Chapter 6: Chapter 5
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Chapter 5
Cillian managed to right himself up, dismissing his sword when he noticed that all of the enemies were incapacitated.
In this whole mansion, the only people left conscious were the four members of the Lucky Lounge and the kneeling butler.
The butler grit his teeth and his eyes widened in surprise when he noticed the unconscious boy under Alex's arm.
"That boy…" He rasped. "He is not yours to take!"
Alex tilted his head in question. "Isn't that obvious? He is no one's to take."
The vampire groaned in exertion as he slowly lifted his body upwards, his bones croaking under the pressure of Alex's Haki.
"You are going against forces beyond your control, BOY!" He screamed. "If you valued your life you'd let that boy down, and never show your ugly mug again!"
"Forces beyond my control, you say?"
The weight on the butler's body intensifies, forcing him to kneel once more.
"Are you sure about that?"
"When… He hears about this." He says. "When Con-"
A pillar of white light covered the vampire's body before he completed his sentence, causing his painful screams to echo in the room.
The group tensed in warning, while Alex tried to sense the cause of the sudden occurrence.
'It feels like the surrounding life-force is co-opting him' He thought dazedly.
The bloodsucker's scream already ceased when the white light dissipated, but instead of a charred body, the man just calmly stood up without a sound.
His eyes lit up in a white hue, giving them an otherworldly look, while a frown as adorned in his face.
"Vampires." A deep voice sounded from the butler's mouth. "They can never do anything right."
Thellsa's wings glowed menacingly in preparation. "Who're you?" She questioned.
A smirk adorned the butler's face. "Me?" He says. "I am destiny's retribution against all mortal races, the retribution of man's strongest fear, and the harbinger of true freedom."
"You ask who I am, little girl?" He scoffs. "I am your RECKONING!"
Using his predictive abilities, Alex moved before he finished his sentence, and for the first time in the presence of others, his fist was covered in a black metallic hue, meeting his opponent straight on his path to Thellsa.
The ensuing impact was absolutely deafening, its shockwave itself caused all surrounding people or furniture to be blown back to the wall with such force that it broke, and a significant crater formed below their zone of contact.
Alex's blow won out however, causing the left size of the butler's body to turn into a hole.
Whoever possessed the vampire's body didn't care about his apparent injury, since he spoke despite blood flowing out of his mouth.
"Perplexing…" He spoke; glancing down at his injury with a frown. "Whatever you did there allowed you to touch on my essence."
He stared back at Alex, the previous gaze filled with contempt tinged with annoyed interest.
"An unknown variable such as you, showing up at such a time…" His frown deepens. "It seems the whims of fate are adamant in blocking my way."
"But no matter…" His voice echoes with an eerie feel. "I always prevail."
Alex slightly widens his eyes, and in the fraction of a second, he covers his arm in Haki and punches the empty air before him.
The move turns out to be fortuitous, as at that same moment the controlled vessel of the butler blows up in a cacophony of noise and blinding white light, colliding with the punch's shockwave with an ear-piercing screech.
When the kinetic force disperses, half of the mansion is erased, leaving only a crater, while Alex's side remains unscathed.
Alex spins his head around. "At least your car stayed intact." He comments toward Thell, who just dismissed a wind barrier.
The faerie just gobsmackedly stares at him, then the boy under his arm, and then at the destruction caused by his actions.
"H-how strong are you, exactly!?" She half shouts half asks.
Alex just shrugs his shoulders "How would I know?"
Thellsa huffs in frustration, turning around to check on the others.
A golden barrier dissipates around Aiko's form, a talisman falling to the ground. She slumps to the ground out of exhaustion, yet before she falls, she's held by Thellsa from her shoulders.
"That took a lot out of you, huh…" Thell comments, yet Aiko was too tired to respond. "Let's get you home."
They head to the exit.
Meanwhile, Cillian stands up from the middle of some rubble, shaking the dust away from his clothes. Aside from some scratches and bruises, the swordsman seemingly walked out of the confrontation unscathed.
He stares at the aftermath with a somewhat startled expression, before eventually settling on a calculative tint. But he still sheathes his sword and follows the rest to the exit.
They silently head out of the mansion, walking next to the despairing lady vampire, who whimpered over her destroyed property.
As Thellsa opens the driver's seat of her magical car, she shouts to the crying woman. "A meeting is to be held soon in order to discuss today's events!" She exclaims. "The Karnsteins better be there, or we'll pay another visit."
The group didn't give her reaction –whatever it was- any heed, as they were too tired or uncaring to… well, care.
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They were gathered on the lounge, around a table, or at least most of them were. Aiko was simply too tired to stay awake.
Cillian just sat there polishing his sword with a white cloth; Thell mindlessly drank a jack and coke, while Alex was munching on some rice crackers.
Even while asleep, the white-haired kid clung to Alex, and is now asleep with his head on his lap.
"Who was the guy who possessed the butler?" He asks. "I didn't know vampires served someone else?"
"They don't." Cillian responds, yet refuses to elaborate.
"Vampires are extremely xenophobic; it's why they tend to alienate everyone else." Thellsa explains. "Plus, that Karnstein lady seemed to be pretty stereotypical."
"Well, whoever it is, they're pretty strange, it felt like they were part of natural energy, co-opting it to do their bid." Alexander mindlessly pats the boy's head. "And they definitely wanted something with the kid, is there a way we can find out about him?"
"Already ahead of you." She answers, getting a tablet out of nowhere and handing it to him. "The kid's one Cyrus Marirana, adoptive son of one Amira Marirana, who raised him most of his life until a week ago, whereupon little Cyrus' bus was hijacked alongside his classmate on their way to a school trip to New York."
Alex checked the tablet, finding what seemed to be a clandestine file of a beautiful woman; she had an athletic figure draped in gleaming golden armor that emphasizes her modest curves and a bronze complexion. Doe like eyes locked in a fierce glare at a gruesome stray devil, all the while her black spear was embedded on its eyes straight through its brain.
"Damn." Alex exclaims. "She's just my type."
Thellsa gives him a strange stare, but shrugs.
"For your information, our Lounge's role in keeping supernatural peace means having a certain amount of favor with the supernatural branch of the CIA." She explains. "This file came from them, this woman is suspected to be a person of both Egyptian and Amazonian origin, both she and her son lived in a small town in the outskirts of New York, and she was generally left alone because aside from killing some stray devils or other threats she didn't do much."
"The interesting part, however." She comments. "Is that she disappeared the same day little Cyrus here got kidnapped."