Chapter 5: DAY 02: Whistleblower
Lucien was focused to a razor sharp point. After removing the dark-dome over Star City by killing the occult hostage known as Albert Davies, he left the Queen's Domain with Vampire ash and human blood in his wake.
He ran for hours, pushing the limits of his new body and powers until he was bored. Not tired. He didn't seem to get tired.
It also took him a full two hours to transform back into his human form. And when that came, he was so hungry he raided a butcher shop in Wyoming and then a farm of cows in Nebraska. He ate three whole cows before feeling moderately satiated.
His preferred mode of travel by day had been sneaking onto trains. There he'd take small naps and try not to eat the other homeless vagrants sharing the cars with him.
That was until one miraculously had the balls to speak to him. He wasn't like the other vagrants. He didn't smell unclean— like body odor and coal. He smelled like aftershave and….sulfur. When he adjusted his seating on a wooden box across from him, he didn't groan as old joints strained. He was young. Strong. Restless.
And again, talking.
"So, do you have a set destination or are you just riding where the rails take you?"
Lucien remained silent. He'd get the message.
"I mean, I'd hope you didn't have a set destination with your looks." The man looked over Lucien.
He lost most of his clothing in Star City. All burned or left stretched and tattered after his initial transformation.The rest of his hulking bronze skinned body was covered in dried blood and soot. It had only been a dozen or so hours but he already had a nasty five o clock shadow to complete the look.
Not to mention, after transforming, his body had changed again. He now had fangs and claws that weren't going anywhere. And his ears gained elven points.
Fortunately, he was in the dc universe. Weirder looking people existed in droves.
"Silent strong types are boring, humor me."
"No." Lucien replied.
"Would you prefer my other half?" The man asked.
Lucien stared in the reflection of an old blade on the floor and found Etrigan seated across from him instead of the man, who he now knew was…
"Jason Blood."
"In the flesh. Unfortunately." Jason took down his hood, revealing a pale skinned man with red hair interrupted by a bold streak of white. He looked regal with his high cheek bones and lean build.
"What do you want?" Lucien asked.
"Me personally? Id like some peace and quiet. Id like a warm meal while I'm at it. And I'd like to stop sleepwalking, but we can't always have our cake and eat it too." Jason explained.
"Any magic you'd be interested in studying was back in Star City. I've got nothing for you but Albert's blood under my nails."
Jason shook his head, "Not true."
Lucien looked up at him.
"Everytime I try to leave with that same thought in mind, I wake up back on your trail. He won't let me leave you." Jason explained.
"Why?"
"Why else would an occult expert follow someone across the United States?"
"I can think of a few reasons, so specify." Lucien said, growing impatient.
Jason yawned. The bags under his eyes seemed to deepen by the second, "My other half never went to Star City for the dark-dome. That was tragically amateur magic. Easily broken and obviously done up by what would be considered the opposite of a prodigy. Albert Davies was a magic fanboy used on a whim by an opportunistic cult of fiends. Like you said. What drew Etrigan— and me, to Star City, was you, Lucien Lamb."
Lucien remained silent. The train carried them past pastures and backroads lining small cities in a blur.
"You didn't think you were a metahuman, did you?"
"I didn't think it at all. I've been busy if you haven't noticed." Lucien replied defensively.
"Of course, but it's not like you just woke up one day a werewolf. You're a bit too skilled with your abilities for that to make sense.... Oh, dear." Jason changed his tune as Lucien held his gaze.
"How peculiar."
"So my being a werewolf is magic based. Does that make me weaker or stronger?" Lucien asked, though he assumed stronger. His claws would do more damage to Superman at least.
"It makes you a mystery." Jason replied, "Magic is familial— categorized and clan based in strict heirarchies. I can't see where you're connected or how you fit even though you do. That means whatever you are is old. Older than the days of Camelot. Older than me. All the werewolves I've encountered have been cursed or created through chemistry. Lucien, you don't look cursed, and you show no weakness to silver."
Lucien suddenly realized he was holding a coin.
"I get why Etrigan follows. It's good for him to pursue something other than rhyming schemes and women. Just wish I could get a heads up…. or day off."
