Sorry for the delay in updates. Kinda been busy/lazy. Anyway, Abdalin, Cal and I went to the address that the Scarlet Marked gave me. It was a medium sized mansion with a couple of red haired guards idly chatting by the front door. I had with me a long bundle of cloth with a belt wrapped around it.
“So, what's the plan of attack?” Cal asked.
“I don't think attack is such a good idea,” Abdalin said.
I quietly reached into my pocket and pulled out a pair of earplugs.
“These are Blood Vessel's,” Abdalin said. “They're some of the most dangerous servants out there.”
I pushed the era plugs into my ears, so the rest of the conversation was kind of muffled.
“Ever heard of a combat sadomasochist?” Abdalin asked. At least, I think that's what he said.
“No...,” Cal said.
“Basically, they enjoy inflicting and receiving pain,” Abdalin said.
As they spoke, I untied the belt from my bundle of cloth.
“So, fighting them is a bad idea then?” Cal said.
“Yeah,” Abdalin said.
I tied the belt around my chest diagonally, criss-crossing from my left shoulder to my right ribcage.
“So, we have to be sneaky then,” Cal suggested. Slip in the back, try and blend in or something?”
I unrolled the bundle of cloth and withdrew my Sonic Sword. Its an interesting weapon. At first glance, it looks like a metal pipe with a sword hand. It has a cool looking retro-punk cross guard. However, a neat little thing about the weapons design is that the metal pipe part's internal structure is built to magnify sound waves, so it'll create a deafening clang when struck against something.
“That would be a good idea,” Abdalin said. “Although, these are the allies of Red Daniel, so they'll probably recognize Daniel when he walks in.”
I began walking up to the door.
“So then what should we-?” Cal started to say.
“Wait,” Abdalin interrupted. “Daniel, what are you doing?!?”
I looked back at him over my shoulder. “Getting my Dresden on,” I said casually.
I strolled right up to the pair of guards. They apparently suck at being guards, because they didn't pay me any attention until I was right there, and they both just kind of looked at me.
“Hi,” I said, gripping the sword with both hands.
It was about then that they realized who they were looking at, and reached for their weapons. One had a PR-whatever nightstick, and the other had what looked like a butterfly knife. I went for the knife wielder first. Before either of them had their weapons drawn, I bashed that guy in the head.
Something you should know about Blood Vessels. Not only are they sadomasochists who grow stronger while their in pain, but they has varying degrees of hemokinetic control over their own blood, allowing them to harden it at will. This protects them from several forms of attack, so blades and bludgeoning weapons can't inflict more then flesh wounds most of the time. However, sound can still hurt them. Being hit directly in the skull with a weapon designed to amplify noise was enough to bring him down. Thanks to my earplugs, I only took a fraction of the noise.
Downside to wielding a Sonic Sword; they vibrate. Then my attack hit, I had to deal with vibrations going all the way up my arm. Fortunately, I had a good hold with both arms, so I managed to not drop it.
The other guy swung his police baton at me, and I lifted my sword in time to block the attack. He recoiled a bit at the noise our two weapons produced, and I took the chance to knock him out with a quick blow to the head.
I had a bit of time to recover from the vibrations before the door opened and another Blood vessel poked his head out.
“Hey, what's with all the-” he said, just before I hit him in the jaw with my sword. He fell backwards through the door, unconscious like the other two.
Abdalin caught up to me, and picked up the nightstick.
“You're an idiot,” he said.
“Sue me for taking action,” I said, slinging my sword across my back and sliding it through the belt like a make-shift sheath. I shoved my way through the door, reaching inside my coat as I did. It gripped the handgun tucked into my pants and drew it out.
I was no in the foyer of the mansion. Through a large doorway to the right was what appeared to be the main party area. I entered and fired my gun five times into the air, the shots being heard over the sounds of Jeffrey Star's “I'm In Love with A Killer”. Silly Blood Vessels, and their taste in music. Every head in the room turned to me. Most of the people their seemed to be ordinary human, but there was also a good dozen or so Blood Vessels.
