Aaaaaaaaand it's gone.

“This makes absolutely no sense,” I said. “How does a mansion just... vanish!”
Abdalin and I were standing across the street from the mansion the High Blood party from before had been at. Except, as the statement above suggests, there was no mansion. No garden or parking lot either. There weren't even holes in the ground where the basements and cellars had been. It was just a large field of dirt and weeds.
“The High Blood must have moved to a new location,” Abdalin said. “But how could they get rid of the mansion?”
“You tell me,” I said, walking toward where it had been and sitting down in the dirt. “Who could've done it?”
“Well, there's one super being I can think of off the top of my head who would have the power to alter the scenery in such a way...”
“Don't say it,” I said, already seeing where he was going with this.
“The Sentinal,” he said.
“The Sentinal is dead!” I snapped at him. “It couldn't have been him.”
“Well, do you have any other thoughts?” he asked me.
“Would the Game Master have been capable of this?” I asked.
“Yes, but not this quickly,” he replied. “What about O'Zalia? He can change reality, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But I don't think he could have done it on this scale. If he did, it would shorten his lifespan to almost nothing...”
“Gordon Tayler's remnant forces?” Abdalin suggested.
Gordon Tayler was a monster. He was a Star Spawn of Cthulhu, a monster from a deeper layer of reality. He was killed by David Kallaway a little over a year ago. He was a terrible person, but it was hard to take him seriously given the fact that he fights using MAGICAL FUCKING YU-GI-OH CARDS!!! I mean, I also own magic Yu-Gi-Oh cards, but not that much, and I'm generally reluctant to do so.
Gordon has some assistants leftover after his death. Rictor, Veis, Vocallass, and some elf chick. Etra, I think? I don't know. I've gone up against them before. They did have some power, but I wasn't sure if they could pull something like this off.
“They could change the scenery with a field spell card,” I said. “But I'm pretty sure it would be temporary.”
“What about Malachai Dewitt?” Abdalin said.
Dewitt. The Tale Weaver. An old friend of Kallaway. Now he's some kind of despot wielding the power of a deceased Fear called the Marchen. I'm not sure what all he can do, but I'm sure changing the world around him would be within his power.
“Maybe,” I said. “That's one possibility to keep in mind.”
“What's that exactly?” Abdalin said, looking down at my hand.
I hadn't really been paying attention, but I guess I had been absentmindedly drawing in the dirt with my fingertip. I had drawn a weird looking symbol that looked like a broken circle and a broken triangle. I'll include a shitty replica I made on MS Paint at the end of the post.
“I'm not sure what that is,” I said. “Wasn't really paying attention.”
“Great...,” Abdalin muttered. “So what now?”
“Let's go to Murrieta,” I said. “I think it's time to go home for a while. Plus, there's something I need to do there.”
“Okay,” Abdalin replied. “Let's get packed then.”


Oh yeah, here's the symbol;

