Ichor : Blood & Secrets

Chapter 26

"Okay.. I'm sorry.. I was on a roll, wait, did you say power of luck?" asked Lucien. "Of course, you think all this time you were winning on your own?" asked Atar.

"Well, I did make the moves.." said Lucien.

"Reckless ones, since the day you were chosen and each decision lead you to being the right one because of me, enough of this.. Ahriman is coming, he knows where you and your family is, which is why you're given your first task, run." said Atar.

"My first task is to run? why?" asked Lucien. "Your survival is imperative.. for now, it is necessary to keep you alive until things quite down." said Atar. "I'm not going anywhere, not until I find my sister." said Lucien.

"Your sister isn't here, you fool, you've been tricked." said Atar. "How do you know that?" asked Lucien. "I know things, more than you will ever know in a lifetime, you have two choices, run, leave away from the conflicts of originals and save yourself, or die, knowing that you had one chance to save your family, but you withdrew from it simply because you didn't have balls." said Atar.

"Uhmm.... gross, but anyways, I'll leave, only if you tell me where Mikeala is, that way our entire family can.." continued Lucien saying until he is pushed into the wall by a magic force emitting from Atar as he starts clenching his first very deeply, forcing his claws to dug in through his own skin while his ribs start paining by the hold as Atar walks to him slowly and looks him in the eye.

"Listen here, you asshole, do you want to save your family, or not?" asked Atar. "I.. do want.. more than anything." said Lucien.

"Then get the hell out of here, do not speak, do not leave any kind of message, just leave... to the one place they will never find you... do that, and your first task will be completed, understand?" asked Atar.

"Got it." said Lucien to which Atar gets released from his hold as Atar then turns away, walking away, right before he looks at him once last time as he tries to gather his strength. "Your sister.. will be found, but not by you.. your duties are elsewhere, I suggest you go after it rather than wasting your time here." said Atar one last time before he turns towards an emerged portal that sprung up over his powers in which he walks away, leaving the portal to shut itself as Lucien stands in alone, breathing over what Atar said to him.

Meanwhile, down in the Underforge, after having dealt with the demon waitress that nearly tried to kill them, both Ayame and Darren went into hiding over by low town districts while the aftermath of the battle had turned into some kind of a crime scene.

Even though, from the water tower, Darren observes what he is able to, by analysing with binoculars since he had travelled greater distance.

"So, how goes there?" asked Ayame. "What is to go there? entire scene is a bloodbath, they are analysing the crime scene brick to brick." said Darren. "Right.. told us not to draw attention, yet here we are." said Ayame.

"Aya, let me make this clear, Klaus can say alot of things, but following them all, can be quite difficult, especially when Ahriman sends one of this elite soldiers as spies to kill us." said Darren. "Oh, you mean the attractive spy lady you tried to bed on, turned out to be a demon, what a shame." said Ayame to which Darren abandons his post and looks down, jumping towards the surface with a single leap as he lands in a position almost like a superhero landing.

"Poser." said Ayame as Darren interrupts once he gets back on his feet. "Last I checked, I didn't ask for anyone's help, I said I could handle this alone." said Darren. "I know, okay? I.. understand." said Ayame.

"Then why are you here? if you knew I could handle this, what made you come all the way down here?" asked Darren. "Because I wanted to help, I don't know who Mikeala is.. but.. if I am part of this family, then I wanna help find her as well." said Ayame. "I'm not the only one looking for her." said Darren.

"Klaus didn't need me with him, he has.. private work to attend, Lucien probably off speaking with the townsfolk, and you.. you were the only option, besides, this Underforge is a pretty big town." said Ayame. "Exactly why I think you can cover some ground while I can on another side as well." said Darren.

"Right, a.. remarkable suggestion, only that if we work together, maybe we can cover a enormous amount of ground altogether, right?" asked Ayame to which Darren remains silent. "What?" asked Ayame. "Klaus sent you to keep an eye on me, is it?" asked Darren.

