After a challenging hunt that spanned three nights, the group celebrated with chinese take-out. Anya and her sister's joined them for this one as they were taking out a small vampire coven. Couldn't be too careful. Mathew smiled at the sisters' antics. Their sibling behaviour made him miss his brother more than usual. Sometimes Mathew forgot that Eri and Vash were siblings because of how parental Vash was. They never really seemed to joke around with each other, at least not in public. He was drawn from his musings by the sound of someone getting hit. Anya's younger sister, Natasha, had just punched her for making fun of her 'tiny tits.' Anya picked herself right back up as if she had not just been knocked from her chair by a blow to the face. Everyone here was so tough and dare he say bad ass. Moments like this made him feel weak in comparisson. He still had so much to learn from them before he could face his brother.
He was getting up to throw away his trash when the kitchen phone rang. No one else seemed to have heard, he didn't see anyone coming. Anya and her sisters were probably doing something entertaining again. He grabbed it and answered.
"Hello?"
"I need to speak with Vash this instant."
It was Roderich. He hadn't been able to come on the hunt because of work and watching his sons. Last time his and Lizzie's sons were left alone, they'd invited their friends over and somehow broken a leg on Roderich's piano. So they weren't allowed to be left alone for more than a day even though the eldest would soon be 17.
Mathew went and found Vash to give him the phone. Once he heard Roderich speak for a few seconds, Vash excused himself from the table and went into the kitchen. Everyone else had ceased speaking and watched him go. If it was just a common vampire attack Vash wouldn't have left. It must be something bigger.
After being gone for a while Vash came back and summerized some of what he'd learned. Roderich, being bored at night without his wife and having almost grown sons who could mostly care for themselves, started researching missing cases and unsolved murders for any possible vampire killing trails. He noticed something odd. A group of people a state over just vanished in the course of a day. The cops could find no links between the missing people and no bodies were turning up. It was assumed by the reporters writing the articles that there could be a new serial killer on the loose and advised readers to take caution. That in itself could have been blamed on a human, under the right circumstances, but then Roderich found other similar cases spread out throughout the country and once in Canada. It was unnatural. A human serial killer normally stalked their prey carefully before killing and they usually had a 'type.' There was no pattern between the missing. Younger vampires weren't too picky and would kill the first thing they saw when they were hungry, which was how they would usually get caught. But there were no bodies. It had to be older vampires doing this.
Mathew knew from the coven they'd just taken out that sometimes a group of vampires would build a following of humans to feed off of slowly so they wouldn't have to hunt and risk getting caught. No sooner than he thought of it, Vash mentioned Roderich's suspicions. His main conlusion was that the vampires were building an army. Why else would they need so much blood? And with no bodies turning up, the missing were either being turned or fed off of by the new vampires under careful watch by more experienced ones.
Mathew wasn't sure if he was ready to fight an army, and his main goal was to find his brother, but he knew they would need every abled person they could get. He needed to train more and improve as quickly as possible. When everyone was finished eating, he asked Anya and her sisters if they would show him some of their moves. They agreed and everyone followed them into the sparring room to watch him get his ass kicked.
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"Again?! How do you always find coins on heads?"
While walking around London to a few of the places the trio had once seen the Wizard, Gilbert and Alfred played a game where they tried to see who could find the most money. Alfred was winning by a long shot and every coin he found was always on heads. Gilbert was being a sore loser and Alfred constantly had to keep watching him so he wouldn't cheat like he had earlier.
"It's the jacket, I tells ya. My Grandad wore this thing during three tours and wasn't once shot down. I inherited his luck. It's hard to take a Jones down."
"We'll see about that. Kesesese."
And Gilbert ran ahead of the group to snatch a pence from the sidewalk. It was on tails. Francis and Antonio just shook their heads with matching grins and commented on how competitve Gilbert always was. Alfred chased after Gilbert to grab a coin before he could. No way was Alfred gonna lose.
