The following day, Ice9 plunked down at the table in the tavern with Cale and I while we waited for the rest of the party to login. Her pink bouffant hair bobbed back and forth as she waved. “Do you know who the hell Mark Williams is? And, more importantly, how the hell he got my personal contact information?”

I glanced sideways at the paladin beside me, whose muscles tightened. “We know a Mark Williams, but I’m assuming it’s a pretty common name. If it’s the same one, I have no clue how he got your contact information. Or why he’d even contact you at all.”

“He emailed an invitation to some game resort in Vegas. All expenses paid, too good to be true kind of thing,” she said as the chair she sat in telescoped upwards, allowing her to see over the tabletop.

“I’ll explain, but let’s see if Angel and Wild got the same invite. Something tells me they did.” I bit my lip and looked at Cale. “Did you get anything? I guess I should have checked my phone before I logged in this morning.”

He shook his head. “Checked it briefly but ignored it after the wake-up call you gave me…” He pulled me closer to nuzzle into my neck.

“Wait, you two know each other out of game?” Ice9 asked.

I gave Cale’s shoulder a slight push after feeling my cheeks redden. “Yeah, Vamp Lord too. We’re at a gaming resort in Vegas. All expenses paid by my old college roommate’s dad.”

“Let me guess, his name is Mark Williams? But why would he invite us along? That doesn’t make sense.” Ice9’s eyes narrowed.

“Viv, his daughter, was attacked by the static thing. He’s convinced we can help her in the game somehow. My guess is he’s controlling enough to want the full party on hand and under his thumb. No clue how he’d get so much information though.” I threw my hands in the air. “So much for explaining later. Now I have to repeat myself.”

The gnome paled. “So, that was a genuine offer? Not a spam message from a Nigerian prince or something?”

“Super real. We have two of the four penthouses in this place.”

“Hey, guys,” Angel said and sat. “Did anyone get-”

“Email? Williams? It’s real,” Ice9 said and rattled off the explanation before I could even open my mouth to talk.

Angel looked too stunned to speak for a moment. Her mouth worked at silent words before she burst out, “Hell yeah, I’ll take him up on the offer then. Just one thing you need to know about me.” She glanced at Cale nervously and said, “I look a lot different outside the game.”

“Me too,” Ice9 said and tittered. “Would you believe I’m not a real gnome?”

“I’m a dude,” Angel said without the voice modulator he’d been using, revealing a deep velvety smooth male voice. Her female form bent over in a burst of boisterous male guffaws as Cale cringed.

“Me too,” Ice9 said and shrugged. “Well, kinda. I always figured everyone in Arcadia was a dude.”

“Nah, I can tell Riot’s all female by the way she carries herself,” Angel said and winked. “I’m gonna log out real quick and accept that shit. I’ll be right back.”

“See ya in a few,” Ice9 said and blinked out of existence.

We arrived at a ghost town covered in a dark gray haze where the entrance to a raid dungeon was located. The few buildings still upright looked abandoned centuries ago, shutters creaked on rusty hinges and slammed against the siding despite the stillness of the air. Large hairy spiders watched us pass from tangled webs, their fangs dripping with venom.

WyldH3ard0n’s pet, who I nicknamed Bob since he still didn’t have a name, whimpered, his tail tucked firmly between his legs. He nudged his master with the tip of his nose, only to get pushed away with the tip of a boot and glared down upon with a look of disgust.

Fake animal or no, that was enough to reignite my disdain for Salvo’s boy toy. I gave Bob a morsel of meat from my inventory and a few comforting pats on the head, all the while scowling at the ranger.

Bob wagged his tail and gave my hand a quick lick, making me really reconsider my class. I wanted an army of Bobs.

Eventually the trail ended at a large Victorian style manor surrounded by a wrought-iron fence; the yard littered with intricately carved marble headstones. The paint on the siding had faded and chipped, but overall, it was the most preserved building in the entire town. But that was like saying my granny panties were the prettiest of the bunch. Was that really something worth attaining?

“All right,” Cale said with a hand on the gate. “When we get in, we’ll be facing hellhounds, werewolves, and a few vampires mixed in.”

