++Mana is everywhere, and it cannot be created by any means known to elf or man. The dark things of this world need it just to survive, wringing it from the flesh and blood of their victims. Such beasts are feared, and for good reason. The magics they can work with their stolen power defy description.++

  Chapter 10

  Having a mouthful of spider was nothing new to Reggie, in general. He’d been forced to eat them before, and found in doing so that they were actually quite nice. The trick was to really sear them, till they popped open like nuts between your teeth.

  This one wasn’t seared. It was also much bigger than the tiny creatures he’d sustained himself on in the past. Additionally, it was still alive and trying to eat him back. Reggie gave this meal two stars on account of all those things. He came to this conclusion right as he felt the carapace pop between his teeth.

  Blood filled his mouth instantly, molten life that hit his tongue with a taste Reggie had never thought he’d know. Like feeling heaven pour across every tastebud. He couldn’t help himself; even with his jaws locked on the monster, even with its legs clawing and ripping open his back as he forcibly held those fangs free, he started swallowing.

  And almost the moment he did, Reggie felt strength returning to him. He could feel the blood enter his own system as it went down his throat, circulating through his body and carrying liquid strength with it. His fatigue vanished, wounds began to heal all over, everything that had been bad becoming good. The added stamina was just what he’d needed to not get eviscerated, and Reggie used it well in tightening his grip against the thrashing creature.

  He only stopped when the blood did, and by then Reggie found himself suddenly urged to find more. His body moved in an animalistic frenzy of muscular strength and digging talons, scratching gouges into carapace as he adjusted grip on the spider and searched for another joint.

  This time, Reggie settled for the hinge where its head met its body. The wolf spider mewled more than screeched, trying to free itself rather than attack him at this stage. It was no more successful in this new endeavour, much of its strength now residing in Reggie’s veins. He bit down again.

  More screaming, as if the spider realised that this one was the end of its life. Reggie felt himself hauled through the air as he and his prey rolled around, limbs thrashing around and wrestling for purchase on the other. More scratches opened up along his back and arms, but he ignored the shallow wounds, focused on drinking his fill. The more he was cut, the more he pressed power into healing himself, the hungrier he got, the more he drank, the less strength his enemy had to use against him. It only took half a minute before the spider’s struggles stopped altogether, and a minute more after that until Reggie finally stopped getting more blood from it when he sucked.

  Finally he fell back from the dead thing, panting. Reggie realised only seconds into his heaves that they weren’t doing anything. His lungs were dead and useless, why bother filling them with air? Stopping didn’t feel like anything at all.

  Infant wolf-spider drained, +1 Strength.

  Name: Reginald Smith

  Age: 21

  Race: Vampire [Inheritor Race, Tier 1]

  Class: None

  Attributes:

  Strength 24(+10)

  Speed 24(+10)

  Celerity 26(+10)

  Toughness 22(+10)

  Charisma -1(-10)

  Abilities:

  Blood Magic I

  Form of the Beast I

  Traits:

  Enhanced Senses I

  Regeneration I

  Reggie blinked at the screen for a second, finding a grin plastering itself across his face, despite himself. “I…got an extra point of Strength? Just from…what, from drinking all of that baby wolf spider’s blood?”

  Correct.

  Well, it was hard not to feel some elation at that. How had Reggie gotten his last point of Strength as a human? Hours of exercise, hundreds of hours. Pushups and punches and leaps until he felt sick, burning so much energy that he was starving himself. And now, just like that, he’d drained one creature and achieved the same result.

  “Can I do this with other wolf spiders?”

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  Yes, to a point. Vampires only gain additional Attribute points for draining monsters of an equal or higher Tier than themselves. As your Tier increases, you will struggle to find worthy prey.

  That was a bit of a downer, but not exactly unexpected. Life just wasn’t that nice to old Reginald.

  Reggie kept walking after that, and did his best to remain quiet despite his newfound strength. He took the time to ask some questions of the System and was pleased to receive a great many detailed answers.

  When transformed with Form of the Beast, he looked terrifying and monstrous to humans, as well as burning through blood faster. Best to turn that off when not fighting. No, the sun didn’t kill him yet. No, he wasn’t repelled by holy symbols or faith. Yes, he did need to drink blood to survive. He didn’t bother asking if it was human blood, Reggie’d done a fine job of confirming it was not already.

  [How do you know you’re going the right direction?] The demonic voice that lived in Reggie’s head asked. Hm. That was a mouthful, now that it was apparently a person. Dvo. There was a fine name.

  “Because, Dvo, I recognise this landscape, I remember where it starts relative to Norvhan, and you’re feeling the need to speak so that I’ll get lost.”

  [Dvo?]

  “That’s your name now, you live in my head so I get to pick it.”

  [I like Dvo.]

  Shit. If nothing else, bickering with what was possibly a hallucination, possibly a sentient person who’d come alive in his own head, and possibly a demon like Reggie thought from the start was a nice distraction.

