Chapter 101: Coaching the rooky

Excerpt from the book “The final hunt of the nightwalkers” By Fang

Head, mounted on a spike, it’s done. We, the night hunters have finally eradicated the nightwalkers. It took centuries, generations upon generations of hunting. Yet it is finally done. This book stands as a testament to our labor. Are sacrifices to stop one of the most dangerous monsters of the night.

They descended like locusts, draining towns. Killing thousands. We killed those that did so, yet that revealed so much more. We found they had infiltrated humanity, wearing the faces of family and friends. And so our hunt began, and I finished it.

Mounting the final pale one's head on a spike was the greatest thing I could ever do. Are oracles speak of them being completely gone. Not a single remaining. They have never been wrong, so with great joy, I set down my sword. The order shall be disbanded. Our job, done.

Watching as he descends into his coffin. Body stiffening like a wooden board. Good night, or should I say good morning?” He responds by closing his eyes. I respond by closing the lid of the coffin.

I walk towards my room. A small area, shielded by a shield generator and has magic-pencil blocks surrounding it. With an internal renewable power source, it’s a teleport in the only area. Teleporting through the overkill protection, I lay my head to rest. It’s strange being able to feel the time of day. As the day arrives, your power wanes like a tide receding. And in reverse, it grows during the night.

It takes some practice, but you can generally figure out the time of day. The power change is small, but it’s still easy to notice.

The vampiric body falling into torpor, I slumber peacefully through the day. Waking at dusk. I exit my room, teleporting to the main area. Like clockwork, Helt wakes from his torpor.

He turns, seeing me immediately. Stepping out of the cozy coffin, he approaches me. “The thirst sucks.”

“I know, but power comes at a cost.”

“I know.” He simply says.

“No need to worry; I personally think it’s a slanted deal in our favor.”

“How so?”

“You never die of old age first. If you live over your life expectancy, it’s all bonus. Second, you can only be killed by a select few methods. Otherwise? You regenerate no matter what. Third, you gain superhuman strength, speed, agility, and perception. Fourth, you get magical powers. Now, what do we pay? We can only function for half the day and have a really annoying thirst. Wait, we also have our minds shifted slightly towards being predators. A good or bad thing depends on who you ask.”

“I see; I guess it is a little slanted.” Head held low for some reason.

“Are you ready for your first hunt? Or should I say, thirst hunt?”

He looks at me judgementally for a moment. “I thought we didn’t kill people?”

“You need to eat, we don’t kill, but we need food.” I shrug.

“But, don’t worry. It’s easy. First, you need to find your target. Either transfix someone awake or drink from someone asleep.” His attention focused on me wholeheartedly.

“Won't they realize your drinking from them?”

“People you transfix are in a daze. They don’t notice, just get confused. Someone asleep, they likely won't even notice. Maybe wake up with a hangover. I personally leave a silver coin under their pillow.”

“It’s not as easy as you make it sound, is it? And I have no silver.”

“It’s not easy; you need to resist your urge to drink them dry. Avoid people who smell too good. And, generally, be stealthy. And the silver thing is something I do, you don’t have to. Don’t worry, you have several lifetimes to earn money.”

“Okay, how old are you anyway?”

“Classified,” I say with a smirk.

He just rolls his eyes. “You probably ancient, you must have a lot of money to have this.” He says while emphasizing the cult base.

“You can guess all you like. Anyway, we best be going. I don’t know about you, but my morning thirst is getting on my nerves.”

“Okay.” He says with his head down.

He follows me towards the dislocator, returning to the town. Night having descended. Lit by a spattering of torches every few dozen meters. The area is silent, most having gone to bed. The quiet atmosphere is occasionally disturbed by a guard's footsteps or the occasional night owl. Both the animal and people up to whatever they do at this time of night. I stepped into a dark alley. It isn’t really needed. But I want to teach Helt how to move in shadows. Even if I am relatively poor at doing so.

I go to address Helt before hearing some muffled… sounds coming from the house to my side. Opting to move to another alleyway before I heard anything else.

“Okay, you have 2 ways of sneaking around. Blend or hide. Blending in is walking with confidence. Knowing where your going, nervousness gets you noticed, gets you questioned. Keep your chin up, clothes neat, and wear what everyone else is wearing. You can figure that out on your own. I will teach you what I know of hiding.”

He nods slightly, vision unimpeded by the darkness.

“But first, look up.” He does so, confusion on his face. That confusion is quickly replaced with awe and wonder.

“What is that?” He asks me after looking at the sky for a while.

“A combination of starts of varying colors, gas clouds, black holes, nebulas, and a whole host of other celestial objects.”

He sniffles slightly, “It’s beautiful.”

“It is.”

“Why can't it been seen when your human; did Felix make it that way?”

“No, no, no, it’s because the eyes you are born with are amazing. But that is only on a single job, high definition, colored vision. Vampire's eyes switch that around. Focusing on the exact same thing but at night.”

“Cool.”

