"Found you, Inggrid." 

"W-w-what?" Alina focused on regenerating her legs, or what was left of it. She felt blood rushing out of her body, and slowly, she felt her consciousness gripping away from her. The lonely figure walked slowly in her direction, her weapon aimed straight at her. 

"How does it feel? Getting every bit of your life drained from your body slowly, Ingrid?" The figure then shot her weapon twice, severing Alina's arms. She further fell down to the ground as all of her limbs fell off her body. The voice was recognizable, familiar, heck, she remembered the last time she listened to that voice. 

[Sanguine Quintuple-Class Elf - Lv. 50] [WARNING!!!]

"A new skill, Ingrid? Reading on me like that?" The elf taunted.

The figure then approached closer and closer, revealing an elf dressed in full combat gear. No, not the plate armor like Ingrid, but rather, a modern-day soldier like the Stalkers, but in a far bulkier uniform, complete with body armor.

[NAF - Exomuscular Combat Armor MK II]

A revolution from the exoskeleton armor, exomuscular armor is designed from the get-go to increase the user's strength alongside providing an ungodly amount of protection for its user. Integrated into the combat suit itself, exomuscular armor had little cosmetic difference from combat shirts and pants, except for the extra padding that they have. Overall, be careful when seeing one, Alina. :)

The figure held a large rifle as big as hers, probably with the same weight as her. Taking a closer look at her face revealed a face none other than Ilya's, with eyes filled with bloodlust. Her appearance was also different, with the same white hair and red eyes just like herself. 

On her right shoulder was a patch with "AEGIS Security Corporation" written in bold while on her left was a patch of a flag. The flag was filled with three stripes; red, blue, and green; with a star in the middle, maple leaf on the left, and eagle on the right.  

"Ilya?" Alina asked. 

"I'm surprised you even remember my name, my 'master,'" Ilya replied. She then looked at Alina, different from when she met her for the first time, all she observed in that girl was the intent to kill her. 

Alina didn't understand what happened. Previously, Ilya was merely a level 30, now, she's a level 50 with five classes. And what was with the clothing? How did Ilya change her appearance so drastically? Did another vampire bite her? And most importantly...

I am not Inggrid. 

"You look so surprised, Ingrid, what's the matter? You never thought a vampire spawn could come back to haunt you? Maybe, you shouldn't think that every person you meet wants to be turned into one," Ilya added, her face becoming clearer. 

The elf had shorter hair, with the Bonnie hat hiding most of it. She didn't show any fear, nor any emotion that said that Alina would leave the whole charade alive. Right now, Alina could only think of the opposite. Ilya was going to kill her. 

"Or maybe, you should have thought of modern medicines taking care of Vampire spawn issues rather easily," Ilya further added. 

As Alina lay on the cold ground, her gaze fixed on the slowly approaching Ilya, panic set in deeper. "Ilya, listen to me, I am not Ingrid. This is a mistake!"

Ilya paused for a moment, her rifle still aimed directly at Alina. Her expression was unreadable, masked by years of training and the bloodlust that now seemed to consume her. "Oh, Ingrid, how convenient for you to say now," she sneered. The distance closed between them, each step heavy and deliberate. 

Alina struggled to speak through her pain, her voice a whisper of desperation. "It's not a trick, I swear. I don't even know who the hell Inggrid is. Please, you have to believe me!"

"After you left me alone? In that bloody darn dungeon, on the 60th floor? It's a wonder why I haven't killed you here and now," Ilya stowed her weapon on her back as she approached the limbless Alina. 

Ilya's footsteps were much louder than ever with each stomp vibrating the ground and each step felt to send her closer to death. Ilya then kneeled, giving a straight gaze to Alina. Her eyes were glowing bright, and the white part of her eyes was black with blood leaking out like tears from her eyes. Her mouth was leaking out with blood. 

"I'll drink you so dry, you won't even know what just happened, and most importantly, I'll be free," Ilya added, showing her mouth with the fangs showing up. 

"Ilya, what the hell? I'm not Inggrid, we've just met not more than 24 hours ago," Alina panted, trying to let out the last of her voice as the world around her began to spin out.

Ilya approached Alina closer, her breath chilling as it brushed against her ear. Then, with a swift, brutal motion, her teeth sank into Alina's neck, piercing the flesh. The sharp pain was eclipsed by the blood freely flowing from Alina's severed limbs.

As Ilya's fangs penetrated her skin, Alina felt a searing pain replaced by an icy chill that radiated from the bite, coursing through her veins. Her pain dissolved into an unnatural coldness that spread through her body, leaving her skin numb. Alina's gasps were drowned out by the rapid loss of blood, the draining sensation terrifying yet strangely intoxicating.

