Her eyes sparkled in mirthful delight and she gave my hand a confident squeeze, “Excellente, mi hombre. Let’s rock it.” She pulled close, abruptly. Uncomfortably close, with her eyes an inch from mine. The world seemed to waver. Her energy grew, distorting my senses. Hot. Cold. Burning. Freezing. Up. Down. My nerves wailed with a dichotomy of feelings that sent my brain reeling in confusion. Everything pulled back. Out of my head. As if I was observing merely a dream within a dream.

And yet, I felt wonderful. Powerful. Freed.

With a feral purr, she gripped my chin, her fingers a burning ice and grin turning to a smirk. “Feels good, don’t it? Let’s become one… let me in, and then you can see what a Chaos prophet really is. Two minds. Two souls. In one body… temporary, but it outta be whole lot of fun.”

My mind blanked too much to reply. To think. I could feel the onrush of a chaotic amalgamation streaming into my head. Threatening to burst it. Pain. Delight. The flood swirled, turning my mind to utter chaos. Emotions bounced in a roaring torrent. The world spun all the more. Everything dove and flew, colors inverted and multiplied, objects held no form. I couldn’t move as ten thousand of my own hands balled into fists and five mouths drew breath.

Nothing made sense.

And then, calm. Everything slowed, the maelstrom calming into a glassy pond. Chaos was gone. Time was still frozen. But, I could feel my body again. Could think again. Everything was righted.

“What…” I barely breathed, too shocked from the experience to come to terms.

‘How about we stop wasting time and get to the fun part?’ Chaos thought. The thought came from inside my own head, as if I had thought it, and yet, I could tell it was from her directly. I focused on the voice. I felt a presence. A person, another consciousness not only connected to me, but inside me.

Her giggles filled my head, ‘You should see the dumb look on your face. Yeesh, considering how much crazy you’ve seen so far, I’d have thunk you’d be used to crazy stuff by now. But nope…’

‘One had thunk…’ I thought to myself, and yet, she replied.

‘Yep, one had thunk. And yes, before you start asking a bunch of questions and freaking out, I can, one hundred percento hear your thoughts. And yes, after this battle we’ll separate so you can have your body back… and I can get to my own things.’

I nodded slowly, ‘That is… a relief to hear.’

‘Hey, you make me sound like a pain.’

‘You are at times.’

‘Granted,’ she giggled.

I looked around at the scene and was instantly reminded of the intensity of that moment. Ivy, pained, clutching my body as a massive wound helled to her chest, with blood pouring from it. The monster who had hurt my Ivy and with delighted features sought to cut off her head. Anger roared into me. Grew. Rising in a chaotic flood like before.

My body pulsed. Everything felt light. I had power… and I knew it.

‘Good, good. Let it fill you…’ Chaos purred into my head, excitement lacing her voice. ‘Did you know that life is a rebellion? The laws and rules of existence seek to protect it from us. Chaos. Everything moves from order to disorder. From disorder to chaos… Chaos was the beginning of everything and is the inevitable end. So, my prophet, show them what we are. What you can be. The beginning and end.’

I continued staring at Ivy. Anger bursting and burning my heart. My hands balled, clenching to the point they grew white.

Dead. I wanted to see the vampires dead. To suffer for what they did. Especially for hurting Ivy… I would kill them all. Every. Last. One.

‘You do exactly that, prophet… Let’s begin.’ Chaos pulled into my head and then, I was lying down again. Ivy above me. Time flowed slowly. A glint of steel readied to cut her neck.

My voice roared inside, ‘You’re dead!’ I willed the vines to stop him. To make him suffer for what he did.

I felt them beneath the earth, diving upward and into the man’s feet. The moment they broke skin, I pushed magic into them, torrents of it to hurt him, to boil his innards while the vines continued to climb. It worked. He froze. Eyes large, mouth agape in an attempt to scream he held his sword in a mid-swing. The vines continued through his skin and greedily stole his blood, pushing it back to me.

I willed the vines to completely destroy him. And, they did.

The other vampires paused for a moment in shock. I almost looked to them, but hearing the quiet, struggling sobs of my lover ignited my wrath all the more. I didn’t need to see these vampires. I just needed to kill them.

‘Focus…’ Chaos cooed and slowly closed my eyes for me. Instantly my senses alighted with a ravenous surge of information and feelings from every direction. I could feel the vines. The trees. The reeds and grass and flowers, their petals, stalks, and veins. I could tell where the vampires stood. How their weight pressed down against the grass, crumpling them, giving me the perfect position of all their feet.

