It is never too late to be what you might have been. –George Eliot

I might have been a child actor. Something tells me that ship has sailed.

Before we spoke anymore, I asked her to wait a minute and collected as much of the leeching web as I could from the boss room, wrapping it around the ladder rung I had broken earlier. When I touched it, I could definitely feel the pull of my mana and watched as my blue bar dropped quickly. It was strong. A powerfully enchanted material that would have a myriad of uses.

I returned to where Annie was waiting and noticed she had used some of the regular spiders sticky web to patch up the hole i made in her shirt. But I refused to be weird about it. If she asked, I would answer honestly. So we set off, heading for the entrance of the college again as she had to go to her own house first apparently.

Annie was a curious character. She acted calm and confident striding down the halls but whenever I tried to strike up a conversation, she spoke either minimally or nervously ranted.

It was as if her personality hadn't exactly caught up with her strength. Also I was probably making her nervous. We knew next to nothing about each other and I had no problem talking to her casually.

We never encountered any monsters on the way out, and we ducked into a classroom to grab her a bag. Luckily, I found a selection of hoodies and coats that someone had probably collected there to sleep on at some point. So that was another problem fixed. My final concern was that Annie was relatively unarmed.

But she must have some sort of combat prowess to have cultivated such a soul so quickly and besides, the college was safe enough by now. I couldn't bring myself to talk about it though. She might take it as an insult if I questioned her ability to thrive.

So we walked and I managed to get myself relatively comfortable with the situation.

Just this morning, I had made a connection to the doctor who series, and I found myself in a situation where I was on my third female companion in just as many days. One had died, one had run out on me when she learnt who exactly I was. I could only speculate what might drive Annie and I apart.

"So where exactly are we heading out of here?"

"My house. I live in the south district. About twenty minutes away."

"Why are we leaving from the main entrance then? Surely you could cut off five minutes if we take the south exit."

The main entrance faced west, and because of roads and houses, it would be faster to take the direct route.

"Its dark already. I want some light. There are emergency torches in the admin office."

I didn't remember such a detail ever be in revealed to me, but there was no reason to doubt it. The people who used to run the college were smart and prepared for as many situations as they could.

"Cool. There's actually something I want to do there as well."

I grasped the lighter in my pocket, envisioning all the paper files that had never been digitised.

"What for?"

"Can't say. Secret stuff."

I tried to infuse some humour into my statement, but she gave me a tired look and I understood how insulting that might have sounded. She was younger than me and knew it.

"Sorry. But I really can't say. I'll have to catch up to you once you find the torches."

She nodded, more satisfied with my honesty.

"Fair enough."

Unluckily enough, the office was locked and was lacking a window.

I was tempted to shoot out the lock, but I really didn't want to attract any sort of unwanted attention at night.

So I used a technique I had tried previously and slammed the sole of my foot against the lock of the door with all my weight behind me. The wood shattered immediately and I stumbled forwards catching myself just before I fell on my face.

Annie ignored my antics and went straight to the back of the office past the desks and cabinets.

There was indeed an emergency box on the wall at the back and she tore it off the wall so she could open it easier. Without keys, she resorted to tearing the weaker back of the box off and fishing out a handful of bulky head torches. She threw two towards me and took two for herself.

Annie dropped the box without any interest and then walked out the door.

"I'll be waiting outside the main entrance. Don't be too long. It's already night."

I nodded back and opened the first filing cabinet next to me. I pretended to take out as many files as possible looking for something and as soon as she was certainly gone, I changed my poise completely and executed what I spontaneously called plan: I see fire.

I tore up the files by the handful, crunching up the paper and card. In seconds, I already had a small pile that would do well to start a fire. I knew that with the electricity out, and fire suppression system was out of question, but there was a fire extinguisher on a wall that I didn't want exploding and killing my fire.

I took it off the wall and kicked it out the door. By the time my fire escaped the room, it would be too late. I pulled down all the other cabinets, tearing out the drawers and exposing the files.

