Law of Shadows

“And they roamed the earth in those days, keeping watch over their weaker brethren.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

“Shit, I mean… how does something like that get past the city’s legislation? Did they buy a few officials? The more of this comes to light, the more work I get.” I gesture at the fake building site while I dangle my feet from the roof. After I armed up at my apartment I drove right to the warehouse where I met with Eva and her nest. To be on the safe side we decided to observe the warehouse from a neighbouring building.

“I suppose they have at least one official in their pockets. And I think it’s the troll. Ah, this glamour of yours is cool by the way. They really can’t see or hear us from down there?” Eva chuckles from right next to me and leans herself back.

“Hrm… why do you think that?” I grumble and squint my eyes at the scene.

She points at the guards who are protecting the door. “See those two big hunks of a man? They are trolls. They stink and I smell them against the wind. Trolls do nothing without the permission of their tribe’s leader. The troll-chieftain is the city’s minister of transport.”

So the trolls? I already wondered when I have to give them the next demonstration. But this time they earned themselves a special reward.

“Please tell me you aren’t going to wipe out the whole tribe.”

“Just the families of those guards and of the minister’s… twice removed.” I already try to remember the exact location of their cave system. “But you are right. I could drop some mustard gas down their cave entrance. I still have some from world-war two. That would be less trouble.”

Eva sighs. “You see. That’s why nobody likes you and calls you the demon lord. They are afraid because you always punish many for the mistakes of one. You have to cool down and manage your territory a little more leniently.”

I point at the warehouse. “Do you see that? That’s what I get for being lenient! I am just one person and I have a whole territory to watch. More than nine thousand square kilometres of mountains and valleys! I have to rule with an iron fist. And not everyone is afraid of me.”

She shows me her teeth in a brilliant smile. “Tell me who.”

I stutter and start counting on one hand. “Well, there is you, the toad, that old lady at the bus stop, the people at my shop. Fred...” I continue by giving her their names.

She holds up a hand. “I don’t count because I knew you since before your family died. I am reasonably sure that you won’t harm me on your good days. The toad doesn’t count either, because he is a hermit who doesn’t concern himself with much more than his lake. And the lady at the bus stop is a ten thousand year old nymph with serious dementia. She probably doesn’t even know who she is talking to half the time. Finally we have your human pets, playmates, who don’t even know who you are.”

I hiss at her version of the situation. “So what should I do? It’s hard enough for me to tolerate other supernaturals. You have no idea how hard it is not to rip out the throats of all those idiots. All I want is to have a quiet territory.”

She circles her hand. “Find a mate? Invade some other territories and steal yourself a few women to start a new family. I am sure a few more helping hands would ease the workload.”

I tilt my head and look at her as if she has a few screws loose.

Eva raises both hands, giving up. “Or make some mating calls. I’ve no idea how you Old Ones do it. It can’t be healthy for a guy in his prime to be cut off from the rest of his species. Oh, I know! I have a twentytwelfth-generation granddaughter, neophyte! You could take her as-”

I blanch and search for my cigarettes. “How did that idea enter your head? You know yourself that the result of such a union wouldn’t be a vampire. The child would be… something. No idea what.”

“Let me explain. She is shy, a wallflower and a prude.”

“I thought you are trying to sell your goods. That doesn’t sound convincing.”

“Exactly! She is one of those girls who think that they don’t need children. But she needs to have children. For my sake. The more bloodkin to protect, the better. The girl simply doesn’t know what she will feel once she bites the dust. I can’t leave all the work to her siblings. So I thought that you might want to seduce her and give her a good boning! Just to introduce her to the wicked ways of us supernaturals. No problem if you get her with child as long as she develops a taste for it. Women can have a whole football team of younglings. Back in my days, I-”

“Just stop!” I bite my inner cheek and raise a hand. Eva already lived back in the dark ages. The women back then knew only two states, being pregnant, or recovering from pregnancy. That’s why she doesn’t understand that someone might not want to have a big family. She is from another era in that aspect. I bet she had fourteen kids and died, a.k.a. became a vampire, while pushing out the fifteenth.

“I thank you for the offer. But if you remember our time together, then you might understand that my kind can get a little rough. And I am not into little children.” I bet that the granddaughter she is complaining about is sixteen or seventeen. Then I get to my feet. “And congratulations, you successfully managed to cause me to crave for blood.”

She actually manages to look disappointed. “Too bad. I just wanted to help. You just seem so lonely since that incident happened. I think she would survive a little rough. Just remember our night.” She makes a clawing motion and slits out her canines.

