Chapter 985: Better Natures

The moment they entered Asano’s astral space, the people guarding Marie, Elizabeth and Remy relaxed. Apparently no longer wary of any threats, all but one left entirely, leaving only the man named Trenchant.

Marie had never been in a true astral space before. Her early days in the Network had been in the final years of magic being a secret. She’d seen the astral proto-spaces, with their inconsistent magic levels and wild terrain. She had seen a couple with some signs of civilisation, but no more than ruins that looked thousands of years old.

The astral space, by comparison was a revelation. There were no wild energies teasing at her supernatural senses like an insect she was unable to swat. There was no sense that the whole place was on the verge of collapse, instead feeling as solid as the world outside.

That did not mean that there was no sense of unreality to the place. The portal had dropped them in a train station, with décor more at home in an old noir film that the modern Earth. Even the people milling around looked like extras in a sixties movie, complete with period outfits. She also didn’t see a single person with their phone out, despite the train station being a bustle of activity. Even the light was strange, washing out the colours. It didn’t genuinely render the world in monochrome, yet it felt like living in black and white.

Marie looked at their now-solitary guard. His eyes retained their bright shade of blue, standing out in a world of greys. He led them through the train station, barely even looking to see if they followed.

“We’re in a place of Asano’s power now,” Elizabeth murmured, even though they both knew their gold-rank escort could hear. “There’s no escape, no defiance. Only that which he allows.”

“What is this place?” Remy wondered.

“I’m going to guess that it’s Asano’s vampire city,” Elizabeth told him. “We’ve heard about it, of course. The place he keeps all the tame vampires.”

“Meaning the ones that aren’t monsters,” Remy said.

“We monsters were able to keep your daughter alive when your own people could not.”

“And then held her hostage.”

“She is living very well,” Elizabeth said.

“Is she? How long after word gets out that you’ve been taken will your people stop doing as their told and kill her?”

“If you’re so worried, why did you not tell our captors about her? Trade information on our activities for her wellbeing?”

“Don’t poke at him, Elizabeth,” Marie said. “He knows, just as well as you, how much she needs your blood magic.”

“You’re right,” Elizabeth said. “Jabbing at a man’s weakness unnecessarily is unbecoming. My apologies, Remy. And know that I have made accommodations for this eventuality.”

“Really?” Remy asked.

“Coming under Asano’s sway was an inevitability. I had hoped to have more cards in hand, but here we are.”

Outside the train station, every direction Marie looked seemed like the perfect place to murder Batman’s parents. A line of old-school Americana diners and dive bars were punctuated by shadowy alleyways. A long town car pulled up, driven by what had to be Asano’s famous shadow servant. Their escort put Remy in the front and the two women in the back. He didn’t join them, closing the door and watching as the car pulled away.

“Hello again Shade,” Elizabeth said.

“I am under instruction to engage you in pleasantries,” Shade said. “As much as Mr Asano likes banter, that does not apply to someone responsible for the death of millions.”

“You don’t have to be a vampire to sweep across Europe killing people in the millions,” Elizabeth said. “Humans were accomplishing that while I was deep in millennia-long slumber.”

“When we meet Asano,” Remy said, “I hope you come up with something better than ‘it’s okay to be vampire Hitler because there was already human Hitler.’ I don’t think that’s going to help us.”

***

The car took them out of the city, onto country roads that wound through rolling hills. Moonlight lit their way until they reached a wrought iron gate set into a wall topped with guardian gargoyles. Gaslamps lit their way as the car drove up the long drive of the estate grounds to a gothic mansion. On pulling up outside, Shade got out of the car and two additional bodies stepped out of the original. The other three got out and looked around.

“If this is where Asano keeps his vampires,” Remy said, “isn’t this a little on the nose?”

The three Shades led them inside, taking them all in different directions. Marie was led to a bedroom suite that seemed like a bed and breakfast accommodation designed for goths. Shade told her to remain within the suite and left her there. She briefly explored the bathroom and bedroom before returning to the central lounge area to find Jason Asano sitting in a plush armchair.

Asano looked relaxed, leaning back, legs crossed in a throne-like armchair. She stood in the doorway as they swapped assessing looks. His initial display of relaxation seemed superficial the more she looked at him. There was a weariness he wasn’t putting much effort into hiding.

“You don’t want to be doing this,” she said.

“No,” he agreed. “But it needs to be done, and this part is best done by me. Take a seat, Ms Finnegan.”

She moved to another chair and sat down. The armchair was oversized and she sank into the deep padding.

“I’m surprised it’s me first,” she said.

“It’s not. I’m speaking with all of you at once.”

“You can be in more than one place,” Marie realised. “Like your shadow.”

“Here, I can do most things.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author’s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“How does that work?”

“It’s complicated. What you might think of as my real body is having lunch at a bistro in the city. I’ll have some food brought in when we’re done.”

“I suppose you want my gripping back story. Why I threw my lot in with a vampire queen whose queendom was turning against her.”

“No. I don’t care. I have no interest in punishing you. My sole concern is to prevent as much damage as I can. The blood oaks. The nuclear weapons. The reality core farming. They all need to be stopped, and if that means giving you a cushy life some place where you can’t hurt anyone else, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“Is that what this is? A show of what life could be? Perpetual night and drapery ranging from black to medium-grey? I suppose that’s for Elizabeth’s benefit, but you’ll find that red is her colour.”

Jason leaned forward, narrowing his eyes, as if peering at something she couldn’t see. Then she realised he was reading her aura. They were both gold rankers, but she was new to the rank and poorly trained. She couldn’t sense his at all. He apparently found what had piqued his curiosity and leaned back in his chair again.

“You would want whatever exile I give you to be together then,” he said. “Will she want that as well?”

“She doesn’t want your exile. She wants the other world, free and clear.”

“There are many worlds, Ms Finnegan. She doesn’t get to pick.”

“We still have things to trade. Information.”

“Not enough that I will let her loose on Pallimustus.”

“That’s what the other world is called?”

“Yes, and if I sent you there, you would be neither free nor clear. Elizabeth is powerful by the standards of Earth vampires, but not the ones over there. They’re very good at hunting vampires in that world. The ones who survive are cunning, powerful, and understand the world and how to move through it unseen. You would be alien, not even knowing the language. They would find her fast and put you down for being with her.”

“Then why not give us what we want? If we’re just going to die fast, then what does it cost you?”

“The damage you would do on the way. The people you would hurt before they found you.”

“What makes you think we’d hurt anyone?”

“How do you live with the things she’s done? What you’ve done, I understand. You don’t know the damage farming reality cores does. The blood isn’t on your hands. But you know what she’s done. You’ve worked with the vampires keeping people in farms. Have you seen their blood harvesting facilities, Ms Finnegan?”