No Longer a Game

Chapter 19 - Vampires, Vampires, Vampires...Oh My!

When Rain peered into the room she really did not know what to expect; her friends encountered vampires only once during times they played the game since vampire genre was not their preferred play so their campaigns had little to do with vampires. What Rain did know about vampires in this world was they were not feral monsters who just go around slaughtering people and drinking their blood to satisfy their blood lusts, but were very controlled and often lived among the living keeping their masquerade of being "normal" hidden. Rain knew that vampires in this world retained most of their traits after becoming undead; if the person was intelligent before being turned they would be intelligent after, if they were skilled warriors before they would be after, if they were wizards before they would retain that ability after they became vampires, and so forth. What surprised her when she looked into that room was how social they seemed and how they seemed to enjoy activities like the living; macabre social activity but social never the less.

Rain felt her stomach turn and bile in her throat as she scouted the room before her. The first thing she noticed was the smell; the room smelled of fresh blood and she gagged at the scent. The room was not too large but larger than she expected. There were four large columns, two on each side, and the room was furnished with sofas and chairs and tables. In the center of the room was what Rain could best describe as a large glass punch bowl filled with blood that dripped from the naked body suspended upside down over the bowl. The body looked to be that of a boy in his teen years and Rain assumed the dead boy must have been hanging there for a while since the blood from his cut throat dripped in the bowl as if almost drained. Throughout the room were the occupants; she counted seven vampires, three humans who were obviously there on their own accord and all three were male, and four humans who appeared to be servants of some sort; Three females and one male.

The three humans who were not servants were together, one sitting in a large cushioned chair and the other two standing on either side of him. The two standing were wearing black leather armor similar to the guards Rain and the drow had killed while the one siting was wearing a black plate chest piece with some symbol on the chest Rain could not recognize at the distance she was from them. All three were armed with weapons; the two guards with swords and each held crossbows while the one sitting had spiked mace on his belt. They were laughing and talking to one another and did not seem to be in danger from the vampires.

The vampires were lounging on the sofa's or sitting in the chairs at the table drinking from gold or silver cups and that were constantly refilled by the servants; who filled pitchers from the blood filled glass bowl. Most of the vampires were armed with an assortment of weapons and wore various armor except one, a male vampire, was dressed in mage robes; the vampires were also laughing and talking and Rain and her companions seemed to be viewing a social party and two of the vampires were playing musical instruments; one some type of flute and the other a string instrument.

The servants wore very little clothing and the females' breasts were bare but each had a dagger of knife on their waists. Rain did not know if they were mind controlled or not but they did not seem to be afraid of the vampires at all.

Rain flinched when Nalfal put his hand on her shoulder and he motioned to her that it was time to go back to the rest of the group; as the three were about to turn away a door on the opposite side of the room opened and two more human guards appeared, one female and one male, and between them was a naked woman. The woman struggled and cried and begged but to no avail as the two guards dragged her to the center of the room. The female guard moved the body of the dead boy and then released the corpse from the bonds holding it suspended and it fell to the floor with a sickly thump as the male guard held the struggling woman. The two then bound the naked woman at her feet, pulled the ropes, and hoisted her up over the glass bowl. The female guard pulled a knife and cut the woman's throat and blood sprayed and ran out of her body into the bowl. The vampires and humans laughed as she bled out to feed the vampires. Rain felt sick and faint and would have fell to her knees if Nalfal had not reached out and supported her.

"We need to get back before they notice the missing guards," He told Rain.

The three silently made it back to the others who were waiting inside the crypt at the top of the stairs. Rain told them what they had scene with Nalfal and his brother adding anything she missed.

"That's odd, "Ahira said after Rain was finished, "the humans with the vampires I mean. And they weren't mind controlled or charmed?"

Rain shook her head, "No, did not appear to be." She looked at Nalfal and he nodded his head in agreement.

"The one is a priest." The male drow said. "The one sitting in the chair but he is not powerful enough to control that many undead. They looked friendly with one another."

"Who did he serve?" Tlueindra asked.

"I could not get close enough to see his holy symbol well enough to be sure." The male drow told her.

