Work Text
Hellsalem's Lot was... It was a lot of things, if one were to speak honestly.
Dangerous things were everywhere, but if a city dweller were asked about it, he would say it was normal, the bread and butter of the city.
Leonardo Watch was in complete agreement.
He had arrived only 4 months ago due to certain personal circumstances, and since then he had seen all sorts of things. He told himself that if the city hadn't crushed him with so many chaotic situations he was thrown into, it was because he was too stubborn.
But it was still a little frustrating.
4 months of searching, and he hadn't found anything that would help fix what happened because of his cowardice, it only made himself feel more and more guilty, a feeling that he was destroying bit by bit.
'Ugh... It's going to ring already,' he said to himself as he checked his phone, there were 13 minutes left until his alarm went off, which indicated that he had to get ready for that low-paying job at a pizza place that didn't give him life insurance or anything.
In addition to working as a pizza delivery boy, Leonardo had recently been taking some short courses in programming to earn some extra money, which he was already doing.
If he could hone his skills, maybe he could make a living at it. It was one of his constant thoughts.
"Hmmm...", putting aside everything that was going through his head, he sat on the edge of the bed knowing he wouldn't go back to sleep.
He slipped on some warm slippers and stood up heading for the bathroom.
When he got there, he turned on the sink faucet, grabbed some water with both hands and dabbed his face to clean off the spittle.
He was about to go back to the bedroom and start putting on his uniform, but... an instinct made him want to look in the mirror.
There, he opened his eyes and looked at himself.
They were still there, the symbol of his cowardice, of a mistake that even if it cost him everything, he was going to fix.
The All Seeing Eyes of God
It was strange for Leo to wake up with such pessimism and a certain cynicism, which was directed at himself.
He had advanced his trip to Hellsalem's Lot by 4 months, and even with that wide margin, he hadn't gotten any answers. The closest thing to one came from a street witch who told him about a hospital where there was someone who could expand his knowledge on the subject,
That had been two weeks ago now and he hadn't had a chance to look any further into the mysterious hospital.
"Hey, another day in a city on the edge of sanity."
... ... ...
... ... ...
Dressed in his work uniform, Leonardo came out of the apartment where he was living only to find a scene that in a time gone by, he would consider strange.
"Why did we volunteer to do this? I should be designing weapons," complained a tall, dark-skinned man with very long, ashy black hair. He wore a long green coat as well as thick gloves and boots.
"Shut up. We can't complain or the sadistic bitch is going to step on my eyes again."
The other man had dark skin as well as hair that matched his white suit. From the tone in his speech, Leonardo knew instantly that he was someone who was here out of obligation more than anything else.
The situation the two men found themselves in was as follows: helping with the move of one of their co-workers, they had to start bringing in large pieces of furniture that could be placed in the apartment. Among those pieces of furniture was a couch, a favorite of this co-worker's and one she was reluctant to sell.
Conclusion: they had jammed the couch with the door frame and if they made the slightest sudden forceful movement, they would break the frame and the couch.
'I almost feel pity... Almost,' thought the young adult ready to ignore the situation, when a memory invaded his mind. 'Wait a second...'
Leonardo remembered going through a similar situation.
A department store team was unwise to bring their new desk into the apartment. Luckily, the landlady of the apartment called her son, a 'handyman' who disassembled the door frame with great speed.
"Hey, excuse me," he called to the two men. "If you're having trouble getting the couch in, you should talk to the landlady in the building. She can help you."
Not wanting to waste any more time, Leonardo turned around and started his way toward the stairs.
"... That's a very good idea," Zapp Renfro had to admit.
... ... ...
... ... ...
"What do you think you're doing, kid?!".
"Aaah!".
Startled by his boss's voice, Leonardo slipped and his forehead ended up hitting one of the decorative tools on the thing.
"Uuuhh...".
"Leonardo, why the fuck are you standing there like a limpet?".
"Uhmm... I heard we had an order, so I'm waiting to take it."
