{
  "submission_id": "931548",
  "keywords": [
    {
      "keyword_id": "3343",
      "keyword_name": "action",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "4348"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "177836",
      "keyword_name": "cecilia belmund",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "2"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "2193",
      "keyword_name": "fantasy",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "26996"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "123",
      "keyword_name": "female",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "1093246"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "177827",
      "keyword_name": "gareth weaver",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "4"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "40756",
      "keyword_name": "lesbianism",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "628"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "165",
      "keyword_name": "male",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "1201571"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "113463",
      "keyword_name": "natalia belmund",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "154"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "177804",
      "keyword_name": "ophelia belmund",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "39"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "9322",
      "keyword_name": "vampires",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "224"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "25727",
      "keyword_name": "various species",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "608"
    }
  ],
  "hidden": "f",
  "scraps": "f",
  "favorite": "f",
  "favorites_count": "2",
  "create_datetime": "2015-09-15 20:30:18.49776+00",
  "create_datetime_usertime": "15 Sep 2015 22:30 CEST",
  "last_file_update_datetime": "2015-09-15 20:21:32.697986+00",
  "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "15 Sep 2015 22:21 CEST",
  "username": "doomcup",
  "user_id": "12695",
  "user_icon_file_name": "416502_doomcup_doombun_nethack_av.png",
  "user_icon_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/416/416502_doomcup_doombun_nethack_av.png",
  "user_icon_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/416/416502_doomcup_doombun_nethack_av.png",
  "user_icon_url_small": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/416/416502_doomcup_doombun_nethack_av.png",
  "file_name": "1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
  "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1274/1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
  "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1274/1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
  "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1274/1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
  "files": [
    {
      "file_id": "1274089",
      "file_name": "1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1274/1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1274/1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1274/1274089_doomcup_natalia_nanowrimso.doc",
      "mimetype": "application/msword",
      "submission_id": "931548",
      "user_id": "12695",
      "submission_file_order": "0",
      "full_size_x": null,
      "full_size_y": null,
      "screen_size_x": null,
      "screen_size_y": null,
      "preview_size_x": null,
      "preview_size_y": null,
      "initial_file_md5": "f41749e522c73433dca08cf82ab05fbd",
      "full_file_md5": "f41749e522c73433dca08cf82ab05fbd",
      "large_file_md5": "",
      "small_file_md5": "",
      "thumbnail_md5": "",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2015-09-15 20:21:32.697986+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "15 Sep 2015 22:21 CEST"
    }
  ],
  "pools": [
    {
      "pool_id": "17437",
      "name": "Stories",
      "description": "My own written works.",
      "count": "15",
      "submission_left_submission_id": "823508",
      "submission_left_file_name": "1117569_doomcup_leilani_fapfic.txt",
      "submission_left_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/1117/1117569_doomcup_leilani_fapfic.jpg",
      "submission_left_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/1117/1117569_doomcup_leilani_fapfic.jpg",
      "submission_left_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/1117/1117569_doomcup_leilani_fapfic.jpg",
      "submission_left_thumb_huge_x": "200",
      "submission_left_thumb_huge_y": "200",
      "submission_left_thumb_large_x": "200",
      "submission_left_thumb_large_y": "200",
      "submission_left_thumb_medium_x": "120",
      "submission_left_thumb_medium_y": "120",
      "submission_right_submission_id": "931553",
      "submission_right_file_name": "1274095_doomcup_fightjoiner3.rtf"
    }
  ],
  "description": "This is the first of several writings I'm releasing now, mainly ones I seem to have no ability to finish or polish further.\n\nTo date, this is the longest complete story I have ever written. It had a very troubled writing process which made it end up taking much longer than the month it was supposed to, despite not even reaching the word goal. Also, one can tell by the end that I was sick of writing it.\n\nBut I'm glad I did. Even if this isn't the best, I still like some of the things I did here.\n\nWay too much stuff in this to tag, so I'll try to tag what I can from memory.",
  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>This is the first of several writings I&#039;m releasing now, mainly ones I seem to have no ability to finish or polish further.<br /><br />To date, this is the longest complete story I have ever written. It had a very troubled writing process which made it end up taking much longer than the month it was supposed to, despite not even reaching the word goal. Also, one can tell by the end that I was sick of writing it.<br /><br />But I&#039;m glad I did. Even if this isn&#039;t the best, I still like some of the things I did here.<br /><br />Way too much stuff in this to tag, so I&#039;ll try to tag what I can from memory.</span>",
  "writing": "Music! The lute strummed, the pipes sang, the hurdy-gurdy resonated, as the lamps focused on the stage in the smoky tavern, the circles of light focusing on the curtains. The audience all looked intensely as one person. First a couple of fingers emerged from the slit in the curtains, tan fur and painted magenta claws just visible in the light. Then, in one motion, the curtains were cast aside, revealing the night's entertainment. Cheers, whistles, and lusty laughs rang out all over from the crowd as she stepped a green leather boot forward, the light glinting off her shiny green bodice and skirt, her hand passing her exposed midriff on its way to brushing her fiery golden hair out of her emerald eyes, a bright smile showing her very feline fangs. She raised her arms in appreciation as she started to let the rhythm of the music sweep through her, the tempo like a clock's pendulum. From seemingly out of nowhere her whip appeared in her hand. After a crack in the air she took the tip in her other hand, \n\nclenching the middle in her teeth as she struck a pose that emphasized her physical appeal.\n\nThen the dance began. Spryly striding and twirling, her long twintails breezing through the air, she lost herself in the music as she danced, punctuating the symphony with whip cracks. As she danced, she scanned the audience, giving a wink to those paying especially rapt attention.\n\nAs the dance went on, she scanned the audience. She was expecting someone. The letter had said to expect someone wearing a blue sash. Didn't quite see- wait. There. At the bar, the one whose drink was apparently more interesting, that was him. She smiled; she liked challenges.\n\nThe music, along with her dance, built up to a crescendo. A final spring, a somersault, and she landed in a lounging pose, catching her whip handle with her thighs and the tip in her teeth. And with this pose, it all ended. In a seemingly instantaneous movement, she leaped to her feet, taking a bow. Then with one last wink and strut, she went back through the curtains, the shower of coins that had built up throughout paving her way. As she left for the back room, she heard the proprietor. \"Natalia Belmund, whip dancer extraordinaire! She'll be here all festival!\" \n\nNatalia stretched, then came across the burly bouncer guarding her door. \"If you see someone wearing a blue sash asking for me, let them through,\"she said, smiling and briefly placing a hand on his chest as she passed. He grunted and nodded.\n\nShe collapsed into her chair. Still high on the feel of so many eyes on her, the thought of the delight she'd brought to everyone, she fished around in her drawer, at last pulling out a tin box. She opened it, the aroma of dwarvish coffee filling the room. She sniffed it, letting the scent move through her. She then dug out a spoon and fished up a nice, rounded spoonful of the grounds.\n\nNatalia placed the heaped spoonful of coffee right into her mouth, sucking on it, savoring the direct taste without any need of heated water. She chewed it, almost feeling all the caffeine and bitters spreading all through her body, and swallowed. It was a peculiar habit she'd picked up from her days with the nomads. Her hand strayed up to her necklace, a ring on top of a cross, their symbol, as she remembered her days with them.\n\nAs she waited, she took out the letters she'd received before. She'd only had time to read the one, and there were still more to look at. One was from her half-sister Cecilia, the lovely half-orc mendicant of the Monastery of Love and Lust, who'd taken her place on the team of The Syndicate, the band of vampire hunters she'd adventured with some time ago. Her mind strayed wistfully to the first time she'd met her half-sister, the night they'd spent catching up with each other: the lights all over the monastery, the silk curtains and plush cushions, and the haze of togetherness and love that filled the air then.\n\nNatalia smiled as she gently put the letter back in the envelope, which in turn she put in her trunk. The next letter was from Ken, in Kapris, the town she'd left behind a long time ago, her second home. She made a note to reply to this one, to make sure he knew she hadn't forgotten her promise to him.\n\nThe third letter was odd. The envelope had her name on it, certainly, but the writing wasn't that of anyone she recognized. What's more, the stationery seemed very high class, and outside of some members of the Belmund clan, her very extended family, she didn't know anyone quite that high up the ladder. She was about to open this envelope when there was a knock at the door.\n\nNatalia placed the envelope on the desk and sprung from the chair to her cot, lying back luxuriantly as she purred, \"Come in.\" \n\nAnd in the man came. She looked with smiling interest as a minotaur entered the room. This one seemed different somehow, less brawny, more smooth. There the blue sash was, tied around an open robe just below his athletic abs, his lightly scarred chest on full display. She saw his hazel eyes looking at her. Finally, he spoke. \"Natalia Belmund, right?\" \n\nNatalia looked at him, somewhat puzzled. \"Yours truly. What gave it away, the barman shouting my name?\" \n\nThe minotaur brushed his dark brown ponytail off his shoulder, his business face not cracking once despite the kitty-girl crossing and uncrossing her legs. \"Had to be sure. Show me your tattoo. You know the one.\" \n\nShe wasn't exactly shy about this sort of thing, but she smiled coyly. \"My my, why should I do that?\" \n\nThe minotaur shrugged. \"For all I know you could be a doppelganger, and we don't want this intercepted. Or that's the spiel I got. Just show me already.\" \n\nShe turned over and got on her knees, showing the minotaur the tattoo on her back, the same ring on cross symbol as her necklace, flanked by wavy lines suggesting wings. She looked back at him, her keen sight detecting just the hint of a blush. \"There,\"she said teasingly. \"You happy?\" \n\nHe nodded. \"Alright. Now to be extra sure. Show me your birthmark.\" \n\nShe cocked her head to one side. \"Wow, they gave you that detailed a description? Not many know about that.\" \n\n\"The man who sent me said you had a star birthmark in a special place.\" \n\nHer grin got very wide here. \"You just want to see if the carpet matches the drapes, don't you?\" \n\nThe minotaur laughed, his all-business facade finally cracking. \"Haha, I won't deny it! Even if I didn't just want to ogle you, I had pretty damn specific instructions.\" \n\nNatalia gave a mock shrug and got off the cot, standing up, and lowered her skirt just enough to show him the star he was looking for. He grinned, growing noticeably red in the face now.\n\n\"Okay,\"he finally stammered out, \"You're definitely who you say you are.\" \n\nNatalia pouted and said in a mock hurt tone, \"What, you're not going to show me yours?\" \n\nThe minotaur smiled widely and opened his robe the rest of the way.\n\n\"..hrgh... nh... even for a... woof!\" Natalia muttered, overwhelmed with glee and desire.\n\n\"Don't you want to know who I am and why I'm here?\" \n\n\"I wonder if I could even... mm? Oh, hehe,\"she laughed, snapping herself out of her stupor. \"I can guess why you're here, but tell me who you are first, honey.\" \n\nThe minotaur closed his robe again, to Natalia's disappointment. \"The name's Gareth. Gareth Weaver. I got sent here by Master Freyon up at the University in Showshire.\" \n\n\"Freyon? How is he? I haven't seen him in ages!\" \n\n\"Er, he's well. You know Master Freyon?\" \n\n\"Three times. But that's not important right now. What's the message?\" \n\nGareth shook his head, having been somewhat blindsided by what he heard. \"I have it right here, actually.\" He reached into his robe and pulled out a scroll, somewhat foxed and stained with beverages, and read it. \"All's quiet here. Looked for the information you asked for, but the books and ledgers that had it were lost centuries ago. Nothing left behind has any real information.' Sorry about that.\" \n\n\"Gribo!\" Natalia cursed, sliding into the nomadic tongue of her teenage years. \"For every step forward, there's always a step back.\" She sighed and looked to the side for a while. Gareth stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, prompting her to bury her face in his chest. He gently patted her back. \"Um... there, there? Sorry the Master couldn't find what you needed.\" \n\nNatalia grunted from his chest, her arms holding him. He went on. \"It was something pretty important, wasn't it?\" \n\nShe pulled off him, though leaving a hand on his abs. \"..what if I told you I wasn't just a dancer with a whip?\" \n\n\"I know you aren't. Master Freyon thinks highly of you. He didn't actually tell me what it is you do, though.\" \n\nShe looked him straight in the eyes and said, as seriously as she could, \"I'm a vampire hunter from a huge, long family of vampire hunters.\" \n\nAfter this, there was silence. The fresco held for a time, until Natalia broke it with a surprised smile. \"Good job! Most people burst out laughing when I say that.\" \n\n\"I believe you,\"he said.\n\nNatalia looked at Gareth's face for a while, then sat in her chair, gesturing towards the cot. \"Sit down, I'll explain everything.\" \n\nGareth sat on the cot, listening intently to just what Natalia had to say.\n\nShe told him briefly of the history of the Belmund clan as she understood it, how Simeon, her ancestor, started the family, how he'd amassed weapons capable of taking out any vampire, how there were many of the family in all parts, of all kinds of species and races, and how they all had a network connected by correspondence.\n\nGareth thought about this. \"Okay, but why all this? Why the weapons? Why the huge family?\" \n\nNatalia took a deep breath. \"Nosferatu. The entire reason for all of this is Nosferatu.\" \n\nGareth blinked. \"Who?\" \n\n\"Didn't get out much at the University, mm?\"  she smiled. \"Probably too busy with the sorority girls, mm?\" \n\nGareth looked to one side. \"No, actually.\" \n\n\"Really? Wow, too bad for them. Ah, well. Seriously, though, Nosferatu is the most powerful, most evil vampire around. Thanks to some ritual mumbo jumbo, he's pretty much immortal. Thanks to Simeon's involvement, the best we can do is seal him away for a while, and we as Simeon's family are the only ones that can. I don't really know how it works, though.\" \n\n\"Sorry to bring bad news then-\"\n\n\"That's not all.\" She broke eye contact with him, looking away a bit sadly. \"See... when I was too little to remember... my father, Richard Belmund, disappeared. From the moment I learned that, I've been looking for him. See, I've been an orphan for as long as I can remember. My mommy died when I was little, and... knowing he's out there... well, I have to find him, you know?\" \n\nGareth nodded. \"Why are you telling me this?\" \n\n\"You have a good face. I could see it right away\"\n\n\"Really?\" \n\nNatalia chuckled. \"That and Freyon told me I could trust you if we met. He's very proud of you, you know.\" \n\nThere was some silence again. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. \"I'll get that,\"said Natalia, \"It's probably just the barman with my cut and tips.\" And indeed it was. A few seconds later, she tossed the bag of assorted coins into her trunk. She then started approaching Gareth on the cot. \"You know, we won't be bothered again tonight... Why don't we find out what your colleagues at school are missing...?\" \n\nHours later, Natalia and Gareth lay dozing, naked and tangled in the cot, which surprisingly didn't break from their impassioned night. The kitty-girl stirs, fondly stroking Gareth. He'd certainly lived up to what he showed off. Then she remembered the odd letter. Careful not to wake the studly minotaur (after all that, he really needs the rest), she crept up out of bed. Thanks to her feline eyes, the moonlight from the window was just enough light for her to read by. She could see even by this moonlight that this was some pretty damn immaculate stationery. Whoever could afford paper and ink and sealing wax this fine had to have blood so blue you could dye clothes with it. The seal seemed somewhat familiar, but she couldn't really place it. Then, finally, she read the letter itself.\n\nShe stopped reading the letter.\n\nShe read the letter again, to make sure it said what she thought it said.\n\nShe stopped.\n\n\"Gareth, wake up!\"  she yowled, dashing around tossing all her things into her trunk. \"We've got to leave!\" \n\nGareth mumbled sleepily as he started to slowly get up, blinking at the lantern Natalia lit so he could see what he was doing. \"Mmnhhh... whazgoinon... 'n who's Gabe and why'd you say his name durin-\"\n\n\"Not important! I'll leave a note, barman'll be pissed off, but tough... where'd you throw my bodice?\" \n\nThe minotaur shook his head groggily. \"Think it went behind the dresser.\" He puts a hand to his face, which finds something snagged on his horn. \"I think I found your thong. What's going on?\" \n\nShe tossed the letter into his lap. \"This came for me before you showed up. Here, give me a boost so I can reach my skirt.\" \n\nGareth read the letter as Natalia climbed up his shoulders and retrieved her skirt from the ceiling candles. The letter read:\n\nNatalia,\n\nWe have the whereabouts of your father. We also know where Nosferatu is\n\ngoing to rise up again. Meet me in the town of Redvalley. I will be waiting.\n\n-Utarefson\n\n\"This... looks legit...\" Gareth said sarcastically.\n\n\"Yeah, I know it looks shady, but it's the first real lead I've had in years. And it's not like I can't...\" she paused as she slipped her bodice back on. \"You went to University. How's your magic?\" \n\n\"I'm not a wizard, actually. I'm a sorcerer; I can just do things.\" \n\n\"Well, if you're as good at magic as you are in bed, I could use your help in this.\" \n\nBlushing at the maybe inappropriate compliment, he nods, pulling his robe back on and producing a staff, as well as a dagger that he sheathed on his belt. \"I'll give it my best.\" \n\nNatalia pressed a button on her trunk, making it collapse to a pocket size. \"Right, I'll saddle up Alminear II.\" \n\n\"Who?\" \n\nShe blushed. \"My horse...\" \n\nGareth laughed. \"Man, this is going to be a fun trip!\" \n\nAnd under the moon, the minotaur and the kitty-girl rode into the night, away from the lights of the town and into the night.\n\n\"It's received, my lord. The girl is on her way.\" \n\nThe dark room was nearly solid black. The curtains held the moonlight away, and neither of the room's inhabitants had need for a candle. One shape sat at a desk, the other standing behind, towering over. The shape at the desk nodded. \"The game is near its close. So many long centuries I've waited.\" The voice sounded laden with many years, bringing one to think of the dirt and the silence of a deep forest.\n\n\"Is my lord certain? There is a risk in entrusting all this to a... cat-slut and some nondescript minotaur.\" This voice was hard to pinpoint, in line, but with a hardness.\n\n\"From what I have, from what I've seen, they're the only one that can. I've had so long to look, time after time, battle after battle. I can only hope I'm right.\" \n\n\"So can we all, lord. Shall I go to meet them?\" \n\nA pause. \"Yes. Remember, they are essential. Make sure they make it to the rendezvous point unharmed. And do try to keep that under control.\" \n\n\"..Yes, my lord.\" And like a ghost, the standing shadow vanished.\n\nThe shadow sitting at the desk was silent for a time.\n\nYou dare to stand against me? Even now? came a thin voice out of the darkness.\n\n\"Of course. But fear not. Soon, we'll both be free...\" \n\nGareth and Natalia looked at the map, worn with years of hard travel. \"Figures the straight path would've been blocked off,\"she said, \"Two days to get here, and it's our rotten luck that we got here just after a huge storm hit.\" Indeed, beyond the barrier there were a huge load of fallen trees and debris. As far as the eye can see, laborers worked hard to clear the path, but it was obvious that the job wouldn't be finished for weeks yet.\n\nNatalia sighed. \"We'll just have to take the long way and hope it weathered the storm better.\" \n\nGareth swatted at the flies, which seemed to fill the air. \"What about that path on the right?\" \n\nNatalia shook her head. \"Too risky. Not with just the two of us.\" \n\nSuddenly there was a loud shout from the risky path and without even thinking about it Gareth and Natalia rode towards it.\n\nBefore them were at least four huge wolf beasts, and in their midst was a figure. A figure with a spear.\n\n\"Isn't that a gnoll?\" Gareth asked, readying his dagger and staff.\n\n\"Yes. You don't really see them this far south.\" Natalia answered. \"C'mon! Let's lend a hand!\" \n\nIt was indeed a gnoll. Not one of the mottle-furred madness-wracked kind, but a tawny-furred, high-standing free-gnoll. The hyena features were unmistakable. The worn blue-green scale armor testified to a life of battle. The spear, too, showed its mileage as expert hands wielded it.\n\nWith a cry, this spear tripped up one of the wolf beasts, and a downward thrust ended it. The spear-bearer panted; the grey streaks in the dark brown hair and the paleness and lines in the face showed the age of the fighter, but the remaining one eye showed a burning vitality.\n\nNatalia drew her whip. Not the whip from earlier, a tatty leather one meant only for shows. No, this was the Belmund Whip: a wooden handle reinforced with leather, to which was attached a fine steel chain, longer than she was, with a spiked ball at the end. With a deft flick of her wrist, she lashed to a high limb of a nearby tree. She ran, leaping from treetop to treetop, silent as a leaf hitting the ground, a testament of her days as a street urchin.\n\nAs the kitty-girl got into position, Gareth moved his arms, feeling the arcane forces that flowed along with his veins as he directed the flow to his tools. He'd never picked up magic the way most did. Somehow, to him, it came as natural as breathing. In his teenage years, he'd suddenly been able to just feel magic in him, and did things without even thinking. In time, he taught himself to control it, as he was now. All that was left was to wait for the signal.\n\nThe remaining three wolf-beasts closed in on the gnoll. Suddenly there was a loud shout as from the treetops descended Natalia, somersaulting down, using the spin to lash her whip with forceful momentum against the nearest one, punching a neat trough through the monster's brain-pan. This distraction was just enough for the spear-bearer to skewer the one next to her. The last one lunged at Natalia, who danced out of the way in time for a bolt of burning fire to toast it into ashes.\n\nNatalia ran to the gnoll. She had a keen eye for people, no matter what their species, and with gnolls, it can be hard to tell. \"You alright, ma'am?\" \n\nThe spear-bearer laughed. \"Am I that old already? Can't take four of these on my own, and now a young girl calls me 'ma'am'!\" The laugh becomes a cough. She walks to the bag laying on the ground a little way away. She hefts it onto her back, then looks at her rescuers. \"Hm... yes, you two. I've been expecting you. I've been sent to accompany you to meet him. The one who sent you the letter. You are Natalia Belmund, right?\" \n\nNatalia looks dazed for a moment. \"Then you know this Utarefson?\" \n\nThe gnoll nods. \"Yes. Follow me, we have a lot of ground to cover to reach the village.\" \n\nGareth catches up in time for this. \"But who are you? What's your name?\" \n\nThe gnoll looks at her feet. \"My name... is not important. If you feel the need to call me anything, call me One-Eye. As good a name as any, that.\" \n\nNatalia whistles, summoning the horses. \"Do you have a horse, One-Eye?\" \n\nOne-Eye chuckles again. \"Do I? Don't need one. Ride ahead and you'll see.\" \n\nThe kitty-girl shrugs, and bucks her horse to a galloping speed, with Gareth alongside. To their mutual shock, rapidly coming up behind them is indeed One-Eye, keeping up with them on foot, with only the most token of signs of effort.\n\nThey rode as fast as their horses' health, and One-Eye's stamina, would allow them. Natalia noticed as she rode that Gareth's eyes would settle on their new companion from time to time. Each time, he had a look on his face as if he were trying to solve a particularly hard puzzle.\n\n\"What is it, Gareth?\"  Natalia called to him.\n\n\"I'll tell you about it when we set up camp\" he shouted back.\n\n\"Don't slow down!\"  called out One-Eye. \"We need to reach the halfway point by nightfall if we have any chance of arriving on time!\" \n\nThere were no more conversations on the way, other than urging performance from their horses.\n\nNight eventually came, as nighttime is wont to do. The moon hung overhead, its pale silver light all over. They set up camp just off the road. One-Eye had thought to bring food, which they warmed over the fire they made from the nearby deadwood.\n\n\"So this Utarefson, do you work for him?\"  asked Natalia, wanting to break the uncomfortable silence.\n\nOne-Eye chewed a warm hunk of heated bacon in silence for a moment. She swallowed and said. \"Work for him', you say? You could say that, after a fash-\" She stopped abruptly, sitting there as if frozen for a moment, before grasping her head and falling forward, groaning and muttering indecipherable things.\n\n\"Um, One-Eye? You okay?\"  the kitty-girl asked, very worried.\n\nThe gnoll took no heed, of her or anything. At last, after moments of this she managed to leap to standing with a loud cry in a language Natalia didn't know. Silence again, for a few moments, then One-Eye spoke again. \"I... I am sorry you had to witness that. I have an affliction that troubles me from time to time. Excuse me, I need to find the stream\"She reached into her pack, pulling out a glass bottle before walking off into the darkness.\n\nOnce she was out of earshot, Gareth turned to Natalia. \"Have you noticed, Natty?\" \n\n\"Mmm?\" \n\n\"Something is really, really off about her. I don't know why, but something about her is setting off red flags in my mind.\" \n\nNatalia thought about this. \"She is old. If she's the same age I am, she's a venerable gnoll; they only live to thirty or so.\" \n\nGareth shook his head. \"I don't think it's just age. She reminds me of something, stories that used to circle around the city where I lived. I'm wondering if she's the one the stories were about...\" \n\nNatalia shrugged. \"Must've been before my time. I didn't hear any stories about any gnoll in particular.\" \n\nGareth looked at the fire. \"Well... there was this story of a gnoll. Don't know what name she went by, but she was apparently a fighter. She was a righteous one, mistaken for some kind of crusader of a religious order or such.\" Gareth got lower, a bit more solemn. \"They say that all her life she'd been a bit sick in the head. Something that happened as a cub, they say. One day, her madness broke, and she slew everyone with her, without discrimination. They say it took many wizards and warriors to even just drive her away.\" A pause. The hint of a snarl crossed the minotaur's face, which really worried Natalia. \"She disappeared after that. Nobody knows where she went, and why.\" \n\n\"And you think One-Eye might be this person?\" \n\n\"Call it a hunch. But yes, she certainly matches the last known description. And if it is her....\" \n\nNatalia got close to Gareth, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. \"What is it?\" \n\nGareth's face took on a pained look of anger. \"If it is her... I'm going to kill her.\" \n\nComing from Gareth, who had been pretty gentle and easygoing to this point, this was very shocking. \"W-well,\" Natalia stammered, trying to keep her cool. \"That's, um, noble. After all, if One-Eye is this person you're talking about, she could be dangerous and...\" \n\n\"Not just that. I told you how I was adopted, right? Raised by humans? I didn't tell you what happened to my birth parents.\" \n\nNatalia, having traveled with bards before, knew where this was going. \"She killed them?\" \n\nGareth nodded. \"I'm really hoping One-Eye isn't her. I don't want to kill her. Or anyone, really, but... I have to. It's the one obligation my birth parents gave me.\" \n\nNatalia gave Gareth a hug. \"You don't have to. If One-Eye turns out to be this killer, you could subdue her, turn her over to the authorities. I'd help.\" \n\nGareth sighed. \"It's useless to talk about it now. We're not going to attack someone based on gut feelings. It wouldn't be right. Let's just wait until we have some proof.\" \n\nSilence again.\n\n\"She's been gone a while,\"said Natalia at last. \"I'm going to see what's keeping her. Stay here.\" \n\n\"Be careful.\" Gareth watched as Natalia rose up, then gave him a kiss on the forehead.\n\nDeep in the forest, a stream ran through, warmed by the hot springs at its source. On the shore, the armor and underclothing lay discarded in a neat pile. The scent of lavender and lilacs filled the air, not just from the open bottle laid on the flat rock, but also from the lather all over the naked One-Eye. It was bathing that calmed her. Nobody else she'd met seemed to think of bathing as anything more than a chore, if even necessary. To her, it was the only constant bit of good and peace in a life filled with strife and fighting and.... no, best not to let the mind dwell there. Just let the soap mix lather and soak all through her fur, calming her, taking the pain away again, just for a little while. She poured the water over her head. Wash away the lather, along with the dirt, grime, sweat, and unpleasant thoughts. Clean outside, clean inside, all the troubles washed away with the foam. The silence all around only helped.\n\nAlas, it couldn't last.\n\n\"One-Eye!\"  came the shout of the cat-slut from the shore. \"You're taking an awful long time! Everything alright!?\" \n\n\"Can't an old woman take her time on a nice bath without being interrupted!?\" she shouted back, annoyed.