"No, what? I didn't.." said Ayame before getting interrupted by Darren. "Listen to me very carefully, Ayame, I don't need help, or do I need someone to keep an eye on me." said Darren. "I didn't say Klaus wanted to keep an eye on you." said Ayame.

"You didn't need to, I can see it in your eyes, go south, I'll cover west, meet at this exact spot in twenty four hours with what you can find, or I will come looking for you, understand?" asked Darren.

"Darren, please, don't do this, you saw that thing, how many of them could he in here?" asked Darren. "Just one, already informed Klaus that Ahriman's coming after us, it might be better if we can find our sister and get the hell out of this place." said Darren as he turns away as starts walking.

"Darren, I.." said Ayame before getting interrupted by Darren. "Go, Aya, find out what you can, we're wasting time." said Darren as he sprints away from view while Ayame expresses her frustration on the road until he lets it out completely, then moves on to the other side.

"Fine.. ass.. whatever.. guess I'll go it alone, only that I don't have super speed." said Ayame as she starts walking by the road in the quiet night.

After several minutes of walking, finally she reaches road where she notices dozens of people, both vampires and humans are waiting by a long queue, standing in row towards a closed BloodCorp building.

"That's something that you don't see everyday." said Ayame as she walks over to one of the woman standing within the queue line who was already talking with the others in queue.

"Uhmmm. hello, sorry to bother, but.. what are you guys doing in here? some kind of sales popping out or something?" asked Ayame to which few of the ones in queue start to chuckle, then quiet down as one of them opens up to talk.

"No dear, we're waiting for our monthly supply." said the woman. "Supply of what?" asked Ayame.

"What else? blood..while people above us are having parties and fountains pool of blood supply, there isn't even enough for vampires here to live by, many of them turn feral and feast on their own families and friends.. in order to reduce that, we're buying out blood supply which we can offer to ones in need, before they turn.." said the woman.

"Oh, wow.. but, why isn't there enough supply of blood? have you spoken with the authorities?" asked Ayame. "We have, even protested against them across the entire Underforge, haven't you seen any kind of news?" asked the woman while other interrupts. "She doesn't look to be around here, aren't you dear?" asked another woman.

"Yeah.. I.. am not from here, or above, I came here to visit, with my.. family to find someone who lived here." said Ayame.

"Hope you find whoever it is, that you're looking for, but do not stay here, things already seem to worsen for us, I don't think there is going to be any kind of resolution other than genocide." said the woman.

"g******e? why are you saying it like that?" asked Ayame. "We're dying honey, the vampires don't want to kill us, but they have no choice, the so called, rulers don't even seem to bother coming here, they're just waiting, so we can all die and they can take this place over into their own, we are all driven of hope and yet.. we have no choice." said the woman. "I.. really don't know what to say, I am.. sorry, is there anything I can do to help? where does blood supply come from?" asked Ayame.

"From the bridge.. they're not letting anyone near it, shooting the ones that did, best stay away from there honey.. pray that we get a sip of blood so can fight to see another day." said the woman. "This is.. wrong, they can't do this, who's the one incharge of all these operations? where can I find him then?" asked Ayame.

"Bairk Milos, he's the district manager of BloodCorp, we tried protesting against his house yesterday, but they shot down a few of us, people are afraid to go there." said the woman. "Not me, I'll find this bastard and make him answer.. just give me the address." said Ayame.

Meanwhile, Darren, on the other hand, walking way across the streets, finding similar queue with lines of people waiting by BloodCorps while down by the pavement side he takes, drained bodies of humans and vampires alike are seen dropped in swamps and dumpsters.

"Disgusting to say at the least, at least find someone to clean this place." said Darren who moves on towards the abandoned parking lot where he finds several bouncers guarding the way to the upper floor of the parking lot.

"Excepted as much." said Darren who approaches forth until he is stopped by the bouncers with whom he snaps down his arm and the leg of another by a single move and throws them aside, heading straight towards the upper floor of the parking lot