Chapter 443: Task for Them

Chapter 443: Task for Them

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It was not a threat display. It was showing her rank. Bloodline. Position. The six lifted their heads toward her in order, and for the first time since their transformation, their attention was no longer split between fear, hunger, and raw instinct.

Now it had shape.

Auri was above them. Bat Bat was above Auri. Above all stands their master Sekhmet.

That was a better beginning than leaving them wild.

Sofia noticed it too. "The first one has already become useful in another way."

Natasha nodded once. "Hierarchy settles faster when blood recognizes blood."

Sekhmet heard that and agreed, though he did not say it aloud.

The chamber around them had finally begun to quiet properly now. Raka’s men were gathering the wounded. The surviving lesser vampires were breathing hard through blood-covered mouths. The twins remained near the far side, blades still red and eyes still sharp. The other bats continued feeding on the dead people, tearing through high-rank flesh with ugly delight.

And now, at last, the new six had a keeper.

Auri looked once over her shoulder toward Sekhmet and said, "I will make them useful."

He answered simply. "Do that."

Then he looked over the ruined underground market chamber one more time. Seven bat harpies now under his line. He will create more and more in future.

Sekhmet looked over the ruined underground market chamber one more time. Seven bat harpies now stood under his line. One first. Six new. Five thousand more chaos energy had entered his body. Another bloodline branch had grown beneath him.

Then he looked at Sofia and Natasha.

"You will be let out for a while."

That made both of them focus on him immediately.

Not because of fear.

Because of the chance inside the sentence.

Sekhmet continued, "Tonight, you will destroy everything Iron House owns."

He did not need to raise his voice. The chamber was quiet enough now that every word landed cleanly.

"All shops. All warehouses. All guards. Everything that carries their name or supports their movement." His eyes hardened slightly. "The Iron House itself will be left for last."

Raka, still covered in blood and standing more from will than comfort, let out a tired laugh. "That sounds like a good night."

Sofia’s lips moved faintly. Natasha’s eyes remained steady.

Then Natasha asked the practical question first. "We will need help identifying all their locations."

Of course they would.

Iron House did not keep all of its value in one place. Houses like that always used side stores, rented lots, hidden storage rooms, quiet fronts, and bribed protection lines. A blind rampage would miss too much. Sekhmet had no interest in wasting this chance on a messy half-job.

"Raka will show you," he said.

Raka straightened a little at that. The pain in his body had not gone away, but purpose sat better on him than weakness ever could.

Sekhmet kept going. "You will take Raka and eighty of the lesser vampires with you."

That settled the number.

Not one hundred and one.

Not anymore.

Too many had died in the underground market. The count had changed. The room knew it. No one needed to say the number of the dead aloud to feel it.

Only eighty remained ready enough to move.

Raka understood the order immediately. Enough men to spread through the city. Enough force to hit multiple locations in one night. Enough bloodline creatures to make ordinary guards collapse under fear before the real killing even began.

Sekhmet’s gaze remained on Sofia and Natasha. "If either of you tries to run, hide, or plan something stupid, I will end you."

The threat did not change his tone at all.

That made it heavier.

Sofia answered first. "We told you already that we want to serve you."

Natasha followed right after. "We will not betray you."

Sofia took over again. "We will complete the task you give us."

Natasha finished it. "And earn your trust."

That was the right answer.

Not begging.

Not offended pride.

Only acceptance.

Sekhmet let the silence after it settle for a breath. Then he made the next decision.

He cut his palm.

The blood that came out was dark and thick under the underground light. Not much. Only a small amount. But when it gathered above his hand and hung there in several separate drops, every bloodline creature in the chamber felt it immediately.

Raka felt it.

The lesser vampires felt it.

Sofia and Natasha felt it too.

So did the twins.

The blood moved from Sekhmet’s hand in tiny floating drops and went to the ones under his line first. One drop to Raka. One drop each to the nearest wounded lesser vampires. Then more, divided into smaller points, enough to reach the wounded who still remained standing or conscious enough to receive it.

The effect came fast.

Not complete healing.

Not miracle restoration.

But enough.

Raka’s breathing steadied first. The worst of the bleeding in his side began closing. The pain remained, but it lost its teeth. One lesser vampire with a shoulder torn nearly open gasped as the wound began knitting from the inside. Another who had been leaning against the wall with one leg barely working straightened slowly as strength pushed back into the limb. Broken flesh did not become untouched flesh. But the drops repaired enough to return function, stability, and fight.

Sekhmet watched it all with narrowed eyes. Yes. That was what he had learned recently. His blood could heal what belonged under his line.

Not perfectly.

Not everything.

Not to full condition in one casual act.

But enough to matter.

Enough to turn half-dead subordinates back into usable ones.

