There would be no grave.

Bennett’s will had been clear.

In fact, he had requested absolutely nothing with the caveat that they could do whatever they wanted since he wouldn’t be around to complain.

A modest place near the center of the park across the street from Watch HQ had been selected for the statue.

A week had passed and all that sat in the roped off area was a metal plaque with Bennett’s name and room for future words.

Remy’s work.

Like the statue, the rest would be completed as time permitted in the wake of the catastrophic night.

The Night of Blood, the Night of Red Tears and many other names had been spoken by the traumatized populace.

The illusion of safety had once again been cruelly shattered by a horror from the spires.

Cal landed on the grass.

Jake shot him a nod.

The Psionic Prime had arrived too late to be there for his friends.

Bennett had died alone in the lonely void of space with only an ancient monster to mark his passing.

“Well?” Jake said. “We clear of the infestation?” he spat the word.

“No more vampires or vampires in this region. Everyone Vukylokyr touched is gone.”

“That’s good. How’d that hate engine thing go?”

“Could’ve been worse.”

A mild understatement.

“Only about a thousand people died before I got there.”

“How many if you didn’t?”

“Tens of thousands if I got there an hour later. If I was a day or two later, then the hate would’ve spread through most of Eastern Europe. So, I guess, close to a million total.”

Jake nodded.

“What was it like?”

“Its name is apt. Looks like a giant engine. About as big as a mid-sized car.”

“No fooling?” Jake snorted. “What was it? V12?

“More like V36.”

Jake let out a whistle. “What’d you do with it?”

“Put it on the moon. Nothing up there to generate hate and to have their hate stoked.”

“Sounds like it outputs a ton of energy.”

“Literal tons every hour, if you wanted to equate the amount of energy it puts out to mass. I did some quick calculations. The thing’s capable of powering this entire country back in the old days. Self-sustaining. Only problem was the whole driving people into hate-fueled rampages.”

“Maybe there’s a love engine out there. They can balance each other out.”

“If there is, I don’t think the spires would be cool like that.”

“Yeah, man… spires ain’t a true bro.” Jake held out the half-finished bottle of scotch. “Drink?”

Cal took a pull and passed it back.

“You.” Jake took one. “Me.” He poured one on the grass in front of the plaque. “Bennett.”

The much bigger man swayed.

“I’m too old for this.”

“Watch it, dude. You don’t ever say that out loud.”

“Oh? You mean like saying I want to retire?” Jake laughed bitterly. “Whatever. Like the spires cares what I say or want. It’ll just keep throwing bullshit at me. Struggle. Fight. Level. Still too weak. What’s the point?”

“This is the point.”

He gazed at the clear blue sky.

He had driven the smoke away after he had put out the fires after that night.

Birds chirped.

Insects buzzed.

The animals that had fled or somehow slipped past the ancient vampire’s notice had already returned.

“We stand against the evil so that there is always a next day for people to live. Bennett did that and he went out happy.”

“You know that for a fact?”

“Psychic imprint.”

“What about the monster?”

“Screamed all the way until it got out of my range.”

“Good.”

They passed the bottle back and forth a few times.

“How are things with Trish?”

“Good. Still casual. You know? Her shelter was breached, but they held them off.”

“Just casual?”

“We aren’t exactly young. I’m on the wrong side of 50 and she’s pushing 40. Figure casual’s just fine. Not like either of us wants kids. Not that the chances of that happening are high.”

“There are fertility Skills and magic potions?”

“I keep getting them for my birthdays. Santi’s a little fuck.” Jake laughed. “No thanks. Not bringing kids into this world.” He sighed. “Lost a quarter of my R&D team. Most of them practically kids. I’m thinking of trying to send more of them to the Threnosh world. Better tech in the first place. Plus it’s a lot safer than here. None of that terminus and bountiful nonsense. Let the old heads like me hold down the fort. Hillary, Lexie, Lewis and the others are learning so much and leveling over there.”

“That’s an idea.”

“Good or bad?”

“Depends.”

“Eh… can’t just send people, I mean we can, but the Threnosh council probably wouldn’t be cool with a little illegal immigration.”

“Their world is safer. You wouldn’t get away from fighting, but things over there are a walk in the park compared to here. Just monsters and spawn zones. The dominion is still kicking, but my nieces and their friends really screwed up their logistics by freeing the upworld from dominion control.”

“All at the cost of a few lives.” Jake sighed. “Totally worth.”

“I have thought about that.”

