Death, Loot & Vampires - Book 2: Chapter 36 Recalculations
Chapter 36
Recalculations
I enjoy violence. I never used to, but it’s hard not to smile at your enemy’s fear or the scent of defeat when they realise fighting is hopeless. The screams as you break their bones are so very enticing. And now that I knew the taste of blood, the sweet ecstasy that filled their veins, with a smell that enticed me to drool, it was hard to hold back. It was hard to let them live. I was becoming more monster than man.
Thirty minutes after passing through the barrier, I finished breaking the resistance. The soft groans of pain as necromancers waited to be healed filled my ears as I made my way to the negotiations.
Gregory’s commanders were taking care of the prisoners. The only threat left was the civilian population. If they attacked, it would be mayhem. They outnumbered us twenty to one. Part of me wanted to see what it would be like.
That part didn’t get a say in my actions.
Baris’s great-grandfather Salic and Head Inquisitor Titus marched behind me as I entered the warehouse where Carolyn was trying to negotiate with the high council of the Grave Digger’s Society. Titus was unhappy that he had been taken prisoner and even more unhappy that I’d managed to round up all his people. But his appearance behind me as I walked in took any remaining shred of defiance from the high council. The current speaker fell into his chair as they all went silent.
Baris’s great-grandfather glared at the twenty members of the high council. He was furious. His town was supposed to be a refuge for the entire city, but they had turned it into a refuge for themselves.
While I understood his anger, they’d made the right choice. Yes, it was a selfish choice, but they would likely all be dead if they hadn’t made it. Waiting to save everyone would have doomed them all.
I glanced around the warehouse, ignoring the stacks of materials and products waiting to be shipped. Everyone sat in a circle on chairs taken from nearby buildings, surrounded by my deathlords, so the discussion stayed civilised. Carolyn was with her guards, doing her best to vouch for me so we could move forward, but she wasn’t getting anywhere.
Gregory nodded to the seat next to him, having arrived while I was collecting Baris’s great-grandfather. “You need me to fill you in?”
“I’m good,” I said, motioning for the head inquisitor to take my seat.
Lidia shuffled away from Titus while Baris ran to get a chair for his great-grandfather. In their minds, the head inquisitor was the boggy man. An executioner, the Grave Digger’s Society, sent after naughty boys and girls.
I walked into the circle of chairs and turned to face the council. They were the heads of the largest necromancer families. They spent their days managing their households and ensuring no one succumbed to their darker impulses. None of them had made dark packs or dabbled in any aspects of the occult I could sense. They were exactly what they claimed to be. Law-abiding citizens.
They looked at me with open repulsion and fear, forcing me to repress a smile.
I offered them an elaborate bow. “I am the Vampire Vincent. I know you’ve been trying to buy time for your people to enact a counterattack, but help isn’t coming. The presence of your head inquisitor should tell you that you’ve failed, but if it hasn’t, let me make it clear to you. I am in control of this complex.”
Baris ran through the door with another chair and placed it behind his great-grandfather. The old man patted him on the shoulder before gently lowering himself into it. Salic was 133 years old and approaching the limits of how long attributes would let an Old Monster live. His strength and health were fading with the onset of rapid ageing. He’d be dead within another year, but until that happened, he was still the head of the wealthiest family in Necropolis.
I waited until he’d sat before gathering everyone’s attention. “Let me also make this clear to you. I have no interest in harming your people or taking anything for you. My goals are to get the surviving students to the surface so they can escape, get my people out of Murdell, and not die while achieving these goals.”
The necromancers fidgeted in their seats.
“Now, let me share what I know about this attack. An ancient vampire queen, forgotten by time and even the oldest ancient vampires, has awoken and established her court. She commands the sixty-six most powerful ancient vampires on the planet and the six hundred most powerful elder vampires. Her court has been tasked with capturing the darklord’s daughter Celest. They believe they need to destroy the darklord’s power base to do so without repercussions. That means they are going to raze North Murdell to the ground. I don’t have the power to stop them. I barely have the power to escape them. All I want to do is run away from here as fast as possible. Now, carefully consider what possible reasons you could have for stopping me and keeping me trapped inside here with you.”
