Chapter 51 - Ravenous

 

"That I am not, but I am a man with some questions. However, I only need one of you for that. So. Who wants to be my pet?"

 

"Your pet? Don't joke around. We're fucking vampires, immortal beings. I don't care if you're The Harbinger or Jesus, you can't kill us." One of the vampires says, pointing his gun at me.

 

"Is that so?"

 

"Yeah, now drop the gun unless you want to die." 

 

"I'll kill your boss before that."

 

"That just leaves the leader position open for me, you'll be doing me a favor." 

 

"Why are you becoming the leader? I turned you, got you out of prison, and helped you get revenge on your family. You owe me." His partner says.

 

"You're a fucking pushover, Brian. I don't owe you shit."

 

"You Dipshits! Can't you see—"

 

*POP POP*

 

The two drop their guns after their hands blow apart. I sprint over to them and shove large silver balls into their mouth, breaking their teeth in the process. And with a silver band around their mouths, they're nicely gagged and rolling on the ground.

 

"Sorry lady vampire, but your words are wasted on these two."

 

"W-W-What do y-you want?" The lead vampire stutters.

 

"That's the attitude I like to see! I want information like I said."

 

"We haven't done anything to you."

 

"Wrong! You tried to make me into some sort of hunting target for this countess. And even if you didn't do that, you're nefarious drug dealers, rapists, and slavers."

 

"We may be drug dealers, but we're none of those other things. Not all vampires are bad, we're just trying to get by."

 

"I agree that not all vampires are bad, but you're really gonna try and defend yourself on everything else? These two goons I knocked out were calling you master like slaves. And what about this naked woman? Her eyes are glazed over like she's drugged."

 

"I know it looks bad, but I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

 

"I get it, you're not afraid of me enough. Don't worry, we can fix that." I walk over to one of the gagged vampires, rip out the silver ball and shove a smaller black ball into his mouth. "Swallow if you want to live." He complies and swallows the ball with difficulty.

 

"What was that?" He asks.

 

"A ball of white phosphorus in a shell that should dissolve right…now." 

 

"What—" He freezes with his mouth agape as a bright white light shines through his stomach. Within a split second, he explodes and bright light fills the room like a flashbang before going out. The spot where he once was burns wildly before being smothered out by the silvery ash filling the air and covering every surface.

 

"Ooo, that was kinda fun. He was like a pinata, only the candy is vampire ash. It should be a good magical ingredient."

 

"You fucking psychopath! You promised him you would let him live!" The head vampire shouts, visibly shaking.

 

"I promised no such thing, I only demanded that he swallow if he wanted to live. He wanted to live, so he swallowed. But you're right, I was beating around the bush. Let me get more direct with the other one." I walk over to the other gagged vampire who weakly tries to shuffle away. Picking him up by the throat, I push my hand through his chest and out the back, absorbing his flesh. I spin the vampire around like a wheel, twice. Once he levels out, his eyes are soulless.

 

"You newborn vampires only have a normal human pain tolerance. And no matter what I do, as long as I don't kill you by specific means, the magic curse will keep you alive. I can torture you forever." I throw the vampire on my arm off and stare down the lead vampire.

 

"Please. I'm sorry for using glamour on that woman and enslaving those two goons. I just carried away with my new power." He spouts pleadingly.

 

"What is the red drug you're making?"

 

"It's just a mix of different drugs and vampire's blood. It's highly addictive, provides temporary health benefits and it makes it easier to turn people into thralls."

 

"Where are the drugs going?" I growl.

 

"We hand fifty pounds over to the countess a week and we sell the rest on the streets."

 

"Who is this countess? Don't tell me Dracula is a woman or something."

 

"We were told that Dracula is a fairytale. But the countess is the one who controls all the vampire dens in the northeast." Dracula should be real in this universe, it's more likely that this countess is spreading misinformation on Dracula's behalf. 

 

"I'm sure you have more to tell me." I pull out a silver carving knife in front of him.

