Springvale Ranger

"Guess I'll get started, then," she said, pushing herself up from the chair. Bravrim nodded. She made her way to the door and opened it. A barrage of typing clicks and printer motors filled her ears.

"Oi, Windham," Bravrim said before she stepped out. Laura turned her head to the captain, trying to keep her expression as emotionless as possible. "Make sure you're ready for melee. They'll probably have buggers everywhere." Laura nodded and walked out of the office, letting the door shut behind her. She started making her way to the armory.

The captain wasn't wrong about being for melee, she knew. Zombies and vampires went down easily enough with silver bullets, but it was harder to hit the skeletons. Blackcrag had a history of liking skeletons. If she had a team with her, one of the members would have carried a silver sword and ballistic shield. It wasn't uncommon for Rangers to have solo operations like this, it was just never the ideal for the Rangers involved.

The trip to the armory was easy and short, having walked through the cubicle farm to the elevators and gone to the first basement level, the armory was right in front of her when she exited the elevator. She flashed her access card to the reader, soliciting an approving beep from the machine. The heavy lock shifted with a satisfying clunk. Laura turned the handle and pushed the heavy door open, closing it behind her.

The armory was a large, well-lit room. Racks of various firearms lined one wall, which connected to another rack of melee weapons and ballistic shields lining another wall. The third wall to her right sported plate carriers with ceramic ballistic protection and helmets. Laura felted stuffed up, as if the air itself was barely breathable. Underground, with no windows, and surrounded by concrete could suck the soul out of the cheeriest of people.

Laura looked at the firearms rack. There were a few missing, most likely taken by the Rangers that were all out on duty. There was an assortment of pistols, rifles, carbines, and sub-machine guns. She decided not to take any on this operation; they would only draw attention and slow her down. Vampire families tended to be big, but Laura was guessing she wouldn't be running into too many vampires, rather, she'd be running into a lot of skeletons.

She made her way to the melee weapon rack, slowly inspecting each weapon as she passed. There were far more available than firearms, which made perfect sense; you didn't want to take a melee weapon if you were against orcs or beastmen. Conall might be able to handle a melee fight with them though, she thought smirking. She was still surprised by how nice he was.

Finally, she came to a hatchet. Silver lined the blade in streaks, but the core of the blade was hardened steel. That would do nicely. Laura picked it up off the rack, holding it by the handle and gave it a few practice swings. It didn't sing like a sword, but it would do a lot of damage to a lot of bones. She smiled at the weapon and slid it into her duty belt.

Laura turned and headed for the door. She would skip the armor this operation, it would only slow her down for minimal protection. It might be troublesome if she encountered ballistic wielding vampires, but she was expecting skeletons and zombies that really didn't care if you wore armor at all. Better to have speed than protection for this one.

She exited the armory, hearing the lock slide back into place as the door closed behind her. Entering the elevator again she pressed the ground floor button. The door closed immediately, and the elevator sped upwards. When the door opened again, and she stepped out, instead of turning toward the front lobby, she turned toward the garage. She pulled out her phone and opened a text conversation with Bravrim. Leaving now. She sent the text, put the phone on silent and then slid it back into her pocket. She just had to choose a vehicle and head to the estate now.

Chapter 3

Laura crouched in the cover of a tombstone. The engravings on it were ancient and worn clean. Weeds coiled around it and covered it mostly. The estate in front of her was a large mansion surrounded by a dense graveyard. A large iron fence, rusted in many areas, surrounded the entire lot, which was a good thing. Occasionally the occupants of a grave would awaken and wonder the grounds before returning; it was the vampire's way of having guards.

One such zombie shuffled by, dragging a broken and decaying ankle behind it. It groaned as it passed. Laura's eyes followed it as she made sure to not move or make a sound. What had once been a man was dressed in a dirty and torn tunic, but its legs were bare. From maroon pattern on the tunic, Laura guessed the zombie had lived in the 2nd Era, just at the edge of two-thousand years ago. For all she knew of the time period, he could have been one of the original Springvale Rangers, back when they fought with bows and shield walls.

