Hey guys, here's chapter 22 of Misadventures of Vee. Before we start, for those of you that are wondering when I'll be updating Rise of Zeo, I've been taking a little break from that story. I probably update it at some point though. Anyway, here's chapter 22 of this story.
"Hmm, yes, I see," Dani said with an air of mysteriousness as she flipped another tarot card. She peered over all the cards she had laid out with a thoughtful expression before looking at Vee. "You are nearing the end of a great journey, one that will shape the course of many lives. At its end a choice awaits you, the kind of choice that has no good option. Whatever your decision, it will have far reaching consequences for you and everyone you know."
A shiver of dread ran up Vee's spine. A choice? What choice could that be? Consequences? Vee didn't like the sound of that. Suddenly the heavy atmosphere was broken by Nova, Vee's little crystal dragon, snuggling against her cheek and the snickers of Amity and Luz. Vee glared at the girls.
"Stop, this isn't funny!" she protested.
"Sorry, Vee," Luz said between fawning. "It's just your reactions are so cute."
"Yeah, you really believe Dani can do Oracle magic," Amity said.
"She can! Even back at camp when she didn't have Hexes Hold'em cards, she could!" Vee insisted, feeling her cheeks burn in embarrassment. Tonight had started out so nicely. It had been just the four of them, enjoying a girl's night/double date at the Noceda house. Then Vee had asked Dani to pull out her cards and this happened.
"Don't let them bother you, Vee," Dani said with a haughty flip of her hair. "Some people can't appreciate the art of divination."
"Ugh, Titan, you sound just like the Oracle Coven head Osran," Amity snarked.
An idea came to Luz and she thought out loud, "Hey, if there are real Oracle witches out there, how come none of them were able to divine Emperor Belos's betrayal? That… is a major plot hole."
Amity rolled her eyes. "Because Oracle track witches are so full of themselves since they can see everybody's future that they never bother to look into their own future. Oracles are the most annoying, egotistical, narcissists who pretend every mistake they make is on purpose."
Silence reigned.
The spiteful words hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity.
There was a sniffle.
Everyone looked at Dani and saw the hurt. Hot tears threatened to fall. There wasn't a hint of that haughty self-confidence anymore.
"Oh my gosh, Dani, no, I didn't mean you—" Amity started to say with obvious regret.
"It's fine. It's just a game, right? All pretend," Dani said, scooping up her cards. She marched for the front door. "I'm gonna head home."
"Dani! Wait!" Vee tried to grab her girlfriend's hand but Dani slipped by. Before anyone else could stop her, Dani was gone.
"Vee, I'm so sorry," Amity said, upset. "I didn't mean— I wasn't talking about her. I'm not that kind of person anymore, I swear."
Vee knew that was the truth but what Amity had meant didn't matter. She put Nova down and chased after Dani. It was a new moon tonight so there was no extra light to help her see. Morphing a pair of vampire eyes, she sniffed for the familiar scent of roses and followed the trail down the suburban road. What was she going to say? What could she say? Dani had always loved magic, especially fortune-telling. To hear an actual witch not only call her a fake but also badmouth her magic must've devastated Dani. What a mess.
Vee's nostrils flared. Dani was close. Very close, in fact. She should be able to see Dani by now but there was no sign of life on the dark street.
"Dani?" Vee called.
A whimper, faint and weak, drifted by her ear. Vee whipped toward it and saw the hedges of a house that reached above her head. The whimpering grew stronger as she pushed through the foliage. She imagined Dani crying in a ball and readied herself to give all the support she had.
What she found was so much worse.
Dani was whimpering but not in a ball of sadness. Surrounded by her scattered tarot cards, she was in the sharp clutches of a snarling and drooling figure whose face was pressed against Dani's neck.
"What the—" Vee said.
The figure pulled away from Dani and hissed horrifically at Vee, baring a pair of long sharp fangs. Though the cheeks were gaunt and striped with wiry fur, Vee instantly recognized the face.
"Heather?! What are you—Get off her!" Fury instantly broiling, Vee morphed into a huge manticore and punted the vampire away from Dani. The much smaller vampire tumbled back a few times before recovering. She reared up and unleashed a ferocious howl at Vee. This was met with a roar that rivaled Harry the sasquatch. Car alarms blared in the distance. Vee stood protectively over Dani, daring Heather to try anything.
Both sides stared each other down, neither willing to back off, until…
"Heather!" shouted a new voice.
The animalistic sneer dropped from the vampire's face. From the sky descended Tracey in her flying snake-demon form. On her large shoulders, to Vee's surprise, sat Vince. Tracey had her arms up in a peaceful gesture and spoke softly to Heather.
"It's me, Heather," Tracey pleaded. "Don't you recognize me?"
The sight of her friend only seemed to stress and confuse the vampire. Heather shrunk away and disappeared into the night.
"No, Heather! Come back!" Tracey called but it was too late.
The entrance was unexpected to Vee to say the least but none of it mattered. As soon as she was sure the vampire was gone, Vee morphed back to her human form and checked Dani.
"Dani? Are you okay? Can you hear me?"
Dani was unresponsive in Vee's arms, letting out only the occasional groan which told Vee she was still alive. Then Vee saw something that made her heart stop: two perfectly circular holes bleeding in Dani's neck.
Dani laid on the couch, Vee sitting on the other end as she watched over her with Nova sitting in her lap.
"This is all my fault," Amity said in distraught, running her fingers through her hair, "If I hadn't said all those mean things to Dani, none of this would've happened," she said standing in front of the couch with Luz.
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself, Amity," Luz said in an attempt to comfort her girlfriend.
"Vee, you must hate me," Amity looked at the basilisk.