I even dragged the two wooden desks closer to the pile of papers so they could watch easier.

Halfway through my preparation, I stopped and asked my self why I was doing all this.

...

I didn't find any sort of compelling argument, but I was too far gone now.

Fuck this place.

Good enough.

I peered into the emergency box and grinned when I found a flare and a glowstick. I wouldn't question why the hell a college filled with teenagers would keep a fucking flare in the building. The glowstick was important for a completely different reason, but I pocketed it into my coat and lit the flare.

The room was immediately illuminated with a flickering red and my eyes hurt to look directly at the burning chemicals. I threw it into the pile of crumpled paper and a fire sprung up immediately. With my business done, I left the room with the door open. And with only an afterthought, I picked up the fire extinguisher from outside and threw it through the glass window at the far end of the room.

The heavy cylinder broke the window completely, tearing half of the wooden frame with it. A gust of wind blew in from outside fanning the rapidly building flames.

Satisfied anew, I ran down the stairs and out towards the main entrance. It had been dark for almost an hour now, and when I left the area of light emitted by the flare, reluctantly returned to the greens of Night Vision.

I found Annie sitting against a tree in one of the grassy areas in front of the building. She had something in her hands and was trembling slightly.

She didn't notice me approach and jumped when I touched her shoulder. She looked up at me and I could see there were tears in her eyes but she hastily stifled her emotion and pushed what she was holding into her bag. I saw just enough of it to see it was a thick disk of sorts that had some engraving on it. I didn't know what it was though and she seemed pained by it.

Best not to ask.

At least she wouldn't have noticed me throwing the fire extinguisher from a second storey window. Or at least if she did, she didn't care or want to know.

"Ready to lead the way?"

She nodded and turned off the torch on her head. It was a powerful one and illuminated a large cone in front of her.

I merely kept using Night vision. I suspected she didn't have a visual skill that allowed her to see in the dark, or at least if she did, she preferred to not use something that would put a strain on her.

"Just follow. Don't speak. There's some stuff out here I don't want to deal with."

"Then why the torch?"

It seemed counter-intuitive. It would give us away far more than the slight glow of a visual skill.

"I can't see in the dark well. Can you?"

She seemed pissed off. Maybe I had insulted her in some way.

"Yeah. Night Vision."

"Oh."

After a brief argument about how to get to her house in the safest way, we compromised. And by that, I mean I pulled the short straw.

I ended up carrying Annie on my shoulders. She couldn't see in the dark as well as me and she barely weighed anything so I had no real problem with it.

She was obviously still hurting from whatever was written on that disk, and by now I had learnt I needed to treat my companions better.

Third time's the charm.

She ran me through the directions to her house and then fell asleep leaning on my head with the assurance I would wake her when we got there or if I got lost. Or attacked.

But the journey was very uneventful. It was calming walking through the cold night. Annie's small body curled around my head keeping me warm and my mind focused only on the directions she had given me. Totally not on the thighs on either side of my head. Because that would be inappropriate. No matter how cute she looked in her uniform while maintaining the allure of a young woman.

My inner weeaboo danced with the idea but I had already promised myself to not flirt overly with my companions. Past experience had shown how messy it could become.

I noticed a shadow skate past me almost faster than I could follow and I froze.

+3 strength (0:10)

The buff was useless as the shadow was already past me and speeding away. I activated Life Seeker looking after it and saw no hint of the red life, but noticed the entire being was highlighted in grey. It was made of pure spectral essence it seemed.

I would have to catch one of them someday. It might make for some nice improvements to my Spectral force skill if I could take a closer look.

Aside from that brief encounter, I saw no hints of any monsters or humans. No life at all really.

There was plenty of destruction though. Cars and bikes were steam around, crashed into each other or blown up. I couldn't imagine how it would have worked for someone driving to enter the doorway of spectral essence and then it dawned on me why so many would have died so early. I could only imagine how many people were driving or on some sort of transport during the shift.

