All 08.2 - The Kamuns' Response

There was a soft creak as the door to the bedroom opened slowly. A figure, clad in black, shifted lightly into the room. A wakizashi in hand, he looked about, scanning the bed and finding it empty. Beyond it, he could see the silhouette of a crib. A child? That hadn’t been mentioned. Strange.
-------------------
“You’re certain it was the Erzebet pawn?”
“Yes! It was him, an Asonian woman, an orc and a Yetoman.”
“The imp said there were two Yetomen, no orcs…”
“So one was a mage, it makes little difference.”
“Three of them were; only the pawn had no magic.”
“As I just said, it makes little difference: I doubt it was anyone other than the pawn who would have moved them to attack us so boldly.”
“Agreed. We have no enemies in Asanon. Unless it was the Yetoman...”
“That makes little sense. A Yetoman with a grudge against us decided to go to Asanon, and just so happened to meet the pawn and brought him here? More likely the pawn came and hired a sell-sword on the way.”
“Regardless! He dared not only to enter our house, but to slay Iwao and Eri? And to steal her body as well? This will not go unpunished. Kill the pawn. His worth was extinguished with the death of the fool woman, and should he presume to stand in the way of our acquisition of Arlington, he would need to be removed at any rate.”
“Shall I go to Arlington then?”
“No, the lost of two of our true-born is great enough. No need to risk you as well. Send a false-born. Tadao should be able to handle the assassination. Have him reclaim Eri if he can, or at least her effects. If the other three were mercenaries, they should be of no further concern once he is dead; if they were allies, his death should send them a message to interfere no further.”
“Yes, brother. It will be done. I shall inform Tadao of his mission.”
“Send him at once.”
----
Tadao crept around the bed towards the crib. This is the correct house, he thought reassuringly. He had been thurough in his investigation. Then where is the pawn? Tadao peered into the crib, and saw a young child sleeping. He brought his blade up, and nudged the baby’s head to investigate; it had dark hair, and pointed ears. Did it sire a child? The baby made a whimpering sound, and cried at being woken. Tadao readied his sword and looked towards the door.The sound should draw it out, he thought, turning to hide.
“Since you're a Yetoman, I assume you are a Kamun," a man’s voice came from behind him. Tadao froze. "If you so much as touch my son, I will kill you. If you harm him, I will kill you in the slowest, most painful way that I can imagine,” they continued. The assassin’s head turned slowly; a man, the target, had been sleeping on the floor, obscured by the bed and crib. He was sitting upright now, staring with a frigid intensity at the intruder. “And if you kill him, I swear that I will destroy you, and every filthy, ill-bred member of your family, and when I return to Hell, I will personally choke the life out of whatever devil had the misfortune of associating with you and yours.”
Tadao faltered for a second at the man’s threat. His eyes narrowed, and he replied, “I’m only here to kill you.”
There was a half-second beat before both men sprang into action. As Victor lept up, Tadao lifted his left hand: a dart shot out of a spring-case on his wrist, lodging into Victor’s shoulder. Ignoring it, Victor shoved his opponent back, knocking him away from the crib and the crying Virgil, earning a shallow gash from the wakizashi for his efforts. Tadao stumbled back, and fired another dart from his wrist. Though he managed to dodge this one, Victor could feel a numbness spreading from where the first needle had jabbed him; it must have contained a paralytic of some sort. Pressing forward again, his gaze intensely locked on his opponent, Victor reached for Tadao’s sword arm. The intruder’s sword streaked forward, slicing open a long cut on Victor’s arm as it reached for his heart. Victor twisted, dodging the point of the blade; his hand gripped the sword’s hilt, and, bringing in his other hand, he managed to wrest the wakizashi from his opponent’s hands. Tadao staggered back; he drew a knife that had been hidden in his shirt, and shot a third dart that dug deeply into Victor’s chest, spreading more poison. Now armed, Victor readied himself with the short sword. He could feel his body numbing from the poison, but neither his gaze nor his stance faltered. He gripped the hilt with both hands and lunged forward, driving the sword deep into Tadao’s chest. Tadao yelled out, his voice mingling with Virgil’s cries. He slashed at Victor with the knife, but the blade barely left a scratch. Victor stabbed again, and again; the third strike brought Tadao to his knees.