“What?”

“Immigration. Preserve the Earthian people, so to speak, but they’d stop being Earthian after how many generations?”

“Change is change. Probably better that we, as a people, continue to exist. Even if it’s on another world.”

“People are taking their chances on other worlds.”

“I know. You always hear about a few dozen every year going off. That Terminus Decree…” he shook his head. “The only thing is that those people stop sending messages back after a year or two. And you don’t have to be a smart dude to figure out why.”

“We can expand the agreement with the Threnosh. Shouldn’t be too hard to get them to accept more people. They’d love to have a high level techmage like you to study… er… learn from.”

Jake raised a brow.

“Ethically.”

“Yeah, I got you. Hillary says they’re weird, but not creepy about that.”

“And I can start pushing Tessa to set up something similar with the dominion world.”

“Ex-empress got some cred to throw around?”

“She hates it, but yeah.”

“That’s two worlds. High tech super science, yet unspoiled nature or a weird mix of Bronze Age, Steampunk, and futuristic Renaissance. I know where I’d want to go.”

“I’ll get you on the list.”

“Thanks bro, but save it for one of the kids. As much as I’m tired of this shit, I can’t put it down. Not when this asshole went into fucking outer space and burned himself to ash to take out a hundred thousand year old monster. I’m thinking, I can’t let the goth nerd out metal me, you know?” Jake laughed, pouring Bennett’s portion in the grass before taking a swig. “I figure if I can’t go quietly in my sleep doing a Bennett is the next best thing.”

“No in-between for you, huh?”

“Go big or go home. That’s what us old fossils used to say back in the day.”

“You mean when we were young and dumb.”

“What’re you talking about? The only thing that’s changed for me is the former. I’m still pretty dumb to this day.”

“You can’t be that dumb if you’ve made it to this point.”

“That’s what we call luck. Wish I could give that to the others.” Jake sighed. “Too many kids didn’t make it, bro.”

“We keep walking forward for them.”

Jake wiped misty eyes. “Oh shit! I almost forgot. Here.” He pulled an envelope from his jacket. “He left a lot of notes. Books really. About a ton of stuff. A lot about his class. A comprehensive guide to the vampire. Positives, negatives, leveling, Skill paths, so on and so forth. Only me, Hanna and Rebekah know about them. His will said he wasn’t sure if it’d be better destroyed. I’m pretty sure that’s what the politicians would want. No vampires and vampires. Can’t say I blame them.”

“If you don’t want to hold on to them or have to deal with that question then I’ll take them. That way you can have plausible deniability.”

“We have to talk about it, but I’ll hold you to that. They can’t get mad at us if you took them. I mean, there was no way we could stop you, right?”

“Just let me know what you decide and I’ll make them vanish from the Watch’s vault.”

“You gonna Ocean’s Eleven that shit!” Jake laughed, perhaps too hard.

“Bennett deserves to have a legacy.”

“Not if the politicians have their way. They were pissed about this.” He pointed at the plaque. “Called him a traitor. Like he wasn’t being controlled and when Hanna freed him, what’d he do? That’s right, took the fight straight to Vukylokyr! I mean, there were plenty of credible witnesses. Like, the fucking people that were going head to head with that fucker! Gah! I don’t even know why they’re looking for more people to blame when there’s a fucking world event ancient monster staring us in the face!”

“It’s human nature. Pain makes us lash out. Give them time. Continue to tell the true story. Eventually, the narrative will change.”

“I know, I know… it’s just… just so tiring.”

“If it helps, there aren’t any other current world events headed your way.”

“Thank God for that, but what about a new one randomly popping up?”

“We can only face the threats we know are there. It’s like that prayer. The one about accepting the things we can’t change, but having the courage to change the things we can. Something like that.”

“I’d rather have an instant death spell. You know, like power word: kill.”

“Be careful what you wish for. If there’s a spell like that then someone else can use it against you.”

“Wish? Now I’d love to have a spell like that.”

They finished the bottle quickly.

“You going to be okay?”

The streets were empty.

The toll the bloody night had extracted on everyone in the area had been high.

Not even the monsters and mutant animals had been spared.

Ironically, Vukylokyr had given them some breathing room.

Jake swayed on his feet.

