Chapter 20: The Blaze on Witch Mountain

Northbound Road, Witch Mountain

Jerome took a step forward to assume control of the fight when one of the remaining four blood thralls blitzed in front of him and pushed. He was surprised at the strength exerted as he found himself sliding back creating a gash in the road with his longsword. He snarled as he looked up from the slide to see the blood thrall going for the doctor and he reached out with his other hand as a pale gray substance shot out from his palm and latched onto the blood thralls extending hand. He pulled the thrall in and had him by the throat as he stood up. The other three all turned to look at him, some semblance of surprise and maybe a tinge of fear showing.

"She didn't kill Leonard Blake," said Jerome and the female of the blood thralls who also seemed the most authoritative in the group tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"She didn't kill constable Leonard Blake, their alibis were swapped, the real culprit is doctor Maddox Crane," Jerome repeated himself and also said the name of the real perpetrator.

The blood thrall in his grip struggled to break free and he gripped through the man's neck muscles which were considerably stronger than normal human's and crushed it down all the way to the bone and then dropped the man in a headless heap. He threw the head off to the side and the three remaining all took a step back ready for the attack. What happened next was a blitz of motion as all three came at him from different direction. He didn't have the time to react as one of them threw their dirty coat at his face, another kicked him skywards and it all ended with someone axe kicking him straight in the head and sending him flying down, creating a crater in the road. In the middle of all this, he had dropped his weapon which planted itself in the road. Groaning and grumbling he cleared himself of the rubble and clambered out of the crater to see the three, going for Dr. Maria again. These people had no sense…well he already understood it from Eckhard's explanation, they seemed to be acting on the singular order to kill Dr. Maria but he had suspected that they had a level of sentience when they had spoken to each other…was he wrong? He grit his teeth as he extended his arm outwards towards the sword, the pale gray substance again shot out of his hand towards the sword and instead of pulling the sword towards him, he instead was pulled towards the sword. Latching onto his weapon he grabbed it and with a semi-spin he appeared right behind one of the blood thralls and with a clean slash, cleaved their head off dropping them. He kicked the female towards the road barrier. Before hitting it, she planted herself on the ground, creating another indentation in the road. The sole surviving male turned towards him and reached out for an attack which he grabbed. His response time was getting better, previously when Eckhard was helping him, he did not need to worry about this but now, doing this by himself was a lot tougher. He planted the sword into the road and with both hands he judo-flipped the blood thrall and there was a crack. The blood thrall landed on his back and the road split open, creating snake like cracks on it, similar to the indentation he himself had caused in the road. He reached out towards his sword and with a swift motion planted it right into the blood thralls chest. His eyes turned white as his powers were unleashed again and the sword split apart back into nubots and it all entered the blood thralls body. He watched with his mad grin as the body seized up and the thrall's eyes widened, his mouth motioned to let out a silent scream before the nubots exploded out of him, sending blood, flesh and bone splinters everywhere, some sprayed onto his own face as well. He turned to face the female and froze halfway as he saw a hand jutting out of his midriff.

"Shit…"

He knew even without turning whose hand it was, logically only the blood thrall on the scene could pierce him anyway and there was only one left. He had dispatched the other ones quickly enough. He coughed out blood as Eckhard sounded off inside his head.

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He felt his tissue begin to repair almost immediately and with a scream he pulled himself off of her hand and fell to his knees on the road. He turned around warily with a weary look in his eyes. The nubots that had done their deed in killing the last blood thrall made their way back into his body as his eyes slowly regained life.

"B*tch," he said as he slowly got to his feet.

She immediately jumped back and he tensed himself, he was half afraid she was going to run which would just be a chore for him at this point. He spat out a mixture of blood and spit before cracking his head and his back. She used her speed again to blitz in front of him and he ducked under her wild swing before grabbing the arm and twisting it back and then in a brutal move kicked her in the back whilst ripping her arm off and there was a loud, hellish scream as she fell and slid forward…armless. He threw the arm over the barrier, down into the forest below and slicked back his hair with the blood that was already on his hand. He also used his sleeves to wipe off the blood and flesh on his face and with a smile he walked over to her screaming figure as she attempted to get up. He kicked her in the back to keep her down and with a enraged snarl ripped her assault rifle off of her body and grabbing it by the barrel he proceeded to pummel her in the back of the head with it pushing her face down into the gravel. He stopped when her skull caved in and brain matter oozed out of her head along with blood and she had stopped moving. He threw the gun aside and let out a sigh. The doctor chose this unfortunate moment to wake up. The first thing she was treated to was a burning hand but as she ran her eyes across everything, what she saw was something straight out of a b-grade slasher flick, lots of blood and a heap of flesh. She gulped as her eyes finally landed on Jerome's last masterpiece, the woman with a hole in her head. She gripped her shirt tightly as she gulped again, her unusually dead eyes displaying hints of fear. Her eyes teetered across, finally landing on a smiling, bloody and mad Jerome Hall who appeared to be trying his best to get himself to a somewhat presentable state.