Victor took a step forward and grabbed the man by his hair, pulling back his head. Tadao’s could see the man’s face, illuminated faintly by the light from the moon in the window: his eyes were cold and heartless. Tadao looked back without fear. “I welcome death. I will join my lord-father,” he said weakly, his breathing ragged and wet with blood, his voice tinged with what could only be pride. 
“You face him having failed your mission. He must be forgiving,” Victor replied. This made what colour was left in Tadao’s face drain away as his confidence was replaced with fear. “I am not.” Victor held the blade flat, and with a single slice, cut out the man’s throat. He let the body fall to the floor, his blood pooling on the wood in an ever-growing circle.
Victor winced; he was bleeding from the cuts on his chest and arm, and the paralytic was making his limbs heavy. Virgil’s cries filled the room. Dropping the blade, Victor shuffled over to where he had been sleeping not too long ago. He picked up the sheet he had been using, and quickly tore off several long strips. Fashioning some make-shift bandages, he yanked out the darts and staunched his bleeding before grabbing the first shirt his hand laid on and pulling it on. With that accomplished, he went to Virgil’s crib and picked up the crying child.
“Shhh, shhh,” he comforted him, leaning against the wall and slowly sinking down as his body struggled under the effects of the poison, rocking the boy softly with his good arm. “Everything is fine now. It’s alright.” Virgil slowly settled as his father held him. “I won’t let anything hurt you,” he promised.
----
The early morning sun streamed through the windows when Lucca entered the house. He put down the small cat he was carrying, and it began to curiously poke about, wandering into the sitting room. Pulling off his shoes, he went into the kitchen and began to devestate a loaf of bread. There was no sign of Victor or Virgil, which was a little strange; they were both usually up early. Weird. He kept his ears pricked as he hung about the kitchen for a while, eating whatever he came across that struck his eye. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, and he wandered upstairs. Maybe they were out? Might as well check.
The bedroom door was ajar; Lucca intended just to poke in and see if Victor was indeed at home. He was greeted with the heavy smell of death. As he pushed the door open, he could see the floor covered in sticky blood, the limp, pale corpse of the Yetoman left lying in an awkward pile in the center of the pool. "...What...the...fuck?!" 
There was a sharp sound of movement in response to the exclamation, followed by a pause. Victor's voice came from the ground behind the bed, "Oh, it's you. That's good." 
Lucca jumped up onto the bed and bolted over it, rather than trod through the viscera. He found Victor sitting against the wall, haggard and bloody. It was hard to tell what what his blood and what was his opponent's, but the bandages visible under his open shirt confirmed that at least some was the former. His sword was in hand, and he had been apparently sitting awake, or at least napping lightly, leaned up against the wall.
"...mother of...holy shit dude! What the hell went on here?! Fucking hell!" he dropped down on the floor next to him, guesturing to the blood, "How much of this shit is yours? And who is the dead bastard over there?!"
Virgil stirred at the talking, making gooing noises. Victor looked over to the crib, then stiffly pulled himself upright. "I've been poisoned with something. Some sort of paralytic. I think it's started to wear off, but moving is...difficult. I wouldn't begrudge healing."
"That doesn't answer the fucking question, jackass!" he let out a frustrated growl, and scrubbed a hand through his hair "And yeah! I'll get right on that, but I haven't even had a fucking chance to do my goddamn rituals yet! Shit!"
"Whenever suits you," he winced, standing up. He sheathed his sword and placed it down before turning to Virgil. "You slept in late this morning. Must have been the excitement last night," he spoke to the baby, lifting him up while favouring his right arm. 
Lucca stared at him in bewilderment, " Are you fucking shitting me!? There is a fucking dead guy! Right fucking there! You are a fucking mess! You  can't seriously just-!"