I reach for my neck which got pretty chewed up at that encounter. Not to think about the scratches.

“It’s for the best. Take care of any runaways.” I turn away and jump from the building, softly landing on the street below. We’ve watched the warehouse for long enough to be sure that something is going on in there. Despite the fact that it is a construction site, people in gaudy clothes are walking in and out as if it isn’t strange at all.

When I reach the guards, I drop the glamour. Sadly, neither of the two trolls recognizes me, so one of them steps forward to stop me. He is wearing a nice Armani in his human disguise, so I take care not to damage the outfit as I reach for the larger man’s head and turn it around, which is accompanied with a nice ‘crack’.

The other guard’s eyes widen and he reaches into his jacket. I step in, aiming a fist at his chin. He parries once and screams, looking at his arm in denial. It’s now bent in an unhealthy angle. There aren’t many supernaturals who can rival a troll in strength, so this must be a shock for him. Not giving him time to recover, I grab his arm and whirl him around like a child. When his head kisses the asphalt, I am yet again rewarded with the sound of breaking bones.

I don’t look back as I walk onto the property, even though I sense four members of Eva’s nest closing in on the two trolls. Doubtlessly to make sure that none of the blood goes to waste.

The entire area is empty except for the warehouse itself. As I approach the main-entrance, I reach under my coat and retrieve the two parts of the StG77. Sliding the barrel into the machine gun, I snap it in and add one of the extra large magazines with fifty bullets. At the same time I reach the entrance and kick open one of the door-wings.

What awaits me inside was expected, yet it is also totally unexpected. There is the ash-fae-tree inside the warehous’s huge hall. But there are also fae and other supernaturals dancing and partying, mixed in with some humans who look very much enthralled. There are a lot of them, maybe forty people. Most are dancing around the tree, taken in by the music and the green light. Others are sitting at tables and eating.

When the door falls shut behind me with an audible slam. It’s like the spell is broken. The room falls silent and all of them turn to me, eyes wide.

I raise my gun and unload aimlessly into the crowd. As they scream, I howl in delight because their fear touches some instinct deep inside me. The room dissolves into chaos as everyone tries to get away in another direction.

Shooting with one hand, I reach for the leather belt which is attached to my Kevlar-vest. Loosely attached to it are about eighty D20 cubes. All of them are enchanted with spell disruption, much like the one I used on the female fae. By whipping the belt towards the crowd I spread the cubes all over the room. A perfect crowd control for supernaturals.

Of course my actions don’t stay unanswered. Several people counter-attack with spells of their own. But my shields are in place and even though the magical drain is strong I endure it. So far I didn’t waste any magic on the offensive. And that’s good this way. Actually this is the reason why I prefer human tools to attack enemies. It’s much safer to concentrate wholly on defence while attacking through non-magical means.

Many inexperienced magic users make the mistake of dropping their shields, so that they don’t interfere with a spell. More often than not it’s their last mistake. Using magic to kill someone who isn’t protected takes not much more than a thought. A little burst of telekinesis, projected right at the brain or the organs is enough. Even if it wouldn’t kill most of the sturdier supernaturals, being knocked out is as good as dead.

A powerful spell impacts right next to me and the shockwave sends me flying. My shields are no help against displaced air, as most of them are aimed against magical attacks. I was going to confront fae after all. But one of the fae got smart and realised that my shields are dismantling their spells. So they aimed to avoid hitting my shields, hoping to take me out with collateral damage.

I impact and roll, ejecting the second magazine as I block a sword with the barrel. Bringing the weapon around, I hit the sword-wielder with the stock of my rifle. Instead of reloading, I draw my pistol and place a bullet in the fae’s chest. This time I don’t have to expend a whole magazine. All my ammunition is coated with special anti-fae poison. A scratch is enough and they are as good as dead.

When I get back up, the room is mostly empty, except for seven fae who are preparing another spell for me while they hide behind the bar. I reach for my belt and take off one of the grenades, throwing it and launching myself sideways as their spell is fired. My world is rocked by another explosion and a tight sting in my leg, which is immediately followed by the explosion of my grenade.

Hissing, I get up and aim the pistol at the bar. Which is gone. The plywood didn’t hold so well against a military grenade. Feeling for the sting in my leg, I reach behind me and feel a huge splinter. I pull it out and get to my feet with awkward movements. I heal fast, but not in an instant. Hopefully I can walk normally within two or three minutes.

