The master … did not look the part whatsoever. He wore a leather jacket, jeans that hugged his legs, and black cowboy boots with the pants tucked inside. His hair sat high on his head, greased back to the point it wouldn’t be a shock if goop dripped off in clumps. To top it off, he puffed on a cigarette dangling between his lips. His level, however, did lend credence to him being the master.

  [Vinny “The Master” Conner]

  [Baddie Level 50]

  Vinny titled himself the master of this vampire nest. With his Bronx accent and tough guy look, nobody questioned it. Don’t be fooled by his mesmerizing eyes, the guy is a textbook Greaser. He doesn’t have special skills at his disposal, besides being a vampire, but he can back up his title with his ability to brawl. He’ll fight you clean. He’ll fight you dirty. He don’t give two licks … but he’ll give two bites.

  “Looking for this?” Vinny asked in a gritty, thick Bronx voice. His fingers snapped with arrogance.

  A moment later, a burly vampire came out from somewhere behind the golden throne, carrying a copper platter. He came to a stop next to Vinny, who pulled the lid off the platter, revealing a bracer and a quill with orange feathers.

  Vinny put the lid back on, snapped his fingers, and the burly vampire ducked behind the throne. The master puffed on his cigarette and leaned heavily to one side, not saying a word.

  Wendell and Alissa didn’t answer, but Peregrine couldn’t handle the uncomfortable silence. “Yes, we are looking for that,” he said. What he said next was a bit bold, given they were in the middle of a vampire layer surrounded by hundreds of them. But … he spoke before his mind had time to filter the piss poor idea. “You’re going to release these humans. Now. I won’t ask again.”

  “Mmh-mmh. Mmh-mmh,” Wendell mumbled with his mouth closed.

  “You fucking toad,” Alissa whispered. “That’s gonna get us killed.”

  Vinny chortled, pushing himself high off his throne and jumping down to the floor. He sauntered toward them, trailing left and right like his laughter was throwing off his balance. But he wasn’t actually stumbling. It was the walk of a predator knowing he had his prey cornered. He stopped in front of the trio, giving them each a once-over.

  Peregrine immediately regretted his choice of words.

  “What do we have here, ladies and gentleman?” Vinny blew a cloud of smoke in Peregrine’s face. “Heroes brought here by The Morrigan? Which one was it? Let me guess … It was Nemain. Or was it Badb?”

  None of them answered. Peregrine held in a cough.

  Vinny waved his hand. “Doesn’t matter. Stupid cunts, the lot of them. None of their toys have ever dared venture into this cave, until you three showed up” He ran a hand over his hair, grabbing a strand, pulling it down over his forehead, and letting it curl. “Boy, oh, boy. What a treat. All three of you are combat capable. I’ve waited a long time for some fun.”

  “We're not here to play games,” Alissa said. “You heard him. We’re taking the weapon and your fruit punch drinks. If you don’t agree … we’ll turn this place into a massacre of art.”

  “Ohhhh,” Vinny said, cheerfully. “Them’s fighting words. Here’s the deal. If any of you three can beat me in a scuffle, one-on-one, we can have a discussion. What say you?” He raised his hands out wide above his head and spun to fire up the audience. It worked, they cheered and clapped at the little routine. “Shall we give them a show?”

  One-on-one wasn’t a fair statement. The second any of them got the upperhand, guaranteed they’d be attacked by a crowd of vampires. This was going to be a fight to the death against the whole nest. Peregrine wished they had a group chat in the System menu, so he could apologize to Wendell privately for not listening to his sound advice about avoiding this dilemma.

  Seemingly reading his thoughts, Vinny said, “It’ll be a fair fight. You have my word. They won’t interfere … unless any of you get the idea in your heads to be a hero and do something idiotic.”

  Trusting a vampire at his word? That seemed rich.

  Vinny positioned himself in front of Alissa. “Let’s take you for the first test drive, mouthy.” He flicked his cigarette in her face, the cherry burning her cheek.

  Alissa reacted swiftly, pulling her sword out of inventory and swinging it wildly.

  Vinny ducked every slice, then tiptoed backward playfully while wiggling taunting fingers in a “ ohhh, you scared me” manner.

  Alissa sprinted, taking a downward swing at the vampire. He dodged to the side, put up his dukes, and hit her with a body blow. She doubled over, and he hit her in the ribs two more times.

  Peregrine started ahead, but Wendell stopped him. “We’ll be overrun.”

  “Don’t be a hero,” Vinny yelled at him. He circled Alissa while she caught her breath. “C’mon, pal. I know you got more in the tank than that.”

  Alissa crouched lower. She switched her sword from her right hand to her left. Then her other sword, Exaltation of the Fallen, appeared in her right hand. She jumped high in the air, just short of the ceiling, wielding both swords at the same time. The familiar white glint appeared while she zoomed down, burying her sword in Vinny’s shoulder. In the same motion, she used Crimson Leaker to slash him across the belly.

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  Vinny hobbled back. “Damn, girlie. That’s more like it.” He pulled the sword out of his shoulder, admired it, then tossed it to the ground.

  In the next instant he was a blur, appearing behind Alissa in the blink of an eye. He kicked her in the back of the knee and punched her in the kidneys while she was on her way down. Her other sword clattered on the ground as she fell on all fours. He didn’t hold back, jumping in the air and crashing down on the middle of her back with his cowboy boot. She collapsed flat.

  Peregrine saw her health bar flashing a deep red. He lurched forward. “I’ll kill you.” He couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth. When was the last time he’d been that fired up?