Salvo’s ears pricked up at the mention of vampires. “These vampires you speak of, is the vampirism catching by chance?”

Cale shot me a glance and rolled his eyes. We both knew where this was going. “Yes, but not by devilkin. And there’s a pretty nasty penalty if you’re out in the sunlight as a vampire, so probably not the best idea.”

“Our matches are mainly in sunlit arenas, Salvo. That’s why you rarely see someone with vampirism compete.” WyldH3art0n said through gritted teeth.

“Oh… mm… that’s interesting,” Salvo said with feigned concern. “How would one catch this horrible, disgusting disease? Hypothetically, of course. I should know what to avoid.”

“Well, you’re a devilkin. So I’d say you’re off to a perfect start,” Cale said dryly. “Getting back to the dungeon-”

Salvo raised a hand, interrupting him, “Stop right there, I need to go do something. I just realized how much I don’t like this stupid devil race. It was humans, and what else that can become vampires?”

Cale pinched the bridge of his nose. “Elf. You have five minutes before we start the encounter without you.”

It was less than that before Salvo returned in his new elven form. He ran a hand along a pointed ear and grinned. “That’s better, don’t you think?”

Ice9 whistled through her teeth and asked, “How much did that set you back?”

“50 credits,” WyldH3art0n replied, his eyes narrowed to slits at Salvo. “We’re going to suck at the championship now, you realize that, right?”

Salvo ignored him; his gaze laser-focused on the house. “Why are we still standing out front? We really need to get a move on. This experience isn’t going to catch itself.”

The second we stepped through the gate, a timer started to countdown from ten to signal the start of the raid. I shifted to my cat form and stretched, while Ice9 and Angel buffed the party.

As soon as the counter vanished, four rotting human arms reached from the ground. The soil bubbled as the opposite arms appeared and the lumbering dead pulled themselves from their graves.

A flaming arrow from the ranger’s bow burst through the skull on one, and it crumpled nearly as soon as it had pulled itself upright.

Golden mist erupted from Cale, spreading in a ten-foot diameter around his feet, and the zombies shambled in his direction.

Salvo and I edged towards the closest undead, and struck at the same time. He lodged a dagger in the thing’s skull while my claws raked off an arm, leaving a sickly rotten pus on my paws. The stench hit my nose, churning my stomach.

“Too real,” I groaned and forced myself to swallow before I could vomit.

A dagger of ice whizzed in front of Salvo’s face while he shimmied his weapon out of the fallen zombie’s skull. Ice9’s spell entered the third’s head and exploded in a spray of decayed brains.

Gray matter and maggots splattered Cale’s shield. “I hope these stay on the outside of the house,” he said and swept his shielded arm at the last remaining zombie, severing the head from its body. When he noticed the jaws still snapping, he squished it with a heavily armored boot.

“I just hope this gets more difficult,” WyldH3art0n said while twirling an arrow before noticing us staring at the space behind him.

“Fucking move,” I said, barely a whisper, unable to draw my eyes away from the nine foot, green-skinned monstrosity behind him. It was Frankenstein’s monster on steroids. The metal bolts on his neck crackled with energy as he lurched forward.

Salvo and I fell back from the group and into the shadows, planning to flank and attack after Cale engaged the creature.

The monster picked up a full-scale granite angel and flung it towards the last spot we’d been visible. I had a moment to wonder who’d carved nipples on her before I dodged away from the impact.

“Get ready,” Cale yelled at Angel before he charged in.

The electricity in the air made my fur go on end, the pads on my paws tingled with little pops of static.

A meaty thud of fist impacting shield told us it was time to get into position as the paladin skidded backwards on his feet from the blow. The ground bubbled with holy energy, golden light cascaded from Angel’s fingertips, arrows flew from the ranger’s bow, my claws shredded and the rogue pummeled mercilessly. But all with little effect, we’d barely made a dent in the creature’s hit points.

“If anyone has an idea,” Cale shouted and grunted after missing a blow with his shield and taking the full attack to his chest. His hit points fell below one quarter of their total before Angel restored them back to full. “Now would be a great time for creativity.”