I was almost certain the people who had been doing activities that wouldn't translate were of the vast majority of the population. That explained how only one-sixth of the people of the world were left. But it was useless to think about. They were dead now. Gone. I had to focus on what I was doing.

I occasionally followed or walked through what I could only descibe as a path of nothing, where anything in the way of some force had been crushed and pushed aside. I occasionally had to climb a little rubble or carefully duck under a fallen doorway, ever conscious of my sleeping passenger.

I had to cross three of these destroyed paths, each time trying to see something along them. Every time, I could see the college building in one direction, hints of fire growing. But I couldn't see anything of interest when looking the other way. The completely straight path extended further than my eyes could see. Perhaps if I had some sort of magnification visual skill, I would see something interesting, but as I was lacking one, I didn't.

Several detours and sleepy replies later, I stood in front of her house. In the midst of bright terraced houses stood a black house that extended a floor higher than the rest. I wouldn't have been surprised to see battlements or brickwork of the same colour.

It was the standing definition of classic gothic and even I had to admit it held a little chilling charm.

Perfect home for a vampire, huh?

It didn't look particularly run down and I was curious about the eccentric owners. I jumped lightly on the spot causing Annie to knock against my head hard enough to wake her.

"Hey, we're here. You got a key?"

I let her down from my back and instead of producing a key, she picked up a small potted plant that had been on the doorstep and crushed it between her hands.

I winced at the grating terracotta and marvelled at the strength that was probably required to do that. She had shown me little regarding why she had such a powerful soul but this was a prime example. An extraordinarily high strength this early was a good plan and if she was surrounded by more people at any point, I could imagine that there were several opportunities to be a hero.

From the pile of dirt and clay on the ground, she pulled a key. I didn't want to know why their spare key was in a place that couldn't be easily or repeatedly accessed. But my opinion of Annie's family was already that of a weird sort, so I just added it to the list of quirks that I had been shown.

She entered and turned back to me to usher me inside.

I stopped still when I saw her glowing blue eyes. This must have been the visual skill she hadn't wanted to use before. For it to let her see in the dark, I could only wonder what exactly it let her see.

The inside of the house smelt fresh and clean, completely betraying my expectations. But there was something else under the smell of disinfectant.

I took a deeper breath through my nose and activated Trackers Sense. Under the light veil of acidic apple, I could smell rot and decay. It was the exact same smell that my shotguns effect produced.

"Someone's died here."

She hesitated in the hallway in front of me and visibly flinched when I said it. I reminded myself to be better to her and stopped up the only way I knew how.

"Would you like me to find and remove the source?"

There were a few moments of silence and then she turned with a forced but small smile.

"No. Why would someone kill my family in here and then try to cover it up?"

"What's an alternative then?"

"I don't know. Yet. But I will ask for your help in finding it. I don't know how to use my senses properly."

I got the general idea that becoming a vampling offered tightened senses in some way. Whether it was due to a skill, feature, or just some stat increases, I didn't need to know.

"Sure."

I pushed through the thin green particles focusing on the smell of decay and a very faint but obvious trail of red emerged.

"Got it. It's an old trail, but it looks like it heads upstairs."

Annie was already heading up the stairs as I searched, so turned back and nodded to confirm. I followed her up, directing her past the first floor and to the second. She almost continued to the attic, but I caught her arm and pulled her to the landing.

I took a moment to reassure myself of the direction of the lead I was following and pushed open the door the smell radiated from.

A sharp punch to my elbow halted the movement though, and I pulled back my arm, gritting my teeth through the pain. Annie was staring daggers at me and I almost blew up at her in confusion when I noticed the metallic lettering that adorned the door.

ANNIE'S ROOM

"Ah."

