Steel, Fire, Honor and Ruin
Chapter 18
courting with death
/ooooooo\
Location: the ruins of the city Mordheim, in the province of Ostermark
Day 56
Maria Shepard sat on a small stool in a burned-out ruined building so broken down that its roof was a rectangle of stretched out canvas, as another woman – her name was Frieda – tended to her sword wounds. She was clad in nothing but her primitive bra, underwear and socks. It was night and the temperature was just on the wrong side of cold, causing light goosebumps across her skin.
Her cuts were cleaned and covered, and Maria just held back a hiss of pain as Frieda tightened the bandage over the near hole Vlad von Carstein had carved through her left bicep.
"Sorry," Frieda chirped as she tied off the cloth. "But let this be a lesson ta ya. Don't go crossin' blades with bloodsuckers. Never ends well." She took another long strip of cloth, and with a practiced skill, folded it over and tied it off at a strategic point, then pulled it over Maria's shoulder and mover her left arm so it sat comfortably in the new sling.
Maria examined the sling and bandage. It looked neatly done. "Thank you," she said, settling her arm a bit more. "But for the record, I have dueled Vlad twice now and both times it ended in a tie."
The other woman snorted causing Maria to look up.
She met Frieda when Markos and Elize von Carstein led Maria out of the mine she had 'woken up' in. The two vampires guided her to the strictly human camp where the mercenaries who served the vampires were spending their time. It was there the two vampires basically did nothing more than point to the nearest human and order them to take care of Maria, before they marched back off again.
The person directly chosen wasn't qualified to tend to Maria, so he went off to find someone else. That someone turned into Frieda. Frieda was a freckle faced woman with shoulder length curly cherry-brown hair, that she was constantly brushing back behind her ears. She couldn't have been much older than Shepard, but her eyes were tired and weary, making the rest of her features seem older than they potentially were. She wore a heavy leather shirt and no other armor other than a clearly abused metal chest plate. A short sword was belted to her hip.
"The Lord let you win. I hope ya know that."
Maria dropped her gaze back to the wooden floor. Despite her trick with the mine's ceiling, she did understand the power levels between the two of them was vaster than she probably knew.
Which only begged the question, why was she still alive?
On second thought, don't ask. Just go with the flow.
Series of steps out in the hall announced the arrival of another person, who shortly appeared in the open doorway. The door that should have blocked his entrance was on the floor, broken off its hinges, and burnt in half.
Maria looked up to see another face from her time spent in Blood Keep. He stood a head taller than her, with shaggy brown hair covering a round face marred by scars. He was lean and wearing the same get-up as Freida but had a longer sword at his hip. Maria didn't know his name, but he was the Sergeant that led her through the broken keep when she was first introduced to the Count.
Frieda began gathering her supplies, unceremoniously dumping them into a leather sack. "Could have knocked Sarge," she sighed. "Give the lady a chance ta get decent first."
The Sergeant's own tired eyes locked on Maria. "This ain't no lady we have here," he said, the edges of his lips dipping down into a frown. "She's a killer… an' a damned good one at that."
Oh good. He's still holding a grudge over what she had done back at Blood Keep. Maria's escape hadn't been a gentle affair. The keep's closed gate being blasted to smithereens by her biotics came back to mind.
"Sorry about that," and Maria did mean it. But that wasn't to say she felt guilty over it either. "I take it someone died when I left the Keep?"
The Sergeant folder his arms over his chest. "I lost three men when you destroyed the gate. Two others were crippled and no longer fit for duty."
Maria could do nothing more than offer him a half-hearted shrug. His voice remained even when he spoke so that told her he understood the score. They were soldiers on different sides of a conflict. If, and when, they fought, there would be causalities. That was war.
"I'm here ta tell ya that yer our guest for now," he explained, stepping into the room. "Rest, heal up, and we'll let ya go when yer fit for travel. The lords have said yer ta be given every courtesy," and he said the word with a clear manner, so she understood the extent of that courtesy, "but know I'll have a few of my men watching ya so ya don't cause trouble."
Frieda snorted. "Don' go causin' trouble? She pissed off the Count himself! I doubt you'd be capable of doin' more than that."
Despite herself, Maria had a small smile. It would be hard to top that. Though if there was a way, she'd find it.
"Thank you for the hospitality," she said back to the Sergeant. Good manners were the way to go until she was back to one hundred percent. She made a point of looking around. "Markos brought me here under some sort of spell. I wasn't aware of my surroundings. I was in Reikland, near the border with Talabecland, before he took me. Where am I now?"
Frieda looked at her with a smile. "For most of us? Home."
The Sergeant cleared his throat while he shot a quick and angry look her way. Frieda went back to her supplies.
"Yer in Ostermark," the Sergeant said, looking back at Maria, "within the Dead Woods and the ruins of the cursed city, Mordheim."
Ostermark? The Empire province of Ostermark? Maria's shoulders fell and she dropped her head into her right hand as a headache started to rapidly grow at the news.
Ostermark was the eastern most province of the Empire and marked the boundary of Imperial land against the World Edge Mountains. The same massive range of mountains that nearly stretched from pole to pole of this planet. More importantly, distressingly, soul crushingly, Maria now found herself farther inland and away from the ocean than she had ever been before. If she thought getting from Nuln to Dietershafen had been a lengthy trip, Maria was now facing weeks of travel before she even got back to the city-state of Nuln. Right back to the point her journey to Ulthuan had originally begun. Less than forty-eight hours ago she had been on a boat heading to the High Elves home. Now she wasn't just back to square one, she had passed square one and basically taken a cruise through the next four solar systems!
If Maria ever got the chance she was absolutely, positively slapping Markos's ass with a biotic field so strong there'd be no molecular trace left of him to identify.
"I'd wait until you can at least lift that arm of yers before you go threatening that particular blood drinker," Frieda said softly and in warning as she slung the straps her leather backpack over her shoulders.
Maria looked up from her hand in surprise. Had she said that out loud? Oh well.
The Sergeant grunted. "I told ya she was trouble. What's it been? Less than an hour since she went a round with the Count, and now she's already looking ta make more problems for herself."
"Markos started it…" Maria grumbled.
The Sergeant turned back to the door. "We're on the borders of Sylvania and the Dead Woods have earned their name," he said over his shoulder. "Ya need anything just holler. Don't go tryin' to wander on yer own."
Maria watched him leave. "Why are you working for vampires?" she asked Frieda bluntly.
The woman didn't even flinch. She just shrugged, saying, "The blood drinkers pay well. Better than we would have been makin' on our own servin' the Empire. Or raidin' them. And when the Count stopped at our camp asking for our services, we weren't stupid enough ta say no."
Maria was slightly taken aback. "Do you know the things Vlad von Carstein did during the wars? What all the von Carsteins did?"
Frieda shrugged again. "Havn' read about it myself, but I heard stories."
"He slaughtered entire towns. Their armies killed everyone. Men, women and children."
Frieda looked away. "Vlad also spared the cities who surrendered to him…" She sighed heavily. "I don' want ta talk about this anymore." She stood up, offering Maria a hand. "Let's get ya ta bed."
Maria ignored the woman's hand as she stood on her own, but after the day's activities, she immediately felt lightheaded and nearly fell backward. Despite the snub Freida still grabbed Maria's good arm and helped keep her steady. That just made Maria feel so much better.
"Thanks…" she mumbled as Frieda guided her over to the cot and blankets set up in the corner of the room.