“Hold on, I’ve got an idea, but I need to overpower my spell,” Ice9 said. A trail of sweat glimmered on her tiny forehead in concentration. A ball of ice formed between her hands and grew as she focused. Her mana bar ticked away to nothing before the shimmering orb was nearly as large as the gnome. She screamed and hurdled the icy blast at the monster’s head, exploding on impact into a blizzard of hail and blinding snow.

My eyes fixed on the health bars of my party and mini map, the only visible objects in the otherwise stark white landscape. I held my breath, and the seconds ticked away like hours until the storm dwindled, revealing the monster.

Chunks of snow and ice packed themselves around the metal bolts in his neck, negating the electrical attacks and severing whatever tie that granted him near physical immunity.

Ice9 downed a mana potion while the rest of us fell in on the creature; tearing him to ribbons. When the giant fell, the only one not breathing a heavy sigh of relief was Bob, who was busy tunneling his head through the piles of snow, his tail wagging happily behind him.

When we split the loot, Cale found a new sword while Salvo grabbed a piece of armor called The Boots of Undeath. From the very brief glimpse I’d seen of the item card, it looked to negate a small percentage of the penalty from vampirism and was 1 of a 6-piece set.

“Well, there you go,” Brad said and put away his bow. “Instead of taking penalties from the sun, you get to use the same set of gear for the duration of your character. Still in a hurry to catch vampirism?” He crossed his arms and stared daggers into my longtime friend.

My fists clenched hard enough to create half moon shapes in my palms, but I kept my mouth shut for once.

Salvo waved a dismissive hand at him and raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you hear that, Liz? That constant whine that almost sounds like my boyfriend.” He tsked and shook his head. “No, that can’t be him. Only bitches whine and I don’t keep bitches around for anything more than a fuck.”

Most of the dungeon was more or less uneventful. We killed monsters and got some loot that wasn’t noteworthy, but better than what the majority of the party entered with. Salvo looted three more pieces of the Undeath set from a few vampires in the dungeon. Despite baiting each of the fiends with a crane of his neck, he still hadn’t caught vampirism.

We found a cellar door with stairs that led down into darkness. The steps creaked under each footfall and I waited for the rotted wood to give way with our party’s combined weight. Cale at the front, his sword and shield at the ready, breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he hit the bottom.

The wood gave one great crack, and the stairs crumbled, sending the rest of us to the ground with minor damage. Even in the game, cats always land on their feet. And in my case, Salvo’s balls. I was nearly breathless with laughter when a bolt of lightning erupted from the darkness. Shadowy flashes remained in the center of my line of sight from the sudden illumination; obscuring my vision momentarily.

A green-skinned witch sprung from the shadows, drawing more energy to cast another spell while her over-sized black cat familiar battled Bob. Her paper-thin skin tore easily under my claws and the thrusts of Salvo’s daggers, downing her in what felt to be too easy of a fight.

As she died, she cackled and said, “Fools, you’ve released me from my mortal shackles. We’ll meet again.” Her body went limp and an icy wind passed through the chamber, pushing a tapestry on the wall to one side.

At the end of a long, dimly lit and cobwebbed tunnel, we found a room with an old and dingy doll dressed in a little boy’s sailor outfit. Motionless, it sat on an antique rocking chair in the very center of the room. The dust covered floor littered with footprints about the size and shape of the doll’s own feet.

A soft breeze drifted through the stagnant air, and carried the notes of a child’s laughter with it.

“Nope, nuh-uh. Fuck this shit. I’m out,” Angel said and tried to escape but the door slammed shut; locking us in with the doll who let out another echoed giggle. Angel let out a blood-curdling scream that would have been funny had Cale not echoed along with her.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Ice9 said and tossed a fireball at the doll.

The flames licked at the cloth skin and the little black plastic button eyes melted, releasing waves of tiny black spiders from the sockets. The floor shifted into a roiling sea of glittering eyes and void black bodies.

I might have screamed once or twice, before shifting to my elven form to stomp on the little fuckers as they plummeted towards me.

Golden bursts of holy light radiated from Cale once he snapped out of his horrified state. He glanced in my direction with a mixture of concern and amusement on his face.

