The Lost Vampire System Chapter 23 - The Inner Circle
Once the vault door shut, Jareth looked around the vault and was impressed. There were piles of gold coins, weapons, and other items scattered inside. A narrow pathway ran down the middle, while everything else was pushed to the sides.
"How much money do you have?" Jareth asked.
"Around 23,000 dollars," Madison answered. "I acquired the artifact three weeks ago and just had enough money to buy the cheapest vault. About two weeks ago I joined a little artifact hunt, but I only stayed at the back and collected the coins off of the dead players."
"How much was the artifact?"
"Five million gold coins. That's the same as five million dollars, by the way."
"That's a lot of money," Jareth said, imagining the five million in his hands.
"I know," she answered as her clothes lit up.
The next thing Jareth knew, she dashed at him at a speed he couldn't match. She grabbed his neck and pinned him against the wall. His eyes widened as she had just attacked him.
"How do you know what I am!" she yelled in Jareth's face.
How can she move that fast? Jareth thought as he tried to fight back, but it was useless.
"Are cambions this strong?" Jareth projected his thought.
"No," Apollo answered. "It must be the clothes she's wearing. It gives her some in‑game power."
"I asked you a question, Jareth," Madison said again. "How do you know what I am?"
"Say anything, but don't mention the system," Apollo said.
"Your power isn't an evolved power," Jareth replied as he tried to breathe. "It's your cambion power. Rare, but still."
"Who are you to know this?" she asked.
Jareth was starting to get annoyed, so he quickly opened up the system to see if he could fight her off. It turned out that two systems had opened up. One was NYXIS, which displayed: "While you are in the open world of NYXIS, you will not tire and your Evo cells will never run out." Jareth smiled, but Madison saw this and tightened the pressure on his throat.
"Don't make me deal with you in the real world," she snapped.
"While in this plane of existence," the system began, "your Solar points are maxed. You have overridden the requirement to unlock the skill: Sun Pulse. Sun Pulse: Aiming your hand outward, a pulse of sun is sent out with a range of 50 feet."
"Fine, then," Madison said. "I'll just interrogate you in the real world."
Before she could do anything, Jareth extended his hand and, with the system open, activated his new skill.
"Sun Pulse activated," the system announced.
A ball of yellow light, the size of a basketball, shot out of Jareth's hand. Madison's eyes widened as the attack hit her point‑blank range and she was thrown back, crashing into a small pile of gold coins. Jareth landed on his feet as Madison was no longer holding him up. Madison got up and glared at him.
"You have an evolved power?" she asked.
"Get dark," Apollo said. "Talk like you have a purpose."
"You have your secrets and I have mine," Jareth said as his expression went dark. "And you just attacked me."
Her expression grew darker as mist began to rise from her body. Her eyes shifted from hazel to swirling black mist.
"It looks like it's not just evolved powers this game can copy," Apollo said. "She'll get the upper hand, and when she does, use your one vampire skill. Right now, you know something about her and she doesn't about you. Hiding evolved powers isn't normal, but there are reasons. If you show her that skill, it can be a chance to gain an ally."
Madison charged at Jareth, but he sent out another sun pulse. She dodged it as the attack slammed into the wall, doing no damage. Jareth raised both of his hands and launched two more sun pulses. She slid under them, the attacks grazing her cheek. She rose up, her body now cloaked in a demonic aura that wrapped around her like a shroud.
"Use sun control to make the room black," Apollo ordered.
Jareth sent out one more sun pulse as he used his other hand to control the light. His system was helping him with this. The light bent to his will and was redirected toward the ceiling. Starting from the ground, the light began to disappear as it rose higher.
Meanwhile, the sun attack slammed into Madison's cambion form, but she simply absorbed it. Jareth's eyes widened as she stood up.
"Sorry, Jareth," she stated. "I'll kill you here and deal with you in the real world. I can't have my secret told to that youngblood."
"Now," Apollo said as Madison leapt forward.
Jareth swung out his right arm, activating his vampire skill while canceling his sun control skill. The shift in focus cut off the manipulation of light around him, redirecting all his power into the vampire ability now flaring to life in his hand.
"Blood slice skill activated," the system announced as a line of red blood shot out of his hand in a claw‑like shape.
You could barely see her eyes squint as she raised her arms to block the attack. The blood slice shattered on impact, dealing no damage, but she stopped in her tracks. Her face was right up against his own. She slowly started to back up as his form began to disperse.
"How do you have the skill of Draven?" she asked. "No other vampire can do that."
"You know Draven?" Jareth asked.
"How do you not know Draven?" she asked. "You're a vampire, aren't you?"
Jareth hesitated, but Apollo had an answer.
"Tell her yes," he said.
"I am," Jareth told Madison. "Well, I'm a half‑ling."
"No!" Apollo yelled in his head. "You weren't supposed to tell her that!"
Madison's eyes widened as she stared at Jareth.
"I knew I recognized your last name, Nightshade," Madison said as she pointed a finger at him. "Your family possesses the system that Draven needs to revive. My grandmother was someone who had a small part to play in it. I never expected to meet the family that was safe—" she paused as her face scrunched up. "Half‑ling you said?"
"We might have to kill her," Apollo blurted out.
"What?" Jareth said out loud on accident.
"She knows too much," Apollo snapped at Jareth. "She either joins us or we kill her. She knows too much."
"You have it, don't you?" she asked.
"Let me take over," Apollo ordered.
"No," Jareth said out loud again.
"Let me. It will be easier on you. No blood on your hands."
"Let me join you," she said.
"What did she say?" Apollo asked, his voice changing to one of curiosity. "Make her repeat herself."
"Join me?" Jareth asked.
"I may not be very knowledgeable, but it was a theory my grandmother came up with: if there were ever a chance that someone took the system, an entirely new species of vampire would form. I know I can never get into Draven's inner circle, so I want to be in yours."
"Well," Apollo said, "no need to let me take over, for now. We need her to prove it."
There was silence in the room and in Jareth's head until Apollo spoke again.
"I don't really know what to do," he said. "Honestly, if she said she'll join you, she will most likely, in fact, join you. Now, to satisfy my ego, knight her and make her kneel or something."
Jareth slowly walked up to Madison until he was a few feet away from her.
"Kneel," the half‑ling ordered.
"What?" she asked while picking at her ear.
"You want to join me?" Jareth asked. "Then show some faith and submit to me."
"My ego is about to get boosted," Apollo laughed in Jareth's head.
Madison kept eye contact with Jareth until she slowly started to lower her body to the ground. Her knees touched, and she lowered her head. This action not only made Apollo smile but Jareth as well.
"A person has submitted to you for the first time," the system notified him. "Would you like to add her as a member of your circle? 0 of 2. Yes / No?"
Inner circle? What is that, Jareth thought.
"I don't quite get it either," Apollo said, "but say yes. She's a cambion with a unique ability. I think the system might do something."
"Okay, fine," Jareth projected this thought to Apollo as he selected the Yes option.
"Place your hand on her head," the system ordered.
He did just that, and a spark of electricity shot into her head. Madison tensed up as she didn't know what the person she had submitted to was up to.
"The Draven system is currently attempting to override NYXIS so you don't have to do this in the real world," it said. "Override successful."
Madison jolted up as what looked like a cracking screen appeared in her vision. She shook her head several times, and to her surprise, what looked like a game interface like NYXIS was in her vision.
"You have been offered a place in the inner circle of Jareth Nightshade," a robotic voice said in her head as well as displaying the message in her sight. "Would you like to accept? Yes / No?"
*****
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