The soft orange light of the shack faded behind me as I raced for the tavern. A deal had been struck and because of it, Victor had been turned. Or was his turning a part of the deal. Who made the deal and where does Bishop Alexander fit into this? The information was too important to sit on I needed to inform Sid. Searching for Victor was secondary now. Finding the players in this deal were the foremost on my mind.
A hand slammed into my chest. "You have to wait in line. I don't care who you think you are or who your daddy is. If you're not a lady or an employee, you wait in line!" The bounder said.
My hand whipped out on reflex. Just before the blow landed, I managed to pull back most of my strength. Teeth exploded out of the bouncer's mouth. Blood poured down his chin before he collapsed. On the ground the bouncer choked and gurgled. He was drowning in his own blood.
Several patrons rushed to the man's aide while I walked inside. Waitresses and members of staff scuttled out of my way. A red faced man stared at me but didn't say a word.
I found my way to the meeting place, but Robert hadn't shown. Neither was his dhampir booty call. They were probably still busy. The line for Isla Alma had been culled. Only a well-dressed merchant's son was left to shower the vampire with attention.
After checking to make sure there weren't to many holes in my clothes, I made my way over. I only smelled a little like sex. The second I sat down Isla raised an eyebrow. Her eyes narrowed at the sword on my back and the aura radiating off me.
"I'm sorry my lady it seems a bum has wondered over to our table." I scanned the teen over. Besides dressing in fine silks and wearing a decorative saber he wasn't much. After a quick review of the spells, I had at my disposal I activated a quick black spell.
"Sleep," I said. Black wisps of aura leapt from my aura and crawled down the teen's throat. First his eyes drooped before he collapsed into his drink. The glass tumbled to the ground and shattered.
The spell would wear off in a few hours leaving the boy no worse for wear. I didn't want to kill everyone I came across. Isla stared at me with a hint of surprise.
"I thought there were laws against mages using their spells against the against citizens." I looked down to the woman. Isla Alma was different. There was a weariness to her that only came when dealing with a rival or a predator. How safe was my human disguise around her?
"I'm not a mage and we are too far away from any court for such laws to matter." She looked down and her cheeks seemed to turn pink. "Gendry town sure does feed you well. It would be a shame if something happened to it." She frowned.
"Is that a threat?" Isla asked. I decided that the best option for her was offense.
"You know something happened here. Soon enough the blades will be called, and Gendry Town might cease to exist. 300,000 residents gone in the blink of an eye. Your steady food supply will end, and you'll be back in vampire territory." This was me flashing the stick. What she loved would be taken away. How she responded would determine my next move?
Her eyes flared a deep blue and her fangs flashed. "I am Isla Alma of the Alma family. My father is a Duke. If you don't watch your words there will be consequences." Isla said.
"My name is Jacob I'm a member of Inquisitor Lewis's retinue. Lewis is down right now due to a monster Edwardo Sylva allowed to roam. There are enough vampires here to form a cavalry of 500 horseman. We have an ornery Bishop with too few priests and deacons under his leadership. To top it off one of Alexander's priests were turned into a vampire. To make matters worse it seems the noble vampires on the scene are trying to cover it up. That sounds like a vampire conspiracy to take Gendry town and her populace. I'm sure if our inquisitor felt better, he'd call the blades and we'd leave." I said.
Isla seemed to pale at my words. "Taking Gendry Town would be counterproductive. We prefer visiting human lands over taking them over. Here I can feed from dozens of humans a night and no one dies. If we took the city over the humans would be divided equally and traded like currency. I like my humans. I don't want to give any of them up." Isla said.
"Then who among you would want that and what can you tell me about a deal?" I asked.
"I can't say not here. Come with me, I have a place nearby." She stood up and tossed some coins on the table for the teen's drink. She turned to me and held out her hand. "Take my hand, I'll fly us to a secure place." That sent warning bells down my spine. I could fly despite the winter aura trying to seep into my bones. Revealing that fact to her would be a mistake.
"I'm a little heavy are you sure you'll be able to handle me?" I asked. She gave me her answer with a smirk.
We left the bar and six bat wings erupted from her back. She wrapped her arms around my chest and gripped me hard. In moments we shot up through the air. We flew over the hospital and behind it. There behind the hospital was an old rundown building. In moments we landed in on the old campus. She checked a pocket watch in her dress. The flowing black dress seemed to absorb the light around it.
"There are some things I'm not able to say. There are secrets in the town that lead back to the age of fire itself." She said.
"That age was nearly ten thousand years ago." I said.
"Before there was a Gendry Town there was Gendry Hospital. There are secrets of healing and medicine within this place. Legends also tell of an experiment that tainted this place. Creatures were made here some resembled humans." She checked her watch again. "The humans experimented with the age of winter itself. For that sin they were destroyed."
Winter aura gathered inside the hospital. I could feel it as surely as the cold on my face. I looked back to see Isla was further away.
"This is where nosy inquisitors and their retinues go. There was a deal struck between the bishop and my father. In exchange for my father's blood, he turns a blind eye to our feeding. If you find Victor tell him to come back to me soon." I ran for the archway that led out of the hospital campus. Isla laughed and flew away.
A second before I stepped between the arches my leg was hung. "Slave and Master," red skeletal hands gripped my ankles before I could get out. Shadows burst from the hospital and all sound from the outside vanished.
I drew my sword and sliced through the hands binding me. Crimson bones split and melted into puddles of blood. I punched the archway. An invisible barrier blocked my blow and kept me from crossing over. Isla appeared on the other side. She tapped against the outside. A satisfied smile graced her lips.
Snow crumpled behind me and the breath death pricked my neck. I turned and unleashed Armageddon's Chainsaw. A mass of black hair and spidery legs screeched as I bisected it. Limbs and green guts oozed on the snow steaming. Only the sound of a rotating blade blocked the noise out.
My stomach grumbled and a smile spread across my face. There weren't any humans around. The barrier blocked out all aura sense. I couldn't even sense Isla beyond the barrier. With that in mind I kicked the remains of the still twitching spiderwoman. SPLSH! Green guts covered the barrier and slowly slid down.
More spiderwomen burst up from the snow and charged at me. I flicked my wrist. "Cur," three gliphs appeared in the air before spinning. Electrified black javelins fired from the glyphs three at a time six times a second. With a single sweep of my hand the ground was littered with meter long bolts of decay and electricity. I placed Diabla on my back and walked towards the hospital entrance.
Javelin's fired from my aura picking off snipers from various windows while arrows shattered against my barrier. I leapt off the ground and flew high. Eventually, I smashed into a barrier above. It seemed there really wasn't a way out of here.
I clapped my hands together and formed a massive fireball. I poured a vast amount of aura into it before lobbing it forward. The ball sailed down and exploding filling my field of view with orange light. Instead of reducing the building to a burning ash pile the building looked no worse for wear. Not even the windows seemed damaged.
After flying back down I saw a small line of complicated wards spread across the building. Unlike other wards I've seen these moved. I turned my head to the side and studied them. No matter how much video I took I didn't have enough time to study them and get out in a timely manner.
I opened the door to the hospital and stepped in. At the desk behind warded glass a gothic looking ghost woman wearing a black version of a nurse's uniform. She glared up at me.
"Could you not throw a temper tantrum sir? Some of us have to live here." There was a tugging at my legs. I turned to see a little girl ghost with large glowing green eyes. Her hair was white as freshly fallen snow and fell below her knees.
She floated off the ground and smiled in an innocent way only children could. "Do you want to play a game with me?"