Chapter 5: Night of the Living Undead
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Within Darkness, Lina stirred and woke up to nothingness.
"Ugh," she groaned, rubbing her temples. "Something tells me this isn't my dreams."
She heard giggling from behind. "Of course this isn't a dream, you're an Undead, afterall. We don't get dreams."
Lina turned around to see Lilith and Robert. "Where have you guys been?! Do you know what happened to me when you two ditched me back in that lounge?!"
Lilith let out another small laugh. "Of course we know. I had my familiar follow you. You've made some interesting friends."
Lina grunted. "Friends? It's more like I'm being held captive. Thanks for the concern, by the way."
Robert snorted. "You need to learn how to survive without Lilith and I. This is good for you, girl. You've made progress, I've noticed, being in a life threatening situation like that." He smirked. "It does you good to get beaten up."
Lina tsk'ed and brushed at her hair in annoyance. "Where are we anyway? We've established that this isn't a dream." She looked around the dark void curiously.
"This is your conscious, Lina," Lilith replied. "The conscious of an Undead is void save for the Darkness which occupies the Being."
Lina raised an eyebrow. "Oh-kay. Very unproductive." She shrugged. "But whatever. So when will you guys come get me?"
"Oh, we've decided not to," Lilith said with a melodious tone, smiling widely. "For the time being, anyway."
Lina facefaulted. "What?! Why the hell not?!"
"Well, we've decided that it IS best to leave you on your own for awhile," Lilith replied, looking up in thought. She looked back at Lina, the smile plastered on her face. "But don't worry, we're watching close by, or rather, my familiar is. We'll know if anything should happen to you."
Lilith and Robert looked above them suddenly.
"Ah, looks like it's time for us to go back watching," Lilith said.
"Wait! Hold up! Don't leave me here with these people!" Lina exclaimed and tried to make her way towards them. They became blurry images and she ran right through them. "Wait--!" And everything collapsed as she woke up.
Lina opened her eyes to find two things. One: she was buried in a large hole and was now covered with dirt. Two: dirt gets EVERYWHERE even if she was dead and doesn't move in her rest.
"COUGH What the HACK hell did you people HACK HACK do to me NOW?!" She continued to shake dirt off herself. Some got in her undergarments. Which wasn't too surprising considering she had nothing left of the ragged, bloodied pajamas she still wore. She spit out some more dirt from her throat.
Mirna put her hands on her hips and glared at Lina. "For your information, we helped you NOT get scorched by the sun this morning, vampire!"
Lina shook her head from side to side. "By burying me alive?"
"You're no longer alive," Luka said intelligently, arms crossed over his chest.
"We SHOULD have just left you to toast in the sun," Mirna said. "It would have been fun to watch." She smirked at the thought.
"Yeah," Lina said dryly. "Y'know what else would've been fun? Watching three Weres tear the guts out from YOUR stomach!"
"Why you!" Mirna started to pull her arrows out.
Father Marcus stepped in beside her. "Calm down, Mirna."
Luka grabbed Mirna's arms and brought her a few steps back from Lina.
Lina could have cared less as she stood up with a grunt. Her body was healed, that much was clear, but she was thirsty again. She had lost alot of her blood the previous night from the wounds the alpha Were had inflicted on her. She took in a deep breath that she did not needed and turned her back on them.
"Where are you going?" she heard the priest asked.
She looked back at him and replied, "Back. To my friends. They don't wanna come get me so I'm going to them." She waited for no other replies as she tried to walk away.
"I don't think so, vampire!" Lina heard the Huntress exclaimed.
They saw Lina made a gesture like she wanted to take a deep breath then turned around to face them again.
"Look, I don't know what's your problem, but I really don't have time to play with you people right now," Lina said with annoyance.
Mirna's hand went to her crossbow. "We won't let you go around feeding on humans!"
Lina rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "So what are you gonna do about it?"
Mirna's eyes narrowed. "This!" She shot her arrows at Lina.
Lina blinked. She noticed that the arrows was coming towards her at a slower pace even though the distance between her and Mirna was closer than the first time she got ambushed. She side stepped the attack. Her red eyes slitted as she blurred into the shadows to reappear in front of Mirna. With a flick of her wrist, Mirna's bow was tossed away into the trees surrounding them. Lina made a grab for the Hunter's neck when a sword came to her throat, with her other hand she grabbed for the sword by reflex. To her surprise, her hand started to sizzled. She yelped, letting go of the sword and jumped back.
