A Monster Life Ch. 82-84

Muni ducked her punch, and this time body slammed her. He expected her to step back keep her balance, but her feet moved too late, and she fell down on her back with him on top. He pinned her wrists above her head and pressed his hips between her legs to prevent her from kicking him away.

She struggled while he grinned in amusement, and she gave up, partially frustrated at her loss, partially happy to have found what she had been looking for in her journey. Muni moved his face closer to hers. 'How's this for you?'

His eyes went wide when she kissed him.

Elyta snorted while Gigacks rolled his empty eye sockets. Muni gazed silently at her but kept his grip on her while Tarrence stepped closer to them. 'I can use a fighter like you.'

She looked up at him. 'Will I fight more strong opponents?'

He nodded. 'Certainly.'

She looked at Muni, who watched her with a new interest. 'I'm in.'

***

Iphigenia recited the poetry while gesturing lightly with one hand and striding elegantly in a quarter circle around Naopte, and noticed Naopte's eyes fixed upon her. 'I think I'm captivating her.' she said to Ulric.

Ulric peeked from the far side of the couch at the vampire woman and her gaze following Iphigenia. He didn't like her look. Not just for the way it looked like she wanted to feed on her, which his predatory instincts recognised. 'We can use that to distract her.'

'I'll make sure she is.' said Iphigenia, and her dress rustled softly while she strode to the far end of the fireplace, and glanced briefly at Naopte before she recited the next piece of poetry.

The fire reflecting in Iphigenia's eyes bound Naopte's gaze to the young woman. She hadn't been attracted to another individual in a long time, and she didn't want to let this girl go. "I will turn you." she thought. "And I will feast on you in every way for a very long time."

Iphigenia spoke without breaking her gaze at Naopte.

'In the short existence of life

There is but one thing I desire

To never be without you

The cold steel is ready

To bind us in an eternal bond'

Naopte rose from her chair and gazed with intense desire at her new interest, and bared her fangs with a smile while Iphigenia recited the last line.

'And may Death grant us its blessing'

Naopte's expression froze when Ulric pierced her back and her heart with the two prepared daggers.

The Old One's shriek transformed into the squeals of dozens of black bats as the swarm exploded into the room, and the other girls burst through the doors.

Several bats slammed into the doors when Caylais closed them fast, and hit them with her lightning to keep them down. The others spread out across the room and swung their weapons at the quick and nimble creatures. Rachael barely broke a wing of one bat. 'The rats were easier. They couldn't fly.'

Yingshien grumbled as she had to take care not to unleash her beam of fire towards the others. 'I could have spit out a cloud of fire to fill the room if you all weren't in here.'

Tipper hit one bat out of the air. 'I sincerely thank you for that.'

Ulric focussed again on the scent of the potion and the sound of the heart pounding inside one of the bats, but the bats flying around in circles made it too difficult to find his target, and Yingshien's remark would have been a good option if it wasn't for the fact that bats would escape as soon as one door opened. He observed the cloud of frantic creatures for an idea to immobilise all of them. The earlier remark gave him one.

'Val, can you conjure up a cloud of vapour in the middle of the room?' he asked when the idea hit him.

'Yes, no problem.' she said, and began creating a layer of water on the floor.

'Everyone, move towards the walls and keep the bats in the middle. Cay, stand ready to do your thing.'

His girls slashed and struck at nearby bats while they backed off against the wall, and gestured at Tipper, Yingshien, and Rachael to do the same. The bats flew around like a compact tornado, and Ulric stepped back last. 'Val, now!'

Valdys threw up her hands, and the growing layer of water shot up from the floor and enveloped the startled bats into the vapour cloud.

'Cay, shoot it!' said Ulric.

Caylais thrust her hands forward with a growing ball of lightning. It shot away and shrouded the cloud in an instant.

The bats shrieked as the lightning spread out through the cloud and their tiny bodies, and dropped them unconsciously from the air if it didn't kill them outright already.

Ulric stepped forward while the vapour cloud dissipated, and focussed his nose and ears on the pile of dead and squirming creatures. A small heap attracted his senses. 'There.'

The bats on top of the heap rolled aside, and the heart bat shot up towards the ceiling.

'She protected herself by using her other bodies as a shield.' said Elzbieta, and stabbed her sword at the swift bat.

Naopte flew close to the ceiling and easily evaded any attempt to hit it from the girls while staying close enough to them to prevent another lightning attack. She knew she couldn't fly around long enough for someone to come to her aid, and searched around for an escape route. She almost cursed for choosing a residence without windows, then realised there was still one way to go outside. The fire may singe her even if it was burning less hard now, but she'd be alive and safe.

She feigned a move to the corner of the room, then dove down to the floor and shot towards the fireplace with a thrust from her wings.

Ulric snarled when he realised her intent. 'She's going up the chimney!'

The heat grazed her but she was thrilled to see the white light above her in the chimney.

She noticed too late the white was not actually a light.

Trixy fell down with Naopte in her grip into the fire, but Valdys doused it at once with a water spell. Ulric grabbed her from the wet ashes and charred wood, and gripped the bat while he looked over the undead squirrel. 'Are you all right?'

Trixy chittered her reassurance that she was, and let go of Naopte. Valdys took her in her arms and examined her smudged bones. 'You didn't burn yourself up there, did you?' she asked, while Valdys wiped her clean.

Trixy chittered again and Valdys stroked her nose against her undead familiar's nose. 'You anticipated she might escape through there?'

Trixy nodded.

Ulric stroked her head. 'Dangerous, but a very smart move, little one. I'm damned proud of you.'

