My Little Ventrue Pt. 07 Ch. 12

Off they went, to visit the suburbs. It was a couple miles away, and if they had to walk, it would have taken a while. It didn't seem like there were any cars to drive, though she did see several spirits that could only have been car spirits driving by; no passengers, though. Getting to the suburbs as running wolves, on the other hand, was pretty fast. Natasha was Mekhet, and could utilize Celerity to a great degree with ease, but it wasn't really meant for running miles. The run of a wolf, on the other hand, made covering miles take only minutes.

The suburbs of Dolareido were divided into several sections that ran in an arch across where it met North Side. There was Rich Side, where Viktor and... Julias, used to live. Then there was the normal suburbs, with one half sporting nice houses, and the other sporting still-nice-but-not-ridiculously-overpriced houses. Natasha's mom and dad used to live in the latter, like Jack's mom did. Maybe she'd run into Samantha and Jack's old home while they were out looking for what she hoped to discover.

She wasn't sure what she expected to find, but as her wolf mount slowed down and started to stroll through the streets of Dolareido's suburbs, she knew she'd find it eventually. Unlike the city center of Dolareido's spirit half, the suburbs were calm and quiet. Few spirits roamed the large streets, and the ones that did didn't carry half the imposing nature of the others. The hills of grass and the small sidewalks along the front yards of houses, the small park with a swing set and sandbox, the few trees, the complete lack of convenience stores and neon signs, it was all definitely a very not-Dolareido place.

But that wasn't fair. Dolareido had another side to it, a quiet side, a side where she'd grown up when she was human. It wasn't a vampire friendly part of the city, from the lack of population density or gathering hubs, so vampires rarely came to the suburbs. But as she looked around at the buildings, she smiled as the memories surfaced, of growing up in the quiet world of a home instead of an apartment.

The area reflected that, she could see. Instead of bright, glowing signs that were twisted and pulsing with the Hisil's oddness, the houses in the suburbs were visually dull. In fact, they looked too dull. The houses were there, but they lacked the features she expected to see on a house. The roofs didn't have shingles, but were a solid black surface instead, void of texture. No siding, just a flat surface of color. The lawns were solid flat green surfaces, grass comically simple, and the sidewalks lacked the grooves she expected. So, maybe the Hisil was reflecting how dull the suburbs were? But there was more to it than that. There was an honesty to the display, of the homes showing what they were in such simple terms.

The park near her old home, on the other hand, was far more vibrant. It was night in Shadow Dolareido, but the park had a glow to it that defied her eyes. There was one electric light in the old park in the physical version, a lamp post in the center, and in the Shadow version of the park, it glowed a gentle yellow, but in a much larger area. Soothing, and warm. The swings, slide, monkey bars, sand box, they all had exaggerated features, with simple but bright colors that the single lamppost illuminated to the point they themselves glowed with its light. The grass and dirt were almost invisible, while the playground equipment drew the eye and invited interest, as if asking her to come play.

Within the park, small lights drifted around, and the three werewolves and two vampires paused to stare.

"Oh my g-god," she said. "That's beautiful."

Fireflies. They couldn't have been actual fireflies, being that they were in the Shadow Realm; maybe they were spirit manifestations of fireflies? But they were huge, and didn't have a body. They moved around slowly through the park, and Natasha could hear what sounded like giggling, high pitched and joyful. The spirits of children? No, there were no spirits that were reflections of humans themselves, in the Hisil, but that didn't change that the glowing orbs moved around the park, giggling like children would. They hovered about a foot above the ground, each a foot in width of pure, glowing yellow light, and while they didn't use the swing set, or sit in the sandbox, or go down the slide, they moved around the objects that children doubtlessly used every day, to have fun.

Spirits of fun, then? Or joy? Or juvenile purity? She didn't know, and the werewolves couldn't talk with dog mouths to tell her. Maybe she could ask them later, but then, there was some magic to the mystery. Whatever these spirits were, they were beautiful, like fairies — the good kind — mingling among children and the joy they exuded. The sight of them dug up memories she'd thought she'd lost, memories of her as a small girl, playing with other children. Nothing in the world held the same sense of wonder or amazement, as the memories she had from when she was just a child, learning to ride the swings or go down a slide for the first time.

