Noble Blood

Chapter Two

Tepes hadn't realized what a challenge it would be being a High Vampire, his new body was simply amazing in ways he couldn't fathom. Yes, he could probably rip most living things apart like they were fleshy paperbags and move faster than the eye could see if he really pushed himself to it, and without YGGDRASIL's Game Mechanics he could do both of those, but it also came with a number of challenges that made it almost as... Inconvenient.

Even with the filthy Human woman in his arms, Paladin, being her ridiculous name, covered by a simple cloak he'd pulled from his inventory to grant her some decency, covered in filth as she was he could still feel the pulse of her blood and he was reminded how thirsty he was and he knew he'd need to feed soon.

She better hold up her end of the bargain once she's clean. Tepes thought with a frown, glancing down at the woman who was glancing around sharply at every little pebble shifting, as if she expected an attack from the shadows themselves. She winced again when a droplet of water fell from the cave ceiling onto floor and he groaned, that made her jump.

"Would you calm down? The Goblins are dead to the last one and I doubt the shadows are going to jump out at you." The High Vampire growled, having had enough of her jumping like a frightened rabbit everytime something that wasn't them made some noise.

She looked up at him, eyes torn between some deep, likely unforgettable fear and a fierceness he could only call the beginnings of incredulation. "C-Calm down?!" She hissed, "Do have any idea what I've endured for what feels like the last day?!"

The Vampire raised a brow in the darkness. Really? She was going to play that card? "You were ambushed by the most pitiful creatures this world could offer, and then used as breeding stock against your will." When she looked absolutely shocked he could list those particular details with that same dry expression he continued. "You had to know what you were in for when you saw the others."

"Knowing and experiencing are two very different things you heartless monster!"

The High Vampire snarled, claws digging into the cloak and threatening to break her skin, she even gasped as he glared down at her, eyes glowing in restrained fury. "Yes, I am a Monster, I am A High Vampire and currently being extremely generous in saving your apparently ungrateful life when I could have instead killed you and left you to rot with the Goblins and other women."

Paladin shuddered under the heavy gaze, even as the shadows themselves seemed to curl around them closer, as if reaching to grab her and take her and hurt her-She screwed her eyes shut and closed in on herself, wrapping that cloak tighter to herself while all but screaming as panic took her. "I'm sorry! Just get me out of this cave!"

"I plan to," Tepes grunted, displeased, but they had reached an agreement and he was going to go through with it, not doing so would make him a liar and that was worse than those Goblins. "Now stop squirming. We're almost out."

The light at the end of the tunnel came into view, and Paladin looked almost ready to leap out of his arms and run for it herself, not that she'd get very far given her state. Finally, they reached the light and crossed into the day's light, she gasped and he hissed. The sun's light bit at his pale skin and even his shadowed face wasn't immune to the bite of the day.

"I thought I'd never see daylight again," The woman whispered, as if awed by the sight.

"I wish I never would have to, but it seems all our expectations are being disappointed." The Vampire muttered and continued along. "There's a river nearby, you can washthe filth off your body there and then I will take my reward." She looked sharply at him, mouth opening and he cut her off. "I am A Vampire, I need to feed and I am quite hungry. I'll take my reward now and still fulfill the bargain he struck, if I do not I can't quarantee I won't simply kill you in a lust to sate my hunger."

Paladin, blue hair messed and green eyes concerned, finally, she found her voice. "Can't it wait until we're at a Human settlement...?"

"As I said, I can try for that, but as hungry as I am, I'm not sure my own hunger will let me." Tepes drawled, glancing over the forest around them. "If you're worried I am planning to kill you once I fed, I could have done that back in the cave. Snuffing your life out is hardly the highest thing on my To-Do list." Slitted red eyes rolled.

"But if you bite me... Won't that turn me into a Vampire as well?"

"Only if I want it to, and believe me, I don't want a weakling like you among my kind." He sneered, as if she were some impulsive insect making itself known at an already particularly bad dinner. "So you're safe, at least until my hunger overtakes me." He was exaggerating, of course, but the hunger was irksome and it would only get worse so he'd rather nip it in the bud quickly.

"F-Fine..." Paladin frowned, more life returning to her eyes. "Just...Get it over with quickly."

Tepes rolled his eyes once more.

The Vampire stood beneath the shade of a tree, not that it helped, while the Sun was high in the sky the bite of it's light would always be with him until Night fell. He watched as Paladin splashed water over herself to wash the grime and muck from herself, the way she shivered and squeaked was testament to how cold it was.

He could also freely see the scars upon her body, bruises lined her arms and legs, mostly at her inner thighs, thin, reddened lines of healing and healed cuts and scrapes also marred her flesh. But beyond that, he could see the toned condition of her body, she had muscles from training and wielding her sword and shield, and now that she was cleaner he could safely say that by Human standards she'd be beautiful.

