Vampire Hunter

by Dante Steel

  For the first time, Gary was the one to walk away. He headed back to the underground town, to the room he shared with Elena, climbed into bed, and was asleep in minutes.

  When Gary woke, he was surprised to realize that Elena was sitting on the bed along with Olivia and Nicoletta.

  “Finally, sleepyhead decides to join us,” Olivia teased.

  “Breakfast in bed,” Elena said. She handed him a plate of steaming hot food.

  The others were eating, and Gary waved to them. That was all he could do before he started to inhale his food. He was starving. He hadn’t had dinner the night before.

  By the time he finished his food, he knew it was time. Quickly, he cleared everything off the bed since he was the last to eat. Then, he cleared his throat and sat back on the bed, facing the girls.

  “I’ve talked with you all a little about this before,” Gary said. “I think it’s only fair to have you all on the same page.”

  He hesitated. Olivia was nodding, but she wasn’t smiling. If anything, she seemed as nervous as he was. Nicoletta was toying with the burn mark on her palm, looking at that instead of him. As for Elena, she was opening and closing her right hand, making a fist and opening it, also avoiding his gaze.

  He exhaled. “I love all of you. Maybe that’s selfish. Maybe that’s not right. I don’t know. Well, I do know this. It feels right. There are so many wonderful qualities about all of you. You’ve all grown and overcome so much even before I met you. We’ve been through so much together. To some, this is just a game, but to us, it’s more than that, right? Can any of you deny that?”

  Olivia shook her head. “It’s been Hell in a handbasket, that’s for sure.”

  “We’ve had our ups and downs,” Elena murmured.

  “We’ve made it this far,” Nicoletta added.

  “I need to know how you all feel,” he said desperately. “How you feel about me, how you feel about each other. It’s… This is important to me. I need… It’s not just about what I need. What you all need. You need to have a say in this.”

  No one said anything. Elena and Nicoletta weren’t looking at anyone. Olivia was looking at them all in turn.

  Finally, Olivia spoke up. “I know how I feel. I’m with Gary on this. I love you all. I think Elena is one of the strongest women in the world and not just because she has metal arms and legs. Silver on her is the sexiest color. And Nicoletta? You’re a terror in the best of ways. You’re strong, too, and you’re a passion that’s like no other. Gary, well, you’re always eager to help, ready to fight. You’ll do anything for those you care about. It’s so damn easy to love you all.”

  “Love you all.” Elena snorted. “Are we all supposed to hold hands now and sing Kumbaya?”

  “I think we need a ukulele for that,” Olivia joked.

  Elena grimaced and opened and shut her hand a few more times. “I don’t know if I can handle all of that.”

  “It’s all love,” Gary said, trying not to be desperate, attempting to not influence her one way or the other. He longed for acceptance, but if she wasn’t ready yet, she wasn’t ready. “Love can include more than two people.”

  “Is it love?” Nicoletta blurted. “Or is it lust? Just a way for people to make excuses to do what feels good.”

  “Do you love me?” Gary asked her quietly.

  She glanced away.

  “Do you understand the qualities I see in Elena? In Olivia?”

  “Yes,” Nicoletta said. She sounded almost bitter.

  “Do you appreciate those same qualities?” he asked.

  “Yes, I appreciate them, but that does mean I… okay, maybe I do love them. But I think only as a friend. I mean, I’m not… I don’t… I just don’t know!”

  “You don’t have to be bi to accept being in a harem,” Olivia said.

  Gary winced. He really hadn’t wanted that word mentioned.

  “I don’t know,” Nicoletta said. “I just don’t know.”

  “You don’t think boobs are attractive?” Olivia asked. “I’m not trying to joke around. I’m being serious.”

  “Yours are so fake anyhow,” Elena cut in.

  “Ask Nicoletta,” Olivia said, jutting her chin toward the Hispanic who was blushing as red as her fire.

  “She does have a nice rack,” Nicoletta said, her face turning even more red with her embarrassment.

