At first, Kalli directed her mana up and down my body, removing any impurities. While it felt nice, it wasn’t helping with the corruption. I grabbed her hands and pulled her closer until she was physically touching me. I cried out in her mind.

You have to do this. It’s the only way. Just push it into me. I can take it. Look for my veins.

She pulled back and looked at me frantically. How do I get my mana inside of you? There are no openings on your body unless you want me to…

I gently took her hands in mine. I had pushed my mana into her once before. At that time I was frantic and tried to force it to heal her wounds. That had been a mistake. My mana had no healing qualities. At least not yet. I shook my head to focus on the task at hand. I channeled my clean mana through my mana ducts to my hands.

I gently pushed my mana into Kalliphae’s hands. I felt the slight resistance that her skin gave as her body fought off what it sensed as an invader. Kalli’s hand shook in mine. I knew what was wrong. I didn’t know how I knew, but the girl wasn’t accepting the connection.

I grunted in pain while trying to ignore the burning in my blood that was spreading everywhere. I croaked into Kalli’s mind.

You have to let me in. Otherwise, the connection won’t work.

She weakly replied. …but I’m scared.

Even though she continued to tremble, my mana slowly found purchase through the tips of her fingers. She gasped as I pushed my mana through her, finding channels that seemed to have never been used before. I knew that I was going to have to help her if she was going to have any hope of doing what I needed.

I let my mana flow into her, following a circuit through her body. Externally, her flame instantly died and she leaned into me, burying her head on my shoulder. What are you doing to me? It feels strange.

I was having trouble speaking even into her mind.

Opening…mana…Just one more minute…

Kalliphae’s capacity for mana was bigger than mine. I was on the verge of passing out when I felt the circuit complete. The girl was breathing heavily against my shoulder. When I opened my eyes they were immediately drawn to the vein pulsing on her neck.

My fangs impulsively extended as I lowered my head slightly. Kalli sucked in a deep breath and I felt her through in my head. If it helps you, I’ll let you do it.

I quickly pulled back.

No! I don’t want to go down that road. Not if I can help it.

The next step was to find Kalli’s mana and connect it to the passageways I had just opened up. I searched all around her insides for signs of a mana pool. What I found momentarily stunned me. A ball of fire that looked like the Sun sat in the middle of her chest radiating warmth that flowed throughout her body.

I tugged at it carefully, trying not to burn myself, until I felt it start to stretch. I continued this way until I managed to connect it to the channel I had prepared. The moment Kalli’s burning mana touched my light mana, the whole thing ignited. I pulled back, worried that the ignition would burn me.

What ended up happening was Kalli started to glow. I didn’t know what was going on inside of her, but her skin seemed to be sweating tiny flames and her eyes glowed with a burning fire all their own. I sagged in her arms unable to support myself.

She caught me and lowered me to the bed. Melvin. That was incredible. I feel so powerful right now. I never knew that mana could be used like that.

She took my hands in hers once again.

“Pvruzth”

She grasped my hands and this time I could feel her flames working their way inside of me. First, she experimented with my mana channels. I felt her flame race up and down my tracks using my own mana to increase her flow. She made her way into my heart. It felt like I was having a heart attack. My heart bucked and shuddered when Kalliphae’s flame and the dark mana began to do battle.

From there it entered the bloodstream and started working its way through my body. It was slow going and the cleansing brought agony wherever it went. I cried out in pain. I could see Kalli’s face scrunched up in concentration as she focused on what she was doing. She lowered her face to mine and thought. That won’t do. It’s too slow.

Then she kissed me. More accurately, she gave me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I felt her flames go down my throat, pushed in by Kalli’s breath. It entered my lungs, purging them of corruption. I managed to laugh causing her to pull back in shock.

You smell like tacos.

She shoved me down on the bed. Jerk.

Kalli resumed her ministrations on my lungs right when I tried to swallow and her flame went down the other tube into my stomach. I gasped and then burped loudly causing a jet of flame to come out around the girl's mouth. She gagged and asked. Do I even want to know what you’ve been eating?

