Post Apocalypse 1, Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three: ‘Friends with Vampires’ Wasn’t on my Apocalypse Bingo Card

            Noah walked up the steps, leaving the Undermarket behind. The warm air from the Undermarket rushed up past him, creating the tiniest hint of frost in the air as it reached the freezing air of Night City. His team—RED and Lika—followed him. So too did his allies, Grace and Kishara. The spurned vampire walked like she owned the place, taking the steps with both force and poise, somehow, then smiling to the outside world, her fangs making it the smile of a predator.

            It had been hinted by others that Kishara did, in fact, own the Undermarket. More concretely, the gods running Arena had tied the Under City card to her, so she probably did own it at some level.

            At the top, Noah found no one waiting for him. Lisa had been afraid to even enter the compound, so he hadn’t expected her, per se. But a dark ten percent of him had expected that he would be betrayed, perhaps ambushed once he brought Kishara out.

Noah wanted to be a hero. But he wasn’t so naïve as to believe everyone else wanted to be one as well.

             Noah walked out, past the orc that spoke English with a heavy guttural accent. The orc tipped an imaginary hat to him, which cause Noah to at least grin through his worry for Hope and his fear of being in a vampire city.

            A small flurry of snow swirled around him as he left, chilling him. Lika pulled her sports coat close, but Noah glanced over at Grace. She was shivering, her teeth chattering.

            He shrugged out of his jacket and passed it to Grace, who took it but didn’t put it on. Noah began to immediately shiver.

            “You’ll freeze without it,” Grace said, her brow furrowing slightly.

            “A voice of reason, fleshloaf,” RED muttered sardonically. “You should listen to her.”

            “I’m not a fool,” Noah replied, ignoring his sarcastic companion. “Of course I’ll freeze. But so long as I don’t get wet, I’ll have a while at this temperature before it becomes a real problem. You, on the other hand, look half tiny, half starved, and half dead.”

            “That’s three halves,” Grace said with the ghost of a smile, shrugging into the jacket. She didn’t stop shivering, but it slowed as Noah watched.

            Noah managed an actual chuckle this time. “Well, on you, it works. And you take my meaning, regardless.”

            Grace nodded and opened her mouth, but Lisa came out of the shadows near them and Grace jolted, staring wide-eyed at the vampire.

            RED drew his plasma knife, Lika grabbed a vial on her chest, and Kishara pulled her pistols.

            “It’s okay,” Noah said rapidly. “It’s just Lisa, the one that asked me to—”

            Kishara placed her pistols back in their holster and stepped forward, her tight dress swirling at her feet. “It’s good to see you, Lisa Silver.” Kishara said, then reached out almost too fast to see, her hand pressed to Lisa’s throat. “Noah seems to believe that you know where the Clan Heart fueling Avicii’s rise is. Is that true?”

            Lisa nodded quickly with eyes wide in a face florid with shock.

            “Where?” Kishara hissed, moving her face close to Lisa’s and barring fangs. A slight hissing came from her throat, and Noah was briefly reminded of an old horror sci-fi movie he had seen, where the alien pressed its face near the heroine’s cheek at one point.

            Lisa certainly seemed to take it as a threat, blurting the answer out almost immediately. “Near the top of the Town Pavilion in Kansas City, near the… event. Two floors below Avicii’s throne room, in one of the segments supposedly being remodeled.”

            The event? Noah wondered.

            Kishara pushed Lisa back a step. “I see. So, surrounded by a significant portion of her entire clan?”

            Lisa rubbed her throat and glared at Kishara, but she nodded to the other vampire’s words.

            “What’s ‘the event?’” Lika asked.

            Kishara shrugged. “When the last mortal bearer of a prize card in Night City was slain, the tallest tower in Kansas City, the Solar City building, was consumed by an inky black darkness. That tower of darkness is still there. No card ever shows over it, and any mortal, deckbearer, or overland monster that gets near it is utterly destroyed. We don’t know what it is, where it came from, or why. It’s also the source of power for the city, the only one remaining that doesn’t seem to need fuel.”

            “But it appeared right when the city was lost to the humans?” Noah asked.

            Kishara nodded.

            I’d bet my left testicle that’s a secret final boss if I ever try and rescue this city and return it to human control.

            Noah put the thought aside. “It’s not really relevant, regardless. We need to get Hope back. What’s the next step on the path that gets that done?”

            “You really only care about Hope?” Kishara asked with a sneer. “Not taking down an evil vampire clan?”

            “Of course I don’t ‘only care for Hope.’” Noah said, holding up air quotes. “I care for many things, including the values she and I shared. She was a good person, and I wouldn’t do anything to rescue her that she wouldn’t want done—she would never kill an innocent to save herself, for example.”

“Weakness,” Kishara said, but it was without heat.

Noah just kept talking. “She would never want to be saved at that cost. But, honestly, I’ll pay any other price, and bear any other burden, including giving up my own life to rescue her. And why shouldn’t I? She’s the love of my life, hopefully soon to be my wife, and carrying my child. Any man should be willing to do the same.”

“As I said, weakness.”

            Noah gave a sardonic grin. “Aren’t you willing to die for your vengeance? This seems healthier than that, at any rate.”

            Kishara outright laughed, a non-sequitur from Noah’s interactions with her so far. “Fair enough, mortal. Perhaps you are weak, but I’ll not deny what you fight for has some value, and arguable more value than vengeance. You have a point, and it’s a good one.”