Another Case

It took a few weeks for Beta to get back to me. Christmas passed, and New Years. Kyle drove up here a few times to visit, and I had some phone conversations with Daniel. He's still looking into High Blood activities. I've been trying to get as much work done on Keursio's case as I could. I've revisited the club, asking questions about Isiore and Dawson. I got a few of what I thought were leads, but they all turned up cold. Although, there was one I feel I should talk about a bit.
Someone informed me of a man in a longcoat who had been seen in the city, a few miles away from the club. I drove down to where they said he had been to investigate. I found myself at a run down apartment complex. I stayed in my car and kept an eye on it for a while. After a while, I saw the man exiting one of the buildings and taking off down an alleyway. It wasn't Dawson. I'm not sure who it was exactly, but the sight of him made me uneasy.
It was a couple days ago that Beta finally showed up at my door. He was accompanied by the Fury. They were both armed. Beta had he signature greatsword strapped across his back, and the Fury had no less than a half dozen long, thin swords in a quiver over one shoulder.
“Are you alone?” Beta asked.
“Hideaki's upstairs,” I replied.
“The Samurai,” Beta muttered. “Never liked that guy. Let's talk elsewhere.”
“Fine by me,” I replied.
We started walking. We had gone a few blocks away by the time he said anything.
“You're looking for Isiore,” he said. “I have information, but if you want it, you'll need to help me with something.”
“And what would that be?” I asked.
“Do you know who Drake Thorne is?” he asked.
“Your adopted son,” I answered. “His parents were killed by the Archangel.”
“Yes,” Beta said. “I need you to find him for me.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“He's gone missing,” Beta replied.
“And the Archive can't find him?” I asked. “I thought you guys were good at-”
“The Archive have decided that this is a low priority matter!” he snapped. “I need outside help for this...”
He seemed... I dunno, sad? Disappointed? Like his faith was being tested? All of the above? I don't know for sure...
“Do you have any leads?” I asked.
“Two,” he said.
He handed me something. It was a few links from a broken chain. Each link was about half a centimeter long and three millimeters wide, and appeared to be made of gold. Upon closer examination, there appeared to be flecks of red mixed with the gold.
“And this,” he said, handing me a few pieces of paper.
They each had some odd lines drawn on them, but I couldn't gather much from that. The paper was pretty thin, so if you held it up to the light, you could practically see through it.
“These were scattered across Drake's desk,” Beta said.
“It's not much to go on,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “But it's all I have right now.”
“I can't promise you much,” I said. “I'll need more information.”
“I'll let you know if any comes up,” Beta said.
I folded up the papers and the chain and put them in my pocket.
“So what about Isiore?” I asked.
“Before her disappearance, she had a few encounters with various individuals the Archive has no information on,” Beta said. “But we do know of William Dawson and Angelo Nox.”
“Dawson's partner?” I asked.
“Yes,” Beta said. “The other people Isiore has met with have seemingly no connection to them, but we know Dawson and Nox are working together. They've been manufacturing weaponry.”
“The super suit?” I asked.
“Yes,” Beta confirmed. “Both of them wear them. Not only that, but the appear to have a backer. A third party who's been financing their R&D. We know that Isiore went missing shortly after her last encounter with Dawson.”
“So you think Dawson's responsible?” I asked.
“Likely, but there's one piece of evidence that makes it unclear,” he said.
“And that would be?” I asked.
He handed me a flier. I looked it over a bit. It wasn't long.
There is nothing wrong. We are all as safe as we can be. The darkness that haunts us is simply a figment of our imagination. An illusion of fear. We live in the best of all possible worlds.
“What is this?” I asked.
“The Panopticon,” Beta replied. “They may be behind all of this.”
“Well, where can I find them?” I asked.
Beta handed me a piece of paper with a couple addresses on them. One was for the Panopticon, the other was for Dawson and Nox.
“I'd suggest investigating the easy one first,” Beta said. “The Panopticon is in know way safe, but you'd be better off with them then Nox.”
“Why?” I asked. “Who is this Angelo Nox guy?”
“It's sort of a long story,” Beta said. “His true name is Angelo Nox, but he was formerly known as the Ace Of Spades.”
“What?” I said. I felt a lump rise in my throat.
“He served that role after the Ace Of Spades that Marshall Smith killed, and before Alphonse Saltown took up the role,” Beta said.
The Game Master servants were called the Deck Of 54. Within the Deck, the Spades served as soldiers. And the Ace was the best of all of them. I've never seen Alphonse in action before, but I know that he is a force to be reckoned with, able to hold his own against other Aces, even while disabled. I don't know what an Ace is capable of at full health, but I did know that I didn't wanna find out. I could save Nox for later. I'd investigate the Panopticon first.
“I'll see what I can do about Drake,” I said. “You don't suppose these cases could be connected, do you?”
“I don't know,” Beta said. “I'll keep in touch.”
He turned and continued walking a different way, leaving me alone with the Fury.
“So,” I said. “What do you make of all this?”
He punched something into his phone, and I got a text a second later.
KILL WILLIM DAWSON THE FIRST CHANCE YOU GET
Then he vanished. Okay then.
I pulled the chain from my pocket and looked it over some more. I'm not sure why, but I kind of liked holding it. I need to see if I can figure out what's it's made from and what it went to.