Leonardo's boss was still angry, but could be heard taking a deep breath to calm down a bit.
"Stevie, come here!".
From the male employee restroom, a non-human person ran out rather awkwardly. Like most non-human residents in Hellsalem's Lot, he had unique features such as a single eye, a mouth with more fangs than usual as well as blue skin and devoid of any hair.
"Leonardo, this is Stevie."
"Hello," the Beyondian greeted innocently.
"He's the new delivery boy for this establishment."
Everything around the young adult with special eyes froze.
The world lost its color and the billiards began to rise in his throat.
If it wasn't for the fact that this wasn't the first time this had happened to him, Leo's body would probably have started shaking with unease.
"... Does that mean fired?".
"What? By Hell no. Don't you remember you're starting in the kitchen today?".
Once again, Leonardo froze.
"Ah, fuck it. If I didn't know how clueless you are, I'd think you were suffering from amnesia or something."
Simply ignoring him, the pizzeria boss walked over to one of the lockers and with his set of keys, unlocked it. From there, he pulled out a full chef's uniform.
He took the uniform with everything and the hook from which it hung and threw it to Leonardo, then shouted something at him.
"Now, get to work, I'm not paying you because you're standing there like a lamp post!".
For the first time, Leonardo Watch was happy to hear those words.
... ... ...
... ... ...
It had been an eventful day.
The other two cooks at the pizzeria, a girl and another Beyondian, and Leo made a superb team, too bad they couldn't enjoy it as much because they had run out of materials in the kitchen at around 4 p.m., when they would normally close at 8 p.m.
The next two hours were spent setting up the place and waiting for more supplies to be delivered, which arrived too late so the boss decided it wasn't worth reopening since they were closed from 4 until 7.
Just as they were about to leave, Stevie invited them all to a stylish bar, one that, according to the Beyondian, "only businessmen with frustration to take out but who were too afraid of their wives to go to any other kind of bar went to."
Leo wasn't a big fan of alcohol, but he also didn't see the harm in spending some time with his coworkers.
So here he was, at 11 p.m. arriving at his apartment while having a slight headache that came on as he was walking up the stairs.
"Ugh... I don't understand, I just drank a diluted vodka with ice..."
It wasn't wrong to say that the boy with unusual eyes almost crawled towards his apartment.
However, there was a surprise waiting for Leonardo. And said surprise was in front of his apartment.
"Wow, looks like everyone is in a party today."
Filtering through the door of the apartment across the street, he could see lights of different colors. It was obvious that they belonged to a colored sphere like the ones used in clubs.
Likewise, I could hear some muffled music even through the door. Boy, this building insulated the sound well.
Shrugging his shoulders, Leonardo decided it was time to enter his "home".
He barely opened his door a crack when he heard a creaking sound and the nonsensical chatter of a female voice behind him.
That voice... In the back of his mind, Leonardo thought it had a certain charm to it.
"Hip... And he left early... aaaaaaaaaaaah."
Needless to say, but the woman was drunk.
Leonardo looked at her curiously for two reasons, the first being that he wondered why she had left so abruptly. And the second...
He had no idea what the second reason was.
In an instant, his mind registered his new neighbor's appearance: short black hair, slacks and a rather wrinkled white office shirt and dark purple eyes that someone could get lost in.
Leonardo Watch think she was beautiful.
'Wait, what?'
Said woman didn't even seem to have noticed Leonardo because as soon as she came out, she went back inside her apartment. It was then that the boy heard other female voices, although they were rather muffled.
Leo assumed they were her friends.
Now alone with his thoughts, the young Watch went over in his mind the scene that had just occurred, all to try to remember what was going through his mind at the moment.
He came to the quick conclusion that he was drawing a blank.
"That... that was weird."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was a horrible night.
Bad, terrible, blasphemous and who knows what other words Leonardo could use to describe his night.
"God, if you're listening, thank you for making today a day off," he said with difficulty, feeling the disgust that came from having a dry mouth.
