Stronger Together chapter 113 (Patreon)

Our first step here was going to be setting things up properly. We  needed to make sure that when the White Court got called in they had  allies in place that could pressure them ahead of time. To that end I  called Harry, who was thrilled I was awake, and asked him to arrange a  meeting for us with Lily and Fix as soon as was convenient for them.  Secondly I asked him to reach out to Ebenezar. I wanted to ask the other  senior council members too, but I remembered they were already at war  with the reds.

Ebenezar had some  deniability in these matters because of his office but asking Liberty or  Listens-to-Wind to interfere in a fight like this was asking them to  commit the whole council to a second vampire war while still fighting  the first. I got Kincaids number from him to call myself. With Susan in  the picture and Lara putting the moves on him I doubted Harry was going  to be jealous of Kincaid and Murphy if it even happened. I wasn't  planning to call Murphy in on this anyway. I called Marcone to set up a  meeting with him before we left and my final call was to Hana.

The  kitsune was a slight wild card here because I didn't know her from the  books, but judging by the company she kept and the confidence she held  herself with she was most likely dangerous as hell. Plus having someone  on hand who could look like anyone and most likely use illusions with  extreme skill would be useful. The phone rang twice before she picked  up. "Hello?" No introduction, which made sense considering her line of  work. Her voice was pleasant and high with a bland midwest accent.

I  cleared my throat. "Hi is this Hana?" There was a brief pause and then a  small noise of agreement. "This is Cameron. We met at the poker game. I  was hoping to hire you but I'd prefer to discuss the particulars in  person. Accorded neutral territory work for you? Sooner is better, but  if you're busy tonight tomorrow might work." I was trying for a timeline  of about three days. Kara was heading for the sears tower for long  range recon in case they tried to move so we should have time to get  everyone in place.

She  gave a silvery giggle "Moving a bit fast don't you think? We only just  met and you're already asking me to dinner. What, no flowers?" Her voice  sobered a bit "But sure, what the hell. You seem interesting. I'll hear  you out. Tonight is fine, but you're paying for dinner. My day rate is a  hundred thousand, I prefer to be paid in cash but I also accept bearer  bonds or gold. No checks or money orders. The contract will be agreed on  before payment is rendered and any action required outside of the  specified terms will result in an extra day in penalty fees. Those  conditions work for you?"

My  eyebrows shot up at the abrupt change in tone but I smiled. I liked  people who were direct. "Sounds good. See you there at seven." We said  our goodbyes and hung up. I smiled at Barb who was laying on the bed  with her head in Ravens lap as our girlfriend stroked her hair.  "Interesting girl. She's fun to talk to but knows when to get serious.  Very professional when she needs to be. You two want to come to the  meeting with her?" Raven was smiling peacefully at both of us, clearly  overjoyed that we had all reconnected and we were involving her more.

Barb  looked up at he questioningly and once she got a nod from our sorceress  spoke up. "Looks like that's a yes. Sure we'll tag along. Accorded  neutral territory is Mac's right? There was a sign there with that  phrase on it." I nodded. "Interesting, you'll have to catch us up on  some of the particulars later. You going to call that merc guy whose  number you got from Harry next?" She seemed interested in the kind of  person Kincaid was, having heard he bodyguarded a little girl. She  probably figured he would be an asset.

I  grimaced. "I don't know. If we were smoking a small nest maybe, but  this is a big operation and Drakul is involved somehow. I don't think  he's here, or at least I hope not, in my visions he slapped Harry,  Listens-to-Wind, and River around like they owed him money pretty much  all at the same time. He can perform magic by pretty much willing it to  happen and is stronger than the Lords of Outer Night, who are actual  minor gods. It's highly possible he's as strong as Kara physically.  Drakul would fuck us up. Point is Kincaid was Drakul's guy friday for  literal centuries."

Barb's  face lit with understanding "You're worried about involving him in this  kind of business in case he still has loyalties to Drakul. Also is  Drakul supposed to be Dracula? Because I wouldn't have figured Dracula  as a god tier threat. Don't get me wrong, back home he's pretty scary,  the Bat computer has a file on him and he's a certified nightmare, but  he isn't physically on par with a Kryptonian and he doesn't have the  kind of magical juice you described. Are things really that different  here?" This was the first time we had discussed a person who was in both  worlds so her surprise was understandable.

