A Dagger in the Night II

"Lightning Boost!"

A pulse of lightning coursed through her body as she cast a first circle spell that boosted her agility for a moment. That small boost allowed Freya to sidestep the thrown dagger and also manage to dodge the lunge attack of the assassin.

And now that Maria was in her range once more, she was not going to allow her to escape again, so cast another first circle spell that she had at the ready.

"Freezing Pulse!"

A small pulse of ice erupted on the ground with her as the center and spread out to a short distance. The ice latched onto Maria and froze her feet to the ground. The assassin tried to break free, but Freya was onto her, giving her no time to escape.

The mage threw a series of punches, trying to knock out her opponents, but the extremely swift assassin managed to avoid them and retaliate with thrusts and slashes from her dagger that the mage was barely able to dodge.

Freya didn't want to use any destructive spells and she didn't have any that could subdue the assassin for long without harming her, so she decided to do something dangerous.

The female mage rushed at the assassin, who saw her reckless charge and thrust her dagger with blinding speed. Freya shifted her body just enough so that the dagger would not pierce any vital organs and the dagger pierced her shoulder, going in an inch deep before Freya caught Maria's hand stopping the dagger from going deeper.

While Maria's speed was greater than Freya, her strength was surely inferior. The mage used her free hand to grab the assassin by the throat and pinned her down to the ground. Maria struggled like raving lunatic, not caring if she harmed her own body. She tried to punch and kick Freya, who pinned down her legs with her own and pulled out the dagger from her shoulder.

"Icy Grave!" Freya cast a very dangerous second circle spell as ice began to cover Maria's body, but she had no other choice. She needed to stop Maria from harming herself and anyone else, but keeping her trapped in this spell for a long time will be extremely dangerous.

As the Ice covered her whole body and as it began to cover her neck, Freya stopped the spell. Maria's movement were completely stopped but she still growled like a caged animal growling at its captor, her eyes glowed with a faint red glow that gave her a ferocious look.

'Now, how do we get her back to normal? Do you even know what it is?' Freya asked Art. She didn't have the foggiest idea how to deal with the assassin, and her only choice was the ancient soul.

Art remained silent for a moment before speaking, 'It's 'Vampiric Compulsion'. A type of hypnotism that a vampire with purer blood can use to control vampires with weaker blood than him. It's different from the hostages, as they will be fine by tomorrow.'

'What does that mean?' She couldn't help but ask.

'It's mean there is a higher level vampire than a bloodborne vampire behind this.' Art explained, 'My guess is they finally caught up to you.'

'Then why attack Ariane, of all people? Why not let Maria lie low, waiting to capture me?'

'Because Ariane is a priestess of a holy church.' Art replied, 'The greatest obstacle between you and that Vampire.'

Freya went silent for a while, pondering on his words. The vampires were back and stronger than ever, and this time they were also targeting her friends. 'First, let's find a way to help Maria. We'll worry about them later.'

'Very well.' Art replied, 'I was waiting to give this to you, when you had grown sufficiently but I guess you can have it now, but your soul will only be able to accept an incomplete version.'

'What are you talk…?' She didn't finish her sentence as a wave of pain erupted in her body. She had to exert a lot of willpower to keep her composure. The wave of pain raged throughout her body and she felt something change inside of her.

[An Incomplete Ancient Bloodline had awakened inside you.]

[You have gained the title, '???']

The pain lessened as a set of message flashed across her retina. Yet the woman was more focused on something else.

'At least, warn me before you do something like that, you f*cking b*stard.' She yelled at the ancient mage.

'Just take a look at the title, you ungrateful woman.' Even though she couldn't see him, Freya was sure that b*stard was having a laugh at her expense. Yet she couldn't do anything about it so she opened the menu of her new title.

[Title: ???

Rank: ???

Description: A title given only given to those that possess an extremely prestigious Ancient Bloodline. However, since your bloodline is incomplete, you are only to use a small portion of its powers.

Boons:

i)Immunity to Vampiric Compulsion and the ability to remove the effects of Vampiric Compulsion, once a day, on a selected target.

ii) ???]

'Well, that's awfully convenient, isn't it?'

'Just shut up and use that ability.' Freya did as the grumpy mage told her. With a single thought, a red pulse erupted from her body and touched the assassin. Her struggle stopped as the faint red glow vanished from her eyes.

"Freya, what happened? Why are you detaining me?" Freya saw genuine confusion in her eyes, so she released her spell and let her go. The mage quickly bandaged her, the wound on her shoulder, before speaking to Maria.

"I don't know. You were fine one moment and attacked us the next." Freya didn't disclose that she knew Maria was a vampire, "Let's go, the captain may need help subduing the civilians that also attack the soldiers."

Half an hour later, when the rioting civilians had been restrained, the five people reconvened their meeting in the command tent.

"What happened, Maria?" The team captain turned to Maria and spoke with a mild glare, "Why did you attack Ariane out of the blue?"

"I… I don't know." The scout answered with a confused expression. "I don't even remember how I got here. The last thing I remember is freeing the hostage and preparing to leave."

"I know why it happened." Freya's words got the attention of the team, "It's because she's a vampire."

A deadly silence enveloped the room for a long while, Freya noticed their demeanor change in a blink. A few moments later, Morris asked her defensively, "How do you know that?"

"So you all knew." Freya easily guessed that as instead of being wary of Maria they turned to her. "I know because I have dealt with vampire for most of my life, and the reason Maria attack Ariane is due to Vampiric compulsion that only a vampire can use against another. It is a lot stronger than the ones used on the hostages."

"So another vampire was controlling her actions?" The hunter asked.

"Yes, and one far more powerful than her." Freya pointed at Maria. "My guess, he wanted to kill Ariane because she is the biggest threat to him with her holy magic. And don't misunderstand me, I am not pointing fingers at anyone, but I just hoped you hadn't kept such a big secret from me."

"We didn't want to keep it a secret." Maria quickly spoke, "At least not when I got to know you but you have to understand how sensitive of a topic it is." The poor scout couldn't even meet her eyes as she kept her head lowered.

"We can discuss this later because we need to come up with a new plan." Morris ordered loudly, bring the conversation back towards the battle tomorrow. "The ambush from the mountain path is out of the window due to this mystery vampire so we need to come up with a new plan."