CD Chapter Twenty-six

By the time Ava managed to escape the damp, clinging bodysuit, take care of business, and get into a fresh suit, it was time to meet Amanda. She bumped her hand more than once, and though she’d popped one of the pills Felicia left for her, she couldn’t help but sigh in relief as the goo surrounded her throbbing hand. She was more relaxed this time, so the transition was easier, and when she blinked open Alpha’s eyes, she barely noticed the usual dizziness at all.

Current Blood supply: 2008/2100

Something stirred on her lap, and she looked down to see that Toggle was curled up there, one hand cradling the white worm, and the other one clutching a vial of red fluid. Carefully, she removed the vial from his grasp, and drank the raspberry-flavored contents.

You have restored 92 Drops of Blood. Your Health is now full.

Effects of drinking Stale Blood reduced by 20%.

Alpha swiped away the notification, frustrated. Of course she couldn’t just bottle up a bunch of blood and store it in her inventory. She hesitated. Or could she? After all, time technically stood still for anything in her main inventory. Warm soup would still be warm when she took it out, and she’d once saved a bunch of Snowballs for three months, just so she could have a snowball fight in summer.

::Sorry, it doesn’t work that way,:: Myles said quietly over party chat.

She looked over at him, half-wishing that she still just had low-light vision. It would have been nice if he was just a shadowy shape in the darkness, instead of a too-real presence crammed into a hole with her. ::What doesn’t?:: she asked suspiciously.

He smiled. ::No, I’m not reading your mind. But if I were you, I’d be trying to figure out how to work the system so I didn’t have to depend on others to keep providing fresh blood. Unfortunately, Apofis wanted to make sure his minions were active killers, so he made it so any inventoried blood is useless. You can put it in a regular container, not in inventory, and it’ll lose twenty percent efficacy every hour, but if you try to stash it in inventory, it’s instantly worthless.::

::So I can’t just leave vamp-Alpha with a bunch of stored blood and not log in for a couple of days,:: Alpha said, feeling defeated. ::I’m really starting to hate this guy.::

::You’re not alone in that,:: Myles said, wryly. ::But now you need to go meet Tess. She’s looking for you at the Tent.::

Alpha grimaced, looking down at the sleeping gnome. ::I hate waking people up. I mean, I know he’s just an NPC, but-:: She broke off, remembering that she was talking to someone who was arguably also an NPC.

Myles just reached out and rolled Toggle from Alpha’s lap and into his arms. He made sure the Blessed Creature remained tucked into the small being’s palm, but looked up at Alpha, his expression neutral. ::You’re going to have to claim the snake eventually. Quezal’s going to get angry if he thinks you’re rejecting his gift.::

Alpha hesitated, half-way out of the hidey hole. ::That’s a snake? I thought it was some kind of worm!::

Myles puffed a laugh, expression relaxing slightly. ::It’s a snake. A very special snake. You really should check it out. When you get back.::

Alpha nodded, dropped the bushes back over the opening, and marked the location on her mini-map. She jogged fifteen or twenty yards toward the road and the Traveler’s Guild, and only remembered to pull up her hood when she saw a few NPCs take second looks at her and pull away.

Amanda’s character, Tessle, looked exactly like the screenshot Ava had seen, and it was all Alpha could do not to laugh as she saw the large, horned helmet, sweeping red cape, and curved plate armor that emphasized her femininity. All of that was bundled into a package even shorter than the other woman was in real life, with the usual dwarven width. No one was going to overlook the avatar, even in Bloodhaven. Maybe especially in Bloodhaven, where people tended to be idealized for either beauty or ugliness, with little in between.

As soon as she saw the dwarf, Alpha sent her a party invite, but it bounced.

Player Tessle is already in a party.

Alpha glanced around. She’d been hoping she wouldn’t have to get any closer, but she’d have to do this the old fashioned way. Trying to act nonchalant, she strode toward the Dead Tent, stopping behind Tessle. She reached out and tapped her friend on the shoulder.

“Um, Tessle?”

The dwarf spun, golden blonde braids spinning out under her hat. “Ava?” Her eyes narrowed as she peered up into Alpha’s hood, and Alpha resisted the urge to curl her lips over her fangs. Tessle let out a long, low, whistle. “Uh, Alpha? Do you have something you’d like to tell me?”

Alpha suppressed a sigh. This was going to require a long explanation.

❦ ❦ ❦

As it turned out, by the time she edited out all mention of artificial intelligences and illegal missions, the explanation was actually surprisingly short, and Alpha was done by the time they followed a circuitous path back to where Myles and Toggle were waiting. Alpha didn’t warn Tessle that Myles was there. Myles had said that no one in Refuge would recognize him - a group which included Tessle - and Alpha wasn’t sure if her friend actually knew the AI, or if Amythyst just knew Tessle because of her habit of spying on her friends.

As they drew near, Myles and Toggle emerged from their shelter. The gnome looked embarrassed, and his hair was still mussed from sleep. Alpha saw Tess’s look of appreciation when she saw Myles, but no spark of recognition, so she made introductions all round.

“Tessle, meet Myles, and this is Toggle. We’re escorting him back to Refuge. Myles, Toggle, this is my,” her voice hitched, but she managed to push the word out, “friend, Tessle.”

Tessle stuck out a gauntleted hand. “Hey! You can call me Tess. I’m not much of one for formalities, and if Alpha’s finally headed to Refuge, I’m staying with her until she gets there, so we might as well be friends.” Her blue eyes dared anyone to contradict her, but Alpha just shrugged acceptance, and Myles shook her hand while offering her one of his trademark grins.

“Nice to meet you, Tess,” he said. “We could use all the help we can get.” He patted Toggle on the head, crumpling the gnome’s pointy red hat. “Escort quests can be tricky, and more people means we’ll be able to make sure this little guy is protected.”