I  shook my head in any case. "No. Drakul is Dracula's dad. Vlad the  second. Much scarier and much more powerful. From what I know Dracula  became a black court vampire to piss his dad off, kind of a teenage  rebellion. Drakul is a signatory of the accorded nations as a  freeholding lord. Considering the other freeholding lords I've heard of  are Odin and an actual fucking Dragon that should give you an idea of  his weight class. Luckily right now we're just dealing with Mavra and  whoever that guy from Colorado is and I guess potentially dozens of  other vampires and hundreds of thralls. Which is bad, but not nearly AS  bad."

She  gave a nod "Fair enough. Sounds like we need some quantity to go with  our quality though. Any ideas on that front? Also what are we going to  do about the thralls? Can we help them by killing the vampires? Maybe  free them? I know we were able to help the ones in Colorado but you said  they usually don't bother being nice like that. Are these guys the  fully broken kind we can't save?" I could see she was afraid of my  answer, because she knew that Kara would have a problem with killing the  thralls even if we needed to do it for our own safety.

Not  that I was sure what to tell her. I just shrugged. "I felt some of what  was going on with them but I don't know how thralls work well enough to  say for sure. If I had to guess they're probably the kind that can be  fixed. Making sure we have potential victims to save so we have to hold  back is pretty much classic Mavra. She's exactly the kind of sick  asshole to use hope as a weapon. I'll talk it over with Lily, I think  our best bet is the fae, subduing mortals nonlethally to capture them is  their bread and butter. Maybe she can bring along someone who can  help."

Barb's  expression look relieved and I didn't blame her. Though she wouldn't  admit it, I know that killing the thralls would have been as hard for  her as for Kara. Batman had always stressed the no killing thing as hard  as anyone. Barb's conscience would allow for the elimination of inhuman  monsters because she thought of them as different from people. Maybe  not a healthy mindset as some would see it but who cared as long as she  was able to function. We were at war for our lives here every day. She  did everything she could to stay sane and I didn't blame her one bit.

Strolling  over to the bed I got down on my knees and reached out to take her  hand. "There was an old saying on my world I heard somewhere. A true  hero fights not because they hate what is in front of them, but because  they love what is behind them. No matter how far we have to go or what  we have to do to survive here, if you do it for us, you'll never stray  so far from who you are you can't come back. Same with us. As long as we  do what we do for you and the others you can keep us from losing  ourselves. That's what it means to be in this together. And that goes  for both of you." I locked eyes with Raven as I said the last part.

Barb's  eyes misted a bit, clearly touched I could see what was going on in her  mind, and Raven smiled a bit more widely. I leaned down to kiss them  both, one after the other. Before I could speak again though the phone  rang. I grumbled a bit as I got up causing the girls to giggle a bit at  my reluctance to leave, but with so much going on it would be stupid to  ignore the phone right now. I'd left my cell on the dresser on the other  side of my room, so I had to walk back over to get it. It was a short  trip but annoyance isn't always logical.

I  flipped my phone open and said hello. The voice on the other end was  one I expected. Harry sounded calm and serious "Hey kid, I got in touch  with Lily and set up the meeting. She says she can do lunch tomorrow at  Mac's. She'll bring Fix with. That work for you?" I was pleasantly  surprised he'd gotten in touch so fast. The lunch thing made sense, Lea  had implied in Cold Days that there was some relation between the power  of summer and winter on a micro scale and the phases of the sun. Her  enchantment ended at noon whereas the summer ones lasted until midnight.

I  exhaled in relief either way. "Yeah, thanks boss. I have a meeting with  a contractor there tonight but I can do tomorrow easy enough. Thanks  for getting in touch with them. I think I'm passing on Kincaid on this  one by the way. Rumor has it he used to work for the guy who pulls the  strings for the Black Court and it doesn't seem like it's worth  risking." Theoretically that also made it unlikely for anyone to tip  Harry off about the Blackstaff thing, but given the way this world tried  to adjust the timeline I suspected at least that much would probably  still happen.

Harry  made a choked noise "He what? Hells bells I didn't know that. Yeah  probably not a great idea then. I also managed to get in touch with  River. He planned to reach out to Cinder to start her lessons again soon  anyway and when I told him about what's going on he volunteered to  help." That was fantastic. River was hell on wheels. Kara and Morgan  were our big guns in terms of physical power but with Mavra and Raucus  around I suspected a head on fight wasn't in the cards. Oh the weaker  vamps would be easy to steamroll but the nobles would be using magic to  blend in and hit us when we weren't looking.

I  felt much better going into this with an extra magical big gun around.  We had Raven and Cinder but I'd seen River Shoulders in action and he  was pretty damn scary. I thanked Harry for the info and hung up again,  climbing into bed and sliding between the two girls. I had a meeting  with Hana later tonight but before then I was going to take a nap. Being  in a coma for three days was surprisingly not restful at all. I was  tired.