Laura lifted herself up, keeping a crouched like state as she moved silently toward the estate once the zombie had passed. She was careful to not step on the actual graves. Never know when the undead were simply waiting in a shallow grave for someone to step on them. They were called undead mines. No explosives or technology needed, just some necromancy.

She made it to moss covered wall that had originally been white in color but was now a darkened beige color of the estate itself. Large windows covered the entire building but almost every single one had black blinds and curtains covering it so that light couldn't get in. She was glad she came during the day to get a good and stealthy approach; vampires wouldn't look out the windows during the day. There were a few cameras surrounding the estate, but they were easily dodged as they were stationary looking mostly in the front and the back of the courtyard.

After a few steps of creeping along the wall, making sure that no zombie or skeletal guards were near, Laura came to a window. She looked up, making sure she was under the camera's view plane, and then stood up straight. Placing a gloved hand on the windowpane, she applied a bit of pressure and tried moving her hand to the side. The window followed her movements, to her astonishment, and quietly at that. She was fully expecting a squeak or screech from rusted rails.

She let go of the window the moment it was open enough for her to get herself through it. Reaching out with the same hand she lightly moved the black curtains to the side, pieing the room off with light as she did. The room was plain looking with not much in it. In the center there was a closed coffin, but the only other furniture was a small desk set with papers and pens scattered about it. No sign of the vampire that occupied it, though she guessed that the occupant was inside the coffin.

Laura pulled the pistol from her duty belt, keeping her finger straight along the top of the trigger weld. She placed her free hand on the bottom of the windowsill and jumped, pushing herself up with her hand and crawling through the window. The moment he boots touched the old hard wood floor, her finger was on her pistols trigger, and she was scanning the room, the reflect sight providing a red dot as an extension of her vision. The room was clear, and the door to the hallway was closed, giving her time and security.

She turned and quietly closed the window, then moved around the coffin to the front of it. It had hinges facing the window, so if it opened, Laura would be ready. She holstered her pistol and pulled the hatchet from her belt instead, then crept up to the coffin and tapped the top of it. The lid slowly opened, pushed by a gray hand with purple veins. The owner, a woman that had clearly turned when she was older judging by the number of wrinkles covering her face, hadn't even opened her eyes yet. When Laura swung the hatchet and lodged the silver lined blade into her chest, the vampire's eyes opened wide and she hissed in pain, showing her fangs before crumbling to dust within the coffin.

Laura lowered the coffin lid and then made her way to the only other door in the room which would lead out into the estate at large. She put her ear to the door, listening for a minute. There were no sounds aside from the scurrying of a rat occasionally. Maybe they were all taking their afternoon naps. Laura smirked at the thought.

Opening the door, Laura slipped into the hallway. She switcher her hatchet to her right hand and looked around quickly. She was in a long hallway with ten rooms on either side that turned sharply back toward the center of the estate on either end. Shadow seemed to swirl around her heart and freeze her in place as she thought about having to clear every single room to look for the daughter. Laura took a deep breath, ducked back into the room she had come from and closed the door to think about her next move.

On one hand, clearing every room would take more time and would mean that it would be dark by the time she found her intended target, but it would make for an easier escape. On the other, if she skipped the rooms, and she tripped some sort of alarm, she'd have to fight through a lot of vampires. It was the proverbial shit sandwich she had heard so much about; a sandwich she had taken a bite of several times in her three years of being a Ranger.

Footsteps clicked from outside the door. Two pair, in fact, coming from opposite ends of the hall. Guards maybe? It would be smart to have guard patrols crossing each other at certain points. One pair of steps stopped right outside the door. The other slowed down but never truly stopped.

"Where are you going, Julian?" a muffled, scratchy voice said. It was right outside the door.

"Ezekiel wants me to escort our new guest to his chambers," said a second voice. It was just as scratchy as the first but deeper in tone. Laura heard the doorknob turning slowly as if one of them was planning to enter. She moved quietly beside the door so that when it opened it would block her from sight. "What do you want with the matriarch?" The farther, deeper voice asked.

"She must feed before overseeing the turning," the closer voice explained. Laura's grip on her hatchet tightened. She understood a bit of what they were talking about. Ezekiel was the head of the Blackcrag family, and the matriarch was usually the oldest female in the family and held immense power. The turning was a new term for her though, but Laura had a feeling she knew what it entailed.