I attacked, my mind snapping focus on targets as the vines happily obeyed.

Vines dove into them. Magic poured into their bodies, freezing them while my vines ate them away. One, two, three, four…

A growing desire urged me to kill them faster, shouting ‘More!’

Seven, eight…

‘More!’ I pushed out, capturing a tenth.

“What art they?!” one of the disgusting pigs screamed out. My vines lunged for him, but he ran. The other began running as well. Yelling. Shouting. Fleeing in a blind panic from my attacks. They weren’t out of range, but trying to stab through their boots while they were running proved difficult.

“The Alraune! Kill the Alraune!” Inteer’s voice snapped my focus to him. My rage burst. He! He was the monster who had started this mess!

He ran toward us. I grabbed at his feet, hoping to trip him. Kicked through. I willed stronger ones. He jumped. With my eyes still closed, I tracked the shift in the plants touched by his shadow. The coolness of the darkness. Coming for us. Fast. For Ivy. His sword outstretched and readying to stab her.

I didn’t think. Didn’t even register it. Instinct took over. I leapt up. Grabbed the blade. Thick vines spiraled into the sky around us. Cutting us off from the world. Thousands of smaller roots dove into Inteer while the larger held him in place.

A scream ripped from his throat. His eyes bulged in fear while his skin roiled with a swirling mass of vines.

“Enjoy hell,” I swung. Punched. My knuckles connected with his nose, shattering it. He roared in pain, but only for a moment, the vines diving through him and stealing his blood and voice. Instantly I turned to see to Ivy.

Tenderly lying her down, I found her eyes glazed, her mind fading as quickly as her life. She choked on blood. Her breathing raspy, her chest struggling pitifully to rise and fall, her new clothes now colored with her blood. Her face… her sweet, enrapturing face grew whiter by the breath, wincing.

I nearly lost it. The fear of losing her threatening to take my sanity. More vines burst around me. Writhing. Magic surged from me in growing waves. My body shook.

Chaos’ voice kept me together, “Connect her body with yours. As long as your heart beats, so will hers.”

“Okay…” I said, biting back the rising terror. I wanted to worry. To scream in rage and fear equally. But that would lead to inaction, so I pushed the emotions away and directed the vines to connect her veins to mine. They obeyed. Her blood immediately flowed through me, and mine through her. With my focus, purple and pink petals grew over the wound and sealed it.

Her breathing steadied and I could feel her life stabilizing.

Tenderly cupping her head, I brought her into a protective cradle as I picked her up, nature binding our bodies together to ensure no movement hurt her. The feeling poured through into the vines. Nature bound with me. It called to me, coming closer, becoming one with my body in delight at our closeness. Plants slipped into my skin and strengthened my muscles. Repaired my wounds. Corrected my bones.

Ivy’s eyes closed, but not in death, but simply sleep.

Relief washed over me. The giddiness of it threatened to bring a manic chuckle.

‘Vampires are still out there,’ Chaos reminded. ‘If you don’t want them causing more trouble in the future, best take them out now. Remember, they did this to her. They won’t hesitate to do it again. Destroy them.’

I nodded, looking up, parting the vines and focusing. I would make them pay! Ivy had nearly died because of them! They were animals… and I would kill them like the scum they were.

Anger returned. Magic burned. I activated my Chaos Eyes, using them to enhance my vision. To prepare for the coming battle.

As the vines parted, I uttered, “It would be my pleasure.”

I stared at them. They stared back at me. My anger burned bright, but curiosity stayed me as I saw fear. Their fear. Their horror. Their already pale skin growing whiter by the moment. Several backed up. Their horses whinnied and began moving away, wanting to flee. Even the mighty Kamra was stilled to inaction as I tossed Inteer’s husk away.

Delight clutched my chest. Revenge would be oh so sweet…

Tense silence followed for a few, agonizingly calm seconds.

Suddenly, a vampire lord shouted, “Kill it! Kill it!” He began drawing his sword and some manner of wand. The others quickly drew their weapons as well.

Chaos whispered, ‘Be careful now, boya. They are no amateurs to magic and you aren’t invincible. Fight smart.’

My answer to her concerns were trees. I waved my hand. The forest sung to me, the trees uprooted themselves and shambled their way toward the vampires, trapping them, closing off the roads and the village, their escapes. None of them were getting away from me. Many of the vampires began firing streams of flames into the trees to try and counter them; in response, I had the tree roots kick up dirt to block the fire.

