Arcane Apocalypse

27 – Blood

They followed the river upstream, making use of the larger open spaces near it to avoid any monster ambushes. They caught another two groups of goblins mostly off guard, and by now every member of the group sported an enchanted ring on their fingers. Those two fights also quickly changed everyone’s opinion of Mia’s familiar as the translucent cat dashed about, ripping out throats and maiming faces as it zipped around the fight.

Mia had it conserve its energy, making it only use the bare minimum of mana it needed for amplifying its speed by using what were seemingly Force spells. The elemental apparently had an instinctive control over kinetic energy, and could effortlessly convert some of its mana into force vectors. 

Still, even if it was absolutely badass how it ripped apart four goblins in a span of a few seconds, it was not worth the cost. Mia felt the time the Familiar had left with the mana she supplied it with, and she knew that little stunt cost it an entire half an hour of uptime. 

It still had another approximately 10 hours to go, but if it repeated that with every group of goblins, Mia would quickly find herself without a Familiar again.

“Blood,” said Sam, sniffing at the air loudly as his ears twitched around. “Fresh. Human blood.”

The group froze, looking towards the destroyed grocery store-front Sam was staring at. People, they haven’t met a single living soul since they left Jeff’s building a few hours ago and Mia could tell the disturbing lack of even a sign of corpses anywhere was messing with everyone’s nerves.

“Alive?” Brent asked, sounding hopeful. “Monsters?”

“I don’t feel anything,” Mia answered the second question quickly, her ears twitching to pick up any sounds from inside the building. It was silent, not a single breath sounding from behind the fallen aisles and upturned boxes of fruits.

“I don’t know,” Sam said, sniffing at the air again. “Smells fresh. If they’re dead, they died recently, though … No, yes, it’s probably a fresh corpse.”

“We were late?” Brent asked, sounding heartbroken for a moment before he steeled himself. “Let’s check, the least we can do is to burn the body if we can so the monsters don’t eat it.”

Unlike most other times, Brent didn’t ask for their agreement and just set off, stepping into the store and crushing the shattered remains of the window underfoot. Mia looked at the rest of her group, finding Mark to be frowning deeply while Lina had a worried expression on. Sam sniffed the air again, blinking with a strange look on his face, then shook his head and turned to look back at Mia.

The young halvyr averted her gaze, shrugging inwardly and hastily following after Brent as she whispered an order to her Familiar. “Protect me, sacrifice your body if you need to.”

The Familiar gave a lazy acknowledgement, then hopped off of her shoulder and started to circle around her as she moved further into the store. She found Brent in the back, kneeling over a fallen … girl?

Mia’s breath caught in her throat as she took in the scene, a young girl lying unmoving on the floor, surrounded by at the very least a dozen decomposing goblins, two of them were even hobgoblins dressed in rusted chainmail. 

Oh my fucking god. Mia took in a sharp breath, the odour of death flooding her nostrils as she took in the state of both the goblins and the girl. They were very nearly ripped to shreds, like they got thrown into a pit to fight a grizzly, limbs missing, huge scratch marks as deep as five centimetres, torn out throats and the like. 

The girl herself didn’t have it any better, having only her face unmarred by large gashes or puncture wounds. Mia counted no less than three rusted daggers still sticking out of her torso at various angles. But that wasn’t the worst part, that went to how young she looked, barely looking a day over seventeen and malnourished at that.

“Mia,” Brent whispered, using her real name for the first time. “Do you have your Elixir- Maybe- I- maybe it could heal her. I used mine up as soon as I got it.”

Mia blinked in surprise, taking another look over the dead girl caked in blood, hell, even her hair was the colour of blood and sticking to her skull like a second skin. Mia hadn’t seen any dead people before, but she was pretty sure the girl was dead as can be.

Still … maybe? She found herself thinking, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the small vial. It was magic, and the system said it had a very powerful healing effect. Perhaps it would work, it was magic after all, right?

Mia crouched down, uncorking her bottle and only freezing as she was reaching to pour it into her mouth. Was she really willing to part with her most powerful healing item for a chance at saving a stranger she’s never met? 

The selfish, greedy part of her disappeared into thin air as she took a look at the girl's pale face. Innocent, as if she was just sleeping without a worry, and so young. Mia had her ring, and her Familiar now, she could spare the Elixir to save a life.

Just as she tilted the girl’s chin up a little to pour the liquid down her throat, a dainty little hand shot out and clamped down on her wrist with a vice-like grip as a pair of liquid crimson eyes shot open and jumped around hazily before landing on Mia.

Mia froze, an unnatural icy dread freezing her in place as she stared into those deep crimson eyes. There was no recognition there,  just a hysterical panic and terror … and hope, along with hunger. The girl opened her mouth, revealing a pair of canines quickly lengthening into long, vicious fangs.

