2006, 1st February

Space Station, Apotheosis

Ciara’s communicator notified her of an incoming call from Michael.

“Yes, Michael?”

We have an assignment from Abas Khan himself.

“What about our current one?”

Hans will keep for now. This one is all hands on deck, so to speak. We’re hunting Lionel Bellone. Apotheosis has tolerated his existence for long enough. Hans also got his stock of human test subjects from Lionel. We’re nipping that in the bud.

“What about Aaron?”

Aaron is too unfocussed right now. And honestly, his ability is not yet at the level where he would be a significant asset to us. It’s best he sit this one out, and focus on honing himself.

“Alright. And what do you expect from me?”

This isn’t a conversation to be had over a communicator. I’ll be back to the space station shortly. Then we’ll talk.

Ciara killed the line of communication.

“What was that about?” Rayyan asked, seated at the table across her.

“We’ve apparently switched assignments. Michael had decided Hans can wait. Now we’re hunting a vampire in Paris.”

“Seems like jumping into a completely unrelated mess.”

“Abas Khan apparently personally asked for this one. And turns out, there may be a link between Hans and the vampire after all.”

“And of course, if there were, Michael wouldn’t tell you about it.”

Ciara sipped further on her coffee.

“I know how it is. Hans also never gives me a straight answer about… well, anything really.”

“Must suck.”

“Well… I’ve never quite been betrayed the same way you have.”

“The same way I have?”

“You know.. Used to cover up spatial traces the way you were? And I’d like to take this chance to apologise. I would never have violated your privacy like that if I had known…”

“How do you know he did it exactly for that purpose? Could have been a complete coincidence.”

“You don’t live here this long and still believe in coincidences. But if you want to trust him, I won’t stop you.”

Ciara finished off her coffee, and rose to leave.

“Remember,” Rayyan said as she walked away, “I’ll always be here if you need anything. Even if it’s just an ear to listen.”

As soon as Rayyan was positively sure that she was gone, he rose, and retreated to his own room.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Then, barring himself within, he retrieved his communicator, and called Hans.

2006, 1st February

Reykjavik, Iceland

Victor ran down his quarry through the darkness of the spirit plane, muscles rippling underneath the fur, wounded by silver a day or so earlier, but now back to functioning at full capacity.

This was it; the spirit slowing down in front of him, calculating another path to zip through within the starlit field.

The trick was anticipating the prey, knowing it’s every movement, every breath, every thought, better than it knew them itself.

And Magnus was intimately familiar with hunting spirits for their essence.

The spirit turned, counting on the light of a cluster of ephemeral lesser spirits to shield it’s escape-

Straight into the great wolf’s jaws.

The essence that spilled forth as the creature thrashed, its final, dying gasps before it dispersed to spirit matter, made its way through Victor’s throat, straight to his soul.

Satisfied, he walked back to the physical world through the bleed, where Hans awaited him.

Truth be told, he pitied Hans, a being of limitless potential, yet never having seen the world as he saw it, in its most brutal, primal and beautiful facet.

But with the merging of Horizon with so-called reality, that would change.

For everyone.

Hans still sported the grievous wounds Magnus had left him with.

Possessing no knowledge of healing procedures, he had left up his Death field, numbing the pain, cutting off the bleeding, and disallowing pathogenic infection.

The wound would not heal any faster than it would normally take, but it wouldn’t get worse either.

Hans was calm, even with the setbacks of the previous days.

After the attack from Magnus and his vampire ally, they had fled to the closest Bleed, through which Victor had passed to recuperate, while Hans remained outside, not really suited to surviving within the spirit realm, though he could probably find a way if he put his imagination to the task.

Later, they had tentatively gone back to where they had buried the mythical Grandfather Winter, only to find that the monster had dug its way out, and was now probably loose in the world at large.

Even with these setbacks, Hans’ resolve remained unshaken.

He would save the world and drag it to the next era, no matter how it kicked and screamed along the way.

“We have a new lead to hunt,” Hans told Victor.

After his experiments with a fledgeling vampire’s blood, used to mutate humans to a state more suitable for survival within Horizon, had failed, Victor had informed him of the differences between a Half Blood and a Pure Blood, and Hans had come to the conclusion that the mutation might be more successful if the latter strain were used.

Hilda’s blood, used in another such experiment, yielded the most promising results, but still disastrous in the grand scheme of things, the subject coming out of it a lifeless husk running on reactionary instinct.

Hans wanted more potent blood to use,

But finding these creatures, especially in a vulnerable position to extract their lifeblood from them, proved to be easier said than done.

Two such ancient vampires ruled Eurasia, but the extraction of their lifeblood was a nigh impossible task, and he couldn’t very well lean heavily on Apotheosis and ask his fellow magi to go to war with these monsters for the sake of some experiments.

“What is this new lead?”

“Lionel.”

“I thought he was pretty untouchable.”

“Apparently, Apotheosis is now moving against him. He’s going to be vulnerable. That is when we strike.”

“Why is Apotheosis moving against him now? After all these centuries of him doing whatever he wants?”

“I don’t know. But they seem to be making some more overt moves on Earth. It’s not their style. Something is going on. But for now, we have to make the most of this opportunity.”

Victor nodded.

“It may be a trap, you know.”

“I know. But we have to take that chance.”

“Very well. Then we go to Paris.”

“Not via a flight, obviously.”

“What, did you figure out a way to move through the bleed?”

Hans let his soul flare, and a bubble of air coagulated around him, a half-step between liquid and gas that adhered to him.

“This air should last me an hour at least. Let’s get going.”

Victor nodded, pulling Hans through the Bleed he could not perceive.