Into the heart of darkness

There were few supernatural entities that Samael truly disliked and vampires numbered among them. Something about the idea of beings that walked around, looking like people and yet wanted to drain him of blood just gave him the chills. Yet in his line of business he found himself occasionally working with the children of the night, such as a rather powerful player in the shadow world. An ancient vampire that had referred to himself as Osiris, looking almost like a statue in motion but he did pay well enough. It was this vampire that had pointed him in the direction of a specifically annoying coven of the blood drinking undead in New Orleans, holed up in the guise of modern comfort.

There had been odd rumors surrounding them, and yet none of them were confirmed. Certain people said that they had allied themselves with demons, and others they were under some metahuman proclaiming themselves a god. These rumors were varied, and yet in the end they were just talk to Samael. Still, he prepared for the worst, bringing along with him a varied collection of silver weapons, taking caution not to let any of them touch his flesh. Most of them were just daggers and knives, small enough to be hidden within his leather jacket.

This particular night in New Orleans was overcast, the humidity obvious as rain threatened to burst forth from thick black clouds hanging over the city. Samael could practically smell the moisture, feel more annoyed by the sheer sensation that it brought about to him. He was sure to wear a custom pair of dark sunglasses, hiding his pitch-black eyes from the general public. Not that wearing them really helped, considering that that sunglasses at night just managed to make one look more like a douchebag. Not that assuming Samael was a douchebag would’ve been far off, but he liked to disagree.

His destination had been The French Quarter, the oldest quarter in New Orleans. Its age showed through various things, such as architecture and even just the overall feel of it. Something about it felt comfortable to him, and yet taking in the sight was not something that was on his agenda today. The important thing was stopping the continual vampire attacks that were taking place in this section of the city. This was something that he had a feeling the human police were not geared to deal with, so that was when Samael stepped in.

He slicked his coppery red hair back, aware of the gazes that were falling upon him. None of the weapons he had were visible, which at the very least kept some even more wry glances from falling on him. None of the humans really stood out, save for someone that walked past him with a hurried pace. This was mostly a fiery red burst of hair within the droll darkness of night, though nothing really stuck out as vampiric about her so he quickly lost interest. Eventually he did come upon a house, large with a well-kept garden out-front.

The home was a refurbished looking plantation home, likely kept for the elder of the inhabitants. Looks like the place. He thought to himself with a smirk, approaching the wooden front door, unaware of being followed. His heart was beginning to beat faster, but Samael was confident enough within himself to keep going, into a den of death.

Vampires were entirely too stupid for their own good. They were active enough for even Ares to take notice. Though he honestly has to say that he wouldn't have minded such a stellar transformation. Nothing quite says "Look at me, I'm so retro" quite like becoming a pale bloodsucking freak 16 years after the Twilight books made their debut.  Seriously, this generation had no imagination at all. So many people and all of these powers were wasted on them. It was freaking pathetic, Ares could hardly stand it. If it weren't for this quart of yellowish cream colored fluid he wasn't sure how on Earth he'd ever be consoled.

  Taking the small jug to his mouth he leaned back a little, his sunglasses falling back up the bridge of his nose as he partook in what he could only describe as the nectar of the Gods. At this point he didn't care if it was angel piss, so long as the stores kept putting them on the shelves for him to purchase. With no money...

   The dead of night and the only thing he could really do about now was wait for something interesting to happen. He couldn't stand waiting for something interesting to happen, especially when he was so bored right now. That's when he had an idea pop into his head. He was going to do something so crazy with a plan that was so ingenius that it was foolproof. He was going to kill some of the vampires. Buy stabbing them with a knife. If that didn't work then he'd just blow them all up with the bombs he was going to strap to his boots. How was he gonna get out of there? That was the million dollar question, which was still only a fraction of the billions of dollars the U.S government spent saving that Matt Damon guy from World War two and from Mars, that place with the people with the pipes in their head. The Green Zone too, wherever that was.

