24 Helping Hand...

*Ring* *Ring*

 "Hmm?" 

~Hmm~

"Who is calling this early?"

~Make it stop..master~

"I know, I know." 

Getting up from my bed, I pick up the phone that was on a little table beside the bed.

 *Click* 

"Hello?"

"Isaac, hello. Sorry for calling you this early in the morning."

"Ah, master Zatara, it's fine; what can I do for you?"

"Well, you see, a friend of mine is asking for assistance in a case, but let's be real, I'm no longer in my prime, so to further your training, I want for you to go in my place, can you do it?"

"Hmm...yes, I can master."

"Perfect, I will tell my friend."

"Oh, yeah, where is the place?"

'"London"

 *************** 

Stepping out of my portal, I cancel my magic quickly. Looking around, I find this place dark and quiet—too quiet.

{I better put my equipment}

In a flash of light, I put my equipment and my staff in my right hand.

{According to Zatara, someone has to be expecting me, so where is it?}

Looking around, what I can see is a pretty nice neighborhood, but the unsettling part is that there's no light in any of the houses.

{So, moving or staying?}

 "[Kèter'elyon]" 

"[Zeig mir den Weg, den ich finden muss]"

(Show me the path that I need to find.)

In front of me, a butterfly appeared made out of light. It circled around me two times, then took off straight north.

{I guess I need to follow}

After passing a coupe of houses, the butterfly made a turn and approached one of the houses; this one felt darker than the others.

{Hmm...i have no info, so going there blind is stupid}

 "[Revelio]" 

{No magic reaction, so what am I against?}

"Are you done?"

 {What!?} 

"You're the friend Master Zatara told me?"

"Hmm, well done for keeping your cool, kid."

I turn around only to see a 7-foot-tall man. He has black hair with a white stripe, gray, pale skin, and black eyes.

"Thank you, mister?"

"Call me Andrew."

"Alright, Mr. Andrew, what can I do for you?"

"In my recent hunt, some occultists had been assisting my prey."

"I see, so you want me to deal with them."

 "Precisely" 

"And, where are they?"

"That's why we are here; follow me, kid."

"Isaac, mister Andrew, my name's Isaac."

I followed Andrew to the house that the butterfly had entered before.

~Master, I smell blood.~

Indeed, when we entered the house, there was blood everywhere. Curiously,  the blood was used as ink to draw some arcane circles.

 "Those animals" 

{Hmm?} 

Andrew was looking at the living room. There was a family of four slaughtering, and one disturbing fact was that they were bone dry.

"I see, this occultist uses their blood."

"Yeah." He went to one of the walls of the living room.

"Do you recognize these circles?"

I approached the wall in question to take a closer look. Thanks to me reading the first three floors in Azarath, my magic knowledge is vast.

"Hmm, a little bit. It has a similar design as one of the blood rituals of the Aztecs, but this one's here; it's definitely modified."

"To do what?"

 "Hmm... empower? "Yeah, this modification will empower something, but I will not know what until we find it."

"So, we need to wait for another attack?"

"Not, necessarily...."

I touched the blood on the wall, and I started chanting.

"Prenikavý krik, ktorý sa živí krvou a zanecháva viac smútku, ako získava, teraz bude počuť ten, kto hľadá]"

(The piercing cry that feeds on blood and leaves more sorrow than it gains shall now be heard by one who seeks.)

From the wall, a creature with wings appeared; it was made out of blood.

 ~Ewwgh~ 

{I know, Nayru, but it was my only option}

 "This is?" 

He points to the creature, only for the creature to tilt his head. It was cute, but only if it was not made out of blood.

"A tracker, go find them." As soon as I said that, he stretched his wings and took off through the window, breaking it.

 ..." 

************* 

Our tracker led us to a nearby place called Highwood Hill. Arkley, according to Andrew, here there's mountains, perfect for our occultists to hide in.

Like we thought, the creature stopped in front of a mountain.

"[Revelio]" 

The illusion that was hiding the entrance broke, and before us was a huge ancient gate.

{This gate is too old to be a new cult or organization}

"So, those bastards are behind this."

 {Hmm?} When I looked at Andrew, his eyes changed color from dark to red in an instant.

 {No way! a vampire?}

"So, you know them, mister Andrew."

"Yes, as you can see, I'm a vampire, and so they are. I hunt rouge vampires and vampires that have given into their thirst."

"I see, so what can you tell me about the one who's in front of us?"

"See that crest? That's the Byron family. They are the most ancient family of vampires here in the UK. They also had regular people as familiars, making them extremely rich and powerful."

"I see, so what do we do?"

"We kill them all, obviously."

 ....right" 

He approached the door and took a swing at her.

*Crack* He's hand broke, but he immediately healed himself.

"I guess it's magically warded, please," he said, moving to the side.

"[Porta reserare, nulla magicae obstructionum]"

(Door unlock, no magic block.)

*Grrhhgg* The door opens itself.

"Good work"

"Thank you, so what's the plan?"

"I took care of the vampires and familiars, and you took care of the occultists."

"Simple enough, but we need more information about this place."

I put my hands on the ground, and I started chanting.

"[gli spiriti della terra mi offrono la visione per vedere il mio nemico]"

(The spirits of the earth give me vision to see my foe.)

I lost my vision for two seconds, then I started to see inside what looked to be a temple. There were at least thirty people here; the occultists were easy to spot; they were wearing red blood robes.

My vision returned, and I relayed the information that I gathered.

"There's thirty people there; 12 of them are occultists; the rest are either vampires or familiars."

"Good job, Isaac."

"Shall we go?"

"Yeah"