My Little Ventrue Pt. 09 Ch. 09

"I know that, but--"

Sándor shook his head. "Don't play into its games, Eric. Avery was right."

That was most definitely not something Eric wanted to hear, but something about the way the man said it didn't stir a reflexive need to fight him on it. With Avery, sure, first word out of her mouth and Eric wanted to tell her to fuck off. But with Sándor, the man dripped of plain, almost boring honesty. It'd be like getting mad at a tutor for correcting his algebra; not that he'd ever had one.

"You really think we'll find out why the azlu keep coming here?"

"Yes, I think we will. Maybe not from this," the Begotten gestured to the rat, "but we will. And... I'd prefer to keep Dolareido healthy and alive in the mean time. That includes you."

Eric blinked at the man, several times. But slowly as they looked at each other, things clicked into place. Something had happened to Sándor, something that attached him to Dolareido in a way Eric hadn't expected from the relative newcomer. Maybe it was Azamel, maybe not, but the man wasn't the closed off statue he was back at the ball.

Sándor wanted to keep Dolareido safe, and he considered people like Eric to be Dolareido. And Eric could understand that. Maybe he should think about the nightmare monster the same way? Hard to do, when Eric's first encounter with the man had been beyond violent. Plus, Sándor had literally entered his mind against his will, his dreams. Hard to ignore that. But he should.

"If you d-don't think it's a good idea," Natasha said, looking up at Sándor, "then... then I think we should listen to him, Eric. He's older than any of us."

Older didn't mean wiser. But, it often did.

"Alright," Eric said, taking a step back from the spirit. "Alright, let's do this on our own."

Sándor nodded. "In the future, don't be so quick to risk your own life."

"Yeah I know. I just..."

"Finally found something you wanna fight for?" Art said, smirking. "It's like a coming of age story... for a dude in his thirties."

Eric bit back a sudden desire to spit venom at the asshole. But it wasn't like he was wrong. He was the odd man out in this world, relatively new to all this paranormal shit, and just trying to figure out how, and what, and why.

"Besides," Art continued, "I think Street-Tail King is going to point us in the right direction anyway." The fellow Uratha grew a serpentine grin, and a glance Natasha's way showed she was looking up at her boyfriend with a similar grin. Apparently Art had come to some sort of sneaky conclusion.

Street-Tail hissed. "Ha! Why would I do that? Stupid Uratha."

Shaking his head, Art came closer to the spirit. "Because we're not Avery, and we're not Flow. We know you have beef with her."

The rat hissed and took a step back. Not to get away from Arturo; seemed like the rat might be able to take him a straight fight. But instead to get away from the words he was speaking.

"Not with Flow. I know not the river guardian. But Avery, she..." The rat hissed and slammed its tail in the darkness behind it. It was loud, and heavy. "You're Avery's pack. I won't help you. Interloper. Trade, yes. Help? No."

Street-Tail King had a problem with Avery; probably from when she'd been with Simon. And it probably thought Eric was with Avery, considering how much Eric had already interacted with him and her pack.

"I don't care about Avery," Eric said. "I'm not part of her pack. Neither is Natasha." Might as well include her, since the rat saw her with Avery that one time. "Avery is a pain in our asses, too."

Street-Tail King snorted, only its beady black eyes visible as they caught the light.

"You bring two of hers I know belong in her choir."

Natasha raised a quick hand. "They're w-w-working for me. Bound, by... a debt to me."

Eric suppressed his grin as he looked down at the little vampire. Smart woman, speaking a language the spirit would understand: economics.

"Does the Kindred speak truly?"

Matt and Art both sighed, and nodded.

"See?" Natasha said with a tiny smile. "I've lived in this city my whole life too, j-just like Eric. Avery isn't our friend. W-We're not here to do... Uratha things. We're here because Dolareido is in danger. And... and you care about Dolareido, don't you? I bet you grew up here, or... or whatever it is spirits d-do, and... and you're a part of this city."

Silence. But after a few moments, the rat's tail shifted over the asphalt of the alley.

"I do not like Avery."

"Me neither," Eric said.

"Me neither," Natasha said.

They looked to Sándor, but the man managed only a tiny shrug before stepping back. They looked to Art and Matt, and both boys groaned and looked away. They might have thought Avery was mean, but they still liked her. And considering they were her pack and had worked with her and under her for a bunch of years, that was understandable. The rest of them, though? Yeah, Avery was a bitch.

