Chapter 18

The Ghouls exploded into flame and the acrid smell of burnt fat permeated through the air.  Artemvian didn’t bother turning around, walking away from the four piles of ash.  He had seen the sight often enough to be able to picture it.  Red fire overtook their body as the fat and sinews were rendered down to nothing more than a grease stain on the ground.  The ghouls tryied to scream but were unable to let out a single sound due to the instant creation of fire, snuffing out all the oxygen in their lungs and vocal cords.

From deeper within the warehouse came an utterly inhuman shriek, mixed with bursts of mana and clinging to those mana were emotions of sorrow and rage.

The Queen.

Artemvian didn’t have to wait long.  Younger Queens were especially protective of their brood compared to their older counterparts.

A creature that vaguely resembled a humanoid came rushing out, on all fours like a primitive homo sapien.  Her hair was dark and slick with slimy fluid, clinging to her skin like tentacles.  Her eyes were glowing white pits that betrayed intelligence beyond that of an animal.  Yet, the bruised knuckles on her fist combined with the overall slender ape-like mannerisms was evidence that she wasn’t one to engage in intelligent conversation, more likely to use her claws and all too sharp teeth to start it off.

“I hate it when I’m right.”  Artemvian whispered as the Ghoul screamed, a sound that would summon every single ghoul from her brood within the nearby mile-long radius.

She screamed so loud that it literally blew away the nearest reddish slime-gel-flesh that covered the ground and walls around her.  They splattered with a disgusting sound, and Artemvian created a mana shield made of interlocking hexagonal plates lest he be poisoned by the aftermath.

“I can’t believe those pompous vampires use Ghouls as slaves in this world.”  Artemvian grimaced, disgusted by the slender female figure before him, dripping with blood and only god knows what else.  “What happened to good old thralls? No appreciation for the classics, I tell you.”

The Queen was shorter than him, only slightly above five feet tall.  That was good.  She had not metamorphosed into a Greater Queen yet, which happened when the Queen devoured enough young woman and then could start creating Queens of her own.  The bad news was that she didn’t lunge right away towards Artemvian, her eyes recognized the Mana Shield and she growled softly, circling around him.

“Caller.”  Her voice was multi-layered, utilizing vocal cords that was of a complete different biology than humans, which betrayed their evolutionary origins.  Like how a tiger or lion’s roar was one big powerful sound layered with different pitches meant to freeze prey in its tracks, her voice was the same.

“Is that what you call Mages in this world? Caller?”  Artemvian quipped.  All his instincts told him to drop the Queen right here, but he didn’t let his anger get in the way of the job.  He had given his word to Riley that he would bring this Helen Papier home safe, or find out her whereabouts.

But there was the manner of the Vampire.  Artemvian wasn’t sure when the pickup was supposed to happen but he didn’t want to tangle with a Vampire without any preparation, especially a member of a House powerful enough to be involved in politics.  The more powerful the Vampire, the greater their desire for power over humans –beyond just the physical.  A member of such a house would be formidable, even if they were a lesser member.

“Caller of Fire.  Caller of Minds.  We have always called your kind Callers.”  She hissed, circling him and Artemvian did the same, keeping the shield between them.  “Caller of Fire, leave this place and I will allow you to keep that sack of flesh you reside in.”

“Pretty strong negotiation tactic, what with your appearance and all.”  Artemvian smirked as she hissed in anger.  The more intelligent a monster, the more likely they were to aspire to be ‘beautiful’.  Hence why Greater Queens hardly ever left their human form.  “Here’s my counter-offer.”

Artemvian’s voice turned from the breezy casual tone he usually employed to steel and fire, each syllable clapping like a burst of miniature thunder.

“Leave.  Go back to your Hive and tell them that Nero City is under the protection of a Caller named Artemvian Moneti Delacreu.  Spread word that this city is no longer safe for those who dwell in the shadows, be my messenger and I shall allow you to keep your life.  Turn aside from this conflict and I will not hunt you down outside these city walls, Undead Creature.”

The Queen slammed her hands on the ground between them, pretending to lunge.  But Artemvian had seen such tactics before and he didn’t bat an eye.  She did it a couple more times, frustration evident in her face.  Seeing that it didn’t work, the Queen leaned towards him, hissing and her mouth opening to show rows of teeth and a secondary mouth within –a sucker-shaped tube lined with spirals of molars.

