Brooklyn.
In front of a nightclub, an all black luxury car was parked by the roadside.
"The Lost Club," Natalia muttered as she looked at the giant sign.
"Yes, this is one of the only neutral zones in this city." Ruby, who was in the back of the car, responded.
"Neutral zones, a place where all supernatural races could interact, as long as they didn't cause any problems..." Natalia looked at Ruby, "Lady Ruby, you do realize this is merely an illusion they created, right?"
In the supernatural world, there was no such thing as neutral zones. A conflict could occur at any time, especially when several races were involved.
"Yes, I know... But in this place, there is an ancient witch who can help me with what I need."
Ruby grabbed a briefcase that was next to her, opening it to find a completely black robe.
"Ugh, it's times like these that I envy Violet's powers," Ruby complained as she began to cover herself with her cloak.
The black robe was a full-body magical tool that served to cover a vampire. The effect of the robe was simple: it prevented sunlight from passing through the robe and caused a minor illusion to cover the wearer's original appearance.
If anyone looked at Ruby, they would see her original appearance, but... In reality, she would be wearing a suffocating cloak.
"I hate this." Those were Ruby's honest feelings, and despite having been wearing robes like this for a long time, she still didn't like it.
"..." Natalia didn't say anything, just opened the car door and got out, walked towards Ruby's door, and opened it.
Finished with donning her cloak, Ruby got out of the car.
Now out in the open, she looked up at the sky and saw the sunlight, but despite this, she wasn't feeling anything: no heat, no sensation of the skin burning, nothing.
Sigh
She sighed, a little relieved. She didn't want to feel her skin burning. Despite being trained to withstand such pain, it was still not a pleasant feeling.
She looked straight ahead and said, "Let's go."
"Yes, Lady Ruby."
The two women walked towards the club, and the moment they walked through the door, a security guard looked at the two women.
Ruby removed her cloak and handed it to Natalia.
"Name." the Security guard spoke.
"Ruby Scarlett, this is my personal maid," Ruby spoke in a cold tone.
"S-Scarlett..." The guard struggled to process what he had heard from Ruby. This was because the owner of this establishment had always warned him.
"Be careful of people who have the surname Scarlett, Fulger, Snow, and Adrasteia..." And she always reminded them of the characteristics of these four Clans to her subordinates. The orders they had were simple: if any member of these Clans arrived at this place, no one would offend them! Especially the Scarlett Clan!
Ruby looked at the cameras, and she seemed to understand something. Soon, she started walking towards the entrance of the club.
Natalia followed Ruby in silence, a little curious about what Ruby was planning to do.
The security guard didn't even try to stop the women from entering; he was just too terrified. He had heard several stories of Clan Scarlett from his boss. Initially, he had thought that these stories were something along the lines of a scary story told to children in hopes of discouraging them from misbehaving... But…
When he saw the damage caused by Scathach in the Vatican, he began to believe these stories.
Although this had not been transmitted to the human world, all supernatural beings knew what had happened that day, six months ago.
Just what kind of monster jumps into the middle of enemy territory like it's something normal, kills all the enemy generals, and leaves!?
As an average human, he couldn't understand such irrationality.
...
"Hmm..."
"You look worried, Johnny. What happened?" Eddy asked.
"It's been six months since Jessica had last shown up, I wonder if something happened."
Eddy's eyes twitched, "...Are you still going on about that?"
"Of course," Johnny spoke.
"Sigh…" Eddy sighed.
"Wolves and vampires can't be together, stop this Romeo and Juliet bullshit. Honestly, it's getting annoying. You're just making trouble for yourself."
"…again, I say. That's none of your business."
"…" Eddy looked at Johnny coldly, "Oh yeah? In that case, do whatever you want, but know something..."
For a moment, Eddy's eyes glowed neon green, "I'm loyal to Madam. If you've brought trouble with the 5 great vampire Count clans, I will voluntarily turn you over to the lions."
"...Yes, I know that. Don't worry..." however, Johnny suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at Eddy, "Wait a minute, did you just say 5?"
"…Aren't you aware of the news? What a great mercenary you are."
"Spit it out! What's this about there being 5 counts? Weren't there just four?"
"That information is going to cost a lot of money." Eddy flashed a small smile as if everything went according to plan.
"You stupid fox." Johnny's eyes twitched as he realized why Eddy put it that way; it was a way to gain his curiosity.
"Ugh." In the end, Johnny was still curious about the new Count. He knew that any supernatural being could tell him this information, but he was too lazy to find someone else. Plus, it wasn't like Eddy's price was drastic like the other supernatural beings or witches...
"Okay, I will pay...-" When Johnny was about to accept Eddy's deal, he stopped talking and looked around the club.
Suddenly, the entire noisy club was deadly silent, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of music.
Johnny and Eddy looked for the reason for this, but when they looked at the entrance and saw a woman with long red hair, a curvy body, and green eyes walking in, they immediately understood what had happened.
'A beauty that can bring an entire room to silence...' Johnny thought as he stared at the woman with his mouth open.