"Very well," the rat said, and it gnashed its teeth a few times. "You do not lie?"

Tash put up her hands. "No lie."

"Tssh. The word of a Kindred means little. You." The rat pointed its eyes at Eric. "I can smell the city on you, in your flesh and bones. You're a part of Dolareido. You swear you are helping Dolareido, and not just serving Avery?"

"I swear. Not that that means much."

"It means more than it would coming from Avery's pups." The rat nodded from the darkness, smile returning and exposing pointed teeth. "I suspect you all know Black Blood is behind the tears."

Matt, Art, and Natasha winced. Eric and Sándor frowned at each other. None of them wanted Black Blood as an enemy, but if these tears were a problem, then it certainly seemed like it was going in that direction.

"The tears wouldn't explain the azlu," Art said. "Not like this, not this... cooperation, and multiple azlu showing up. Powerful spirits tearing holes through the Gauntlet isn't unusual either, and sure that sometimes attracts azlu attention since they want to strengthen the Gauntlet, but--"

"The azlu," the rat said, "can sense what's happening. They're here, desperate to strengthen the Gauntlet, driven by their stupid instinct with overpowering need, because they can sense what's coming."

They all looked between each other again. That sounded ominous. That sounded stupidly over dramatic, and ominous, and the longer Eric spent as an Uratha, the more the stupid, crazy-sounding shit came true. If it sounded insane and ominous, it was probably very real.

"And... that is?" Eric asked.

"Minerva's legacy."

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

"No wonder Jacob despises her," Sándor said.

They all nodded, wincing with every step. The situation had just gone from bad to shitty, and Eric and Sándor didn't really know the details. Natasha filled in what she could.

"It was t-ten years before my time," she said. "Before my embrace. But, everyone knows about it, about Simon the werewolf. So everyone... d-dances around the subject, about Avery and Jacob."

"She hasn't told us everything either," Art said. "Her pack got wiped out, after Simon left Dolareido. Only she survived. She met Flow when the spirit was just a tiny thing, barely awakened. Flow saved her life." Sighing, Art sat down on a bench. It was almost comical, seeing the big guy sit on a bench in such a strange place, especially considering the bench was warped and uneven. "We only know a little about Minerva, and even that Avery doesn't like us talking about much. We normally feign ignorance about it."

Sándor shook his head. "I think we're passed that now, don't you think?" He didn't sit down, but he took a stand beside the bench, and looked out to the street as they talked. Keeping watch. "If we can trust the spirit..."

"Spirits can lie," Matt said, sitting with Art, voice hushed. "It's rare. They prefer to do trades, you know? Everything has to be a trade, and if you're caught lying, your credibility is shot."

That made sense. Spirits weren't humans. They didn't have internal struggles of consciousness, and were much, much better at understanding other spirits upfront. It'd be like asking wild animals to lie to each other. Sure, animals tricked each other with their natures, but outright lying? Conscious deception with words? No, spirits could usually be trusted, even the manipulative, deceptive ones like Street-Tail King, who'd twist their words into half truths by their nature.

But they could lie, and that was important.

Sighing, Art leaned forward and set his elbows on his knees, heavy. "Natasha, cloak us please." Heavy words, with zero of his usual flirtatious charm used on her.

Natasha did so, and as she did, an aura radiated from Arturo. It wasn't the Cloak, something a vampire could do to make people effectively invisible. But it was something, like a prowling animal using brush to be unseen, despite them being in full view. It didn't extend past himself, but if Arturo wanted to talk about sensitive stuff, it made sense to double down on stealth.

"I'll tell you what I know," Arturo said. "But I don't know much. Avery doesn't tell us much about what Minerva was doing, because it's dangerous. She's told Clara a little more, but..." Shaking his head, he put a finger to his lips. "Don't repeat anything I say about Minerva specifically. I'm saying these words, no one else does, and keep it that way until we're out of the Hisil, understood?" Everyone nodded, though Eric noticed Sándor's lack of expression. Arturo's words didn't mean much to him, even if he wasn't the sort to stir the pot.

Arturo nodded. "Simon and his pack killed Minerva because she was looking for a way to tear down the Gauntlet."

Everyone winced. It was quickly becoming a habit.

"Tear it down?" Natasha said. "I... I know she--"

"Minerva wanted to punch a hole in the Gauntlet, so she could communicate with spirits regularly; everyone familiar with Minerva already knew that. The damage she was going to inflict, on the other hand... We doubt anyone understood just how much she was going to fuck shit up.

