Monsters and Maidens (011 & 012)(Book 2)

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AN: This couple turned out being nearly double the length. Almost 8K! Really liking this improved system ngl.

[011] [The Lady]

Throughout the following days, Rick discovered that sleep was a luxury he could not afford much of. Though the orders had been to keep Eva no longer able to potentially jump Rick, apparently it didn’t mean they wanted to keep the maiden devoid of temptation. Night after night, he was forced to stay in the same cell as the increasingly desperate Fledgling.

The first few days it had been bearable, it took effort, but she would respond in short monosyllables or let out grunts. But every day he returned from the gruelling work of preparing the food for the entire camp. She would be quieter, more drawn in. And more hungry.

And he was the prospective meal.

Yasir had warned him. Sooner or later, her hunger would reach such extremes not even the bond would protect his life. Such was the fate of the genus of the Fledglings.

It certainly made sleeping harder. Eva silently looked at him with those glowing red eyes that started having that same narrow focus he’d seen in rabid animals. Whenever he closed his eyes, he’d hear the rattling of her chains as she’d pull herself as close to him as she was able to. Combined with the slow and heavy breathing, Rick’s instincts and sense of danger keep flaring out.

“I’m sorry.” She’d hoarsely cough out each time.

And each time, it felt less of an apology that she’d disturbed his rest and more an apology that she was losing control.

Rick feared what would come next. Both for himself and her.

Those nights pushed him to pay more attention to the camp. The four days had given him time to become more acquainted with the workings of the ‘warband’. There were at least two groups working together. The first were the ‘bandits’, maidens of many types that seemed to tolerate one another more than anything else. They were splintered into smaller groups, ones Rick could see Kiara frequently visiting. They were also the likeliest to start fights or come to the kitchen to show their displeasure at the cooking. The second group was made up near entirely Orcs, Hobs, and Goblins; they ‘handled’ the slaves, and would quickly come to the aid of one another when trouble emerged, and were less likely to lash out for random things. But when they did, it would usually be more brutal.

Then there were the humans and the slaves. Humans appeared to be separated between those that moved around in chains, and those that lashed out at the chained ones. Both groups were at the bottom of things, in one way or another.

And on top of the whole food chain was Zagan. The Ghoul held an iron fist of control over both groups.

The larger mystery, however, was who ate all the food.

Even with growing sleep deprivation, to Rick it had become clear that for every four cauldrons of food they made, three would be sent outside the camp. Rick had suspected there was a third group, but hadn’t really seen or heard any sign of them… until one morning, as he was being led to the ‘kitchen’, the camp was shaken by a loud series of shouts.

Several bells began to ring, sounding the alarm.

The Goblin that had been leading Rick towards the kitchen swore, dropped the rope, and made a run for it without so much as a second thought. The human was left blinking in surprise, watching as every maiden dropped everything they were doing and ran to grab whatever weapons were on hand and rush at the source of the problem.

Meanwhile, the humans that weren’t chained up were sprinting towards the nearest yurt to hide in.

Everyone was ignoring him and moving to save their own skin.

After a second of consideration, Rick just walked in the direction opposite to where the screams were ringing out. No one had even bothered to pay him enough of a mind to stop him.

And just like that, he had made it to the edge of the camp.

There was no strict wall to speak of. The trees had been unnaturally grown compacted to one another. Moving through them was possible, but slow, and there were several rows of trees that had been placed in an offset to the previous row, completely obscuring the sight of what lay at the other side.

He stood there, trying to comprehend how he got there unnoticed. Or whether he had a real chance of escape on his own. The soundest plan of action that came to mind was to get out, and then come back with Monica to rescue Dia and Yasir.

“At least you saved me the trouble of bringing you somewhere private.”

Rick glanced over his shoulder, spotting Kiara as she landed right behind him. The Succubus looked like a cat that had just dropped a large vase from a shelf.

“Was that whole thing some sort of distraction so we could run for it?” Rick guessed.

“Don’t be stupid, the Ghoul marked you.” She scoffed. “You still have about three more days before that nasty piece of work runs out of power. Until it does, if she dies or you get too far from her…” Kiara grimaced. “I know that you think you can’t trust me, but I’m not lying. If-.”

“Why would I not trust you?” He asked bluntly.

She blanched. “What?” Her hand gestured at the bandit camp. Kiara eyed him skeptically, her brows furrowing together for a second before she smirked slyly. “Fine then, if you trust me, did you have plans to escape?”

“Yes, I just had to poison everyone in the camp.”

“Not bad for coming up with it on the spot.” She waved dismissively. “If there were such a thing as an undetectable poison that could affect all maidens, then-.”

