Chapter 25: Garlic burns everyone if you eat too much of it.

Chapter 25: Garlic burns everyone if you eat too much of it.

Of all the darks most fearsome denizens, none deserved their terrifying reputation more than the legendary vampire.

Powerful, elegant, and relentless in the pursuit of their prey, they were fearsome apex predators.

Of all the many breeds of undeath that existed, only the dreaded Lich stood higher in power than they. But Liches were a rare sight in the world, and even one of them could be brought down by a sufficiently experienced and ruthless drinker of blood.

Indeed, Vampires were the nights uncontested royalty. As feared for their cruel, tactical acumen as they were for their ferocity in battle. To fall into one of their schemes was to wander alone in an inescapable labyrinth that offered only one true path of escape

Death.

No, no, no! Where did the guy with the axe come from? moaned Clarity in great misery. Hes tearing our lambs apart! Oh, this is so unfair!

Of course, that reputation for brilliant scheming was mostly attributed to the older vampires who managed to survive for at least a thousand years. The younger ones, who were still growing into themselves, despite their comparatively great age to a human, could often be described as

Oh! Hes cutting them into bits! Yucky! This is so yucky! I haaaaate this!

Dumb.

Charity was unkind with her response. Im not going to mince my words, little sister: You are boned.

No, no! Were boned, Charity! replied Clarity. Were boned! This is a team exercise! Well both be punished if we fail!

We? No. You? Yes! These stupid raids were your idea! You were the one who said we could wear them down over time. Well, look where your big idea got us! Theyve adapted to your so-called strategy and are eliminating your servants!

Nooooo, why arent they winning? Its that darn Knights fault! If only she weren't here!

Our master warned us about her and that sword. You were the one who laughed oh so confidently and said, shell be no threat to us! Well, there she is, Clarity! Theres the non-threat who wont be able to stop your wicked machinations! Why dont you walk up to her and say hello?

Boo! I am booing you, Charity! You are mean and the only thing you know how to do is point out mistakes in hindsight! said Clarity as she stuck out her tongue.

I wanted to sink the boat, Clarity!" Charity fumed. "That would have been a much better plan than mesmerizing a bunch of bigoted humans and sending them to mindlessly throw their lives away against that Paladins blade!"

"No!" Clarity said stubbornly.

"Yes! All we had to do was let them get on the boat, and then sink it when it was too far out to sea for anyone to escape. That would have been a much easier victory, but nooooo, that didnt have enough drama to suit you!"

These are the nasty people who kept our poor master imprisoned for three hundred years! You really think drowning them like rats would have been satisfactory vengeance? No way! They were supposed to be gradually worn down, until sheer terror broke their dumb minds! And it would have worked too! It would have!

A loud splatting sound caught their attention when one of their pet zealots was sent flying into a boulder by a mighty kick from the axe-wielding stranger.

Seriously! Who is that guy? asked Clarity.

Dont ask me, her sister replied. But thats something else you failed to account for, isnt it? Never underestimate the possibility of a hero showing up! No matter how deep we are into the plot, some do-gooder idiot could still appear out of nowhere. The narrative just loooooves its little heroes.

Charity and Clarity werent sisters by birth, but rather, sisters by rebirth. But they had been together for so long that that distinction didnt matter to them. They were both attractive, eerily pale women, Clarity a brunette, and Charity with raven colored hair.

They enjoyed being with each other and liked doing many of the same things and eating many of the same people. But where they differed was in their capacity for planning.

Charity was meticulous, obsessive, and without mercy.

Clarity was whimsical.

Charity! I need your heeeeelp!

Naturally, being whimsical meant that Clarity often needed assistance following through on her ideas.

No! Charity shouted. No, no, no, not happening! You always do this, you little brat!

But its haaaard! whined Clarity. Please, please, please! Youre so much better at this than I am!

Youre wise to appeal to my ego, but foolish to believe Ill capitulate! Clarity, if I keep doing your sums for you, youll never learn how to add!

I dont want to do addition! I want to beat that stupid Paladin and her stupid sidekick!

Then I suggest you rally your troops, Charity said coldly. She then crossed her arms and turned her face away whenever Clarity tried to make eye contact.

Charity! Charity! Chaaaarity!" Clarity called desperately.

But this time, Charity refused to yield.