"No. I know you didn't mean what you said," Vee said, "Besides, this kind of stuff happens to my friends and I all the time. We're used to this," she said, looking back at her own girlfriend.
Sensing her mother's/friend's sorrow, Nova let out a whine, like that of a worried puppy. The little dragon nuzzled Vee's chest, trying her best to comfort her. That little gesture made Vee smile a bit. Ever since they met and she drained Vee of the Collector's magic, Nova had been affectionate and comforting towards her. Looks like the little dragon was Vee's equivalent of comfort/therapy dog. Which was definitely something she could use occasionally.
Meanwhile, Vince was examining Dani's wound, the girl's skin having gotten pale.
"Vee, please don't be mad at Heather," Tracey said, the basilisk turning her attention to the cheerleader who had returned to her human form, "She gets like this once a month. She ditches me and gets super hostile and paranoid," she told her.
"Through my experiments with Tracey and Heather, I descovered Heather reverts to a feral, wild vampire during every new moon, during which she succumbs to her hunger and has no control over her actions," Vince further explained, "OW!" he rubbed his arm upon receiving a punch in the arm by Tracey.
"Yeah, and it's your stupid experiments that let Heather get this bad!" Tracey snapped at him.
"Hey, I replaced Heather's blood packs with tomato juice for the sake of science!" Vince shot back in defense.
"Science my ass! For someone that's supposed to be a genius, you sure are an idiot!" Tracey yelled.
The cheerleader and scientist's argument would've gone on further, if it weren't for them being cut off by a loud gasp. Everyone turned to Dani, who was now awake.
"Dani!" Vee threw her arms around her girlfriend, "I'm so glad you're ok!" she said with extreme relief, hugging the girl tightly.
"I'm glad to see you too, Vee. Ugh, I'm so thirsty," Dani replied, albeit weakly, her throat as dry as a desert, "Mmm. Vee, you smell so... juicy," she commented almost... hungrily? Uh-oh.
Quickly, Tracey pulled Vee away from Dani. Dani hissed, a new pair of fangs glimmering in her mouth.
"Crap. I knew this would happen!" Tracey commented, holding back the newly made vampire. Due to Dani still being feeble, Tracey was able to hold her down with one arm.
"Incredible!" Vincent said in fascination. Going full nerd, he wrote down notes from Dani's appearance to her hostile behavior. The scientist was shoved away by Tracey.
"Dani just got bit, so she's a low tier vampire. She's not as dangerous as Heather in feral mode, but she's still driven by hunger," Tracey explained.
"Do you know how we can fix this? Please tell me you know fix this," Vee pleaded.
"I don't. Sorry," Tracey replied, sadly. "But I know someone that does..."
It was too late for the bus and Vee did not want to get Camilla involved, especially after the last vampire fiasco, so they were forced to call an Uber. The six teens and one baby dragon were piled into a surprisingly clean van. There were enough charging cables for all their devices, complimentary water bottles, and a Xbox ready to play.
"That dog is housetrained, right?" the beanie-wearing driver asked, eyeing Nova.
"Dog?" asked Luz. "I mean, yeah! Of course, Nova is a very well-behaved dog, the best dog."
Nova cocked her head in confusion.
"Mm-hmm, what's wrong with her?" The driver pointed with his chin at the rear seat where Dani was strapped down with three sets of seat-belts. She fervently wrestled against her restraints; her new fangs glistened against her lips. She looked like a madwoman trying to escape a straitjacket.
"The less you ask, the bigger your tip," Tracey firmly replied.
The driver shrugged, turned back to the road, and didn't make another sound.
During the trip, only Vee was brave enough to sit with Dani, she wasn't going to abandon her girlfriend, although she stayed out of biting range.
"Don't worry, Dani, we'll fix this," Vee said.
Dani paused her thrashing, probably due to exhaustion or hunger. "Vee," she panted, her parched voice almost drowned out by the engine. For the moment she'd regained control. "I'm so thirsty."
"Don't think about it. Here, look at what I brought." Vee produced the deck of tarot cards from her pocket. She'd made sure to not leave behind Dani's most valued treasure. None had been scratched or folded in the scuffle. There was a glint of recognition in Dani's gaze… and a sad frown. "How about I read your fortune for a change, huh? It won't be as accurate as when you do it but it'll keep your mind off things."
Dani's frown deepened.
Vee shuffled the cards and proceeded to lay them out one at a time in the diamond shape she'd seen Dani make dozens of times. Even though the basilisk had magic in her system, she could only use the power to transform, not cast spells like a witch. However, Vee hoped that being close to Dani would be enough for the Oracle magic to do its thing. Her gaze drifted over the cards, trying to discern the future.
"Let's see here… okay… Oh! This chariot thing must be us right now heading to the cure that will fix all of this, which means our next stop is…" Vee drew the next card and instantly felt cold. On the card a grim reaper grinned back at her over the word DEATH. Vee shoved the dark messenger to the bottom of the deck and nervously gathered the rest of the cards. "Back home where we all get a good night's sleep and laugh about this in the morning. See? Everything will work out."
Vee smiled widely at Dani.
The smile she got back was small and forced.
"We're here," Tracey announced.
Wherever here was, Vee had never seen this part of Gravesfield before. Gone were the suburban homes and quaint family-owned stores. Forest surrounded them, dense and gnarled. Any sign of the modern world had been left far behind. The road wasn't even paved, only a dirt path led to the gothic monstrosity that towered atop a hill curtained by thick fog. It was a manor as big as Lance's mansion, some of the spires might've even been taller. The difference was this home looked like it had been transported here from another time… or a horror movie. Vee thought she heard a wolf howl in the distance.
"Uh… where are we?" Amity squeaked.
