The Power of Ten Book Four: Dynamo

Step number one, locate the watching and unseen vampires.

They were either going to be in bat form, or lounging around outside, pretending to enjoy the night weather and being true night owls.

Number two was to bring down the Divination Ward, which would let my divs work. That was actually easy to do, just a bit harder to not be spotted at it.

Killing the vampires would alert their master, who would have a tie to his blood children... and it was definitely a him from the trace I had put on him.

I had made the decision to try and hold at least two different superheroic identities, because I totally could. I was going to actually try for three, as the spider/webbing side of my powers was so bloody different than electricity generation as to look completely separate, and my own magical skills were totally independent of those. Just had to figure out how...

I only used the voltage around Hawkeye because he knew it was there. It looked completely different when I mainlined it.

The Dealer would be my magical identity. Getting everyone fixated on my using Cards as Power would help disguise the fact that the Cards didn’t have anything to do with it at all, and were, in fact, sleight of hand.

That being said, they were an Implement, which meant they helped Casting, and I really could do certain things with them. A bit more focus on Runework than using Staves or Wands, as it were, and Cards became a very acceptable carrier for spells if they were worked up before-hand. Pre-cast spells on them, or Runes to be charged up like an alchemist’s bombs or extracts, were all nice additional supplements to what I was doing.

Disguising how it all worked wasn’t that hard, because I certainly wasn’t Casting anything like I had in the past.

I came over the wall there in transparent camouflage. I had taken the Darkstalker Feat as soon as I could qualify for it, so I could bend sonic chirps around me and avoid them as easily as I could stay in shadows and suppress body heat. I didn’t quite touch the ground, moving on my Repulse... or the Steps of a Mage, automatic levitation effect if you were a strong enough Caster.

I had my Levels gained back fast, since I was so restricted on how many Classes I could take, but not how many Feats and Masteries I could reclaim a day. It had been over a month, and so I was fully back to Ten already.

My restrictions on Masteries were what were killing me. It took all the Masteries for ten Levels to get all the Stat Masteries. With base Magic Masteries and Warlock Masteries to take and build up, there was just no way I could afford all that... at least not without a lot more Levels behind me.

Just, ugh. I hated having restrictions on sideways learning!

The undead had good night vision and could see the body heat of the living. It didn’t help them spot me as I moved from shadow to shadow of mostly tasteless statues and trimmed bushes, moving around the perimeter from location to location and driving lead nails into the magical Formations scribed on the stonework, completely short-circuiting them.

The fun thing about Formations is that they need to be mostly intact to function. Each node I neutralized silently collapsed a portion of it as the magic stopped circulating through it, and going halfway around the house was basically enough to shatter enough of the Ward for me to cover the entire house with a Detect Human at V, going directly for non-templated sorts, i.e., not Drinkers.

They were probably Charmed and might be minions, but they were still base humans. Maybe they could be treated by the mind healers, maybe not. The Tribes were definitely not going to be happy about the intrusion once the vamp-addicted people hit the healers, however.

The four of spades in my hand burned away as it channeled the spell, and I Scanned the building slowly.

My Mastery of the Eyes of Heaven was also at V, so side by side I was looking for Evil.

I went up the side of the manor so fast I might have been a trick of the moonlight, was at the balcony on the third floor and sliding inside so smoothly I could have been the wind as I Repulse-unlocked it and clicked it home after me.

No magic sensors on the locks. Tch!

Top floor was clear for the moment. I appeared to be in a second master bedroom, and by the décor, for a woman.

Well, nothing for that but to add Detect Precious Metals and Minerals to the rotation... ping!

Otherwise, nothing on this floor. Definitely on the second floor, where at least four couples were doing something, but only two involved someone living.

I went down the stairs via the ceiling, and looked over the first floor.

Tons of things present. But only the two on this floor were human.

I had the position to look down through to the basement now, and scanned it.

Detect Evil popped up with lots. Nothing human in the first basement. But the sub-basements would be where they held captives.

I mentally eyed the groups behind me.

One pair were off in their own room, and by the sounds of it, making out urgently. Looked like a Drinker and a human female.

The others were clustered around one another in what seemed to be a larger room, one living male, one Drinker, and four vamps.

Not captives. Charmed, maybe. Couldn’t tell without line of sight.

If I freed the man, four vamps had to die, and the alarm would go off.

If I freed the woman, the Drinker’s master would know.

I could always come back for them.