As this happened, the grass beneath the horses grew long. Strong. Like snakes themselves. They grabbed at their feet and curled around their legs. The horses, in panic, began bouncing around wildly, whinnying and neighing, ripping away from the grass. The vampires bounced right along with them and any attempts to stop the moving trees ceased.

The vampires shouted, yanking on the reins to try and gain control; some with such force they snapped the neck of their mount and fell to the ground, the grass quickly trying to grab them as well.

“Brothers, come!” one of them shouted. He leapt up, faster than a vanishing shadow. Three followed. They arced through the air, magic circles forming before them. Grey erupted from the spells. Whistling boulders and streaking pebbles all.

My hand raised; so did a wall of ivy that I shielded with hearty layers of tree bark. Splintering squeals of wood followed as the stones smashed into my wall. It withstood the attack. I spied more preparing spells of ice, the misty, cooling bells hissing due to growing, watery spheres. I tossed up my other arm and another large wall formed.

The spheres launched. Half a dozen of them. Streaking forward, freezing, they spun till each were nasty icicles tipped with razor sharp points; each thicker than a tree. Instead of risking them puncturing the wall, I simply had the wall fall onto the icicles and swat them to the ground. It worked, with every icicle smashing into the dirt, all momentum wasted.

A grin tugged on my face as I saw the shock playing across the casters’ faces.

‘Left side, fire incoming,’ Chaos said.

Immediately I spun to see several of the vampires preparing a massive magic circle toward the leftmost area of their group. They chanted in unison. Their bodies illuminated in a crimson orange light with the spell growing in size and intensity. Curling my left hand into a fist, I pulled back, willing nature to follow my lead. It did. I threw the strongest punch I could manage as magic poured out of me. Vines, thousands of them, formed into a massive thorned fist as I punched, following my will and heading straight toward the casters.

In fear they broke and pulled back before the vine-fist even hit them. Hasty, glowing shields erected themselves in front of them, but they were weak. A few quickly dashed to the side, only to struggle against the grass still trying to tangle their feet.

It would crush them.

But it slammed into a sudden, mighty shield of white laced with blood, thicker than a fortress wall and taller than an oak. The fist stopped dead against it with a resounding thunder. Vines snapped. They whipped around wildly. The fist disintegrated, falling into a spaghetti of dead vines. Behind the shield stood Kamra and a single hand held high to support it.

One of the lords raised his sword, “Now, attack!”

“Cease!” Kamra roared back with a voice slicing through the noise and chaos, instantly silencing them all; they turned to look at her in utter shock. It even paused my will to slay them, and the trees, vines, and grass grew still.

She pointed at me. A thin, lithe finger, bearing a ring touched with a stone and a nail sharpened to a talon. A fanged grin touched her features. Her eyes burned with interest. Fascination. Curiosity. Excitement. “Thalwesse, long hath I awaited thine arrival, and here doth thou stand. Thine might evident against my kin… cannot they only die before you? Tis so, Thalwesse, for they are weak, and thou art strong…” She lowered her hand and placed it on an alabaster dagger’s hilt hanging by her side. Her eyes never left mine.

“Waste not time and effort and blood be, Thalwesse. Come to me. I to thee. Let us wage battle in duel… if thou doth victory claim, then claim this place and all its ilk. Mine followers. The populace. The lands and homes and beings that breathe. Mine life then doth lay in thine hands…” She drew the dagger, slowly. Magic shuddered around its blade. Blood dripped off the roiling red metal, shifting like moving water, and yet, still maintaining the size and shape of a dagger’s body attached to the pure white grip.

She continued, “If I doth win, drink of thine blood shall I till mine powers rival thine own.” Spinning her dagger once, masterfully, she pointed it at me as she shivered in barely contained anticipation. “Mine arms against thine, Thalwesse, for the rightful chance to become greater than any before. Decide.”

‘Which would make her very powerful indeed…’ Chaos chuckled a little, ‘Better not lose.’

‘But do I want to fight only her?’ I wondered.

Chaos shrugged inside my mind, ‘Easier than fighting her and all the vampires at once. I chose her because she’d do something dumb like this. A duel when you can overwhelm the Thalwesse with numbers, she’d let her excitement blind her. And… as I predicted…’

‘Fine.’ I could take my revenge on the vampires after I defeated Kamra. If her foolishness would help me win, who was I to deny her that mistake?

With a shout, I replied, “So be it.”