Chapter 9 - Wrath
Levash parked the old car two streets away from his destination, not wanting the spluttering
engine to alert anyone at the property. The neighbourhood was still, the silence feeling almost intimidating. No sign of the riots that flooded the capital, no signs of any supernaturals other than himself wandering the dim streets, and not a single human willing to risk being outside in it regardless. Levash had got used to the constant noise that funnelled through the city, no matter where you were, you could hear life continuing despite everything. In Brighton, in this neighbourhood, not even the insects made a warble.
As Levash turned onto another barren street he checked his phone once more, seeing the address and subsequently his target house just up ahead, and also seeing that Alice's location still hadn't been back online since just after sunset. Not willing to go down that thought path Levash shook himself from his reverie and looked to the house that sat in darkness and pondered the best way to get in. The gardens on the property were large, and looking between the houses all seemed to be well decorated, it was a risk, but with most humans scared to even look out of their windows at night, lest they be snared by a vampires magic, hopefully most wouldn't investigate a noise in the back garden.
His suspicion had been right, after hoping the first gate he found about six properties up from his target house, a light flicked on illuminating the entire garden. He waited for a moment, hearing movement within the house, and a slight shuffle of some blinds on the second floor, but no one peaked out and eventually the noises within settled as the light dimmed and the garden fell back into darkness. Sticking close to the wall Levash managed not to trigger the light again until he was mid hopping over the night fence and thankfully the rest of the gardens did not seem to have similar lights, or at least not ones that worked. Reaching the property next door to his target he was thankful the garden he sat in was mostly overgrown, and the fences separating the properties rotted. Peering through a hole in the damp wood he watched the property for any movement, and his improved senses could pick up nothing. No signs of life from Alice's fathers house.
After a quick scan of the surrounding properties revealed no one hiding in ambush, Levash did one final jump over the fence, the panel creaking under his weight and landing in the garden. He quickly cut his way across reaching the back wall pausing again by the door but it was unnecessary. The house was silent, no noise, no telltale heat of a Demon within, and no hints of any souls within. Unsurprisingly Alice's father had lied to him on the phone, but the fact that they had already moved on from this property was unsettling to say the least. Gripping the rusted door handle, Levash found it locked and a slow application of force twisted the handle, hearing the grind of old metal sliding and catching against each other as the locking mechanism began to snap under his strength. With one final jerk the lock snapped within the door beginning to fall open to the dark home.
Slipping within, Levash decided against using any light in the house so as not to alert anyone watching and simply let his eyes begin to glow as his own form of darkvision took effect. In seconds the property was lit in shades of grey, entirely visible in monochromatic. Levash tried to shut the backdoor but after finding no success as it refused to click back into place, he simply moved a spare set of dirty boots that had been abandoned at its entrance to block the door from fully swinging open. Looking around the kitchen he found himself in, nothing seemed overtly out of place or disturbed. He considered investigating, learning if anything that could be used offensively against them had been made here would be an advantage, but knowing Alice wasn't here spurred Levash on to get out of here urgently. Passing into the hallway, he noticed the lack of care in the home, wall paper torn and peeling at the corners, mud from multiple different shoes trampled into the carpet, no signs of a family abode, rather a place of gathering. Turning a corner he saw the corridor lead to the front door and it was like a different house, the carpet was clean, far too clean with the smell of Lemon and Acid hanging in the air, the wallpaper looked like it had been reapplied recently, bubbles of air still pushing through at the corners. It was clear the front of the house had been cleaned up for Alice's visit.
Checking two closets as he went, the first held boxes of what seemed like junk, old baubles and bits of decoration for Christmas sorted haphazardly within. The second closet was more concerning however. Within he found all manner of tools to use against the supernatural, two crossbows, a sheathed blade and what looked like a cheap sword hung from the door rattling against it as he opened it. Sorted neatly on shelves within he found all kinds of poisons for different species labelled as such, bullets in numerous different calibres, stakes, silver nets and the list went on. It was clear they weren't as proficient as they believed themselves to be; mixed in with items that would be effective, he found many that were simple superstitions. Bottled holy water that had labels for vampires and demons, communion wafers, crosses, salt. The items almost made him laugh at their stupidity until he saw a golden gleam from one of the end jars. Getting a closer look, his breath caught in his throat. The golden diamond attached itself to a thin chain with a hook at the end, similar to what a diffuser for tea would come on, yet the purpose of it was far more nefarious. As golden ichor leaked from the tip of the diamond staining the jar it was trapped within, Levash realised what had happened. They had used Celestial blood to knock Alice out, she would stay knocked out for a few hours at best, but her body would be paralysed for longer than that, unable to defend herself.
Levash felt anger staring at the ichor filling the jar, but the implication was clear, the Celestial was undisputedly working with the SDF to get at Alice, so wherever she had been taken, the Celestial would no doubt be. The thought, shocking him into action Levash turned taking one of the crossbows from the wall and strapping it around his back, the 6 bolts attached to its body would have to be enough. The longer blade was too cheap to be useful but the smaller blade surprisingly was the opposite, pulling it from the sheath the black metal was sharpened to a point, the blade looked like it was of a military's design, regardless the metal would do nothing to harm the Celestial, the only thing that would puncture its flesh was his own Leitan dagger, a metal forged in Lestia before its fall for that very purpose. Regardless, Levash slid the sheaf of the blade into his waistband, it would find use against the humans that surrounded the Celestial.