\n\n\"Oh, a bath! Why didn't you say so!? It's been ages since I had a good bath!\" One-Eye watched in astonishment as Natalia started stripping off her clothes, letting her twintails down to show just how long she'd been letting her hair grow, then picking up the glass bottle.\n\n\"Lavamanos's Lilac and Lavender!? I didn't even know they made this! Where'd you get this!?\" \n\nOne-Eye blushed furiously. She decided to cut off the girl before she got too inquisitive. \"If you're going to join me, why don't you get over here and wash my back!? I'd rather not kill my voice shouting at you!\" \n\nThe kitty-girl took the bottle and poured some into her hands, then entered the warm water, getting close to One-Eye, who turned, pulling her hair out of the way to let her back through. Natalia rubbed the soap on, building up lather both on the gnoll's back and on herself.\n\n\"Mmm... the smell's so relaxing... hehe, it feels all tingly... no wonder you were taking so long here...\" \n\nOne-Eye let out a sigh of relaxation. \"I haven't bathed with someone else in so long. I forgot how good it feels to have someone else rub your back.\" \n\nNatalia giggled. \"You like that, mm? I know something that feels even better. Wanna try it?\" \n\nOne-Eye cocked her head, curious. \"Sure, why not?\" \n\nNatalia pulled her close, rubbing her body against hers. Natalia could feel how tough and muscled One-Eye was, but even with this, there was still some softness. \"Let me know if I do something that feels uncomfortable, okay?\" \n\nOne-Eye blushed. She was having sensations she hadn't had in a long time. Not since... \"Oooh... this... this isn't bad...\" \n\nAs she rubbed the gnoll's body with hers from the back, Natalia let her hands lather and massage her front. Indeed, she found rock-hard abs and slightly sagging yet firm breasts, all in very fine condition. The kitty-girl was starting to get very excited. \"Mmm, with a body like this, I bet you got a lot of guys' attentions.\" \n\nOne-Eye shook her head. \"Not... not exactly...\" \n\n\"..girls?\" \n\nOne-Eye blushed. \"Once... let's not talk about it though... let an old woman's past be in the past... mmm...\"  A spark of something she hadn't felt in ages now blazed a flame within her. \"Why don't you do my front now?\" \n\nNatalia smiled widely as the gnoll turned around in her arms. \"Hehe, of course... it's almost time to rinse, anyway...\" The kitty-girl suppressed a moan as she felt the gnoll's greedy hands feel her all over. At last, after a rinse, there could be no holding back.\n\nNatalia and One-Eye kissed. The fire of youth met the flame of experience, and what a light they both made together! Hands moving all over each-other, they moved back to the shore, Natalia letting herself be lain on the rocks, and as the moon shined, their passions burned as they explored and made love.\n\n\"My my... age has its advantages...\" Natalia panted, laying next to one eye, trying to catch her breath.\n\n\"I'm just glad to have learned I had something left...\" One-Eye panted back, basking in her own afterglow. They just lay there, resting, the gnoll's finger drawing lazy circles around the kitty-girl's belly button.\n\n\"One-Eye?\" \n\n\"Yes, young one?\" \n\n\"What's your name? Your real name?\" \n\nShe hesitated. \"My real name?\" \n\nNatalia turned on her side, placing a reassuring hand on the gnoll's hip. \"It's okay. You can trust me. I'm not asking you to tell me everything about you. I just like to know the real names of my lovers...\" \n\nHearing this pushed the gnoll deep down. At last, she found it in her to reply. \"Clarice. My name is Clarice.\" \n\n\"Clarice? What a lovely name.\" \n\n\"Don't tell anyone. There's people that get nervous around that name. Especially don't tell the boy.\" \n\n\"I won't. I'm not gonna ask you anything else, but... if you want to talk sometime... I'd be glad to...\" \n\n\"Mmm...\" \n\nThe two enjoyed a moment of serenity together.\n\n\"We should get back, Clarice. Gareth might get worried and come after us.\" \n\n\"If you help me with my armor, I can get it on faster.\" \n\n\"Only if you help me with my hair\"\n\n\"Oh, you...\" \n\nMorning came, and the three set out again. Clarice decided to rest her feet, and share Natalia's horse. Their closeness made Gareth a little concerned, though really he had nothing to worry about. This ride was more pleasant, with conversations and jokes the whole way.\n\nStrangely for this tangled path, there were no waiting monsters, no obstacles. Natalia and One-Eye didn't seem to notice, thought Gareth, but this made him especially nervous. This was too easy. Even on the wide road, they'd have come across something. Was there an even bigger monster ahead, that scared all the little ones off its territory? Was the person they were to meet this big monster? Just who is Utarefson?\n\nAt last, the town of Redvalley was before them. As usual of village names, it was neither in a valley, nor was it particularly red. One would guess that Brownforest would be a boring, if more fitting, name. Indeed, in the forest clearing were mostly shacks, and all oddly empty.\n\n\"Redvalley,\" said Clarice. \"A ghost town, mostly. That's why we wanted to meet you here. We wanted to be sure of no interference.\" \n\nNatalia followed a pointing finger from the gnoll to a big mansion at the edge of town. \"That's where we wish to go.\"  Natalia nodded, and the three rode in.\n\nAfter bringing the horses to a stable that was quite well stocked for a ghost town, they entered the mansion. Already Natalia's fur started to go on end; she had a natural sense for undead born from her heritage, as well as a keen sense for the thematic. A large mansion in a dead town, especially one with all the curtains drawn, could mean several things. It could just mean an extreme recluse, or someone with a skin disease who needs quiet and a place away from the sun. However, she strongly felt that those two explanations would definitely not be in play here. \"This way,\" Clarice said, motioning in the dark.\n\n\"Um, could I get some light? I'm not like you two, I can't go through dark like it was nothing.\" \n\nNatalia turned to him. \"Well, you're a sorcerer, aren't you? Magic up some light.\" \n\nGareth did so, lighting his staff with a soft glow. \"Won't this mess with your darkvisions?\" \n\n\"Yeah, but nothing to worry about, right, Cl- er, One-Eye?\" \n\n\"Nothing. This way, please.\" \n\nThey made their way through the mansion. There was something off about it; the paintings, the collections of books, the candles that never showed any sign that they had ever been lit in their long eons of hanging there. The paintings were from all eras, and didn't seem to have ever left this house. The books, too, showed all kinds of ages and scripts, some completely alien to the urban-raised kitty-girl and the scholarship sorcerer-minotaur. Finally they came to a door.\n\n\"Gareth,\"Clarice said, \"I have to ask you to extinguish your light here. This is something I'm firm on.\" \n\nWith some misgivings, he turned it out. Darkness rushed back in, almost seeming to be solid and flowing, like a pitch black custard. The door opened without being touched, and a voice said, \"Please, come in. I've been expecting you all.\" \n\n\"Utarefson?\" \n\nNatalia looked at the man across from her as she asked. In the very precious little amount of light allotted to her, she could see him as Clarice took her place at his right hand. He was tall, but she couldn't tell his age. It was hard to tell in this darkness that robbed her of most colors, but his hair seemed to be white; not the white of old age, but an otherworldly white, as if his hair were linen.\n\n\"I. Glad you could make it, Ms. Natalia Belmund. Please, sit. We have much to discuss.\" \n\nShe saw it then. It was unmistakable, when you looked at the eyes and the teeth. Especially the eyes; the pink glow was a dead giveaway. And the teeth; the only ones with canines were-\n\n\"V-vampire! You're a vampire!\" Natalia cried in a panic, drawing her whip.\n\n\"Calm down. I am a vampire, yes. I did not ask to be, though. Sit.\" \n\nShe found herself obeying, a testament to a vampire's power of hypnosis.\n\n\"Believe me,\" Utarefson continued, \"You and I both want the same thing. You came here because I could tell you of Nosferatu, and of your father.\n\nGareth watched them nervously, Utarefson being the very definition of cool, and Natalia trying to listen through her revulsion at the presence of the undead.\n\n\"You probably think this a trap,\" he went on. \"It's nothing of the kind. I know that what I am will present a problem if you're to trust me. So think of this as a token.\"  He stood up, outstretching his arms, exposing his chest. \"Strike me. I am unarmed. Strike me with your ancestral whip.\" \n\nNatalia couldn't resist, the hypnotic words enhanced by her existing desire to do so anyway. She leaped from her chair and let out a lash right in Utarefson's chest. She became puzzled when she saw that nothing happened, and lashed again and again, only succeeding at tearing his shirt to shreds.\n\n\"Once you've gotten it out of your system, please sit down again. We have a lot to discuss, and we're wasting time.\" \n\nAt last, panting from exertion, Natalia sat back down. \"S-sorry...\" \n\nA note of reassurance was in Utarefson's voice. \"Believe me, I understand. When something's in the blood, it's hard to resist. Now, Nosferatu. I've acquired some books and charts, and for years on end I've been consulting them, trying to trace where exactly Nosferatu will spring forward.\" \n\n\"You're a vampire. Why are you telling me any of this? Why would you want Nosferatu defeated?\" \n\n\"I did not ask to be a Vampire! I did not ask for this immortality! The foolishness of...\"  he began angrily, before calming himself down. \"I will tell you. It's not out of the goodness of my heart, of course. Before we proceed any further... you must have noticed by now, something about my name.\" \n\n\"It's Nosferatu backwards? How could anyone not notice? You're probably Nosferatu himself!\" \n\n\"His son.\"  he said simply. \"I wasn't even in the same country when he pulled his foolishness.\" \n\nNatalia reeled in shock, and finally said. \"I'm sorry...\" \n\n\"It's already forgotten. Anyway, due to the nature of the ritual, those eons ago, just like your family was affected, so was his. Which meant I, as the only living family member, got to share in my father's powers and immortality. I didn't want this 'gift', and especially not its cost.\"  He suddenly grimaced, face nearing the table as Clarice rushed to him. \"Agh, speak of the devil... my dear Clarice, if you'd be so kind...\" \n\n\"Clarice!?\"  Gareth said, surprised.\n\n\"Not now,\"Natalia said, putting a hand on him.\n\nClarice bent over in front of Utarefson, putting her hair to one side. \"Here, my lord.\" \n\nTo the shock of the others in the room, Utarefson lunged forward and bit Clarice in the neck. To their further shock, she reacted not with a cry of pain, but a moan of pleasure, visibly relaxing as the vampire drew her blood from her.\n\nAt last sated, he pulled off her, a hand caressing her where he'd bitten her. \"Thank you, my dear. That'll keep me, for a while.\" \n\n\"It's all consensual,\" Clarice said. \"I let him feed on me, and serve him, and in return he helps me with my... problems...\" \n\nNatalia is silent, blushing, her mind going back to Serah, finding herself suddenly wishing she had a jar of grape jelly with her.\n\n\"You could say I am his thrall,\" Clarice continued, \"But he has a loose hold on me. Believe me, it's better that I be in his hands than the alternative...\" \n\n\"So you are the gnoll that went mad all those years ago and-\"\n\n\"Killed your parents. Yes and no. It was my hands that did it, but I wasn't controlling them.... Gareth, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... There's not a moment that their faces, and all the others, don't haunt me... it's only thanks to Utarefson that more don't join them... Nnngh...\" Suddenly, Clarice flailed forward, a paw shooting to her head.\n\n\"Not again...\" she muttered. Utarefson quickly jumped up and stretched a hand forward.\n\n\"You are in control,\" he incanted, using the hypnotic voice once again. \"He has no power over you now. You are free. You are you. You are good. You are free. Send the voice back where it belongs, in the back of your mind, ignored. OBEY!\" \n\nClarice stays there, frozen, panting, before visibly relaxing and flopping into a chair Utarefson pulled behind her.\n\nGareth could only watch all of this, his mind trying to process everything. It was all too much. He imagined meeting the infamous Clarice entirely differently. He imagined meeting a demon that he would have to excise with his magic, not this vulnerable person before him. He just sat, silent.\n\n\"Now,\"Utarefson said, \"Hopefully we can now focus. The truth? Nosferatu isn't coming back soon, he's here now!\" \n\nHe waited for the gasps and shock, but Natalia merely kept looking at him.\n\n\"Yes,\" he continued, \"He's already here. I don't know how, but this time he's kept a low profile. If none of your family noticed, Natalia, he must have gone far underground. And this is why I believe I know where your father is.\" \n\nNatalia sat up at this. \"Well? Tell me! Where is he? Does Nosferatu have him?\" \n\n\"From what I've gathered, yes. Nosferatu has him in his power. If you should meet him, I'd be very careful. As for where, you're not going to like this at all.\" \n\n\"Tell me already!\" \n\n\"Locus. He is somewhere in Locus.\" \n\nNatalia's heart seemed to stop at this. She felt herself growing cold at this revelation. Impossible! Nosferatu, taking up residence in her home city? The place she'd spent her childhood? This couldn't be right. All that time she'd been learning the lessons of the street, the times she'd been in a gang, the time she discovered love, all during this, the dread vampire lord had been under her feet? It was too much to bear.\n\n\"We have to go. We have to go now.\" \n\n\"Wait,\"Utarefson said, grabbing her arm, having crossed the room somehow without her noticing. This gave Natalia the shivers, as his touch was cold, that of a corpse. \"You're hardly prepared. You need much more than what you have now. Rest for now. In two day's time, we'll all go together, taking my carriage straight there. And in the meantime, there's weapons and supplies we must get together, as well as more help. The four of us alone, even with my powers that rival my father's, will not be enough.\" \n\nNatalia looked down, a bit disheartened. \"Even the whole Belmund clan wouldn't be enough. It hasn't been before.\" \n\nUtarefson turned Natalia to face him, looking her in the eyes. \"This time it will be. And you will be the key. I can't explain right now, but trust me, this will be the end, and yours will be the hand that-\"\n\n\"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!\" Gareth finally snapped, unable to just sit in silence anymore. Finally coming out of his stupor, he pulled out his staff and dagger, magical forces crackling all around him.\n\n\"G-Gareth...\" Natalia tried to start, but Gareth reeled on her.\n\n\"Shut up! I can't believe all this time it was you!\" He pointed at Clarice with his dagger. \"You're not leaving this room alive!\" With this, he sent fierce lightning at her much too quickly for her to dodge. It hit her full force, knocking her to the floor, crying out in agony.\n\n\"Stop it!\" Natalia cried out. \"It won't bring them back!\" \n\n\"No\" Gareth growled, \"But they may rest easily...\" \n\nAt last, Utarefson jumped in front of Gareth, and after a move that was too fast for anyone to see, Gareth fell to the floor unconscious.\n\nThe minotaur passed out on the floor, Natalia rushed to help Clarice up. \"I'm alright,\"the gnoll said, \"I've taken worse than this before. And I had it coming, really...\" \n\n\"We'll get him to a bed,\"Utarefson said, \"I was afraid this would happen. Rest up, everyone. Tomorrow we begin our preparations in earnest.\" \n\nGareth lay unconscious in the bed. At the foot were Natalia and Clarice, looking on him.\n\n\"I want to tell him everything,\"Clarice said. \"He has to know.\" \n\nNatalia shook her head. \"He won't listen to you. So long as he thinks Utarefson is in control of you, he won't make a move. There'll be a time, trust me.\" \n\nThey walked out of the room and towards their own. \"Anyway, even if he did kill me, Natalia, it would be doing me a favor.\" \n\nNatalia frowned, placing her hands on her again. \"Don't say that. It's not your fault, and you know it!\" \n\nThey arrive and lay on the bed, caressing each-other. \"That's not the point, my kitty-girl. You're smart, you should be able to tell by now that Lord Utarefson's thrall treatments are only delaying the inevitable. As time goes on, I've been less and less able to fight the... thing in my head. Someday, before too long, it may take over completely, and who I am, I, talking now, will be gone forever. Only that thing will be left. That's why...\" she swallowed. \"That's why I want to die. While I'm still myself. Whether it's by Nosferatu's hands, or those of his minions, or even Gareth's, it's what I want. It's why I'm even doing this.\" \n\nNatalia held her close. Sadness welled. She'd been here before; not exactly like this, but she knew the feeling. Tears started to fall. She clutched to Clarice firmly. \"You can't... why... you can't...\" But as much as she tries to deny it, the truth of Clarice's situation is now concrete. \"I just met you...\" \n\nClarice pulled her closer. \"We all have our time. It just shows that we all have to make today the most important day. Dry those tears now. Let's enjoy things while we're here, mm?\" \n\n\"J-just hold me... I can't now...\" \n\nAnd so they cuddled. Natalia let it all out, Clarice patting her, looking into space, knowing this last adventure would be the toughest, not just for her, but for everyone else.\n\nNatalia, once she was in a better frame of mind, wrote letters to all the clan. They would know where the best weapons are, they would know who the best people to take would be, and the more numbers on their side, the better. She wondered, though, what Utarefson had meant exactly by her being the key. By all reckonings she could think of, she was one of the weakest members of the family. At least, of those that actually fight, anyway. It's why she had dropped out of the Syndicate in favor of her half-sister Cecilia. She was best as a thief, an acrobat, someone who can jump from place to place, someone who can pick the lock, someone who can team up to flank with someone.\n\nShe shook her head as she finished the letter she was on. Utarefson could explain it to her later, hopefully. Assuming there was an explanation, of course.\n\nShe walked by Gareth's door, knocking before looking in. \"How're you doing, baby? Headache from yesterday?\" \n\nGareth glowered at her. \"I'm going to kill her. You know that, right?\" \n\nNatalia sighed, coming in. \"Can you at least not do it until after this whole vampire mess is over?\" \n\n\"Screw the vampire bullshit. She is going to die, and I'm going to be the one to do it. I have to. It has to be me.\" \n\nNatalia outwardly wore a look of concern for Gareth, but inside she felt terrible. Sure, she'd been deceptive before, but that was always being deceptive to the bad guys. Gareth especially didn't really deserve it, but she always hated it when her lovers fought with each-other, even in these circumstances. It was pain to her.\n\n\"Besides, I see how you get with her. You're so close, the two of you. Rrgh, if I didn't think you were doing it just because you're a slut, I'd kill you, too.\" \n\n\"Stop that...\" \n\n\"She killed my parents!\" \n\nNatalia wanted to cry again. She was in a very difficult situation. \"She's sick. Utarefson has her under control in any case. Please, just until the end of this. I'm not asking you to like her, or anything else, just don't kill her yet, okay?\" \n\nGareth sighs. \"Fine. I guess she can live just a little longer. And I'm only doing it because you are the one asking. If it was anyone else, I'd tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine.\" \n\n\"That's all I can ask. Now... why don't we do something that'll cheer you up?\" \n\n\"Seriously? At a time like this? When are you not horny?\" \n\n\"Suit yourself,\"she said teasingly as she started to walk out of the door. When she realized he wasn't going to stop her, she closed it behind her.\n\n\"So, what, as if being a vampire wasn't enough, he's some kind of damn lich too?\" \n\nUtarefson looked at Natalia. He hadn't had much contact with the outside since his conversion, and the kitty-girl was entrancing him. He had discarded the shirt she'd torn, but neglected to replace it with another. \"You could say that, I guess. I'll say it again, just to be sure that it sinks in. Nosferatu has an object that keeps his essence. The Belmunds never found it out. I didn't even know until I looked at all the books and added two and two together. But now that we know, we can finally end it all. There is finally hope. And of course this is why it has to be you. There are all kinds of doors and traps and the like guarding it, no doubt, and you're the best equipped of all the Belmunds to do it. And it has to be a Belmund, thanks to the curse's nature. And the fact that you're using the ancestral whip makes it considerably easier.\" \n\nNatalia gets closer to him. \"Good. The sooner this is all over, the better.\" \n\n\"You're still thinking about Clarice, aren't you?\" \n\nNatalia sighed. \"It's like she's some kind of weight, just bearing down on us. Gareth's a totally different person now; he won't even look at me like he used to. And poor Clarice... this is just too much. I almost want to kill her myself, get it over with.\" \n\nUtarefson puts a cold arm around her. \"I can't say I'm an expert on people, but give it time. It may all still play out for the best. Maybe both Clarice and Gareth will get what they need in a way that won't destroy things.\" \n\nNatalia shivered slightly at the touch, but was glad to have the support, even from a vampire. \"Maybe... I just wish... I don't know...\" \n\nUtarefson put a hand to his head, massaging his temple a bit. \"Nnh... you should leave now, it's nearly feeding time for me.\" \n\n\"About that...\" Natalia reached into her bag and produced a jar of grape jelly, looking at the reluctant vampire with imploring eyes.\n\nUtarefson stared at her. \"That... that's a jar of jelly, isn't it?\" \n\nFeeling oddly nervous, but trying not to show it, she nods, leaning forward as she holds the jar up, a spoon in her other hand.\n\n\"You do know I don't eat normal food, right?\" \n\nAnother nod, as her tail moved of its own accord.\n\nHe cocked his head. \"I don't understand what you're trying to convey...\" \n\nShe walked closer, purring slightly, unscrewing the jar lid and dipping the spoon in. \"I heard from another vampire...\" she said at last, \"That cat blood is sour...\" She cocked her own head, placing a dollop on her neck, just on her jugular.\n\nUtarefson just stared at her. This was completely mystifying to him. Never in his hundreds of years of unlife had he ever had anything like this happen. He didn't even like grape jelly all that much when he'd been alive. \"So,\"he said, desperately trying to make sense of this increasingly strange tableau, and reflecting on the thought of himself, a vampire, finding something strange, \"I'm guessing you are consenting to being my feed?\" \n\n\"I'm curious... I want to know what it feels like...\" \n\n\"Are you sure? As a vampire hunter, you must know that if I bite you, you'll become my thrall. It's automatic, I can't keep it from happening.\" \n\nNatalia hesitated. \"I know, but you... you're a lot like the other vampire I knew... I can tell you're good, and that you won't abuse any power you have over me.\" \n\n\"How can you be sure? At any moment I could lose my self control and drain you completely dry. I could suddenly become the most evil person ever, evil enough to put my father to shame.\" \n\nShe smiled, understanding in her eyes. \"If you were the kind of man who would do that, it would have happened by now. You're not fooling anyone.\" She got closer until she was face to face with him. \"You've never... been with anyone, have you?\" \n\nUtarefson said nothing.\n\n\"And here I thought vampires were supposed to be all charm and allure... don't worry, I can ease you in... but maybe you should eat first... no good to take lessons on an empty stomach...\" She took his head and pulled it to her neck. Finally, the reluctant vampire couldn't resist anymore and, despite himself and the flavor of the grape jelly, he sunk in.\n\n\"Ow! Th- oooooh... that feels... how close are we to the bed...?\" \n\nThe next day came. Natalia, with two small marks on her neck, daydreamed as they rode towards Locus. Sadly, all else was silence. Gareth had elected to ride on the coach with Utarefson, glowering forward, rage simmering within him as he watched the gnoll far ahead of him, who was still going on foot.\n\nWithin the carriage, its curtains drawn, the noble vampire slept. To his side were all kinds of papers and writings, maps and correspondences, bits copied from old tomes. For now, Utarefson slept. Plans were for naught if they couldn't be made reality.\n\nThe trees gave way to the plains. Instead of the close nestle of great wooded areas, there were the wide open spaces, sometimes broken by fences and the odd animal. Natalia tried to remember the last time she'd been this way. Must have been, what, five years? The first time she'd left the city; the first time she'd ever found that the world was more than stone and mortar and torches. Hadn't even known what a tree was outside of the odd story before then.\n\nShe looked ahead at Clarice. She idly wondered what it would be like to be able to run that fast.\n\nShe realized she was bored.\n\nShe realized that the sky was oddly gray all of a sudden.\n\nShe realized that up ahead there were dark figures.\n\nWith a shout of encouragement at her horse, she rode forward, jumping an amazing dismount to give her slung whip even more power as she hit one of the shapes that was crowding around the Gnoll. A strange and horrific cry, something almost but not quite human coming out of the robed figure.\n\n\"Seems father's become impatient!\"  shouted Utarefson as he came out of the carriage, squinting even in the dimmed amount of light that got through the clouds above.\n\nGareth sat on the carriage for a few moments. He'd been content to let the barely controlled thrall get herself killed against the five. He sighed a sigh of irritation. Of course that cat-slut had to get herself embroiled in things. Knowing he couldn't just sit and watch now that Natalia was in the fray, he hopped off and started directing his innate magical flow, which crackled in his hands. A thought crossed his mind, one that before might not have. Perhaps he could be, oh, a little less careful than usual in his evocations. Heat of battle and all. He instantly felt ashamed of himself. If he was going to kill that horrible hateful thrall, he thought, he was going to do it honestly. Besides, he might hit Natalia.\n\nSpeaking of Natalia, she didn't know what to make of these horrors. They'd been different from Nosferatu's earlier attempts on her. Those times had mostly been attacks by assassins or low-time vampires. These things scared her. He must have been sending his best this time, or at the very least his serious team. She continued to muse on this as she rolled out of the way of the minotaur's directed lightning strike.\n\nDespite the range of her spear, Clarice viciously kicked and bit and got as close to the horrors as possible. It was during these kinds of close battles where the part of her she was fighting had the most out time, being let out on a kind of leash. Here, in this case, it was no trouble. But one day, it would stay like this. This she knew, as her spear attempted to run one of the strange horrors through, cursing as it glanced off. What had appeared like meat on these things were more like very hard wood, if not some kind of stone or some other strange thing. Some kind of appendage struck her, feeling much like something dropped from a long height, winding her briefly. Rolling out of the way, she looked these creatures up and down, trying to find something, anything, she could use against them.\n\nUtarefson seemed to glide ahead. His feet didn't touch the ground at all. His cape flowed behind him, as did his silvery hair, as he held a hammer in his hand. \"Don't bother with blades,\"he cried out, \"Use the blunt bits!\" In the mean time, one of the horrors exploded into four slightly smaller ones, three of which headed for the noble vampire. He looked at them with the expression one would have upon finding a moth in the house and smacked one in the face, flames leaving his hand, the creature's head flying off and rolling away. He followed this with a hammer strike to the neck stump, which made the creature fall apart, shattering in pieces as if he'd instead hammered a pane of glass.\n\nNatalia changed her position, still keeping her eye on the one she was engaging while also getting a look at the chaos that was going on all around her. She snapped her whip, coiling it round the creature and pulling it toward her as she aimed a kick into its face. She watched as it too crumbled. This struck her as a bit too easy. Something was wrong. Kicking something out of another creature's appendage that was making Utarefson double over in pain, she scanned all around. There were a couple of trees, some bushes nearby, all big enough to conceal a person. It wasn't so much thinking as instinct that guided the kitty-girl through this line of reasoning. Sadly, the things didn't allow her enough time to really size up the situation, as one attempted to grab her while another made ready to seemingly punch her through. However, a well aimed kick unbalanced her captor, allowing her to use its momentum to flip it right into its comrade's punch, watching as it too shattered. A bap to the face with the handle of \n\nher whip dealt handily with the other one.\n\nGareth approached closer and closer, his emergency weapon of a half-brick in a sock proving to be devastating, a relief after his lightning didn't do much of anything earlier. He'd noticed that fire seemed to make some kind of effect on them, so it was this tack he tried next, waving some at the decreasing number of creatures. He, too, was getting the feeling that this was far too easy.\n\nAt last, there was one left. Clarice raced for it, grabbed its robes, and dealt it a headbutt that would give a normal human a concussion. With that, the last one dissolved away.\n\nThe clouds started to dissolve, prompting Utarefson to put on his protective hat and draw closed his clothing. Everyone started to go back to the horses.\n\n\"That was entirely too easy, wasn't it?\" Natalia asked nobody in particular.\n\n\"So you noticed too?\" Clarice responded. \"Had one hit me, and it was nothing but a love tap.\" \n\n\"Indeed,\"said the noble vampire. \"What could have been-\"\n\nThe gnoll let out a strangled cry and ran towards where Gareth was standing. The minotaur braced himself for a battle he'd on some level been wishing for, when he realized that Clarice was looking behind him.\n\nFrom seemingly nowhere, there was a very soft noise, and four darts, almost too fast for the eye to follow, arced across the road.\n\nNatalia neatly dodged the one aimed at her. Utarefson let his hit, and stared at it with dull interest. Clarice was a moving target, so hers missed entirely.\n\nGareth stared. He was the least agile of the group, and as if in slow motion, he watched the dart coming towards him, unable to get out of the way. He kept watching as Clarice shoved him aside and the dart struck her right in the forehead.\n\nFire leaped from Utarefson's hand to the bushes that were certainly the source of the deadly missiles. He then flowed over to look. \"Some human. Must have been camping here for days.\" \n\nGareth stood in stunned silence as he watched the gnoll pull the dart out of her forehead and examine it with her good eye. She tasted the tip, and any color she still had in her face drained away. \"Zauphetolin. Oh no... not like this...