Lord Blud opened the door and stepped aside swiftly. He could recognize Sam’s heartbeat in an instant now. He felt the heartbeat of two others with her. One was strong, most likely Sam’s henchman, and one other. A feint beat of someone sleeping. Whoever it was, they were in need of some dire attention.
Sam barged into the suite, holding the bottom half of Brockly, while Tentin cradled his upper half. They both let out grunts as they carried the man and plopped him onto one of the many couches throughout the suite. Sam grabbed a blanket from her room and draped it over the unconscious man.
“Tentin, take care of him will you?” Sam panted as she regained her breath.
Tentin nodded and turned to face the Ginger. The over-sized man was holding a tray of water and seltzer, along with some crackers and tea. Tentin scratched his head, “Thanks.” He took the tray and set it on the end table next to the couch.
Lord Blud shut the door and approached Sam, “I’m to assume you ran into trouble out there?” It would be best if we were to be more secretive in our approach here. No need to go tipping off our enemies of our presence.”
Sam brushed her hair aside, “I doubt ‘our ememies’ even know we exist. Plus, this was just a coincidence. He is an old friend we ran into at a bar in some alley. His name’s Brockly.”
“And the bar had a flame sigil over the door, one made of neon perhaps?” Lord Blud tilted his head to the side. He knew just what bar they had gone to. The smell of fire was fresh on their bodies, and it didn’t
take an Oxford graduate to figure out who they had run into in a back alley in Germany.
Sam pursed her lips together, “Yes, but I bet you already know what happened so I will save you the trouble of telling you.” Sam grabbed her bag and set it down by the door. She checked out of the windows to see if the police had caught wind of Tentin and her smuggling Brockly into the hotel. She wasn’t sure if the Drow were the types to call the authorities. If they were anything like the other ancient races, they would take matters into their own hands, which suited Sam just fine.
Lord Blud was about to protest, but he knew there was no reason to. The young woman was headstrong and stubborn. An argument would get them nowhere. He glanced down at the drunken man. Sam had run into an old friend in the middle of Germany in a town she had just arrived at. There was no coincidence there. He looked back at Sam. She was very special indeed, but what did Bartlett want her for? This was an avenue he needed to look into.
“It looks like we’re in the clear, at least for now.” Sam looked back at Lord Blud, “Have you made any headway on the guy, uh…” Sam thought for a second, “Kammler, the Nazi, right?”
Lord Blud nodded and felt his way to his desk. He sat down and took a deep breath. He had hoped Sam would take this task more seriously. He couldn’t put too much doubt on her. She did destroy a vampire lair along with its master, Horus. She had skill, and he would need it to take down this old evil that reemerged.
“In fact, we have made somewhat of a discovery. Of course, we have the Ginger to thank for his vigilant work here. He found a newspaper on our doorstep with the likes of an old enemy of ours. His eyes have navigated the web and came across this unusual person of interest; a business man who worked closely with the Nazi regime in its heyday. He escaped incarceration of war crimes and now operates a night club here in town.”
Tentin looked up from the unconscious couch dweller, “How is he still operating today? Wouldn’t he be like eighty or ninety years old? Shouldn’t the authorities have caught him and hung him up to dry?”
Lord Blud answered dryly, “It would seem so, but somehow he has managed to go unscathed all these years. If anyone has answers to the whereabouts of Hans Kammler, it is this man. As one of the only remaining affiliates to the Nazi regime, Hans would be forced to contact this man.”
“What’s his name, and where can I find him?” Sam grabbed her axe from the ground, readying herself by the door. She was eager to get out again. There were too many men in this hotel suite, and it was starting to get stuffy. A part of her was still iffy on the police showing up at any time. She wanted to get back out into the night air. Something about the old country was tantalizing to her. The air was full of energy and she couldn’t get enough of it.
A strange feeling nagged at the back of her mind. She could feel Bartlett nearby. She could feel that same energy he held about him and it called to her, pulling her back out into the night. She just needed the name and address of this man and she would be off.
