Chapter Three - dirty gamble
It was the first time that he never waited for her, for anything. He had completely abandoned her totally. Her master wasn't sold at teaching a half-vampire to murder vampires. He had morals; he would never teach a species to kill its own. Given how the spiders spoke to her about the Undertaker and her suspions. He wasn't human, so he doesn't understand the abandonment would hurt this much. Or at least she hopes he doesn't know. He would be a jerk otherwise, no better then those of her family. She hasn't even left this country yet. And now her legal excuse was gone. Her moral compass has abandoned her to fend for herself. She will have opportunity to ask questions either in her dreams or future run into. He will even be out shined by her future death track records, that his hunter ranking will be dwarfed by her mark in textbooks.
What makes it all the more worse was he wasn't here to stop the people that been searching for her all this time. She hasn't even done much of anything except... well. Escaping slavery, stealing churches, playing pen pals to total strangers and playing dangerous close calls with potential future murderer. That is if she can redeem herself in collecting his bones, convincing the goddess that cursed him to undo her mistakes.
Ugh, its all to ambitious. She already felt the weigh of the dying on her shoulders. The core of this planet is weakening. Air pressure and other similar weather causes are happening. The quakes, flooding, draughts and eruptions of mountains turning into volcanoes. It already dying, decaying. They are trapped here. She is the only one that knows. The only one acting on this. She trusts no one else. Her dreams showed her that there wasn't a point to trusting anyone else, not even future lovers.
If she swayed to give up and live life like no tomorrow, become a blood sex worker. Life as a frenzied, a term vampires call when lust of blood and pleasure is all there is. Feral is having no care for love or lust. Feral is blood attacks only. A moral grey area in a lot of laws even with vampires that blush in the taboo topics - and they freaking live longer lives.
"The undertaker has abandoned you." The stupid red devil is still around to plague her. He is the last person that will ever believe or trust her. Not if he knew she was connected to the goddess that cursed him in his blood and bone status.
Arguably, he already knew it deep inside. He makes a snarled expression the longer she said nothing in reply and was irked she wasn't open for vampire telepathic connects. It's one of the very few things she didn't inhert as a vampire. To being able to tap into the telepathic mind games that vampires have. It made her more immune to mind control and alluring vampiric traps. But if he bit her, he would be able to still do that. She doesn't want him in her head. She plagued enough with nightmares and premonition dreams. However, there is something she does know from dreams and that he was a pledge source of information.
"He left because he learned I am half blood. For a blood phantom, I would assumed you already knew I was." She began to move away to ignore him if he choose to. She felt that most of that preparing to leave this country was going to spoil now. She lost her chances to buy the train tickets in her master's behalf. She nearly went to sit down on the floor hidden in some spot when the blood phantom was soild enough, taking her arm at preventing her at doing exactly that. She strops a little at getting him off her, but stays standing.
"A little spider told me that you can see." Glad she doesn't need to figure out how to tell him, "Equally, you and your sibilings are victims. I had some small hand in that." That there was a red flag, she seen to many of her dreams at knowing that meant more, "Why haven't you gone to seek your family? Do you even know where to start?"
She can't exactly tell him that she was trying to save some remaining population of this entire world from mass extension. That might as well confirm that she was his true enemy, but really she never was. The other vessels of gods are blind humans. A massive misunderstanding. But in trying to tangle things was giving her a headache. Although she had the greet light to be healthy to hunt. She still healing inside. The metal screwed into her thigh bone to keep it together had left her limping. She was disfigured in many other ways, which helped her pretend to be a male. Truly... she didn't escape slavery entirely. She still stamped in places, burn branded marks.
"It's too late to try to save me, phantom." She knocked him away even more and he is shocked she could even touch a phantom. Then again, she's special in two ways. A miracle of 200. There no telling if she even the age she appears to be. Or if she was a pure vampire - meaning her changed mother as a turned vampire had her. Or that she was even more rare, a child before her mother was turned a vampire.
