CH 23: Blade finale

"It worked better than I expected."

Marcus was impressed by the effect of his Anti-Vamp grenade, and he wasn't the only one.

"I would like to have one of those, give me a price for them."

"Oh! You don't have to pay me, I can give you the blueprint, and some extras that are already made. Just think of it as a token of friendship."

"No, I can't take it like that. And, since when did we become friends?"

Blade was apprehensive at accepting such a gift, and he had always been a lone hunter. So, this friendship thing was new to him.

"We became friends because our goals aligned and we fought together, I don't know what more is needed."

Marcus' forwardness and him not having any prior friends made it easier for Blade to accept the invitation to a friendship.

"Alright, I can agree on that but I still can't take such a precious gift. Instead, Just give me the grenades and I will pay for them."

"If you say so, then you can pay me ten dead Vampires for each grenade. Here, take these two extras I brought."

Marcus threw two Anti-Vamp grenades at Blade, who caught them easily and nodded toward Marcus for the gift.

"Also, Blade, I would like to take one or two of these Vampires for my experiments. It's the result of my experiments that I can create a weapon like that."

"Of course, I am going to kill them anyway. If you can use them better, take them."

Blade didn't mind the Vampires getting used for experiments. In fact, his foster father, Abraham Whistler, had done such experiments himself to find out the weaknesses of these creatures.

"Thanks, friend. I hope to meet you soon. Here is my contact information. If you are going to raid other bases like this, just call me, and I will be there."

Marcus gave Blade a custom-made silver card with his contact information on it. He had specifically crafted the card for giving it to Blade, which was just another layer of his person as a Vampire Hunter.

After the exchange, Marcus and Blade nodded toward each other and Marcus left the bar after picking up two specimens.

His strength allowed him to easily carry the Vamps and Parkour with their bodies across rooftops, but hindsight still appeared in Marcus' mind.

'I need to make a special Vampire Hunter bike, something like those cool Harley Davidson ones. Running around is not good for long-distance travels.'

After half an hour of running atop rooftops, Marcus finally reached his base. And for the next week, he was cooped there, researching new weapons against Vampires and designing a bike for himself.

He had notified Albert about his safety and told him to ask Killian to handle small matters related to the company.

Yeah, Killian wasn't just a genius scientist, but also a very good businessman. Being able to take an organization like AIM to such heights alone, wasn't a small feat. And now, after being implanted with the seed of loyalty, he was the perfect candidate to manage the company in his absence.

"Grandpa, you don't have to worry. He is just managing some small affairs, there won't be any problems. After all, Deus is keeping an eye on everything and nothing can escape his eyes. Alright, see you soon, bye."

Marcus cut the call after saying his goodbyes, but as soon as he put the phone on the table, it rang again. This time, it was an unknown number. Marcus guessed that it might be Blade who was calling him.

Marcus quickly used his telekinesis to grab the helmet from the faraway wardrobe and turned on its voice modulator.

"Hello, friend. It's been a while since we last spoke."

"Yeah, I was busy for the past week. Anyway, You asked me to call you when I was going to raid another base, tonight I am going to do so. I will send you the address, and meet me there in half an hour."

"Alright, I will be there."

The call was cut and a few seconds later, a message notification rang on Marcus' phone. Marcus checked the address and suited up for the mission.

The Vamp-Hunter bike was also ready, shining in its full glory. Marcus had designed it to work on an Arc Reactor, which saved him from fuel prices and unwanted emissions, including the sound emissions which meant that his bike was sound and pollution free.

It also had a dual braking system which provided stability even while braking at high speeds.

Although, he fitted in a special speaker connected to the accelerator which could emulate the revving sound of the bike for a cool effect, whenever he needed it.

It also had a self-driving system which was due to the integration of a small part of Deus in it, which could be helpful when he had to leave the bike somewhere else and travel on foot.

Marcus got on the bike and left his base silently, the clear roads allowing him to reach speeds of 120km/h easily. (check p.comments)

He reached the address ahead of the specified time, but Blade was already waiting there. And he had already noticed Marcus on his bike.

Marcus drove over and stopped near him.

"Now that you're here, let me tell you the complete reason for me inviting you here."

Marcus just nodded and waited for Blade to start talking.

