The last time I made the trip to the warehouse district from Natalie's grave, it took almost three hours walking. Running at supernatural speed, it took barely ten minutes. Of course, I had no idea what the limits on my abilities was, so when we arrived at the warehouse where I had stashed my wooden box, I was fairly weak and had burned off what little enriched blood I had sucked out of that one vampire.

I should have drained the others of blood, too. I thought.

“What do we do now?” Mikki asked.

_______________

All right, now you have a crucial choice. It's a difficult one, because it will affect your relationships from now on. I don't mean just the ones that exist, either.

It's all right. I thought. I know you're just trying to do your best to help me.

Thanks, buddy. Here you go. I can't tell you what to take, so I'll just say that you better be ready for the consequences of your choices. Oh, and be careful. You never know what could be around the corner.

A) Leave Mikki behind and go in alone. B) Bring Mikki and tear the place apart. C) Burn it down.

I almost laughed. Well, considering I just won Mikki's trust back and I didn't chose to burn it down the last time because Natalie was inside, there's only one choice left. I choose B.

_______________

I knew exactly what to do. “Mikki, I'm going to storm the place.”

“You better not think of leaving me behind.” Mikki said, her face angry.

“Bite your tongue.” I said with a smile and opened my wooden chest. I took out the container that had my crystallized blood in it and her eyes widened. “I'm feeling a little peckish and I'll need you to carry this for me.”

“D-David, you... oh, God.” Mikki whispered as I popped open the top. I poured out a palm full and then tossed the crystals into my mouth. I didn't chew them or try to suck on them to make them last, either. I swallowed them immediately and handed her the container.

It took a moment for the powerful crystals to reach my stomach, where my vampire body could start digesting them. Normally, it only took a few crystals to get the power going when I raised a zombie. I had just swallowed a palm full. My compressed stomach seemed to expand slightly and I felt a very strong necrotic energy flow into me.

“Jesus! No wonder Nina loves biting me!” I said and my muscles rippled under my clothes. My hands convulsed and instead of strong normal fingernails, the very tips of were-cat claws popped out. “These assholes don't know who they've been fucking with.”

“They will now.” Mikki said and to my surprise, she took a palm full of crystallized blood as well.

“Hey, what...” I started to ask, then her teeth grew, her own claws popped out, and her eyes burned red.

“You're mine and I'm yours.” Mikki said and closed the container, then used the cloth I usually cleaned my sacred blade with to tie the container to her belt. “Let's go save my sister.”

I nodded and we both looked at the warehouse. I gave her a brief description of what was inside the last time I had been there, then we both snuck over to the warehouse. The bay door was now closed, so we searched around for another way in. We found a small service entrance at the back of the building. I easily crushed the door handle and pulled it out, then turned the mechanism with my claw tip to get us inside.

This was a different entrance than I had entered before, so it took us a while to figure out how to get down to the next floor. I regretted not having access to my vehicle that Jillian took, because it had a backup gun in the glove compartment. I also regretted losing the guns that the old man had stolen from me. I was pretty confident with my new abilities; but, my grandfather was a fabled necromancer. I assumed that he had an even stronger affinity with the dead after centuries of using his powers.

We found the staircase to go down and I warned Mikki about the electronic lock on the door. She just flicked her claws at me and I smiled in response. Locks on doors are no longer a problem for either of us, especially if we don't care about what happens to the door. We crept down the stairs, our eyes adjusted to the darkness, and no other eyes were looking at us. I wasn't sure why, though.

Even a basic henchman would have a scout to watch for threats. I thought and nodded to Mikki.

Mikki smiled at me, made a fist, and smashed it into the electronic lock. Her foot was next and the door practically split in half as she kicked the handle by the lock.

I was through the opening in a flash and let my power out to touch everything in the room to see what was there. “ARGH!” I grunted as I felt a massive backlash and dropped to my knees.

“Ah, ah, ah.” The old man's voice said. “You can't touch my dead without my permission.”

“What... the... hell...” I cupped the sides of my head. “That... it's never happened before.”

“You've never met another necromancer that put restrictions on their dead so that only they can use them?” The old man asked and then he laughed. “No wonder your zombies were so easy to take over. You didn't put any protections in place at all.”

“I... didn't know...” I said and fought the feeling. I pulled my power back and the pain lessened.

“I hope you realize that I put the same restrictions on you.” The old man said and waved a hand. Two vampires and two zombies grabbed my arms and legs before I could react. They picked me up and carried me over to him. “I don't need to ask what happened to my sentries.”

“You mean your idiot lap-dogs?” I asked. “How old were they? A year? Two?”