   Ares didn't have time to dwell on the thougts of the great historical patriot that was Matt Damon, he had to go cut up some vampires. What? A guy can't help people by killing vampires out of the kindness of their heart? Pfft, no. This totally doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Vampires probably have cool treasure that he could pawn off for money to feed his ever growing angel piss addiction. God, a guy tries to be charitable with his time and everyone has to make a scene of it. Though truthfully he just wanted to see what it was these "Vampires" were all about...other than wanton slaughter. Poor Wantons...who murders chinese food anyway!? The slaughters were all throughout some old city that should probably have gone the way of Atlantis several years ago, but the cursed population of this world just kept fixing it. Like that David Vetter guy, At that point the only treatment you need is the rat-poison special.

   Ares looked down at himself. A black overcoat with a light blue shirt peaking out around the collar, some navy jeans and black chukka boots (of which he bought just because the name of them made him laugh). Reaching down into his boot he took out a black double edged tacticle knife and started walking, the unlabeled jug and it's contents sloshing as he made his walk.

  By time Ares had finally arived he noticed another individual close by, the type that seemed to be just like him in the fact they realized the only cool time to wear your sunglasses is when there's no sun; duh. More people should take fashion advice from this guy. He's got it down. Ares walked up and was about three feet away from the guy before smiling and letting out a soft chuckle. Raising his one hand he took another drink from the jug and cleared his throat.

  "Aaaahh...so uh.... Vampires?" He asked as he pointed to the door with his knife very casually, looking back to the stranger in the darkness.

Footsteps sounded off close to him, behind Samael even and the implications sprung up ins his head. He had expected someone to come from the fine looking home ahead of him, and yet behind him was not expected. Well, coming at someone from an angle they didn’t expect was considering an intelligent strategy, so he should’ve expected it. Without even thinking he reached into his jacket, gripping fingers around a hidden knife with the intention of striking, and then came the voice that spoke. Turning to the course, he saw a grinning individual holding what looked to be some manner of knife.

It didn’t look like the idea weapon to kill vampires with, but then again anyone could kill them if they knew what they were doing. The problem being that he had know idea if this guy even knew what he was doing, or why he was here in the first place. Was this some manner of game to him or maybe this male had some personal reason for wanting to deal with the vampires. Nothing seemed inhuman about them, granted he couldn’t tell that just from a singular glance. ”Yeah, vampires.” Samael said simply, narrowing pitch black eyes behind tinted sunglasses at the door.

”Guess I’m not the only one doing a little vampire hunting.” He let the death grip from his weapon go, still wary of the individual. They could be a metahuman, demon or anything in-between. If this was some manner of fae, then he would curse the fact that he didn’t bring any iron with him. If he had anyone else fool hardy enough to try and take down a full coven, well Samael would not complain at all. If they were here to get in his way, that might have equated to another unwanted problem.

Killing monsters was one thing, but people proved another problem altogether. Just the idea alone was enough to make him feel some hesitation, and yet that wasn’t the issue right now. Right now, vampires were something that needed to be killed, so that was what he would do. ”Unless you’re just one of those types who want something else from these vampires.” Mortals always envied the immortal, so seeking it out might have been an easy enough reason to think of.

This guy liked to ask a lot of questions. That was okay for the most part he'd bet. Oh wait. There was one small problem. Ares hated stupid questions; particularly ones like "Unless you’re just one of those types who want something else from these vampires" It caused him to lower his head, his sunglasses falling down along his nose for a small bit before settling there. Ares peered over his glasses with a cocked eyebrow and a look of judgement upon his face. He was judging this guy hardcore right now.

  "Yeah. Totally. I'm standing in front of a vampire infested building with a knife because I wanted to know if I could borrow a cup of sugar." He said nonchalantly as he shrugged it off and played it up as if it were a legitimate statement. With a rather forceful sniff he rolled his shoulders back and brought a hand up to place the shades back where they belonged.

  "This is gonna be a short night I'll bet." He said as he started to walk up towards the door, pressing a couple buttons on his phone before knocking. Ares found himself rather distracted by his phone, looking up for just a moment to see if anyone would answer. It was going to be interesting to watch and see how this all played out. He'd never actually been vampire hunting before, but it was easy enough to track them by following the clues. Those being blood stains and victims. Of course what made it really easy was the fact that the vampires in this city were a special breed of vampire. A breed that Ares so studiously named himself.

