49 Blood and darkness

"Argh!" Jess took a punch to the gut sending her fumbling backwards. The complete darkness didn't seem to affect the skeleton at all. Basically blind, she failed to block the sudden strike.

She could hear the necromancer start yet another spell, but had to focus on blocking any further strikes. The faint glow of magic on her sword was no longer visible, and she had to swing it side to side to make sure the skeleton wouldn't surprise her again.

Finn heard Jess's cry of pain but couldn't see anything either, the sudden darkness had come faster than he could adapt. He heard a eerie cackle from in front of him, the necromancer laughed at the two adventurers struggle.

"Yeeeaaaaaargh!" Finn yelled as he charged towards where he heard the laughter, he felt like a blind bat, only using sound to get oriented.

"Spiculae venandi!" The necromancer cast yet another spell, her speed and familiarity in manipulating mana was way beyond what Finn had seen before.

"Thump!" Finn felt like someone punched him in the head, knocking him off his feet. Before he could orient himself, another burst of force struck him and knocked him down completely.

Finn couldn't see what hit him, but the incantation gave it away. Magic missile, a spell that sent out a number of homing strikes to hit designated enemies. It was called missile due to the condensed mana's shape and arcing trajectory.

Jess was faring a little better, she had adapted to defending blindly. Her sword's longer reach, and the skeleton's lack of strategy meant she managed to deflect or block most strikes coming her way. The problem was, she didn't have a chance to cast any spells, and her sword didn't seem to be causing the skeleton any harm.

Finn was winded by that last strike, and was aching all over, even his regeneration seemed unable to keep up with all his wounds.

Approaching Finn silently, the necromancer gathered mana in her half rotted hand. A blue mist surrounded it, along with the unintelligible whispering of souls.

By the time Finn had shaken off his fall and was picking himself up, she was right behind him. As if feeling the threat approaching, Finn barely dodged her glowing blue palm. It would have hit him right in the head.

Unfortunately, the necromancer didn't give up and lunges forward, and grabbed his arm. Instantly, the cold energy forced its way into his body and he collapsed, clutching his arm.

"What's the matter you little boy? Thought you could escape unscathed after what you did?!" The necromancer stood over Finn as he struggled. "Look at what you did to me!" She grabbed his face with her decaying hand and lifted him up. She was surprising strong for a magician and Finn couldn't resist.

"Years I've been preparing for this ritual, learning spells and gathering materials! I would have been undying! Eternally powerful and beautiful!" She threw him down again before continuing. "You better learn to enjoy that pain, because I'll never let your soul escape!"

Finn felt the cold energy spread through his body, it felt like thousands of clammy dead hands wanted to drag him into the ground. The pain made it hard to think, but he could still hear the witch's self absorbed monologue. It grated on his ears, and he felt like he was losing grasp of his consciousness.

"No! I can't let go!" Finn though desperately, he knew if he passed out it would mean the end. Jess was still holding out, but it as soon as the necromancer decided to attack it would be over.

Opening his eyes, Finn realized his eyes had adapted a little. He could make out a dark shadow nearby waving its arms. "The necromancer must be casting another spell, I need to stop her!"

Reaching out his arm, he realized he didn't have the strength to stand anymore. The cold had claimed his legs, and was moving to his chest.

Suddenly a jolt of pain came from his heart! It thumped loudly as a burning sensation flooded his veins. The pain made him roar!

"Rrrraaaaaaaaaghh!!!"

The necromancer ignored the pained roar and finished her spell. She would just finish off the other one quickly, then she could get back to torturing the boy.

"Spiculae venandi!" Another two rods of condensed mana shot out from her staff.

"Thud! Thwack!" The both hit Jess square in the chest causing her to fall backwards on the ground. Her sword was nocked away, and she could only wrestle with the skeleton to survive.

"Skkreeeeech!" The Necromancer's pained wail suddenly echoed out, and the wretched lady stumbled forward clutching her side. Blood oozed out of the wound as she turned to face her assailant.

Crouching a few steps away, a figure was licking its hand. Piercing red eyes, were following her every movement.

"Im.. impossible!" The witch stuttered. Her darkness spell ended as she lost her focus. The pale light of the clusters of glowshrooms illuminated her foe as the dark fog dissipated.

It was Finn, though he seemed a little different. The odd posture, the conflicting facial expressions, and... was that her blood on his hand?!

Before she could cast another spell, Finn had lunged at her again with frightening speed. The necromancer retreated, and swung her staff, but she was too slow.

"Rip!" Four sharp fingernails tore through her robe before scratching her skin. Finn backed off again before throwing a scrap of black fabric on the ground.

Panting, the necromancer started casting another spell.

"Spiculae v... argh!"

Finn interrupted her incantation with a sudden pounce, causing the two mana blobs to fire off harmlessly at the ground. The new wounds on the witch were on her cursed side, they leaked a black liquid that Finn found repulsive.

