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arjaandsimoni · 5 months

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Bad Blood

The Peters Cartridge Company Building, Cincinnati Ohio

It had originally been an ammunition manufacturer founded in 1887 which supplied multiple countries with weaponry during both the first and second world war, but their fortunes had ended with the end of the second of those and the company folded. It fell into disrepair after 1968 but was soon put on the registry of historic buildings in the mid-80s. Today the building is home to a brewery and an apartment complex… at least on paper.

In private however, the old building is home to quite a bit more.

Nelen pulled up outside the building in the largest rental vehicle he could obtain on short notice… but the simple fact of the matter was not all of them could come. Drusilla would have taken up most of the back by herself, and then there would be the matter of Lupe and Natasha, as well as the changeling prince and princess, Tex, and their recently arrived Indian allies Arja and Simoni… so it was decided that Drusilla would have to remain behind to guard the Smith Household.

Tex stayed back as well, the only human of their party besides Nelen would have been an obvious target for their foes. Nicu and Lupe stayed as well, though Natasha had insisted on coming to see this prince who would encourage suicidal levels of exposure among the vampires herself.

As he found a secluded area to park in he looked behind him, Dawn sitting shotgun in the bus. “Alright, we all remember the plan? If we can expose Al for what he really is then its entirely possible the vampires will join us or run for the hills, either way that means we won’t have to deal with them.” he nodded firmly, the magus dressed in just a winter jacket over his jeans and teeshirt, with sturdy boots.

“Quite, few vampyr would be insane enough to willingly side with a being of Hell. Our souls are in a tenuous enough state as it is.” agreed Natasha. She had dressed as she often did, in gothic finery. Even going into a battle she would not demean herself by wearing different garb.

Stephy was dressed in the same outfit he wore to fight Clarence, the changeling princess checking their purse again. “Got a few nasty surprises. Some more of those sunflowers that I told you about, a few bellbomb peppers…” he nodded as Sammi checked the edge on his rapier.

“Well, we’ll just have to hope that this does not go against us Nelen…” murmured the princeling, “If all else fails I can open a path to the Hedge, but we will have to come out somewhere, and the Hedge around here is… well…” he looked around, “Lets just hope it is not needed...”

“We’ll take that chance when it comes… and Arja?” asked Nelen.

“Yuth?” she replied, her voice muffled.

Nelen frowned, “… aren’t you being just a bit melodramatic?”

Arja sat there bundled against the cold, the vanara girl wearing a sweater and a pair of jeans with long underwear under a jacket that was also under a winter coat, two scarves wrapped around her face, and a bobble hat pulled over her head, her hands covered in thick woolen mittens and her feet crammed into fur-lined snowboots.

“… nuh.” she replied, narrowing her eyes at the magus.

Sammi grinned, chuckling to himself, as the vanara glared at him. “Wut?” she growled.

“Oh, nothing… just remembering all those times when I commented on how unpleasant the weather was in New Orleans, or Texas, or India…” he whistled innocently as he sheathed his weapon.

Simoni sighed at her, the garuda girl wearing a pair of woolen leggings under a denim skirt and her own snowboots, along with a sleeveless green sweater under a thick winter coat. She had to find a good balance that would allow for talons and wings if needed and had taken Stephy’s advice on leggings. All her legs really did was change shape, and leggings had no feet, so they worked as far as her transformation went. “Arja, we’ll just have to deal as best we can… if we’re fighting against vampires they’ll need someone who can use fire.”

Finally however, the group had to get moving… Dawn went in first, scouting the way invisibly as Simoni and Stephy managed to talk Arja down into ditching the coat and mittens. As a vanara her fighting often relied on agility, and it would be extremely hard to be agile in such bulky winter-wear.

Dawn crept her way through the building, her yellow eyes occasionally shining in the gloom as she made her way further and further towards what Dusty had told them. There was a hidden basement, all she had to do was know where it was and she could teleport them all in at once… and after a bit her sensitive ears picked up the sound of a lot of voices below her.

The cheshire focused, then suddenly was a good fifty feet straight down, standing on the ceiling, and wincing in shock.

There were a LOT of people down there… at least a few dozen that she could see, and she could tell that not all of them were human. A good chunk of ghouls obviously, or just mortal cronies hoping to get in on their master’s good graces to get offered their blood… but on the stage…

She narrowed her eyes, hissing, “Gotcha… ‘Al.’” she frowned, teleporting back to the bus and appearing in the front passenger seat.

“He’s here, and I don’t see his backup dancers anywhere so far.” she nodded.

