humans have been going insane, four years after
the Price
killings, this one guy just went out and murdered all these families
and abducted this girl. It’s crazy. Well get in
quickly.”
Ren was tempted to smile, but did not want to give herself away yet,
although apparently this guy was a real genius to have missed the
knives sticking out of her, which she had not removed yet. Moving
in
the truck, the driver began to chatter on about how all things were
going to hell, but hopefully, things would be solved in the upcoming
war. When the driver turned his head briefly at a stop sign, Ren
moved
over and sank her teeth in quickly slurping down his blood before he
could strike back or crash into a wall or something, not that she cared
if they crashed. He flailed his arms, but slowly the flailing
stopped
as her hypnotism calming him, besides he was running out of
blood.
When he passed out, Ren licked his neck where her tooth marks were and
proceeded to remove the weapons sticking out of her, so she could
properly heal with the new blood she found. Continuing, she
inhaled
deeply until there was no more.
Chapter 15
Ren had sent word through Cato, of her desiring to
ally with
Orlock. In response, she received missions, but no real
face-to-face
encounters. She had been killing rouge vampires and pesky humans
trying to attack Orlock’s castle and the like for years now, not
that
she minded drinking blood. One drawback was that she could only
kill
humans that threatened Orlock’s plans or to quench her thirst, as
his
ally and all. but she was ever so curious about him.
Apparently, he
had a rebellious sireling he had to always discipline and had a real
enjoyment in blood—even having power over it. And after her
next
couple of missions, she’d meet thee Maximilian Orlock.
Max. She liked
that.
Her latest mission, involved teaming with others
allied under Max
to destroy power plants. Something about how in the long run,
humans
could destroy the world unintentionally, trying to kill another, so
they definitely would attempt to if they happened to be losing in
a
war against vampires. Therefore, destroy the nuclear power plants
and
atomic weaponry, before they consider it. Whatever. Ren
only cared
that she’d certainly have fun. Cato’s clock when off,
indicating to
Ren, it was time to meet the others.
The group seemed to be a team and Ren. Envious
at their
camaraderie, Ren glowered at their laughter and seriousness to the
“cause” of saving the planet. But when asked if she
could be a
distraction, Ren smiled and answered, “I’m sure I’ll
be able to do
something.”
On the way to the base they’d use for
attacking, the plant the next
night, they received word to be extra careful, one team in North
America had sent off a nuclear reaction. Not that Ren paid it
much
heed, she was the distraction after all. Soon she’d be able
to have
some fun again.
Chapter 16
Jack was annoyed about the vamp following him, yelling at the top of
her lungs, “Hey, I’m Ren. Wait up Jack!”
Receiving no response from
him, she threw her sword at him, saying, “I said wait,
Jacky.” Bad
move on her part, Jack thought.
Turning to her, he asked, “Who do you think you are throwing a
sword at me?”
Gleefully smiling jumping at having finally received his attention, Ren
repeated, “I’m Ren, Jacky chan.” She extended her
hand in his face,
waiting fir him to grab it, or bite it or something. Now the fun
can
begin, she thought.
So she was that old, Jack reflected, the mystery deepens.
“No. it’s
Jack. Period.” Jack replied. He brushed past her
hand, hoping she’d
take the hint and continued on his way with Vallov, moving farther and
farther away from Orlock’s castle. With every step away
from that
place, he felt freer. He just wished this…Ren vampire
would go away,
and leave them to themselves.
But no, the vampire chanted back, “Okay, Mr. Period.
Let’s get after that fugitive, what’s-his-name.”
“The self proclaimed, Fartis the mighty. But what brain
dead thought
could have possessed you to think I’d extend an invitation to
you?” he
snapped back. Looking back, he leaped into the air, flying
away. The
cool nighttime breeze passed through his billowing hair and in the
night’s calm, he relaxed. He was finally getting away from
the
castle—at least for a while. For a moment, he considered
forgetting
Orlock’s mission and flying away to elsewhere. However, he
remembered
far too clearly the last time he tried to runaway and feared that if he
did so again, it would be even longer until he’d see any
landscape
beyond the walls of Orlock’s dungeon.
Hearing something below, Jack looked down seeing the cackling
figure
of that vamp from the moon’s rays following him, shrieking,
“Poor Ren,
Jack won’t let her join in all his reindeer games, but Max
will. Yay!”
“And what did Orlock say?” snapped Jack, stopping.
Ren flew by. Then realizing she just passed him, she turned
answering, I’m to be your mother—your guard.”
“No.” Jack responded, flying off in another
direction.
“If that doesn’t suit your style, let’s be friends,
partners in life”.
Ren bellowed from behind. Jack sighed, clearly flying off
wasn’t the
answer.
Ren followed Jack landing, looking at him expectedly. She did not
have
to wait long before Jack said, “One problem, I’m not
Orlock. I don’t
know you and I certainly don’t plan to. And who’s
going to guard you
from me?” Jack aimed a punch at cheek. Catching it,
Ren aimed at kick
at his stomach, but before she succeeded in hitting flesh, Vallov
advanced and hit her from behind. Off balanced, Ren fell on
Jack.
Catching him by surprise, she grabbed his wrists rolled off his and
slammed him on the ground. Letting go and leaping away from
Vallov’s
fists, she drew her sword and faced him. In response, Jack drew
his
own.
“In answer to your question, no one.” Ren
replied. She stared at
him, determined not to strike first, waiting for him to attack back,
but aware of his large drone off towards the side. At that
moment,
jealousy stirred within her at the thought of having a drone and
company. She may not kill Jack, but she could certainly severely
injure him and Max said nothing about the big lug. She chuckled
at
that thought.
Sheathing his sword and turning away from her, he told her, “Just
so you understand, I work alone”.
Wirily Ren answered, “I can see that”, looking at
Vallov and grinning.
Chapter 17
Jack finished off Fartis, conscious of Ren’s
watchful eyes and deep
desire to join in the slaying. When he was sure, the vampire was
dead,
he proceeded to wipe the blood off his sword with the grass, it was his
first kill beyond the need to feed and he did not want Ren to lick the
blood of his sword. Turning around to the sound of the slashing
of
skin and muscle, he found Ren crouching over the other vampire.
Confounded, he asked, “What are you doing?”
“Need you ask? I’m getting something for my
collection…,” she stated.
“Collection? You too? Let me guess, an eye or ear or
finger to mount
on your wall.” Jack groaned. Then suddenly, he
laughed. Just when he
was out of the castle, he found someone who brought the castle out.
“No, weaponry and some bones of course. You understand
Orlock better
than I do.” Ren replied, startled by his response—why
would she mount
that, when she could mount weaponry? But she was pleased by his
laughter—she was beginning to think he got no pleasure out of
life or
had no sense of humor. Why be alive without it?