“My name is Daniel Xavier Ferris!” I shouted. “And I'm here to kick some High Blood ass!”
All the Blood Vessels drew various close range weapons and stared charging toward us.
“You couldn't have been a bit more subtle?” Abdalin asked.
“Subtlety takes too long,” I said, drawing my sword.
The Blood Vessels reached us, and I proceeded to get my Dante on. I'm not gonna describe the entire fight here, because it would be like, 68 paragraphs longs, and I'm waaaaaaaaaaay too lazy for that. Though, there's something I noticed during the fight. Mainly the fact that I was staying three steps ahead of all my opponents. I'm no slouch in a fight, but I normally don't do that well. For some reason I was able to see every thing coming and adjust my fighting style accordingly. I didn't realize why at first, until I caught side of someone in the crowd. Someone I knew. I smirked a bit and continued fighting. Then a voice broke through the room.
“STOP!!!” a woman demanded.
The fight ceased, and the seven or eight Blood Vessels who were still conscious backed off. A tall, crimson haired woman, dressed in black tights, appeared in the doorway at the other end of the room. She began approaching me seductively. As she got closer, more of her details became apparent. She was latina, and her long hair went down to her waist, and was tied up at the ends. Her black tights had a red vein-like pattern to them, and her eyes were the same crimson as her hair. He had a small hunting knife clipped to her loose-fitting belt, which seemed to have no purpose other than holding the weapon.
“Daniel Ferris,” she said, smiling.
“Reout Rodriguez,” I replied. “Been a while.”
I met Reout several months ago. She's the current leader of High Blood, having took over after Red Daniel's death. And, like Red Daniel, she has an annoying habit of flirting with me.
“Welcome to my Parlour,” she said.
“The spider's supposed to say that to the fly,” I said, raising my sword to point at her, while simultaneously putting my gun pack in my coat. “Not to the wasp.”
“You certainly do have some sting in you,” she chuckled. She turned away from me and took a few steps onto the dancefloor. “You've come a long way. Why not enjoy yourself a little?”
“Sure,” I said, sheathing my Sonic Sword. “But do you anything a bit better then Jeffrey Fricking Star?”
“Very well,” she said, turning back to me. “DJ, put on some... what you our guest prefer?”
“Play I'm Alive,” I said. “I've been going through a bit of a Shinedown phase lately.”
As I spoke, I summoned my Wakizashi to my. It's a japanese shortsword that the blind Man gave me. The sheath was cut in two and gorilla glued back together before I got it, and it seems to have some level of sentience and loyalty, and it teleports into my hand whenever I want it to. It took me a while to figure the whole summoning thing out, but it comes in handy a lot.
“You heard him,” Reout said, drawing her knife.
Music started to play, and she cut the palm of her free hand. Her blood dripped from it, but instead of dropping to the ground, it began revolving around her hand like a morbid asteroid belt. She extended that hand toward me.
“May I have this dance, good sir?” she asked me.
I gripped the hilt of my wakizashi and drew it a couple of inches.
“Indeed you may, M'Lady,” I said.
And then we charged at each other. Her blood expanded, forming into a liquid whip. She slashed it at me, but I sidestepped just enough to avoid it. I clashed my sword against her knife. She slipped behind me, and I turned quickly to parry her attack. I kicked her in the stomach, pushing her away from me a bit. She shot her blood at me like a grappling hook, and I barely dodged it. Instead, it kept extending and wrapped around the throat of one of the party goers. She yanked him of his feet and dragged him straight at us rapidly. I raised a leg, catching him in the solar plexus as he flew toward me. I then quickly knocked him out with another kick.
“Sorry about that,” I said to him, before turning back to Reout. “That's only cool when Scorpion does it.”
“Well, how cool is this?” she asked, using her blood grappling hook to lasso one of the snack tables.
“Crap,” I said as she yanked it toward us.
