"Nadia, grab what is most important. One bag, we leave as soon as possible. Don't question me." Nadia honestly was not going to question. His tone held a sharpness, but it was of concern. A vampire? How? Were they from his story? He knew the scent and now she was honestly scared. The purebloods that Laural wrote were nasty pieces of work. Xyle was already moving swiftly and checked each room. Nadia had her shoes off fast and ran down the hall to her room. She was quick to shove things into a bag. Where were they going to go? My god what was her life becoming?
"How? Are you sure?" Nadia asked him as she came back down the hall with her simple duffle bag. She had quickly put on a soft pair of pants and a normal shirt. Nothing seemed out of place in her home. She came into the living area.
Xyle spun the computer screen so she could see it and the open dialogue box. The question to start next interview was there. It repeated multiple times and then said next character interview initialized.
"Activate voice commands." Xyle said and Nadia stood there with him. She noted that he still had a weapon out. She glanced at it, he didn't put it away. He was very alert, she could tell. He spoke to her look at his weapon.
"They aren't here, but the scent is not that old." He told her and she nodded. Then the computer spoke.
"Story in progress unable to pause story. Character recognition Xyle." Nadia looked at the screen. The automated voice saying the recognizable line. Nadia frowned.
"There's no words on the page." She saw the cursor and the blinking line move like it was typing invisible words. However there was nothing there to read.
"I know, I scrolled up to read but nothing is on the page from after Zyer and Lillian came. There are many pages to scroll through but no words." Nadia glanced back down. What did that mean? It was typing before. This was getting so bizarre and now she was worried over a computer that was typing but showing no words. Let's be honest, this might not even be a real computer at this point.
"Who gave the command for character interview to start. Who is interviewed?" Xyle asked. This computer was the only thing they had to tell them what Xyle's senses were picking up. For the first time in his life he hoped his senses and intuition were wrong.
"Character interview pool is now full. No new characters can be supported. Character interview acceptance is as follows. Xyle, Zyer, Lillian, Adrellie and Kane. Top tier characters have been accommodated into new story."
"Oh my god, it brought Adrellie and Kane out?" She asked and he had a very deadpan expression.
"Who gave the interview command?" Xyle asked.
"Character interview is set to autofill if no response is given. Auto response in event of time out is yes." Came the voice from the computer. Both stared at the screen like it was going to give more information. Clearly not without a prompt. Xyle felt a tic in his jaw, out of all the rest of the characters it had to be those two? What the hell.
"Why can't we read the screen?" Nadia asked it.
"Sorry, character lock command…" At this point Xyle didn't think it mattered anymore. The computer sure seemed to be doing things by itself. He wasn't in the mood to be humored by a fucking object. It seemed pretty clear to him they weren't going to be changing much.
"Unlock for characters Nadia, Zyer and Lillian only." After a moment the voice came and told them it was unlocked so Nadia asked it again.
"Current author has locked out all characters from read mode. Story progression is now in hands of characters and their actions. Temptation of reading back over parts or even current descriptions and dialogue removed. Begin live mode." The two of them stood there.
"Describe live mode?" Nadia asked, and both of them were not liking this. What was this computer? This was way beyond magic norms in Xyle's opinion and Nadia had no idea what to think. Who exactly was in control here?
"Live mode. The state of being alive and exercising freewill." Because that cleared it right up. Number two, even though the computer was an automated voice, she almost felt like it was being sarcastic. Yeah stupid to think, but then again… How much magic did this thing have? It was magic right?
"We need to go. I doubt they stayed here long. They wouldn't know how much time to sunrise or who is with us. Zyer said that once the new story started and the other closed they could not hear anything else. Everyone was just frozen in place. So we have that advantage, as long as they were unable to read the computer." Nadia looked up at him.
"Can you best them?" Nadia asked and Xyle shrugged.
"I guess we will find out. We've killed many vampires, nearly killed Kane once. However unlike with Laural this story is still writing. It's writing alongside us it seems. Guess we have to just figure out how to make it write the way we want." Nadia looked over at her shelves and figured it best to get a few of the books to bring with.
"You might know a lot about them intimately. All I have are these. Maybe there's something in here that is helpful." Nadia said grabbing The Hex Series to shove in her bag.
"Ask it where they are." Nadia said and Xyle looked down away from her. He doubted it was that easy. Didn't hurt to ask though, and he was really lost right now as to how this was playing out. Kane killed him in the last story, was this new one trying to bring it back around in a different way? He hoped not, he hoped it ended with Kane dead this time. Xyle asked the computer.
"Unable to answer." It said.
"Who is the new author?" Nadia asked putting her bag over her shoulder.
"Unable to answer."
"Why?" Xyle asked. Screw asking it politely. He was pretty fucking sure someone else was behind that screen just like he'd been. Was it someone in this world, his, or another all together? It hurt to think about in all honesty.
"Unable to answer." They asked a few other questions quickly about Kane and Adrellie. Then about the general direction of the story. All was met with the unable to answer line. Nadia made a frustrated sound and Xyle was clenching his jaw. This better not be a turn for the worse. Here he thought he escaped his old fate.
He glanced at Nadia, he felt a slight ease of tension though. No, this was different. He had a chance, he also had a chance at so much more he reminded himself. This was just one more thing he would have to fight for to protect. He could do that, he was good at doing that.
"This is crazy. We are not items." Nadia said feeling very upset at this. Her world was completely changing.
"All creatures have freewill Nadia. Author has taken your concerns to heart, you are only words on a page if you believe you are." Nadia was taken back by the computer speaking back to her. This was so Alice in Wonderland.
"All characters are now locked out of voice commands and read mode. No more direct suggestion changes will be allowed. Silent writing and observation mode only." The voice was still the same chipper auto voice. The dialogue box closed and all they were looking at now was a white screen with invisible words typing.
"Well fuck." Xyle said and snapped it closed. He shoved the computer into a bag he had. He doubted the thing was done with completely speaking or commands. Second, he couldn't leave it laying around now. Clearly this stupid thing had the ability to alter their fates or record it. Xyle grabbed the bag and the case of knives he'd left in the bathroom. It seemed that the purebloods had left in a hurry.
"Where are we going?" Nadia asked him.
"To Zyer and Lillian. I don't know how close Kane and Adrellie are, mentally reaching out they could sense it. I don't want to have to fight the two of them here with you." No he did not, that honestly scared him a bit. Nadia was very breakable while she was still human.
"Okay. Let's go then." She said and he was surprised how easy that was. At least she was smart and knew when to bend. Nadia too was very aware that the one in the worst position now was her. She might be the female lead, but she was also the weakest link. Having an ego about that would get her killed. She liked being alive, in this Xyle was the safer bet.