"The Ordo Dracul and the Circle of the Crone get into that shit all the time with their experiments and rituals. Minerva worked with both of them. She was friends... lovers, with Jacob, and got her hands dirty in that business. She was good friends with the Prince too, and was a part of Antoinette's experiments with ephemera."

"Antoinette experiments with ephemera?" Eric asked.

"Yeah. It was a big contention point between her and Simon. We don't like vampires experimenting with ephemera because they're playing with fire. Things like the azlu show up and start killing people. Worse, they sew up the Gauntlet, strengthening it in their mindless pursuit of instinct, to the point they'd kill an area. If the Hisil and Gurihal are completely blocked from each other, the area becomes a wasteland of nothing, devoid of life. There's a balance to strike, and that's what Uratha do."

Matt raised a finger. "Other hosts do different things. Beshilu, rat hosts, gnaw at the Gauntlet and destroy it. Kinda like the tears we've been finding. But we've found no beshilu."

"Azlu though, more have come. We're finding traces of the fucking spiders, and... and we're not sure why." Sighing again, Art sank his fingers into his knees as he looked down. "Minerva wanted to reach across the Gauntlet, and eventually tear it down. She thought the separation between the physical and shadow was... bad." Natasha opened her mouth, but Art put up his hands. "It's not debatable, Tash. It'd be bad. People would die or suffer, by the billions."

"B-But... did she want to tear down the Gauntlet everywhere?"

"We don't know. Probably not. Maybe she only wanted to do it in a small area. But it wasn't a risk Simon and Avery were willing to make. And... and when Avery found out she wasn't just researching how to do this, but had figured it out, they stopped her."

Natasha's jaw dropped. "She found a way t-to open a portal?"

"No. Portals exists. Doorways. Verges. They open and close, and sure, we hate that they exist, but they're manageable. They can be stable or unstable, but unstable ones usually just collapse and fade. What Minerva was doing was more like... tearing things apart at the seams. If she succeeded, she'd have created a permanent hole, and it would have damaged the Gauntlet around it. Simon was convinced the seams would keep tearing, and... and it'd spread, like a hole in old clothes, you know?"

Natasha and Sándor might not have felt the horribleness that statement implied, but Matt, Art, and Eric all shivered. Ice ran up Eric's back, and his breath caught in his throat. It wasn't a human fear, like a fear of death or pain, of hunger or anything like that. The spirit wolf in him was fucking terrified of the idea of the Gauntlet disappearing, in a way he couldn't express with words. It was ingrained into him, like instinct. The Gauntlet was existential for Uratha, and as alien an idea as it was, he couldn't deny it. The fear grabbed him and continued to jolt up and down his spine until it sickened him.

If the Gauntlet disappeared, billions would die, but it'd be worse than that. Spirit and flesh, everywhere. Things like hosts, azlu turning human bodies into giant spider monsters, would be common. Possessed people, possessed objects, spirits would have free reign to indulge physical pleasures until they were satisfied. Existence itself would become chaos.

"... that's heavy," Eric said eventually.

Matt and Art smiled at him. They knew how much he'd dumbed down his thoughts to say that.

"I... I can understand Avery n-now, I guess," Tash said. "D-D... Does Jacob know this?"

"He knows Avery killed Minerva because she was fucking with the Gauntlet. He doesn't know about the damage Minerva might have caused. He doesn't know Minerva was on track to screw over everyone and everything. He doesn't know his lover... had found a way. He doesn't know, because if he knew it was possible, he might just try and do it."

Eric gulped. Good god. "You're sure she figured out a way to do it?"

"Avery thinks so. Simon thought so. Avery won't tell me about it, but I can only assume it was some ritual."

Sándor managed a small frown, but it was gone a second later. "So instead of pursuing more information about Jacob, and his accomplice Black Blood, you harassed Maria?" Ok, the man's face still didn't frown, but his voice certainly did, and it shocked everyone. Strange to hear anger coming from him.

"We didn't know these new tears attracting the azlu had anything to do with Minerva," Art said. "We thought maybe it was just Black Blood or Red Tide, or even Street-Tail overstepping themselves. What we do know, is there are spirits here talking about Maria, and about crossing the barrier. These spirits also hang around some of the tears we've found. We also know some of these tears rip more than just a hole from the Hisil to the Gurihal and back. Some go to other realms too, which was never Minerva's plan, far as we know."