“His name is Johan Fleischer, and he is a cold-hearted killer. We need to be careful about this.” Lord Blud held up his finger, “He is having a celebration at his club tonight, and I believe we can infiltrate his kitchen crew if we time the switch just right. The Ginger and I can enter as guests, once we acquire some invitations.” Lord Blud looked at the Ginger, “We can be very persuasive.” The Brittan smiled deviously.
“And what is this club called?” Sam folded her arms. The blind man held information like a Swiss vault. She just needed a name and she was gone.
“Ah, Shadowight, I believe.” He glanced at the Ginger, who nodded in agreement.
“Alright, I’m off to go see this Johan. Don’t wait up.” Sam opened the door with a hail of objections at her back.
“You can’t leave by yourself.” Tentin stood and approached her. “This guy is dangerous. If he caught you…” Tentin stopped himself as his mind raced to the most terrible scenarios.
“I would have to agree with your servant.” Lord Blud chimed in, the Ginger at his back. His silence was all but resounding with the two men.
“I can handle myself. Plus, if we all go into this club, they will spot us instantly. A blind Brittan and a humungous redhead, not very hard to miss. If this guy knows Kammler, he will most likely know you.” Sam pointed at the duo. “And I need you, Tentin, to look after Brockly. He is a good friend, and I need him ready to go tomorrow. If I get the answers we need, we will have to move out instantly. There’s no telling how big this Hans Kammler guy’s robot army has gotten. It’s best if we leave as soon as possible.” Sam pulled out all logic she could. She wanted to go this one alone. She was getting crowded.
Tentin shook his head and sighed, “Okay, just come back in one piece.”
“You can’t be serious?” Lord Blud could tell that Tentin was serious as ever, his heart rate had stayed the same throughout the encounter. “You need some sort of backup, in case you run into trouble. We should be there as a contingency.”
Sam shook her head, “No, I will be fine by myself. Keep researching for some more leads. This one could be a bust after all.” Sam shrugged and turned out of the room, “See you later.” She was finally free.
Lord Blud stood dumbfounded. Sam was quite the individual indeed, and she was as stubborn as ever.
Sam entered back into the night, cool air splashed against her face as she left the hotel. There were no cops to be seen, so that was a good sign. She would have to look out for the silver haired Drow if she wanted to leave Germany in one piece. She looked around the street, the feeling she felt in the hotel room was pulling her along.
She just started walking down the sidewalk, following the impulses in her head. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Bartlett was somewhere nearby. She knew he had to be somewhere in this city.
She glanced across the street, and at that moment, she swore she saw a man in a white suit and eyepatch enter an alley. Her heart jumped with adrenaline. “Is that you?” She spoke aloud as she jogged across the street with hesitation. She couldn’t miss the chance that he would be there.
As Sam reached the alley, but it was empty. She looked around again, catching the tail end of a white coat flapping behind the corner at the end of the alley. She moved quickly, unknowing of the dark figure falling in place behind her.
“Ah, what a pleasure to see you again.” Hoarse, croaking words shot out behind her like an assailant’s knife in the dark. A dark, wooden cane tapped on the stone followed by the fluttering of wings.
The voice was familiar to Sam, too familiar for her liking. She turned knowing exactly who was behind her, just by smell alone, not to mention the annoying flapping of the black birds wings all above her in the rooftops.
Sam turned to face the voice, “I thought I told you I would kill you if you showed up around me again? Your magic doesn’t belong in the world.” Sam’s hand dropped to her axe hanging from her shoulder.
The dark figure chuckled, “Yes, yes, I do remember your obligations to the world, but I also believe you still have an outstanding debt to me, for showing you the entrance to the Crypts.” The figure stepped forward. His hideous visage was never one of getting used to. The decayed skin around his mouth revealed the teeth kept inside as he smiled. “I would so gratefully like to procure that favor you owe me.”