“Not the maidens, the humans.” His expression hardened, fists tightening. “The leaves of the potato plant contain alkaloid poisons, like solanine. If you boil them, you turn the soup into a toxic broth. I doubt it would kill a maiden, but a human? At the very least, it would look like they’re dying. And that should be enough to trigger the maiden’s bond. I’ve been saving those in a dirt mound under the table.”

“You… you’re serious.” Kiara had hesitated, suddenly tense as she looked at the camp for a moment, then grimaced. “Killing that many humans would be such a waste.” Though she said this, she kept giving him side-glances.

Rick quirked a tired and impatient brow. “Are you still going to ask if I trust you?”

“Everyone else doesn’t. It’s a fair question.” She shrugged. “I’m a nasty little charmer.”

“Trusting you is my decision, but you can prove me wrong if you’re feeling feisty.”

“You…” The maiden’s eye twitched. She shook her head, scoffing. “I need to know why the cat and nurse haven’t shown up yet.”

“Hell if I know,” Rick said. “I’m sure they’re alive, they’re not feral, and they’re somewhere… north. That’s about it.”

Kiara’s gaze darkened. “We are going to need to get out of here before the head-bloodsucker shows up. Do your damn thing and make the cat come and wreck things up.”

“I thought the Ghoul had me marked.”

“I can disrupt that bitch’s handiwork, but she’d know the moment I started. We’ll be in trouble. Especially if a Vampire shows up. At that point, I might as well join them for real to avoid getting killed.”

Now it was Rick’s turn to laugh. “So killing the Vampire in Balet was just a fluke? I thought you were strong enough not to worry about having one of those around.”

Kiara’s eyes widened, quickly looking around and confirming that the sound of battle was still occurring on the other side of the camp. “Do you want to get us killed!? I can handle one Vampire. One. Add anything else to that fight and I will run.” She spoke through gritted teeth. “Either that warmonger cat starts wrecking things, or I’ll be forced to kiss the wrinkled ass of some hundred-year-old leech.”

“Aren’t you at least twice that age?”

“Shut up.” She snatched the rope, tying his hands together. “We can’t stick around or they’ll eventually find out you can bond without a collar, and that’s going to be all sorts of trouble for me.”

“God forbid it be dangerous to me.”

Kiara snorted loudly. “You’d be their most precious asset. The hardest you’d get to work would be in siring a new generation of sassy, half-crazed humans.” She let out an annoyed sound. “Rumor is that the vampire will be here in a handful of days. We have to get out before that.”

Rick’s attempts to form a reply were cut short as she yanked on the rope, forcing him to hurry. He didn’t get a chance to regain his balance. Kiara’s tail found his ankle, tugged, and he toppled.

“You, the red-head.” The Succubus snapped at a maiden that had been standing guard near one of the yurts, looking worse for wear. “This one wandered off, thinking he could hide from work. Take him to the kitchen. The ferals will need something once they calm down. Double duty, or Zagan will have words to share.”

“Yes ma’am!” The canine maiden rushed to obey.

Rick was quickly dragged back to his feet and towards the “kitchen”. Along the way, he spotted the crowds gathered at the edge of the camp. Despite the very loud shouts and jeers, it looked like the situation was under control.

Yasir was already working hard in processing the food. But it was clear that this time he wasn’t bothering to peel or chop the ingredients more than the bare minimum, if that. “We need to move fast.” He stated, not bothering to ask what had delayed him that morning.

“So the bandits have ferals?”

The man’s lips thinned at the question, gaze darkening. “Yes. Some of them I knew, their minds cruelly stripped away and left for the curse to claim.” He growled under his breath. “Just get to work. Today will be harsh.”

Off they went to do the bare minimum to prepare as much food as humanly possible within as short a period of time as they could. Each strew got rushed out and returned empty within minutes. Whatever was going on outside, it was clearly calming things down, the shouts and hollers going away bit by bit until the camp returned to its normal operations.

“Does this happen often?” He asked as they hurried to fill the second pot.

“Only once before, since I came here.” There was a tone of dejection in his voice as he spoke. No, Rick realized it was anger. The man practically smashed the pumpkin against the table. “Do you have a family, Rick?”

The question took him slightly off guard. He paused for a second to consider. His first instinct had been to deny it. And yet… “I did, but my current circumstances are not quite there yet.”

“Ah, looking to set roots?”

“Something like that.” He eyed his cooking companion, recognizing the look. “You’re a father.”

“Is it that obvious? Yes, I have a boy and a girl in Sinco.” There was a nod, his gaze turning distant. “I fear Fortune’s smile might leave them soon.”

“Would you want to talk about them?” Rick prompted.