\" She turned to the minotaur and grabbed his robe. \"Boy, if you want to kill me, now's your time!\" \n\nConflict was raging in the mute bovine's mind, unable to totally process just what had happened. The murderer who had killed his parents had saved him, and was now begging him to kill her? How does one even react to this?\n\n\"Yes, this is definitely zauphetolin,\"the noble vampire said sagely, \"My father must be on one of his sadistic bends. You get hit with this, you die slowly over days. Your entire body boils from within.\" He smacks his mouth, getting a taste for the dart. \"I'd say she's got at least seven minutes before it starts.\" \n\nGareth finally seemed to resolve everything in his mind. \"Why should I give you a mercy kill? Do you think saving my life once makes up for everything you've done?\" \n\nTears start coming from Clarice's eyes, though nothing else about her face betrays anything but stoniness. \"Boy, there's some things you need to know.\" \n\nNatalia started to say something, but Utarefson held out his hand in front of her, shaking his head.\n\n\"When I was young, something happened to me. Something that should never happen to anyone. It did something to me. Something in my head came unglued, and I started to hear voices. Evil voices. They wanted me to do terrible things. Sometimes it was just a whisper. Other times it was so loud it drowned out all the real sounds around me. At its worst, it would take over, and I would watch as it did whatever it wanted with my body. It used to be that the worst times didn't happen at all. But I grew older. I lost friends. As time went on, I was in less and less control. Your parents died, Gareth, when I first lost total control. All I could do was watch in horror as I saw my hands doing the things they did. They were my friends, and I had to watch as my body snuffed them out as I screamed, trying desperately to stop it.\" \n\nShe let go and stepped back. \"I'm not asking your forgiveness. Just kill me now, while I'm still me, and before this horrible death starts.\" \n\nGareth was silent. He was beside himself. Once again his mind was in turmoil, unable to decide anything, left or right. Suddenly, finally, out of just wanting desperately to make the problem go away, he pointed his staff at the source of his troubles and let the magic arc through her.\n\nClarice fell, gazed as if in middle distance, smiled, said something inaudible, and was dead.\n\nGareth stood in shock for a while, staring at what he had done, before kneeling down and, with one finger, closing her eye.\n\nNatalia walked up to him. \"Did you get what you wanted, Gareth?\" she asked, her voice shaking and emotional.\" \n\nGareth shook his head. \"I didn't want this... damn that Nosferatu for forcing it on me...\" \n\nGareth stood up in time for Utarefson to walk forward, taking the dead Clarice's body in his arms. \"I'll take care of this,\"he said, \"You two go on ahead. I'll meet you there. I have a promise to keep now.\" \n\nNatalia placed a hand on Gareth's shoulder, which she really had to reach to do. \"You don't have to come any farther,\"she said, \"If you want, you can go home.\" \n\nGareth shook his head. \"No. Can't do that anymore. For her sake, I've got to finish this. For hers, and for mine.\" \n\nNatalia cocked her head, not really understanding, but nodding. \"Well, saddle up,\"she said, getting on her horse. \"Locus is still a night's ride or so ahead.\" \n\nThe stone edifices of the Lavamanos Monastery were bathed in the shadows of all the leaves on the trees and hedges. The smells of flowers, herbs, and oils bathed the place.\n\nA priest, older now, his face worn with care, nodded. \"I understand.\" \n\nUtarefson, in his protective clothing, stood at the door. \"I'm sorry, Father Stevenson.\" \n\nFather Stevenson approached the covered casket that Utarefson had brought. He placed a hand on it. \"Little Clarice... I watched you grow up, watched you take your steps in the world, and now you've come back to us. I... I didn't do enough. At least now you're at peace.\" \n\n\"Father Stevenson...\" \n\n\"Oh, right. Of course, we'll take her in. She'll be placed with the rest of the Monastic Family.\" \n\nUtarefson bowed and mounted his coach again. As he rode away, the sound of the chapel bells rang out, and the sweet scent of incense rose to the sky, bearing the smell of lilacs.\n\nAhead in the distance were the walls of the great city of Locus, probably the largest city of all the cities in the country. Natalia had only seen these walls once before, as she'd left, and looking at them now, something was wrong. Something was very different. What had been shining walls in her memory now looked grey, neglected, and dull. The guards looked completely different; what had once been bright uniforms was now dull leather.\n\nShe sighed. \"Let me do the talking, Gareth. They'll catch your Snowshire accent from a mile away. My Locus Cant is a bit out of date, but it should draw less suspicion.\" \n\nThey dismounted, and with Natalia pulling Alminear II, she watched the guards approaching. She waved.\n\nThe older guard leered at her. \"Name, citizenship, purpose of visit?\" \n\n\"Big Nat, this mah home, an I'm visitin' famly.\" \n\nSilence, as the younger guard approached, also looking at Natalia, much more eagerly.\n\n\"And the minotaur?\" \n\n\"Aw no, don't be neggin' my boy. Sheh, what's a doll gotta do ta get in?\" \n\nGareth had stared at Natalia this whole time. \"Er, yeah, word!\" \n\n\"SHUT YO PLAIN BREAD MOUTH, MAMA NAT HAS THIS!!\" she yelled back at him, shaking her head. \"Acuze mah boy, he ain't right in the blood cooler.\" \n\nThe guards looked at each other, then back at her. \"Yesh, you must not have been here for ten years. Cant has been outlawed since then. If you were in city limits, we'd arrest you. Since you're outside, we're just not going to let you in. Have a good one.\" \n\nNatalia's face flashed in shock and anger. \"Wh-what!? You're shitting me! This is my hometown, let me in!\" \n\nSuddenly, a third guard, tall and imposing, who had been surveying the situation and watching the conversation, came forward. \"You've found a Cant speaker?\" \n\nThe older guard looked at the tall guard, seeing captain stripes. He made a smart salute. \"Sir, we have. This one has been out of the city for a while. I was about to send her away.\" \n\nThe captain looked at Natalia and Gareth, and finally shook his head. \"No. Cant speakers are far too dangerous to just send away somewhere else.\" He grabbed Natalia's arm. \"By the authority of the Governor of Locus, I arrest you. Please come with me peacefully, both you and the minotaur.\" \n\nNatalia started to struggle, but looked up at the captain. He winked. Natalia's face very briefly flashed a smile of surprise and relief. \"Gareth! Do what this man says, they have us.\" \n\nGareth was also surprised, but he saw Natalia's wink and also came peacefully. The guards saluted as they went by. \"Follow me to the interrogation room,\"the captain said.\n\nThey all quietly made their way to the room. The captain spoke to the guards. \"I'm going to need some... privacy. Go to your regular patrols.\" After a couple salutes, they left. The captain closed and locked the door, and flipped the switch for the soundproofing spell.\n\n\"Using Cant to try to get in. Would it kill you to keep up with the times?\" The captain laughed, and put a hand up to his helmet. To Gareth's surprise, and Natalia's joy, the helmet became a straw hat, and the nondescript human wearing it became a half-orc woman in red robes and sandals.\n\n\"Cecilia! I should have known it was you, sis!\" The sisters ran to each-other and hugged in a long embrace, kissing each-other. Gareth cocked his head at the spectacle. Cecilia reluctantly pulled herself away from her half-sister, and came up to him. \"Wow, sis, you weren't kidding about him. You lucky kitty-girl~!\" \n\n\"Nice to meet you,\"Gareth managed to get out.\n\nCecilia chuckled. \"Wow, you *are* a hunk! You and I should have a roll in they hay sometime.\" A wink, and she turned back to Natalia. \"I got your letter. We pulled in everyone we could for this. Time's running out; there's some odd moves that happened here that we couldn't explain. After your letter, we put two and two together; Nosferatu is making his move. He knows you're coming, and that the family's gathering together. This way,\"she opened a trapdoor in the corner, \"You'd better come with me to the Underground. There's some people down there who really want to talk with you.\" \n\nThe Underground had long been a stronghold for criminal activity, far longer than anyone's memory could attest. Locus was an old city, and indeed it was the old city's remains in what was now the sewer that the underbelly inhabited. Natalia hadn't been down here since she was a girl, when she'd risen from a street urchin to second in command of one of the larger gangs. That seemed now like an entirely different life.\n\nTorches illuminated the dripping, stone-bricked buildings here. Stalactites formed on what was once a vaulted ceiling. And here, underneath the city, there was what had once been an amphitheater, filled with people all over, all shapes and sizes.\n\nNatalia smiled. \"Gareth, meet the Belmund family.\" \n\n\"Oh? Which ones are they?\" \n\nNatalia happily spread her arms wide. \"All of them!\" \n\n\"Ah, so we have a small city on our side?\" a voice said suddenly behind them. They turned around in surprise to see Utarefson. \"Don't mind me, I found my own way in.\" \n\nCecilia nodded. \"Most of us here are for support. I'm sure Mr. Blue-blood here will explain what the plan is.\" She threw up a signal, and forward came five people.\n\nUtarefson looked at the perspective team, nodding in satisfaction as he decided that indeed they were ready. \"Everyone will be given telepathic earrings. This will allow all of us to remain in contact with each-other and coordinate things. Don't worry if you're not pierced, they clip on. You five will go with Cecilia and Gareth to be the diversionary attack group. We have intel about just where Nosferatu's hiding. Any moment he's going to rise up, and we'll be there to meet whatever he throws up. All we need to do is buy time.\" He turned to the masses behind the five. \"The rest of you will offer support and keep any army he raises at bay. Remember, when you get the signal that Natalia is in position, you will all concentrate on Nosferatu. A solitary fighter has taken him down before, everyone pressing on him at once should be no trouble.\" \n\nNatalia pondered this. This sounded way to easy, way too optimistic, and her gut told her that it was going to be the worst cluster-bomb. She snapped out of it when she heard her name called. \"Mmm? Yes?\" \n\n\"If you're done fantasizing, here's what's expected of you. We've mapped out the place in the catacombs where the phylactery waits. We have no idea what it is or what it looks like, we have no idea what kind of traps are down there. That's why we're sending you. You're limber, you're experienced with locks and traps, and while you're not the strongest, you can handle yourself.\" \n\nCecilia spoke up. \"Everyone clear on what they're doing? Okay! Let's all gear up and get ready! We move out in an hour! Natalia, come with me.\" \n\nIn an antechamber, in what was probably a general store once, there was a table with a few things on it. \"We got you some special armor for this one, Nat. Only recently invented, and it'll seriously help you.\" \n\nNatalia took the black mass of cloth off the table. \"Whoa. It's so light! I can't even tell if I'm holding it.\" She let it fall open. \"And it's tiny!\" she gave a conspiratorial grin to Cecilia. \"You know, if you wanted me in something slinky, all you had to do was ask.\" \n\nCecilia chuckled. \"It stretches. It's something like a body suit. You'll have to take everything off before you change into it, it's meant to be skin tight.\" \n\nNatalia nodded and without even going into a corner or behind something she started slipping off her clothes. Cecilia leered at her. \"Damn, girl, you certainly keep in shape.\" \n\nNatalia grinned. \"When this is all over, I'll show you just how 'in shape' I am.\" She started slipping the body suit on.\n\n\"Is that a promise?\" Cecilia asked.\n\nNatalia finished putting it on. It was a very tight suit indeed, covering everything but her eyes, ears, and tail. \"Amazing! It's like I'm wearing nothing at all!\" \n\nCecilia nodded. \"It's super light; you'll be very limber, like you were naked. Don't be fooled, though, that suit can absorb some damage. The best part is, it knows how much light is in a place, and it adjusts accordingly. You'll be practically invisible.\" \n\nNatalia looked at herself. \"And it's pretty damn sexy, I have to say. I'd love to see you in one of these, Sis.\" \n\nCecilia smiled. \"You pull this off, I'll wear whatever you like. Now, here's the earring. Put it on; you'll hear a tone when you're being contacted. Press your fingers below your ear to answer. You don't have to speak to respond; think and we'll hear it. We'll test it before you go.\" \n\nNatalia clipped it to her ear. Cecilia wandered into the next room, and a few moments later, Natalia heard what sounded like a small bell being rung three times rapidly in her head. She placed her fingers on her neck below her ear. She was surprised to see Cecilia's face on the left side of her vision and an image of herself on the right.\n\nExcellent, Cecilia said, I was worried we got a bad batch for a moment. It's working perfectly.\n\nShould I be seeing myself? Natalia asked.\n\nYeah, it's an odd side effect of the psychic method these things use. You get used to it.\n\nSuddenly, Utarefson's face replaced Cecilia's. It's time, he said, Cecilia will take you to the catacombs. I wish you the best of luck.\n\nCecilia's face flickered back. We'll talk like this from this point on. We've risked enough talking out loud before, all of us. Are you ready?\n\nReady as I'll ever be, Natalia replied.\n\nA short walk later, the opening of the catacombs awaited before them. This is it, Cecilia said through telepathy, Once you're in, I have to seal the door to make sure nothing goes in after you. Is there anything you want to ask before you go in?\n\nYeah, I forgot to ask you earlier. What if I want to contact someone with this telepathic doodad?\n\nJust imagine their face and think of the letters \"c\" and \"q\".\n\nOh, like \"seek you\". That's cute.\n\nAnything else? Okay, go ahead. Good luck sis.\n\nNatalia steeled herself, then ran into the catacombs. She barely paid attention to the heavy stone and steel door closing behind her. Her darkvision wasn't very effective here; there was barely enough light to see a little bit in front of her. Had she been a human or any other creature without darkvision, the place would be completely pitch black. Deciding there was nothing for it, she reached into her satchel and strapped on a pair of goggles. It was risky using them; they allowed her to see clearly even in complete darkness, but they also radiated a very strong magical signal. Unfortunately, this was a risk she'd just have to take, as only seeing a few feet in front of her wasn't going to help her much.\n\nSure enough, the inside of the catacombs was what one would expect of catacombs; all the walls filled with small holes containing bones and sometimes grave goods. Living people hardly ever came down here anymore; several hundred years ago, the city had started cremating the dead. Thus, no new bodies ever entered the catacombs, and therefore nobody had come down here for ages. This isn't even mentioning the superstitious reasons for not wanting to come down.\n\nNatalia was always wary about that kind of thing, but she made the effort to snap herself out of superstition. Even so, the surroundings made her nervous. She'd seen far too many skeletons and dead bodies animated to ever really be at ease among the dead.\n\nThe catacombs seemed to go on forever, a maze of dead and holes. As she went on, Natalia noticed something that chilled her even more. Nothing alive was down here. Not even spiders. Not even worms. This was disturbing. Nowhere could she notice any movement.\n\nThat's when she realized that the floor had been slanting downward. She seriously hoped that this wasn't going where she thought it was.\n\n-\n\nAbove ground, Cecilia walked at the lead. Gareth was just behind and to the side of her, and just behind him were the five chosen members of the Belmund family. They were Canus, a wolfman and tough archer, known for his good eye for aiming; Ferilia, badgeress and cleric of strength; Indrus, elephantman and master of the giant hammer; Borus, lizardguy and master of magics; and Ophelia, a kittygirl bard, mistress of the lute and voice. These five were the best of the family, their powers and might well part of the reputation of the Belmund family for being completely effective.\n\nOphelia strummed her lute, singing a song in a low voice, in a language nobody there but Cecilia even had a passing familiarity with, but which Natalia would understand fully (having taught her the language in question, as well as some songs from the nomads in that tongue). Even so, her skills conveyed the ideas behind the words in her music, and despite the trepidation at what was coming, the music put them more at ease.\n\nCanus looked behind them. The other archers and sharpshooters of the Belmund clan were in their positions, unable to be noticed unless you knew exactly where they were beforehand. He nodded, then strung his own bow.\n\nFerilia chanted. She served no gods per se, but followed an idea of being strong in the face of darkness. This is what pushed her forward, and gave her powers divinity. Her low chant allowed a mist of strength to invigorate the seven who approached the mayor's keep.\n\nIndrus hefted his hammer. He wasn't one for being patient normally, but this was something utterly different. His mother long ages ago had faced Nosferatu before. She still told of the tale when he was a child. He knew better than the rest just what they were facing here. He hoped his hammer would be strong enough to break what laid before.\n\nBorus merely walked ahead. He'd done all the preparations those that learned magic rather than having it innately did. He'd even cheated a bit, using all kinds of magical shortcuts to increase the limits of what he could do. This was not going to be a wash. He was only disappointed that rather than obliterating the enemy, they were merely buying time.\n\nCecilia stopped, holding out a hand to halt those behind her. She drew her falchion. Her heart pounded in her chest, before she finally moved herself to speak. \"Nosferatu! We're here! Show yourself, if you dare! We know you've been here the entire time!\" \n\nAt first, nothing happened. The silence was thick enough to cut with a pair of shears. Then, on the edge of hearing, there began a small rumble. Everyone readied their weapons and went on guard.\n\nThe doors started to open. Everyone strained to see just what waited behind them.\n\nSlowly, out of the arches inside stepped out what seemed to be merely a shape of darkness. This resolved itself into a man. Amazingly tall, hair dark as midnight, dressed in gentlemen's clothes of the previous century, but there was no mistaking this man for anything other than the great, powerful evil that he was. Were his eyes not covered by smoked glass spectacles, they would give him away completely.\n\nThe great vampire spoke. \"Ah. Is it that time already? I was wondering when you would show up. I'm amazed it took so much effort to remind you of my existence.\"  He chuckled, a very unsettling sound that raised goosebumps within everyone around. \"And the whole family is here. How nice. What do you intend to do against me? Every time I've awakened, it's all been the same. What do you think will stop me this time that hasn't before?\" \n\nThe Belmund clan was stricken with paralysis, none wishing to make a move. Cecilia finally worked up the stones to speak. \"We will win this time, vampire devil demon! Your millennial reign is over. You should return to the space between worlds from which you've freed yourself. This time it'll be for keeps.\" \n\nNosferatu, towering, gazing at the group before him, smiled manically. \"Ah, how adorable the folly of youth is.\"  He reached out his hand, as if offering something invisible from his palm. \"What can you do now that is so different from the many previous times?\"  He gazed out that the many, many Belmunds that had gathered, and the friends of the family as well. \"What's this? Isn't there someone missing? odd that you roll out so many people and so many relics, yet the woman of the hour doesn't seem to be among us!\" \n\nCecilia hides the shock. \"Natalia? She's indisposed. You'll just have to be content with the rest of us.\" \n\nNosferatu broke into a toothy grin, revealing that all of his teeth were pointy and razor sharp. \"It's a pity you haven't all been sent by the Pelorites. There's so many jokes I could crack at their expense, so I'll just say this. Fight me with all of your strength! Summon up the blood!\"  He drew something out of his long gentleman's coat. Two somethings. \"Don't be boring! Give me some fun!\"  He pointed the somethings at the crowd, and with a laugh pulled what a lot of the group suddenly realized were the triggers of some new kind of pistols. Bullets screamed their way into the crowd, who all started moving. At this point, the snipers that had been on the top of the buildings fired at the vampire's hands. Had he been a mortal man, those arrows would have knocked the guns out of his hands, probably injuring them quite badly in the process. But he was not. He was Nosferatu. The most they did was graze his gloves as he shifted.\n\n\"I can't believe this!\"  Cecilia shouted as she dashed towards him, her falchion now focused with holy power and set to counter the dark energies of vampirism and being deftly wielded to deflect the lead coming her way. \"He's expecting a long battle! He's conserving his strength by using this technological cheating stuff!\"  She briefly looked behind her to see if they were sticking to the plan. Borus, being exceptionally good at thinking on his feet, had thrown up a barrier that, while unable to stop the bullets, did slow them down considerably, downgrading them from horrible hot things that can punch through flesh, shatter bone, and make horrible hydrostatic shockwave effects in living tissue, into essentially being pelted with small ball bearings thrown by a major league baseball player, still painful but at least not deadly.\n\nIndrus too was charging. He felt his hammer, weighign heavily in his hands, thirsting to strike the vampire. He ran as fast as you could expect a huge elephant man to run. Even so, he made ready to strike if Cecilia failed.\n\nNosferatu laughed, stopping his now pointless firing and playfully spinning his guns. \"What, that's all? I hope it's at least more fun up close. By the way,\" he stopped spinning them and pointed them at Cecilia, who'd just reached point blank range. \"You're not behind the barrier.\" \n\nCecilia saw the one gun pointed at her face while the other pointed at her stomach. \"Shit!\" \n\n-\n\nBelow, in what was rapidly becoming the underworld, Natalia kept running. She was starting to get a bit tired, but hearing the proceedings over telepathy was worrying her. There were way too many loud bangs, and they were coming way too rapidly. What was going on up there? Nobody'd died yet. There were a few injuries, but nothing a competent cleric couldn't take care of. Finally, her running came to an end when she encountered a huge door made of iron.\n\nShe looked at it curiously. It had all kinds of neat engravings on it that she couldn't really guess the meaning of. She looked up and down for a keyhole. She didn't find any. She pushed on the doors. They were quite firmly shut. She found the handles and tried pulling. They wouldn't budge. She smiled. This was going to be a challenge. This was fine by her; she always loved challenges. She pulled out her tools and set about the door. She had remembered the motto that circulated through various thieves' guilds over the years: \"If it's designed to open at all, then it can be cracked.\"  Or to put it into terms more understandable to Natalia's average companions, \"if it bleeds, it can be killed.\"  Of course, Natalia thought at remembering this, if doors bled, she wouldn't like opening them nearly as much.\n\nFirst things first: make sure there really isn't a keyhole. She checked the engraving. There's lots of likely holes, but none of them seem deep or big enough to be a keyhole. She ran her paws all over, inspecting by touch, making absolutely sure, hoping against hope she'd find one. After all, keyholes can be picked. Sadly, it's all for naught, as there is no keyhole to find.\n\nShe doesn't let this stop her, though. After checking for a latch or something similar, and finding none, she set about seeing if the hinges were on the outside. After all, if you can't unlock the door, taking the door down is an acceptable substitute. Alas, there are no hinges either. She sighed. Lovely. It was one of *those* doors. She hated these ones, the magically locked. It's not that she couldn't open them, just that they were nowhere near as fun as mechanical locks. Mechanical locks, say what you would about them, were at least not boring. She could've used her tools to poke and prod skillfully at all the tumblers and rods inside. But noooooo, instead she got to put her hands on the door and chant random gibberish, hoping any of it will trigger the opening spell. She sighed, grumbled, and put her paws back on the door. She started with the list of standard magical passkeys first, the ones that are usually installed with the door, and thus used only by idiots and lazy people who didn't change it. She \n\nwent through each of them, and to her complete lack of suprise, not a one worked. Nosferatu, or whoever was doing the building for him, knew what he was doing.\n\nShe looked at the engraving for hints. It looked like a typical funeral depiction, showing a bunch of people around a coffin carried by paulbearers. She noticed that some of them faced the left, while others faced the right. Even the pallbearers weren't all facing the same direction. She briefly mused whether Nosferatu forgot his passwords and left this engraving as a hint for himself, and a blatant one at that going by the pallbearers lack of going in a unified direction. If they actually tried carrying a coffin like that, they'd spin themselves in a circle for ages. She touched the door, thinking about the number of all the people facing left. Nothing. She tried thinking about the number facing right. Again, nothing. She looked at the engraving again to make sure she didn't miss anything.\n\nNatalia noticed that below this scene there were four chevrons. This was a clue, she thought. Maybe there are four numbers. Probably the total, how many are facing left, and how many are facing right. The last number had her stumped. She stared at the engraving for a very long time before it struck her. There was someone in the engraving who didn't face either left or right at all - the corpse! So she once more laid hands on the door, thinking the numbers: 10, 6, 4, 1.\n\nTo her relief, the door sprang open. \"Nosferatu needs to learn better password security,\" Natalia said aloud to herself.\n\n\"You... I was wondering when I'd see you,\" a low voice from inside the room said.\n\nNatalia's heart skipped a beat from the suprise. She peered into the dark room. \"Who's there?\" \n\n\"You are of the family? You made it down here. Lord Nosferatu knew someone would eventually find this place.\"  He stepped out into the light. Natalia gasped in shock. The man smiled, his eyes having a strange red glow, his face being the face of one who was being a vehicle for someone else entirely.\n\n\"That's why I am here,\" Richard Belmund said, strange whip made from bones in hand, pointing at her.\n\n\"D-Daddy...\"  Natalia let slip in her shock. She shook her head. \"No, you aren't! Your mind is being ridden!\" \n\n\"Very good. Ah, but if you try to kill me, this man dies. What ever can you do? Of course, that's assuming you could even stand up to him in the first place.\" \n\nNatalia's head spun. She had to figure out a way to get the mind rider out of her father's mind. Combat isn't going to do it. She decided she didn't really have a choice. She was going to have to do something she didn't expect she'd have to do. She wondered if the mind rider had delved very deeply into Richard's mind. She was gambling that it hadn't; if it had, this was going to fail spectacularly. Of course, she had a backup plan for that, but it wasn't much better. She put away her whip and put on a coy smile. \"Oooh, such confidence. Confidence can be a real turn on for me...\" \n\nThe mind ridden Richard looked at her quizically, cocking his head like a puppy exposed to post-modern surrealist humor. \"Um, what?\" \n\nShe grins even wider. \"I noticed the way you've been looking at me. You *like* this. So sleek, so skin-tight, and on a body like mine...\" \n\nSweat starts to break out on his face. \"You *do* know this is your father I'm riding here, right? You didn't suddenly forget that?\" \n\nShe nods. \"Oh, I'm well aware.\"  She gets right up to him, putting her arms around his neck. The mind rider is too utterly confused and somewhat horrified at what's going on to really react. \"Give me some sugar, Daddy...\"  she says before finally kissing him. Not the way a daughter would kiss her Dad, some perfunctory lip peck on the cheek, no, but a lover's kiss, all lips and tongues and the deep magics that quite often were very, very frowned upon when used on family. Naturally at this the mind rider starts screaming. Richard falls limp as some kind of mist flies out of his head. Natalia catches him and lays him down gently.\n\n\"I saw! I saw his mind when you did that! You.... gah! You and your entire family are *sick*!\"  the now freed mind-rider shrieked.\n\n\"Hi, I'm Natalia, and I'm the one that *isn't* judging you by what you do with your time. Oh wait, I kind of am. Silly me!\"  She reaches for her whip and lashes at the mist. Sure enough, the holy vibrations of the legendary whip prove to be well enough to dissipate the mind rider, who happily embraces the cold touch of death, happy to be free from a world with such terrible perverts in it.\n\nNatalia ran to her unconscious father. \"Daddy? Come on, wake up, Daddy...\" \n\nRichard started to stir. He looked up at his daughter with clear eyes. He blinks, reaches a hand out to touch her face. \"M-Marilyth? Where am I? Is little Natalia safe?\" \n\nShe takes his hand. \"I *am* Natalia, Daddy.\" \n\nHe marvels at this. \"Amazing! My little kitty-girl has grown so much. You're the spitting image of your mother. How is she?\" \n\nShe saddens. There's no sense in lying to him. \"She's dead, Daddy. She died a little while after you vanished.\" \n\nRichard stared into space for a while, hearing this. Tears formed. \"Marilyth... wait, I disappeared? How long have I been gone? It must have been a very long time, looking at how you're a woman now...\" \n\n\"18 years. You've been gone 18 years.\" \n\n\"So long? And it cost my dear Marilyth, too... Damn that Nosferatu.\" \n\n\"Oh Daddy... there's so much I wanted to say to you, so much I wanted to ask you, but we don't have time now. Listen! We know how to take out Nosferatu once and for all. He put you here to guard it, he must have. Daddy, the whole family's fighting him above ground. We've got to find his phylactery.\" \n\nRichard gets up, brushing himself off. \"Well. If it'll defeat that vampyric asshole once and for all... Yes. I barely remember, but it's deeper this way. Come on, honey.\" \n\nNatalia dashes after him, the two rushing towards the thing that would end the conflict for all time.\n\n-\n\nCecilia panted. That was a close one. Without some awesomely fancy footwork and two quick falchion slashes, she'd have been very very dead. The guns lay in pieces below.