  “You want to know how I know it’s love?” Gary asked. “Because it wouldn’t matter to me if Olivia has big boobs or small ones in real life. I’m attracted to her because of her ability to make me laugh, because of her positive attitude, because she can be serious when the time calls for it. I love her for her personality, not her looks. Am I attracted to her? Hell, yes, but that’s just one part of it.”

  “I just… I’m just so confused about everything,” Elena said. “My life is spiraling out of control. My mother died, and I missed the funeral. I wasn’t there for my family. I couldn’t do anything for them or myself because I’m stuck here.”

  “Yes, you’re stuck here,” Gary said, “but you’re stuck here with us. We aren’t going anywhere. We’re here for you.”

  Nicoletta reached over and patted Elena’s hand. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I haven’t lost any of my parents. It must be incredibly hard. We really are here for you. Whatever you need. If you want to take a step back from playing so hard and just sit with us all in the tavern and talk and tell stories and share about our lives, I am more than okay with that.”

  Elena sniffed. “I just want to be able to do my part.”

  “Your part? In the game?” Olivia shook her head. “If that’s what you need to do, fine. We’ll play, but, honey, you can’t just keep doing this.”

  “Doing what?” Elena asked sourly.

  “Pretending that you can ignore your grief.”

  Elena blinked back tears. “I… I guess I have been doing that. I just don’t know what else to do. How am I supposed to get through this? It can’t… It doesn’t seem real to me. I guess being here has messed with my head. I can’t think about my mom being dead because she was never here. I’m here. It’s all so garbled up. Nothing makes any sense. None of it. How can I get better, do better, be better, if I can’t focus on my mom?”

  “If you want,” Olivia said, “we can have a small service for her here. I know we didn’t know her, and it’s not the same thing, but at least it might give you a little bit of closure.”

  “I… I would like that,” Elena said.

  Olivia leaned closer to her and wiped her tears away. “We really are all here for you,” she whispered.

  Elena smiled. “Thank you,” she murmured.

  And then, Olivia leaned forward and pressed her lips to Elena. The kiss lasted a fraction of a second, not even, but Elena jerked back.

  “I didn’t… You shouldn’t have… I have to go.” Elena bolted off the bed and stomped out of there.

  “Where are you going?” Nicoletta called.

  “I’m going to find Smaug, kill him, and get the fuck out of this game and back home.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Gary rushed out of the room with the other girls on his heels. No way would any of them allow Elena to fight Smaug by herself. None of them could handle him one-on-one. So far, even all combined, they hadn’t been able to bring him down.

  “Did you have to do that?” Nicoletta asked as they climbed the stairs.

  “She looked so tragically beautiful. I couldn’t help myself!” Olivia wailed.

  “I think you’re gonna have to ask her before you want to kiss her the next time,” Nicoletta said.

  “If we don’t hurry and find her and she finds Smaug, there might not be a next time,” Gary warned.

  They reached the topside, and Gary immediately took to the sky to glance all around. He spied a small silver figure heading in the general direction of the wizard.

  Gary touched down and started to run. “Come on!”

  The other two kept pace with him,
and they managed to catch up to Elena easily enough, which was a good thing.

  The wizard wasn’t there, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

  Instead, Smaug was there, which definitely was a bad thing.

  The supervillain eyed them all in turn. “You all have proven to be rather resilient,” Smaug said.

  Was that a hint of respect in his voice? Nah, Gary had to be hearing things.

  “If you want us to join the dark side, you can forget it!” Elena shouted.

  “Keep your cookies!” Olivia added.

  Gary blinked a few times. This really wasn’t the time for jokes. Then again, Smaug was smiling.

  “How cute. You all must be dear, close friends. Am I right?”

  Elena stiffened.

  “Ah, is there trouble in paradise?” Smaug glided forward.

  Gary really fucking hated the wizard. Why the hell couldn’t Jorge have continued to play? He was a wizard, too. Maybe he could’ve mastered all of these elements too. Maybe he could have defeated Smaug singlehandedly by now, but no, Jorge had to fall in love and forget all about his friend.

  Smaug stopped inches in front of Elena and cupped her chin. “Look at me. Yes. I can see your pain.”

