End of Navarre.

She shivered at my words. "Cursed weapons have been banned… the SCO does not allow ownership of such a thing, so how does a human have one?"

Who cares? I'm older than God and the Outsiders! As if I'd let a bunch of Toddlers boss me around!

Although, I could understand why they would implement such a law. This weapon was… terrible. Dáinsleif was cursed in such a way so that when your hand grasped the hilt, it would not allow you to let it go until it absorbed a soul and the wounds made from this axe would never heal. Not many people could escape the curse and I was no exception! Unfortunately, she had to die. Not that I cared… she wanted to fight until she realized she was at a disadvantage? Hah! Prissy bitch!

"Well, I got this one before those laws were implemented. Besides, I think I have the right to bear arms in this country, right? Second amendment and all." I grinned at her. "Either way, I'm sure Cadogan would've put a bounty out, or at the very least, not make the same mistake as you."

Her eyes narrowed as she raised her hands up. Her wounds kept leaking blood, slowly staining the front of her shirt red. She came at me like lighting. She was definitely fast! I almost got my throat ripped out as I barely managed to lean back and swing my axe down at her leg. I managed to get it in halfway through her leg, right underneath her knee. She grunted from the pain and spun on her heel while stretching her arm out. She slashed my left eye and I saw my vision spilt before it was blind. That one hurt… a lot. It'll take a few hours to heal.

I didn't so much as flinch, however, as I once again swung my axe to my left, hitting air. My vision was now cut in half, so she kept aiming for my blind spot. I didn't even hear her moving before she clawed my stomach and ripped out my entrails. Now 'that' made me grunt. I flicked my wrist to the side and managed to slice her left hand off at the middle of her forearm. For her this was a fight to the death… and I kept wishing I could say the same…

She jumped back and put most of her body weight on her good leg. "Seems as though… this fight is almost over."

"Yeah."

"If I kill you… the owner of said cursed item… will I heal?"

I grinned at her. "Technically… yes. But you cannot kill me."

"We shall see." She ran at me much slower than before, taking into consideration of her body's current state.

As she got close she stuck her hand out and plunged it through my chest. I felt her hand enter as my heart exited. She smiled up at me as she held my heart in her hand with her arm through my chest.

"Too bad." I said as I struck with my axe.

It cleaved her head and it dropped to the ground with a thud. I fell to a knee, sheathed my axe, and picked my heart up before shoving back into my chest along with my entrails. I heard the sounds of people gagging and throwing up. Yeah… not the most elegant sight. Luckily I wouldn't have to meet Anubis this time.

I picked up her head by the hair and walked away while holding my stomach to keep my guts from falling out. I used my will to speed up the healing process, but even with that it would still take a couple of minutes.

*Sorry, Gaia, but this shit hurts!* I silently apologized to the earth while I stole it's energy.

Oddly enough, no enforcers showed up. That was more than just odd… something was wrong. As I walked, people stepped out of my way, parting like the Red Sea. I side stepped into an alleyway and slid down along the wall. I let out a breath before closing my eyes.

**???**

"Hey, what's that?" A young boy asked.

"Earth." A gruff female voice responded.

"What's that?"

"A planet for mortals."

"Does it have magic?"

"Yes."

"Can we go there?"

"We must finish our business, first."

"That's true! There are a lot here! They must be very tired!"

"Yes. Many more."

**Birger's POV**

I awoke with a start. I jumped off of the ground and rubbed my eyes. It was dark now. I pulled out my phone to check the time and saw it was cracked from the fight earlier.

"…June 20th?" I tilted my head. "Two days, huh? Took longer than I thought."

I leaned down to grab Navarre's head once again and made my way to House Cadogan. They must have been expecting me, seeing as how they had a whole army at the gate!

"Stop." A female voice shouted.

I turned to her. "Well, Mrs. Merit, quite the welcome party!"

"Throw the head to us." She didn't bother asking me how I knew her name.

"Nuh uh." I replied while shaking my head. "How much?"

"How… much? We didn't offer any bounty for House Navarre's master. Her head will be returned to her house for a proper burial. You will be brought in and put to trial." She spoke in an angry voice.

She seemed fairly young for her to be in charge… I tilted my head.

"Odd…" I muttered and turned to my left. "Only twenty nine and has the power of a master vampire."

A male voice responded from the darkness. "Amazing, right? The bounty was fifty thousand, I believe."

The female vampire's head shot in the direction of the voice. "Ethan."

"Yes, Sentinel?" Ethan responded.

"You bastard… you set up a bounty on them?"

I decided to step in. "Cash."

"You know the law, Ethan. He is to be put in front of the council!" Merit said, ignoring me.

"Cash, then." Ethan said as he snapped his fingers, ignoring Merit now.

Another vampire brought out a brief case and handed it to me before walking away. I opened it and checked it quickly before taking out a few stacks and tossing them to Ethan. He raised his eyebrows as he caught them.

