Greed God chapter 197 (Patreon)

April 7th 2016 Brightedge City, The Perigrinator's Club, 10:30 PM EDT

Five.  Five crime bosses had come under my banner, nominally 'hiring' me for  protection, but in reality submitting to me as boss. Sadly, with the  city still so in flux, none of them could be considered real owners of  their territory, and so I couldn't either. Hell, considering it had been  merged into a whole, I wasn't sure I could even get points for  conquering parts of the city. I might need to own the whole thing to get  those GP.

Once that part of the  proceedings was out of the way though, Siegfried stepped forward to  offer Checkmate's services during the retaking of Brightedge. Much like  the crime lords offered to employ mey to save face, Siegfried's offer to  work for them was a clear probe for Checkmate to try to get in on the  ground floor of a new territory.

Of  course, no one cared too much about that right now. Having seen the  dragonslayer fight at the same level (more or less) that I could, all of  them were interested in getting his organization onboard. While it  might let the fox into the henhouse so to speak, it wasn't like any of  these people were chickens themselves. That was for people like the  Court to worry about, and Silver was being suspiciously quiet.

As  that happened though, I was scanning the room for any signs of the Fear  host. The bastard had to be here somewhere, and I wanted desperately to  find and kill him. The longer he was active in the city, the worse  things would get. Gotham had always been a shithole, and while  Brightedge wasn't quite as bad, there was a not inconsiderable amount of  fear to be harvested here, especially nowadays.

But  no matter how many times I appraised the gathered criminals, I got  nothing. Not a single fucking clue. I debated dragging away one of the  girls for a quick anger fuck, but decided it might ruin my image. I had  self control, even if it annoyed me to use it. After an hour or so of  hashing things out, Silver called a halt to the proceedings. "Now that  we've decided on the distribution of properties, we can discuss the  threats we may be facing as a collective."

Everyone  at the table grimaced. Of course they weren't being allowed to keep  territory for free. They should have assumed they'd have to put some  work in. I was curious though, exactly what she'd found out. While  Barbie and Cherry had their sources, the girls were hardly the only game  in town for information. The Court was, based on what Silver had said,  an extension of a much larger and more expansive organization, and they  were bound to have plenty of sources outside the city.

"The  Court has been asking around, trying to get an idea of who may be  coming to take a piece of this very lucrative pie. We've gotten plenty  of answers. Most of them are still on the way, but according to reports,  one of the most dangerous of these invading factions has already begun  to infiltrate the city." Her voice was grave as she relayed the bad  news. "They Call themselves The Cult of the Blood Red Moon."

Siegfried  cursed. "Vampires." Everyone turned to look at him. "I have had some  dealings with these creatures in the past. They are like an infection.  Once they begin to spread their taint." I forced myself not to snicker  at that sentence. "They will be impossible to staunch. Their ability to  convert others to their condition is a huge headache, and no one can be  trusted when they are about."

Silver  grimaced. "Sadly that isn't the only issue. The Order of the Van  Helsings is here as well. They may be fanatically devoted to destroying  vampires, but they're also psychopaths with zero cares for collateral  damage and a deep distrust of anything more than human. Considering the  number of us with abilities at the table, they should worry us a great  deal." She conveniently left out the fact about her faction having a  zombie ninja army, which I imagine fanatical hunters of the undead  wouldn't exactly love, but they did sound like an issue.

They  also provided a serious distraction for the fucking Fear host, who now  knew they were around and, if he wasn't a fucking moron, was planning to  use them to expand his own capabilities and sow even more fear for him  to harvest. "Well." I said pleasantly. "That sounds positively awful.  Siegfried, my friend, I don't suppose you have some method of tracking  and eliminating these diseased vermin?"

He  just shrugged. "Removal of the head, fire, staking the heart. These are  the traditional methods of vampire killing. As for their  detection...nothing specific. Their ability to blend is perhaps their  most destructive trait. Their leader would be the most obvious of their  kind. A crimson haired seductress named Mary Seward, who calls herself  Mary, Queen of Blood. An ancient and dangerous predator. Nearly five  centuries old and crafty as fox, if the Cult is here so too is she."

Huh.  Ancient vampire chick. I didn't hate the sound of her being a 'crimson  haired seductress'. I already had a few redheads, but no vampires.  Still, I'd have to see how strong she was. Five hundred year old vampire  could put her up into C rank for all I knew, and I had no confidence in  being able to subdue a C ranker...yet. Speaking of C rankers, I turned  to Tamlin. "Tamlin, what say you? With all your years you must have come  across her before?"

Tamlin....hesitated.  "I...yes. I've met her. She is old and strong. She also  keeps...powerful company, though I suspect none of them have made their  way here." I saw a flash of genuine fear on Silvers face at that, which  seemed weird, but they both moved on like nothing happened. "Regardless,  I have a few fae hounds that may be able to help us track her down. I  agree that leaving her to roam around here is a mistake."