He regretfully wiped his eyes, trying to digest the situation that had presented itself to him that morning. Leonardo was a reasonable and kind person by instinct, anyone would tell you that, but that was no guarantee that there weren't things that would drive him out of his mind.
Those things included the presence of a group of unknown women and his neighbor in his living room and his apartment door smashed in.
If the young Watch was anyone else, then it was a certainty that he would have called the authorities.These women were apparently aware of that fact because by the time Leo awoke, one of them was awake and beaming unlike her friends who were knocked out by alcohol.
She introduced herself as Emelina Anderson and pointed out her friends as Olga Stoliarov, Janet Barlow, Im Miyeon and Leo's own neighbor, Chain Sumeragi.
"Alcohol does scary things to people," was Leonardo's conclusion.
"You're not wrong, hehe," Emelina confessed ruefully. "When Chain started angrily banging on her door until she broke it down, I knew we had reached a new level of drunkenness."
The young man who inhabited the apartment where they staying muttered something sarcastic, but kept it to himself.
Unbeknownst to Leo or Emelina, a certain black-haired woman who at this moment wore nothing but a dirty office shirt and bluish athletic shorts that left little to the imagination was returning to vigil, snapped abruptly out of her reverie directed at her old apartment and the man she secretly loved intensely.
Somewhere in Hellsalem's Lot, a man named Steven A. Starphase suddenly sneezed, to which his friend Klaus kindly offered him a handkerchief.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggghhhhhhhh..." was the primitive sound that escaped Chain's mouth. It was like watching a mummy reanimate after an almost eternal lethargy or a stranded walrus feeling vitality returning to its being.
Except the vitality wasn't returning to Chain, quite the opposite, she felt like shit.
Her eyes had been replaced by dubious quality bulbs heating up to Planck's Temperature, her mouth had a nauseating taste permeating it and she felt like her body had been hit by a bullet train.
"Looks like Sleeping Beauty come back to life, too bad her prince isn't here," Emelina scoffed.
"That was unnecessarily cruel," said Leonardo casually as he turned on his PC, discovering he had a new email.
It was from Vivian, the waitress at Leo's favorite restaurant and his best friend.
As much as it was tempting to open and view the contents of the email right then and there, he had to deal with the situation unfolding in his apartment.
"E... Emelina? What the fuck happened last night?" Chain asked as she went about the titanic task of not burping, mostly because she felt that it would lead to something far more embarrassing that would have her locked in her apartment for the rest of the week until the grief passed.
Her reptilian brain suggested that it was a good way to form a bond with her new apartment, but she quickly dismissed the thought.
"Hmph, let's just say some things got out of hand aaaand... We broke into your neighbor's apartment."
Lucidity slammed into Chain with the force of a soccer ball and then she was aware of the critical look Leonardo Watch had been giving her all this time. An intense blush spread across her pale, normally stoic face, failing to find the words to say.
Seeing her hesitation, Leo's posture relaxed and he sighed wearily.
"You don't have to worry Miss Sumeragi, this is just an accident and nothing more. I won't call the police and that stuff."
"... Really?" instead of Chain, it was Emelina who asked the question.
"You took the trouble to explain everything to me, besides, I'm too tired to deal with everything that goes with calling the authorities... And nothing was stolen from me as far as I can see." That last part made Chain break out in a cold sweat.
Her memories of last night, clouded by alcohol as they were, were still vivid in her mind. Among them was one of her opening a refrigerator and mercilessly devouring a piece of cake with chocolate squares on top.
She prayed the boy wouldn't notice.
Unbeknownst to the Invisible Werewolf who was in an unprecedented predicament, her 'business' phone sitting in the bathtub of her apartment was ringing off the hook.
The caller ID was dialing Zapp Renfro's name.
... ... ...
... ... ...
"Tch, looks like she's indisposed," Zapp clicked his tongue as Chain's phone once again sent him to the mailbox.
