1. Macabre Marmalade (COMPLETED; EDITING)

XI (5.2)

"How did you get in?"

"You told me where you keep your key that time I was feeding Mihos for a week when you went out chasing your Onodori. Remember? Did those vamps did something to your head?"

"As a matter of fact, they did. They danced on it for a bit. But it's not that, I just forgot," he admitted remembering the trip he took to Vallahon. That city was smaller than Moriganhold and he was looking for a tech manual for something. He shook his head.

"What do you know about Anadori seers?" Todor asked out of the blue. It was one of the random thoughts that sometimes creeped into his mind out of nowhere. Usually, it paid off if he pursued those.

"They are as reliable as any form of predicting the future. Which is not much. Sometimes they have flashes of 'knowing something' and hints and allegories they perceive. I don't know much about them. I think your little friend Malabahtorh has a relative who is a Seer. Why not ask him?" Irry said mildly amused.

"I will, I was just curious what you think of them."

Irry shrugged.

"Seer once gave me a prophecy," she said after a pause. Her voice was soft, almost fearful.

"What it was?" Todor asked intrigued.

"Friendship forged with soulless lost, who fights against unholy frost, amidst the birth and holocaust, you will pay a heavy cost," Irry said in a voice Todor never heard from her. It was cold and frightening. Her eyes glazed over looking somewhere in the past. "That is what she told me. I could never figure out what it meant."

"You weren't kidding when you said it was unreliable. All though that sounded unsettling."

Irry nodded.

"Mab's Seer aunt told him to go find Nintendo 64 if he wants to find his destiny," Todor said. Irry glanced at him bewildered. "That was what lead him to me."

"Really? And that leads you to a place where the maharoon was gathering dust?" Irry asked more animated now.

"Yeah. Funny thing that," Todor said uncomfortably.

"Can I ... can I see it?" Irry asked her eyes staring intensely.

"Maharoon?" she nodded.

Todor reached for Ezezu. From the book he felt mild curiosity and a bit of wariness. The heavy tome appeared in his lap with wisps of red smoke radiating from it for a second. Irry looked at it and hesitated.

"I found something about apeling grimoires in my library," she said not moving her eyes from the book. "It said that part of its creators anima is infused in it and that it always has a name and some sort of proto-consciousness."

"This little thing is named Ezezu Kiag," he said patting the leather of the book. The wave of pride and happiness came from Ezezu.

"You said you made a potion from that book. Can I see the recipe?" Irry asked slowly.

Todor opened the book on the right page and put it at the table in front of her. Irry bent over looking at it for an entire minute. Curiosity showed on her face which was replaced by confusion a bit later.

"What language is this? I don't understand a thing," she finally said.

"But it was in English for me," Todor murmured looking at the page himself. But for him, it was perfectly readable.

"Hmmmm," he let out in amazement.

"I guess only human eyes can read it," she said flatly.

"So it seems."

Irry got on her feet.

"I am glad those vampires didn't hurt you. I know you are used to a world where police catch criminals and so on. But you know what kind of delicate balance we must strive to keep Moriganhold haven for all species," she said in her natural voice.

Todor dismissed Ezezu who puffed out of existence in a cloud of red smoke. I am still amazed at that, he thought as he got up.

"I know. Governor's cops act only when absolutely necessary," he agreed sadly. "This is not a country but ... " he was grasping for a word for a second, "more like an anarcho-capitalist commune," he blurted out with a smirk. "Pay to win method, or have better skills than other players."

"Yeah, whatever that means," Irry said smiling then she hugged him.

"Stay safe. And I'll come around later for that gun shopping trip."

They said their goodbyes and Irry left him. Todor had time to take a shower, grab something to eat and take a short nap before Irry showed up again with Mab in tow.

"You again? Is it time for shopping already?" he said jokingly.

"We didn't come together, it was just coincidence that we arrived at the same time," Mab said sheepishly. Irry laughed and messed up the boy's hair.

"So what if you did?" Todor asked and motioned them to come in.

"We rather go get weapons first," Mab said calmly but insistently. Todor shrugged and jumped into comfortable sneakers and grabbed a jacket by the door.

"Lead the way. Where are we going first?" he asked walking out of the house and locking the door. He thought of putting the key at the usual place but he jammed the key in his pocket instead.

"To get you a blade," Mab said glaring at Irry.

"Sure, I have time to waste looking through knives and spikes," Irry said with a wink.

"Sure. By the way, why are swords and daggers reemerging in popularity?" he asked while they walked towards the subway station.

"Reemerging? When did they go out of style?" Mab asked producing one of the blades he showed him at the hospital. Then he twirled the dagger in his hands, made few cuts in the air and then weapon disappeared in same nebules way he produced it in the first place. There was something disconcerting watching a boy who looked like he was in his early teens handle a weapon like that. His balls haven't dropped yet, for Pete's sake.

"In Old World, no armies used them anymore. Why would they when they could kill anyone from far away?" Todor said in response to which Irry nodded.

"Poh pah told me about it. During the first few months of Three Banners War Anadori and Morg armies got a nasty surprise. Our cavalry would get decimated from kilometers away. That was until we developed barrier spells and enchanted our armor to protect us against your buzzing bullets," Irry said a bit of pride shining through in her voice.

"Well, those you can buy in form of magic amulets now. They stop anything going fast enough from hurting you," Mab added, "And with a blade, you can slow your attack enough to pass the barrier but still hurt your enemy. Most arrows pass through barriers as well. Sure, if you had those large caliber automatic rifles Humanity First Alliance uses, those magic protections wouldn't last long but most people don't have them. So it's easier to just stab a bastard."

I must investigate this. Maybe some sort of subsonic ammunition can trick those magic force fields, he thought idly.

Conversation died down since they joined the crowd entering the underground passage. It took them half an hour before Mab motioned them to exit. Irry shot a surprised look at Mab.

"What?" Mab asked once he realized Irry was watching him.

"It seems we will not need to get a ride to get the Mick. He has a store in this area as well," she explained.

After they got back to the streets and a short walk after Mab stopped.

"Here we are," he said pointing at the small alley.

"What? That is where Mick is," Irry said pointing at the other side of the same alley.

Todor looked at Irry than at the boy. He shrugged and peered into the small street.

"How convenient," he murmured.

Mab shook his head and led them to the tiny shop on the left side of the street. Todor and Irry followed in silence. Once they were inside Todor coughed slightly. The overpowering smell of apples and burned dough assaulted his nose.