But, what would happen if the spirits here grew out of control? There were stories in many cultures, about mythical entities that wanted humans to come play with them for all eternity, fairies and such. The stories were not happy ones. It wouldn't surprise her if those stories had been inspired by real spirits, who grew too large and powerful, invaded the physical world, and started to spread their influence. All of a sudden, the old fairy tales she knew about, the ones with strange and obtuse creatures, seemed like very real possibilities.

She and the wolves moved on. She guided them along the streets, and she kept her eyes along the houses they moved past. Surely one of the houses had to have it. Maybe—

"Oh, there! There!" She pointed to a nearby house, and the bedroom window that overlooked the street. The houses in this area were a bit small, and crammed together, with little in the way of lawns. This district belonged to the Carthians, more or less, as it was right next to the urban areas with the apartments and convenience stores. On a normal shopping day, people in this neighborhood would drive out to the urban area if they wanted clothes, or technology. But the neighborhood was still far away enough that it was quiet, and the only noise she could remember through the day had been from kids playing outside, or a school bus driving by.

The wolves trotted up the driveway of the house. In the Hisil, the driveway had no cracks or dents, but was a smooth black color and shape, as if it was made of plastic. No car in the driveway; none of the driveways had cars, now that she thought about it. A lack of cars was a consistent thing in Shadow Dolareido, though the occasional wheel thing drove by, a concoction of asphalt and tires, with eyes that looked like headlights. She saw many of those in the center of South Side, but out in the suburbs, they were rare.

"Hello!" she called to the window.

The glowing orb hovered over to the window, and flapped one of its angel wings at her. It opened the window with what Tash guessed were tiny arms hidden in the glow of its spherical body, and it flew down to her.

"Hello!" it said, in a high pitched voice. "Uratha? And Kindred. Are... are you here for me?"

"N-No! No. Um, not really. I uh... I'm s-sorry, I... uh... did we meet? M-My boss, she... she summoned a spirit like you before, and—"

"Oh! Oh oh. I know you. Friend spoke of you, spoke of visit to Gurihal. Do you want to speak to Safe of Grey Street?"

"Grey Street?" She clapped a couple times, before she forced down her rising giggles. "That's where my home is."

"Safe of Grey Street has spoken of their visit. And they spoke of you. They've visited you before, hiding in Twilight while you were young. I will take you to them."

Safe had visited her before? Spirits could sneak into the physical world, she knew that, and hide in Twilight; Twilight was what she and the Prince spent a lot of time investigating. And if it was her necklace that summoned Safe to the Prince's tower, it didn't surprise her that Safe must have visited her when she was human, her, and other kids who felt safe in their homes.

Without questioning it, the Uratha and Kindred began to follow the hovering, spherical angel creature. Natasha was still on Matthew's back, so she got to spend her time looking around and taking in as many details as she could. It was true the city looked empty at first glance, as the suburbs usually did at night, but the more she kept her eyes open, the more she spotted movement. A slithering serpent creature went into a drain along the street curb. Several crows flew by, each of varying sizes that were comically different; one might as well have been the size of an albatross. There was a raccoon, but as usual with the animal spirits, it had didn't look quite like a normal raccoon. Its tail was bigger, fluffier, its body leaner and more sly, and unless her eyes were deceiving her, its hands looked more like human hands wearing black gloves than a raccoon's hands.

There were other things too. Dolareido's Hisil sky was a bizarre display of colors, especially in the center of South Side, but out here it looked a bit less crazy, a bit more natural. But there was no denying that one could tell the direction to the entertainment district of South Side by looking at the sky, and seeing where the warped lighting patterns were bleeding into the clouds.

There were other firefly-like creatures, glowing tiny orbs, and they drifted around streetlamps, or moved along windowsills of nearby houses. They had different colors, too, especially compared to the darker or stranger colors of center South Side: slime green or pulsing neon. Out here, they were soft blues and gentle greens, warm amber, and inviting yellows.

Soon they were on Grey Street, and she smiled at how the Hisil reflected its existence. Yeah, not much happened on Grey Street, and the Hisil agreed. It was quiet, and it was empty. But there was movement in some of the windows of the oddly smooth, simplified houses. Other spirits, maybe like the one in front of her, who looked very similar to the Safe Natasha met. Were they the same spirit, a spirit of safety, or the feeling of safety children felt in their homes?