"Come on, she's got three days off, let her enjoy it," commented the red-haired man who was typing furiously on an outdated looking PC.
He was Klaus Von Reinherz, leader of the organization known as Libra and current head of the Reinherz family.
And at this moment he was making the final arrangements so that once again, Libra could count on the support of Dog Hummer, a handsome man who suffered the great tragedy of getting on the radar of Aligura, the Queen of Monomania. She kidnapped Dog, tortured him and replaced his blood with the liquefied being that was Deldro Brody, a 'bad boy' according to Aligura.
Why did she do such a terrible thing to him? Simple: Aligura wanted to create the perfect boyfriend. Nothing more, nothing less.
That's how crazy she was.
And in that madness that knew no limits, a new plan to win back her 'boyfriend' was in the making.
... ... ...
... ... ...
"Hihihihihihihi, it's finally happening! Those Libra fools are bringing it straight to me, should I invite them to the wedding?"
In a psychedelic room in which Aligura found herself, several orbs that appeared to be floating eyes displayed different images of points of interest in the city, each one necessary for the grand and detailed plan she came up with just yesterday when information reached her ears that Libra needed her beloved's help for an unspecified mission.
However, among all those 'eye-cameras', there was one that was only there at the whim of the Queen of Monomania.
The images that appeared there were those of a tired, brown-haired young man who seemed to have his eyes closed all the time.
"I guess I'll need your help, Leo-chan."
"Stop using Japanese honorifics, dammit!" exclaimed a certain Femt angrily.
"Fuck off!"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"I mean you're being a little paranoid, but... this is Hellsalem's Lot, so you never know," said a tall, blonde woman wearing dark clothes, as well as a trench coat and an eyepatch.She was K.K., a recurring member of Libra, an excellent single mother, and a long-time friend of Steven A. Starphase."Sigh.
After her last mission, Klaus and all of us agreed that it was necessary to give Chain a break. And without her to stealthily follow the transport of Dug Hummer and Deldro Brody, we need this if we wish to avoid unnecessary complications in the form of The Queen of Monomania.""Hmph. I suppose I must give you some reason in that line of thinking. The last time such a large operation was conducted, we suffered a great deal of civilian and members casualties."The man's expression and the woman's turned bitter at the fateful memory. Even with the superhuman abilities of both, they had been easily neutralized. Had it not been for the timely arrival of Gilbert, Zapp and Klaus, that occasion would have been their last time on Earth."By the way Steve..." asked K.K with a frown. "Do you know anything about our mysterious visitor? Klaus is still a little upset about the mess in the library and in the Libra archive.""I wish I knew something. We're certain it wasn't a Blood Breed under an advanced invisibility technique, God only knows Lucky Adams' reaction if one of those bloodsuckers go through Libra's defenses like air.""But they haven't ruled out the other possibility...""Not at all. The little evidence points to only one possibility."K.K., could have sworn that Steven somehow brought the ambient temperature down to add drama to his statement."An All-Seeing Eyes user."... ... ...... ... ...Leonardo Watch stretched as the last of his companions in the pizzeria exited and proceeded to lock the back door. He tossed the keys into a nearby mailbox that his boss checked every morning before employees began arriving.All this day, however, Leo's mind was not on the present, but captive to the events of yesterday, a yesterday in which the peace of his humble apartment was shattered by his wild neighbor and her equally wild group of friends."At least they were kind enough to pay for what they ate..." muttered the brown hair boy with defeat.He wasn't lying to those women when he told them he wasn't mad at them, but if he had to be totally honest, Leo really wanted some rest after the erratic schedule he went through at his job when he thought he was going to get fired.The cherry on the cake was that... Leonardo Watch sucked at talking to women, not talking about beautiful women. He was a absolute mess.Sure, the two people closest to him in Hellsalem's Lot were women, but with Vivian, well, Leo's mind was strange and from the moment they met, it automatically blocked any possibility of developing attraction. It was as simple as saying that