"Don't thank me yet," Frieda said with a chuckle as she helped Maria onto the cot and under the blankets. "Sarge wasn' lying when he said the place wasn't safe. They don't call this a cursed city for nothin'. We got men on patrol but sleep with one eye open."
Maria rolled her eyes. "Anything jumps out at me and the first thing you'll hear is their scream for help. Breakfast tomorrow?"
Frieda turned down the only lantern in the room, set on the ground beside the cot, so the flame left only the faintest glow. "I'll be back ta get ya when it's time," she said before passing through the doorway.
Maria settled further under the blankets, slightly annoyed at their roughness, as she stared up at the stretch of canvas above her, waving in the slight breeze.
So this was Mordheim? Maria hadn't seen much of it when she was led out of the mine, but everything she had seen was broken or flat out destroyed. She tried to remember if she had read up on this place at some point during her stay in Nuln. The city had been the original capital of Ostermark. It had also been one of the larger cities of the Empire during its time.
All of this ended when, according to history, a comet fell from the sky and destroyed the city.
And after that, the ruins were then inhabited by bad people and worse creatures, eventually leading one of the Empire's past Emperors to assemble an army and sweep through the ruins, killing the devil spawn, and driving out the inhabitants. Mordheim had taken even more of a beating by that point.
So, as far as cursed cities went, this one had been pretty unlucky.
Maria reached under the cot and swiped her heavy pistol and submachine gun from the bag. With both weapons tucked under the blankets, she now felt comfortable enough to get some sleep.
/ooooooo\
Day 57
In an open courtyard within the ruined city that had been transformed into a make-shift mess hall for the mercenary company, Maria was shoveling forkfuls of eggs and sausages into her mouth as the rest of those sitting at the long table for breakfast watched her with varying degrees of emotion. After swallowing a particularly large mouthful she took notice of their stares.
"I'm planning on getting a third plateful so you better start eating before it's all gone."
That got most of them focused back on their own meals.
Freida was sitting across from Maria and poking her own helping of eggs with her fork. "You always eat like that?"
Maria took a moment chewing her food before replying. "Yup. I need it. That fight last night wore me out."
Frieda was staring back at her with a careful expression, as though she was mentally working things out, before she asked, "Is that because of your magic?"
That made Maria pause as her fork dropped back down from her mouth. How did Frieda know about her biotics? Or was the woman aware of her ability to access the winds of magic?
Her confusion must have shown. "After I left you last night the Sarge wanted ta talk," Frieda said poking at her eggs some more. "He warned me about the spells ya used when you broke out from Blood Keep."
Maria put down her fork and grabbed her wooden mug. Since her left arm was still healing and stuck in a sling, she was doing everything with her right hand for the time being. She took a drink and had to fight from making a face at the sour tasting milk that filled the mug. Setting it back down Maria noticed everyone else sitting within earshot was not so subtly looking her way.
"Let me guess," she spoke up loud enough to be heard by everyone. "You're all worried about what I'm going to do today, and whether or not its going to get as violent as it did in Blood Keep."
The man sitting next to Frieda pointed his fork at her. "Ya fought the Count. No one has ever faced him an' lived. No one. Ya got all the vamps on edge an' that's the last thing we want. So yeah, are ya goin' ta be trouble or not?"
"Vlad said I was a free woman and your Sergeant told me I could stay until I was healed up." Maria stabbed a sausage with her fork while shaking her head, "I don't plan on messing up a deal like that. You'll get no trouble from me."
The man grunted and went back to his meal, "Good." Everyone else seated at the table seemed to release a collective sigh of relief and refocused on breakfast.
Maria leaned slightly over the table. "No one has beaten Vlad?" she asked, lowering her voice so only Freida heard her.
The other woman shook her head, her curly hair bouncing slightly. "No one has ever survived Vlad," she corrected, her own voice dropping to a whisper. "Not since he hired our company at least."
Maria mulled that little tidbit of info over. According to what she'd read of the Empire's wars against Sylvania and the vampires, Vlad von Carstein had been beaten before in battle. In one it was recorded that a silver tipped lance speared him through the heart. In another a lucky shot from a cannon took his head clean off his shoulders. After one bloody affair Vlad had the defeated Grand Master of the Knights of the White Wolf on his knees before him, when in a last suicidal effort, the man suddenly leapt to his feet and decapitated Vlad with the Count's own sword.
All these incidents had one very disturbing theme. Vlad had died from wounds that would have permanently ended any normal vampire's reign and come back from the grave to keep conquering and killing.
The Empire eventually figured out how that was possible. It was thanks to the power within the ring Vlad wore on his finger today. The ring brought him back each and every time. During the siege of Altdorf, the Empire hired the greatest thief of the age to sneak into the undead camp and steal the ring from Vlad's own hand. Against all odds the thief succeeded. When Vlad attacked the Imperial capital that very night in a fit of rage having lost his most prized possession, he was finally killed for the last time. The von Carstein conquest had momentarily been halted and the greatest realm of men saved. The ring and thief were never seen or heard from again.
Somehow Vlad had returned to life… or undeath technically, cripes that was going to get confusing… and he had gotten his ring back.
"Do you know how he returned, and with his ring?" Maria asked, still keeping her voice low.
"No!" Frieda whispered quickly, a fearful look on her face. "We don't ask about it, and you don' ask about it neither! That's the blood drinker's business! And the fastest way ta find yerself stuck with a sword again."
The woman looked genuinely afraid, so Maria dropped the subject and speared another sausage with her fork. Maybe she could find one of the vampires and pester them until they let something slip. After everything she and Markos had been through, he was a prime candidate for that tactic. But that plan would probably have to wait until nightfall.
Maria looked up at the overcast sky. The grey clouds nearly hid any trace of the morning sun's position, leaving instead only a faint white glow along the horizon. There wasn't any smell of rain in the air and even though there was a chilly breeze blowing through the ruined buildings around them, the low hanging clouds held still. Another memory of her time in Blood Keep came back to her as she studied the sky.
"Are the vampire's controlling the weather?" she asked, already guessing the answer but looking for conformation.
Frieda nodded as she chewed. "Yeah. I don't know which one is doin' it, maybe all of them together or maybe just one or two have the job, but the sun never shines on their camp."
Maria frowned. "But they sleep during the day, right? That's what vampires do. Why do they care if the sun is out now when they're already hiding from it?"
"That they are but the blood drinkers still hate the sun," Frieda explained causally and looking a lot more at ease now that they weren't discussing the ring. "They can feel the sun under the heavy canvas of their tents, and even as they rest inside their coffins. Some react more ta it than others. Saps their powers, makes them weak. Better ta just have the sun gone an' make things easier for 'em all." She looked up. "I know the Count can make it far darker than this. Must be some of his blood drinkers just blanketin' the sky for now. Saving their power, maybe."
The man beside her grunted again. "Yer talking a lot this mornin' ya know that?" he said while picking up his empty plate and standing from the table.
Frieda shrugged and waved her fork around. "Eveythin' she's asking about is common knowledge to the Empire anyways. I'm not givin' away any big secret."
"Hhm," he said, more grunt again than word, as he shot her a pointed look before walking off.
Freida rolled her eyes at his back but then quickly leaned over the table closer to Maria. "Though I've heard a rumor," she began conspiratorially, lowering her voice, "that there's a vampire living today that can actually walk in broad daylight! Can you believe it! A blood drinker that can stand under the sun without bursting ta flames. I wonder how old it is ta have that power? Even the Count can't walk during the day without some clouds over head blockin' the sun."
She gave Maria this sly little smile and then quickly looked around and got back to finishing off her breakfast.
