10
A fresh night came around, and groups parted from the castle, eager to make progress with their plans.
“And why the fuck do I need to come?”
Eric rolled his eyes as his elder sister, Veronica, threw her predictable tantrum. She swathed a hand through her blood red hair, scowling at Eric. Out of all of his siblings, Veronica was definitely the most insane. Torture, hunting, murder—it was all just one big game to her. She had given up any semblance of trying to do the right thing centuries ago.
They were journeying to a vampire brothel hidden in the woods, an hour north of their position. Eric assigned Kat and Ansel to go with him. The outlaws running the brothel managed to stave off a shifter attack a few weeks ago, and Eric wanted answers. If the group had something that could help with their fight, he wanted it. Ansel’s strength would come in handy should they come across any unexpected interruptions on the journey, and Kat’s Cognizance could hopefully keep them out of any trouble.
The brothel was a shady place, owned by a gang of vampire bikers known as the Vandarks. Zora Vandark, one of the eldest daughters in the family, was the one in charge.
His history with the Vandarks had been a frayed one. Outlaw gangs were always an inevitability in the vampire world, and Eric had put his fist down several times to keep the renegade groups in check. There was a mutual understanding between the families, but there was also an inherent dislike.
The Vandark bike gang believed they should have been free to rape, hunt and pillage as they wished. Under Eric’s instruction, they were free to operate in his region if they followed strict guidelines. The gang played ball most of the time as life in the valley was lucrative. Eric might have been a tyrant in their eyes, but life was still better here than most other places.
The outlaw groups disliked and shunned Eric for his order, but generally liked his sister. Veronica had a tendency to indulge in the darker parts of life, and biker gangs and criminals were a regular part of her social calendar.
“I need you there to get me in with Zora Vandark. She won’t talk otherwise.”
“Damn right she won’t.” Veronica scoffed. “She’s still pissed after you put those hunting sanctions on her group.”
“They were taking too many humans and drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. What’s worse, a slap on the wrist from me, or a visit from the Red Circle?”
Veronica shuddered. A crazy as she was, even she didn’t want to risk pissing off the Circle. “I’ll come, but in exchange you'll let me hunt as much as I want.”
“You can take one person a night, but keep it at that. There’s a plague going around remember, you don’t want to get yourself riddled with this fucking Black Fang.”
“I’m a Belmont, Eric.” She said flatly. “Bad things don’t happen to me.”
No, you just inflict bad things on others, he thought.
“I’m serious. Curb your hunting. With the plague around it’s too risky. Raid blood banks as much as you want, take blood from safe spots. Don’t drink from unknown humans. It’s just too risky. Promise me V.”
“We’ll see.”
And so he’d convinced Veronica to come along with him. Upon their departure, she was less than pleased to see they were traveling with a human.
“What’s this?” She said while rearing her head at Kat outside the castle walls. “I ain’t traveling with no human.”
Ansel was in her face before Eric could respond, surging forward and pressing her throat against a tree with his forearm. “If you’ve got a problem with her, you say it to me,” he hissed.
“Take it easy buddy.” Eric put a hand on Ansel’s shoulder and attempted to pull him back. After a second Ansel relented, pulling sharply away from Veronica and walking back to Kat.
“I like this one!” Veronica said with a wicked glint in her eye. “Me and you should fuck Romeo!”
“I’d rather take a nap in the sun.” Ansel spat.
“Cut it out both of you.” Eric said while looking at Veronica. “Kat here because she’s Cognizant, she’s our canary down the mine.”
Veronica’s eyes widened slightly at this admission. “Great, so she’s not human—she’s a witch in disguise.”
“I’m not a witch you stupid fuck.” Kat said, finding that her patience for the female vampire had grown thin.
“Well the only fucking Cognizant people I know are all witches, so you explain that you fucking freak. Tell me, can you tell what I think of you?”
“No,” Kat said with a dry smile. “But I can tell you how you die if you want.”
Veronica grew pale at this, and Eric and Ansel both burst out laughing.
“Guess you’re not so tough.” Ansel said.
“Let’s get a fucking move on,” Eric said. “Grab hold of Ansel, Kat. It's time to jump.”
Speed in the forest was risky, it was noisy and there was always a chance they would attract their enemies. Eric relied that Kat’s Cognizance would keep them safe. Every ten minutes they stopped and waited for Kat to check their location. Most of her checks came back okay, but there was a point about an hour in when she gave pause.
“I wouldn’t go straight ahead.” She said after staring into the tree line for a minute. “I get the sense that something is there…”
“Shifters?” Eric asked. “The Order?”
“I can’t tell, just that it would cause a fight. Not a good one either. We should veer right.”
