The whole situation was wrong. Why was an ancient vampire tucking me into bed? Why did I want her to? Was she using words of command? I didn’t feel commanded. I felt a need deep in my soul to please the woman.

I bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood. It had a couple of effects. I regained some of my sanity. I still wanted to get into bed, but that personal space in the back of my brain that I had previously surrendered to the cloaked lady next to me had suddenly been reclaimed in the name of Melvin.

The other thing that happened was my blood caused Lady Shaw to gasp behind me as she ushered me into bed. I managed to mumble, “Why do you need to tuck me in? I’m a big boy after all.”

Did I really just say that? I heard Kalli echo in my head. Did you really just say that?

Hey. It's hard to think right now. Give me a break.

I felt her trying to spur the phoenix on even more. Boys!

Lady Shaw was oblivious to my inner dialog as she gently turned the white covers of the bed down. She motioned for me to get in. Were her fangs growing? Were they always so menacing? She tried to smile reassuringly. That was not a vampire’s strong point. She looked terrifying. She whispered, “Do you have any idea how special you are?”

I didn’t. I really didn’t. I had a weird class that everybody seemed to want, but other than that, I was just a normal everyday teenager. I couldn’t think of an acceptable answer, so I whispered, “Are you going to bite me now?”

As I said the words, I felt a strong need to protect myself. Would an iron neck work? She would probably just bite me somewhere else. Could I edit something into a weapon and attack her? Her level was so high that I couldn’t see it. That wouldn’t work.

I needed a way to defend myself. Something that didn’t rely on my level. I had to edit something, but what? It was the middle of the night, so sunlight was out of the question. Unless I made a sun in the room? That would probably kill me too though.

She stroked my cheek gently. I tried to will my armor to block her touch, but it was not responding to my feeble thoughts. The feeling of her hand on my skin sent a jolt through my body. I remembered the flow of her mana when she had teleported with me. How it flowed through her body along with her blood. How it thirsted.

My brain worked through vampire anatomy trying to land on a thought that I felt on the tip of my tongue. What was it about vampires and blood?

Oh! Vampires can’t feed on the dead. That's could hurt them.

Kalliphae was alarmed. You can’t die Mel.

Don’t worry Kalli. I’m just thinking. I need to think fast. This lady looks hungry.

What else was I thinking about? There it was. They couldn’t drink the blood from another vampire. They couldn’t feed on each other. The problem was, how did that help me. Then again, I was somewhat special. I had editing powers. I didn’t want to turn myself into a vampire. She would probably notice that. I needed something more subtle. Also, I needed it to subdue her.

She was stroking my hair. I trembled. I wish I could have said that I did it to make her believe I was scared, but I really was terrified. I forced my mana through my channels toward my heart. Just before I allowed it into my vascular system, I made my move.

Item:

Ball of Mana

Components

Mana

Item Rank:

S

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Murphy

One quick tweak. I said a quick prayer and hit accept.

Item:

Ball of Corrupted Mana (Edited)

Components

Mana, Distortion

Item Rank:

F

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Murphy

I swallowed hard when I felt the black ball of mana next to my heart. I took a deep breath and pushed it into my vital system. Lady Shaw took my action as a sign that I was ready and lunged at my exposed neck.

Kalliphae screamed so loud in my head that I thought I could hear her outside. Nooooo! Melvin.

The sensation of having my blood sucked was oddly sensual. I swooned in her arms as the experience I was having with the vampire did battle with the burning sensation that was spreading through my body. I tuned out Kalli’s howling as we sat on the side of the bed locked in an embrace.

Something was changing in me as well. I felt thousands of years flow through me. I felt the search for forbidden magic in an attempt to live forever. Thousands of lives drained of not just their lives, but also of their time. The true secrets of vampires flooded into my head.

NEW TRAIT ACQUIRED: [BLOODLINE: SHAW]

All too soon, I felt the lady's fang slide from my neck. She stood next to me and wiped her mouth, saying, “See. That wasn’t too traumatic now, was it? You have a lot of traits. I only took one of them. If I had gone any farther, I fear I might have killed you. We can continue this process until I…”

She staggered and dropped to a knee, “What is this? What have you done? You fool. Did you somehow poison me? I wasn’t going to harm you, but now you’ve left me with no choice but to drain you dry and steal all of your traits along with your soul."

Kalli was crying when I felt Carmilla’s mouth latch into my neck again. The vampire was quickly siphoning the corrupted blood from my body with renewed vigor.