“Hellfire and brimstone, that’s fucking creepy.”  Artemvian muttered.  “Do they have dental care in this era or what? They must make a fortune with you Ghouls around.”

“Caller, you come in my den, kill my children and-”

“You’re in my town and killing my people.”  Artemvian spat, surprising himself.

His town? His people?

Huh.  That had a nice ring to it.

He never had a place to call home before.  The Emperor’s palace didn’t count, which was where he retired to after he finished his tenure as a wetboy.  That was more of a prison.  But this town…

He kind of liked it here.

“Last warning, Undeath.  Leave.”  Artemvian let the word hang between them.

He knew it the moment the Ghoul made her decision, as she crossed the space between them in a flash, her double-mouths slobbering with reddish viscous liquids and her elongated claws threatening to rend him.

Of course, a predator wouldn’t give a warning.  As much as the Ghoul imitate human speech and wanted to be like a human, the instinct to simply pounce was too strong.  This Ghoul was too young to have picked up the love for goading like all her kind did.  To their credit though, it worked a lot.  Humans often fell for the confusion that these creatures were indeed, somewhat civilized.  So when the monsters abandoned all modicum of civility and simply jumped at them, that was the last sight that most monster hunters ever saw.

Artemvian didn’t live to be his age by being unprepared.

He didn’t even bother using another spell.  Artemvian simply spread his hand out and pushed with his palm, enlarging the Mana Shield and sending it crashing into the Ghoul Queen.

She fell against the shield like a maddened animal, clawing and spitting, her animal brain unable to think of what to do quick enough.  Artemvian then walked backwards, drawing a glowing blue circle with his index finger in the air.

“Ignis!”  He hissed and for the first time in a long while, felt a drain on his mana reserves.  The Ghoul was strong and he had to keep pouring power into the shield to keep her from getting at him.

The Ghoul Queen erupted into fire.

She howled in pain and fury, panic making her scrabble to the side and up the walls like a human-sized arachnid.  The liquid that the ghouls were covered in was primarily made of fat and oil, making these undead creatures light up like… well, fat and oil.  The Queen began to beat herself and rolled on the floor, leaving trails of flame all over the building.

The building, which was already full of the Ghoul’s oil, began to catch on fire.

“Ignis!”  Artemvian made a finger gun and pretended to shoot the Queen.  There was a loud whumf as the superheated air expanded from the sudden creation of fire and caused a literal explosion which sent the Queen tumbling down from the ceiling onto the ground in front of Artemvian.  

But the Queen wasn’t the queen of her hive in words only.  Upon landing, she got on all fours and threw herself at Artemvian once more, her eyes alight with madness of near-death.

Artemvian flicked a finger and his Mana Shield, which he had never dismissed, came falling from the sky like the hammer of a god.

It crushed the bottom half of her body into juice.

In her death throes, the Queen stared at him with hate in her eyes.

And pain.

Even monsters felt pain.

“Tell me the name of the Vampire House you serve, and I’ll make it quick.”

She laughed without mirth.

“...I’ll take that as a no then.”

“Caller, you will-”

“Too late.  No takesies-backsies!”  Artemvian cut her off before she could launch into a monologue as all evil villains did in his day, warning him of that their bosses wouldn’t stand for this, he’d be chased down, they know the location to a secret treasure, etc etc.  “Been there! Heard that! Done that! Ignis.”  

She burst into flames, turning into nothing more than a charred skeleton.

There was no point in talking to a monster who already made their choice.

Artemvian headed down the stairs that the Queen had come up from and found a couple of people below –all women.  They were embedded into the walls of the warehouse, held in place by the reddish-flesh apparatus of the Ghouls.  None of them were awake but from what Artemvian could see, they had no visible wounds.

And one of them was Helen Papier.

Artemvian debated bringing her out but a quick Mana Sensory Spell told him that Celene was approaching the building.  The policewoman still believed that he was an Empath and he didn’t feel like sticking around to explain.  

“I guess I’ll have to get going.”  Artemivian muttered and turned to leave.

Then abruptly held his phone up above his head and stuck his head in the frame next to Helen Papier’s sleeping face.  “But first let me take a selfie!”

After all, he still needed to get paid.