The Vampire's Harvest

225

With butter knife and jack-o-lantern in hand, you cast your spell and wrap Ell in a ward. However, it doesn't look like the addition of the knife has done much of anything except cast a sheen over your vampire. In fact, neither the duke nor his drones seem to notice a change. You worry that you failed to conjure an effective ward until the duke reaches out to grab Ell's arm, only for Ell to pull out of his grip with effortless ease.

While you are befuddled by the results of your spell, Ell has accepted it wholeheartedly and has launched into an attack. You watch as the duke and drones continue to try to take hold of Ell or slash her with their swords, but her ward protects her skin and the additional slickness keep her from falling beneath their grip. You look to the knife in your hand and recall the blob of butter still coating its blade. You blink with realization. It wasn't the knife that supplemented the ward, but instead the greasy spread.

Ell darts and dodges, treating every punch as if it were a passing breeze. Bewildered and enraged, the duke becomes reckless, his steps made with too much energy and his swings driven with too much power. His footing is unstable and his focus fuzzy, while Ell moves with quick, precise motions. Then the duke fumbles in just the right way, granting the door Ell needs to slither up behind him and snap the lumbering vamp's neck.

However, unless he is completely decapitated, he can still regenerate. You wonder for a moment if you'll simply have to run while you still can. However, Ell takes advantage of the duke's incapacitation and removes a dagger from inside her boot. With perfect aim, she stabs the blade straight through to the duke's heart.

With the vampiric curse destroyed, the duke's mortal body rapidly disintegrates to the state it should have naturally been in if the duke had died centuries before. Ash sits in an unceremonious pile upon the plush corridor rug as Ell jumps to her feet and makes quick work of the inferior drones.

All this time you stand by the door to the ballroom, where ignorant vampires and their awestruck humans continue to dance and sing. The werewolf, Velt, however, looks as pale as the vamps he swore to hate and is doing all he can to press himself into the wall, hoping to disappear behind a potted plant.

His eyes wide and his mouth gaping, he watches as Ell shakes the blood and flesh from her claw-like fingers.

"You," Ell says with contempt, glancing up at Velt from the top of her eyes, "you I will leave to your pack to decide your punishment. I have no stomach for wolf politics. I can barely handle my own kind's."

You remove the ward as Ell wipes the last remnants of battle from her hands with a handkerchief. She then wraps her arm around you and directs you down the hall towards a back door to a quiet alley. There a magnificent carriage awaits you and you follow your new master into the cabin without complaint.

You later learn that Velt must have had a change of heart since the wolves won that night. The news is jumbled and confused since no vampire lived to tell the tale. However, from what has been gathered from the town's residents, a werewolf drew the vampires out onto the street, where they were then slaughtered. Your charming lover, Ell, claims the feat may not have been done had the duke remained to lead the vamps or if her allies had remained at the ball. But, she still grants the wolves a job well done, figuring she needs to be somewhat respectful of the pack since her lover's sister is among their number.

It takes a few years of courting and coaxing, but Ell eventually wins your heart. She finally sways you to accept immortality and be forever at her side by giving you the one gift you ever truly wanted—she gave you the town. After the duke's death, your hometown was up for grabs and Ell was quick to snag it. Now under your command, the townspeople are free to do as they please. This means you have also made yourself available to assist anyone who still wishes to seek the immortal life that has brought you and Ell so much happiness.

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Congratulations, you found the successful ending for this branch of the story! Why not go back and see what happens when your ward isn't as effective?