Chapter 194 – Zombies on Ice

Lilyth

Our weapons drawn, we rushed into the dark alley only to find a twenty-ish-looking man standing with a bloody knife over a still-twitching body dressed in rags. It was nearly twenty-one hundred hours, so while I could see clearly thanks to my Darksight, Milten and Sol couldn't. Streetlamps did provide some illumination, but it was likely only enough for them to see a vague outline of what was happening. We also likely appeared as dark shapes to the killer. There was something off about the man’s appearance, but the blizzard and wind made it hard to see exactly what.

Boy… this is awkward.

Something about the situation felt really off. That was either a serial killer with really terrible timing or…

I cast [Shadow Barrage], and four orbs of Shadow energy appeared next to my head, forming an arch from one of my shoulders to the other and illuminating the alley with purplish-grey light.

‘Drop the knife and step away from the body, fucko,’ I barked out the order I remembered from police procedurals.

When the man didn't listen, I launched one of the orbs, aiming it next to his feet and causing it to burn a hole in the snow.

‘Now, cunt!’ I repeated.

The killer just kept staring at us, then he raised the knife and jammed it into his neck and then ripped it out, causing his blood to paint the snow red. He collapsed onto the snow.

What.

I was so stunned that my spell fizzled into nothing.

I had no idea what to do. How to react. Sergeant Milten began rushing towards the bodies, but I stopped him with an extended hand. I could hear Sol doing something, but I was too fixated on the bodies.

Then it happened. The body of the killer started to stir and groan. At the same moment, light began to shine behind me, and something bright flew next to me and crashed into the corpses, shattering.

I recognised it as the oil lamp all the guards carried. The burning oil splattered all over both corpses and set them on fire. The snowstorm quickly put it out, so, breaking out of my stupor, I cast another [Shadow Barrage] and fired it at both corpses’ heads, causing them to burst into pieces.

‘Shit,’ Milten spat. ‘Thanks for stopping me, lass.’

‘No problem, Sarge,’ I gave him a tired smile he likely couldn't see. ‘Good thinking, Sol.’

‘Thank you, Miss Lilyth. This is how we handled the werewolves back home. We didn't use gas lamps, though. I remembered you mentioning burning bodies as a precaution, so I readied myself to do it. It seems to have worked fine on… that thing, whatever it was.’

‘Check on your interface,’ I said in a reassuring tone.

‘Oh. Right. I forgot I had that. Thank you for reminding me, Miss. Hmm… it says those were a Level Two and a Level Zero Sanguine Thralls.’

Sanguine? What in the fuck?

I double-checked that on my interface, not that I didn't believe the kid, but I had to be fucking sure, and there it fucking was.

Level 2 Sanguine Thrall has been slain.

You have received 100 experience points (8450/11000 total experience points progress to level 22).

Level 0 Sanguine Thrall has been slain.

You have received 25 experience points (8475/11000 total experience points progress to level 22).

What the fuck is happening?

‘It is probably the Cabal of the Perfect Form,’ Yuvir said after she and the green-haired elf Radeea finished examining the corpses.

That name rang a bell, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember where I heard it. It was so generic it might as well have been some fantasy book.

Or maybe 40k.

‘Who?’ the Viscount asked.

‘A bunch of necromancers and fleshsmiths,’ the Dryad explained. ‘The knife…’

She pointed at the blood-stained weapon, which lay on one of the examining tables.

‘... is covered in some weird substance. We’ll send it to our main Compound for analysis. With your permission, of course, my Lord.’

The Viscount just waved the question away, likely indicating his assent. It wasn't like he had the facilities to examine it anyway.

We were all gathered in the dissecting room that was established in the basement of the Children’s Compound. By “we” I mean my squad, Yuvir, Radeea, Savri, Baerniel, Persephone and the Viscount.

The stench from both corpses was unbelievable, but as it was past one in the morning, I was too tired to care. I just wanted to be done with it and go to bed.

‘And you are saying that this “Cabal” is in my city, right now?’ Wilhum asked while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

‘No,’ Yuvir shook her head. ‘They are more of a service provider. From what I have heard, one can approach them to either obtain undead servants directly or means to create them. Apparently, for the right price, one can even obtain their services directly.’

That also sounded familiar, but at that moment, the idea of a necromancy outsourcing company sounded so absurd that I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Cabal of the Perfect Form: Providing necromantic solutions tailored to meet your unique needs! Contact our sales representative for a free consultation.