  "What we have here is "Vampyroretardata" A mixture of Vampyromorphida and Acronicta retardata. Ares said aloud as he knocked on the door again. If Ares was correct this would translate to roughly the scientific taxonomy of "Retarded Vampire. I mean....C'mon. Let's face it. It's not like we're dealing with the brightest vampires in the crypt." His eyes widened from behind his sunglasses as he frowned a little, his smile only returning after another moment, when either the door was opened...or he used his knife to slip between the door and frame in order to get him in. Hopefully it wasn't the latter...the knife was oh so new.

      Well...new to him....

”Well that’s good. I hear they like a higher blood sugar in their meals.” He noted with lips pressed into a thin, unamused line as he focused on the door before him. It appeared that he was dealing with some manner of moron, or maybe someone that did not take this seriously at all. He felt like this was going to be all the more difficult now, especially with the fact that this was a full coven of the bloodsucking bastards. Without really taking a prompt the male was the first one that had walked on ahead, Samael letting him prove a meat shield incase things went south.

Not that he would actually let anyone get ripped apart, but the mental images was amusing enough. Maybe he could make the night more amusing, or maybe Samael could glean some entertainment from it. Ares was now just staring at his phone however, as if this were just another night for him. Well, he might have to do a little more babysitting than he initially thought anyway. There was knocking, and him saying something loudly that would likely draw ire from the vampires if they were still around. Without even thinking about it, Samael reached for a weapon as if expecting a sudden attack.

However, there was only silence, no light was visible from within the house and no one answered the door. Samael looked cautiously at the building, feeling somewhat apprehensive about the entire situation. He was sure to be a few steps behind him, prepared to throw the knife the moment anything went wrong. Nothing did go wrong, and then the door was pried open with what looked to be the very same knife within their hand. He had sliced through the flimsy frame, slipping in and with the cambion only a few steps behind him.

Stepping through he could smell a scent that came only with old houses. Dust, and various other things. It felt as if the house itself had not been used before, the lights out and everything shrouded within darkness. They had walked into what looked to be an entrance area, a grand stairway immediately visible to a second floor from the get go. There were various hallways one could go from there, but all of them were strangely dark. There was a sensation within the air that he could not quite place. Something was going on within this house, and it was something that was more than just vampires.

His hands did not move from his hidden weapon, and in fact his body grew even more tense. His cells screamed that there was danger, and yet here he went walking into the proverbial jaw of the beast. ”Well, looks like no one’s getting their sugar, or maybe they left and we need a new species name for you. I think Homo Retardus is still open.” He noted with a slight biting tone in his voice, internally keeping in mind that the house was more a front. This came down to searching the walls, under tables and various other locations.

Ares heard the man's comments but just looked at him, trying to understand why this person reacted the way they did. There was nothing Ares had done to really earn the stinging tone that was in his voice. But hey, even the most subtle of disrespect was answered in kind. Ares just looked at him after stepping into the house and clicked his tongue. He lowered his head and his shades slid down just a bit as he peered at Samael over them.

 "Hey that's pretty good. Just uh... keep in mind that you dick belongs in your pants. Not your personality." Ares walked past with a grin, winking before pushing his shades back up and spinning the knife on his hand as he stepped around. His boots made quite a thud as he walked about, not doing anything at all to mask his pressence within the building. For all he knew he was tresspassing in someone's home, if they vampire or otherwise didn't truly matter. Trespassing was tresspassing. Plain and simple. But the way he walked about the house, the way he walked wasn't like that of an idiot. The way he walked was almost intentionally loud, almost as if he WANTED to generate the noise, challenging or taunting someone to come call him out upon his actions. He was blatently intentional. Totally uncaring of the consequences.

  "So I've got nothing on vampires from around here. Are they ususally this active? I mean there's a city full of metahumans out looking for them. They were playing it waaay too reckless. So two questions.... Where do reckless vampires roam?" Ares asked as he walked over to a neatly set dining room table, taking a small decanter and opening it, taking a small sniff of the fluid on the inside. After a cringe and a look of slight disgust he looked over the bottle and then down to his other hand. He then set the decanter down and opened the jug, replacing the fluid he had taken in with the strong smelling drink. After that he simply capped the jug and shook the drink up. "Man I hope this doesn't suck. Waste of good stuff if it does..."

”When I start caring where you think my dick should go, I’ll keep that in mind.” Samael noted with a short lived wry smirk. His mind had already begun working over the room, having walked into what looked like some manner of kitchen. The decorations were old styled enough, though the room itself had been bathed in the dark. Ares had been stomping about, making as much noise as he could as if trying to draw anyone in the house that would be there. Samael tried his best not to be aggravated by it and that did not feel like it would last long.

