Vampire Hunter

by Dante Steel

  Maybe in the game. Maybe by Gary’s hand.

  No. What the fuck was he thinking? This game was twisting him, subverting him, turning him violent. Even wanting the three women, loving them all, that at its very base was selfish more than anything else.

  Elena was glowering at Haru. “Well?” she asked impatiently. “Gary has a point. Are you just going to stand there or are you going to answer his questions?”

  Gary fleetingly wondered if Haru was listening to someone else, if someone else was pulling his strings and feeding him information to give Gary and Elena. It wasn’t a thought that Gary appreciated, and it made his anger boil over again, like a volcano that continued to erupt.

  “Why did you bring Elena here?” Gary demanded. “Why have you been keeping such a close eye on me and my friends? Why can’t you just get your work done and only update me when you have something positive to say? Or is that because there never is any positive progress made, so you wouldn’t ever have anything to say? Is that it?”

  “Why not bring me?” Elena snapped, turning on Gary. “Oh, yes, he could’ve considered Nicoletta and then rejected that notion as out of hand. Get it? Hand?”

  Gary winced. “That was uncalled for,” he said.

  “Was it? Seriously, Gary, do you remember what happened during that last battle? She felt as if she were on fire. Real fire. She’s clearly afraid of fire. Was she burned as a girl?”

  Elena paused and whirled on Haru. Gary swallowed hard. Elena was right. Nicoletta was deathly afraid of fire, and one of her hands had been burned as a young girl.

  “Nicoletta’s fear is fire,” Elena said slowly, “and that’s her ability, her superpower. Olivia’s main fear is heights, and she can fly. Why is the game forcing the players to face their biggest fear? How do you know so much about us?”

  Haru held up his hands. “Ah, well, you are correct, Elena. We did consider the three of you girls as possible ones to enter the game, and we thought you the strongest and most mentally capable of withstanding the world of the game. As you mentioned, Olivia’s fear and her power and then Nicoletta and hers, they both are at a mismatch, shall we say. So, you were—”

  “How did you know the fears?” Elena demanded.

  “Don’t worry,” Gary said. “He’ll blame it on the quiz or say it’s a coincidence. You can’t ever get anything out of this guy. I swear, he’s practicing already.”

  “Practicing for what?”

  “For a lawyer,” Gary spat out. “Ever since I threatened him with a lawsuit, he’s been like this. He’s robotic. He doesn’t give a shit about us or how much we know about the workings behind the curtain. We’re just the puppets, and our strings are all coiled up, and he’s just gonna watch us struggle until we chock on the strings and die. Is that it, Haru? You and your buddy developer friends even bothering to try to get us out? Or not? Just watching us play like it’s some kind of sick reality TV show? How warped are you, buddy?”

  “Allow me to assure you of several points,” Haru said calmly. “The first being that we do want you all to come out of the game as swiftly as possible. Not because of fear of being sued. No. Your safety is our number one concern.”

  Gary snorted. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Number two,” Haru continued, ignoring Gary, “we want you all out of the game but it must be safe. We cannot risk having you yanked out of the game only to be killed or not entirely come out or for your minds to be snapped. It is a delicate process, and we will figure out every point, every detail. It will happen.”

  “Before we die of old age?” Elena asked bitterly.

  Gary winced. She sounded so angry and upset now. Earlier, she had seemed almost happy to be here.

  How quickly that changed. She’s going to grow to resent me. I just know it. She’ll hate me, and everything we just experienced will never happen again. It’s not that I’ll miss the sex, as amazing as it was. I’ll miss her. Things won’t ever be the same again, and I don’t want to handle that.

  But he might have to. The choice might be made for him, and he fucking hated that.

  “Third of all,” Haru said, “we might not be able to remove you two as of yet, well, actually allow me to rephrase. We cannot remove you from the game to the real world, but we have devolved a work around to keep you safe from the player known as Smaug.”