"Right," Matt said. "You went through one that went to somewhere else, didn't you?" The big guy gestured to Eric and Sándor.

The Begotten nodded. "We did. A land of ghosts. I've seen it before in my travels, but I avoid it. All living creatures do."

"And," Art said, "the one we're checking out tonight goes somewhere else." They all opened their mouths, but Art put up his hands. "We don't know where it goes. We couldn't get a close look. There were blood wraiths everywhere. We want to get closer, but we'll need a distraction."

"You couldn't do that before?" Sándor asked. "There's less of us now then there'd be if your entire pack found this before."

"We were injured. Jack kicked in our teeth. Avery planned to investigate it once we were all healed up, but even then, it's tricky. The red wraiths are connected to Black Blood, and they might be part of its choir. If we piss them off, we might piss Black Blood off, and we still don't know what its banes and bans are. Still don't know how much control of the city Black Blood has."

"Avery wants us to be careful," Matt said. "She... she really wants to avoid the same situation Simon created with the vampires."

"Then explain M-Maria." Folding her arms across her chest, Natasha glared at both of Avery's pack members, eyes turning into little daggers. Damn, cold. Ice cold.

The two boys sighed as they looked down.

"Black Blood deals in death," Art said eventually. "And the dead. Maria lost her lover Lucas. These blood wraiths we know are connected to Black Blood have been caught saying Maria's name. You heard them yourself, Tash."

"I--"

"And when we went to investigate Maria's den, we didn't go in swinging. We demanded to see what she was up to, and she refused. If she'd just let us--"

"You would have violated her privacy! And--"

"If we didn't act, and it turned out she was behind all this, the Gauntlet could be gone, Tash! Things would have--"

"B-But you didn't know, and you made things worse! You c-c-could have--"

Sándor stepped between them, face solid and unmoved. "Later. For now, we're here to get a peek at this tear. And from what I'm hearing, we have two options. Distract any nearby red wraiths, or dispose of them."

"I've seen these wraiths," Eric said. "Hovering freaks with giant claws? Obsessed with flesh?" That was weird, even by spirit standards. The only way spirits could awaken with a hunger for that, was if there was a lot of that in the physical world. And sure, Dolareido had its share of blood and flesh, but statistically, it was less violent than other big cities.

Unless Black Blood was involved, and had created the essence gatherings that formed the wraiths. Maybe they were part of its choir.

"We need information," Eric said. "Recap. According to you, Art, everyone who knew Minerva closely also knew she was trying to punch a hole in the Gauntlet. Like you said, there are portals and verges and gateways through the Gauntlet already, in Dolareido and in other cities I'm sure. But you're telling us that what Minerva didn't tell anyone, was that what she was doing was quite literally capable of damaging the Gauntlet in a real way, like, so it might... all come crumbling down?"

Arturo nodded. "Avery told us that she told Minerva about what would happen, toward the end, but Minerva didn't listen. She either already knew, didn't believe her, or didn't care."

"And Jacob doesn't know this."

The boys shook their heads.

"Well, shit." That'd make any interaction with the deadly-as-fuck elder a pain in the ass. "And you're also saying only Avery herself knows exactly what Minerva was doing to threaten the Gauntlet, what ritual she was doing."

"Yeah," Art said. "But whatever she was doing, it didn't involve tears, far as we know. Avery would have said something by now."

Natasha raised a hand. "Or Minerva hadn't gotten to that p-point yet where she'd need them."

Eric nodded to the little vampire. "So the only reason we have to think these tears have anything to do with Minerva, is what Street-Tail King, a scheming, dirty, underhanded spirit told us. The spirits we've found around these tears are, instead, talking about Maria, and..."

"And finishing a ritual," Matt said.

"A ritual." Eric groaned and looked down the road and where it led to the edge of the city. "I can understand why you thought it was Maria."

Natasha sighed, but slowly nodded. "M-Maybe, back then. But we know more now. A new tear was created while Maria was healing. And Jack has t-told me that he knows for sure Black Blood is connected to these tears. It's connected to Jacob, but I don't think it's connected t-t-to Maria."

"Which means," Sándor said, "we have to consider that Black Blood is chasing Minerva's legacy. Which, I think is safe to say, a bad thing. And it also means anything we do to put a stop to it, is going up against Black Blood."