Clearly this was a child in a divine blessing sort of way, she has so many holy water stains. Silver knives and ashes on her clothing. That isn't irritating her at all. But just how divine and how much vampire? They all will be vampires or ash - this was a given. For how long... well. Being mentally damaged by the black markets treatment of slaves, physically lost her chest and anything more judging on his part in staring at her. He knows but isn't sure if all or even one child was god vessel material. It was a total gamble in what god would even take such a vessel without killing the host vessel for even existing. The gods already have began their purge. 93 out of 200. At least the ones he can find. They are without given names. Or when they have, they had already been enslaved in service to lesser nobility or exotic pets in back rooms. There a lot of weird freaks out there for stuff. The god churches and the divine ordain order are already at odds in the scandals of the church attack. That she did! She is the true culprit. She is without a leash and now without a guided or executioner.
"You too valuable to be left alone." He collars her from leaving. She got him off her again.
"Maybe because whatever value in being someone pet blood pack isn't the life I am leading. You are no different to any other vampire. You are the red devil. Everyone knows about the army of men you carry under you." She had snapped so harshly that she has slipped in her female voice on accident. And really her point was a valid one, "You can scrap the others out the hell. But really, your just trading the chains for leathers." That cut deep than he was ready for. He didn't often care about the wishes of others or the way life fell on those other people. He always was never please that they came crawling to take a piece of him, to be under the same curse he was in - willingly. The few men he kept close to the most were the ones that were forced unwillingly. They genuinely came back from death, without a choose in that. A treaty in stopping the spread of him being passed too many people was wisely met, but it been too late for so many of his lackeys. Although, being honest to himself, he didn't actually care. He wants to sleep like other dead people do. He got rid of his flesh to stop the worse of it, but he still feels fleshy in a phantom sort of way. The flesh is gone but the static feeling it there was felt.
"Tough luck. I am going to make sure you get to where you belong. Like it or not." The phantom with for that bite. She does exactly as she learned to in a dream, the only way she knew to prevent a higher blood vampire from taking her. She did use this to other vampires, but she doesn't even know why it works.
"I command you stop." She waved over the phantoms eyes, and instantly he eased into a flowing mist of blood - not even in a humaniod shape, "You are going to save the grandchildren of the grandmaster out of the gold chain. You are going to find them suitable vampire families. The gold chain will be disbanded and reformed into a more cleaner business." She waved over the blood mist, "You are just a small part of their colapse." She hovered deeply and sighed in having to go through with this dream hell she wanted to avoid... and this moment was the set up for exactly that. But the network of butchery human flesh market meat was going to pave good terms to twilight creatures. They are needed if survival off this planet was going to happen, "On the pass over of two new moons, you are going to report to every nation across this world. The black market will be cleaned in flames, ashes and salt. In the chaos of this, the enemy that made you will wear a new face... and just maybe... a change of heart." That phantom turned to attack her in using any shape possible to achieve piercing flesh. She turned both hands and he was tranced once more, "For when there is life, there is also death. Don't you know that one isn't without the other? Ex-saint. You will be released from this misplace love. I promise you, I will break this cursed blessing over you or die trying to save you. I make it my only vow, you should at least accept that." she lowered both her hands to let the phantom out of her control. She watch how he was suspended in the air in shock. Predictably, she was quick at getting a container clean and large enough to let the blood drop into a pool. She picked it up, since leaving vampire blood in state like this was only going to attract to many. She has no choose in what she will do with it. He may hate them, but they will take this phantom back to his mansion in the southern provences.