For her part Maria was stunned to the point she had momentarily forgotten about her own meal. A vampire that could walk during the day? A vampire that could plot, lead armies, kill and feed off humans during all hours? The soldier in her fell into a panic. Part of the reason why the Empire had even managed to withstand the Vampire Wars and the vast armies of risen undead soldiers was because the advantage lay solely on humanity's side when the sun was out. They won nearly every daytime battle, but only because the vampires themselves were forced to sit out the fight and retreat before being captured.
If this vampire truly did exist, and it managed to pass on this trait to others of its kind… Maria fought down the panic as she licked her lips and was the one now poking at her food.
"So, you said Vlad could potentially walk right up to this table and say good morning?"
"Yup," Frieda replied with a nod. "I seen him do it already. Doesn't spend a lot of time out though. Just enough ta find the Sergeant or patrol our camp looking all important an' stuff. Sometimes he has another one of his Drakenhof Templars with him, but their skin is always goin' red quick and they hurry off ta shade or deeper into the mine before it gets bad for them. No other vampire is as strong as they are, an' you'll never see the rest of 'em until the sun sets."
She might not have considered that vital information but for Maria that little nugget was pure gold, and she filed it away in her brain for later. The two of them got back to finishing off their morning meals.
Maria's plate was almost empty when she asked, "Where did you hear about the vampire that can walk during the day?"
Frieda looked up at Maria, first surprised, but then quickly looked self-conscious and uncomfortable. "Oh, umm," she managed a half smile, "I'm not supposed ta really talk about it. Sorry. Forget I said anything."
Now she was curious. "Why not?" she asked, gently prodding. "Can't be that bad."
Frieda shifted in her seat and played with her fork between both hands but gave in all the same. "We were on the road here. It was night and our part of the caravan was attacked by a patrol of Knights from the Order of Sigmar's Blood. It was a doomed attempt on their part. They must have thought we were just a common band of raiders. They didn' know we had vampires riddin' with us.
"They killed a few of us as they charged from the forest. There was about fifty of the knights, but as soon as the blood drinkers got involved it was a slaughter." Frieda swallowed and Maria noted the woman's hands had a slight shake as she toyed with the fork. "But ta give them credit they fought hard and ta the last. A few of the vampires were even injured. One took a lance through the chest and when he moved ta kill the knight who struck him the man got a lucky thrust of his sword under the vampire's armor just as he died. The sword cut his heart.
"After the fightin' stopped, I jumped from my horse and started checking the wounded. I'm one of the few trained healers the company's got. Eventually I came upon the injured vampire." Frieda looked up at Maria and she seemed almost defensive as she said, "You have ta understand, when the sword cut his heart, especially after taking the lance wound, he wasn' healing fast enough! He was bleedin' out on the ground! He needed fresh blood ta heal – and after the chaos of the fighting – there wasn' anyone around for me ta get help before he died!"
She closed her eyes and took a breath. "Even though it went against the contract the Sergeant made with Vlad, I… I let the vampire drink from me so he wouldn' bleed out." She opened her eyes again as her face flushed and she shook her head sending cherry-brown curls everywhere. "It was stupid of me, I know! A vampire can normally heal from mortal wounds but there was so much blood in the grass around him and I panicked. No vampires were close by and I just had to help him somehow! He was growing weaker by the second so, so I offered him my arm and he took it, and sank his fangs in, and everythin' just… everythin' went so fuzzy and, and so right… I've never felt anything like that before… just wonderfully…"
Frieda trailed off looking over Maria's shoulder with this lopsided smile on her face. Her eyes had dilated, and a sheen of sweat was already covering her forehead as strands of hair stuck to the damp skin. The woman barely seemed to breath as she closed her eyes and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, then let out a soft and utterly carnal moan.
Maria stared gaping as she watched the reaction. This is what it looked like when someone was bitten by a vampire. Had this been her? Walach Harkon's bite hadn't made her feel this way but as she remembered back to when Markos had bit her things had definitely felt similar, which only caused heat to rise up in Maria as she realized it.
She quickly reached over and slapped Frieda across the face. Luckily the two off them were relatively alone as most of the other mercenaries had already left the breakfast table close by. Frieda blinked as she dropped her fork and brought a hand up to her cheek. She looked shocked that Maria had hit her but then she flushed again, and this time from embarrassment.
"Oh no," she breathed. And then swore, "Taal's teeth! Thanks. I – I wasn' supposed ta be rememberin' that. I'm not supposed ta think about it at all. That was the Sergeant's orders. And I could have easily told ya the story without rememberin' that but the words just kept comin' and then the feelin's came up and –"
"It's okay!" Maria quickly spoke up, cutting the woman's rambling off. She tried to put her at ease. "I'm not going to tell anyone, and I can say I know what it feels like to be bitten by a vampire. Its not something you forget easily. Why don't you just finish off the story and tell me how you heard the rumor about the sun walking vampire."
Freida swallowed as she nodded once and took a breath. "Yes. After I was… you know… the vampire took a lot from me. Drained me down ta the point I fell ta the grass beside him and couldn' even lift a finger. He was completely fine. His armor was ruined but he pulled the lance and sword out of his chest without a hole or scar ta show for it!
"Well he picked me up like I was nothin' and carried me back ta the caravan as the rest of the company regrouped. The Sarge had been further up on the road but ridden back with the vampires when they learned of the attack. He saw me in the blood drinkers' arms and went completely mad. I was barley awake but I remember him shouting and cursing out the vampire. He thought the vampire had taken my blood without consent, which went against our contract, and he was ready to kill him over it. Luckily one of the Drakenhof Templars was nearby and stopped the violence before it began.
"It was the woman with the red hair and cloths. Elize, I think? Yes, Elize sorted it all out and got Sarge ta calm down. I couldn' ride my horse, so they put me in one of the covered wagons. I could hear Elize then scoldin' the vampire who drank from me and his punishment was ta guard me for the rest of the journey here ta Mordheim. Or, at least until I could stand up again."
Frieda had a little smile on her face as she continued, "He wasn't happy and growled a lot for the first few hours as he sat in the back of the wagon with me. Wasn't his fault, he was fine, I was a silly girl, things like that. After a few more hours of night had passed he made this big huff and then actually thanked me for offering my blood. A vampire thanked me! Honestly that made it all worthwhile ta hear a near immortal being recognize me like that.
"Then he started talking. Not saying anything really, just filling the silence and boredom. Vampires can get bored; did you know that? I didn' know that. A lifetime of experiences behind and still in front of them yet they get bored. I think he knew well enough that I was still awake an' just exhausted from blood loss. Maybe he didn' care? Well he started talkin' about another vampire he served with down in the southern Border Princes and that's when he mentioned his former partners were heading even further south into the badlands to see if they could meet up with the old powers of their kind.
"My vampire, the one who bit me, called them crazy and left the group ta come north and see what the Empire held for him. He wasn' interested in meeting the old powers. He said it was crazy and dangerous for younger blood drinkers ta think themselves worthy ta – this is what he said – ta walk into the light of day beside the progenitor of their race."
Freida made a face and shrugged. "He didn' say anythin' more on it and I was still on bed rest for the next two days, but eventually I got back on my feet and steady enough ta ride a horse. The vampire first made sure I wasn't about to fall over myself, then just gave me a bow and jumped onto his own mount, disappearing back with his own kind. I haven't seen or heard from him since and the Sarge says that's on purpose until I can get his bite out of me. Elize found me the next night and paid me double my month's wages as compensation. Thanked me for helping one of her more foolish kind. I haven' talked ta her since that night either.