 

"Wait, wait, wait. There are other counts besides the countess that control other areas, but I don't know much about them. The countess usually only allows women to be turned in her territory, but they've been recruiting more people ever since you showed up on TV."

 

"Is that all?" I glare.

 

"I swear to God, that's all I know!"

 

"Swear to me!" I let out my claws and stab them through him.

 

"Let me go, I only sucked people's blood, I'm not like the others." The female vampire says.

 

"At the minimum, you're an accomplice."

 

"You said you needed a pet, I'll be your pet." She pleads.

 

"Don't beg, it's unsightly. I won't make you a pet, but—"

 

"Please have mercy!"

 

"Cut me off again and we'll see how much mercy I give you. As I was saying, I won't make you a pet, I have a very willing one back home. But since I obviously have a soft spot for females, you can be a guard and a test subject."

 

"A test subject?" She quivers.

 

"I don't plan to dissect you or anything, it's unproductive. But a living vampire is very valuable, even if you are weak. Let's get started before I experience any changes."

 

"Experience changes?"

 

"You'll see. Now tell me, how do I smell?"

 

"Sweet I guess."

 

"Drink some." I slit my wrist and manage to let out a stream of blood into her mouth before the wound closes. Almost immediately, she starts licking her lips and makes a heated expression similar to the one Nia makes. Liquid starts pooling beneath her legs. Then the whites of her eyes turn grey and her pupils become lighter as if they're producing light.

 

"More…" She cries.

 

"So my blood acts as an aphrodisiac. Your eyes are strange though. Well, onto the more interesting test. I should be experiencing the changes soon. Oh yeah, here it is." My teeth start turning sharper and longer, forming fangs. My nails turn longer, harder, and sharper more akin to claws. Also, I don't have a heartbeat anymore. My senses have become slightly sharper, likely because they were already maxed out for a human, but my sense of smell has completely changed. It's almost like smelling food but if you could also smell personality from food. Damn these goons must have been shitbags even before they became thralls.

 

"You're a...vampire?" The vamp woman huffs.

 

"Well, probably not by definition, but I now have some of the characteristics of a vampire." 

 

Let's see...no reaction to silver, no reaction to UV light, and no reaction to religious symbols. Those are the really big downsides to vampires, so if I'm not held to those, I'm likely unaffected by the other ones like garlic, the requirement to stay within a hundred miles of my rebirth, or the requirement to get verbal permission to enter residences. I'll still need to check, but it's a reasonable set of assumptions. Absorbing that vampire's flesh was probably a bad idea now that I think about it, but now I know I can assimilate magical abilities rather than just mutant abilities. 

 

"You smell like...food...superior food."

 

"So I'm still food huh? Then drink it again, maybe it'll have different effects." I slice my wrist again, but instead of a stream of blood, a few drops of black and white ichor drop down like honey. The wound closes up almost instantly, I might be almost comparable to Logan in healing ability now, though I don't want to really test that. But more oddly, my blood isn't blood anymore, and instead some weird state of exterium. I suppose it's similar to a vampire's thick blood. 

 

"Master…I'm hungry." Looks like j got distracted. The vampire is portrayed before me, no, she's not a vampire anymore. The whites of her eyes have completely turned black while her pupils have turned completely white. Her braided hair turned from all black to a mix of black, white, and gray. She still has the same dark skin tone though.

 

"Interesting. What do you eat now?"

 

"Master's liquids."

 

"My blood?" That's what would make the most sense.

 

"Any liquid will do, Master." 

 

"Why do you call me Master? Are you still the same dead spirit inhabiting this body?"

 

"I am the same Diamond that was so hateful towards you. But I must serve, please feed me, Master, I feel like I may die soon without having served you."

 

"Were you a stripper or something before you were a vampire?" 

 

"You could say that Master, only I was paid in food, shelter, and fewer beatings. Becoming a vampire gave me revenge, you have given me redemption. Please feed me." 

 

"Those silver bindings don't seem to afflict any pain on you anymore. Rip them apart and you may feed on my wrist."