Sighing, Jack asked, “Why won’t you leave?” She
really exasperates him.
“If I bug you so much, why don’t you kill me? You
know I can’t kill
you…This is the start of something beautiful.” With
that thought in
mind, Ren smiled.
“I don’t like to kill. So why lose my humanity on
you?” Jack casually
replied, removing some of the dried blood from under his nails.
“Funny, I’d never had guesses. So rebellious,
eh?” Ren elbowed Jack.
“Oh? Are you Orlock’s spy?” Jack accused,
drawing his sword.
Lifting one of Jack’s locks, she leaned forward and whispered,
“He
doesn’t need one”, and grabbed his sword
inspecting it, “Needs better
enchantments, a little sharpening and some other add on features.
I’ll
give this back to you. Later.” Ren waved and left,
leaving Jack more
confused than when he started that day.
Finally alone with Vallov at last, Jack sighed
in relief.
“And that was only the first time she came” Vallov said.
“Yes,” Jack answered, saddened by that thought, “And
what if she comes again?”
“I think you might mean ‘when’?”, Vallov mildly
replied.
“Thank God, I have you, Vallov…What if I was only stuck
with those
two?” shuddered Jack, but also amuse by the irony that perhaps
Orlock
helped him a little.
“Oooh, I’ll grow on you”, popped Ren from seemingly
know where, adding,
“But…Jack’s drone, that’s the first time you
uttered more than a growl…”
Rather irritated by her reappearance, Vallov explained, “When
you’re
around, it’s best not to talk—you don’t really listen
to what is
intended”. He would have also liked to cover his ears, but
then he
could not protect Jack as well.
Smiling at Vallov’s suggestion, but displeased
at the notion that
Jack would become more like the drone, Ren said, “If you try that
Jack,
I just chatter on my own and follow you”.
“You want to continue our fight?” Jack asked, more to
vent his
frustrations, more than anything else. He would have preferred
she
leave, but like that was going to happen.
“Sure why not, it’s almost dawn, but why not?”
Chapter 18
Ren was bored, so she searched for Jack. Upon
finding him, she
hung her arm around his shoulder, oblivious to Vallov and Jack’s
glares
at her and said, “You know I’ve actually lived in
Looney Ville, it’s a
nice place, aside from the boredom and mass suicides.”
“I can imagine.”
“You don’t believe me Jacky? Then let’s
go.” Ren urged him.
“I believe you belong there, but insanity in vampire’s
nothing new.” Jack replied disinterested.
“But I lived there, was born there, Imagine that. Now,
Come. You have
nothing better to do at the moment, except perhaps visit Max, your dear
father.” Ren grinned.
And because he knew, Ren wouldn’t leave until he agreed and
really
having nothing to do, he decided rather get this over with and skip on
visiting Orlock. Maybe this would be interesting, after all.
Jack looked down upon the large building, the large asylum.
He heard
Ren say, “Home sweet home, or what’s left of it,” and
trudged through
its halls behind Ren, passing human bodies and gore.
“I assume this is your work?” stated Vallov.
“Nah, this was my sire and his group’s.
Unfortunately, he’s not here
with us now,” Ren smirked, “But if you look over here
you’ll see a
nice filing cabinet, Sherlock, and you will be
enlightened.” Reaching
in, Ren pulled out a file and tapped it, “My file, charming
isn’t it?
Says my insanity is hopelessly without a cure. Said, it’s
all in my
head. But perhaps it was in theirs, neh?” With that,
she tossed it to
him, and sat atop the cabinet, waiting expectantly for some kind of
reaction.
Shuffling the paper casually, and neither buying her story nor
interested after all. Then something amusing hit him, “You
went out of
your way on this, I’m actually impressed on the lengths you went
to get
it to look official. Bravo.” Jack tossed back the
file.
Ren, caught it, hissing back, “Real doctor’s
signatures. Next, you’ll
say I forced them to sign. Look around—this place’s
been deserted for
decades, maybe even a century, I must have really planned, ahead,
eh?
I heard about the great and noble fighting spirit of the fledgling of
Maxy, who accepted being a vampire, why quicker than myself—and
decided
to go out of my way to impress him. Now tell me, isn’t
insanity the
greatest? We both know it so well, you the great son of
Maxy and me
who went through all this trouble.”
“Sometimes your logic astounds me. The only part you got
wrong is the
part about us being insane,” Jack replied and they laughed at
that.
“Shucks, that’s about the nicest thing anybody’s done
ever said about me Jacky Chan.” Ren replied.
Chapter 19
Ren stood on the wooden chair facing
“Goliath”, the manager of the
Blood Lust, a popular blood bar in a vampire city. Besides her
sat
Jack. They posed as a two vampire “friends” looking
for work paying in
blood—well, Ren considered them friends without pretending. If
they
managed to get work here, they’d find more information about a
mysterious alliance of rebels.
A couple of days prior, a wanted “rouge” vampire was
taken to Max
after he blurted out something about an underground group
plotting
Orlock’s downfall, scattered across this city. Normally, it
would be a
lot easier trying to find a gang or group opposing as they usually
stayed together, but this underground group, only met for their rare
meetings in an undisclosed place. Orlock claimed he had too much
fun
torturing the fellow to get the name of the place, either that or
he
wanted to keep in secret for the moment. In any case, Orlock
decided
that for a change, Jack and Ren “work” together due to
Jack’s
increasing posterity and rumors, making him more inconspicuous without
Vallov and with Ren. As least, that’s what she made out of
his
explanation.
Goliath smirked at them and cleared his throat to
interview these
folks. One was too dark and gloomy for his liking—perhaps
even insane,
but the girl, well she looked promising. Turning to her, he
asked,
“Where do you live?”
“Why, a little house by the sea.” Ren replied.
“She lives in a hut in somewhere in town.” Jack cut
in. Laughing to
himself at her outrageous response, he decided he liked her a
bit—who
cared if she was slightly batty, when all vampires were, besides he
liked her sense of humor. However, the man seemed too serious and
did
not seem to realize that in this day in age, employers expected half
the answers to be fake anyway. Besides, the man clearly lacked
imagination.
“Any particular hobbies?” he continued.
“Well, it’s really obsessive allurement, but I like
imitating Maxy.”
Goliath saw the man blanch at this response, but was not sure why or
who this Maxy was, hopefully not her boyfriend…Goliath thought
it would
be extremely amusing if they started to fight because of this Maxy
character and cheating and what not. However, it seemed it was a
well
known inside joke or something, perhaps this Maxy was the man’s
ex or
something. Whatever the case, he decided he would enjoy the ride
of
interviewing the girl. Particularly he planned to ask the questions at
random. It was sure to be entertaining, and he believed the world
exist to entertain him. Or at least he wore that face when he
spoke
and that's what he told her. He smiled as her eyes sparkled and
she
leaned over to tell him that although she came here searching for work,
her goal in life was to have fun and prove she was living.