"That house you see in the distance is the residence of the main culprit behind those inhuman feeding bars and the death of my foster father. His name is Deacon Frost, and he runs multiple bars like those. I have been hunting him for some time and have destroyed many of his bars including the one we destroyed together last week. Recently, I interrogated a Vampire and found that Frost is trying to command a ritual which requires the blood of 12 pure-blooded vampires to awaken La Magra-"

"The blood god"

Marcus interrupted Blade in the middle of his explanation.

"You know?"

"Yes, but that's for later, keep going."

Blade nodded and resumed, "While I was out hunting, Frost and his men attacked my hideout, killed my foster father, and kidnapped my friend, Karen Jenson. And now we are here."

Marcus crossed his hands and spoke, "The completion of the ritual requires the blood of a Dhampir. You do know that you're being lured, right?"

"I know, but I can't leave my friend and I have to take revenge for my father's death too."

"I like your conviction, my friend. Don't worry, I will help you accomplish your revenge. Now, let's go and hunt some vampires."

Hearing Marcus' assurance, Blade unknowingly had a small smile on his face.

The Demon Duo marched towards the penthouse, taking out the Vampires who were guarding the house, without raising any alarms.

After clearing the guards, they sneaked inside the penthouse to search for Karen.

The plan was to quietly rescue Karen and then take on Frost, where Marcus would fight the goons and provide Blade with the opportunity to fight Frost one on one.

But in the middle of the search, Blade caught a weirdly familiar scent and instinctively followed it.

Marcus saw Blade's trance and followed him from behind.

The scent's trail led them into a room which was locked from the inside. But the locked door couldn't hold back Blade and was sent flying with a single kick.

Blade followed the scent inside the room, and came upon a room which was completely white and had a metallic box in the middle. The box slowly opened up, revealing a woman clad in white clothes.

She slowly stepped out of the coffin shaped box, seeing her, Blade removed his sunglasses as if he couldn't believe his eyes at the moment.

"Eric…" the woman spoke.

Blade was silent for a while before he said, "But you were dead…"

"I came back, Erick…that very same night. And Deacon welcomed me into his arms…"

Blade was silent, thinking, when suddenly a jolt of electricity awakened him, and before he could balance himself, another jolt of electricity made him stumble.

A few vampires entered the room, carrying tasers and tased Blade until he was unconscious, his supposed mother just silently watching.

After that, he was carried out by the Vampires who had attacked him, and taken to the basement of the penthouse.

There, he was put into a standing metal coffin with straps tying his hands, legs, and neck.

After he was tied up, his mother came up to him, her hands touching his face and chest, and she whispered, "You poor child…you're so sick…so thirsty."

"Don't touch me."

"Eric, look at me. Vampires are my people now, I am one of them."

Blade was visibly distraught at what his mother said, "You can't be…"

She moved closer, her lips nearly touching his, and said, "Yes, I can…Try to understand, Eric. Your mother died a long time ago…I have hunted, I have killed and I enjoyed it…. Haven't you? I know you have. Sooner or later, the thirst always wins."

After she was done trying to convince him, she moved away but before she could close the metal coffin, Blade was in, she heard the sounds of intense fighting coming from the outside.

And she didn't have to wait much longer to see who the attacker was.

It was Marcus, the Asura. His mechanical eyes flared with red light, and he held two swords in his hands, as the other two rotated in a circle behind him. At this moment, he really could instill fear in the eyes of his victim.

Vanessa was also scared, Deacon had told her to bring back Blade, and she was nearly successful, when this new attacker came in. Judging from the amount of guards that she had left outside, if this man could enter here, it was probable that he killed all of them.

She tried to run away, but Marcus threw a dart which paralyzed her below the neck instantly.

After that, he went towards the tied up Blade and cut open his binds, releasing him.

"I am sorry that I couldn't help you earlier. I got busy fighting some Vampires. But, I heard you talking in the room. Your mother-"

Marcus pointed to the female vampire he had just paralyzed, "- is that her?"

"Yes"

Marcus visibly sighed and put a hand on Blade's shoulder, shook his head, and spoke, "My friend, she is long gone. She is not your mother anymore, your mother died on the day she was bit, this is just a husk with Ichor flowing in it, a Vampire which needs to be killed."

Blade struggled visibly, he had already lost his foster father and was going to lose his mother again, and all of it happened in a single day. But he said, "I know, she told me."