A large set of angel wings appeared between two homes, hovering forward toward the street. The other spirit, the one with Natasha was maybe a foot wide, with a six-foot wing span. She thought it had arms, but it was hard to see in the glow of its body. On the other hand, the larger creature that hovered out from between two homes had double the wingspan, and while it still had a spherical body, like a glowing glass ball, Natasha was sure she could see some features, like arms or legs within the sphere. It looked almost angelic, in a way, or like a fairy that was evolving inside a safe container.

"Hello!" the larger Safe spirit said. "I remember you, from the Gurihal!"

"Safe!" Natasha hopped off Matthew's back, and ran over to the large angel creature. And, as if she'd opened the front door to her home after a long day at school, she opened her arms to hug the creature, and felt the weight on her shoulders vanish. She didn't know why, didn't really understand how, but her body just moved on its own, and wanted to hug this old, beautiful feeling.

The spirit hugged her back, angel wings circling her. "Hello!"

"I... I never told you my name, did I? I'm Natasha."

"Hello Natasha! I'm glad you're ok. You've been safe?"

"I have, I have!" Giggling like she was a child, she stepped back a little as the huge angel wings spread for her. Yes, she could see through the glass body of Safe now, and see that there was indeed a tiny person inside the sphere, without features, and glowing so bright it filled the orb with pure light. "You've grown."

"I have, I have! I am Safe of Grey Street. The choir has spoken."

Choir? She was tempted to ask, but no, not the time.

"Um, they"—Natasha gestured toward the other Safe spirit—"said you'd visited me before, when I was human? M-Must have been a long time ago."

"It was!" Despite that she was bigger than the other spirit, Safe's voice had the same, high-pitched, joyful squeal. It was contagious, loving, warm, and Natasha couldn't stop smiling at the sound of it. "I was small then, very small, with no name. Now I am Safe of Grey Street. Are you safe, Natasha?"

"I'm, uh, v-very safe. These two Uratha are my protectors. The Kindred is my friend, and the Uratha with her is t-t-too." Friend by proxy. Maybe she should have asked Eric if he felt that way before saying it, but he seemed like the sort of guy to be shy about that sort of stuff, and maybe squirm before reluctantly agreeing. So, it'd probably be best to spare him the pain of that conversation, and just tell him he was a friend.

"Protectors!" Safe spread its wings and offered a bow; a strange look, considering it was just a floating, glowing glass sphere with huge wings. "It's good that you are safe." And, as if satisfied that they were indeed safe, the smaller spirit flew away.

Queue for everyone to start transforming. It looked strange to her, the sight of them transforming, but the spirits didn't seem to care that four wolves, two of which were monstrously massive and scary, transformed into humans; or humanoids, rather. Uratha and Kindred weren't human, even when in human form.

"And," Art said, mouth emerging as his enormous snout vanished into a human face, "you've been keeping a balance, right, Safe of Grey Street?"

"I have! We have." The angel creature motioned to her departing, smaller kin with a wing. "Though, our choir is small, as Avery knows."

"Small?" Natasha said. "D-Do people not feel... safe, in Dolareido?"

With a warm smile, without a hint of the condescending smirk she'd expect from any lecturing Kindred, Matt gestured to the buildings. "Just because a choir is small, doesn't mean they don't have a large effect, or that Dolareido doesn't have a large reservoir for them to feed on. But some spirits have an easier time growing than others, and some spirits have an easier time gorging on essence compared to others. It all depends on the environment, and how thick the Gauntlet is. The thicker the Gauntlet, the less spirits have to eat, and the less they hang around."

Complexity on top of complexity. It was a big puzzle, one she was delighted to try and solve; as long as Avery didn't kill her for it. She didn't want to be another Minerva.

"Safey," she said, "w-we came to the Hisil, because Eric wants to... to..."

"If I'm going to be stuck doing this werewolf gig," the man said, "I figure I should give it a shot, doing things in a way I can get behind. So, point me in a direction toward something that deserves killing."

"Deserves?" Safety said.