His jaw became rigid as he searched for anything that indicated a manner of hidden entrance, or tunnel. These old homes were infamous for that. If he could find something like that, maybe he could find the vampires or at the very least something that suggested where they were. There had been faint signs that someone lived here. Hand and boot prints within the dust that lay in a very thin layer over the place. Someone had gone through the chore of having the place renovated and yet somehow there was dust, which meant something was going on. He ran a finger over the thin film that covered a counter, sniffing it lightly.

Beyond the usually smell of dust came the faintest whiff of brimstone. It was faint enough that any untrained human nose could have missed it, and yet he was familiar enough with it. There came the male continuing to talk, saying something about vampires as if there were types he was more familiar with. Samael did not move as if he had recognized he said anything, though he did speak. ”Normally no, they aren’t so careless with their feeding. It’s a little too careless. ”

The scent of alcohol came through the air in a slight wave, Sam turning to Ares to find that he had emptied a crystal container of its contents into another. He couldn’t help thinking that he was dealing with a rather annoying burden. ”I believe something or someone is causing this reckless behavior. Might make it a little dangerous to just chase after them without knowing what’s going on.” With that said, he heard something else. It wasn’t the loud foot falls that Ares had produced, but a faint banging. It was reminiscent of someone banging against wood, frantically even.

”I suppose you just chase after things without knowing anything about them, don’t you?” He would ask, furrowing his brows as he continued to mess around with a few things in an almost deliberate fashion. There had to be something that lead to a more proper area that could serve as a lair for these bloodsuckers. Well, if the information Osiris had given them was anything that they could believe anyway. Eventually he came upon a rather odd carving hanging from a wall within a hallway. It portrayed a stag, the antler functioning much like a lever as the wall slid away.

This revealed a descending dark stairway beyond it.

The other guy had absolutely none of Ares attention when he spoke. Ares was too fixated upon the concept of trying this new concoction of his. The strong liquid and the sweet liquid were fully mixed and he twisted the cap off, taking a swig and blinking as he tried to decide if he liked this or not. It was so confusing. It had the nice bite of the strong liquid, but it also had the same smooth and residual sweet texture. He took another small swig and then seemed to glance around, confused by the taste. Did he like it or didn't he? This was almost impossible to decide.

   "I can't...how is that possible? You like it or you don't. What is this- taste limbo or somethin'..." He mumbled about, not exactly expecting to be heard to responded to. He was, after all, talking under the man's comment regarding the vampires not being normally this foolish, reckless rather. He was still figuring things out as far as his taste buds were concerned while his partner seemed to try and figure out what or whom was doing what to make the vampires crazy. Well whatever the case was the situation changed and suddenly he was asking if Ares was used to wandering into situations not knowing things.

  "...suppose?" Ares asked for a moment before taking another drink of his drink. Something about that terminology bothered him. It was difficult to tell from behind his shades, but he was slightly confounded and suspicious of the wording. He walked over and made his way after the other hunter, only stopping to see the stag statue move. After a moment of thinking on what to say he stepped in front of Samael and cleared his throat.

    "Hate that word. Well suppose whatever you want. Suppose I'm an amateur. Suppose I'm the best slayer in the business. Suppose I'm a devil. Suppose I'm an Angel. Just keep in mind, that you can suppose all you want...but until you got proof... I'm just your everyday asshole looking in a mirror." He said as he looked this guy sunglasses to sunglasses. He stepped aside and let him continue on the path, whatever it may hold and wherever it may lead. Ares would watch his back, but ultimately he was far more concerned with his own back at this point.

So his assumption of a hidden room was one that was not unfounded, as he stared down into the thick darkness that stretched out before him. To Samael it appeared as if the room itself was brightly lit, leaving nothing hidden even within that dark. What they were trying to hide he could not tell, but likely it was something that required such measures like a hidden passage. Ares appeared more within his own world than actually paying attention to anything around him, so Samael left him to his alcohol laden drink. Maybe that would get the odd male off his back, or perhaps they would get to wondering what jumping on his back would be like.