And yet, his Vampiric body felt nothing but disgust.

In YGGDRASIL, Vampires were always known to have an inflated sense of superiority, seeing themselves above all others, even other monsters, if I'm a Vampire now, I guess that means that I'm following that trend. Tepes thought as he glanced over the forest once more while Paladin cleaned herself. I can still admire the beauty of this forest easily enough, but a woman who would have had me drooling when I was younger has me thinking how much better she'd look rolling down some stairs.

"How are you out in the daylight?" Paladin spoke up, finally gazing at him with some semblance of confidence, the water and being out of that cave seemingly returning some of her earlier spirit, even if she was shaking from the cool water itself. "You're a Vampire, you should be burning."

He cocked his brow. "I am in the shade, beside that, do you think I am some lowly Vampire to be defeated by mere sunlight? I am a Vampire Prince, a breed above all other Undead," Well, at least he got the ego right. "Sunlight to me is but an annoyance at best. A better question, how does a Paladin, a wielder of Holy Magic and martial strength, get overcome by a handful of wretched creatures?"

Shame and horror flashed in those eyes, and she looked down quickly. "I was caught off guard, exhausted from a previous mission in the area, I thought since it was the early hours and the sun was beginning to rise I'd be safe from Goblin ambushes, but I... Was wrong." Paladin explained.

"Considering how close you were to their nest, you were just unlucky to catch them as they were making their way back to it." The Vampire almost smirked at the way her shoulders tensed. "Your plan wasn't wrong, Luck just didn't favor you."

"I..." She grit her teeth, and her fists clenched. "That's..."

"Almost tragic, I'd pity you, if I could feel the emotion." Tepes got the feeling she wasn't comforted by that, because she was giving him a look that would have been scathing if it could be weaponized. "Don't give me that look, tha fact I'm doing any of this for you is a sign of my generosity."

"That's what I don't get," She stood from the edge of the water now, one arm folded across her breasts and her hand hanging to shield between her legs, with her cleansing, it seemed a sense of modesty returned, or was it shyness? "Why did you save me? Or even try to save the others, I heard you ask the questions, before you...Killed them. You're not like any Vampire I've heard of."

"We covered this, I am not a normal Vampire. I am A Vampire Prince." Tepes briefly wondered if killing her would solve the fact she seemed slow, but he steadied his rising ire, he made a pact, he would see it through. "But if you really need a more justified reason for my helping you. I'm helping myself-" He held up his hand when she opened her mouth to ask. "I'm getting to that."

"I've slept for a long time, very, very long time. And when I awoke, the world had changed and now, here I am in familiar yet unfamiliar land. Yes, I can simply track down Humans and threaten them into telling me, hypnosis as well, but such things are time consuming and run the risk of producing complications if my influence on them wanes, so to reduce corpses and my time wasted, I figured helping you would provide me a good deed to prove I am not the wholesale evil of my lesser brethren," God, Tepes was really selling his superiority, even he wanted to punch himself for his smug! "And once I learn where a Human Settlement is, I can use it as a learning base to educate myself on the world."

"You want to learn about the world? Why didn't you run off to the Demon Lord to join his armies?"

Demon Lord? The High Vampire thought, frowning. It must be common knowledge if she brought it up so brazenly, or a slip, either way, I can continue to play my current hand. "I refuse to subjugate myself to something as lesser as a Mere Lord of Demons." He waved his hand dismissively,

Paladin, amusingly, looked like he'd slapped her with a trout. "B-But, he's the Demon Lord, the ruler of all things evil and a threat to the entirety of the lands here and everywhere! He commands legions of dark forces and how can you not want to join him in conquest?! You're a creature of the darkness!"

"And that is why i do not wish to subjugate myself," The Vampire replied, returning her utterly flabbergasted tone for his own calm and collected one. "That all sounds so troublesome. Razing the kingdoms? Leading Legions? At my strength level I'd easily be something of a high ranking commander." Maybe the highest, but until Tepes learned more of the world and it's levelling system, he shouldn't flaunt his power overly much. "And leading Legions and burning lands for the sake of destruction sounds boring."

"So you're not going to join the Demon Lord's armies because you're lazy?!"

That got her a glare. "Careful, woman," He hissed, baring his fangs. "I'm not above draining you dry and then tossing your corpse at a village so that you've found civilization so I can still fulfill my bargain AND not have to deal with you." That shut her up very quickly, he let his ire bleed off his aura for several seconds before letting loose an explosive sigh. "That reminds me, you are suitably clean now, come here. I shall take my blood and we can get you clothed and continue on with our pact."

