--- Moments before the ghost crashed into Jeanne.
In a cellar at the shop called 'Exotic Slaves', a guard was doing his rounds. Passing in between a few cages, he took puffs of his cigarette.
He coughed.
"Damn this is good smoke."
A few puffs later, he reached one cage that looked different. It didn't have steel bars, instead it was made of solid glass with holes.
The guard approached the container which had a girl in it. Her black hair covered her face like that ghost that crawled out of tv's. She had an iron collar with runes in it.
"Fuck, your owner is a lucky one," he commented.
The woman lifted her face. She had ruby eyes which rivaled demons. On her neck were scars, of the torture she endured yet she wasn't broken.
"I'm being sold tomorrow right?" she asked.
Her voice was raspy like someone who hadn't talked for years.
"Yeah some Marquis," he took a last puff of his cigarette and crushed the butt with the tip of his dirty shoe.
Thinking it was now or never, the girl started talking.
"You know there isn't a way to check for purity, if you know what I mean," she purred, her lips twisting into a smile. "You could have some fun without anyone noticing."
The new guard licked his lips, a slavering hunger in his eyes. He looked around and then walked to the glass container. The girl backed against the glass wall and raised her hands to show she wasn't a danger. To him she was a lamb ready to be devoured.
He reached for the rune-covered lock. But he paused. There were rules. And rules about this one were especially strict. The consequences of being caught, even with such a tantalizing invitation, were severe.
Not to mention.
"Can I even have sex with a ghost?" he wondered out loud, and not to her.
"Oh you can," the girl smiled. "I'm half vampire."
Convinced, the guard unlocked the cage, and that was when she saw her chance. He reached for her with the same lecherous hunger in his eyes. But in an instant she raised her claws and aimed for his neck.
The guard smirked. All he had to do was say kneel and the collar activated, causing the hybrid intense pain. However the physical pain paled in comparison to the one in her heart.
For a second, the guard enjoyed the sight of this 'exotic' girl wiggling in pain. The next his severed head lay on the pristine glass. His neck spurting blood.
Wiping off the blood, from her face, not even interested in drinking it, she started to run away. Running upstairs, she noticed a window with steel bars.
She jumped right through it, passing through the walls like they weren't there. Some other guards were chasing after her now. She ran. Ran towards the great wall. A dead end.
The guards surrounded her. Their swords shimmering in the city light, their armors gleamed. The girl held out her ghostly hands. These were weak guards, only one possessing some sort of class and magic. But they all had a weapon infused with anti ghost runes.
"Aria you're surrounded. Return willingly."
One guard said. The collars, of course, prevented her from becoming a pure ghost for more than a few seconds. Aria didn't know how thick the wall was. If she turned back into a solid she'd be dead, squished into the stone.
But anything was better than being a prisoner. So she decided. She looked at the night sky, its moon full. She wanted to feel it one last time.
Smiling, she vanished. Phasing through the wall again. Her collar glowed.
--- Back to the present.
A slime was splattered on the chest of an unknown girl like a squished mosquito. The ghost, Aria, shot up and pressed Jack against her own chest with one hand, ready to pop him.
Jeanne readied her own magic spear. Her eyes were fixated on the half vampire. Yet she'd glance at Jack.
The hybrid noticed this.
Immediately she used her claws to inject something into Jack's body, his core glowing faintly yellow. Then she held him hostage.
"Priestess. Step back or I will kill your pet."
The hybrid's red eyes were practically burning.
"D-d-d-d."
Jack wanted to say not to call him a pet but he only spoke gibberish like a slime with a stutter problem. His body began to feel numb.
[Host is paralyzed]
He tried to wiggle, to pop but he couldn't. Asking the system how he was paralyzed so quickly in his mind, was the only thing he could do. The response was as useless as ever.
[Poison works by size. Host is smaller than a rat.] The system replied.
Jeanne watched. She didn't lower her spear but she also didn't attack.
"Okay. What now?" Jeanne asked.
Unfortunately for the trio, the paladins at the sewer were walking towards them, intending to investigate the commotion.
"Don't follow me."
Aria made a run for the forest with Jack in her clutches. Looking back, he could see Jeanne hesitate for a split second. She could have fought Aria, or the paladins. But she chose to run in a different section of the forest.
He couldn't blame her. It's what he would have done. Save yourself.
The hybrid ran faster than wolves. Her feet barely touched the snow, as if she floated above the ground. After running for a few minutes, she stopped at a cave. It was dark and humid inside.
She dropped down to her knees, dropping Jack, who was still a living-paralysis-trophy. Her hands were wrapped around her neck. The pain finally overcame her.
"Agh," she wailed, as a pale blue light was emitted from her iron collar.
[The collar has tracking runes in it.]
A pang in his heart came back. It was obvious she was a slave, like in a fantasy novel. But seeing her in pain was different. After her little outburst, she started to catch her breath, her body trembling as she got used to the pain.
She picked him up, a small smile on her face.
"You look just like Bobo."
Her thumb, tipped with a surprisingly sharp nail, traced circles on his surface, an idle, strangely intimate gesture for a kidnapper.
"I think I'll name you Bobo Jr."