Chapter 6

I still haven't heard anything new from Olivia, but I did receive some information from a contact who said to look into Trevon Financials. I sent the message to the Detective to follow the money and then made my way back to the Meta Association. Before I did that, and when I was still in my Club owner persona, I felt that strange feeling of being watched. This time, it was when I exited my Club, and since it was an early morning, I looked in the direction I felt the feeling come from, and suddenly, the sensation left. Frowning, I decided to move on with the day. I wasn't in my vampire persona, so I couldn't overtly display powers. But I did take extra precautions when becoming my new alter ego.

I found Jessica and Oden already inside the Meta Association. While I arrived on time, they had arrived early and started their power assessment before me.

I watched as she performed several different healing, curing, and shielding magics. I was proud of how far she had come with magic. Of course, she could perform a lot more than that, but for this purpose, I wanted her to be a different type of healer who performed like a power and not actual magic. Since she could do wordless magic, the examiners eventually classified her power as not magic but just her natural Meta abilities. Which is what I was hoping the outcome would be.

My assessment was painfully ignorant. I had to act like I had little control but great possibility. However, since I hadn't actually played around with all the creative ways to use lightning, it wasn't hard to sell. I was even surprised to learn that they had pointers for me on how to focus my abilities in different ways. I even asked if certain things were possible, and they said… "Maybe, let's try it."

It was nice working with people who were as passionate about discovering new powers and capabilities as I was. I even learned how to ride the lightning bolt, which one of the testers dubbed Embark the Arc. I have to say that is better than Ride the Bolt or Ride the Lightning, which I think is an 80s song. Still, it wasn't great, but we're limited when trying to create a rhyme scheme. How did my life come to this? All I wanted was a peaceful life, I said. Now, I accepted adventure and distractions. Distractions over reliving painful memories. But now I'm boiled down to poor rhymes when naming powers. And for what? Right, to see what is inside a portal.

Earth… um… Prime. My Earth… had stories about elves, dragons, dwarves, and even superheroes. Hell, we had stories of dungeons, portals, and so much more. My travels across the multiverse have revealed that all those things are true in one capacity or another. Why? How? Is this all conjecture based on imagination? Is this all created from imagination? Or did those elements of fantasy come to my Earth through dreams of other worlds that were actually real?

Maybe talented artists, storytellers, and screenwriters all had dreams of other worlds that were real and brought them to life in my world. Or, maybe some of those things once existed in my world before recorded history, but through verbal history, were passed down until they became recorded as myths and folklore. Who knows? But I have a chance to live out some of those fantasies. I would be remiss if I didn't take advantage of that. Besides, what is the point of being immortal if you do not experience everything? Well, everything awesome, and not sick and deprived. I'm not a human monster.

Juggling my business, working with the Detective, and attending classes for supes was trying—even for one such as me who doesn't sleep. But I am awesome, as I've stated, and clearly know what I'm doing.

"Three days!" Olivia shouted at me.

"I'm sorry; what about the last three days?"

"I haven't heard a word from you! I've sent you messages, emails, hell, I've fucking sent officers to locate you, and no one could find you. Now you suddenly show up as if nothing has happened! The nerve!"

I admit I might've been too focused on other projects lately, but how did I miss messages from her? I checked my wrist phone and still didn't see any notifications. "Look," I activated my wrist phone's virtual display. I have no messages or emails. Wait a minute. I have no messages or emails from anybody. How did I not notice this?"

"Give me your phone," Olivia demanded.

I removed it and handed it to her. She placed it on a docking station and ran a scanning program. Two minutes later, she had the results. "You've been hacked. Someone went out of their way to cut you off from communications. That is not easy for this tech."

I ground my teeth to keep my anger in check. With a subtle growl in my voice, I asked, "Do we know who did it?"

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"No. The software is designed to check only, not attempt a backtrace. The reason is that backtraces tend to tip off whoever did it since they tend to be intelligent enough to know when we're on to them. It is better to not tip our hand and try to locate them the harder way."

"I see." I picked my wrist phone off the docking station. "I'll get to the bottom of this."

"Is that all you have to say?" She asked.

Clearly, there was something she was fishing for, but even after thousands of years of life, I still didn't know what that was. So, I answered, "Yes…" and gave a shoulder shrug. Yeah, she's pissed. But less pissed now that she knows I didn't do it on purpose. Maybe no matter how much time I have, understanding women will forever be beyond me. What hope do the rest of the men have?