"I didn' even know what 'progenitor' meant until I asked around. Fancy word for a person like me…" The woman fell silent as she finished her tale, looking down at her empty plate. She put the fork on the plate and drank the last of her own sour milk, then stood up from the table.
"Are you done?" Frieda asked, motioning to Maria's own empty plate. "I can take it back for ya."
A rumble from her stomach argued in protest. "I'm going to ask for one more helping. If you don't mind."
Freida shook her head. "No, eat up." She hovered at the table's edge for a moment looking pensive. "Just, if you finish eating before I find you again, don' go wandering far from the safety of the camp."
Maria's eyebrows rose. "Where are you going?"
"I need ta talk ta the Sergeant," Freida replied with a pained look. "About… what I remembered… talking ta you. Sorry. Not that it's yer fault! I just – I need ta see the Sarge." She took two steps, but quickly turned back to face Maria. "I mean it about staying safe ya know. The skaven are in these ruins and they have a nest deep under the mine, so don' go wanderin'."
With the warning given she left the table. Maria watched Frieda quickly return her plate to those running the make-shift mess, and then she hurried off, breaking into a jog as she disappeared deeper into the camp and ruined city.
Ho…ly…shit.
Maria was floored at the amount of information she had just pried from the vampires, and all without even talking to one of them. Freida seemed like a decent person, a little more talkative than you'd want someone to be obviously, but wow. That may not have seemed like a big deal to her but for Maria it was game changing.
The progenitor of their race walked in the sun. Progenitor. Ancestor. Forbearer. Predecessor. That could only mean one vampire. A vampire Maria had the pleasure of knowing about. The first of the vampires, Queen Neferata. That queen was apparently able to walk in daylight without erupting in flames. At least according to secondhand rumors, but still.
Did the Empire know about this? Did the Reiksmarshal? Did Balthasar Gelt? Technically she was free to go whenever she wanted, but once she did, she had more reasons to visit Altdorf than just to retrieve her collector armor. There was no way they wouldn't want to know about the Queen, or that one of the most dangerous vampires the Empire had ever faced still lived. If there was any fool-proof way to get on their good side, this was it.
A nagging guilt fought against Maria's triumphant feeling. If she told the Empire about Vlad, that would undoubtedly cause those in power to act. Meaning armies. Maria's plan meant she would be starting a war. And in this age wars got bloody, fast. The last Vampire War saw entire cities and towns erased from the map. Their populations simply gone. Refugees couldn't just be ferried off-planet to a neutral site. They'd be forced to run, walk, and crawl to the next town, only to repeat the cruel dance all over again as the fronts changed and followed them.
Now she understood what Vlad had meant when he said names held power here. Maria knew the name of the first vampire, and she knew the name of one of the most dangerous vampires. The question of the day was now, what was she going to do about it?
Someone behind Maria gripped her left arm right where Vlad had stabbed her, causing her to yelp out in pain, and yanked her up away from the breakfast table and to her feet.
"What the hell are you doing?" she nearly shouted through clenched teeth as her arm throbbed, and she shoved her right hand against the person's metal chest plate as she tried to pull out of the grip. The pain in her arm only intensified as the person yanked Maria closer, and now she finally recognized the armor covering the body. The black metal closed helmet shielding the vampire's face was new, but not the armor.
That also explained why everyone in the make-shift mess were instantly trying to find something else to focus on and clearing out.
"Am I interrupting your meal Shepard?" Markos von Carstein said from behind his helm. She could hear the sneer in his voice. "Though you weren't doing much eating now were you? I gave you too little credit. Seems you're more cunning than I thought. Pressing our mercenaries for information when you know a vampire would rather just tear your throat out and be done with it."
His voice took on a playful cruelty. "I'll be sure to have a very personal chat with this Freida later tonight. That woman needs to learn when to keep her mouth shut. Another pair of fangs in her skin should be enough motivation I think."
Ignoring the pain in her arm, Maria stepped right in front of Markos and stared into his dark helm.
"If you go anywhere near her, I'll kill you," she promised.
His armored fingers dug deeper into her arm. "Are you threatening me, little girl? Go ahead. Try to kill me. Give me a reason to take your head and drop it at Vlad's feet."
"You seem different today Markos." Maria smiled and it wasn't nice. "The sun getting to you? Is it hot under that helmet? Do vampire's sweat? I can't smell anything with you stuffed into that armor, but you always had this little bit of rot covering you to begin with that I might be missing it. I guess that happens when you're little more than a walking talking corpse."
Markos's other armored hand snapped up to her throat so fast Maria barely saw it happen. He squeezed hard enough that she started to feel the pulse in her neck struggle to pump blood to her head. Then he squeezed harder and nearly cut it off.
Through it all Maria never even twitched. Because this was as far as he would take it. Markos was a von Carstein, and he had proven to be a loyal Drakenhof Templar. His lord and master was pulling the strings, and Markos acted on his word or not at all.
She couldn't see his eyes, but she knew Markos was looking right back into hers. An inhuman sound came out of his helmet, and soon after he released his grip on her neck and arm. Both hands were lowered back to his side with a clear exertion of will.
Markos opened some space between them as he laughed lightly behind the helmet. "Forgive my little game Shepard," he said as though nothing had happened between them. "It no doubt will please you to hear I am truly dying a small amount with every moment standing under the morning sky. Please allow me to complete the task thrust upon my unworthy soul, and guide you back to the mine's entrance… at my Lord's direct request."
"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?" Maria asked while rubbing her throat. And 'request'? Yeah right. They both knew it wasn't really a request.
Markos took a step back and to the side as he outstretched a hand and gave a slight bow. "I would not dare sully my lady's ears with a blunter vocabulary. If you would?" He straightened back up and started off without looking to see if Maria followed behind.
Because she did anyways. Vlad was waiting, and he wasn't someone she was willing to openly defy. At least, not yet.
/ooooooo\
Before long Maria was walking down deep into the mine, Markos still leading the way. Torches spaced every few feet kept the path bright. He led her to the room she had first arrived in but didn't stop and just continued on. They hadn't passed another soul until that particular cavern, and Maria was startled to see semi-armored skeletons along the walls gripping shovels and pickaxes, as they beat an unsteady rhythm into the dirt and stone and worked to expand the room.
They ended up walking for quite a while, even taking a ride down in an elevator made from wood that looked far weaker than Maria felt comfortable with it being. Markos never said a word and kept his helmet on the entire journey. Maria would have guessed they were at least six or seven stories beneath the city of Mordheim.
The tunnel split for the first time into three separate paths. All three were lit up by more torches and Maria could hear more digging sounds coming up from two, but Markos ended up leading her down the third tunnel, and the only one of the three that was quiet.
At that point, despite her best efforts not to, Maria began to feel nervous. All her earlier confident thoughts that Markos wouldn't seriously hurt her began to fall away under the reality that she was now deep underground, alone, with a vampire. Only the weight from the phalanx and locust still at her hip kept her breathing steady, even though her heart rate picked up, and she was certain she heard a faint chuckle from Markos when it did.
Finally, she caught sight of the tunnel widening further ahead. Markos led her into another cavern just smaller than the first, but that's where the similarities ended. This cavern was made to be lived in. It had a few torches on the walls, but also had larger steel lanterns hanging down from the ceiling on thick chains.
Instead of a dirt floor this room had carpets stretched out to cover nearly every inch. Cushioned chairs and couches were gathered around a circular coffee table, with a few books and drinking glasses scattered across the top. Along the wall behind the chairs were bookcases filled to the brim. In a separate corner a tall rectangular table stood alone. Papers, scrolls and parchments accompanied it.
