Chapter 299: The Wrong Door III
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Another rank three. Strange energy signature. It was unknown to him.
Not one of his men got the same chaos energy. Not one of the market’s common drifters. Because they don’t have any business here.
A rank three presence walking right into his den after a group of drunken idiots had come inside swearing vengeance.
Raka stood from the rough chair in his back room at once. His eyes narrowed.
The men returning ahead of the lesser vampire burst into the outer hall in a crash of bad explanations.
"Vice Leader..." one drunk shouted.
"Boss... " Another yelled from the back.
"He attacked us." Another one added.
"Fake token." The most foolish one said.
"He said Big Boss sent him. That is a lie." The leader of the drunk men said.
"He said he is from Iron House." Another one added.
Raka came out before any of them finished their mess.
He entered the main base hall with the hard, dangerous stillness of a man used to breaking confusion by becoming the most dangerous thing in the room. The second strongest of the underground black market.
Then he saw the stranger walking in behind his own men in the shadows. He couldn’t properly see his face. The lesser vampire was standing in the dark.
And then his expression changed.
Not because he knew the man. Because he did not. Yet somehow that dark shadowed face felt very familiar.
It was because the stranger’s eyes were red.
Because the energy around him was not like human in the ordinary sense.
And because the men who had gone out drunk and loud were now battered, ashamed. They saw the lesser vampire too. Then they looked at Raka pointing backward like frightened dogs who had found a wolf had followed them.
The lesser vampire stepped into the main hall and stopped. Now he was standing into the lights.
Raka looked at him.
The lesser vampire looked at Raka.
And the misunderstanding began immediately. Raka saw his portrait when he was investigating the iron house on Sekhmet order. He was one of the hired dogs of Dickoff.
Raka’s voice came out low and cold. "You... you Iron House dog."
The lesser vampire frowned. "No. I am not."
"Yes," Raka said, already moving one hand slightly toward the weapon at his side. "I know those fools. They only pick fights with people who insult them or belong to enemies. You are neither local nor stupid enough to wander here by accident."
The lesser vampire kept his posture controlled. "I came for you."
That made half the room react. The misunderstanding grew more. For Raka it sounded like he came here for revenge.
Behind Raka, several men reached for weapons.
Not good for Sekhmet. Idiots all around, apparently.
Raka’s eyes narrowed further. "Then you are more foolish than I thought. You think you can defeat me alone?"
"I serve the master..." The lesser vampire couldn’t continue more. He couldn’t say the name.
The most stupid one barked at him, "Do not say his name if you are about to lie."
The lesser vampire went still. He was busy with his thoughts.
"Interesting. So the name mattered here. Although they are stupid. But they really respect our master. Good. The master is really great."
He reached into his sleeve and drew out Sekhmet’s token again.
Several men laughed instantly saying, "Bad move."
Raka did not laugh. He looked at the token. Then at the man holding it. Then back to the token. Not because he believed it.
Because the existence of the token made the situation worse, not better. A fake token meant nothing. But the token he was looking for is definitely real. A real token meant they were planning something. Planning meant Iron House was moving with more nerve than before. Or so the misunderstanding told him.
Raka pulled out his communication stone and tried to connect with Sekhmet. But Sekhmet was busy sleeping. He was out of chaos energy too. So he didn’t feel the calling. The system was also on hibernation because of less chaos energy. It was the first time Sekhmet was so empty in chaos energy.
Although his chaos energy increased by five thousand. But it was all spent turning the lesser vampire and staying inside the void land close to an hour.
Because Raka didn’t hear a response. He cut off the connection calling. He thought Sekhmet must be busy.
He thought, "If the master had sent someone with his token. He would have informed me. This guy is lying."
Raka didn’t know Sekhmet was out of chaos energy and he also forgot to tell him because a lot was happening in his life.
Raka’s mouth hardened. "You chose a stupid disguise, Iron house dog."
The lesser vampire’s patience thinned. "I was sent to bring you a message."
"By Iron House." Raka asked.
"No." The lesser vampire replied.
"Then by who?" Raka asked as an insult.
The red-eyed man answered plainly. "By our master Sekhmet."
That made the whole room explode with noise.
Raka stepped forward one pace and the room obeyed him by falling silent again. His eyes were no longer merely suspicious now. They were dangerous.
"I have gathered enough information on Iron House for Big Boss to know exactly who you are," Raka said. "Now, I remember you more."
"I saw you with Dickon’s men who were trying to rob him. You were there to rob him. How dare you say we serve the same master. If master Sekhmet had sent you he would have told me."
"I know the stink of Iron house greed when it enters my ground." His voice dropped. "So do not stand in my hall with red eyes and a fabricated token and think I am fool enough to believe whatever story they built you with."
The lesser vampire’s own frustration deepened into something colder.
"This is not a fake token."
"Then prove it."
"I was told to bring you to him in the morning."
Raka almost smiled, and there was nothing warm in it.
"Convenient."
The lesser vampire took one slow breath and understood the shape of the disaster now. Sekhmet’s token should have solved it. The mention of his name should have solved it. But because these drunken idiots had gone out, picked a fight, lost badly, and returned screaming about Iron House revenge, every useful fact had entered the room already poisoned.
"Wonderful." The lesser vampire thought.
Raka stepped down from the raised inner threshold of the hall and came closer, rolling his shoulders once.
"You hit my men. That proves everything."
"They attacked me first. All of them are stupid."
"They are stupid, I agree with it. That does not make you right. Or make your story real."
The lesser vampire looked at the bruised drunks around the room and clearly disagreed.
Raka noticed that too.
The hall had shifted fully now. Not yet into fighting. Into pre-fighting.
Men behind Raka had begun to spread.
Others were already moving benches and crates from the center floor.
The drunken fifteen, who only moments ago had wanted revenge, now looked slightly less eager now that Raka himself stood in the room. Still, none of them were brave enough to admit they had probably caused the misunderstanding.
The lesser vampire looked at Raka one last time and said, with controlled finality, "I came under his orders. If you want to fight then let’s do it. I will try to be gentle... at least as much as possible."
Raka’s eyes hardened completely.
"And I think," he said, "you came here under Iron House’s. Let’s fight. The outcome of our battle will decide who is right."