Author's Notes: Still don't anything except the characters I create.
Shortly after sundown Karl set off for the home of Von Hartnid. Following the directions Marx had given him he headed uptown to where the nobility and other rich lived; the farther up he went the finer the houses became. He had to be careful the farther he went; Marx had stressed that he must not be seen by the night watch anywhere near that part of town that could lead to awkward questions later.
A half hour of walking brought him to the wall that divided the upper class quarter from the lower class quarter. As Marx had warned him there were guards at all the gates; this was theoretically not a problem as he would not be using a gate. He would be getting to the other side another way.
Making sure there was no one about Karl darted into a deserted alleyway next to the wall. There he paused for several seconds, his stomach churning from nervousness, he then took a several deep breaths and began. Marx had explained things to him as best he could regarding werewolves; this was difficult and confusing considering all the different theories about them, but there were some things most agreed upon.
He was no longer human and the wild savagery he felt was now a natural part of him, but it could be mastered. It helped if he thought of it as a horse; a thing that had to be broken and controlled before you could make use of it. It would be with him for the rest of his life but it was something he could control and bend to his will, and with mastery of that would come mastery of the change.
Concentrating his mind inward he searched for the beast within him. Due to the near full moon it was near the surface and the search did not take long. He was shocked when his mind first touched; its wild uncontrollable savagery terrified him.
No, wait, it wasn't uncontrollable; neither was it mindless, it felt and it thought. It had a mind and a will of its own. It had been born when his humanity had died; it was as much a part of him as the mind he had as a human. He was in a way two souls in one body, or two bodies with one soul.
The two sides of him struggled; the wild side resisted. It did not want to serve Marx or anyone else; it wanted to run wild, to hunt and kill. Karl struggled to subdue it to his will; he tried to convey to it the realization that if it continued down the road it wanted to they would eventually be hunted down and destroyed. It responded with scorn; Karl may want to rule but he was weak and afraid. It was powerful and feared nothing, it would not submit to him. Karl felt it push back trying to force him out; it could not yet take control, the full moon was still several days away, but it could defeat all his efforts to gain control and when the moon turned full it would take control again.
Karl's temper flared; he may no longer be human but he would not abandon his humanity and he would not be ruled by a beast! He took his anger and threw it against the beast forcing it back. He did not have the beast's raw power but his will was just as strong and he had other weapons at his disposal. He hurled that fact in the beast's face in the form of an ultimatum. It would submit to his will or he would cage it. Every full moon he would gash himself with silver; he would prevent the change from occurring at all, the beast would be trapped within for the entirety of his life, however long that may be. The beast growled in anger but could see no way to overcome this impasse. Before it could think of anything Karl pressed on. It did not have to be that way; the world was vast and there were many adventures to be had. If it were to submit to him Karl would call on it often, together they could hunt as one and not just on the full moon. Doubtless they would face many dangerous advisories that would make worthy prey; Karl smirked, unless it was afraid to hunt anything besides peasants.
It snorted in an offended manner but at the same time it seemed amused and appeared to be reassessing its opinion of Karl. Karl did have strength after and he possessed the will to dominate. Yes, it would submit to his will and together they would hunt as one. Karl felt the resistance cease; he no longer sensed it resisting him but standing alongside him. He reached for it and it for him and the two souls became one.
A cool breeze caused Karl to shiver and open his eyes; the internal struggle had left him covered in sweat and from the cries of the watchman in the distance calling out the hour, it had taken longer than he thought. He had no time to celebrate his victory time was of the essence.
Concentrating he focused on his arms and legs. He watched fascinated as his arms lengthened and bulged with muscles while thick black hair sprouted; there was pain as his limbs lengthened but it was not as bad as before and he had been expecting it. He now understood why Marx had told to wear only a vest, no shirt, and to go barefoot; he felt his leg muscles bulging as well till they strained at his pants and his toenails grow to claws and scrape on the ground. Deciding it was enough he halted the change; he crouched down, gathered his muscles, and sprang. His leap carried him to the top of the wall; it wasn't wide enough for stand on but he placed his arms over the top and dug his toenails into the wall. He hung there for a moment to see if anyone had seen or heard him but no alarm was raised. After he was satisfied it was safe to do so he heaved himself over and dropped down on the other side.