"Yeah, something that's causing a lot of harm to Dolareido's citizens, in Gurihal. I already had a target, but if Tash thinks you know better, then hit me."

"Oh. You mean, ones that damage their safety?" The safety spirit brought its wings on itself, and pondered. Or at least, it certainly looked like it was pondering.

"Ones that damage safety," Eric said, "or otherwise inflict harm. Anything that leads to pain, and—"

"Ooh, pain. Yes, pain." One of its wings unfolded, and pointed back toward the city. "An agony spirit has been growing underneath what you humans call Devil's Corner. They nest under some place called Mike's Ring."

"An... agony spirit?" Eric said, scratching the back of his neck. "I thought maybe there'd be something more specific, like, a spirit of... theft, or drug abuse, or murder, or..."

"Oh! One of the named! Those are dangerous, Uratha Eric! Very dangerous. But... but, if you want to harm those, one spirit called Needle Swords has been growing quite menacing. It drifts near the Blood Tower, and hides under the Turning Lights."

Needle Swords. That was probably the spirit Tash had seen last time, the ugly, nasty thing with needles for fingers.

"Turning Lights?" Eric said.

"It means," Matthew said, "Doc Omala's. Needle Swords is definitely a part of the reason Dolareido's drug problem exists, and some other nasty shit that happens in the shadows of the city. But we haven't touched it because—"

Art threw up his hands. "Because Avery says don't. Black Blood doesn't want us messing with the balance of its city, especially in the center of South Side, and your Prince doesn't want us to either. We're trying to figure out the mystery with this Azlu, and until we do, we're walking around on eggshells. If we kill Needle Swords, people are going to find out."

"I couldn't give two shits," Eric said, "about Black Blood or Avery or the Prince. Dolareido's my city. Born here, raised here. If I'm gonna do this Uratha thing, well, fuck Avery, I'm doing it my way." And with that, the man transformed back into a wolf, and started back toward the city.

Natasha blinked after him, before looking to Jessy. Wow. Tash recognized that look. It was the sort of look a young girl might have, if they saw their favorite musician or actor in person. Awe, or infatuation, or something in between. Whatever it was, seeing Eric turn into a vigilante was doing it for Jessy in a way Tash had never seen.

Poor guy was probably going to be fucked senseless, once they got back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Jack~~

What fun, what fun! Pushing through a wall of alien flesh, and following in the wake of a berserking werewolf, into a nightmare realm. What Susanna would have given to be a part of something like this, of the chaos and madness, buried in magic and blood that had to have come from the depths of Hell itself. Glorious.

He stepped out of the flesh and into a massive room, dark and delightfully imposing. Stone walls and stone floors, wooden ceilings, with spiky braziers on the walls holding fire. Right, they'd been here before, Sándor's castle nightmare. Begotten had lairs, and their lairs had multiple chambers, but this seemed to be the one Jeremiah and his crew defaulted to. Maybe they couldn't access the other chambers, or maybe they didn't serve as defensible positions. Well, the stone walls wouldn't protect Jeremiah or Angela. He'd tear them down with his bare hands if he had to.

In front of him, it was pandemonium. The hunters were trying to set up some sort of defensive position, and it was obvious it was a plan they'd practiced in the past. The hallway had wooden doors along its sides, and a large door at the end, like the one the hunters had blown up when Jack had first arrived. Oh wow, he was going to get to do this again! It was going to go better this time.

The hunters fell back, but always with two stopping and turning around to fire behind them. He'd seen this tactic before, where modern soldiers would retreat back as a chain, with the person closest to the enemy pulling back while the others took up positions and unleashed defensive fire. And then once that person was clear, they'd take up a position, start firing, and the new person closest to the enemy would retreat under the protection of their comrades' covering fire. The hunters were trying to do that, but it wasn't working out too well for them. It was just a big, long hallway, and they were doing their best to get to the big, wooden door. The retreating tactic didn't help much. Screams of panic abound as their bullets tore into the tide of rats, but did little to stop the army of rodents. Music for the soul.

But the hunters did have a head start, since it took Clara a bit to get the second portal open wide enough for Jack and his army. Soon, most of the kine had gotten past the two enormous doors, and were pushing them closed as a couple hunters poured bullets into the oncoming werewolf.