"A blessed sword," Luka said casually as he stood beside Mirna.
Her hand started to heal, closing completely after a few seconds. She narrowed her slitted red eyes at them. "I can snap both your necks before you two can count to three." Her eyes then turned to the bystanding priest, his hands around his golden cross. "But your priest over there would protect you."
They narrowed their eyes at her as beads of sweat ran down their faces. They knew what she said was true, even if she were a newborn. If it weren't for the scar and Father Marcus' cross, they didn't stand a chance against her when she brung out the true nature of her Being.
"Damn you!" Mirna cursed through clenched teeth.
Lina shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. "You people seem to think that I already am." She gave a sidelong glace towards Marcus and gave him a smirk. "Just so you know, Father, I need to feed again soon. I did lose a lot of blood saving you people afterall."
"You'll feed over my dead body!" Mirna hissed.
"Your wish, not mine," Lina said dryly and took a step towards her.
Marcus side stepped in front of his companions. "Stop...please. You are upsetting them."
Lina looked away from him and his golden cross. "I'm not trying to, yknow. Your followers are the ones not cooperating here."
"They aren't the only ones against the idea of you feeding on a human," the priest said uneasily. His fingers unconsciously went to his neck.
"Well, you guys can donate some blood to me," Lina said, smirking. "I won't bite, I promise." She snickered.
"There's no way I'll let a bloodsucker near me!" Mirna shouted. "That's the most ridiculous suggestion I've ever heard!"
"Geez, calm down," Lina said. "You're gonna have yourself a stroke if you keep getting upset at every little thing people say."
Mirna was about to say something back when Marcus interrupted.
"Perhaps," he started, "you can feed on something other than humans. An animal of some sort."
He looked up in thought. "Uh...provided you do not kill them..."
Lina thought about the idea. She never tried that before.
Maybe it'd work, blood is blood, afterall, she thought.
"You're okay with it?" Lina asked him with a curious look. "I mean you being a priest and all, I thought you'd be all upset about my Being entirely."
"Provided you do not kill them," Marcus repeated, "I understand that you need to do what you need to do to survive on this world."
All of a sudden, the priest gave her a smile. "Thank you for being concerned about my beliefs."
Lina blinked and furrowed her brows. "I'm NOT concerned about your beliefs...I'm just annoyed." She crossed her arms and looked away.
Still smiling, Marcus said, "There is a lion's lair not far away. Luka and I found it while you were...resting. Perhaps that would be sufficient."
"Oh yay," Lina said dryly. "I'm getting lion's blood."
They saw her suddenly looking around in the night sky.
"Ya heard that, guys?! I'm gettin' LION'S blood for dinner tonight! I don't need you two!" she suddenly shouted and stomped off aimlessly.
Marcus looked curiously at Luka and Mirna.
"Her companions," Luka said as if that explained everything.
Marcus continued to look puzzled.
"They are all linked together, her and the ones who Made her," Luka explained. "They can communicated without being together physically."
"Oh," Marcus said.
Mirna grunted. "Hey! The lair's this way, stupid!"
"You're stupid!" came a retort from behind. Lina re-emerged from Mirna's shadow, who jumped away like Lina was a vile disease.
"Don't DO that!" Mirna exclaimed.
Lina laughed. "What kinda Hunter ARE you, gettin' scared of your own 'shadow'?"
Mirna's face reddened. "Shuddup!" Was all she can say and stomped off towards the forest.
"Hey! Wait up! Is that where my dinner is?" Lina asked and followed her.
"Don't call them that! We shouldn't even be letting you live pass this morning much less FEED on something!"
"Hey! I saved your lives, you ungrateful brat!"
On and on, they heard bickering between the vampire and the huntress. The two men looked at each other, shrugged and followed them into the dark forest.
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A scream pierced through the silent night.
"My daughter! Somebody save my daughter!!" An old woman shouted, cradling her daughter's head.
The young girl's eyes were clouded, looking into nothingness. Blood dripped out of her punctured neck. She did not respond to the commotion growing around her.
As the villagers responded to the commotion, two shadows disappeared from beside a house.
