Chapter 6: This sucks
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"Alright, lead me to the killsite."
As Soren had ordered, Velvet then lead us to the alleyway at the eastside of the the town.
Oldtown can be divided to four section. The center is under Soren's dominion. It hold most of the shops available in the town. From the stories that I heard from the townsfolks, Soren came into this town when he was 12 during winter, and proceed to massacre the gang that rule over the Center to take it over, and since then it had been established as his homebase to stop by every winter. While Soren territory is called the Center, he actually also control the Westgate, where most of the regular townfolks live and where the orphanage is located in
After that, he taken down many of the gangs in the town and leave 3 gangs swearing fealty to him, which he given control of Northgate, Southgate and Eastgate. Soren leave them alone and doesn't interfere at all with their criminal activities for the most part. However he did massacred 2 gangs back in the past that broke the agreement and took his territories while he was away. That was a very bloody summer, they said.
Since then, the gangs got the memo. You don't ever piss off Soren Coldforge. That guy is fucking insane.
Currently we are in Northgate, which is ruled by a Faunus gang which produce a drug called Euphoria. A group of three Faunus had died in a room that they shared.
"Do you know how many types of vampires out there?"
Soren would often randomly quiz on me on many kind of monsters trivia. Msot of the time, I couldn't answer, not that Soren cared anyway. He just always starts a teaching moment like that.
"There are four types of vampires. Infection type, which is the type of vampires most people know off. Fae type, which is a category of vampiric Faes. Monster type, where it is several kind of beast that has a vampiric diet. And the last is Grimm type, which is Grimm that is vampiric."
"So, we need to identify what kind of vampire we're dealing with?"
"That's right. Only Infection type is contagious. The other types will not turn their victims into vampires too."
Soren inspects the room.
"They were fucking. That eliminates monster type."
"How did you know that?"
Soren just look at me deadpan.
Err yea. They're buttnaked. And there's cum stains on the bed. Obviously they were fucking.
"Now, how do we know it's not a Grimm?"
I recall being quizzed on that last week.
"Sulphur! Whenever there is Grimm, they leave a smell of sulphur."
"Thats right. Breathe, Jaune. Smell the room."
There is no sulphur, alright. The only smell here is sex, sweat and 3 recently dead Faunus.
"Now, we are left with two. Infection or Fae, which is it?"
"The easiest way would be waiting for the corpses to turn, right?"
"Ding ding ding! Bzzzz! Wrong! Infection type does not transform a dead victim to a vampire. It only transform a victim that either survived the bite or was infected by the virus through any wound, even from a scratch."
"Well, at least they won't turn."
"Oh, I said they will not turn into a vampire." The three Faunus corpse fidget and attempted to rise. "They just transform into something else."
The Fauni eyes are bloodshot, and I don't know if they had always had fangs or they just grew some.
"Meet the vampire thralls, a type of vampiric undead enslaved to the will of the vampire that turned them."
The thralls screeched with parched throat. Soren ducked and touched the floor with his thumb, middle and ring finger and cast a Simple Sign.
[Simple Sign: Slow Waltz]
[Slow Waltz] is a type of spatial trap, where it create a 2 meter radius of magic circle where you will feel like walking through mud with your entire body. It slow down anything thats trapped in it for three seconds.
Three seconds is plenty of time for Soren.
Three heads rolled on the floor as he decapitated all three of them.
"Well, this confirms we have an infectious vampire in our town. Well that's annoying. Welkin!"
"Yes sir!", Welkin jumped to the window from the street moment Soren call up his name. Man, he really is his dog, isn't he?
"Burn the bodies and sterilize the room would you? We don't want the plague to spread.
"yes sir!"
We leave the building and walk over to the diner. Along the way, Soren told me a lot of things about real actual vampires.
First, it is actually a curable disease, as long as you taken a cure within the first two phase.
Phase 1, Dust deficiency. You began to crave food excessively as the Dust within you is rapidly depleted by the virus.