"I am going to get Virgil's breakfast," Victor interrupted. His voice was firm, and cold. "You are going to perform your rituals, because I can't spend days waiting for the poison to leave my system. I will tell you after you are done, because I would like feeling back in my arms as soon as possible." His tone left little room for debate. He turned and walked out of the room, holding Virgil and walking perhaps a bit more gingerly than normal. Ignoring the body, he walked through the drying blood, leaving red footprints in his wake.
With a frustrated growl, Lucca stalked out of the room, shutting the door roughly behind him. He headed out into the snow clad garden, doing his best to center himself as he performed the morning rituals that let him channel the power of nature into spells. Nevertheless, the druid, understandably, was distracted. Victor carried about his morning as though nothing was wrong, though his focus was obviously elsewhere.
"There, asshole." Lucca said, finishing the last spell. "Fucking paralytics...you're lucky your ass isnt dead." Victor took off the stained scraps of cloth that had been bandages, his wounds now healed as though they never were, the paralytic effects of the poisoned darts wiped away. "Now, what the actual fuck happened?"
Stretching and testing his body, Victor made a noise of approval. "The Kamuns made their opinion of our visit clear," he replied.
"...that was...?...fucking hell man!" Lucca swore, staring at him almost indignantly, "The fuck are you so casual about this shit for!?"
"I am going to go have a word with them, because this will not end well for any party involved," Victor continued over him, his affect flat. "They are endangering Virgil, and you, and possibly Caitlyn and the Komatsu man. If they continue, I will keep killing whomever they send, and this will escalate until everything we both hold dear is destroyed. They should be informed of this, so they know what they risk by continuing their vendetta."
"So, what you're just going to go up to them and knock on their door?! 'Oh hey, I killed your assassin, you'd better stop.' That's fucking stupid, and they're just going to try and kill you harder!" Lucca retorted, obviously upset.
"I am not unreasonable. I assume any group that has their power is the same," he replied. 
"That's because you're a fucking idiot! You can't just-,"
"I am going to go out today," Victor said evenly, cutting off Lucca entirely. "You are going to stay here and watch Virgil."
"Like hell!! Who'll-"
"You are going to do this," Victor talked over him again, raising his voice in anger, "because I cannot know if another assassin was sent and I will not endanger him or his caregiver by leaving him with someone who cannot protect both him or themselves!" His flat demeanor was gone, revealing a harsh fury that was only hinted at when he had threatened the harlequin. "This will not be left! I will not stand idle as they think they can hunt me or any of mine at their leisure! I will not wait for them to make another move, and I will not permit any of you to suffer under the threat of their retaliation!" His voice dropped as he finished, "And they will know this." Virgil made a whimpering cry, upset at the loud voices. Victor immediately softened as he turned to the baby, picking him up and making comforting sounds, apologizing for yelling. 
Lucca stared at him for a long time, distress and frustration splashed plainly across his expression. It was clear that there was something he wanted to say, but he refrained from voicing whatever it was. Eventually he looked away, growly softly, "Don't you dare get your ass killed..."
----
"Might I have a name and description of the recipient?"
"I am afraid I only know the family name: Kamun. I was not properly introduced to him, but I can describe his face." Victor proceded to detail the appearance of the third man who had fought them in the auxillary house, leaving out the finer points of his demonic features.
"That...should be sufficent," the mail clerk replied, finishing their notes. "Could you please state your message? Twenty-five words or less, please."
"I would return your effects discovered in my house. Send a qualified representative to discuss so it's not repeated. 5 pm today, Nagaoka, Umehara's. Erzebet."
----
Victor sat calmly at a table in the crowded tea house. Patiently, he sipped his tea, and waited.  The cup was nearly drained before a man appeared, suddenly taking the seat opposite from Victor.  He did not waste any movement, sitting patiently with his hands folded and back straight.  A plain small straw hat rested atop a head of short light hair, with two mustachios reaching down his chin.  The man was familliar to Victor, for his inquisitive, pointed gaze if nothing else. Any doubt was erased as soon as the first words came from his mouth.
