Simpering fool. [I snorted a vaporous growl, watching Hhavoc with steely eyes. I’d stalked this miserable whelp for more than a century and he had yet to grow a backbone. I’d found some small amusement in his dreams, nocturnal forays into a past that still haunted him.] That’s not all that’s haunting ye, is it boy? [My voice registered with the male to prick his ears and snap his head around, searching the darkness like a prey animal. The pop and crackle of skyborne explosives had him on edge already, skittering around his filth-strewn apartment like a cockroach. With a scornful laugh, I wave off the foggy form of a nearly depleted spirit, a young male, Stephan, I’d heard his mahmen wail once. He’d refused to leave her side in death and find his peace in the Fade, reducing him a barely visible column of smoke hovering at my shoulder.] Begone from me ye pathetic half-wit, I’ve no more use for ye that I’ve use for tits on a boar. [‘Twas true, I’d no interest in these milling wisps that roamed the InBetween and the Other Side as ghosts. A fruitless growl built in my chest. I’d had life. Purpose. Power. Respected and feared by the males who’d trained under the iron fist of my command. And many had reason to fear. Like this sniveling bastard. Hhavoc had been a favorite whipping boy amongst the others, who taunted him mercilessly. I’d encouraged the brutal ridicule in the dim hope of hardening him into a worthy soldier. Until he’d been bested in his first fight out of transition by the creature I’d sired on the Virgin Scribe. Little maggot had rolled over like a bitch in heat for Vishous upon his loss, the consent of his defeat too willingly given while I’d watched him mounted and taken like the females. The white-eyed devil I’d begotten on the bitch had been my last thought when the female appeared, she who was so like him as to be none but his twin, speaking aloud that single word. His name. Vishous. The years since my end had festered outrage to murderous calculation, honed to single minded purpose. Vengeance. Watching and waiting, I’d conserved my strength and sought a way out. A path back to garner retribution on the creatures I’d seeded in the Scribe’s conniving womb. The rising growl burst free, once more frightening Hhavoc into a jerked turn of his body toward the sound, the motion sending the contents of his rat-eaten nightstand to the floor and scattering them across the yellowed linoleum, my gaze pinpointing on the glinting tip of a dagger, half-hidden my an empty bottle of cheap liquor. That was why I’d found him. Though he’d cowered from me in life, the male had still kept the burnt remains of my blade from that night, the only thing that seemed to have survived being razed by the she-demon’s unholy fire. Hhavoc scrambled to grab the dagger and stood, tucking it into his jacket and running out the door of his rathole apartment like his hair was on fire and his ass was catching, not slowing until he’d reached the buzzing neon lights of Trade Street. I followed close by, my smoky voice a buzzing drone in his ear] Aye, boy. Get back to yer tavern and try to drink me away again. That’s done well by ye’ so far. [laughing darkly, I kept on his heel as he rounded a corner, nearly colliding with what I could only assume was a female. My time shadowing this pissant had gifted me sights I’d not imagined in the Old Country, the line between male and female amongst the humans blended in a blur of slashed crimson lips and darkened eyes. Painted whores, the lot of them.] But, yer not lookin’ at them, are ye? It’s the males yer after. Always were. I should have had you tending the fires with the females, not wielding iron, ye’ sad waste of flesh. [My own senses hovering on a razor’s edge, I mapped the alley, marking shadows and alcoves instinctively as cover while the booming thunder of fireworks filled the air. Hhavoc gripped the hilt of my dagger beneath his jacket and kept moving, my ruthless barbs silenced at a change in the air, raucous laughter and drunken fights silenced as the rows of taverns were lost to damp alleys nestled between the great monoliths that made up this city. Hackles raised at the close quarters, I barked a string of curses at the male’s back.] Yer set fer an ambush, ye’ damned fool! [I’d no sooner gotten the words out when the stench of powder filled the alley and Hhavoc ran like a spooked horse, bolting at the thunder of boots echoing off of the crumbling brick. Gliding noiselessly through the garbage piles he tripped through, I scanned his path, centuries of