After some more questions he leaned forward asking,
“Origins?”
Ren replied, “My origins…my uncle on some side might have
been a
nutmegger. Jack knows how much I love nuts.” Jack
frowned at this. It
seemed clear to him that this Goliath was somehow attracted to
Ren.
How he hoped she was not attracted to him, or she would damage the
mission. As the vampire continued to ask Ren more questions, Jack
wondered why he did not just leave…no, if he left he would blow
his
cover as Ren’s friend.
Goliath finally asked the last question, “Darling, what’s
your name?”
Glowing and glancing briefly at Jack, Ren answered,
“Emily”. Jack was
thoroughly sickened, but at least he knew Ren did not care for the
vampire and the mission was safe. He almost attacked Ren in
response
to his teasing and calmed himself down as a response. It was a
good
thing he did because after the man announced she had a job and he did
not, no surprise there, she raced up and hugged the man, trying to mock
his and Emily’s love, he presumed.
Exasperated Jack forced himself—he had to say it.
“Emily! What are
you doing? It’s suspicious fooling around with your
boss!” He hated
it saying something like that, but he hated Ren’s smug face most
of
all—and Goliath’s stupidity, which probably assumed Jack
was jealous or
something.
“Truth be known pal, you’re more suspicious than
she.” The vampire replied.
Chapter 20
Jack glared silently at Ren as they began their walk
towards the
edge of the city. Finally, he asked, “Ren, did you ever
think that if
you acted more…normal, you would be less conspicuous, and liked
you
more?”
She spun towards the sound of his voice and beginning to walk backwards
answered, “Oh, screw them, ‘cause I got you.
‘Sides, who’d want a
friend you’d have to be fake around to be liked?”
Pausing for a second Jack replied, “I’d like you
more.”
Apparently that was distasteful to Ren, for she screwed her face and
stuck out her tongue and said, “Ah, but who’d normal want
to be with a
couple of screw looses, like us?”
Sighing, Jack replied walking on, “You’re hopeless at
times. Hey! You even listening? It’s
about—“
“You, right? Well, Jacky Wacky, maybe I don’t need
you to like me
more. You do plenty enough and well, any love from falsehood,
isn’t
really worth it. It’d probably make me mad. So
let’s eat nuts
together!” Ren cried, dancing in delight. Obviously, Jack
thought she
is having, too much fun. He just wish this assignment were over,
but
even then, she would follow him around and annoy him. Maybe if he
were
not assigned under her “guard-ship” things would be
better. Even
better if he could move out of Orlock’s castle.
Reminded of Orlock, Jack recalled what Ren had said during the
interview. He questioned her wildness again, “But
imitating Orlock’s
trait?”
“Well, you said to stick to the truth as close as possible in
case they
question you, so for that question I tried to stick more or less closer
to the truth…What’s wrong with Orlock?”
“What’s wrong with—you’re right, Orlock, Ren is
a vampire after your
own heart,” Jack laughed, “but I bet you didn’t even
see this
coming…Ren. It’s dangerous to say things like that
about Orlock—”
“I didn’t know you cared. But why? Are you, as
his sireling, going to
attack me? Defend me?” Ren goaded him.
Personally, she wanted him to
attack her—that would be great.
“No, of course not.”
“Then maybe you better watch yourself.” Ren answered
and pushed him.
Quickly regaining his balance, Jack began, “You know my
relationship with—“
“Your father? Yes. And that’s the reason why
I’m here.”
“Oh? You think you can take me—if I decide to revolt
against Orlock’s
wishes? You’re allied to Orlock first, my guard
second.” Jack argued.
Ren chuckled, “You’re becoming more like me everyday, I
must be such a
good influence, but I don’t really have to stop
you…” Jack was about
to say something when Ren interrupted, “They say a sireling takes
after
their sire when they’ve been together so long. I killed
mine in five
minutes. It was sure lonely. But you and Maxy have had such
a long,
loving relationship and it just touches my heart.” As Ren
finished,
Jack punched her in the nose. Unfazed from the punch, due to
Derek,
Ren didn’t notice the blood following down her nose and proceeded
to
kick towards his head, or at least where his head was.
Jack dodged her kick. Turning on his hands, he aimed his leg at
her
feet, but she saw it coming and leaped. “Oh, yay! A
great fight
between just you & I, me Renny ‘Batty’,
eh?” Ren chanted. They
continued to fight and for a second it occurred to Jack that this was
exactly what she had wanted. Furious at seemingly falling to her
whim,
he released dark energy at her. It hit her in a blast and she
fell
down rolling.
Ren got back to her feet. “Nice moves Jack! So
unpredictable,
becoming just like Orlock everyday, I wish I had as much luck too, you
know, being near him and all.” Ren continued as she dived
under Jack’s
fists covered in shadows.
“What me? Like Orlock?” Jack paused for a second,
giving Ren the perfect opportunity to punch him in the lower jaw.
“Better watch it, partner or not I won’t hold back, I know
so much.
Come on, beat the information out of me. It will be more fun that
way!” Ren grinned, feeling her mana rising within her as
the fight
progressed. It was during times like these, she felt truly alive.
“Fun? You call this fun? I can see why you and Orlock
get along so
well!” Jack yelled as he ducked under her arm. He
summoned more dark
energy, about to throw it at her, when she flipped backwards,
kicking
him in the stomach.
Ren squealed, “Oooh, jealous much? But it’s meee who
should be
jealous—he loves you so much, can’t you see the glowing
love in his
eyes? For that matter—” Jack aimed a punch to her
right. Ren moved
left, but was hit by a blast of shadow. Reeling back, she
taunted,
“Maxy has told be so much about your little mortal
obsession. And as
they say, He who lost his love, and can love no more is always followed
by love in admirers, eh?” Jack lunged at her.
Ren’s hand formed a
fist and hit him in his diaphragm.
Gasping for breathe, Jack asked, “Tell me how?”
Pausing a second to answer, Ren said, “Well, some say love is all
physical passion, mixed with pain, but I say—“
“You say a lot of things, don’t you ever have any regard to
how they
affect the world around you? Well, maybe now it’s time for
a change.”
Jack interrupted, shooting a blast at her and knocking her legs from
under her when she dodged.
Wiping the dirt and dried blood from her face, she sneered,
“Better vamps than you have tried.”
“Is this all fun and games to you?” Jack accused.