Yasir laughed. “I would have many things to say about my two children. Zuzu is as strong as her mother, and Nabil is as astute as his grandfather. They are the light of my life, and the pride of my name.”

It was easy to coax him to talk about the two, and though the man seemed intent on avoiding mentioning many details, Rick had the distinct impression of the daughter being a maiden herself. Particularly due to how often he referred to her strength and bravery. The interaction made it easier to work

It gave him the chance to just focus inwardly and try to reach out to the bonds. Kiara was mostly nervous and moving around the camp. Eva was… starved, desperate, and seeming entirely lost. But Monica and Dia were still too far away for him to be able to tell anything other than them being in a vague north-north-east direction.

Any attempt he had to send them a signal through the bond was barely more than a sputter that got no discernible response.

The hours melted away, strain and exhaustion eventually catching up in full. It left the two humans drained.

But rest would not come. As the sun began to set outside, their standardized cleanup of the massive pot was rudely interrupted by the renewed sound of hurried movement outside.

At first it was merely the rumbling of the ground, of hooves beating against dirt. But movement and orders began to be issued, people rushing back and forth, commands were barked out. Zagan’s voice boomed loudly above the rest. The Ghoul was tidying up the entire camp it seemed.

And then, the kitchen’s door was thrown open. An Orc stood there, looking down at them. “Out.” The order was direct, and Rick’s ability to consider it was taken from him as the maiden reached out and dragged them out.

The camp appeared to have been given a make-over. Trash pits had been removed, the yurts had been closed, boxes had been stacked neatly. And the maidens were still moving about in a hurry, usually tailed by one or more hooded figures that made Rick’s skin crawl.

He and Yasir were dragged towards the center of the camp. Where once had been farmland was now just a large flat dirt-field. The flickering torch-lights reminded Rick of an improvised coliseum. It wouldn’t have been out of place for lions to be in cages at the edge of the large area.

The two slaves were shoved along with the other chained humans.

The rest of the humans made the bulk of the numbers, unchained and forming their own set of neat rows just three steps behind the slaves. It looked obvious who was going to be the sacrifice of the night.

Rick’s lips thinned at the thought, turning towards the trio approaching the center of the cleared area. The three maidens had a distinct air of command about them.

The one on the lead was Zagan, her skin charcoal black, cracked like a broken stone, with lines of glowing blood flowing underneath. The glow had a pulse to it, slow and steady, a furnace that was barely warm.

Next to her was the largest Orc maiden Rick had seen to date, a good head and shoulders taller than all other Orcs, which were a head and shoulders taller than him.

So a little taller than Monica.

Wearing barely more than a set of furs and a large spiked helmet, the woman with skin that was the same color of olives was idly swinging a large metal club about. A club that was as long as she was tall. Something about the way she moved the thing unnerved Rick, physics and inertia complained, and he could only guess that the maiden had some way to ensure her feet remained stuck to the ground, allowing her to ignore the massive shift in center of gravity that she should’ve been compensating for.

The third was Kiara, wearing a heart-stopping tight black fur dress that covered everything but left little to the imagination. The Succubus was pretending to be bored and unamused, checking her nails and picking off bits of dirt off of her clothes.

The trio reached the center of the open space and stopped. At their side, the shadows shifted, rising to reveal several dozen hooded figures. They bowed to Zagan. Most moved to form their own clump at the edge of the open area, the rest spread out to mark the edge of the empty space. The hooded ones at the edge started to whisper, a song that had words Rick couldn’t quite make out but that sounded very close to Latin.

Inside his mind, he tagged them as ‘vampiric henchwomen’, but at some level he was rather sure his nerves were too frayed from sleep deprivation. The crowd looked antsy, moving around in a rush. And though Kiara was acting calm, he could practically taste her nerves. It wasn’t until Rick felt a tingling all around that he figured that something had a more concrete nature.

It was some sort of ceremony.

And as quickly as the chanting had started, it stopped.

For a second, he really didn’t notice anything other than the crawling sensation against his skin. And when it was gone, it happened with no fanfare or explosion or even a ‘pop’.

One moment, the space in front of the trio of maidens was empty.

The next it wasn’t.

There was a lone figure standing in the center of the field that had not been there before. The shadows receded from the creature, revealing a maiden of bone-white hair, wearing a smooth velvet dress and looking like she’d been plucked straight out of a gala.

She did not fit among the bandits, mud, and blood.

The creature took a single step, staring around the suddenly silent group. Rick almost suspected her to be nothing more than an illusion until she spoke. “Is this… all?” Her words were aimless, without a target.

Yet the Ghoul jumped quickly to respond, bowing low. “No, my Lady, the ferals acted out earlier this morning, so we’ve locked them up. Their numbers are twice that of those bonded.”