Why they were even walking into a place like this was unknown, and something told him he was not even close to prepared for things. Samael let out a soft huff of air from his nostrils, feeling an odd sensation that felt more and more familiar fill the room once the opening had been revealed. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled, standing up as a chill ran over him.

However, it appeared that one word he said managed to annoy the male. Something about the word suppose actually managed to rip him from wherever he was back into the present, if only to annoy Samael even more. From behind his sunglasses, black eyes narrowed into angry slits as he considered knocking the guy out, but the idea of leaving someone helpless in a vampire owned house managed to dull the anger. He wasn’t that bad after all.

”Uh huh.” He responded unamused, nodding but saying nothing else as he stepped past the male. Now he was just looking forward to getting through this if it meant being anywhere else. As he descended the dark stairway, he considered the fact that this guy likely would not be able to see in perfect darkness, but then again that was not his problem. He was more worrying over multiple factors. The creak of the steps, soft sound of breathing and a thumping sound like someone banging on something wooden. Going further actually made the sounds itself more pronounced, meaning they were getting closer to the source of this sound.

Their descent would end eventually, stepping onto smooth stone flooring. Immediately he realized they were in a small room, one with a door that likely lead elsewhere. Samael reached for the knob, twisting it and realizing that it was locked. ”Guess I’ll need the key.” This was followed by him slamming the flat of his foot into the door, and knocking it off its hinges. Fragments of wood flew through the air, as the thud of the door reverberated through the beyond room. Kicking the door down was one kind of key anyway.

Beyond the door was a room decorated with cages, bars made of an almost sterile steel. All it took was a glance to see that one of the cages had a few people within it of varying ages, ragged and chained to the bars themselves. Samael narrowed his eyes, room illuminated by brilliant fluorescent light. Well it appeared that there were more than murders going on, though this seemed more like the secretive vampires. There were more passageways that could likely be accessed through the various doors visible within the room itself.

”Guess that explains the rank smell.” Samael muttered to himself,  seemingly ignoring Ares as he approached the cage. Most of them looked lethargic, likely having been weak from a low amount of blood. Breaking through the lock that bound the door was easy enough, Samael producing a knife and breaking the lock as the door swayed open. This drew some of their attention, the one banging against the door looking to him with supplicant expressions. ”Alright, I’ll need to get all of you out of here before the bloodsuckers get back here.” He noted, realizing that he found himself playing the hero now.

"Pfft. Leave them. It's not like them being here a little while longer is going to hurt." Ares said as plainly as he could, walking past a cage that was made of a rather clean steel. The occpants had been of many different ages, one of them even being what Ares would have assumed to be on the younger side of the teens. Ares was personally irritated by the caged victims. Of course it wasn't their fault that their freedom had been taken from them; although he had no idea why they didn't die fighting to try and escape. Was living truly worth it, especially when it was of THIS quality? How people could just give up their freedom was incredibly annoying. If you were willing to sacrifice your freedom for safety then you didn't deserve either of them. End of discussion.

Ares proceeded to begun looking around and evaluating the process that he would take ahead. To him these vampire things were quite interesting. He almost believed that cutting the head off of them seemed to be the most logical thing to do. But which path did he take? He didn't truly care. Looking back to the cage he wanted to see just what Samael tried to do. Would he continue to free them? Would he actually take Ares advice? Neither choice would particularly please him. But how Samael responded would be enlightening to the character of this man. Where did their loyalties reside? How well did they think things through? What was their thought process?

"So...couple doors. Which one we goin' with? Or I guess which one do you want? I'm going to the one on the left. No matter what. I'm going left." Ares said as he pointed to the door. Of course if Samael had freed the captives he'd likely have a fleeting comment to make, but until that happened he had nothing else he needed to express at that moment in time.

Would them being here a little longer hurt anyone? Well no it wouldn’t but then again something about it did not feel right. However, these people did not move and it took him trying to cross the threshold to realize why that was the case. There was the sensation of walking into a wall, bumping into something that was not visibly there and yet he couldn’t progress further. ” Doesn’t seem like it matters.” Samael noted,  rapping his knuckles against the invisible barrier that had been set up before him. Well there had to be some way around it that these vampires could make use of, that only made sense if these people were their easy food supply. What did not make sense was why they were feeding like they were when they had these right here.