“I’m fine. Just a little drunk. Not even slurring my words. I’m actually headed back.” He nodded toward Watch HQ. “Replenishing magitech stuff. Fixing whatever needs fixing. Got to get as much in as I can before the prosthetic stuff gets really busy. Still taking stock, but it’s looking like there’s going to be a depressingly high number of people in need. So, just let me be drunk for these 15 minutes while mourning one of my oldest friends. Cause I’m drinking a sobriety potion once I go back.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Listen, dude, I know I’m very busy, but shoot me a message anytime you need. I can’t promise I’ll respond right away, but just know that I will eventually.”

“No worries, bro. You’re saving lives worldwide. That shit’s important. I don’t even want to imagine what it’d be like if we had to deal with a Vukylokyr, the hate engine and that rapist clone guy all at the same time.”

“We have to deal with the problems before they get their feet under them.”

“Anything new on the slasher thing?”

“No. Nothing in or out.”

“Damn. That sucks. I’m sure they’re doing alright.”

“I know they are.”

“Well…” Jake rubbed his head. “I’d offer my help, but I don’t know that I’d be able to do anything useful.”

“Do what you can, right?”

“Right.”

“Alright, dude. I’m off. Let me know about…”

He glanced at the plaque.

“Statue ceremony.” Jake nodded. “Your brother’s planning on making a forever metal. Something that won’t rust or degrade and hard to break. I don’t know, seems impossible to me, but powers bullshit, right?”

“Powers are bullshit. If he made it out of mythril then you could put enchantments on it to really make it eternal.”

“Yeah, but they’d probably veto that. Too valuable to use for a statue to just stand here.”

“Tell them to think bigger. Who says that the statue has to just stand here? With the right enchantments it doesn’t have to be ‘useless’.”

A light came on behind Jake’s eyes.

“Oh shit… that’s right!”

“I’ll get you in touch with someone who might be able to give you ideas.”

Cal rose into the sky after one bro hug.

He’d mourn Bennett fully at a later time.

----------------------------------------

Vancouver, Spring, 2051

Twice Clever Fox used kharza darts through the grass to dodge underneath bullets and weapon strikes. She reached the center of the melee mostly untouched thanks to the chaos. Pinpoint strikes to pressure points deadened limbs.

She was a discerning hunter this night.

Not the fox that destroys an entire hen house, but one that only took what she needed before darting away.

The wannabe slasher mercs or marauding band, she cared not for the difference, lost their holds on their weapons or shields, allowing the people defending their neighborhood to gain the upper hand and spill the red across their street.

Howard withstood a dozen blows thanks to the Threnosh armor. He barreled into a knot of men and women, shrugging off their blows like a short juggernaut. He shot, stabbed and stomped his way through only to take a bullet to the back of his helmeted head. He turned, glaring at the top of the makeshift guard tower.

“Watch where you’re shooting, eh!”

The shooter ducked her head.

He supposed he couldn’t get too mad at a kid doing her best to defend her home.

“Shoot the guys in shit gear!”

The momentary distraction got him a fireball in the face from a merc mage.

It was the exploding kind.

Force and heat.

It sent him tumbling across the street.

He came out of the roll firing.

The first viral round ate through the magic shield. The second hit center mass and ate through the mage’s chest. Armor, clothing, skin, bones, organs.

The kids up in their guard towers and on the rickety walls were getting the full horrors of combat experience.

Bullets plinked off his armor.

“God, I love this stuff.”

Sure he could heal quickly from being filled with bullets, but his healing factor didn’t get rid of the pain. And being shot, stabbed, blasted hurt every single time. Sometimes the bullet didn’t get pushed out right and he’d have to cut it out after the tissue healed around it. Seemed like an extra kick in the nuts when that happened.

“Captain Howard. I’m picking up that magic signature. Somewhere in this area.”

Wizard Wet Willy sent him an overlay on the small tactical overhead map in the corner of his HUD.

Howard smirked.

Jayde really gave the kid a lasting gift.

Never failed to make Howard laugh on the inside.

One had to find things to laugh about when he was knee deep in the blood, piss and shit of people he was killing.

Gallows humor. Black humor.

He had learned to cope back in his days as a soldier way before the spiresapocalypse.

Present was kilometers better than the past though.

He wasn’t killing anyone that didn’t deserve it anymore.

No more poor, innocent mountain villagers getting caught up when the bullets flew and the air strikes were called in.

Nope, just straight murdering assholes looking to level up and gain points.

Kinda like he was back in the day.

All for that cash with a thin veneer of patriotism.

“That’s a big area. Can you narrow it down?”

Wet Willy had pegged about half a block on the other side of the neighborhood tract a few streets to the northwest. It looked to encompass about 5 or 6 houses.

