Regicide

The palace shook as Rebecca's anger got the best of her. Tearing it apart from the top floor, she thought of her dead nieces and nephew, of the sorrow her brother must have felt. As her rage boiled, her magic spiraled out of control, trees bursting through stonework, bamboo impaling guards at lightning speed as she screamed incoherently, driven only by pure anger.

Several floors below, Victoria tried to keep steady as plant life kept overtaking corridors and rooms. Eventually giving up, she ducked into a smaller side room to catch her breath.

"What in the fuck is going on up there?" Victoria asked, panting. "I may not breathe anymore but this is still exhausting!"

"You don't know jack shit about her, do ya?" Kate asked, as she took the spare moment to check her shotgun. "Bet you don't even know her family's tragedy."

"Tragedy? I know of the four dead nieces and nephews." Victoria answered, puzzled.

"That ain't the half of it. Reb's the last one. Her family died out, except for her. Some said she kept on living through pure spite, but we know the truth, don't we?" Kate said, as she reloaded the shotgun magazine from her bag of holding. "I get why she's been missing a hundred years now. Why I only ever saw her one time after she left. Bet she's mad as a hatter over it all."

"I think... vampirism is more complicated than any of us know." Victoria said, thinking as they both sat hiding in the storage room. "The Boss never once mentioned her family the entire time I knew her as a vampire. She never even mentioned her wealth except in passing."

"Hmmm. What about you?"

"We killed my entire family, over the course of 5 years. I'm the last Valorian. If or when I die, that's it." Victoria said, drumming the side of a barrel as she leaned against a wall.

"How'd it make you feel?"

"I killed my father with my own hand as I raped him, squeezing his throat until it exploded. Even then I didn't stop for hours." Victoria said, describing it as casually as a person describes their dinner. "Didn't feel anything, and frankly it made me mad. I had to use his own blood as lube."

"How do you feel right now?" Kate asked, continuing to question Victoria.

"I don't feel anything, even now." Victoria said, looking down and noticing and she drummed holes straight through the barrel. Moving her hand, she continued. "Hate is the only thing I can ever feel anymore, even when I'm in the throes of passion. My twisted lust for children is one of my only positive emotions I have left, and even that's negative."

"Children, huh?" Kate asked, looking Victoria right in the eyes. "When you get to Hell, tell 'em I said hi."

"Can't say I don't deserve it." Victoria answered with a shrug. "But-"

Victoria was interrupted by the door swinging open briefly, a palace guard running in, and slamming it shut. He breathed a sigh of relief, until he turned around and saw Victoria and Kate staring at him.

"Who-" He began to say, but Victoria placed her hand over his mouth.

"Think carefully." Victoria said, narrowing her eyes. "How would you like to die? Either you can get shot in the head by Kate's shotgun, or I can drain you dry." Victoria continued, exposing her teeth in a dangerous smile. She removed her hand from his mouth, and leaned against the door. "Choose."

"I'd prefer not to, if that's alright with you." He said nervously. "Never was too fond of the King, really."

"We got a comedian." Kate said, lifting her shotgun.

"Hang on Kate." Victoria said, putting her arms around him, and licking her lips. "I'll give him a chance. Boy, I'll make you a deal. Die." Victoria pulled out her dagger and using her vampiric strength sent it straight through his armour and into his heart. "Sorry kid, you picked the wrong team. That look of despair, thinking you'd live, though? Exquisite."

"Vicky that was cruel even for me." Kate said, looking at the guard's tear-filled eyes as he gasped for air. "Sorry kid, better luck next life."

Victoria licked the dying guard's neck, before biting down and drinking his blood deeply. Kate decided to watch, intrigued at the chance to observe a vampire feeding this closely.