Chapter 55 - Vampire Slayer

"Have at you then! Zylphe!" Queen Fatima yelled as she threw the wine glass towards Alice, and materialized a rapier in her hand. An instant later the air around the queen was charged with electrifying power as the wind roared to life, like she was at the very center of a tornado. It felt as though Sylph herself had been summoned into the room.

The wine glass served as the briefest of distractions, forcing Alice to dodge around it in a graceful flowing movement as she charged towards the vampire. Her fists, light with hell fire itself, were raised, ready to be driven into the traitorous queen. Her previous smirk gone, replaced by a stern expression.

With inhuman speed the vampire queen narrowly side stepped Alice's lunging thrust aimed straight for her gut, wincing from the sheer heat radiating off the Monster Lord. Fatima seemingly disappeared for an instant, and re-appeared behind Alice, rapier already thrusting to skewer the lamia.

Alice was already turning around, gracefully flowing around the blade with ease. She aimed to grab Fatima at the wrist, but the vampire queen retreated, seemingly teleporting several feet away from Alice.

Their exchange of blows had transpired over a couple seconds, before the glass had even shattered on the floor. They were moving so fast Will couldn't follow their movements anymore. They quickly became blurs of opposing auras clashing into each other faster than he could comprehend.

And this is Alice being nice, Will thought to himself as sweat started to drip down his face.

Movement outside the door drew his attention. The two vampires had dropped their disguise, unconcerned that their presence would be sensed. He couldn't help in the fight against the queen herself, but he could deal with the subordinates. As he turned towards the pair of doors, they flew open.

A voluptuous vampire with long flowing pink hair and small bat wings on the side of her head stood in the doorway: Carmilla. She looked upon the clashing battle with clear concern for her queen's safety, before her gaze fell upon Will, red eyes hungrily looking him over.

Behind her stood a much shorter and younger looking vampire with platinum blonde hair in a short bob cut and a monocle over one of her amber eyes: Elizabeth.

The Right and Left Hands of Queen Fatima, respectively. The only ones that could pose a threat to him.

"Just surrender now and I promise we'll keep you alive as a pet," Carmilla spoke, her voice soft and inviting. "You'd be so much happier with us holding your leash."

He glared back at them and reflexively growled in response while baring his teeth, an action which surprised even himself. Vampires were strong, physically and magically, therefore he figured he'd go on the offensive, give them as little room to breathe as possible.

So he rushed forward, before Elizabeth could even enter the room. The stone floor cracked under the strength of his legs and lunged outwards with a thrust, the massive kanabo greatly extending his reach.

Carmilla, still standing in the doorway, threw herself backwards to avoid the blow. She crashed into Elizabeth causing them to both monetarily stumble.

With a single hand, Will grabbed onto the edge of a door and whipped it towards them, tearing it into pieces in the process. Carmilla blocked it with her cloak, and he dove upon them as they were finding their footing. He brought his weapon down, and it was narrowly deflected, causing it to crash into the floor.

Elizabeth's cloak shot forward, wrapping itself around his wrists tightly and attempting to wrest his hands off his kanabo, as she stomped a foot onto it, pinning it to the ground. Her tiny fists struck his side, hitting with the force of a sledgehammer.

He gritted his teeth and pushed off the ground as he shoulder checked her, slamming her into the wall. Their collision kicked up a cloud of debris as brick and mortar went flying.

Before he could continue his assault or dislodge himself, Carmilla struck the back of his leg, causing him to drop to a knee. He was suddenly eye level with Elizabeth and the platinum blonde vampire bared her teeth at him.

"I'll suck you dry-" she began, cut off as he smashed his face into hers, producing a sickening crunch as her nose broke under his forehead. She recoiled in pain while he was merely stunned from the action.

"Zylphe!" Carmilla called out, suddenly surrounding herself with the power of wind. It was weaker than Fatima's though, likely owing to the difference in power between the two. Her cloak wrapped around Will's face and upper arms.

She wretched him out of the wall and attempted to pin him to the ground on his front, yet he still held firm onto his weapon, refusing to let go and have his arms bound behind his back. It was merely awkwardly pinned beneath him.

