VP | Ch. 13: Alpha Bat

As it turned out, gardening was a lot like being the mother of sixty needy, leafy children.

And Nara's children were about to end up in foster care.

It had been a week since the quest began, and her progress counter had reset three times now. She didn’t even know plants could die that fast. As Nara had feared, Diabla’s crops were nothing like their earthly counterparts. They had personalities, interests and disinterests. Fears and irrational hatreds. Caring for them was like working at a five star hotel in the Hamptons. No matter what you did, the clientele was always going to find a way to complain.

“What did I tell you?” Diabla remarked, leaning over Nara’s shoulder as she squatted in the field, her hands full of dirt and dead flower petals. “The trials and tribulations of gardening, dear.”

Of course, her mentor offered no guidance except the occasional chiding comment. Nara was left to her own instincts, which were, fortunately, voracious; she had been a star student back in high school, a Harvard-courted recruitment target, not because of any extreme intellect, but for her uncanny, obsessive commitment to memorization and observation  – she monitored the soil moisture like a hawk, adjusted the shade every hour based on the angle of the stems, wildly flailed her hands at the bunnies and insects that threatened her plants.

By the second day of week two, her efforts were rewarded. Not by any new sprouts, but by a system message floating in the corner of her vision. She sat on the well-watered ground, her overalls covered in mud, and opened the notification.

Skill Rank Up! Gardening

Rank 1 → Rank 2

Success of raising Basic seedlings raised to by 65%

You can now craft [Promising Sprout Spray]

You can now craft [Wildlife Repellent Spray]

“Oh hell yes.”

—

After much loud and annoying persuasion, Nara convinced Diabla to let her borrow the ingredients needed to craft both sprays. She would have foraged for them, but she didn’t have the time with all her other household chores. After all, taking care of her own garden plots was only a small part of her apprenticeship – most of her time went to feeding Diabla’s own (incredibly demanding) leafy vermin.

Thankfully, by the grace of the universe, a few days after she started regularly spraying the plants, her seedlings finally survived the sprouting stage. She had planted two Dragonblooms and Nightshade, all of which were now slithering out of the ground, their red and black tendrils fighting to see the light of day.

To say she was overjoyed was a grave understatement.

“Take that, Diabla!” she whispered madly under her lips, feeling a bit manic as she patted the soil around the buds and then spritzed them both again – just in case.

“What was that, dear?”

Nara nearly jumped from her skin as the demoness materialized behind her. Nara could have sworn she was just in the kitchen moments before, tending to one of her perpetual stews.

“I – I was just talking to myself,” Nara stuttered. “But look!”

She gestured proudly to her two plants, both of which were barely clinging to life. 

Diabla smirked.

“Well done,” she said. The praise made Nara giddy. “Now go take a shower and get some rest. You’re starting to look like a mangled scarecrow with all those sticks caught in your hair.”

Nara reached into her hair, her fingers finding purchase on half of a bird’s nest. She flushed, embarrassed. She hadn’t showered in days; she’d been sleeping on the porch-swing outside, too consumed by her crops to ever leave them alone.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, bowing her head.

—

With a towel wrapped around her hair and torso, Nara meandered up the attic. Having forgotten she shared it with an entire colony of bats, she shrieked, sending both herself and them into a mad flurry.

“Miss. Yoruichi!” Draculine yelped. “Please, I ask you kindly to keep your banshee’s wail of a voice down. We have children here who are trying to sleep.”

Children? Nara’s eyes widened as her gaze fell on two new additions to the pack. Two pups, still nursing on their mother, were hidden away behind some wooden debris.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I – I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“We’re well aware,” Draculine hummed, then beckoned for the two hunting bats to come forward. They were each carrying a variety of nuts and berries under their talons. They set the small portion of food in front of Nara’s feet, then bowed. “As promised, we have foraged for you. As a member of our colony, you are owed an amount of rations relative to your size. However, seeing as you are gigantic, we were forced to set an upper limit.”

He took a deep bow.

“And for that you have my deepest apologies, Miss. Yoruichi. If only we were stronger, and more numerous, we’d be able to feed you in full,” he said, his voice somber and strained. He obviously felt bad.