I drove to my Club, rode the elevator to my penthouse, and then used a portal to travel to Jessica's condo.

"Hey love, I wasn't expecting you."

I kissed her and then responded, " I'm Sorry, something came up. Can I borrow your wrist phone?"

With a quick check that she also wasn't being blocked, I dialed up my hacker friend. "Flower, I need your assistance." Since it was a video call and from a number he was aware of, he had accepted the call and knew who he was talking to.

"Jacik. What's the problem?"

"My wrist phone seems to have been hacked. I need a trace and a new phone with updated security measures. I'll double the fee and give you two favors."

"Brother, you got yourself a deal. Drop it off at this location," he texted the address, "and I'll take care of everything. Your new device will be waiting for you at that location as well. Once I find the culprit, I'll hit you up."

"Thanks," I said, then hung up. I can go a long time without feeding. But right now, the stress was building, and I needed the taste of blood to cure the rising headache. Tonight, it was time to don my vampire persona. I needed to eat.

"Jessica, I'm going to feed tonight. Do you want to join?"

"Yes, I've been hungry for a while but been on edge about how to navigate this new world. They have drones and all sorts of tech surveilling everything. I never used to need to feed, but ever since I did to gain power, my vampire half has been craving it more and more."

"I understand. Well, I happen to know a few places that are less monitored and more heavy with shady types. I'm sure we can find ourselves a good meal."

Later that night, I was no longer disguised, but Jessica was. Since she was new to this world, we kept her name and looks for her main identity, but now that she was acting as her true self, I needed to change her appearance just in case someone did, in fact, spot us. With our senses, the likelihood of that happening was low, but due to Metas, not impossible. Better safe than sorry.

We had a few options of approach. We could walk together as a couple through unsavory streets and hope to be mugged, but in this world, that was actually unlikely. Granted, crime still found a way to do business. Street muggings were not that common. Few places were bought off to not be survelled. And those places were not typically places where locals or tourists found themselves in. Besides, we weren't predators pretending to be prey. No, we needed no ruse. We only needed to hunt.

I felt a nudge inside my mind. "Smog wants to hunt too."

I smiled and released Smog. "Okay, buddy, let's hunt."

We came upon a warehouse with lights on, surrounded by dozens of other warehouses that were completely dark. There wasn't any business being conducted outside, which piqued our interest. Even more so when we saw a few hidden guards, who, while hidden well enough not to be noticed by anyone passing by, weren't on alert enough to care about why they were hidden. Like all typical guards, when nothing happens each night for weeks, months, or years on end, they become complacent.

"Smog, they're yours. Make it quiet." Smog chirped and shrank into the ground. When the guards were swallowed whole, we dashed to the building and up the side of the sheet metal walls. It wasn't hard; we just leapt to the roof. There was sun-pane glass for lighting, and it gave us a perfect view of what was going on inside.

"Good, I'm glad to see drugs, guns, and a couple of Metas playing around with their powers," I said.

"Why are you glad?"

"Besides that, we found our meals? Because I already had Smog eat people. Now come on, let's dine."

"Let me have the two Metas. I need to grow stronger still."

I eyed her curiously but figured her performance during the Meta trials had left her feeling lacking. "Okay, they're yours." I then extended a finger talon and used it to cut a hole in the glass. I used telekinesis to catch the loose piece and move it safely aside. Then, I pumped a whole lot of fog down through the hole and filled the place rapidly. The shouts below were not a concern for us as now it was feeding time.

Being a half-vampire meant that Jessica still lacked many of the vampiric abilities I had. However, feeding on my blood had granted her many of the basics, which included melding with the fog and transporting herself through it. Although she could only produce a light mist herself, she wasn't restricted to only her mist. We both merged with the fog and passed through the small hole easily.

We emerged from many places at near instantaneous speeds, biting necks, slashing throats, and, in my case, ripping out hearts to drink directly from the glorious source. The two Metas that had moderate abilities didn't even have a chance to respond when Jessica emerged from the fog and strung them up with her whip before plunging her teeth into their necks.

We were done in less than thirty seconds and vanished with the fog beneath the hangar doors through the cracks. The mostly bloodless bodies were left behind. I could've had Smog come clean them up, but somewhere deep inside, I wanted to send a message to anyone who discovered them that crime had consequences. But maybe the idealistic part of me should've taken a back seat to the realist part of me. Because if there is any law greater than Murphy's, it is the law of unintended consequences.