"Does it matter?" Natalie asked. The elf's voice sounded weak and scared.

"It could."

"So what's the game plan, Ahira?" Jason asked.

"Well seems with the music and the fact they are having some type of party we can get close enough and then go hack and slash on them. We have surprise on our side."

"I agree," Nalfal said, "But we need to take out the priest and that wizard first. Our attack needs to be quick and efficient. We need to take out as many as we can on the first attack before they can recover. There are at least two other human guards not in the room and we should expect more and maybe even more vampires who will come to the other's aid."

"I will take the priest." The dwarf said grimly as he held up his crossbow. "Lou you and Natalie take care of their wizard. He is a vampire so a crossbow bolt won't kill him." Lou nodded but Natalie stood there with a frozen look on her face. "Natalie...Natalie." Ahira said firmly.

The elf blinked and looked at the dwarf. "Can't...we should just leave before one of us gets hurt or dies."

"We need to do this, Natalie, and we need to count on you." The dwarf told her.

Natalie took a deep breath, "Ok."

"We can take him out, Natalie." Lou told assured her. "You hit him with your magic missiles which will stun and hurt him and then I'll hit him with a flame arrow and that should kill him."

Tlueindra put her arm around the elf, "We will be fine. I'll make sure nothing happens to you." The drow smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Give Natalie the back pack with the healing potions." Ahira said, "Since her and Lou need to stay back she can be our medic. Jason as soon as I fire the crossbow and kill the cleric use your Holy Light spell; that will at least stun the vampires for a moment and give us more of an advantage."

Natalie took the pack from Jason and put in on her back. Everyone drew their weapons and they made their way down the stairs. When they got to the marked alarm trap the group walked past it single file being careful not to trigger it and made their way around the corner to the entrance of the room. Ahira loaded his crossbow and nodded and the party prepared themselves for the battle.

Stepping around the corner the dwarf aimed his weapon and fired. The bolt shot toward the seated priest and passed over this head, hit the stone wall behind him, and fell harmlessly to the floor.

"Fuck!" The dwarf shouted.

The music in the room stopped and one of the female servants screamed as the vampires stood up and drew their weapons. The two guards next to the priest also drew their blades while the priest stood up and all eyes focused on the entrance of the room. Then chaos ensued.

Natalie saw a flash of bright white light that originated from Jason's hand and filled the room. The light stunned the vampires but had little effect on the humans in the room. Her friends charged into the room with weapons at the ready. One of the human guards fired his crossbow and the bolt flew past Christie's head missing her by just an inch, she heard the priest scream out in pain and clutch his chest as she heard Tlueindra casting a spell in a prayer like chant. The guard who fired the crossbow grabbed his neck as blood sprayed from is throat when Myrnethva fired his one handed crossbow on the run and then drew both his sword and dagger.

"Now Natalie! Do something!" She heard Lou scream at her.

"Oh!" Natalie started to cast her magic missile spell at the stunned vampire wizard. When she finished saying the words and making the hand gestures a series of red bolts made of arcane magic flew from her hands and hit the vampire in the chest. He screamed in pain as he stumbled back hurt but alive. Jason's holy light spell ended and the vampires were starting to regain their senses and just as the wizard started casting a spell a large flaming magic arrow hit him in the chest, burning a large hole where his heart was, and he fell to the ground. With both the priest and wizard dead the fight turned into melee combat and it was short, brutal, and bloody.

Natalie followed her companions into the room and searched her mind for spells but she became confused and disoriented at the scene of the battle and did not know what she should do. The sounds of steel on steel, people yelling orders, screams of pain, and Ahira's deep voice shouting battle cries and curses in the dwarven language rang in her ears. She saw her friends and new drow companions engage the enemy in violent hand to hand combat and noted the different styles of fighting they had.

