Lola and the Blood Clan

Just as Green had nearly given up hope, Lola finally sent word, asking him to meet her at their usual place.

Inside the Peony Cafe, Green stared in surprise at the woman across from him. He could hardly believe she was the Lola he knew.

Her face was pale. The sunny, athletic air she once had was gone, replaced by a sickly gloom. Yet it did nothing to diminish her beauty. Instead, it lent her a strange allure, faintly wicked and decidedly not for children.

Green frowned. He did not need to ask to know that something terrible had happened to her.

"You're here. Wine or coffee?" Lola asked languidly. She picked up the glass before her and took a long swallow of clear, pungent liquor.

"I'll pass on the wine. Coffee for me." Green gave his order to the approaching waiter, then sat across from Lola. "What happened? You don't look right."

Lola gave a rueful smile. "Bad luck, that's what. I nearly lost my life chasing the little bit of money you offered."

Green's eyes narrowed. He knew how capable and quick-witted Lola was, which only made him more curious. "Can you tell me about it?"

Lola took another drink, then frowned. It tasted like chewing wax, but she forced it down. "There's no reason I can't. Looking at me, you've probably guessed already. I was turned into a damned vampire... Oh, I suppose I can't say that now that I'm one of them. A noble member of the Blood Clan, then. A damned noble member of the Blood Clan!"

Green was not particularly shocked. As Lola had said, he had already spotted the signs.

Vampires, or the Blood Clan, were hardly a secret in this world. Much like Elves, Orcs, and giants, they were a humanoid subspecies born with a Transcendent bloodline. They were a long-lived race of the dark element whose genetic flaws and Transcendent nature made them fear sunlight and light magic. Of course, "fearing sunlight" only meant they felt uncomfortable in it. They did not die the moment light touched them; otherwise, their race would have gone extinct long ago.

Legend held that, in ancient times, the Blood Clan could conceive and reproduce naturally. Over the past few centuries, however, the entire race's fertility had declined until natural conception was no longer possible. They could only infect ordinary people through their bloodline, altering their genes and turning them into low-ranking members of the Blood Clan, who then slowly evolved by refining their bloodlines.

So Lola's claim that she had become a member of the Blood Clan was hardly earth-shattering. What Green wanted to know was how it had happened.

Lola then told him the whole story from beginning to end.

When Lola had agreed to help find the Tower of Yin Spirits' base, she had been confident. By chance, she knew someone who had visited a secret base of theirs near Landon City. She simply could not tell whether it was their headquarters or another important stronghold. She had wanted to confirm the details with him first and, ideally, get the exact address rather than take Green to the man. That way, she could secure a bigger reward from Green. Maximizing profit was a quality every crooked merchant ought to have.

But when she went to find the man, something she had never expected happened: she encountered an Eerie!

Lola had been in a daze. She seemed to catch a waft of fragrance, and then her mind lost all ability to think. It was difficult to describe. She had not passed out; she was still conscious, able to sense the sounds and temperature around her. Her eyes could even make out blurred shapes, yet she could not control her body at all.

As Lola recalled the sensation, she described how it had not been painful. Quite the opposite: she had felt wonderfully light, as though she might float into the sky. Even her everyday worries had slipped away, making it all too easy to surrender to the feeling. But Lola was strong-willed. Though her mind was hazy, she had held fast to her awareness and kept herself from sinking completely into it. That persistence had saved her life. She did not know how much time passed before she woke in a damp, dim cellar.

Bodies lay strewn throughout the cellar, some already rotting and giving off a stench.

Lola guessed that the Eerie she had encountered fed on human souls or consciousness, and that the cellar was where it discarded the "scraps" after a meal.

Lola felt terribly weak. She reckoned that three or four days had passed while she remained in a stupor, without a drop of water or a bite of food. Only her strong constitution had kept her alive; anyone else might have died. Gritting her teeth, she crawled out of the cellar and discovered that its exit was inside the city, opening through a sewer manhole in a secluded alley!

Lola was relieved to have escaped with her life. But the next day, she noticed her body changing. As a Transcendent herself, she was no stranger to vampires and quickly realized that her bloodline had been infected by the Blood Clan. She immediately sought a solution and consulted several people, but nothing helped much. Worse, the Blood Clan bloodline infecting her was extraordinarily powerful. Just two days later, her transformation was complete.

Helpless and at a loss, Lola could only accept that she had become a vampire.

Fortunately, she did not live in the Holy Papal State. The Lorenzo Kingdom was lenient toward dark-element Transcendents. In the Papal State, she would certainly have been sent to the stake if her condition were discovered. In the Lorenzo Kingdom, she only needed to register with the local Anomalies Bureau. As long as she obeyed the Kingdom's laws, she would not be singled out or persecuted.

Green found Lola's account strange. She had clearly encountered another Eerie. In little Landon City, three Eeries had already appeared that he knew of. The strength of the one that killed Baron Lonanks was unknown, though he suspected it had not reached Formal Rank. Of the other two, one altered the weather and one fed on souls; either might be Formal Rank. Given that Lola had ended up as a member of the Blood Clan, the soul-eating Eerie might itself have been a high-ranking member of the Blood Clan.

After parting with Lola and leaving the cafe, Green went alone to Old One-Eye's shop and asked him about an Underground Black Market trader named Roddick.

Roddick was the man who had cheated Lola with a fake magic pendant when she and Green first met. He also knew where the entrance to the Tower of Yin Spirits' secret base was.

After what she had been through, Lola needed to recover in both mind and body. She had no intention of getting involved any further, so she told Green to go himself. Given his status and methods, she was sure he would have no trouble prying the answer from that bastard's mouth. In return, Lola managed to take fifty Gold Pounds from Green's wallet.

Half an hour later, Green met Roddick in a private room at Old One-Eye's shop. He was tall and thin, with a sleazy look on his face.

The man had shifty eyes and the look of a crook. He came in bowing and scraping, but not a word he said was true.

Green did not waste his breath. He signaled for Old One-Eye to leave so he could speak with the man alone.

Old One-Eye nodded in understanding, cast Roddick a slightly pitying glance, then closed the door from outside.

With only the two of them left in the room, Roddick suddenly felt an urge to flee. The man before him was young, yet Roddick sensed extreme danger from him. It was the keen instinct for danger he had honed over years in the Underground Black Market.