At one edge of the cavern Maria even spotted a group of tall wardrobes. A few were closed, others folded open revealing full suits of plate armor set onto manikins; along with robes and other garments hanging off hooks and tucked away into drawers.
There were other people in the cavern already and Maria didn't have to guess to figure them all for vampires. Markos left Maria standing at the cavern's entrance and she quickly spotted Vlad von Carstein sitting in the largest chair among the circle of furniture, an open book in his hands. He was out of his armor and instead wearing a more casual outfit consisting of a grey shirt and pants, which were tightly tucked into a pair of freshly polished black leather boots. A light black jacket covered the shirt.
He looked up and met Maria's gaze. A weird feeling of wrongness washed over her. Here was a vampire lord sitting comfortably in a chair, reading a book. Vlad looked… normal. He wasn't a vampire right this moment. There was no feeling of magic about him. Nothing that spelled out dark creature like his long fangs or red eyes. He was just a normal man, and that he could pull off such an act unnerved the hell out of her.
As he set down the book and rose from his seat Maria looked at the cavern's other inhabitants. And immediately her stomach curled, and her fists clenched at the sight.
Markos had walked over to join another three vampires along the wall to her left. He pulled his helm off, wiping back his hair with a single swipe of his gauntlet, and Maria noticed the skin of his face had gone pink from even that limited exposure to the sun.
Maria recognized the lone woman in the group as Elize. The same vampire who had kindly donated her sword when Maria dueled Vlad. She was also out of her armor and wearing a deep red silk blouse that matched her hair and tight black pants. Her heeled black boots went all the way up to her thighs.
The tallest vampire in the group, at least six inches taller than Vlad even, but all of it thick muscle, stood to her left. He was still in the sharp and jagged armor that marked him as a Drakenhof Templar, but his set was the most abused she had ever seen. Deep scores and dents marked every plate, showing off its time spent in battle. He had a close buzzcut that nearly made him entirely bald.
The vampire on Elize's right wasn't in armor. He was wearing a thick black robe that had a red edging. He also had a monocle perched over his right eye, but Maria barely focused on that and instead was drawn to the vampire's skin. It wasn't pale like the others, but instead had a purple tinge. He also had a smile that nearly went from ear to ear and was filled with more sharp teeth then a creature that already had fangs needed. His combed over brown hair made a sharp widows peak part way down his forehead.
All four of the vampires now stood at a cabinet covered entirely by various shaped glasses. No more than five bottles of wine stood tall behind the empty glasses, but they were untouched even as the vampires drank from full crystal glasses in their hands.
What they were drinking from was what made Maria's heart truly start pounding.
On the cavern's wall, to the left and right of the cabinet, was a man and a woman. Both were naked and hanging upside down by chains binding their ankles. Their arms hung free, but neither was moving. At Markos's request, the purple skinned monocle wearing vampire took up an empty glass, and unpinched a tube stuck into the man's artery. The woman had another identical tube in her. Blood filled the glass until he pinched it shut again and handed the now full glass over to Markos, who greedily took a long sip of the blood.
And then smacked his lips with a hearty 'ahh' as he smiled back at Maria.
"Shepard," Vlad spoke up, breaking her gaze from the other vampires, "welcome to my home away from home." He cringed with a self-deprecating smile. "Such as it is of course. I'd trade it in a heartbeat for the actual dwelling I desire, but we never get what we want, now do we? At least, not until we put a bit of work in first."
He stretched an arm out to the four vampires quietly watching them from their places around what seemed to amount to nothing more than a vampire water-cooler.
"May I introduce some of the inner circle that makes my Drakenhof Templars the force they are." Vlad put an arm on Maria's shoulder, gently but firmly guiding her a few steps closer to the group… and their victims. "You of course know Elize and Markos, but with us today we also have Anark von Carstein," Vlad said gesturing to the towering armored vampire, who did nothing more than stare down at her, "and we have the former count of Vargravia, Nyktolos," Vlad finished pointing to the purple skinned vampire with the sharp teeth and monocle. He smiled at Maria, showing just how wide his mouth really was, and dipped his head as he raised his blood-filled glass to her.
There was a pause and it occurred to Maria they were expecting her to say something. "Count of Vargravia? I don't recall seeing that place on any map of the Empire."
Nyktolos dipped his head again. "A tragedy to be sure," he began with what amounted to a croak. "Vargravia used to be a city and land within Sylvania, but with the vampire wars, the turbulent power vacuums left behind, much like poor Mordheim I'm afraid nothing remains but the title."
"Would you care for a drink before we begin?" Vlad asked, and Maria noticed both Markos and Anark smirk to themselves at their Lord's double-edged question. Nyktolos just kept smiling while Elize remained the only stoic one in the group. "I believe we have a Bordeleaux red dated 1608, from the Duke's own field no less. Won't find anything more exquisite than that."
Maria kept her face even and her voice polite even as she watched the veins pulse in the necks of the man and woman. "No thank you, nothing for me. Besides, I've had that very wine before, and it wasn't anything to brag about."
Vlad looked genuinely taken aback. "A 1608 red nothing to brag about? Bordeleaux doesn't make a poor wine Shepard, I am forced to question your palate."
"I'm a whiskey and rum girl myself. Soft red liquids don't do it for me, and I find they just attract softer people." Maria made a point of making eye contact with both Markos and Anark as she finished.
Both were glaring daggers at her as Nyktolos frowned down into his own glass. Elize on the other hand brought her drink to her lips to hide a tiny amused smirk.
Vlad chuckled as he guided her away from the drinks. "Next time we'll pack something stronger." They made their way to the circle of furniture and Vlad gracefully fell back into his previous chair. Seeing Maria still standing he waved a hand out, offering her any seat.
Maria took the soft cushioned couch to his right and made a point to sit in the middle. Her back was now to the wall and she had plenty of space around her. The four Drakenhof Templars hadn't followed and remained standing across the cavern with their drinks still in hand. Maria could just make out their lips moving but the conversation was being whispered so quietly she couldn't hear a word.
She bet with all their super-vampire abilities they'd hear her and Vlad just fine. How was that fair?
As soon as Vlad moved to start, Maria purposefully cut in.
"Who are the man and woman on the wall?"
Vlad frowned but she knew it was only because she had spoken over him. "Soldiers of Stirland we captured on the way here from Blood Keep. No one important. No one you know. Does their presence bother you?"
"Yes," Maria replied succinctly.
"You know what we are Shepard," he said leaning comfortably in his chair. "They are barley aware of their surroundings, and they feel no discomfort or pain. We will take from them until we are satisfied. If you're worried about, perhaps, being identified by either one at a later day, you need not. Neither will live past their usefulness."
Maria's hands were fists and she was very aware of the weight from her pistol and submachine gun. "Those are human beings. And you have them hanging from the ceiling like pieces of meat."
Vlad's eyes hardened in a flash. "Yes, they are. And you won't find another vampire treating their food so… humanely. I don't want this to become an issue between us, but may we move along?"
Unclenching her hands, Maria forced herself to try and relax. It wasn't easy but she managed to lean against the couch's back rest while releasing a long breath. Vlad's eyes softened and he made an almost minute nod, as though pleased with her attempt.
"I met someone special in Dietershafen," Maris said next, trying a different tactic.
"Oh?" He looked like he was humoring her.
Excellent. This was going to get a reaction from him. "I met an envoy of a queen," Maria said stretching out the final word. "We talked for a part of the night. I learned a lot."
