Rune Seaker 3: Rise to Kings

[Van Dossel]

As the wind passed unharassed by the lightning Salin was thrown back 15 ft. into the back wall. He hit with a thud that echoed through the rooms and the sides of the wall he felt on his sides. Blood wetted his back as he pried himself off in an instant. He was winded and breaving hard to get it under control. He didn't need the air to breathe but he did need it to uses his songs. He was completely defensless at the moment as he regained his breathe. He drew two daggers from his side and hastly tosses them at Talim. As he let go he dashed across the room, trying to buy time to calm his breathing.

((Man I am going to lose so bad lol how much longer we gonna go on?))  

[Joa-Boo]

((instant break))
Under the specific circumstances being thrown back again by Talim’s wind, like she expected, Talim took an instant initiative attack that linked her previous along with the first. As soon as you where caught up in the wind, Talim shot forward to rejoin that gust to propel herself toward you. As obvious it was going by mere physics you would be thrown backwards while caught up in the gust.

Talim however took this chance to engage a stronger attack that would only work, or at least work at best of you where in the wind. She pulled herself to one side, causing a bend in the wind and then shifted to the other side to curve the other side into the same bend. After a few quick rotations of the same wind bending, all the while pushing you from side to side, a tornado began to form with you in the heart of it. Very quickly the force exerted on all your parts increased by ten fold. You where being thrown around so much you almost forgot which way was up. That’s when the real attack happened. From every angle, all different sides of you, Talim appeared and took a few swings.  

[Van Dossel]

Talim's attacks wrangled Salin's body in every which way. He was thrown one way only to get pushed back another. The attacks seemed unending and the blood from the wounds soaked his armor. Eventually he found an opening in Talim's attacks and slide through it and dashed away to the other side of the room. The only thing forunate about the barrage was it gave him time to control his breathing, since he did not breathe the attacks he did not pant from the wounds and thus his breathing was unaffected. He started to sing a song of stone that made gaint slabs of s tone rise from the ground. Dozens of these where risen in the room, blocking sight and Talim's wind. Salin had made sure that the slabs where thick and sturdy and that Talim wound not have an easy time knocking them over.  

[Joa-Boo]

There was a good pause before anything happened. A quiet breeze of air was all you heard seep through the boulders. Then, out of no where, the whole room shook violently. A huge sword pierced straight through a mound of the rocks and came centimeters from your face. Instead of continuing through your skull, the blade curved upward and broke up everything out of the way. There in the middle of the ruble was Anger, covered in blood and a smile. His chest was pumping and eyes galring down on you.

“Dear Salin, I can taste your anger. It wasn’t that long ago that you baptized yourself in the glory of revenge. Your sins are full and must be judge accordingly.” Anger said with his deep majestic voice. “What do you say for your violation?”  

[Van Dossel]

"Screw your judgment, the only one that judges me is myself! You will die with your false idols of gods!" Salin said looking between Anger and Talim. He knew Talim was a target as well, "Talim can we put our fight on hold for the moment. We have a bigger threat than each other at the moment." He said with a smirk.  

[Joa-Boo]

“You speak to me and me only boy. Your judgment is corrupt because of your own sins. It is true you judge yourself, but a sinner justifies while the righteous repent. A sinner buries himself in more and more sin while the righteous turn from their wicked ways and seek to please the Gods. You sir are guilty of sins and shall be judged.” Anger called out with a mighty bellow. He raised one hand outward and in it was the bloodied body of Talim, clipped form the hip by Anger’s sword. He dropped her body onto the ground and gave a laugh. “Don’t worry; her sins have been forgiven for. She would gladly work with you now if she death wasn’t her verdict. Talim’s body slowly drained away with pyroflies that sold to the sky.

“Your verdict will be the same. You can either embrace your sentence or put off your death for a few seconds.”  

[Van Dossel]

Salin blinked twice and gulped, he sighed, "Well I guess I get to go from dying from Talim to dying from Anger." he said quietly to himself. He looked around he doubted all the earth walls would stop him for a second. Salin's only hope was to get away from Anger. "Well I guess I will have to reject your corrupted judgement. There will be the day when true judgment is casted upon this land. That day is the day you and your gods die beneath my lords blades." Salin said before turning and took off weaving between the earth walls.  