The most vocal of the objectors rose to her feet. She was a woman named Cadence. Her blonde hair was streaked with grey, but she held herself with grace and resolve. Yet, for all outward appearances, she was suppressing a murderous rage, and it was not directed at me. “The Grave Diggers Society stand in the light, even if it should cost us our lives.”
Lidia groaned. “I told you that he has his soul.”
“You also said you’ve never verified that claim, child. We will not negotiate until we have proof.”
“You didn’t save any clerics when you evacuate,” I pointed out. “I doubt you will trust ours, so do any of you have a holy symbol on you?”
One of the men took off his amulet and tossed it to me. I caught it out of the air. Cadence raised her hand in a blur and cast an expert-tier necrotic bolt at Titus’s head.
The head inquisitor was behind me, so it looked like she was throwing the bolt at me, but her aim was too perfect for this to be anything less than a murder attempt.
She expected me to get out of the way.
That was what an ancient vampire would do.
I caught the bolt of dark energy with my empty hand to save his life. The dark energies crashing against my glove but were unable to penetrate the material. None of my people moved, unconcerned by an attack, but most looked at the head inquisitor with interest. They had seen what I had.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
I showed the undamaged amulet to the stunned faces as proof that I still had my soul.
Cadence lowered her hand, rage finally showing through. “The amulet proves nothing,” she spat.
I turned to the head inquisitor, ignoring her. “Why did she just try to kill you?”
Titus sighed. “Her brother was a cultist, Hero. I killed him last night.”
“He’s not a hero,” Cadence hissed.
Titus pushed himself from his chair and dropped to one knee. “I pledge my life and my soul to the Hero. Let his path be my path and his fate be my fate.”
Holy light filled the warehouse surrounding him as it forged our bond. His presence became more tangible as he was added to the long list of people I felt the urge to protect.
Cadence stepped back. It wasn’t fear or pain that made her retreat, but shock. She was as stunned as everyone else on the high council.
Titus looked her in the eye. “Is that enough proof? Or will you deny what you see and feel?”
I had no time for their games. “What’s the punishment for attempted murder in this city?”
Gwen, Lidia’s mother, stood up from her seat beside Cadence. “Execution if it’s directed at an inquisitor.”
Cadence snarled and lifted her hand in a blur, only to explode into a cloud of dust as Gwen calmly tapped her on the shoulder and released the destructive touch spell she’d been holding. The expert tier spell was a short-range version of the destruction spell. It required precise control, or the backlash killed you.
Lidia’s mouth dropped open. “You’re the judge.”
Gwen pulled a medallion from her storage pouch and held it up for the other council members to see. “I was. Now that my status is known, I will need to appoint another.”
This was some internal political structure that meant nothing to me. I pointed to eight members of the council. “Remove them. They have no intention of helping us.”
Two of my people blurred towards each one, lifting them from their seats, and dragging them from the warehouse before they could fight back.
I waited until the initial shock had gone before continuing. “Now that the troublemakers are gone and I’ve proven I still have my soul, I need to know what you know.”
Gwen glanced at Titus. “Make your lapdog tell you?”
“I would if I could. But I have no power over him.”
She paused. “Is that true, Titus?”
Titus returned to his seat. “I took his oath to confirm it wasn’t a dark pact masquerading as a holy one. It isn’t, but I don’t know how you will confirm that without believing me or taking the oath yourself. Not that it matters. I’m beginning to trust his word. He’s caring for our injured, resurrecting our dead, and has saved my life. He appears to be what he claims to be.”
“He claims to be an ancient vampire.”
Titus nodded. “He also claims to be a hero. And only a hero could maintain their morals as such an abomination.”
“So, you think we should trust him?”
“No. But we should tell him what he wants to know so he leaves. He’s dismantled any resistance we could raise, removed our strongest fighters, and circumvented our barriers. If he were working with the vampires or cultists who attacked us, we would be in their tender care rather than in the middle of polite negotiations.”
Gwen turned to the remaining council members. “I propose we tell the vampire what he wishes to know.”
An elderly woman who hadn’t said anything nodded. “Seconded. The council will vote. A majority of eleven is still required. All opposed.” No one raised their hand. “All for.” The eleven remaining members all raised their hands. “Motion passed. You may tell the vampire what he wishes to know, Judge.”