Sam’s brow furrowed as she turned back to the exit of the alley. That white coated man was not just a figment of her imagination. Raven was just slowing her down, but he was right, she did owe him a favor.
“I would like you to accompany me to a club, one where you will have a chance to meet…him.” The Raven exaggerated the last word of his sentence. Sam flipped around and faced him instantly. His smile crept back onto his face. He knew she was fixed on him now. She was right where he wanted her.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The Raven shrugged and began to turn around, his tailcoats flapping in the breeze, “But, if you have more pressing matters to attend to, I can leave you be.” Before he could take one more step, a hand came down on his shoulder.
Sam gulped hard. She knew Raven’s type. They always had some sort of twisted end to their schemes, but if he had some sort of information on B, then she would have to take the baited hook. “No, take me to him.”
The Raven nodded and tapped his cane on the ground with enough force to launch it up into the air. He caught it with his left hand and grabbed her arm with his right, tugging her out of the alley and into a busy street. His cold hands radiated an icy aura that Sam couldn’t shake. She could feel his immense power emanating through his skin.
“As it so happens, we have an invitation to a nightclub here in town.” The Raven glanced back at her, “The Shadowight club, run by a local entrepreneur. An old friend of…him.”
Sam stopped for a second, dragging her heels, “How do you know Bartlett? You keep saying him, but you know something more than your leading on.”
The Raven’s milky eyes scanned her body for ill intentions, “I say HIM because that person is not the man you used to know anymore. He is taken over by a malicious being.” The Undead’s voice lowered and hinted with a trace of care, “You need to keep that in mind when you deal with him. He will use you to further his own agendas and nothing more. The sooner you realize this, the better off your life will be.” The Raven pulled her along with unnatural strength for his scrawny arms. A part of him cared for this woman.
Sam’s feet pushed onward off of instinct. She couldn’t accept that there was no more of Bartlett inside, even with whatever possessed his soul; she just couldn’t believe his words. She would save him, she had to try.
“He isn’t gone. He is just lost.” Sam spoke with confidence.
“Believe what you must to get through the day. Just heed my warnings young one.” The Raven stopped her in front of an antique dress shop, one that had closed much earlier during the day. “You can’t get into that club dressed like the modern hooligan as you choose to be portrayed as.” He scoffed as he looked upon Sam’s clothes. “No, you must be a lady of importance. Wait here.”
Sam leaned up against a car as the Raven disappeared behind a corner, followed promptly by the breaking of glass. The front door of the shop opened up several moments later, with the Raven holding a large box tied with a red bow.
“All the fine trappings of a young lady, at a fair price I might add.” The Raven smiled as black slime oozed from the hole in his cheek. He wiped it with his hand and ran the black liquid over his greasy hair. “Now, we must find a changing room before we head into the club.”
Sam was slightly repulsed by the acts of the man in front of her, but he was her ticket to finally putting her obsession to rest. She took the box from the Necromancer, “Alright, lead on.”
The Raven stood guard outside a public restroom while Sam was changing into her new wardrobe. He leaned his spinney back up against the wall next to the doorway. His eyes scanned over all the pedestrians crossing back and forth from sidewalks. He fought back the urge eating away at his very self to suck the life from all these poor wretches and turn them into his very own undead horde. The feeling of power surged through his veins. He needed to sate it somehow.
Several girls made their way over to the restrooms, casually conversing as they neared the undead man. He looked up at them, his eyes glaring underneath his top hat.
The girls stopped just shy of the door when he held out his finger and grunted, the light of the streetlamps glinting off of the polished bone. “No entry, my dears.” His breath was enough to scare away the girls as the backed off and crossed the street, not looking back.
“Hmph.” He leaned back against the wall. His ravens were perched all around the rooftops, streetlights, and electric wires going to and fro. One of his raven’s heads picked up and turned its attention to a second story window across the street. A small apartment building covered in grime and years of neglect sat partially lit by its few working light bulbs.
