1. Macabre Marmalade (COMPLETED; EDITING)

XLVII (20.2)

He continued on his rush before he heard something. First, his mage senses bumped into something that didn't want to let it through. Than his radar detected life forms. He sprinted towards the blip on his HUD where he found a stairway that went even deeper into the ground. Without a second thought he scrambled down, his sword clenched making his knuckles white from the pressure.

It could have been five minutes or an hour, he lost a track of time but stairs finally gave in to the flat surface. The hallway was well lit with electric light, and steel doors were spread on both sides on regular intervals. There was no writing on the doors or any indication of what might be behind them. So he came to the closest one and cut it open with a sword. The lock fell out of the frame and he pushed the door open. Beyond lay a small cell with a toilet and a bed. On the bed cross-legged sat a girl. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Disgust turned into curiosity once she saw that he was not one of her jailers.

"Whoever you are, you are free," Todor said, his heart racing. He was going into the right direction so Cassandra must be in some of these cells.

The girl tilted her head and spread her hands as if to say 'what now?'. Something about her triggered a memory in his mind. Is this the same girl I saw when Midnight Breeze grabbed me before?

"Why are you sitting there, you are free," Todor insisted, getting slightly annoyed. But the girl narrowed her eyes at him and then pointed at him and shrugged. SOh, right, she can't speak, Todor guessed, his annoyance lessening. "Who am I?"

The girl nodded.

"My name is Todor Corpus. Moriganholds new constable."

The girl snorted than she put her index fingers on her ears wiggling them slightly. She repeated the gesture by this time on her mouth, first from her lower lip as if imitating tusks, than her upper lip miming the fangs.

"No, I am neither Anadori, Morg nor vampire. Just plain old vanilla human," he said and turned around. "You can stay there or you can use this opportunity to escape."

Todor turned his attention back to the hallway.

"Ezezu can you open the rest of the cells?" The sword flow free of the scabbard, flying on its own power.

Fine but I am not your servant, fool, the spirit said in his mind before his blade started cutting open the remaining jail cells. One by one prisoners peeked out, gingerly walking into the hallway. Their body language said they were scared and not believing they are so lucky. But none of them was Cassandra.

"Has anyone seen a Morgthlite woman, crimson skin, long black hair, magenta eyes, pretty?" The prisoners stared at him blankly, most of them not even blinking. He let out a loud sigh. "Alright, listen up, I don't know why vamps kept you locked up here and I don't care," Todor boomed into the tiny confines of the hallway. "You are free to go. You can run up those stairs and then follow the hallway back into Midnight Breezes casino. Once you are there find Irry, blond Anadori woman with curly hair. She will show you the way."

Some took that opportunity and without saying a word sprinted that way. But others mumbled and stubbornly stared at Todor. He heard some saying 'it's a trap' or 'vamps are playing with us'.

"Who are you?" A man in his forties yelled.

"My name is Todor Corpus. Moriganholds new constable." The whispers and mutterings increased.

"You think we would believe such a thing? Go get bent," the same middle-aged man responded before walking back into his cell.

"Do whatever you want. I did my part," Todor said and turned his back to the gathering people. He made a step before someone tugged on his arm sleeve. He turned and looked at the girl from the first cell. She stared at him intensely, her pale brown eyes shining with a fire that Todor rarely saw. He stared back for a second before roughly jerking his arm free.

"What do you want?" he snapped at her.

The girl pointed at her and then at himself before mimicking walking with index and middle finger.

"You want to come with me? But I am going to confront Midnight Breeze," Todor said, surprised.

The girl hissed at the mention of the name.

"So you are not a big fan of his, are you?" She shook her head. "Fine. Just follow from a distance, there might be guards or mooks on the way."

She nodded and gave him a smile that forced Todor to return with a grin of his own even though a turmoil in him made him want to grind his teeth in frustration.

They went on unmolested, cells replacing empty rooms with no furniture. Until they got into a natural cave with a fissure in the middle. The bridge made out of sandstone traversed the canyon and on the other side a gate towered over everything. Todor heard the girl gasping at the sight. He turned to her and unholstered Jolt special pistol. He proffered her the weapon and she took it without hesitation.

"You know how to use it?"

She nodded and unclasped the safety and put it back. Ejecting the magazine she checked the number of bullets before slamming it back in and nodding.

"Guess you do," Todor said sheathing the sword and fishing out his spare magazines. He gave them to the unknown girl and hesitated for a second. She took them securing each in different small pockets on her one-piece prison outfit. "Take this too," he added holding power pill on his palm. The girl squinted at the plastic container and then looked at Todor uncomprehendingly.

"Just shake it and bite and swallow the water inside."

The girl's eyebrows rose and her mouth openned slightly, her left cheek rising to follow the eyebrow.

"It will help keep you alive."

The girl nodded and did as he said. Once the potion took effect she smiled and started jumping up and down looking at her palms.

"Is your name Wendy?" Todor inquired, delaying the passage across the bridge. Something about it made him uneasy. He felt some kind of magic there which snaked towards him like forked tongue of a serpent.

The strange girl stepped back in surprise, clutching the weapon he gave her.

"I am your roommate's boyfriend," Todor explained. The girls head bobbed left and right few times as if to say not good enough. "And your folk saved me a few weeks back. I saw you back then. And I see you are trained with firearms. Don't know how you got into Midnights' clutches but he orchestrated an attack on the city and kidnapped Cassandra. So don't try to be heroic and die in vain, stay behind me."

The girl snorted and then pointed at herself before flexing the muscle of her arm theatrically. She wiggled with her finger and shook her head and pointed at Todor.

"I am trying to be a hero and not you?" Todor asked and the girl nodded with a smirk. He couldn't deny that so he just chuckled. "Alright, enough chit-chat."

They walked briskly across the bridge reaching the gate. As soon as they were few steps from it the sounds of battle and yelling came from somewhere inside. Todor readied mana in his left palm and unsheathed the sword with his right and carefully made his way inside.

"Why are there no guards here? It looks like guard outpost," he said more to clear his thoughts than expecting an answer. But sounds of battle echoed more clearly now. Wendy tapped his shoulder and Todor turned to look at her. She pointed at her ear and then down the hall before rising his pistol in a trained stance. "Yeah, I heard that too. Let us hurry."