"Hello doctor," he said and then her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell again, without so much as a scream. "Well f*ck."

He sighed as he turned around, the van was burning, three police officers were dead, along with one criminal. He had killed five blood thralls and he needed to have a serious talk with Lillian Blake about her use of excessive fire power. The blood thralls could have done with without a grenade launcher and an assault rifle; hell, they only stopped here because he was here, normal officers would have been butchered. He also needed to have a serious chat with Reyhana Rostami as well, thanks to her an innocent woman could have been killed, not that he cared much about that but the real perpetrator would also get away and that, he cared a lot about.

'Eckhard…everything is okay with my body?'

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Jerome nodded and then he looked around, when the police arrive he could hardly lead them to this gore, they would sooner charge him with murders and sent him to an mental asylum than listen to what he had to say about Dr. Anisha Maria.

'Eckhard…clean up.'

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His body split apart as he stood there with a carefree look on his face and a whirlwind of pale gray surrounded the place like a smoke and as he regathered himself, the blood and the bodies of the blood thralls had all but disappeared.

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He felt some growth in his teeth as they sharpened to fangs and suddenly as he looked at the unconscious Dr. Maria, he saw her veins and pumping blood. He wiped the saliva coming out of his open mouth with confusion. Attracted by blood…? He clenched his hand as he tried to control himself, he felt the urgent need to drink blood of all things, was it because he had absorbed those blood thralls, was he being influenced by their desires?

'Eckhard, what's happening to me?'

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As the urge died down, he slowly calmed down and took in a deep breath. He felt the new strength coursing through his veins before he felt the tiredness. This always happened to him when he absorbed people. He fell to his knees and crawled over to the barrier and leaned against it and at the moment the pain decided to make itself known.

'How long Eckhard?'

He groaned as another bold of pain shot through him.

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He closed his eyes as he tried to get some rest, a task that was impossible as his body adapted to his new found strength and powers. He gripped his shirt as another bolt of pain shot through him, he had anyhow called for backup, they would be here soon and it wasn't like he could do anything with a burning van, well technically he could but he shouldn't be able to.

***

It was maybe five to ten minutes later that several other police cruisers, an ambulance and a fire truck made their way to the scene of the crime. Roy Sharpe, the lead officer on the scene quickly got out of the car and as soon as he saw the still the blazing wreckage he closed his eyes as he looked down. He looked around to see Jerome Hall leaning against the barrier and the criminal, Dr. Maria unconscious on the ground, the rest of the officers were nowhere to be seen, along with the other criminal.

"Sent the firemen through!" Roy yelled. "Let them put out the fire!"

The paramedics meanwhile got to work as they pulled the groaning Jerome onto a gurney and lowered another one for Dr. Maria.

"They're both fine?" Roy asked approaching the paramedics.

"The woman appears to be fine…she's just fainted…possibly from shock," said one of the paramedics.

Roy then looked at Jerome who still seemed to retain consciousness.

"And the man?" he asked.

"He appears to be fine on the outside," said the paramedics. "But he's in a lot of pain…maybe internal injuries, we'd need to take him to a hospital and scan him."

Roy nodded, he felt a little light headed at this point, the last few days had been hectic for him and he had even had a very hyper fight with constable Jerome Hall, one which he had lost and he did not care much for Jerome Hall as a human being but the man was a constable, he was part of the police force. He also wondered how on earth…whoever the assailant were, they had managed to immobilize Jerome Hall, considering the man was most likely a most powerful binary mage. One of the firemen came back to him and he had a pale look on his face.

"Sir…there are four bodies in the van," the firemen said, taking in a deep breath and Roy grit his teeth as he closed his eyes.

It had been what he was most afraid off, more casualties. Four bodies, that would mean three of his officers most likely and the criminal…? What then happened to the driver? Who on earth had even done this? Who would have the courage to pull something like this off? A name had floated to his mind, that vampire woman, Lillian Blake…he of course was privy to inner workings of the Mezzanotte Group and the family as a whole, they were people that one would hardly want to mess with and his Ninth Order was no different in that aspect or category, ancient and powerful people posed their own set of problems not necessarily in the strength category but in terms of connections and the political power they wielded. They had been ingrained in society for so long, like vines, they had become a part of the tree that was society. If Lillian Blake had indeed done this then the department was in for another whole host of trouble. They had of course known that Leonard Blake was connected to Lillian Blake but they never put much stock in the relationship between Lillian Blake and the Mezzanotte Group, despite her being an awakened vampire but it appears, after such a daring attempt, they would have to re-evaluate the situation, the only problem was why on earth, whoever attacked the van, just left without reaping the life of Dr. Maria. Perhaps Jerome had indeed intervened and defeated the threat and it was that fight that left him immobilized…too many questions, very little answers. He needed to find first, the person that was not accounted for, four in the back of the van, two alive and one missing, the driver was the most likely guess for him. He put a call through to his superior, Senior Sergeant Deacon. The phone clicked on the other end as Deacon picked up his call.