"Excuse me." She taps the church man in a tench coat, he was making enquires along the vampire taverns about seeking the phantom. In her male persona, she slams the contain to this stranger front, "This phantom is who your been bickering about. Now piss off before some hunter reconginzes your mug in the wanted posters, Castle." The stunned church man posed a relic at her in fearing she was some joke or imposter vampire, "knock it off. Why would a fellow church boy be a stupid fanged monster?" elbow sharply posed the cross away a different angle, "You send the sun pope my regard. You tell him that he a walking corpse on borrowed time. He only alive because his daughter still cares." Castle is totally perplexed, "Saint Jasmine will make her rounds to be the one to call upon the natural worlds chaos, and restore balance of both light and darkness. You better keep out of her way. She doesn't have time to waste in chasing mice, fleas and corpses." the hat she been wearing, stolen from that dirty deal between the sun church and the gold chains, "Not only was the land deed to the mansion broken off the pope's sealing vow, missing. But you aren't going to rely on the gold chains to save your sorry buts from the sin. You shall see the market burn before your eyes." She snapped grappled his jaw from turning away or from him speaking, "A god vessel will mark its place. You are going to stand among the ash and flames. You will see the bringer of death step into this world. You will realize all was too late to save yourself from hate." She released him, "You don't love the red devil... not really. You hate him for sharing that curse. But you should really hate the goddess that printed you both. I am going to be there to carry your corpse. As that is my duty to shepherd wayward lost souls." she snapped in front of his face and he dropped across the floor, the blood phantom in the container too.
She had one last thing... one last emergency stop gap. A last resort. An empty blood bottle took only a drop from the phantom of the red devil. Truly will be a last resort for in case she failed to convince the goddess to listen to her heed. Given this was a once in a blue moon moment. She fished out the wallet from pocket, stole his hunter id. Money. She took the only thing that he would have prized value that made him a slave to the sun. With taking away this holy relic, he wasn't going to turn mad from conflicted god curses. It will extend both Castle's life and the red devil... a time limit she must work to break down and refrom an orginized slave drug trade. At least she doesn't need to leg work information anymore. The spiders wouldn't just give her hunt in trade of money or food. The spiders were a key play in turning over something so large. It will be the new foundation for assassin works, spy networks and slavery. They just needed a little taming while she killed some big names in the way of her paving the new chain of commands. taking the vampiric hidden travels, both get out of many countries in a rush but nab churches that will never know she hit them. So much work.
And her easiest way to break down a net of commanding voices, was to put herself into the dirtiest part. To return back to the hell that she escaped as a slave. Only this time, she going to be the thug to snatch them. For a little while. It all in part of taking out big deals. It make things easier if she can tame the spiders to play her game with her.
Nine days had passed, Castle sits up complete dazed in not being sure where he is and what happened. Not that he was thinking about it, he doesn't even remember what happened. He takes a daze stare of his surrounding, this was a private monk room. A jar with a air seal of blood, there is a saint seal over it. Just more to add into the collection of phantom blood sealed jars. The red devil has a entire underground shelving of such things. Atoning to the centuries of how some how a vampire can continue to make phantoms, even without flesh. Many jars have sealed bone fragments, when he been captured nearly successfully being pulled back together. A book thuds closed and he swiftly jolted in that direction.
"Go now, young one. We will continue our private scripters another day." The three young lads, all were potential futures of replacing the man himself someday. Gold hair fountains over his face, this was the real pope and not the puppet he put in charge to be a doll face to the public. This was also to avoid suspious of being accused of being a vampire. As it was the gold divine blessing of sunlight and life itself that makes this 120 year old man young. He grows younger each time he speaks higher scripters. He could reverse his aging entirely with care periodic use of the scripters. And there wasn't a records long enough to state when the real pope had been playing this immortal curse game. He is mortal but with divine province, that is the real truth. The sun has choosen him to be the real champion of sunlight.
"A stranger told me to tell you." Castle lips flipped without even thinking about it, back into almost a trance.
