Unlikely Alliance

Dexter

Dexter opened his eyes as light filled the back of his van. He had gone to sleep on the seat in the back seat. He groaned as he sat up, his entire body aching despite the healing he'd received. He dressed himself and stepped out of his van. The garage of this outpost had a small living area and kitchen, as well as a door leading to a single person bedroom.

It'd normally be bigger. I guess there really wasn't much need for a lot of hunters to stick around. He stretched and looked around the room.

Oscar was still sleeping on the couch where he'd collapsed last night. Someone had thrown a blanket over him. The door to the room where Sarah and Olivia were sleeping was closed. Dexter walked into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. He made himself a small breakfast and ate it quietly in the kitchen. He walked back to his van and pulled out a guitar case. He removed the disassembled sniper rifle that was stored inside and set it on the desk. He placed a full length semi-automatic shotgun inside, then looked up at the axe on his wall. He carefully pulled it down, holding it in both hands. He felt the weapon's powerful curse flowing into his body and hurriedly placed it in the case, closing the lid. He slung it over his shoulder and headed for the door.

"Captain." As he placed his hand on the doorknob, Sarah's voice called out to him.

"Look." Dexter sighed as he turned around. "You three have a lot of potential. Someday you might even be better than me. But that'll never happen if you die on a mission that's too difficult for you." He scratched his head. That blessing is something else. I didn't even notice her behind me.

"So, you're just going back by yourself? Against that thing? And who knows how many thralls he has."

"Don't worry." He patted the case in his hand. "I can solve this problem, but I can't really control myself well, so you'll be in danger if you're around me."

Sarah sighed and took a few steps forward. As she opened her mouth to speak, the two froze in place. There were three hard knocks on the door.

What the hell is that? A vampire stronger than Dawson? It's at least as strong as an alpha. He looked at Sarah. "Open the door and stay behind it." He pulled the case of his shoulder. "I need to keep my hands free."

Sarah turned the doorknob. The knocking had woken up Oscar, who was massaging his forehead. Sarah pulled the door open, and Dexter stepped forward without crossing the threshold of the building. He was face to face with a muscular man, a bit shorter than himself, standing casually outside the front door. Dexter looked into his red eyes. The man outside smiled.

"Good morning." He waved. "You fought Dawson, right?" He stepped to the side.

Dexter's eyes widened as he saw a familiar woman, Stella, the vampire he'd seen a photo of.

"We're after him too. We wanna share information."

Dexter looked over to Sarah. She nodded.

"They're strong, but they aren't hostile."

Dexter sighed, and they walked over to the couch.

"Uuuh." The man said. He pointed down at the door frame and scratched his head. "I can't come in."

"Come in." Dexter gestured for them to walk over and set down his case.

The two vampires sat down across from the three hunters.

"I'm Alex, and this is Stella. She's the vampire that used to live in this city, and she turned me so I could help take back her territory."

"Oh." Oscar sat up straighter, pressing an ice pack to his head.

Dexter crossed his arms and at the two people sitting in front of him. Alex held his hand out, and a short red tentacle came out of his palm.

"My armament lets me devour other vampires. I gain their memories when I do so. Despite that, I haven't been able to figure out what Dawson's armament is."

Dexter raised an eyebrow. I didn't think he was the careful type.

"I did see that you three fought him, though. I was hoping you'd know more about his strengths and weaknesses."

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"Wait a second." Sarah stopped him, eyeing him suspicsiously. "Your armament is too weak. Do you have others."

"That's correct. I have two others."

Dexter looked down, rubbing his chin. He looked back up. "Tell me what they are. Every detail. In return, I'll tell you what I know about Dawson."

Alex looked over at Stella. She shrugged her shoulders. He turned back and held out his hand, the tentacle still extended.

"I'll start with this, since it's already out. It has a range of twenty feet and can perform a puncturing attack. Anything it pierces is sucked up through it, and I gain their strength and memories. It's more effective if the target can't resist or is already defeated. It only uses five percent of my armament power, so it has a big weakness, if it gets attacked, I'll take ten times as much damage. With all of those traits it's about as effective as if it was seventy five percent." He dismissed the tentacle and summoned his sword. "This one uses eighty percent, but it has runes that triple its power. It only has two traits. It's extremely sharp, and I can extend it up to fifteen feet." He dismissed the sword and activated his enhanced eyes. "Finally, this one uses the remaining fifteen percent. In addition to letting me see the muscles and blood flow of people, like all eye armaments, I can see a vampire's weaknesses. It also turns my other senses into visual information, like highlighting footprints, or predicting future attacks using my sixth sense." He deactivated his eyes and looked at Dexter. "Satisfied?"