“Maybe you. Admit it, you are having even more mirth than
me right
now. Your blood is rushing an you desire to spill mine
everywhere,
paint the walls and fill your self with blood haze—nothing to
fear
because you are a god, a vampire king!” She darted up,
advancing
towards him.
“Don’t get me confused with your little Maxy
poooo.” Jack replied.
“Why, oooooh, how delightful, that’s a good one!
Golly god show!” Ren
squeaked, her voice rising higher and higher. She turned to Jack,
leaping in the air and wrapping her arms around his neck. She
began to
move him to the ground in a pin, but he flew in the air, bring her up
with him. He swooped down, crashed to the ground with her under
him,
him yelling, “I’m not like him!”
Rolling out from under him, gasping Ren replied, “But you put up
a good
fight, ‘sides I see him in your eyes. Watching. Why I
must watch my
words, right?” Catching her breath, she rushed forward
towards him,
swinging her arm.
Jack whispered, “My Eyes?” oblivious to her approach and
her following punch to him in the jaw.
Scowling, she yelled, “I told you not to
stop!”
“What about my Eyes!” he yelled back.
Bouncing up and down, she ignored his question, screaming, “Come
on, fight! Fight! Fight!”
Laughing Jack replied, “Are you that desperate for a fight?
There’s a bar over there, why don’t you get drunk?”
Shrugging and then grinning, Ren chanted, “Okey, Dokey, Jack
’ums.
Hey, Jack-o-lantern sent me here!” and then mumbled,
“Maybe it’s my
mission,” and continued loudly with, “My holy grail to
fight ye’ scurvy
dogs!” Groaning, Jack dragged Ren shout, “A vast
ye!” away from the
bar.
Turning, he shouted, “You insane?”
Choosing to ignore the question, Ren replied, “I know what
you’re going to say next, ‘what about our
fight?’”
“What about my eyes?” Jack glared.
“They’re Red!” sang Ren. Jack sighed in
relief. But she persisted, “Gonna make everyone dead!
Dead! Dead!”
Jack tapped with his fingers, asking, “What’s this guard
business about?”
“Come on!” Ren exclaimed, “Let’s create a
brawl back in that bar,”
“Wait—” Jack cried. But laughing, Ren raced
ahead. Jack followed,
knowing he would not get any sense out of her for the rest of the
night, perhaps week. It seemed she used it up in one
sitting. But
still he wondered why Orlock chose her as a guard for himself against
himself. Maybe Orlock chose her for Jack’s guard, to drive
him insane,
not that he wasn’t already, but more so.
Chapter 21
After a week at “work”, Goliath approached Ren telling her
of a grand
place he’d like her to check out. There, they’d
express freedom,
particularly freedom to go against Orlock and do whatever they
wanted.
Contacting Jack, Ren moved to fulfill her duty.
As Ren entered with Jack following later that evening, She heard an
agent of the gang warn about two allies of Orlock apparently after them
saying, “There’s Jack Darkness, Orlock’s sireling,
skilled greatly in
Darkness and constantly wears black. And there’s
Ren—a vampire at the
depths of insanity one moment and the other, seems to have logic.
Extremely annoying.”
“Hello, you really think so? Thanks for the compliment,
good bye.”
Ren said as she slashed his throat and chopped him in half and
continued with, “This brings back so many memories. But
where did he
go?” With a click of her sword, she parried the advancing
vampire’s
mace. And kicked him in the stomach. Reaching down, she
grabbed him
by the neck and thrust her sword into her heart—turning and
slashing at
it, until it was unable to perform its duty. Looking over at Jack
and
his drone annihilating the other members, she cracked out, “At
least I
have Jacky!”
Glancing to her left, she noticed one trying to flee
in a
backroom. Summoning her throwing stars, she threw them at the
vamp’s
back right above where his heart would be and advanced forward, to
finish the job. Looking closely, she noticed it was
Goliath. Seeing
the other vampires loving this way and that for
someone—apparently
their leader, as they fought like a disorganized mob. They even
attacked one other, fearing that the other could be this Jack or Ren
character they heard so much about. Eyes widening, she realized
that
Goliath was their leader.
Ren grabbed him by his carrot-topped head. He
screamed as he felt
his hair being used against him, dragging him by the roots into the
back room he was trying to hide in. Turning towards him, she
whispered, “And by the way, my name’s not Emily.
It’s Ren. Emily’s
Jack’s dead mortal wife, isn’t that great?...Isn’t
it?” With that, Ren
slammed the door shut cackling to have some fun with him, because if
course, the universe exists to entertain him. She thought
she’d first
start with slicing his torso open and the would move from there.
Chapter 22
As the rusted warehouse of their nest targets filled their view, out
burst a vampire with gray hair, stumbling away from it and towards
them, frantically muttering, “They’re insane!”
Upon closer inspection, Ren realized who it was and could barely
contain herself (is she even does contain herself). The vampire
recognizing Ren as one of his previous patients grabbed on to Ren,
crying, “You’ve got to save m—I mean stop them.
Who knows what
dastardly deed they might do next?”
Ren looked at him and pushed him off her, and proceeded to
sharpen her
sword for several minutes before adding, “Do I know you?
Oh, yes I’m
insane.”
To Jack, it was startling that she actually admitted to being
insane.
Well they always say, the first step is admitting it, but who
cares?
Besides, the good ole doctor, or that’s what he claims to be,
might be
worse than she, replying, “Now, listen Rendal, you’re not
insane. The
vampire curse cured you.” It was rather amusing, especially
when Ren
whispered, “Liar, liar, pants on fire” before she lit them
on fire.
Continuing with, “I think I smell roast pig”, and joining
in with him
rolling on the ground. Jack would have laughed aloud, but he
didn’t
want to be lectured by either Ren or that vamp: it was more amusing
watching them. Apparently, he didn’t think so, crying to
Ren, “You’re
not insane. You might have Ganser Syndrome, meaning that
you’re
mimicking having a mental disease. Perhaps that’s all you
ever had. I
know, because I’m insane.”
To this Jack laughed, “Apparently, whoever you are, you would
have been
much safer in there, that is until we exterminate that place.
But, it
looks like you enjoyed your own death too much. You rush to your
grave.”
“So, you gonna kill me?”
“I won’t waste my time with your cowardly hide, but Ren,
now she she’s
probably going to have some fun, ripping your spine out of your body
and the like, for her little collection.”
“Awww, Jacky you gave away the surprise I was gonna have some
real fun
with him. Although, I’m not sure if this little slug has a
spine and I
certainly wouldn’t want it for my collection: too weak and
brainless.
A drone has better brains.”