  “Get your hands off her!” Gary shouted.

  “Or what? You’ll kill me? You’ve tried already. You’ve failed. Do you know what the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting—”

  “It’s not insane if you get different results,” Gary said.

  “How noble. No. That’s not the word I want. How naïve.” Smaug scowled as he shoved Elena’s chin to the side and released his hold on her. The, the supervillain stretched out his neck.

  “Can we cut through all of this pointless chatter already?” Nicoletta asked. “Let’s just cut to the chase and do this.”

  “Always hot to temper, aren’t you? A little sparkplug but without much spark, I’m afraid. You bore me.”

  Nicoletta opened her mouth, and a blast of fire burst out. Her entire body trembled, and she held out her hands toward Smaug, too. Flames burst out of her hands even stronger than ever before.

  Power upgrade? Maybe.

  Gary grinned. The sand here had been baking in the sun. It was hard and compacted, almost like rocks. He yanked some from the ground, but instead of throwing them at the supervillain, Gary reached inside the sand-rocks and burst them apart. Tiny shards of darted sand-rocks flew everywhere. Gary redirected all of them to head straight for Smaug.

  They bounced off his armor though and fell harmlessly to the ground. Damn it. Worse, the fire just made Smaug laugh. Given that he had fire himself, the fire wasn’t going to hurt him any.

  With a wild yell, Elena started forward. Gary wanted to yank her back, to stop her, to make her fly and keep her safe, but there wasn’t time. Besides, deep down, he knew she would have resented him for it, but they were being stupid. Without a plan, they would all die, and fighting him all one-by-one would never get it done.

  Before Elena could land one punch, Smaug held out his hand. A plume of blue smoke appeared, and suddenly, Elena was turned to ice. All of her. Head to toe. Her fist was outstretched, less than a foot from Smaug’s face.

  For a second, everything seemed to be frozen. Gary didn’t know what to do. What to think. How to feel. But then, everything snapped back into place, and he shoved Smaug back with every ounce of his telekinetic powers. Smaug shifted maybe an inch.

  “Nicoletta,” Gary called.

  “On it.”

  “Olivia?” Gary asked.

  The flier took to the air, and she called up Smaug. She had been a flier first, and her flight prowess was stronger and more developed than Gary’s was. Olivia was able to lift him off the ground some. Gary, instead, was keeping a massive forcefield around Elena. If she shattered… No. That would not happen! Nicoletta would thaw her. Nicoletta wouldn’t heat her too quickly. Nicoletta was smart. She knew what she had to do.

  Gary hoped.

  The effect of maintaining the forcefield required everything that Gary had. He couldn’t help fight Smaug, but then, Smaug wasn’t fighting much. He was toying with Olivia. He was lazily pointing at her, throwing fire or ice at his leisure.

  If only there was a way to bounce his spells back on him.

  Maybe there was.

  But those rinky-dink spells he was tossing at Olivia wouldn’t faze him. No, they needed to taunt him into using a huge spell. A massive one. If they could send that back on him, maybe, just maybe, they really could end this once and for all. They could be rid of the blight that was Smaug in the game world and Samuel August in the real world.

  First and foremost, though, they needed Elena back. She might not be able to help with deflecting any of his spells, but maybe she could be the bait they needed to get Smaug to unleash a large enough power to be reflected back onto himself.

  “Any luck?” Gary muttered.

  “I… I think so,” Nicoletta grumbled. “It’s hard to tell. I can’t risk burning her, and I can’t thaw her too fast.”

  “I know. Just be careful.”

  “I’m trying!”

  As tempted as Gary was to attack Smaug immediately, he couldn’t risk diverting any of his power or attention from his forcefield. He had to protect Elena at all costs, even at the risk of his own life.

  Smaug, by now, seemed to have grown bored of teasing Olivia and was trying to attack her more in earnest. Olivia was soaring, tumbling, freefalling, doing anything and everything to avoid being blasted by his fire or his ice. At one point, she dove between his legs, and she swung around to his backside and grabbed his cape and flung it over his eyes.