\n\nNosferatu chuckled, then laughed heartily. \"HAHAHAHAHA, oh dear, I've lost my guns, however shall I fight without those- PLAYTIME'S OVER!\" \n\nSuddenly, Cecilia got a tone. Thanks to the nature of these calls, everything around her stopped moving, including the great vampire forming flames in his hand. She answers.\n\n\"Natalia, what's the update?\" \n\nNatalia's smiling face met her, though some mascara streaks showed some tears. \"Heading for the phylactery now. You won't believe who's guiding me there.\" \n\nCecilia shakes her head in disbelief. \"No. No way. You didn't...\" \n\nShe beams. \"I found Daddy!\" \n\nCecilia feels tears of joy clouding her own eyes. \"Oh, Papa... I can remember when you weren't missing. So, Natalia, ETA?\" \n\n\"We're seconds away from it. You can start heating up on Nosferatu now. Good luck, try not to die, and try to make sure nobody else dies either.\" \n\nThe communication ended, and time once again moved forward in the expected way. Nosferatu nearly throws the fire, but notices that Cecilia is laughing. \"Hahaha, yeah, it is pretty funny, the way any of you think you even have a chance.\" \n\nCecilia turns to face the rest of the family. \"Everyone! Victory's ours! Richard Belmund has returned to us!\" \n\nA massive cheer comes up from the Belmund clan.\n\nNosferatu lowers his smoked glasses. \"What. Wait. Seriously?\" \n\nCecilia turns to once again face the vampire. \"Yeah, and he and Natalia are at your phylactery now! We know your secret! Soon you'll be defeated for good.\n\nNosferatu is stunned. \"What!? Argh, you *couldn't* have!\" \n\n---\n\nBelow, Nosferatu's phylactery floated on a pedestal like a shiny floating thing that floats and shines.\n\n\"That's it?\"  Natalia asks.\n\n\"That's it.\"  Richard says.\n\nShe looks at it. \"I was expecting something kinda... you know, more.\" \n\n\"I was too, honestly. Well, my kitty girl, ready to wail on it with our whips until it shatters?\" \n\n\"I was born for this!\"  They both do so, and it shatters into a bazillion pieces.\n\n--\n\nAbove ground, Nosferatu looks at himself. He smiles. He laughs, giving a golf clap. \"Congratulations! You've managed to make me mortal! I never thought that would happen, not for another thousand years anyway! I underestimated you! And now I have something of a confession to make. You know all those times the family took me down for a while?\"  He grinned wickedly. \"I let them. For me, while the phylactery existed, defeat was just a little vacation. Now that it's been taken from me, and I once again have the specter of death hovering over me, I have no reason to go easy on you. By making that choice, you've unleashed me! Oh, by the way?\"  He makes a hand motion and Richard and Natalia appear next to Cecilia.\n\nThe smile leaves the dread vampire's face. \"Die.\"  He points a finger each at Natalia and Richard, and simultaneously a brilliant red light shoots out of them. Richard manages to get out of the way as he dashes towards Natalia, who was caught completely off guard. He's too far away, though, and the other red light bores right through her chest, making a hole the size of a strawberry right through her. Her vital organs pierced, she falls to the ground, blood coming out of her mouth.\n\n\"Natalia!\"  Cecilia screams as she rushes to her. Nosferatu gets in the way. \"Oh no. You are not exempt.\"  He points the finger at Cecilia, who in a rage slices the entire hand off with her falchion. While he's distracted with that, she and Richard pull Natalia behind the barrier to the back, where Ophelia plays her music, hoping to encourage Ferilia. The cleric shook her head. \"It's no good. Whatever he did to her is really bad mojo. Vital organs are pierced, and I can't get anything to regenerate.\" \n\nNatalia looked up, unable to speak, unable to move anything but her eyes and her head, everything starting to fade as she coughed up more of her own blood. She looked at her father, then Cecilia, then Ferilia and Ophelia. She finally can't stay conscious any longer. Her eyelids get heavy, and her eyes close.\n\nNatalia Belmund was dead.\n\nAt first, darkness. Silence. The feeling of floating, being weightless, massless, nothing. Finally, words without being words reach what was once Natalia.\n\n\"Ah, still used to the ways of flesh. 'Open' your 'eyes'.\" \n\nThe new world is thrown into sharp relief, showing a world that mortal eyes never saw very often.\n\nAnd before her was someone she had seen before, but couldn't quite place.\n\n\"I... I died...\" \n\nThey nodded. \"Yes. Do not be worried. You will be disoriented for a little while.\" \n\nThe one who had once been Natalia looked down at, for lack of a better word, her body. It had changed.\n\n\"What is this!? What's happened to me?\" \n\nThey shook their head. \"So you have forgotten. This is always a danger when it comes to being an avatar. Why you wished to become mortal is beyond us.\" \n\n\"Wh... what?\" \n\nThen it finally came together. She was looking at Yashuk, the many-in-one god that Clarice had told her about and had worshipped.\n\n\"Perhaps here at what for the sake of your formerly mortal psyche we will call 'the crossroads' is not the best place to discuss these things. Your realm is waiting for you, untouched. The others and we have been looking over it.\" \n\n\"My real-\"suddenly, unbidden, memories start to return. The one that was once Natalia starts to realize that she was only Natalia for a short time. There was another name, someone she's been all along. But then, that memory was interrupted by another from her mortal life.\n\n“D-do you know what's going on in the mortal realm!? Tell me!\" \n\nYashuk merely blinked. “We... do not take issue with what is below. It hardly concerns us.\" \n\nThis came as quite a nasty shock. “You... do know there are people there that worship you and all, right!?\" \n\nYashuk shrugged. “What do we care for the insects below? They choose to worship us, we do not know why. We sometimes humor them, grant them boons.\" \n\nThe one that had once been Natalia glowered at the god, noticing his five heads at last. “So you don't even care. This-\" sudden realization hit her like a ton of ethereal bricks. \"This is why I went down there. I remember,\" she said, feeling very strange. \"The argument. Not just with you, but with Kartaz and Yeshila and Rom the Coded one and... my head...\" she grasped what felt like her head, the memories coming back being too much. “You said I had a realm... take me there...\" \n\n\"You and we are there already,\"Yashuk said without saying, and indeed the void was replaced by a wide field, over which was a pink-tinged blue sky. Tall golden grass was all around, with sparse sprinklings of tall fruit-bearing trees. Golden sparkly things weaved and flew through the air, and all around were all kinds of beings, male, female, and otherwise, of all races and kinds, having fun, happily chasing eachother or sitting under the trees, in various states of dress and undress.\n\nThe one that had once been Natalia blinked. \"This... this is home...\"  Then the thought reaffirmed itself. \"There is... still some of Natalia in me... she speaks to me... do I have a-\" She turned around, and sure enough behind her was what looked like a hotel. She wondered what she was thinking when she'd placed that there, it utterly disrupted the theme of everything else.\n\nWait. She'd made this? What is this? Her head... She made way for what she remembered to be her own chamber, what could be called a penthouse suite.\n\nThe room was... tacky... like, way tacky. The one that had once been Natalia was deeply embarrassed. Heart wallpaper? Really? And so much tackiness. All the sickening statues and other such things. This...\n\nThis would not do.\n\nAnd just as she thought it, the room changed, becoming a much more tasteful room, reminiscent of the rooms she'd spent nights in when she was a mortal. She finally looked into the tall, full-length mirror.\n\nNo.\n\nThis wasn't right, was it?\n\nIt made so much sense, but still.\n\nYes, it was right.\n\nCumina, Goddess of Love and Lust, nodded at her figure in the mirror. How could it be any other way? All the knowledge, experience, and memories of her goddess self now completely rushed in and joined the knowledge, experience, and memories of the mortal Natalia. She had heard about other gods and goddesses sometimes seeking to go to the mortal realms as avatars. Mind, not any of the current gods and goddesses, who were far more content to just stay in their own realms and bicker.\n\nYes, that was right, wasn't it? The world had been very different. No, not just the world, the universe. She was one of the few that survived the death of the old universe, where gods and goddesses walked the mortal plane willy nilly. That had been a disaster. Cumina, along with Death, had been the only ones to survive specifically because they had spent little time there. Memories came back to her of an empty celestial world, racked with fire, ice, void, and much more.\n\nThe new gods had arrived, and somehow below a new mortal universe was created. Death had made the new gods and goddesses promise to never go down to the mortal planes, not as gods and goddesses. Cumina had agreed that it was for the best, all that is would not survive another catastrophe like the last one.\n\nCumina had been intimately involved with the mortal world. Her very nature couldn't help it. It's she that noticed this great threat first. Nosferatu's rise was seen even from the immortal realms.\n\nShe had argued with the others how best to take care of this. Yashuk, lazy bastard that he was, voted to do nothing. What was he even a god of? Her mortal memories of Clarice describing him as a god of light, loving and merciful, burned her. He was anything but.\n\nKartaz, the goddess of war, wanted to descend to the world and fight him right then and there with all their godly power. Her heart was in the right place, but this wasn't a great idea because nobody, least of all Cumina and Death, wanted to have a repeat of the previous cataclysm.\n\nThere were other ideas, and everyone argued until, finally, someone suggested avatardom. One of the gods would have to volunteer to take on mortal form. This would result in a loss of memory if done incorrectly, so there was considerable risk. It had been her, Cumina, that volunteered. Who else would? Who else but the manifestation of caring would care enough to go down and risk her memory.\n\nComing back to her now, she knew that it had gone wrong. However, she knew what went wrong, and was confident that if she went down again, she would retain everything she needed.\n\nBefore she did anything, though, she would see what had gone on since she lost her mortal life. She peered into the mirror, watching her reflection vanish to be replaced with a view of below.\n\n-\n\nNatalia breathed her last. Nosferatu grew back his arm as the Belmunds all concentrated their force on him. Ophelia and Richard stayed near the kittygirl's still form. Gareth fell back to them, launching the last bits of his power to get there. \"So.... she's dead...\" \n\nOphelia said nothing, only playing her lute.\n\n\"All we have to do now, then, is wait.\" \n\nOphelia stopped. \"...what?\" \n\nGareth gently pushed Natalia's head with his hoof, showing the marks on her neck. \"I have no idea how long it takes, but there's a chance.\" \n\nRichard spoke up. \"Wait, my little girl a vampire? What is this??\" \n\n\"She was... curious.\"  He answered in an embarassed tone.\n\nThe father sagely nodded. \"Well... even so, there's a fairly large hole in her chest. You think vampirism can overcome that?\" \n\n\"Well, Alpha Vampire out there grew an arm back, so...\" \n\nAt that moment, Utarefson came careening crashing through the wall.\n\n\"Glad you could join us,\" Gareth said, as if this were an every day thing.\n\nUtarefson sprung up and dusted himself off. \"Father wasn't joking about holding back. I'm sorry, I made a grave miscalculation. This may be the death of us all.\" \n\n\"Hey, you. You're the one that bit my daughter, right?\" \n\n\"Yes. And she wanted me to do it. Odd... normally when a thrall dies, the vampirization process starts within seconds.\" \n\n\"No... so it failed...\" \n\n\"No. Vampirization is very fail proof, especialy when the thrall gives themselves willingly.\"  He kneeled down, examining Natalia. \"No... something else is at work here...\" \n\nAnother magical explosion rocked the shelter. \"Mr. Belmund, would you join me outside?\"  asked Utarefson.\" \n\nRichard only needed a second's consideration. He picks up the whip from his deceased daughter, and pulls out his own in the other hand. \"Let's buy this some time!\" \n\n\"I'm completely out of magic, so I'll stay here with Ferilia and Ophelia.\"  said Gareth.\n\nAnd so, Utarefson and Richard charged, with Utarefson rocking both a hammer and his magics, while Richard awesomely dual wielded whips.\n\nOn the field, people had already fallen. It was only due to the great skill of the Belmund clan that more hadn't. Nosferatu tore through the forces not quite like a hot knife through butter, but perhaps like a steak knife through a steak that's nearly charcoal.\n\nArrow after arrow, magic bolt after magic bolt, flew towards the great vampire, like curtains of fire. It showed no sign of slowing him down, much as firing a thousand needles would barely stop an elephant. The ones showing the most effect against the great beast are Utarefson, Richard, and Cecilia, their powerful attacks managing to stumble him on occasion.\n\n“Damn,” Utarefson said as he blocked a huge magical blast from hitting the crowd. “It's been hours now. Where is she?”\n\n“Natalia? It's mysterious.”\n\n“No, not her. There's- ah, took her sweet time.” He turned to the beast. “Father! You might look behind you.”\n\n“Oh, come, son, you expect me to URK!”\n\nOut of the beast's throat popped a spear, and the wielder, all in black, now pale and with glowing pink eyes, was a large, long-haired gnoll. “This is for the Zauphetolin, you bastard!” She pulled her spear out of his throat and slashed his face as she joined the fighters below.\n\n“My dear Clarice, whatever kept you?” Utarefson said at last.\n\nA freshly renewed, newly-youthful, vampirized Clarice gives a grim smile. “Took some time to find some gloves so I wouldn't burn myself on my own weapon.”\n\n“Vampirism suits you well. Any effects? Still hear voices?”\n\n“My head's clear for the first time in so long... it was almost worth having to die first.” And in a surge of joy, she attacked the master vampire again.\n\n“Bring all the suprise fighters you want, Son.” Nosferatu laughed. “You will never destroy me even if you bring a whole legion with holy weapons. I am too old, too dark, and too strong to be taken down this way!”\n\n“Damn him,” said Richard, “it's like we're barely doing anything to him.”\n\n“Keep fighting,” Utarefson said. “He's powerful, but he's not immortal! My plan to sweep him down failed, so we'll just have to whittle him down!”\n\n“Aahhahaha!” Nosferatu laughed sonorously as he dealt a firm blow to his son. “Yes, whittle me, as if I'm some kind of block of wood! This block of wood will not submit to your pocket knife, and will just crush your fingers instead!”\n\n“Isn't that stretching the metaphor a bit?”\n\n“SHUT UP AND DIE!”\n\nAnother laser, another heap of casualties. Everyone involved knew they were fighting a hopeless battle. Inside, Ferilia, Ophelia, and Gareth could only look at Natalia, and pray...\n\nCumina made her decision. She couldn't let any more of what had been her family die. She would return. But she couldn't do it alone. She'd died. She needed to see Death. With a moment's focusing, she shifted places effortlessly.\n\nHere was Death's domain. All darkness around. The stillness of oblivion.\n\nThis was broken up a bit by the cafe table where Death was sitting, a cup of tea in his hand.\n\nSo, you come to me again. Shall I guess what you are here for? Death intoned, looking up at Cumina with an air of amusement.\n\n“Oh, stop that. This isn't the Discworld and you know it. Talk normally.”\n\n“Forgive me my joke. So I take it you wish to return. You know the rules.”\n\n“Forget the rules! People are dying. I need to return quickly.”\n\nDeath glared at her. “Even so, there are rules. Remember the last universe? The rules must be followed.”\n\nCumina growls in frustration. “Fine. Meet me and the council.”\n\nAnother focus, and there she was with the other gods.\n\n“Right, everyone, tabling the motion,” Cumina chanted impatiently, singsong, as if it's a gigantic horrible pain like it is. “Motion to appear on earth as avatar, blah blah blah.”\n\n“I abstain,” the useless Yashuk said.\n\n“We figured you would. You all know why I'm going back down. I'm getting it right this time though. Right, vote, all in favor.”\n\nAll but the decidedly useless shit Yashuk raised their hands.\n\n“All opposed. Good. Death, if you would be so kind as to start?”\n\nDeath started to open the portal to the world of the flesh, and the other gods (except for Yashuk) gave their power. Cumina descended below, preparing her mind this time for the shift, as she returned.\n\n“She's moving!” Gareth cried to the others.\n\nSuddenly, a glow fills the room and bursts out of the roof. Everyone looks up outside, wondering what's going on inside.\n\nInside, Ferilia, Ophelia, and Gareth look on in amazement as Natalia's body picks itself up off of the floor, her hole in her body repaired in a flash of light, new glowing lines flowing all over her body. Then her eyes opened, glowing brighter than anything before.\n\n“It worked! I'm here! Ferilia, Ophelia, Gareth! I'm back! I know everything! I've seen, I've understood, and now...” She somehow produces a new whip in her hand. “...I can end this.”\n\nThey're shocked and unable to reply, watching dumbly as the recently dead Natalia strides, burning so brightly in the powerful light of divinity.\n\n“Nosferatu! Your days of terrorizing the world is over!”\n\n“Wow, will you look at that, the cat came back. The very next day, even. And you've got pretty glowy henna. Am I supposed to be impressed?”\n\n“I'm not the same Natalia you struck down. I know who I am now. I'm not just some catslut. I am an Avatar. You will know the power of love! You will be burned by the fire whose warmth you shunned!”\n\nWith this, she powered forward. Nosferatu smiles wildly. “Finally! A true challenge!”\n\nNatalia attacks him. Nosferatu's actually reacting like he's being hit.  They trade blows like crazy.\n\n“It's a real pity,” Natalia croons as she whips yet another weapon out of Nosferatu's hands. “If you weren't such an evil dark bastard, you'd be such a great lay... too bad you decided to use your power as a dick substitute!”\n\n“Big talk coming from a literal pussy!” Punch! Whiplash! Kick! \n\nSlowly the Belmund family gets over the shock, and notice it's their sister Natalia, through some miracle returned to earth and not as a vampire. Their joy sang out, and the love in their hearts made Natalia even more powerful, being an avatar of the goddess of love herself.\n\n“How long do you think you can last, great vampire? The twin powers of love and lust cannot be exhausted!” Wablam, blanf, And the vampire suddenly takes a hit that disables one of his legs.\n\n“Oh no, you made my leg fall asleep, how horrible. But I know you're bluffing! You can't keep this up. No one has! Nothing short of a deity can stop me now!” he then sent a grody body-deforming attack at the Awakened Natalia, which she just shrugs off.\n\n“Ah, I never thought someone as old as you didn't know what 'avatar' means. I'll give you a glimpse of just who you're dealing with here.” She pulls off for a moment, and lets her true goddess nature shine through for a moment, just long enough for Nosferatu to see.\n\n“Wh- gh- you're screwing with me! You mean to tell me one of you celestial sad-sacks actually clad themselves in flesh just to take me on?”\n\n“It was a unanimous vote. (With one abstaining, Yashuk you useless lazy bastard.) You're too great a threat to leave alone.” Thwak! The other leg of the great demon vampire is now numb and useless.\n\nFrom inside, Gareth watched Natalia. Her new powers were a bit scary, but still, he was happy to see her back. His love, and his ongoing lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.\n\nOphelia watched too, still absent-mindedly playing her lute. Her twin sister. Who could have imagined that she was this avatar all this time? It made her wonder about herself... still, her love, and sometimes lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.\n\nRichard also watched. He'd had a rough time, being under the control of Nosferatu's mind-rider for 18 years, then finding out his favorite lover was no longer. And yet, Natalia reminded him so much of Marilyth. His love, and his world-damning lust for her (and who she resembled) gave Natalia a bit more power.\n\nClarice sat this out. She knew that even with the boost becoming a vampire gave her, that the battle had gone out of her league. To think the little kitty-girl that had rekindled such forgotten feelings in her was keeping the dread vampire himself on his toes. She smiled. It was almost over. Her love, and nostalgic lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.\n\nSomewhere in Kapris, Ken was going about his daily life. On a pleasant day, like today, he thought about the kitty-girl who'd dropped into his life one day. She said she'd return someday. He hoped it was soon. Nobody had effected him quite like she did. He had no way of knowing any battle was going on of course, but his love, and simple lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.\n\nThe vampire was knocked back again, his arm now useless along with his legs. He started to fall from the sky, but kept up the struggle as long has he could. “This is no trouble. God or not, I will win... I must win... I will not die... I will not die... I will not die...”\n\nWhablamf! No more limbs left. Natalia pointed at him. “This is the end, Nosferatu. Time to burn in the flame that warms so many, but that you rejected yourself.” And with that, she dashed forward and defeated the vampire in a way that nobody expected.\n\nShe hugged him.\n\nAs Natalia, Awakened Avatar of Cumina, hugged Nosferatu, he cried out in pain, the force of love and lust radiating from her being too much for him to handle, as he indeed burned, reduced to ashes, and was defeated at last.\n\nThen she looked at the fallen, and blew them a kiss. They all rose, life given to them anew.\n\nWith this, Natalia fell over and passed out.\n\nNatalia awoke, no longer in her awakened state. “Nfffh... how long have I been out?”\n\nFerilia, as well as everyone else in the room, jumped straight up with suprise. “Oh, you're awake! What was that you did at the end there? Never seen anything like it.”\n\n“I was using my full power. It's who I've always been. Thing is... my body can't handle my full power. I think that battle took a year off my life.\n\nFerilia hugged her sister. “I'm just glad you're back with us... and it's all over. We're all free. It's thanks to you.”\n\nNatalia slowly got out of bed, trying to collect herself together. She looked in the mirror at herself, and noticed that all the markings were gone now, save one on her forehead and one on her chest where Nosferatu had punched through her with that beam. “I guess I'm going to have to get used to these new markings. Do you have my clothes?”\n\nFerilia handed them to her and watched as she put them on. “The whole family's waiting on you. You might get swamped if you step outside.”\n\nNatalia got her hair back into her signature twintails. “It's a risk I don't mind taking.” She paused at the door. “We should spend a little time together sometime, when I'm conscious for it.”\n\nFerilia smiled. “Count on it, sis. Go on, they're all waiting for you.”\n\nThe moment Natalia went through the door, Cecilia and Ophelia immediately glomped her, and Gareth managed to hug all three very tightly. They all start excitedlly talking to her at once before she stops them. Her own father hugged her and gave her a smooch. Then she saw Utarefson.\n\nUtarefson smiled at her, still pale, still white haired, but actually able to stand in the sun. Behind him was Clarice... under his parasol, still as vampyric as ever. “Clarice, what gives? I thought taking out Nosferatu would have fixed this.”\n\nUtarefson shook his head. “The curse was on my family. For me, it's lifted. Unfortunately, the vampires we made stay vampires. Our work's far from done, but the greatest obstacle is over.”\n\n“I'm fine with this.” Clarice said. “Even if I were returned to normal, I didn't have that much time left. Now I've got all the time in the world. That's worth some annoyances.”\n\nAnd they all had a laugh and went on to have a gigantic orgy. The end.\n\nPage   PAGE  61 \tThe Great Test of Natalia\tFirst Rough Draft\n\n",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>Music! The lute strummed, the pipes sang, the hurdy-gurdy resonated, as the lamps focused on the stage in the smoky tavern, the circles of light focusing on the curtains. The audience all looked intensely as one person. First a couple of fingers emerged from the slit in the curtains, tan fur and painted magenta claws just visible in the light. Then, in one motion, the curtains were cast aside, revealing the night&#039;s entertainment. Cheers, whistles, and lusty laughs rang out all over from the crowd as she stepped a green leather boot forward, the light glinting off her shiny green bodice and skirt, her hand passing her exposed midriff on its way to brushing her fiery golden hair out of her emerald eyes, a bright smile showing her very feline fangs. She raised her arms in appreciation as she started to let the rhythm of the music sweep through her, the tempo like a clock&#039;s pendulum. From seemingly out of nowhere her whip appeared in her hand. After a crack in the air she took the tip in her other hand, <br /><br />clenching the middle in her teeth as she struck a pose that emphasized her physical appeal.<br /><br />Then the dance began. Spryly striding and twirling, her long twintails breezing through the air, she lost herself in the music as she danced, punctuating the symphony with whip cracks. As she danced, she scanned the audience, giving a wink to those paying especially rapt attention.<br /><br />As the dance went on, she scanned the audience. She was expecting someone. The letter had said to expect someone wearing a blue sash. Didn&#039;t quite see- wait. There. At the bar, the one whose drink was apparently more interesting, that was him. She smiled; she liked challenges.<br /><br />The music, along with her dance, built up to a crescendo. A final spring, a somersault, and she landed in a lounging pose, catching her whip handle with her thighs and the tip in her teeth. And with this pose, it all ended. In a seemingly instantaneous movement, she leaped to her feet, taking a bow. Then with one last wink and strut, she went back through the curtains, the shower of coins that had built up throughout paving her way. As she left for the back room, she heard the proprietor. &quot;Natalia Belmund, whip dancer extraordinaire! She&#039;ll be here all festival!&quot; <br /><br />Natalia stretched, then came across the burly bouncer guarding her door. &quot;If you see someone wearing a blue sash asking for me, let them through,&quot;she said, smiling and briefly placing a hand on his chest as she passed. He grunted and nodded.<br /><br />She collapsed into her chair. Still high on the feel of so many eyes on her, the thought of the delight she&#039;d brought to everyone, she fished around in her drawer, at last pulling out a tin box. She opened it, the aroma of dwarvish coffee filling the room. She sniffed it, letting the scent move through her. She then dug out a spoon and fished up a nice, rounded spoonful of the grounds.<br /><br />Natalia placed the heaped spoonful of coffee right into her mouth, sucking on it, savoring the direct taste without any need of heated water. She chewed it, almost feeling all the caffeine and bitters spreading all through her body, and swallowed. It was a peculiar habit she&#039;d picked up from her days with the nomads. Her hand strayed up to her necklace, a ring on top of a cross, their symbol, as she remembered her days with them.<br /><br />As she waited, she took out the letters she&#039;d received before. She&#039;d only had time to read the one, and there were still more to look at. One was from her half-sister Cecilia, the lovely half-orc mendicant of the Monastery of Love and Lust, who&#039;d taken her place on the team of The Syndicate, the band of vampire hunters she&#039;d adventured with some time ago. Her mind strayed wistfully to the first time she&#039;d met her half-sister, the night they&#039;d spent catching up with each other: the lights all over the monastery, the silk curtains and plush cushions, and the haze of togetherness and love that filled the air then.<br /><br />Natalia smiled as she gently put the letter back in the envelope, which in turn she put in her trunk. The next letter was from Ken, in Kapris, the town she&#039;d left behind a long time ago, her second home. She made a note to reply to this one, to make sure he knew she hadn&#039;t forgotten her promise to him.<br /><br />The third letter was odd. The envelope had her name on it, certainly, but the writing wasn&#039;t that of anyone she recognized. What&#039;s more, the stationery seemed very high class, and outside of some members of the Belmund clan, her very extended family, she didn&#039;t know anyone quite that high up the ladder. She was about to open this envelope when there was a knock at the door.<br /><br />Natalia placed the envelope on the desk and sprung from the chair to her cot, lying back luxuriantly as she purred, &quot;Come in.&quot; <br /><br />And in the man came. She looked with smiling interest as a minotaur entered the room. This one seemed different somehow, less brawny, more smooth. There the blue sash was, tied around an open robe just below his athletic abs, his lightly scarred chest on full display. She saw his hazel eyes looking at her. Finally, he spoke. &quot;Natalia Belmund, right?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia looked at him, somewhat puzzled. &quot;Yours truly. What gave it away, the barman shouting my name?&quot; <br /><br />The minotaur brushed his dark brown ponytail off his shoulder, his business face not cracking once despite the kitty-girl crossing and uncrossing her legs. &quot;Had to be sure. Show me your tattoo. You know the one.&quot; <br /><br />She wasn&#039;t exactly shy about this sort of thing, but she smiled coyly. &quot;My my, why should I do that?&quot; <br /><br />The minotaur shrugged. &quot;For all I know you could be a doppelganger, and we don&#039;t want this intercepted. Or that&#039;s the spiel I got. Just show me already.&quot; <br /><br />She turned over and got on her knees, showing the minotaur the tattoo on her back, the same ring on cross symbol as her necklace, flanked by wavy lines suggesting wings. She looked back at him, her keen sight detecting just the hint of a blush. &quot;There,&quot;she said teasingly. &quot;You happy?&quot; <br /><br />He nodded. &quot;Alright. Now to be extra sure. Show me your birthmark.&quot; <br /><br />She cocked her head to one side. &quot;Wow, they gave you that detailed a description? Not many know about that.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;The man who sent me said you had a star birthmark in a special place.&quot; <br /><br />Her grin got very wide here. &quot;You just want to see if the carpet matches the drapes, don&#039;t you?&quot; <br /><br />The minotaur laughed, his all-business facade finally cracking. &quot;Haha, I won&#039;t deny it! Even if I didn&#039;t just want to ogle you, I had pretty damn specific instructions.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia gave a mock shrug and got off the cot, standing up, and lowered her skirt just enough to show him the star he was looking for. He grinned, growing noticeably red in the face now.<br /><br />&quot;Okay,&quot;he finally stammered out, &quot;You&#039;re definitely who you say you are.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia pouted and said in a mock hurt tone, &quot;What, you&#039;re not going to show me yours?