I rubbed my elbow to ease the pain and stepped back from the door. It made sense she didn't just want some guy she barely knew to walk into her room with no warning. She owed me, but I could respect the boundaries. She was looking at me sheepishly and I knew what was coming.

"Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I should have checked first. Do you want to go in alone?"

"Yeah."

She slipped in through the door and shut it behind her, obscuring my view as much as she could. Which wasn't a huge amount considering her stature.

I left her to investigate her own room and entered the next door bathroom to relieve myself. I was massively happy to find that the toilets were working in the residential areas and tested the shower head to check.

I was rewarded with a spray of icy water that made goosebumps stand up on my arms from mere proximity. If I wanted a warm shower, it would be worth figuring out how to conjure fire from my damn fingertips.

Although I might be able to stand one in the morning.

One glance at my current state showed that was probably leaving it a bit too late. Aside from the white gauntlet, under the coat that had probably already been ruined, I was smeared with grime and blood. Lots of blood.

With the tattoo, it looked like I had walked straight out of a post-apocalyptic warzone leaving behind lakes of blood.

"SAM! GET IN HERE!"

Annie yelled from the next room. Not in panic, but I still noticed some urgency in her voice. I pushed hard off the floor and pushed past both doors, nearly tearing hers off its hinges.

I skidded to a stop on the wooden floor of her room and was immediately speechless. Her room was nothing like I had expected. Instead of the drab monochromatic exterior of the house, hers was an artist's wet dream.

The walls were painted each in a different night style. One had arches of pastel colours overlapping and melding with each other. One was a galaxy of water colour splashes that was flecked with solid specks. One, a bold geometric maze of rainbows and thick black lining, and the last was a white canvas that was half illustrated with complicated patterns. A work in progress I assumed.

"HEY!"

oh yeah.

I saw Annie's head poking up from the other side of a small single bed cradling something. I cleared the bed in one leap and crouched next to her.

In her arms was the coiled up form of a cat on the brink of death. Using Life Seeker, I could see its vitals were beginning to fail as patches of it were beginning to fade.

"Help me save him."

Annie sounded on the brink of tears and I opened my eyes wide at the vulnerability she was showing. I didn't waste time talking and took the cat from her arms for a closer look. It weighed almost nothing in my arms and I could feel it's bone structure prominently through a thin layer of skin and fur.

It was missing its tail and one of its back legs. The wound was certainly decaying, but it could have just been infection setting in. There was no way to know how long the cat had been suffering in this room.

My immediate thought was vampire blood again. But I didn't know how well it would work on felines. Trying to pour just a few drops of the blood in the cat's mouth caused it to painfully fetch and throw up a dark fluid on me that only worsened my overall hygiene and mood.

What else do I have?

The solution came like a slap in the face and I left the room in a flash. I had been focusing too much on the magical and supernatural possibilities. How did people normally deal with infections they picked up? They healed themselves.

Tearing through the cupboards in the kitchen of the first floor, I found the strongest alcohol I could (a surprisingly strong Absinthe from Russia) and some towels.

Next was the bathroom. In the cabinets there, I found a basic first aid kit. It was lacking most of the stuff I wanted though, so I just grabbed the first string I could, (some thin gardening twine) and a thin needle that Annie helpfully found me.

With the cat lying on the towels, its breath laboured, I poured the absinthe over my throwing knife to disinfect it. Then took a quick swig from the bottle to steady my shaking hands. The adrenaline in me helped me get over the burning in my throat and the tears that escaped my eyes.

I doubled up on the cleanliness I could offer and soaked a spare towel in the alcohol then lit my knife on fire with my lighter.

The blade burned brightly in a quick flash and I wiped it on the soaked cloth again just for luck.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to first soothe the cat to sleep by manipulating its soul. That just pissed off though and it weakly clawed at me.

"Fair enough. Sorry about this then."

I gripped its soul harshly and while I didn't damage it at all, it froze in place.

I registered a sharp pain in my arm and noticed for the firsts time that Annie was gripping hard onto my shoulder hard enough that her nails were close to drawing blood through the thick coat.

