The Vampire's Harvest

146

You don't have time to think about politics or to say a proper spell, you only have time to act and so you lunge forward, taking a swing at your sister.

"Betrayer!" you shout so the vamps know exactly what is happening. Despite your aggressive assertion, you still try your best to convey as much love and fear as you can when you lock your eyes with Gianette's. You need her to know that this is the only way to give her a chance to escape. You know blood has to mean something. That at some level she can read every little emotion and thought that is running through you just by meeting your gaze.

Then she hits you with a hard blow of her fist against your chest and you collapse on to the floor.

Before you can find air to fill your lungs again, Gianette transforms into a massive honey-colored wolf. She howls to the ceiling before racing off towards the grand entrance. There a few drones feebly form a barrier which she tears right through. As she barges outside, you see a pack of wolves with hungry eyes waiting for the vampires to meet them out on the street.

And the vamps take the bait without a moment's hesitation. Soon the whole hall is booming with footsteps as they chase after your sister. With an ancient rivalry pulsating through their blood, they pay little attention to etiquette and niceties. Instead, they stampede over you, stomping down on your arms and legs. You almost take a crushing blow to the back, but a hand reaches out and grabs your wrist before pulling you to a safe place beneath a table.

"Are you alright?" asks Ailisa.

"A little roughed up," you say with a slight groan in your voice, "but I'll manage." Despite the foot-shaped bruises that are already darkening your skin, it's the fist-shaped one on your sternum that hurts the most.

"Come on, we should get out of here." Ailisa looks around the hall and her gaze catches a doorway in the back. "Looks like a service entrance, the wolves may not be watching that way."

"Don't you think the vamps are going to be upset if we leave? They'll probably come looking for humans to replenish their health should the battle go badly."

"Maybe, but they'll certainly be angry with you if we stay."

"What do you mean?"

"I told the duke that was your sister. I thought maybe he'd show her some mercy if I asked, but then you went and jumped in."

"I attacked her," you say with hostility nipping at your voice.

"Yes, but you should have told the vamps. You knew you wouldn't be a match for her. They'll know you did it to gain her some time."

You swallow hard and wonder if your motives really were that easy to read.

"Come on," Ailisa says, pulling you out from beneath the table. "Let's go. I'd rather my dream night end a bit more elegantly anyway."

With that the two of you hobble off to the door that ends up being a kitchen entrance. There you find drones working on hors d'oeuvres. You don't think much of them until one tries to snatch your arm after you take a few steps into the room. You brush it off as you make your way deeper, but as you do, more and more drones start to lash out until you are completely encircled.

"Apparently, they've been told to keep humans in," says Ailisa with a groan. "Guess one vamp had some foresight to block off the exits so their sources of healing don't escape. Now what do we do?"

Drones stand on the brink of death and thus are immortal. Their masters will keeps their brain active and their muscles twitching, but only a drop of vampire-tainted blood runs through their body. The only means of killing them is to chop of the head and burn them to ashes, otherwise, the head can just be sewn back on and the vampire's will is reactivated. Which means you have no options in regards to defeating them.

However, you may be able to distract them. You look around you but find the drones are blocking your access to anything in the room. You do, however, have the silver pin you bought that morning, the statue you pilfered from the lobby, and the crystal cup you had eaten a parfait from. Perhaps one of those could captivate the drones.

- Silver Pin: ch 163

- Couple Statue: ch 164

- Crystal Cup: ch 165

*** Please note this story is in progress and options may or may not be available at this time. ***