After breakfast Jessie went back to her room and knocked on the door. It would've felt weird either way, but there was something odd about knocking on the door to her own room, "Hey, you hungry, Foce?"
She waited for a reply, and she got one when the vampire ran to the door and opened it, "You finished breakfast already?"
"Yup, I guess you could say I put the 'fast' in breakfast, huh?" she scratched the back of her head awkwardly, falling still when the vampire lord chuckled, "Heh, I was worried there for a second."
"Well, I do want you to know that's not why they call it that..."
"I know, I know, the fast in it's when you go temporarily stop eating, like when you're sleeping, and you break it when you wake up and eat, just my attempt at a joke." Jessie explained, glad that the vampire found it funny, though part of the reason may have been because she had forgotten it like everything else.
Foce smiled and nodded slowly, "That's right, but you're probably not supposed to eat so fast."
"Umm, yeah...I don't actually eat that fast, it was part of the joke, cuz you seemed so surprised that I was finished already..." Jessie smiled sheepishly as she explained her reasoning, but grinned when the vampire let out a short chuckle.
"So it was because you had the opportunity for the situation to make the joke make sense?"
"Yeah...I guess you're not used to the joke itself, but even with the best delivery, it stops being funny after the first two or three times...or so I'm told."
"Heh, you told the others that same one?"
"Of course I did!" Jessie giggled, failing to treat it as though it was the most obvious thing ever, "Just after recruiting them, I told them that same one, so they saw what they were signing up for, unfortunately it was already too late for Ray, being my brother, he was stuck with me."
"I suppose it's already too late for me, too." Foce said with a war smile.
"Well, no one says you've gotta stay just because we found you or are involved with your life now, you can always leave after we figure out a way to save the priestesses and stop Vindicatus and your copy, it's still only been one day since you've been with us, and vampires can live off wild animals for blood too, right?"
Foce shook her head slowly, "No, it's too late because...well, we're already friends, right? I can't just leave you now...though I should avoid living off you if I can help it...I'm fine for now. We should try to go hunting somewhere instead."
"That won't be necessary!" Sarah announced her presence and slipped into the room past Jessie to show Foce the page she wanted her to read, "See this paragraph? I have a theory on why vampires need blood!"
"Hmm, it's related to iron?" Foce knitted her brow as she studied the text.
"Yup, all about it, in fact! See, you need it to carry oxygen to your muscles so you can live, in your case it's probably less to live and more to augment your strength, but your body isn't able to absorb iron from plants, so you gotta get it from someone who's isolated and concentrated it! And if I'm right, then I think I have a work around for that." Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled out a bottle full of red liquid.
"Umm...blood?" Foce ventured her guess, as she took the hint that Sarah wanted her to.
"Nope, I sat down at an alchemy set last night and took some iron and followed by the primary ingredients for health potion, excluding the garlic or anything associated with the light element. I think the iron's why it's so red, but it could be something in the mixture. Just a dose of this stuff and you should be good to go! Try it and tell me if you feel a difference." she opened and offered the vial to Foce, "If you don't, then I'll give you a magic potion and see if it has an effect, it may be that you're using some form of blood magic I can't replace."
The vampire cautiously tucked the book Sarah had given her under her arm, and quickly emptied the bottle in one go, quickly regretting it as she doubled over and fell on her knees. She quivered uncontrollably as she fell onto her side, and swallowed thickly.
"Sarah?!" Jessie looked up at the dancer as she knelt beside Foce, offering her arm in hopes a drink of blood would help the white haired girl, but Sarah looked just as shocked as she was.
"I-I don't know what's going on, Jessie, I swear!"
"I'm fine..." Foce whimpered, straining her voice to speak, "it's just so disgusting...you didn't tell me it would taste horrible."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know...I guess I should've tasted it first." Sarah stared at the floor as she hung her head.
"It's okay...that just...didn't taste like anything I want to try again...that said, I may need this, I do feel something like when I feed off Jessie, but I also don't feel something, like...something's not there."
"Well, maybe you also have a low blood cell count," Sarah theorized, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "and that's part of the reason why you drink blood?"
"That doesn't mean anything to me, but that's probably why." Foce agreed, slightly confused by the terminology Sarah was tossing around.
"Then I probably need to make a lot of this stuff, tell me as soon as you feel it wear off, and I'll know about how much you need to carry on you before a battle."