  He reached Norvhan in record time, maybe even going by Ludvich’s records. Reggie didn’t seem to get tired anymore with his new body. No matter how fast he walked, so long as there was blood in him fatigue wasn’t a concern. This didn’t do a lot to help in combat right away, not with how many fights could end in mere seconds, but for long-distance movement it was a world of difference. Especially in the grimwoods. Reggie found himself somewhat more confident in avoiding anything that might try to eat him.

  Something struck him as off as he approached the town, though, breaking him out of those thoughts.

  It’s different. Reggie didn’t believe it for a second, but staring at Norvhan’s outskirts made it undeniable. There was a wall around the town, now, built maybe fifteen feet high and of thick wood and stone. It looked like it would’ve turned away anything short of a cannon. What the hell?

  He got closer, but kept himself low to the ground. Reggie still sharply recalled being put to death by the Circumscribers, and part of him was reluctant to even return at all. But he had to. Had to make sure the town was okay, that Ludvich was okay, had to see what he could salvage from his life.

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that by making his way through the gate. The major problem with being known by the whole town as a demonically possessed lunatic was that it meant you were known by the whole town. On the other hand, recent events had given Reggie expanded options for gaining entry.

  He took a moment to transform. Or, well, several moments really. Apparently being attacked by a giant man-eating spider was a crucial ingredient for doing it well, but Reggie was able to make his body shift and pop into its combat configuration by focusing on those feelings of panic and trying to rekindle them. Once that was done, with all the newfound strength rushing through his limbs, he jumped.

  It felt like he cleared half the wall’s height in just that one bound, but Reggie still fell well short. He backed up after landing, gave himself a running start, and tried again. This time he reached the top effortlessly. Reggie gripped the wood with his talons, digging them in easily and hauling himself over. A quick look around showed that there were no witnesses to his little entry.

  Or, rather, the several witnesses who were here couldn’t see him. That was another benefit to his new body. Though it didn’t seem to appear under his Traits in the System, Reggie had far better night vision now than he ever had as a human. He supposed every little part of a creature’s anatomy couldn’t be recorded, it wasn’t like he’d been looking at ‘long distance running’ or ‘sweat glands’ whenever he glanced at his sheet as a human.

  Reggie made a point of transforming back anyway, figuring it’d be better to have a not-visibly-inhuman profile in the night if he wanted to avoid trouble. Then he started making his way through Norvhan, and headed straight for his shack.

  It was right at the edge of the walls, in the end, which Reggie thought was just typical. Made sense he’d die right before his home was finally protected from the grimwoods, if he’d lived long enough to see it then he’d have actually benefitted from the change. That didn’t register compared to the state of it, though.

  Burned ruins, and little else. That was what had become of the place. It looked collapsed fully inwards, and when Reggie stepped inside to peek around he found it smelling…old. The charred wood was damp and rotting where rain had sunk in, and one peek into the basement showed that there wasn’t a single scrap to be salvaged. He’d expected this, of course, heard the elves talk openly about their plans to destroy it all.

  Seeing it though…that was a knife in his guts.

  Reggie felt tears well in his eyes, except they weren’t even tears. Blood built and rolled down his cheeks in smears, he trembled, and everything seemed to be closing in.

  Are you okay?

  He smiled bitterly. The only person in the world concerned for him, and it was the damned System.

  “No,” Reggie croaked, “I’m…” something struck his hearing, a scraping in the night. Footsteps. Reggie whirled to stare at the source of it, saw the figure approaching, then hurriedly flung himself into a nearby ditch and entrusted the mist to hide him. A few minutes later, he saw Ludvich approach the building.

  Reggie stiffened at the sight, but that was just instinct. Putting aside the natural caution he’d gained from being beaten to death and forcibly reanimated as a monster…it was damned good to see the old man.

  Old man, though. Really, really old. Ludvich stepped close enough soon for Reggie to see the lines on his face, the grey in his hair, the tiredness in his eyes, and it was only then that Reggie finally realised the most awful truth of all.

  How long was I buried? He asked the System

  Fifteen years, it replied.

  Fifteen fucking years. Reggie tried to let that sink in as he knelt there in the bush, but it just wouldn’t. The facts kept bouncing off his mind like bullets against a boulder. Fifteen years? That was almost as much time as he’d spent living. And it didn’t look like any trace of him had survived the years, either.

  Ludvich kept coming, approached the shack. Reggie wondered only then what the old Witchfinder was doing. What business could he have in a place fifteen years abandoned?

  He found out fast when Ludvich reached the doorstep, dropped a single flower down on it and lowered himself down to his knees. Reggie watched the old man as he started weeping, felt emotions he couldn’t name twisting in his own gut.

  “Rest easy lad,” Ludvich croaked, “I’m sorry.” He was crying. Reggie had never seen the Witchfinder so much as sniffle, and here he was with tears pouring like rain. Reggie’s feet were moving before he could even think to stop them, and he stepped out of his concealment to approach the old man.

  “Ludvich,” Reggie called out softly, “it’s me, Reggie, I’m bac—” Ludvich shot him in the face.

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