Still in the cave, the slime had agreed to help the ghost. Expecting her to be happy, Jack was surprised when her expression was still emotionless.
"It's not enough to just say yes," Aria stated, her words slow, deliberate, each one a challenge.
[Vampires usually sign deals with a blood pact. This binds them to the contract on a spiritual level.]
Jack tilted his head.
"A blood pact?" he asked.
Aria scoffed and crossed her arms.
"I'm not a pure vampire. Blood pacts are meaningless to me."
Jack sighed.
"Okay then what do you want?"
Instead of answering, she put out both her hands, gesturing for him to jump on her palms. Hesitantly he obliged. His body was trembling in fear as the last thing he wanted was to be flattened by this hybrid again.
"Okay what now?"
The girl was smiling, trembling even. Not because she was cold, but from excitement. She always wanted to do this..
"You're smile is kind of creepy," he squeaked.
Closing her eyes, she brought her mouth closer to him as if she was going to kiss him.
"I'm kind of married so-"
Not waiting for him to finish, she took a bite of him, sucking in some of his slime. The taste of blood and metal mixed with a touch of iron came back as she swallowed a piece of Jack.
"Owww," Jack yelped.
[HP: 30/40]
But his slime core remained intact.
"I'm sorry," she said as she took another small bite of him, savoring the taste before swallowing.
[HP: 20/40]
After the second bite Jack dashed away.
"Are you insane?" Jack's core was beating in panic.
"What kind of messed up ritual is this?"
She rubbed her chin.
"Special ritual for Ghost-Vampire hybrids." Her lie wasn't convincing at all.
[It doesn't exist, host.]
Jack's frustration boiled over into a furious squeak. "So that was just a lie!"
"I've always wanted to taste a blood slime but it felt inappropiate biting a pet," Aria admitted, her shoulders rising in a slight, unrepentant shrug.
As soon as he went to argue, footsteps interrupted him. They were outside and closing in the cave. He could tell they weren't the heavy armoured steps of Paladins.
Aria didn't seem to have heard them. But Jack dragged her deeper into the cave, hoping the intruders couldn't see that well in the dark. There were a four different paths from this central cavern, all sloping downward. They scrambled into the darkest one, pressing themselves against the damp, frigid rock.
Unfortunately Aria's collar was a beam of light in the dark, pulsating like a homing beacon. Using moss to cover it only made her feel uncomfortable but at least it wasn't so bright.
Eight men entered the cave. The leader walked with the arrogant stride of a man who owned everything he surveyed. They weren't Paladins or even city guard. Mercenary slavers, by the look of their mismatched armor.
"Zen and Tyler check that left tunnel. You," the leader said pointing at two other men "take the right."
The four men scattered with torches.
"You two stay here. Krieg you're with me."
Aria asked Jack what they were saying and he'd quietly explain everything but he needed to know what level they were. Getting the info from the system, he realized these were weaklings. Low-level scum with names.
[Host is a low-level scum as well.]
"Ow."
The collar started to heat up. The heat spread through Aria's neck to her head. A muffled yelp escaped her.
Noticing a sound, Zen and Tyler readied their guards. Their eyes locked on the pile of moss. There were only a few metres in between them.
"Relax we have anti-ghost charms, she's just a weak little vampire that got the drop on a careless guard," Tyler said.
Jack's heart pounded in his chest as they got closer and closer. They could only get the surprise attack once. Not to mention neither of them can attack far from. So make-shift shuriken had to be it.
Aria nodded at Jack, who had positioned himself on her shoulder, a single, solid red iron nail head emerging from his gooey mass. He was aimed, ready to be thrown. Then Zen and Tyler paused.
"There!"
Zen lunged forward, not with a sword, but with a small, finely crafted net woven from glinting silver.
"Ew what is this glowing mucus?"
Their diversion worked,
Now. Jack signalled. Aria threw him. He was a comet of grey doom arcing through the fetid air. A flicker of Tyler's torchlight revealed him, but it was too late.
[Level 7 Human defeated.]
Jack's hardened, blood-infused tip met the soft flesh of Tyler's eye with a sickening squelch. He plunged in, a metallic parasite boring for the brain. The mercenary didn't even have time to scream, a choked gurgle escaping his lips before he crumpled to the cave floor in a heap.
"Shit," Jack said.
He didn't think killing a human would feel this easy. It was one thing to accept your dad was a serial killer and anoter to follow in his footsteps.
"What the-?" Zen had only a second to process the impossible sight before Aria was upon him. She didn't bother with stealth or grace. She was a fury of desperation and bottled rage.
"Kneel. KNEEL! FUCK KNEEL," Zen shouted but the pain didn't stop her.
With a final, guttural roar, Aria's ghostly form solidified for a split-second, her claws driving into Zen's throat. Tears spilled from her eyes as the iron collar flared, sending searing pain through her entire being.
She fell to the ground. Her vision was blurry but she could see more mercenaries running from the depths of the tunnels.
"Aria?" Jack asked, bouncing closer.
Weakly, she held up a finger, pointing at the leader and the other mercenary. They were charging towards them. Jack turned around. A small slime protecting a vampire hybrid, two dead mercenaries behind them. He was outnumberedand couldn't be thrown as a projectile to kill them.
"Aria I need you to stand up."
He was squeaking in terror, a little piece of grey that could be crushed in an instant. His words were almost lost in the echoes of their approaching footsteps. The leader, a bulky man named Marcus, raised an eyebrow, a cruel smile spreading across his face.
"A demon protecting another demon," he spat, kicking Zen's corpse aside.
The disrespect was casual, final. Demonic reincarnation wasn't that rare but they were usually weaker. So to him Jack was less than a slime.
"Kill the little bug and grab the girl."