"Humans are idiots," one of them said, re-emerging from the shadows in a far away forest.
"You used to be one," the second responded.
"...shuddup, Cecil, that was a long time ago."
Cecil smirked. "Had you have enough fun, Brandus? I believe we are done for the night, yes? I still do not understand why you insist on coming out to feed when we have everything we need at home."
Brandus snorted. "Home is boring. Same old thing every night." He turned his back on his companion and started to walk away.
"Regina would be crushed to hear that," Cecil said with a small laugh, following his friend.
"Oh, please! That girl is just happy to BE there! All she thinks about is herself and the riches around her!" Brandus snorted again and waved his hands at his companion, dismissing the subject.
"I see," Cecil said and snickered. It was funny because it was true.
"It's not THAT funny, Cecil," Brandus said dryly. "By the way, when will YOU take in a human?
You complain about coming out every night but you NEED to, you have no donor." He glanced at his friend.
"I don't need to feed every night, Brandus. We've been through this before," Cecil replied, looking away in annoyance. "And when I do feed, I make it quick, unlike you. I have no need for a human."
"Ah, yer no fun," Brandus whined. "What I'm looking forward to is the brawl that's about to happen in a couple nights." He smiled widely and looked at his friend sideways. "Too bad we'll only get to watch it."
"Well, we've already passed the age limit," Cecil said.
"Yeah, I know. Why didn't we ever take in a newborn to represent us?" Brandus asked.
"Hmm...not sure," Cecil said shortly, then looked up in thought. "I don't think we've ever covered that topic before." He smiled. "After all this time, I'm surprised we didn't--"
Brandus lifted a hand, stopping his friend in mid-sentence. The two stopped walking as Brandus nodded to a red-haired girl approaching a lion.
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Lina approached a lion about three times her size, not sure how to go about the situation. She hadn't learned enough to actually feed on a human, much less a lion protecting its cubs. As it was, she had acted on her vampire instincts, drinking the priest's blood and all. The lion started to stir and lazily looked up at the vampire approaching. It growled at her, baring its fangs at her.
"Shh..." Lina whisper and lifted a hand to touch the lion's face. "Easy, mommy, I'm not going to do anything to your cubs." She continued to pat its fur, looking briefly into its eyes. The lion shook its head and yawned, lying back down on its paws.
Lina made a quick swipe, creating a small wound on the lion. Blood dripped out of the wound and into Lina's mouth.
It actually tastes different. Lina thought, gulping down her donated dinner.
"That's enough!" she heard the Huntress hissed. "You're going to kill it!"
Lina lifted her face away from the wound and said, "I'm not going to kill it! Geez, isn't it enough I'm feeding on her and not one of you guys?!"
She put her hands on her hips, her face full of annoyance. "Why am I even doing this for you guys? I don't even know any of you! I still remember the first time you two put arrows through my body!" She pointed her fingers at Luka and Mirna.
"And I'd do it again if it weren't for Father Marcus stopping me!" Mirna hissed.
"You mean you'll try," Lina said, smirking.
Mirna cocked her crossbow draped on her arms and aimed at Lina. "I'll show you a try!" She shot three arrows.
Lina dodged it by jumping up and landed on a branch. She laughed. "That's getting old, Mirna! If you like arrows, I'll show you some arrows!"
"FLARE!" Lina summoned her magic. A fiery arrow started to form when she heard a branch crack from behind her. She glanced at the sound and found two figures in the shadows looking up at her. Their red eyes were the first thing Lina noticed.
Her eyes widen. That means they're--
"DIE!" She heard in front of her and looked in time to see an arrow making its way towards her.
"Agh!" By reflex she jumped back and remembered that she was standing on a branch. Which means the only way was down if not up. She jumped down and flipped towards the three humans. She stood in front of the three humans and glared into the shadows.
Mirna had stopped going after Lina and along with Luka, glared at the shadows.
"Who's there?!" Lina demanded. "Show yourself!"
They all stood silently and readied themselves for battle, Mirna reloading her crossbow and Luka unsheathing his blessed sword.
"A newborn," they heard as the two men emerged from the shadows. "Alone."
Lina narrowed her ruby-red eyes. They were old. She guarded her mind. Maybe as old as Lilith and Robert. She clenched her fists.