“The youngest was almost a hundred years old.” The old man said.

“Ha!” I barked a laugh, right in his face. “I'm not going to ask how such stupid people could live so long. They obviously had you protecting them all this time.”

“Yes, and you are also going to be protected by me.” The old man said.

“I don't think so.” I said and tried to struggle.

“Stay still.” The old man said and I froze solid. “You are under my control.”

I felt my forehead burn and I felt his necromancy inside of me that he had given me at the burying ritual he had performed. It roamed through me and went right into my stomach.

“What is this?” The old man asked.

I mumbled a response, since I couldn't speak.

“Tell me what you have done.” The old man said.

“I ingested a special magic powder that gave me more strength than sucking the long life out of six of your pitiful vampires.” I responded.

“No, that... you couldn't have...” The old man looked worried.

“The dead don't lie.” I said with a smile.

“Show me. How did you do it?” The old man asked.

“Like this.” I said and poured my power into the two vampires holding me. Give me your life and your power! I commanded and grabbed their blood bonds to the old man, snapped them, then sucked in their life forces.

“NO!” The old man yelled and backed away as his two vampires died. My legs were free now, so I pulled my arms out of the grip of the zombies and quickly plunged my hands into the two vampires and removed their hearts.

I crushed them and tossed them aside. “What are you going to do now, old man?”

“Natalie!” The old man said and the door to the other area burst open. A ferocious and snarling thing came out and rushed towards me.

_______________

I don't even need to give you a choice here, do I? We both know what you're going to do.

Yes, we do. I thought with satisfaction.

A) Welcome Natalie. B) Welcome Natalie. C) Welcome Natalie. D) Welcome Natalie.

That's a really hard choice. After a long internal debate, I think I'll chose A.

_______________

I didn't run or try to fight. That wasn't what I wanted. I opened my arms as the snarling thing jumped at me. I caught her and took her into my arms. She bit me several times and her extended claws tore at my body.

“Welcome home, Natalie.” I said as she snarled at me. “I love you, my little kitten.”

The thing in my arms slowed down at my words and her burning red eyes looked up at me.

“Go ahead. I love you. Drink, and be mine forever.” I said and dragged my own claws across my chest. I opened four lines of blood for her and her eyes flashed, then she pressed her face to me and drank. She drank and drank, and I let her. I also poured my power into her. I felt along the blood bond she had with the dead vampire and felt the old man. He was using her like a battery, so I crushed that connection.

The old man stumbled as he physically felt the damage of having Natalie ripped from him. “How... how can you... she's mine!”

“She was never yours.” I said and I felt my power wane. My blood slowed down and then stopped flowing. “She's mine. She's always been mine.” I looked down into Natalie's blue eyes and she looked back at me. “Even when I didn't want to admit it, she was mine.”

We both felt our blood bond form and we caught our breath at the strength of it. We both felt much better and then Natalie turned around to look at the old man.

“You are still mine.” The old man said and pointed a hand at me. “I made you through Nina. I command you to...”

“Yeah, about that.” I said and waved to one of the shadows by the wall. “Nina is mine, too.”

The old man laughed as the other shadows became ten vampires and surrounded him. “You do not have a blood bond with her. She is not yours.”

“That's where you're wrong.” I said and my body started to collapse. “You don't need a blood bond to declare yourself to someone.”

Nina dismissed her shadow and rushed over and caught me before I fell to the floor. “You gave her too much.”

“She had to... drink deep.” I said and looked up at Natalie. “I'm going to let you... handle the others.”

“With pleasure.” Natalie said with a smile, then her power that felt a lot like mine, poured out into the room. She didn't suffer the same backlash as I did, since she didn't have the same restrictions I had. In the next second, a vampire was slammed into the ground and his skull shattered. She tore his heart out, bit into it to get the blood, and her power increased. “Fresh kill.” She growled and the other vampires looked nervous.

“GET HER!” The old man yelled and Natalie was swarmed by the others.

Mikki sneaked into the room to slip in behind Nina. “I'm going to kill you for what you did.” She whispered and poured another palm full of crystallized blood into my mouth. “Even though you saved them, they still died.”

“I'd rather have them as vampires than gone forever.” Nina said. “Wouldn't you?” She asked and Mikki glared at her.

“We can fight over it later.” I said as my old power flowed through me and healed all of my injuries. “Both of you need to go and help Natalie.”

“What about you?” Nina asked.

“I have a plan.” I said and felt something through Natalie. “All I need is a distraction and here he comes.”

A second later, the entire ceiling exploded.

