"What happened to them! Why aren't they here?!"
"K, calm down, getting upset isn't going to help find anyone. Whatever happens, we will figure it out, but we need to keep our heads on straight," Tim said, trying to calm me down.
How could have this happened? Everyone was gone, and there was no tore up ground or anything out of place. Did they just leave and go somewhere else?
"What do you think happened then," I asked while looking down at the tracks where the wagon and carriages were, but I couldn't tell what was coming or going.
"I think the vampire might have taken them, but that's a lot for one. No, it's really hard to say at this point. It looks like they went peacefully, but one of them could have got caught and been used as a hostage. As I said, I have no idea what to say, and I don't want to put ideas into your head about this," Tim told me as he bent over the tracks and followed him.
"Then what do we do? I am not tired, and I can see in the dark. Can we lead the horses and track through the night?" I asked Tim as I walked up to him.
"Yeah, but I will have to take my blindfold off, but don't worry, it won't hurt you unless I want it to, so you can look at it. It isn't as bad as Kevin made it out to be," Tim said, putting a hand on the black cloth that was covering most of his face.
"Sure, if it will help you see, then yes, take the blind off," I said.
I wasn't sure what I was going to see, but it was probably just going to be like a green glowing eye or something.
"I just need to warn you, and I know we are in a hurry, but you need to listen to me. This thing looks bad, so don't pass out when I take this off, okay?" Tim told me with a serious look.
I gave him a look that said for him to just get on with it. Tim sighed and pulled off the black cloth covering his face.
I gasped and took an involuntary step backward, Lesha and the girls momentarily forgot. Tim's eye was massive, over five times as large as his other one, and it was a soft glowing sickly green-yellow color.
"See? Ain't that pretty, but I can see better than you can with your eyes. I have seen the way you can study things from far away, just like a vampire's telescopic vision. Anyways, I found the trail, come on. I will assume that they went around the way we would have gone tomorrow to go back and avoid the town," Tim said while turning away and grabbing the reins of his horse, who didn't seem to mind the eye.
That eye was like a massive lizard's eye slapped on his face, but If it helped get the girls back then I didn't care what it did. I grabbed my horse's reins and followed Tim. It was already starting to get dark so it would just be best to walk and hope that they would have to stop.
We had two of the horses, so unless they had brought horses of their own, they would have to take a break or run the horses into the ground. We had to hope for the future, and soon we hit the fork in the road.
I hadn't really paid it any mind the other two times I had been past this place. Now that I was on my feet, I walked constantly looking for signs, but there were more than just on the roads, and I had a hard time telling one wagon track from another.
Thankfully Tim kept us on track, I would have been already lost, but we were still not getting any closer. I just had to hope that whoever took them didn't want to hurt them, or I wouldn't be held responsible for what would happen to everyone around me.
These people that took them were already dried husks, and If it did turn out to be one of the other girls that did this, there would be some serious hell to pay. I just couldn't figure out who could get the jump on them like this, and I didn't want to keep asking Tim the same thing on repeat.
Tim had said that the people out here wouldn't be skilled and that any skilled adventurer would be earning a living in the dungeons. That made sense, so I just didn't get it.
That's when the hackles on the back of my neck started to rise, and a wave of thirst hit me like fire. Ice Cream and Tropical Punch, the flavors were both close, and it was like an energy in the air, a palpable heart thud reaching out to me.
"K, I see light up ahead," Tim said quietly.
"Wait!" I hissed. "The other two are close, but they are coming from different directions!"
"Like the werewolf and vampire? Right now?" Tim asked in confusion, and I agreed, this was horrible timing.
If that was the girls up ahead, and these two were trying to play a game I was going to be very harsh with both of them. I turned to the Ice Cream, the closest scent, and I burned Red Blood, a lot.
There would be plenty to refill after when I was done. I dashed at the smell, flying through the trees and barely making a noise.
Then, I was in a clearing, and she was there, a massive wolf that stood on two feet. I rushed at her, filled with rage, and the wolf tried to slap me away. I burned more blood, using Eosinophil to target a weak point and multiple showed up as I backhand the slap away.
I sent a hard jab just below the rib cage on the right side, making her howl out, but I was already around her. I leapt to her back and sank my teeth deep into her furry neck.
I was so angry that I couldn't even enjoy the flavor of the blood, and a darker dark than I should have as the now blonde girl gasped out. I finally let go and the girl fell down panting and putting a hand to her neck.