"Annie. Take some of the vamp blood. Use a small amount and mix it with some of the cat's food. Mush it up, water it down, make me a failsafe."

I suspected it had only rejected the blood because the strength of it was too much in its weakened state. So if Annie made something that could save it at the last second, then I wouldn't have to beat myself up so hard if I failed.

Annie nodded and ran out the door with a bottle in hand. Alone, I could begin to relax anymore. I didn't have another drink though. It was a strong spirit and I want exactly known for my high tolerance.

"Ok. You can do this. You've seen it done before. You have the skill. You have the equipment."

Hyping myself up just the slightest amount, I got into it.

I started by cutting away at the blackened flesh. Pus and a foul-smelling black sludge leaked freely as I broke open old scabs.

-1hp

I could almost feel the pain in the soul I was holding onto. It was small and weak but looked similar to a monsters generic one. The soul pulsed and writhed as I cut more away.

-2hp

Bleeding (0:05)

When the wound started bleeding, I pushed clean towels to it until it stopped. I had no health potions or spells, and I just hoped my outlandish methods were using Improvised Care to its fullest.

I waited a minute after the bleeding stopped to make sure I wouldn't aggravate it any more and began to sew it shut.

It was a difficult task as I had no other equipment to hold anything together and a part of my mind was keeping it petrified as I held its soul. But I had made it halfway through removing the rot and the cat hadn't died yet. It had lost 5 health though and I had no idea how much it had left.

I waited to let it regen some and kept an eye on its status as I did so.

Seamus Decker (house cat):

Level: 3

Hp: 2/28

Mp: 2/3

Infection II (-

Ouch.

As I watched though, a full minute passed before his health increased by even one. I pushed on the infection effect and read it, realising I should have done so way earlier.

Infection (status effect)

While effect is active, health, stamina and mana regeneration rates are decreased by 25% per rank of infection. Maximum health, stamina and mana are decreased by 15% per rank of infection. 0.5% of prior total health is removed every minute per rank of infection.

I sighed softly. At rank two, I guessed his rates were halved and caps were 30% lower. I wasn't sure though. And I let it regen more up to a total of ten health as I read up more on the status effects.

"What are effect ranks?"

Many status effects determine their severity through a basic ranking system that has no real limit. All start at the same place though. The first rank of an effect has no numeral after it, the second has one, and so on.

So this is a rank 3 infection.

I briefly wondered what could have given this cat such a brutal virus, but it could have been mild at first. With no way to treat it, it wouldn't have been a surprise if it quickly became worse.

What on earth is taking Annie so long?

It had been almost ten minutes since she left.

No matter. I can finish this without the blood.

With the cat's health up to an acceptable level, I continued and removed the dead flesh. I managed to sew it up without further issue and by the end of it, Seamus was sleeping without too much pain in his soul. I laid back on the ground and tried to ignore the smell still emanating from the removed flesh.

Gotta get this little guy some food and find out what the hell his owner was doing.

I walked down the stairs and returned to the kitchen. It was in a similar state to how I left it except with a few subtle differences. For one, a bottle that used to contain blood was now empty. There was also a large number of cat food pouches strewn across the counter and floor. A large bowl that smelt of said cat food and blood lay in pieces on the ground yet with no liquid on the ground.

The final difference in the room that explained everything all at once was Annie lying comatose on the floor. A flash of Life Seeker told me she was perfectly fine but with a very surprising addition.

I had little idea how it had happened and was honestly a little disgusted when that little idea unfurled, but Annie was evolving again. Or had evolved again.

"Oh... My... Nephthys..."

On top of her vampiric features, I noticed some more... Feline ones. Namely some small pointed ears that poked from her hair and a thin tail that extended from the base of her coat.

I didn't know whether to smile, sigh or scream, but one way or another, Annie had unwittingly become my dream girl.

A Catgirl...