Later in the night, they seperated to go hunting. Since they were in a strange place and Alfred was still so new, Gilbert agreed to tag along with him. Alfred was a bit nerous about picking his own meal this time but he was smacked on the back and told jokingly by Gilbert that he was a total 'chick and dick magnet.' That's right! He was a hunk and anyone would be lucky to have him drink from them. They finally agreed on a pub that seemed touristy. Locals would notice if one of the regulars walked out with someone. Once inside, Gilbert immediately plopped down next to a redhead sitting alone near the back of the room. Way to abandon a bro. Guess it was time to show how much of a cool kickass vampire he was! There were only a few ladies in the room and most of them seemed taken but as he scanned the bar, his eyes met emeralds.
Almost in a dream, Alfred wandered over to the bar and sat down next to a cute goth lookin guy. Alfred couldn't move, he couldn't even open his mouth to say anything. He felt as if his body wasn't his own. Time seemed to hang suspended. The emerald eyed man before him adverted his gaze and like that the spell was broken. Alfred suddenly felt way in over his head. He probably looked like a loser. This dude totally thought he was a loser. He had to fix this quick! He needed to say something cool.
"H-hey, how's the weather."
What teh frick that wasn't cool at all. He was so lame omg. The guy would probably tell him to go away or laugh at him. He tried not to cringe as he waited to get chased off.
"Hello. You aren't from around here. America I presume?"
"Yep! Born and bred. It's my first time over here."
"And what would cause someone such as yourself to wander so far from home? Holiday?"
"Something like that. I'm actually looking for someone."
"Really? Could I be that someone?"
"Not like that, dude, hahaha! There's someone I'm looking for to help me with something."
"That sounds interesting, mind humoring me?"
"Nope sorry, it's a secret. By the way, I love your chain things and your boots." Alfred motioned to shiny chains dripping off the man's hips.
"Thank you, most people turn their noses up at me."
"That's totally rude! I'm digging the goth look."
"It's not goth, you silly American, it's punk. Notice my use of tartan and other colors besides black."
Alfred inspecked the man's outfit fully and did see the plaid and bits of red and white besides the black. Oh yeah. He'd never heard of punk before but he really wasn't one for caring about clothing styles. He himself usually wore tshirts and jeans except on special occasions.
"Well whatever it is, it looks really cool on you. I bet you could kick some serious ass with those boots."
Why did he say that?! He was supposed to be trying to lead this guy away to a dark alley and get near his neck, not get all bro-ey with him. He didn't really want to bite him anymore. This guy was too cool.
"I sure can, so don't anger me. This has been quite charming chatter but onto buisness. Why are you looking for me Alfred?"
"What? How do you know my name?"
"I know a lot of things."
"Who are you?"
"Arthur."
"Um okay. Arthur. It's nice to meet you."
Alfred shook his hand, still not really getting were this was going. Did this guy know him online or something? Did he say his name earlier? He couldn't remember. It had to be that.
"I must go. Meet me at this address. I know you have that frog and that bafoon Spanaird with you somewhere. They are not allowed to come. I won't help you if they show up."
Arthur procured a buisness card from his pocket and passed it to Alfred. Alfred glanced down to read just an address and nothing else. When he looked up from the card, Arthur was gone. There was no way he could have walked away that fast. Wait. How did he know about Francis and Antonio? And he said he would help him? Was that the Wizard?! It couldn't be! Wizards were supposed to have long beards and wear robes and pointy hats. From how everyone talked, he must be at least 300 years old. It could be, uh what was that word, glamor? Was that it? That thing Merlin did in that one episode Amelia made him watch. The thing where he got old. Maybe Arthur was doing that to look young and when they showed up to his cool layer, he would look all wizardy and there would be smoke and a killer light show!
Getting blood completely forgotten, Alfred ran over to tell Gilbert only to see him leading the redhead into the bathrooms. He'd let him eat, then tell him the exciting whoop! He found the Wizard! Or rather the Wizard found him. Either way, he might be eating burgers by tomorrow.