Nelen grinned, cracking his knuckles, “Alright kids, lets go.” he nodded, taking Dawn’s hand and holding his back towards the rest. The other five put their hands on his and in a swirl of magic they all vanished!

The Hidden Basement under the Cartridge Company Building

“Now… I hear there’s been some bitching about the new policies…” began Al, the vampire prince wearing the same suit as before, but now with several fancy rings on his fingers and a pendant around his neck. He wore a thick pair of sunglasses over his eyes and a fedora hat. The sunglasses he felt made him look impressive, and the hat went with the suit.

He’d found Archibald’s old jewelry box and had taken some choice items. His left hand had several solid gold rings set with large gemstones etched with the image of strange creatures on them. On his ring finger was one with a huge ruby showing a shape like some strange lizard, his middle finger had an emerald with a scorpion design, and so on. The pendant was a stylized dragon, a symbol of power among some circles of vampires. Even among the undead, some believed in the power of the ’Son of the Dragon,’ Vlad Dracul.

“… and I heard rumors that one of our big shots has been staked.” he added, “I checked with my advisors, and ain’t nobody fuckin’ told me that the Mill Creek Monster got taken out! So those rumors stop NOW!” he slammed his fist down. “The Rat can do what he fuckin’ wants! If he wants to go play hide ‘n seek I don’t give a shit.”

There were several murmurs among the crowd, including among one very confused coterie who had been sent to the old Paper Mill personally by Astaroth… he had lied to the Prince about Clarence’s death? They saw some pretty obvious proof that he was gone for good…

“But the main thing is there’s still little chicken shits out there who don’t want to live like TRUE vampires!” he snarled, “We ain’t human, so stop pretendin’ to be! We’re BETTER than human! They’re our goddamn FOOD! They’re LESS than us! They don’t fuckin’ MATTER anymore unless they prove they do!”

The ghouls in the crowd shared worried looks at that, as did their mortal counterparts… as if they were just now realizing that they were swimming with the proverbial sharks. They looked to the vampires they served, but the undead refused to meet their gaze.

“I got Walter out tonight, ‘n he’s dealing with another group that was planning to ice me… so if anyone gets any dumb ideas…” he began…

… and that’s when the door to the basement was blasted off its hinges.

Wood splinters and embers soared over the heads of the crowd as a cry of alarm went up among the assembled undead and their minions and into the room rushed Nelen, a silver tipped stake already in hand, alongside Dawn whose hat and glasses were gone to reveal her feline features.

Stephy and Sammi came next, the changeling princess generating a swirl of ice and snow around his hand as the prince drew his blade and held it ready. Alongside them strode Natasha, her cane already opened to reveal her own weapon should it be needed.

Finally Arja jumped over the group and landed before them in her vanara form, her tail thrashing behind her as flames flickered behind her monkey-like fangs. She hated how cold it was here and was quite eager to turn up the heat. Simoni landed next to her, the garuda shedding her wings and scales to return to her human form.

“That’s ENOUGH!” snapped Stephy, stepping forward as he reached into his purse, pulling out a fresh bellbomb pepper. “We know who you really are! Did we not beat you badly enough last year ‘Al?’”

The prince rose from behind the podium where he’d taken shelter when the door was blown apart, hearing the changeling’s declaration… though, his reaction may not be what Stephy expected.

“… the fuck are you talking about? Who the hell ARE you?” he asked.

Stephy glared back, “Don’t play dumb! I heard Astaroth say your name and there’s only one ‘Al’ we know who could cause this much trouble!” he retorted… until he felt Nelen’s hand on his shoulder.

“Stephy…” he frowned, raising his eyebrow at the prince. “… that’s… not Al.”

“What?!” asked Stephy as Sammi faltered, his sword lowering a bit as Dawn stared at him. Arja and Simoni looked over their shoulders as well. Even Natasha looked surprised at this, glancing between him and the prince.

“Uh… well, that is my name…” commented the Prince. He was able to hear them even in the back, the basement had very good acoustics, and vampires had excellent hearing. The crowd was stunned, not sure how to react yet at the sudden interruption by a gaggle of supernaturals.

Stephy shook his head, “That’s the new prince! That’s the one who took over! We saw him in Dusty’s vision! That’s gotta be Al!” he insisted.

Nelen sighed, “Yeah, well Cernunnos can sense demonic auras and he says this guy is just another bloodsucker… That’s NOT Al!”

“Yes he is!” insisted the changeling.

“Yes I am…” commented the increasingly confused prince.

Stephy looked at the prince, then back at Nelen, “But… But I heard Astaroth…” he started, Nelen held up a hand however.