The basement access wouldn’t change. The Drinker on guard on it might, but a Sleeping spell sent him to beddy-bye land at his post, and he dozed off in his chair. I opened the door next to him and slipped down it, scrambling along the walls and staying off the floor and some of the sensor spells I could Detect there.

The ground floor was a ‘modern’ layout with remarkably few walls, save for things like closets, storage areas, and bathrooms which were likely barely used and for show for human guests. However, all the windows had very thick shadings available to them, recessed and discrete, but there. Right now, they were all open, adding to the dim ambiance, and a half-dozen vampires, with twice that of Drinkers of both genders, everyone hip and attractive, were lounging about.

One of them was definitely pinging at least twice as nasty as the others, a metrosexual fellow with an olive complexion and the Aura of power that was so hard for their kind to restrain.

Master vampire. At least he was outside for the moment.

I mirthlessly noted that they didn’t have a flowing pool as was the current fad, because running fresh water and vampire, natch.

Downstairs was indeed a shooting area for porno films, with set pieces, racks and racks of scandalous clothing in all the styles and materials, lighting, cameras, and props to use.

The Drinkers were probably also performers, as the vamps definitely were not, unable to get on film as they were.

There was almost nobody here, although some Drinkers were dozing in some of the overdone bedroom sets. I just turned my attention down, and grimaced.

Yeah, there were a dozen humans down there, and generally not in good shape. More importantly, they were being guarded by at least six ghouls, and down in what was probably open warrens and maybe a coffin-ground on the floor below them were at least forty others.

Welp, no better time...

The entry area was a hidden door behind a bondage whipping rack, how appropriate. A Sound Bubble made sure I wasn’t heard opening it and no sounds drifted past, and I drew out my first cards as I walked upside down along the rough ceiling to the sub-basement level.

They were using a combination of bleach and perfumes to conceal the graveyard rot odor of the ghouls, but it was only moderately successful. I slid the filter up and stuck it to my face, getting the locations of the ghouls in my head, trusting that there were no closed doors here, and flicked up a six of diamonds.

I opened the door, and threw.

The Card separated into six of itself, all of them glowing with some holy and undead-killing magic. The ghoul closest to me only had time to look up when the Cardshard hit it in the head and blew its skull apart. Burning with vivus, it fell to the ground, instantly dead.

6D’s of Force shot through the air, lodged themselves in chests and skulls as they went around corners and down hallways to find their targets, and blew apart soundlessly. Purpling-skinned corpse-eaters dropped to the ground unceremoniously and began to burn unwhite.

The door to the warrens was there; I noted the grill on it so gaseous vampires could pass through, AND it was right below a ventilation duct.

Well, what I had to do now would have to be done with speed.

The captives were all in jail cells, naked and chained to the wall, fully visible to everyone and everything, although they at least got to recline. They had wounds at throat and wrist, and were quite pale for their skin tones, which, I noted, spanned all the ethnicities for variety.

They were also all Charmed into obedience.

I burned a spade, and a Circle of Protection from Evil 10-foot radius went up; I blew the Slot to Sudden Widen it to twenty feet, which covered all of them nicely.

So did my Sound Bubble.

They were still Charmed, but the link to their controller would seamlessly go quiet. They all looked to be sleeping or exhausted anyways, so unless the vampire was actually paying attention, it shouldn’t even notice this.

A Chain Sleep spell out of Valence IV made sure they all stayed unconscious while I Repulse-picked the doors and their manacles, got them out, and then I flicked up six Card-Disks for them, curling up each of them on one per Disk. Then a Chained Protection from Evil card was stuck to their backs, making sure that control over them couldn’t be regained, even if the Circle was broken.

I could Dispel the Charm easily enough, but again, that would alert the vampires.

I directed my attention back above, making sure nothing had moved, and then down, where the ghouls seemed to be uneasy, but none were coming up the stairs to check on their fellows burning away.

The QD burned red. I had people and I was coming out.

I flicked up three Dispel cards to take care of the Sensors on the way. I would simply suppress them, not truly Dispel them. Dispelling them would be noticed the way the sound of a breaking glass would be, where setting the glass on the floor would not.

Very quickly, I began to make my way back upstairs, the six Card-Disks carrying the captives trailing smoothly and silently behind me.

I flicked Cards charged with Valences out, and Silver Magic crawled over detection spells and drained them of most of their power. I slid past without setting anything off, and even threaded the captives through the porn sets in the basement without waking anyone up.

I paused right before the door leading out as The Mountain came running through.