"A day off." Lucien warmed at the idea despite the revelation of his magical origins. That aspect was a problem considering it would draw others just like it did Etrigan. He thought over it with a scowl on his face. "The magic community in DC is incredibly dangerous— world ending, and all loosely connected. If I'm part of that, I need to find a way to actually get off the radar and stay off quickly. The last thing I want to do is attract a girl who's dad happens to be satan if he ate planets."
"Anyways, what brings you to DC?"
Lucien was taken out of his thoughts and angrily stood up at the realization of his location, "Distraction."
He jumped out of the train car as it rode past a raised bridge and fell into the lake below.
As he swam, the old blood and soot was cleaned from his muscles. The cool water calmed his nerves only barely. They went back up when he saw a green blur fly across the sky.
"Hal or John?" Lucien asked as he reached the shore and walked out soaking. All the while he thought internally, " Id guess Kyle but nobody respects him. Especially not in an elseworld. He's probably dead already. Too strong, like the Flash."
"Hal. John is offworld. Korugar if I remember correctly." Jason replied from where he stood leaning against a tree.
"Got it." Lucien replied. His mind worked as his legs moved through the barren rock underbelly leading into the city. "Hal is more likely to go evil than John. He's done it before. Paralax, Red Lantern, Spectre. I used to love that about him. His fearlessness and confidence was amoral. It gave the lanterns a bit of ambiguity. Now all it's doing is irritating me. I can fight vampire assassins and crime lords all day. Hal Jordan is a god— even an atheist knows that."
"I was under the impression you wanted to get away from dangerous metropolitan areas…" Jason asked as he walked beside him.
"I do. After breakfast. How much cash do you have?"
Jason giggled, "Enough to supply the appetite of a young Lycanthrope if need be. Just please don't take us to…. IHOP. I respect my intestines."
"Wait…..ihop exists h—"
Lucien stopped and scented the air. They stood in a small patch of forestry grown from the runoff of the lake he previously swam in. They could still hear the train on the bridge overhead as it ran into the distance, where it would dash through Washington DC and beyond.
The sun was high in the sky. Early morning. Cool winds. Perfectly opposing the aesthetic of a Vampire apocalypse.
Even so….
Lucien put his hand on the tree standing next to him and ripped a chunk out so he held a wooden spike in hand.
"Where?" Jason asked.
"Straight ahead." Lucien pointed to where he smelled the Vampire.
"Alright then, let's postpone breakfast. Gone, gone the form of man. Arise the d—"
"Wait! Wait!" The creature stepped out of the shadows with his hands raised.
Jason stopped talking, shaking off the hellfire blazing across his skin with a twinge of irritation. Now he was just as naked and disheveled as Lucien.
"What are we waiting for? Sundown?" Jason asked, his accent grew crisper.
"By the mother of all things, I hope not." The man had a similar English accent.
Jason turned his head and squinted at the figure.
"May I approach—"
"No. You're just fine right there." Lucien said.
The vampire sighed. As the winds blew, the forest canopy shifted and allowed rays of sunlight to peek through, highlighting that the creature was completely covered in bandages from head to toe. All bloody and diluted with soot.
"You've been traveling by day." Lucien realized.
"I have."
"Why would a Vampire be moving under sunlight?" Jason asked.
"To avoid other Vampires. Come closer." Lucien said.
The blood-fiend made his way, limping. His frail body and bandages made him look more like a mummy than a lord of the night. Even so, there was a power and intelligence to him.
"You're not exactly who I was looking for, but I'm afraid you're all I have." He said.
"What is your name?"
"Andrew Bennett."
"That rings a bell…." Jason said, "You were once a very notable Vampire. Lover to Mary, Queen of Blood."
"Ex-lover." Andrew corrected.
"Yea, looks like she put you out and into the proverbial doghouse." Jason said.
Andrew shook his head, "My flight is not from her. My flight is from others. My dillema is her death. Our dillema, is such."
"I don't understand. A high ranking Vampire died. Vampires have strict heirarchies so a power struggle will come— infighting and such. Then it'll settle. I took down a few leaders, it should be fine."