Considering  he needed me to get his wife back and I needed the city, I was pretty  sure Tamlin had long since decided to make a permanent place for himself  here. The Undercity was already a home to most of his followers, and  he'd clearly begun the process of adapting it. He wouldn't want vampires  running around any more than the rest of us, much less crazed human  supremacist vampire hunters. That sounded like a bad time for everyone.

"So...vampires."  I said in annoyance. "We should probably take care of them before any  of the others show up. I'll work with Tamlin to track down their leader  and see if we can't take care of them quickly. I don't relish dealing  with waves of random criminals while also combating a force of  infiltrating undead." I turned to cock my head at Silver. "Can the Court  take care of the Order? I can help out if needed, but I'd prefer to  focus on the vampires."

The  Talons should be more than capable of taking down a bunch of bitch ass  vampire hunting crazies, and it was frankly a waste of my time do it. At  the very least the vampires might have some useful magic items I could  loot. I doubted the Order had anything but bullshit stake guns or  crossbows or whatever.

Once  again, I was slightly suspicious of how relieved Silver looked at not  having to interact with the vampires directly. Whoever the fuck Mary  Seward worked with, they clearly didn't have a good relationship with  the Court or their parent Organization. I made a mental note to check  and see if I Mary was weak enough for me to engage directly and possibly  question. I didn't like being kept in the dark.

"Of  course." Said the busty platinum blonde. "We would be happy to dispose  of the rabid dogs. No one likes them, and they're considered to be on  the whole, worse than the monsters they so fanatically seek to destroy."  Which made sense, considering how obnoxious fanatics in general could  be. "We're more than capable of disposing of a few heavily armed  lunatics."

Penguin  spoke up. "That's nice, but what do we do in the meantime. This was  clearly raised as a possibility so we would commit our forces to the  upcoming conflict, but how do we fight vampires when we don't even know  where they are." He didn't sound particularly thrilled about the  necessity of fighting them at all, not that I could really blame him. He  was just a boilerplate human, and getting sucked into this shit would  be unpleasant for anyone.

Silver,  of course, had a plan for that. She outlined a series of steps the  crime lords could take to help prepare for the incoming invaders and  minimize vampiric damage. Patrol routes and specific procedures to keep  risks as low as possible. I tuned it out for the most post. None of this  was on me, I had other job to do. I was already planning how to  distribute my own forces, hopefully using Cherry to track down the  vampire queen faster.

The  meeting didn't go on for too much longer after that, winding down once  we'd all been given tasks. I admit, Silver was better at taking control  of the conversation than even I'd expected. Once everyone else left, I  sent my girls to wait out front and agreed to meet Seigfried outside  while I stayed behind to talk to her.

She  didn't seem surprised to see me, smiling prettily as I entered. I  frowned at her. "You blindsided me with that vampire issue." I said.  She'd had plenty of chances to tell me it was coming, but she hadn't.  She wanted control of the situation when she brought it up, and since I  hadn't had a chance to react or process it she'd been able to take  charge without having to actually challenge my authority.

Biting  her lip, Silver looked away shyly. "The information only came into my  possession at the last moment my lord. I would never be so bold as to  deliberately exclude you from my plans." Despite knowing she was lying  through her teeth I had to admit she sounded convincing. Every bit the  aggrieved bimbutante saddened by the disdain of one of her better when  she'd only been doing her best.

I  stalked across the room, grabbing her chin and yanking it up to meet  her eyes. "This isn't a game, Silver. I WILL kill you if you try to fuck  with me. I don't do politics. If you think thew rules of etiquette will  keep you alive while you pay lipservice to my cause, you're gravely  mistaken."

She  looked up at me defiantly. "I think that's exactly what you want from  me. As long as you have an interest in me servicing you with my lips  you'll be hesitant to kill me." She pouted up at me. "Are you planning  to kill me off before you get a chance to enjoy my body, my lord? I've  seen you looking at it. Don't you think there are more..." She slid a  hand up my thigh. "Pleasant ways to discipline me when I'm bad?"

I  grinned at her. She was smart. She'd seen what I wanted, and weighed  her chances being deliberately defiant against being willing to give it  to me. She'd made a mistake though. She seemed to think once she gave up  the pussy she'd have me wrapped around her finger. Sadly for her, I  wasn't the kind of guy who got wrapped.

I  stepped back. "Fine then." I said simply. "If I can discipline you how I  see fit, stand up, hike up your dress and bend over the table. Her eyes  widened a bit, and my grin became sharper. "Hop to it girl. You want me  to give you some discipline? bend over and bare your ass. I'll show you  what I give bad girls." I had to stifle the gleeful laughter about to  bubble up. This was going to be much faster than slow playing it anyway.  By the time she left here tonight Silver would be no more capable of  disobeying me than she would of walking straight.