-Tony Helioson, signing out.

O'Zalia

Jane, Cal and I arrived at the hotel around noon. Abdalin couldn't come because booze happened. Stupid hungover bastard...
“So, how's Isaac doing?” I asked.
“Okay, I think,” Jane said. “He's been quiet lately.”
“So can this guy really keep me safe?” Cal asked.
“Sure can,” Jane said. “The Fears have been leaving us alone for a few months now thanks to him.”
“Really?” Cal asked. “How come?”
“They don't wanna get on his bad side after what happened with the Smiling Man,” Jane said.
“So they're scared of him?” Cal asked.
“There's a difference between being scared and being cautious, Cal,” I said. “So what happened with the Smiling Man?”
“Nothing that you need to know at the moment,” said another voice.
We all turned to see Isaac approaching us. His younger brother, Adam, was at his side. Isaac was maybe a little taller than me, with long silver hair. He was dressed in a black shirt with a modified Operator symbol on the front, and a deep blue hoody on over it. He stepped up before me and smiled.
“Ferris,” he said, holding out a hand.
“O'Zalia,” I replied, shaking his hand firmly. “Glad you could make it.”
“Of course,” Isaac said. “Nice to meet you too, Callin.”
“Um... hi,” Cal said.
You'll keep him safe, right? I thought.
Yeah, Isaac thought back. You'll keep yourself safe?
Yeah, I thought. I'm gonna stick around in this town for a while, see what I can find out about High Blood.
Watch your back, Isaac thought.
Don't worry, I assured him. I'll keep a low profile.
Until it comes time to get your generic action hero on? He thought.
Until it comes time to get my generic action hero on, I confirmed. I think I'll go with Nightwing next time.
That got a laugh out of him.
“What are you two thinking about?” Jane asked.
“Just making sure this insane, childish monkey-man knows what he's doing,” Isaac said.
“Who are you calling childish?” I asked.
He laughed a bit more.
“I'll take good car of Cal,” he said.
“You'd better,” I said.
We parted ways. Abdalin and I have been keeping an eye on the mansion and checking out potential High Blood activity since then. We haven't found much yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Ain't no party like a High Blood party