Glaring at Jack, the old doctor spat out, “This is all your
fault—you’re a bad influence.” Now Ren would
have like to have made
some little comment or broke his arm or something, but supposedly, his
clan wanted him back, perhaps to slaughter. And Ren was in no
mood to
be deprived of her fun by handing him back, so when their errand boy
came out, she threw some throwing stars into his heart. Jack
meanwhile
got a delightful lick in, “Well, I hate to burst you bubble, but
it’s
the reverse. But then, how would an insane vampire like you
know?
Kid, you know nothing of insanity. I’m insane.
Ren’s worse, but you,
you’re just an idiot quack.”
Jack was getting restless, Ren could tell, saying something like,
“I’m
bored,” and “I’m going ahead to cut some vamps in
half, have Vallov
bash their brains in and the like,” grinning broadly, “You
know, have
some fun without you.”
“But you can’t have a party without meee! See that
vamp. Why don’t
you pull out his arms or something? I’ll be done in a
sec. They’ve no
doubt have seen us by now and have planned an ambush.”
“Now why would you think I’d need your help?”
“If I let you alone with them, I’ll only have
leftovers.” Ren whined,
but she knew that Jack didn’t care what she said, he’d just
take all
the fun for himself, she thought ruefully. Vallov had already
bashed
the errand boy’s head in and was waiting for his master, who had
glanced back once more, in response to the doctor’s, “I can
help you
Rendal. You’ll learn how to be sane and won’t have to
act insane
anymore.” Hearing this, Jack laughing, thinking how great a
comedian
this fellow was, but his logic was rather flawed.
“Acting? You think Ren’s acting? Well then,
Ren, I nominate you for
the best actress award then, and I hereby announce to you good sir
that, it’s no use trying to change her mind, if she wants to go
without
marbles, then let her.”
Well, what could Ren say, but, “Gee, Jack, I’m
touched”, before she
began to advance on the good doc, who had since began to scream,
“Help
me! For the love of God, don’t let this woman near
me!” Ren circled
him, she really didn’t want to suck him dry, his blood probably
tastes
terrible, but she wanted to see it everywhere and hear him plead for
mercy before she took out a nice, rather blunt axe, she’d have to
fix
that later, after she christened it in blood and beheaded him.
Zooming
forwards, Ren took off his left leg and threw it away, to his
“Please
be sane and stop this Rendal! Rendal!”
Circling forward, planning to remove another leg, she sang, “But
I’ve
never been insane! Lodi-Lodi-Da!” His eyes went wide
as he felt his
last leg being ripped off from under him, and a shriek erupted from his
voice box. Ren didn’t like that noise and said in a mildly
disturbing
voice, widening her already large grin, “Ohhhh! Let me be a
doctor,
I’ll doctor you like I only know how!” At this, she
grabbed his throat
reaching deep inside for his voice box, but apparently he
wouldn’t let
her, gasping, “Rendal! Cut it out!”
And Ren did cut it out, his heart anyway. She reached in and
pulled
out his heart complete with several feet of arteries and veins.
Looking down at his body, and its spraying blood, she realized she made
a mistake, “Now, look what you’ve done, doc. I was
going to chop your
head off with a my axe, I’ve never used him. Now how am I
supposed to
explain it to him?”
Chapter 23
Jack just finished the with the vampires
conveniently waiting for
him by the front door, Vallov was guarding the only other exit, when
Ren came in. As she walked towards him, he said,
“You’re late. Your
‘party’ is dying down now. And—what the hell
are you doing?”
“Eating. Needs a little soy sauce,
though”, replied Ren nibbling
on the heart, dragging behind veins and arteries, leaking the
heart’s
remaining blood in a path following her. Discarding the heart,
unfortunately, it happened to land on Jack’s shoes. Jack,
sighing,
muttered, “Was that necessary? My poor shoes.”
Jack proceeded to shakes bits of heart and blood of his shoes, while
Ren looked at Jack and said, “Of course it was, mission
accomplished.”
“Fine. I’ll finish the ‘Horror Alliance
Gang’ myself. Maybe now I can
have some peace and quiet, or at least from your mouth. Like I
care
about the screams the gang will emit, or the lack of peace, when I
dismember their bodies, as long as you’re quiet.”
“Fine, but only if you do something for me, will I join
you. But, I’m
not telling. Tra-la-la-la.” Ren replied as stalked
down the rows of
the warehouse. Jack was very tempted to leave this place with
Vallov
and let Ren finish this. However, knowing or not knowing Ren,
whatever
the case may be, she might get sidetracked or let some vampires escape
when she becomes too engrossed with her work. Sighing and
wondering
why something like this always happens with Ren, he approached her,
determined to make her guard the door, then maybe they’d get out
of
here. Ren popped her head up asking, “Why do you always get
sidetracked, Jack? We have a mission to do, or at least I think
we
have a mission to do.”
And Jack, too thoroughly annoyed for one night, turned to leave telling
Ren, “Screw you”. Who cared about the last gang
members—he took off
the leader’s head, so there should be no trouble out of those
vamps.
Ren skittered over to Jack saying, “Really, Jacky, poo? I
didn’t know you felt that way. Well, let’s get
started…”
“The continued destruction of the little horrors?”
Jack asked.
“What mission?” Ren wondered aloud. And Jack,
knowing this to be true told Vallov, This is going to be a long night.
Chapter 24
Ren received notice that her services accompanying Jack wouldn’t
be
needed anymore after her previous mission, as he’d shown himself
to be
out of his suicide phase, but Ren knew that wasn’t the true
cause. As
usual, Max had something planned, the rest of us aren’t
privileged to
know, she thought. But that doesn’t stop her from seeing
him, she
realized.
She searched for him and when she finally found him, she yelled,
“Eh! Jack!”
Jack muttered to himself, perhaps for the thousandth time, “Why
me?” as Ren approached, patting him on his back.
“Who do I got to kill, to spend a little time with my pal
Jack?” Ren asked.
“You are more focused now than you ever were as my
‘guard’, but I think
you mean who I have to kill.” Jack replied, removing her
arm from his
shoulder and pushing her away, as his strides increased.
“Yes me…So do you miss me?” Ren spoke matching
his strides.
“I prefer going solo, with the exception of Vallov, my real
guard.” Jack replied, nodding to Vallov, who blocked her
path.
Leaping over her obstruction, Ren raced over drawing her sword in front
of him stating, “Who? In any case, I challenge him to a
duel with you
as the prize.”
“Let’s cut to the chase, what do you want Ren?”
“The duel.”
“You should have known, Jack.” Vallov answered from
behind Ren.
“It talked.”
“You mean, Vallov? Who has been my guard and friend
longer than I’ve
known you and certainly does not need to prove himself to you?
Yes, he
is. He’s been here, but why you—besides your
incessant need for
company.” Jack frowned, crossing his arms and continuing to
walk.