[Joa-Boo]

Nothing seemed to slow down Anger; he simply swung his sword and broke through anything. As soon as you would turn the blade would be there in your face. There was just no running from it.

“Come now Salin, did you really expect to get away? Enough, now you die.” Anger said as lifted his giant sword over top of you. With great force he prepared the blow and then threw his weight into the blade to let it drop. Just before it hit you, another blade intercepted the execution. From out of the shadows came a scythe so big, it engulfed your view of everything else. The next second it was gone and slamming against the side of Anger. Holding onto the scythe was none other then Joa Boo in his monstrous Lycan form. He let a roar fill the room, booming form his fangs filled mouth. There was a glitch in his movements as Joa Boo disappeared through the floor, back out of the side of the north wall, and ramming into Anger’s exposed back. The scythe knocked him forward and up against the corresponding wall.

“Salin, we are leaving!” Joa Boo yelled as a cloud of purple-black mist appeared and sucked you in. Joa Boo didn’t waste any time getting himself out either. He vanished back through the shadows and left the scene entirely.

You reappeared in a set location in the mountains far from Roderick, back where the Collective Hive was. All around you where selected heroes that Joa Boo was able to secure. They all laid against the walls, bloody and bruised. No one seemed to know what was going on. Furry and defeat filled the area.

“We must go back. I want revenge for Impetus’s head!” Carn yelled in a powerful rally. He had many of the other orks up and ready to go. Many other agreed, they didn’t want to give up and leave.  

[Van Dossel]

Salin looked around at the salvaged heros, there was only around three hundred left. They left with 100,000 and only three hundred came back. What hell was that. Was that mountain worth all those lives? Salin looked around at the bloody mess, "Is this really the power of the judges. Even our lord was forced to run," he said to himself in a faint whisper. All of his men, all of them where dead. Only his fellow heros remained. He looked down at his bloodied rags, his body had already begun to heal but the blood stained the cloth of his armor. Talim was dead, did that mean they had victory? They still where not in control of Roderick but neither was the Omega, and Salin was alive and Talim dead. Who won that battle. Salin didn't care, he had lost Claire, he had lost his emerging heart and the battle mattered not to him anymore. Why did he care so much? Why did he lose it enough to summon Anger? She was only a silly girl, wasn't she?

He looked at the raging Carn and grew cold, "Impetus...." he said pausing, "Impetus is dead? Impossible..." he breathed as he sat down against the cave wall. Impetus was dead, Claire was dead, 999,700 dead, countless Omega, Talim, Claire, Impetus, Karn, everyone. Everyone was dead and Salin couldn't get past this one. His dead heart had only just begun to beat, now it was silent once more. "Go Carn, go you foolish b*****d and die. No glory will befall you! No blood but your own will be split, but please go and do us all a favor and die. Then we can atleast mourn in quite." He said to Carn staring coldly with his ice blue eyes into the pits of Carn's red ones.  

[Joa-Boo]

“This is the typical; I would expect something like this only from a vampire. Don’t you feel anything for the lost? Does any stimulus get you fired up enough to do something? You and all your ideas, I think that’s the reason for all of this. Had we just bluntly pushed through that fortress with our hearts beating for our purpose, we would have been in control of that base already and postponed the coming of these judges.” Carn directed his words with a furry unmatched. His eyes bulged from out of his hot green head, muscles tense, and body weighing over you. He spat on the ground near you and turned toward the hive exit.

Just as he turned he ran into the steady pulsing metal of Joa Boo’s armor. The fierce Dark Hand emperor looked him in the eye with a cold stern anger. Most of this came from frustration but what Carn saw was disappointment, disappointment in his generals for fighting in a time when they should be rallying together for moral.

