Earth – World of The Misplaced Dungeon.

{Timeline: Late April 2019 following on from Good Intentions – MD Ch. 94/95}

They had been hiding in lower levels of the building’s cellars. Now they were getting hungry and the thing that had been BettySue knew she couldn’t keep her pack still much longer. So she sent the new ones, the ones she had had dragged here from their last feast to emerge first. She could feel their weakness even as directed them to spread out among the shadows of the city.

It was hard, very hard. Her pack was stretching her limits. It was too big. But she wanted more. Her instincts forced her to strain and force her limits. Every cell added to what she was.

She continued resting with half her pack, holding them still with her will even as she guided the scouts to spread out.

The thing that had once been called Boris ventured out into the park. He found food. Betty Sue looked through his eyes and held him back even as she guided another three of her pack to him.

Then the one who had gone by the name of Joe Buckley alerted her to the noise. BettySue somehow knew thet noise meant a feast. She clamped and iron grip on what passed for Joe’s mind. She held him motionless even as she emerged from her celler with all her pack. She urged all her scouts to gravitate to Joe’s location. All came except the ones in the park.

BettySue gatered her pack and eyed Joe. She pushed and he moved forward. She used his eyes and her mouth started watering at the sight. There in front of a row of building stood a line of trendyly dressed people in front of a large man who was controlling the entry to the night club.

BettySue spread her pack out using the shadows. Then at her prompt her pack rushed the food from both ends of the road. They were amongst the food before it was aware of them. There weren’t enough of them so BettySue sent most of her pack into the club.

The smell of blood coming from the club overwhelmed the pack and BettySue lost control especially as she was busy feeding from the bouncer that had been controling the entrance. Most of the pack forced their way into the crowded night club and lost control. The pack acted like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

The patrons were slow to notice their danger and then there was a stampeed for the fire exits. It only got worse once one of the bartenders hit the fire alarm.

BettySue fed well. The slaughter commited by her pack allowed her to grow even given the penalties she had accepted at her integration to the system. Her growth allowed her to realize that the sirens rapidly approaching were to be avoided. She grasped her pack and led them out into the city in search of another hideout.

= = O = =

Logan Brown made his way to the principal’s office. He wondered what he was being accused of now, the tracker he wore on a cuff around his ankle was suddenly very much in his thoughts.

Ms Devon, the school secretary, looked up when he entered her room. “Hello Logan, please take a seat. Mr Merrimack will see you shortly.”

Logan was left to worry and search his conscience for a good fifteen minutes before the buzzer sounded. Ms Devon looked up and smiled at him, “You know the way Logan, please go through.”

Logan knocked and entered Mr Merrimack’s office. He blinked in surprise, he had not expected his father to be present, but it was the other visitor who captured his attention. He had not previously seen any beastmen in the flesh, and this one was unusual. Beastmen usually had far more human looking heads.

“Logan, this is ... ah ... Anubis. He is an agent of the Paranormal Division, and he has a proposal for you,” stated the principal.

The black furred jackal headed man in the neat three piece suit looked Logan over. “Good morning. I have a proposal for you. You are, as far as we are aware, the only person that has your speciality and is not behind bars.”

Mr Brown stood abruptly, “What do you want with him?” he asked somewhat antagonistically.

Anubis seemed to grin, “He will be well guarded. We want him to help us track down some vampires.”

Logan felt cold chills run up and down his back. He knew he wanted nothing to do with one vampire let alone several of the things. “Um, w-why do you need help, vampires are... are dumb.”

“You’ll protect the boy? And what will he get out of this?”

“We’ll wipe his record Mr Brown. And we’ll arrange a partial scholarship at one of the new magic colleges.”

“If you guarantee his safety, I’ll agree to let my son help you.”

Logan looked from Anubis to his father in growing horror; he saw that his school’s principal actually looked sorry for him.

* * *

Logan found himself dragging a suitcase and following Anubis as they approached the booking in desk at Sea-Tac Airport. Then they were boarding a flight for Atlanta. Logan was still in denial. He felt dazed and very unsure of himself.

It was only one hour after they were in the air that Logan managed to collect himself and start to think coherently. He looked at the prick eared jackal man and asked, “Why did you come all the way out here to recruit me? Surely you could have offered one of the prisoners you mentioned a deal?”

Anubis looked down at him, “Not to put too fine a point on it, you’re probably the sanest of our crop of necromancers. Most of the people who selected necromancer were not pleasant individuals to begin with. And most had an agenda. You actually have the smallest kill ratio, and in your case, well you were defending yourself and lost control of your minions.”

Logan slumped dejectedly. “That school I ended up in wasn’t very nice. But the kids are nicer than my original one. I’d rather have nothing to do with vampires. They’re powerful and viscious.”

“You’ll be protected kid. We need to round up those vamps. The attack on Roberta’s caused twenty-five dead and fifty-two wounded. Then there was an attack in the local park on the same night, two more people died there.”

Logan gulped nervously. “But that was a week ago, nothing has happened since, right?”

“Four people have vanished, two have been killed and the rough sleeper population has all but vanished. Mind you we suspect most of them have just moved on.”

“How did you— Why do you call— Erm, you’re not really him are you?” blurted Logan.