“I see.” Red energy emerged out of her body, the color of blood that had dried up long ago. The blood of a corpse.

With a gesture of her hand, the energy swept in every direction. The trio before her twitched, but when the wave hit the crowd, a collective cry rose to the sky. Everyone’s knees buckled as they fell to the ground.

To Rick, it had been akin to feeling ants crawling over him. But there had been little else to it.

He mostly blinked around in confusion, looking at the troubled pale looks every human and maiden present showed and… feeling nothing save a heaviness to the air and tingling in his skin. He quickly lowered himself to his knees before he drew attention. Though he hadn’t missed that, Kiara had been discreetly looking his way. Her expression remained impassive, but her tail had that flick of nervousness Monica had whenever she was studying new words.

“A Succubus, how… curious.” The Vampire approached the trio, Zagan fell to her knees and bowed her head. The other two did not. “What age do you hail from?”

“It is a pleasure meeting you, Lady Aimes. I currently call myself Kiara.” The Succubus bowed her head just barely enough to be courteous. “I was born on the shores of the Emerald seas, back when some humans could still form bonds without the use of enchantments.”

“Ah, the Catastrophe of Dilution.” The Vampire nodded, her voice carrying through the fields with ease.

It was as if the whole crowd was trapped inside a small room with the pale creature. Even though Rick had not felt whatever made everyone else fall to their knees, just looking at the Vampire gave him goosebumps.

“I was informed you intend to join our cause?”

Kiara nodded, lips curling into a smirk, the maiden entirely unbothered by the Vampire’s presence or apparent power. “I heard there was a little city not too far off, and you wished to see it change hands. The thought occurred to me that my hands happen to be quite empty right now.”

It happened in a split second.

The power that’d been permeating the area had pulled back and into the Vampire like a receding tide. The next breath, a beam of screeching red light exploded from her right hand, aimed squarely at Kiara.

The Succubus hadn’t been idle, having covered her arms in a deep purple power. All she had to do was slap the beam with the same kind of backhand she would’ve thrown at a child. The beam twisted, aimed squarely at the massive Orc. Unfortunately for the tall green maiden, she’d not expected this turn of events. The beam pierced through her shoulder, severing her club-wielding arm in one clean hit.

Despite the ease of the gesture and the relaxed smirk on Kiara’s lips, the way her tail and wings twitched told of how much focus she’d needed to pull it off.

At her side, the Orc had not cried out in pain, but rather let out a roar and charged Kiara, picking up the club with her remaining good arm. The Succubus beat her wings, putting some distance as the purple glow around her arms intensified, spreading over her whole body right as the taller maiden took the swing.

Kiara didn’t dodge. The metal club connected cleanly.

At that moment, the Succubus was launched like she’d come straight out of a cannon.

Rick felt the pain through the bond, arms and chest heaving and the air getting knocked right out of him. His first reaction was to reach out and pull the pain, yanking it into himself, gritting his teeth, and only being able to watch.

Again.

Kiara’s trajectory shifted abruptly, her wings spread wide, and the course shot upwards with all the speed she’d been carrying. She went up, and up, and up, slowing down until she was hovering so far up she was practically invisible against the night sky.

And yet Rick could feel her eyes on him.

The purple glow she’d shrouded her body with began to intensify, bit by bit, until she’d become the brightest star in the night sky. The pain vanished within moments, and he could only sigh in relief.

Slowly, the Succubus descended, a graceful feather fall, her figure invisible within the growing ball of blinding purple light, turning the maiden from a star into a miniature sun.

The moment her feet touched the ground, the power plunged into the ground and exploded in every direction in a singular pulse not quite different to the Vampire’s. It washed over everyone like a tsunami.

Once more, the crowd burst out in cries and wails, though not in fear.

Even the Orc bowled over, clutching her stomach and groaning loudly.

All around Rick the people heaved, breathing deeply, gasping and wriggling in their clothes. The maidens especially gasped for air, with flushed faces and moans present on every face.

It took him a moment to realize Kiara had just unleashed a collective mass orgasm.

The first sound that broke the sea of whimpers had been the Vampire, laughing a deep glass soprano and clapping demurely. “You have brought me a great prospective ally, Zagan.” She commended the Ghoul, walking towards Kiara with a radiant smile. “Most impressive, miss Kiara.”

The smile on the Vampire broke when it became clear Kiara was still focused on the Orc, looking at the large green creature as one would an amusing puzzle. The Orc was staring back with a scowl, but not moving to continue the fight. The profuse bleeding on the stump of her right arm had already stopped.