The little spider bodies flipped to their backs as the spell hit them, curling their legs into their abdomens. Once the last of the spiders went still, an acrid wind entered the room, scattering the tiny bodies into a vortex that pulsed and formed into a woman’s figure with spider silk hair that trailed in long tendrils behind her. She opened her mouth and wailed a long miserable note that activated an instinctual fight-or-flight mode.

Unfortunately for her, I don’t run from fights.

“Kill it with fire, lots of fire,” Salvo yelled, who often did run but stood his ground as he tossed bottles from his inventory of every available liquor and spirits he had on him. Which was an amazingly sizable amount. He threw the last he had on him with no small display of sadness on his part. The glass shattered against the dead spider woman’s form, splashing her with a liquid so vile it burned my eyes nearly instantly.

“What the hell was that?” I asked and coughed when the fumes hit the back of my throat.

“Goblin Glycerin. I was saving it to use as a mixer,” he said, and flinched when the booze lit in a great whoosh, courtesy of another fireball from Ice9.

The banshee twisted and screamed again, lashing out with razor talons of solidified silk. Blue flames lapped along the edges, bursting upon impact with Cale’s shield.

While the bitch wasn’t dead, we could finally see her health bar, which was only halfway gone. I patted Salvo on the back to show I appreciated his sacrifice and nodded my head towards the boss, shifting to my cat form and skulking towards her.

Between a deluge of fire arrows, a few well-placed fireballs, holy spells and moral support from Salvo and I who weren’t much help fighting against something mostly incorporeal, we took the bitch down.

Salvo received another piece of his Undeath set, showing it to the ranger with smug satisfaction. He opened his mouth to gloat, but jumped with a surprised gasp as a trapdoor swung open beside him.

Deep guttural laughter emanated from within. “Come down and face me if you dare,” a voice said in a mocking tone.

A smile appeared on Salvo’s face as he donned the pieces of the Undead armor. The only thing missing was a helmet. “Did you hear that generic European accent? That has to be my vampire daddy down there.”

The trapdoor led through a cramped hallway lined with burial tombs. Some had old, broken coffins, their contents spoiled in centuries past. Others held only bones and the rotted remains of prized items in life.

In front of me, Salvo buzzed with excitement, neglecting to check for traps and nearly getting himself killed in the process. A spiked grate swung on ancient hinges and he pushed into me backwards before taking the full impact, the spikes only grazing his body instead of impaling him.

Somewhere behind us in the train of our party, Angel swore under her breath before healing him back up and threatened to leave the diseased status if he didn’t promise to pay more attention.

After what seemed like an eternity in the maze of dead people, with only a game of kicking the bottom of Salvo’s boot to keep me occupied, the passage opened into a wide cistern. Candelabras cast eerie shadows that shifted with the moving flames. Silks and tapestries adorned the walls, their colors dulled from centuries old dust and cobwebs.

Before any of us could stop him, Salvo ran in and a cutscene began.

A hooded figure in long flowing robes approached the rogue who fell to his knees. “You wear the armor of my kind, but lack the blood. Why should I take you, a common street rat, into my ranks? When there’s two members of a holy order in your party to desecrate? Or a guardian of the wild to shape into a guardian of death?”

My own ears pricked up. Fuck yeah, I could get behind being a guardian of death.

Salvo, who stayed silent, closed his eyes and offered his neck.

The vampire lord positioned himself behind our friend. The hood fell to reveal a half man/half bat creature with crazed crimson eyes. A long forked tongue emerged from behind his split lips and tasted the flesh with a shudder through his body. “I accept.”

The scene faded to black, and a message appeared as the world took shape once more. The Vampire Aldonis has taken V4mpyrL0rd into his ranks. Slay Aldonis to save him from a mindless fate. Player, take warning. Failing this encounter will cause the character, V4mpyrL0rd, to be lost forever. Should you perish, V4mpyrL0rd will find himself back at character creation instead of a respawn point. Good Luck!

The entire party moaned, and some even threatened to leave him to his fate. I noted one of those voices belonged to Brad. It would make sense that Salvo would get into a relationship with someone just as reliable as he was.

“Goddammit Salvo,” I said and shifted to my cat form as the elven form of my best friend twitched on the floor before opening glowing red eyes.

A smile curled on his lips as he faced Cale and attacked.