  “Calm down, scamp,” Vinny said, taking off his leather jacket. He unrolled a pack of cigarettes from his short-sleeve shirt. He fired one up, and shoved the pack in his jeans. “She’s going to be just fine. I didn’t kill her. Could if I wanted to. I want the big man next. You’ll get your shot when I’m done with him.”

  It seemed like this was a school yard fight to the vampire. Also, Peregrine noticed there wasn’t any red dripping from Vinny’s shirt. He must’ve been too strong to inflict BLEED on.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Peregrine told Wendell. “We can grab Alissa and escape.”

  “Too many of them,” Wendell gulped. “There’s nowhere to run.” He cautiously stepped in front of his opponent.

  If Alissa couldn’t beat Vinny, Wendell had no chance in Hell.

  KAPOW!

  Vinny swung his fist at a frightening speed, connecting with Wendell’s shield. In the same instant, the power of the shield blasted the master sideways, sending him crashing into his throne, breaking it in half. Unfortunately, the shield developed another huge crack in the process.

  Gasps and angry rumblings reverberated through the crowd.

  The sound of clapping rose above the rabbling mob.

  Vinny rose out of the rubble with a smile that said he was having the time of his life. His shoulder wound was already healing. “Got some power in ya. I’ll give you that. Let’s see how you handle a change in strategy.” He zipped ahead, leaving the motion blur behind him, stopping just short of Wendell.

  Wendell thrust his shield, but not quick enough. The vampire danced around every telegraphed movement.

  Vinny worked his way to Wendell’s blindside and kicked him before the Defend class had time to bring his shield over. It wasn’t a hard hit, but it was enough to roll him and separate the shield from its owner.

  Struggling to his feet, Wendell took an erratic swing, missed, and found himself in a tight headlock. He grunted as he tried lifting the vampire. He groaned as he tried pushing him off. Nothing worked.

  Brass knuckles formed on Vinny’s dominant hand. He kissed his fist, raised it high, then proceeded to pummel Wendell with punches to the face—all the while maintaining a strong mouth hold on his cigarette—until the human’s health bar depleted to a deep red. He released his hold and let Wendell drop like a sack of potatoes. There was a twinkle in his eye as he looked to Peregrine.

  Oh shit! Peregrine thought. Alissa has a better attack. Wendell can take a butt load more punishment. What the hell am I going to do? Fast attacks. Think of something fast. Arrows.

  Not wasting time, Peregrine aimed and conjured an arrow.

  Zing!

  The arrow was fast, but Vinny was faster. He leaned and snatched it out of the air, admiring it before watching it explode. It was enough to make him shake his hand and stick a finger in his mouth like it was hot. For the first time, Peregrine checked Vinny’s health bar and was dismayed to find that, after all the fighting, it hadn’t moved a single inch. His level was just too high. Was this the end?

  “The three of you aren’t ready to fight them, yet. You’re not strong enough.”

  Peregrine refilled his quill while Vinny monologued.

  Vinny shook out his hand again, then slicked his hair back, allowing the single curl to fall down his forehead. “I’ll help you get there.” He slung his arms out, revealing sharp claws, and rushed ahead.

  Peregrine braced for impact … but it never came. The vampire stopped short of his target. He hesitated before raising his arm to cast Holy. Vinny sliced his thin arm with his claws.

  “Ahhh.” It burned terribly. Blood oozed from his torn bicep. His arm went limp and it took everything he had to lift it.

  “You all have the spirit. You all have the will to fight, inside of you. But you need to be faster.” He swung again.

  This time Peregrine was ready, reacting to the claws flying at him, dodging and ducking. He couldn’t help but sense the vampire was holding back, though. Why? At point blank range, he cast a sawblade. It clipped Vinny’s ear then roared into the crowd, where it sliced into Radu’s leg, dropping his health to half. He got tangled in his cape while rolling around in pain.

  Vinny grabbed Peregrine’s injured casting arm and yanked him close. “Good try. But you need to be smarter. I’m a vampire. My weaknesses are wood, fire, and decapitation. Leveling up will get you there.” He grabbed Peregrine’s head, tucked it under his armpit, and delivered a devastating suplex.

  If Peregrine had been an old man, his hips would have turned to dust on impact. Since Peregrine wasn’t old, and was now stronger than the average human, he bounced up and took a few painful steps before crashing back to the ground. His health bar plummeted to the dangerous section of red. He meant to pull an elixir, but Vinny was too fast. That’s why the rest of the party hadn’t used one. They didn’t get a chance.

  Vinny picked Peregrine up by the back of his suit pants and threw him next to the other two.

  Not ready to quit, Peregrine rolled to his back and fired a UFO, which was slightly faster than the arrow. It struck Vinny in the chest, giving him a pause, but not doing any real damage besides ripping his white shirt.

  The vampire walked up and gave the Creative class a light kick, which put his health bar one blip away from death.

  Peregrine hyperventilated, sheer panic as his vision darkened. His heartbeat slowed dramatically.

  “C’mon, you squares. Heal up.” Vinny dropped three bottles of Elixir of Life in front of them.

  All three snatched the bottles and guzzled the contents. Their injuries healed. Peregrine felt life returning to him.

  What now? Would he kill them? Let the others feast on their blood?

  “On your feet,” Vinny ordered. “You three at once versus me.” He did a light bout of shadow boxing. “Oh. Hold on.” He snapped his fingers, signaling the copper-platter-carrying vampire to appear. Vinny grabbed the bracer and quill, dumping them on the ground in front of Peregrine. “Let’s even up the odds.”