  Abruptly, a blast of fire flew over Gary’s shoulder. Nicoletta had sent a blast of fire right at Smaug. He cape caught on fire, but he banished the fire with a wave of his hand, and he flicked his cape back.

  “You’ll pay for that,” he remarked coldly.

  Behind him, Gary heard a slight groan. Elena. He shoved a potion into Nicoletta’s hand and took flight. Honestly, Gary couldn’t tell anyone what possessed him to do this, but he uppercut Smaug, flying up high, his fist still beneath Smaug’s chin. Then, Gary flipped them around. He latched onto Smaug’s shirt, and he propelled the supervillain straight down to the hard-packed sand. Smaug was going to crash right into it.

  Only Smaug wiggled free somehow at the last moment, and Gary was the one to get a face full of sand.

  Immediately, Gary jumped to his feet. “Come on, Smaug. You gotta do better than that.”

  “That’s right,” Elena said. “I’m back and better than ever.”

  “You know it, baby!” Olivia called.

  Elena grinned.

  Gary was so damn happy. For once, it seemed as if the potion had worked entirely. He had been worried how Elena’s metal arms and joints would hold up after the exposure to the sudden coldness and then the intense heat, but she seemed to be just fine.

  Smaug glowered at them. Gary motioned Olivia and Nicoletta over, and the four of them stared him down.

  “Hold your ground,” Gary muttered. Out loud, he called, “You want us? Come and get us!”

  Smaug flew up high above them and rained down ice and fire. Gary’s forcefield blocked them all… or did it? Somehow, Gary knew just what to do, and his forcefield didn’t just deflect the magical blows. No, it absorbed them.

  “Can’t you do better than that?” Nicoletta called. “I have more fireworks than that!”

  Smaug took the bait. He blasted the forcefield with a massive fireball that nearly did tear through.

  “I don’t know about that ice,” Elena said. “I think that was a fluke.”

  The ice chunk he threw was more like an ice boulder. That was what Gary sent back on Smaug. It bounced off the forcefield, but Gary sent the forcefield along with it. The ice boulder collided with Smaug, and the forcefield wrapped around him, and all of the fire and ice Smaug had sent recoiled through him and off the forcefield, bouncing and
pinging time and again. Smaug’s body shook violently, trembling as if seizing, and then, he fell to the ground with a thud. A small cloud of dust rose up and then settled back down over him like a blanket.

  Or like a funeral shroud.

  Gary walked over first. The ladies trailed behind him.

  “Is he dead?” Olivia whispered.

  “Why are you whispering?” Elena asked.

  “I don’t know. Respect for the dead?”

  “He doesn’t deserve respect,” Nicoletta said.

  Gary eyed Smaug suspiciously. The supervillain’s chest wasn’t rising or falling.

  “He’s dead,” he said.

  “You mean we did it? We honestly did it this time?” Nicoletta asked.

  “I can’t believe it,” Elena said.

  “You can’t believe it? Girl, you were covered in ice! I thought we lost you!” Olivia went to hug her and then pulled back before she touched her. “Wait. Can I hug you?”

  “Yes,” Elena said with a laugh.

  “Girl, you aren’t even cold! Your metal is warm. That’s so nice.”

  “I said you could hug me, not feel me up.”

  “I’m just touching your arm!”

  “You’re petting me.”

  “Petting, touching. Same difference.”

  Elena just shook her head. Her smile was wide.

  Nicoletta bent beside Smaug’s corpse. “I can’t believe he’s dead.”

  “Me neither.” Gary stared up at the sky. It all seemed so surreal. An end to an era.

  Yet it also seemed wrong, too. They had argued about this, saying it was self-defense and not murder. Even so, Gary felt responsible. The vampires, the dragons, the supervillains, that had all been a part of the game. That had been different. This, this was more personal. They had killed a human.

  “We did the right thing, yes?” he asked.

  “We did what we had to in order to survive,” Nicoletta said grimly.

  “Does that make it right?” he asked.

  “In this case, yes.”

  He nodded. “Thank you, Nicoletta.”

  “For saving Elena? I did that for her, not you.”

  “Not just for that. For everything.”