“Because Orlock didn’t trust you wouldn’t kill the
drone and then
yourself—you might have enjoyed yourself. I wouldn’t
know, I’ve always
been terrible at Necromancy and none ever made me a drone. Gave
you
your own guard until your trusted. It sure seems nice being close
to
Max.” Ren surprisingly answered.
“Jealousy does not become you, Ren. Especially, your
jealousy of me
being Orlock’s sireling.” Jack smiled, rather amused
at the suggestion
that anyone would want to be Orlock’s sireling—she really
was something
that was for sure. Turning to face her the first time during the
conversation, he said, “You’re insane.”
“But aren’t we all?” Ren replied.
“True. But why you?”
“Because I’m more fun. Just call me the devil’s
advocate.”
“Do you listen to yourself speak or think before you open you
mouth?” Jack questioned.
To which Ren asked, “Now, what did I say?”
Unfortunately, it seemed
Jack wasn’t listening anymore. So, she grabbed his arm
before
repeating, “Wait! Who are you killing tonight?”
“Some trigger happy vampire, you know the type, in the vampire
town not
far from Orlock’s castle.” Jack replied, not caring
particularly if
she knew, as long as she did not come along, which she
wouldn’t—he’d
make sure of that, if he had to.
“Well, when you’re done call me! We set up a board
game or
something.” Ren gleamed, dancing off to bother someone
else, Jack
assumed. He knew calling her up, was the last thing he would
do—besides spends some real quality time with Orlock, unless he
absolutely had to. Ren was disappointed that it seemed her time
with
Jack would be cut short, but at least she could work with Cato on a new
idea she had come up with for a sword to fight Derek’s Flame.
Chapter 25
Ren received word from Max that she might be
interested in watching
Jack’s next mission the following night. Intrigued, she met
him, the
drone growling in the background and said, “A little bird told me
it’d
be interesting to see your next killing. So who’s it gonna
be?”
“Someone from the Blaze gang.”
With that name mentioned, she knew
why Orlock wanted her to see it—it was her old clan. And
Ren knew she
had to be there, regardless, of course nothing in the past ever
stopped her from tag-a-longing behind Jack in any of his missions.
Ren leaned forward, grinning and said, “Then
you’ll need my help.
They just happen to be a roaming gang, but I know a place they might
be. I’ll save you the trouble.” And it would be
no trouble at all for
her to join in and perhaps, defeat or get some good licks in at Derek.
Chapter 26
“Hello everybody! Remember me!”
screamed Ren, thoroughly enjoying
the shocked faces of everyone, although to be fair, it seemed at least
half the faces she knew where gone, including the drone, but most
delightfully Vina.
Jack hand to his forehead, shook his head, wishing
he hadn’t met
her before starting out, whatever happened to the element of
surprise?
Wasted with her around. Vallov nodded in agreement, seeming to
say,
“Annoying isn’t she?”
“Where’s Vina?” Ren asked.
“Oh, her? Well, let’s just say she isn’t here
right now. But
apparently you are.” He spoke twisted. He stroked the hilt
of the two
handed sword, petting it gently and promising it a drink, his hand held
close to the Flame’s ricasso.
“There’s just too many things in are way isn’t
there?” she asked.
“Well then, let me come closer!” he replied swooping over
towards her,
Flame raised high above his head glowing its white burning light,
aiming for hers with nothing held back. But Ren saw his movements
from
the corner of her eye, avoiding the full glare of the flame, and
dodged—flying to the right. Taking out her weapon of
choice, a simple
bastard sword, which she named Dick, but with enchantments of her own,
she parried his next attempt at her chest.
Derek had expected her to be blinded by now and the
Flame to melt
through hers. “Surprised?” she asked,
“Apparently you don’t think much
of me. I’m not to be blinded like then again—What do
you think I’ve
been doing?” Then Flame’s flame went out and he
looked around for a
plausible cause.
“Looking for your candlesnuffer, Derek?
He’s right over there, but Jack, he’s mine.”
Ren said gleefully.
“No, Ren. You may have your fun with
him, though I do admit to being jealous. But his head’s
Orock’s.”
“You ruin all my fun—Let go of his sword
Jack!” Ren replied, “I’ll
have it.” And with that, Flame lit up brighter than ever
again,
masking Ren’s charge, which hit his leg briefly before he moved
away.
It was really just a scratch, but it explained so much—she asked
her
little boyfriend for his help to put shadow magic into her sword,
combating his light. The magic was subtle and he wasn’t
sure, how she
did it, let alone convince that guy, who looking back at doesn’t
seem
pleased at her company. That vampire—Jack seemed prepared
to jump in
their fight at any point, leaning forward just watching, seething with
boredom under his breath, but his friend—the tall…drone
already killed
three of the clan.
A sharp pain hit him in his other leg from behind
and he flew
forward and down, and then turning about-facing Ren. “You
need to pay
more attention,” Ren hissed at him lunging forward at him, but he
parried with Flame—disrupting her attempt with a succession of
vibration from the wave-like edges of his sword. Taking advantage
of
the situation, he sliced at her stomach, releasing blood from her
abdomen when she moved away. He knew he would have to hurry and
take
out the other two, to save the rest of his clan—if only he had
the
opportunity to face off with her sooner!
Seeing the big lug striking at another his sent
light shooting out
at the drone, sinking into the drone’s arm, and preventing the
deathblow. Swooping down toward the remaining seven of the clan
he
yelled, “Snap out of it—you can do more than use your
fists—ARGG! Use
your mana…what have I taught the lot of you?”
Flying off to continue with Ren, he ducked under a
swarm of shadow
energy coming at him. Jack grinned, “You shouldn’t
have attacked
Vallov—he isn’t your target. But now I am.
I’m tired of waiting for
Ren to finish.” Derek laughed, Ren or him, finish him
off—no, it would
be he who finished them off. Parrying Ren, now prepared for the
vibrations, he shot at Jack, and noticed from below that his clan was
indeed fighting back.
Jack dodged a flying ball of ice on fire looping
past a ball of
lightening and various other forms of energy aimed at him. Vallov
fought 3 other gang members, while two aimed at Ren, and the other two,
he. Ren, though, seemed more focused on fighting the
leader—Derek than
avoiding the blasts, he had to admit, though, he hasn’t hit her
since
her got her abdomen, though she is getting more licks at
him. It
appeared things were getting more interesting and with that, he hit the
ball of flaming ice back at the gang member with his long red and black
sword. He let his Dark magic sweep through his sword
reverberating and
increasing in intensity within before he slashed it at Derek, hitting
him in the back.
Ren watched; annoyed as Derek fell after being hit
with those
slashes—she wanted to be the one to inflict pain on him.