&quot; <br /><br />The minotaur smiled widely and opened his robe the rest of the way.<br /><br />&quot;..hrgh... nh... even for a... woof!&quot; Natalia muttered, overwhelmed with glee and desire.<br /><br />&quot;Don&#039;t you want to know who I am and why I&#039;m here?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I wonder if I could even... mm? Oh, hehe,&quot;she laughed, snapping herself out of her stupor. &quot;I can guess why you&#039;re here, but tell me who you are first, honey.&quot; <br /><br />The minotaur closed his robe again, to Natalia&#039;s disappointment. &quot;The name&#039;s Gareth. Gareth Weaver. I got sent here by Master Freyon up at the University in Showshire.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Freyon? How is he? I haven&#039;t seen him in ages!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Er, he&#039;s well. You know Master Freyon?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Three times. But that&#039;s not important right now. What&#039;s the message?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth shook his head, having been somewhat blindsided by what he heard. &quot;I have it right here, actually.&quot; He reached into his robe and pulled out a scroll, somewhat foxed and stained with beverages, and read it. &quot;All&#039;s quiet here. Looked for the information you asked for, but the books and ledgers that had it were lost centuries ago. Nothing left behind has any real information.&#039; Sorry about that.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Gribo!&quot; Natalia cursed, sliding into the nomadic tongue of her teenage years. &quot;For every step forward, there&#039;s always a step back.&quot; She sighed and looked to the side for a while. Gareth stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, prompting her to bury her face in his chest. He gently patted her back. &quot;Um... there, there? Sorry the Master couldn&#039;t find what you needed.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia grunted from his chest, her arms holding him. He went on. &quot;It was something pretty important, wasn&#039;t it?&quot; <br /><br />She pulled off him, though leaving a hand on his abs. &quot;..what if I told you I wasn&#039;t just a dancer with a whip?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I know you aren&#039;t. Master Freyon thinks highly of you. He didn&#039;t actually tell me what it is you do, though.&quot; <br /><br />She looked him straight in the eyes and said, as seriously as she could, &quot;I&#039;m a vampire hunter from a huge, long family of vampire hunters.&quot; <br /><br />After this, there was silence. The fresco held for a time, until Natalia broke it with a surprised smile. &quot;Good job! Most people burst out laughing when I say that.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I believe you,&quot;he said.<br /><br />Natalia looked at Gareth&#039;s face for a while, then sat in her chair, gesturing towards the cot. &quot;Sit down, I&#039;ll explain everything.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth sat on the cot, listening intently to just what Natalia had to say.<br /><br />She told him briefly of the history of the Belmund clan as she understood it, how Simeon, her ancestor, started the family, how he&#039;d amassed weapons capable of taking out any vampire, how there were many of the family in all parts, of all kinds of species and races, and how they all had a network connected by correspondence.<br /><br />Gareth thought about this. &quot;Okay, but why all this? Why the weapons? Why the huge family?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia took a deep breath. &quot;Nosferatu. The entire reason for all of this is Nosferatu.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth blinked. &quot;Who?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Didn&#039;t get out much at the University, mm?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;she smiled. &quot;Probably too busy with the sorority girls, mm?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth looked to one side. &quot;No, actually.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Really? Wow, too bad for them. Ah, well. Seriously, though, Nosferatu is the most powerful, most evil vampire around. Thanks to some ritual mumbo jumbo, he&#039;s pretty much immortal. Thanks to Simeon&#039;s involvement, the best we can do is seal him away for a while, and we as Simeon&#039;s family are the only ones that can. I don&#039;t really know how it works, though.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Sorry to bring bad news then-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s not all.&quot; She broke eye contact with him, looking away a bit sadly. &quot;See... when I was too little to remember... my father, Richard Belmund, disappeared. From the moment I learned that, I&#039;ve been looking for him. See, I&#039;ve been an orphan for as long as I can remember. My mommy died when I was little, and... knowing he&#039;s out there... well, I have to find him, you know?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth nodded. &quot;Why are you telling me this?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;You have a good face. I could see it right away&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Really?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia chuckled. &quot;That and Freyon told me I could trust you if we met. He&#039;s very proud of you, you know.&quot; <br /><br />There was some silence again. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. &quot;I&#039;ll get that,&quot;said Natalia, &quot;It&#039;s probably just the barman with my cut and tips.&quot; And indeed it was. A few seconds later, she tossed the bag of assorted coins into her trunk. She then started approaching Gareth on the cot. &quot;You know, we won&#039;t be bothered again tonight... Why don&#039;t we find out what your colleagues at school are missing...?&quot; <br /><br />Hours later, Natalia and Gareth lay dozing, naked and tangled in the cot, which surprisingly didn&#039;t break from their impassioned night. The kitty-girl stirs, fondly stroking Gareth. He&#039;d certainly lived up to what he showed off. Then she remembered the odd letter. Careful not to wake the studly minotaur (after all that, he really needs the rest), she crept up out of bed. Thanks to her feline eyes, the moonlight from the window was just enough light for her to read by. She could see even by this moonlight that this was some pretty damn immaculate stationery. Whoever could afford paper and ink and sealing wax this fine had to have blood so blue you could dye clothes with it. The seal seemed somewhat familiar, but she couldn&#039;t really place it. Then, finally, she read the letter itself.<br /><br />She stopped reading the letter.<br /><br />She read the letter again, to make sure it said what she thought it said.<br /><br />She stopped.<br /><br />&quot;Gareth, wake up!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;she yowled, dashing around tossing all her things into her trunk. &quot;We&#039;ve got to leave!&quot; <br /><br />Gareth mumbled sleepily as he started to slowly get up, blinking at the lantern Natalia lit so he could see what he was doing. &quot;Mmnhhh... whazgoinon... &#039;n who&#039;s Gabe and why&#039;d you say his name durin-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Not important! I&#039;ll leave a note, barman&#039;ll be pissed off, but tough... where&#039;d you throw my bodice?&quot; <br /><br />The minotaur shook his head groggily. &quot;Think it went behind the dresser.&quot; He puts a hand to his face, which finds something snagged on his horn. &quot;I think I found your thong. What&#039;s going on?&quot; <br /><br />She tossed the letter into his lap. &quot;This came for me before you showed up. Here, give me a boost so I can reach my skirt.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth read the letter as Natalia climbed up his shoulders and retrieved her skirt from the ceiling candles. The letter read:<br /><br />Natalia,<br /><br />We have the whereabouts of your father. We also know where Nosferatu is<br /><br />going to rise up again. Meet me in the town of Redvalley. I will be waiting.<br /><br />-Utarefson<br /><br />&quot;This... looks legit...&quot; Gareth said sarcastically.<br /><br />&quot;Yeah, I know it looks shady, but it&#039;s the first real lead I&#039;ve had in years. And it&#039;s not like I can&#039;t...&quot; she paused as she slipped her bodice back on. &quot;You went to University. How&#039;s your magic?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m not a wizard, actually. I&#039;m a sorcerer; I can just do things.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Well, if you&#039;re as good at magic as you are in bed, I could use your help in this.&quot; <br /><br />Blushing at the maybe inappropriate compliment, he nods, pulling his robe back on and producing a staff, as well as a dagger that he sheathed on his belt. &quot;I&#039;ll give it my best.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia pressed a button on her trunk, making it collapse to a pocket size. &quot;Right, I&#039;ll saddle up Alminear II.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Who?&quot; <br /><br />She blushed. &quot;My horse...&quot; <br /><br />Gareth laughed. &quot;Man, this is going to be a fun trip!&quot; <br /><br />And under the moon, the minotaur and the kitty-girl rode into the night, away from the lights of the town and into the night.<br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s received, my lord. The girl is on her way.&quot; <br /><br />The dark room was nearly solid black. The curtains held the moonlight away, and neither of the room&#039;s inhabitants had need for a candle. One shape sat at a desk, the other standing behind, towering over. The shape at the desk nodded. &quot;The game is near its close. So many long centuries I&#039;ve waited.&quot; The voice sounded laden with many years, bringing one to think of the dirt and the silence of a deep forest.<br /><br />&quot;Is my lord certain? There is a risk in entrusting all this to a... cat-slut and some nondescript minotaur.&quot; This voice was hard to pinpoint, in line, but with a hardness.<br /><br />&quot;From what I have, from what I&#039;ve seen, they&#039;re the only one that can. I&#039;ve had so long to look, time after time, battle after battle. I can only hope I&#039;m right.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;So can we all, lord. Shall I go to meet them?&quot; <br /><br />A pause. &quot;Yes. Remember, they are essential. Make sure they make it to the rendezvous point unharmed. And do try to keep that under control.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;..Yes, my lord.&quot; And like a ghost, the standing shadow vanished.<br /><br />The shadow sitting at the desk was silent for a time.<br /><br />You dare to stand against me? Even now? came a thin voice out of the darkness.<br /><br />&quot;Of course. But fear not. Soon, we&#039;ll both be free...&quot; <br /><br />Gareth and Natalia looked at the map, worn with years of hard travel. &quot;Figures the straight path would&#039;ve been blocked off,&quot;she said, &quot;Two days to get here, and it&#039;s our rotten luck that we got here just after a huge storm hit.&quot; Indeed, beyond the barrier there were a huge load of fallen trees and debris. As far as the eye can see, laborers worked hard to clear the path, but it was obvious that the job wouldn&#039;t be finished for weeks yet.<br /><br />Natalia sighed. &quot;We&#039;ll just have to take the long way and hope it weathered the storm better.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth swatted at the flies, which seemed to fill the air. &quot;What about that path on the right?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia shook her head. &quot;Too risky. Not with just the two of us.&quot; <br /><br />Suddenly there was a loud shout from the risky path and without even thinking about it Gareth and Natalia rode towards it.<br /><br />Before them were at least four huge wolf beasts, and in their midst was a figure. A figure with a spear.<br /><br />&quot;Isn&#039;t that a gnoll?&quot; Gareth asked, readying his dagger and staff.<br /><br />&quot;Yes. You don&#039;t really see them this far south.&quot; Natalia answered. &quot;C&#039;mon! Let&#039;s lend a hand!&quot; <br /><br />It was indeed a gnoll. Not one of the mottle-furred madness-wracked kind, but a tawny-furred, high-standing free-gnoll. The hyena features were unmistakable. The worn blue-green scale armor testified to a life of battle. The spear, too, showed its mileage as expert hands wielded it.<br /><br />With a cry, this spear tripped up one of the wolf beasts, and a downward thrust ended it. The spear-bearer panted; the grey streaks in the dark brown hair and the paleness and lines in the face showed the age of the fighter, but the remaining one eye showed a burning vitality.<br /><br />Natalia drew her whip. Not the whip from earlier, a tatty leather one meant only for shows. No, this was the Belmund Whip: a wooden handle reinforced with leather, to which was attached a fine steel chain, longer than she was, with a spiked ball at the end. With a deft flick of her wrist, she lashed to a high limb of a nearby tree. She ran, leaping from treetop to treetop, silent as a leaf hitting the ground, a testament of her days as a street urchin.<br /><br />As the kitty-girl got into position, Gareth moved his arms, feeling the arcane forces that flowed along with his veins as he directed the flow to his tools. He&#039;d never picked up magic the way most did. Somehow, to him, it came as natural as breathing. In his teenage years, he&#039;d suddenly been able to just feel magic in him, and did things without even thinking. In time, he taught himself to control it, as he was now. All that was left was to wait for the signal.<br /><br />The remaining three wolf-beasts closed in on the gnoll. Suddenly there was a loud shout as from the treetops descended Natalia, somersaulting down, using the spin to lash her whip with forceful momentum against the nearest one, punching a neat trough through the monster&#039;s brain-pan. This distraction was just enough for the spear-bearer to skewer the one next to her. The last one lunged at Natalia, who danced out of the way in time for a bolt of burning fire to toast it into ashes.<br /><br />Natalia ran to the gnoll. She had a keen eye for people, no matter what their species, and with gnolls, it can be hard to tell. &quot;You alright, ma&#039;am?&quot; <br /><br />The spear-bearer laughed. &quot;Am I that old already? Can&#039;t take four of these on my own, and now a young girl calls me &#039;ma&#039;am&#039;!&quot; The laugh becomes a cough. She walks to the bag laying on the ground a little way away. She hefts it onto her back, then looks at her rescuers. &quot;Hm... yes, you two. I&#039;ve been expecting you. I&#039;ve been sent to accompany you to meet him. The one who sent you the letter. You are Natalia Belmund, right?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia looks dazed for a moment. &quot;Then you know this Utarefson?&quot; <br /><br />The gnoll nods. &quot;Yes. Follow me, we have a lot of ground to cover to reach the village.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth catches up in time for this. &quot;But who are you? What&#039;s your name?&quot; <br /><br />The gnoll looks at her feet. &quot;My name... is not important. If you feel the need to call me anything, call me One-Eye. As good a name as any, that.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia whistles, summoning the horses. &quot;Do you have a horse, One-Eye?&quot; <br /><br />One-Eye chuckles again. &quot;Do I? Don&#039;t need one. Ride ahead and you&#039;ll see.&quot; <br /><br />The kitty-girl shrugs, and bucks her horse to a galloping speed, with Gareth alongside. To their mutual shock, rapidly coming up behind them is indeed One-Eye, keeping up with them on foot, with only the most token of signs of effort.<br /><br />They rode as fast as their horses&#039; health, and One-Eye&#039;s stamina, would allow them. Natalia noticed as she rode that Gareth&#039;s eyes would settle on their new companion from time to time. Each time, he had a look on his face as if he were trying to solve a particularly hard puzzle.<br /><br />&quot;What is it, Gareth?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Natalia called to him.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;ll tell you about it when we set up camp&quot; he shouted back.<br /><br />&quot;Don&#039;t slow down!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;called out One-Eye. &quot;We need to reach the halfway point by nightfall if we have any chance of arriving on time!&quot; <br /><br />There were no more conversations on the way, other than urging performance from their horses.<br /><br />Night eventually came, as nighttime is wont to do. The moon hung overhead, its pale silver light all over. They set up camp just off the road. One-Eye had thought to bring food, which they warmed over the fire they made from the nearby deadwood.<br /><br />&quot;So this Utarefson, do you work for him?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;asked Natalia, wanting to break the uncomfortable silence.<br /><br />One-Eye chewed a warm hunk of heated bacon in silence for a moment. She swallowed and said. &quot;Work for him&#039;, you say? You could say that, after a fash-&quot; She stopped abruptly, sitting there as if frozen for a moment, before grasping her head and falling forward, groaning and muttering indecipherable things.<br /><br />&quot;Um, One-Eye? You okay?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;the kitty-girl asked, very worried.<br /><br />The gnoll took no heed, of her or anything. At last, after moments of this she managed to leap to standing with a loud cry in a language Natalia didn&#039;t know. Silence again, for a few moments, then One-Eye spoke again. &quot;I... I am sorry you had to witness that. I have an affliction that troubles me from time to time. Excuse me, I need to find the stream&quot;She reached into her pack, pulling out a glass bottle before walking off into the darkness.<br /><br />Once she was out of earshot, Gareth turned to Natalia. &quot;Have you noticed, Natty?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Mmm?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Something is really, really off about her. I don&#039;t know why, but something about her is setting off red flags in my mind.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia thought about this. &quot;She is old. If she&#039;s the same age I am, she&#039;s a venerable gnoll; they only live to thirty or so.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth shook his head. &quot;I don&#039;t think it&#039;s just age. She reminds me of something, stories that used to circle around the city where I lived. I&#039;m wondering if she&#039;s the one the stories were about...&quot; <br /><br />Natalia shrugged. &quot;Must&#039;ve been before my time. I didn&#039;t hear any stories about any gnoll in particular.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth looked at the fire. &quot;Well... there was this story of a gnoll. Don&#039;t know what name she went by, but she was apparently a fighter. She was a righteous one, mistaken for some kind of crusader of a religious order or such.&quot; Gareth got lower, a bit more solemn. &quot;They say that all her life she&#039;d been a bit sick in the head. Something that happened as a cub, they say. One day, her madness broke, and she slew everyone with her, without discrimination. They say it took many wizards and warriors to even just drive her away.&quot; A pause. The hint of a snarl crossed the minotaur&#039;s face, which really worried Natalia. &quot;She disappeared after that. Nobody knows where she went, and why.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;And you think One-Eye might be this person?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Call it a hunch. But yes, she certainly matches the last known description. And if it is her....&quot; <br /><br />Natalia got close to Gareth, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. &quot;What is it?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth&#039;s face took on a pained look of anger. &quot;If it is her... I&#039;m going to kill her.&quot; <br /><br />Coming from Gareth, who had been pretty gentle and easygoing to this point, this was very shocking. &quot;W-well,&quot; Natalia stammered, trying to keep her cool. &quot;That&#039;s, um, noble. After all, if One-Eye is this person you&#039;re talking about, she could be dangerous and...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Not just that. I told you how I was adopted, right? Raised by humans? I didn&#039;t tell you what happened to my birth parents.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia, having traveled with bards before, knew where this was going. &quot;She killed them?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth nodded. &quot;I&#039;m really hoping One-Eye isn&#039;t her. I don&#039;t want to kill her. Or anyone, really, but... I have to. It&#039;s the one obligation my birth parents gave me.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia gave Gareth a hug. &quot;You don&#039;t have to. If One-Eye turns out to be this killer, you could subdue her, turn her over to the authorities. I&#039;d help.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth sighed. &quot;It&#039;s useless to talk about it now. We&#039;re not going to attack someone based on gut feelings. It wouldn&#039;t be right. Let&#039;s just wait until we have some proof.&quot; <br /><br />Silence again.<br /><br />&quot;She&#039;s been gone a while,&quot;said Natalia at last. &quot;I&#039;m going to see what&#039;s keeping her. Stay here.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Be careful.&quot; Gareth watched as Natalia rose up, then gave him a kiss on the forehead.<br /><br />Deep in the forest, a stream ran through, warmed by the hot springs at its source. On the shore, the armor and underclothing lay discarded in a neat pile. The scent of lavender and lilacs filled the air, not just from the open bottle laid on the flat rock, but also from the lather all over the naked One-Eye. It was bathing that calmed her. Nobody else she&#039;d met seemed to think of bathing as anything more than a chore, if even necessary. To her, it was the only constant bit of good and peace in a life filled with strife and fighting and.... no, best not to let the mind dwell there. Just let the soap mix lather and soak all through her fur, calming her, taking the pain away again, just for a little while. She poured the water over her head. Wash away the lather, along with the dirt, grime, sweat, and unpleasant thoughts. Clean outside, clean inside, all the troubles washed away with the foam. The silence all around only helped.<br /><br />Alas, it couldn&#039;t last.<br /><br />&quot;One-Eye!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;came the shout of the cat-slut from the shore. &quot;You&#039;re taking an awful long time! Everything alright!?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Can&#039;t an old woman take her time on a nice bath without being interrupted!?&quot; she shouted back, annoyed.<br /><br />&quot;Oh, a bath! Why didn&#039;t you say so!? It&#039;s been ages since I had a good bath!&quot; One-Eye watched in astonishment as Natalia started stripping off her clothes, letting her twintails down to show just how long she&#039;d been letting her hair grow, then picking up the glass bottle.<br /><br />&quot;Lavamanos&#039;s Lilac and Lavender!? I didn&#039;t even know they made this! Where&#039;d you get this!?&quot; <br /><br />One-Eye blushed furiously. She decided to cut off the girl before she got too inquisitive. &quot;If you&#039;re going to join me, why don&#039;t you get over here and wash my back!? I&#039;d rather not kill my voice shouting at you!&quot; <br /><br />The kitty-girl took the bottle and poured some into her hands, then entered the warm water, getting close to One-Eye, who turned, pulling her hair out of the way to let her back through. Natalia rubbed the soap on, building up lather both on the gnoll&#039;s back and on herself.<br /><br />&quot;Mmm... the smell&#039;s so relaxing... hehe, it feels all tingly... no wonder you were taking so long here...&quot; <br /><br />One-Eye let out a sigh of relaxation. &quot;I haven&#039;t bathed with someone else in so long. I forgot how good it feels to have someone else rub your back.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia giggled. &quot;You like that, mm? I know something that feels even better. Wanna try it?&quot; <br /><br />One-Eye cocked her head, curious. &quot;Sure, why not?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia pulled her close, rubbing her body against hers. Natalia could feel how tough and muscled One-Eye was, but even with this, there was still some softness. &quot;Let me know if I do something that feels uncomfortable, okay?&quot; <br /><br />One-Eye blushed. She was having sensations she hadn&#039;t had in a long time. Not since... &quot;Oooh... this... this isn&#039;t bad...&quot; <br /><br />As she rubbed the gnoll&#039;s body with hers from the back, Natalia let her hands lather and massage her front. Indeed, she found rock-hard abs and slightly sagging yet firm breasts, all in very fine condition. The kitty-girl was starting to get very excited. &quot;Mmm, with a body like this, I bet you got a lot of guys&#039; attentions.&quot; <br /><br />One-Eye shook her head. &quot;Not... not exactly...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;..girls?&quot; <br /><br />One-Eye blushed. &quot;Once... let&#039;s not talk about it though... let an old woman&#039;s past be in the past... mmm...&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;A spark of something she hadn&#039;t felt in ages now blazed a flame within her. &quot;Why don&#039;t you do my front now?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia smiled widely as the gnoll turned around in her arms. &quot;Hehe, of course... it&#039;s almost time to rinse, anyway...&quot; The kitty-girl suppressed a moan as she felt the gnoll&#039;s greedy hands feel her all over. At last, after a rinse, there could be no holding back.<br /><br />Natalia and One-Eye kissed. The fire of youth met the flame of experience, and what a light they both made together! Hands moving all over each-other, they moved back to the shore, Natalia letting herself be lain on the rocks, and as the moon shined, their passions burned as they explored and made love.<br /><br />&quot;My my... age has its advantages...&quot; Natalia panted, laying next to one eye, trying to catch her breath.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m just glad to have learned I had something left...&quot; One-Eye panted back, basking in her own afterglow. They just lay there, resting, the gnoll&#039;s finger drawing lazy circles around the kitty-girl&#039;s belly button.<br /><br />&quot;One-Eye?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Yes, young one?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;What&#039;s your name? Your real name?&quot; <br /><br />She hesitated. &quot;My real name?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia turned on her side, placing a reassuring hand on the gnoll&#039;s hip. &quot;It&#039;s okay. You can trust me. I&#039;m not asking you to tell me everything about you. I just like to know the real names of my lovers...&quot; <br /><br />Hearing this pushed the gnoll deep down. At last, she found it in her to reply. &quot;Clarice. My name is Clarice.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Clarice? What a lovely name.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Don&#039;t tell anyone. There&#039;s people that get nervous around that name. Especially don&#039;t tell the boy.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I won&#039;t. I&#039;m not gonna ask you anything else, but... if you want to talk sometime... I&#039;d be glad to...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Mmm...&quot; <br /><br />The two enjoyed a moment of serenity together.<br /><br />&quot;We should get back, Clarice. Gareth might get worried and come after us.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;If you help me with my armor, I can get it on faster.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Only if you help me with my hair&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Oh, you...&quot; <br /><br />Morning came, and the three set out again. Clarice decided to rest her feet, and share Natalia&#039;s horse. Their closeness made Gareth a little concerned, though really he had nothing to worry about. This ride was more pleasant, with conversations and jokes the whole way.<br /><br />Strangely for this tangled path, there were no waiting monsters, no obstacles. Natalia and One-Eye didn&#039;t seem to notice, thought Gareth, but this made him especially nervous. This was too easy. Even on the wide road, they&#039;d have come across something. Was there an even bigger monster ahead, that scared all the little ones off its territory? Was the person they were to meet this big monster? Just who is Utarefson?<br /><br />At last, the town of Redvalley was before them. As usual of village names, it was neither in a valley, nor was it particularly red. One would guess that Brownforest would be a boring, if more fitting, name. Indeed, in the forest clearing were mostly shacks, and all oddly empty.<br /><br />&quot;Redvalley,&quot; said Clarice. &quot;A ghost town, mostly. That&#039;s why we wanted to meet you here. We wanted to be sure of no interference.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia followed a pointing finger from the gnoll to a big mansion at the edge of town. &quot;That&#039;s where we wish to go.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Natalia nodded, and the three rode in.<br /><br />After bringing the horses to a stable that was quite well stocked for a ghost town, they entered the mansion. Already Natalia&#039;s fur started to go on end; she had a natural sense for undead born from her heritage, as well as a keen sense for the thematic. A large mansion in a dead town, especially one with all the curtains drawn, could mean several things. It could just mean an extreme recluse, or someone with a skin disease who needs quiet and a place away from the sun. However, she strongly felt that those two explanations would definitely not be in play here. &quot;This way,&quot; Clarice said, motioning in the dark.<br /><br />&quot;Um, could I get some light? I&#039;m not like you two, I can&#039;t go through dark like it was nothing.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia turned to him. &quot;Well, you&#039;re a sorcerer, aren&#039;t you? Magic up some light.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth did so, lighting his staff with a soft glow. &quot;Won&#039;t this mess with your darkvisions?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Yeah, but nothing to worry about, right, Cl- er, One-Eye?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Nothing. This way, please.&quot; <br /><br />They made their way through the mansion. There was something off about it; the paintings, the collections of books, the candles that never showed any sign that they had ever been lit in their long eons of hanging there. The paintings were from all eras, and didn&#039;t seem to have ever left this house. The books, too, showed all kinds of ages and scripts, some completely alien to the urban-raised kitty-girl and the scholarship sorcerer-minotaur. Finally they came to a door.<br /><br />&quot;Gareth,&quot;Clarice said, &quot;I have to ask you to extinguish your light here. This is something I&#039;m firm on.&quot; <br /><br />With some misgivings, he turned it out. Darkness rushed back in, almost seeming to be solid and flowing, like a pitch black custard. The door opened without being touched, and a voice said, &quot;Please, come in. I&#039;ve been expecting you all.