(Outskirts Of New Atlantic City)
(Castle Eden- Palace Library)
Mary hummed softly to herself as she sat down on a wooden chair and adjusted her posture.
She was currently alone in the vast library and surrounded by hundreds of books.
There was an inherent peacefulness to this place that always made her heart feel at ease.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that Camilla never came here so this place felt like her own personal sanctuary.
Speaking of Camilla…
Mary let out a small groan as she tried to ignore the mixed feelings that the beautiful female vampire stirred in her heart.
Stupid… you see one pretty woman and it's like… boom… your brain stops working…
She's the enemy.
Don't forget it.
Mary opened one of the books in front of her and read its contents desperately in an attempt to distract herself.
This text contained a vampire hunting technique known as 'the Iron Body'.
It was a defensive technique that strengthened the body to the point where bullets would bounce off.
Of course, that kind of effect could only be achieved after years of training and the conditions were harsh.
According to the text she would need to be beaten to the point of death every single day while absorbing the light of the sun into her body.
A painful process.
No wonder there were words of warning written down in the afterword of the text that training the 'Iron Body' technique had a high fatality rate.
Should she try it out?
Its effects were very tempting to say the least, but the only issue was that there was no one around who could help her.
During the day Camilla was asleep and it was impossible for Mary to beat herself.
Well… before she even contemplated training this technique, she should probably learn a regenerative one.
No point in pushing your body to the brink if it was impossible to recover.
Mary got up from the chair and wandered over to a familiar section of the library.
She paused for just a moment and her lips gently curved upwards. This place truly was the definition of tranquility.
Mary even ignored the blood-soaked floors where lines of crimson colour had been painted into strange and bizarre patterns.
Humans were surprisingly adaptable creatures and after living in the castle for several months she was used to the peculiar sights.
Still… there was something about the patterns on the floor that made her skin crawl as if an entity from beyond this world was spying on her from the crimson lines.
No… she must be paranoid.
Mary shook her head and tossed that thought to the back of her mind.
She ran her fingers along the spines of several books before taking them out of the bookshelves one by one.
Now she had a familiar ritual when looking for new techniques.
Crack open a book, check to see if it was in a language that she understood and then move on if it wasn't.
It was not like there were no options if the texts were written in foreign languages since Mary could use the internet to search for translations, but she couldn't be sure if they were accurate.
Plus, some of the languages had long gone out of use even before the internet had been invented so searching for the meaning of their words was not particularly helpful.
Maybe one book out of twenty would be in English or at least an older form of English still understandable.
Mary picked up a heavy brown book that had the symbol of a one-eyed goat on the cover.
She could have sworn that the animal moved but perhaps that was her overactive imagination.
Oh… this was interesting.
The young woman opened the book and discovered a new technique called 'The Daybreak Army' which allowed its practitioner to form clones of themselves.
That could be very useful.
Even though the technique stated that the clones themselves were short lived and not as powerful as the original…
They could serve as a distraction.
Wait… they could even serve another purpose!
An idea flashed across Mary's mind as she quickly raced towards the table and sat back down.
She finally discovered a solution to train the 'Iron Body' technique! The young woman's heart raced with excitement as she imagined the future.
She was getting stronger by the day and soon it would not be too late to turn the tables on her vampiric captor.
Mary wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to do to Camilla once she escaped from her enslavement.
Kill her? No.
Mary quickly dismissed the thought even though it was probably the smart decision to make under the circumstances.
Maybe she should make Camilla her slave…
Mary's cheeks flushed bright red as the image of the beautiful female vampire with an iron collar around her neck flashed across her mind.
Okay… enough daydreaming…
Mary's stomach slightly growled which made her reach into her pocket to pull out her phone.
It was now five o' clock in the morning which meant that dawn was soon approaching.
Maybe she should grab something to eat before heading to bed.
The young woman yawned sleepily and raised her hand to cover her mouth.
Humans were not nocturnal creatures, but her sleep schedule was basically the same as her vampiric mistress.
Speaking of which… Camilla had not called for her after today's training session to do any tasks…
That was a bit strange.
Mary furrowed her brows as she left the library and wandered through the castle searching for the female vampire.
It took around thirty minutes for Mary to walk around all the spots where Camilla usually could be found.
No… she wasn't anywhere in sight… she even checked the bedroom.
Was this an opportunity to escape?
No… too risky.
She hadn't checked the entire castle and perhaps Camilla was down in the dungeons or one of the rooms underground.
Mary cracked her knuckles and the sound echoed through the castle. She headed for a nearby corridor when a cold breeze brushed against the back of her neck.
Without thinking she dropped to the ground just as a pale hand swiped the air where her head had been just moments ago.
"Delicious… human meat…" a hoarse voice growled.
Mary rolled on the ground ungracefully as a foot stomped down with enough force to crack the tiles.
She finally got a look at her mysterious attacker and saw a slender pale skinned vampire who drooled hungrily.
His fingernails had extended outwards into black claws and his crimson eyes glowed savagely under the moonlight.
A nearby window had been shattered from the outside and Mary quickly connected the dots about what had happened.
An invader had entered the castle!
"Hmm… I thought the castle was supposed to be empty… didn't know the witch kept livestock inside," the vampire playfully spoke.
He clearly did not regard Mary as a threat but rather as a human blood slave that the witch probably kept as a snack.
"I don't have much time but… master did say no witnesses…" the vampire hissed with a dark chuckle.
He lunged forward but this time Mary was prepared. She jumped to the side and quickly ran down the stairs towards a certain room.
She needed her weapon.
The vampire laughed and his hoarse giggles echoed through the empty castle as he quickly gave chase.
Come on! Come on!
Mary could feel the blood pumping in her veins as she did not dare to even glance behind her shoulder.
She was not as fast as the mysterious vampire, but she did have one advantage.
The element of surprise.
The young woman opened a door and quickly ran into a room where several suits of armour stood motionless against the walls.
She hastily grabbed one of the nearest longswords and it was not a moment too soon as the wooden doors broke open.
"A sword?" the vampire scoffed as he regarded the girl with bemusement dancing in his gaze.
"What use is a… ARGHH!"
He howled in pain as the human who had spent the last few minutes running away from him rushed forward with surprising speed.
The blade in her palm neatly cut off his outstretched right hand before swiping downwards to carve out a piece of flesh from his side.
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