I can't fight them, she thought.
One of them started to smirk. He had long light brown hair, tied and draped over his shoulders. "Well, well, Cecil, what do you think we should do?"
Cecil, the other one, didn't reply and continued to look Lina over. This one had short black hair, neatly combed back.
"What do you want?!" Mirna demanded, glaring blessed daggers at them.
Cecil merely glanced at her and said, "We have no business with you humans. Leave while you still have a chance."
Mirna narrowed her eyes. "I don't think so!" She shot arrows towards them.
They did not make a move to dodge it, they just stood there as the arrows went through them.
"Whoa," Lina said. "I need to learn how to do that."
"Where ARE your mentors anyway?" Brandus asked, smiling. "How can they leave a newborn like you up for grabs?"
"Up for grabs?" Lina repeated.
"For older and more powerful vampires like us two to do whatever we want with," Brandus said, giving her a smile that ran chills down her spine.
"T-to do whatever you want?" Lina stuttered and took a step back, paler than usual.
"She's of Lilith and Robert," Cecil said suddenly and nodded towards a black crow perched atop a high branch.
Lina looked at the black crow and said, "Thanks alot, guys! Now you've left me up for grabs! How could you?!" She saw some sort of small ball of power thrown at it. It cawed and dissipated.
"That stick in the mud Robert?" Brandus asked and laughed. "When'd he ever have the patience to take anybody under his wing?"
Cecil suddenly smiled at Lina. "We're sorry if we scared you but we really would like you to come with us now."
"We won't let you take her!" Father Marcus suddenly said and stood in front of Lina.
"Aww, Father, I'm touched," Lina said. "When'd you ever gave a damn about me?!"
Marcus shook his head, dismissing her comment. "Not until you answer me something."
Lina facefaulted. "Hey, hey! Aren't you supposed to be protecting the innocent here?!"
"You're hardly innocent," Mirna mumbled.
"What did you say?!" Lina exclaimed.
"You heard me!"
"What would you like to know?" Cecil asked, ignoring the childish bickering.
Marcus' brows knitted. "Have any of you taken in or know anybody that has taken in a human recently?"
Brandus snorted. "Most of Us take humans every night."
Marcus' face reddened. "That is not what I meant..."
"Then what did you mean?" Brandus asked with annoyance.
"I mean as a lover...perhaps in your world, they would be a pet of some sort to keep around...for their blood," Marcus asked.
"Most of Us do that too," Brandus said, more aggravated. "Look, this is getting annoying. Why should we play twenty one questions to get that newborn? I can rip out your hearts before you can blink--"
"Brandus," Cecil said, glancing at his companion. He looked back at Marcus and asked, "Anybody in particular?"
Marcus nodded curtly. "Her name is Rosemary. About Mirna's height and build with long, wavy, light golden hair. She's been missing and I've been told that perhaps one of your kind took her."
Brandus looked at Cecil and shrugged. "Don't look at me, Cecil. I have no clue."
Cecil looked at Marcus and shook his head slightly. "We don't really go into others' personal matter. It's difficult to know those kinds of things."
Marcus looked down as if in shame. "I see...thank you anyway...Mirna, Luka, let's go."
The three humans turned to the opposite direction.
"He-hey! Wait a minute! You people are leaving me here?!" Lina exclaimed.
Luka looked at her calmly. "That was the whole purpose of leaving you alive. Well, as alive as you can get."
Lina grunted and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, gee, thanks. By the way, you're very welcome for saving your asses last night from the Weres!" She turned away from them and grumbled. "The nerve of these heartless people!"
Marcus stopped and looked at Lina. "Oh, that reminds me. You might not want to tap into your Darkness too much."
Lina looked at him, puzzled. "What?"
"Last night," he replied. "You tapped into your Dark conscious. That's how you went berserk and killed those Weres. If it weren't for the cross burn on your heart, you would have killed all of us too." He indicated the scar through Lina's tattered remains of her outfit.
"Which I should have done, what with you people ditching me now," Lina grunted.
"In any case, I warn you to be very careful when you are cornered, make your decisions wisely. I pray that it will not be your last resort," Marcus said and walked on, the two following close behind.
Mirna turned back to look at Lina briefly, for once not having much to say. She turned around and walked away.