“That’ll add another hour onto the journey!” Veronica protested. “The only thing ahead of us is an old burned out church!”
“We veer right,” Eric said sternly. “I don’t want to risk running into any unnecessary fights when there are only a few of us.”
And so they went, and as they traveled around the bad spot in the woods, Kat confirmed that they were moving around it at a safe enough distance. Zora’s brothel was in a small and rural town, which acted as an unofficial vampire settlement for the area. Technically, all vampire settlements had to register as Sanguis towns under Circle law, but Eric let this one slip.
The town was a few blocks across on each side, a small gathering of decrepit looking buildings which housed a wide collection of unsavory characters. In town, Veronica quickly moved to the front of the pack, and the rest of them followed behind her closely as she led them through the streets to Zora’s brothel. The brothel resided on the main street, alongside several other illicit businesses: gambling dens, whore houses, hit men for hire, seedy bars.
“I fucking love this town.” Veronica grinned as they walked along the street. The sound of heavy metal flooded out of one neon lined bar while the sound of a bar fight broke out from the one next to it. The vampires in this town were high on blood, drink and god knows what else. Ansel kept a tight hold on Kat as they followed Veronica.
“How much for a suck?” A gray skinned man jeered at Kat from the crowd as they walked past. A few seconds with his throat underneath Ansel’s fingers made him take the question back.
“Just keep your head.” Veronica said under her breath. The group already stuck out like a sore thumb in the town and now even more eyes were on them. “You’re lucky that guy wasn’t in a gang, if he was, you’d have two dozen vampires on you right now.”
Ansel wasn’t too concerned. By the looks of things there weren’t many vampires with bright red eyes around here.
“And I know what you’re thinking.” Veronica said. “Doesn’t change the fact that they’re ready for a fight. Look around hombre, everyone here is packing.”
He did and saw that every vampire in the town was carrying a gun of some kind. Ansel growled under his breath, stayed close to Kat and tried to keep his cool.
Zora’s brothel stood right in the middle of the strip, jutting out from the terrace of seedy businesses around it like a neon shrine of sin. Out front stood two tatted up vampires with muscles hulking around their tiny black shirts.
“Stop there,” one man said while sticking a hand out. “Veronica Belmont. You’re banned.”
“Oh come on Surge.” Veronica batted her lashes and pulled her hand down the chest of the bouncer. “Are you still held up over that little thing?”
“What’s going on here?” Eric said stepping forward. “You said you could get us in front of Zora. Now you’re telling me you’re banned?”
“I may or may not have had an altercation with one of the bar staff last time I was here.”
“You keep your hands off the girls unless you're paying.” The other bouncer said. “And you weren’t paying.”
“Everyone gets so testy here.” Veronica rolled her eyes. “I remember why I don’t come here anymore.”
Eric stepped between Veronica and the bouncers. “We need to get inside now, so step aside.”
“Oh yeah?” The bouncers chuckled and puffed their chests out, itching for any chance to cave a skull in. “Well you’re not so—”
Eric raised a hand up in front of the men and held it in the air as if he were choking something. Both bouncers gasped, their eyes bulging as they fought for breath. Veronica stood there bored as if she’d seen the display a thousand times. Ansel and Kat stood bewildered, watching as Eric kept his bizarre grasp on them.
“Remember that you’re talking to Eric Belmont. Without my permission, this little shit stain of a town wouldn’t even be here. Let us in now, or you can light up the night with your ashes.”
Both men nodded quickly while clutching at their throats. Eric released his grasp a moment later, and the bouncers stepped to the side, doubled over and heaving for air.
“Shall we?”
*
Edmund, Rubago and Will were traveling outside of the castle, to a destination that was a little more savory. Rubago was leading the group in pursuit of the witch that was aiding the White Order, and her first port of call was a small human settlement just east of the Castle grounds.
“How does one find a witch?” Will York asked as they walked through the town.
“Witches are like plants, we need certain things to grow and nurture our magic. The witch aiding the White Order will use a lot of magic to possess men with the spirits of Nephilim. It’s black magic and it requires a lot of energy.”
“Where does a witch get that energy?” Edmund asked.
“Sex, death or birth. Dark magic requires the energy of other people.” Rubago stopped on the sidewalk and looked up at the hospital overhead. “Hospitals are perfect spots for such magic. It's easy to draw from the life source of the weak. Beds full of elderly people and young children. Dark witches thrive in such places.”
They looked around the block at the many buildings surrounding the hospital. They were in the center of a small city, and there were lots of places to hide.
“There are three cities surrounding the Castle Belmont that have hospitals.” Will said. “She could be near anyone of them. How would you track her?”