"Heather's place," Tracey said.
"Heather's? Wait, you mean the only people who can help us are…" Luz gasped, eyes sparkling, sounding way too eager, "real vampires?"
"Yup, come on."
Keeping Dani tied with rope, they all piled out and climbed the ancient stone steps to the giant door. A door knocker in the shape of the head of a devil glared intimidatingly down at the group. Vee felt the same fear emanating from everyone. This was not a welcoming place.
Tracey, the only one not scared, stepped past the door knocker and rang the electronic doorbell none of them had noticed. The pleasant jingle actually got them to relax. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.
"Theory!" Vincent suddenly said. "If Heather exhibits this hostile behavior every new moon, then logically can we not infer that her parents also—"
The door exploded! Tendrils of darkness snared the group and dragged them inside. Screams of pure terror echoed in every direction. Through long hallways they were dragged, too fast for Vee to really see anything clearly. In a panic, she morphed into a pixie in order to escape. The moment she started to shrink though the shadows constricted, trapping her all over again. Vee reversed course and expanded into a giraffe. Once more the shadows grew with her, not giving her an inch.
Then Vee was upside down. Her long giraffe neck pressed her head against the varnished wooden floor while her body and the rest of the group flailed in the air. From this low angle, Vee saw the source of the shadows: a coffin, ornate and polished. The lid was only slightly opened, darkness crawled out from the crack like some sort of unholy living slime.
On the lid was a gold plaque inscribed with one word: Susan.
Vee only caught a glimpse of that name before the lid flew open. An unhinged jaw lined with rows of razor-sharp fangs greeted the teens with a shriek they felt in their bones. This was a vampire unlike any they had ever seen. There was no escape, no hope. They were Susan's next meal.
"Sweetheart!" a deep accented voice cried. "You know better!"
A pair of hands grabbed Susan from behind and shoved the neck of a bottle into her mouth. The contents swirled down her gullet. Almost immediately, Susan yawned. Her unyielding bloodlust was replaced with abrupt fatigue. Like a baby, she curled up in her coffin and went to sleep. Vee and the rest of the gang were all of the sudden released by the shadows which joined Susan in the coffin. They dropped to the floor in a heap.
Their savior, a tall, pale man draped in a cape, raked back his snow-white hair and said to them, "You must forgive my wife. She is not in the best of moods tonight. You must be Heather's friends. I am Cadell, her father."
Moments after their little greeting, the kids sat on the grand couch, mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows in their hands to help them stop shaking in fear and trauma.
"Forgive my wife's earlier behavior. We royal vampires are not the animals you see in movies," Cadell reassured them, "Normally, we can keep our hunger for blood under control, but once a month on a new moon, we go a little batty," he said jokingly.
That little pun made Luz laugh her head off. The others though, chuckled nervously, still a little on edge about what happened. The only exception was Tracey, who groaned while pinching the bridge of her nose. Dad jokes were so lame. Not that she'd know personally, but she heard plenty of them when watching TV and spending time around Heather's dad.
Vee observed the room they were in. She saw that the house was full of paintings, including one that showed him along with his brother and their father. Underneath it was a golden engraving with the word "Bloodborne".
"Mr. Bloodborne, we have a problem," Tracey spoke, "Heather succumbed to her feral instincts and is out for blood. Literally," she informed the older vampire.
"What? Heather knows she's not supposed to be out this late," Cadell replied, shocked at hearing of the behavior of his daughter.
"Yeah, it wasn't her fault. Let's just say someone made a stupid mistake," Tracey said, glaring at Vince out of the corner of her eye, causing the young scientist to shrink a bit.
Cadell turned his attention to Dani, seeing the young girl thrash as she tried to bite Vee.
"Was this my daughter's doing?" Cadell asked, Vee nodding in response. The vampire father sighed, "I'm sorry. Please forgive my daughter's unlady-like behavior. She's normally not like this; it's the new moon that's making her act this way," he explained.
"How come you're not acting all bloodthirsty like your wife and daughter?" Luz asked.
"I'm over a thousand years old and have experienced countless new moons, to the point where I've become immune to its feral effects," Cadell explained.
"Cool!" Luz beamed.
"Do you know if there's a way to reverse this? Can we cure Dani?" Vee asked, still worried though still keeping her distance from her bloodthirsty girlfriend.
"I don't know for sure," Cadell said, "There is a recipe, three different types of blood," he started, "The first is the blood of the vampire that bit her."
"Which in this case is Heather," Amity pointed out.
"The second is griffin's blood. Griffin's blood is kind of like a sleeping potion for vampires. That, combined with my daughter's blood, should be able to quench Dani's base desires and live normal life as a vampire... unless it's a new moon," Cadell further explained, "Honestly, she's very fortunate to have the honor to become a royal vampire. As the eldest vampire, she'd be the head of her own brood."
"Yeah, that's not happening, Mr. Bloodborne. Not on my watch," Vee stood, her eyes furrowed with seriousness behind them, "I refuse to give my girlfriend anything less than a cure. We're going to fix her no matter what."
"Easier said than done. The final type of blood you'd need has been lost to time. Getting Heather's blood will be easy, but how will you get the final ingredient? Even in the Demon Realm, it wasn't easy to obtain," Cadell told her.
"Easy. After we've calmed Dani down with the first two bloods, we'll have her use her tarot cards to divine the lost ingredient," Vee said confidently, "Once we figure what the final blood type is, changing my girl back with be a piece of cake," she said with a sassy snap of her fingers.
She had been spending a lot of time with Miss. Canis.
They got to work. Cadell led the group up a spiraling staircase, listening to Vee brag about Dani's unparalleled fortune-telling abilities, how she'd correctly divined Vee had fled the Demon Realm, how she'd foreseen the disaster that would befall the Boiling Isles. The vampire was impressed.