'Shit, that crazy woman's daughter is here again.' Eddy facepalmed.
Although the way each of the men understood the situation was different.
The way everyone else looked at Ruby was the same: Fear. However, Johnny was not everyone else.
Johnny was about to get up, but the moment he tried, he was held down by Eddy:
"Forget it," Eddy spoke in a solemn tone.
"Huh?"
"She is one of the daughters of Scathach Scarlett, don't you see the characteristic red hair that is a trademark of Clan Scarlett?"
"…" Johnny swallowed hard when he heard what Eddy said.
Who was Scathach? Needless to say, even Johnny knew who she was. If he didn't, he wouldn't have survived as a mercenary for so long.
The rule was clear, don't provoke the Scarlett Clan, or that crazy woman would pay you a visit.
"If you were just any old idiot, I wouldn't mind you throwing your life away, but…you are the son of Adam, a former general of the king of the wolves. If you got yourself killed, your idiot dad wouldn't keep quiet."
"…" Johnny narrowed his eyes when Eddy called his father an idiot.
"Imagine the news." Eddy let go of Johnny's arm:
"Former General Adam's son provoked one of Scathach Scarlett's daughters."
"and not just any daughter, Ruby Scarlett. Scathach's favorite daughter."
"Johnny. Are you prepared to cause a war between the wolves and the vampires?" Eddy's tone was deadly serious.
Unlike vampires, wolves were very tight. If you attacked one, you attacked them all. Everyone knew this peculiarity, and this was one of the reasons why other supernatural beings did not attack the wolves that were part of a pack.
Even though Johnny was considered a lone wolf, a wolf that was out of the pack, his family was just very special, and they wouldn't keep quiet if one of their kids were killed.
Gulp.
Johnny swallowed hard, he wasn't a coward, but he wasn't stupid enough to do that.
"... You're exaggerating, I was just going to talk to her. After all, she's beautiful." Johnny sat on the bench again.
Eddy sighed inwardly in relief, but when he heard what Johnny said, he was speechless again:
"I wouldn't recommend doing that. I don't know what the relationship is between Ruby and him, but the new Count is a disciple of Scathach, and he's young. He won't be quiet if you do something to this woman."
"And the new Count… He's just insane. Seriously, what's wrong with that man?" Remembering the information he had received about Victor, he couldn't understand how he was so lucky.
How did that man manage to make friends with the three great clans?
"Oh?" Johnny was interested, "Tell me about the new Count, I will pay for the information."
"Well-..." When Eddy was going to talk about the new Count, he was silent and looked away.
"Where is Madam?" Ruby asked in a cold tone that sent shivers down Johnny and Eddy's spine.
"She is busy," Eddy spoke.
"..." Ruby just stared at Eddy in silence.
Feeling Ruby's gaze, Eddy broke out in a cold sweat.
"She really is busy. The new Count's appearance has left her mired with work since everyone wants information about the new Count."
"Hmm..." Ruby seemed to think of something.
Suddenly she said, "This is a service; in exchange for information about the new Count, your information network will support me with everything I need to know."
Gulp.
Eddy swallowed.
"...Can we refuse?" He really didn't want relations with Clan Scarlett.
"I am not my mother. Of course, you can refuse." Ruby spoke in a neutral tone.
"But... are you sure about that?" She displayed a cold smile.
"...?" Eddy didn't understand, he just looked at Ruby confused.
"The new Count is currently a hot topic, everyone wants information about him, and you're going to have access to that information... Do you know what that means?"
"...Money, prestige and influence."
They would receive a ton of money because of this information. Consequently, they would gain prestige in the supernatural world, and they would gain power and influence over some communities in the supernatural world.
"Right."
"But, that information would also paint a gigantic target on our backs." Eddy wasn't stupid. He knew that by getting this information and selling it, some groups wouldn't take too kindly to it.
Mainly the witches. Those greedy women wouldn't want to lose their monopoly.
"Risks and rewards. You won't grow if you don't take small risks."
'This is no small risk!' Eddy wanted to scream so much now.
'I think that being the daughter of Scathach, she probably doesn't understand the magnitude of the danger,' Eddy thought.
But his thoughts were completely wrong. Ruby understood the risks; she just didn't care too much.
Ruby wanted a personal information network for herself, and not just any information network, an information network that contacted all races.
Witches were good, but their prices were too high, and, in the long run, it was just a loss. She needed something for herself.
"…I don't understand something. Why are you talking to Eddy about this? Isn't he just a bartender?"
Ruby and Natalia looked to the side and saw a muscular man, and she immediately understood what he was. She could smell that wet dog stench miles away.
"Mongrel." Ruby's cold face distorted for a few seconds.
Ruby turned her gaze back to Eddy:
"Are you the type of organization to employ this type of Mongrel? No wonder Madam's network hasn't grown, despite spending so many years in this industry."
Crack!
Johnny broke the wooden counter:
"What did you just say, Bitch?" He growled angrily.
...
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