“Sit,” His only words, hard and heavy. They rang in the heads of all near compelling them to do just that, sit. He moved swiftly to the center of those listening, his long black cloak floating closely behind him in a rush. Joa Boo’s thick metal of his armor clank with every move, calling for a silence. He waited for a brief moment before continuing. “You will have to forgive me men. The reason I am here now is to ensure your safety. I will admit I knew this would happen. Not necessarily the way it has, but I knew the judges would come. I was hoping however that you would have Roderick under control before they arrived. That would make it somewhat a less loss, but for reasons I can understand it did not uncover like that. It seems as though the full pelage of our foes has been unleashed upon us. At least by definition the judges cannot target a particular group such as our selves; rather they slaughter any one that corresponds to their judgment. I feel as though I am responsible for so many deaths. I could not keep a hold of both Anger and Lust at the same time. While you have been lucky enough to escape the massive destruction you can be sure that none of the Omega made it out alive. We are the only standing survivors of this battle, making us the victorious end. As I saw unfolding, we would win but at what cost.” Joa Boo’s voice seemed astray. You could tell he was in continuous deep thought, trying to uncover a sequence of next movements to counter form this massive loss. “For the time being I cannot ask any of you to fight for me. I will allow you to seek refuge from these judges in the Dark Hand head quarters. It is the least I can do to offer thanks for your allegiance in warfare. I am fairly certain any need you could have will be met there. If this is the last time you wish to fight for me, so be it. You have fought for honor worth the remainder of your family line and deserver leave. As of this moment I dub all of you heroes of the Dark Hand.” Those where his last words to the group. Silence followed the room after he moved for the hall leading further into the hive. The entire Collective followed him.

Time past slowly, so it seemed. With nothing but those words, every seemed to be lost. After awhile decisions where made, those that wanted to continue with the Dark Hand followed after Joa Boo, those that didn’t exited the hive. That’s when a particular past came to you. A very familiar girl approached you with suspicion and the face of a temptress. She had a glass orb in her hands, which she kept a close eye on. ((I forget her name)) got closer until you finally realized who it was. It was the woman you wished Joa Boo to bring back to life.

“Hi there sweat heart. I just wanted to tell you what a great job I think you did, sending thousands of soldiers to their death.” She said with a snicker of cold heartedness. She flashed you look anger and then smiled again. “When where you going to introduce me to your new girl friend? I don’t think she was all that bad. She put up quite the fight when I dragged her off but she couldn’t really due much while unconscious.” ((forgot her name)) said and showed you the orb with an image of Clare in it, struggling with chains all around her.  

[Van Dossel]

Salin looked up from the ground to see Kesea standing over him snickering with the orb in her hands, "Where is she," he said coldly staring into the pits of her eyes.

"Oh now why would I do that?" She laughed.

"You truely are a heartless creature, bringing you back was a mistake"

"Oh that hearts my heart"

"Your have no heart"

"Well neither do you baby"

"No I am differnt than you."

"How so we are both vampires, I made you. My power flows through your vains, I gave you life and this is how you repay me. Shacking up with some tramp queen of ants. ANTS! You think I will sit by while my pathetic creatation screws me over for someone like that!" Kesea said punching a hole in the rock wall over Salin.

"You giving me life? I repayed that debt when I had Lord Joa Boo bring you back from the grave Kesea!" Salin said jumping to his feet and grabbing Kesea by the throat. Kesea laughed and flicked Salin in the stomach. The flick knocked him back against the wall with a loud thud.

"Foolish worm you cannot harm me, you are no stronger then a pathetic human against me." Kesea said easily lifting Salin up off the ground. "Against me you are nothing."

Salin grabbed her arms and tried to pry them off him, nothing happened. He really had no strength against her. "I will kill you if you lay a hand on her Kesea by Lord Joa Boo I swear it."

She laughed as she tossed him across the room as she would a child's ball. Salin crashed into the stone wall on the other side of the room and cracked it. He heard the sound of his ribs breaking as he fell to the ground. "You are a sad creature Salin Van Dossel, you can barely kill a knight of the Omega. You are a pathetic hero, you are a pathetic vampire, and worst yet you are a pathetic man. You should claim more right to bear the breasts on my chest than I do."

Salin coughed up blood, his lungs most have been busted open in the impact. "You will have to do more then brake some ribs and tear my usless lungs to kill me Kesea".

"Kill you? I could snape you without a second thought if I wanted to, I want you to suffer before you die." Kesea said lesiurely walking over to him.

"Vanity always was your greatest flaw Kesea." Salin said rising up slowly. "I will stake you through the heart before I am done. And not even that matters cause if you did manage to kill me you would be hunted by Lord Joa Boo to the ends of Aeonce. You may have made me but I have risen ten fold more than you in this world. What have you done? Who are you? No one another pathetic vampire on a power trip! Any perstige you have here is because they still think I am in love with you."