"Oh, fine! Ill do it myself! Youre so mean, I hate you! Clarity cried, before teleporting away.

Charity flinched a little at her sisters words but remained resolute. Its for your own good, you brat! she shouted into the night.

__

With my newfound axe in hand, I tore into the zealots like a dietician confronting a stubborn diabetic over where all the tollhouse cookies had gone.

I dont knoooow.

I think you dooooo.

I was beginning to believe there was something seriously wrong with these guys.

Hear me out: a humans primal instincts are not self-taught. Theyre a sort of ancestral inheritance. An innate knowledge acquired over the millions of years of our species evolution. Or the couple thousands of years since Noah built his ark, depending on if you attended a real school or not.

What Im getting at, is that despite some people being smarter or more adaptable than others, eventually all people will naturally arrive at the same conclusion: When your forces arent merely being beaten back, theyre being torn apart, youre going to retreat.

Seriously, no matter how great your discipline and resolve are, your primal instincts know a losing situation when they see one and theyll eventually assert themselves and cause you to flee for your life. It's human nature.

No one told that to these guys, though.

One of them came running towards me while wielding a spear. He made no attempt to use his reach advantage to get at me, didnt react when I hacked it in half, and didnt scream when I slashed his torso open. He just kept jabbing away at me until he got around to noticing he was dead, then he fell where he stood.

He didnt make a sound. Not a single sound.

Is what normal? she yelled back.

The lack of reaction! These guys dont try to protect themselves or their friends! Have they always been like this?

Come to think of ityes!

And youve never wondered about the cause of this behavior?

Who cares why theyre doing it! My only interest is in defeating them!

Oh, man. She was gorgeous and skilled and liked killing people, which should have been the trifecta of winning my heart! But sadly, Rachel was also a meathead. She couldnt think past the weapon in her hand, and her urge to use it. That kind of impulsiveness was going to get her killed one day.

I speak from experience.

Rachel, use your head! For this many people to be acting like this, however disorganized they are, that means someone is using them! Youve got an enemy you havent seen yet, and they're trying to grind you down from the shadows!

What?

Oh, for crying out loud.

Theres a MASTERMIND, Rachel!

Then where is he? Why wont he dare show himself? Because hes a coward"

A woman appeared behind Rachel. She made a sharp gesture with her hand and suddenly, Rachel wasnt there anymore. She was airborne, and going east, screaming all the way into the horizon.

Yikes.

Finally, Jeez, the stranger said.

She was a brunette wearing a black cloak over an outfit that sort of reminded me of a roman soldier. Bare legged, with high-laced sandals, with a knee-length red skirt, and bronze chest armor. She was cute, but pale to the point of looking like she had consumption.

Her eyes were blood red and shone in the dark. Like two crimson embers.

I dont think hers were a custom job like mine.

Okay, um, hi? Hello? she waved at me.

Hi? I responded.

Hi! she said cheerfully. Uh, Im Clarity?

Hey, Clarity. Im Max?

Are you?

Yeah?

Then why do you keep making it sound like a question? she sasked.

Im sorry?

Now youre just teasing me!

I looked around in confusion.

Uh, Clarity? Are you in charge of these guys? I asked her.

Yeeees? Duh?

Okay. So, why are you making them attack us?

Uh, to kill you?

Is there a reason why you want to kill us?

Because the Pala-dians are bad! And youre protecting them, so youre bad too!

Im not bad! If anything, Im chaotic neutral! Check out my stat sheet!

Check your whaaaat?

This doesnt feel like a very rewarding conversation, Clarity.

Rude!

Nah uh!

Yes!

One of the defenders seemed to recognize something about Clarity. He made a complex symbol in the air with his hand, then clasped them together as if in prayer. Stranger! Shield yourself in faith! An abomination stands before you!

Before I could ask him what he meant, Clarity was on him. She made a slight reaching motion with her hand and gently brushed her fingers against his chest.

Uhhe exploded.

Just burst apart like a blood-filled balloon. Never seen anything like it.

Kinda cool, really.

Clarity dipped her fingers into some of the blood which had pooled on the ground and gave it a languorous lick of her tongue, relishing the taste.

Thats when I noticed how sharp her gleaming white teeth were and realized what it was I was dealing with.

Yooooourtuuuuurn, she said with smile.

Hoo boy.