“Stephy… Did this guy say ‘Al,’ or did he say ‘Agaliarept?’” asked the magus in a rather strained tone.

“… er… he said… ‘Al.’” replied the changeling, their cheeks coloring as they began to realize their error.

“Stephy… do you know how COMMON a name like that is?” grimaced Nelen, “He could have been talking about an Albert, or an Alan, or an Alberto, or… THERE’S A LOT OF DAMN NAMES THAT START WITH ‘A L!’”

Dawn coughed, looking around, “Well… this got awkward in a hurry…” she muttered, glancing back at Nelen, “So… uh… Nelen, should I just yoink us outta here or…”

However as soon as she said that there was an audible snapping sound.

The group looked up, as did the assembled undead and their minions.

The prince’s face was an enraged grimace, his hand gripping the podium so hard he’d broken a chunk of it away, crushing it in his hand with his vampiric strength. “What… did you say his name was?” he asked.

Nelen frowned, stepping forward and looking straight at the prince’s face. “Its Nelen Fullmoon. Whats it to you Dracula?” he asked.

The prince stepped down from the podium, grinning at them… and it was a very nasty grin indeed. “Oh this is TOO fucking perfect! I’ve been waiting years for this!” he snarled, taking off his glasses and tossing his hat to the side.

Nelen squinted at his face, then his eyes widened, “You…” he glared back, “YOU MURDEROUS SON OF A BITCH!” he spat in fury as the rest of the group looked at the prince.

“Wait, Nelen… YOU know him?!” asked Stephy in shock.

“Oh I fucking know THIS piece of shit!” he growled, “He’s the reason I wound up saddled with a demon for a fucking decade!”

The vampire prince slowed to a halt, flexing his hands, “The little fag had it coming Fullmoon.” he retorted.

“SHUT YOUR GODSDAMN MOUTH MURDER!” he snapped, striding forward as if he’d forgotten all about the other undead in the room. “He’d never done anything to you, you wouldn’t have even known his fucking name if you hadn’t heard about him coming out… and what did you do?!”

Simoni stared, the pieces clicking together in her head, “Oh shit…”

“You and your rich asshole friends CHAINED HIM TO THE BACK OF YOUR TRUCK AND DRAGGED HIM UNTIL HIS BODY FELL APART!” he spat, every line in his face showing nothing but blind fury. “Yeah, I know exactly who this fucker is…” he growled, “Alfred Ludsthorp… heir to one of the local political dynasties… and someone who should be trapped in the quarantine ward at St. Elizabeth for the rest of his pathetic life.”

There was silence all around. Nelen’s allies knew his story now, about how his friend had come out as gay in the days before it was even remotely safe to do so, how the wrong people had heard about it, and how he had been tortured to death by a group of their well-to-do classmates.

How, when one of them went to his father to protect them, he was able to get away without even so much as being arrested because his father put pressure on the police to ignore the crime. How this drove Nelen to seek revenge in the worst way possible. He could have simply beaten them to a pulp with his own inborn Fullmoon strength… but instead he’d gone with something much darker.

He wanted those who had tortured his friend to death to suffer for what they’d done… and he made a deal with something awful to do it.

Standing before them was the man who had committed the murder that had sent Nelen down the road that led to him making a pact with Merihim, Demon of the Court of Wrath.

One Year Ago…

Francis Ludsthorp was a broken man. He had spent every cent he had to try to cure his son, to no avail. Antibiotics were useless, gene therapy was a lost cause, they’d even tried experimental radiation therapy without success.

He was running out of money. His political career was in shambles. About four years after his son wound up hospitalized his personal financial records had been stolen and leaked onto the internet showing how he’d been embezzling funds from the local government to line his own pockets. How he’d been using them to pay off investigators… there were even videos of the more recent meetings (god only knew how! The video looked like it was recorded from the ceiling!) A recall vote came shortly after, and when the dust settled nobody would trust him to run a gas station nevermind hold public office.

Then, one day, he got a call from the hospital. That year, just near the tail end of February, his son’s disease had just… stopped. It’d just vanished, all trace of it in his body. The virus cells were just suddenly gone.

He’d almost called it a miracle, until the hospital told him the rest of the story. The virus was gone, but the damage had been done. His son’s body was a disaster. The disease was akin to leprosy with a nasty grudge against its host and ten times more destructive than any strain they’d ever seen. Alfred would likely never walk again, his arms were atrophied to the point of uselessness, he was almost totally blind, it was a miracle he was alive at all…

Desperation took him. He wanted something, ANYTHING, that could help his son… and after weeks of searching, he found his chance.