"Dani sounds like the most powerful Oracle to have ever existed," he said. "It's very fortune-nate that she is here."
The pun-praise left a proud warmth in Vee's heart. She smiled smugly back at Luz and Amity, those doubters. Eventually they reached a room which had to be the cringiest rebellious teenage girl's bedroom any of them had ever seen. Black walls, black candles, black carpet, black curtains, black everything, nothing like the rest of the well-lit, elegantly decorated, homely manor. This looked like a poor man's Halloween store.
"...Wow…" Luz said.
"I know, I tell her to add what she likes and now you can't even find the bathroom," Cadell said.
In Vee's humble opinion, Heather was trying too hard.
It was difficult to hunt a vampire. They were quick, intelligent, and powerful. However, all vampires, royal or not, return to the same place at the end of the night, 100% guaranteed. Armed with this knowledge, they set a trap next to Heather's coffin, which was of course black. Vee was surprised there wasn't a skull carved into the wood for extra edge. The trap was a bottle identical to the one Cadell had force fed Susan.
"My daughter won't be able to resist her favorite midnight snack," Cadell assured them. Then he added with an eyebrow waggle, "You could say griffin is Heather's blood type."
Luz guffawed. Everybody else facepalmed.
"Stop encouraging him," Tracey scolded Luz.
Once the bottle was in place, they all gathered in the hall to wait for Heather's arrival. Cadell retrieved from his cape one last bottle of griffin blood.
"Remember, she must drink every drop," he told Vee as he handed her the bottle.
Vee turned to Dani, still struggling against her binds. There was a pang in Vee's chest, seeing her girlfriend in such distress. She wanted to hold Dani, to comfort her and never let go, but that would only lead to more problems.
"Hey, Dani," she said softly. "Are you still thirsty?"
Dani hissed; her ears perked at the last word. When the bottle was uncorked Dani's pupils immediately dilated. She stopped trying to break free. Suddenly she sat still and behaved, she'd become like an obedient dog trying her best to contain herself and be rewarded with a treat, or in this case the bottle. Vee pushed away her unease at the sudden shift in demeanor and carefully offered the drink to her, keeping as far away as possible. In a blur of motion, Dani latched onto the neck of the bottle, her fangs sunk into the glass. She ripped the bottle from Vee's grasp and tilted her head back. The blood was gone in seconds.
"There you go. Better?" Vee said.
Wooziness overcame Dani. She began to sway back and forth like a drunk. Her feet fell out from under her and Dani would've hit the floor if Vee hadn't caught her.
"Don't worry," she told the vampire, lowering her gently to the ground, "when you wake up, you'll be in full control again and then you'll be able to tell us the final ingredient that will cure you, I promise." Dani was asleep before she could finish. Hopefully she heard Vee in her dreams.
"Uhhh, Vee," Luz said, cutting the moment short. Her sister scrunched her face as she talked, as though trying to find the right words. "Not to put a downer on everything we've done so far tonight, but have you ever considered the positives of having a vampire girlfriend?"
Vee raised a brow at the question. "Positives?"
"Yeah! For instance, the two of you can always stay out as late as you want, night vision, flight—Ooh! I bet Dani can open a can of soda with her sharp teeth! Isn't that cool?"
"Kinda…? But Dani has never said anything about wanting to be a vampire, if anything she thinks they're cliché. Where is this coming from, Luz? We know how to fix her."
Luz tensed and awkwardly looked away. "I know, I know, I just don't want you to be disappointed in case… Dani's prediction doesn't… well, you know… work…"
Vee sighed heavily. "How many times do I have to say this? Dani can predict the future. She's done it before and she'll do it again. I've seen her do it."
"About that…" Luz sucked in a breath. She spoke as delicately as she could. "I understand that Dani might've shown you stuff that you thought was magic but— Ugh, let me start over. There are these things humans do called magic tricks that I know have magic in the name, very confusing, but they're actually— No, sorry, um, look, what I'm getting at is Dani can't do Oracle magic because she's—"
"A human, like you. You can do magic, Luz. So can Dani," Vee said like it was the most obvious conclusion in the world.
"I can only do magic with the wand."
"And Dani can do magic with her cards." Vee patted her sister on her shoulder, pitying her lack of understanding, and took her hiding place by the bedroom door. "You'll see, Dani will tell us the answer and prove she can do magic once and for all."
Once again, Vee didn't notice the worried looks exchanged between Luz and Amity. Before they could try again, their target arrived.
Somewhere in the infinite black void a window cracked open. The black night sky was somehow brighter than the room. Hush fell over the group, not a peep was made. Every eye was focused on the window. However, no matter how long she watched, Vee saw no one crawl through. Had they been spotted? Had Heather fled?
Then she heard the rattle of glass.
Whipping toward the coffin, she was shocked to find Heather wiping her furry mouth and kicking the now empty bottle away. Vampires were fast. Just like Dani, Heather swayed side to side, the griffin blood was doing its thing. The coffin opened on its own and Heather climbed in, yawning deeply. Her brutal fans glistened in the faint light. Vee couldn't stop a twinge of anger; those fangs had hurt Dani.
Seconds later, the coffin shut and from within it a soft snoring could be heard. It was over.
"See? Easy peasy," Cadell said loudly. He strolled to the coffin and popped it open, clearly not worried about waking Heather. "Now we just give Dani a smidgen of her blood and—"
In a blur, Heather bit Cadell's hand that was reaching toward her. For a moment, nobody said or did anything. Then, Heather's eyes slid open, revealing a pair of crescent moons.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Vee shouted.
