After a few minutes of vigorously fighting my touch and verbally lashing out against me in the violent sounding language of the girtablilu, Lugh went limp. His heart was still beating in his chest, his eyes were still open, and he still moved, but he had given up.

The fact that I had been quietly infusing him with unlife energy probably helped, but I like to imagine that the violent warrior had simply given up out of sheer-terror rather than that he'd continue to fight me if he could. I looked at the man-scorpion in my grip and chuckled. I didn't doubt that that was an odd sight to the girtablilu, who wasn't used to fighting anything stranger than the occasional sandman.

In his view, his life was slipping away and the thing that was killing him was an almost elemental humanoid who was made up of darkness and bones. It's almost pitiable. But it'll make a good story. I thought before I received a notification that reminded me that it was time for me to finalize the choice I made earlier today.

[Alert:

Lugh has been sufficiently weakened. Would you like to kill him and absorb his life, or would you rather turn him into something new, something undead?

Lugh can be turned into a ghost, a vampire, a zombie, a skeleton, a ghoul, a mummy, or a wright. What would you like him to become? Whatever you chose, he'll become one of your undead and come to unlife as an awakened being.

Note: if you choose nothing he simply dies. His soul is automatically absorbed if he perishes this way.]

And so... I have a choice to make. But it's not really a choice. There's only one option if I wish to attain my overall objective. I told myself, after reading through the options they had given me. And so I make my choice. I mused as I composed a message for the system.

[Please transform Lugh into a vampire.] I informed the system and watched as Lugh's eyes closed. I shivered as I felt a powerful spark of unlife energy surge from somewhere inside of me, and into the girtablilu warrior who had tried to resist me, hoping to save his people from my devilish schemes.

The sight in the desert was a terrifying one. A horrific being with the powers of both a god and the weakest imaginable arch-devil was holding onto the head of a much weaker being. The terrifying, undead-looking, god-thing was idly contemplating how to accomplish its own goals, while the thing whose head was being held in the god's grip was panicking as he felt unlife-energy flooding into his brain and the rest of his body.

The god-thing was morbidly curious about how long it'd take for its prisoner to die and come back to life as a vampire. The girtablilu who was being violently and forcibly converted into a vampire was scared as he felt his mind begin to... change.

Althos, in quite possibly his most outlandish outfit yet, was happy to watch, and even happier to hear, what was going on with the creature he gripped in his hands. He watched as dark energy surged into the monster man's human and monster halves. The energy that invaded Lugh's body was alien, hostile, and invasive.

The first few minutes of this process was slow and internal. Althos found watching this to be a bit boring, aside from when the god-thing looked at places where Lugh's blood surged so close to the surface of his body that his veins ran hot and thick. Those places were the first ones where Lugh changed physically. In those places, Lugh's red-veins turned a tar-like black. That's neat. Althos thought as he looked at the veins.

This is an unfortunately involved process. I told myself after a few minutes passed. The girtablilu whose face was gripped in my hands had long gone limp and was only just now beginning to undergo meaningful physical changes. Several minutes after I told the system that he was going to become a vampire.

The changes were subtle, but with keen vision like mine, they were noticeable. One of the rather cliched ones was that Lugh grew thin but appreciable fangs. I had to move him around a bit, adjusting my grip on his face to be able to notice the fangs, but when I did I chuckled.

So some of the common understanding, the mortal understanding, of vampires is correct huh? I mused, amusedly. Before I knew it, I was lost in thought.

In the minds of mortals, particularly humans and orcs, vampires are one of the more feared undead. These walking monstrosities are capable of hiding their undeath, while possessing the brutal hunger of say a ghoul, and even more magical and supernatural abilities than ghouls, zombies, or ghosts.

Followers of mine like Ranthor and the human knights he has some command over are terrified of being preyed upon by a vampire. It seems these things and their quasi-iconic fangs are symbols of fear and evoke terror. That too could be useful, if I felt like making several of these things.

The other physical changes that the monster underwent were more subtle.

Lugh's cheekbones rose in his face, causing his face to look slimmer and younger, and in the eyes of some, no doubt more attractive. His arms grew thicker, as his strength was increased. His muscular chest grew wider, and his skin paled before my very eyes.

One of the stranger changes, one specific to his species, that his body underwent was that his bulbous stinger, once filled to the point of dripping with a deadly green ichor, now seemed to grow heavier. The tall also thickened, and the green liquid that filled it curdled and turned a sickly shade of yellow. How... curious. I thought as I looked at it.

And then the reborn Lugh opened his eyes. And with an unseen smile, since my face was a featureless void, I released his face from my grip. Unbeknownst to me at the time, since Lugh was the first person I had converted into intermediate undeath, the creature was just beginning its transition.

The once green-eyed girtablilu had died in my grip. His heart never stopped beating, and his brain was never crushed or otherwise disabled, but the being that looked at me with wide, jet-black eyes, wasn't the same being whose head I had held in my hands moments ago.

The thing before me looked at me with wide, fawning eyes, like we had just woken up in bed next to each other. I smiled at him, and began to speak to the newborn.

"Hello Lugh. I'm glad to see that you're refreshed." I told him, grinning at the formerly-living girtablilu. He grinned back, but there was something off about the smile. Something... dead about it. Something mechanical and inauthentic about it. It made me chuckle.

