Greed God chapter 194

April 7th 2016 Brightedge City, The Perigrinator's Club, 8:30 PM EDT

I'd  been expecting someone...scarier. My dad made Checkmate sound like this  terrifying organization that had the world in the palm of their hand,  and a monster killing expert from there should be some implacable beast  of a man. Which is why I found the actual agent underwhelming. Just a  tanned, good looking guy with long dark hair and a five o'clock shadow.  He looked like he would be more at home wearing an open fronted frilly  white shirt and taming tigers than killing monsters...at least until I  appraised him.

[Appraisal function activated.  Treasure detected. Sigurdr-D rank Dragonslayer. An immortal warrior who  bathed in the blood of the dragon king, Sigurdr, also called Siegfried,  eventually died and moved onto his place in Valhalla. Returned to the  land of the living as one of the Einherjar, Siegfried retains his near  invulnerability as a dragonslayer, as well as being a true immortal who  will resurrect on the next sunrise if somehow slain.]

Huh.  Ok, I took it back. That was fucking awesome. I would have expected him  to be higher than D rank honestly, but if my guess was right most of  his power was in his defense. Still, I could see what the old man had  meant about him being a specialist. I could also see why he was called a  dragonslayer, because literally the second he entered the room, his  easy smile froze and his eyes snapped to me. Ok. Note to self. Do NOT  meet Siegfried as Nick. Mammon being a dragonkin was fine, but ME being a  dragonkin would stretch even the powers of my mask.

Still,  he relaxed after a second, strolling over to me casually and offering a  hand. "Mr. Mammon, I presume. I have heard much about you." His voice  was higher than I'd have expected, though not unusually so, and his  Norwegian accent was light and friendly. "I admit, I was not expecting  to meet one of the blood in such a place. I'm unfamiliar with your  lineage, but it certainly feels potent."

I cocked my head.  "I have to say, I wasn't expecting to meet someone like you either,  Siegfried. You seem less...adversarial than I would have expected. From  your tone it seems you've met quite a few of us, to know our bloodlines  so frequently. Can I take from you demeanor that not all of my kinsmen  have met with the edge of your blade rather than such a polite  introduction?"

That seemed to surprise a laugh out of him.  "Hardly. I too can be considered your kinsman. My grudge with Fafnir  lie not in his species, but in his character. Having bathed in his blood  I possess a trace of that lineage myself. Still, my bloodline, thin as  it may be, is royal. Yet I feel a trace of pressure from your own,  showing it to be equal if not superior. I am honored to be in the  presence of such a distinguished personage."

I worried for  a second he might be suspicious about that, but then I realized that  Siegfried had been alive in a time when the earth seemed much smaller.  He hadn't traveled the world fighting and meeting dragons, he might have  traveled, like, the northern half of Europe. It was nothing strange  that he'd run into the scion of a dragon he didn't know, not even  considering that many dragons were planeshifters. I was kind of looking  forward to that ability myself actually. It was one of the more  impressive dragon tricks, but I'd have to wait a while, I still had a  ways to go.

Clapping him on the shoulder, I gestured him  over to the bar. "Well if we're kinsmen then that makes my job as host  even more important. Come on, I have something you might like." Cocking  an eyebrow in interest, Siegfried followed me over to the bar. Slipping  behind it, I ignored the stink eye from the bartender and stole a pair  of glasses, setting them down one in front of each of us.

Then  I slipped a hand into my pouch and pulled out a familiar bottle I'd  picked up in the undercity. Siegfried's eyes widened in shock as he  looked at the bottle, clearly familiar. "Odin's beard! That's a bottle  of Shaltegrim Brandy!" I popped the cork and the yellow smoke puffed  out. Rather than avoid it though, the immortal warrior took a deep  sniff. "Three thousand years old or thereabouts. An excellent vintage,  not that Shaltegrim ever made a poor one."

I grinned and  passed him the glass, putting my own in front of me and pouring out a  generous measure of brandy for each of us. Then I capped the bottle,  popped it back in my pouch, and lifted the glass. A small effort of will  was enough to warp the physical characteristics of the platonic veil  slightly, exposing my mouth so I could take a long, slow sip of the  dragon brandy.

It was just as amazing as I remembered it.  Siegfried took a pull off his own and hummed his approval. "A princely  meeting gift, brother. Alas one I will not be able to return." He smiled  ruefully, looking down at himself. "Sadly I am but a pauper in this  modern world. Have you need of my sword however, simply call. So long as  it violates not my current oaths I will answer readily."

That  was pretty convenient. Especially since he was unkillable. That favor  could be called in plenty of times. "Sounds good. Might need that sooner  rather than later though. There's some kind of monster summoner at the  meeting. I don't know who he is but I ran into two of his conjurations  in the basement. They weren't a problem, but we have reason to believe  the ones he's keeping in reserve are even stronger."

