Ekron

Crepuscular Lullaby - 5

Inside the shop, the vulture was behind an attention desk, treating Vlad like a customer.

Vlad asked him what he was, and he answered, "I was designed to be an oracle, and I was for a short period of time; back then I needed to be connected to a machine to see the future. Then I became King and I forgot how to do it. Now I had been repaired and enhanced, I have the machine in my chest, so I see the future in waves, fragments, and exiguous visions, all by myself."

"Can you help me save my sister?"

"I can guide you to who will help you, Vladimir, but there is a price for her help and mine."

"I have nothing to offer."

"You have blood in you veins, and I'll only ask for a little of it."

Vlad put his left forearm on the desk, offering it to the vulture; he made an incision with a curved knife and collected Vlad's blood in a small crystal bottle. Then he poured some drops of a white substance into the bottle, covered it with a cork and shook it. Vlad's blood became black, and the vulture put the bottle on a shelf. Then he put a machete with one and a half feet of blade on the desk.

"Will I face the Queen with a knife?"

"No, that is for the rats, you'll have to go back to that dark passage, advance two blocks straight and one to the left. There should be an iron door, knock it with the knife and ask for Maria."

"Understood."

Vlad took the machete and disposed to leave.

"Wait, there is something more. Maria is a witch, like the Queen and Sephia; they all think alike, so her aid, even if sincere, will only take you so far. You will also need this, and this."

The vulture put a roll of ducting tape and a metallic cylinder of eight inches long on the desk. From the cylinder came out a wire with a needle at the end.

"You plug the needle in your palm, and then you only need to put together your thumb and little finger."

Vlad took the items, put them in his pockets and headed to the door.

Before leaving, Vlad looked back at the vulture and asked, "What will she ask of me, in payment for her aid?"

"Just tell her that you want to kill the Queen; she will make you a reasonable offer. And tell her you only have until midnight."