The Lost Vampire System Chapter 51 - New Ally
"The new member is resisting," the system notified Draven. "Upping remote power, this may cause severe pain."
"AGH!" She screamed as she began to squirm. "Please, Jareth, make it stop! I'll do anything! Please!"
"The more they resist, the more it will hurt," the system told the Vampiric.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Please!"
"Stop resisting," Jareth said.
"What? Agh!" Arden cried again.
"It perceived you as a threat," Jareth said. "Stop resisting."
Her eyes stopped glowing as she clenched them tight in pain.
"New member is no longer resisting. Lowering power."
Arden started to slowly stop moving as the pain went away, and she lay on the floor. Her breathing was calmer but still worried.
"Congratulations," the Draven System announced like they had just won a contest. "Would you like to deal with the Technopath Arden or let her into your Inner Circle? Deal or No Deal?"
"No deal?" Jareth questioned, hoping it was the option to not deal with her.
"Affirmative."
On Arden's vision, a screen opened up. She jumped off the ground, placing her back against the wall.
What is this? She thought as she moved her head, but the screen stayed in her eyesight. Usually, I have to go into the machine and not in me.
"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?"
Arden stared at the screen, but her curiosity got the better of her as she accepted.
"You have accepted becoming a member of Jareth's inner circle," a replicated version of the system's voice said to Arden. "You have been granted a knowledge page that keeps track of everything you can do."
In front of Arden's eyes, Race, Stats, and Skills tabs popped up. As she looked at them, she noticed one other tab. It said "Jareth's Orders." She opened it, and it said, "Jareth has no orders for you."
"Arden has accepted becoming a member of your inner circle," the system notified Jareth. "She has been granted a knowledge and communication system. It is an extension of your system that allows the member of your inner circle to easily keep track of her skills and growth. Two out of two members have accepted to be a member of your inner circle. Evolve to gain more."
Jareth looked across at Arden, who slowly started to smile as she was checking out the limited options Jareth's system had granted her.
"This would have been more useful when I was a child," Arden said. "I mean I still grew pretty quick, but if I had this, I could have gotten stronger."
"Isn't your power strong enough?" Jareth asked.
"I mean it's good," Arden said. "Unfortunately, there is someone stronger blocking me in my own game."
"One person doesn't mean you're not strong," Jareth said as he stood up. "It just means that you're not at the apex of your power."
Arden nodded as she looked up at Jareth. She slowly got up and looked him in the eyes.
"What is your goal?" she asked, not breaking eye contact, so neither did he.
"My goal?" Jareth asked. "To conceal my power from the strong. Next will be to change the world for the better. I'd hope to do it before the civil war that Damion predicts, but I guess I'll have to wait."
"What is your goal, Arden?" Jareth asked back after he was done explaining his. "What do you want with me?"
Arden kept eye contact with him as she answered.
"I want to be free," she began. "I want to not have to worry about my back as these people take what I have built for everyone. I agree with what the CopyLord person says, but unfortunately, he just sees me as one of them. I may have money and influence and money, but I don't have a backing to stand up against them. I hope we have the same goals."
The two continued their little staring contest until Jareth placed his hand out for her to shake.
"Our goals align," Jareth said. "Would you like to join me?"
Arden shook Jareth's hand.
"Ha, ha," she giggled as she hugged him, which caught the vampiric off guard. "I've never had an ally before."
BANG!
A loud explosion was heard as the door to Arden's room flew through the air, skidding across the floor.
"Jareth!" the voice of Damion yelled as he entered the room, followed by Madison, who was carrying his sword and backpack. "Let him…go."
Instead of finding CyberGirl doing whatever he thought a technopath could do to Jareth, he found what he would describe as a cute girl hugging Jareth and not hurting him.
Arden stopped hugging Jareth as she backed away, holding her hands up to show this person she had never seen before no harm.
"I truly mean no harm," she said as she stepped away from her computer. "I don't think I've seen you before, but I've seen you before, but I've met you, demonicMadison1. Jareth and I have agreed to join sides."
"Join sides?" Damion scoffed as he looked at Jareth. "Is this true? Because if it's not, I'll flood this room."