Phase 2, extremely low heartbeat and breathing rate. Your heartbeat and breathing count can go so low that people may mistaken you for dead.
Phase 3, death. You actualy died. While you are being buried underground, your body went through a metamorphosis that turn you from a mortal to a vampire.
When you emerge from you grave, you become a full fledged vampire. The process can take a week to a month, depending of your Rank. They say that Rank 4 is flat out pretty much immune to vampirism as you have so much Dust in your body that eventually your immune system would flush out the virus on their own. For upper rank to become a vampire, they have to intentionally deplete their Dust reserve.
Becoming a vampire comes with several neat tricks. You can turn into a a bat-like humanoid with wings and all that. You are ageless and you gained a really strong regeneration, provided if you keep drinking blood. Your magic proficiency is even improved, but vampires can't use Aura at all. You can't gain Dust through eating or breathing like regular mortals, as you can only do so through consuming blood.
And contrary to popular belief, they don't get burned under the sun. There can be a vampire walking beside you and you wouldn't notice. The myth of vampire being burned by the sun comes from confusing it with vampiric Grimm.
Its why Soren said this will be annoying. Vampires can retract their fangs, so you can't even check their teeth!
To figure out whose the vampire, we visited the Elven gang, which runs the brothel and gambling den in the town.
Flynt Coal is the son of Fenton Coal, the gang boss of Eastgate. He runs a speakeasy, a breakway from the kind of business his father run. It was said that old Fenton used to be a big deal in Atlas, but had ran off to Oldtown after losing a turfwar. Fenton's gang had been ruling Eastgate since Soren's arrival, and is the only original gang that's still around for the past four years.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of having Soren Coldforge in my club?", Flynt classily bow as Soren and I took a VIP seat in the speakeasy.
"Well, you heard what happened in Welkin's"
"Yes, a vampire in our humble town? How dreadful."
We were served some drinks, passed by a sexy waitress in bunny outfit.
"Have some drink, guys. Its on the house.", offered Flynt with a pearly white smile.
Soren just gulped the whisky down his throat while I hesitantly take a sip. Gehh! That's strong!
"First of all, if you want to serve me drinks, I prefer sodas like cola rather than this... Flammable liquid."
"Not an enjoyer of liquor, are you?"
"Well, people already live in dread when I am sober. Dont you think having me drunk is even more scarier?", Soren smirked.
"touche.", Flynt yield. "anyway, if you think a night lady of ours is the culprit then I will have to disappoint you, gentlemen. None of our ladies had taken to lay with those,", Flynt, the elf with a fedora, clicked his tongue "mutts."
"Is that so?", Soren tapped the empty class. "It will be bad for your dad if I found out that you guys hadn't been honest."
Flynt raised both his hands as mock surrender. "Oh, we wouldnt dream to offend our esteemed de-facto boss! We do wish to keep our head secure on our neck afterall!"
Soren hums as he stares eye to eye to Flynt through his sunglasses. Flynt may be trying to play it cool, but I can see he's trying to hide his shaking hands by placing it in his pockets.
"I'll take your word for it. By the way, nice piano.", Soren then get up and approaced the grand piano at the center stage the speakeasy.
"Oh, do you play, Soren?"
"Damn sure I did.", Soren play a quick, complex notes as a demonstration. "Mother wouldn't let me leave to drift on my own until I learn to freely play any tunes I want. It's good to learn some instruments to pick up the ladies, she said.
"Oh, would you like to show us some plays?", Flynt grins.
"Sure, send it to Oldshore Diner. You can come see me play anytime."
Flynt deflated.
"I'm sorry?"
"What? You wanna see me play right? Then, send it over."
"But... That's a Macchiato piano, handmade by the famous piano maker himself."
"And? That's doesn't seem to be my problem."
Flynt then begrudgingly agree to send the piano later. "As you wish, Soren Coldforge. Only the best for you."