Tess looked a little confused, and looked from Myles to Alpha, obviously wondering if the stranger was just along for the quest, or if he knew what was going on. Alpha shrugged and shook her head. It was up to Myles what he wanted to reveal.

Tess opened and closed her mouth a few times, before leaning in close and whispering, “You do know she’s a vampire, right?” Alpha had only told Tess she’d been stabbed with a strange weapon during a dungeon run, and she was ‘trying out’ the vampire thing until she could decide if she liked it. That part, of course, was a blatant lie, since Alpha hated it already, but it was the easiest and most understandable explanation.

Myles snorted a laugh, and Toggle nodded eagerly. “Mistress is powerful! She’ll keep me safe and take me home!”

Tessle looked flummoxed at the response, but finally just laughed it off. “All righty, then. I mean, I’ve met a nice vampire before, but I thought most people were afraid of them.”

That piqued Alpha’s curiosity. A nice vampire? Was there another player who’d figured out how to work around the knots the programmers had tied vampires up in? “Could I meet them?” she asked, excited. “The other vampire, I mean. Are they a player or-”

But Tess was already shaking her head. “No bueno, sorry. I mean, you can totally meet William, but he’s an NPC.”

“Still,” Alpha pressed, “maybe he knows how to avoid drinking blood? Or he has a whole network of volunteers that I could tap into? Obviously, he’s not attacking people.”

The dwarf wrinkled her nose. “He only drinks fruit juice, as far as I know.”

Myles didn’t look at Alpha, but he spoke over party chat. ::He was made with a fruit bat. No blood, ever.::

She glared. ::And you couldn’t vamp me with a fruit bat?::
He gave her an apologetic shrug while Tess answered a question from Toggle about her very shiny helmet. ::No bats around, sorry. The bird was the best I could do. It did help, though. Usually vamps take a hefty penalty unless they bite and drink the blood directly, but since the birds peck and then drink the blood as it comes out, you just get the penalty if the blood is stale.::

She shuddered at the thought of having to bite people or animals. Doing it once had been bad enough, and if she’d had to do it regularly, she’d probably already have staked herself. Or whatever it took to kill a vampire in VO, preferably without turning into vamp-toast.

Tess looked up from Toggle. “Did you know this guy’s former master left him dangling for months? He had to repair the guy’s equipment, carry his stuff, take care of his horse, and anything else he could think of. What a jerk!”

Myles nodded. “And he’s a jerk who’s not very happy that we ‘stole’ his gnome, so we’d probably better get moving. Plus, our friend here will start getting crispy in about three hours.” He nodded toward Alpha, who grimaced at the reminder.

Tess’ blue eyes widened. “Oh! Does that mean we can only travel at night?”

Alpha shook her head. “I got [Vampiric Stealth]. It allows me to move around in the daylight, slowly. It currently has a limit of ten minutes, with a thirty second cooldown, but I think if I’m wearing my cloak, I won’t take much damage during the thirty seconds. I’ll have to stay logged in, since I can’t trust… I mean, I can’t make my Zombie use skills.” Zombies, the common word for the vacant avatar left behind when players logged out, could be programmed to perform fairly complex actions, but they couldn’t fight or use any skills or spells at all.

“I’ll help you heal, Mistress!” Toggle volunteered happily. “Whenever you start to burn, I’ll give you some fresh blood!”

Tess blinked, looking from the gnome to Alpha, but her attention was caught by something pale, wriggling up Toggle’s arm. She yelped and reached out to swipe at it, but Myles grasped her wrist, halting the motion before she could connect with the Blessed Creature. He raised one brow at Alpha, and she sighed, reaching out to gingerly pluck the pencil-sized snake from the gnome’s forearm.

Instantly, she was flooded with a feeling of joy. She gasped, looking down into the jewel-toned eyes of her new pet. One eye was a deep, sapphire blue, while the other shaded slightly toward turquoise. Mismatched, just like hers. The snake’s mouth was open slightly, a tiny pink tongue flickering in and out, tickling her thumb as the serpent coiled around her hand. She was surprised at how pleasant the smooth, cool scales felt, and she gingerly traced a fingertip down the back of the animal’s head.

You have bonded with the Blessed Creature, Orah. A small amount of your experience will go toward increasing Orah’s level. As your link with your God, Quezal, grows, so, too, shall Orah.

Orah (Pet) - Blessed Creature of Quezal. Level 1.

Orah coiled in her palm, curving into a white spiral as Alpha’s finger drew down her spine. Alpha had never been much of one for meditation or navel-gazing, but she could practically feel her muscles loosen as she caressed the tiny creature.

“Oh my gosh,” Tess cooed, leaning in to look. “I’m so glad I didn’t hit it. Him? He’s gorgeous. Look, he’s smiling!”

Sure enough, as the little tongue flickered in and out, the curve of the snake’s mouth looked like a beatific smile. “It’s a she, I think,” Alpha said, softly, finger still tracing the smooth, warm spiral. “Her name is Orah.”

Tessle paused, peering up into her friend’s face. Her hands clapped her cheeks, and she grinned so hard Alpha thought she could count her molars. “Holy cats! You’re smitten! I’ve never seen you smile like that!”

Instantly, Alpha’s mouth tightened into a frown, and her brows pulled together. “Am not. She’s just… She’s cute, I guess. And what’s with the ‘holy cats’? What does that even mean?”

“What? Rouge says it all the time. It’s hilarious!”

The small group headed for the road to Vargo. Myles took the lead, as Tess and Alpha bickered and Toggle jogged along behind. A dark shadow skulked along in the rear, making little noise as it followed.