Burning Road

Broken Halls- Part II

Helsing led them down the alley past a collection of trucks and loading docks. The air was filled with steam and stank of chemicals. Visibility was low and the pathway far too narrow for large groups or giants to advance easily. If it was the entrance to the guildhall that they were approaching, she understood the choice of location. Private yet in the middle of the bustling city. Before she realized it, they were walking up a set of three stairs to a metal door marked by a familiar symbol. It was in Binder but it looked very much like the sprite script for 'watching'.

Helsing knocked twice and stepped back. On the other side of the door she could hear heavy bolts being dragged across metal frames. The door opened and a tall handsome woman stood in the doorway framed by dim light. On her hip was a large hand axe. Behind her were at least two others, Mimi couldn't see them but she smelled the black powder of their cannons. The woman studied the trio before sneering and putting her hands on her hips, filling the entire door space.

"What do you want, old man?" she asked. Her's was the rich voice of a singer.

"You look good, Wilhelmina," Helsing replied.

DotPrince kept his head tilted downward so the hat hid most of his face in shadow. It hid his identity but made him look suspicious. She needed to teach him how to be discreet.

"Thanks. Why are you here?"

"We need to use the workshop. I have a bead on a new nest, gonna burn it out before it gets too big."

"Why not come in the front like normal people?"

"I wanted to see my daughter." Wilhelmina fidgeted a bit, her tough exterior showing weakness.

"You've seen me," she said. The tall hunter stepped aside and gestured for them to go in. "Next time use a phone, and the front door."

Helsing made a sweeping motion with his hands, and Mimi and DotPrince walked through the door. Wilhelmina was taller than Khouri by almost a foot, and her arms were corded. Mimi wondered what her yumsies were like and smirked, she'd never found out if Khouri minded sharing. The two hunters lurking inside were far less interesting.

"I miss you, Mina." Helsing said as he came inside.

"How touching," crowed a strangely familiar voice.

Mimi turned around and standing just outside the door were a dozen men and women. They were all dressed differently, colored differently, and even smelled differently. The only thing they had in common were smoldering black pits where their eyes should have been. Mininda's blood ran cold and fear grabbed hold of her legs.

"Hi, Mimi," the stranger, a thin whip of a man, hissed. His voice was a mesh of two distinct speakers, the skinny human before them and the darkling riding his body.

"Sweeney?"

"They're paying a fortune to every tracker they can find just to drag you back down. I don't know what you did, but you've finally pissed off the wrong one."

"I thought you worked for Cross?"

"There are no better trackers Below The Under or in The Dark than those trained by The Master of The Wild Hunt. He doesn't like freelancers, but I doubt you'll have a chance to squeal."

Sweeney was the only Imp to ever earn membership into The Wild Hunt. He was shrewd and ambitious with a thing for whores from The Dust Ball, the more desperate the better. In his own body he was short and unimposing, but looks could be deceiving. Mimi had once seen him strike a sheet of flesh from a lizard man's back with a flick of his whips.

"These people with you, old man?" Wilhelmina asked. She had backed inside, one hand on the door and one on her weapon.

"Oh, we're all about to get closely acquainted real soon, meat bag." The darkling-possessed mass began to shuffle forward. Behind them a massive shadow rose to blot out the light of the alley.