"Mr. Bloodborne, get away from her! She's been—" Luz started to say.
Cadell's head twisted 180 degrees to face them, his spine cracking every millimeter, and flashed a pair of identical crescent moons. Both father and daughter grinned madly at the group.
"Yummy!" declared Nova and leapt toward the delicious Collector magic.
Vee barely grabbed the baby dragon out of the air before four sets of vampire claws slashed right where she'd been fluttering. Both Cadell and Heather's hands were impaled through the floor. On their faces were identical pouts that belonged on a spoiled brat.
"Heather, what is wrong with you?!" Tracey hollered.
"Stay back, that's not Heather right now," Vee said.
"Aha!" exclaimed Vincent. "Heather's erratic behavior wasn't solely due to my interference in her diet."
"I can't play," whined Heather childishly.
"I can't play any games when that thing's around," whined Cadell as well.
Their pouts were directed solely at Nova. This wasn't the 'let's have fun' attitude Vee was used to anymore. This was the laughable seriousness you get when a toddler becomes frustrated, the sort of foot stomping, arm flailing frustration that happens when a kid has lost a few too many times, the sort of kid frustration any teen could roll their eyes at and ignore. Problem was this was no ordinary kid.
At the same time, Cadell and Heather's crescent moon eyes glowed an unsettling red and they said, "I wanna play a different game…"
The father and daughter vampire duo lunged for the young dragon. However, they were smacked away by Tracey's huge snake tail, the girl pinning them to the wall.
"Who are you? What have you done to Heather and her dad?!" Tracey asked in a demanding tone. The vampires opened their mouths.
"Tracey, get away from them!" Vee attempted to warn the cheerleader, but it was too late as the vampires sank their teeth into her tail, the snake demon hissing in pain.
A second later, Tracey opened her eyes, crescent moon appearing in their eyes just like with Heather and Cadell. The remaining teens groaned. Great, another person possesed by The Collector. Needing to get the others out, Vee transformed into a female tauren. Taurens were kind of like minotaurs except instead of having the body of a human and the head of a cow/bull, they were more like anthropomorphic cows/bulls that stood on two legs. Vee learned about them through Lance when she watched him play one of his MMORPGs on the computer. She grabbed her Luz, Amity and Vince and headed for the stairs. However, she was immediately stopped by the vampires and snake demon blocking her way.
"Going somewhere?" Tracey asked playfully.
"What's your hurry? We haven't gotten a chance to play yet," Heather asked.
"And we can only do that with that thing gone!" Cadell pointed to Nova, "Now hand it over!" he demanded.
"Looks like The Collector is dragon us into his little game," Luz joked, causing Cadell to crack up and Heather and Tracey to groan.
During the vampire father's fit of laughter, Amity noticed something. Several more bottles of griffin blood in Cadell's cape. Using what little magic she had, Amity quickly nabbed one of the bottles with a slime-whip, all without anyone noticing. Amity then removed herself from Vee's hold.'
"Hey, Heather..." Amity spoke to the younger vampire, "Look. Your favorite snack!" she teased shaking the bottle a bit. The vampire teen stuck her tongue out, panting like a dog.
"Amity, what're you doing?" Luz asked with concern.
"Just trust me," Amity replied, "Vee, get us somewhere safe," she told the basilisk.
Vee nodded, grabbed Amity and dashed off, the vampires and Tracey in pursuit. They went through the master bedroom, which was complete with a California King sized coffin, and into a walk-in closet. Changing back into her human form, Vee found a light switch and turned the lights on. To everyone's surprise, the closet was filled with the most elegant of men's fashion. Sure, he liked to live a normal life, but the man had taste. Vee turned and saw Heather ahead of Tracey and Cadell, the vampire teen practically drooling over the griffin blood.
"You want it? Go get it!" Amity tossed the bottle to the far end of the closet, Heather diving hungrily after it.
Quickly, Vee and the others slammed the door in Cadell and Tracey's faces, and then used various objects to block it. Everyone turned to Heather, who proceeded to chug down the griffin blood. Just as before, Heather soon passed out, sleeping like a baby bat.
"Nice job, Amity," Vee commended her sister's girlfriend, making the witch smile, "Alright, two ingredients down, one to go. Time wake Dani up and get the third."
Instantly, Amity's smile dropped. "Hold on, Vee, wait—"
A thunderous bang shook the closet. Their barricade bulged and shook as it sounded like Cadell and Tracey were throwing their entire bodies against the door. Panic gripped the teens.
"Give us the dragon!" both vampires shouted.
Nova finished draining The Collector magic from Heather and cowered behind Vee with a whimper. Vincent mentally calculated the best placement of additional blockage and started adding shoeboxes. Luz added herself to the barricade. Amity attempted to create a slime wall but her miniscule magic only made a couple ropes, strings really. They pathetically tied the barricade to the door frame at Amity's command. Despite their efforts, it was clear that it wouldn't hold for long.
"Vee, hurry!" Vincent called. "Turn into something that weighs at least 50.813 pounds or they'll get in!"
"Just a sec," Vee replied absently. Her entire focus was on the slumbering Dani who she was dragging to Heather.
"Vee, please, help us!" cried Amity, struggling to hold the slime in place.
"Once I wake Dani, she'll fix everything," Vee muttered desperately. For a moment she was puzzled by how to get a sleeping person to bite another sleeping person. When she squeezed Dani's cheeks her mouth popped open and her fangs extended to a frightening size. "Yikes! Uh… ummm… I guess…" Vee looked back and forth between the fangs and Heather's neck. Seeing no other options, she jammed the two together. "Ew, ew, ew, ew!" Vee twisted her head away and tried to ignore the sickening squelch.
