Chapter 47

Wild Hunt 5

-:-

3 days later

Inside a Boeing 777

20 thousand meters in the air

6 hours away from Vermilion City

Theo’s departure from Vermilion City was a somber yet heartwarming affair.

Sending him off were representatives of the HAA which Theo didn’t really care about, Juno Saiga who forced him to share a very deep French kiss, his brother and sister-in-law Bartholomew and Meredith Lorne who sent him off with brotherly love (Barth) and vulgar jokes (Meredith).

All in all, it gave Theo quite the boost in self-esteem.

Unfortunately, the hours that followed that was anything but uplifting

The Boeing 777 he was on had no windows what so ever.

An understandable design given how aside from him and the pilots, everyone else was vampires.

Theo felt like a sheep in a den of lions.

As such, he was fully clad in his Z49 Scout Armor except for his right hand which was touching the nearby wall.

Annoyingly, he only had his power armor and some spare clothes with him.

If he had his way, he would have moved quite a bit of tech from his secret base.

Unfortunately, the heightened alert near Hellhole district made it hard to sneak large amounts of armaments out the scrapyard.

To complicate matters, the HAA reps made a thorough search of the Boeing 777, thus smuggling weaponry in was impossible.

His power armor was glossed over because all of the non vampires in the aircraft wore power armors of varying make.

A simply precaution if some of the vampires does something stupid to the crew.

Given the nature of Theo’s employer, a certain level of caution was understandable.

Theo did bring one tech and it did get spotted by the local hobos, but it was built with the best stealth technology available to him, thus could only be spotted by the naked eye.

It was his panic button of sorts.

“Arent you a bit too paranoid young Lorne? You are amongst allies here. You are safe.” asked Nosferatu who sat directly in front of Theo

“Tell that to the people throwing me death glares” replied Theo as he threw a glance at the 9 people who was with Nosferatu when they infiltrated his secret base.

“Ha ha ha. Touche. Allow me to introduce them. The young lady is Jofina Nosferatu. She is a natural born vampire of one of my most trusted sires. She and the others are new recruits to the Grave Guards, the military unit that doubles as bodyguards for important figures of the Nosferatu bloodline” said Nosferatu

The girl named Jofina respectfully nodded at Theo without reducing the bloodthirst in her eyes.

“So what if we’re acquaintance? That doesn’t change the fact that I’m in a tub filled with piranhas. I’ll ensure my escape route no matter what.” Said Theo.

“You mean that you’ll disintegrate the hull before jumping out, then blow the plane into oblivion with that fighter plane that’s been following us since we left the city? And given the weather outside is a clear sunny day, I would say that you thought that this would be enough to kill me, correct?” asked Nosferatu in a playful manner.

On the other hand, Jofina and the other Grave Guards tensed up upon this realization

“You knew about that huh?” said Theo while desperately hiding his internal panic.

Being read like a book was not something Theo enjoyed.

“I have more attempts on my life while inside an airplane than you have years on your life. There are some variations, but the core idea remains the same. Naturally, counter measures are in place.”

“I see…. How do you even know about the F-22A Raptor? That thing is flying 5 kilometers away from us and its stealth systems are in full force.”

“Quite simply, you underestimated the abilities of a Progenitor. It may have the best stealth technology, but such things cant completely hide the sound of its thrusters and engine. Most vampires might not detect it, but a being as ancient and wise as I, will.”

Theo groaned internally.

While he didn’t underestimate Nosferatu one bit, he also didn’t know the full list of the ancient vampire’s capabilities.

All in all, Theo literally had no means of fighting back.

“There goes any self-confidence I had…. *sigh*….” Said Theo

“Hahahaha! Fret not young Lorne, the only reason you are powerless now is because you stand against a Progenitor. You stand a very good chance against vampires of lesser ability.” Replied Nosferatu

“Yeah yeah”

“Cheer up young chap. As an apology, let’s get into the details of your job. You already know the broad overview of your mission, correct?”