Rick felt a moment of doubt at how calmly it all had unfolded.

Had this been merely a form of greeting? To measure each other’s power? Most baffling was the Orc, having lost an arm and not even looking bothered by it. “Why did they fight?” He muttered under his breath, quite aware that maidens fighting one another without due cause were strictly forbidden within the cities he’d visited.

Knowledge he’d gained thanks to Monica for the most part.

“It is customary amongst free maidens. They exchange blows so that they may not have a need to fight again.” Yasir replied hastily, flinching when he noticed the Vampire looking their way. “Now be quiet! We-.”

“I cannot help but notice you spared a member of the rabble?” The Lady spoke, the amused smile returning to her lips.

“Whatever do you mean?” Kiara declared innocently.

The Vampire vanished.

“Why, this one.”

The voice spoke directly from behind Rick.

An icy cold hand gripped the metal collar around his throat. He kicked the dirt in an attempt to stand up, but the Vampire held him down and did not budge, forcing him to desperately half-crawl as she swiftly walked out of the crowd and back into the cleared-out ring.

Kiara’s eyes regarded him, her face impassive, her tail deathly still, nervous. “Oh, him.” The Succubus sighed, making a bored expression. “I didn’t spare him. I’ve just toyed with him for so long he’s developed something you might call resistance.”

“Zagan?”

“Miss Kiara came to one of our units seeking to save the human from some feral Angels.” The Ghoul declared. Her voice reverberated with his blood, his heart clenched.

“She did?” The grip on Rick’s collar stiffened. He could feel the Vampire’s stare on the back of his head boring a hole into his skull. “And why not merely break the bond and be rid of this mortal? Surely that would have been an easier task.”

“He is a necessary ingredient for a… personal project.” Kiara declared, from his position and forced to stare down at the ground. All Rick could see were her perfectly manicured pink nails. “Looking for a replacement would be far too much of a hassle, you see.”

“Miss Kiara, are you familiar with the trials a Fledgling must pass to become a part of a noble Vampire clan?”

The naked foot twitched. “I can’t say I am.”

“Then, as a peer, would you kindly remove your collar? I would loathe to see anything unfortunate happening during this test.” The Lady spoke softly. “I’m sure we have some humans you could bond to while you wait, if you’d prefer.”

The toes curled into the dirt. “That human is very valuable to me.”

“I am afraid I will have to ask you to show a bit of trust, then.” The Vampire’s tone carried a crooked smile hidden within.

There was a moment of pause, a second of silence, where Rick could almost hear the gears spinning within Kiara’s head. He knew the calculation; he’d run it too. What would be the odds of survival if she denied the Vampire here and now?

They both reached the same conclusion: slim to none.

“Very well.” She spoke with a smoothed out tone, in control, icy calm to hide everything underneath. Her toes had yet to uncurl.

Still locked into facing the ground, he caught movement in his periphery. The group of hooded figures shifted, and there was the telltale clink of chains as something from within the group was dragged out. They split like the sea, revealing their captive. A naked young woman of porcelain white skin, one in possession of an athletic slim figure marred only by dirt and mud.

Ruby red eyes shone from between the strands of ebony hair. There was no intelligence within them, merely an all consuming hunger.

She was a maiden.

She was Eva.

The Fledgling frothed at the mouth, snapping out and lashing with sharp black nails at her captors, acting no different than a ravenous animal.

Rick’s stomach dropped at the sight. He knew she was not feral, the bond was there as clearly as day. But something had shifted, something that had not been there the previous night. At some point, either by her own hunger or from outside aid, Eva had lost any semblance of sanity. She was just not there. In her place was a creature that was desperately looking for something to consume, anything at all.

“You see, to test our initiates, we confirm how willing they are to kill the human they are bonded to.” The words were cold as ice. The Vampire had not turned away from Kiara for even a second. “Do not worry, I can assure you the human won’t die tonight.”

She threw him away with a gesture, sending him sprawling across the arena while the trio had moved to the sidelines. The words were such an obvious lie that Rick felt like the subtitles had been screamed out for everyone to hear. But he had other concerns.

His eyes had met Eva’s.

They were both frozen.

And the vampiric henchwomen had let go of the chains.

Eva charged.

[012] [Bonds]

Eva, or rather, the creature that had taken over her, charged.

And to Rick, it was as if every sense within him sprung to life; the world becoming sharper in every aspect.

The two of them stood surrounded by the flickering torchlight. The stars had begun appearing in the night sky, the last rays of sun gently caressing the rosy clouds high above. The dirt felt warm under Rick’s feet, the air heavy with an earthy smell.

