101: Linen

(Jacob POV)

I did not know what was real and what was not. Things had taken a really dark turn. There was no living being, according to my knowledge, that possessed the demonic attribute. It was something unique to demons. They ate magic and life force. But I had just witnessed this strange creature in front of me use the same technique as demons to eat the magical ropes and the abundant magic in the air to heal itself. That black crystal in its chest was obviously the cause of all this but that crystal was integrated into the body of the creature. So it became the creature's ability.

(There is no way that a living being could possess the abilities of the demons. So that means it must be artificial.)

While I was just standing there confused thinking about these things the creature had already healed and it wasted no time in jumping at me.

I dodged the attack to the side. The creature simply passed by me. It started its old attack pattern. I was thinking while dodging its attacks. My mind was not in the fight. I had grown used to the attack pattern. But the creature thought about trying something different.

As I dodged its attack, It did not jump toward the front wall. Rather the creature stopped. It had tremendous momentum. There was no way it could just ignore all the inertia and come to a stop immediately. But That was what exactly happened.

The creature braced itself with all four of its limbs and also its tail. But the momentum was too much. The small body did not come to a stop. Rather it went ahead but only for a few centimeters. It stuck its claws in the ground and used them to make a one-eighty degrees turn. And now it was in front of me trying to kill its momentum and jump at me at the same time. I saw the creature's claws get torn. The momentum was too much to handle for the claws and the nails got torn. It would have been extremely painful. But the creature jumped towards me nonetheless. All this happened in the blink of an eye. I was able to follow the movement with the help of my eye but that did not mean that my body was following as well. I had just dodged its attack and one of my feet was in the air. I was unbalanced and was a clear target. I could not dodge the incoming attack.

The creature, uncaring of its bleeding had jumped at me. And then it slashed at my face once more. But if it thought that such a tactic was enough for it to bring me down then it could not have been more wrong. I would have died by humiliation if not for the curiosity of what that creature was if I did not take it down now. So, I simply let my body fall to the ground. The claws missed me by mere centimeters. I fell with a thud on the floor.

The creature had not hit me.

"UGH." A scream escaped from my mouth.

The creature had hit me.

(How?)

I did not understand from where the attack had come. I looked back and saw the creature standing in a position to pounce at me. While I dodged its attack, the creature had used its tail to impale me in the back. Due to the momentum, The tail did not go too deep as the creature had slid too far away and its tail could not reach me.

The creature pounced at me. It had its tail in my back. I was not in a very good position to move. That put me at a really big disadvantage. But at the same time, it did not put the creature in any advantage. If I was blocked by its tail, the creature was also liable because of the same tail.

As the creature jumped towards me. I grabbed its tail that was in my back and pulled at it with all the force I could muster. The creature was pulled towards me. It messed up its composure and it could not slash. And what waited for it at the end of the jump was a punch.

My punch landed straight in the creature's face and it flew back. I had pulled the tail out of my back as well.

I stood up immediately but then I felt something wrong. What is this? I touched my back. The wound was not healing as it should have been.

(Wait, it impaled me with its tail, then.... It could not have been..... Poison.)

I was poisoned. My wound was not healing as it should have been, and the creature was already on its feet. I had hit it quite hard but for some unknown reason, I had held back. So, it was quick to get up as the black crystal healed its injuries. And then without waiting, it jumped towards me.

I raised my hand to counter it but then suddenly my legs gave in, and I could not stand straight. I went down on my knees. The creature was coming at me at full speed.

"Oh no...…. the...….. poison." My voice shuddered.

The creature was coming towards me with great speed and I was on the ground. Then it extended its claws to the fullest as it aimed for my neck. It wanted to finish me off in a single blow. And then.

"SIKE." I raised my head and grabbed both its hands.

The creature was extremely confused.

"I am A VAMPIRE DUMMY. POISONS DON'T WORK ON US." And saying that I kicked the creature straight in the abdomen. I saw the creature spit blood from its mouth as it was sent flying.

"I can't believe it worked so perfectly." I chuckled loudly.

I had tried to trick the creature and it had worked wonders. Poisons usually did not work on us vampires. All it did was delay our healing factor a bit. The more potent the poison the slower the wound would heal. But this poison was not that strong. My body had already countered it and the healing had begun.