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Utarefson?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia looked at the man across from her as she asked. In the very precious little amount of light allotted to her, she could see him as Clarice took her place at his right hand. He was tall, but she couldn&#039;t tell his age. It was hard to tell in this darkness that robbed her of most colors, but his hair seemed to be white; not the white of old age, but an otherworldly white, as if his hair were linen.<br /><br />&quot;I. Glad you could make it, Ms. Natalia Belmund. Please, sit. We have much to discuss.&quot; <br /><br />She saw it then. It was unmistakable, when you looked at the eyes and the teeth. Especially the eyes; the pink glow was a dead giveaway. And the teeth; the only ones with canines were-<br /><br />&quot;V-vampire! You&#039;re a vampire!&quot; Natalia cried in a panic, drawing her whip.<br /><br />&quot;Calm down. I am a vampire, yes. I did not ask to be, though. Sit.&quot; <br /><br />She found herself obeying, a testament to a vampire&#039;s power of hypnosis.<br /><br />&quot;Believe me,&quot; Utarefson continued, &quot;You and I both want the same thing. You came here because I could tell you of Nosferatu, and of your father.<br /><br />Gareth watched them nervously, Utarefson being the very definition of cool, and Natalia trying to listen through her revulsion at the presence of the undead.<br /><br />&quot;You probably think this a trap,&quot; he went on. &quot;It&#039;s nothing of the kind. I know that what I am will present a problem if you&#039;re to trust me. So think of this as a token.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He stood up, outstretching his arms, exposing his chest. &quot;Strike me. I am unarmed. Strike me with your ancestral whip.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia couldn&#039;t resist, the hypnotic words enhanced by her existing desire to do so anyway. She leaped from her chair and let out a lash right in Utarefson&#039;s chest. She became puzzled when she saw that nothing happened, and lashed again and again, only succeeding at tearing his shirt to shreds.<br /><br />&quot;Once you&#039;ve gotten it out of your system, please sit down again. We have a lot to discuss, and we&#039;re wasting time.&quot; <br /><br />At last, panting from exertion, Natalia sat back down. &quot;S-sorry...&quot; <br /><br />A note of reassurance was in Utarefson&#039;s voice. &quot;Believe me, I understand. When something&#039;s in the blood, it&#039;s hard to resist. Now, Nosferatu. I&#039;ve acquired some books and charts, and for years on end I&#039;ve been consulting them, trying to trace where exactly Nosferatu will spring forward.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;You&#039;re a vampire. Why are you telling me any of this? Why would you want Nosferatu defeated?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I did not ask to be a Vampire! I did not ask for this immortality! The foolishness of...&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;he began angrily, before calming himself down. &quot;I will tell you. It&#039;s not out of the goodness of my heart, of course. Before we proceed any further... you must have noticed by now, something about my name.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s Nosferatu backwards? How could anyone not notice? You&#039;re probably Nosferatu himself!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;His son.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;he said simply. &quot;I wasn&#039;t even in the same country when he pulled his foolishness.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia reeled in shock, and finally said. &quot;I&#039;m sorry...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s already forgotten. Anyway, due to the nature of the ritual, those eons ago, just like your family was affected, so was his. Which meant I, as the only living family member, got to share in my father&#039;s powers and immortality. I didn&#039;t want this &#039;gift&#039;, and especially not its cost.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He suddenly grimaced, face nearing the table as Clarice rushed to him. &quot;Agh, speak of the devil... my dear Clarice, if you&#039;d be so kind...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Clarice!?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gareth said, surprised.<br /><br />&quot;Not now,&quot;Natalia said, putting a hand on him.<br /><br />Clarice bent over in front of Utarefson, putting her hair to one side. &quot;Here, my lord.&quot; <br /><br />To the shock of the others in the room, Utarefson lunged forward and bit Clarice in the neck. To their further shock, she reacted not with a cry of pain, but a moan of pleasure, visibly relaxing as the vampire drew her blood from her.<br /><br />At last sated, he pulled off her, a hand caressing her where he&#039;d bitten her. &quot;Thank you, my dear. That&#039;ll keep me, for a while.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s all consensual,&quot; Clarice said. &quot;I let him feed on me, and serve him, and in return he helps me with my... problems...&quot; <br /><br />Natalia is silent, blushing, her mind going back to Serah, finding herself suddenly wishing she had a jar of grape jelly with her.<br /><br />&quot;You could say I am his thrall,&quot; Clarice continued, &quot;But he has a loose hold on me. Believe me, it&#039;s better that I be in his hands than the alternative...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;So you are the gnoll that went mad all those years ago and-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Killed your parents. Yes and no. It was my hands that did it, but I wasn&#039;t controlling them.... Gareth, I&#039;m sorry. I&#039;m so sorry... There&#039;s not a moment that their faces, and all the others, don&#039;t haunt me... it&#039;s only thanks to Utarefson that more don&#039;t join them... Nnngh...&quot; Suddenly, Clarice flailed forward, a paw shooting to her head.<br /><br />&quot;Not again...&quot; she muttered. Utarefson quickly jumped up and stretched a hand forward.<br /><br />&quot;You are in control,&quot; he incanted, using the hypnotic voice once again. &quot;He has no power over you now. You are free. You are you. You are good. You are free. Send the voice back where it belongs, in the back of your mind, ignored. OBEY!&quot; <br /><br />Clarice stays there, frozen, panting, before visibly relaxing and flopping into a chair Utarefson pulled behind her.<br /><br />Gareth could only watch all of this, his mind trying to process everything. It was all too much. He imagined meeting the infamous Clarice entirely differently. He imagined meeting a demon that he would have to excise with his magic, not this vulnerable person before him. He just sat, silent.<br /><br />&quot;Now,&quot;Utarefson said, &quot;Hopefully we can now focus. The truth? Nosferatu isn&#039;t coming back soon, he&#039;s here now!&quot; <br /><br />He waited for the gasps and shock, but Natalia merely kept looking at him.<br /><br />&quot;Yes,&quot; he continued, &quot;He&#039;s already here. I don&#039;t know how, but this time he&#039;s kept a low profile. If none of your family noticed, Natalia, he must have gone far underground. And this is why I believe I know where your father is.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia sat up at this. &quot;Well? Tell me! Where is he? Does Nosferatu have him?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;From what I&#039;ve gathered, yes. Nosferatu has him in his power. If you should meet him, I&#039;d be very careful. As for where, you&#039;re not going to like this at all.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Tell me already!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Locus. He is somewhere in Locus.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia&#039;s heart seemed to stop at this. She felt herself growing cold at this revelation. Impossible! Nosferatu, taking up residence in her home city? The place she&#039;d spent her childhood? This couldn&#039;t be right. All that time she&#039;d been learning the lessons of the street, the times she&#039;d been in a gang, the time she discovered love, all during this, the dread vampire lord had been under her feet? It was too much to bear.<br /><br />&quot;We have to go. We have to go now.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Wait,&quot;Utarefson said, grabbing her arm, having crossed the room somehow without her noticing. This gave Natalia the shivers, as his touch was cold, that of a corpse. &quot;You&#039;re hardly prepared. You need much more than what you have now. Rest for now. In two day&#039;s time, we&#039;ll all go together, taking my carriage straight there. And in the meantime, there&#039;s weapons and supplies we must get together, as well as more help. The four of us alone, even with my powers that rival my father&#039;s, will not be enough.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia looked down, a bit disheartened. &quot;Even the whole Belmund clan wouldn&#039;t be enough. It hasn&#039;t been before.&quot; <br /><br />Utarefson turned Natalia to face him, looking her in the eyes. &quot;This time it will be. And you will be the key. I can&#039;t explain right now, but trust me, this will be the end, and yours will be the hand that-&quot;<br /><br />&quot;GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!&quot; Gareth finally snapped, unable to just sit in silence anymore. Finally coming out of his stupor, he pulled out his staff and dagger, magical forces crackling all around him.<br /><br />&quot;G-Gareth...&quot; Natalia tried to start, but Gareth reeled on her.<br /><br />&quot;Shut up! I can&#039;t believe all this time it was you!&quot; He pointed at Clarice with his dagger. &quot;You&#039;re not leaving this room alive!&quot; With this, he sent fierce lightning at her much too quickly for her to dodge. It hit her full force, knocking her to the floor, crying out in agony.<br /><br />&quot;Stop it!&quot; Natalia cried out. &quot;It won&#039;t bring them back!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;No&quot; Gareth growled, &quot;But they may rest easily...&quot; <br /><br />At last, Utarefson jumped in front of Gareth, and after a move that was too fast for anyone to see, Gareth fell to the floor unconscious.<br /><br />The minotaur passed out on the floor, Natalia rushed to help Clarice up. &quot;I&#039;m alright,&quot;the gnoll said, &quot;I&#039;ve taken worse than this before. And I had it coming, really...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;We&#039;ll get him to a bed,&quot;Utarefson said, &quot;I was afraid this would happen. Rest up, everyone. Tomorrow we begin our preparations in earnest.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth lay unconscious in the bed. At the foot were Natalia and Clarice, looking on him.<br /><br />&quot;I want to tell him everything,&quot;Clarice said. &quot;He has to know.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia shook her head. &quot;He won&#039;t listen to you. So long as he thinks Utarefson is in control of you, he won&#039;t make a move. There&#039;ll be a time, trust me.&quot; <br /><br />They walked out of the room and towards their own. &quot;Anyway, even if he did kill me, Natalia, it would be doing me a favor.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia frowned, placing her hands on her again. &quot;Don&#039;t say that. It&#039;s not your fault, and you know it!&quot; <br /><br />They arrive and lay on the bed, caressing each-other. &quot;That&#039;s not the point, my kitty-girl. You&#039;re smart, you should be able to tell by now that Lord Utarefson&#039;s thrall treatments are only delaying the inevitable. As time goes on, I&#039;ve been less and less able to fight the... thing in my head. Someday, before too long, it may take over completely, and who I am, I, talking now, will be gone forever. Only that thing will be left. That&#039;s why...&quot; she swallowed. &quot;That&#039;s why I want to die. While I&#039;m still myself. Whether it&#039;s by Nosferatu&#039;s hands, or those of his minions, or even Gareth&#039;s, it&#039;s what I want. It&#039;s why I&#039;m even doing this.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia held her close. Sadness welled. She&#039;d been here before; not exactly like this, but she knew the feeling. Tears started to fall. She clutched to Clarice firmly. &quot;You can&#039;t... why... you can&#039;t...&quot; But as much as she tries to deny it, the truth of Clarice&#039;s situation is now concrete. &quot;I just met you...&quot; <br /><br />Clarice pulled her closer. &quot;We all have our time. It just shows that we all have to make today the most important day. Dry those tears now. Let&#039;s enjoy things while we&#039;re here, mm?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;J-just hold me... I can&#039;t now...&quot; <br /><br />And so they cuddled. Natalia let it all out, Clarice patting her, looking into space, knowing this last adventure would be the toughest, not just for her, but for everyone else.<br /><br />Natalia, once she was in a better frame of mind, wrote letters to all the clan. They would know where the best weapons are, they would know who the best people to take would be, and the more numbers on their side, the better. She wondered, though, what Utarefson had meant exactly by her being the key. By all reckonings she could think of, she was one of the weakest members of the family. At least, of those that actually fight, anyway. It&#039;s why she had dropped out of the Syndicate in favor of her half-sister Cecilia. She was best as a thief, an acrobat, someone who can jump from place to place, someone who can pick the lock, someone who can team up to flank with someone.<br /><br />She shook her head as she finished the letter she was on. Utarefson could explain it to her later, hopefully. Assuming there was an explanation, of course.<br /><br />She walked by Gareth&#039;s door, knocking before looking in. &quot;How&#039;re you doing, baby? Headache from yesterday?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth glowered at her. &quot;I&#039;m going to kill her. You know that, right?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia sighed, coming in. &quot;Can you at least not do it until after this whole vampire mess is over?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Screw the vampire bullshit. She is going to die, and I&#039;m going to be the one to do it. I have to. It has to be me.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia outwardly wore a look of concern for Gareth, but inside she felt terrible. Sure, she&#039;d been deceptive before, but that was always being deceptive to the bad guys. Gareth especially didn&#039;t really deserve it, but she always hated it when her lovers fought with each-other, even in these circumstances. It was pain to her.<br /><br />&quot;Besides, I see how you get with her. You&#039;re so close, the two of you. Rrgh, if I didn&#039;t think you were doing it just because you&#039;re a slut, I&#039;d kill you, too.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Stop that...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;She killed my parents!&quot; <br /><br />Natalia wanted to cry again. She was in a very difficult situation. &quot;She&#039;s sick. Utarefson has her under control in any case. Please, just until the end of this. I&#039;m not asking you to like her, or anything else, just don&#039;t kill her yet, okay?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth sighs. &quot;Fine. I guess she can live just a little longer. And I&#039;m only doing it because you are the one asking. If it was anyone else, I&#039;d tell them to shove it where the sun doesn&#039;t shine.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s all I can ask. Now... why don&#039;t we do something that&#039;ll cheer you up?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Seriously? At a time like this? When are you not horny?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Suit yourself,&quot;she said teasingly as she started to walk out of the door. When she realized he wasn&#039;t going to stop her, she closed it behind her.<br /><br />&quot;So, what, as if being a vampire wasn&#039;t enough, he&#039;s some kind of damn lich too?&quot; <br /><br />Utarefson looked at Natalia. He hadn&#039;t had much contact with the outside since his conversion, and the kitty-girl was entrancing him. He had discarded the shirt she&#039;d torn, but neglected to replace it with another. &quot;You could say that, I guess. I&#039;ll say it again, just to be sure that it sinks in. Nosferatu has an object that keeps his essence. The Belmunds never found it out. I didn&#039;t even know until I looked at all the books and added two and two together. But now that we know, we can finally end it all. There is finally hope. And of course this is why it has to be you. There are all kinds of doors and traps and the like guarding it, no doubt, and you&#039;re the best equipped of all the Belmunds to do it. And it has to be a Belmund, thanks to the curse&#039;s nature. And the fact that you&#039;re using the ancestral whip makes it considerably easier.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia gets closer to him. &quot;Good. The sooner this is all over, the better.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;You&#039;re still thinking about Clarice, aren&#039;t you?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia sighed. &quot;It&#039;s like she&#039;s some kind of weight, just bearing down on us. Gareth&#039;s a totally different person now; he won&#039;t even look at me like he used to. And poor Clarice... this is just too much. I almost want to kill her myself, get it over with.&quot; <br /><br />Utarefson puts a cold arm around her. &quot;I can&#039;t say I&#039;m an expert on people, but give it time. It may all still play out for the best. Maybe both Clarice and Gareth will get what they need in a way that won&#039;t destroy things.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia shivered slightly at the touch, but was glad to have the support, even from a vampire. &quot;Maybe... I just wish... I don&#039;t know...&quot; <br /><br />Utarefson put a hand to his head, massaging his temple a bit. &quot;Nnh... you should leave now, it&#039;s nearly feeding time for me.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;About that...&quot; Natalia reached into her bag and produced a jar of grape jelly, looking at the reluctant vampire with imploring eyes.<br /><br />Utarefson stared at her. &quot;That... that&#039;s a jar of jelly, isn&#039;t it?&quot; <br /><br />Feeling oddly nervous, but trying not to show it, she nods, leaning forward as she holds the jar up, a spoon in her other hand.<br /><br />&quot;You do know I don&#039;t eat normal food, right?&quot; <br /><br />Another nod, as her tail moved of its own accord.<br /><br />He cocked his head. &quot;I don&#039;t understand what you&#039;re trying to convey...&quot; <br /><br />She walked closer, purring slightly, unscrewing the jar lid and dipping the spoon in. &quot;I heard from another vampire...&quot; she said at last, &quot;That cat blood is sour...&quot; She cocked her own head, placing a dollop on her neck, just on her jugular.<br /><br />Utarefson just stared at her. This was completely mystifying to him. Never in his hundreds of years of unlife had he ever had anything like this happen. He didn&#039;t even like grape jelly all that much when he&#039;d been alive. &quot;So,&quot;he said, desperately trying to make sense of this increasingly strange tableau, and reflecting on the thought of himself, a vampire, finding something strange, &quot;I&#039;m guessing you are consenting to being my feed?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m curious... I want to know what it feels like...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Are you sure? As a vampire hunter, you must know that if I bite you, you&#039;ll become my thrall. It&#039;s automatic, I can&#039;t keep it from happening.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia hesitated. &quot;I know, but you... you&#039;re a lot like the other vampire I knew... I can tell you&#039;re good, and that you won&#039;t abuse any power you have over me.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;How can you be sure? At any moment I could lose my self control and drain you completely dry. I could suddenly become the most evil person ever, evil enough to put my father to shame.&quot; <br /><br />She smiled, understanding in her eyes. &quot;If you were the kind of man who would do that, it would have happened by now. You&#039;re not fooling anyone.&quot; She got closer until she was face to face with him. &quot;You&#039;ve never... been with anyone, have you?&quot; <br /><br />Utarefson said nothing.<br /><br />&quot;And here I thought vampires were supposed to be all charm and allure... don&#039;t worry, I can ease you in... but maybe you should eat first... no good to take lessons on an empty stomach...&quot; She took his head and pulled it to her neck. Finally, the reluctant vampire couldn&#039;t resist anymore and, despite himself and the flavor of the grape jelly, he sunk in.<br /><br />&quot;Ow! Th- oooooh... that feels... how close are we to the bed...?&quot; <br /><br />The next day came. Natalia, with two small marks on her neck, daydreamed as they rode towards Locus. Sadly, all else was silence. Gareth had elected to ride on the coach with Utarefson, glowering forward, rage simmering within him as he watched the gnoll far ahead of him, who was still going on foot.<br /><br />Within the carriage, its curtains drawn, the noble vampire slept. To his side were all kinds of papers and writings, maps and correspondences, bits copied from old tomes. For now, Utarefson slept. Plans were for naught if they couldn&#039;t be made reality.<br /><br />The trees gave way to the plains. Instead of the close nestle of great wooded areas, there were the wide open spaces, sometimes broken by fences and the odd animal. Natalia tried to remember the last time she&#039;d been this way. Must have been, what, five years? The first time she&#039;d left the city; the first time she&#039;d ever found that the world was more than stone and mortar and torches. Hadn&#039;t even known what a tree was outside of the odd story before then.<br /><br />She looked ahead at Clarice. She idly wondered what it would be like to be able to run that fast.<br /><br />She realized she was bored.<br /><br />She realized that the sky was oddly gray all of a sudden.<br /><br />She realized that up ahead there were dark figures.<br /><br />With a shout of encouragement at her horse, she rode forward, jumping an amazing dismount to give her slung whip even more power as she hit one of the shapes that was crowding around the Gnoll. A strange and horrific cry, something almost but not quite human coming out of the robed figure.<br /><br />&quot;Seems father&#039;s become impatient!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;shouted Utarefson as he came out of the carriage, squinting even in the dimmed amount of light that got through the clouds above.<br /><br />Gareth sat on the carriage for a few moments. He&#039;d been content to let the barely controlled thrall get herself killed against the five. He sighed a sigh of irritation. Of course that cat-slut had to get herself embroiled in things. Knowing he couldn&#039;t just sit and watch now that Natalia was in the fray, he hopped off and started directing his innate magical flow, which crackled in his hands. A thought crossed his mind, one that before might not have. Perhaps he could be, oh, a little less careful than usual in his evocations. Heat of battle and all. He instantly felt ashamed of himself. If he was going to kill that horrible hateful thrall, he thought, he was going to do it honestly. Besides, he might hit Natalia.<br /><br />Speaking of Natalia, she didn&#039;t know what to make of these horrors. They&#039;d been different from Nosferatu&#039;s earlier attempts on her. Those times had mostly been attacks by assassins or low-time vampires. These things scared her. He must have been sending his best this time, or at the very least his serious team. She continued to muse on this as she rolled out of the way of the minotaur&#039;s directed lightning strike.<br /><br />Despite the range of her spear, Clarice viciously kicked and bit and got as close to the horrors as possible. It was during these kinds of close battles where the part of her she was fighting had the most out time, being let out on a kind of leash. Here, in this case, it was no trouble. But one day, it would stay like this. This she knew, as her spear attempted to run one of the strange horrors through, cursing as it glanced off. What had appeared like meat on these things were more like very hard wood, if not some kind of stone or some other strange thing. Some kind of appendage struck her, feeling much like something dropped from a long height, winding her briefly. Rolling out of the way, she looked these creatures up and down, trying to find something, anything, she could use against them.<br /><br />Utarefson seemed to glide ahead. His feet didn&#039;t touch the ground at all. His cape flowed behind him, as did his silvery hair, as he held a hammer in his hand. &quot;Don&#039;t bother with blades,&quot;he cried out, &quot;Use the blunt bits!&quot; In the mean time, one of the horrors exploded into four slightly smaller ones, three of which headed for the noble vampire. He looked at them with the expression one would have upon finding a moth in the house and smacked one in the face, flames leaving his hand, the creature&#039;s head flying off and rolling away. He followed this with a hammer strike to the neck stump, which made the creature fall apart, shattering in pieces as if he&#039;d instead hammered a pane of glass.<br /><br />Natalia changed her position, still keeping her eye on the one she was engaging while also getting a look at the chaos that was going on all around her. She snapped her whip, coiling it round the creature and pulling it toward her as she aimed a kick into its face. She watched as it too crumbled. This struck her as a bit too easy. Something was wrong. Kicking something out of another creature&#039;s appendage that was making Utarefson double over in pain, she scanned all around. There were a couple of trees, some bushes nearby, all big enough to conceal a person. It wasn&#039;t so much thinking as instinct that guided the kitty-girl through this line of reasoning. Sadly, the things didn&#039;t allow her enough time to really size up the situation, as one attempted to grab her while another made ready to seemingly punch her through. However, a well aimed kick unbalanced her captor, allowing her to use its momentum to flip it right into its comrade&#039;s punch, watching as it too shattered. A bap to the face with the handle of <br /><br />her whip dealt handily with the other one.<br /><br />Gareth approached closer and closer, his emergency weapon of a half-brick in a sock proving to be devastating, a relief after his lightning didn&#039;t do much of anything earlier. He&#039;d noticed that fire seemed to make some kind of effect on them, so it was this tack he tried next, waving some at the decreasing number of creatures. He, too, was getting the feeling that this was far too easy.<br /><br />At last, there was one left. Clarice raced for it, grabbed its robes, and dealt it a headbutt that would give a normal human a concussion. With that, the last one dissolved away.<br /><br />The clouds started to dissolve, prompting Utarefson to put on his protective hat and draw closed his clothing. Everyone started to go back to the horses.<br /><br />&quot;That was entirely too easy, wasn&#039;t it?&quot; Natalia asked nobody in particular.<br /><br />&quot;So you noticed too?&quot; Clarice responded. &quot;Had one hit me, and it was nothing but a love tap.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Indeed,&quot;said the noble vampire. &quot;What could have been-&quot;<br /><br />The gnoll let out a strangled cry and ran towards where Gareth was standing. The minotaur braced himself for a battle he&#039;d on some level been wishing for, when he realized that Clarice was looking behind him.<br /><br />From seemingly nowhere, there was a very soft noise, and four darts, almost too fast for the eye to follow, arced across the road.<br /><br />Natalia neatly dodged the one aimed at her. Utarefson let his hit, and stared at it with dull interest. Clarice was a moving target, so hers missed entirely.<br /><br />Gareth stared. He was the least agile of the group, and as if in slow motion, he watched the dart coming towards him, unable to get out of the way. He kept watching as Clarice shoved him aside and the dart struck her right in the forehead.<br /><br />Fire leaped from Utarefson&#039;s hand to the bushes that were certainly the source of the deadly missiles. He then flowed over to look. &quot;Some human. Must have been camping here for days.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth stood in stunned silence as he watched the gnoll pull the dart out of her forehead and examine it with her good eye. She tasted the tip, and any color she still had in her face drained away. &quot;Zauphetolin. Oh no... not like this...&quot; She turned to the minotaur and grabbed his robe. &quot;Boy, if you want to kill me, now&#039;s your time!&quot; <br /><br />Conflict was raging in the mute bovine&#039;s mind, unable to totally process just what had happened. The murderer who had killed his parents had saved him, and was now begging him to kill her? How does one even react to this?<br /><br />&quot;Yes, this is definitely zauphetolin,&quot;the noble vampire said sagely, &quot;My father must be on one of his sadistic bends. You get hit with this, you die slowly over days. Your entire body boils from within.&quot; He smacks his mouth, getting a taste for the dart. &quot;I&#039;d say she&#039;s got at least seven minutes before it starts.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth finally seemed to resolve everything in his mind. &quot;Why should I give you a mercy kill? Do you think saving my life once makes up for everything you&#039;ve done?&quot; <br /><br />Tears start coming from Clarice&#039;s eyes, though nothing else about her face betrays anything but stoniness. &quot;Boy, there&#039;s some things you need to know.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia started to say something, but Utarefson held out his hand in front of her, shaking his head.<br /><br />&quot;When I was young, something happened to me. Something that should never happen to anyone. It did something to me. Something in my head came unglued, and I started to hear voices. Evil voices. They wanted me to do terrible things. Sometimes it was just a whisper. Other times it was so loud it drowned out all the real sounds around me. At its worst, it would take over, and I would watch as it did whatever it wanted with my body. It used to be that the worst times didn&#039;t happen at all. But I grew older. I lost friends. As time went on, I was in less and less control. Your parents died, Gareth, when I first lost total control. All I could do was watch in horror as I saw my hands doing the things they did. They were my friends, and I had to watch as my body snuffed them out as I screamed, trying desperately to stop it.&quot; <br /><br />She let go and stepped back. &quot;I&#039;m not asking your forgiveness. Just kill me now, while I&#039;m still me, and before this horrible death starts.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth was silent. He was beside himself. Once again his mind was in turmoil, unable to decide anything, left or right. Suddenly, finally, out of just wanting desperately to make the problem go away, he pointed his staff at the source of his troubles and let the magic arc through her.<br /><br />Clarice fell, gazed as if in middle distance, smiled, said something inaudible, and was dead.