The more superstitious doctors had commented that this disease almost seemed more like being cursed than sick with how little effect medicine had on it… and why not replace one curse with another. He was in politics, he always knew that there were some extreme ways to get power in the Greater Cincinnati Area… well, maybe that could save his son.

Thus, in the dead of night, he brought his son to a secluded warehouse, and met a man he would only ever know as William.

He didn’t stay to watch the deed get done, he couldn’t stand to see such a thing happen. Once it was over he insisted on taking his son home with him, despite William's warnings not to.

That next evening he went into his son’s bedroom to find him sitting up in bed, looking straight at him.

Francis ran forward to embrace his boy… and found out why William had tried to convince him to leave his son with him instead.

When Alfred finished with his father, and facing the horror of what he had done, William was waiting for him… and that was where his life as a human being had ended.

The Cartridge Company Basement, Present Day

The room was deathly silent, Nelen and Alfred staring each other down… then suddenly there was a small snicker.

“Wait… his name was Alfred all this time?” asked Dawn, “Like… Batman’s butler?” she snorted as Sammi put a hand to his mouth, trying to hide his grin as he held his rapier ready. Even Arja had to let out a small chuckle at that.

The prince’s eye twitched, his vampiric hearing able to pick out several stifled chuckles from the crowd as a few others made the connection themselves.

Nelen ignored her though, “How the hells did a worthless sack of crap like you wind up as the Prince?” he demanded.

Alfred sneered, “Like I’d tell you Fullmoon… but you’re right, I am in charge here… EVERYONE!” he snapped his fingers, “This is an order from your Boss! KILL ‘EM!” he shouted!

Nelen blinked, then remembered he was surrounded by the prince’s allies. “Fuck.” he whispered, then an instant later he vanished and reappeared behind the others as Stephy and Simoni ran forward and tore the stems off a pair of bellbomb peppers.

“BOMBS AWAY!” shouted Simoni, throwing her’s to the right as Stephy threw his to the left, the plants landing amid the crowd of vampires and their minions.

“Hope you guys like it spicy!” laughed Stephy as the peppers exploded into a massive cloud of capuchin and glamour, cries of pain erupting from within the mob as Arja moved forward, took a deep breath, and exhaled a huge cone of flame directly at Alfred!

The prince’s eyes widened as he grimaced, a wall of fire racing directly towards him! “SHIT!” he cried out, covering his face with his hands, and the flames hit home, blasting out around his form and scorching anyone too close to flee in time!

Several ghouls and a couple vampires went down, the latter screaming in terror as the flames ate away at their undead flesh… and then the flames died to reveal the prince crouching defensively… but totally unhurt.

Alfred looked up, clearly every bit as surprised as Arja was, a strange glow fading from the ruby ring he wore. “… uh… yeah… totally knew that’d happen…” he coughed, standing up, “WELL? DON’T JUST STAND THERE! GET THEM DAMMIT!” he shouted.

At this point the mob was quite likely to agree with them, several of them half blind and in pain from the peppery goblin fruit, the others recognizing that whoever they were they were definitely their enemies! All around them they could hear the cock of handguns, the sound of knives being drawn from boots or belt sheathes, and see the vampires assembled readying their own attacks.

“Dammit! DAWN!” yelled Nelen, “PLAN FIFTY THREE!”

Dawn nodded, then the group huddled together as she focused, and with a loud thunderclap they vanished from the room.

Plan Fifty Three: RUN LIKE HELL!

The group reappeared on the ground level outside, next to where Nelen had hidden their vehicle. “GO GO GO! GET INSIDE NOW!” he shouted, running towards the driver’s side as he fumbled with the keys, the rest of the group frantically rushing into their seats and bracing themselves.

Nelen stomped the gas hard and the van lurched forward, then he spun it around and gunned the engine as hard as it would let him go as the doors to the building burst open and after a few minutes several cars raced out of the parking lot after them!

Dawn glanced at the mirror and let out a low whining meow, “Neleeeeeeeeen! They’re coming!” she warned.

“Yeah! I noticed!” snapped the magus, pushing the engine until it cried as he tried to gain distance… but this vehicle had been built for hauling, not speed! “Shit, can SOMEONE slow them down?!” he asked.

Simoni whined, looking outside, but trying to fly in that chill would be borderline impossible! She’d be an ice cube before they got halfway above them...

For Stephy however… “Dawn! Get me and Sammi onto the roof!” he nodded, shrugging off his jacket and kicking off his boots. The cheshire nodded and grabbed both their hands, then teleported them up ontop of the van before warping herself quickly back inside as Stephy transformed, spreading his wings and trying to hold onto the swerving vehicle with his talons as Nelen fought with the icy roads below.

