Chapter B4C34 - Terrible Alchemy
“He’s moving too fast,” one voice hissed in the darkness. “The mortal has been possessed by madness. No risk is too great for him and he puts us in danger at every turn. You need to rein him in.”
“Rein him in? You think he listens to me?” another replied, no less vexed. “After I fulfilled the Mistress’ demand and brought him to her, he hasn’t trusted a single thing I’ve had to say!”
“You have to try, you frozen bitch! He’s going to get all of us staked out in the sun, if we’re lucky.”
“He could do it anyway. If we fail in our work, he can burn both of our covens down to the ground in a matter of hours.”
“Are they really so capable?” the first voice sneered. “How strong could they be, the dogs of this city? We could rip their fucking throats out if they came for us.”
“Don’t underestimate them,” the second voice warned, the tone cold and stern, “they are stronger than you think. We could kill dozens of them, sure, but there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of them. And even if we survived that, which we wouldn’t, more would come, the real strength of this empire, jumping over the border from the central province, and they would hunt us down without fail.”
Valk and Yor, the two leaders of rival vampire covens, stood in the dank sewer beneath Veil Street. The latter shuddered with revulsion as foetid water dripped from above and onto her midnight black sable coat.
“Is it really necessary for you to cower in these wretched sewers?” she snapped. “Your coven is already exposed. The least you mutts could do is find a kennel above ground.”
Valk flashed his fangs in a toothy grin, which failed to mask the anger and contempt burning in his eyes.