"Can you speak?" I asked him, speaking in the harsh, violent language of the Girtablilu. The thing, somewhere between the living and dead as it continued its unholy transition from life to undeath, looked at me in confusion. I laughed, and the thing looked at me in confusion for a second before it too began to laugh, the sound harsh and brutal. And then I received a notification.

[Alert:

Vampires are a highly customizable sort of undead creature. Your newest vampire creation is incomplete because you haven't begun to customize it. It is a generic, weak vampire that posses very few supernatural abilities, and at the moment can do little more than commit violence.

Different types of vampires have different types of powers. Some of these are more monstrous, like the Nosferatu vampires, and thus have more strength and are capable of brutality to attain blood. Others are more mystical like the Bruja vampire, and use mystical powers to ensorcell prey and lure them close using spells and rituals.

Currently, you can choose between the most common types of vampires for your spawn. Those are the Nosferatu vampires, the Bruja vampires, and the Sidhe vampires.

Nosferatu vampires are creatures of strength and speed. In exchange, they give up their mortal appearances and look hideous, bestial, and bloody. These creatures gain strength as they increase in power.

Bruja vampires are mystical beings. Unlife has given them magical power or has increased their innate magical abilities and they use them devastatingly. As they gain more experience and power their spellcasting abilities increase, including their abilities to create illusion and manipulate minds.

Sidhes are artistic vampires, social ones who specialize in being attractive and in using non-violent means to ensnare their prey. Their words contain power and can seduce their victims. As they gain power they become more charismatic and lean towards nonviolence as individuals, aside from to defend themselves which they do with terrifying brutality.

Which would you like Lugh to become?]

I chuckled at the options before me. It's nice to only have one option in instances like this. I thought, as I read through the details of each choice I currently possessed. I selected the "Sidhe Vampires" and the second I did, Lugh's body began to radiate sinister darkness until a thick cloud of black, smoke-like energy surrounded him.

The smoke-like energy shrouded Lugh in an air of mystery and allure, as well as filled the air with a musky scent and a lusty atmosphere. It surrounded him for a few seconds began fading away and melting into the desert-air. And then the vampire opened his mouth, revealing his grim fangs.

"Your name is... Althos." He told me, smiling after he pronounced the alien word. I smirked at him, curious about how it learned it.

"You are correct, but how did you know?" I asked, intrigued by Lugh's sudden knowledge. The girtablilu with curiously void-like eyes titled his head at me and spoke as if what he was about to say was the most obvious thing in the world.

"The system told me. It informed me that you created me. In a sense anyway. I still remember my old life but I feel... coldly towards it. I know you are my creator. And that you freed me." The vampire told me. Its voice was different now. I listened to it and repeated what the thing told me in my head so I could begin to understand the ways its voice had changed.

The voice was colder than when the braggadocious creature had been a living being. Only certain words had the same dramatic emphasis the warrior had regularly seasoned his speech with, rather than every other sentence. But something stood out to me, something that made me look at my creation with interest. "You said something just now. That I 'freed' you. What do you feel I 'freed' you from?" I asked, my eyes flashing with interest at the thing.

He didn't waste any time with his answer. Instead of hesitating he looked at me and responded bluntly. "I don't feel... constrained by the mores that once held power over me. I feel free to pursue my desires. And yours." The vampire told me, a smirk on his full lips. His onyx eyes seemed to glow, somewhat mysteriously under the light of the false moon that hovered omnipresently over the desert.

"That's what I like to hear. And I do believe that pursuing my goals would make you happy." I instructed the vampire, whose eyes lit up with curiosity at my statement.

"Lugh, I've told you I want to conquer your village. That is true, but the way I worded it was so much more violent then the sort of conquest I'm thinking of engaging in. I want Aoine to become the next leader of your home." I informed the vampire. He stopped, standing perfectly still for a second, and then burst into laughter.

"You want him to take over the village? Oh man, he'd love you for that." Lugh told me, his voice surprisingly pleasant to hear after his transformation. It had lowered in pitch and became more confident, becoming thoroughly enriched by the process of transforming into a vampire.

I grinned at him and shared some of my thoughts with the undead man-scorpion. "I don't care if he loves me for it. But you see he might come to love you for it. Because I want you to introduce him to me. It's one of the reasons why I made you into a vampire." I told my newest creation.

He looked at me, a bit surprised, to have learned that. "Is that really why? Or even part of it? I would have helped you without becoming a vampire if you just wanted his dreams to come true." The warrior told me. I chuckled.

"Oh, I don't want it for free. I want Aoine to pay for the village. With his soul. Which is a hefty price. Though... I think he'd pay it. If what he gets is the village in exchange for it anyway... That said, none of that is your concern. Your concern is simple, my little vampire. Your concern is getting him to me. For now... that is your purview. And that alone." I told my creation, eager to lure Aoine into my clutches and get my hands on the last soul I needed.

My creation looked at me, studied me for a moment, and then began to slink away, his footsteps leading him towards the village. But as he crept towards his home he bowed his head in respect, and probably in fear. "As you wish master." He said, respect, admiration, and subservience mixing together in his voice.