The light in the bedroom was on, illuminating the scenes unfolding within. The Raven sent one of his pets flying over to the window, where it perched just outside the glass, gazing intently at the man inside.
The Raven closed his eyes and let the vison from his undead bird take over his own. A large man with a stained shirt raised his hand and struck a child in the face. The child fell to the carpet below, tears streaming from her eyes. Her clothes were tossed aside. She was curled up in her underwear on the floor.
“You know what to do.” The man moved closer and grabbed her by the legs. He flung her up on the bed as she struggled to get away. “I work all day and this is the respect I get! You ugly whore! Spread your legs before I get violent!” He started undo his belt, “Your bitch mom gave birth to a no good girl like you. You could at least pay me back for taking care of you without her all these years.”
“Not again.” The girl scrawled away to the edge of her bed, pressing herself up against the wall. “Please, please, please…”
The Raven snapped out of his trance. If his heart could beat, it would beat with the fire of a fathers love for his daughter. He could recall hazy images of a little girl in white holding a doll, smiling as her father emerged from his carriage. No man would treat his little girl that way. She was his whole world. Just seeing her face smiling each morning was the highlight of his day.
The Raven clenched his fist and jerked his chin up, cracking his neck in half. He pressed the contorted bones back into place and stormed across the street. He looked back at the restroom. He knew Sam could handle herself, but now, another girl needed his help. Justice would be exacted tonight.
The man upstairs crawled onto the bed, grabbing the girl’s ankle, dragging her underneath him, and pinning her down. The lights in the room then sparked and burst into shards of glass. He looked around the pitch black room. “What the hell?” He stood up off the bed. “Just more shit to buy.” The girl retreated back to her corner, pulling her underwear back up around her hips.
The room sparked up with an eerie green light. Shadows danced about the room like tribal creatures celebrating a dark, forgotten holiday.
“What the fu…” The man whipped around as the door to the room burst open. A horde of birds flocked into the room, wings flapping as they perched onto any ledge they could. Feathers streaked across the man’s face as he fell to the ground. He looked back up to the room covered in sheened ebony feathers.
“So, you like little girls?” The deep, scratchy voice slithered into the man’s ears, depositing dread in every empty cache of his mind. “You look like a man, but your actions are that of a pig, if pigs are even so vile.”
The Raven spawned out of the corner of the room, his body emerging from the mass of feathers and beaks like a balloon blown to life. The green light splashed his skin in a cascade of emerald hues. “But as such, you should be slaughtered like a pig.” The Raven smiled, his teeth glowing with a greenish hue.
The girl covered her eyes and looked away. The man shot up and ran for the door. It slammed shut in front of him.
“Ah, ah, you haven’t paid the toll.” The Raven stepped up to the man and grabbed his neck, his boney fingers piercing the flesh. The Raven let out an angry shout as he lifted the man up against the door and gazed deep into his eyes.
Fear exuded from the man’s eyes. Tears sprouted from the ducts in his eyes.
“Real men protect the weak and innocent.” Green energy sparked from the Raven’s arm, crawling up the half decayed limb and into the mouth of the captive man.
He couldn’t let out a scream, not even a gasp as the life started to drain from his body. His skin withered and his eyes dried up like raisins. Only seconds passed, and the man was gone
The Raven then tossed the depleted body out of the window, shattering the glass as the mummified body plummeted to the street below.
The Raven’s lungs wheezed as he took deep breaths. His anger was rising and all he could think about was raising an army to strike evil from the earth. He could finally bring peace to an ever spiteful world. He raised his hand emanating with green energy as a purple mist started to ooze from his palm. He would rid the world of evil doers.
A tug at his coat pulled his attention back to reality. He looked down at the girl covering herself in sheets. Her eyes were fearless as she gazed upon the half-dead man.
She held up a small doll, “I prayed for God to send me a savior, just like in the bible. I want you to have this.” She pushed the small doll closer.