Vlad sat in his chair without moving. Literally, still as stone. Maria nearly sat up pointing a finger at him while yelling 'suck on that!'. Unfortunately, a modicum of polite conduct was expected during this meeting.
Maria was rapidly learning that this was the only way to read a vampire. When there was literally nothing there to see. She'd seen them thoughtful, humorous, serious, and downright furious, but when they went perfectly still and schooled their features to nothing, you had them. It meant shit was about to get serious.
And did he just shoot a glance over to the other vampires? If Maria had blinked, she would have missed it. Hmmm, this just got even more interesting. Don't overplay your hand…
"Her name was Nathalie," Maria said. "And she wasn't to happy to learn the Queen revealed herself for nothing."
Vlad leaned against one of the chair's armrests, his chin perched on a fist. "Nathalie… Nathalie…" he mused, as though he was trying to recall the name and vampire. But he playing with Maria, he knew who she was. "I think I remember her now. Must be centuries since we last spoke. She give you a last name?"
"No, and I even asked," Maria replied.
Vlad shrugged. "Technically she has one but it's a clan name. Nathalie isn't her real name, and before you ask, I really don't know her true birth name, not that it matters to anyone but her at this point. She was born into the Teutogen, when the barbarian tribes of men first settled into the lands now known as the Empire. She was also born during Sigmar's time and their tribes interacted quite a lot during those years. Did she mention him?" he asked with a knowing smile.
Maria remembered back on that night and couldn't help it when a small smile forced its way onto her face too. "Yeah. Loved his arse, apparently."
Vlad chuckled. "Nathalie had a crush on the man who would become a deity. But she wasn't the daughter of a chieftain, so it was never going to work out the way she wanted. The Queen found her shortly after they crowned the man Emperor, and Nathalie's been one of her primary eyes and ears in the old world since that day." His eyes glided past and over Maria's shoulder. "Nathalie is just old enough to be one of those constant things you can always rely on to be around and never change." His focus shifted back to Maria. "She called you 'love'?"
"Yes, she did."
"Its her nickname for people she likes. I'm guessing she gave you her parting warning then as well?"
Maria nodded, smiling. "Yup, I got that too."
Vlad laughed lightly. "Don't believe a word of it." At Maria's confused look, he explained, "Every person Nathalie has called love is still alive today or eventually died of natural causes. Don't get me wrong, she's a powerful vampire in her own right, killed thousands of the Queen's enemies, but she only says that line to make sure the Queen doesn't think she has a soft spot for certain individuals. Which is hilarious in itself because Neferata knows all of Nathalie's dirty little secrets and just continues to humor the poor girl."
Maria grinned. "Sounds like you know both fairly well. Nathalie said you and the Queen have a history. She also said what you mentioned, about the relationship going on for so long it had become a comforting thing on its own."
Vlad opened his mouth to reply but suddenly changed in a heartbeat. His eyes became piercing, he sat back up in his chair and the air solidified around his shoulders as he gathered his magic, she even saw his fangs sharpen down.
He looked her over again, really seeing all of her, and Maria fought down any reaction on her part. Ugh! And she had been so close too! If she just hadn't pressed so directly with that last question Maria would have learned something Vlad hadn't wanted to tell her. Something she, or anyone else, wasn't supposed to know.
"That was superbly done Shepard," Vlad practically purred. "I didn't even realize it was occurring. How did you manage that without any magic or glamour's?"
Crap, crap, crap! The atmosphere in the room had irrevocably altered. If she didn't keep her wits about her, she was now liable to find herself walking into a trap.
Maria shrugged. "What can I say. I just have one of those pretty faces."
Vlad's eyes sparkled with a calculating coldness as he pushed out of his chair. "Come. I want to show you something," he said as he passed her.
Maria got off the couch and followed Vlad over to the long rectangular table covered with papers and scrolls. Somewhat unsurprisingly, she saw a large map laid out under everything else. Apparently, everyone had their own map table.
"This is Ostermark," he said pointing out the province, and then his finger moved to a city, "and this is Mordheim. To the south lies the river Stir. Cross the waters and you enter Stirland and Sylvania. Set one foot on Sylvanian soil and the current power of the land will sense you out and kill you within the hour. And if not… he'll have you quickly begging for death regardless."
Okay then, no crossing the river. Got it.
Wait… who's 'he'?
Vlad circled Mordheim with his finger. "For over sixty miles north, east and west, lies nothing but the Dead Woods. More than one undead creature haunts the woods. Banshees, wraiths," he looked up at Maria and smirked, "more wolves."
Maria cringed. She didn't need more wolves. Especially now that she no longer had her armor.
Vlad set both his hands on the table and leaned forward. "You won't last the first night Shepard. Even you, with all your soldier's skill, the soil has tasted the blood of your betters. You won't survive, unless you become more than you are."
Maria was watching him carefully. "Meaning, what, exactly?"
"I'm still offering you a place in my army Shepard. Join me. Help me retake Sylvania from the usurper who sits on my throne. The longer I'm forced to wait I as gather those loyal to me, the more power that fool steals for himself. I know what he's after. I wasn't lying before when I said we had to stop him, or everyone will pay the ultimate price."
"As an undead vampire, what's the ultimate price?" Maria asked.
Vlad stared her straight in the eye. "Enslavement of a soul, for all eternity." He lifted a hand and gestured to his four Drakenhof Templars. Maria looked over to see each of the vampires focused on the pair of them. "Say you'll join my army and my resources are yours. Markos was taught his power from the greatest necromancer of the age. Elize ranks among our greatest duelists. All of them, Anark, Nyktolos, they are my Templars, von Carsteins of truest blood. Join my army and they'll teach you to harness the winds of magic and wield a blade better than any mortal alive.
"Swear loyalty to me, and I'll take you even further than that."
Maria didn't need to think it over; she didn't even hesitate.
"No."
She could hear the Drakenhof Templars shift behind her. Whether to attack her or leave her at the Count's mercy, she didn't know.
Vlad didn't move but his eyes went blood red. "Why not?" he forced out.
"I've been forced to work for the wrong side before." She shook her head. "And I'm not going through that again."
She took a step back from the table. "I've read up on the Vampire Wars. I know what you did. I know what you're capable of. Vampires are evil. You're the bad guys. You've been the bad guys since you spurted out of the ground. Just because you know when to smile and play nice, it doesn't erase thousands of years of violence and murder. I've known some pretty messed up people but none of them have a body count even close to yours."
She was already moving her right hand slowly to her belt and toward the bag holding her guns. As she talked, Vlad's fangs had grown past his bottom lip.
"And your own body count Shepard?" he snapped back in accusation. "Let's dispense with the pleasantries, shall we?" He stalked slowly around the table, closer to Maria with every step. She kept the distance between them as she took a few steps back.
"I've spared your life twice now Shepard. I offered you a fair deal, twice. Both times you've refused me. There will not be a third. We are done. My curiosity is sated." He kept moving toward her and Maria was rapidly finding herself being herded toward the center of the cavern. Vlad's hair had bled white and the skin of his face had pulled tight. "If we ever meet again, I'll tear out your throat. If you cross paths with any Drakenhof Templar, they will tear out your throat. If any of my agents find you near my lands, they will –"
"Tear out my throat?" Maria arched an eyebrow. "For someone so old, you have a limited imagination."
Vlad's fingertips erupted into claws and Maria had her phalanx out and pointed at his head the same instant. He launched himself at her with a yell, and she pulled the trigger.
Her gun went off into the wall, with Nyktolos now standing in front of her, holding her pistol to the side. Behind him, Markos and Anark had grabbed Vlad's shoulders holding back his leap. Elize stood between them with her palm on Vlad's chest.