Since standing still is more comfortable than walking around, I spend the time by shooting everyone who is still twitching. I count twenty-eight bodies, so the others either fled through the tree, or out the back exit. In that case the vampires should be sucking on them right now. Deciding to get things done, I hobble to the tree. If this one works like the others, then people can enter fairy by touching the tree while walking around it.

Or at least I thought so. Before I can get any closer, I hobble face first into some kind of invisible shield. It lights up in a green flare around the tree and dims back to nothingness. Seems like the fae have a new way of protecting their doorways? I hit the shield with my wards, but am unable to break it. All I get is an even stronger flare.

That’s when I notice the silent sobs of a child. Turning around, I find a small girl hidden behind a body. She is hugging the corpse of a fae woman. The child has a cut on her leg, probably from the splinters which flew everywhere. But she is more concerned for the dead body.

I hobble to her side and smile down at her. “Sorry, honey. This wasn’t directed against you. Do you have a name?” Reaching into my pocket, I retrieve a package of chewing gums and offer her one.

“Rhie.” She wipes the tears out of her face and eyes the gum with suspicion. She doesn’t look to be more than eight years old.

“Good, Rhie. Why don’t you take the gum and swallow it. It will speed up your healing since you obviously haven’t inherited that from your Mama. Then you can go back to Fairy and find someone to take care of you.”

She accepts the gum, touching my hand, and puts it into her mouth. She chews slowly, but when she realizes that her wound is closing up she swallows. After a last look at the woman, she runs to the tree, not looking at me a second time. She touches the bark and runs around the tree and is… gone.

Hm. I stand there and watch the tree. Surely there are people on the other side by now, preparing to take back the warehouse. Children are almost holy to the fae, so they will surely examine her with magic as soon as she reach-

The tree explodes in a burst of splinters and I bring up my hand. But the splinters are sucked back into a green rift which is gaping open in the world. Then the whole tree is gone as if it had never been there. “Yeah, works every time.” The gum got triggered by magic and took out the fairy-version of the tree in this warehouse. Hopefully there were a lot of fae nearby.

I flick my wrist to cast off the dark energy with which the little devil of a fae tried to curse me. Eight years, pah, more like a hundred. Some fae age extremely slow during their entire life and some simply always look like children. I doubt that they would bring a real fae child into a hostile area.

Having that dealt with, I look around to find some clue on their reason for being here. It takes a few minutes and searching several bodies, but I come up with a single sheet of paper. A wanted poster.

“Wanted: Heirs to the Hammon clan, Annia Hammon and her sister, Sely Hammon. Whoever brings them back alive, is paid one milliard…”

I see why so many mercs suddenly think that risking their lives is a worthwhile gamble. I try hard to commit the picture of the girl and the young woman to memory. With that much money-

A knock at the entrance draws my attention. Over at the door is someone waving a white flag on a stick into the hall. Or to be more accurate, it’s a ripped up, white shirt with a few sprays of blood. “Is it safe to come in?”

I sigh. “Come in, Eva.”

Her head peeks in. “Holy shit! So many bloodbags. Guys, it’s a feast!” She opens the door and waves in the rest of her nest. Which results in a quickly filling hall as twenty-three vampires enter. Apparently they already took care of diverting the different cleaning duties among them. Some start patching up the corpses with duct tape, so that no more blood is lost on the floor. Others cut open the hopeless cases to catch the valuable liquid with white buckets.

Eva skips over to me, obviously overjoyed. “Do you know the joke? An Old One walks into a bar...”

I sigh and cram the wanted-poster into my pocket. There is no need for Eva to know that the mercs are searching for two female Old Ones in my city. Though I have no idea how they could have gotten through the veil without me noticing it.

“… Ey! You aren’t listening!” Eva huffs.

“I need a smoke.”

She tilts her cute head. “Seriously!? Didn’t you just blow off enough steam?”

I look around and shrug. “If it had been fifty of them, maybe? Most didn’t even try to fight. Did you catch some alive for questioning?”

Eva’s expression turns guilty. “Oh, eh… we have their blood? Maybe if we pump it back in...”

“Don’t worry. I was just asking.” I grumble and search for my cigarettes. Vamps! They had one task. Just one. Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly specify that I want some prisoners… aw, stick it. And apparently I’ve lost my cigarettes. “I’ll go home. You guys can clean this up.”

Eva nods which somehow results in her assets bobbing too. It’s a mystery to me how she does that. “Sure!”

I hurry to get away before I decide to have her bend over the next table to spank her. No matter that her whole nest is watching. Dealing with the trolls has to wait until tomorrow!