Once Alice opened her eyes, she stared seriously at the woman in front of her, extending her right hand toward the group, voicing loud enough for them to hear, "Theseus heritage."

 

Zone One:
Owner: Alice | Leadership Title: Matriarch | Leadership Bonuses: Loyalty minor boost.
Domain type: Mountainous | Experience: 0/1000 | Rank 0
Facilities: None
Domain Effects: None.
Contracted Vassals: 0.

 

They looked at each other after checking the information she displayed. They traded a few brief nods as if passing an idea, and then they declared once more.

"We greet our matriarch, lady Alice. We promise to solely serve, obey, and protect her till our last dying breath."

It was at that precise moment that a brown scroll appeared.

 

Zone One Quest
Bestow a name to a vampire.
Reward: Contracted vassal.

 

Alice's hands covered the cheeks of the woman in front of her, kissing her forehead lightly as she had done in the past to her puppy before naming it.

"You shall be Katherine."

A light red aura surged around the woman's body warming her up.

"Thank you for this gift, lady Alice."

Feeblessness permeated through the child's body feeling that her energy had been sucked away, causing her to lose balance.

Yet, the woman took hold of her, not allowing harm to come her way as she had sworn.

"Theseus had contracted to the twenty of us but he had not given us power."

"Power?" Alice questioned in unison with the other six.

So that they could understand, Katherine showed them her information.

 

Name: Katherine | 23 years old

Race: Vampire | Grade: Inferior Primordial Species

Level: 0 | Exp: 0

Curses: Bloodthirsty.

Weaknesses: Water, Sunlight, Holy element, Silver.

Innate Traits: Sharp Fangs.

Contracted to her master. | Contracted Ability: Blood Omen.

 

"Oh..." a mutter escaped the tired girl not expecting there to be such a reward. Though it did make sense now that she thought about it. She had gained something from Theseus and in a certain way from Pandora.

"That's fantastic!" The white-haired man added causing their eyes to glitter to the matriarch's way.

They couldn't be more obvious, but Alice swayed her head to the sides. 

She was far too exhausted to repeat the process.

"When I'm recovered."

"Yes, of course my lady."

As Alice was about to get herself back to the not so bad bed, Katherine grabbed her hand.

"What's wrong?"

"Would you like another bowl?"

"I'm very hungry but not for blood."

Her answer was unlike anything the vampire had heard before.

"If I can bring you food, what would you like to eat?" 

Alice grinned, remembering the sweet taste of those spectres.

"An alive animal would do," she figured everything was bound to have a soul of sorts.

"Meaning that we can go outside the protected area?"

Alice furrowed her eyebrows, "the what?"

Screams and noise entered the room.

"What's happening?" She got up carefully, feeling weak almost tumbling down.

"Did..." Katherine shivered erratically, "did the guardian protection wore down?"

"What was he protecting?"

With a despaired glance, she voiced out hopelessly, "us."

'Ask them what's targeting them.'

'Sure.'

"Who's the enemy?"

"Creatures that live in the lower floors of the mountain."

She started walking towards the wall causing them to follow her.

"What floor are we in?"

"I'm not sure but it should be the fifth."

"What do you mean, you're not sure?"

"The guardian didn't allow us to leave so we didn't die."

Alice hastened the pace, almost tripping. Katherine and the white haired man supported her, one from each side. Their arms entangled and she managed to hold her balance.

"Thank you."

"Of course my lady."

A lot of things caused me to think and reflect about. How did they get food if they were stuck in a cave. How many villagers were there? What did they eat? Why were they here? What was their story? And most importantly, why was Theseus protecting them in the first place.

"Gross!" Hastily, the girl shouted meeting hairy spiders of half her size. They were black and had long legs and a fat body with multiple red eyes. 

There was not a hint of beauty in them that Alice could look at without her stomach have a disgusted turmoil.

"Cave spiders, alignment evil." 

A deep breath was quickly followed by a yell, "Help me protect the villagers! Kill those creatures!"

In unison the vampires shouted a yes, splitting in different ways to help the closest allies.

'I can't even rest in peace,' the girl sighed, receiving a giggle from me.

'You got this Alice,' I felt her hand passing softly on me as if she needed to feel my presence to gain courage to act.

And then, her arm left the inside pocket of the black robe where I was hidden.

"Feeding spike," she ran to the closest spider, attempting to hit one of the legs.

As soon as it clashed, she felt it to be way too sturdy, negating the attack.

It then noticed her, turning around to bite her.  

Quickly, Alice turned around gaining some distance. Once she glimpsed back, she noticed it chasing after her, leaving a white line on the ground.

"Stop dirtying my home!" 

Despite the white the creature didn't care. All it knew was that the girl looked tasty.

Exhaustion drove her legs to slow down and ache causing her to turn around to the spider, accepting that she couldn't escape it.

'I can't do it without a weapon. The legs are just too tough.'

'Alice. Have you tried its body or head?'

'No?' She looked with more attention to those parts realizing that they didn't look as menacing and possibly not as thick and sturdy.

But she still needed to somehow get closer, avoid her eight arms that could potentially kill her, and to be wary of its twin fangs.

'Just how strong was Theseus?' She smiled with a hint of despair.

'I saw how strong you are Alice! You'll be able to win if you manage to land a hit, and then you can also heal. Focus!'

Alice started believing in herself once more, ceasing the hopelessness within her heart. She had survived so many things already, this just had to be one more trial.

Her life with her new family would certainly start after solving this mess, or so she hoped.