"Then I'll see you there," the deeper voice said and quickened its pace. Its footsteps trailed down the hall until a door opened. Laura thought she heard a whimper. Her eavesdropping was cut off by the door opening. The vampire, a pale creature that looked almost identical to a bald man, walked swiftly toward the coffin with the dust of what had once been the vampire Laura had killed. Shit, she killed the matriarch.

As the vampire opened the coffin, his eyes widening in surprise at finding only dust, Laura burst forward. He had no warning of sound or sight and didn't even attempt to turn around and defend himself. She plunged the hatchet deep into his back. She expected him to hiss, or call out, but instead he gasped as if surprised, flung his arms out and promptly crumbled into dust. There was no time for Laura to pat herself on the back for the easy take down; that other vampire was still close and was collecting her target.

Laura peered out into the hall in the direction the other set of footsteps had gone, finding the owner of the footsteps stepping out of a room to her left with a blond half elf cradled in his arms. She was in a white gown and seemed to be sleeping, but Laura recognized the face immediately. There she was, Eva, the governor's daughter. Laura thanked her absolute luck as she slipped from the room, shutting the door lightly behind her and followed the target carrying vampire at a distance.

The vampire carried Eva down the next hall down to almost the main foyer. Laura could see the large ornate staircases leading up to the second floor in the foyer when the vampire turned suddenly into an open doorway. When Laura followed, she was greeted with a smaller, yet more concealed staircase. She continued to follow into the new second story hall. He turned into a set of double doors.

Laura sat in wait behind a small bust statue. The vampire appeared again from the room he had entered but without Eva in his arms. The moment the double doors closed behind him, Laura sprang forward, giving him two deep gashes across the chest with her hatchet. The vampire bared its fangs in defiance before crumbling to dust. She kicked the dust pile, trying to spread it to be less noticeable. She knew it wouldn't work; vampires lived hundreds of years in the same buildings and knew every nook and cranny by their cold dead hearts. She had to make the attempt though, otherwise it would always come back to haunt her.

Opening the door slowly, Laura peered in before stepping in and closing the door behind her. The large room was empty, save for the stone chair at the far end like a throne overlooking a court. Eva lay beside the chair, curled in a ball. Laura held her hatchet tightly at the ready as she slowly made her way toward Eva. She turned, taking a couple steps sideways and then backwards, and sideways again to visually inspect the empty room. Seeing nothing she turned back toward the chair to find a large, gray skinned figure sitting in it.

"A Ranger," a voice boomed, seemingly coming from every direction. "How entertaining." Laura stopped, staying in a slightly crouched combat stance with her hatchet ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"You must be Ezekiel," Laura said, her voice much quieter than she thought it would be. Shadows seemed to replace the walls of the room and close in on her on every side.

"Do they not teach your so called 'high-borne' proper respect for one's betters?" Ezekiel said, smirking. Purple veins webbed his neck. His fangs seemed too large to contain within his mouth, resting outside his lips every time he closed his mouth. He stood up slowly, raising his arms outward on either side of him to show he was unarmed. His black robes did nothing to hide the thick set muscles covering his body. "That's Lord Ezekiel to you, mortal."

"You're not my lord," she said, straightening her body and relaxing a little. Her grip on the hatchet stayed tight, despite lowering it a little. "Just like the dead piece of shit downstairs wasn't my matriarch." Laura caught anger flash in Ezekiel's golden eyes.

"You come to my home, kill my kin," he boomed. "Insult me, and bring silver," he hissed the word silver. "Into my court. All for Governor Williams' half breed; how low the Rangers have fallen."

"We figured prone was the better shooting position, is all," she quipped. Her heart was beating out of her chest and sweat started to bead across her body. The room was cool, yet she felt hot, and her limbs threatened to freeze in place.

"How defiant," Ezekiel said, stepping down from the throne and sauntering toward her. His feet were bare, and as he neared, she noticed his robes were thin and a shadowed transparent. "What is your name, Ranger?"