Water appeared out of nowhere, surrounding his body, which was clearly stronger than Mia's power.
"Please no," Arden said with slight worry.
"She's right," Jareth said as he looked at Arden before looking back at Damion. "Her methods would be considered abnormal, but our goals are the same."
Damion looked partly convinced as the amount of water around his body receded, but it was not entirely gone. Madison picked the door up and placed it back on its hinges, which could detach for security reasons.
"So, I guess people would consider me overreacting when I placed a 10 billion gold coin bounty on her head."
Arden's face paled as she realized who was standing in front of her.
"You're CopyLord?" she asked as she backed up more, remembering his sheer force within the game. "Every single one of you is my age."
"Apparently," Damion chuckled. "I didn't know a nine-year-old girl created the game. What I don't get is how our goals align. You are one of the reasons why people suffer."
"I'm not nine anymore," she said. "Also, you clearly remember NYXIS was within its first six months. Do you like that version more than you like it now?"
Damion's eyes narrowed as he nodded.
"Is that when you got greedy with your newfound power?"
"That's when the top threatened me," Arden said as she put her hands down. "Sure, they pay me well, but I am afraid of what they will do the day I say no. When my dad died, they got more aggressive. I want them gone as much as you do. I know because you placed a f*cking 10 billion gold coin bounty on my head."
Damion's water power completely receded as he looked at Arden, still in doubt.
"I need to be sure," he said as he backed up to the wall. "Prove it."
Arden looked confused before she started to think, when she remembered the new addition, she received from Jareth.
"I have…" she paused as she looked at Jareth.
He just stared back at her, not getting what she hinted at.
"What I just suffered to get," she said, pointing at her head.
"Oh, yeah," Jareth said as he looked at Madison. "She has the same thing you have, Madison."
She tilted her head as she asked, "What you gave me in my vault?"
Jareth nodded.
"I trust your judgment on who you give that to," Madison said as she looked on Damion. "She can be trusted."
"What?" Damion asked as he stopped leaning on the wall. "What did Jareth give you to make him trust you?"
The three didn't answer, and Damion felt left out.
"Well," Damion said. "You all know my goal. I'm guessing you figured out something with my family that is preventing you from trusting me. Well, guess what? Like I told Madison, I live to see my power-hungry great-grandma die. Sure, we get along, but I hate what she does."
Damion paused as he looked at Jareth.
"Jareth, I practically placed my entire life savings into the world, forgetting that you can't die in the game."
Jareth looked to the side as he forgot about that.
"Fine, I'll tell you something," Damion said. "My great grandma is Marguerite Delacroix, or some call her by her married name, Marguerite Youngblood. She serves someone named Draven."
Arden stumbled as she heard the name.
"You're a Youngblood," she said as she slowly started to scootch to her computer setup.
"You know my name?" Damion said.
Arden answered, "Only a warning from my dad saying to never mess with one. I hope that we're on the same side now."
She touched her computer as her eyes glowed green, and her computer pulled up a file with just the name and a single bullet point: Youngblood, and the bullet point saying to never mess with one, especially Marguerite Youngblood.
"There's nothing else," Arden said. "I decided not to look into it any further. Didn't want to risk it."
"Good," Damion said. "They would've found out. We don't even have a Technopath, just a traditional hacker."
"You said Draven," Jareth noted. "Who is he?"
"Don't know," Damion said. "I found out through a friend who I am pretty sure died to get me that. I knew my great-grandmother served someone, just not who."
"Does Joseph ring a bell?" Jareth asked.
"No," Damion answered. "Why?"
"Just trying to figure things out," Jareth admitted.
"Ask him about your family," Apollo suggested.
"What do you know about the Nightshades?" Jareth asked.
Damion raised an eyebrow. "Nothing. Why? Are you tied to my family somehow in the past that I haven't been taught yet?"
"What are you, Damion?" Jareth asked.
"What am I?" Damion asked. "Damion Youngblood."
"No, no," Jareth said. "Not who, but what?"
Everyone stared at Damion after Jareth asked this question. Damion looked at them as he couldn't quite get what they were asking.