"You made a vow my lord," she said, her voice charged with power as it filled the cavern. "She leaves Mordheim a free woman. This is the wrong place to break a sworn promise."
"As opposed to a right place?!" Maria asked, trying and failing to yank her arm free.
"Shut up!" Nyktolos hissed to her face. His own eyes had gone black but he blinked and looked down at his stomach to see Maria's left arm out of the sling with her omni-tool active and pointed right at him. He released her arm holding the gun and eyed her suspiciously. "I thought you needed to heal?"
He was right. It was way too soon to be moving the arm, and it hurt like a son of a bitch as Maria felt a muscle tear, but she'd be damned if she let the vampires know that.
"Always more surprises with this one." Vlad shook himself, the slight movement still enough to throw the two vampires off him as they stumbled back, yet remaining wary. His red eyes dropped to Elize and she quickly removed her hand and retreated from him.
He stepped through his templars and past Maria with barely a glance her way even as she watched him like an eagle for the slightest twitch. But instead of leaving the cavern he paused at the entrance and looked over at the nearby wall.
Maria's heart skipped a beat and she started forward but immediately found herself held in place as Elize's hands curled over her shoulders and gripped her like iron.
Vlad stood in front of the naked woman hanging upside down against the cavern wall. Quick as lightening one of his clawed hands snapped out and sunk into the woman's chest, breaking through the rib cage with sickening crunch. He pulled his bloody hand back out of the body and now he held something in his fist.
It was the woman's heart.
He barely wasted at glance at the organ before letting it drop from his fingers. Utterly shocked at the sight the only reason Maria was even still standing was thanks to Elize's grip. Vlad stepped in front of the man and just as simply repeated the brutal disemboweling on him. His heart rolled on the carpet when Vlad dropped it.
Now done the Vampire Lord looked at Maria, raising the bloody claw in front of his face, and she felt her breath catch in her throat.
"If I fail to take back Sylvania than this is the only mercy for the living you can expect from the true monsters."
Blood dripping from the clawed hand, Vlad turned and left.
Maria felt Elize release the grip on her shoulders and luckily her legs worked enough to keep her standing.
"Anark, follow him," Elize said from behind her. "Nyktolos, if you would please?"
The armored hulk of the big vampire swept past her, followed by the flapping of the former count of Vargravia's robes. "Wonderful," she heard Nyktolos mutter as he walked past, "and just when I cleaned all the blood from my last outfit."
Maria watched both vampire's backs as they followed their lord deeper into the mine, but she could still see the torn bodies of the Stirland soldiers hanging on the wall. Feeling sick, Maria turned her back to them.
"Well, cousin," Markos said as he stood beside Elize. "Is this what you had in mind when you thought the next few years would be interesting?"
"No." A strand of red hair had come free from her braids and hung in front of her face. Elize blew the offending wisp away. "Not particularly."
Markos laughed as he walked behind Maria and out of her sightline. Still extremely unsettled over what had just happened, she looked at Elize.
"Cousins?"
"Not by birth," Elize replied. "By blood. Markos and I were both turned during the earliest years of Vlad's reign as Sylvania's Count. This was well before revealing himself to the old world and starting the first war of conquest."
Markos chuckled, somewhere behind Maria and she turned to see him holding a glass under the slain woman's body as he tried to gather the few drops of blood still falling. The sight made her stomach clench and she quickly looked away again.
"What times those were," he said with a wistful tone. And then he reappeared beside her and Elize, sipping from his blood-filled glass.
"Where is Vlad going?" Maria tried not to show how much pain she was in as she shutoff her omni-tool and set her left arm back in the sling. Probably just did enough damage to undo all of last night's healing. Her phalanx was deposited back into the bag on her hip.
"The lowest levels of the mine." Markos took another sip of blood and licked his lips. "The skaven have a lair far below us. Due to your incredible shortsightedness, our lord count must work off some of his… frustration. After your duel he must have slaughtered several hundred. I'd wager there won't be much of them left this time."
Maria glared at him. "Yes, blame everything on me." He just shrugged causing Maria to bristle further. "I'm heading back up to the surface," she declared, turning away from the two vampires. "Do I need an escort, or should I just make my own way?"
"We are not finished negotiating Maria Shepard," Elize spoke up. Surprised, Maria halted and faced them again.
"Did you hear what Vlad just said? I'd say we're done. And honestly, I'm not to broken up hearing that the vampires are about to go to war with something even they consider a dangerous enemy. It's a win-win for the living on this planet."
Elize smiled. "Interesting vernacular. 'This planet'? One would almost be forgiven for thinking you aren't native."
Maria stared at her. Smooth, Maria. Real smooth. Why not just tattoo 'alien' on your forehead at this point.
"It wasn't hard to uncover," Elize continued. "Your weapons. Your armor. That very interesting metal band on your wrist." She lost her smile. "Yes, the von Carsteins are going to war, but you never asked us who we plan to go to war against."
"You play a dangerous game Elize…" Markos growled beside her in warning. "I won't be part of this folly."
Elize shot him a condescending look. "You will, cousin, because you are not a fool." She looked back at Maria. "Shepard, because of Vlad's interest in you, you now know more about our plans than any mortal alive. That also makes you the greatest threat to us, and the old world, in more ways than one. I ask that when you leave this city, you not divulge what you've learned to any other living soul."
Maria went still and felt the need to grab her pistol again. Elize had that intense, laser-like focus only her kind were capable of, and it was directed straight at her.
She was going to regret this, she just knew it, but answered honestly. "I can't promise that. When I met the Supreme Patriarch, Gelt was already asking questions about the vampire count I met in Blood Keep. He asked about the ring."
Markos swore, in a language Maria didn't understand and her translator couldn't decipher, but it was clearly a curse. He shook his head as he downed the remaining blood in his glass.
Elize, however, didn't react so negatively. "This isn't wholly a surprise. Gelt has a mind and a hunger for knowledge unlike most other wizards in the Empire. And I appreciate you being honest, so we will continue bargaining. If you cannot swear to complete silence, then I ask for less. One year. You will not tell a soul what you have learned for one year. I understand it is your desire to reach the High Elves of Ulthuan. The trip from here to there may be a long one but it shouldn't take a full year. And by the time the year is up, Vlad might have already launched his campaign, and the Empire will have learned of our continued existence from the aftermath, regardless of our wish to keep it secret. Will you consent to this?"
Maria was silent for a moment as her mid raced. "You said this was a negotiation," she replied slowly, carefully watching their reactions, "what do I get if I agree?"
She didn't show much, but Maria saw a whisper of relief on Elize's face. "A few things," the female vampire began as she looked Maria up and down. "For starters, a new set of cloths. A torn and bloodied Reikland uniform will only hasten your death within the Dead Woods. We aren't to dissimilar. One of my own outfits will fit you. And the scent of vampire will ward off most of what would otherwise think you prey."
Maria blinked at that and she couldn't stop herself from studying Elize. They were of a similar body shape and height. She had to admit the vampire's boots looked impressive. Elize looked almost regal in such a simple outfit, and Maria wouldn't mind copying the effect.
Great, now she was cloths shopping. Because it wasn't like there were more important things for her to worry about.
"We'll also see you are given a horse," Elize continued on, "and enough provisions that our mercenaries feel appropriate for the length of your travel."
Wait a second… "I wasn't going to get that before now?" Maria asked startled.