The creature tried to get up but fell back. It was hurt really badly. I had probably broken its ribs and punctured its lungs. And I could also see some other bones broken due to the impact. It was hurt quite bad but the black crustal was absorbing magic at a rapid rate to heal the creature. It would stand up in a minute at most. I had to restrain it somehow. I looked here and there and my eyes went after the bars I had ripped off from the cell.

(HMMMM, I could use those.)

I thought to myself as I walked towards them.

"Why won't you listen." I heard a minor whisper as I went to pick up those bars.

"Huh?" Was it my imagination? I did not know. But the voice was too clear even if it was just a whisper.

"Listen to me." I followed the sound to a cell.

"did you say something?" I asked the little girl there.

"You promised that you would save linen?" She was crying as she asked me that.

I was stunned for a moment but then I answered.

"Yes, I will save Linen. I promised you remember." I smiled at her. I had to go restrain the creature. It was not the time to do such things.

"But.... But but." She wanted to say something more but I hushed her.

"SSShhhhh. First, let me fight that bad guy over there." I pointed towards the creature. "Then we will talk okay." I smiled at her.

I turned to go back but her small hand grabbed me from behind.

"NO." she tried to shout but what came out was no more than a whisper. "Don't go there." She was insistent.

"You don't have to worry about me." I assured her.

"NO, YOU CANT GO." But the girl was insistent.

(Ugh I hate to do this but.)

I did not have much time so I simply shook myself and her weak hand had to let go.

"Wait." She spoke.

"I will be back in a moment." I said and turned to go back.

That was when I noticed that the creature was gone.

(SHIT, I MISCALCULATED. IT HEALS FASTER THAN I THOUGHT.)

I looked all around but the creature had simply vanished. And then Suddenly I felt something approaching from the top. Without even looking I swung the bar in my hand like a club.

*CLANG*

The pole hit the creature and the creature fell down. I jumped and placed my foot on its chest.

"GGGGGRRRRRRRR." The creature growled at me and tried to slash my leg but I did not let it. I pulled out my wand and chanted a transfiguration spell and immediately the earth formed cuffs and held its hands and legs. I placed my other leg on its tail and restrained it completely.

The creature was really strong. It could have broken through my cuffs. So I had to keep my wand pointed as I re-casted the magic again and again.

"STOOPPP YOU ARE HURTING HER." I heard a shout from the cell behind me.

I turned to look towards the girl who was still crying.

"You promised that you would save Linen." She said amidst her sobs.

"Yes, I will." I did not know what had come over the little girl.

"Then why are you hurting her."

(Wait what?)

I was lost.

"Hurting...…. Who?" I asked.

Well, I was not naïve enough. I knew what she was saying but somehow my brain rejected it.

"Linen." I did not want to hear it. "You are hurting her." But the child kept speaking. "You said you would not hurt Linen but you were lying. Just like those bad bad people." She was speaking and every word felt as heavy as a mountain. "STOP HURTING LINEN. LET HER GO. WHY ARE YOU STANDING ON MY LITTLE SISTER."

My head turned in a robotic manner towards the creature laying on the ground. The wild and barbaric creature that was tossing and turning to somehow hurt me.

"you.....yo...…yoo.....ur...….little.....sis.....ter." I said dreamily.

My concentration broke and the cuffs came off. The creature immediately slashed my leg. I backed off as the slash went through my leg leaving a giant wound. The creature immediately rolled and jumped away from me.

I slowly turned toward the child in the cell. My eyes were not focusing as tears welled up in my eyes. Everything seemed to fall in place now. I saw the whole thing solved like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The isolated building. The creature. The children and their use. Immediately I knew what that creature was.

"WHY ARE YOU HURTING MY LITTLE SISTER." The little girl shouted.

Every thing seemed to make sense from this revelation. Now I understood what the weird feeling was since the beginning of the fight. This creature was not a natural being.

"I..." My voice shook badly. I could not form words. "I.... am not." Was the only thing I could say as tears trickled down my cheeks and fell on the floor.

"What do you mean you are not?" The girl asked.