"Laura," she said. She was trying to keep her voice flat. "You have two choices, let me take Eva and go, or die and I'll take Eva anyway." She paused, shifting her hatchet to her left hand and resting her right on the grip of her pistol in its holster. "Either way Eva comes with me."

"Bold! I like that! You'd make an excellent bride," Ezekiel said, golden eyes flashing with excitement. Laura shook her head.

"Don't you need an invitation to make someone a vamp?" she paused, smirking. "Seems like a dumb rule to have to follow for a Lord." Ezekiel's eyes flashed with anger, but he chuckled trying to hide it.

"Silly Laura, do you know how we vampires get invitations so easily?" he asked, his smirk widening into a sinister smile. Laura tensed.

"If you were polite, you'd ask nicely," she said. She didn't know how long her bravado would last before things got ugly. Ezekiel was just ten meters away and getting closer.

"No no no, girl," he chuckled. "Allow me to show you." A blur of movement and Ezekiel was on a knee, holding her hand that had been on her pistol grip. She hadn't even felt him grab it or saw him move to take it. Before she could object, or pull her hand away, he bared his fangs and sank them into her wrist for only a second before pulling them out. Laura was caught completely off guard and forgot to swing the hatchet before Ezekiel became yet another blur of movement and moved out of range of it, still facing her.

She tried reaching her hand back to her pistol, the thought of killing the head of the Blackcrag family building an excitement in her. Her hand didn't budge. Instead, she felt her knees buckle. Her vision became blurry, and her body weak.

Chapter 4

She blinked, and her ailments were gone. Rubbing her wrist, which didn't sport any punctures at all, she stood up. The room seemed to be more well-lit, with a blazing chandelier above them. Laura looked to Ezekiel. "What did you do to me," she asked.

"Fear not, dear Laura, you're in no danger here," Ezekiel said, his voice still booming but now seemingly echoing into her mind. "This is only a dream." Cryptic bastard.

"That didn't answer my question," she said. Her body started getting cold, as if a draft were wafting over her bare skin. She looked down only to find that the reason for such a feeling was that she was, in fact, bare skinned. Her clothes and duty belt were completely gone, and she stood before a vampire lord completely naked. Crossing an arm over her bare chest, and lowering the other to cover her vagina, she looked around. Eva was gone, and even the door behind her was gone. The only things in the room were a coffin, a throne, the vampire lord and herself. "What the f- "

"When vampires bite, we inject a form of toxin," Ezekiel explained. "The toxin takes the bitten into a dream that we, the biter, control. It allows us to feed without the victim fighting back." Laura could feel the scratch of panic rising from her gut.

"So, you're feeding on me, then," she asked. Ezekiel shook her head, laughing.

"No, dear Laura, no!" he said. "I would never waste such potential by feeding on it. By the time you come to, you'll want to be my bride."

"I don't think I will," she said, shaking her head. "There isn't much that vampires have that I want."

"So, you think, my dear," he said smiling. He began walking toward her again. She noticed his purple veined, gray skin underneath the thin black robe her wore as it swayed. With the room well-lit now, she could see far more detail. The detail her eyes couldn't break away from, was the large dick, propped up slightly by a pair of large balls, that swayed between his legs. Cocks were nothing new to her, but ones of the size Ezekiel was sporting were. A fleeting idea of holding a measuring tape next to it crossed her mind.

"You see, my dear Laura, I control the dream. Everything you feel is by my design," he said. He stopped just inches from her. She could feel the silk robe covering his dick touching her stomach ever so lightly. Her eyes raised to his. The cold she had felt before was gone completely, replaced by a searing heat. Her cheeks flushed, her heartbeat quickened causing her breaths to come out as ragged gasps, and her legs began to quiver ever so slightly. She wanted nothing more than to kill the bastard right then and there, yet the curiosity was taking over her body. "Your thoughts and actions are your own, but everything else, is mine."

Ezekiel opened his robe in the front, giving Laura an unhindered look at his muscle racked body. It almost looked fake with how much time he had clearly put in to honing and chiseling it. She stopped her eyes from venturing further than his abs, lifting them back up to his golden eyes. There wasn't a need to look down further; she could feel the flesh of his cock rubbing against her stomach. A musk, sweetened with perfume surrounded her. The assault on her senses made it hard to think.