Markos chuckled at her with narrowed eyes and a smirk. "The plan was for me to take you out into the woods on the back of my horse, in the direction of your choosing, and then dump you from the saddle a few miles from Mordheim."
Maria gaped at him. "Seriously?"
He shrugged, still smirking. "I would have left you with a single canteen of water. I'm not a complete monster after all."
Maria just stared at the weasel-faced bastard. She took a breath and forced her eyes back on Elize. "What else?"
Elize gave her a slight nod, probably in gratitude to Maria for not taking what Markos had just said too personally. "We will offer two more things."
She turned away from Maria and Markos, to the surprise of both, and walked to the bookcases behind the circle of chairs Vlad and Maria had sat in only minutes before. Elize pulled a single book out and then returned to Maria and held the tome out to her.
"This is the first," she said, a slight strain on her features. As Maria took the book, she noted Markos was also staring hard at it.
"What is this?" she asked, studying the cover. The book was long, thick, but not as heavy as she would have thought. Without booting up her omni-tool she couldn't read the words on the leather.
"Open it," was all Elize said.
Maria settled the book in her left hand and pulled back the cover. Now she knew why it was lighter than it looked. The pages inside had been cut out so a dagger could be hidden within the book. At Maria's questioning look, Elize motioned for her to take the dagger, and then took the empty book out of her hands and returned it to the bookcase.
"A knife?" Maria asked, examining the weapon she held. The whole thing was eight inches in length, from the tip to the base of the hilt. The grip was black leather and had three silver bands of metal wrapped tightly around it, each spaced half an inch apart. A simple cross guard topped the hilt, and the blade, about four inches long, was protected by a black leather sheath.
Markos's lips twitched back in clear disgust. "Silver. A vampire killer." Upon her return, he glanced at Elize. "I didn't know you made a habit of storing weapons capable of killing your own kind, cousin. Something you forgot to share with the rest of us?"
Elize was clearly no longer in the mood for verbal sparring. "A precaution only, cousin. Vlad knew of its existence. Look at the handle. Any vampire who gripped that knife would suffer from the silver as well."
"Not as much as the vampire it's thrust into, I think," Markos countered bitterly.
Maria remembered her research back in Nuln. Silver was poison to vampires. They could ignore and heal nearly any injury but cut them with a silvered blade and the pain would be agonizing; the cut remaining blackened and open unless the vampire drank an obscene amount of blood immediately after to heal themselves. Even still, the vampire might be scarred for the rest of their near immortal lifespans.
Stab a vampire with a silvered blade, say, in the brain or heart, and death would be instant and permanent.
Maria pulled the dagger free from the sheath, and both vampires released a hiss. The double-edged dagger kept the hilt's thickness until the last inch where it then tapered to a sharp point. A narrow groove worked into the metal traveled from the hilt until it stopped hallway up the blade.
"Pure silver." Maria looked up to see Markos with his head half turned away as though the dagger was too bright to look at directly. "Enough. Put it away."
She made a point of holding it out a few seconds longer and then covered the blade again with the black leather. He and Elize only relaxed when Maria took the dagger and stored it in the same bag holding her weapons.
Elize worked her shoulders as she settled herself. "A simple thing when compared to the rest of humankind's weapons. But worth ten times its weight in gold when used in defense against a vampire."
The significance wasn't lost on Maria. "Thank you. But you mentioned one more thing?"
Elize inclined her head. "Yes. I'm sure you'll agree that such a weapon is still useless if you aren't able to wield it. I hear Walach Harkon gave you trouble when you first encountered our kind outside the Empire."
Maria remembered. It wasn't an experience she'd soon forget.
"It was Vlad's intention that you be trained should you have agreed to join us," Elize continued, "so that you could adequately defend yourself in the future. Because of your defiance, this knowledge is now closed to you."
"I think I can handle myself for now," Maria replied defensively.
Markos threw his head back and laughed. When he looked at Maria again his eyes had gone black and his fangs were down. "In Albion I saved you from a giant! In Marienburg you were nearly eaten by a black dragon! And if Walach hadn't been so overconfident you would have died back in Bretonnia! You don't know how to defend yourself!"
The glass in his hand fell to the ground and shattered as Markos's body suddenly dissolved into a thick black mist. The dark mass swirled, then struck out at Maria, enveloping her body, picking her up off her feet carrying her across the cavern, then threw her to the ground so she laid sprawled out on the carpeting covering the dirt floor.
On impact Maria felt the air spill from her lungs. She tried to draw a breath but found she couldn't as the black mist continued to beat down on her. Her arms and legs were pinned and immobile against the magic. She tried to draw on her biotics, but her body refused to respond. In a panic Maria then tried to pull on the winds of magic, yet there was nothing in the air for her to grab onto. She was too far underground, or Markos was blocking the attempt, either way the effort failed.
Maria began to suffocate yet the assault continued. Biotics, useless. Magic, nonexistent. Her phalanx and locust, beyond her reach. Even the silvered dagger capable of ending Markos's life with a single thrust was worthless against this power. Her chest burned with the need for oxygen as the edges of her vision began to darken. It felt like a hundred needles had pierced her lungs and continued to pierce deeper.
Markos was killing her and there was absolutely, positively nothing she could do to stop him.
The next instant the black mist vanished away. Maria pulled air into her starving lungs. She rolled to her side and curled up as she gulped down oxygen; difficult at the beginning as she coughed and hacked most of it out again. After surviving the first few painful breaths, she rolled limply to her back, closing her eyes, and struggled to control her breathing as the panic slowly receded and her thundering heart calmed down.
Someone approached and Maria looked up to see Elize and Markos standing together at her feet.
"You understand now?" Markos asked, and he wasn't being his condescending or mocking self. This had been a warning. Nothing more, nothing less.
Maria, still breathing deeply, nodded and then let her head drop back to the carpet.
"Being senior members of the Drakenhof Templars it is our job to anticipate our lord's needs," Elize said from her place standing above her. "You are the sole link to a larger world we can only barely comprehend. As infuriating as you might be, Vlad would lament your loss if you died unexpectedly.
"The second thing we offer is this. Knowledge. You have a connection to the winds of Ulgu. Before you've healed and decide to leave Mordheim, we will teach you how to free yourself from most magical bindings and how to call on the innate power of your order to retreat from danger and vanish into shadow."
Maria closed her eyes again while she considered her options. Maybe if she just laid here and wished really, really hard that all of this was a dream, she'd open her eyes and wake up in the Normandy's med-bay.
Peeking an eye open, all she saw was vampire. Ugh. Worth a shot at least.
Did she have a choice? Yes. Nothing was stopping her from saying no to the deal and just walking out of here. Vlad had promised her freedom, and these two vampires had even defended her to keep that promise.
But the reality of her situation was still hanging heavily in her mind. Marooned. Alone. No way off planet. A planet with freaking magic and freaking dragons and freaking giants, as well as a whole bunch of other freaking messed up things.
And because of a certain someone she didn't even have the protection of her collector armor.
Bottom line, vampires were evil. But they had also proven to be honorable. At least for now. And if Maria made this deal, she'd be giving her word and making a promise. That fact mattered to her. She had lied and cheated through her life, but as a soldier, as a Spectre, there were limits to what she'd do today. Those titles meant something to her.
One of the vampires was moving so Maria opened her eyes to see Elize drop down to a knee beside her and outstretch a hand.
"Do we have a deal?"
Maria's gaze went from Elize, her hand, up to Markos, and then back to Elize. She took another deep breath and then gripped the vampire's hand with her own.
"Deal," Maria replied.
The corner of Elize's mouth turned up and she helped Maria back to her feet.