Devil hunting chronicles of the impossible city.

Prologue Volume 3 part V Villa Blanca Investigation.

"Buena, buenas. Good to finally see you hunters especially you Ms.Rosalia. " The president received them, and he did was nothing like Mr.Louise the man had his feet on his desk as he sculpted a wooden statue with a knife, he was a young man with his green business blazer opened showing his hairy chest and his bear was only half shaved, his skin was brown and his black hair short but combed with care, he was chewing on an unlit cigar his teeth were crocked. He licked his lips.

"My name is Marcos Tejada, prez of the Louise Villa Blanca branch, if you guys are gonna hang in here I will be the first to know it, yes I do."He leaned back on his chair and looked at the two of them with a rather mocking smile. Abram could feel it, the man had a demon, it seemed that Louise's gang had expanded.

"Now then, I have no jobs yet, but first meetings are precious one-time deals so let's get it over. First lady don't get caught I have no need to tell you this entire damn town is after your trail, if you ask is just too risky for you to even about here."

"That's so nice of you Mr.Tejada, but no worry I can take care of myself." The man smiled and looked at Abram instead.

"Man are you gloomy, well then I guess here are the documents you people wanted, we will keep a distance as requested I know, you guys will not share your hideout with us, fair, with how big a price is on your head and all, but the best we keep in contact the better, these are the best roads to keep low, not much police or cartel people in the way, but hey we ain't making no promises here, this is after all Rosarios personal Villa Blanca, dont forget this is enemy territory, plain and simple."  The man looked back at the wooden slab on his hand and carefully cut it, there was no telling what he was carving not yet. Rosario grabbed the maps and hid them in her black blazer.

"Well thank you, I'm glad you didn't kick the bucket when Dad blew up your house." Her voice was surprisingly cold as she walked away from him.

"I did die princess, but my body is still kicking just fine, now then off you both go, is way past time for my lunch."Abram felt out of their exchange as he looked at the office he noticed a row of wooden statues, they all seemed to be of a lot of people with not much in common. He saw Tejada smile at him but he didn't say anything more as they left the office.

They were once more on the road. it took quite a while but they were already outside of the center of the district now going through long roads, around the miles and miles of farmlands.

"This may be the biggest district of the city but is mostly because of all the land it has, most of the food in the city is farmed on our farms, and there is a lot of open farm space between the busiest areas of the district." As she spoke Abram was looking at the map with marked roads, the area had two sections on the opposite side with a lot of buildings but the center only had a few busy areas and a lot of roads. Looking around everything was expansive and plain, there weren't any trees either, and a lot of it where farmlands and desert.

"Guess the eternal spring doesn't reach this part....tricky if anyone is following you in a place this wide, there is nowhere to hide."

"Right, is best to not have anyone block us, luckily there are a few shortcuts out of the family control...that Tejada must have made the map himself."

"You knew him right?"

"Well few people didn't, he was a famous mercenary, you see, this district has a lot of devil hunters of its own, we dont have much police presence and the Rosario family rather than dealing with croaks, they like to put a price on their heads, demons as well and have others track them down, some people around here treat mercenaries of their likes like legends. Because of that plenty of people make a living out of hunting criminals, some even demons. Tejada thought, he hunted bounty hunters for sport...he is a dangerous man dangerous enough my dad, blew the entire building he was living at...but I guess he is not dead, If father knows he must be furious with the information agency..."

"The wooden carves he made...they were of people in pain."Abram had been thinking of those carvings, they were really peculiar, mainly because the people they depicted felt almost broken down.

"Let's not think too much about it, one way or another he is the closest thing to an ally we have here, haha this is gonna be so fun... but still I dont think even Dad knows what devil he has, Louise is really playing with fire leaving him in charge of this area."

"Hmm, but I can understand, a man even the families can't put down...is definitely better to have him on our side, hope it will not be too risky.

"Talking about risk we are close to our next destination." Abram looked ahead at a signpost with a skull attached to it, a real skull. the signpost read "Villa Paraiso." 

This town is known as the paradise of the damned, here at the very center of the district, is probably the safest place for us to hide from the cartel, is a nest for bounty hunters and other criminal syndicates, a no-law town, a good enough fit for us..."

                                                                                    ***

Even if Villa Paraiso was not as impressive a location, it was still a massive place, rather than streets roads of dirt connected everything and the white houses had turned brown with time, the people around did not look as ordinary, a lot of them hid their faces or kept to shadows and brawls happened often in the streets. Rosario was wearing a red scarf and hat a wide cowboy hat to hide most of her face, fortunately, her father always kept her out of the public eye so very few people would be able to notice her at a glance, even though there was a bounty on her, none of the posters had her face, Abram could only guess it was her father's concern.

"This place is a gathering place of sorts, is impossible for us not to get involved, if you want to hear rumors of what the family is doing people will tell you, just go to the local canteen and find someone drunk enough, though I rather not come here, you know half this people are looking for me, but our hiding place is here."

"So even within districts, people make their own towns, what stops the cartel from taking over this place."

"Most of the farmlands surrounding the area have enough money to keep them at bay, as far as I know, the owner was a farmer once, whose villa crashed down, giving up on farming he made a canteen and a hotel and in time the place grew, the people here dont want authorities of any kind, best we can hope for as far as neighbors go."Abram lowered his cap as they spent the day looking around and finally crashing at a rundown motel, for as scary a welcome the place gave he could feel the people around this place like it there. A rowdy town it was.

Still, their journey moved on as they went further past the farms and villages and arrived at a hill where they stopped and got out to stare at something beyond, at the border near the city wall there was a tall mountain surrounded by buildings and houses but below it there was a massive fire in flames, it burned to let a raising black smoke move to the east and away from the city, Abram looked thought a binocular at the top of the mount where a massive mansion stood.

"That is Villa Rosario, the city below the mountain is part of it as well, the high officers and most important people in the district live there...as to the fire, that is the Pyre of Mammon, in exchange for summoning a grand devil, that pyre has been feed since the city was founded...by human sacrifices...that I why Father always catches his enemies alive." Rosario held her arm as if she was freezing, her smile feeble, but not gone, no matter what this woman always seemed composed like a doll. " I have seen that pyre ever since I was a child, so I'm used to it, but let's keep moving there is one last place we need to visit."

"Lit...since before the city was built, so that's the kind of price a great devil asks for... yes, its better if we keep moving." The rest of their trip on the road was a quiet one, but Abram could tell they seemed to be driving in the same direction as the rising smoke.