"Yes sergeant?" he asked.

"Sir, I'm at the scene of the crime, both constable Hall and Dr. Maria appear fine," said Roy and then he took in a deep breath. "However we've lost three of our men, possibly the head constable, two other constables along with the recently accused of the domestic violence case, Navid Rostami."

"What!?" came Robert's sharp voice from the other end. "They're dead?"

"Yes sir, they are dead and burning, along with our van," Roy confirmed.

"Damn it!" the voice on the other end roared and Roy heard things breaking, possibly Robert venting his anger out on the stuff next to him.

"The perpetrators behind this incident?" asked Robert.

"Nowhere to be seen sir, they've either already been taken out by constable Hall…I don't see any traces of that…or they have managed to escape," said Roy.

"Come on," said Robert as Roy heard him slumping down onto his chair. "Why?"

"I don't know sir but they were courageous, doing this to a police van," said Roy clenching his fists. "Also the driver of the van I'm guessing is nowhere to be seen, my guess is that the driver was in on this, he drove them to this isolated location and then escaped."

"Find that driver immediately," said Robert with a snarl. "Put a lookout notice out, I want him and the people that paid him out."

"Yes sir…though I should tell you these are just my inferences, nothing has been confirmed yet," said Roy.

"I know sergeant, but I trust your intuition," said Robert and he let out a sigh. "Find that man…we've lost several more officers and this happened in the span of some 24 hours, the press and media are going to have a field day with this, and us."

"Are you going to tell them sir?" asked Roy.

"What's the bet they already know?" Robert asked sardonically.

"That is true," said Roy nodding. "Should I report this up sir, or are you going to do that?"

"I'll do it Roy…I'll do it," said Robert sighing again. "I'm sitting around here, doing nothing, you just find me that missing driver, when I find him…"

"I'll get on it sir," said Roy.

Roy was about to cut the call when he heard Robert speaking again.

"Oh and make sure constable Hall is alright," said Robert. "We don't want whatever is on his end to come down on our heads as well, I don't believe such a powerful binary mage wouldn't part of at least one organization or another, he may have some undesirable connections as well, make sure it stays under the wraps."

"Yes sir," said Roy again, he cut the call and then he frowned, coddling Jerome Hall was the last thing he wanted to do.

He looked at the man who lay there groaning in pain and he slowly walked over to the man.

"Hall!" he called out and he got a weak laugh in reply.

"This'd be the ideal time to take me in Sharpe," he said and then he let out a loud groan.

"Does it hurt that much?" he asked.

"You need to feel i-it to believe it," Jerome replied. "But it's good that you've come, I've got something to tell you."

Roy sharpened his ears, any clue would useful at this point. "What is it?"

"Dr. Maria…she isn't the real culprit," he said and then he whimpered.

"Excuse me?" Roy asked, this was new territory, or perhaps Jerome was simply lucid and under some sort of hallucination but Roy listened anyhow.

"Dr. Maria is innocent," Jerome said again. "They swapped alibis…her and that other doctor."

"Swapped alibis?" Roy said and frowned and suddenly his heart skipped a beat, if this was true then they had indeed arrested the wrong culprit, he thought through the process and the only one that had crumbled easily was Dr. Maddox Crane and his alibi was confirmed by Reyhana Rostami.

"Do you mean Dr. Crane, Hall?" Roy asked with a sense of urgency and Jerome nodded before wincing.

"Yes, Crane, that's the man, he's one behind everything," said Jerome. "He set those three fires, he killed those six babies and he killed constable Leonard Blake."

Roy felt faint, they had not only lost several police officers but they had also caught the wrong person responsible and let the real one just walk out of the station, the press and media were indeed going to have a field day when they found about this. He walked away from Hall without a moment's notice and grabbed one of the constables next to the cruiser.

"Every officer in the vicinity gather around!" yelled Roy raising his hand the police officers soon stood at attention in front of him.

"I need each of you to set out, one of you need to go to East City Hospital, another needs to go to Dr. Maddox Crane's home and another team needs to track down places Dr. Maddox Crane is likely to visit," said Roy. "I need all of this done and done on the double, do it as quickly as possible, we do not have a lot of time."

"Yes sir!" they all said, though they didn't understand Roy's reasoning, they did see his sense of urgency.

"If you happen to find Dr. Maddox Crane, be wary he is a likely murderer, be prepared, don't take him on without backup and you are free to deploy your firearms and use lethal force if necessary," said Roy, surprising most men. "Track him down, bring him back, alive if possible, dead if not."

Roy stood back and cruisers all set out, he thought about sending another call through to Senior Sergeant Robert Deacon but he didn't want the man to have a heart attack, besides if they could find Dr. Crane then everything should be fine. He felt a headache incoming and he looked on as the firemen still continued, attempting to battle the blazing van.