Leonardo was just looking for a friendship and vice versa.Now with the second person..."No, no. Not in a million years."Soon the lights and clamor of the nightlife were replaced by the warmth and minimalism of the building where her apartment was located. To Leo's surprise, there was a familiar face at the window of the building's landlady."Hmmmm... This is a robbery," exclaimed Chain Sumeragi under a slight grunt to moments later pull a card from her wallet. Leo's mind wanted to think it was a debit card, because he hated credit cards.Leonardo quickly assumed that if Chain was here facing the landlady, it was because she had kept her word and would pay for the new door that had been so kindly replaced in less than half a day.Knowing that he had no part in this conversation, he decided to go up to his apartment and get some rest. He was sure that tomorrow would be a busy day at the pizzeria."Don't complain so much brat," said the aging landlady, a woman around her 70's with eye-length gray hair, wrinkled skin and eyes hidden behind tinted glasses, by the name of Mi Dandan. "My daughter hurt her back going up the fucking door, the least you can do is pay what's fair," she said curtly but with a neutral tone, say, she wasn't mad at Chain, she just had a sailor's mouth.Meanwhile, Chain clicked her tongue, but nodded in compression. There was no way she could deny Mrs. Dandan's words.So it was that as she climbed the stairs, being close to reaching the hallway where her semi-new apartment lay, she failed to see that she was on a collision course with someone else. And as the world loves to be playful with people, that person was none other than Leonardo Watch himself."Aaah!" cried the invisible werewolf as she felt her foot step on something soft: Leonardo's own right foot."Wuaaah!" so sudden was it that Leonardo lost his balance.Chain's brain slowed down everything around her, seeing Leonardo about to fall.She didn't think it anymore and quickly grabbed him by his hoodie, pulling him closer to her. 'And even then he doesn't open his eyes...' she thought with amusement without catching the very faint blue glow filtering out of Leo's eyes.As for the young Watch, his mind was a mess. One moment, he was slowly climbing the stairs because of a dismal foreboding that came to him, the next he found himself falling as the shocked face of his neighbor invaded his vision.'She's pretty.'And once again, the intrusive thought of the night he met her came to him.Only this time nothing in the world could stop his nerves from winning the intense inner battle."Are you okay... Leonardo?" asked Chain with an awkward smile in an equally awkward attempt at informality."Y-yes... Thank you for the save, Miss Chain," Leonardo was mentally beating himself up for stuttering so much and if the warm feeling on his face said anything, it was that he had blushed furiously."No... you're welcome," the Libra werewolf woman was tempted to just say just that, it was something deep but deep in the back of her mind that made her keep opening her mouth. "I owed you for the whole, uhm, you know, breaking into your apartment with the girls and eating your slice of cake that you were apparently saving for a special occasion."She said in her usual tone of voice, a serious and bored one, which somehow only made it funnier.All embarrassment had vanished from Leonardo, replaced by his bemused self.Chain looked at him in confusion until it very gradually dawned on her what she said."I... I have to go.""Yes... Have a good night... Miss Chain.""... Likewise..."Leonardo was so disconnected from everything that he didn't notice at what moment his crazy neighbor disappeared behind her new door, but at least he caught the wail from beyond the grave that in the following years would inspire an urban legend among the humans and beyondians who lived and lived in that building."Why did I say all of that?!"... ... ...... ... ..."That... was something.""You're telling me. I didn't know you were such a casanova. Should I protect my purity from a stud like you, Leo-chan?""Huh?"So distracted was Leonardo that he didn't notice the giant greenish-iris eyeball floating in the kitchen area.And at the back of the apartment, a female figure lay sitting on his bed.It was easy for him to tell who it was. Especially since the woman jumped towards him and knocked him down."Aligura?!""The one and only!""... What are you doing here?" he asked matter-of-factly - and tiredly - as if he wasn't being held by one of the most dangerous beings in Hellsalem's Lot."Eeeeh? It's girls' night, Leo-chan! Put on your best sweatshirt and let's go out and burn some punks!""... But I'm a boy."Today such was the life of Leonardo Watch, the young adult seeking his redemption in the face of the actions of forces greater than himself."It's girls' night I said!"Leo's second friend in Hellsalem's Lot? Yes, that was Aligura."Sigh. Fine. Just please let's not do urban exploration again, I don't want to be chased by a Wendigo... Again."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