With inhuman speed the pink haired vampire rained blows upon him, causing the stone beneath him to crack. His armour held firm, thankfully. "Ah! It's so much fun breaking in a feral dog, isn't it!" she cheered in amusement.

Will let out a cry of pain under the flurry of blows. The noise only seemed to excite the vampire as her assault continued unabated. He strained against the cloak, barely lifting himself off the ground but freeing his weapon, and he blindly swept at her legs.

She dodged it with her incredible speed, but Will used the distraction to get to his feet and pry himself free from her cloak. The power of wind still raged around Carmilla, so, assuming that he'd be unable to catch her, he turned his attention to Elizabeth.

Blood trickled down her nose, scowling at him as she pulled herself free from the wall. Her amber eyes suddenly flashed with a blindly light, causing Will to flinch. "Oh-ho, you stupid mutt~ You thought you acctually stood a chance against us? How foolish of you," she covered her mouth as she smugly chuckled. "You wish to serve our Queen now, so prostrate yourself before us and beg for mercy."

He was momentarily dazed, and recognized that she attempted to hypnotize her. It did not have the desired effect however, beyond stunning him for an instant. He may not have been immune to magic anymore but he was still resistant to it, and Yao had made sure to train him to resist hypnosis.

Instead of responding, he stepped towards Elizabeth and swung his kanabo at the shorter vampire, catching her off guard. She shrieked in surprise and pain when it broke her arm with a satisfying crack. He followed up the attack by slamming his fist into her gut, causing her to stumble backwards.

Carmilla appeared by his side with her incredible speed, grabbed a hold of his wrist and twisted it behind his back. Her cloak enveloped his limbs, attempting to bind him in place, as her teeth sank into his neck. The stabbing sensation was quickly followed by a strange feeling of euphoria, dulling the ache of the fangs piercing his skin.

Elizabeth gritted in pain and seized on the opportunity, leaping onto him and biting the other side of his neck. The two began to greedily drink from his body, draining him of blood.

Will violently thrashed against the pair of vampires. The seconds seemed to drag and he realized he was slowly becoming weaker. In a desperate burst of strength he managed to knock Elizabeth off him and free a hand from Carmilla's cloak.

Immediately he reached over his shoulder, latching onto her long pink hair. He yanked her over his shoulder, causing her to scream in pain, and slammed her down onto her fellow vampire, driving them both into the floor.

Breathing hard with blood trickling from puncture wounds on his neck, Will stumbled for his weapon, snatching it off the ground. Behind him the sounds of battle had ended and he sensed that the queen's power was gone, sealed away.

The entourage of vampires from the entrance had made their way to the hall and stared at him with fear. Their greatest had been bested. He snarled at him and pointed his kanabo at them to keep the crowd at bay. None made a move against him.

Sparing a second to warily glance over his shoulder, Will saw Alice dragging the queen out of her 'throne room' by the hair. The blond monarch was bloodied, burned, bruised, and barely conscious.

Alice surveyed the ruined hallway, its floors and walls sundered by inhuman might, and her gaze settled upon Will. She let out a sigh of relief and smiled at him, before turning her attention towards the duo.

Elizabeth and Carmilla both looked up at their queen in equal parts horror and concern. So confident in her abilities the possibility of defeat never entered their minds, leaving them speechless at the sight.

"As Monster Lord, I, Alipheese Fateburn the Sixteenth, rescind the title of Vampire Queen from Fatima," she declared, her voice echoing with power. "You are all traitors and therefore stripped of your titles and lands. Surrender and I will grant mercy, refuse and you will be cut down where you stand."

Alice clearly understood the psyche of the crowd before her and played to their pompous expectations of nobility and proper procedure. Their treasonous plots exposed and thwarted, but done so according to custom, in a way. It was a performance of formality for the sake of formality, Alice simply playing up the role of Monster Lord.

The entourage of vampires were cowed immediately. Carmilla and Elizabeth stared at their deposed queen for several moments before slowly bowing their heads, accepting defeat.

And with that one traitorous monster monarch had been dealt with.