Ahira and Jason used more brute strength to wield their large two handed weapons but they were not without skill. Ahira was fighting one of the vampires with his large two handed ax with one another one already laying on the ground before his feet headless. The dwarf wielded his ax with great strength and expertise and effortlessly parried and attacked with the heavy weapon skillfully. Jason had engaged two vampires with his mighty two handed sword and the holy blade glowed with a faint blue light. As with the dwarf the paladin fought more offensively than defensively and the sword Natalie doubted she could even pick up seemed weightless in the hands of Jason. He ducked and then side stepped an attack from a vampire wielding a long straight sword, slashed his magical blade from right to left, and the vampire gave a blood curdling scream as it feel backwards holding it's shoulder where it's arm used to be. Jason did not relent and pressed his attack on the other vampire. The armless vampire recovered quickly and was about to join the battle again but another magical flaming arrow from Lou seared into his chest and the creature screamed again and fell to the floor dead.

Christie's song sword hummed in a beautiful but eerie sound as if it was actually enjoying the battle. Natalie saw her drow lover was extremely skilled in the way of swordplay but instead of strength she was more graceful in her thrusts and parries as she fought a female vampire armed with both a sword and dagger. Natalie screamed when she heard Christie cry out in pain and grab her shoulder when a crossbow bolt found a cinch in the drow's armor. Christie fell to one knee and the female vampire was about to press her advantage as she smiled down on her victim and raised her sword, but the drow priestess made an acrobatic roll to her left and her sword flashed up and drove into the chest of her opponent. Natalie was about to run to her girlfriend when the drow flashed her a grim smile and waved her off and Christie searched the room for another opponent.

Rain fought differently and more defensively using both her long curved enchanted knives. The rogue did not engage her enemies head on as the others did, but preferred to quickly glance around the room and use cunning and stealth as a weapon. She smiled evilly when she noticed one of the human servants running to Lou with his dagger drawn to prevent the wizard from casting. Rain was quicker and she drew one of her throwing knives, threw it, and it found its mark and buried into the chest of the servant. As if she had some type of sixth sense, Rain ducked and turned all in one fluid motion as a sword blade harmlessly whooshed over the area where her head used to be. The half elf thrust upwards with her blades and blood sprayed as they drove into the neck and the vampire who attacked her.

Natalie saw the drow Nalfal run into the room and engage a human guard who had fired the crossbow that hit Christie. The drow was by far the most skilled of anyone in the room. One did not become Weapon Master of a drow house without great skill. The guard saw the drow rushing toward him and with fear in his eyes dropped the crossbow to draw his sword but before he could draw it he was cut down by the drow.

Natalie looked around the room for Tlueindra out of concern for the young drow's safety and saw her engaged with two vampires. The elf was amazed at how the girl used both her sword and knife. Tlueindra was trained by Nalfal and also a Sword Dancer and her skill with the blades were like a beautiful ballet...a ballet of death. Her feet seemed to dance as they moved and her parry's and thrusts and attacks and counter attacks would have been beautiful to watch if not for the death they caused. She smiled as she quickly dispatched one of her victims with a sweeping strike of her sword and the vampires fell headless to the ground and she expertly parried a blow from the second.

"Natalie! Do something!" Natalie heard the dwarf call to her. "Don't just stand there!"

The elf blinked and looked around the room and saw two more human guards enter the battle from the door on the other end of the room. She raised her staff and started to cast a fireball spell but before the words could get out of her mouth she was knocked to the floor and above her stood a powerfully built vampire holding a two handed sword above his head to bring down on her. Natalie brought her staff up just as the blade came down and blocked the attack but the vampire twisted his wrists and her staff flew from her hands. He brought the sword up again and smiled grimly at her and she could see his fangs. Natalie saw Rain out of the corner of her eye.

"Rain help!" She screamed out with panic on her voice as she used her hands and feet to back peddled to get away from the large sword.

The half elf rogue was fighting a female vampire and parried a blow with her knives and she glanced over to Natalie.

"Natalie! No!" She screamed.

Fueled by the fear of the elf girl dying she quickly stabbed the vampire in her chest. The vampire fell back and to the ground as Rain ran toward Natalie. When she took one step, Rain screamed out again, this time in pain, as the vampire she stabbed drove a dagger deep into her calf. The half elf fell to her knees, drove her knives into the throat of the vampire, and she turned her head knowing she was going to see her friend die.