”I’ll find a way to get you out.” He noted to them, turning from them to Ares with a less than amused expression. This unknown had already chosen his route, being the left door. A good enough excuse to break off from him, Samael able to go the other way should he truly want to. However, in an unknown space working in numbers always proved to be safer, and he was not too attached to the idea of dying yet. Perhaps they would find something that made things more interesting, or maybe explained why these vampires were acting like they were. His mind snapped back to the scent of brimstone that the upper room held, suggesting maybe they were be dealing with demons as well.

”Going on the left won’t hurt.” Samael noted,  burying his hands into his pockets, body still tense. He would progress on through the door, leading into a room small than the previous once. However what was different was that it was lined with shelves filled with various transparent glass jars. Some of them were filled with off materials, preserved animals, organs and other things. This was pretty odd for a vampire den actually, though what caught his interest was a few vials of thick black liquid in a special position. A pedestal that looked almost out of place with an onyx chalice settled beside these vials. ”Well this explains something.” Samael muttered as he heard something not too far off.

It was a male voice cursing, breaking the likely already lacking silence and yet it did not sound like the one he was with. ” Sounds like we might have some company.” He reached for one of the silver knives within his jacket quickly, ready to draw it. Ares would find a thin, pale hand reaching for his shoulder to jerk him back with impressive force.

Well Ares had come to learn one thing from life. That was the fact that he could come to expect the unexpected. Because if there was one thing that rang true it was the fact that you could always trust an untrustworthy man to do the thing he always seemed most likely to do when you needed to trust him. The key was to angle that and maneuver that situation in a way clearly beneficial. That has absolutely nothing to do with this situation at all, but it was just a fun little note that might come in hand later. Spoiler alert.

Ares was gripped by a set of thin fingers and pulled back into the darkness with a rather impressive effort as he slammed into the wall. A follow-up blow would smash Ares back against the wall once more, causing his hand to loosen the grip around his knife as it clattered against the ground. He could feel the sweat perspirating through his pores and he began to feel the very blood within his body rushing as he slammed against the wall once more.



A small headache began to form as he fell to the floor, his breathing stopped as he slumped, his heart still beating rapidly. when one snaps a neck it does not kill instantly. Truthfully the only thing you do is cause their body to enter a state of total paralysis and ultimately force them into suffocation and then.... the inevitable end. Ares lay there momentarily, his chest not moving in all in accordance to his condition.

Samael became aware of the hand that ripped Ares back quickly enough, turning around to see the vampire rip him away and slam him into the wall with excessive force. Next came a blow that caused the neck to audibly snap, something that likely even the dullest of hearing could hear now. ”Shit!” Samael spat, barely maneuvering out of the way of a fist aimed for his face, knowing fully well that they would be able to shatter his skull with it. Ducking forward, he forced himself to move while keeping I mind where the vampire had impacted with the wall, jostling a few jars and causing them to shatter on the ground. The disgusting scent of organs, and decay filled the room as he quickly leapt through the  door, whipping out a silver dagger and turning to his foe.

For a coven of vampires not even out of their first century, this one was far too strong and fast to be that young. Slowly credit was being given to what was happening with them, though he could not afford to let his guard down. There was already another needless casualty, which meant he would have to act carefully. Strike when he could before the rest get back, especially the master of their gathering. A roar of rage sounded off as the door was thrown from its hinges,  splintering as Samael managed to duck under, swinging the silver knife forward with momentum behind it. It caught the moving blur within the side, releasing a large gush of blood, some spattering his face as the vampire continued within their forward motion and into a wall.

Any damage done by the impact quickly healed, except the slash was not. If he could prolong this, the vampire would weaken enough to where he could finish it off, but time was not a luxury that he had an excess of. Samael was the one to charge next, ready to slice at the things legs, crippling and then going for the kill. What happened next was too fast to see, a brilliant flash of light as something pierced through the things neck and then it began to spasm wildly. It’s body set on fire, filling the room with the sick scent of burning flesh and then they had nothing but a pile of ash. ”What the fu…”

”Nasty little things, these vampires.” Turning he took note of the red haired woman he had seen moments ago, now standing beside a shorter oriental male with a katana wreathed with blue light. Something about them felt dangerous, but he could not place it. ”Sorry if I ruined your little fight, but I wanted to avoid having two dead bodies on my hands.” Heels clicking as she walked over to examine the ash with a single perked brow.