<br /><br />Gareth stood in shock for a while, staring at what he had done, before kneeling down and, with one finger, closing her eye.<br /><br />Natalia walked up to him. &quot;Did you get what you wanted, Gareth?&quot; she asked, her voice shaking and emotional.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth shook his head. &quot;I didn&#039;t want this... damn that Nosferatu for forcing it on me...&quot; <br /><br />Gareth stood up in time for Utarefson to walk forward, taking the dead Clarice&#039;s body in his arms. &quot;I&#039;ll take care of this,&quot;he said, &quot;You two go on ahead. I&#039;ll meet you there. I have a promise to keep now.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia placed a hand on Gareth&#039;s shoulder, which she really had to reach to do. &quot;You don&#039;t have to come any farther,&quot;she said, &quot;If you want, you can go home.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth shook his head. &quot;No. Can&#039;t do that anymore. For her sake, I&#039;ve got to finish this. For hers, and for mine.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia cocked her head, not really understanding, but nodding. &quot;Well, saddle up,&quot;she said, getting on her horse. &quot;Locus is still a night&#039;s ride or so ahead.&quot; <br /><br />The stone edifices of the Lavamanos Monastery were bathed in the shadows of all the leaves on the trees and hedges. The smells of flowers, herbs, and oils bathed the place.<br /><br />A priest, older now, his face worn with care, nodded. &quot;I understand.&quot; <br /><br />Utarefson, in his protective clothing, stood at the door. &quot;I&#039;m sorry, Father Stevenson.&quot; <br /><br />Father Stevenson approached the covered casket that Utarefson had brought. He placed a hand on it. &quot;Little Clarice... I watched you grow up, watched you take your steps in the world, and now you&#039;ve come back to us. I... I didn&#039;t do enough. At least now you&#039;re at peace.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Father Stevenson...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Oh, right. Of course, we&#039;ll take her in. She&#039;ll be placed with the rest of the Monastic Family.&quot; <br /><br />Utarefson bowed and mounted his coach again. As he rode away, the sound of the chapel bells rang out, and the sweet scent of incense rose to the sky, bearing the smell of lilacs.<br /><br />Ahead in the distance were the walls of the great city of Locus, probably the largest city of all the cities in the country. Natalia had only seen these walls once before, as she&#039;d left, and looking at them now, something was wrong. Something was very different. What had been shining walls in her memory now looked grey, neglected, and dull. The guards looked completely different; what had once been bright uniforms was now dull leather.<br /><br />She sighed. &quot;Let me do the talking, Gareth. They&#039;ll catch your Snowshire accent from a mile away. My Locus Cant is a bit out of date, but it should draw less suspicion.&quot; <br /><br />They dismounted, and with Natalia pulling Alminear II, she watched the guards approaching. She waved.<br /><br />The older guard leered at her. &quot;Name, citizenship, purpose of visit?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Big Nat, this mah home, an I&#039;m visitin&#039; famly.&quot; <br /><br />Silence, as the younger guard approached, also looking at Natalia, much more eagerly.<br /><br />&quot;And the minotaur?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Aw no, don&#039;t be neggin&#039; my boy. Sheh, what&#039;s a doll gotta do ta get in?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth had stared at Natalia this whole time. &quot;Er, yeah, word!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;SHUT YO PLAIN BREAD MOUTH, MAMA NAT HAS THIS!!&quot; she yelled back at him, shaking her head. &quot;Acuze mah boy, he ain&#039;t right in the blood cooler.&quot; <br /><br />The guards looked at each other, then back at her. &quot;Yesh, you must not have been here for ten years. Cant has been outlawed since then. If you were in city limits, we&#039;d arrest you. Since you&#039;re outside, we&#039;re just not going to let you in. Have a good one.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia&#039;s face flashed in shock and anger. &quot;Wh-what!? You&#039;re shitting me! This is my hometown, let me in!&quot; <br /><br />Suddenly, a third guard, tall and imposing, who had been surveying the situation and watching the conversation, came forward. &quot;You&#039;ve found a Cant speaker?&quot; <br /><br />The older guard looked at the tall guard, seeing captain stripes. He made a smart salute. &quot;Sir, we have. This one has been out of the city for a while. I was about to send her away.&quot; <br /><br />The captain looked at Natalia and Gareth, and finally shook his head. &quot;No. Cant speakers are far too dangerous to just send away somewhere else.&quot; He grabbed Natalia&#039;s arm. &quot;By the authority of the Governor of Locus, I arrest you. Please come with me peacefully, both you and the minotaur.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia started to struggle, but looked up at the captain. He winked. Natalia&#039;s face very briefly flashed a smile of surprise and relief. &quot;Gareth! Do what this man says, they have us.&quot; <br /><br />Gareth was also surprised, but he saw Natalia&#039;s wink and also came peacefully. The guards saluted as they went by. &quot;Follow me to the interrogation room,&quot;the captain said.<br /><br />They all quietly made their way to the room. The captain spoke to the guards. &quot;I&#039;m going to need some... privacy. Go to your regular patrols.&quot; After a couple salutes, they left. The captain closed and locked the door, and flipped the switch for the soundproofing spell.<br /><br />&quot;Using Cant to try to get in. Would it kill you to keep up with the times?&quot; The captain laughed, and put a hand up to his helmet. To Gareth&#039;s surprise, and Natalia&#039;s joy, the helmet became a straw hat, and the nondescript human wearing it became a half-orc woman in red robes and sandals.<br /><br />&quot;Cecilia! I should have known it was you, sis!&quot; The sisters ran to each-other and hugged in a long embrace, kissing each-other. Gareth cocked his head at the spectacle. Cecilia reluctantly pulled herself away from her half-sister, and came up to him. &quot;Wow, sis, you weren&#039;t kidding about him. You lucky kitty-girl~!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Nice to meet you,&quot;Gareth managed to get out.<br /><br />Cecilia chuckled. &quot;Wow, you *are* a hunk! You and I should have a roll in they hay sometime.&quot; A wink, and she turned back to Natalia. &quot;I got your letter. We pulled in everyone we could for this. Time&#039;s running out; there&#039;s some odd moves that happened here that we couldn&#039;t explain. After your letter, we put two and two together; Nosferatu is making his move. He knows you&#039;re coming, and that the family&#039;s gathering together. This way,&quot;she opened a trapdoor in the corner, &quot;You&#039;d better come with me to the Underground. There&#039;s some people down there who really want to talk with you.&quot; <br /><br />The Underground had long been a stronghold for criminal activity, far longer than anyone&#039;s memory could attest. Locus was an old city, and indeed it was the old city&#039;s remains in what was now the sewer that the underbelly inhabited. Natalia hadn&#039;t been down here since she was a girl, when she&#039;d risen from a street urchin to second in command of one of the larger gangs. That seemed now like an entirely different life.<br /><br />Torches illuminated the dripping, stone-bricked buildings here. Stalactites formed on what was once a vaulted ceiling. And here, underneath the city, there was what had once been an amphitheater, filled with people all over, all shapes and sizes.<br /><br />Natalia smiled. &quot;Gareth, meet the Belmund family.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Oh? Which ones are they?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia happily spread her arms wide. &quot;All of them!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Ah, so we have a small city on our side?&quot; a voice said suddenly behind them. They turned around in surprise to see Utarefson. &quot;Don&#039;t mind me, I found my own way in.&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia nodded. &quot;Most of us here are for support. I&#039;m sure Mr. Blue-blood here will explain what the plan is.&quot; She threw up a signal, and forward came five people.<br /><br />Utarefson looked at the perspective team, nodding in satisfaction as he decided that indeed they were ready. &quot;Everyone will be given telepathic earrings. This will allow all of us to remain in contact with each-other and coordinate things. Don&#039;t worry if you&#039;re not pierced, they clip on. You five will go with Cecilia and Gareth to be the diversionary attack group. We have intel about just where Nosferatu&#039;s hiding. Any moment he&#039;s going to rise up, and we&#039;ll be there to meet whatever he throws up. All we need to do is buy time.&quot; He turned to the masses behind the five. &quot;The rest of you will offer support and keep any army he raises at bay. Remember, when you get the signal that Natalia is in position, you will all concentrate on Nosferatu. A solitary fighter has taken him down before, everyone pressing on him at once should be no trouble.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia pondered this. This sounded way to easy, way too optimistic, and her gut told her that it was going to be the worst cluster-bomb. She snapped out of it when she heard her name called. &quot;Mmm? Yes?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;If you&#039;re done fantasizing, here&#039;s what&#039;s expected of you. We&#039;ve mapped out the place in the catacombs where the phylactery waits. We have no idea what it is or what it looks like, we have no idea what kind of traps are down there. That&#039;s why we&#039;re sending you. You&#039;re limber, you&#039;re experienced with locks and traps, and while you&#039;re not the strongest, you can handle yourself.&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia spoke up. &quot;Everyone clear on what they&#039;re doing? Okay! Let&#039;s all gear up and get ready! We move out in an hour! Natalia, come with me.&quot; <br /><br />In an antechamber, in what was probably a general store once, there was a table with a few things on it. &quot;We got you some special armor for this one, Nat. Only recently invented, and it&#039;ll seriously help you.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia took the black mass of cloth off the table. &quot;Whoa. It&#039;s so light! I can&#039;t even tell if I&#039;m holding it.&quot; She let it fall open. &quot;And it&#039;s tiny!&quot; she gave a conspiratorial grin to Cecilia. &quot;You know, if you wanted me in something slinky, all you had to do was ask.&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia chuckled. &quot;It stretches. It&#039;s something like a body suit. You&#039;ll have to take everything off before you change into it, it&#039;s meant to be skin tight.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia nodded and without even going into a corner or behind something she started slipping off her clothes. Cecilia leered at her. &quot;Damn, girl, you certainly keep in shape.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia grinned. &quot;When this is all over, I&#039;ll show you just how &#039;in shape&#039; I am.&quot; She started slipping the body suit on.<br /><br />&quot;Is that a promise?&quot; Cecilia asked.<br /><br />Natalia finished putting it on. It was a very tight suit indeed, covering everything but her eyes, ears, and tail. &quot;Amazing! It&#039;s like I&#039;m wearing nothing at all!&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia nodded. &quot;It&#039;s super light; you&#039;ll be very limber, like you were naked. Don&#039;t be fooled, though, that suit can absorb some damage. The best part is, it knows how much light is in a place, and it adjusts accordingly. You&#039;ll be practically invisible.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia looked at herself. &quot;And it&#039;s pretty damn sexy, I have to say. I&#039;d love to see you in one of these, Sis.&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia smiled. &quot;You pull this off, I&#039;ll wear whatever you like. Now, here&#039;s the earring. Put it on; you&#039;ll hear a tone when you&#039;re being contacted. Press your fingers below your ear to answer. You don&#039;t have to speak to respond; think and we&#039;ll hear it. We&#039;ll test it before you go.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia clipped it to her ear. Cecilia wandered into the next room, and a few moments later, Natalia heard what sounded like a small bell being rung three times rapidly in her head. She placed her fingers on her neck below her ear. She was surprised to see Cecilia&#039;s face on the left side of her vision and an image of herself on the right.<br /><br />Excellent, Cecilia said, I was worried we got a bad batch for a moment. It&#039;s working perfectly.<br /><br />Should I be seeing myself? Natalia asked.<br /><br />Yeah, it&#039;s an odd side effect of the psychic method these things use. You get used to it.<br /><br />Suddenly, Utarefson&#039;s face replaced Cecilia&#039;s. It&#039;s time, he said, Cecilia will take you to the catacombs. I wish you the best of luck.<br /><br />Cecilia&#039;s face flickered back. We&#039;ll talk like this from this point on. We&#039;ve risked enough talking out loud before, all of us. Are you ready?<br /><br />Ready as I&#039;ll ever be, Natalia replied.<br /><br />A short walk later, the opening of the catacombs awaited before them. This is it, Cecilia said through telepathy, Once you&#039;re in, I have to seal the door to make sure nothing goes in after you. Is there anything you want to ask before you go in?<br /><br />Yeah, I forgot to ask you earlier. What if I want to contact someone with this telepathic doodad?<br /><br />Just imagine their face and think of the letters &quot;c&quot; and &quot;q&quot;.<br /><br />Oh, like &quot;seek you&quot;. That&#039;s cute.<br /><br />Anything else? Okay, go ahead. Good luck sis.<br /><br />Natalia steeled herself, then ran into the catacombs. She barely paid attention to the heavy stone and steel door closing behind her. Her darkvision wasn&#039;t very effective here; there was barely enough light to see a little bit in front of her. Had she been a human or any other creature without darkvision, the place would be completely pitch black. Deciding there was nothing for it, she reached into her satchel and strapped on a pair of goggles. It was risky using them; they allowed her to see clearly even in complete darkness, but they also radiated a very strong magical signal. Unfortunately, this was a risk she&#039;d just have to take, as only seeing a few feet in front of her wasn&#039;t going to help her much.<br /><br />Sure enough, the inside of the catacombs was what one would expect of catacombs; all the walls filled with small holes containing bones and sometimes grave goods. Living people hardly ever came down here anymore; several hundred years ago, the city had started cremating the dead. Thus, no new bodies ever entered the catacombs, and therefore nobody had come down here for ages. This isn&#039;t even mentioning the superstitious reasons for not wanting to come down.<br /><br />Natalia was always wary about that kind of thing, but she made the effort to snap herself out of superstition. Even so, the surroundings made her nervous. She&#039;d seen far too many skeletons and dead bodies animated to ever really be at ease among the dead.<br /><br />The catacombs seemed to go on forever, a maze of dead and holes. As she went on, Natalia noticed something that chilled her even more. Nothing alive was down here. Not even spiders. Not even worms. This was disturbing. Nowhere could she notice any movement.<br /><br />That&#039;s when she realized that the floor had been slanting downward. She seriously hoped that this wasn&#039;t going where she thought it was.<br /><br />-<br /><br />Above ground, Cecilia walked at the lead. Gareth was just behind and to the side of her, and just behind him were the five chosen members of the Belmund family. They were Canus, a wolfman and tough archer, known for his good eye for aiming; Ferilia, badgeress and cleric of strength; Indrus, elephantman and master of the giant hammer; Borus, lizardguy and master of magics; and Ophelia, a kittygirl bard, mistress of the lute and voice. These five were the best of the family, their powers and might well part of the reputation of the Belmund family for being completely effective.<br /><br />Ophelia strummed her lute, singing a song in a low voice, in a language nobody there but Cecilia even had a passing familiarity with, but which Natalia would understand fully (having taught her the language in question, as well as some songs from the nomads in that tongue). Even so, her skills conveyed the ideas behind the words in her music, and despite the trepidation at what was coming, the music put them more at ease.<br /><br />Canus looked behind them. The other archers and sharpshooters of the Belmund clan were in their positions, unable to be noticed unless you knew exactly where they were beforehand. He nodded, then strung his own bow.<br /><br />Ferilia chanted. She served no gods per se, but followed an idea of being strong in the face of darkness. This is what pushed her forward, and gave her powers divinity. Her low chant allowed a mist of strength to invigorate the seven who approached the mayor&#039;s keep.<br /><br />Indrus hefted his hammer. He wasn&#039;t one for being patient normally, but this was something utterly different. His mother long ages ago had faced Nosferatu before. She still told of the tale when he was a child. He knew better than the rest just what they were facing here. He hoped his hammer would be strong enough to break what laid before.<br /><br />Borus merely walked ahead. He&#039;d done all the preparations those that learned magic rather than having it innately did. He&#039;d even cheated a bit, using all kinds of magical shortcuts to increase the limits of what he could do. This was not going to be a wash. He was only disappointed that rather than obliterating the enemy, they were merely buying time.<br /><br />Cecilia stopped, holding out a hand to halt those behind her. She drew her falchion. Her heart pounded in her chest, before she finally moved herself to speak. &quot;Nosferatu! We&#039;re here! Show yourself, if you dare! We know you&#039;ve been here the entire time!&quot; <br /><br />At first, nothing happened. The silence was thick enough to cut with a pair of shears. Then, on the edge of hearing, there began a small rumble. Everyone readied their weapons and went on guard.<br /><br />The doors started to open. Everyone strained to see just what waited behind them.<br /><br />Slowly, out of the arches inside stepped out what seemed to be merely a shape of darkness. This resolved itself into a man. Amazingly tall, hair dark as midnight, dressed in gentlemen&#039;s clothes of the previous century, but there was no mistaking this man for anything other than the great, powerful evil that he was. Were his eyes not covered by smoked glass spectacles, they would give him away completely.<br /><br />The great vampire spoke. &quot;Ah. Is it that time already? I was wondering when you would show up. I&#039;m amazed it took so much effort to remind you of my existence.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He chuckled, a very unsettling sound that raised goosebumps within everyone around. &quot;And the whole family is here. How nice. What do you intend to do against me? Every time I&#039;ve awakened, it&#039;s all been the same. What do you think will stop me this time that hasn&#039;t before?&quot; <br /><br />The Belmund clan was stricken with paralysis, none wishing to make a move. Cecilia finally worked up the stones to speak. &quot;We will win this time, vampire devil demon! Your millennial reign is over. You should return to the space between worlds from which you&#039;ve freed yourself. This time it&#039;ll be for keeps.&quot; <br /><br />Nosferatu, towering, gazing at the group before him, smiled manically. &quot;Ah, how adorable the folly of youth is.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He reached out his hand, as if offering something invisible from his palm. &quot;What can you do now that is so different from the many previous times?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He gazed out that the many, many Belmunds that had gathered, and the friends of the family as well. &quot;What&#039;s this? Isn&#039;t there someone missing? odd that you roll out so many people and so many relics, yet the woman of the hour doesn&#039;t seem to be among us!&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia hides the shock. &quot;Natalia? She&#039;s indisposed. You&#039;ll just have to be content with the rest of us.&quot; <br /><br />Nosferatu broke into a toothy grin, revealing that all of his teeth were pointy and razor sharp. &quot;It&#039;s a pity you haven&#039;t all been sent by the Pelorites. There&#039;s so many jokes I could crack at their expense, so I&#039;ll just say this. Fight me with all of your strength! Summon up the blood!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He drew something out of his long gentleman&#039;s coat. Two somethings. &quot;Don&#039;t be boring! Give me some fun!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He pointed the somethings at the crowd, and with a laugh pulled what a lot of the group suddenly realized were the triggers of some new kind of pistols. Bullets screamed their way into the crowd, who all started moving. At this point, the snipers that had been on the top of the buildings fired at the vampire&#039;s hands. Had he been a mortal man, those arrows would have knocked the guns out of his hands, probably injuring them quite badly in the process. But he was not. He was Nosferatu. The most they did was graze his gloves as he shifted.<br /><br />&quot;I can&#039;t believe this!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cecilia shouted as she dashed towards him, her falchion now focused with holy power and set to counter the dark energies of vampirism and being deftly wielded to deflect the lead coming her way. &quot;He&#039;s expecting a long battle! He&#039;s conserving his strength by using this technological cheating stuff!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;She briefly looked behind her to see if they were sticking to the plan. Borus, being exceptionally good at thinking on his feet, had thrown up a barrier that, while unable to stop the bullets, did slow them down considerably, downgrading them from horrible hot things that can punch through flesh, shatter bone, and make horrible hydrostatic shockwave effects in living tissue, into essentially being pelted with small ball bearings thrown by a major league baseball player, still painful but at least not deadly.<br /><br />Indrus too was charging. He felt his hammer, weighign heavily in his hands, thirsting to strike the vampire. He ran as fast as you could expect a huge elephant man to run. Even so, he made ready to strike if Cecilia failed.<br /><br />Nosferatu laughed, stopping his now pointless firing and playfully spinning his guns. &quot;What, that&#039;s all? I hope it&#039;s at least more fun up close. By the way,&quot; he stopped spinning them and pointed them at Cecilia, who&#039;d just reached point blank range. &quot;You&#039;re not behind the barrier.&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia saw the one gun pointed at her face while the other pointed at her stomach. &quot;Shit!&quot; <br /><br />-<br /><br />Below, in what was rapidly becoming the underworld, Natalia kept running. She was starting to get a bit tired, but hearing the proceedings over telepathy was worrying her. There were way too many loud bangs, and they were coming way too rapidly. What was going on up there? Nobody&#039;d died yet. There were a few injuries, but nothing a competent cleric couldn&#039;t take care of. Finally, her running came to an end when she encountered a huge door made of iron.<br /><br />She looked at it curiously. It had all kinds of neat engravings on it that she couldn&#039;t really guess the meaning of. She looked up and down for a keyhole. She didn&#039;t find any. She pushed on the doors. They were quite firmly shut. She found the handles and tried pulling. They wouldn&#039;t budge. She smiled. This was going to be a challenge. This was fine by her; she always loved challenges. She pulled out her tools and set about the door. She had remembered the motto that circulated through various thieves&#039; guilds over the years: &quot;If it&#039;s designed to open at all, then it can be cracked.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Or to put it into terms more understandable to Natalia&#039;s average companions, &quot;if it bleeds, it can be killed.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of course, Natalia thought at remembering this, if doors bled, she wouldn&#039;t like opening them nearly as much.<br /><br />First things first: make sure there really isn&#039;t a keyhole. She checked the engraving. There&#039;s lots of likely holes, but none of them seem deep or big enough to be a keyhole. She ran her paws all over, inspecting by touch, making absolutely sure, hoping against hope she&#039;d find one. After all, keyholes can be picked. Sadly, it&#039;s all for naught, as there is no keyhole to find.<br /><br />She doesn&#039;t let this stop her, though. After checking for a latch or something similar, and finding none, she set about seeing if the hinges were on the outside. After all, if you can&#039;t unlock the door, taking the door down is an acceptable substitute. Alas, there are no hinges either. She sighed. Lovely. It was one of *those* doors. She hated these ones, the magically locked. It&#039;s not that she couldn&#039;t open them, just that they were nowhere near as fun as mechanical locks. Mechanical locks, say what you would about them, were at least not boring. She could&#039;ve used her tools to poke and prod skillfully at all the tumblers and rods inside. But noooooo, instead she got to put her hands on the door and chant random gibberish, hoping any of it will trigger the opening spell. She sighed, grumbled, and put her paws back on the door. She started with the list of standard magical passkeys first, the ones that are usually installed with the door, and thus used only by idiots and lazy people who didn&#039;t change it. She <br /><br />went through each of them, and to her complete lack of suprise, not a one worked. Nosferatu, or whoever was doing the building for him, knew what he was doing.<br /><br />She looked at the engraving for hints. It looked like a typical funeral depiction, showing a bunch of people around a coffin carried by paulbearers. She noticed that some of them faced the left, while others faced the right. Even the pallbearers weren&#039;t all facing the same direction. She briefly mused whether Nosferatu forgot his passwords and left this engraving as a hint for himself, and a blatant one at that going by the pallbearers lack of going in a unified direction. If they actually tried carrying a coffin like that, they&#039;d spin themselves in a circle for ages. She touched the door, thinking about the number of all the people facing left. Nothing. She tried thinking about the number facing right. Again, nothing. She looked at the engraving again to make sure she didn&#039;t miss anything.<br /><br />Natalia noticed that below this scene there were four chevrons. This was a clue, she thought. Maybe there are four numbers. Probably the total, how many are facing left, and how many are facing right. The last number had her stumped. She stared at the engraving for a very long time before it struck her. There was someone in the engraving who didn&#039;t face either left or right at all - the corpse! So she once more laid hands on the door, thinking the numbers: 10, 6, 4, 1.<br /><br />To her relief, the door sprang open. &quot;Nosferatu needs to learn better password security,&quot; Natalia said aloud to herself.<br /><br />&quot;You... I was wondering when I&#039;d see you,&quot; a low voice from inside the room said.<br /><br />Natalia&#039;s heart skipped a beat from the suprise. She peered into the dark room. &quot;Who&#039;s there?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;You are of the family? You made it down here. Lord Nosferatu knew someone would eventually find this place.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He stepped out into the light. Natalia gasped in shock. The man smiled, his eyes having a strange red glow, his face being the face of one who was being a vehicle for someone else entirely.<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s why I am here,&quot; Richard Belmund said, strange whip made from bones in hand, pointing at her.<br /><br />&quot;D-Daddy...&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Natalia let slip in her shock. She shook her head. &quot;No, you aren&#039;t! Your mind is being ridden!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Very good. Ah, but if you try to kill me, this man dies. What ever can you do? Of course, that&#039;s assuming you could even stand up to him in the first place.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia&#039;s head spun. She had to figure out a way to get the mind rider out of her father&#039;s mind. Combat isn&#039;t going to do it. She decided she didn&#039;t really have a choice. She was going to have to do something she didn&#039;t expect she&#039;d have to do. She wondered if the mind rider had delved very deeply into Richard&#039;s mind. She was gambling that it hadn&#039;t; if it had, this was going to fail spectacularly. Of course, she had a backup plan for that, but it wasn&#039;t much better. She put away her whip and put on a coy smile. &quot;Oooh, such confidence. Confidence can be a real turn on for me...&quot; <br /><br />The mind ridden Richard looked at her quizically, cocking his head like a puppy exposed to post-modern surrealist humor. &quot;Um, what?&quot; <br /><br />She grins even wider. &quot;I noticed the way you&#039;ve been looking at me. You *like* this. So sleek, so skin-tight, and on a body like mine...&quot; <br /><br />Sweat starts to break out on his face. &quot;You *do* know this is your father I&#039;m riding here, right? You didn&#039;t suddenly forget that?&quot; <br /><br />She nods. &quot;Oh, I&#039;m well aware.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;She gets right up to him, putting her arms around his neck. The mind rider is too utterly confused and somewhat horrified at what&#039;s going on to really react. &quot;Give me some sugar, Daddy...&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;she says before finally kissing him. Not the way a daughter would kiss her Dad, some perfunctory lip peck on the cheek, no, but a lover&#039;s kiss, all lips and tongues and the deep magics that quite often were very, very frowned upon when used on family. Naturally at this the mind rider starts screaming. Richard falls limp as some kind of mist flies out of his head. Natalia catches him and lays him down gently.<br /><br />&quot;I saw! I saw his mind when you did that! You.... gah! You and your entire family are *sick*!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;the now freed mind-rider shrieked.<br /><br />&quot;Hi, I&#039;m Natalia, and I&#039;m the one that *isn&#039;t* judging you by what you do with your time. Oh wait, I kind of am. Silly me!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;She reaches for her whip and lashes at the mist. Sure enough, the holy vibrations of the legendary whip prove to be well enough to dissipate the mind rider, who happily embraces the cold touch of death, happy to be free from a world with such terrible perverts in it.