Ilya clung to her neck with a ferocity that spoke more of revenge than hunger. As the lifeblood flowed into Ilya, Alina's vision blurred into a swirling vortex of shadows and dimming light, her grasp on reality slipping away. The cold touch of death seemed to brush against her skin, a spectral caress.

Heat unexpectedly surged from Alina's hip to her head, plunging her into another wave of disorienting euphoria and happiness. Her body felt lighter, increasingly detached from her fading consciousness. As her senses dulled, Alina drifted further from the physical world, lost in the dark embrace of the vampire's kiss.

Is this what dying feels like? Why am I so... happy? 

Everything fell silent. Alina's world narrowed to the vast, dark blue sky above her, and the image of the white-haired elf relentlessly drawing blood from her veins. She relinquished the last bit of resistance, letting her eyelids fall shut as each drop of blood seemed to infuse her brain with a bewildering sense of bliss.

As the life drained from her, Alina felt her ties to the physical world unraveling. Her vision faded to white, a blank expanse where no sounds echoed, no scents lingered—nothingness enveloped her. Fear, the expected companion in the face of death, was conspicuously absent. Instead, a profound peace settled over her, reminiscent of returning to a mother's warm embrace or being cocooned in a blanket woven with tendrils of unconditional love.

In this serene solitude, time seemed irrelevant. The cold touch of the vampire's lips on her neck faded into a distant memory, replaced by a comforting warmth spreading through her essence. She floated in this void, unbound by earthly concerns, where the concept of fear or pain no longer applied.

As Alina's essence drifted further from the mortal coil, her individuality remained intact, yet her awareness of herself began to transform. The void—or perhaps it was a vast, white room of unending expanse—felt more like a sanctuary than a place of absence. Here, the weight of pain, fear, and suffering had no hold, dissolving as if they had never existed.

In this ethereal space, every thought that might stir discomfort was effortlessly swept away, leaving behind only a serene clarity. The air, if one could call it that, vibrated softly with a comforting warmth, as if the very space around her was alive with a gentle, loving embrace.

There was no need for words here, no need for thoughts that churned with worries and plans. Time itself seemed to unspool in a gentle, unhurried rhythm. Alina's consciousness, unencumbered by her physical form, reveled in the simplicity and beauty of this state.

•••

Alina jolted up from her sleep with extreme pain in her chest. Then, it was followed by pain coming out from her extremities. She then looked at herself, unsure of what just happened. Could it be all a dream? 

She then nodded her head to the left, then, her eyes wide open, looking at Ilya sleeping right next to her, unaware of her state, with her rifle located right next to her. In instinct, Alina snatched the rifle and aimed it at Ilya. 

Ilya then opened her eyes, then she gave a gaze at Alina with the barrel of the large-caliber rifle aimed straight at her head. She was too nonchalant about what just happened, and why she didn't even react to the rifle aimed at her. 

"You're not Inggrid, aren't you?" Ilya said, her eyes gazing straight at Alina. 

"Motherfucker! You just killed me, didn't you?" Alina shouted with Ilya's rifle pointed straight at her head. 

"Can you even kill a vampire besides by driving a stake through her heart? Even then, do all vampires have a heart? The bottom line is, you're not Inggrid, but you certainly have all of her physical... appearances," Ilya explained further. 

"Fuck sake, why shouldn't I just kill you now?" Alina shouted in anger, her finger was already on the trigger. 

Ilya then sighed, "I know you're angry and don't get me wrong, I'll be if I were you. So, let's call this fair, you can kill me, blow my head off, loot my corpse, and we both promise to never meet again." 

"Say what now?" Alina's anger suddenly turned into confusion. 

"You've just woke up from what most vampires called Deathrest, to put it simply, a death-like state exclusive for Vampire while their own body mends and repairs its damages with length varies from days to centuries," Ilya added. 

"So, if I kill you, you'll eventually live?" Alina asked. 

"To put it simply, yes, but probably butt naked in this darn forest since you likely take all of the loot on my body, my equipment is everything but cheap," Ilya just rolled her eyes away. 

"I don't understand... we just met two days ago, what the fuck happened?" Alina asked. 

"Two days ago? My dear 'master', the last time we met was five centuries ago, Aegis somehow detected a login from my old account, and that's where I come in," Ilya added.  "Grudges don't disappear that easily, especially for us, elves." 

"Then, whom did I meet?" 

"Certainly not me." 

"It's you, you look similar." 

"Tell me, how did we meet, again?" Ilya asked for confirmation as she finally snatched her rifle back from Alina's hand. 

Alina told her the whole story about how both of them met, from the forest incident to the point they separated since 'Ilya' had something to do in some place in the south. The real Ilya then confessed that her old account was hacked, and somehow, she found it in Rivercircle. She then described that the doppelganger missed some of its details. 