“Sorry. That’s the best I can do. I can keep trying, but…”

“Time crunch. Got it. Good job. Keep monitoring the situation. Black Cat, Dancessassin—” he sighed. Not all Jayde’s names hit right. “Go, check it out. Stick to the R.O.E.—”

A shadow loomed over him.

A loud bang, whistling wind over his head.

He turned.

The huge marauder-type toppled over with a red hole in his helmet.

“Thanks. You want to do more stabby and less shooty for a bit?”

“I’ll keep an eye on the kids.” Dayana stood from her perch on a distant rooftop and flickered out of sight.

‘Shootystabby’ was another terrible miss.

Howard continued to play the tank while Twice Clever Fox used her sublime agility to dart her way into formations, leaving them crippled for the people on the walls to score the kills.

Marian piloted the shuttle overhead, firing on the monsters flocking to the battlezone.

Willy sat in the back, his glowing spellbook floated at his side as he used his ghostly wizard eyes to scour the battlefield for unpleasant surprises.

Deeper inside the neighborhood, Dayana flickered from rooftop to rooftop alongside Black Cat and Dancessassin.

The former leapt with the natural cat-like agility of his hybrid body, a dubious gift from the dead Eidolon of Sut and the decrepit remnants of the American government.

The latter moved through the shadows thanks to her monster-hide hooded cloak. Its inky black surface shimmered as if the creature was still alive. The eyes in the hood over her face definitely moved and blinked as if it was.

The magus’ work was as effective as it was disturbing to certain sensibilities.

Dayana didn’t care.

All that mattered to her was that the stuff worked good.

They reached the target area Willy had painted for them.

She spotted the likely house they needed to breach immediately.

It was the only one with lights in the windows.

Candles or small torches judging by the flickering.

Hand signals told the other two to stop.

She brought up the spires’ interface with a thought.

The home, like many around it, was unowned.

A lot of people had been killed over the two weeks and change since the Slasher’s Spree started.

She wiggled her fingers.

Danceassassin. Scout. Careful. Quick.

The young woman’s monster eyes blinked as she melted into a shadow on the rooftop.

It didn’t take long for her to emerge.

Dayana stifled the urge to strike with her blade.

She hadn’t noticed Tabitha coming out of the shadows until the last second despite all her perception Skills. And that was with her being over Level 50.

Tabitha’s fingers moved precisely.

12 Cult. 3 Hostages. Sacrifice. Basement. Go now!

Dayana sent a message to the shuttle.

Then she focused on her two young charges.

Tabitha was a pro, but Black Cat was on his first big mission.

Black Cat was ‘Adrian’ in real life. Though he preferred the former, since the latter was his human name and he considered it as defunct as the government that had forced him to undergo the procedure.

Dancessassin. Secure. Hostages. Black Cat. Roof. Me. Behind. Prisoners.

A Quest chimed in her ears, but she waved it away.

From experience it probably had something to do with saving the hostages and killing the cultists.

She waited a minute for Dancessassin to get into position before signaling the go.

The young hybrid tore into the house in an explosion of shingles and wood. Superhuman strength treating the roof like it was made of cheap cardboard.

The basement door put up as much resistance as wet paper.

She flickered in behind him, drawing long knives.

The cultists turned from their chanting.

To them she moved as if under a strobe light.

Weapons and hands pointed, but they were much too slow.

Blades glinted in the candle light.

Blood arced around the ritual circle carved into the concrete.

One cultist thought to complete the sacrifice, reaching for one of the bound children.

Dancessassin leapt out of the shadows on the floor.

The hem of her cloak unfurled into long ribbons, revealing curved claws, like a panther’s, at the tips. She twirled, carving the cultist up.

Dayana completed a circuit, leaving cultist fingers on the floor.

Anger and pain filled the air.

A cultist pointed a stick at the hostages, only for a dark shadow to pounce on him, lift him up by the scruff of his neck and slam him face first into the warm concrete.

Dayana stabbed her knives into cultist shadows, leaving them in place. Throwing knives flew from her fingers. One per cultist shadow.

Pinned in place they could only struggle against invisible bonds that also felt like a knife in the back.

“Clear?”

“Clear,” Black Cat growled, his clawed fingers around the throats of what seemed to be the highest leveled cultists.

“Clear.” Dancessassin’s voice was a whisper.

Dayana regarded the hooded young woman and mimed pulling a hood back.

