Daphne closed her eyes and activated her tattoo. The trail appeared in her mind''s eye like a golden rope floating on air.


    She followed it like the tracker that she was, bypassing the obstacles on her way even with her eyes closed.


    She moved around the estate with the surety of one who knew every nook and cranny but it was just a side effect of her tracking tattoo.


    She traced the vitality in the air, feeling it twist and turns. Important actions made by vampires, action involving a lot of vitality, left traces in the vitality of the air. Traces that couldst days, months or on rare asions, years.


    Every vampire could read those events but she went a step further, creating a tattoo that could read those traces even when only a tiny wisp remained and sometimes, only that wisp was enough for her to find what she was looking for.


    She''d tried tracing the rope of Genesis, the killer, but the rope was cut off abruptly as if she had been pulled into another dimension. That made her type of tracking useless. But now, she was tracking someone else.


    She traced the golden rope to a nexus. A ce where the rope met other golden ropes. She''d been here before.


    She opened her eyes to see that she was right. The trail had led her back to the now dark and empty ballroom. To the spot where Alfred had been stabbed.


    She looked around the room. This was thest trail. She''d followed seven trails, all starting here and ending here.


    Alfred had to have known that he would be tracked. Why else will he disappear like this while leaving trails that led nowhere?


    A slight frown appeared on her face. A trail that led nowhere?


    She closed her eyes, calling up the nexus in her mind. The golden ropes glowed brighter and she frowned. She looked closer.


    There!


    Hiding right in the middle of the nexus was a shimmer. A teleportation shimmer.


    She smiled. That smart bastard!


    He''d hidden the trail of the teleportation inside his trail''s nexus. He must not have teleported too far or the shimmer would have been brighter. In a word, it was clever. Very clever.


    But unfortunately, she was the tracker after him.


    She focused on the teleportation shimmer and activated the main ability of her tracking tattoo.


    The shimmer shined brighter before widening. She peered inside to see… a garden?


    Well, the destination was clear so she teleported. She disappeared from the ballroom to appear in a garden.


    Where was she?


    She looked around, saw what was in the distance and tilted her head.


    Just up ahead was the mansion. Alfred had teleported within the estate grounds. She looked around the secluded garden. Alfred''s real trail should be around here somewhere.


    She closed her eyes, the golden ropeing up. She followed it,ing to another shimmer. The rope she was tracking went over it but she still had to check what it was.


    She focused on the shimmer and peered inside. Through it she saw a rooftop. A very familiar rooftop.


    This was the ce where Michngelo and Lisa had teleported to after she''d left to go retrieve Genesis.


    She left the shimmer behind, following the trail until it stopped at a shimmer at the far edge of the property, right against the estate walls.


    This was it.


    This shimmer was very bright. To her tracking senses, it could not be hidden even if it was thrust inside the middle of a nexus. This meant Alfred had teleported to somewhere far. Somewhere out of the bounds of the city.


    She moved closer, calling up more vitality as she peered into the shimmer. A… basement?


    She shrugged. There was nothing that could stop her anyways.


    Gathering up the needed vitality, she prepared herself and disappeared, leaving silence.


    [][][][][]


    "More!" Alfredughed boisterously, raising his bottle of blood wine into the air.


    Of course, none of the women around knew it was blood wine. He took a swig,ughing. The women giggled as they draped themselves on him.


    This was it. The life he''d always wanted. A life where he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.


    He hadn''t known how much he had even wanted this life until he got it. He never knew how much he hated being at someone''s beck and call, forced to dress like a butler in a superhero movie.


    He''d thought he enjoyed the power that came with being James'' right hand man but he enjoyed his freedom now, even more.


    And that was why fear gripped him the moment he saw it.


    He wouldn''t deny shrieking like a kid, startling the women in the VIP section of the nightclub. Standing there in the shadows and illuminated intermittently by the shing lights was something or rather, someone, he recognized.


    "Shit!" He cursed, pushing the women off him and stumbling out of the VIP section. He had to get out of here. Now!


    He couldn''t risk teleporting away in a ce where he could be used of breaking thew of secrecy. He wanted to live longer, not die before his actual life even started.


    The moment he stumbled into the toilet, a handnded on his shoulder and he froze.


    "Oh, hello there, Alfred." James'' voice said casually from behind him.


    "M- my lord!" Alfred immediately dropped to a knee, his eyes fixed on the floor. Explore more at empire


    The boot clicked against the floor as the person behind him walked slowly to stand in front of him. "Look up." Hemanded.


    Alfred''s hands shook as he slowly lifted his head up.


    Looking down at him was a man as average as one could find. The only noteworthy thing about him was his wireframe sses. And his red eyes.


    His irises spinned slowly in his eyes even though Alfred could tell that he wasn''t a vampire. But for now, he was a vessel for one because James was inside of him.


    "My lord?"


    "I have tomend you." James chuckled. "You knew the exact time to run. If you didn''t, that… Attendant," he spat the word like it was a curse, "would''ve unraveled everything. Even now, he has one of his hounds after you."


    "Fortunately, I can track you to wherever you go. And it was super easy toe here. I didn''t even have to leave my estate."


    Alfred lowered his eyes. This was the power of James'' relic. He could be in a thousand ces at once by creating astral projections that could possess people. And the kicker, he could use his powers through them.


    He could use their bodies tomit crimes and they would receive the punishment instead of him.


    "Tell me." He said as he began pacing. "What do you think I should do to prevent you from dropping into the Attendant''s hands?"


    Hope rose within Alfred. "Hide me away?" He suggested hesitantly.


    "Good idea!" James nodded, delighted. He then crouched in front of the kneeling Alfred. He ced a hand on his shoulder. "I''ll hide you away. Forever."


    Alfred''s eyes widened as James activated the relic''s second ability and had no time to say anything before he was ripped out of his body, bing one of James'' army of projections.


    James stared at the soulless body slumped on the floor and brought out his phone. Luckily, he knew their number in this city. "Hello? Is this the Custodians?"


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