"Yeah." I said gathering all the courage in the world. "I was not hurting her. We were...….. simply....." I struggled to think of a good lie. But there was nothing to say. "We were playing." I could not just say anything else.

"Playing?" The child seemed to have calmed down.

"Yeah, we are." I said standing up from the ground. "Look now as Linen gives me a hug." I said and turned around. "COME ON LINEN GIVE BROTHER A BIG BIG HUG." I shouted.

The thing, Linen, was not waiting around. It had already pounced at me and was gaining momentum to attack again. As the creature came to slash me, I did not sidestep step rather I took the slashes head-on. They landed on my chest. Exactly where I wanted them to be. And then I simply closed both my arms. Trapping Linen in a position where she could not move her arms or her tail. It was like a hug. Only a really really strong one.

"See." I immediately turned around so that the kid would not see her face.

"Oh." She had bought it. "I thought that you were hurting her. Then were you playing all along?" She asked with her innocent voice.

"yeah, we were playing all along." I forced a smile on my face. Linen thrashed around to get free, but my strength was superior to hers. And I was not letting her go.

"But I saw her bleed." She had seen too much.

"No that was just color. We were...….. erm.... Errr...….. we were playing a game where….." I tried to come up with an excuse. Linen was desperately trying to break free and in that desperation, she simply bit my shoulder.

"UGH." I could not help but wither in pain. There was poison on the teeth as well. It did not affect us but it did hurt more. Even her simple bite was enough to chew off a person's head.

"Are you okay big brother?" She seemed concerned about me.

"yes, I am absolutely amazingly brilliant." I smiled. "In fact, I am doing so good that they are thinking that they should rename 'good' to 'big Brother'" I joked. That was the best I could come up with in that situation.

"hehehehehehe." The little girl laughed.

(SHE LAUGHED... SHE REALLY LAUGHED. NOW I CAN DIE HAPPY. OO THANK GOD, SHE LAUGHED)

"You are funny big brother." She spoke.

I was reaching my end. The bite was really painful and it was going to rip off my arm in a moment.

"What's your name." I asked the little girl.

"Elise" She replied.

"What a beautiful name. Elise. Now can you tell me what's that behind you?" I asked Elise.

"Where?" She turned.

"somnum moliuntur" I touched Elise and she immediately fell into a deep sleep. I could not bear it anymore. And there was no way I was going to break her trust. But I had to contain Linen somehow.

I stood up. Now I had to do something about Linen. I was not sure that somnum moliuntur would work on her as she was too aggressive. I could not hurt her. I did not want to. So there was but one other way. I did not like it but it was the best possible solution. She was still biting my shoulder trying to rip it off.

(I am sorry)

I thought as I opened my mouth and dug my fangs deep into the Linen's neck.

"GGGGGGAAAAAHHHH." She growled for a sec but then she fell quiet.

This was a property of us vampires. Our saliva contained a powerful anesthetic. If we wanted, When we sucked out the blood from our prey, they fell asleep, as their blood pressure remained normal so that we could feed easily. It was not something I was proud of but there was nothing I could think about at the moment. Linen thrashed for a moment but then her movements slowed down and she fell asleep. When I became sure that she was asleep. I let her go. She was sound asleep. I gently laid her down. Then I grabbed the poles and tied her hands using those metal poles. Now she was not going anywhere.

"You stay here. I will take you to Ana." I spoke to her although I was sure she could not listen. Even if she could she would probably not understand.

"I am a worthless big brother. I can't help you. But An is a great Doctor. she might be able to do something." saying that I simply stood there. And then once more my eyes teared up.

"Who the fuck am I kidding. Even though I am not a healer, I can tell this process in not reversible. I know no one in this world could heal you." I started to sob as streaks of tears fell on the sleeping girl. "I am sorry Linen. I am really sorry. Only if I had come sooner." I could not stop my tears. So I simply sat there and cried at my own powerlessness.

Then I stood up. There was no time. I wiped my tears and then I looked around for a bit and found my eye patch. I tied it around the other eye.

"Now." I looked towards the other end of the corridor where I could see three silhouettes. After removing the eye patch my eye was operating at full power so now even their defenses were not able to block my sight. I started to walk towards those three.

(Someone is going to die today.)