Flying
straight at him her sword right in front of her, she stabbed him in the
shoulder. She felt her sword dig deeper into his body when he sent a
punch at her. Hit, but not in the slightest fazed, due to all
those
times he landed such a shot at her, she grabbed her Dick with both
hands. She put her feet on his back, bent her knees, and pushed
off
his back. She dodged another ball of energy from below, suddenly
annoyed at having her fight with Derek intruded upon by some annoying
interloper. She swept towards the ground, swinging her sword and
chopped off the vamp’s head. His girlfriend and partner,
furious at
losing him, fired a ball of earth and thorns at her. Ren managed
to
the evade it but it flew at her from behind scrapping across her back
before she moved towards the left away from it. Darting left and
right, she plunged her sword down the bitch’s throat and into her
heart. Licking the blood off Dick, like one might lick a
lollipop, she
gazed up at Derek’s glare and moved to join the fray.
Jack grazed to the left of Derek’s bolt of
light. It zoomed past
him towards Vallov, who ducked it and a cube of electric water coming
at him. Vallov was putting up a good fight against the three, he
hadn’t
put anymore to eternal sleep, and aside from his arm, was only hit in
the chest, but Jack sensed he could do much more damage with use of
magic. Flying above another shot from Derek, he arched his sword,
sending slashes at the gang members below. Unfortunately, none
were
seriously injured.
Zooming below Jack, Derek sent a blast flying, but
Jack moved to
the right and down sweeping his sword to make more slashes, but Derek
met him in a parry, sending waves up Jack’s sword. Derek
took
advantage of the situation to push Flame downwards and up, freeing his
sword and slashing it at Jacks upper torso. His shoulder burned
with
more escaping blood from the effort of the fight. Looking down,
he saw
the drone fire shadows at his vampires.
Huffing, he saw Ren skirt towards him and he dived
under her
slicing at her abdomen again. She flew upwards, and Jack deciding
to
take advantage of Derek’s focus on her to ram his sword at Derek,
charged. However, at the last possible moment, Derek kicked
Jack’s
sword upwards and shoved Flame into Jack’s shin. It drunk
Jack’s blood
before it was whipped away to parry Ren and Jack’s swords.
Sweating as
the swords advanced closer and closer to his neck, he flashed white,
becoming a living white flame and kicked at Jack’s stomach.
Looking
away briefly, Jack felt the impact of Derek’s shoes.
Swooping
backwards, he took a moment to catch his breath, but it was nothing
really. Hearing a shriek, he looked down and saw Vallov bash a
vampire’s head, while defending himself with Shadows.
Derek moved upwards, advancing his blade and
Ren’s towards her own
neck. He could almost taste her blood when he saw several
throwing
stars advanced from assumingly Ren’s summoning. He raised
his sword to
block and send them back in her direction, but she too dodged, to avoid
using mana on them, he supposed. Trying to conserve some mana of
his
own, he landed on the ground. Following suit Jack also went to
the
ground. Ren made to go to the ground, which she did, but not
before,
she dived at him. He parried and she moved back.
Chapter 27
Derek felt his blade tremble under his fingers,
indicating that in
a couple of hours, the sun would be renewed, and in response, the blade
glowed hotter and brighter. It was times like this he wished he
knew
what that old bat, Cato, was thinking, if he wasn’t careful, the
sword
might even blind or burn him or overtake him with his own powers of
light. He threw some basic dark energy mixed in with swirling
light
towards Vallov, but split it in half, halfway through the distance,
curving it towards Ren and Jack. His energy hit Ren, but missed
Jack
and she temporarily collapsed on ground. Looking at Jack he said,
“I
have a proposition: leave with your drone without Ren and we’ll
continue this tomorrow. It’s almost sunrise and you don’t
know this
area like I do, so you better scat.”
Jack really didn’t care that time was running
out, he knew if he
didn’t finish Derek tonight, he’d have to explain it to
Orlock in
whatever mood he was in and frankly, he’d rather take a chance
with the
sun than Orlock’s displeasure. But what really was
interesting was
Derek’s insistence on keeping Ren here. But before he could ask,
Ren
said, “But I know this place. Besides, I’m not
worried, I’ve been left
for dead in the threat of the sun before, right Derek?”
“It’s not your deal to make, Ren,”
said the amused Jack, who did
this guy think was winning? He asked him that and continued
saying, “I
have a proposition of my own. And this includes your little
friends.
Vallov,” and with this Vallov stopped going on the offense, while
Jack
continued, “Maximilian Orlock has ordered me to bring back Derek
Durand’s head. Now he has said nothing about the rest of
you and
frankly, I don’t care if you live or die. So decide: life or
death.”
With that, he nodded to Vallov to begin offensive measures again.
When Ren heard that, she understood why Derek must
die.
Buster leaped out of range of Vallov’s fists
and with a glance at
Derek, he began to flee. Seeing this, Ren ran towards him and
pounced. Then she summoned a bone dagger from her collection and
proceeded to slit his throat, reach inside, and gut him until he died
from lack of blood. Looking, over at Ren, Jack asked, “What
were you
doing? He was leaving…”
To which Ren replied, “I gutted him.
Why? I don’t like him. But as for the rest, if they
leave now, I won’t gut ‘em.”
Furiously, Derek charged at her. Disinterested, Jack watched all
but
one leave, and the one staying’s head was soon bashed by Vallov,
anyway. Ren and Derek fought for a while with Jack and Vallov
watching, but then Flame began to hum. The light around it
intensified
swirling and moving up Derek’s arm as remembered Cato’s
warning that he
shouldn’t use Flame so close to sun up. It traveled from his arms
to
his legs, and realizing he didn’t have enough control over his
mana or
sword in his weakened state, he realized there was one thing he had to
do before he was completely overwhelmed, maybe even gone from this
world forever. Oblivious to everything else, he rushed at
Ren. She
could not see, for she had closed her eyes to prevent them from being
blinded. It was only by luck that she parried his offensive,
however
she lacked the mana to continue to reinforce her sword against his
sword completely, and his began to cut through hers. But then his
head
fell off.
Jack saw Derek charge at Ren, unguarded at from the back. Using
shadows to block some of the brightness of Derek’s body, he swung
his
sword from behind and removed Derek’s neck—the only part of
Derek’s
body not glowing, from his body. With his head removed, the
glowing
stopped and Derek’s headless body fell on top of Ren’s
sword, breaking
it in two. “Why’d you do that?” yelled Ren.
“What save your life? Didn’t know you wanted to die
so bad.” Jack bantered.
Picking up the head, Jack added, “You hacked at him enough that
it
seems like you aren’t traitor. You can have his heart if he
means so
much to you, apparently. Why you come anyway?”