“Hunt down those with the recessive Nosferatu Gene, right?” asked Theo

“More accurately, kidnap them. The job is to abduct the targets and forcefully remove the recessive gene. And most ideally, do this with the smallest collateral damage as possible. The closer to zero deaths, the more outrageous the bonus awarded to you.” Said Nosferatu

“Weird. Wouldn’t the standard humanitarian condition be Zero Deaths= Insane Rewards?”

“I am just being realistic. When we approached this problem the diplomatic way, we were met with open scorn. And it is easy to imagine when we try a more ‘forceful’ approach. No casualties are desirable but impossible.”

“Makes sense. You cant save everyone.”

“Exactly. Now let’s move on to the targets. Their names are Michele Sway and Bella Sway. A pair of 18 year old twins that fell in love with two vampires that belong to the house of Cullet.”

“Hmm…. Cullet…. I think I heard of them before…” said Theo

“Of course you have. The Cullets is a minor clan that originated from the Toreador bloodline which where the ‘all vampires are ethereal in beauty’ myth came from. Seduction is their raison d’etre and they are masters of it” said Nosferatu with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Oh? Is that hatred I hear in your voice?” teased Theo

“Hate is such a strong word…. Dislike would be accurate.”

“Why?”

“I could recount the thousands of years in the never ending Blood War between the Vampire clans, but that would take too much time. The short version: the Nosferatu and Toreador clans have opposing methodologies. I will tell you in detail in the future.”

“Back to business then. Then the job is a good old fashion kidnapping, correct?”

“That is the long and short of it. Naturally, we will provide you with as much intel and support”

“Good to know. By the way, can I ask something?”

“By all means.”

“You’re an overwhelmingly powerful vampire. Why hire outside help when you can do it yourself?”

“2 main reasons: First- Because I am not the only Progenitor in existence. If I move, the others will answer in kind with their entire Bloodline in tow. As shown in history, a war among the ruling vampire clans will most certainly result in the interference of the Superheroes. The Nosferatu bloodline cannot endure such a war.”

“So you turn to hired thugs like me to do the mission while keeping your hands clean, correct?”

“Hired Thugs is a very crude way of calling it, but yes, you are correct”

“Well, at least you’re honest. Then what is the second reason?”

In response to Theo’s question, Nosferatu smiled gleefully.

“The second and more important reason is to gather allies. My missions are meant to test my potential ally and to set up a future partnership if said ally has certain traits that I watch out for.” Said Nosferatu

“And these traits are?” asked Theo

“If my potential ally is a violent blood thirsty fool, then I desire the trait of being able to follow orders without much thought on the details. Such a person would make a fine blunt instrument. On the other hand, an ally with high levels of intellect and cunning is expected to be creative in approaching a mission and have enough moral flexibility to do what needs to be done. I often task such a person the leadership position of missions. It goes without saying that you belong to the latter”

“Thanks for the pressure…. *sigh*…. Another question: Why trust a teenage brat with such responsibilities? I’m sure you already know this, but teenagers like me are fools that think with their dicks and not with their heads.”

“True enough. But young minds are also easier to mold. It is much harder to fool a wise man compared to a fool.”

“Are you planning to ‘mold’ me?” asked Theo with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

“Molding you is impossible. The Black Bible incident has mutated your mind into something horrific. Most likely, you will violently resist any forms of molding, hence it is better not to touch you at all” replied Nosferatu with a sigh.

“At least we’re clear on where things stand.”

“Indeed. Anyways, any more questions?”

“Just one last question: Are we heading straight to the location of the targets?” asked Theo

“No. If you are the precision instrument of this mission, I need you to get acquainted with the blunt hammers of the operation”

“And those are?”

“A certain clan of Norscan Raiders in the seas of the Allied Kingdoms”

Upon hearing this, Theo could do nothing but groan internally.

The Norscans embody everything that he hated about humanity.

With a silent string of rude words that were left unsaid, Theo begrudgingly accepted the fact that he had to work with a group of criminal scum that he would normally kill without hestiation or mercy.

-:-