“Draculine, it's okay, seriously. As I’ve been trying to tell you, I really can’t eat this food –”

“Enough with the modesty!” he commanded, flourishing his wings. “If you starve yourself, you are starving all of us. Your pain is our pain.”

“No, listen to me. I literally cannot eat it,” she repeated, enunciating each word with the utmost clarity. “I’m… I’m a vampire. The only thing I can eat, well, drink, is blood. Or potions that mimic blood.”

Draculine blinked several times, stunned.

“A… vampire, you say?”

Nara nodded. Draculine’s disposition went unnaturally cold, his wings falling by his sides.

“So you intend to make us your thralls, then?”

Nara frowned, confused. The bats in the back were all staring at her with their full attention now, the word vampire catching their pointed ears. She didn’t expect them to even know what it was.

But thralls? She searched her thoughts, suddenly remembering that skill she could have purchased – Enthrall. From the description, it seemed like some spell you could put on beings which you’ve severely injured. A mental slavery of sorts. Nara hadn’t been interested in the least. She was big on human rights, and that extended to talking bats.

“Not at all,” Nara said, shaking her head fervently. “I’m not evil. All I want is a peaceful place to sleep at night.”

Draculine’s head twitched, confused.

“Do you really mean that? You don’t intend to enslave us, vampire lord?”

“Of course not,” Nara groaned. “And don’t call me that. I’m a Potion Maker, not a Vampire Lord. I just so happen to have to drink blood to live, but let’s not extrapolate beyond that.”

As she talked, the bats lurking in the dark corners of the attic began to march forward. Within a few seconds, all five of them, plus the two children, had encircled her.

“Um, what’s happening?” she muttered.

Draculine bowed his head once more.

“Oh, merciful lord, ever since the dawn of our species, we have played the part of subservient thralls to your kind, the Vam’pyr. For you to show us such kindness, to award us with such agency…” he spoke slowly and grimly, with the conviction of a church pastor. “We are given no other choice but to bow to you, Lord Yoruichi. To nominate you as our new leader and Alpha Bat. May you serve us well.”

Nara’s mouth went dry, stuck in a haze of disbelief. After a few moments of silence, she realized they weren’t going to move until she said otherwise.

“That’s really not necessary,” she started.

Draculine quickly cut her off. “We will accept nothing else, your greatness. You must accept this position, or leave our colony forever.”

Wow, Nara blinked. That’s an intense ultimatum.

The irony of the bats swearing their blind, limitless allegiance to her right after she said she wasn't going to make them her slaves was not lost on her. But she had only been in this world a little while, after all. Who was she to judge their actions?

“Err – fine,” she said, eager to get the ordeal over with. “Be at ease, or whatever.”

They seemed to accept that command, and the bats fluttered back to their original positions, leaving only Nara and Draculine in the center of the attic. The former Alpha Bat seemed very pleased with this outcome, his wings flapping eagerly.

[Racial Skill] Skill Rank Up! Bat Communication

Rank 1 → Rank 2

You can now telepathically communicate with friendly bats within a short distance.

Telepathically? Nara thought, her eyes widening. There’s no way.

Oh – it seems you’ve learned mental echolocation, your greatness! came another voice in Nara’s head. It very obviously belonged to Draculine, who was hopping excitedly in place. Nara frowned. The sensation of having more than one internal monologue was utterly disturbing. It was like being in a group chat inside your own skull.

Please don’t talk to me this way, she thought, staring at him sternly. He seemed to misinterpret the message, because he sent her about ten more streams of consciousness, apologizing at length for his tone and lack of formal language. Nara was too defeated to complain, so she told him she was going to bed.

“Oh, but one more thing,” she said, a random idea coming to her as she laid her head down on the flour sack she called a pillow. “I have a few plants growing in the garden outside. Can you send the hunter bats to watch them while I sleep? Fight off any insect or animal that comes near – and if one starts to wilt, you wake me up urgently, alright?”

“At once, your greatness.”

Nara thanked him, then bid the rest of the bats goodnight. She felt mildly guilty for already abusing her position of power, but if she was going to be ruling a pack of bats against her will, she might as well use them effectively, right?