Swinging her staff around in defense, the necromancer called for the skeleton to come to her aid. Faster and faster, Finn dashed around her, attacking from all sides and angles, always focusing on the 'tasty' side.

The necromancer was panicking, what kind of freak was she dealing with? Covered in wounds, the necromancer fumbled for a potion in her now tattered robe. Large patches had been torn off, however, and to her dismay her potion pocket was too.

As Finn was preparing for another attack, a skeletal fist punched him from the side, knocking him away. The necromancer ran over to the skeleton so they could fight together. It was the only way she could get back to spellcasting.

Suddenly, she was pushed forward as strong arms wrapped around her. Falling over, she felt her foe's weight land on her, pinning her down. She wanted to scream but couldn't muster her breath.

Two sharp teeth punctured the soft skin on her neck, and with each heartbeat she felt herself growing weaker. Slowly her struggles turned sluggish before stopping altogether.

Jess, who had been on the verge of passing out before the skeleton left, felt the curse's effect weakening rapidly. As her strength returned she crawled to her sword before struggling to stand up. Reaching for a potion in her pouch, she gulped it down before cautiously advancing towards the skeleton that stood facing the other direction silently.

Before she could even strike it, the flames in its eyes seemed to be snuffed out, and it collapsed into a pile of bones with a clatter.

"Lux lucent emittunt!" She quickly cast a light spell on her sword. The gentle warm light shone over the battefield. Surprised by the evidence of the battle, she looked for Finn.

"Finn?" She saw two bodies on top of each other. Hobbling closer, she turned Finn over. Still breathing! Good!

Then she saw all the blood and the bite marks on the necromancer's neck. Lifting Finn's eyelid, she saw the bright red color slowly receding. His breathing was getting slower, but she could see his numerous wounds healing at a visible rate.

Checking to make sure the necromancer was really dead, Jess carried Finn away from the bloody scene. Downstairs, she set up a temporary camp. After she got a small fire going, Jess took out some bandages and water to treat the rest of her own wounds as the potion wore off.

It was over an hour later that Finn opened his eyes again, and sat up weakly. Looking around carefully he checked for enemies.

"Jess?! Thank goodness... did we win?" He asked with a croaky voice. Suddenly, he felt incredibly nauseous.

Crawling away from the makeshift camp he leaned over some rubble and vomited. His stomach seemed to emptying itself as it kept heaving. Finally, after a lot of what looked like blood, a dark colored goop came out and he felt a lot better.

Crawling back to camp he saw Jess eating some meat jerky. "Feeling any better?" She asked knowingly.

"Yeah... sort of. What happened exactly? I remember almost passing out from a spell, then a fire started in my heart and burned through my veins. Next minute I'm waking up by your campfire like none of it ever happened."

Jess paused, uncertain of how to phrase it. "Well, I guess you could say something triggered a dormant bloodline. I didn't see you in action, but from the shreds of her cloak and all her wounds, I'd say you thrashed the necromancer." Jess paused to see his reaction.

"Those wounds, uh, there didn't happen to be any on her neck right?" Finn asked nervously.

"Yeah there was. You probably feel a lot better now that her tainted blood is out of your system." Jess confirmed his fears. "You have a vampire bloodline. It's strange though, that it hasn't shown up previously, like when you almost died on the roof last week. It's not a very common bloodline, did you even know you had it?"

"Well, I guess now that you know, I should tell you a bit more of my story." Finn leaned back and sighed, it should be safe to tell her. "I've actually been a factory slave for many years," he started, "but one day the company took me and a few others away to a lab. I think many of the others died in experiments, eventually it was my turn. They transplanted a vampire's heart into me while I was knocked out. Right after the operation, a swarm of crazed giant rats attacked the facility. They left me there to die, but I escaped and eventually joined the guild."

"Wow that sounds tough, I guess that's why you heal quick too?"

Nodding, Finn explained, "the combination of a forbidden book I stole from the lab and my quick healing helped me deduce my case. I even tested my reaction to silver and holy water to prove my theory."

"Well, it's a little disturbing that you don't remember much from when you transformed." Jess said, "you'll need to learn how to control the power in your blood."

"I transformed?" Finn asked, "how?"

"Well, all I can figure out is that your hands turned into weapons, you teeth grew sharper and longer, and your eyes went bright red." Jess listed off what she knew. "Honestly apart from that you didn't look too different, some people with dragon or other reptile bloodlines grow tails, wings or horns. I guess you are lucky in that regard."

Nodding again, Finn rinsed his mouth with some water before getting up. Seeing the tired look Jess's face, he figured she had a hard fight too.

"Get some sleep, I'll keep watch." He said before taking a bite of his jerky. It didn't really appeal to him right now but he probably needed the sustenance.

Jess found a comfortable position before finally getting some much needed rest. She clutched her silver amulet as she fell asleep.