            Her eyes flashed, her humor gone instantly. “But remember, my goal only goal is vengeance, and I will kill an innocent to get it—or to take revenge on those who get in my way. Perhaps yours is a better goal, but I’ll not be swayed from mine, not after three thousand years.”

            “Crazy person says what?” Noah asked with a half laugh.

            Lika tittered nervously, but Kishara just glared at him. “Just keep it in mind.”

            Noah held his hands up. “We’re on the same team, lady. Chill out.”

            Kishara just held the stare.

            “Well, shall we be going?” Lisa asked. “I mean, fun drama aside, I need to take you to see Selene, the Silver Clan progenitor.”

            Noah shivered. “We should do that, but first, we need to get me something for the cold. I’m not stupid enough to think that walking around this freezing city with only my shirt is something I should be doing.”

            “Well, I saw the same mark over a store a few blocks back,” Lika said, hooking her tumb. “Before we got here back, I mean. Same mark as where you got me this jacket. Maybe something is left?”

            Noah doubted it, but nodded. It was a good a place as any to start.

***

            Three stores later, Noah had given up on finding an actual jacket. This part of the city was far more picked over than the outskirts. Noah had instead ended up wearing a ‘hand-made’ jacket—a cut-up tarp that they had fashioned into a crude poncho and tied with some twine they had found, Rambo-style.

            Now, another hours walk into the city, he was cold, but not freezing to death. Plus, Grace had given him a look every guy appreciated, regardless of his completely platonic intentions toward his benefactor’s granddaughter.

            Now they faced their destination—the court of Selene, progenitor of the Silver Clan.

            “I can’t believe she’s living in Union Station,” Noah said, staring at what had probably been Kansas City’s most famous landmark prior to the apocalypse—although the Solar City tower, finished in 2029, might have rivaled it for fame, and there had been a ton of controversy surrounding the project before its completion.

            “Holding court in Union Station,” RED muttered, staring at it.

            Noah stared at the building. It was huge, its central portion a moderately arc deco styled train station, with smaller wings to each side. Noah knew that a ton of attractions, including full on museums, operated within the building—or had, before the apocalypse. He wondered where Selene might have set up.

            He almost asked Lisa, but decided that for once, a surprise might be fun. It didn’t feel like a situation where he needed a ton of information.

            The group walked the last couple thousand feet, uncharacteristically quiet, before they reached their goal.

The massive Union Station, normally aesthetically pleasing, had a barricade around it, far shorter than the one around the Undermarket, but similar nonetheless. It was merely a car, sometimes two, thick. But humans patrolled around it, mixed in with vampires. A quick glance told Noah that they were nearly all of the ‘Silver’ clan.

Unsurprising, given why they were here.

Lisa led them up to a gate in the cars—which was composed of an actual gate that looked at if it had come from a farm. But few stared at her as she approached—all eyes were on Kishara, who strode in again as if she owned the place.

            At the gate, a massive warrior waited. He had silver hair and golden hawk wings that glowed slightly, and he carried a murderous, five-foot-long sword across his back at an angle, and a huge pistol at his belt.

            “I see that you returned successfully, Lisa. You were the only one that has come back.”

            “Thank you, Iapopus,” Lisa said, dropping a curtsy.

            Noah examined the vampire.

Iapopus, 3rd Champion of Selene

Unique Undead/Divine [Vampire, Progenitor, Aristocrat, Warrior] Creature

Overland Sub-Boss

Health: 180

Attack: 14

Defense: 12

Magical Attack: 12[Death or Light]

Magical Defense: 12

Special: Preferred Typing [Undead/Divine]: Gains the better typing of either Undead or Divine for all type match-ups.

Special: Vampire Slayer: +100% Attack and Magical attack against other vampires.

Special: Flammable: +100% damage from Fire

Special: Sunlight Weakness: This card takes a true damage every fifteen seconds in sunlight, and all its stats are halved.

Special: Drop: When this monster is destroyed, there is an 50% chance to receive an uncommon undead pack, a 30% to receive a rare Divine pack, a 10% chance to receive a legendary undead pack, and a 10% chance to receive the unique “Iapopus, 3rd Champion of Selene

card. If the Iapopus card is gained, Iapopus will never return to the world regardless of regional regeneration”

“Iapopus was the fifth childe of Selene, a holy warrior that fell trying to defend Acre. Now, he defends her and hers, a dim beacon in the sea of darkness.”

            That guy is not to be sneezed at, Noah thought. He glanced at Kishara. She doesn’t have his stats, at all, but he seems impressed by her. I wonder if she would become an Overland Boss and gain way higher stats under certain circumstances.

            Iapopus paid no attention to Noah. “If you would come this way, please, Kishara, Selene will wish to see you.”

            “I would ask that you admit Noah, who convinced me to come, and his ally Lika as well,” Kishara said. “I don’t trust vampires anymore, not after Avicii. But I will trust him.”

            Iapopus frowned, but after a second, he stepped to the side, bowing and sweeping his arm. “This way, then, Kishara and mortals. May you find enlightenment in the court of the Selene, called the Silver Progenitor, the Humane Progenitor, and Raphael’s Blood Angel.”

            Because that isn’t at all ominous. Noah followed Kishara in, hoping that for once a first meeting would go well.