Chapter 30: A Gambler’s Eye
The two of them arrived at the location marked on the elf’s map. It looked fairly inconspicuous from a distance—just another worn alley nestled between slanted brick buildings and humming pipes.
Well... inconspicuous if it wasn’t guarded by a hulking mercenary with arms like tree trunks and two swords leaning beside him against the wall. A door behind him glowed with warm, inviting light that poured out like a beacon in the gloom.
Corven and Rose approached with practiced smiles—friendly, disarming, just enough to look harmless.
"Hey..." Corven said casually, reaching for the door handle.
He didn’t even get close.
In a blur of motion, the mercenary unsheathed one of his swords and swung it straight at Corven’s head.
Steel hissed through the air.
Corven barely caught it mid-arc—his palm closing around the blade before it reached him. His fingers dug into cold steel, muscles twitching. Fast reflexes saved him... though even he wasn’t used to moving this quickly yet.
"Do we have a problem?" Corven asked with a low chuckle, still gripping the blade.
’Holy shit... good thing I was fast enough...’
The mercenary grinned, then sheathed the sword with an amused shrug. "No problem. Get in already."
The two vampires entered—and what greeted them hit like a wall of blood and chaos.