At the edge of the circle of gathered bandits, Kiara was glaring daggers at the Vampire, who was not even bothering to look in Rick’s direction. The two of them stood within their own world, a cold war threatening to turn hot at any second.

And of the surrounding crowd, most everyone’s attention remained firmly between the two powerhouses.

It made sense, in a cold kind of way. None were certain if Kiara would attempt to intervene… and whether Lady Aimes would allow it.

The fight itself was meaningless.

Because as far as they were all concerned, Rick’s fate was sealed so long as Kiara did not act. And what was a dead human to the Vampires if nothing more than a sacrifice to pull off a power-move on the Succubus?

By the time Eva had covered half the distance to him, Rick acknowledged there could be none more interested in his own survival than himself. The predator was charging at him, and the world narrowed down to her.

The unblinking, empty red eyes, the gleaming fangs and foaming mouth, the mindless charge and guttural scream.

Rick couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity towards Eva. Reduced to this… thing.

This thing that would kill him and drink from his corpse without a thought or care.

He took the rope that kept his wrists tied together and did his best to wrap the excess rope around his closed fists. Trying to run away would be meaningless. Even in her half-tumbling dash, she was faster than he’d be at a full sprint.

Besides, run where? They were surrounded.

His mind rushed through what he knew for certain about the Fledgling.

One, she was the weakest fighter in the team, second to Dia, only because Dia had some training. Otherwise, Eva’s raw strength would be able to beat out the Rapha’s. Two, he outclassed her in mass, reach, and apparently, mental lucidity. Still, it meant that even without using her powers; she held the advantage in every other category by a hefty margin.

These were not good odds.

He felt the flare of hunger before he caught her lunge. Eva leapt, face first and aiming a bite at his throat, as if no better than a dog. Rick reacted, stepping to the side and swinging both fists downward on her head with everything he had to offer.

It was like punching a back of cement. She fell with a shriek, tumbling, while Rick took the opportunity to backpedal and prepare for the next attack.

The Fledgling didn’t look stunned as she fumbled her way back to her feet, glaring at him with those wide, unblinking eyes.

“Eva!” He called out, tightening his fists. “Wake up!”

He’d not been only speaking out. With every bit of focus he could muster, the human tried to use the bond to draw from her hunger, to relieve her from the overwhelming emotion and hopefully return her to her senses.

It was as if he stood at the shore of a lake and all he’d brought was a bucket.

This was going to take a while.

“RAH!”

Another flare of hunger and another leap. This one had been less of a stumble, more certain. And it would’ve caught him if he’d not been expecting it. Again he smacked the back of her head with his fists, using enough force it hurt. This time she didn’t quite fall to the ground, swiping at him as he tried to gain some ground. Her sharp nails missed him, only finding the hemp rope around his wrists and fraying it with ease.

“You need to wake up!”

He was parched. He needed something to drink, to eat. He was drawing from her hunger and it was burning his throat. Rick barely missed the next attack, Eva hadn’t jumped at his mouth first, but also attempted to claw at his arms.

Something felt off as he tried to move away, failing to find an opportunity to knock her over without leaving himself exposed.

Eva pursued, closing in the distance faster than he could get out of the way. Her hand lashed out, finding purchase on his rope covered wrists. Her grip instantly tightened, his bones cracked in complaint.

Rick grit his teeth and yanked backwards, trying to shake her off.

She was lighter, and the throw should have worked. It did work in a way. She was caught off guard, her feet leaving the ground as she got knocked over. It would have been perfect if only she’d let go.

But her small fingers were no different than an iron clamp that refused to release him.

Her own weight holding on to his limb threw him off balance, and they both fell to the dirt.

They rolled, and Rick lost his focus for a split second.

The hunger he’d been pulling from Eva loosened, and he could breathe again.

The Fledgling let go of his arm and moved in to bite at his throat. Rick barely managed to raise his hands in time, putting the rope that held his wrists together as a sacrifice. Eva didn’t even stop, biting down on it and savagely yanking her mouth away.

Rather than flesh and blood, she got herself a mouthful of hemp.

The shock of it left her gagging and coughing. It bought him the time he needed to kick her off and get back to his feet. His mind whirled, looking at Eva as she snarled and shook her head, spitting out the bits of rope she’d chewed off right before jumping at him with her mouth open like she had at the start.

He avoided the bite and her claws. It was clear that removal of her extreme thirst had not been enough to get her back to her senses.

Yet it had been enough for her to regain some semblance of intelligence. One that guided that hunger more efficiently rather than fight it.

“Eva!”

He shouted, clenching tightly and knocking her over, wincing when her outstretched hands gouged into his thigh. How much longer would he be able to hold out like this before she just turned him into burger meat?