After pausing again to see if he was unobserved; he shifted his body back to normal and darted into an ally. Keeping to the shadows and alleys he made his way to the house of Von Hartnid. Marx's instructions were perfectly clear and he found the house without any difficulties. Even before he saw it he could smell it. It was the same sickly sweet smell as he had smelled on the attackers; only here it was more concentrated and far stronger.
He circled the house several times trying to deciding on his entrance; he was hampered in that he did not know were the people were in the house. Marx had been very clear, he was not to strike until Marx and Wilhelmina made their move. He could not risk being seen until then.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a carriage coming down the street. He moved back into the shadows as the sounds drew closer. The carriage stopped in front of Von Hartnid's house and a man stepped out. Karl's lips drew back in a snarl; the man had the same stench as the house. The man knocked on the door and the door was opened almost immediately by a slim young man in fine clothing. "Wilhelm;" the slender man said, "How good to see you though you are a bit late."
"A thousand apologizes Von Hartnid; I trust I haven't kept you all waiting long?"
"Not long, though the others have all arrived and are getting impatient. They are all waiting downstairs now come, we don't want to keep her waiting."
The man turned slightly pale and hurried inside. Karl smiled in the dark; he now knew that everyone was here and also where in the house they were at. He silently crept up to the house; as expected the door was bared. His enhanced hearing caught the sound of chanting coming up from the cellar. With a prayer that the chanting would cover it he punched through the glass of a window. Ignoring the tingling of the resulting cuts regenerating he flipped the latch and crawled in. He found himself in a well-furnished room but he did not pause to admire the decor. He had a job to do and even if he hadn't he would not have liked this place.
Inside the smell was even worse; it made his stomach queasy, like he had eaten something with to much sugar in it, and even though it was still muffed and he could not understand it the chanting set his teeth on edge. He did not want to but he had his instructions, he crept to the door leading down and waited.
The chanting continued and he became more and more agitated; so it was a relief when he sensed the magic of Marx and his apprentice. He crouched, gathering himself to spring and partially transformed; he was pleased to see that it was becoming easier. Suddenly the chanting became screams; that was the signal, he sprang at the door which burst open.
The scene which greeted his eyes was bizarre; the room had clearly been intended to be a wine cellar, but the racks had all been pushed to the side. In the center of the room was a brazier which was giving off thick smoke which was obviously a narcotic of some sort. Farther out, arranged in a circle around the brazier where a dozen lampstands all of which help oil lamps though most were out plunging the room in a gloomy half-light.
Between the brazier and the lamps were about fifteen people, all of whom were partially or completely naked. What drew his attention, and that of everybody else in the room, was a large purple and blue shadow in one corner of the room, tendrils from which were dragging a woman into the shadow. Karl had not been told exactly what Marx had planned and seeing it left him shaken. Still, he had to admit it was impressive.
The others in the room were beginning to shake off their surprise and were beginning to move to aid the woman. That would not do, time for Karl to make his move. His first target was a large man wearing only a pair of bright pink silk trousers and carrying a rapier in his right hand. Karl, still unobserved, ran up and jumped; he landed on the man's back, using his enlarged toenails as claws to anchor himself to the man's back leaving his hands free. The man screamed, alerting the others to the new threat, but before they could do anything Karl grabbed the sides of the man's head and tore it from the man's shoulders.
The sound of someone speaking in a language that hurt his ears caught his attention; turning he saw a woman, completely naked but covered with symbols that had been cut into her flesh, blood still dripping from them, as she continued to chant energy began to form around her hands. Karl lunged but was to late. Pink lightning shot from her hands toward him. He just barely managed to throw himself to the side. The bolt shot past him and struck another woman behind him. She screamed, partially in pain, partially in ecstasy, as she fell to the ground. The lightning jump from her to strike two men running close behind her; burning both to ashes. All this went unseen by Karl as he continued his rush toward the caster; she began to chant again but Karl reached her first, one swipe of his hand took the front half of her head off.