With her face burning at an astronomical temperature, Chain collapsed against the door of her apartment.The usually stoic member of Libra didn’t know what had come over her; she couldn’t understand why she had let herself get carried away and end up saying such embarrassing things. She prayed to any supernatural entity on the other side that none of her colleagues would ever, under any circumstances, find out.If Zapp heard about this, she was sure she’d commit murder. But if Steven found out... then she'd have no choice but to hole up in her apartment for the rest of her days."A bit dramatic, don't you think?"Chain's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected voice.There, sitting in the worn-out and only chair in the apartment, was her friend and member of the Werewolf Bureau, Emelina Anderson."... How much of that did you hear?""Enough to make you buy me drinks for at least half a year.""Uuuuuuuugh, what if I throw myself into an abyss?""Bah, cut the drama, it's not your thing. Although considering everything that’s happened, it’s not strange to see you out of your comfort zone.""You think?" Chain asked with obvious sarcasm. "Sigh, I'm supposed to be on vacation, so why do I feel more tired than when I'm on duty?""Oh, I could give you a list of reasons why you're feeling this way, but in my expert opinion," a Cheshire grin spread across Emelina's face, "you're missing your daily dose of 'watching Steven from the shadows in a non-creepy way.'"Chain’s already flushed face turned an even deeper shade of red at Emelina’s teasing, and as if that wasn’t enough..."Em's right! You should ask him out on a date already, girl!"From the bathroom, wrapped in a towel around her body and another around her hair, emerged Im Miyeon."... Have you been here the whole time?""What? Is that weird?""My apartment has been invaded..." Chain muttered in a tone of utter defeat. "Ha, I guess now I understand how my neighbor felt."Emelina and Miyeon exchanged knowing glances and giggled. It seemed the ever-reserved Chain was being pushed out of her shell, and her friends were determined to keep prodding her."Seriously, Chain, why don't you try something different for once? Life is short, and you never know when you might stop seeing someone," Miyeon suggested as she sat on the couch, completely ignoring the discomfort she was causing her friend."Besides, why hide your feelings? Steven is a great guy. Take a chance, and who knows, it might turn into more than just admiration from the shadows," Emelina added with a playful laugh.Chain sighed deeply, feeling the pressure from her friends wrap around her like an uncomfortable blanket. "You two are unbearable. And it's not as easy as it seems. What if I ruin everything? What if he stops talking to me? What if..."Emelina interrupted her, raising an eyebrow with a smile. "What if it's the best decision you ever make and it makes you incredibly happy?"The words resonated in Chain's mind, making her consider the possibility. Her gaze drifted to the window, as if hoping to find answers in the urban landscape of the city.Miyeon, with a more serious tone, approached her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Look, Chain, you don't have to take big risks right away. Just take one step at a time. Invite him for a coffee, share your thoughts. You never know how he might respond."Chain nodded slowly, but really, she's not going to do that.Both Emelina and Miyeon sigh, still enjoying Chain's momentary discomfort, knowing that, deep down, they were pushing her towards something that could change her life for the better.Having regained some control over her emotions, Chain collapsed onto her sofa, nearly causing the beers that Im and Emelina were holding to spill."Hey!" Im complained, with Emelina looking at Chain with clear amusement but also a hint of empathy. She had been in her place once.She couldn’t blame her for confusing feelings of debt and gratitude; after all, among them, Chain was the most inexperienced when it came to social interaction that didn’t involve the task at hand or some personal scheme.On the other hand, having a neighbor with the patience of a saint and being the ultimate goody-two-shoes didn’t help.