With that, the three humans exited the world of Darkness for which they did not want to cross.
"I can't believe they ditched me like that! After all I did for them!" Lina exclaimed after them.
"Not even an escape route for me!" She turned her annoyed face back to the two vampires.
She grunted. "Now what?"
"Now," Brandus said, smirking. "You come with us."
Lina narrowed her eyes. "And if I don't?"
"Then it's going to hurt," he replied.
Lina swallowed a lump that formed in her throat. They might be more powerful but she was Lina Inverse! She wasn't about to give up and go along with what they had in mind so easily!
"Then it's going to hurt," Lina said and jumped back into the shadows. She'd rather die trying to escape.
Lina emerged what she thought was in back of them but found on Cecil's back. She let out a gasp as she sensed something from behind her. She quickly jumped out of the shadows and away from Brandus who swiped her with his hand.
She turned around and found herself nose to nose with him. A blow to her gut caught her in mid-gasp. She felt herself fall. Brandus caught her shirt and brought her up.
"So powerless," he scoffed into her face.
Lina coughed out air and held her stomach painfully. "Y'know, you're not supposed to be this rough with girls."
Brandus grunted. "Gender is of no matter to me. When in battle, it's either you're powerful or you're not." With that he hurled her into a tree. She slammed into it back first and slid down in pain. Blood trickled down her mouth. If she were still human, every one of her bones would have broke again and again.
Her red eyes clouded. She felt the two older vampires looking down at her. She started to see Darkness again, heard the voice again, her Dark conscious, Marcus called it.
...again...again...let me go...
So am I cornered? She heard herself think. Is this my last resort?
...yes...yes...again...
Lina shut her eyes. No.
...yes...
NO! Get a hold of yourself Lina! It's controlling you! Nothing controls you! NOTHING!!
She open her eyes wide and looked up at the two bending slightly to look at her. They edged back slightly at the abruptness of her actions.
"LIGHTING!!" She shouted and shoved a ball of bright light into their faces.
"AGH!!" she heard Brandus exclaim and saw the two of them backing away covering their eyes.
She took off in a dead run. With her being a vampire, a cheetah couldn't have caught up with her. She didn't bother merging with shadow again. It didn't matter because the two other vampires could catch her anyway. Lina dared a glance behind her and found nothing after her. She sped up and turned around. She felt herself run into a wall.
Brandus stood in front of her and grabbed her neck. She tip-toed as he lifted her up off the ground.
"That is enough fooling around!" his fangs showed as he growled at her, his red eyes glowed.
"Ngh!" was all Lina managed through his hold. She grabbed his hand and tried to pry it off to no avail.
He lifted her neck towards his fangs.
"You are a nuisance!" he said before he bit down on her neck.
She felt every drop of blood that coursed through her body into his mouth. Her eyes became heavy, so did all her body feel as her hands sagged against her body.
Can we feed on each other? was all she thought before she drifted off into unconsciousness again.
-----
Brandus pulled the unconscious newborn away from his fangs and snorted. "That's why we never Made one."
"Well," Cecil said from his side. "Let's go back before her guardians come flying to her rescue."
Brandus grunted. "It's not like they can't come into Turquoise anyway."
Cecil smiled and said, "Yes, but Turquoise is our territory. And besides, they'll understand that we're only borrowing their newborn. It's not like we're going to keep her."
"Aww, we're not?" Brandus asked and smirked.
"Come, Brandus," Cecil said, "you are smarter than to mess with Lilith and Robert."
Brandus waved his hands. "Yeah, yeah, it was only a joke, Cecil. If you had a sense of humor, you would have understand it."
He ignored the comment. "Well, let us go and take care of our borrowed newborn before she's dehydrated to death," Cecil said and blended into the shadows.
Brandus shrugged to no one in particular, draped the unconscious vampire over his shoulders and followed his companion back to Turquoise, their and every other vampire's home.
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Author's note: Yay! Chap 5! Is it just me or are the chapters gettin' shorter and shorter!? Well, I tried my best! More new characters come in and the old ones exit! BUT! Perhaps that's not the end of those humans...ahh...a foreshadowing...beware...
Yea, so Lina still has her magic. It's just I hadn't brung it up much because I wanted to focus on her vampiric abilities! I think her magic is gonna be used more in future chapters tho! :D