Diggory grabbed a longsword from the corner of his tent.
He held it as tight as he could when he was suddenly hit with a thought.
Finding his way to Gillian, he asked, "Did you coat the tent with the howler's blood?"
"Yes. Why the question?" Gillian asked back.
"Which blood did you use?"
"The freshest one. That is more effective."
With bulging veins, Diggory raised his voice, "You used the blood of our most recent kill?"
"Yeah, duh. That's what I said."
"Fuck, did you check the gender of the howler first? Fuck, you made a damn mistake. The howler was a female. I thought you knew that."
Diggory peaked out of the tent. He could hear the howls of the beasts. They were excited about something.
The smell of a potential mate thrilled them!
"Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Gillian, if we survive this, you are not gonna get away scot-free," Diggory warned.
As he loaded his crossbow with an arrow and grabbed a longsword, Gillian took the time to comprehend her actions.
Coating the tent with the blood of a howler was a way to make it more unassuming during the 'night parades', the period of nighttime when the other beasts come out to hunt.
How was she to know the blood she used belonged to a female howler?
Instead of concealing the tent, it would shine the tent like a beacon of light at night.
Howlers were instinctive and barbarous creatures. There was no way the scent of a female howler would escape them.
A curse slipped from her mouth, "Shit!"
She grabbed a belt of daggers and wore it on her waist while equipping her dominant hands with a shortsword.
*Howl!*
The howls got closer and closer.
In less than two minutes, the shadow of a howler fixated on the walls of the tent.
Then, it was two howlers.
Then, three howlers.
The numbers of howlers multiplied as they surrounded the tent, roaming around it patiently.
Diggory held his hands to his mouth. He signaled the rest to keep quiet.
Meanwhile, Seth watched everything with little fear in his undead heart.
'Hahaha, I wonder what happens now.' He was smart enough to figure out the situation.
There was really nothing different about the strange development from his perspective. Either way, he was in a tight mess.
Seth had a thought. 'But what if I use it to my advantage? How do those brain heads say it, 'One and One negate each other.' Something like that.'
While Seth began scheming, Diggory whispered to his gang, "We can't let the howlers damage our tent. We have to kill them!"
"We will die!" countered another member.
"You have any other solution? We will die if we stay here. For the moon's sake, we are sitting ducks here! What do you think will happen once the howlers find out that we killed their potential mate and used her blood?"
"Damn! Damn! Let's do this," Droggo flexed his spear without fear.
Following Diggory's lead, the rest jumped out and chaos ensued.
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.
.
.
As piles of blood from unknown sources splashed on the tent walls, Seth struggled to break free from the chain cuffs.
They were loose, but that didn't mean they were easy to break.
The cuffs were made from a special material that he didn't recognize. Whatever that material was, it sure contained enough force to bind supernatural beings.
"Arghh!!"
Veins popped on Seth's face as he summoned all his vampiric strength to break the cuffs.
*Chink!*
Finally, the sound he had been waiting for echoed!
He was free!
Seth looked around him. He could hear the scream of the gang as they witnessed yet again another loss. He could smell their fear from miles away.
Yet, amidst all that, was the bloody euphoric joy of the howlers, who clearly enjoyed their hunt.
'I don't know how I'm going to do this,' Seth sighed.
Wait! He wasn't alone in this?!
Seth eyed the elves and half-elves, 'I could use them.'
He moved closer to one female half-elf.
Suddenly, something pulsated in him. The lovely smell of the female wafted into his nose. The sound of her blood pumping. The sudden withdrawal of her peaceful breath as he moved closer.
Without knowing, his green eyes glowed, his fangs protruded, and his skin turned paler.
Overcome by an instant vampiric drive, Seth bit into the neck of the half-elf. Her blood flowed into his mouth, quenching the barren sea that had been dry for days.
Seth had almost forgotten this feeling. He wanted more of it. More!
The female blood was among the best that he had tasted. It wasn't dirty as he had expected. It was pure and undiluted, despite her troubled heritage.
Seth sucked every ounce of her blood until her body shriveled. It became a dry sac, void of any material.
The female's eyes closed as she took her last breath.
'I can feel it. Power! I need more,' His glowing green eyes terrified the other captives.
If he could just get another taste of sweet elven blood…
He had to get another taste!
Suddenly, he pushed his fingernails deep into his skin as he moved closer to a male elf.
Blood seeped from his hands. Clarity shone in his eyes.
He took a whiff of the elf's scent before shaking his head. Finally, his vampiric transformation was rescinded.
'Oh god. So this is what the vampiric drive feels like. Luckily, I was able to use Rhazien Az Mor's experience to deal with it.'
The Morgen way of controlling the vampiric drive was quite special.
'Where there is pleasure, conquer it with pain.'
'There can only be pain, our eternal gift as creatures of the night.'
Seth snapped out of his trip down memory lane.
He freed the captives from their cuffs and spoke to them, "We can use the distraction outside to run away."
One of them flashed a disgusted expression as he replied, "Demon!"
"Hey, I'm not a demon. I'm a vampire. There are two different things."
"Demon!"
"I–"
"Demon!"
"For god's sake, stop this!" Seth glared at them, making them remember his previous glowing eyes.
"You killed her," whimpered one of them.
Seth looked at the dead corpse beside them and sighed, "Right now, we have to survive. Shall we? Whatever comes next, I will take it."
He was lying.
He planned on using the captives as a smokescreen!
"Are you listening?"
"Yes."
"So, this is how it would go…"
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Outside the tent.
Diggory caught a flash beside him. When he turned around, he saw another of his men snatched by the tail of a howler.
He loaded his crossbow swiftly and shot at the howler. The arrow dug into the eye of the howler, but its scream caused a horde of howlers to surround it.
"Fuck, how are you guys doing? Flam is dead," shouted Diggory.
From somewhere else, Droggo reported loudly, "There are five of us left–argh– Make that four."
"Shit, the horde is more than I expected. Fuck." cursed Diggory.
From the corner of his eye, he saw something strange!
At the center of the horde was a humanoid figure, Diggory couldn't believe his eye, but after countless eye rubbing, he knew he was not wrong.
"Gillian, cover me. I think I found something." He shouted as he went deep into the horde.
Gillian's throwing daggers were accurate and powerful. They stopped any howler that sneaked up on Diggory.
Now at the center of the horde, Diggory found himself against nothing but more howlers.
"Was I wrong?"
His skin tingled as the shadow of a humanoid figure swallowed him.
'It is behind me,' Diggory realized.
Now so close to the humanoid creature, Diggory identified the special features of the creature just by looking at its shadow.
Out of nowhere, something clicked in him.
"Fuck me, Gillian, run!—"
Those were his last words as a tail stabbed his head. His head rolled to this mystery figure, ever so terrified even after death!