“I just wanted to,” Ren answered, quite unsure why she did
come. She
thought she wanted to stop Jack at first, but the more she fought
Derek, the more she wanted to cause Derek pain and kill him.
Orlock
wanted to torture her with this, maybe make her more like him, but she
wasn’t Jack—her eyes were vermillion. Of all the
things that
displeased about the night, besides Jack saving her and getting to kill
Derek was the fact that because Orlock would get his head, she
couldn’t
use it for a drone, which she suspected Orlock also knew.
She surprised Jack by not taking Derek’s heart. Reaching
down, she
picked up his sword and what remained of her own. She her own
sword
back from where it came and proceeded to drag Derek’s sword with
her as
a souvenir, she knew better than use a cursed sword, even if she lacked
adept in light magic.
Looking up at the sky, Jack realized he had little time left before
dawn. Following Ren, he found himself in a city. Ren opened
a manhole
and they went into the sewers. Vallov closed the manhole cover
and
soon afterwards, they felt signs of exhaustion that could only mean
that the sun was out.
Chapter 28
Ren woke up—Jack wasn’t there. No
that she expected Jack or Vallov
to stick around. Probably bowing before their master, licking his
boots, and handing Derek’s head over as she sat there.
Stretching, she
instinctively reached for her sword: not there. Sighing, she
realized
she could not escape the fact that she truly was alone again.
Even the
sewer rats were gone this time.
She leaped up the, wincing she recalled the previous
night, licking
her lips. Moving up the ladder, she went to the surface and walked the
streets. It wasn’t long before she saw a scurrying blonde
little
girl. Pouncing on her, and extending her fangs towards the neck,
she
suddenly recalled her herself as a child and decided to let her
go.
Approaching a corner, her nose alerted her that another unfamiliar
vampire was stalking the girl. Uhhh, the vampire reeked of
garlic. She
could feel the tension in the air mixed with the heightening of
mana.
The vampire was thirsty so, so thirsty and hadn’t eaten in a long
time. Realizing the vamp would go into a blood lust soon, Ren
lunged;
sinking her palm into his heart and slashing his head off with her
other hand.
An hour later, a rambling drunk woman approached
yelling, “Die you
demon! It’s because of you that everyone’s
dead!” and pulling out a
knife aimed for Ren’s stomach. Sidestepping the blade, Ren
summoned a
nice club; she really didn’t have more than one of these—no
blade to
split open the body. But Ren didn’t want to slice and dice
the woman.
She clubbed the drunk: raising her weapon and bashing the woman lightly
on the head. Kneeling down Ren sank her teeth gently into the
woman’s
neck and drank deeply, its subtle tangy taste and smooth texture
healing most of her injuries the other day while she slowly filled
herself. When the lady was dry, she stretched and burped,
releasing
much of her tension.
Chapter 29
Ren greeted Cato with a great, “Whoop de
doo.”
“He’s dead isn’t he?”
Cato replied, “And let me guess it wasn’t
you that killed him. Do you even have his head? No.
Ren let’s
talk.” They walked through the house past webs and the
dungeon below
the building foundations. Finally, Cato began, “You have a
gift for
weaponry, in time you might even surpass me, even beyond my trance
induced flamberge—I love zweihänders. Of course, You
have a lot left
to learn and care too much fro that which thee swords make.
Eh? You
listening? I was too old to be made a vampire—I already had
a long
life beforehand. Flame’s work’s done. And
tomorrow morning I’m
walking into the sun.” Grabbing Ren’s hair, Cato
continued,
whispering, “You’re my legacy.”
When the sun rose yet again, Ren heard Cato leave
the house. Then
Cato was gone. Ren sighed, it seems she was besides her self too
often
nowadays—whatever happened to long-lasting company?
Everyone, but Jack
and Orlock were dead it seemed. Now why was that?
Ren felt an anger and loathing consume a part of
her, that and a
desire for vengeance. Yes, whose fault was it? After a moment of
pondering, she concluded either Jack or Orlock. It was one and
only
one of them—she didn’t really care that much. She had
some great times
with Jacky, but he didn’t seem to think so.
She considered that she would prefer to get back at
Orlock, but
what were the chances of that occurring? She’d need
Jack’s help
anyway, and Jack was too much a part of Orlock right now. Too much a
puppet, disgusting really. She imagined Orlock laughing to
himself
with the new head in his finger painting room, knowing that she’d
be
alone now with nothing to do, but his bidding. And for some
reason,
she had no interest in being a sire, no doubt something else he
knew.
So what did that leave her with?
Whatever the case, she wasn’t prepared to make a move against
either of
them at the moment and when she did, she’d have to do so,
inconspicuously. To say the least, she knew she’d have to get
stronger. She’ll have to put in the back of her mind and
forget about
it, until the time is ripe and the part inside of her that alerted her
fun was to occur all those years ago, notifies her, Ren
concluded. She
considered herself patient, besides there was always ways to entertain
herself. At the thought of entertainment, her fangs extended and
mana
rippled across her body.
Epilogue
Sweat dripped of Ren’s body as the fire sent
heat throughout the
room. Grasping the metal out the fire with tongs, she pounded the
metal and shaped it with magic—enchanting it to an image in her
in her
mind. Rounding it and adding ears, she laughed with
delight. Yes with
this, she could finally…have tea.
Ren chattered away with Freddy the Sledge-bear,
sipping tea mixed
with fresh blood from a vampire who came too close to the house,
without offering business or news from or of Orlock or Jack, although
she never really expected news from a messenger when telepathy would
work. Sighing, she sipped more of her tea, the blood mixing quite
nicely in a hot rather supple mixture—blood and tea really
complemented
another. She wasn’t sure why he interrupted her work on
Freddy, but he
didn’t want to chant or play checkers or take swords. No
instead, he
preferred her head, so she took his.
In a few hours, she’d see Orlock for something
to do, maybe even
pop in on Jack and have some company. She hoped she
wouldn’t hiss at
either one, especially Orlock. Being reminded of Orlock, Ren
suddenly
concluded it was not he, who was her father. She was fairly sure
that
their eyes were slightly different, to ay the least—it had been
so long
since that had happened that she was not even exactly sure what he
looked like.
Anyway, afterwards, she’d start her planning on a new
sword—a serrated
edge looked promising. Maybe a chainsaw sword. Yes, that
will do
nicely she thought as she finished her tea and had a blood scone.
Then turning towards Freddy she whispered, “Would you like a
song?...Good. To all my fans out there! We wish you a merry
fish-wish
we fish you a merry wish-fish we wish you a merry fish-wish and a happy
wish-fish!”
The End. Ren thought, she thought. But it wasn’t
really.