<br /><br />Natalia ran to her unconscious father. &quot;Daddy? Come on, wake up, Daddy...&quot; <br /><br />Richard started to stir. He looked up at his daughter with clear eyes. He blinks, reaches a hand out to touch her face. &quot;M-Marilyth? Where am I? Is little Natalia safe?&quot; <br /><br />She takes his hand. &quot;I *am* Natalia, Daddy.&quot; <br /><br />He marvels at this. &quot;Amazing! My little kitty-girl has grown so much. You&#039;re the spitting image of your mother. How is she?&quot; <br /><br />She saddens. There&#039;s no sense in lying to him. &quot;She&#039;s dead, Daddy. She died a little while after you vanished.&quot; <br /><br />Richard stared into space for a while, hearing this. Tears formed. &quot;Marilyth... wait, I disappeared? How long have I been gone? It must have been a very long time, looking at how you&#039;re a woman now...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;18 years. You&#039;ve been gone 18 years.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;So long? And it cost my dear Marilyth, too... Damn that Nosferatu.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Oh Daddy... there&#039;s so much I wanted to say to you, so much I wanted to ask you, but we don&#039;t have time now. Listen! We know how to take out Nosferatu once and for all. He put you here to guard it, he must have. Daddy, the whole family&#039;s fighting him above ground. We&#039;ve got to find his phylactery.&quot; <br /><br />Richard gets up, brushing himself off. &quot;Well. If it&#039;ll defeat that vampyric asshole once and for all... Yes. I barely remember, but it&#039;s deeper this way. Come on, honey.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia dashes after him, the two rushing towards the thing that would end the conflict for all time.<br /><br />-<br /><br />Cecilia panted. That was a close one. Without some awesomely fancy footwork and two quick falchion slashes, she&#039;d have been very very dead. The guns lay in pieces below.<br /><br />Nosferatu chuckled, then laughed heartily. &quot;HAHAHAHAHA, oh dear, I&#039;ve lost my guns, however shall I fight without those- PLAYTIME&#039;S OVER!&quot; <br /><br />Suddenly, Cecilia got a tone. Thanks to the nature of these calls, everything around her stopped moving, including the great vampire forming flames in his hand. She answers.<br /><br />&quot;Natalia, what&#039;s the update?&quot; <br /><br />Natalia&#039;s smiling face met her, though some mascara streaks showed some tears. &quot;Heading for the phylactery now. You won&#039;t believe who&#039;s guiding me there.&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia shakes her head in disbelief. &quot;No. No way. You didn&#039;t...&quot; <br /><br />She beams. &quot;I found Daddy!&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia feels tears of joy clouding her own eyes. &quot;Oh, Papa... I can remember when you weren&#039;t missing. So, Natalia, ETA?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;We&#039;re seconds away from it. You can start heating up on Nosferatu now. Good luck, try not to die, and try to make sure nobody else dies either.&quot; <br /><br />The communication ended, and time once again moved forward in the expected way. Nosferatu nearly throws the fire, but notices that Cecilia is laughing. &quot;Hahaha, yeah, it is pretty funny, the way any of you think you even have a chance.&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia turns to face the rest of the family. &quot;Everyone! Victory&#039;s ours! Richard Belmund has returned to us!&quot; <br /><br />A massive cheer comes up from the Belmund clan.<br /><br />Nosferatu lowers his smoked glasses. &quot;What. Wait. Seriously?&quot; <br /><br />Cecilia turns to once again face the vampire. &quot;Yeah, and he and Natalia are at your phylactery now! We know your secret! Soon you&#039;ll be defeated for good.<br /><br />Nosferatu is stunned. &quot;What!? Argh, you *couldn&#039;t* have!&quot; <br /><br />---<br /><br />Below, Nosferatu&#039;s phylactery floated on a pedestal like a shiny floating thing that floats and shines.<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s it?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Natalia asks.<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s it.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Richard says.<br /><br />She looks at it. &quot;I was expecting something kinda... you know, more.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I was too, honestly. Well, my kitty girl, ready to wail on it with our whips until it shatters?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I was born for this!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;They both do so, and it shatters into a bazillion pieces.<br /><br />--<br /><br />Above ground, Nosferatu looks at himself. He smiles. He laughs, giving a golf clap. &quot;Congratulations! You&#039;ve managed to make me mortal! I never thought that would happen, not for another thousand years anyway! I underestimated you! And now I have something of a confession to make. You know all those times the family took me down for a while?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He grinned wickedly. &quot;I let them. For me, while the phylactery existed, defeat was just a little vacation. Now that it&#039;s been taken from me, and I once again have the specter of death hovering over me, I have no reason to go easy on you. By making that choice, you&#039;ve unleashed me! Oh, by the way?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He makes a hand motion and Richard and Natalia appear next to Cecilia.<br /><br />The smile leaves the dread vampire&#039;s face. &quot;Die.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He points a finger each at Natalia and Richard, and simultaneously a brilliant red light shoots out of them. Richard manages to get out of the way as he dashes towards Natalia, who was caught completely off guard. He&#039;s too far away, though, and the other red light bores right through her chest, making a hole the size of a strawberry right through her. Her vital organs pierced, she falls to the ground, blood coming out of her mouth.<br /><br />&quot;Natalia!&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cecilia screams as she rushes to her. Nosferatu gets in the way. &quot;Oh no. You are not exempt.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He points the finger at Cecilia, who in a rage slices the entire hand off with her falchion. While he&#039;s distracted with that, she and Richard pull Natalia behind the barrier to the back, where Ophelia plays her music, hoping to encourage Ferilia. The cleric shook her head. &quot;It&#039;s no good. Whatever he did to her is really bad mojo. Vital organs are pierced, and I can&#039;t get anything to regenerate.&quot; <br /><br />Natalia looked up, unable to speak, unable to move anything but her eyes and her head, everything starting to fade as she coughed up more of her own blood. She looked at her father, then Cecilia, then Ferilia and Ophelia. She finally can&#039;t stay conscious any longer. Her eyelids get heavy, and her eyes close.<br /><br />Natalia Belmund was dead.<br /><br />At first, darkness. Silence. The feeling of floating, being weightless, massless, nothing. Finally, words without being words reach what was once Natalia.<br /><br />&quot;Ah, still used to the ways of flesh. &#039;Open&#039; your &#039;eyes&#039;.&quot; <br /><br />The new world is thrown into sharp relief, showing a world that mortal eyes never saw very often.<br /><br />And before her was someone she had seen before, but couldn&#039;t quite place.<br /><br />&quot;I... I died...&quot; <br /><br />They nodded. &quot;Yes. Do not be worried. You will be disoriented for a little while.&quot; <br /><br />The one who had once been Natalia looked down at, for lack of a better word, her body. It had changed.<br /><br />&quot;What is this!? What&#039;s happened to me?&quot; <br /><br />They shook their head. &quot;So you have forgotten. This is always a danger when it comes to being an avatar. Why you wished to become mortal is beyond us.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Wh... what?&quot; <br /><br />Then it finally came together. She was looking at Yashuk, the many-in-one god that Clarice had told her about and had worshipped.<br /><br />&quot;Perhaps here at what for the sake of your formerly mortal psyche we will call &#039;the crossroads&#039; is not the best place to discuss these things. Your realm is waiting for you, untouched. The others and we have been looking over it.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;My real-&quot;suddenly, unbidden, memories start to return. The one that was once Natalia starts to realize that she was only Natalia for a short time. There was another name, someone she&#039;s been all along. But then, that memory was interrupted by another from her mortal life.<br /><br />&ldquo;D-do you know what&#039;s going on in the mortal realm!? Tell me!&quot; <br /><br />Yashuk merely blinked. &ldquo;We... do not take issue with what is below. It hardly concerns us.&quot; <br /><br />This came as quite a nasty shock. &ldquo;You... do know there are people there that worship you and all, right!?&quot; <br /><br />Yashuk shrugged. &ldquo;What do we care for the insects below? They choose to worship us, we do not know why. We sometimes humor them, grant them boons.&quot; <br /><br />The one that had once been Natalia glowered at the god, noticing his five heads at last. &ldquo;So you don&#039;t even care. This-&quot; sudden realization hit her like a ton of ethereal bricks. &quot;This is why I went down there. I remember,&quot; she said, feeling very strange. &quot;The argument. Not just with you, but with Kartaz and Yeshila and Rom the Coded one and... my head...&quot; she grasped what felt like her head, the memories coming back being too much. &ldquo;You said I had a realm... take me there...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;You and we are there already,&quot;Yashuk said without saying, and indeed the void was replaced by a wide field, over which was a pink-tinged blue sky. Tall golden grass was all around, with sparse sprinklings of tall fruit-bearing trees. Golden sparkly things weaved and flew through the air, and all around were all kinds of beings, male, female, and otherwise, of all races and kinds, having fun, happily chasing eachother or sitting under the trees, in various states of dress and undress.<br /><br />The one that had once been Natalia blinked. &quot;This... this is home...&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;Then the thought reaffirmed itself. &quot;There is... still some of Natalia in me... she speaks to me... do I have a-&quot; She turned around, and sure enough behind her was what looked like a hotel. She wondered what she was thinking when she&#039;d placed that there, it utterly disrupted the theme of everything else.<br /><br />Wait. She&#039;d made this? What is this? Her head... She made way for what she remembered to be her own chamber, what could be called a penthouse suite.<br /><br />The room was... tacky... like, way tacky. The one that had once been Natalia was deeply embarrassed. Heart wallpaper? Really? And so much tackiness. All the sickening statues and other such things. This...<br /><br />This would not do.<br /><br />And just as she thought it, the room changed, becoming a much more tasteful room, reminiscent of the rooms she&#039;d spent nights in when she was a mortal. She finally looked into the tall, full-length mirror.<br /><br />No.<br /><br />This wasn&#039;t right, was it?<br /><br />It made so much sense, but still.<br /><br />Yes, it was right.<br /><br />Cumina, Goddess of Love and Lust, nodded at her figure in the mirror. How could it be any other way? All the knowledge, experience, and memories of her goddess self now completely rushed in and joined the knowledge, experience, and memories of the mortal Natalia. She had heard about other gods and goddesses sometimes seeking to go to the mortal realms as avatars. Mind, not any of the current gods and goddesses, who were far more content to just stay in their own realms and bicker.<br /><br />Yes, that was right, wasn&#039;t it? The world had been very different. No, not just the world, the universe. She was one of the few that survived the death of the old universe, where gods and goddesses walked the mortal plane willy nilly. That had been a disaster. Cumina, along with Death, had been the only ones to survive specifically because they had spent little time there. Memories came back to her of an empty celestial world, racked with fire, ice, void, and much more.<br /><br />The new gods had arrived, and somehow below a new mortal universe was created. Death had made the new gods and goddesses promise to never go down to the mortal planes, not as gods and goddesses. Cumina had agreed that it was for the best, all that is would not survive another catastrophe like the last one.<br /><br />Cumina had been intimately involved with the mortal world. Her very nature couldn&#039;t help it. It&#039;s she that noticed this great threat first. Nosferatu&#039;s rise was seen even from the immortal realms.<br /><br />She had argued with the others how best to take care of this. Yashuk, lazy bastard that he was, voted to do nothing. What was he even a god of? Her mortal memories of Clarice describing him as a god of light, loving and merciful, burned her. He was anything but.<br /><br />Kartaz, the goddess of war, wanted to descend to the world and fight him right then and there with all their godly power. Her heart was in the right place, but this wasn&#039;t a great idea because nobody, least of all Cumina and Death, wanted to have a repeat of the previous cataclysm.<br /><br />There were other ideas, and everyone argued until, finally, someone suggested avatardom. One of the gods would have to volunteer to take on mortal form. This would result in a loss of memory if done incorrectly, so there was considerable risk. It had been her, Cumina, that volunteered. Who else would? Who else but the manifestation of caring would care enough to go down and risk her memory.<br /><br />Coming back to her now, she knew that it had gone wrong. However, she knew what went wrong, and was confident that if she went down again, she would retain everything she needed.<br /><br />Before she did anything, though, she would see what had gone on since she lost her mortal life. She peered into the mirror, watching her reflection vanish to be replaced with a view of below.<br /><br />-<br /><br />Natalia breathed her last. Nosferatu grew back his arm as the Belmunds all concentrated their force on him. Ophelia and Richard stayed near the kittygirl&#039;s still form. Gareth fell back to them, launching the last bits of his power to get there. &quot;So.... she&#039;s dead...&quot; <br /><br />Ophelia said nothing, only playing her lute.<br /><br />&quot;All we have to do now, then, is wait.&quot; <br /><br />Ophelia stopped. &quot;...what?&quot; <br /><br />Gareth gently pushed Natalia&#039;s head with his hoof, showing the marks on her neck. &quot;I have no idea how long it takes, but there&#039;s a chance.&quot; <br /><br />Richard spoke up. &quot;Wait, my little girl a vampire? What is this??&quot; <br /><br />&quot;She was... curious.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He answered in an embarassed tone.<br /><br />The father sagely nodded. &quot;Well... even so, there&#039;s a fairly large hole in her chest. You think vampirism can overcome that?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Well, Alpha Vampire out there grew an arm back, so...&quot; <br /><br />At that moment, Utarefson came careening crashing through the wall.<br /><br />&quot;Glad you could join us,&quot; Gareth said, as if this were an every day thing.<br /><br />Utarefson sprung up and dusted himself off. &quot;Father wasn&#039;t joking about holding back. I&#039;m sorry, I made a grave miscalculation. This may be the death of us all.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Hey, you. You&#039;re the one that bit my daughter, right?&quot; <br /><br />&quot;Yes. And she wanted me to do it. Odd... normally when a thrall dies, the vampirization process starts within seconds.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;No... so it failed...&quot; <br /><br />&quot;No. Vampirization is very fail proof, especialy when the thrall gives themselves willingly.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;He kneeled down, examining Natalia. &quot;No... something else is at work here...&quot; <br /><br />Another magical explosion rocked the shelter. &quot;Mr. Belmund, would you join me outside?&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;asked Utarefson.&quot; <br /><br />Richard only needed a second&#039;s consideration. He picks up the whip from his deceased daughter, and pulls out his own in the other hand. &quot;Let&#039;s buy this some time!&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m completely out of magic, so I&#039;ll stay here with Ferilia and Ophelia.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;said Gareth.<br /><br />And so, Utarefson and Richard charged, with Utarefson rocking both a hammer and his magics, while Richard awesomely dual wielded whips.<br /><br />On the field, people had already fallen. It was only due to the great skill of the Belmund clan that more hadn&#039;t. Nosferatu tore through the forces not quite like a hot knife through butter, but perhaps like a steak knife through a steak that&#039;s nearly charcoal.<br /><br />Arrow after arrow, magic bolt after magic bolt, flew towards the great vampire, like curtains of fire. It showed no sign of slowing him down, much as firing a thousand needles would barely stop an elephant. The ones showing the most effect against the great beast are Utarefson, Richard, and Cecilia, their powerful attacks managing to stumble him on occasion.<br /><br />&ldquo;Damn,&rdquo; Utarefson said as he blocked a huge magical blast from hitting the crowd. &ldquo;It&#039;s been hours now. Where is she?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Natalia? It&#039;s mysterious.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;No, not her. There&#039;s- ah, took her sweet time.&rdquo; He turned to the beast. &ldquo;Father! You might look behind you.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh, come, son, you expect me to URK!&rdquo;<br /><br />Out of the beast&#039;s throat popped a spear, and the wielder, all in black, now pale and with glowing pink eyes, was a large, long-haired gnoll. &ldquo;This is for the Zauphetolin, you bastard!&rdquo; She pulled her spear out of his throat and slashed his face as she joined the fighters below.<br /><br />&ldquo;My dear Clarice, whatever kept you?&rdquo; Utarefson said at last.<br /><br />A freshly renewed, newly-youthful, vampirized Clarice gives a grim smile. &ldquo;Took some time to find some gloves so I wouldn&#039;t burn myself on my own weapon.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Vampirism suits you well. Any effects? Still hear voices?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;My head&#039;s clear for the first time in so long... it was almost worth having to die first.&rdquo; And in a surge of joy, she attacked the master vampire again.<br /><br />&ldquo;Bring all the suprise fighters you want, Son.&rdquo; Nosferatu laughed. &ldquo;You will never destroy me even if you bring a whole legion with holy weapons. I am too old, too dark, and too strong to be taken down this way!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Damn him,&rdquo; said Richard, &ldquo;it&#039;s like we&#039;re barely doing anything to him.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Keep fighting,&rdquo; Utarefson said. &ldquo;He&#039;s powerful, but he&#039;s not immortal! My plan to sweep him down failed, so we&#039;ll just have to whittle him down!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Aahhahaha!&rdquo; Nosferatu laughed sonorously as he dealt a firm blow to his son. &ldquo;Yes, whittle me, as if I&#039;m some kind of block of wood! This block of wood will not submit to your pocket knife, and will just crush your fingers instead!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Isn&#039;t that stretching the metaphor a bit?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;SHUT UP AND DIE!&rdquo;<br /><br />Another laser, another heap of casualties. Everyone involved knew they were fighting a hopeless battle. Inside, Ferilia, Ophelia, and Gareth could only look at Natalia, and pray...<br /><br />Cumina made her decision. She couldn&#039;t let any more of what had been her family die. She would return. But she couldn&#039;t do it alone. She&#039;d died. She needed to see Death. With a moment&#039;s focusing, she shifted places effortlessly.<br /><br />Here was Death&#039;s domain. All darkness around. The stillness of oblivion.<br /><br />This was broken up a bit by the cafe table where Death was sitting, a cup of tea in his hand.<br /><br />So, you come to me again. Shall I guess what you are here for? Death intoned, looking up at Cumina with an air of amusement.<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh, stop that. This isn&#039;t the Discworld and you know it. Talk normally.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Forgive me my joke. So I take it you wish to return. You know the rules.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Forget the rules! People are dying. I need to return quickly.&rdquo;<br /><br />Death glared at her. &ldquo;Even so, there are rules. Remember the last universe? The rules must be followed.&rdquo;<br /><br />Cumina growls in frustration. &ldquo;Fine. Meet me and the council.&rdquo;<br /><br />Another focus, and there she was with the other gods.<br /><br />&ldquo;Right, everyone, tabling the motion,&rdquo; Cumina chanted impatiently, singsong, as if it&#039;s a gigantic horrible pain like it is. &ldquo;Motion to appear on earth as avatar, blah blah blah.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I abstain,&rdquo; the useless Yashuk said.<br /><br />&ldquo;We figured you would. You all know why I&#039;m going back down. I&#039;m getting it right this time though. Right, vote, all in favor.&rdquo;<br /><br />All but the decidedly useless shit Yashuk raised their hands.<br /><br />&ldquo;All opposed. Good. Death, if you would be so kind as to start?&rdquo;<br /><br />Death started to open the portal to the world of the flesh, and the other gods (except for Yashuk) gave their power. Cumina descended below, preparing her mind this time for the shift, as she returned.<br /><br />&ldquo;She&#039;s moving!&rdquo; Gareth cried to the others.<br /><br />Suddenly, a glow fills the room and bursts out of the roof. Everyone looks up outside, wondering what&#039;s going on inside.<br /><br />Inside, Ferilia, Ophelia, and Gareth look on in amazement as Natalia&#039;s body picks itself up off of the floor, her hole in her body repaired in a flash of light, new glowing lines flowing all over her body. Then her eyes opened, glowing brighter than anything before.<br /><br />&ldquo;It worked! I&#039;m here! Ferilia, Ophelia, Gareth! I&#039;m back! I know everything! I&#039;ve seen, I&#039;ve understood, and now...&rdquo; She somehow produces a new whip in her hand. &ldquo;...I can end this.&rdquo;<br /><br />They&#039;re shocked and unable to reply, watching dumbly as the recently dead Natalia strides, burning so brightly in the powerful light of divinity.<br /><br />&ldquo;Nosferatu! Your days of terrorizing the world is over!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Wow, will you look at that, the cat came back. The very next day, even. And you&#039;ve got pretty glowy henna. Am I supposed to be impressed?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I&#039;m not the same Natalia you struck down. I know who I am now. I&#039;m not just some catslut. I am an Avatar. You will know the power of love! You will be burned by the fire whose warmth you shunned!&rdquo;<br /><br />With this, she powered forward. Nosferatu smiles wildly. &ldquo;Finally! A true challenge!&rdquo;<br /><br />Natalia attacks him. Nosferatu&#039;s actually reacting like he&#039;s being hit.&nbsp;&nbsp;They trade blows like crazy.<br /><br />&ldquo;It&#039;s a real pity,&rdquo; Natalia croons as she whips yet another weapon out of Nosferatu&#039;s hands. &ldquo;If you weren&#039;t such an evil dark bastard, you&#039;d be such a great lay... too bad you decided to use your power as a dick substitute!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Big talk coming from a literal pussy!&rdquo; Punch! Whiplash! Kick! <br /><br />Slowly the Belmund family gets over the shock, and notice it&#039;s their sister Natalia, through some miracle returned to earth and not as a vampire. Their joy sang out, and the love in their hearts made Natalia even more powerful, being an avatar of the goddess of love herself.<br /><br />&ldquo;How long do you think you can last, great vampire? The twin powers of love and lust cannot be exhausted!&rdquo; Wablam, blanf, And the vampire suddenly takes a hit that disables one of his legs.<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh no, you made my leg fall asleep, how horrible. But I know you&#039;re bluffing! You can&#039;t keep this up. No one has! Nothing short of a deity can stop me now!&rdquo; he then sent a grody body-deforming attack at the Awakened Natalia, which she just shrugs off.<br /><br />&ldquo;Ah, I never thought someone as old as you didn&#039;t know what &#039;avatar&#039; means. I&#039;ll give you a glimpse of just who you&#039;re dealing with here.&rdquo; She pulls off for a moment, and lets her true goddess nature shine through for a moment, just long enough for Nosferatu to see.<br /><br />&ldquo;Wh- gh- you&#039;re screwing with me! You mean to tell me one of you celestial sad-sacks actually clad themselves in flesh just to take me on?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;It was a unanimous vote. (With one abstaining, Yashuk you useless lazy bastard.) You&#039;re too great a threat to leave alone.&rdquo; Thwak! The other leg of the great demon vampire is now numb and useless.<br /><br />From inside, Gareth watched Natalia. Her new powers were a bit scary, but still, he was happy to see her back. His love, and his ongoing lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.<br /><br />Ophelia watched too, still absent-mindedly playing her lute. Her twin sister. Who could have imagined that she was this avatar all this time? It made her wonder about herself... still, her love, and sometimes lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.<br /><br />Richard also watched. He&#039;d had a rough time, being under the control of Nosferatu&#039;s mind-rider for 18 years, then finding out his favorite lover was no longer. And yet, Natalia reminded him so much of Marilyth. His love, and his world-damning lust for her (and who she resembled) gave Natalia a bit more power.<br /><br />Clarice sat this out. She knew that even with the boost becoming a vampire gave her, that the battle had gone out of her league. To think the little kitty-girl that had rekindled such forgotten feelings in her was keeping the dread vampire himself on his toes. She smiled. It was almost over. Her love, and nostalgic lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.<br /><br />Somewhere in Kapris, Ken was going about his daily life. On a pleasant day, like today, he thought about the kitty-girl who&#039;d dropped into his life one day. She said she&#039;d return someday. He hoped it was soon. Nobody had effected him quite like she did. He had no way of knowing any battle was going on of course, but his love, and simple lust for her, gave Natalia a bit more power.<br /><br />The vampire was knocked back again, his arm now useless along with his legs. He started to fall from the sky, but kept up the struggle as long has he could. &ldquo;This is no trouble. God or not, I will win... I must win... I will not die... I will not die... I will not die...&rdquo;<br /><br />Whablamf! No more limbs left. Natalia pointed at him. &ldquo;This is the end, Nosferatu. Time to burn in the flame that warms so many, but that you rejected yourself.&rdquo; And with that, she dashed forward and defeated the vampire in a way that nobody expected.<br /><br />She hugged him.<br /><br />As Natalia, Awakened Avatar of Cumina, hugged Nosferatu, he cried out in pain, the force of love and lust radiating from her being too much for him to handle, as he indeed burned, reduced to ashes, and was defeated at last.<br /><br />Then she looked at the fallen, and blew them a kiss. They all rose, life given to them anew.<br /><br />With this, Natalia fell over and passed out.<br /><br />Natalia awoke, no longer in her awakened state. &ldquo;Nfffh... how long have I been out?&rdquo;<br /><br />Ferilia, as well as everyone else in the room, jumped straight up with suprise. &ldquo;Oh, you&#039;re awake! What was that you did at the end there? Never seen anything like it.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I was using my full power. It&#039;s who I&#039;ve always been. Thing is... my body can&#039;t handle my full power. I think that battle took a year off my life.<br /><br />Ferilia hugged her sister. &ldquo;I&#039;m just glad you&#039;re back with us... and it&#039;s all over. We&#039;re all free. It&#039;s thanks to you.&rdquo;<br /><br />Natalia slowly got out of bed, trying to collect herself together. She looked in the mirror at herself, and noticed that all the markings were gone now, save one on her forehead and one on her chest where Nosferatu had punched through her with that beam. &ldquo;I guess I&#039;m going to have to get used to these new markings. Do you have my clothes?&rdquo;<br /><br />Ferilia handed them to her and watched as she put them on. &ldquo;The whole family&#039;s waiting on you. You might get swamped if you step outside.&rdquo;<br /><br />Natalia got her hair back into her signature twintails. &ldquo;It&#039;s a risk I don&#039;t mind taking.&rdquo; She paused at the door. &ldquo;We should spend a little time together sometime, when I&#039;m conscious for it.&rdquo;<br /><br />Ferilia smiled. &ldquo;Count on it, sis. Go on, they&#039;re all waiting for you.&rdquo;<br /><br />The moment Natalia went through the door, Cecilia and Ophelia immediately glomped her, and Gareth managed to hug all three very tightly. They all start excitedlly talking to her at once before she stops them. Her own father hugged her and gave her a smooch. Then she saw Utarefson.<br /><br />Utarefson smiled at her, still pale, still white haired, but actually able to stand in the sun. Behind him was Clarice... under his parasol, still as vampyric as ever. &ldquo;Clarice, what gives? I thought taking out Nosferatu would have fixed this.&rdquo;<br /><br />Utarefson shook his head. &ldquo;The curse was on my family. For me, it&#039;s lifted. Unfortunately, the vampires we made stay vampires. Our work&#039;s far from done, but the greatest obstacle is over.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I&#039;m fine with this.&rdquo; Clarice said. &ldquo;Even if I were returned to normal, I didn&#039;t have that much time left. Now I&#039;ve got all the time in the world. That&#039;s worth some annoyances.&rdquo;<br /><br />And they all had a laugh and went on to have a gigantic orgy. The end.<br /><br />Page&nbsp;&nbsp; PAGE&nbsp;&nbsp;61 \tThe Great Test of Natalia\tFirst Rough Draft<br /><br /></span>",
  "pools_count": 1,
  "title": "The Life and Times of Natalia Belmund (NaNoWriMo Project 2012) (Complete Novel)",
  "deleted": "f",
  "public": "t",
  "mimetype": "application/msword",
  "pagecount": "1",
  "rating_id": "2",
  "rating_name": "Adult",
  "ratings": [
    {
      "content_tag_id": "4",
      "name": "Sexual Themes",
      "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal",
      "rating_id": "2"
    }
  ],
  "submission_type_id": "12",
  "type_name": "Writing - Document",
  "guest_block": "t",
  "friends_only": "f",
  "comments_count": "0",
  "views": "108"
}