He slowly took the doll from her and gazed upon it as memories flooded back into his mind. He could feel the sunny days by the river with his family, tossing rocks and eating picnics as they laughed carelessly. His daughter in her summer dresses, Samantha was her name. He could remember her face now.
He clutched the doll and placed it within his coat. “It seems he answered your prayers.” He couldn’t look at the girl any longer. The Raven then vanished in front of her as a flock of birds flapped their wings and took flight out of the broken window.
The girl wiped her tears away and smiled for the first time in years.
Sam had finally donned the dress the Raven had ‘procured’ for her. She sighed. “Why does no one just accept jeans and a T-shirt anymore? Can I just be comfortable for once?” She grabbed her clothes in a bunch and sighed again. She left the stall she had occupied while dressing.
Sam looked at herself in the mirror. She wore dark-brown boots with white stockings that rode up underneath a slim-fitting dress. She looked good at least, and it wasn’t anything close to what Andrelle would have her wear. It could be worse, she thought as she entered the city once again.
Raven was standing with his back against the wall, right where she left him. Her eyes suddenly turned to the flashing lights and sirens pulling up to the building across the street. Sam’s heart started pumping. She could only think of the bar fight they had, and how the Drow bodies had piled up.
“Relax.” Raven spoke calmly, “They’re not here for you.”
Sam looked on the scene as they covered what looked like a body to her with a tarp. She looked back over at the Raven, “This was your work, right?”
He nodded and plopped down Sam’s duffle bag. “You left this in the alley by the Crypts.” He started walking off down the sidewalk, tapping his cane against the curb, “Let’s go, the party won’t last all night.” He pulled the doll from his coat and held it tight. The Raven turned his head and stole a look at Sam as she surveyed the crime scene. She looked similar to his daughter. Was she really the same?
Sam grabbed her bag and followed the Raven with haste, “I won’t ask what you did, but I would appreciate a heads up. We don’t need any more attention than we already have.”
“Like with that bar fight you were in? Hmm?” The Raven retorted with his counter argument and Sam pursed her lips.
“Okay, so we are even again.” She slung her bag over to her opposite shoulder.
“How much further is this place?” She looked around at an old, stone church that sat next to a bridge. This area of the city was pretty much abandoned. Buildings were out of order, crumbling and rusting.
“We’re here.” Raven pointed at an old building draped with long, tattered, white sheets, blowing in the wind. They looked like spectral ghosts clinging to the place of their death. The Shadowight club was illuminated with soft white light above the front of the building.
Sam shuttered when they brought memories back of the first ghost she had vanquished. “Let’s get inside then. I just want this night to be over.” She walked closer to the building, dodging cars pulling up to let their patrons loose into the night.
The Raven looked Sam up and down, “You look magnificent,” He looked at the mess of hair atop her head, “Your hair could use some work. You look like a beggar.”
Sam glared him down, “I didn’t have any equipment, thank you.”
“I’m just saying, you could do better.” The Raven stopped her before the door. “This is where I leave you. If I enter, I will stick out like a sore thumb. I need your bag if you are to make it inside.” He held out his hand, “They won’t let you in with that axe.”
Sam glanced down at her bag. The talisman was tied to her axe. She had never let it fall into anyone else’s hands. It was too powerful to just let loose, and the Raven seemed too unstable to hold such an artifact. She looked back over to the entrance of the club. A man stood there in a white suit. He had an eyepatch over his right eye. Sam immediately recognized him as the man she had been chasing this past year, the one who always eluded her. A large group of party goers walked past her, blocking her vision of Mr. Bartlett, but when they passed, he had vanished.
She gave the bag to the Raven, “Don’t you lose this, or I will seriously kill you.” She poked him in the chest with her finger. She took off to the entrance of the building with haste.
The Raven looked up into the sky. The night had just started. He clutched the bag close to his chest. It was going to be an eventful night, he just knew it.