Sammi took his sibling’s purse, then climbed atop his back and nodded to him, the changeling princess letting out a loud birdlike cry as they took to the air!

Stephy yelped in surprise as the cars shot past below them, then whistled up a sharp tailwind and shot forward after them as Sammi dug through his purse. “Moving too fast to freeze the roads under them… bellbombs are worthless, they’ll have the windows up… no… not this one either… AHA!” he nodded, pulling out what looked like a strange straw doll, but made from a thorny vine rather than straw. “Stephy! Get ahead of them if you can!” he nodded.

Stephy focused, then let out another cry as they shot forward, the princess glancing below, then Sammi nodded and took the doll, gritting his teeth as he intentionally drew a thorn over his finger. “A little red water to help you grow m’dear…” he whispered, then tossed it down infront of the cars. It missed the first two, landed right infront of a second pair, and by the time the two following them reached that spot the drivers found a rather nasty surprise! The road was suddenly covered with a huge mass of razor sharp, unnaturally strong, and four-inch-long thorns! There were several loud bangs and their cars spun out of control as their tires were shredded to ribbons!

“Nice throw!” grinned Stephy, then he shrieked as several loud bangs came from below them. Their pursuers had realized they had enemies above, and they’d come prepared for a fight! Bullets whizzed by them as Stephy flapped to slow down, narrowly dodging a hail of lead… but this meant the windows were open now.

“Sammi! Get ready!” he nodded, shooting forward in the sky and angling downwards. They drew nearly level with the ground as Sammi pulled a bellbomb pepper out of his purse, biting the stem off… and as soon as they got close enough to one of the cars he threw it in through the passenger window and Stephy immediately flapped as hard as he could to regain altitude!

They were close long enough to hear, ‘is that a fucking pepper?’ before there was a massive splattery sound and the windows were covered in pulp and spices, screams coming from inside as the car swerved out of control before crashing into a ditch!

The changeling princess yelped as another spray of bullets shot up from below… then they looked forward to see the backdoor of the van opening.

Dawn was there, holding onto a handle built into the back of the van, and she was holding something… She grinned, then opened a cardboard box and poured out what looked like a bunch of shining metal objects, and another car went spinning out of control before slamming headlong into a tree!

That still left two though, and they were close enough to get a clear shot now! Several gunshots rang out, but the shadows under the door suddenly stretched down and hardened, and the bullets bounced off the barrier of darkness it created!

Of course… all this chaos couldn’t go unnoticed forever… and Sammi looked out across the snowy landscape to see something else on a nearby road. Several vehicles were approaching at speed, with flashing red and blue lights. “Oh oak and ash… someone called the police!” he swore, “Stephy!”

“I know I know… dammit what are we gonna do…” he whined, looking around. It’d be foolish to assume that the local vampire courts wouldn’t have agents in law enforcement. They could easily arrange for an ‘accident’ to occur in custody, it happened often enough already!

Then they saw ahead of them, a large bridge, a covered bridge to be specific. “Sammi… I know its dangerous around here… but we don’t really have any other choice!”

Sammi frowned, “I fear you’re right… blast it all, we’ll just have to take the risk!” he nodded as the two focused on the archway the bridge made and drew upon their own connection to the Wyrd.

Inside the van Nelen’s knuckles were almost white as he raced towards the bridge, bullets whizzing past on both sides of the vehicle as Arja and Simoni held on for dear life.

Suddenly, the space infront of him seemed to distort, the magus frowning. “What the… OH SHIT!” he swore as he realized what he was seeing, the view of the bridge shifting to reveal a pathway of thorn covered trees in a moonlit forest. “KIDS! HANG ON TIGHT!” he shouted as the van barreled over the bridge, the two cars behind it swerving to a halt as they saw the strange display… just in time for Sammi and Stephy to shoot past above them through the gateway, the portal slamming shut as the bridge returned to normal.

“The fuck was that…” asked one of the drivers as they got out of the car, staring at where the van had disappeared.

“Man I got no damn clue… c’mon, lets head back.” replied the other as they got back in their cars.

Soon the police arrived and took stock of the carnage along the roadside and the four wrecked vehicles… but of the van there was no sign.

Somewhere else…

Nelen slumped over the steering wheel of the van, the front end totaled from where it’d hit one of the trees. He raised his head with a groan, then looked around…

He’d grown up around here, he knew most of the area, but this was well beyond the fields he knew.

Stephy and Sammi had saved them from their pursuers and local law enforcement by sending them into the depths of the Hedge.

#fiction #modern fantasy #supernatural adventures #lgbtq

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