Then…
"Blegh… Vee?"
Vee peeked. Dani slowly rose, still a little out of it, wiping blood from her chin. She looked around, unsure of her surroundings.
"Where am I? Why do I taste—"
Unable to hold herself back, Vee tackled Dani in the biggest hug of her life. "Dani! Thank the Titan, it worked!"
"Vee? Why are you so warm? Or… am I cold? What's wrong with my teeth? They feel weird."
Another thunderous bang shook the closet, getting Dani's attention.
"Touching reunion, but can you speed things up!" Luz begged.
"What the—" Dani said at the sight of the mountain of hat boxes, capes, and teeth whitener.
"Long story short," Vee explained, "you were turned into a vampire by Heather, we went to her dad for help, but he and Tracey got possessed by The Collector—"
"Vee!" Vincent cried.
"Good news: we can make you human again." Vee pulled the deck of tarot cards from her pocket and pressed them into Dani's hands. "You just need to use your Oracle magic to divine what's the long-lost final ingredient."
A silent gawk was all Dani could manage.
"Go ahead, figure out what creature's blood you need and I'll turn into it and you can bite me and everything will be okay. Go on, I know you can do it."
"VEE!" everyone at the crumbling barrier screamed.
Except Luz.
Luz focused her sad gaze on the other girl. "Dani," she said solemnly, "tell her."
Vee didn't hear those words, she was too focused on the deck, on Dani and the answers she'd reveal. Her girlfriend would give the cards a shuffle and lay them out, boldly presenting the truth as she always did. But then… Dani pushed the cards back to Vee. Vee looked up at Dani, questioning silently. There was such pain in Dani's eyes, pain and shame and guilt that Vee had never seen before.
"It's fake," she whispered.
A cold shiver washed over Vee. "...Wha…"
"None of it is real, Vee," Dani choked out. "I'm so sorry, I…"
"What are you talking about? Back at summer camp you knew, you knew I was running away, you knew I was escaping the Emperor's Coven, you couldn't tell I was a basilisk but you knew everything else."
"No, I didn't, Vee," Dani confessed on the brink of tears. "I can't tell the future; I can't do Oracle magic or any magic. It's a trick humans use called cold reading. I just have to act confident while being vague enough and let you fill in the details. I never said Demon Realm or Belos or the Emperor's Coven, you did."
Words dried up in Vee's throat. What those words were going to be she hadn't the slightest clue, her mind was a haze right now.
"I swear, at first I thought you knew, that you were playing along. When I realized you just blindly accepted that I was really an Oracle," Dani sniffled, cheeks wet, "I don't know, it felt nice that someone actually believed in me." She reached out, cautious, barely touching Vee's arm as though afraid of hurting her. "I'm really sorry, Vee, I never intended to—"
"It was me?"
The question hung in the air. There was no betrayal in Vee's voice, no strain, no anger. Eyes wide in shock, the basilisk wiped the tears off Dani's face and cupped her cheeks.
"You're telling me none of your predictions would've come true? But they did. I won the track race, I learned Spanish, I even beat that huge guy in that pop-tart eating contest. I thought all of that was predestined to happen because you said it would. That was all… me?"
Stunned by what Vee was asking, Dani fumbled with her answer. "Well-well, y-yeah, I knew you could do all those things, Vee, I believed in you. You just needed a little push."
Vee's jaw hung open. "By the Titan…" she said in awe, "humans can do magic!"
"Huh?" said Dani.
"Wha?" added everyone else.
Stepping away, Vee morphed into a great and powerful owlbear, as big and muscular as a bear only covered in a thick plumage of feathers and an owl's head on her even thicker neck. In her new form, she pushed the rest aside and braced herself against the barrier. With the added weight, the threat of the vampires breaking in was finally averted.
"What are you talking about, Vee?" Luz asked. "No human can do magic."
Vee twisted her owl head a full 180 degrees and grinned brightly at her.
"Yes, you can. Not the Titan-based magic that witches and demons use, sure, but you can do human magic like that cool reading Dani does."
"Cold reading," Dani corrected gently. "Wow, she is taking me lying to her for so long really well."
"Denial is a powerful coping mechanism," Vincent agreed glumly.
"Vee, hermana, escúchame, that's not magic," Luz insisted. "It's a trick."
"A trick, huh? You mean like… an Illusion?" Vee asked knowingly.
Every skeptical look vanished and every jaw in the closet dropped. At that exact moment, Heather groggily arose.
"What the? Where am I? What's going on?" she mumbled.
"Oh my God, humans can do magic!" Luz shouted.
"They what?!"
Some time had passed and Cadell and Tracey were still bashing against the closet door. The two were winded, especially Tracey, but they refused to give in.
"This is taking forever! How much junk do you keep in that closet?" Tracey asked with slight annoyance as they continued to bash against the door.
"Junk? I only collect the finest in high fashion," Cadell scoffed.
"Hey, Dad," Heather called from the other side of the door, "I have a super important message... from the future!" she said ominously, the vampire child pretending to still be under The Collector's control. This piqued the interest of the other two.
To their surprise, the closet door opened. Out came Dani, dressed in one of Cadell's most impressive outfits. Honestly, she looked like a real oracle witch.
"I, Dani Chang, have been gifted with a vision. A vision involving the Collector... and it seems very bad," Dani said ominously, her confidence at a new high.
Tracey scoffed with a roll of her eyes. However, considering how highly Vee spoke of Dani's abilities, decided to hear her out. Not that it mattered since the Collector was control, listening in like the child he was, like one that was about to listen to a horror story around the campfire. Everyone sat down. Deciding to add some dramatic flare, Dani shuffled her deck of tarot cards between her hands then laid a few of them out on the floor.