instinct untamped by death as my eyes lifted skyward.] Aye, boy! They’ve got the high ground! [“Wrong way, asswipe.” It was too late. The male was beyond hearing me, his chin cranking up at the lesser who’d spoken, stumbling to pull the dagger free when the two flanking him darted out of the shadows, pale monsters of muscle launched at the hapless moron. I searched through the slashing limbs for sight of my dagger, having no care for the fate of its current owner until I moved closer to the fight and the glow of my arm dimmed, drained by something that had me instantly on alert. “Wait.” The word was greasy smoke on entrails, the voice the stuff of nightmares. I crouch back into the shadows, translucent fangs bared at the hooded evil approaching. “Not yet.” The Omega stopped short of the trio, hovering above the darkening puddle of Hhavoc’s blood, turning to face me, the showering sparks overhead lighting him in a grotesque rainbow. “You’re known to me, vampire. My sister’s stud horse, I believe? Come.” Boney finger crooked to coax me into the alley way, my gaze darting between the daemon and the gore-streaked glint of my dagger holding me in place. “Come. I’ve use for you.”] I’ve none for ye’, ye’ rancid bastard! [He laughed, a sound that would have made my skin crawl were it still covering me and I swore, searching the alley for a way out. With my body.. my blade, my horse and my soldiers, I could fight but, like this? I was helpless as a babe and the idea sent my fury boiling over. “I can offer you that which you’ve wanted for years, Bloodletter.”] What know ye’ of my wants, daemon? Get back to your sickly minions. I’ve no more to say. [“Revenge, vampire. You want revenge and I’m offering it.” He grinned, extending a finger to the male on the filthy concrete, Hhavoc’s breaths shallowing by the second as thick crimson bubbled up from his wounds. “But, my offer is on a timer. I’d say he’s got perhaps three minutes.” The lessers watched terrified and transfixed as I thought it over. Already dead, I had no purpose…no reason not to fade into nothing as I’d watched so many others do… save retribution. In that instant, an eternity of penance in Dhund was fair barter for a chance to complete a task that my own bastards had failed, blind vengeance winning over centuries of defending the race in that single moment.] I’m listenin’. [Floating out of the shadows, I force myself nearer even as I felt the energy leeched from me. “I’ll give you his body.” The enunciated ‘s’ sounded like the hiss of escaping steam and I could hear the disgust as the Omega went on. “A chance to rid me of the abominations you helped her bring about. Your answer now, vampire. Going once.. going twice…”] Aye! Fuck, aye, I’ll do it. [The lessers were yet retreating and I was certain if it were possible they’d have melted into the brickwork.] What would ye’ have me do? [In a fluid rush of robes, the Omega punched into Hhavoc’s chest and drew back, the male’s heart still swelling in his boney hand with the ebbing pulse of life at the moment I’m sucked into a sickening vortex of black and slammed into the ground, peeling open my eyes and squinting against the gap-toothed light of broken street lanterns. “Get off your ass and go kill your young, vampire. That’s what I’d have you do. Failure will reap.. unpleasant consequences.” He turned toward the cowering lessers, the stilled heart now encased in a porcelain jar, skeletal hand stretching out to thrust it toward his minions. “Obey him. And do not fail me in this. My sister’s offspring must die.” Gone in an instant, I got to my feet, trembling limbs moving with coltish awkwardness to raise Havoc’s body from the floor, a plan already coming into place as I stooped to retrieve my dagger from the gore-splattered concrete and dragging it over my thigh to clean the blade, scowling in distaste at the cheap denim coverings. They would offer no armor. That had to be remedied. Hearing the shouts and blaring horns from the taverns heralding the coming of midnight, I took a breath of frigid air and let out a self-satisfied growl. A new year, a new body… a new opportunity to take back the reins and shift the axis of power in my favor. I move my gaze to the lessers still huddled against the wall.] Come, ye’ pasty bastards. I’ve work for ye’. [A dark grin twisted the lips of my new face, steel grey eyes glinting with the rain of light overhead. Shoulders squared, I tested my grip around the hilt of my blade.] Yer to tell me all ye know of the brotherhood. And of the warrior Vishous.