"You told me this already. The bringer of death will claim back her blessings." Castle blinked several times and his voice sore, it seem he been likely repeating this message several times. He so very lost in time, "What did they look like?" Shook again, if he goes to try to speak. He will be in that trance again, starting back to square one, "Anything?" This time was going to change. This time Castle recalled something that is different to before. he pointed to the hat that now sits on top of the blood jar, a hat that wasn't there a second ago. Like some sick game, it was only now that the hat was brought and only now that the cycle locked him in being a parrot was released. The pope stood and snatched the hat. As he crushed it, it crinkled. A off sound. The leather turned powdery, and then into black sand. There was a mass left behind in that hats disintegration, Three letters. Hand written. The top of the three letters was that of a snapped poker chip, the remains of the disgraced and impounded slaver crime group. The western lords who funded line pockets in money used to exchange blood, meat and broken souls. This poker chip was defiled, that of someone carved a flower or some strange shape. It incomplete as the poker chip was snapped. But its the calling card of the notorious saint thief. Human media has already nicknamed them as the poker player. Three letters. Saint chained to basement. The real pope with golden eyes and dirty hands. the last letter has nothing written on it, it seems not a letter but a wade of money or something of that nature.
'Dearest grandfather of the holy order to the sun god' that there was a unexpected open line. It stunned him in considering this to be some joke, but the writer was creepy, 'The sick one for jokes is you. The envelope is the refund for the money back for my purchase. The land deeds you were also using in exchange of us grandchildren was broken by me.' No vampire brat will be holy enough to speak scripter! Let alone survive, 'I am the vessel of the goddess that controls the placement of souls. You misguidedly named the goddess of life and death. But she isn't that at all. You're scripters you use are incomplete and at best a sin even to the ears of the sun you borrow existence from. You hands are stained of the blood you purged and all those lives you are even now unable to save. The sun god wishes to burn the world for a clean slate. A shame there isn't enough time for him to sculpt new living existence in his flaming image. He as all other gods are blind and are to die the same death as everyone else. You aren't going to have the pleasure of' he stopped reading the nonsense, he went to tear the paper... its laminated. They already predicted his reactions, 'I am the god vessel that will bring the world among stars. You shall burn in salt and ashes at my side. We will watch them leave, fly away as the darkness and decay take its last.' he jumped sections but the writer knew that, 'You were about to read the pleasure of part.' he growls back to where he was trying to tear the paper, 'you aren't going to have the pleasure of making me your church puppet. I have no time to waste on you. You're blood on my hands will save more lives.' its back to the part he jumped, 'I am the god vessel that will bring' he skims past these already read parts. back on track, 'I could have killed you will you grunt at a lamented sheet of paper. But you have uses before I can kill you. You really are just borrowed time. My greatest distraction and my more wonderful excuse of them all. They will all sing praise of your beloved Jasmine, praise you for raising a most beautiful saint befitting life itself. Sing of your influences of my deeds. And hate you for playing a part in creating the monster that brought darkness and war.'
He dropped he letters all across the floor. The money envelope spilled of its content, money of 100 countries with blood reeking the place. The stench awakened the phantom stuck in the many jars. Chaos of smashing jars across this eastern churches grounds. So much blood suddenly evaporated and released in the air. Freeing the mass of what was all the lost small crumbs of bones, most organs and flesh. Awaking the red devil from out his deepest trapped slumber and weakness in 3 centuries. The red devil was just a small part of the human pretend darkness, it was nothing yet to worse yet to be. They will praise her, suffer and blame. They will target him for being what part that made this grandchild.
While the eastern church was bathed in blood, a tsunami is already swallowing the continental petal tip, moving masses away from the once safe coastal boating city. So many bodies having to flee into the heart of the hottest desert in their world, without rations and or aid of where their going. Cutting down the population even further the more lost in the glass and crystal sands. The conceding events made all religious fanatics turn to prophecies and prayer. The both hidden and known were packed on the same carriages making the same fleeing paths to escape the flooding. Even then there was fighting, deaths and drowned ones who stayed behind to prove a point. The ground level was falling, so it will be a matter of time for when the whole petal will loose. Many ancient artifacts are tribal tributes and heirlooms, so those will not be lost to the waters. What was lost was a lone coffin containment pod located in an eastern tomb of being that fell from the stars. It would have made for an easier travel luggage and carry on portal tent and restraints. Who knows, there could be still a chance to obtain this mysterious technology. It is one of a kind, the only one that isn't known and hacked into.