"Fine." Dexter closed his eyes. "His armament enhances his punches and armors his forearms. It also lets him punch at range. I don't know much else about him, and we aren't sure how many thralls he have."

"So, he does have an armament. How strong am I compared to him?"

"Significantly stronger."

"That's good at least." He looked up at Dexter. "Wanna team up?"

"Nope. We shared information, that doesn't mean I trust you."

"Hmmm." Alex thought for a moment.

"You said one of them was a nun, right?" Stella joined the conversation.

"Hm? Yeah."

She turned back towards Dexter. "He has a divine blessing. Since divine blessings are distributed based off personality and character, knowing what it is might tell you if you can trust him."

"Isn't that kind of a gamble? We don't know what it is."

"Whether or not they trust you, we'll find out which blessing it is. It's a win-win."

Dexter sighed and turned to Sarah. "Go get Olivia."

Sarah returned with a half-awake Olivia, still in her night gown.

"Why did you wake me up?"

"This vampire apparently has a divine blessing. Can you check which one?"

"Yeah, I know how." She cleared off the dining room table and set down a large piece of paper. She drew a perfect circle in one try and separated it into eight even segments. "There are eight gods that have the strength to grant blessings." She pointed to one section. "First is Gaia, the Slumbering Goddess. She's the goddess of life." Olivia drew three symbols in her section. "She has three blessings: Vitality, Fertility, and Medicine." Olivia moved to the opposite side from Gaia. "Second is Thanatos, the Traitorous Serpent. He's the god of death and poison. He has four blessings: Immortality, Undeath, Extension, and Poison."

Dexter thought back to what he remembered about the church of Gaia's teachings. Gaia and Thanatos were married once. But after she created all life, he tried to murder her out of jealousy. He failed, but his poison left her unable to wake up. Then their three kids, Valoris, Solara, and Lunaris sealed him in hell.

"Next is Valoris, the Lionheart." She pointed at the spot to the right of Gaia. "He's the god of heroes, and he only has one blessing, the hero's blessing. Across from him is Valerius, the Swordsoul. She's the god of swords. Her only blessing is the Blessing of the Swordsoul." She turned to look at Alex. "The church in general doesn't like her, since she's Deverius' daughter, but I don't think she's done anything wrong." She pointed to Gaia's other side. "Then there's Solara, the Golden Phoenix. She's the goddess of the sun, fire, and civilization. She can give the blessing of the phoenix, the crown, or ambition. Across from her is Lunaris, the Silver Stag. He's the god of the moon, darkness, and nature. He offers the blessing of the stag, the hunt, or the warden."

"Why is he next to Thanatos?"

"He's a lot like him in terms of personality. Like if Thanatos wasn't evil." She pointed at the spot next to Valerius. "The last pair starts with Deverius, the Godslayer. He's the god of deicide, assassination, and curses. He has no known blessings, but he's assumed to be able to grant them, since his daughter can."

The church hates him even more than Thanatos. He was a mortal who broke into the hall of heroes, the most respected afterlife, and murdered Valoris and Gaia. Apparently, he needed a demon's help to do it.

"His opposite is Coralis, King of Monsters. He's the god of sin, monsters, and contracts. He has nine blessings, each correlating to the deadly sins."

"Nine?" Alex looked confused.

"Mm. Originally there were eight, gluttony, lust, greed, melancholy, wrath, sloth, vainglory, and pride. Later it was revised, adding envy and combining melancholy into sloth and vainglory into pride, resulting in the seven we use now. Coralis uses all nine, though. Now give me your hand."

Alex held his hand out, and Olivia held it, using her other hand to hold out a talisman representing Gaia and recited a prayer. As she reached the end, one of the symbols on the page began to glow. Everyone leaned in to see it.

"Vitality... Gaia's blessing." Alex looked to Olivia for an explanation.

"It increases your durability and survivability. Even before you became a vampire, it would be hard to kill you without tearing you limb from limb. Now, even that wouldn't be enough." She turned to Dexter. "It doesn't really matter if we trust him or not. He could survive a nuke to the face, so it's not like we can stop him. But..." She held her talisman closely. "If he has the blessing of Gaia, he must be a kind and gentle person." She gave Dexter a serious look. "We can trust him."

Dexter sighed as he stood up. He held his arm out for a handshake. "Let's team up."

Alex shook his hand confidently and grinned.

"I think we'll make a good team."