... ... ...... ... ...“You really want to turn me into a criminal.”Bathed in the night lights of Hellsalem's Lot, in what could be described as the back of an armored van painted like something out of a Lovecraftian hallucination, Leonardo Watch looked at Aligura with a mix of annoyance and intrigue.He knew this would happen sooner or later. Sure, they shared a strange kind of friendship to the point that the Queen of Monomania considered him her best friend and vice versa, but even so, favors had to be repaid."Come on, Leo-chan~! It's not as bad as it seems. You're doing this in the name of love!"He wasn't so sure about that. Besides, considering the story about Deldro Brody and Dog Hummer... It seemed like something straight out of a snuff film, but in the end, these months in Hellsalem's Lot had shown him that Aligura wasn’t lying; it was indeed a way to express her twisted love.‘Even so, it’s mild compared to a love-struck Blood Breed...,’ Leo thought with a shiver running down his spine. Better not remember that."By the way, Leo-chan," suddenly, Aligura's tone and expression turned serious in a way that didn’t suit her, "did the Libra files help?"Right.Leonardo Watch was playing along with Aligura on this “girls’ night out” because, after all, she had been his accomplice in the most stupid and reckless thing the boy had ever done in his life: stealing old and recent records from Libra.Initially, he would have liked to join them, to have their help willingly, but... he couldn’t do it.Not until he knew who the hell had sent a Blood Breed on that cursed day, the same day he met Two of the Thirteen Kings; Femt and Aligura, and learned that there was One interested in his eyes for sinister plans.“There was one thing…” Leo frowned. “Apparently, the Beyondians in the past had a sacrifice ritual to obtain various divine prosthetics. Want a new heart? Offer the life of your lover. Want to see everything? Offer the sight of a loved one... There can be multiple Eye users at a time, but only ONE will be chosen by Riga El Menuhyut when the time comes.”"Huh, so that creepy ophthalmologist knows something big is going to happen and wants a record.""Basically."Aligura seemed to be pondering something, searching for the words to express it before getting frustrated at her inability to do so and starting to throw a tantrum. Leo had to calm her down while apologetically smiling at the passersby.Thus, he didn’t get a chance to tell her about the other thing he had found in the files, very important information about people who could help him.He would have to pay a visit to the Bradbury General Hospital.
... ... ...... ... ...
Velved Rheinkeimer found her current situation uncomfortable. Even having regained her senses only to a certain degree as a ‘proof’ of her benefactor’s generosity, she couldn’t shake off the paranoia.If she had risked entering Hellsalem's Lot and getting on the radar of Libra or the Werewolf Bureau, it was because her benefactor had asked her to. She had no idea why he would go to such lengths to obtain a moldy book, some sort of log if Velved had to guess.She could hear the benefactor approaching by sheer luck.It was a very tall figure, moving on spider-like legs made of metal, a large, ragged dark cloak covering its body, and thin pincers for arms. It wore a top hat, and beneath it was a curious mask, with a skull on the side that had a single eye glowing with a nauseating violet light.“I see you’ve fulfilled your part, and impeccably at that,” said the figure in a refined voice.“I don’t see why I wouldn’t, you promised me an audience with the King of Hypersensitivity and something else, some compensation I still don’t know what it is,” Velved replied.“Indeed, I suppose I wasn’t entirely honest,” the creature moved its insect-like appendages, searching for something inside its cloak.Velved could see it pulling out some kind of pale arm with visible veins, coursing with a greenish substance that emitted a faint glow.“What…?”“This, my dear, is one of many Divine Prosthetics, given for a purpose. I believe it’s fair compensation for something as valuable as the Cursed Log of Nostradamus. Of course, along with your meeting with Zeodra.”The woman’s surprise soon turned into a voracious smile.“Ha, what the heck. It’s much more than I expected.”“Hmm, for your information, Dr. Gamimotz always keeps his end of a deal,” the creature made a strange sound that seemed to be a laugh.