”Who the hell are you?” Samael demanded, looking even gloomier than usual.

”Elena Marie, I was looking into the sudden rash of vampire attacks. The undead community is getting rather restless, they don’t like the exposure at all.” Dropping something into the ashes, it appeared to implode upon itself and disappear from existence. Samael was now glad he had sunglasses, if only because how she or the male killed the vampire so quickly. ”We will also need to do something about this body. The local heroes will only take so long before they catch onto this being the center of the violent activity.”

Ares had a headache throbbing at the forefornt of his mind as he took a breath in. He heard a comment about burning a corpse and he looked around before anyone had even noticed he was awake. He was confused as he saw no corpse, though that was pretty much his way of recognizing that they were talking about him. He just stretched himself out, arms back behind his head as he crossed his feet with his legs out, relaxing a moment as they would finally take notice that he was living.

 "She's got the right idea...but uhm...where's the corpse?" He asked oh so casually, seeming to be incredibly lost at what she had suggested. "The vampire was one thing, though that's already cookin' like jew jerky at Auschwitz.  I'm not dead, but you're more than welcome to burn me." He said as he tried to stand himself up, wobbling a little bit and trying to prepare himself for the worst case scenario. When he reached his fully upright position he'd groan a little and crack his neck.

 "So they were stronger than I thought... but I know what to expect now." He said as he squatted down to pick up his knife. Truth be told the arrival of this new woman was actually quite fortunate for Ares, although he found it almost irresistable to make a comment about combustion having to do with her vibrant red hair.



    "Well look, this is obviously some form of weird ritual. So I say we just burn everything. Kill absolutly EVERYTHING with fire. Just....Salem this bitch up." He said as he made the hand motions of stepping away from the room and wiping the area away from him. He looked to Marie and then to Samael and shrugged, having offered up his idea.

Samael looked to the once dead man speak, genuinely confused as to why he was not dead. It wasn’t exactly as if a normal human could walk off the shit that had been done to him, and yet here he was talking as if nothing happened. ”Appears the problem solved itself.” Elena noted, not unpleased by the sudden change within circumstance. First a room full of suspect materials, then a woman appearing from nowhere and someone coming back from the dead. This night was beginning to get more annoying as it dragged out. He was feeling however that he was moving closer towards the mystery that was in the center of this vampire coven. ”I assume you found something?” Marie asked, turning to Samael with an arced brow.

”Found an altar, I believe it’s where these vampires are drinking their demon blood from. The vial there confirms it.” Samael explained, looking to the wobbly male with a slight amount of tension fading from him. A part of him was pleased with not having a corpse on his hand, meaning they could clear out even quicker now. Ares had agreed with that, saying something about there being a strange ritual. The demon blood had more value than just drinking, and something told him it was used in a ritual to make the vampires as dangerous as they were. Perhaps the vintage of the blood itself was enough that they gained such a quick increase from it. These lessons were something that he had gone through with Osiris before going to hunt them down, how certain bloods gave them marvelous powers.

”Burning everything down may be a viable option, so long as we avoid burning the witch in the process.” Getting out of there while things burned would likely be something everyone else needed to worry about, at least in Samael’s mind. Not as if heat or flames were something that he ever had to worry about, thanks to all of that demonic DNA. The red-haired woman snapped, forming a small flame above her index and forefinger.  ”Coven won’t appreciate having their home burnt down, but they lost the rights to a home.”

”We might want to get out before you go setting things on fire.” He suggested, pressing his sunglasses up on his nose. ”I hear getting set on fire  isn’t healthy for your complexion.” A soft smirk on his lips, a sign of amusement at his own terrible joke. Footsteps alerted him to a presence, barging in on them rather slowly. Marie and Samael turned to see an unknown figure in a black, lace trimmed blouse with a pair of jeans, and heels. Dark brown hair fell over her shoulder, along with a weapon that was shaped like a scythe slung over it, composed of pitch black metal from handle to blade.

” Sammy, cooperating with the Crimson Witch and this wretch. Really disappointing.” She tutted, sweeping the weapon and scraping it along the ground ”Looks like big sis will have to punish.” Flames lapped up from where the scythe scraped, yet did not consume the floor.