"I am going to gambit a bet that you can't believe." A poker chip placed on a number and colour, it seems certain and without a doubt. The once hunter trainee outfit was not open about its carry of illegal and harmful weaponry. If anything it make her look more male then she already was. Rudely seated in some empty spot along this roulette and doesn't suit the greasy fingers in all the other seats, "If you leaned me a cart cage, I can fill it up with things that make a sales across the boards." A open smirk in showing her teeth, "Maybe I cant weed out some spy among you, given I already have proof." The tabled takes no more bets and the ball rolls. Landing on her exact number and number, she took the majority. She lazily puts a stake to some other number, upping her bet and sits checking the interests. Some are vampires that didn't care. Some were pissed about looking the money and cared not to talk shop here, "It's a shame that the north is taking cuts from some queen." the bets are flooded about, "A spy for the red devil among us." the bets were off and a spin carries, this one was slower then the last, "The prized brats might even be stolen right out from underneath our feet. It was bad enough the churches wanted them or waste them to blood and ash. Some crook among the grandmaster's maybe three of them want a big slice of the children. And yet damning us to fall is that some frigging lovestruck feet kiss is taking extra trimmings for himself. Here we are gambling scraps." the number and colour she bet was won.
"The boss wishes to see you." a naked servant attempted to spook the seemingly lost hunter.
"Which one? The fancy guy with morals that licks asses with upper courts or the real man that gets crap done around here?" Doesn't even look at the slave, only that she collected back the original chip she started with. She plays about it rolling between fingers. Leaned comfortable in putting the bets across the table of the winning so far, ever number and colour of the number was signific to events to come. From what dates a traitor will be exited out into retirement to the last predicated date that things will be run by humanoids. This slave wasn't a vampire or a human, it was a enslaved shape shifter. Sold its name for life among humans and was tricked into being the literal lap dog body guard and poison checker.
"They both wish to play exclusively with you alone." It was the exact words needed, our huntress stood and throw the slave to her but to the floor. The place got shot up with some gun argument. That bullet would have shot this particular slaves arm. Now, it the scheme of things that might be a mistake but it charming the shifter to like her and side with her plan to over turn the den to be run. This shape shifter was a candidate for vice chairman of this new slave market, well this particular global slave merchant. This was the name that all knew and all mimicked being to get away with their crimes. But in truth these chains were multiple precarious groups of gangs. They worked amazing together but there wasn't perfection. There was always internal strife and unfair pay cuts. Even the thugs themselves were on the chop block as sold goods when they wanted escape goats. All the lower nobility of vampire society has dirty hands in this. The grandmasters keep things away from vampire royalist. The vampire royalist are trying to completely tear out this entire industry, not knowing the starving monster bellies they would cause in success of getting rid of the leading meat supply to the more remote twilight beings. Including the butcher of the eastern mountain ridge pass, stuck there in a pope's seal and always starving to the point of leaving traps on the main road for just anything. When this rotten place is gutted out and refitted a new system, that poor butcher will be able to pay and directly request meat packages. He wouldn't be the only starved beings to benifit from a twilight ran market.