Focusing on the bond and the fight at the same time was not easy.

Trying to pull as much of her hunger as he could in one go would’ve been normally hard. It was doubly so in the middle of a struggle to survive.

And then he tripped.

Eva did not miss the opportunity. She lunged, and this time the only thing he had to stop her in time was his right arm. With the rope in the way, the bite didn’t sink into his wrist, but the bite carried with it all the force available to her.

His bones didn’t stand a chance.

Rick screamed.

No time, he couldn’t pull out. He plunged into her hunger. The world began to blur, eyes watering, his throat tightened, mouth watered. There was a deep emptiness within his gut and a relentless cry for blood. His whole body seized, and he lunged upwards at Eva. She’d reacted faster than him, letting go of his arm and pouncing away like a scared cat.

“Wake the fuck up, Eva.” He heaved, grimacing as he stood back up, his broken wrist hung limply at his side.

She looked so delicious.

The hunger burned from behind his eyes, his head rung with a loud howling thirst. Rick knew, rationally, it was meaningless, that the feelings weren’t his, that he was taking them from the maiden. But it made them no less real. His insides were burning, and he couldn’t help himself as he licked his lips, looking the maiden over with wild eyes.

Her skin was so supple, he could almost see the outline of the vein in her throat.

Eva visibly hesitated.

He recognized the fear and stepped forward, emboldened, breathing heavily. The world was narrowing down, blurring at the edges. Was this how she felt? Rick’s mouth was full of cotton even when drool trickled down his lips. He swallowed on a dry throat that rasped with every breath.

“Wake up.” He growled.

The Fledgling breathed in, her eyes snapped down to his limp hand. Blood dripped to the ground from the shattered wrist. The hunger sank its red hot claws into his skull through the bond.

Anger frothed through his brain, searing away reason.

With a growl, Eva jumped at him.

She didn’t expect him to do the same. Her surprise stunned her long enough for his left fist to connect with her face.

It was like punching a brick hanging from a rope. She recoiled, inertia taking the wheel and sending her stumbling over. Rick chased, trying to swing with his right, and missing. The blood splattered across her face and Eva hissed, exposing her fangs in fear.

He was the one to lunge, knocking his prey to the ground, using his good arm to hammer down on her face. Dimly, he could feel her nails wracking against his flesh, but the pain only added his own anger to the mix, sinking deeper into his brain. His skull was going to explode. Each blow to her face stunned her for a split second, pounding pain into his face and nose, but buying him time to attack again.

Despite hitting her with everything he had, he’d barely managed to do more than bloody her nose. Still, her face contorted in pain, her hands kept blindly swiping at everything within reach, sharp nails finding no resistance against his frail human body.

His world was turning red.

“Please.”

The word snapped at him like a whip. Rick froze, fists raised, breathing in gasps, chest stinging with every gasp of air. His shirt had been turned to ribbons, his chest drenched in his own blood.

Beneath him, Eva was equally still, looking at him through wide eyes full of fear and hesitation. She was a cornered animal, arms raised, covering her face, trying to block his next blow.

There was a glimmer of light in her eyes.

He’d done it.

She was vulnerable, exposed. All he had to do was bite, rip her throat out, consume.

“Rick.”

So hungry.

“Rick!”

Just. One. Bite.

The world snapped, like a rubber band being stretched too far and let go right before it broke. The whiplash of clarity struck him, and the world reeled.

“About time…” He sighed, blinking away tears, shoulders slumping, pain seeping into him like a sponge.

Unaware of the panicked look on Eva’s face as she convulsed under him. “Wait, Rick, no!” she cried out, eyes widening in dawning horror. “Don’t… no, please, no, don’t let me fall!”

His mind processed the words, but he couldn’t summon the focus. Trying to reach out at her through the bond was no different than climbing a sheer ice wall. “I-I’m trying!” The world was spinning, his head throbbed and he grit his teeth.

“I can feel it. No!” Eva grabbed his arms with the grip of a woman holding on for dear life. “Rick, please! Please don’t let me lose myself again!”

He stared into her ruby red eyes, every part of him taut like a pulled bow, his head ready to burst. “I…”

Time froze as he could feel the last bit of focus slip from his grasp like an oiled rope. It came as a relief, a sudden ability to breathe again. Rick’s mind became clear, the world becoming sharper and wider. And it was with that clarity that he could see Eva freeze, clenching her jaw tightly, tears running down her cheeks.

“Rick, I…” The Fledgling’s nostrils flared, her pupils dilated. The light within them dimmed, pupils shrinking into pinpricks. “I’m… sorry.”

Something hit him in the chest with enough power to drive the air out of him.

He was flying.