Blade made up his mind to kill his mother, but she also understood what was going on and hurriedly said, "If you kill me, you will never find the girl. She has been taken to the temple, and only I know the way."

Hearing her, Marcus and Blade looked at each other. Blade turned back to his mother and said, "Take us then, but remember, if you try anything, you die."

Marcus and Blade followed her lead and made their way to the temple of eternal night on foot.

And after fifteen minutes of running, they finally reached the entrance of the temple.

After reaching their destination, Marcus nodded to Blade and entered the temple first, leaving Blade behind to get his affairs in order.

Marcus used his suit's camera to scan the temple and found the recent track marks leading inside. He followed those marks and finally saw a few Vampires guarding an area.

After seeing that, Marcus waited patiently for Blade to return. The wait only had to go on for a few minutes before Blade returned to Marcus' side.

Marcus didn't ask the obvious question because he understood Blade's current state. Instead, he just confirmed the plan and acted on it.

Marcus rushed ahead and took out the guarding Vampires quietly. Blade passed by him and sneaked inside the main part of the temple, where he saw Karen tied up to a pillar and Frost berating the elder vampires.

Marcus followed right behind and they both hid behind a pillar. Marcus had been researching the vampires for a while and in his research, he found the way their vampiric senses worked and used it to fine tune his suit so that he could easily fool the vampire senses.

Marcus and Blade nodded to each other, which signaled the start of their plan.

Blade peeked from behind the pillar and used SMGs to take out the goons, while Marcus used his telekinesis to tear open the ropes that were binding Karen and then float her towards himself.

"Get out of here, right now. And, take these smoke grenades, these can kill any Vampire that comes in contact with the smoke they release. Use it wisely, I only have these two to spare. Now, get out and don't look back."

Marcus used his floating swords to take care of the vampires blocking the exit and then dived back into the battlefield to fight against Frost and his goons.

Frost was yelling orders to his goons to capture the daywalker. But his orders kept falling on deaf ears because whoever tried to do so, got reduced to ashes.

With Marcus using four swords, he was perfect for offense, defense, and support.

At last, with no other option, Frost himself had to jump into the fight. He was at his wit's end, seeing his men being slaughtered left and right.

His ingenious plan is failing spectacularly, especially because of the new arrival, who could use some special powers to manipulate and use two floating swords with very high proficiency.

Seeing Frost jumping into the fight, Marcus signaled Blade to take his revenge while he covered his back.

Blade didn't waste any time and sprinted towards Frost to take him on. Blade attacked and Frost did his best to dodge and attack back, but he couldn't keep on with Blade for much longer and was finally slayed.

After taking his revenge, all his sadness and frustration were released in the form of a blood-curdling roar.

The death of Deacon Frost was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Some vampires tried to beg for their lives, "Please, let me live. I will be good. I will serve you as my master, just let me live."

But Marcus knew that they couldn't be controlled by him, and he didn't want to take Vampire slaves anyway because then he would have to feed them and they weren't even good as a single Extremis advanced person.

"The only good vampire is a dead Vampire, so let's make you good."

Marcus' sword flashed and the begging vampire turned into ashes.

Seeing his cruelty, the few remaining goons ran away as fast as they could, and Marcus didn't go through the hassle of chasing them. Instead he sheathed his swords and walked towards Blade.

"Are you alright, friend?" Marcus inquired.

"Yes."

"What about those elder vampires?"

"We kill them."

"Alright "

This short conversation sealed the fate of the elder vampire's long lived lives.

This time, Marcus didn't take any specimens because all his research on vampires confirmed one fact. That the Vampires were beings of mystical nature and any part of them couldn't be used to enhance a human or cure a disease without incurring massive side-effects.

After a minute, all the elder vampires had turned into ashes after being slain by Marcus and Blade.

After everything was done and both were about to leave the Ash filled temple when Marcus' noticed something near the place Frost had died.

It was a folded paper. He went ahead and picked it up.

'A page from the Vampire Bible? Could be useful in the future, or dangerous…Not worth it to take the risk, let's just burn it.'

Marcus lifted his mask up a little and breathed out a small wisp of fire from his mouth, small enough to easily light up the page. And after the page caught on fire, he just threw it back into Frost's ashes.

The page burnt slowly while the fire crackled, and it slowly turned into ash.