Are you asking what ground or something I belong to? Damion thought. Or is Jareth suggesting that I am not human?
"I am a human," Damion said as he looked at the group again.
"What are you getting at?" Apollo asked.
Jareth activated his Appraisal skill on Arden, and the system read out the information to him.
"Name: Arden Voss. Race: human. Evolved Power: 1 Technopath at level 10. Arden Voss is the only daughter of Martin Voss, who was a level 10 technopath who helped create the portals to the Becifer Planets. Arden Voss is the creator of NYXIS and is under heavy watch by the other factions, powerful individuals, and only checked up on twice by the Youngbloods."
"Yeah," Jareth said. "Only one person in this room is human."
"What?" Arden said as she looked at Madison and Damion.
Damion sighed as he spoke up, "I guess since you already know I can…wait, who's the human?"
Like she was in school, Arden raised her hand. Damion looked at her, then slowly turned his head to Jareth, then looked at Madison.
"The cat is out of the bag," Madison said as she walked over to give Jareth his things back. "I am what is known as a Cambion. Half human, half demon, I believe."
The Nephilim's eyes widened as he looked at the two of them.
"As Madison and, to an extent, Arden," Jareth said, "I am one step away from becoming a vampire."
Damion's head snapped to Jareth as he pointed a finger at him.
"You can't be one," Damion said with certainty. "Vampires don't evolve; they are forced to stay the same…wait."
He stared at Jareth like he remembered something, but quickly forgot about it as he was trying to get it back. His eyes widened as he got it back.
"Do you have it?"
"Have what?" Jareth asked.
"He might be referring to the system," said Apollo. "Let him figure it out."
"A machine in your head, like I was told Draven does?"
"Machine?" Jareth asked, pretending he didn't know what Damion was talking about.
"Fine," Damion said. "You can keep that secret. Anyways, what I am is a Nephilim hybrid."
Madison whipped her head and went into a defensive position as she heard that.
"Nephilim," the cambion said.
"A Nephilim hybrid," Damion said again. "My family background is strange. My grandfather was a Nephilim, but his wife had something else, and my mother was something different than my grandmother. So, I'll just keep it as a Nephilim hybrid. Also, Madison, we're only enemies if either one of us belongs to one of those factions, and we're not."
Madison relaxed as she looked at everyone in the room.
"Looks like we're all on the same page," Madison said. "So now there's five of us."
Damion frowned as he looked around and counted the people in the room.
"You mean four?" he asked.
"No," Madison said. "Keira is involved. Due to an accident after leaving NYXIS yesterday, Keira agreed to be Jareth's…supplier, so as to not cause problems."
"Are you referring to blood?" Damion asked.
"Yes," Jareth answered. "Apparently, even being in NYXIS mentally drained my mind and energy, so when she approached, I lost control."
"So that was a human mouth," Arden jumped in as the rest looked at her. "I heard about the incident and looked into her file. I thought that was just a really well-shaped humanoid Becifer, but I couldn't find any other incidents. So that was you, apparently."
"You read her file?" Jareth asked.
"Not legally," Arden replied. "Technopath, remember. I tried learning a second Evolved power, but apparently my body can only handle one. I guess I'm glad I'm a high level in it."
Arden held up her Forwatch, and the group could see 1;10.
"Could I touch you?" Damion asked like it was a completely normal thing to ask a girl.
"What?" Arden asked.
"Can I touch you?"
"Ok, hold it," Jareth said. "Please rephrase your question so it's not weird."
"What do you…oh," Damion expressed as his eyes widened. "Sorry, I didn't mean it in that way. I just need to physically touch someone in order to copy their Evolved power."
Arden's expression softened as she got what he meant but didn't agree.
"Yeah, sorry, not sorry, but I'm not going to let you copy my power," she said. "I don't trust you. I may let you if I can survive in my own game for the duration of that in-game bounty. I only used like 10 minutes of the 24 hours."
Damion sighed, but he didn't press on.
There was silence before Jareth's system activated.
"Warning," the system began. "The ant queen egg is hatching. It will hatch in 1 minute."
*****
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