‘I fail to find the humour in the situation,’ the Viscount grimaced.

‘I’m sorry, My Lord,’ I quickly apologised once I caught my breath and explained the reason behind my amusement, which elicited a chuckle from Savri.

‘By the gods, you are so right!’

‘My Lord,’ Baerniel sighed, ‘I suggest we discuss this matter in tomorrow’s… today’s meeting. Half of our usual attendees are here right now, and judging by her reaction, Miss Lilyth might not be able to contribute anything useful to the discussion right now. Neither will Miss Persephone.’

He pointed to the sorceress who, despite my making quite a ruckus, was asleep on one of the chairs in the room.

‘I suppose you are right, Captain. Radeea, Yuvir, will you be able to attend?’

Both women nodded.

‘Very well. Then we shall hold a meeting on this tomorr… today at noon. Captain, I believe Sergeant Milten and his team earned themselves a break?’

‘Yes, ‘the soldier replied. ‘The three of you are excused from your duties for the next two days. Please attend the meeting, though. Your report will be most valuable for the discussion.’

If it wasn't inappropriate, I would kiss the old man.

‘I have seen many bad-hair days, had some myself, but nothing as majestic as yours,’ Sav laughed once Persephone and I dragged ourselves to the council room.

Last night, the sorceress helped me get the worst tangles out of my fur and hair and just ended up sleeping with me in my bed.

My brain didn't finish booting up quite yet, so I just grunted and collapsed into my chair.

Yuvir just shook her head and poured the two of us coffee. I was never a huge fan, but fuck it. I needed the energy boost.

‘Maybe we should have scheduled this for thirteen hundred hours instead,’ the Viscount mused. ‘Oh, well. No matter.’

He summoned a servant and asked him to bring me and ‘Phone some breakfast.

‘What’s the situation on the streets?’ he asked Baerniel as we waited.

‘Five dead,’ the old soldier replied grimly. ‘At least. We found some worrisome… tracks, though. Indentations in the snow that look as if a person was lying there, then got up and walked away. Some probably have benign causes, but not all.’

‘So we are looking at what… zombie outbreak?’ Savri grimaced.

‘Seems like it,’ Baerniel agreed. ‘What I don’t understand is why use two different methods? First, the Smiling Death and now whatever the Sanguine designed.’

‘Probably because we are at Plan B,’ I said. ‘The Smiling Death didn't work, so they are trying something else.’

‘Come to think of it,’ Jillyead added, ‘The “zombie outbreak”, as Sav put it, makes me think that whoever is causing this likely had limited knowledge on the Smiling Death, and assumed this was also true of us. Which is fair, as the only outbreak I know of happened during the latter days of the Vandarian Empire, and I only learned about it because of what is happening right now. Meaning… well… we lucked out that Miss Lilyth was in the clinic at the time and immediately recognised the symptoms.’

‘Hard to forget them when you nearly got infected,’ I muttered and told them about that time the first Rotting Thrall we met wanted to French me.

‘I think I understand now why you are considering joining the Guard now, Lilyth,’ Milten tried to joke. ‘Dragging drunks out of a tavern must seem like a holiday to you.’

‘Yep,’ slightly greenfaced Kartyen agreed. ‘If I ever have kids and they want to become adventurers, can I send them your way? I imagine they will reconsider after hearing some of your stories.’

‘Will be happy to help you traumatise some youth,’ I smiled.

Our breakfast, some sandwiches, then arrived, so we briefly stopped the discussion about zombies so that Phone and I could eat in peace.

‘Yeah, you were right, terilla tastes better this way,’ I said to Persephone's amusement after we were done.

My team was then asked to recount our meeting with the thralls. Wilhum also commended Sol on his initiative with the lamp when we got to that part.

‘That was quick thinking,’ he gave the slightly terrified guard a nod of approval.

‘T-thank you, my Lad- Lord,’ Sol replied. ‘My Lord.’

The Viscount raised his eyebrow at the “Lady” part, but said nothing.

We then covered what happened afterwards, which was not much. Milten sent Sol to fetch Radeea, while I tried to retrace the killer’s footsteps, which led me nowhere due to the blizzard and my being a shit tracker. The only reason I was sent was “I could see the best out of us three”.

Radeea and Yuvir also didn't have much to add. The autopsy didn't reveal much, as too little time passed between the death of the two men and our ensuring they stay that way. The important thing was the knife, and Jillyaed said it was already being looked at by the specialists from the Main Compound.

That left us with one subject. The Cabal of the Perfect Form.