Raka flexed his hand once, then rolled his wounded shoulder carefully. "That," he said, "is still one of the better things in my life."

Vera looked at one of the recovering lesser vampires and then at Sekhmet. "So your blood heals now too."

"Partly," he said.

That was the truth.

He had no interest in pretending the power was larger than it was. Not yet.

Sofia and Natasha had gone quieter while watching the healing. Their expressions had not changed dramatically, but Sekhmet saw enough. The old belief in their eyes had just deepened.

Of course it had.

Sofia spoke first, voice lower now. "The stories said the Blood God’s blood could strengthen and restore those under his line."

Natasha looked at the recovering lesser fighters, then back at Sekhmet. "Not in every way. Not perfectly. But enough to change battle."

So they had heard of it before.

Sekhmet did not answer that.

He did not confirm it. He did not deny it again either. There was no need. Let them think what they wished. Thought by itself cost him nothing.

He turned instead toward Auri and the six new bat harpies.

"Inside."

That was enough.

Auri nodded once. The six younger harpies looked toward her before moving, which was exactly what he wanted. Good. The hierarchy had already taken root. Auri led them toward the Void Land gate without wasted motion. The six followed behind her in a loose line, their wings half-folded, their clawed feet leaving bloody marks on the stone.

Before she entered, Sekhmet called her name.

"Auri."

She stopped and looked back.

"Soon I will capture many more Iron House prisoners."

Her eyes sharpened slightly. "Yes?"

"In the Void Land, prepare for a small territory. Later, I will build a city there."

That made Raka laugh once in the background, tired and bloody and pleased by the size of the thought. Sofia’s attention shifted sharply too. Natasha’s did the same. Even the twins looked at Sekhmet differently after that line.

A city.

Inside the Void Land.

Not a hiding place anymore.

Not only a prison.

Something else.

Something growing.

Sekhmet continued, "The prisoners will build it."

Auri understood fast. Of course she did.

"For now?"

"For now, use the current prisoners." His tone remained even. "The fifty and more already there. Make them break boulders. Clear rocks. Flatten land. I want usable ground."

Auri nodded once. No wasted questions. "I will do it."

That was why she was useful.

She turned after that and went into the Void Land. The six new bat harpies followed her one after another, vanishing into the dark gate. The last thing visible was the violet-haired one glancing back once toward Sekhmet before disappearing into the black.

Then the gate remained open only long enough for the ordinary bats to pass back where needed.

After that, Sekhmet closed it.

The underground market chamber felt smaller without the Void Land’s darkness tearing through one side of it. Bodies still lay everywhere. Blood still shone across the stone. The dead of Iron House and the dead of Raka’s line remained mixed together in the ugly equality battle always created after it was done judging courage.

Sekhmet looked at Raka. "Can you move?"

Raka bared his teeth. "I can kill."

"That is not what I asked."

Raka spat to one side and then nodded. "Yes."

Sekhmet turned his gaze to Sofia and Natasha again. "You stay with him."

They both inclined their heads.

"Tonight, you destroy Iron House’s holdings first. Shops. Warehouses. Guard lines. Anything that supports their business." His eyes hardened slightly. "I want ruin before dawn."

Sofia smiled very faintly. "That can be arranged."

Natasha’s answer was colder. "By dawn, they will understand what it means to lose."

Raka laughed again, more quietly this time. "I always knew I would enjoy working with old monsters."

Sofia looked at him. "You are not work. You are guidance."

Raka grinned. "That still sounds better than how most noble people describe me."

Sekhmet ignored that and looked once toward the tunnel leading back to Dawn House. Mira and Lily still did not know the exact shape of what had happened here tonight. They were occupied with their own duties, and that was fine. He had no interest in dragging them into this blood-soaked chamber after the battle was already decided.

He said to Raka, "Do not waste men."

Raka’s expression lost its humor. "I won’t, master."

"To Sofia and Natasha, he said, "Do not disappoint me."

Sofia answered first. "We won’t."

Natasha followed. "Not tonight."

That was enough.

Sekhmet turned and left the underground market.

The twins fell in behind him without a word. The three of them moved back toward Dawn House through the lower route, leaving Raka with eighty lesser vampires, two high-rank old vampires, and the night ahead of them.

Behind them, the underground market did not become quiet again immediately. Orders were already being given. Wounded were being sorted. The bodies of Iron House men were being stripped, moved, or identified. Raka was already pointing with one blood-covered hand and giving location names through broken breathing. Sofia and Natasha listened without complaint, committing each target to memory.

The night was not over.

It was only changing shape.

And while Sekhmet returned toward Dawn House through the dark lower tunnels, the next part of Iron House’s destruction had already begun behind him.