It few at me, and I ducked beneath it just in time. Unfortunately for Reout, I was between her and the table, so when I ducked, its momentum carried it directly toward her, and they collided painfully. She picked herself back up quickly, and I threw my sheath right at her face before she could get her bearings. I ran up to her and hurdled over the table. By the time she was focused again, my gun was in her face. She stepped back in fear, and I moved with her. A Blood Vessel can harden their blood to the point that they can withstand long ranged gunshots. But point blank shots carry enough momentum to penetrate their bloody armor. And she knew that.
“You know, Red Daniel was a much better fighter than you,” I said.
It's true. Red Daniel was a damn good martial artist, and to my knowledge was the only legitimate drunken fist master in the world. And while most Blood Vessel's can only harden their blood, he could crystallize his, a talent he used to construct weapons during battle. She was no where near as good as him.
But she did have a bunch of friends. One of which threw their bo staff at my head. I managed to duck just in time, but that gave her a chance to swipe my legs out from under me with her blood whip. I hit the ground and rolled away before her knife hit the floor where my face had been. I got back up and fired at her. She dodged the literal bullet and took a few steps back. I fired again, but she dodged it a second time. Her blood expanded again, and swirled around her like a tornado. Then she sent it all flying at me in a torrent of crimson fluid.
“Burn!” I hissed, and in an instant, by sword burst into bright, warm flames. At least, they seemed warm to me. I've never been burned by them, but everything else is a different story. The sword's always been able to do that, ever since it came into my possession. It has something to do with the being possessing it.
The blood she sent at me recoiled away from the fire before it could get close. I rushed at her, and her blood moved away from me as I did, clearing a path. I could see panic in her eyes as I slashed at her knife hand, causing her to drop the blade. I kicked at her legs, knocking her down, and aimed at her face.
“Game over,” I said.
Then I heard about a half dozen click from all around me. I looked around to see all the other Blood Vessels pointing guns at me.
“Oh,” I said. “Damn it...”
Then explosives happened. A bunch of miniature pyrotechnics all around the room went off, blanketting everyone in smoke. The Blood Vessels were surprised, and I took the chance to duck down into the smoke and exit the dance floor. Someone suddenly grabbed me by the wrist. I almost attacked whoever it was untilo they smoke.
“It's me!' she said. “Come on, we have to go!”
I got a look at her through the smoke. It was the same person I'd spotted earlier during the fight.
“Abdalin!” I shouted.
He appeared right next to me.
“'Indeed you may, M'Lady'?” he asked.
“Shut up,” I said. “I was trying to be cool.”
“Failing to be cool,” he said.
“Shut up and get us out of here!” I said.
“Got it,” he said.
He teleported us both outside, where Cal was standing, a confused expression on his face.
“Grab him,” Abdalin said.
“Right,” the girl said, gripping the front of Cal's shirt.
“Don't leave town yet,” I said.
“Right,” Abdalin said, before teleporting us to an unfamiliar part of the town.
“Well, now that's over,”
“Um, who's this?” Cal asked.
“I was about to ask the same,” Abdalin said.
Both me and her started laughing.
“Man, you've changed, Jane,” I said.
“So have you, Danny,” she said.
Exposition time! Jane is a runner from the Cold Boy who I met a while back. She was 16 when we first met, which should put her at about 18 or 19 now.
“So, what brought you to the party?” I asked.
“Isaac put me up to it. He said to infiltrate and set up an escape for you. He even taught me how to throw together the smoke bombs.
“Heh,” I said. “Speaking of...”
I turned away from everyone and thought How long have you been watching us?
Since you arrived in town, Isaac O'zalia's voice sounded in my head. Fucking telepath...
So you're the reason I was doing so well in there, I thought. Why I could tell what everyone was about to do and stay a few steps ahead of them. That was all you.
Mostly it was you, He replied. His voice sounds a lot like Karl from Law Of Talos, though its taken on a more sombre tone lately. I just gave you some subtle nudges in the proper directions.
You and your mental bullshit, I thought. So where are you?
Meet me at this hotel tomorrow, He said. The image of a hotel and directions to it flashed through my brain. We'll talk then.
Sure thing, I thought.
“Change of plans, boys,” I said. “We meet with Isaac tomorrow.”
I'll explain what happened next later. Need sleep
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