  “Say his name,” Gary challenged. “Samuel August.”

  “Fine. Yes. The man known as Samuel August—”

  “No,” Gary said firmly, angrily. “Samuel August. The man who murdered his mother when he was just a teenager. The man who terrorized women before he even entered the game. The mad scientist, the genius who got himself into the game as a means to avoid going to jail. Him. How exactly are you going to keep us safe from him?”

  “As I was trying to say, we have developed a work around to keep you both safe from him.”

  “And it is?” Elena asked impatiently.

  “If either of you or both of you would allow me to speak, I could have told you already.” Haru glowered at them each in turn before continuing, “We have developed a new issue of the game.”

  “Issue?” Gary repeated, confused.

  “Think of it as an expansion pack for the game,” Haru explained. “You will still be in Superheroes Online, but not here, not in this part of it.”

  “How can you get us from this part of the game to the expansion pack?” Elena asked.

  “No, how can you get us from here to there but not back home?” Gary asked.

  “From one part of a computer program to another is relatively simple,” Haru said. “To bring to the real world? That is another matter entirely.”

  “But a feasible matter, right?” Elena asked.

  “Precisely. Once we’ve run more tests, I am certain you both will be home again, and…” Haru glanced at Gary. “Samuel August as well.”

  “I don’t know,” Gary muttered. “I don’t want to have to fight new supervillains. And no more dragons either. I’m kinda over that to be honest.”

  “Precisely so.” Haru grinned. “The developers and I have assumed that, which is why the issue will be Vampire War.”

  “Vampires?” Elena asked. “You mean fangs and blood and super strength?”

  “And superspeed,” Haru said, nodding. “We think they will make for the perfect enemy for those with powers such as yourselves.”

  Gary swallowed hard. “You’ll make this issue available to the public, won’t you?”

  “Well…” Haru hedged. “Do not worry about that. We have not decided if we will or when. For now, it will only be the two of you.”

  “And the vampires,” Gary said dryly.

  “Of course, and the vampires.” Haru glared at him as if Gary was ignorant.

  Gary gulped. Maybe vampires weren’t going to be the best thing to face after all.

  Chapter Three

  Elena shook her head as she began to pace, her steps more like stomps, and the ground shook each time her foot touched the floor.

  “I hate vampires,” she declared.

  “Vampires are not for everyone,” Haru agreed, “but we felt—”

  “You should have asked us what we felt,” Elena hissed. “We’re the ones who are going to have to face the damn things, not you. We’re the ones risking our lives, not you!”

  “You agreed—”

  “You also said you would be able to get us out!” Elena shouted. “Instead, we’re going to be stuck playing another issue of your game, only this time, instead of supervillains, we’ll be fighting blood-sucking vampires. Do you want to be bitten by a vampire?”

  “No.”

  “If we’re bitten, what will happen to us?” she demanded. She held up her arm. “I have this in the game. I have a power, but here…” Elena touched the soft, tender skin of her neck. “This can be bitten real easily. This can be ripped to shreds, and I would bleed out in seconds. Did you and your developer friends consider that when you decided to have us square off against vampir
es?”

  Gary gulped. He hadn’t seen Elena this furious in a long while, and he wasn’t about to get into the middle of her argument with Haru. The Japanese man could fend for himself.

  “We have considered—”

  “Why not shifters instead?” she griped. “That could have been amazing, especially if we would’ve had to fight against awesome ones like wooly mammoths or saber tooth tigers.”

  “If all you will do is bitch and complain about everything we are doing to help,” Haru started.

  Gary took a single step forward and clamped his hand down hard on the Japanese man’s shoulder. “I think you’re not listening to the lady’s complaint thoroughly enough.”

  “I understand that she doesn’t want to face against vampires because they are frightening and terrifying.”

  “I’m not afraid of vampires!” Elena shouted. “I can hate a creature and not be afraid of it. But you have to remember this isn’t a video game to us. It’s real. It’s our lives at stake, and vampires won’t be easy prey. We will be the easy prey.”