"Victor Erzabet."  It wasn't a question.  But the rythym and tone placed the man, in the hotel when Caitlyn was checking out.  A wry grin crossed the man's face.  "What a surprise."
"I can't imagine it would be much of one. I announced myself," Victor replied and sipped his tea. "I assume you're the Kamun representative then." He looked flatly at the man. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."
"Oh, pray tell?"
Victor blinked a few times, unamused. "...Your name. What is your name?"
"Daisuke Kamun. I am surprised your late wife did not introduce us before her unfortunate passing."
"She was a little preoccupied, what with her insanity. Regardless, I would appreciate discussing the rather unsavoury events of the last few days, so as to bring them to a close. I assume you have the authority within your organization to do that?"
"Did you bring Eri?  She has not yet been given the proper funeral rights."
Victor tapped his finger a few times on the table, looking at the other man. "...I have the assassin, and the effects of the cleric. I do not have the cleric's body with me; I could attempt to retrieve it, if you wish, but I can't particularly guarantee its integrity."
"Return all this and we will have an agreement. Where is it that are you keeping her?"
"I wasn't about to keep a body for any length of time. It was given to a discrete third party, who in turn passed it to someone who was thought to be able to determine the deceased party's species. It was a little unclear, given their distinguishing characteristics. I doubt they significantly damaged the corpse though, at least no worse than I did when it was still living." He took another sip, "Give me two days to get in contact with them, and I will return here. Hopefully there will be no issues."
"I will ensure that your safety is maintained for the following two days in exchange for Eri and Tadao's effects. Meet me in room 103 of the Rekan Hotel in two nights' time."
"This is acceptable," Victor replied. "under the assumption that this safety extends to my associates."
"It does." Daisuke pulled out a leather dosier and placed it on the table. It appeared empty, "The effects, if you would be so kind?"
Calmly, Victor pulled up his own bag, and removed a wrapped package, followed by a suit of folded leather lamellar, a katana, and a wakizashi. He slid each one into the dosier, and it vanished as though it still contained nothing but air. "I doubt that it would be seen as polite to exchange a body in a public area," he commented as he placed his bag back beside him. 
Daisuke gracefully removed the wrapped package, unfolding the corners to check the contents before stowing it away.  Rising to his feet and tucking the dosier gently under one arm, he articulated, "Bring both of them to the Rekan. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another appointment." Daisuke's head bowed forward for a few moments before he turned to leave. 
Victor inclined his head in turn, and watched the Yetoman leave. He continued to sit peacefully for some time before paying his bill and leaving himself.
----
Two nights later, Victor walked into the lobby of the Rekan Hotel. With direction from the concierge, he made his way to room 103. He knocked on the frame of the door.
"Come in," a voice intoned from within. Victor slid the door open and entered the room. It was lit cozily with several lamps. A short table had been placed in the center of the room. Daisuke sat behind it, drinking tea. To his side were two white sheets lay out upon the floor. Victor knelt opposite the table and waited to be addressed further. "Well met," Daisuke offered.
"Good evening," he replied.
Daisuke's gaze pointed towards the sheets. With a slight gesture of his hand, he said, "If you would..."
Victor stood and, with what delicacy could be managed, removed the two bodies from his bag, laying them on the sheets. The body of the cleric had obviously been magically preserved in some way: her wounds had been cleaned, and it was as though she may have only been sleeping. The body of the assassin, on the other hand, was a disheveled mess, with more congealed blood on it than still in its veins. With that done, Victor stood where he had been before. The Kamun's eyes roved over the two bodies, silently judging. Victor broke the silence, "So our business is complete then."
"Yes, I should think so. I hope that we never see nor hear of you or your companions again, and you will see the same of us."
"May it be as you hope," Victor replied. With a curt bow, he turned and left the room.
Category:Advent of the All