I didn’t want to tell her what I ate. If she had known that the last thing I’d had in my mouth was a vampire’s neck, she might not have continued saving me.

I tried my best to stay calm while Kalli worked. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt the great burning pain work its way through my body. My major organs hurt the worst. She saved my brain for last. There was once a time when somebody asked me if I had ever had a migraine headache. At the time I wasn’t sure. I figured some of my worst headaches surely must have been one. Oh, how wrong I was.

Kalli cradled my head in her lap as she worked it over with her magic. After several minutes of intense pain, she was suddenly done. I looked down at myself and discovered a sheen of black sweat sticking to my skin and soiling my artifact clothes. Kalliphae giggled. Now, this is something I can easily clean.

“Pvruzth”

A few seconds later and her fire had washed all of the muck away, leaving me weaker but more or less intact. Can you walk?

Kalli got up, freeing me to move again, and I struggled to my feet. My entire body tingled and was slightly numb, but I was able to take a few steps. Kalliphae noticed I was struggling and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

We had hobbled halfway to the phoenix when a panicked voice called after us, “What have you done?”

I glanced over my shoulder and found Mr. Shaw rushing into the room.

Hurry, we need to get out of here now.

Kalli practically dragged me the rest of the way to the phoenix. Mr. Shaw ignored us and went to his wife, lovingly stroking her cheek, “She had no plans to harm you. She just wished to sample your blood. I know it was wrong, but she didn’t deserve this. We intended to set you free in the morning.”

The last thing I saw was the tears in his eyes as Kalli coaxed the phoenix into the sky.

One of the nice things about being exhausted was that Kalli didn’t complain when I rested my head against her shoulder as we flew through the night. The cool night air did wonders to cool my body which was still very sore after the trauma it had been through.

I could feel Kalli shimmering with energy in my arms. She was still flexing her newfound mana channels. She excitedly jabbered in my mind about it. I never imagined that I had this kind of power floating around inside of me. I knew that I had mana and I drew upon it to cast spells, but I never thought of it as an actual thing that I could control like this.

This is what I was talking about when I told you to infuse mana into your legs.

I felt the girl's thighs swell between my legs. She was positively giddy. Wow, Mel. I can really feel the added muscle strength when I do that.

RING

RING

RING

What is that?

Kalli tossed the M-Phone back at me. I cringed for a moment, worried that Shara was calling. I didn’t want to have to explain what just happened to the kid.

UNKNOWN CALLER

I stared at the screen for a few moments. Did these phones get telemarketer calls? I decided to see who it could be, “Hello?”

“Melvin”, a familiar voice called out, “I see that you have liberated yourself.”

“Lavender”, I gasped into the phone, “Your apprentice kidnapped Kalli.”

Her light laughter came through the phone, “I sent that child to help you find her when you arrived at his home. I trust you found him useful. Don’t be too angry at his father. That man was used as a pawn in somebody else’s game.”

I stared at my phone, “How do you know what happened?”

More laughter, “There is little that I do not know, child. Now, how about we continue this conversation face to face?”

I looked at Kalli, who seemed to be ignoring my conversation while playing with her mana, “I think we’re both a little tired tonight. Perhaps another time. How about you meet us at the guild tomorrow?”

I didn’t want to be rude to the enchanter, but I was starting to mistrust everybody. Lavender replied, “Actually, I came all this way to see you. Surely you can make some time for me. Perhaps an hour? I’ll buy you a slice of pie.”

I suddenly knew she was up to no good. She was tempting me with sweets after all. I sighed, “Hard pass. I don’t think I could eat anything if I wanted to.”

Again with the laughter, “One would think you’d want to eat something to get the taste of vampire blood out of your mouth. I’ll send you a beacon. Just fly over to the rainbow.”

Kalli was suddenly excited. Look, Mel. A rainbow.

Steer clear of the rainbow. It’s evil.

Kalli and Lavender both spoke at once, one in my mind and the other on the phone. Why is a rainbow evil?