Anubis burst out laughing. “Na kid, I just changed my name. I was a cop and I figured a good sense of smell would help... So I played the System when I first saw the screens.”

= = O = =

Somewhere, elsewhere, something stirred, it felt something a weak call, ‘soon, soon my wait will be over,’ it mumbled in its dreams before stretching, rolling over and yawning. It blinked once, then it settled down to a short nap. ‘Soon I will wake.’

= = O = =

Logan followed Anubis through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport dragging his suitcase behind him, he looked round with wide eyes drinking in the sight of the busy crowds. He had missed these sights, something he still felt surprised at. There had been a time he had wanted to retreat into his room and wall out the world.

Anubis looked back over his shoulder and snorted, “Come along Logan, we have places to be. You can wool-gather later.”

Later that night in his temporary room Logan went back over the highlights of his day. Good points, well there really weren’t many. He had lost the electronic tag, but that was at the cost of a magical tag. He had been promised a clean slate. That at least was a massive plus. He was far away from his father, a plus, but also from his mother, brother and sister. Overall a negative. And then the worst, he was going to be hunting, sort off, vampires. And somehaow he suspected he was going to end up at the beck and call of the para-dees.

= = O = =

BettySue was getting overconfident. She sent out those of her units that had proved most effective as scouts. This time instead of waiting for her scout-units to find them a target, she gathered her units and followed after.

The Joe Buckley unit found a congregation of food, and the scouts started gathering. BettySue sent half her pack racing forward to prepare the banquet.

BettySue felt it then, there was a swirl of something delicious in the night. But it screamed danger to her. Somewhere in the mass of faux-experience she had bought alarms shrilled. She withdrew her control tentacles from those of her units that were not next to her. She gathered her most immediate followers and fled into the night.

The thing that had been Joe Buckley and the rest of the pack found themselves free of their queen. All restraint vanished and the pack swarmed forward bursting into the Dicky Mouse Bar. They fell upon the patrons like the mindless starved vampires they were.

= = O = =

Mickey O’Donnell stopped to talk to the big sexy tigress after he served her. “Not used to seeing big cats in my bar Ms. What brought you to Atlanta?”

“Looking round. Headhunting for talent. That kind of thing.”

Mickey dropped the glass he was holding as his front door burst open and what looked like a tide of sharp-toothed corpses poured into his bar.

“Fuck! Vampires!” Roared the tigress even as she produced a blue shield emblazoned with a dolphin and a big shining sword out of thin air. “Mother aid you faithful daughter!”

Mickey’s mouth dropped open even as he fumbled under the bar for his baseball bat. He watched in growing horror as the vampires fell on old Joe and his friend CJ. Then the tigress – now glowing with a wavering pale blue-green aura – was in the midst of the vampires, and limbs and heads were flying everywhere.

Mickey forced himself to come out from behind his bar even as his patrons fled from the brawl at the front door.

= = O = =

Logan was sitting shotgun in the people carrier. Anubis was sitting behind him. They were driving round in the general area where several people had vanished recently. Then he felt the swirling mana tainted with undeath.

“Slow down, they’re around here somewhere,” said Logan even as he strained is senses to pinpoint the source of the mana. He realised that something had noticed his presence when the widespread mana source collapsed into two sets.

“There are two groups. The smaller group is fleeing directly away from us and the bigger grouping is up in that direction,” he said pointing down a road they were just coming up to.

“Damn it, there’s a popular bar in that direction,” stated the driver.

“Let’s go,” barked Anubis. “Let’s take the bar first.”

They arrived at the bar to see a crowd forcing their way through the entrance of the bar, and they piled out of the people carrier even as the prepared their weapons. Advancing in a loose skirmish line they were urged on their way by the screams coming from the bar.

Then there was a savage roar in the bar and the screams faded out. They were almost at the door when the vampires came pouring out. The things didn’t even hesitate they turned and charged the feds.

It was worse than Logan had feared, he felt a warm wetness in his pants even as he reached out in desperation and grabbed at one of the monsters. He succeeded and ordered it to attack one of the other vampires.

They were being forced back when a huge glowing tiger woman came through the opening where once the door to the bar had stood. She swung her sword and cut the rearmost vampire in half. The most terrifying thing for Logan was the way the severed halves of the vampire burned. He stumbled back away from the monstrous woman.

The thing that had been Joe Buckley hissed as it tried to force its way past the feds even as the tiger woman took its head. The head of Joe Buckley arced over the feds and landed at Logan’s feet, bounced once, hit his right leg and dropped to the ground. Logan looked down in horror even as the last embers of undeath faded in its eyes.

“You’re not very well equipped for hunting vampires,” said the woman as she dropped her shield into a storage device before producing a rag and cleaning the blade of her sword. “I hope you have a cleric, there are two wounded in the bar that need a remove curse and healing soon.”

Anubis watched as the – no longer glowing – tiger beastwoman dropped her greatsword into her storage device. “Who are you? And I’m not sure you should be going round with a pigsticker and shield.”

She grinned while maintaining a wary eye on Logan, “Well, you shouldn’t have vamps running around. You need enchanted weaponry for higher ranked undead.”