Chapter Seven - Divide and Conquer - Walter Dowell
I had to think of what to do, pool my resources so I can help Asuya against all of this. "Well, Asuya, I can give you information on the colonies here in New York. Master Thais, my Master, is the Master of Manhattan and he is not for resurrecting Dracula. He says that it is too dangerous as Dracula is a savage unknown. Master Concord is the Master of Syracuse and he is definitely for resurrecting Dracula. Master Devlin is the Master of Buffalo and is likely working with Master Venerick to help the Dracula's Heart cult resurrect Dracula, so he's out as well. There is also Master LaCroix---Rueth LaCroix who is the Master of Albany. If Master LaCroix doesn't know about what's going on, we need to tell her so we can have her as an ally."
Asuya just smiled at me and said, "I've met them all, except for this Rueth. She's new. She must be the successor of Jacques." I nodded to confirm her educated guess.
The general consensus of Asuya amongst the Masters was negative---which was probably out of fear, that much I knew. Let's hope that can be put aside for this crisis.
Asuya looked as if she were considering the things I told her, staring at nothing in particular, before she looked to me. "Then, we shall visit your Master first. Let's see what he knows, what he wants to do and whether he will consider me a temporary ally so that we can preserve what is hidden from human eyes. From there, we will stop the newborns from wreaking havoc in New York and try and find the ritual grounds before it's too late."
I nodded and my eyes started to glow red with black, veiny circles around the sockets. Whenever we vampires use our powers, that is what happens. I stood up and opened the window and looked to Asuya. "Follow me to Master Thais so we can get started," I said, before I jumped out of the window and on the rooftop of a nearby building. I continued to jump, jumping farther as I gained momentum. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Asuya and... I swear she was flying instead of jumping at times. Was she making sure not to pop up on the radar of the military? That's pretty smart.
Soon enough, we made it to New Paltz, way out in the forest where Thais' Manor was built. We made it in fifteen minutes, but I'm sure Asuya would have made it faster if she were not following me. My Master's manor had a massive front yard with a hedge maze, a courtyard before entering the front entrance, a courtyard in the middle of the manor and an incredible backyard with training areas for his loyal kin.
We landed in the front entrance courtyard and were met by kin of my master, ready to attack Asuya. Master Thais told them to calm down with a simple look and they put their weapons away. Master Rueth LaCroix was here too and from what I've heard of her? She's a master of psionic power. Master Thais always had slightly wavy long black hair and glowing yellow eyes, always wearing black robes with a red banner in the middle that had his Master symbol on it. Master LaCroix, however, was wearing a black leather coat, a black leather bustier, black leather leggings and stylized black combat boots. She had shoulder-length red hair, was wearing red lipstick and had brightly glowing eyes that blazed red---much brighter than mine---which denoted she was extremely powerful, perhaps even more powerful than my Master, though no one has seen Master Thais inherent power yet---that I know of at least.
I could feel clashing energies between Asuya, Master Thais and Master LaCroix. It was almost stifling to breathe around them and kin didn't even need to breathe! Some of Master Thais' men were crippled in their presence. Master LaCroix didn't even bother to bring any of her loyal kin, which was pretty arrogant of her.
Master Thais spoke first, saying, "Ah, Asuya. Welcome to my home. Seeing that my loyal kin, Walter has brought you here, you know of the situation with Dracula's Heart?" When Master Thais said that, Rueth was looking at Asuya like she was an alien---which technically, I bet Asuya is---and Rueth was probably wondering why Asuya was so powerful. Rueth looked at me now and I winced. She probably heard that, due to her immense psionic ability.
"I am here, Master Thais so we can put aside differences temporarily and stop this threat that will reveal what is hidden from human eyes," she answers Master Thais, who then, corrects her on something, "We call it The Curtain, Asuya. The division of what is supernatural and beyond and what is mundane. The Curtain isn't as fragile as you think. For instance, the Gambini Family knows of us, thanks to you, but no one would believe him as we all do what we can to preserve The Curtain's effectiveness." Asuya let that slide, I see. She could have retorted on the subject of the Gambini Family, but she didn't bother.
"I am not here to discuss the Gambini Family, Master Thais. We need to stop these newborns from tearing the city asunder and causing jeopardy to The Curtain," she said in a slightly irate tone. Rueth looked as if she were going to say something, then went silent, just staring at Asuya.
Master Thais smiles a little and responds, "I have loyal kin on it. They will make sure to keep things quiet, but make no mistake, there will be chaos. The cover-up story will be that a gangwar is happening in the city. Meanwhile, we are digging up knowledge from my library as to where this ritual of Dracula's resurrection is located. Asuya, while you can easily defeat most of us, Dracula might be your match, if not surpass you in power. This I have no doubt." Rueth frowned to that and finally spoke, "There is no way she can surpass all of us---" She was cut off by Master Thais, who glared at her and corrected her quickly, "She defeated your predecessor, Master Concord, Master Devlin and myself all at the same time. She could have killed us, but found mercy in her heart... not the proudest moment of Dracula's kin. While you are now the Master of the LaCroix kin, do mind your manners around Asuya, dear. We haven't the time for you to challenge her as we have a crisis to avert." Rueth hissed loudly at Asuya regardless, to which Asuya retorted with a loud roar that sounded like that of a liger---just much louder! It blew out all of our eardrums when Asuya did that---something we can easily regenerate using our blood reserves, but it was an inconvenience imposed on us thanks to Rueth. We all looked at Master LaCroix who was shocked and wincing from the roar---but no, this was something else... it was as if gravity was keeping her in a kneeling position and causing her pain!