The hostages were just kids and the young woman standing over them looked rather frightening with her monster cloak that looked alive.

“Pilot, do you copy?”

“Yup, over,” Marian said.

“Can we get a pick up. Three kids. Need a safe place to keep them while we figure out who they belong to.”

“On my way, over.”

“What about the filth?” Black Cat said.

The cult was a motley bunch.

Different ethnicities, different ages.

Different accents even.

That raised questions and perhaps answered some at the same time.

“We secure them for after this is cleared. Then we try to get a hold of the skyship. They can keep them imprisoned and handle the interrogations.”

“We don’t need all of them for that.” He bared fangs in the cultists’ faces as he grabbed two by their throats.

The whites of their eyes stood out like spotlights in the dim lighting.

“How about it?” Dayana addressed the cultists. “He’s right. We don’t need all of you. So. Who has anything good to volunteer? Maybe start with what this is all about.” She gestured at the ritual circle.

It was cruder than the one at the firehouse, likely, because this batch of filth had been in a hurry.

One of the cultists laughed.

A young woman.

Her accent sounded European as she spewed expletives.

“Shut up! Don’t say a goddamned word!” one of the cultists in Black Cat’s hand snapped.

The old man was definitely Southern.

Reminded her of long-dead relatives, which would mean the man was from Alabama or Mississippi.

“Quiet please.”

Black Cat took her meaning as he squeezed. Tight enough to send the message, but not to choke the old man out.

“You have something to say to me?” she regarded the young European.

“We don’t remember anything. So you can torture us all you want.”

“You mean to tell me that you don’t know why you’re doing all this? You obviously know how to perform this ritual sacrifice crap.”

“Well… yeah.”

“Let’s start there. What’s the purpose of it?”

“We don’t know.”

“Anyone else—”

“Wait! I’ll tell you what I know, but I want a deal.”

“Give me something first so I know it’s worth making.”

The other cultists erupted at that, yelling at the young woman to shut her mouth with rather vile language.

Dayana cleared her throat.

Black Cat snarled.

“Speak only when spoken to or he will get really mad.”

That shut them up.

“Continue.”

“We can’t remember details. It was part of the deal. Knowledge to perform the ritual. A big Quest. And a promise bound by magical contract.”

“Who gave you the knowledge?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. We don’t remember. It was part of it. They, we don’t even know if it was a woman or man or other, even if it was just one or many. The deal was our memory of their identity and specific details got wiped. We kept what was needed to perform our part of the bargain.”

“The sacrifices in this circle specifically. Did this location matter?”

“Yes and I don’t know. I don’t think so. We just had to do it in here.”

“Specifically because of the Slasher’s Spree?”

“I’m not sure. It could just be because the chaos was good cover.”

“What do you get in return?”

“I told you, the details are gone. But, what else would we do it for? Power, wealth, a seat at the winners table.”

“Okay. That’s good to start. What do you want in exchange for everything you know?”

“No torture. No rape. Protection.”

“You shut your whore mouth! You’re going to get us all killed!” the old man managed to wheeze out. “You have no id—”

Black Cat clamped down.

Dayana regarded the cultists.

“Okay. You have a deal. As for the rest of you. Understand that the more information your friend gives us the less valuable the rest of you are. So—”

The cultists suddenly stiffened as one.

They began to writhe despite her Skill pinning them in place.

“Uh…” Black Cat’s eyes widened.

“Let go!” she snapped.

Light and smoke began to pour out of every hole in the young European woman’s head. Out of all the cultists.

“Shields up! Protect the k—”

Dancessassin had already deployed the small magitech shield generator in front of the kids.

Black Cat leapt over and placed a generator in front of them as he stood tall in front of Dayana.

They were both in Threnosh armor, but the young hybrid’s protective instincts were strong.

The smoke grew thick. The light blinding.

Until there was a sudden pop.

Pistols in each hand, Dayana was poised to go into her flicker movement.

Except, there was no need.

The smoke cleared unnaturally quick.

The cultists lay still.

Their chests rose and fell. Their eyes stared emptily into nothing.

“A trick?” Black Cat said.

“I don’t think so.” She kept her pistols trained on the two highest leveled cultists. “Black Cat, chain them up, starting with those two. I’ll cover you. Dancessassin. Take the kids upstairs and get them on the shuttle as soon as it gets here. Then, we’ll move the cultists into the living room. After that, the two of you will get back to the fight outside. I’ll keep an eye on them while we try to reach the rangers.”