Reys owned a townhouse in an affluent neighbourhood. Unable to park directly in front, we left the car around the corner and walked the rest of the way.
The night had a fresh crisp smell to it which almost washed the constant smell of pollution away. When I thought about it, though, I realised perhaps I was simply getting used to it.
I noticed less trash on the sidewalk.
That was refreshing.
"You're right," Hina said suddenly. "I provoked you."
"Hmm?"
She kept her face turned away from me, but I could see her ears were pink. "But it's your fault, Master."
"How?"
"You look at my legs all the time."
I blinked at that.
Did I?
I mean, I might try to see where her gun was under her skirt, but was that the same thing?
"Your skirts are very short," I sighed. "It is something I am still unused to. When I was last alive, ladies would never consider showing their ankles…"
"Do you want us to get longer ones? I can ask Vela to change our uniform if you like."
Now that was an awkward question.
"I don't dislike it," I said slowly.
"Good." She sighed. "And you stare at Molly's boobs. And Vela's, too. That's fine. They've got big boobs. It's natural for men to stare at them. But you stare at my legs more, so I know you like my body. Don't you, Master?"
"Are you trying to compete with them?"
"No. I just…"
"Want to know where you stand?"
That caused her to catch her breath. Then nod. "Yes."
"Do I need to tell you?"
"It's nice to hear."
"Are you my servant, Renfield?" I asked gently. "Or… my Bride?"
My Renfield gulped. "I've overstepped."
"No, you haven't," I said, feeling mischievous. "If you had, your skirt would lift and I'd have seen up it at your underwear. Again."
Her face flushed even hotter. "No, I meant-"
"I know what you meant," I said as we paused out front of Reys' townhouse. Something didn't feel right. "Let's talk about it later."
The windows.
That's what it was.
They seemed dark. Too dark.
"Yes, Master," she said, and I could hear the disappointment in her voice.
"You think too much, Hina," I told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're an elegant and beautiful woman."
"I-"
"And I want you to stay right here. Do not enter this house for any reason."
"What?"
I frowned at the door. I could see wisps of darkness crawling out of it and dissipating into the cold night are. "Do you understand my instruction?"
"Yes, Master," she said. "But-"
"It's not a matter of trust," I told her. "You're capable. And strong. But even with the benefits of being a ghoul, I don't think you can fight what's inside. The fool has tried to use my grimoire. And it is out of his control. What lies inside that house would warp your mind."
"Oh." She squinted at the house, finally seeing the dark wisps. "I'll stay here, Master."
"The Void plays tricks with your mind," I told her. "No matter what you hear, it's not real. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Master."
"Do not enter the house." I held my finger up in front of her face to make my point clear.
She nodded. "I will stay outside."
"Good. Then I don't need to worry about your safety."
I strode towards the front door, digging into my memories.
The magic of the Abyss was dangerous. It needed concentration, strength of will, and a great understanding of how it worked.
I wasn't sure I had that knowledge anymore.
But I needed that book. I needed it if I wanted to protect my Renfields.
And the tower, I supposed.
Reaching for the door, I found it unlocked. I turned the handle. Pushed it open.
Madness is an intangible thing. So intangible that it difficult to feel its effect on you. It seeps into your mind like poison.
My first step into the townhouse was a step into madness.
I found myself in a void space. An endless sea of black surrounding me on all sides. To call it black is kind. It was darker than black. Much darker. Just looking at it made my skin crawl. Lesser men go mad here in the beginning, as it's easy for your mind to conjure ideas of a giant pupil surrounding you.
Looking at you.
The door behind me was gone.
At least, that's what I had to keep reminding myself was happening. If I let myself drift for even a moment, my sanity would cascade like a waterfall.
In reality, the door was still there.
I just couldn't see it.
I took another step and the void fluttered like a veil in front of me. I felt a strange sensation of soft frigid flesh caressing every part of my body.
The pressure was immense, as though invisible hands were pressing at my mind. Pushing at it. Prodding it. Every step inside would make it worse.
Another step, and I could see glittering lights begin to swirl in the distance. Lights of deep purple hue which approached swiftly like shooting stars.
I waited for them to come. There was no point trying to evade them.
The streaked towards me, screaming as they came. Layers and layers of screams, like a million voices screaming. The sound shook the air around me, making me stagger as I tried to keep my feet.
Recognising the situation, I yanked at my memories.
And, as though I was in the present at past at the same time, I imitated the motions and intoned the same words of power. Dark black lightning rippled up my arms as the lights shrieked towards me.
I held the lightning in my fist.
Squeezed it.
Generating more and more power not from myself, but from the void around me. I was draining it, I realised. Sucking it into my body like blood. And then condensing it in my palm.
Pure energy.