Kesea growled and jumped on top of him and started to rip open his flesh. Blood covered her body when she was done, Salin's chest was a tattered mess. "The only thing good that comes of me saving your life all those years ago is now I can rip you piece by piece and eat your unbeating heart!" she screamed slicing open his cheeck.

Suddenly Zaught walked in the room and saw the sight before him, "Kesea this is treasonous!" He said drawing his two short swords.

"Who the ******** are you!" Kesea replied turning to face the dark elf.

"Zaught run she will rip you to pieces, I will finish her." Salin cried rising once more. Kesea laughed looking back at him.

"Oh no little elf, I need a breather before ripping Salin's arms off, come play with me." She said seductively, "its been years since I have tasted the blood of dark elf. Seeing you makes me thirst for it."

Zaught looked at his friend rising from the ground, cut open and covered in his own blood, "Lord Van Dossel, I will earn favor by laying this harlot's heart before your feet." Zaught dropped into croutching position and sprung towards Kesea.

Kesea dodged the attack by simply shifting her bodly in milaseconds. Zaught landed on the ground gracefully and swung both swords towards him as he did. The cold steel cut her tighs as she screamed in pleasure. "Oh Its been so long since a man has drew my blood. I think the last time was when Salin was making love to me." She giggled before bringing her knee up to Zaught's face. Zaught parried the knee with the flats of his blades and pushed her back.

"You are among the foulest creatures harlot. I do all of Aeonce a favor by bringing forth your death." Zaught after breaking his parry swung the swords around his head back into Kesea, however this time she was prepared and jumped over them and onto Zaught. She pinned his arms down, overpowering him and sunk her fangs deep into his neck. His life blood spilled from her mouth onto the rest of his neck and she ripped back tearing Zaught's neck muscles from the bone and exposed them to the air. Zaught let out harrowing screams of pain as he writhered around on the ground before lying limp. Kesea stood over him with the muscle tissue still danging from her fangs.

"Oh how unlady like of me" She giggle before pulling a hankerkief from her side and wiping the blood and tissue from her face. She stood over Zaught and looked back at Salin who was frozen in shock. "You merely sit there while I kill your friend. You truely are worthless." As she finished saying that she fell ontop of Zaught and took out his juglar vain. Zaught screamed for all of two seconds before dying on the ground. Kesea let out a victorous cry as she turned and pushed Salin up against the wall. "Now you die little boy." She whispered in his ear.

"Lord Salin! Lord Zaught!" A voice yelled from the doorway. "Intruder, all arms! Intruder! Lord Salin is under attack! Everyone draw your steel! To arms soldiers of the Dark Hand to..." he was cut off when Kesea let go of Salin and ran to him. As she reached him she stuck her hand straight through the man's core. The vomited blood before falling limp around her arm. Sheading the body of the dead soldier the sound of steel being drawn and barkign of orders echoed into the room. Kesea looked back with a bloodied smile, "Salin dear, it seems like I will have to end you some other time. I'm sure you will be the one to find me though. I truely am looking forward to it by the way." With that last line she disappered down the hall past the rushing guards.

The guardes rushed into the room and saw the bloody mess before them. Lord Joa Boo and Carn where swiftly upon the scene.

Carn said nothing as he gazed the sight. Joa Boo ordered the bodies tooken away and to take Salin to the medical wing for now.  

[Joa-Boo]

After close examination for several hours the state you where in was confirmed to be functional. At this point all you had left form the fight earlier was the horrible memories of what you saw, sometimes those where the deepest scars. Joa Boo stepped in; remorse over a promising potential warrior’s death was his disguise. His deeper cognition displayed layers of complex thinking. He seemed to have figure out a wave of options, some detailing into great lengths for his personal goal.

“Salin, you are in no condition to fight for me as of now. Your emotions could over throw this entire operation. I do not want to ask you to do this, but I feel it would be in the best interest for many if you went after her. This abomination’s actions will influence our course more then you know if she continues to go on unpunished. I can sense it, Claire is still alive and holding on firmly. I cannot tell what kind of misery or condition she is being held in but I can only imagine it is not good. I would want nothing more then to go after her. I suggest you do so. Remind yourself what passion is and then pursue that to all lengths.” Joa Boo in his motivating way. He knelt near the place where you where laying and gently placed the orb that the girl was carrying. It showed the image of Claire in pain, being held tightly by chains. “Go after her Salin. Destroy this woman and bring back Claire. You will have to seek her out in the dungeons. Someone has to know where she is from there. Think very hard about how you are going to this though; I don’t want to see you end up like Zaught.”  