‘Do you think our adversaries got the Smiling Death from them?’ the Viscount asked.

‘No way,’ Persephone quickly rejected the idea. ‘No necromancer worth their salt would give up something of this much value.’

‘I concur,’ Malika chimed in. ‘Wars have been waged over less. Amusingly enough, if those people knew the value of their find, they would most likely have been able to enlist this entire Cabal.’

That made something in my brain finally click.

Ohhh… THOSE losers.

‘I think I know who we are talking about,’ I interjected and quickly told them what I remembered about Spooder Boi and his psycho friends, which wasn't much, but I knew someone who would know more. Two someones even.

Caeileera

‘As much as I hate to admit it, I think this rules out lighties as the culprits,’ Persephone sighed after Deirdee, and I finished outlining what we knew about the Cabal. ‘I can’t imagine one of them stooping so low as to work with the Sanguine. Even they have fucking standards. No offence.’

I had no idea whether this was directed at us or at Baerniel. Despite my still having some hope in redeeming my people, I couldn't find a single “we are not that bad” argument. Deirdee couldn't either, judging by the look on her face, so we both shrugged.

‘We still love you,’ Aki said.

When Persephone was sent to Mer-Cas to retrieve the two of us, there was no stopping Aki and Ren from joining us. So, for better or worse, we were all together now again.

Baerniel chose not to respond to ‘Phone’s jab at his religion and instead moved on to a more important subject:

‘So, if I understand correctly, the current most likely scenario is someone trying to what… start a war between the Church and the Fae?’

‘Seems so,’ Lilyth said. ‘I haven't the fuckingest idea why.’

New body. Same Lilyth.

None of us could figure out why you would do it or who could be responsible.

‘Circling back to the Cabal,’ the Viscount interrupted us after fifteen minutes of fruitless speculation, ‘if someone wanted to acquire the services of this Cabal, I imagine they would require payment. With what?’

‘Isn’t it obvious, hon?’ Malika gave her husband a sour smile. ‘Test subjects.’

Dainyir

He didn't expect Persephone to suddenly appear next to him when he was in his room. He expected even less to just be grabbed and teleported to the Viscount's council room, where, apparently, everybody who mattered in the city was gathered. Lilyth and her friends, the Viscount, his wife, two of the fae, lord Yamaoka, Captain of the Guard, two of the guards, an elf and a woman he thought was some important court official.

Only Lilyth and Yachiro seemed actually happy to see him. The rest were now looking at him with indifference, which was a massive improvement over the contempt he experienced previously, and to Dainyir’s immense surprise, his former wife even waved to him.

‘I apologise for the very short notice, Dainyir,’ the Viscount began, ‘but we have an urgent need for your… expertise. Have you ever heard of a group called Cabal of the Perfect Form or people being sold to become test subjects?’

The question surprised him. Not because he knew the answer, he didn't, but because well… he never expected the Viscount to actually want to use the knowledge.

‘I am afraid I can't help you, Lord Viscount,’ he shook his head. ‘My family was more interested in… importing rather than exporting. What happened to people we weren't interested in was of no concern to us. There wasn't any particular shipping schedule, so it is hard to tell if there were any supply issues.’

‘Boy, your euphemism game is top-notch,’ Lord Yamaoka laughed.

‘Yes,’ the Viscount agreed. ‘I have no idea whether to be horrified or to make you an ambassador.’

He had no idea whether he was just praised or insulted.

‘Anyway,’ the Viscount continued,’ thank you very much for your help, Dainyir. It was worth a shot, I guess. Perse…’

‘Actually, my Lord,’ Lilyth suddenly interrupted. ‘I’ll walk Dainyir home after the meeting if he is okay with that. I have things to discuss with him. ‘

His heart beat faster. He was very okay with that.

Lilyth

‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ Aki asked after Dainyir left the room.

‘Nope,’ I replied. ‘I think it is a very bad idea, but I can't think of a better one as to how to handle the issue. Ignoring him… won’t solve anything. Actually, if the three of you want… Come with me. As chaperones and back-up.’

Aki reluctantly nodded.

‘I don’t think Dainyir will be happy about it,’ Caei said.

‘Good. I don’t want him to get ideas. But… since apparently fate hates me, being friends with him won’t hurt.’

The Viscount cleared his throat.

‘I understand I may have caused you… issues, Miss Lilyth, but now that you have reached an understanding with my sister and your other wives, may we continue?’

Oh… right. The zombie apocalypse.