“Very cool. Anyway, we are getting distracted; you need to learn to hide.”

My training exercise was to let the guard see you. Then escape when they chase you. I made sure to charm them into a daze afterward. Hopefully, they will think it was just shadows.

This was after having taught him how to use his enhanced body and vision. Walking silently and basic acrobatics. Just enough to get him started. Admittedly, I wasn’t that good at it. But through the time of me being a vampire and the instinctual knowledge gained from leveling up, I could get away with it.

Happy with his ability to hide, we begin the hunt.

“This parts on you. Make your choice.”

“I’m not sure I can do it.”

“No negatives, you said that about sneaking. Yet you managed to fool a group of 3 guards.”

“That was a fluke.”

“Sure, sure, now get your ass out there. I can't babysit you forever; go get your dinner.”

He begrudgingly begins his hunt. I can't force him to eat. But, if he doesn’t, he will give in to the thirst. He will either kill someone or kill a lot of people. Outing vampires are back too early and causing horrible loss of life.

Well, to be fair. A few ancient vampires are still alive. But, they are old and wise enough to hide forever. So, it’s like they don’t exist.

He spent a lot of time hiding in shadows and just wasting time. It’s like he thinks I don’t know he's stalling. But his thirst must be pretty bad at this point. Imagining the gnawing pains and aches alone gives me shivers. I pull him to the side.

He makes a startled sound of surprise. “Look, either find your meal, or your thirst will find it for you. The difference? One allows you to stop yourself before killing them.”

He doesn’t respond, but he takes his hunt more seriously. Finding a small residential district. A home with a single heartbeat, he enters through an unlocked window. I swear people are stupid; why would you leave your window or door unlocked.

Pushing the thought aside, we slowly move towards the room. Finding a young man, very young in fact. Blond hair with a muscular body, he works hard. Helt approaches, suddenly speeding up at the sight of prey. Before he bites his neck, I pull him aside. Whispering extremely quietly, “Control yourself, don’t kill him.” He closes his mouth slightly, eyes coming into clarity.

He, with a slower gait, approaches the unsuspecting man. I mentally think to myself, I should have taught him to feed of cows. Even if they taste like sewage. Although, he would likely have to drain a few to get enough vitality to sate his appetite.

Helt finally bites the man. A little too hard, resulting in a wince from the young blond victim. He slowly drains the man before a look of conflict fills his face. He struggles, fighting. I can see his arms tensing as he finally pulls his mouth off the man. Gasping for breath while on his knees.

For a moment, I feared the victim would awaken. Quickly bringing Helt out of the house. My fears were unfounded. He was out cold from blood loss.

“Congratulations, you fed and stopped yourself. My work is done.”

Pride fills Helt's face, “Thank you.”

“Okay, I am starving. So, I am going to get dinner. Go eat some more, get that next level. If I recall, that victim should have bumped you up to level 2. You need level 3 next; go drink 4 other victims until they are half empty.”

He nods before leaving. Likely looking for other unguarded houses. I am not concerned he will kill anyone. He managed to stop himself from killing someone during a level-up. Something I struggled with myself.

I find myself a nice meal. A guard who happened to walk in my general direction; “Thanks for the meal.” I do love delivered food. Thanking him with silver, carefully placed in his pocket. Sending him on his way. I mentally muse on how I need to find a way to store blood. I could try tanks? Evilcraft has some good tanks for blood. Bedrockium makes some great drums, but I don’t know where to get that much blood.

Well, I can get that much blood. But I need specifically human blood. Monster blood is no good, and animal blood a poor substitute. If I needed it for rituals, I wouldn’t be so picky. But for food? Yeah, I need human blood. I guess if I could get blood donations. Volunteers, that would work.

An anonymous blood bank, money for blood; sounds like a good idea. But it holds the risk of outing the existence of vampires. And even without that screams shady, why do you need blood? They will ask. Health potions can keep you alive until your blood regenerates. I am sure blood regenerating potions exist too.

Quickly checking my NEI. They do exist, called it. Heading back to the cult hideout, I settle down with a good book. Finding my vampiric body comes with a sharp mind. Having to intentionally stall my reading speed to enjoy the book. I have a lot of books, not an infinite supply though.

I started to lose track of time in the world of paper. Something I love doing. In my last life, a distraction from the monotony of day to day. Here? It's just fun, I have an eternity after all, not like wasting time is a risk. Immortality and all that; it’s startlingly easy to live forever here. I’ve already got 2 methods, vampirism and my true body in stasis.

Eventually, Helt returns. A deep look of contemplation on his face as he wanders in.

“How did it go?”

“I leveled.”

“Wonderful, why aren’t you happy.”

“How could I eat from people so easily. I feel no remorse.”

“That’s fine, your morality is defined by you, not by feeling.”

“Wise words.”

“Of course, now take a seat.”

He sits down on a sofa. Turning to me he speaks, “So, can I hear the story of how Felix killed the ancient ugly ones again.”

“Sure.” I beam. I love payback.