An unyielding force tugged on her wrist, sending Mia sprawling across the crimson-eyed girl as her jaws opened wider and shot for the halvyr’s neck. Brent, being frozen in shock next to her, wasn’t the one to intervene, it was her Familiar jumping between her and those vicious fangs and practically shoving itself into the girl’s mouth.

Mia pulled back, feeling her skin scraping as the girl’s iron grip still held onto her, but it was just one hand. Twisting to the side, Mia reached for the knife on her thigh with trembling fingers, her heartbeat thundering in her ears as she still held the gaze of the … monster?

Tried to kill me. Has to be a monster. Fuck. Being unable to unholster her knife with her fingers flailing about like a bindle of newborn fawns. Mia gritted her teeth and punched at the girl’s stomach, putting all of her anger, both at the crimson-eyed girl for trying to kill her and at herself for having been stupid enough to get lured into her trap.

The fist landed with a meaty thud, but the girl didn’t as much as twitch as her eyes followed Mia even as the Familiar flailed in her mouth. 

“BRENT!” Mia screamed, hoping to snap the idiot out of whatever daze he was in. “I’m trying not to fucking die here!”

A surge of panic and sadness flowed into Mia’s mind, coming from the Familiar just before she felt the bond fade away. A moment later, the pink cat faded out of existence in the crimson-eyed girl’s mouth, leaving her jaws to snap together with a painful screech. 

Finally, finally, Brent did something, his sword lopping off the arm grasping Mia’s with a quick swing before its tip poked slightly into the girl’s neck. The girl that should be more than dead blinked, her eyes not leaving Mia’s for another moment. The panic in them dimmed somewhat, morphing into primal fear as they jumped down to the silvery blade poking into her skin.

Monsters don’t feel fear. Mia frowned even as she scuttled away from the girl with the detached arm still firmly grasping her wrist. What are you? … It tried to kill me. It doesn’t matter! But she’s just a girl, hurt, alone and scared … and she tried to tear out my throat.

Mia felt her emotions were at war, forming a chaotic storm inside her heart just as the other members of her group finally burst into the back of the store. They looked around in a panic for threats, probably prompted by Mia’s hysteric shout from a moment ago. All of them stiffened as they saw the mangled teenager Brent had his sword pointing at, then went pale as they saw the hand still clutching Mia’s wrist.

“I’m sorryyyy!” The crimson eyed girl — monster? — screamed, her eyes going teary as she pushed her broken body back against the wall and gave a pitiful whimper. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t kill me!”

Monsters don’t talk … wait. Mia wanted to slam her head into a wall, having forgotten the fact she could feel monsters in her panic. Focusing on the girl, she felt not a smidge of wrongness coming from her, quite the opposite. The girl felt vibrant and alive to her senses, well, her supernatural ones at least. Her eyes told another story entirely, and so did her ears. She doesn’t have a heartbeat. 

“Why did you attack her?” Brent asked, his sword piercing into the girl’s chest a bit more and surprisingly not eliciting even a flinch from the victim of his abuse. Still, the fact that the girl was still alive and with her head attached was the height of kindness from Brent after she attacked Mia. 

“Sorry, I was hungry,” the girl said, trying, and failing to scuttle further away from Brent. It seemed her one still working limb was the one Brent cut off, the rest barely reacting to her will. “I needed her blood, I was dying. I’m still dying, please, I didn’t mean to- I-”

“How are you alive with those wounds?” Brent asked, sounding more than a bit miffed. His voice also grew less harsh with every whimpering word out of the girl’s mouth. Mia understood it, the girl was so pitiful Mia had the urge to go over there right now, pat her head and tell her it’ll be fine.

Then she remembered that only her Familiar’s sacrifice saved her from death, and most of those feelings faded away. 

“I’m a Vampire,” the girl said, her gaze jumping between the people towering over her before landing on Mia, who was still down on the floor trying to regain her wits. “I can heal from anything if I have enough lifeforce stored up.”

“Why are you dying then?” Brent asked, and Mia slowly got to her feet, trying, and failing to pry the detached arm’s fingers off of her wrist. There was a titanic strength behind those dainty digits.

“Running on fumes,” the girl said, continuing to stare at Mia with what was akin to hope and yearning. “Please … a drop of your blood would be enough.”

“I was just about to give you a healing Elixir when you tried to rip my throat out,” Mia said with a scowl, her gaze landing on the half-spilled vial on the ground. What an atrocious waste. That could have saved my life in a bind.

“Oh,” the girl’s mouth opened and closed a few times, lost for words. She continued in a small voice. “Sorry. I panicked. I thought I was dead … again.”

“What was that?” Brent asked, his sword pulling back a bit. He was no doubt taking pity on the girl. 

“There is still some left.” Mia said, still staring at the vial and her selfish part was already kicking herself over it. Brent, and the rest, turned to look at her. “You might as well drink it, even though half of it’s spilled over the floor.”

“C-can I?” the girl sent a frightened glance up at Brent, who in turn glanced at Mia with a question in his eyes.