Paladin hesitated, holding her herself tighter as if the gesture would defend her from him. He waited, brow raised expectantly. "Can it really not wa-"

"I told you it cannot," she winced. "Come, I've already told you I don't want to have to kill you, your attempts at resistance only annoy me." Tepes raised his hand and beckoned her over, "Now come."

She looked like she was contemplating running, and he almost warned her not to, but she took a deep breath and faced him, then, she made her way over, slowly, but surely, when she was right there in front of him, she met his eyes and frowned, but her lips and legs were quivering. He could sense the fear inside her...Then, she tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes, shaking more intensely.

He stared at her, silent. She continued to stand there, head looking uncomfortably tilted. After a near thirty seconds, he finally broke the silence. "What are you doing?"

That made her open her eyes, "...Offering my neck?"

"I see that," The Vampire deadpanned. "Why?"

"Don't you want to feed?"

A sigh. "Your wrist would do, I'm trying to feed, not kill you. If I fed from your carotid artery and you flinched or some foolish move, You'd end up hurting yourself and I am not wasting my Mana on healing your wounds more than I have to." She gasped, and looked at him strangely. "...What is now?"

"You can do healing magic? But...You're undead!"

"...Again, I am not a Normal Vampire."

"I'm beginning to see that!" Paladin stomped her foot, hands curled into fists and coming up to ruffle her hair, as if he was speaking high speed nuclear physics and frying her brain. He also noted that with her stomp and hands away from her body, her chest swayed rather invitingly, and he rolled his eyes. "You don't make sense! You're a Dark monster who doesn't want to follow the Demon lord. You're an Undead who knows healing magic! And you killed other dark creatures."

"I dislike Goblins."

"Why?!"

"...Do you really need to ask? They're pathetic, weak and so base they can't rely on themselves to produce their own numbers, they need stock like you to do it, as pathetic as you Humans are, you're still leagues above their lesser kind." Tepes explained, this only seemed to inflame her more, really.

"And that too! You're so contradicting and it frustrates me!"

The Vampire groaned, "And you're frustrating me, so give me your wrist, let me feed, then we get on with this journey and you can finally be away from me and I can go back to trying to discover what it is I've missed in the last few hundred years. Okay?"

Her hand came up so fast he was almost certain she would punch him, but it stopped just short of it, wrist up, she turned her head away and muttered. "Just get it over with."

"Gladly," Because it would dull his hunger AND get her away from him faster, he took her wrist in his hand and leaned down, parting his lips and revealing those longer canines, which glinted with sharpness, then, he bit into her flesh. She gasped and shuddered, he grunted as the taste of blood filled his mouth, and he gulped it down, taking three great drinks before he removed himself from her and brought up his hand over her wounded wrist.

"Minor Close Wounds." He intoned, and with a glow, The spell was as basic as they came, and when she cried out as her wound forcibly closed itself, flesh stitching itself together once more, she grit her teeth and pulled her hand away when he released her. "You are healed."

"What kind of healing magic is that?" She rubbed her aching wrist, her skin was scarred where he'd bitten and drank from, but the wound was closed.

"Undead kind, unlike regular Healing Magic that is harmful to many undead, that spell merely forces the body to heal, it's a painful process the more severe the wound. So you're lucky I only used it on a minor wound like that. Anything else and you might just end up screaming." Tepes grinned when she looked horrified at the idea, but, she also did look a little grateful. "Now, let's go."

This time, she didn't resist the offered cloak...And she kept quiet as they moved along. He idly considered if his hoard was alright, but he was sure it was fine.

The Gods of Order and Chaos, the Supreme existences and creators of the world at large sat at the large table containing the world's outline, locations and everything important to run the functions of the game they called "Life", from each side the various Gods took their turns, made their machinations and challenged their rivals, worked together on some occasions and when things got really Dice-y, discussed at length what should be done at some juncture.

This was one such juncture of discussion.

It was concerning the new piece on their board, the one that took the shape of a gray bat with crackling red lines across it's body, as if the vessel was struggling to maintain it's form due to the power it held. It had appeared a few hours ago, sudden and violently, none of the other Gods had taken responsibility and it wasn't until they did a little digging and brought up the basic class and name did they have an inkling of where it had come from.

So, that was why they were all seated around the table, their turns on pause until they could get to the bottom of it.

Hovering over the board was a text window, and as the collective supreme Gods of the world waited, they watched the screen.

Connecting...Connecting...Connecting, Accepted!

Collectively, they groaned in relief. And the first God, Truth, decided to be the ice breaker. He raised his hand forward and "typed" into the air, and so, the Dialogue began. I think we got one of your strays. He nodded as the text appeared on screen.

The response was almost instant. Oops, I thought I'd misplaced one. The Vampire, right? They got the impressing the response was a sheepish one, akin to a child being asked if they'd dropped the cookie on the floor they were now sweeping up.

