Raphael walked in slowly. His gaze settled on the short man for a mont. Sothing nagged at him, a sense of familiarity he couldn’t resolve.
The corresponding mory had been lost in the rebirth, and the details wouldn’t co back.
He pulled the door shut behind him, looked around at the gloom, and let the contempt settle naturally into his voice.
"Do all vampires prefer this kind of lightless atmosphere? I understand the sun issue, but I didn’t realize incandescent bulbs were this offensive to you."
He couldn’t even make out the face. The figure looked like a vampire well enough, but there was sothing off, nothing like the composed arrogance of the one he’d t at the black market.
The energy was different. This one felt defensive.
"How dare you? who gave you the nerve to speak like that in soone else’s space?
Watch your words. Retract that contemptuous tone, or don’t expect to show restraint. And don’t accuse of making a fuss over nothing, you’ve just insulted the Noble Vampire!
Human. If you hadn’t completed your task, you would not be walking out of this room tonight!"
Raphael’s frown deepened. Not intimidation, sothing was wrong.
The vampire from the black market had been arrogant, yes, but with the ease of soone who’d earned it and didn’t need to perform it. This one was sputtering.
This one sounded like soone whose idol had been insulted.
He kept his tone exactly where it was.
"My sincere apologies for wounding your delicate and frankly rather pitiable sense of pride, honored vampire sir. And, what was your na again? You ntioned it at the black market but I didn’t retain it."
The fist ca down on the desk. The figure lurched upright as though a nerve had been struck.
"Watch your attitude! Wretched human! Say one more contemptuous word and I will make sure you don’t leave here in one piece tonight!
My na is Blitz Jestan! Rember it! Blitz Jestan! The true heir of the noble Half-Moon Count!"
He was almost snarling. The man on the sofa shot him a single flat look, and the fury deflated imdiately.
Then there was the vampire who called himself Blitz, but was clearly not the real Blitz, sat back down with a heavy thud and a bitter click of his tongue.
"This once, I’ll overlook your rudeness. I am, after all, the larger person in this situation. Now put the item on the table. Gently. That is the Half-Moon Count’s family badge."
This one has the faintest lisp, Raphael noted privately, and he acts like the Count’s bloodline is a personal achievent. Hard to see what connection he actually has to any of it.
He reached into his hidden pocket, withdrew the Half-Moon Badge, and placed it on the desk.
Vampire hand shot forward to take it. Raphael’s ca down over it and slid it back.
"What exactly do you think you’re doing?"
Raphael glanced around the room with a mild expression.
"Let’s discuss paynt first. That castle was not a simple errand. I’d like to confirm the terms before the item changes hands. A wealthy vampire surely has no trouble honoring what was agreed."
Vampire said nothing imdiately. His head tilted slightly, that subtle movent of soone listening to a voice no one else could hear.
The black robe shifted. Just barely. But Raphael caught it.
The corner of his mouth moved.
So the Shadow of Alp is already here.
It appears that Alp assisted an ordinary vampire, enabling him to impersonate Blitz and deceive the others present.
"I rember the terms. Fifty thousand Colin in cash, or two magical items, you choose one. But before anything is handed over, I need to verify the authenticity of what you’ve brought.
You’re human, I’m sure you understand. Deception is sothing your kind excels at. I need to be certain."
He turned toward the sofa.
"We’ll ask a neutral party to assess it. What do you think, Mr. David?"
The short man on the sofa stood. His gait was wrong, stiff and bent, moving as though sothing made straightening difficult.
He took the badge, turned it once in front of his eyes, and shook his head.
"I’ll need proper instrunts to verify this properly. Gentlen, a mont please."
He pushed through the door and left.
Raphael’s instinct moved to stop him. Then he thought about Miguel waiting in the corridor, and considered the arithtic, and let it go.
He sat down on the sofa under Blitz’s hostile gaze, crossed one leg over the other, and appeared to wait.
Internally, he was working through sothing that had just co into focus.
David.
A short man with a pronounced stoop. That particular walk.
The na and the image connecting.
David, one of the D-Brotherhood assassins from the night that had killed him.
The Malevolent Spirit who had possessed him during the fight, who had scread about Spirit Oil from inside his body, who had fled when Jasmine cut the compulsion.
An evil spirit that normally wore a black cloak, but in a compact physical form.
This was him.
Raphael took a long, controlled breath.
Two targets. Both here. Under other circumstances this would be exactly the opportunity he’d been waiting for, the chance to close both accounts in a single night.
He couldn’t take it.
Going after the spirit here ant abandoning any possibility of helping the people imprisoned in this building.
Once IFSA entered the picture, assuming they weren’t already being managed by the sa officials providing the nightclub’s cover, the outco for the captives beca entirely unpredictable.
The people with standing to obstruct, delay, and quietly redirect would have every reason to do exactly that.
He could pursue David later. He would pursue David later. Right now, later had to be enough.
He looked at the clock.
Four in the morning. Exact.
---
In the corridor outside, Miguel had watched the door to booth 04 open and soone erge, and had followed at a careful distance without sound.
The man walked directly to another booth at the far end of the corridor, entered, and locked the door behind him.
Miguel observed from a distance, made a brief assessnt, and turned toward the public restroom just beside it.
Inside, he looked at the caras, soaked a wad of tissue under the tap, and threw each one with practiced accuracy until every lens was covered.
He decided not to worry about hidden caras, there wasn’t ti.
He opened the gilded wooden case he’d been carrying. Inside, resting in fitted cloth: a silver short-sword, forearm in length.
Beneath it, several sheets of aged parchnt covered in runes and magic circles.
He selected one bearing an abstracted human face, pressed his fingers against it, and it ignited, a sourceless fla that consud the parchnt entirely without touching his skin.
He closed his eyes. His voice dropped into sothing humble and unhurried.
"Great Empty Eye. Voice of the wind. God of the sky."
The invocation finished, and he shifted into a different language, older, simpler in form but foundational in a way that made every other language feel like a translation of it.
The parchnt activated fully. The magic circle split in two: one half rose and rged into the left side of his face, the other passed through the wall.
On the other side of the wall, the left half of Miguel’s face appeared, growing from the surface as though the wall had grown a partial reflection of him, invisible without attention.
Inside the booth, David had completed his examination with a large precision instrunt and was speaking into a phone.
"Confird. It’s the Half-Moon Badge. Which ans the castle’s illusions have been dissolved."
The voice on the other end of the line, the real Blitz, faint but recognizable:
"Good. Bring it to . I’ll be waiting at the castle. The sacrificial preparation is complete. The ritual can begin."
David made a low, satisfied sound.
"That concludes our arrangent then. The thing you promised , the Blood Spirit’s Heart, you can tell where it is now, yes? And Alp’s compensation as well."
On the other end of the line, Blitz made a dismissive sound.
"The matter isn’t finished yet. Already anxious for paynt? Don’t worry, I know how important that item is to you.
The upgrade from malevolent spirit to blood spirit is significant. The reward is coming. As for the Heart specifically, I can tell you it’s in the 22nd District, under the care of a highly-placed transcendent.
I’ll give you the rest of the details once the ritual is complete."
David’s expression darkened.
"That wasn’t what we agreed. I don’t recall the terms including a guarantee of ritual success before paynt clears.
Gathering this many people while keeping it contained was already more than enough. Don’t push it, vampire. Don’t forget where Alp and I co from."
Blitz’s voice carried a studied indifference.
Raphael frowned slightly, sensing sothing was wrong. This vampire... didn’t seem to be the real one.
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