Chapter 3

-[Nathan]-

Caroline is nice, if not a bit vain. Though, thanks to her I've gotten the layout of the school building memorized. No more bumbling into the wrong class, something I could have avoided earlier if I asked around. 

Once school was over for the day, I stopped by the local convenience store to stock up the kitchen before going home.

With nothing to do, I spend the rest of the afternoon exploring new spells with Logomancy. Unlike witches and warlocks, I have no need for a nexus vorti or other supernatural occurrences to draw power from for powerful spells. 

That alone gives me a significant advantage over them. That is something I plan to test tonight. What's the best way to make allies? Cleaning up their mistakes. 

Though I have raw magical power, there is also strength in numbers. That is why I'm garbed in dark clothes trudging through the forest. Why am I doing that? I want to try out a spell I spent a while pouring over and I need a corpse for that. 

As such, I'm looking for where Damon buries his victims. Specifically; Vicki Donovan. Who better to experiment on with spells than a mob character?

Am I an ass for that? Absolutely, but it's the sad truth. 

The cracking of a branch reaches my ears, causing me to stiffen for a moment, but not breaking my strides. I'm constantly utilizing Reinforcement throughout my body, waiting for my possible predator. 

I wait. I force my breathing to stay even despite the tension in me. 

For a full minute, nothing happens. Just when I think nothing is going to happen, a figure blurs in front of me, holding my face to his. 

"Don't scream." He ordered, maintaining eye contact with me. 

Vampire, I realized. I didn't feel anything overriding my mind so it's safe to say it didn't work, he doesn't need to know that though. Seeing me freeze, he assumed his compulsion worked. 

Veins grew around his eyes, his fangs elongating as he leaned into my neck to take a bite. 

"Erif!" I chanted, pushing him away as his body burst into flames. 

"Aaahhhh!!!" His scream rang through the woods as he fell to the ground, rolling around the put it out. 

Looking around, I picked up a piece of bark among the numerous pieces littered the floor. 

"Pots!" I chanted once more, causing him to halt all movement, yet his screams don't stop until I drive the bark through his heart. 

With another chant, the fire went out but a majority of his body had been burnt already. The visible skin turned gray with dried up veins visible from the surface. 

Only now did I realize that I was panting hard, dropping to the floor on my ass to calm myself. I just killed my first vampire. 

Yay for me. 

-[Later]-

After taking some time to cool off, it takes a while but I bury the body with the use of a few spells. I'll have use for that later but for now, I came here to find someone else. 

Should I be bothered about how quickly I moved on from the fact that I just killed somebody? I should be, I really should be. 

Moving on, I soon find where Damon dumps his corpses and I have to say, it's quite sloppy. No wonder Caroline found Vicki's body. 

On the flip side, that made it easy for me to find her body. 

"Etativel." I whisper, watching the body rise out of the dirt and sand. 

Lowering it to the floor, I walk up to it, plucking a few strands of hair from her head. Either this will work or it won't. I won't know until I find out. If it does, then I might have figured out a bargaining chip to use to my advantage. 

Calling on the energy within me, I feel it almost pulsing in preparation for this spell. 

"Morf eseht sdnarts ecudorp a daerht. Evaew siht daerht onti a htolc." Magic poured out of me, more than the cost of any spell I'd used so far, yet it was still a drop in the ocean of power I had. 

The strands of hair now floated before me, covered in light. The wind blew powerfully around me. 

I continue chanting. "Evig siht htolc a namuh mrof fo diam, edamer sa saw erofeb! Hself dna enob dnem niaga!"

As I spoke, the light grew and grew until it was the size of a human being before dying down, revealing a body completely identical to the one closeby minus the discoloration and visibly dried up veins. 

Now standing in front of the remade body, my hands and eyes glowing with power. 

"Airotciv navonod, I dnammoc ruoy luos! Nruter ot siht enalp dna tibahni siht ydob!" I chanted, feeling a larger drain than before but still very negligible. 

Her body shuddered violently for a moment before a sharp intake of breath was heard, the girl gasping and her eyes open wide. 

"What? What happened?! Where am I?!" She questioned, firing questions one by one. 

Before she could cause a scene, I laid my hand on her head. "Peels." I chanted softly, causing her to go limp in my arms. 

I let out a breath of relief. It worked. I wasn't sure it would but I realized something about Logomancy that led to me trying it out in the first place.

Magic comes at a cost. For a simple fire spell, it cost magic. Same as any other utility spell. The energy cost of raising the dead is far beyond what most mortals could withstand. That's why sometimes another life must be exchanged or something along that line. 

Even here, they use the power from celestial events, a nexus vorti, to cast really powerful spells. That, or channeling hundreds of dead witches. 

Essence of the archmage spits in the face of all of that, allowing me to easily fire off spells that would kill witches should they even attempt it.

As for why I didn't just perform the spell with Vicki's vampire body, it would defeat the whole purpose of resurrecting her. She was staked because she couldn't control herself and I'm not going to resurrect her a second time if she dies. 

Guinea pig or not, I take pride in my work. 

Turning to her previous vampire body, it only takes an incantation to set it ablaze. Watching the body burn to ash is strangely cathartic. 

Maybe it's the hidden psycho in me. It's probably why I haven't run mad yet. As the ashes were blown away, I took that as my signal to get going.

Getting up from my crouched position, I easily lift Vicki into my arms. I'm fortunate to have learnt reinforcement or this would be quite hard. 

I quickly realized the next problem that had somehow escaped me, she's naked. I'm not rejecting the sight of a naked girl but I'd prefer it if she weren't as limp as a doll. 

I'm alone in the woods with a naked girl in my arms. Woe is me.