Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 227: Wicked Temptation

The rain began to fall upon the small town in the northern portion of Lake Tahoe. For the undead who did not need things like shelter, this was nothing to be bothered by. But to the likes of Zane, or more specifically his party members, it was quite the nuisance to stand in the rain and wait for Zane's tea party with the local Horde King to finish.

As for Zane himself, his body was more dead than it was alive at this point. And because of this, he actually did not care too terribly much about the downfall which poured itself upon his head. Instead, he sat in front of Beatrix, wide in the open of Incline Village and stared the undead woman straight in the eyes.

The woman seemed curious about Zane. As Gwen had said, something was off with his body. Though it was slow and sluggish, Zane's heart was clearly beating, sending fresh blood across his veins. The same could not be said for Beatrix and her siblings however.

Yet, there was the unmistakable scent of her mother surrounding Zane, and besides this, Beatrix had an instinctive understanding that regardless of his beating heart, Zane was indeed kin.

Because of this, she looked at the man with both caution and interest, while raising her brow and asking him why he had yet to touch the tea which her servants had prepared for him.

"Are you not going to partake of the tea and snacks I have prepared for you?"

Zane looked at the food and beverage which had been prepared by the undead and felt no desire to consume it. The flesh of the undead was rotting, after all, and it would be entirely unsanitary to eat or drink something that had been prepared by such filthy hands.

Since this was the case, Zane shook his head, declining the offer, while instead trying to get down to the reason which Beatrix was being so civil with him. He, after all, knew very little about the Horde Kings or the other undead that now plagued this world, other than the fact that the Horde Kings were apparently intelligent enough to speak and comprehend the English language.

"I'm not in the mood, so why don't you get down to the point? What exactly compelled you to speak with me? We are enemies, are we not?"

Beatrix's words, however, confounded Zane. The tone she spoke only served to make the man second guess herself as she spoke a very simple question.

"Are we, now?"

Are we now? How could they not be enemies? Every Horde King Zane had ever come across had tried their best to kill him. Hell, the entirety of the undead were at odds with the living, and no matter how much Zane's body might change with his unique skill, he was still a member of the living.

This irreconcilable grudge that existed between the Living and Dead guaranteed that Zane and Beatrix were enemies. So why then would she respond to such an obvious statement with a question that dared to suggest otherwise?

Zane was about to inquire just why Beatrix had posed such a conflicting question, but before he could do so, the woman cut him off. Sipping from her tea in a dignified manner, the mature undead beauty crossed her legs after placing down the teacup and rested her dainty chin on the palm of her hand, where she then began to speak to Zane about his intentions.

"The way I see it is, you have come to my domain for two reasons. One to reclaim this land for the living, and two for the device which you humans refer to as a blood crystal which is embedded in my skull. Is this correct?"

Zane was surprised that the woman knew what blood crystals were, as prior to this moment it had been his assumption that the undead were unaware of how humanity had gained its new powers. And because of this, Zane was quick to ask how Beatrix knew this.

"I'm sorry. How did you know that? As far as I am aware, your kind do not know how we humans awaken our powers. Yet your question would prove to the contrary."

Beatrix scoffed and rolled her eyes when she heard this question come from Zane, where she then outlined that her kind had been aware for some time now. But she did not, however, elaborate how she knew.

"Please… My sister figured out quite some time ago what makes their kind tick. You… You are different, though. You're not really one of them, are you? I mean, it is rather confounding. In your current state, you're not exactly one of us either, but I suspect that will change soon enough.

I can't give you my blood crystal, it is as you are aware embedded in my skull, and unless you can think of a way of surgically extracting it from where it lies without killing me, then I am afraid that such an issue will force us to come to blows.

However, this little Podunk town has served its purpose. If you promise me to allow me to leave this place without harm, I can provide you with a treasure that just might replicate the effects which you so desperately desire from my blood crystal.

A fair warning, what I intend to give you will only work on you, as your body's composition is far more suited to processing such a thing. I'm afraid that should you give my item to one of those little strumpets of yours, it might just turn them into a mindless walker. Are you perhaps interested in this little trade of mine?"

Zane had come all this way not to obtain a horde king's blood crystal for himself, but rather so that one of the women in his party could gain their second skill.

Besides, if he let Beatrix wander freely away from Incline Village with her small horde of roughly 10,000 undead, there was no telling what kind of disaster awaited some other human settlement that existed out in the wasteland which she was sure to try to destroy in an attempt to expand her power.

Still, Zane was at the very least curious about just what kind of item could replicate the effects of a Horde King's blood crystal, and thus for the time being he decided to entertain the offer, by inquiring further about what she had.

"My interest depends on the details of what you are offering me. I want to know more about it, and how you think it would affect me before I come to a proper decision…"

Beatrix smirked when she heard that Zane was interested. She reached into her bountiful cleavage and pulled out a small box; it was a jewelry box which appeared to be made out of the darkest of ebony wood. Wood that had been polished to perfection and decorated with what appeared to be silver adornments.

Though the silver was heavily corroded, giving it a dark patina. In the center of the small jewelry box was a silver skull symbol, one that had rubies embedded in its eyes. It was a menacing looking container, and Zane could tell that something powerful was contained within it.

After all, the aura of death was oozing out of the small box, it was an aura Zane was deeply familiar with. And while it may be a sensation that most humans would find dreadful, to Zane it was nothing but comforting. So much so that he instinctively reached towards the box.

However, before he could grab ahold of it, Beatrix pulled it away from him, where she then wagged her finger in his face while scolding him as if he were a child with his hand caught in a cookie jar.

"Oh? Just what do you think you are doing? You can look all you want, but until you agree to my conditions, you are prohibited from touching. Do you understand?"

Zane quickly recovered his composure and apologized for his actions. While asking to know more about what was within the box.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. My body acted on its own. But I am curious. Just what is it that is inside that container of yours?"

Beatrix wore a smug smirk on her otherwise pretty face while speaking the words that sent chills down Zane's spine.

"It is something that my mother left behind. A treasure among the Horde Kings. If I were to consume this item, I would raise from a Tier I to a Tier II Horde King. I can only imagine what effect it would have on you."

Zane was shocked to hear this. This was an item that could help a Tier I Horde King raise its strength? If this was truly the case, then why wouldn't Beatrix consume this now? Why offer it to him? If she were to use this item, then she would easily be able to defeat Zane and the girls. Hell, she could wipe out all of Gravestone.

So why? He couldn't help but ask this question, to which the answer was surprising.

"If what you say is true, then why are you offering it to me? Wouldn't it make more sense to use it yourself? If you became a Tier II Horde King, then I would pose no threat to you. You could simply walk away from here and there would be nothing I or anyone could do to stop you?"

Beatrix simply sighed, a heavy look of disappointment spread across her face as she explained her reasoning for not doing as Zane had suggested, with a dejected tone in her voice.

"I'm afraid the price of gaining such power so quickly and so unnaturally would be more than I could bear. But you are not exactly one of us. I honestly have no idea how it would affect you. But I am certain you would not be restrained in the same way I am… So what do you say? I will give you this treasured item of mine, in exchange for letting me walk…."

Although the effects this item would have on Zane were entirely unknown to him. He could not deny that it was still a very tempting offer. And because of that, he was forced to face a dilemma, one that would not only have practical consequences for himself and his team but also posed a series of moral issues.