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

Beta

I paced around my office anxiously, waiting for the phone to ring. Keursio watched silently. After about a half hour, she spoke.
“So who was that guy?” she asked.
“Bill Dawson, “I said. “He was an bad guy.”
“So what happened with him?” she asked.
“Well, from what I know, he used to be an archaeologist in the field of Egyptology,” I said. “He disturb the tomb of some Nightlanders, and they attacked him.”
Nightlanders are the Fear of darkness. They're living shadows, obsessed with order. Only problem is, they have a twisted sense of what qualifies as order. And if you disturb their order, they don't respond to kindly to it.
“For some reason, they didn't kill him,” I explained. “They... sort of fused with him. Turned him into something called the Shadow Man. Dawson didn't like humanity much. The Nightlanders twisted that dislike into loathing. He became genocidal. He wanted to wipe out everyone, except the Fears and their servants. So he tried to recreate the plagues of Egypt, on a worldwide scale, with the Fears' help.”
“That's awful,” Keursio said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But some Fears didn't go for it. Neither did Daniel or Malkator. They stood against him. It was Malkator who defeated him. He tore him from the Nightlanders and left him for dead in the same ruins he had disturbed.”
“But he survived?” Keusio asked.
“That's right,” I said. “He was found by a rescue team. They transported him back to the U.S., where he found Silvermist.”
“She's... a Dying Man shard, right?” Keursio asked.
“Was, yes,” I said. “She was badly wounded. So was Dawson. So they joined forces. He let her possess him. And they started killing and absorbing other shards. Until Estren and HELLFIRE stopped them. HELLFIRE absorbed Silvermist, and they kicked Dawson into the river that flows through the Dying Man's domain.”
“And he survived that too?” Keursio asked.
“Looks like it,” I said.
It was silent for a few more minutes before Hideaki finally called back. I answered.
“Got my message?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “I know where he's based. Or, rather, where he was based before.”
He gave me the address.
“Thanks,” I said. “I'll check it out.”
“Be careful,” he said. “Beta is a dangerous man.”
“I'll be civil,” I lied.
I hung up.
“Come on,” I said. “We're going to Beta's place.”
“Okay,” Keursio said.
She followed me out the door, and made a bee-line for the car. I just kept walking. She noticed what I was doing and jogged to catch up to me.
“We're not driving?” she asked.
“Nope,” I said.
“Well, how far is it?” she asked.
“'Bout three blocks,” I replied.
“You're joking,” she said, baffled. I just smiled.
It didn't take us long to get there. I was only a couple houses down when I noticed a heavily bandaged man sitting on the roof, above the front door. He was about average height, and his bandages covered his torso, arm, and his entire head. Below that, he was dressed in a pair of black leather pants, with a tactical military belt.
The Fury.
As soon as he noticed us, he disappeared, and reappeared right in front of me. We would have been eye to eye if his eyes were actually visible. How the hell does he see with all those bandages.
He reached in his belt and pulled out a cell phone. He punched some stuff into it, and then my phone vibrated. I pulled it out, and found a new text saying “What are you doing here?”
“How'd you get my number?” I asked.
He texted me again. “Sources. Why are you here?”
“I'm looking for Martyr Beta,” I said. “is he here?”
Another text. “He is not.”
“Can you tell me where he is?” I asked.
“Negative.”
“Well, you're annoyingly unhelpful,” I said.
“Your face is ugly,” came the reply.
“Well...” I was about to say his face was ugly, but as I couldn't see his face, I went with “Beta's face is ugly!”
He typed something else into his phone, and then mine started ringing. Unknown number. I answered.
“The Fury tells me you think my face is ugly,” came Beta's voice.
I glared angrily at the Fury before responding.
“What do you know about Isiore?” I asked.
“Born April 8th, 1545,” he replied. “At the age of 26, she drank the waters of the fountain of youth, along with her younger sister, Keursio. They both barely survived the toxicity, and were help to recovery by the Wooden Girl. They both became servants to repay the debt. Isiore, for unknown reasons, began dressing in a manner that left her gender a mystery to others. She and her sister once found the Ace Of Chaos wounded, and nursed him back to health. He trained Keursio in the use of Mana before vanishing to continue his quest to combat the Fears. When Keursio was dragged into the Unclaimed Domain, Isiore broke all of her ties with the Wooden Girl, and began searching for a way to find her sister again.”
“That's... all, very interesting,” I admitted. “But I need to know her current location.”
“I know,” he said. “I read it on you and Daniel's blog.”
“You... you've read it?” I asked.
“I was notified the instant Daniel started that blog. I know everything you two have posted. I know Hideaki Kelterry called you not long ago to give you my address. I also know that you and Moss Garden have been stealing Archive data, and I want you to stop it.”
“Uh...,” I stammered.
“Now, I may be able to help you with Isiore, but I'll need you to help me with something.”
“What?” I asked.
“Not over the phone,” he said. “Dawson and his partner could be listening.”
“Dawson has a partner?” I asked.
“I'll contact you when I'm back in town. We'll talk then.”
And he hung up. Great...

-Tony Helioson, Signing out.