"More space dragons will arrive. An entire army of them!" Dani told them. While the vampires were distracted, Vee seized the opportunity to sneak Nova towards the tip of Tracey's tail.
"What?! But... But that's impossible! Those things are supposed to be extinct!" The Collecter said with a mix of shock and disbelief.
Vee flinched at that and looked at the little dragon, who had a somewhat sad expression upon her face. Was Nova really the last of her kind? Dani was taken back by this bit of information as well, but pressed on and informed the Collector of the incoming doom. Vee affectionately petted Nova, an attempt to comfort the dragon. Reluctantly, Nova bit down on Tracey's tail, instantly draining the snake demon of the Collector's magic.
"Huh? How did I get here?" Tracey asked, holding her head, feeling a little dizzy.
"What?" Cadell/Collector questioned. He turned around to see Vee and Nova.
The remaining vampire charged at the basilisk and dragon, Vee leaping out of the way at the last second. Picking Nova up, Vee ran as fast as she could while clenching the little dragon to her chest. Having managed to the top of the stairs, Vee leaped into the air and sprouted a pair of demon wings, literally flying down the stairs. She was able to make it through the front door and outside. However, she wasn't able to get any further beyond the front door due to her arm being grabbed by Cadell. The vampire opened his mouth, barring his fangs.
"Nova, bite down on my arm!" Vee told the dragon.
Realizing what Vee was thinking, Nova reached over and bit down on Vee's upper arm, Vee wincing a little as teeth hit bone. With a low growl, Vee gave her arm a hard yank, screaming as effectively tore her own arm off.
"Hmph. Not a bad move. Risky, but not bad," Cadell commended Vee as he watched blood drip from her now severed limb, "Now hand over the dragon!" he demanded.
"Not a chance!" Vee countered, undeterred to protect her dragon, "I have one last prediction for the Collector. The bell tolls for thee," she told him vaguely, and then rang the doorbell.
Cadell was confused by that. That is, until several horrific tentacles burst through the door. Vee and Nova managed to dive out of the way, but Cadell had been snared and was soon dragged inside. Vee and Nova looked at each other then sighed with relief.
The worst was over.
With Cadell wrestling against Susan's unyielding onslaught, Vee easily got Nova close enough to bite the vampire and drain him of The Collector's magic. Another vial of Griffin's blood was all it took to put his wife back to sleep. Now it was time for the next emergency.
"¡Madre de Dios! Vee! Your arm!" wailed Luz, trying and failing to tie off the stump.
"Stay with me, Vee! Don't go into the light!" screamed Dani.
"Hospital! We need a hospital!" Amity shouted.
Vee stood there, unamused by the swarm of concern surrounding her in the mansion's foyer. "Guys, breathe. I'm fine," she finally said and raised her stump. In a splorch of meat and sinew a fresh new arm sprouted fully grown. This made everyone jerk back with shouts of shock and disgust, save Dani and Vincent.
"How did you do that?" Cadell asked, astonished.
"I dunno." Vee shrugged. "Always could. Guess it's a basilisk thing."
"Basilisk?" Cadell asked, even more astonished.
"That is so cool!" Dani gushed.
"Fascinating!" Vincent said, poking and prodding her new flesh. "The regrowth rate was practically nanoseconds. Can you replace any body part? How about your organs? Your head? There are so many research opportunities."
"Hey!" Dani gave Vincent's arm a punch and shielded Vee from the boy. "None of that, Einstein. This whole night started because of your research."
"Actually… it wasn't entirely his fault…" Heather piped in. Everybody turned to the vampire girl. She scrunched her face and massaged her head, struggling to remember. "The tomato juice didn't help but I was still in control. I needed to blow off the feral energy so I went deep into the woods, deeper than where Tracey goes. I kept going until… until…" Her face lit up. "Old Gravesfield!"
"There's an Old Gravesfield?" Vee asked.
"Where the original settlers of the town lived," Luz explained. "Nobody goes there anymore; the place is a ghost town."
Sudden flashes of the memories they'd experienced in the Gravesfield Historical Society came to Vee. She recalled the colonial-style buildings where Caleb and Phillip had joined the witch hunters. They didn't match any of the buildings in town but Vee had assumed they'd been torn down and built over. Were they really still out there, rotting in the depths of the forest?
"It's the perfect place to go wild, I can tear apart anything I see and not worry about hurting someone," Heather explained. Then her gaze became distant and haunted. "But then… I thought I heard a voice… it was a… a kid… laughing."
Laughing…
A shiver ran down Vee's spine. "The Collector…" she breathed.
"Next thing I knew, someone or something jumped me from behind. Then I woke up in dad's closet." Heather trembled. Tracey pulled her into a hug and rocked her friend gently.
This was important.
This was an actual lead.
Since before Luz returned, Vee had been searching for a way to the Demon Realm. There had to be a way back if The Collector was sending his minions after them and now they might have just found it… in Old Gravesfield. She'd swore to her mom, her abuela, and her abuelo that she'd protect Luz and keep her sister safe, but none of them would ever be safe so long as The Collector chased them. As terrified as she was of returning to the world that had imprisoned her, Vee would face that fear and put an end to this.
"Alright, that's enough spooky stuff for one night," Dani declared and marched for the front door. "I'm exhausted and need a soda to wash my mouth out. Let's go home."
"Uh, Dani, aren't you forgetting something?" Vee said. When Dani stared at her blankly, she pointed at her girlfriend's fangs.
"Ugh! Are you serious?" Dani pulled on the sharp teeth as though she could pluck them out. "Is there really no cure for this?"
"Sorry," Heather snarked. "Didn't realize being royalty was such a burden."