"There was fifty five thousand." I said simply.

He chuckled before turning and walking towards the Building. "Man of his word, I see. Respectable."

I turned around and took a step.

"Stop!" Merit said again.

I sighed. "What?"

"You are under arrest for the murder of the master of House Navarre!" She said as Ethan looked at her in annoyance.

"Merit!" He shouted.

"Fuck. You. Ethan." She said through grit teeth.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Vlad's number.

"What."

"Hey, I'm in Chicago."

"Speak before I lose my patience!" He shouted into the phone.

"Got an issue over here. Wanna grant me invulnerability for a day?"

Ethan tilted his head at me as if he was trying to remember the voice on the other side of the phone.

"What. Did. You. Do." Vlad grit his teeth in frustration.

"Uh… I killed some chick that was the master of House Navarre and took her head to Ethan Sullivan, the master of House Cadogan, to collect a bounty."

He sighed and hung up. Moments later, all of the vampires phones rang at the same time. They pulled them out at read the message.

"THE FUCK IS THIS BULLSHIT?!" Merit shouted.

"There. No need for the trial now, eh?" I grinned at her.

"…was that…" Ethan's eyes narrowed.

"Yup." I grinned at him as I turned and made my way back to the main street.

I would've hailed another cab if I wasn't being followed. Their gaze was piercing the back of my head. I figured it was Merit, the Sentinel of House Cadogan. She seemed like she didn't care much for authority and preferred righteousness over law. I grinned at the thought.

I turned into the the tallest building I saw and took the elevator to the top level before taking the stairs to the roof. I took my gear off and leaned everything against the wall. I strode to the ledge and sat down, waiting. I waited for a few minutes before I felt a presence beside me. I looked over and wouldn't you know? It was Merit.

"You got business with me, Mrs. Merit?" I asked as she sat next to me.

She blew a breath out of her nose softly. "I would say yes but it doesn't seem like I can't do anything at the moment."

I hummed in agreement.

"Who'd you call? Ethan seemed to know but he wouldn't tell me."

"Just an old vampire." I said before chuckling.

"Uh-huh. You know, I saw the security footage from House Navarre. You didn't have to kill them."

"True. But I also didn't have to let them live."

"That's… just wrong. Taking a life should always be a last resort. Those people had families…"

"I know. I gave them a choice. They chose wrong. Nothing else." I said in an apathetic tone. "You followed me for what, thirty minutes to reprimand me?"

"I had hoped you would be… different… than what I thought. Turns out your just another bad guy." She stood up and walked to the center of the building while drawing her sword. "Come."

"I prefer foreplay beforehand, actually."

She blushed for a moment. "I'm serious! Ethan may have let you go, but I won't be as disingenuous as him."

"Tell me, Merit. Do you know House Navarre?"

"Yeah? They've been our… not quite ally but more like good natured acquaintance for years."

"Good… natured?" I said slowly as if the words were foreign to me. "So then tell me, why did Ethan put a bounty on them? And the vamp I called, Why didn't he reprimand Ethan?"

"I… don't know…" she spoke awkwardly.

"Because you're acting like a self righteous child. A fucking ignorant little kid who doesn't know that a stove could burn you." I yelled in anger.

She reared back at my sudden change in tone, but I continued speaking as I stood up and walked towards her.

"You have no idea the amount of people… even children!" I took a deep breath. "That fucking house was a disgusting misrepresentation of what a brood should be. Fucking Vlad the Impaler had more restraint then that disgusting creature you call Navarre. You saw the security tapes? Did you happen to notice that a quarter of the people who went in never came out?"

"W-what… they… we're killing them?" She stuttered for a moment before her eyes turned hard. "No… Ethan would have told me! He wou-"

"Why? Why would he tell you? He didn't have any proof. You couldn't attack them without the SCO getting involved." I spoke in a gentle but stern voice. "It would have ruined your House. That's why he put out a bounty."

"I'm s-" she started to speak but I cut her off.

"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong. I was actually impressed that you would try to come after the man who killed a master vampire in a one on one! You were wrong, but it was for the right reason." I smiled at her. "Just give Ethan a break, okay? I'm not gonna say anything, but it seems like you two are more than just Master and Sentinel of House Cadogan!"

She blushed. "It's not like that!"

I laughed for a moment. "Oh, yeah! I was gonna ask, why didn't the SCO show up when I attacked Navarre?"

"Chicago doesn't have SCO influence. It's basically a hot spot for vampires so the council that we spoke of was the Vampire Council. They basically run everything pertaining to vampires."

I tilted my head at her. *I guess I have been out of the loop for too long…*

"Hmm. I'll keep that in mind." I spoke with a grin. "I'll let you get back to your Houses Master."

She blushed again but nodded and jumped off the rooftop. I heard a voice like a soft whisper.

*You aren't as good as you want to believe, dear.*

I tuned it out turned to the stairs to head down.