Andrew snorted, "You took down a couple rejects given a chance to become grunts in a bigger scheme. And no, there will be no infighting."
"Why not?" Lucien growled.
Andrew flinched as sunlight peeked through the forestry, "Mary Seward was the leader of The Cult of the Blood Red Moon."
Lucien looked to Jason.
"The single most influential and powerful Vampire coven in the last four hundred years. They were once led by Cain himself— the progenitor of Vampirekind in this world."
Andrew nodded, "Despite Mary's bile and vengeful rage, she didn't see the benefit in waging war on humankind. I think…. she was even beginning to be capable of love. She loved her kin as any queen should. She was the only thing stopping the Vampires from descending on mankind."
"And now she's dead." Lucien followed.
"And it's already begun." Andrew said.
"Indeed it has." Jason agreed. "Lucifer is on the edge of his seat. He wishes for my other half to keep him entertained in the war that's to come."
"This war will be far from entertaining. It's already started. For the past weeks I've been tracking her killer. Running down loose ends, jumping at shadows and faces unknown to all. But eventually my travels led me to The Legion of Doom. I was sure I'd find the killer there. Perhaps Sinestro realized primal fear born in war can get him that power he so desires. I had a dozen ideas that somewhat made sense, but what I found was a graveyard. They're all dead. Whoever killed Mary, also killed them. This wasn't a random act. It's the start of a revolution. They had plans of blocking the sun….. human blood farms….. potential targets and leaders. A new world is rising beneath our very feet."
Lucien was considering attracting a red lantern ring and flying offworld.
"But there's hope." Andrew Bennett dug into his pocket and pulled out a vial of blood. "I no longer know who to trust— since I don't know who is doing this ungodly evil. But I found an ally in Lex Luthor. This comes from him. With it, we have a chance to save the world. You must get it to the Hall of Justice. They're all you can trust. And even then…. Tread carefully."
"What do you mean? Why aren't you delivering it?"
Andrew smiled weakly, "Because my story ends here….. under the morning sun. The very thing I've shied away from for centuries. Ironic that it's here where I feel the most like myself. The most content. Burning. Burning for the sake of wars extinguished…"
Lucien watched as the old Vampire looked to the sky, just in time for the canopy to split again. Sunlight spilled in.
Ashes fell.
Lucien looked to Jason and handed him the vial.
Jason raised an eyebrow at him.
"Take it before I stab you with it."
Jason took the vial, "And now what? I've already told you, my other half follows you. I'll hit the city and blink then wake up sitting across from you again. Giving it to me dooms the world to Vampiric damnation."
Lucien's jaw clenched. His beard grew and spread further up his face and his eyes flared in the forest shadows as he roared and punched a hole through a tree.
"Feel bett—"
"Don't….. don't sass me."
"Very well. If it makes you feel any better, after this delivery, I'll do everything in my power to get you that freedom you so desperately seek. I'll keep threats away, I'll educate you, I'll give you every resource I have in my arsenal. It's yours. Just deliver the vial and let me study your magic."
Lucien pulled his arm out of the twelve inch thick oak tree and looked back at Jason, "Why?"
Jason shrugged, "I would like freedom as well, and this is how I get it. We're not so different you and I. Two men afflicted by powerful magic that exists in us as another half— a half coming with urges that should make us almighty evil. But all we desire is peace from a life long lived without it."
Lucien couldn't disagree.
"Alright. Let's get to the Hall of Justice."
"Let's."
"Since you vowed to protect me, are you ready to fight Superman if he's a Vampire already?" Lucien asked.
"There's some things we should try to be realistic about." Jason replied. "If Superman is a Vampire, I will protect you by killing you myself."
"Smart man."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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AvatarOfFeaR Lucien is allergic to catching a break. it’s been two days and his journey has been derailed like four times. but hey! sometimes you gotta dive in to get out. lmk what ya think and thanks for reading! feel free to ask any questions and drop some stones! if this does well Ill get bonus chapters with extra spicier content in the future on a certain app that starts with P and ends with EON
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