Chapter 404: When, Not If (1/2)
Farrah dragged a vampire out of the lava by the foot. He was still alive, or at least undead, due to his silver-rank fortitude. His normal vampiric healing was not kicking in, though, due to the burn damage.
“Why are you letting him out?” Night Stalker asked. “You should finish him.”
“We came to save you, not to kill the people you robbed,” Farrah said.
“What if they come after us again?” Night Stalker asked.
“Then you can lament your mediocre life choices.”
“Leave it, Bryan,” Franklin said.
“Forget this; I’ll do it myself.”
Night Stalker moved to grab the crippled vampire, only to find himself looking down the length of Farrah’s sword.
“This is all very tense,” Jason said from behind the group, no one but Dawn having noticed his arrival. The car Farrah and Dawn arrived in had turned back into a group of Shade’s bodies, one of which Jason had stepped out of.
“G’day, Craig,” Jason said.
“Jason,” Vermillion said with a greeting nod. “Thank you for the save.”
Jason looked around at a section of street marred by magical battle. There were scorch marks everywhere, a takeaway shop had what was left of Vermillion’s stolen car sticking out of it. The two essence users were battered but alive, both strapped down to the road by webs that had the gleam of metal. There were three vampires, all severely burned and far too hurt to keep fighting. Vermillion and his companions had torn and bloody clothes but their injuries had already recovered.
“This is Frank,” Vermillion introduced. “And this is Night Stalker.”
“Night Stalker?” Jason said. “Like the serial killer from the eighties?”
“It’s doesn’t sound like a serial killer name,” Night Stalker insisted.
“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “It doesn’t sound like a serial killer name. It is a serial killer name. There was a guy in the eighties who raped and killed a bunch of people in California. If you're a vampire and you're going to run around calling yourself the Night Stalker I'm going to put you down now and call it a public service.”
“It’s fine, Jason. He’s not running around killing people; he’s just an idiot. How do you know so much about serial killers?”
“I went to school with this guy who collected serial killer trading cards. Greg and I used to…”
Jason trailed off, hanging his head.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Craig, why are you chasing reality cores?”
“We’re forming an alliance, with members of the EOA and the Network. We have the numbers but the leadership factions of each have most of the strongest members. We need to get stronger, fast.”
“Are you going to be fighting in the transformation zones over cores?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t expect further help, then. Reality cores aren’t for anyone to have. That goes for you as much as your enemies.”
“Our enemies are your enemies, Jason. Will you let them run rampant?”
“You’re squabbling over who gets to be captain of a sinking ship, Craig, and you’re throwing people overboard to keep it afloat. Look at the state of the world. The army is fighting mythical creatures in the streets of Sydney. America is on the brink of civil war because the Network wasn't careful enough with their secret coup. Europe is being taken over by vampires and China is reaching new heights of civic oppression keeping a lid on everything. Governments are turning tyrant or threatening to collapse entirely. We’re on the verge of anarchy.”
”Our alliance wants to remedy that,” Craig said. ”Keep preventing the monster waves. Protect the people. But we need the strength. Look, if you can tell me how to help you save the world or whatever, I will. I don’t think I’m what you need, though. So let us do what we can and you do what you can.”
Jason turned away, running a dirty hand over his bloody face.
“Craig,” he said his voice weary. “Going after reality cores is pulling down the roof to burn for warmth in winter.”
“And not going after them is putting down your sword while your enemy is picking his up.”
“It doesn’t matter who wins if the world burns.”
“But it does if you save it,” Craig said. “That’s what you’re doing, right? Saving the world. We’re trying to make sure it’s still worth a damn when you do.”
“He’s not wrong,” Farrah said.
“Whose side are you on?” Jason asked.
“Yours,” she said. “Sometimes that means telling you to let something go and get on with the job.”
Jason looked at her, his expression unhappy, but he didn’t argue.
“People taking reality cores are bad,” she told him. ”But do you think that telling Craig not to do it matters in the long run? You're frustrated that it's happening. We all are. But this is not the place to make that stand because it gets you nothing.”
“I likewise detest that the denizens of this world would ravage it for power,” Dawn said. “You aren’t going to convince them to stop, however. People will always ignore the greater dangers in pursuit of momentary concerns. Humans, elves, this world or another. It is true every time, in every reality.”
“The only way to stop people from taking reality cores is to cut off the supply,” Farrah said. “Which we should probably get back to.”
“You can do that?” Craig asked.
Farrah winced.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
Craig shared a look with Franklin and they flashed into motion, grabbing a startled Bryan, dragging him to the lava flow and shoving him in, head first. Jason, Farrah and Dawn shared a confused look.
“Craig?” Jason asked.
The two vampires held Bryan under until he stopped moving, which didn’t take long for the bronze-rank vampire.
“What was that about?” Farrah asked.
“Bryan was a plant,” Craig said. “The faction of the Cabal loyal to the old vampires inserted him to infiltrate the new alliance forming against them.”
“You’re sure?” Jason asked.
“Yeah. We didn’t give him a heads up about hitting the reality core storage but brought him along so he would think he was in the inner circle. We were going to use him for misinformation but we can’t let the old vampires know you can turn off the tap. They’ll make you their number one priority.”
“I’m sorry,” Farrah said. “I should be more careful.”
“I didn’t sense any duplicity from his aura,” Dawn said. “Bloodline dominance?”