“Have a snoop around, look for things that seem unusual. The Witch is aiding the White Order, so I assume she meets with them face to face regularly to check that her black magic is holding up okay. It might be worth asking if anyone has seen the Order around these parts. They don’t exactly blend in with the general public. Then there’s the hospital too. If a witch is taking power from the dead, then that means more people will die than usual.”
Rubago’s plan might have seemed like a shot in the dark, but it was the only way to hunt a witch. Witches were solitary creatures, and they liked to lie low to rest and gather magic strength. Ansel and Edmund were the only people to ever find her hut, and that was only after that bastard Hurst sold her out. If anyone had a chance at finding this witch, it would be her, it would just take some creative thinking and her companions’ powers to get the job done.
“Will, I want you to go into the Hospital. Use your Intention on the staff, and find out if the patient death rate has spiked recently. Edmund, I want you to check out the local bars, see if you can uncover any gossip about the Order in these parts. To humans the Order are just a group of nut jobs. Townsfolk around here will identify them as cult types or maybe hunting enthusiasts. Let’s dig around and meet back here in an hour.”
“What are you going to do?” Edmund asked.
“Look for signs of a witch being here. Witches like to keep a low profile, but summoning black magic takes a lot of power. Our witch might have been sloppy if she was desperate.”
With that, they parted ways and spread out in search of clues. Rubago’s first move was to cover herself in a cloaking spell and check around the perimeter of the hospital for anything unusual. Salt circles, summoning symbols, spell sculptures to summon latent magic.
Three long alleyways bordered the hospital building. The back alleys were dim, filled with smoke from sewer vents, rusted dumpster bins and the occasional homeless person. After doing a few checks of the perimeter, Rubago couldn’t find anything in particular that signaled a witch might be there.
She reached a dead end behind the hospital when she heard something scuff in the darkness behind her. The witch turned through the air, casting her eyes toward the sound. Another scuff came from behind a dumpster on the right. She floated her heels from the grimy alley floor, and moved through the dark, cloaking herself to be invisible all the while. She passed the corner of the dumpster, found the source of the sound and dropped to the floor, removing her cloak.
“Sophia?!” she rushed forward and grabbed the young vampire girl by the arm, pulling her onto her feet. “What are you doing here?!”
“I’m sorry!” Sophia said while squirming in the witch’s grasp. “I wanted to help!”
“And you thought you could help by sneaking along and spying on us?!”
“Eric wouldn’t let me come otherwise, I didn’t want to sit in the castle and feel useless.”
Rubago let out a sound that resembled a growl. She wanted to strike the girl out of frustration, but now she was here, there was nothing she could do. “Well you might as well put yourself to good use while you’re here. Stay close, can you keep quiet?”
“I guess. I followed you all here with no one noticing.”
She had to concede that it was a fair point.
“Let’s head back to the front of the hospital and meet the others, see if they found anything. From what I can tell there are no signs of a witch here, but Will or Edmund may have spotted something unusual.”
They started down the alley back to the street when Rubago put an arm out in front of Sophia.
“What’s wrong?”
The witch stared at the small sculpture hanging from a rusted old fire escape on their right. Tight knots of twine bound six jagged sticks in a pyramid shape. The pyramid hung from one string on the bottom of the fire escape, circling in the air silently at head height.
“What’s that?” Sophia asked as they approached the sculpture. Rubago got closer, but didn’t touch. A small ruby hung from the bottom of the pyramid in a knotted string. This sculpture was old.
“A trap. A sign that a witch was here.”
“The witch is here? Now?! Have we found her?”
“Was here.” Rubago stressed. “This sculpture is kind of like a magical bomb. It’s a warning to other magical folk. It’s a message.”
“What does it mean?”
Follow me and I’ll fuck your shit up.
“It means we’re dealing with an extremely dangerous individual. This sculpture is called a Fortuna. Fortuna are usually blessed with positive magic. Normally, touching one is good.”
“Then this is good right?”
“No.” Rubago said. “This is a trap designed to look like a Fortuna, but the stone hanging at the bottom reverses its effects. Touching this would be terrible, probably lethal. This thing has been here a while. Whoever placed this would have moved on by now.”
“Then the witch is somewhere else,” Sophia said, sounding somewhat disappointed. “We’ll probably never find her.”
“We might.” Rubago said slowly while leading Sophia away from the death trap. “I’ve only ever known one witch to make traps like this…”
“You do? Who is it?”
She glanced back at the deathly sculpture once more, and a shiver passed down her spine. “Azu. An evil, crazy and demented bitch. We’ve fought since we were children.”
“You know her well?”
“More than well, she’s my sister.”