"Come on, Dani, it isn't so bad, right?" Luz said. "A lot of people would be very jealous of you. Some might even consider this romantic."
"Qù tā de! (Screw that!)" Dani spat. "I know I'm a teenage girl, but that doesn't mean I constantly fantasize about living forever with my dark, tall, brooding, undead, vampire lover." She gagged at the idea, then wrapped a proud arm around Vee. "I have actual taste."
"She's into snake-girls," Vincent translated.
"Good to know," Tracey flirted, winking at Dani and swishing her snake tail.
Dani blushed which got a round of laughter from the group. The moment was interrupted by Cadell tromping into the foyer, his nose buried in a thick ancient book. Vee was surprised to see him enter since she hadn't seen him leave. Vampires were sneaky.
"Basilisk, basilisk, basilisk," he mumbled endlessly as he scoured the pages. He didn't seem to notice them.
"Dad?" asked Heather.
Cadell stood up straight and saw the kids. "Ah! Young Vee, my apologies, I had assumed you were a more common shapeshifter like a doppelganger or a changeling. In fact, I could've sworn basilisks were extinct. Anyway, I think your blood might be the cure for vampirism."
That got everyone to gasp.
"M-Me?" Vee stammered. "But I thought you said the answer was lost to time or whatever."
"It is. No one lives who knows the final blood. This is the only clue." Cadell showed her the tome. On its wrinkled yellow pages were scrawls of faded text and a sketch of a creature. There were no details, no colors, no identifying marks, no name. The only information that could be discerned was that this creature had a hominid upper half attached to a long snake tail lower half, which applied to hundreds of magical creatures ranging from lamias to gorgons to snake-demons like Tracey… to basilisks.
Vee morphed into her natural form.
She definitely resembled the drawing, but in the same way every human resembles a stick figure.
"Vampires have tested every creature in the Demon Realm, however up until now there weren't any basilisks," Cadell added. "It's worth a try."
Vee took a bracing breath. "You're right, it is." She slithered around to face Dani, canted her head to expose her neck, and squeezed her eyes shut. "Go ahead, take as much blood as you need."
She waited and waited and waited.
"Yeah, no, I'm not biting you," Dani said.
Vee peeked. "Why not?"
"Why? It's not exactly a thing normal people do, Vee. Also, you're my girlfriend, I don't want to bite you."
"D'awww," Cadell cooed, suddenly at Dani's side. He shined with fatherly adoration. "Looks like somebody's nervous. Don't worry, Heather was the same way when she was first teething. That's why we have trainee biters." The man held up a plastic vial that was multi-colored, decorated with rainbows and flowers, and made with soft plastic. Vee didn't really understand what she was looking at but it sort of resembled a baby's toy. Before anyone could react, Cadell jabbed that colorful vial against Vee's neck and the basilisk felt a sharp prick. She yelped. A second later, Cadell pulled the vial away. It was now filled with blood.
"Are you okay?" Dani asked Vee.
"Think so," Vee said, pressing a palm against her neck. It wasn't even bleeding. How did that thing even work? "Yeah, I'm good."
"Bottoms up," Cadell said, giving Dani the vial. She took it, but with a face of disgust.
"Blegh, this had better work. I hate that this smells tasty." Dani plugged her nose and brough the vial to her lips. Before she could take a sip…
"It will work!"
Everyone turned to Vee who stood tall and pompous and held the deck of tarot cards. She drew the top card and inspected it with unquestionable authority. "Yes, mm-hmm, I see," Vee said. "All is clear to me now; the universe has spoken! I foresee that you, Dani, shall be set free. It is predestined." She finished her fortune telling with a knowing wink aimed at Dani.
Being on the receiving end brought a smile to Dani's face and seemed to ease her worries just a little, which, Vee realized, was the entire point of human magic. Dani chugged the whole thing. For a moment, it looked like the girl was about to vomit. She covered her mouth to keep the vile drink down.
Everyone in the mansion held their breaths. The seconds ticked by one eternity at a time.
Finally, the nausea seemed to pass and Dani pulled her hands from her mouth. In her palms sat her long vampire fangs. Where they had once been were now a pair of regular human-sized canines.
"It worked!" Vincent shouted.
Immediately Dani was swamped in the biggest group hug, at the center of which was Vee who felt the warmth quickly return to Dani's body. Victory and triumph surged through her heart. They had saved Dani, they had won.
Maybe they could keep winning.
Maybe, together, they could stop The Collector.
Maybe, with a little human magic, going back to the Demon Realm wouldn't be so scary.
Miles upon miles away, the abandoned ruins of Old Gravesfield stood. The moonlight glowed between the derelict remains of the old schoolhouse. An empty spiderweb glistened on a rusty weathervane shaped like a rooster. And on the porch steps of what used to be the town church sat a glob of what appeared to be gray slime. A single yellow eye peered out of the slime, trained on the misty graveyard.
Phillip had nearly devoured the young vampire, almost taken its inferior body for his own but then that infernal Collector had to interfere. Only a breeze of power was enough to push him away and steal the vampire. So much magic sat there beneath the graves, more than enough to revive him. But if he got too close The Collector would sense him and that would be the end.
Clearly, Philip had been too ambitious. He needed to start smaller and build his strength like when he had been first banished to the Boiling Isles. When he was stronger, he'd go back and put an end to these monsters once and for all.
He just needed to feed…
Alright, that's the end of this chapter. This chapter was co-written with I Write Big. The idea for this chapter was thought of by Mr-Hardcor3. Mr-Hardcor3, if you're reading this, I hope we got the personalities of your OCs correct. If not, we apologize.
Anyway, if you guys have ideas for future chapters, say it in a review or feel free to message me.
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