Then, as the first ball of purple light arced towards my head, I released it.
The blast unleashed an explosion unlike anything I could imagine. The shockwave flashed outward, snuffing each light in an instant.
And returning the world to darkness.
And silence.
I held my breath, my heart racing in my chest. Sophomancy. That's what I'd used. Instinctively, I knew it. But instinct wouldn't be enough. I needed to remember!
Fragments of memory would only get me so far.
A sound echoed through the dark. Like a lock being unlocked. An enormous lock. The sound, too, was familiar and a slight piece of understanding slotted into the empty jigsaw in my mind.
He'd clearly been attempting to open a gateway. But my book wasn't straightforward. I masked my Rituals by deliberately switching words of power, alternating their position in the flow. If he hadn't understood this, then he would trigger an event like this.
The void space would have surrounded him.
Begun to consume him.
And, if he was unlucky, it would activate as a beacon for… something else.
Something vast.
Something incomprehensible.
An Elder God of the Abyss.
The heavy locking sound was like a knock. It was likely that my spell had worked as a flash, capturing the attention of one of THEM.
I needed to leave.
Quickly.
I wasn't prepared for a confrontation with one of THEM. Not yet. I needed to regain my knowledge first.
I shuffled forward, feeling my way with my hands. I had a vague sense of the centre of this void space which should, theoretically, be where Gibbon Reys had set up the ritual. Commonsense said my grimoire should be there.
Distinguishing be reality and the void of the Abyss is almost impossible.
Almost. If you can tighten your awareness, though, you can feel your way blindly. In this way, I found the stairs. Climbing slowly, I tried to push away the strange sounds which began to twitter around me. Like nasty little voices.
And the long drag of shuffling feet.
Breath coming in wet rasping bubbles from lungs thick with putrid slime.
And the stink of rotting meat.
Shoggoths, I thought. Hunting me. They preceded their master like fleas.
They shambled after me as I climbed the stairs while simultaneously traversing the void. The sensation of doing two things at once was uncomfortable. My stomach roiled, threatening to vomit the last of my stored blood.
It kept threatening to drag my focus away. To make me slip into the trap of letting my sanity be stripped away.
Gritting my teeth, I made it to the level I thought the focal point was.
Turning, I tried to find where it was strongest, and head headed for it.
I thought I entered a room.
A room where power radiated in long throbbing pulses of energy. The epicentre. Frowning, I pushed my way through what felt like sludge until I thought I was in the middle of it all.
If I was right, I was in the centre of a magic circle.
The sorcerer and the book should be here.
I fumbled, searching.
As the dragging footsteps sounded closer. I considered trying to send out another blast of void energy, but something told me that wouldn't work on Shoggoths.
I needed something else.
Something more powerful.
But I didn't have time to rummage through my memories.
If I could only find the book!
Something giggled behind me. A high-pitched alien giggle emerging from many mouths.
I didn't glance back.
You have returned!
The words stabbed into my brain, igniting waves of fire which made me groan as pain ran like electricity through my Bloodline.
Where was it?
It's so good to see you again. I want to taste you.
Let me taste you.
My body shivered, knowing exactly what IT wanted to do. It would peel the skin from my living flesh and consume me while I shrieked. Unable to die until it let me. My screams like music to its ears.
I found something warm.
The sorcerer? Was he still alive?
Maybe…
I can smell your fear.
I could feel the thing behind me. Its hunger pressing on my soul. Its many mouths drooled and gnashed their teeth. Fangs clattering sharp in the darkness.
My fingers crawled over the sorcerer's body.
Searching.
Just one small morsel before the feast…
The thing was reaching for me. I felt icy cold needles stinging my back as it tore my shirt away. Slicing into my skin. Searching for flesh.
Found it! I snatched with eager fingers!
And, without pause, gave a sharp wrench, snarling as a distant sensation of something popping in my hands forced the thing behind me to start spewing ooze and roaring at me in a long-forgotten tongue which made my ears ring.
No! You are mine!
It lunged.
Then there was a sound like the tearing of metal and lights flashed as the void imploded with a roar of countless wings. The pressure which had been pushing on me dissolved along with the void.
Silence.
A ticking clock. Water dripping.
I blinked.
I was in a room set up to be a Ritual space. Not as crude as Seline's sanctum. This one was finely made, and would be the pride of any sorcerer. The man who'd built it had been meticulous and powerful.
He was also very dead. My hands were still around his neck.
He was an old man. Short and thin. His face was a rictus of horror. He'd foamed at the mouth and clawed his own eyes out long before I'd arrived. Chances were he was unconscious when I found him.
Thankfully, his death had collapsed the void space.
I took a deep breath, picked up my grimoire, and walked away.
Outside, I found Hina weeping.