Nightclaw: Rampage

We last read Chapter 27, in which the vampires Theo Ladair and Lily Ladair finally get married in the Waterfall Grotto, far from the vicinity of the Vermillion Enclave and all of the vampires therein. Though the Reverend John Hodges—the vampiric wedding officiant—realizes that he's about to preside over a wedding between a brother and his own adoptive sister, Theo manages to barely talk the Reverend into begrudgingly holding up his end of the bargain, especially since he answered to the advertisement, met with The Viper, and passed the interview back in the central plaza.

Meanwhile, The Viper and Lily sit on a distant stone bench and assist each other with double-checking each others' outfits, but when Lily starts to keep her hands on The Viper for a little longer than usual, the serpentine superheroine realizes that Lily is starting to get fatigued due to not having filled up on blood before embarking on the wedding errands. Having no other choice, The Viper reluctantly allows Lily to suck her blood in order to revitalize herself, with Lily returning to peak condition in minutes and leaving The Viper with two puncture wounds just below the inner bend of her elbow.

The Viper plays "Here Comes the Bride" on her smartphone as the restored Lily Ladair walks down the central aisle towards both her lover Theo Ladair and the Reverend John Hodges, who gives a brief opening announcement before officially wedding them without any further complications. The chapter ended with all four people—The Viper, Lily Ladair, Theo Ladair, and the Reverend John Hodges—unboxing and eating the big wedding cake made by Baker Samuro Sanguinaro, with The Viper momentarily assuming her super form and "creating" plates, forks, spoons, and knives with her crystal and hard light powers.....before warmly reflecting internally on how beautiful love truly is.

This time, The Viper—now having officially earned the partnership of the now-married Lily and Theo Ladair—returns to the airship with the vampire couple in tow, before revealing the group's next destination on their quest to ultimately stop the fallen Paragon Carla Rosenblood a.k.a. Nightclaw.....

-James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse's Airship-

By now, I've used the crystal conjuring powers of my boosted second form to get all of us back through the dense woods between the Waterfall Grotto and the massive forest clearing that holds the Vermillion Enclave. We've also dropped off the Reverend John Hodges back off at his residence and bid him a courteous farewell, disposed of the last few remnants of the wedding cake—since we pretty much ate it all—and also stopped by Undead Threads one more time so Theo Ladair and Lily Ladair, who are now officially husband and wife, could have the chance to return their formalwear outfits and return back to their normal clothing.

I, on the other hand, am just a little bit different.

I opted to keep the comfortable light green dress that Vazila Virsona made for me—at a somewhat higher cost in return, of course—and, in fact, I still have it on me right now, even as I'm leading Lily and Theo back to the entry ramp of the airship that I arrived at the Vermillion Enclave's front gates in earlier.

As we near my vessel, the ramp lowers and grants us entry once more; while Theo and Lily have no trouble walking upwards, I have to momentarily lift the skirts of my dress in order to get up myself.....but it doesn't really bother me too much.

Once we're all in, the rear ramp closes once more.....and Theo and Lily are left to take in the majestic splendor that is the Paragons' shared airship.

"Dude! This place looks like a luxury airliner and a half!" Theo compliments. "I'm legit stoked just to be in here!"