The Vampire's Harvest

187

You place the silver pin upon your palm and chant your spell. Over time it levitates and multiplies into thousands of glittering pins. They dance around and form shapes that sparkle with the glint of the candlelight. After they perform a few artful acrobatics, they accumulate back into one pin and return to your hand.

You get a few eye rolls, but are mostly met with a round of applause for your theatrics.

"Well done," squeals Ailisa with a clap of her hands before fluffing her hair and giving a handsome vampire a wink. "You certainly did draw us some attention, now I suggest we go reap the benefits!"

Ailisa runs off before you can politely decline, leaving you alone while the bemused vampires return their attentions to the more finely dressed humans desperate to share their necks. You, however, aren't ready to give up. You begin to try a different spell, one that will hopefully be a bit more rage inducing or simply terrifying. You'll take anything that will send the vampires either chasing after you towards the door or fleeing for the exit.

You start to chant and a few nearby vampires turn to watch you with an amused smile twisting their pale lips. However, before you even make it halfway through your spell, your audience is set ablaze.

Wordless screams fill the air, mouths gaping open until the sound is burned from their rapidly disintegrating lips. Humans dart away from their would-be patrons while drones growl and hiss. While the vampires turn to piles of ash, indicating Ferris and the coven were successful, you are left standing in the hall with your hands caught in the air and magical words dripping off your lips. With their masters dead, the drones are sent into a murderous rage, their souls not able to find rest until their masters' killer is dead. Unfortunately, right now, that looks an awful lot like you.

Before you can even register all that has transpired before you in a matter of seconds, the drones are charging forward with swords raised. You are surrounded by a circle of mindless drones frothing at the mouth over the thought of painting the floor with your blood.

The last thing you see is fifty blades swinging down around you at once.

At least you die knowing the town is free of vampires. It gives you a small, fleeting sense of comfort in the end.

***

You've found one of the unsuccessful endings for this branch of the story... Why not go back and cast a spell over a different item?