Club Jouissance

Keursio and I arrived at the club just after it opened. The guy at the door let us in and we walked inside the brightly lit nightclub. There was a bar. There were dancers. There was illegal activity talking place in dark booths. I tried to ignore all that and focus on the task at hand.

“So what now?” Keursio asked.

“Now we ask questions,” I said. “The best part of being a detective...”

I approached a table where a man and woman with dark red hair were sitting. And I don't mean normal red hair. It was an unnatural shade, as if it had been died. That kind of hair is a common trait of Blood Vessels. The Red Cap in their system changes their hair and eye color. I've seen it before.

Now, the thought of interrogating Blood Vessels wasn't exactly comforting. But, as always, I imagined how Daniel would approach the situation. That cocky bastard would probably storm up to them, sword in hand, bang a fist on the table, and demand answers. I smiled to myself. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that as well as he could. I opted to take the more civil option.

“Excuse me,” I asked. “I'm looking for a friend, and I was wondering if you might have seen her.”

“Maybe,” the man said. “What does she look like.”

“Well, uh...,” I said.

I had to pause for a moment. I didn't actually know what Keursio's sister looked like. I had read a description on O'Zalia's old blog, but if I gave them THAT description, I'd look like a nutcase. I told them anyway.

“She's a tall woman,” I said. “And she dresses in body armor that makes it really hard to guess her gender.”

They just laughed.

“Sorry kid,” the man said. “I don't know anyone like that.”

“He might,” the woman piped up.

“Who?” I asked.

“That guy,” she said.

She was pointing toward a man in a private booth. He was dressed in a longcoat and a fedora, and I couldn't really make out his face.

“I saw him talking to someone in a crazy outfit the other night. I was drunk, so I don't recall what they looked like, but it might be your armored girl.”

“Thanks,” I said. It was a start.

I approached the man.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I'm looking for-”

“Isiore,” he interrupted. “Yes, I know why you're here, Tony Helioson.”

Well shit. He knew my name and hers. Now that's fucking suspicious.

“How do you know who I am?” I demanded. “Who are you?”

“I'm sure you've heard of me,” he said, rising to his feet and facing me properly.

He was in his 30s, I think, and underneath his coat, he was wearing a heavy suit of cyberpunk armor, like an Iron Man fanboy. I had seen his face before. Not up close like this, but in pictures. In photographs from the Archives files. I had heard Daniel and many others describe him to me.

“You're dead,” I said. “Estren and HELLFIRE killed you!”

I gripped my bokken tightly as he took a step toward me. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised the doorman let me hold onto it. Maybe they wanted a fight to break out...

“No, they didn't,” the man said. “Please, allow me to formally introduce myself.”

He drew some kind of high tech sword, and raised it into the air above his head.

“My name,” he said, “I William Dawson!”

And with that, he brought the sword down on me. Now, I'm not much of a sword fighter, especially compared to Daniel. But I know how to deflect a blow coming down in a straight vertical line. That's easy. A bokken is really sturdy, but I didn't want to run the chance of it breaking against whatever that sword was made of. So I stepped to the left a bit and raised the bokken at an angle. Dawson's sword glanced off of it, missing me completely. I swung the bokken up, aiming for his skull, but he vanished and reappeared a few feet away. Unfortunately for him, he had teleported right into Keursio's path, and she had already drawn the cutlass she keeps hidden in her dress. She slashed at him, and he barely managed to turn and parry. She swung at him, forcing him onto the defensive. I tried to sneak up behind him to attack while he was distracted, but he vanished again. He appeared a few feet to the side, and raised his free hand. A burst of pure force exploded from him, and we were both knocked off our feet. Next thing I knew, he had me by the throat, and I was pinned against the wall.

“Now, I want you to tell me what I want to know,” he said. “Then, I'll consider telling you Isiore's location.”

“You fucking bastard!” I gasped.

“Tell me!” he demanded. “Where is Daniel Ferris!”

As if on cue, another man appeared behind Dawson. I couldn't see him well with Dawson in the way, but I could make out the shoulders of a dark blue raincoat.