Truth rolled his eyes, Illusion took the reigns for the next bit. Can you collect him?

This time, there was a noticeable pause in the response, finally, it came. Nope!

Both sides of the Gods promptly wanted to throw things at the screen, but, Truth holding up a proverbial hand stopped the briefly sparked need to riot. He responded. Why not?

Well, you see, the means I used to get him to where he was supposed to go is a Two-Way street from my end to the where he was going. Because the world he was going to was rich in Magical power and the summoning system in place handled a LOT of the heavy lifting and coordinating, my job is just to choose who goes and open the door, it pulls them through. Why did the collective of Divine beings feel like the other Supreme Being had put on reading glasses? Now, to retrieve him would take a similar spell, otherwise my own efforts to retrieve them would be akin to dipping my hand into a bag of candy and hopefully pulling the one I want out despite it being filled with other bits of candy. You see where I'm going with this?

They did, they did and they didn't like it. Truth decided to ask the question. You want us to use our own power to send him back, do you?

What?! Creation no! That's a terrible idea, even if I had the juice to receive him, you'd have to get my dimensional coordinates right and maintain the connection, which, between you all and me, is no small feat, even for us Divine Existences. Why do you think the summoning system for the world I use is on a recharge period of one century? We're bridging Time, Space and Realities here and that takes a lot of power. This time, they got the impression the other Divine was horrified at the idea.

The collective however felt the beginnings of a mass headache. Illusion took over this time. What are our options, then? This Vampire threatens our game.

Right! Options, okay, easy. See, the countdown timer for the Summoning System in place in the world he was supposed to go is already counting down, once it reaches it's desired time limit, I'll dial in your lot's dimensional coordinates instead for the retrieving point, then you all just need to make sure it's accurate and grab our wayward vampire. Easy peasy! There was a grin in those texts, they all felt it.

But that didn't change one thing. You said it took a Century in that world for the system to charge, didn't you? You mean we must play host to this creature in the mean time? Illusion asked for them.

They knew the answer, of course, they just wanted to get it from the Holy Horse's mouth.

Yup! It's not THAT bad, I mean, how game breaking can he be? He's one Vampire, I just sent a tomb full of essential superbeings to the world. So I doubt one Vampire can cause that much of a ruckus. There was an awkward silence. Right?

Truth, Illusion and the other Gods in the game exhanged glances, before collectively, they sighed. Can we at least get some information on we're dealing with? Stats, at least, so we can see if we can deal with him if he does get too big of a problem in-Game. Illusion tried, as much as she liked planning dungeons and adventures, she agreed this needed to be addressed and so, they needed to know about their new board piece.

Sending Statistics right over! The other divine "said" with fervor. What followed was...

HP: 80
MP:80
Phy. Atk.:100
Phy. Def.:90
Agility:100
Mag. Atk.:75
Mag. Def.:40
Resistance:80
Special Ability:100
Total: 745

There was silence among the Divines, each one trying to calculate how big of a game breaker this was and frankly, even Illusion looked a little put out, and she was always one of the livelier Gods. Truth decided to ask, while they processed this. You're joking, right?

Why would I be? He's actually a pretty tame build compared to some of other YGGDRASIL's more devoted player base, his stats are a touch higher than most, granted, but they're not that overwhelming. The other divine probably didn't get the system that was running their world, so that was probably why he couldn't understand he'd just dropped a shark into a trout tank.

Truth decided to spell it out for the other Divine Being. He's essentially a full grown lion placed into a large cage with a LOT of mice wrapped in bacon and steaksauce.

WeeeEeeellll, this is a real bad mixup, wasn't it? Look, I'm sorry, you'll just have to wait, I'm sure you can manage this lion, even with your "No Direct intervention" rule, I trust you all! Think of it as a new challenge, play your game before Tepes breaks it! Fun, huh? The other Divine definitely sounded sheepish now.

Yeah, fun, that was definitely a word... for this situation. Truth sighed. We'll do our best, you better read the summoning system, we'll do what we can.

The connection closed, and the collective Gods stared at the Bat piece on their board, then finally... Greed spoke up. Hey, his hoard is unprotected! They all stared at the cave Tepes had arrived in.

Truth looked at his dice, then to the cave, slowly, he grinned. I roll to discover that mysterious cave. And the dice flew.

End of Chapter Two

And now, we have the stats! And the opinions of the various Gods rolling for the lines of the world they live in! And how they see the big walking "Screw the rules I'm Level One hundred" that is Tepes! Also, we get...I guess, Character development...? Iunno, look I just these things and post them! Story planning? Pfft, wassat? Anyways, thanks for the continue support everyone! Until next chapter!