“Yes, go ahead, it’s whatever,” Mia said, grimacing inwardly. 

“I- uh,” the girl said. “Thank you … “

She squirmed a little, everyone watching her as she did before she let out a breath. “I can’t move.”

Mia took a breath, crouched down to carefully snatch up the vial before she stepped over to the downed girl whose features were quickly approaching the nearby plaster white walls in paleness. Her lips were blue, and trembling and from close up Mia noticed her eyelids drooping. 

Whatever temporary adrenaline boost was keeping her alive was rapidly fading. I’m such an idiot. If I die from this, falling for her trap a second time, I deserve it. It’s just natural selection at this point. I’m going to get this year’s Darwin award.

‘Idiotic girl escapes vampire ambush, only to walk back up to her attacker and offer herself up as a free meal.’ Those would be the headlines, Mia could see them already before her mind’s eye. There would also be an illustration, one depicting an airheaded pinkhead hopping up to a sparkling vampire with a clueless smile on her face.

Much more carefully than before, and with wariness playing across her features, Mia went to crouch next to the fallen vampire.

“I’ll cut off your head if you as much as twitch towards her,” said Brent sternly, but not unkindly. “I see even a flash of your teeth and we’ll see whether you can heal back up from getting beheaded.”

“Please don’t,” the girl whimpered, staring up at Mia with liquid crimson eyes. “I know I can’t.”

“Alright,” Mia said. “Open your mouth a bit, I’m going to pour it in, alright?”

The girl jerked her head in a slight nod, parting her parched lips ever so slightly as to not show any of her teeth with a frightened glance at Brent. Without further ado, Mia poured what little remained of the liquid into the girl’s mouth then took a swift two steps back once the last drop fell out. And another two for good measure before she took a half-step behind Mark. My second favourite meat shield, though I guess he’s now back to first place with my poor Familiar’s departure.

She could get the Familiar back of course, it would just take another casting and a lot of mana again, but getting the very same elemental she had before would be impossible. By the book’s descriptions, lesser arcane elementals were everywhere, they populated the Astral Seal by the quadrillions. There were more of them in there, than microbes were on Earth. It was more likely she’d win the lottery ten times in a row, and since she never won it even a single time, she didn’t believe her luck was anywhere near good enough to even hope for it.

The vampire’s shuddering sigh drew her attention, and she watched in fascination as the girl’s wounds slowly re-knit themselves and as her cheeks went rosy, regaining some lively colouring. The three rusty daggers no one thought of to remove clattered onto the ground as they were pushed out of her body, the girl only letting out a soft groan through it all. Every wound the girl had was healing, though slower and slower with every second, aside from her arm which was now bleeding profusely. 

“Uhm, do you need your arm back?” Mia asked, feeling stupid right as the last word left her mouth as the whole group turned to her with varying levels of frowns on their faces. 

“Yes please!” The girl said quickly, raising her bleeding stump. “If you could line it up for me, I’d be thankful.”

Mia once again wanted to strangle her past self, but with the detached arm showing no signs of letting go of her wrist, she couldn’t even hand off the responsibility to Brent or Mark. Heh. ‘Hand off’. … that was horrible Mia, you should be ashamed of yourself.

With a grimace flickering across her face, Mia crouched back down next to the vampiress and clumsily pointed the cut-off part of the arm towards the girl. A few seconds later Mia felt the hand grasping her wrist going warm, then gently unlatching itself from her and pulling back. 

Mia took a step away again, now a bit less wary of the girl. Maybe it really was just the initial panic that drove her to attack the first person she saw? 

I might have done the same. Mia thought, mentally placing herself in the girl’s shoes. I just killed a group of goblins who mortally wounded me. I think I’m dead, but then by some miracle I wake up again and only an arm’s length away is someone whose blood I could drink to survive. 

Yes, Mia could certainly see her need for survival winning out over everything else. Hell, she wouldn’t even need the healing-blood part. If she fell unconscious fighting for her life and the next time she startled awake she found a complete stranger staring into her face from a few centimetres away, she very well could see herself kicking them in the balls and head-butting them before returning to her senses.

“Thank you,” the girl whispered, staring at Mia as she gingerly moved her fingers and wiggled her toes. The vampire smiled, then the tears burst forth and she broke down sobbing, her mumbles descending into incoherence before long.

Brent stepped back at that point, his sword still grasped in an iron grip as he stared at the vampiress, but not pointed at her anymore. Mia got it, the girl moved like a flash and had strength enough to throw the halvyr around like a ragdoll. Still, she found herself hesitantly patting the girl on the shoulder, which only made her sob harder.

“Errrr?” Mia didn’t know what to do, glanced back at Lina for help. The blonde shrugged with a helpless expression, her grey eyes still holding some worry as she stared at the vampiress. Though whether it was worry ‘for’ the girl, or ‘of’ the girl, Mia couldn’t tell.