-

Alice had sealed Carmilla and Elizabeth, leaving them weaker than an elf. There was the slight logistical issue of Alice and Will having to deal with over two dozen prisoners by themselves. That was until Alice got fed up trying to corral them, deciding to simply hypnotize them all and teleport them to her dungeon.

Which briefly left Will alone in the ruins of the vampire's base.

He simply sat on a chair near the entrance, staying within the shade. Gingerly he touched the puncture wounds on his neck. It had stopped bleeding, but his neck continued to ache. The sense of euphoria also continued to linger, much to his frustration.

"Damn vampires and their goddamn aphrodisiac venom," he grumbled to himself in annoyance, face still flushed red. "At least I was able to power through it. Probably won't be the last time that happens either."

Will let out a sigh as he glanced around the area.

He couldn't help but wonder where their chimera soldiers were though. They were mindless lab grown monsters created by Promestein to serve as fodder for Ilias and Black Alice, yet there was no sign of them. He thought that there simply wasn't any in the castle, since he hadn't sensed any, and if there were that perhaps Black Alice had spirited them away so there was no proof of their existence.

In either case, he simply waited for Alice's return.

-

It took a bit longer than he had expected but Alice eventually re-appeared in front of him, a frown on her face.

"I apologize for my delay. I wished to speak with Fatima further," Alice crossed her arms in displeasure as her tail began shifting in agitation. "The ego of that woman is astounding. Hopefully this experience humbles her."

"You'd think getting beaten half to death in her own throne room would have taught her some humility,"he dryly remarked. "Did you learn anything?"

"There's no need to feign ignorance. There's no one spying on us," Alice informed him. "She confirmed much of what you've previously told us about Black Alice. She approached Fatima offering power in exchange for support and Fatima agreed. Black Alice is the one that gifted Fatima artificial spirits and a small army of chimera."

Will sat up straighter in the chair. "I was wondering about them, actually. We didn't fight any, so where the hell are they?"

"They were in another castle. Fatima told me the location and I've already dealt with them," Alice noted with mild distaste. Her frown deepened. "They were monsters in a certain sense but felt unnatural to me. Their bodies were filled with darkness, but it was unrecognizable. They were poor facsimiles compared to my cute subordinates."

She let out a huff. "They also failed to recognize me as their Lord and seemed to have no sense of self preservation. Such bothersome creatures."

"That's one army down at least. That leaves like two more monarchs to deal with, Spider Princess and Mermaid Queen, and then a bunch of minor traitors," Will reccounted then hesitantly frowned. "Uh, do we have to deal with the mermaid queen personally? You could just order Kraken and Poseidon deal with it, right?"

"Poseidoness, and I could, yes," Alice quirked an eyebrow. "However, is there any reason why you think we shouldn't handle her?"

Will let out a sigh before answering. "I'm scared of the open ocean. The thought of swimming to the bottom of the ocean floor to fight her is absolutely terrifying. So I'd rather not do that."

He'd always had a fear of the open ocean and deep sea. It was a primal sense of terror when staring down into the darkness in the water. That there might be something lurking out of sight. It was a vast unknowable, hostile environment. Being able to see in the dark or sense creatures around him, so theoretically it'd be very difficult for anything to sneak up on him. That knowledge did little to alleviate his fear.

Will shuddered at the thought and shook his head. "I think that if I did try to fight her I'd freak out or freeze up before even reaching her. If we got to the sea floor I might be able to manage with my feet on the ground, since there'd be something under me, but even then I'd be a serious liability."

Alice let out a hum and nodded in understanding. "In that case, I'll delegate the task to Kraken and Poseidoness. The two of them working together should be able to handle the Mermaid Queen. It's high time that they take a more active role as queens of the seas, anyway."

"Thank you for understanding," he sighed in relief. "So, what now?"

"I'm going to search Fatima's room to see if there's anything of note in there," Alice replied. "We can decide on our next course of action afterwards. Any suggestions?"

"Well I'm still horny, so you wanna fuck on her bed?" he bluntly suggested.

It was much later when they finally got around to investigating the former vampire queen's room.