[Van Dossel]

Salin looked at Joa Boo as he spoke, "Yes my lord!" He said softly before rising off the ground. His eyes where blood red, Joa Boo had never seen them that way. It was confusing to most, Salin drank regularly and blood red eyes was the sign of dehrydration for a vampire; few knew that they also meant a spefic primal thirst. Salin thristed for vampire blood and vegence.

Salin donned a black cloak, the one Kesea gave him when she found him dying after the nameless battle 500 years. He put on a silver long sword and had four wooden stakes on his left hip. "Is that sword smart my lord? It will harm you on touch" Splitjaw hissed as he caught him at the fortress' gate.

"Yes a touch will only burn me, a slice will harm her tremendously." Salin said not even looking at his friend.

"Do you want me to get Atias and Crane? We can come with you Salin it will be easier in the fight!" Splitjaw pleaded putting his hand soothingly on Salin's shoulder.

Salin shrugged it off, "No Splitjaw you three stay here and look for recurits, my army is gone." Splitjaw realised that he would get nowhere with his lord so he simply bowed and left."....my victory is gone, my friend is gone, my condition to fight is gone, my love is gone" He said softly to the wind.

Salin walked off into the wind towards the dungeon entrance a mile away from the mountain. Once down there he boarded the steampowered tram that ran to the central part of the dungeons. The trip was two hours long and no one boarded with him. Salin was alone, he did not care solitude was just fine with him.



Two hours later Salin jumped off the tram at the station and headed for the nearet pub. The locals didn't take note of his entrance, his cloak hide his figure from anyone who would recongize him. He went up to the bar keeper and ordered human blood. The orc laughed and went to a keg at the back of the bar to get it. When he came back he asked, "So vampire what brings you in here? Don't most vamps like more, sophisticated places to dwell?"

Salin sipped the blood lightly and looked up at the orc with only his eyes, "I'm looking for information," he said simply.

The orc laughed and slapped Salin on the shoulder, "What type of information you lookig for son? But ya come to the right place. I know all that goes on down here in the dungeon."

Salin turned his head and eyed the hand on his shoulder, "I would remove that sir. Now do you know about a Kesea Van Dossel. Carrying a slave girl, would be hidden from view though."

"Hmmmmm Kesea, yeah I know her. Got in with these gangster types down in the Eastern sector. Place called Jiylon's if I'm not mistaken." The orc said with a smirk as he removed his hand from Salin's shoulder.

"Eastern Sector is a big place, where is it at speficly." Salin said not even looking at the orc at this point.

The orc laughed again and leaned froward on the bar to try and peek under Salin's cloak, "Vamp the first bit was free, just to wet ya teeth. But if you want more you are gonna have to pay me a pretty penny"

The orc's foul breathe washed over Salin's face, it disgusted him. Salin grabbed the orc by the face and slammed him into the bar untill he heard teeth shattering. "theres you ******** penny you foul brute"

Salin let go of the orc's head, the orc shoot up and grabbed Salin by the throat and pulled his gaint fist back to strike Salin the face as blood streamed down the front of the orc's face. "Eye for a eye vampire!" The orc grunted. Suddenly a sudden wash of blood sprayed from teh orcs mouth and gasping noises escaped his lips. the orc looked down and saw a blade sticking into his stomach. "I feel....warm" he said before releasing Salin.

Salin retracted his blade and watched as the instestents of the orc spewed onto the table. The crowd around them stopped adn stared. Salin turned to face the mass', "Anyone know where Jiylon's is?"  

[Joa-Boo]

In a huffed rasp of grasping for air Mitus bent over the ground. His hands clenched to his knees, bracing himself as he caught his breath. In front of him laid to waste a valley filled with monstrous sized dragons, all of which responded violently to Mitus’s presesnce. This inspired the appropriate reaction of self defense and ended in the death of each foe. Tangled in a heap of decomposing enemies laid 12 mangled dragons all of which where 6 feet in diameter and 23 feet long. This is the extant of competition it would take to cause Mitus to have to rest for a bit.