_______________

Ha ha! This is getting exciting! What are you going to do with your distraction?

A) Get everyone and run. B) Kill them all. C) Help Natalie. D) Help the old man. E) Help yourself.

That's actually not a difficult choice. I choose D. I thought.

Wait, what? Are you crazy? After all I did to help and you're going to throw it all away?

Hey, buddy. It's your turn to trust me. I choose D.

All right. Here we go.

_______________

We didn't waste any time and used the distraction to full advantage. Mikki and Nina went to Natalie and helped her dispatch the several of the vampires. Steve dropped down on a repelling rope and was covered with weapons, armor, and grenades. He opened fire on several vampires and they screamed as the blessed bullets tore through them.

I quickly made my way over to the old man near the side of the room where he had retreated. “Let me help you, master.” I said and the old man gave me an odd look, like he couldn't believe me. I reached out and took his hand and poured my power into him.

“Thank you, grandson.” The old man said and hundreds of zombies poured into the room, as did thirty more vampires.

I could tell by the bonds through the old man that these were the last ones he had and had kept them in reserve. They didn't have the shadow power, though. It was my turn to give him an odd look that I didn't believe it, and he chuckled.

“It takes time for them to learn enough to conceal themselves.” The old man said. “Seize them!”

Mikki, Natalie, Nina, and Steve were immediately caught in mid-kills and they all looked over at me.

“DAVID! NO!” Mikki yelled.

“I'm sorry, Mikki. My grandfather is my master.” I said and tears came to her eyes. Natalie stared at me like I was stabbing her through the heart and Nina just stood still and didn't react at all.

“Jesus Christ, David.” Steve said with a shake of his head. “Stop fucking around.”

I laughed and nodded, then turned to the old man. “I learned a trick recently when playing with blood bonds.” I said and used my power to delve deep through the blood bond I had with him. “You shouldn't have bonded with me and kept me as an underling to Nina.”

“What are you... wait, how are you...” The old man started to say, then I grabbed onto the blood bond. “If you break it, you'll die from the backlash!”

“Break it? Ha!” I said and did the same thing I did to my blood bond with Jeanette.

I reversed the flow.

“AGGGHHHHHHH!” The old man screamed and dropped to his knees.

My eyes went blind as all the centuries of power my grandfather had, flowed into me. The memories of all the lives he had ended came with their life essences. He had thought he was the only one and then learned of my existence. He had to test me to see if I could do the same thing as him. He was very disappointed that I was just a generic necromancer and didn't have any special abilities. That was when he started playing with murdering the people from my past.

I shook my head at all those deaths, just because he was annoyed that I wasn't special like him. “You were wrong, grandpa.” I said as my sight returned, as did my bonds to the zombies. “I am special.”

_______________

Holy shit! I didn't expect that! Ha ha ha! Way to go, buddy! Okay, okay. Back on track. What can I have you do... Oh! Ha. Okay. You might like these or you might not. Try to pick the right one.

A) Offer sanctuary. B) Offer to kill them. C) Wipe them out. D) Zombie massacre. E) Have fun.

Jesus. I thought with a laugh. A lot of those are the same thing.

I knew you would like them. I can't wait to see what you do.

You know what? Screw it. I chose E. Let's see what happens.

_______________

I went through the old man and his blood bonds to touch the vampires he had made in the room. “I give you one choice.” I said to them and flicked the bonds to show them that I could actually do what I said. “Transfer to me willingly or die.”

I felt the vampires all react negatively, so I grabbed those bonds and broke them. “Tear them apart.” I commanded the zombies. In the next moment, thirty vampires had died their second death and the zombies held the hearts out to Natalie.

“David, what...” Natalie looked at the offering.

“Fresh kills.” I said. She understood that I was giving all of that extra power to her and nodded, then she bit into each one and sucked the blood out of them. Her power burst out and her hair grew, her claws nearly doubled in size, and she growled.

“Thank you.” Natalie said and walked over to me. “Can I have him?”

“You can't kill me.” The old man said. “My children will come for you if they feel my death.”

“We better not kill you, then.” I said with a smile and poured my power into him. “You can never contact your children, friends, family, or anyone that is indebted to you to help you escape.” I said and used Natalie's bloody hand to draw the binding runes onto his forehead. “Take his arms and legs off.”

“NOOOOO!!!” The old man yelled and then Steve was there with the machete-like blade and lopped off the old man's arms and legs. A second later, he had burned the stumps with both fire and holy water.

“Where can we stuff this guy, now that he can't get away?” Steve asked and kicked the old man onto his back and tied a rope around him.

“I have an idea.” I said with a smile.