This Ilya couldn't cook anything, for example, and she was a marksman, not a mage. This Ilya also embraced Earth's technology instead of keeping the tradition of being a forest dweller, explained by the ghetto of tactical armor and all. 

Heck, for all Ilya could care about she was as  American as she could get, raised and born in Nebraska, North American Federation. Her great-great-great grandmother was a US Earthling while his great-great-great grandfather was a Terran elf.  

The sudden realization hit Alina like a truck. The previous Ilya was an impostor, who took her identity perfectly to some of its last bits. Still, who was the impostor? Why did this impostor arrange a meeting like that? 

"This changes... everything, isn't it? For starters, you were sleeping in Inggrid's cult hideout,a cult that might or might not exist. Second, your name is Alina, isn't it, a woman coming from the pre-multilarium era? That explains everything, for all I care, you can be Inggrid's first victim." 

"Oh, definitely," Alina said. 

"To think about it, Inggrid never cuts her hair short," Ilya added. "And Inggrid is not level 10, she's much more than that. She was level 95, only God knows what level she is now."

"I see..." 

"So, do you still want to kill me?" Ilya asked, offering her rifle to Alina. "If so, do it, and I promise never to meet you again, but I can't promise that Inggrid's other victim will." 

"No, I won't." 

"Good decision," Ilya nodded in satisfaction. 

"Now what, though?" Alina asked, unsure of what to do next.

 She still had to meet the Valkyria's delegation at the consulate, knowing that they might be waiting and all. She checked on her phone, she was only sleeping for six hours, with all of her limbs attached in the right place. The morning sun had already shown up from the east. 

"What? Hmmm, thinking about it, are you interested in being a full-time combat medic? Warzone can be unpretty though, and you might be injured in an undelightful way," Ilya explained on her own predicament. 

Alina shook her head, "No thanks, I am not a trained soldier." 

"Fine by me," she shrugged.

As the early morning light filtered through the trees, Ilya rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a small, metallic device shaped like a coin. She handed it to Alina, who turned it over in her hand, inspecting the intricate engravings.

"This is a beacon," Ilya explained. "Press it firmly in the center, and it'll send a signal directly to me. I'll be there as fast as I can, should you need backup or just want to meet up, courtesy of a boring old elf like me."

"How do I know whether this is not a trap?" Alina asked, still skeptical about Ilya's intention. 

"Well, you can choose not to use it, but I think you'll eventually use it. After all, Inggrid is not someone without any enemy," Ilya added. "Let me give you a ride to the consulate." 

Alina nodded and followed Ilya to her vehicle, a Ford F-350. As they drove through the winding forest paths, the morning silence gave Alina time to reflect on the recent events. The confusion and fear of the encounter with the golem, the pain of her injuries, and the shock of Ilya's unexpected attack were still fresh in her mind, but now mingled with relief at the resolution and the unexpected alliance she had formed with the real Ilya if Ilya herself considered it as one. 

"Tell me something, are you aware of what the implication of being a vampire is?" Ilya asked. 

To think about it, not really. Alina was never bothered to figure out what her needs were or what her weakness was. The moment she woke up from her coffin, she simply was unaware of what happened to her body. The bottom line, Inggrid turned her into a vampire, but she had no idea what happened beforehand. 

"Your expression told everything, why would Inggrid turn you into a bride, though?" Ilya asked. 

"A BRIDE?" Alina asked, for all she cared, she never had any relationship above friendship with any woman she knew. 

"Well, I still remember how Inggrid turned me into a spawn and promised me everything when I was at the bottom, but I do know what the downsides of being one are in my subconsciousness, you aren't aware of that, are you?" Ilya further dug in. 

Alina shook her head. 

"Grandma, you are a bride on the run," Ilya chuckled. 

That is scary. So, someone, or something, snuck into her bedroom and decided to turn her into her bride, just right before the apocalypse happened? It's too much of a coincidence, isn't it? 

"Well, at least I know you're in a far worse state than I am. A lot of people will want your blood, literally. Inggrid wasn't exactly known for her... well-mannered feeding habit and she often used your appearance. That Ilya you previously met must have been Inggrid, I bet my whole spaceship on it," Ilya added, further reinforcing her point with the bet. 

"I... don't know." 

"Well, Alina, strap yourself in, because you're in for Inggrid's wild ride," Ilya smirked, feeling sorry for the girl sitting right next to it. 

Alina could only think about what will happen next. Inggrid was a stupidly powerful elf. What if Inggrid pissed off a mafia boss? Or the cartel? Or all manners of terrible people? It would be a shitstorm up ahead, and nothing she could do about it.