  Haru threw up his hands.

  Gary’s stomach tightened with disgust. He shoved the Japanese man back. Although Gary’s power was telekinesis, he had been a strong man even before the game playing started. Since the game, Gary was even more powerful in his body, and he had trained with weapons. With or without his power, he was formidable.

  “Hmm,” Haru said.

  “You didn’t do the vampires for us,” Gary said slowly, repulsed by the idea that was taking root in his mind. “You and your developers didn’t come up with this issue just for us, did you? No, this was meant for the public. Am I right? You could make something easy for us, something where we wouldn’t have to worry about the monsters. Something where we could wait in relative peace for you all to work out a way home. But, no. You can’t be bothered to come up with two issues. Just the one. It doesn’t matter that it’s dangerous. We’re just expected to survive, aren’t we?”

  “Or are we supposed to die?” Elena asked quietly.

  “Die?” Haru huffed. “Preposterous. Why would we want that? No. We want very much for you both and for Samuel August to return.”

  “Why?” Elena spat out. “So you can sell us to the government? So we can be poked and prodded and studied and examined and treated as an animal on display in a zoo?”

  “Because we do not want you to be in the game any longer. We want you to return to your lives.”

  “My life?” Gary shook his head.

  His life was in shambles. He basically had no life to go back to. Gary had been in the game for so long that he had to have lost his apartment, the apartment he had just moved into. And his job as a garbage collector? Yeah, he was sure to have lost that too.

  “Your lives,” Haru repeated. “It will happen. You just have to wait a little longer, but we have done our best to ensure that your wait will be free of danger.”

  “Bah,” Elena scoffed.

  “Free of danger from Samuel August at least,” Gary said.

  “True.” Elena sighed.

  “For you two to gain access to the new issue, all you must do is head due north. You will see a blue glowing force field. Walk directly into it. The portal will bring you to Vampire War. I promise you we have taken measures that Samuel August will not be able to follow you there. You will be as safe as can be.”

  “With vampire bedfellows,” Elena asked. “Are they at least hot vampires like the Salvatore brothers?”

  “Salvatore? Hot? No, my dear. The vampires are like Dracula, blood sucking and thirsty and ugly as the sins that rot their bodies to that of undead corpses.”

  “See? That is why I hate vampires,” Elena complained.

  Honestly, Gary could understand why she was bitching because this all bites.

  Haru nodded to Elena and then to Gary and started to walk away.

  “Hey, Haru,” Elena called.

  The Japanese man paused in the doorway and turned back around. “Yes?”

  “Don’t call me ‘my dear’ ever again,” she said.

  “I did not mean any disrespect,” he said.

  “Ah, I heard a slightly mocking tone to it,” Gary said.

  “I would never,” Haru said.

  “Yeah, it definitely sounded condescending,” Gary said. “If I heard it, and I’m a guy, you know it wasn’t right.”

  Haru stiffened and bowed to Elena. “My apologizes. What do you wish to be called?”

  “Elena because, you know, that’s my name.”

  “Very well. I bid you all well, Elena, Gary. I will return once I have news, or should it only be good news?”

  Gary glowered at him. “Whichever. Whenever. Don’t make us wait too long to go home.”

  “We will do out level best,” Haru assured him.

  Elena waited until the Japanese man was out of sight to say, “Yeah, why don’t I believe him?”

  Gary shrugged. “He seemed off tonight.”

  “Think he’s worried?”

  “Maybe. Hey, why did he walk away and not just disappear?”

  “Does he normally just disappear?”

  Gary considered. “I can’t remember for sure. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  “What matters is that we head due north,” Elena said. “Get dressed. Let’s go.”

  “You want to cross over to the place called Vampire War immediately? Without any food in your belly?”

  “We can eat there. I’m sure we’ll come to a town there, just like we started this version of the game in a town. We won’t start in the midst of a battle.”