Siegfried's  eyes snapped around, trying to take in the whole room and pick out any  discrepancy. Sadly, much like me, he saw nothing. I'd gotten too  dependent on my damn appraisal, despite actively trying to avoid using  it for every little thing. Neither of us had time for an extensive but  ultimately useless search, because with Siegfried's arrival and a few  late trickles in, we'd officially reached out quota.

I  heard a clinking of metal on glass and turned to see Silver, smiling  pleasantly as she knocked her champagne flute with a fork. "Attention  everyone." She said with a tone almost as perky as her sizable melons.  "I thank you for your patience. Now that all of our guests have arrived  we can begin negotiations." SHe gestured to a large table on one side of  the ballroom. "If you please, we have dinner prepared while we discuss.  Herb crusted rack of lamb with roasted potatoes and asparagus."

That  did sound pretty good, and Siegfried and I headed over to snatch up  seats. I was guessing my new buddy also liked to eat after a nice drink.  I noted plenty of other faces as I spammed my appraisal. Anthony Gallo,  Bobby Gazzo, and Tobias Whale, all Metropolis crime lords. The first  two were boilerplate human and Whale was H ranked from sheer physical  conditioning, which was pretty uncommon.

Falcone and  Maroni were here, as advertised, as was Penguin, and surprisingly  Two-Face. Tamlin took his seat across from me as various other powerful  Metropolis and Gotham figures showed up. I noted that despite this being  their show Silver was the only Court of Owls member in attendance.  Apparently they'd decided that the bimbo was a more acceptable risk than  any of their august personages, which was fine, since it would make  fucking her easier if I had the time.

Once everyone was  seated, we were served out meals by a series of suited waiters in owl  masks. I smirked slightly as I realized that every single fucking waiter  was a Talon. Silver wasn't fucking around with her side of security,  which I could respect. To no ones surprise, it was Two-Face who spoke  first once everyone had their food, standing to level a finger in my  direction. "What exactly are you hoping to accomplish here? Those of us  in the know are well aware of the Court of Owls. And I reconbize most of  these faces." He gestured at Siegfried and I. "But who are these two?  Why do they deserve to be here?"

I saw Penguin smirk  slightly, obviously expecting me flatten the ugly mobster. Which I  probably would have done, but with a potential monster summoner in the  room I had to be a bit more circumspect. So I settled for flash instead  of substance."Sit the fuck down." Imbuing my Primal  Force into my voice, I let the vibrations carry the waves of power out  like a hammer. Not enough to hurt, but enough to knock him on his ass  and let everyone here know I was not a man to fuck with.

It  wasn't just the power. It was the feeling of domination from the  draconic might that layered the air. Primal Force was more than physical  when I needed it to be. Force of personality was force too, and I'd  imbued the power into my voice on my than just the superficial level. A  little trick I'd come up with after seeing Tamlins magic proclamation in  the undercity. I could see why he used that ability. It  definitely  made an impression.

"Now, with that out of the way,  perhaps Miss Silver would allow me to take up a bit of her time by  introducing myself?" Silver gave a pretty smile and a nod under her half  faced owl mask. "I." I said grandiosely. "Am Mammon. Some of you may  have heard my name, some of you may know me personally." I nodded to  Penguin, who returned the gesture. "But for those of you unaware. I  possess quite a bit of territory that I've taken in this city."

"Shit."  Said Anthony Gallo. "You're the stiff in the mask who took down  Rampage. I heard about you." He sounded impressed, and a little afraid,  which I was happy to accept. Granted, I'd fought rampage before she had a  chance to really power up, but it still counted. Plus if these guys  wanted to assign that kind of rep to me I'd happily take it. "I have no  objections to Mammons presence. Since he has territory and is strong  enough to hold it I say let him stay."

I nodded my thanks  to Gallo. I could theoretically have just told them I was hosting this,  but the whole point of this little charade was that the Court would be  an easier master to swallow for most of these people. Once I made the  bird club my bitches (some more literally than others) everyone else  would fall in line. In that way, anything I did for Silver was of  benefit to me.

Siegfried, meanwhile, stood and gave a  formal salute by crossing his fist over his heart. "I, meanwhile, am  Siegfried. I represent the interests of a certain group of powerful  individuals some of you may know as Checkmate." The was a collective  flinch, which told me the old man was really doing his job, but no one  said a word, which caused Siegfried to smile. "I look forward to  discussing these matters with all of you, and enjoying a wonderful  evening."

That said, he sipped the gold liquid from the  glass he'd brought with him to the table, raising the brandy to me  slightly with a smile. Which, of course, was when the fucking lights  went out. There was an unearthly howl as a the air in the room became  incredibly cold, and a form rose up from inside the table. A floating specter in black plate armor, streaming purple flames from its back like a cape, and holding a green flaming sword. It  turned its malevolent green eyes at me, raising the sword to level the tip at me as it prepared to strike. Huh, guess the summoner decide to act more quickly than expected.