[Basophils] Service Acquired!
"You bit me!" The girl complained.
I grabbed her by the hair and hauled her to her feet, letting go and then turning her around. She didn't cry out when I did, and she had an annoyed look on her face when I got her turned around.
"You know, for someone who just lost all their girls you sure know how it waits. Don't hit me, wild women, we came to warn you about the people that took the other one,"
"You mean the vampire? Did I think you two hated each other? Didn't she attack you? What am I missing and what do you know about the people that took Lesha and the other two?" I demanded.
"Come, let's go and you can talk with Candace. Hopefully, she is snacking on the one with the ugly eye. Also, we don't hate each other, it's more of a forbidden type then, but with more teeth and claws, but let's go save the girls, and not talk about me," The wolf girl said with a smile.
"Fine, keep up," I said, as I turned to start running, but there was a weird noise that came from behind me.
"No, get on me, it will be faster. Plus, it will make Candace jealous!"
I turned to fund the wolf girl who was now the large wolf I had seen before when we were camping at Tarcord River. I was hesitant only for a second, then I hopped on the gray wolf's back and grabbed onto her fur tightly.
"Ooo, I like it rough like that! Hold on tight," She said, and she bolted forward, moving at incredible speeds. "My name is Trinity, but you can just can me T! That's Candi's nickname for me so that will also help get the dust pumping in her veins!"
I was a bit impressed with the way Trinity was able to hold a conversation and move at such blinding speeds. Soon, we burst from the trees and I could see Tim standing with a woman with black hair and dress, and pale ghostly skin, but she didn't look to be hurting him.
When we got closer, I locked eyes with Candi, and she was glaring at me. Oh, you want to glare?
I was already off T's back and stalking forward with my eyes glowing. Tim backed away slowly as I got closer, but I wasn't staring at him.
Candi looked unsure and then put her hand up.
"Wait, I don't want to get bit!" She pleaded to me, but I was already pissed, and it was all just an act anyways.
The second I got close, she erupted into mist, laughing.
"Let's talk about this after we deal with the people that took your girls. I don't want you sinking your teeth into me just yet. You and I need to have a little talk first, but we can do that late… YOU BITCH!"
[Lymphocyte] Service Acquired!
I hand-tracked the blood mist, and I used some of the new service, Basophils to try out the limit break adrenaline rush. I let her talk for a bit, but the second she blinked her eyes in a self-satisfied way, I activated it.
It was like time slowed down and I rushed forward at what felt like a normal speed, but everyone else was barely even moving. The second my teeth sank into her cold neck, time pulled back into place.
Candi then proceeded to call me every name in the book, but when I was done, I spun her around and burned Red Blood. I picked her up off the ground and pulled her close to my face.
"Who has the girl?" I asked in a menacing voice.
"The idiots that you were supposed to join! Now unhand me, you violent woman!" Candi said to me while trying to pry my hand off her dress collar.
"What idiots?" I questioned.
"The Ass Pounder Guild or whatever it's called! The one that you were supposed to join for Dyster. Now, are you done with me amazon!" Candi complained more.
Great, the guild that was supposed to be helping us turned coat pretty quick when they found out that we didn't want to join. I still find it hard to build that they would try something like this.
I put down Candi, there was no point in trying to shake more answers out of her. I turned to Tim, and he wanted to look at me with a worried expression.
"What are you going to do?" Tim asked, looking worried.
I want you three to stay here while I go deal with them. After it is silent, then you can come, but do not try to touch me, or even talk to me. I don't know what I will be like," I said turning and walking away.
No one tried to stop me, and I saw a red light shining on the ground. The light was coming from my eyes, and I didn't rush over there at first. There were some questions I needed to ask.
'Just use all the extra blood you have into Basophils, so you don't die. When it comes, you won't be yourself anymore, you will be her, Lishtani, The Blood Queen. She won't hear your friends, but it will be a lot to take in. Lishtani is very old and doesn't like to be cooped up inside of you, so she will be extremely violent.' -Drania.
I didn't care, these people had touched the things that I held dear to my head and the woman I loved. There wasn't anything that these men didn't deserve. That's the feeling I tried to hold onto as I burned the last of the blood, feeling the cold come for me.
'I have been waiting.' -Lishtani.
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GOT IT