“Oh come on, is this all the dark realm has to offer. Is this the worst they can send? It will take a catastrophically more complicated adversary to balance the power of this dimension.” Mitus swore out loud, his words where shaky all the while threatening. “True I can conquer every thing thrown at me, but I cannot conquer the riddle of this realm. How the heck do I get out of here? How did Joa Boo do it?” He continued to himself. In defeat Mitus picked up his sword and dragged it off to the mountain peak overlooking the road ahead. There was a graveyard connected to a gothic church, another mountain pass, and then the shadow realms castle. His answers he hoped lied there.

Distracted quickly by the ever burning black ball in the sky, which Mitus resumed was there version of the sun, Mitus saw hope in his endeavors. He spoke a complicated language of whispers and two angelic like wings sprung form out of his back at the shoulder blades. He pound them downward, creating a lift of air beneath him, and took to the sky. With his sword back at his side and both hands free, he merely observed the land below him. The graveyard was littered with a community of zombies and other undead fashion, all of which would be a waste of time. Mitus lifted his hands just above his head and snapped coupled by another whisper of words and a bright light appeared there. The light was so powerful it lit up the whole valley. Instantly many of the light sensitive creatures died creating a simple free route through the air. Mitus had been here for a long time. He knew very well of all the bats and vampireic(sp) creatures that would soon take flight and attack him. He was sick of it. Below him was a few catacombs filled with empty answers. He was sure of it. No reason to go and explore. The frustration of his current situation was almost overwhelming.  

[Van Dossel]

Salin walked up to the gangster bar down in the Eastern Sector it had two orcs armoed to the teeth standing in front of the door. A long line of various races lined up by the door trying to go in. The bar was 20 stories tall with thick tinted glass all around it. Salin looked at the building and smelled, scents were blocked from the outside. Next he searched through his physic powers but found those where blocked as well. The two orcs had clipboards and speakers on their ears, they where clear bouncers and would have no idea who he was or what he was their to do.

As he walked up they looked up and asked, "Watcha' name? If it ain't on this here list end of the line mate". The one on the right asked as he glacned up at Salin.

"Salin Van Dossel" Salin replied calmy smiling a little wicked smile. The orcs grunted and nodded gesturing for him to go pass. Salin laughed as he got past the orcs, Kesea was foolish to allow his name on the list. She thought he was no threat to her and wanted him to come. Salin's instincts cried that this was a trap but Salin knew better. Kesea believed that Salin couldn't hurt her in combat and so didn't care to prevent him from coming to his death; foolishly she would die from this careless mistake.

Inside the bar flashing lights of many bright colors swirled around the room as a band played dance music that the various patrons danced to. Towards the far in sat the gaint bar where three human girls served drinks to customers. On either side of the bar was shady tables where patrons drank and chatted with one another.

Salin's vampric hearing allowed him to survey the room for Kesea or anyone with information; the room was quiet no one important enough to know about Claire was down here. Salin waded his way through the masses of sweaty bodies while he scanned the room for the doors that lead to the VIP section.

After scanning the room he found them over to the right of the bar. Four more armed orcs stood by these huge oak double doors. Unlike the bouncers out front who where only armore these orcs had huge rifles leaning against the wall and scimatars on their waists. Salin hoped that Kesea was vain enough to put him on the VIP list as well.

As he appoarched the double doors the orcs stood to attention and rested their hands on the pommels of the scimatars, Salin was not a regular visitior to the bar and so was an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous face. "Excuse me gentlemen but I was wondering if my name appears on that charming list you have there?" Salin asked coily and with no revealation of his intention to kill all four of them before they could draw if they said no.

One of the orcs looked down while the others kept their sights pinned on Salin. The orc looked back up after a second realizing he didn't have a name to check, "Name sir?" the orc grunted unhappy to have to actually do something.

"Salin Van Dossel"

The orc looked back down and grunted, "Go on in Mr. Dossel" the orc said before stepping as the other three followed suit. Salin smiled at the orcs as he slipped passed them. A hallway lit up by black wax candles in silver holders lined the wall that went up into stairs that lead to the next level. At the top of the stairs the VIP room was a lot quieter and ten times more shadyer. Private booths that had only enough light to see the persons across from you lined the walls and a smaller but more extravagant bar was in the center of the room where somethign that smelled of wererat dealt out the drinks to the drug lords and gangsters.