"A shame a little proud dog like you it being strangled by that collar." Lifting the slave up, swept right of the feet. Off the floor and being sniffed, "A shame them brothers stink." Carried her lap dog the whole way across, walked among the fist brawls without batting an eye or the death here. No instead the lap dog in arms stares upon the face in perplexed in so many ways. From the smell of the undertaker, the holy water, ashes and blood. The tanned skin gives off a sickly smell too and the inhuman strength to carry such a large lady in a small compacte body such as this pretending to be a man, "You keep my gender a secret and follow some easy instructions. You can walk out of this hell as a free wolf after a while. ALthough, you be missing out on making them your slaves." The wolf thinks that to good to be true, "I came back to this hell to turn in inside out and rip out the rotten humaniods. I am going to replace them with spiders and whatever else that wishes to be a part of something bigger." Leaned right up close to whisper at the ear, "If you trust me, a ex-slave like you. Then were going to make this place be the grey area that no vampires can stop twilights from trading. A little place where we can do things among humans without supervison or manhandling of vampire rules." The shifter slave in her arm wiggled and was even captured in such thing, but still there something off about this pretending to be man, "I will trust you with some information that I have told no one else." stopped and held closer to really buried her lips from being visible and making sure in stays exclusive between them, "I am a god vessel that can see your a proud wolf. I am going to burn the useless ones into fire, ash and salt. But I am on the side of those hidden away from the light. I have already plans on freeing the butcher, among others like him... like your tribe in the central forest." the was instant wiggling about to try and escape danger but a bite was made. SHe hasn't the fangs but the act was to play off a sort drama for others to look away from them. Once the fighting was eased around and the scared wolf knows she cant break out of the hlaf vampire grasps, "I am trying to save what is left of this decaying world. My goal is simply to escape it with every possible surviver. The north will be plagued in walk corpses and the eastern petal will be under water. You dont have to trust me or like me. Just know that the twilight are whom i am saving from exticition." the lady wolf is frozen up again. Look into the eyes, that weigh of world resting on shoulders. The soul in deep pain and sorrow. The eyes that watched death or that of no fear to die. Cold the cling and knotted the steel stomachs.
"SO you are a grandmaster that using your cunning for saving the lives then wasting it on useless talks." the lady wolf plays along with acting to enjoy that bite and continued to be carried the way around to the private office.
"IS that where my blood comes from?" putting the lass down, now out of sight and adjusting to be ready for the twin vampire owners.
"The rivals of a sun saint and the rebel 3rd seat of grandmaster's. Some claim they are loves that show their passion in hatred. Other think they playing some charade for a greater purpose." The huntress shrugs at this, it was nice to be told. It made sense and her dreams back up this as the honest truth, "All 140 children are at least accounted in the records, most are dead by now but... there a method to bring them back as vampires."
"And that will be useful in the future." Offering hand, "Can we work together?" the lady wolf tilts, "I want to make sure there is safe passage for those that wish to join the stars in metal flying ships. As this is the only way to save us all from the real enemy." the skeptical look, "Look, i don't want the concuming to wipe them out. Nor do i want the dead army of the north to slay them. We are going to need and work along side your race. I need a sensbile lady like you to convince the dragons and demon folks. You wolves have pride that both dragons and demons arn't going to ingore. I don't want to use you for war which is coming. But during that war, is oppurtinunity to save the handfuls of so many more that will other wise be wiped out with the decay of this world."
"Why are you without the undertaker?" the lady cant get herself to take that hand. That was seemingly the make or break.
"He abondoned me. I hide I was a half vampire. He thought i was human. I was being trained." Holding hands together at her front in a saintly stressed manner, "I wish he would have taught me more. Got me out of this country, even just for a little. But... without him. They will have stopped me." hands flatten and slide to the mark, even with clothing on. Everyone knows the placement of a slave brand. The wolf tilted and lowered to look into those hurt eyes.
"I am sorry that his a stubborn get. He looking for me and I have been trapped here. He has a lot of pride and morals, even for a wolf." that does explain a lot. He sits on floor. He eats raw and cooked like its nothing. He doesn't understand human sense sometimes. The dude's a wolf turned into a human shape, "I think you will be able to prove my trust. If you know him, you know how I want trust tested." with that gloves removed. So many layers of gloves dropped around this hallway. Now when a hand is offered, it was offered with knowing exactly to expect. A bite, lick and smell. This exchange of kinship is a wolf greeting... testing the sort of meat and strength to not flinch. To know those are human jaws and still trust that the bite wasn't going to hurt. It was her turn and she does follow through with the awkward not human gesture. The wolf lady had even snickered too, as it was awkward. A strong creaking slap to the back. They get on with this. The lady wolf is for a little while on the lady huntress side.