This time, I had a new weapon to fight back with. I understood what the vampire was trying to do to me. Additionally, I had a new skill to fight back. I leaned into her exposed neck and the sight of it caused a magical transformation to occur in my mouth. I was growing fangs. I sank them into her neck.

Lady Carmilla grunted into my neck as I completed our connection. She was growing desperate, fully aware that her only chance at life was also quickening her death. We were playing chicken. Which of us would die first?

I was amazed that the taste of blood wasn’t making me gag. Especially old lady blood. I knew that in order to survive, I couldn’t run out of blood. Something about my new bloodline was allowing me to absorb traits through the blood I consumed.

TRAIT ACQUIRED: [CONTROL]

SKILL ACQUIRED: [CONTROLLING VOICE]

Lady Shaw began twitching in my arms. I could feel the corruption taking its toll on her body. My own heart was quivering in my chest, but I sensed that her aged body wasn’t responding well to the sudden loss of life-sustaining mana. The corruption was mixing my mana with hers and corrupting all of it. She didn’t have reserved mana channels like I did.

Unfortunately for me, I required blood to continue living. The vampire didn’t need it for that particular purpose. All I could do was continue to try to out-suck her and hope I had enough to survive when everything was said and done.

TRAIT ACQUIRED: [AFFINITY: BLOOD]

She was beginning to slow down. I finally felt like I was starting to replenish some of the blood in my body. I laughed inwardly as I wondered if our blood types were compatible. Or mana types for that matter. Did mana even have a type?

TRAIT ACQUIRED: [NOCTURNAL REGENERATION]

I continued my quest to survive. The metallic taste was starting to get to me. It was interesting that I was sucking the blood into my fangs and now swallowing it. I hadn’t known that particular part of vampirism.

How do vampires do this every day? This is worse than being a vegetarian.

Kalli was trying to be brave for me. I’m here Melvin. I don’t see a building. You’re going to have to help me.

CURSED TRAIT ACQUIRED: [VAMPIRIC IMMORTALITY]

I stopped sucking. When was it that Lady Shaw stopped feeding on my mana? I felt her fangs embedded in me, but she was motionless in my arms. I slowly gripped her head and pulled her from my throat. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t breathing. Did vampires need to breathe? I carefully laid her on the bed.

I had more pressing matters to worry about than Lady Shaw’s health. I collapsed next to her and looked up at the ceiling. I targeted something and deleted it. I could feel the structure shudder above me. I targeted another item and deleted it. I just needed to make a hole.

Hopefully, I’m on the top floor.

I ignored Kalliphae and continued my mission. I felt the room quake as something heavy crashed down into the room. I worked harder. I deleted ceiling tiles, beams, insulation, and finally roofing.

The darkness outside was buried beneath a blue sheen that seemed to shimmer in the night sky. I targeted that.

Item:

Illusion: Night

Components

Mana, Liquid Darkness

Item Rank:

A

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Shaw

I deleted it. Light flooded the room I was in so suddenly that it hurt my eyes. I closed them and focused on my breathing. The next thing I needed to do was filter the corruption from my blood before it killed me. Unlike when it was in a ball, I couldn’t target it as a whole.

I tried to force it through my veins, but it clung to the blood which stubbornly refused to flow any faster through my veins. With a loud crash, a phoenix crashed into the room in front of me. Kalliphae bounded off of it and threw herself at me. She had tears in her eyes.

She was covered in blood when we pulled apart. Is this yours?

Some of it is. The rest is hers.

Kalli looked over my shoulder at the still form of Lady Shaw and shuddered. I was still fighting a battle within my own body. My regeneration skill and the corruption were doing battle with one another. My body was the battlefield and it wasn’t faring so well.

I clasped Kalliphae’s hands in desperation.

Kalli, I want you to try something.

Her eyes widened. I don’t like this Melvin. What do you want me to do?

I need you to clean my blood. You know how you clean me when I get dirty. I need you to clean the corrupted mana out of my blood with your fire. It’s killing me.

It was mostly true. I was worried that the corruption was going to overwhelm me. My heart was racing and it felt like my body was taking too long to filter out the impurities. Kalli shook her head rapidly. No Melvin. I can’t. I’ve never done anything like that.

You have to do it. I know it will work.

I didn’t know how I knew it, but I was confident that her mana was just what I needed. She didn’t answer. The girl sat stiffly next to me and stretched out her hands.

“Pvruzth”