“Which of us are you looking for?” ParaDan asked casually. “And why aren't you dead?”

Dawson turned sharply, swinging his blade, but ParaDan stopped it effortlessly with his rapier. I could now see him a little better. As always, Daniel's future self had ghostly pale skin, and pitch black eyelids. His hair was dark black with flecks of gray and white. His right eye looked puffy, and they were both pretty bloodshot. One corner of his mouth was bruised slightly. He also wasn't wearing a shirt. His bare chest was visible beneath his coat. He looked emaciated. There were spots of black and purple everywhere, and I couldn't tell what was a bruise and what was a deformity caused by his powers.

Dawson released me, turning his full attention to ParaDan. ParaDan calmly raised the blade of his rapier to his lips and whispered to it, and I could just make out what was being spoken.

“Blade of darkness, deliver mercy to the wicked.”

And then they both attacked.

Watching ParaDan fight is a damn terrifying thing to watch. He's the epitome of a Devil Killer, having all the power my Daniel used to have and then some. Dawson, on the other hand, was equipped with a super suit. I don't know what all it's capable of, but apparently it fires force blasts, projects barriers, allows him to teleport, and gives him super strength. IT was hard to keep track of every detail of their fight, so I didn't bother. Instead, I drew my tazer and waited for an opening. As soon as the fight slowed down just enough, I took aim and fired right at Dawson's face.

I missed.

I did hit his armor though. And metal conduct's electricity pretty well. He took some serious voltage, but apparently the suit had some insulation, because he was able to shake it off just long enough to teleport again. This time, he didn't reappear.

I got up and helped Keursio to her feet. She was okay, but a little stunned. It looked like most of the other people had bailed during the fight.

“So, what the hell's going on here?” I asked ParaDan. “How'd you get so beat up, and what are you even doing here?”

“Long story,” ParaDan said. “Have either of you seen the Slender Man lately?”

“No,” I said.

“Damn,” he said. “I have to keep searching.”

“Hold on,” I said. “You know about the case I'm taking for Keursio, don't you?”

“Finding her sister?” he asked. “Yeah, I read your post.”

“So that's why he was here,” Keursio muttered.

“Did I take the same case in your timeline?” I asked.

“I think you took a similar one,” he said. “This timeline has changed.”

“Do you know how it ends?” I asked.

“Not for sure,” he said. “The ending could have changed. When I broke the timelines, I changed a lot of things. This case might not be the same any more.”

“So do you think you could tell me how it ended for you?” I asked.

“Talk to Martyr Beta,” he said. “It's a good place to start.”

Then he was gone.

If Daniel was there, he would have said “What the hell, Me?”

They both refer to each other as “Me” a lot. It's kind of confusing.

But yeah, now Keursio and I have to go track down Beta, which I am not looking forward to. Beta is the Fury's watcher, the guy who keeps the living super weapon in line. And he kind of scares the shit out of me. It takes a special kind of Badass to deal with someone as terrifyingly powerful as the Fury.

- Tony Helioson, Signing out

P-A-R-T-Why? FUCK YOU!!! That's why!

So I got the location from Tony yesterday. I had Abdalin teleport me there this morning. Yeah, he can do that. It was an old gas station. I went in. There was a man working at the counter. He seemed normal, but a bright red hanky tucked into his shirt caught my eye. I approached him.
"You're a Scarlet Marked, right?" I asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, but he tensed up, and that gave him away.
Where can I find High Blood?" I asked.
"I don't know anything," he said.
"Yes you do," I said, glaring into his eyes.
"Look, kid," he said. "I don't know you, but-"
"Daniel Fertis," I interupted.
He stepped back, shocked. He quickly wrote down an address and handed it to me.
"Party tomorrow night," he said hesitantly. "But they won't let you through the doors."
"Good," I said. "More fun that way."
And with that, I left.