 

*THUNG*

 

"Umm…" She closes her eyes as feeds from my wrist, a puddle under her legs forming like the previous time. Eventually, she releases her fangs from my wrist. "May I have more Master?"

 

"Are you still hungry?"

 

" Ye...n...no Master." Her eyes turn to the ground.

 

"You just tried lying didn't you?"

 

"N...yes Master. Please forgive me."

 

"It's fine. I was worried you didn't have any free will. I don't need a robot to serve me. But it looks like you're compelled to tell the truth to me, to serve me with loyalty. But I don't want you to fight against your chains Diamond. Speak honestly with me and ask for what you want, you are more likely to get what you want and you will spend less effort doing that rather than scheming. So tell me, what do you want?"

 

"More food Master."

 

"And after that?"

 

"To serve."

 

"Roll over then." She rolls over.

 

"What else Master?"

 

"How did that make you feel? I can't imagine rolling like a dog makes you feel good."

 

"It's similar to feeding, Master."

 

 "Stop with the master stuff. And how does it feel when you feed?"

 

"It's a mix of euphoria and relief."

 

"If that's the case, rather than chains that force you to serve, it's more like you have a dependency and you're trying to get your fix. That's good news so long as you don't cross my boundaries to get what you want. I will erase you should you cross me."

 

"Rest assured Mas- I mean, rest assured, I will not do so. I'm sorry for my attitude in the past, the power got to my head. How may I earn more valuable food?"

 

"We'll see how you do. Are you referring to semen?" I don't need another little sister.

 

"Yes M...yes, it smells delicious."

 

"You can't. Your next feeding will be later tonight, I will feed you depending on how much information you can provide me about your new circumstances and the current vampire situation, so think hard."

 

"Shall I begin now?"

 

"No, later. Does the light hurt you?" I flash some white phosphorus in front of her. Fuck, it's bright.

 

"No."

 

"Ok then. I want you to behead these vampires and skewer their heads into the floor with this silver bejeweled sword. Place these silver bejeweled religious symbols around the place. Move all of the humans and valuables to my place as discreetly as possible. That includes the drugs since I might want to inspect them. You can kill these two goons though, they smell foul. Once you're completely done here, be sure to sprinkle this glitter all over the place."

 

"Master?" She questions with her hands full of stuff.

 

"The scariest thing is something you don't understand. Whoever comes here, whether it's the countess or someone else, I want them to be as scared as possible."

 

"Imagining it almost makes my heart beat again."

 

"Who's this woman? She smells familiar."

 

"I think her name is Jeanteete Rhodes, some crack hoe the den master took a liking to. She's the mother of the girl we had place a tracker on you."

 

"Interesting." I slung some clothes onto the slightly gaunt black woman and hoist her over my shoulder. "Don't make me kill you, Diamond."

 

"Yes, Master."

 

"Hmph." I make my way out of the den and take in the dress air. It's amazing how different the vibe can be a few feet away from carnage. 

 

I follow the scent of Lila to a nearby project house. Inside I can hear Lila doing something with metal. 

 

*THUD* I kick the door open so hard that the handle embeds itself into the wall. Then I walk into the house. Yup, looks like I can freely enter homes. Lila runs into the hallway and points a small revolver at me.

 

"Sorry Lila, I had to check if I could enter your home without permission."

 

"The Harbinger? Why are you here? How do you know my name? Why do you have my mom?"

 

"Short answer, vampires. If you want a better answer, you're going to need to come with me to a safer place."

 

"Why should I trust you?" Her arms shake.

 

"You're a smart girl Lila. That gun won't work on me, so put it away before you hurt yourself or your mother. And you shouldn't trust me, you don't know who I really am, but you should listen. Either you come with me willingly, or I kidnap you for the sake of your better interests."

 

"...Can I bring my stuff with me to this new place?" She grits.

 

"Depends on how much you have, but don't take all day. I'm already behind my plans."

 

~ =.= ~