The rest fell quickly; the loss of their leader, the death of the big man and caster and most of all the fury of Karl's attack, broke their will. They tried to run but there was only one way in and out. Karl easily headed them off. The fear robbed them of the will to fight and he killed them almost effortlessly. For a moment he feared he had slain them all. Then he caught movement out of the corner of his eye; it was the late comer, he was cowering the corner doing a very poor job of hiding, from the smell he had soiled himself. Karl made a great show of searching the room; taking care not to get to close to the man and then left.
After leaving the house he made his way back to Marx. He had to be even more careful than before as he was now covered with blood. When he reached the inn instead of going through the door he climbed up the wall to Marx's window. Marx was sitting at the table calmly smoking a pipe. He seemed unsurprised at Karl's entrance.
"I trust your end went well." He said in a completely calm voice.
"Yes;" said Karl, "I got there in time to see your exit, very dramatic."
"Hardly; I am a shadowmancer, deceit is my stock in trade. I merely added a little color to put the idea of their rival cult into their heads."
Karl looked around they were alone in the room, "Where is your charming assistant?"
"My apprentice and she is elsewhere seeing to our guest; we are all going to have a little chat later."
Karl suppressed the urge to shudder. "Well; something tells me I don't want to be around for that so if I could get my money I'll be on my way."
"No, I rather suspect you don't you want to be here for that. As for your money here it is." He reached into his robes and brought out a pouch and threw it to Karl, he caught it and heard the clink of metal coins. "Here you are, enjoy; I'll let you know when the next job is."
"Next job;" asked Karl, "When did I agree to another job?"
"Your agreement or disagreement is irrelevant."
"What?" Said Karl his temper beginning to rise.
"I am saying that wither you want to do it or not is irrelevant, you will do it. We are at war; have been since before the Empire was formed. We are under siege from within and from without, I am a weapon in our nation's arsenal and now so are you."
"Are you saying I have no choice?" Karl snapped; no longer even trying to hold his temper in check. He took a step toward Marx. That was as far as he got; Marx's hand shot out and he spat a phrase. A band seemingly made of shadows formed around Karl's throat and began to choke him.
"No;" said Marx in the same calm voice he had been using the entire conversation, "You don't have a choice. Understand this is not a full time arrangement. Once we are done here you are free to walk out of this room and go wherever you wish to go. It may be days, weeks, months even years down the road but times will arise when magic is not enough, when we need raw muscle power. When that time comes we will summon you, and trust me when I say we will find you, and you will come if you do not we will expose you to the world and there will be no place for you to go save to the enemy and if that is your decision we will kill you. If you attempt to harm me or my apprentice we will kill you and even if you succeed in killing us our order will avenge us; you will not sense them coming trust me.
With a wave of his hand the band vanished and Karl drew in a deep ragged breath. Marx looked at him and his tone grew sad. "I know you will not believe me but I am sorry and I wish it did not have to be this way but it must. You are to valuable an asset to cast aside; even if we had a choice which we do not. We do not even know if you are a natural creature or some spawn of Chaos; most would destroy you outright, I am offering you a chance to live and aid others. You helped destroy evil people tonight; in the future you will help destroy more, some even worse. In the eyes of the world you are a monster and monsters don't get to be heroes. Neither do we; we are the wielders of the knife in the dark. Doubtless you think I am taking away your freedom but let me leave you with this; from the peasant to the emperor, none of us are free. We all have masters; wither they are of the dark or the light, all serve."
Karl had no reply. He quietly took his money and left.
Author's Notes: Well another down, I hoped you liked it. Blue and purple are the colors of the rival cult's god I believe if anyone was curious. How did I do with the transformation I did not want to spend chapters and chapters on that point. How was the speech at the end? Grey Wizards are supposed to be good at rhetoric and debate please let me know in the reviews if you think I did a good job. Bye for now and may Jesus bless you all to next time.