Natalie backed herself into a wall and fear washed over her body as she saw the large sword start to come down. She had seen Rain fall and knew the half elf could not get to her in time even if she still lived; but someone else had taken notice of Natalie being in dire need. Tlueindra heard her cry for help and the drow ran, jumped on one of the tables in the room, and with a graceful spinning move she came down and in a single motion, her sword and long knife crossed in her arms, as she came down she made one fluid motion to uncross her blades and the vampire's his head fell to the floor as Tlueindra elegantly fell to the floor with one knee and hand on the ground. She smiled at Natalie as she stood up.

Natalie opened her mouth to thank the drow but her words turned into a scream as she saw the young drow's eyes go wide, blood come from her mouth, and a sword blade burst through her chest spraying blood all over Natalie's face and upper body. The young dorw fell to the ground and behind her holding his bloody short sword was a Halfling vampire. The vampire grinned at Natalie and licked his blade.

"NOOO!" Natalie screamed, reached out, and her hands found the shaft of her staff. As the Halfling vampire approached her she raised her staff, uttered the trigger word, and a lightning bolt shot from the tip of the staff into the body of the vampire. The Halfling undead creature was tossed across the room, his body smoking but not dead. As the Halfling tried to stand there was a meaty sounding thump as the dwarf buried his ax into the creature's skull.

Natalie quickly unslung her back pack, pulled out a healing potion, and quickly crawled to the drow girl. She uncorked the potion and held it Tlueindra lips and poured the liquid into mouth. Nothing happened.

"No...please...please drink it!" Natalie begged as tears ran down her cheeks.

Natalie then poured some of the potion into the young drow girl's wound and again nothing happened. In a panic the elf once again brought the potion to the lips of the drow but to no effect. The liquid just filled the young drow's mouth and spilled down her chin.

"It won't work." She heard a voice above her and looked up to see Myrnethva standing over her. "She's already dead." He said sadly as he knelt next to the elf and put his hand on Natalie's shoulder.

Natalie took Tlueindra's head and held it to her breast and cried as she looked over the room and saw the fight was over but it cost them. Rain limped over to Natalie, her leg bleeding profusely, Nalfal was pulling the crossbow bolt from Christie shoulder as she cried out in pain, Jason was holding his bleeding side where a sword blade had pierced his armor, and Natalie looked over when she heard a horrifying thud as Ahira was going about the room beheading the wounded and dying vampires with is ax. The right side of the dwarfs head was matted with blood where a sword blade had taken off his ear. Lou was pulling the body of a vampire in a corner. Everyone was covered in blood.

"We have to burn them." Lou said. "Put their bodies and head in one spot and I will fireball them."

"Natalie...Natalie." The elf girl heard a voice call to her as she cried and held the young drow's head. "We need the healing potions."

Natalie nodded and gently placed Tlueindra head on the ground and grabbed her back pack and gave it to Rain. The half elf opened a bottle and poured some of the contents of the potion on her leg and then drank the rest. Myrnethva took the pack and started administering the potions to his other wounded comrades.

"We...we just can't leave her here." Natalie told Nalfal as he moved over to his dead kin's body. "She...she saved my life."

"We won't. We will take her body back to the temple. She fought bravely and with great skill. She honored Eilistraee today and she will be blessed by the Dark Maiden in afterlife."

"Blessed...how can you say that! How can you just look at her and say that and be so fucking nonchalant about it! She is just a child and should not have even been here!" Natalie screamed not only the drow but everyone in the room. "She was just a little girl and...and...fuck Eilistraee, fuck your gods! Bless her? Where was she when Tlueindra died? Where was she when this child needed her the most?"

Christie, now healed, knelt down and put her arm around Natalie but the elf pushed her away, "I fucking told you she should not be here! None of us should have been here!" She turned back to Nalfal and glared at him, "Your goddess and your gods...fuck them! Let me tell you how they work...how all gods work. You love them above anything even your parents, you devout your life to them, you pray to them and thank them for everything you have, but then when you really need them and you beg and plead for their help they turn their back on you! Your gods...all gods don't give a fuck about us!" Natalie buried her head in Christie's chest and started sobbing.