The room had a fine carpet that was spotless and high above the booths where golden chandeliers that dimly lit the room so one could see where they where walking, the bar, and anyone outside a booth. This room was ideal for anyone trying to discuss business in private without risk of being distrubed.

Suddenly Salin noticed two wraiths on either side of the door that closed behind him. Smirking he looked closer around and saw the disturtion of the almost invisable wriaths floating around the room guarding it from any rowdy patrons. Great wriaths, this out to be fun to get past! I hate this ******** girl; orcs arn't s**t to deal with but wraiths are another thing entierly. I will have to use magic to kill the bastards atleast while they are intangible, oh well this carpet will catch fire nicely and hopefully block their way after me.

Salin walked slowly to the other side of the room looking for the door that would take him to the upper levels. Salin figured that between these two floors he was the equvialent to 5 stories up, as the rooms where both high ceilinged. That meant he had about 15 stories worth of floors to get up through, and no way had Kesea signed him on to get through those.

As he apporached the far wall four wraiths surrounded him and became tangible. The one that appeared in front of him spoke to him in a out of this world voice that was distorted and had almost a static in it, "Where are you going? That door is off limits to outsiders."

Salin looked between the four visable wraiths and saw that almost a dozen more where slowly floating their way towards him. While the wraiths where tanigble Salin could kill them with his silver long sword, though he would have to move quick to get them or he would quickly be over taken; wraiths are one of the few creatures that can kill a vampire easily. Wraiths could just suck the life, or stolen life in case of a vampire, right out of their victims.

Salin slowly moved his hand towards his sword handle but one of the wraiths behind him noticed and let out a demonic screetch. All the other wraiths returned in kind and the patrons of the VIP room rushed out of their booths to see the scene laying out. Salin used his vampric speed to draw and slice through the front wraith in a flash. The wraiths kept screaming as one of their number vanished in front of them. Salin started singing and formed a ring of fire around him.

The three remaining wraiths burnt in the magically spanwed fire and vanished away forever. The remaing dozen screetched and circled the fire looking for an opening. Salin kept chanting the song to kept the fire going around him. If he let up they would fill in and kill him. "******** me!" he cursed as the other patrons in the room filed out slowly nto wanting to be caught up in the fight or fire.

It wasn't long before the carpet of the room caught on fire and started to spread dispering the wraiths from their circuling. They shifted in and out of tangibility as they dodged the fire. Suddenly to Salin's left one of them caught flame and died screetching.

The four orcs from outside the big doors downstairs swung open the door and saw the sight before them. They all shouldered their rifles and started to fire randomly into the room, the smoke had blocked Salin from their view.

Bullet richoceded everywhere searing into booths and bearking the candeliers over head. The room was slowly devoured by flames and the bullets started to hit the wraiths, though doing no actual harm, pissed them off and sent them into a berserk where they attack the orcs as well.

During the utter confusion Salin slipped through his own flames, no longer needing to chant as the flames had actually caught fire by this point, towards the door that lead upstairs.

When he closed the door leaving screaming wraiths and orcs behind he found himself in a dark metal stairwell. The only source of light were emergancy lights placed every dozen feet or so up the stairs. Salin started up the stairs as fast as he could, it was only two flights of stairs before he found the scent of Kesea among the various scents on the stairs. He still hadn't found Claire's scent but figured that they would mask that anyway.

He rounded up the 10th flight when a stream of bullets pluttered next to his foot. He jumped back down the last flight and looked up. A orc on a gatling gun was sitting at the top of the stiars waiting, they had heard the screaming downstairs and prepared to fight Salin. Salin groaned as he leapt back up and jump all the way to the wall where he bounced of that onto the the wall opposite. He jumped up the stairs like this dodging the streams as he went.

As he reached the top he roared out a feral growl and pounced on the orc who had turnedt o flee. The orc and Salin went toppling backwards and Salin gutted him with his long sword. After looking into the orc's eyes as it died Salin got up and dusted his shirt of the blood.

Suddenly a voice rang out through the hallway he was in, "Salin dearest, I see you found me finally" the voice was femine and obviously belonged to Kesea. Kesea laughed as she leaned through an open doorway in a black cocktail dress. "But your such a poor thing, you lock awful for our date. And I put on this pretty little number for you. How disappoint"