It seems Asuya made time to challenge her and Rueth already lost! Asuya moved over to Rueth and knelt down with her and murmured, "Do not challenge me again. I know not what befell Jacques as I was not the one who ended him, however if you do not wish to join him, I suggest you do as Master Thais said and mind your manners." Asuya sure knew how to assert dominance! Rueth nodded sheepishly and Asuya released her from whatever it was keeping her knelt down! Asuya then, looked to Master Thais and asked, "May I take a peek at your libraries? Perhaps, I can aid in the research?" Who was Master Thais to refuse after such a display of power? He simply nodded and lead her to his libraries. I think that was all of the excitement we were going to have this evening, because if the rest was research? Dracula didn't have to come back to kill me, because I'd be bored to death before his arrival.
Chapter Seven - Divide and Conquer - Asuya
Unfortunately, Master Thais' libraries did not have tomes aged or insightful enough to know where Dracula's resurrection site would be, but I had a different matter to attend to. Sil hearing, when not roaring, is around five-hundred miles and we can discern distinct sounds and voices from such hearing. That being said, I could hear my main office on Shelter Island being attacked by newborn vampires and I could also hear that Master Venerick himself was with them. I looked between the Masters in my presence and Walter, before muttering, "I must go. It seems Master Venerick does not understand that I can end him easily and I am compelled to teach him said lesson. Walter, you stay here and help them as you are a good detective."
I could feel the scorn from Walter for making him stay, but it was comical in nature!
I decided to try what I did back when I messed up Harold's limousine, but on a much larger scale now that I knew the extent of my power. I used my abilities over "Void" and slipstreamed through the shadows of the night, avoiding moonlight to keep my speed and while I was doing this, I could move as fast as light itself, if not faster due to no longer being a physical being! This also, somehow, preserved my clothing!
I arrived at my main building in a split second and slowly arose from the shadows returning to the physical world and by design, behind one of the newborns made by Dracula's Heart. I sharpened the long claws of my right hand and pushed them through his spine from the back of his neck, out of his mouth. He almost instantly crumbled to smoldering dust as I looked up at where Master Venerick kept himself which was the top of my tower, where Phil's office was going to be. Arrogance always enjoyed being atop of those it deemed lesser. I would deal with him in a moment. It seemed ten of his newborns would rush me. I smiled and decided to let them land their blows. Why? To give Lord Venerick a false sense of security---to let him think he can win without lifting a finger. The first one put what he thought was a nasty right cross to my jaw, sending me reeling, but not off my feet. Next, came a kick from my right flank, hitting my abs and I sold it, making myself keel over as if all of the air was squeezed from my body. Two fists that were interlocked at the fingers came down on my back, sending me to the ground, squishing my chest into the beautifully paved walkway. They all began kicking me and I felt like I was getting a massage. Don't get me wrong, these blows would kill a human being, but for me? It would be as if a mouse were kicking a lion. Each blow was around five tons each---give or take a ton or two. They'd have to do double, perhaps even triple that to even make me feel it.
My plan worked.
Master Venerick came down from Phil's office, the very office I was trying to preserve, and decided to brag. Once he got to the ground floor and reached me outside, he decided to lift my face to his by my jaw and proceeded to monologue, "Oh Asuya. Did you really think you could defeat one of the best of Dracula's kin?" When he finally lifted my face to his, he could see me smiling and upon seeing that smile, he attempted jumped back at least twenty yards!
It was too late.
Dracula's kin all had blood reserves in their body, either from the victims they drained through fang or blood bags stolen or herded through nefarious tricks. Blood is around fifty percent plasma and plasma is around ninety percent water. I used the plasma in Master Venerick's body mid-air of his jump, pulling it from all of his orifices, to create a scythe weapon big enough to reach all ten newborns and Master Venerick in under a half a second then used it to slice them all in half at an angle that would get them all around the torso! To make them stay put for the attack, I exerted what my brother called "Munakou Conquer" which is what causes gravity to weigh down on my targets at ten times my body weight---my body weight being around one-hundred and thirty-five pounds. That slammed down on them, before my attack! The slice was so fast and so powerful that it shattered some of the windows of the bottom floor and that was still around ten more yards behind Master Venerick! They all turned to dust before they even hit the ground.
I could feel pain inside the building, so I followed what I sensed and beheld that some of my employees were bitten. To counter this, I used what Kiname taught me about healing with Munakou power and did so, nullifying the bite's curse. This made sure that they would not die this eve or turn into newborns. I felt the urge to murmur under my breath, "Brother, if you are watching, thank you for teaching me this."
I had to heal most of my employees that were still there. It was ironic... it was almost time for them to go home and he comes and does this. Some stay for overtime that I gladly give, but it was nearing ten o'clock.
Healing everyone took it's toll on me and I would need rest to recover the Mithic Energy that powers Munakou in my body. Once I knew everyone was safe, I went to the penthouse that Harold use to live, now back to it's rightful owner. I also made sure it was cleaned thoroughly after Harold moved out and I moved in. When I got there, I lay in my bed for a few moments to gather my thoughts and review all that transpired tonight, before I got up and went to the bathroom stripping the ripped clothing from my person. I stared at my body, making sure there weren't any wounds. Not sure why I did that, but just in case! There were no bruises, no cuts, nothing. I guess it is true what my brother said... Sil really didn't bleed.
I needed five hours of sleep after all of that. I could go without it if necessary, but I would rather sleep incase we do not find the ritual site and Dracula is resurrected. I made one last-ditch effort to listen for where the site was, but there was too much fighting in the city, too much noise from unwary humans and while that shouldn't have mattered, something else was just... cloaking the sounds of any chanting or ritual activities. It made sense to use magic in that effort, just in case a random human pops in and sees them.
I had no idea how strong Dracula was compared to me, but regardless, I did not want to find out. I don't think I'll have a choice in the matter, because I had a bad feeling that we would be too late to stop his resurrection...