"yea yea, thanks a lot pal."
We leave the speakeasy and start walking to Southgate.
"What a dick.", Soren commented.
"Did you need to rob him in broad daylight like that?"
"What robbery? He's the one who wants to be friendly right? Its only right for him to give me a gift."
I'm pretty sure that a 3 million Lien worth of a piano is not the kind of gift you want to five to a nurderhobo like you.
"Still, we have no leads."
"Well, Let's talk to our pal the dwarves then.
The Red Machate gang is a Dwarven gang, though they do have members of other races. They deal in smuggling operation of all sorts of illegal contrabands in Lake Lullaby.
Poaching, banned Skillgems, controlled alchemy materials, you name it. The Red Machete probably have something to do with it.
Xiong Hei Junior is the leader of Red Machete gang, and owned a karaoke bar as a hobby. Once again, I wonder how far this cultural appropriation crimes will go on because I am very deadsure there is no such thing as a chinese dwarf.
"Hey there cutie! What took you so long to visit?"
A pair of elven twins take my both my arms for each of them. I squirmed in embarrassment as I can feel my arms slotted between their ample bosoms.
"We heard you had been going on Quests with Soren! You gotta tell us the stories! Oh by the way, I'm Miltia!", the twin in red dress introduce themselves.
"I wonder if you're as good in bed as you are in spars. I'm Melanie. Nice to finally meet you.", the twin in white dress introduce herself.
Damnit, I have a thing for elves, so having a twin elves sandwiching me proves to be a great challenge for me. Be strong Jaune! Be cool!
"Well ladies, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"
Both of the girls chuckles. I am dead inside because I know they're chuckling not because I am funny. They chuckles becoz I am so lame it's funny.
How does Soren do this?! For all the psycho murderer thing he has going on with him, somehow he's always smooth with Tessa!
Also, where the hell is he?!! Save me from gooning myself further, Soren! I don't know how to deal with girls, it's not part of my training!
My prayer is granted when Soren walks into the karaoke room that the twins had dragged me into.
"Wow, you worked fast, Jaune."
"Hey there Soren!", Miltia waved to him. Melanie just give a simple hi.
"You get anything from Xiong?", I asked him in desperation to be free from my gooning.
Soren just looked at me. Then Miltia. Then Melanie. Then he smirks.
"Have fun, Jaune. It's not very often you get to do twins, especially as a first time. I'll handle things myself. No worries, I got you, fam."
He just gives me a two finger salute and get out. Hell, from the small glass portion of the door I can see he take off his sock and hanged it on the the doorknob.
Motherfucker! He abandoend me!
Noooooooo
))))))))))
I leave The Club, yea, not a very creative name, I know, with a sore crotch.
Man, those girls can ride.
Mom, your son is a man now.
I should really visit the twins more often from now on.
Still, that is one intense two hours of my life. I think I discovered the truth of the universe at some point. That I am actually a fanfic main character written by a neckbeard on his phone.
Man, post nut clarity is amazing.
It's already dark.
Now, I don't know if it's just me or there is a woman in a... Very stylish outfit. She carry a small briefcase with her.
"Say, where can I find one Soren Coldforge?"
"Pardon?"
"Ah, silly me, I forgot my manners. Coco Adel, vampire hunting expert. I heard words that say there is a vampire problem here and I would like to participate in the hunt. Of course, I know this is Young Lord Coldforge's territory, so I would like to ask him permission to join the hunt."
"Oh.. ooohhhh. Err, Jaune Arc, Drifter Apprentice!"
"Nice to meet you, Jaune Arc. Now, shall you escort me to meet the young lord?"
I just nodded dumbly. "Sure sure sure. Just follow me."
I then lead her to the diner. Man, what a gal. I never understand the appeal of fashion until I meet this Coco Adel chick.
A vampire hunter, huh? Maybe she can help us out with our parasite problem.