Lavender grumbled, “Very well. If you don’t want to come willingly, perhaps the phoenix might like a snack.”

In response to the enchanter's words, the phoenix gave a loud shriek and veered toward the rainbow. Kalli gasped and informed me. I’m not controlling this. The phoenix is flying straight toward the rainbow. Are you sure it’s evil?

It's Lavender.

Kalli sent me feelings of reassurance. We like Lavender. She’s a good person.

Are you sure?

Kalliphae doubled down. Yep.

We landed just behind a small shopping center where Lavender was waiting for us. She didn’t look nearly as gaudy as she had the first time we met her. She was wearing slacks and a suit jacket. She motioned us to the back door of a business. Lavender waved Kalli off as she began to de-summon the phoenix. She pointed to a kiddy pool filled with an amber liquid and the phoenix squawked and rushed over to dip its beat in the fluid.

Kalli shrugged and immediately preceded Lavender into the building. I sighed and followed. When we entered the smells of freshly cooked pie filled my nostrils. I briefly debated giving myself a God Nose skill as I followed the two girls. Lavender offered Kalli a seat at a table and sat down across from her. I chose a seat next to Kalli and sat as well, waiting for the enchanter to speak.

She looked a lot older than she had when we first met her. I wondered if she altered her age for the occasion, or if there were times when she just couldn’t mask her true age. She raised an eyebrow at me and said, “I see that you are less trusting than you were when I first met you. It might be a little sad, but it will help you survive in the long run.”

Kalliphae patted me on the arm, “In all fairness, we have been through a lot lately. It's hard to know who to trust.”

Lavender laughed again, “The truth is. There isn’t anybody you can trust. At least not in our world. Melvin here is the forbidden fruit. Everybody wants to use his skill for personal gain. The manipulator class didn’t get its name because of what the class itself does. It got the name because everyone who comes into contact with the manipulator typically tries to manipulate them. The reason could be noble. Save my child. She has cancer. Create me wine from this bottle of water. Make me money out of nothing. These are all examples of ways that manipulators have been used in the past.”

Kalli turned her head back and forth between us, “I get that it’s not a good idea to make money out of nothing, but are some of those other things really so bad? What’s wrong with curing the sick or feeding the hungry?”

Lavender sighed, “There is nothing wrong with those things. Which sick child do you save? Can Melvin here save them all? Would it be fair to force him to try? Manipulators throughout history have done some very noble deeds. Some of those deeds have led to war where multiple powerful people fight over a talented child.”

I finally spoke up, “You said we can’t trust anyone. How can we trust you? Wouldn’t it make sense that you also have an ulterior motive?”

The enchanter clapped her hands at me, “Very good. However, there is one difference between me and everyone else. While I was manipulating you, it was not because you are the manipulator. Not in that sense at least. You see, I manipulate everyone. The world around us exists in a delicate balance. I am also in an unfortunate position where I am able to see it. I give it a nudge from time to time to keep things from falling apart.”

Kalli had taken out her egg and was channeling mana through her body to feed to it. I could tell because her arms had tiny flames on them that looked like orange hair. I had to resist the urge to touch them. She raised an eyebrow at Lavender, “How did you manipulate us?”

Lavender laughed again. It was almost like she did that whenever we asked a silly question. She pointed out, “Didn’t you find it suspicious that you ran into the boy where you did?”

It suddenly dawned on me that this woman might have manipulated my whole awakened life to get me to kill a vampire. If so, she was very dangerous. Our eyes locked for a moment before she shook her head, “The extent of my interference was to keep you alive. Both of you. So long as you refrain from turning to the darkness, you have nothing to fear from me.”

Do you think she can read my mind?

Kalli turned to look at me and raised an eyebrow. Why do you think that?

I was just wondering if she got involved with us to make me fight with Lady Shaw.

I could feel Kalli trying to work out what I suggested. She shook her head. I don’t think she would do that.

Lavender was grinning at us, “I see the two of you discovered mate chat. Do you plan to keep it?”

Kalliphae turned bright red, but to my surprise, she said, “For now.”