She rubbed her head against his paw as she chittered in pride.

Ulric watched the wriggling bat in his paw as it tried to bite his fingers. 'I wish the next part wasn't so disgusting.' He and the girls looked away and tried to ignore the sound as he clenched his fist and turned every bat into ashes.

***

Malyssa poured herself a glass of blood wine from the cabinet in one of the many sitting rooms. 'It is time.' she whispered to the young man beside her. 'Tell everyone to stand ready to take action.'

Her friend Antorio opened the book he held casually and leafed through the pages. 'Will they succeed?'

Malyssa sipped from her glass. 'They just took down Naopte. I saw them do it through the keyhole from her chamber door.'

He barely revealed his surprise in his face. 'She may have been old, but she is a formidable opponent if you make her your enemy.'

'Was.' said Malyssa with a brief smirk. 'She was not formidable enough compared to our guests.'

'Won't they become a threat to us then?'

'Not as long as we stay on their good side.'

He closed his book. 'I will round up the others.' he said, and left the sitting room.

Malyssa returned to Naopte's room, suppressing her growing excitement on seeing her plans come to fruition. 'Are you fit to take on the next one?'

Ulric looked at the girls. 'I'm good, how about you?'

The girls wiped their weapons clean while Yingshien took a deep breath to sense the state of her fire ability. 'I think we're good.' said Iphigenia. 'It hasn't been as intense as previous fights, just more bothersome.'

'So, who's next?' asked Ulric of Malyssa.

She already had picked her target. 'Dornus.'

'He keeps very much to himself, and only has a couple of close servants who are deaf and mute taking and relaying his orders.' Malyssa said while they navigated the secret passages to the far end of a wing of the burg. 'Even the other Old Ones barely know anything about him, but they have a high respect for him. From what we have learned through pieces of history is that he once was powerful in battles, but everything points to him having lost what power he had. He has not done anything since the last fight he was involved in.'

'You think he has become weak?' asked Valdys.

'Not exactly weak, but not more powerful than any of the others. Maybe even less. Not once have any of us seen him display any sign of strength.'

'That doesn't prove he's weak.' said Elzbieta.

Malyssa glanced back at her. 'True, but there have been a few conflicts after he stopped fighting in which he never showed up. He also only attends the most necessary gatherings between the Old Ones. We think they just keep him around as a courtesy to his past.'

'We'll not underestimate him though.' said Ulric. 'That would be a mistake even weak opponents could exploit.'

Malyssa stopped at a junction. 'We're close. There's a good chance his two servants are in the room this passage connects to, but Dornus should be two rooms further down, so if you can take out his servants quietly, he'll never know.'

Ulric looked at Iphigenia and Elzbieta, who gave him a nod. 'We'll first have a look to see if we can.'

The concealed door was built into a corner of the room, and a thin crack which was not noticeable in the lower part of that corner provided a reasonable wide view inside. Malyssa took a quick glance. 'Both of them are in there.' she whispered. 'Don't be fooled by their looks, they are twice as strong as the average man.'

She moved back and Ulric took a look. The two pale skinned and bald men sat upright in two chairs turned halfway towards the double doors at the far end of the room, and their dead eyes were fixed on a row of small, brass bells hanging on the wall. Ulric noticed their outfit wasn't as stiff as some servants wore, with one wearing a faded red colour, and the other a blue. 'I have a feeling those guys do use that strength from time to time.' he whispered.

Iphigenia, Elzbieta, and Valdys also took a look, and agreed. 'They look like they'd roll up their sleeves at a moment's notice to cause some hurt.' whispered Iphigenia. 'Not to serve tea and biscuits.'

They turned to Malyssa but she shrugged. 'We see them going around, but we've not seen them in any actual action other than making sure someone does as he is ordered to by Dornus.'

Ulric looked again at his girls. 'If you have any doubt.'

'We're here to do a job.' whispered Elzbieta. 'I believe we can surprise them while they're only looking at those bells.'

Iphigenia nodded. 'We strike fast so they can't cause any commotion.'

'Then we do it right now before anything messes up our attack.' whispered Ulric, and cautiously opened the wall panel. 'I'll take Red if you two take on Blue.'

He sneaked closer to the servant wearing red, using the leather seats for guests as cover, while Iphigenia and Elzbieta did the same towards the other. 'Ready?' he asked when they were as close as they could come near the men without being seen.

The girls gripped their swords. 'Ready.'

The three jumped forward at the same time.

The servants reacted faster than anticipated, and Red blocked Ulric's punch, while Blue spun around and deflected the girls' swords. Ulric didn't hold back and pushed Red down onto the floor, preventing the struggling man from escaping. Iphigenia pinned their opponent's foot to the floor with her sword, and Elzbieta stabbed with her sword at his gut. Her sword pierced him, but he didn't flinch, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her closer. Not giving him the advantage, she and Iphigenia pushed him back, but he still maintained his balance with his other foot. 'He's too strong!' said Iphigenia.

Elzbieta noticed him pulling his pinned foot loose. 'He's pulling free!'

Yingshien hit him against his chest and pushed him onto the floor on his back with all her weight, to Iphigenia's and Elzbieta's relief. Valdys hurried to them and cast a shard of ice into his throat, which pierced through the top of his head, and did the same with Red.

Ulric stood up. 'Great work.'

Caylais stood at the door, listening for any sound from the other side. 'I only hear music. Seems we didn't alert Dornus.'

Ulric moved next to her and listened as well. He didn't hear anything more than music from a similar device as in Grozev's chambers. 'Good. Let's see what's in the next room.' he said, and peeked through the keyhole of the door.