The world spun and when he realized he’d been hit, and that his chest felt like it had caved in. He made contact with the ground again. Everything spun out of control, Rick coughed and wheezed, fighting to regain his breath, trying to figure out what had just happened.

The spot the Fledgling had been occupying exploded in a burst of dirt and rocks, and Rick rolled on little more than instinct, feeling more than seeing the maiden land on the place he’d been occupying.

Eva snarled and lunged, her body wreathed in a red energy. He stumbled and fell, his own body presenting a tripping hazard to the Fledgling as her claws ran through his thigh like a reaper’s scythe. Her touch burned, his blood boiled.

Rick screamed.

His legs kicked the dirt, trying to get him to stand back up, the left one barely obeying commands and the right one shaking from the strain. He was forced to limp, placing his whole weight on his remaining leg. Eva scrambled to her feet, the tears still wet on her cheeks as she bared her fangs at him.

And after all that had happened, all he’d done to strike at her, lash out, knock her over, she wasn’t even hurt. Either the injuries had been entirely insignificant, or she’d already healed up from them.

Meanwhile, he was still struggling to breathe, wheezing, ribs aching with every inhale, drenched in his own blood.

Dying.

The maiden lunged again, reaching for him with her claws, the glowing attack finding purchase on his right shoulder. He couldn’t even manage to scream. What little air he had left was used to swing his remaining good arm to shove her off. Eva’s attack left streaks of screaming flesh.

He stumbled half a step.

The Fledgling looked at him, licking her lips, drooling as she stepped closer, eyes roaming him in hunger. Seeking the place where she could drain him from.

Some part of him registered that something was happening in the background, movement, screams, a fight? He barely managed a glance over at Kiara. The Succubus was being held down by four other maidens, screaming at him.

Her voice was muffled in his ringing ears, but he could feel her fear through the bond, as clear as Eva’s hunger against his thoughts.

Right, he wasn’t in a great condition right now.

And as he thought this, he felt… something else in the back of his mind. Something that had been nagging at him but hadn’t made itself heard until now.

Something that pushed at him, incessant, unwilling to back down. A voice that spoke into his ear in a wordless whisper. It was the feeling of hands that gently grasped his arms and pulled them up, that pushed him to lean into both legs and strand straight. A second pair of hands joined the first. They moved over him like a refreshing breeze.

The pain vanished as if it had never been there.

“Show our strength.”

Monica’s voice rung through his body like a bell. Every bone within him vibrated to the sound, starting at the tip of his toes and climbing up, through him, gathering into his chest. It grew in strength, reverberating and turning into a rumble.

Rick inhaled, straining to fill his lungs and give a medium to the stampede that rushed up his throat. He couldn’t contain it.

Rick stepped forward and roared.

A scream that pushed everything he had out. The raw emotion, the fear, the pain, the anger, everything. All of it, until he barely had enough air left within him to keep himself standing.

The gathered crowd had gone deathly silent. Not a soul dared to move.

Eva had fallen to the ground, eyes wide and full of fear.

A second, louder roar responded to his own.

He registered as a part of the walls of the camp fell, dozens of screaming bodies pouring into the bandit camp.

“RICK, RUN!”

Kiara’s voice pierced through the fog that was descending onto his thoughts.

Atop her, the gigantic Orc had not looked away from Rick, her scarred face locked in a stunned look right until the Succubus blasted her away.

More screams broke out from the camp edge, and everyone had turned to pay attention to the incoming pandemonium. Even Eva had reacted, turning to run away and into the crowd.

No one was paying him any mind.

It was the perfect chance to get somewhere safe.

But he couldn’t move.

His legs refused to take action, his vision was blurring, his thoughts were struggling to remain afloat.

He had to move.

But if he took so much as a step, he’d fall and never get back up. Rick fought to breathe, arms limp at his sides, mind swimming against the storm inside him as he fought to stay conscious.

Blood dripped to the ground.

His blood.

There was a lot of it.

The human registered movement. Something fast, something headed his way.

It jumped between shadows, a blur that wove its way through every maiden as if they were of no concern. The Vampire seemed to notice the approach and unleashed… something, it glowed.

Rick couldn’t hold on long enough to find out.

The world toppled over.

And a pair of large white claws caught him before he could touch the ground. Their padded touch was soft and yielding, like clouds. They held him with a tender touch, lifting him up as if he weighed nothing.

“Hey.” He muttered, glancing at Monica’s dazzling blue eyes as the Sabertooth looked at him with a mix of pride and concern.

There was a tiny metal cap atop her head.

The maiden reached up with her free claw, plucking the funny little round helmet and placing atop his head with a gentle tap.

“Rick safe.”

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