Foce winced and nodded, "Yeah...I can tell I won't be looking forward to this at all."
"Well, you can always eat something you like afterwards, if you like eating at all." Sarah picked the book off the floor and turned to leave, "I'll bring you another later, but we need some way to know if it'll help you heal like you do, without, you know, poisoning you or anything extreme."
"Well...um, let me see..." Jessie stood beside Foce and furrowed her brow as she stared at her cheek, "I don't see the mark you got from where the sun was on you, but that could be why you were tired, you was healing on an empty stomach...or liver, or however that works."
"I do feel a bit more awake now...ugh, but maybe it's because I'm so aware of something I drank?" Foce shuddered at the taste that lingered on her tongue.
"Let's go see if you like pancakes." Jessie stepped out of the doorway and turned to Foce. She held out her hand and smiled, "You alright?"
"Mm? Oh, yes, just thinking...that was the stuff that was in the bowl, right? You dipped it with a spoon and it looked like mud?"
"Ah...yeah," Jessie smirked at the comparison, "sure, let's go with that. Oh, before we go, I kept your hat in my inventory, along with your wide brimmed hat and the one from your copy!"
Foce smiled as she was offered the choice of her old hat and her new hat, and accepted the new one. She set it on her head and remembered she was lent another item to ward off the sun, "Do you still have that coat?"
"Ah, yeah, Ray found it on the roof just before we left. He said you can have it back if it's an emergency but that we should really get you your own, but I have a plan of my own!" Jessie smirked, humming teasingly when Foce's gaze pressed her for answers, "You'll find out soon enough."
Alone in the underworld, under the shadow of the city that had somehow remained untouched by the catastrophe, a lone figure roamed. Holding one sore arm, she limped through the streets before suddenly falling against a wall and screaming as two copies of her stumbled out from under her skin.
"Finally you two are here...carry me forward," she ordered, waiting for her white haired clones to obey, "we have a mission to complete: Recover the priestesses and bring them to Yggdrasil, then find and capture all the Guardians, we'll leave them bloodless and wishing they could die! Two of the six elementals have left the underworld; Elitrick, Gaia, Valkyrie, and, Serena should still be here."888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPD1w4N4Clu
She considered how fortunate she was that the next two would be spawned from her new allies, but she knew the last four would arrive simultaneously; time was running out, she hoped to be done here quickly.888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpC0MXiemRV
They stumbled upon a crowd of goblins traveling together and the lead vampire called out to them, "Hey, are you monsters ready to continue what those humans started so long ago, or do you wanna stay here until a boulder lands on you?!"888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzReTrfaGX
"F-Foce?" their gravelly voices heavy with surprise and confusion.888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzJhWtz0hn
"You may call me Lady Foce, or Vampire Lord Foce; follow me, we have a glorious history to write in blood...the blood of humanity, may their cries soak the air as much as their blood does the ground."888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHPJ6lxEXn
"You sure you're Foce?" one of them angled their head, staring at the vampire in the middle, "The one I followed centuries ago didn't seem so...violent and bloodthirsty."888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxtHIkzvGq
The vampire grinned viciously, "Lemme tell ya, a thousand years of sleep will leave you more thirsty than you would think." the other two launched her forward and she danced with the goblin, fighting for balance as it screeched in pain, eventually pure silence settled on the scene, except for the hungry vampire's feeding.888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm981keH9tS
"Seconds?" she asked, dropping the goblin to the ground. The other bowed to her and she smiled, "Looks like I'll have to search for a meal elsewhere, I can't very well afford to consume my loyal subjects, now can I?"888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTR8ERnzBo7
"Lady Foce!" the goblins stared at the ground, their large eyes anxiously fixed on the ground, sure that they were next.888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VD28Z93wW
"Follow me, goblins, I feel I'll have enough dissenters; and more than I could ever want when I find those eight priestesses." she felt she was healing enough to walk on her own, and the two vampires behind her silently followed, "We have work to do for now, and not many may be as wise as you and follow without question."888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AwJmTSIRe
She smiled hungrily at the thought of finally fulfilling her mission, it wouldn't take too long if she could get enough monsters to find the priestesses for her, and with two more vampire lords identical to Foce, she was sure the Guardians wouldn't be too difficult to subdue, she just needed to keep them weak and hide them until the plan reached to fruition. 888Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHggnnM3YP