Gwen turned to me. “What do you want to know?”
Finally!
“Are their ancient vampires in the city?”
“We’re tracking five. There were four during the initial attack. The fifth arrived shortly before you did. It attempted to break through our barrier before retreating. Two of them patrol outside the wall while the others are inside. Harlin, show him what they look like.”
An older man closed his eyes and raised his hand, drawing on the tiniest bit of mana, not even enough for a basic spell. “Come to me.”
The temperature in the room plummeted as the warehouse filled with the ghosts of the recently deceased. We were the only ones here one second, and the next, we were in a crowd. Ice began to form over every surface as the dead walked among the living. My deathlords and Sir Trent took a step back, seeing what I was seeing.
I glanced at Gwen. “You keep a spirit caller on your council.”
Gwen stared back. “He’s useful.”
“Show me your killers,” Harlin muttered.
Five figures appeared as ghostly illusions before. There were three females and two males. Lusor, the naked vampire, was among them. I didn’t recognise the other four.
“Did they bring an army?” I asked.
“A small one, but it’s strong,” Gwen replied. “We believe there were nearly three thousand elder vampires when they arrived. They spent the night pacifying the city, turning every adult necromancer they could find before forcing those they turned to feed on those who couldn’t be. Our estimates suggest one hundred thousand vampires now serve them.”
Necropolis was the right city to invade to build a vampire army. They wouldn’t need to learn necromancy. They already knew it.
Gwen’s answer raised another question. “What happened to their children?”
“The cultists took them. They’ve been performing minor harvest rituals to strengthen their ranks before they enact a true harvest ritual for the demon king’s chosen.”
Harvest rituals were a demonic practice which reduced your age, strengthened your soul, and increased your constitution and recovery. It wasn’t as corruptive as the reaping ritual, but you had to make a pact with a demon king to be able to perform it. If you were successful, it turned you into a paranoid megalomaniac. However, whether you performed the minor of true ritual, the drawbacks were the same.
If these chosen succeeded in performing the true harvest ritual, they would become immortal. The only way to take them out would be to throw them through a portal to hell or banish them to another dimension. Left unchecked, they would become a threat worse than the ancient vampires because the Curse of Sloth wouldn’t slow them down.
However, the fact that the vampires were allowing them to perform these rituals told me the chosen had been charmed. Charming them after the ritual would be impossible, but charming them before would be easy. I wasn’t sure which ancient vampires they served, but it wouldn’t matter if I could get to them before they finished the ritual.
Anyone sacrificing kids needed to die.
I had a new objective.
“How many cultists are there?”
“We’re not sure. We believe somewhere between eight and twelve thousand. Our wards can’t easily track them. We could only follow the few dozen, like Cadence’s brother, who wormed their way into our city. Most of them are outside the city.”
Titus sighed. “He put up a fight and was wearing a mask. I didn’t realise who he was until he was dead.”
“No one blames you for what happened, Titus.”
“Cadence would disagree.”
“Her actions are her own. Her death isn’t on my shoulders or yours. She let her emotions rule her and paid the price.”
“Back to the matter at hand,” I said. “There are five ancient vampires, three thousand elder vampires, over one hundred thousand vampires and between eight and twelve thousand cultists blocking our escape.” I turned to Titus. “Do you have spare equipment for deathlords over level 200?”
Titus glanced at Gwen before nodding. “I’ve got six Deathbringer sets in a storage chest which haven’t been used in a century. I also have a few dozen spare Deathwalker sets you can strip down for parts. They will slow your people if they wear the whole thing, but they will provide more protection than what they wear even if they only use half.”
“Gregory, go with Titus. Get your best people equipped.”
Gregory ignored my order. “If we can kill or chase off the ancient vampires, we’ll have a real chance of ending this evil. I know you want to run, Boss, but my oath won’t let me walk away from this.”
His deathlords nodded their heads.
I turned and released my anger, giving the man a demonic growl. “They’re harvesting kids, Gregory. If you think for a second that I’m letting them leave this city alive, you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
Gregory returned my growl with a feral grin. “Just checking your priorities, Boss.”