  “I don’t know,” he hedged. “I’m hungry.”

  Elena rolled her eyes and tossed him his superhero attire. “Come on. We don’t have a reason to dawdle.”

  “I don’t think we have to leave this very second,” he said, but he did start to get dressed. Luckily, he had put on boxers before Haru had showed up, but that was all he was wearing.

  “Why don’t you want to go right now?” she demanded.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to go. In fact, I never said we shouldn’t go.” Gary hesitated and then shrugged. “I just don’t feel the need to go just yet.”

  “Why not?” she demanded. “Every moment we’re here is another moment that Samuel August could be hunting us down. We know he’s hunted down other players who had crossed him. Why hang around and wait for him to come after us? I mean, as far as we know, we’re the only ones who have been able to face him and not die. In fact, we struck a terrible blow against him.”

  “His dragons.” Gary shuddered.

  “Dragon War,” Elena said. “Ugh. You know, you could’ve named yourself Dragon Slayer instead of Dragon Hunter.”

  “I could’ve.” Gary grinned. “When we cross over, I’ll see if I can change my superhero moniker to Vampire Hunter.”

  “You do that. Now. Come on.”

  “I’m not ready yet,” Gary protested.

  “Why aren’t you dressing?” Elena had donned her mostly silver superhero attire. Seeing her in her tight get-up had Gary rock hard.

  She stomped over to him and began to dress him. Pulling his own super tight clothes on over his bulge proved impossible, and she sighed.

  “Really?” She pointed to his hard cock. “You have to do something about that.”

  “Oh? And just what am I supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know.” She waved her hand sarcastically.

  “Aw, you won’t do anything?” he asked, hopefully.

  “Nope,” she said cheerfully. “Go on. Masturbate and be done with it.”

  “You do know guys can lose an erection without having to masturbate, right?”

  “Yes, I realize that, but I also thought you coming would be quicker. Right?”

  “Maybe,” he muttered.

  “And I also thought that guys wanted to come every time they had an erection.”

  “Of course, we do, but that doesn’t mean it always happens.”

  “I
understand that, but I’m giving you permission—”

  “I don’t need your permission,” he said sourly, and his cock started to deflate.

  She pursed her lips and shook her head. With a deep sigh that caused her chest to rise up, she said, “Looks like you’re—oh.”

  Yeah, the sight of her boobs rising had been enough for him to be hard again.

  “Gary, this isn’t funny. We have to go.”

  He shrugged and forced his clothes on over his bulge. It was painfully tight, and the rubbing of his suit against his cock made him want to come so badly that he might start to see stars soon.

  “There. Good. Off to save another part of the world from vampires?” she asked as she headed toward the door.

  “Not yet. Not until after breakfast.”

  Elena narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why do we have to eat first?”

  “We hardly ate at all yesterday,” he protested. “And not at all if you consider that we only eat in.” His gaze fell to between her legs.

  Her cheeks flushed, and she looked so damn hot embarrassed, her face nearly as red as her hair.

  “Fine. We’ll eat and then go,” she said.

  The two of them went downstairs to the tavern and ate and ate and ate. Elena was shaking her leg, antsy, clearly wanting to jump up and go, but Gary ate every last bit of stew with questionable meat and drank so much water that he had to go and pee five times. Water wasn’t available in every tavern in the game, and normally, he would drink ale, but today, he couldn’t. He needed a clear head. He wasn’t up for going to Vampire War. Not yet. Soon. Soonish. Possibly.

  When he returned to the table, Elena jumped up, but he sat down.

  “Seriously?” she groaned. “You can’t still be hungry.”

  Honestly, Gary wasn’t, but he ordered more stew anyhow.

  “We don’t know what we’re going to find on the other side. What if it’s not like this? Hardly any towns? No civilizations? A post-apocalyptic setting? Food might not be easy to come by for all we know.”

  “Oh, come on. Haru and the others wouldn’t do that to us.”