The Firelands

35 - Midnight City

13thday of the fourth Month, Joker's Moon

1:45 pm

Midnight City

Incendio stared at the city before him... then grimaced.

"Egh," he muttered, pulling a most unattractive face, "Well this is... dark."

One of the main streets of Midnight City stretched out before the group and it was in the middle of what had been a glorious early spring day and now... it was the middle of the night... yet still the middle of the day... that was confusing.

"Where did the sun go?" he demanded, glaring at Kalen like he had personally blotted out the sun and this was all his fault, which it partly was because he had forcefully stirred the group in the direction of the city over the past week and a half.

"Incendio," Zedkiel, his voice calm like normal, but firm and Incendio ears flicked slightly. Alright, maybe this wasn't the time to be getting at Kalen. Kalen looked sick, and he'd been looking sick – and sicker yet as the days went on – for the past week. They weren't sure what was wrong with them. He said it was probably a fever; that he was prone to them in the cold months, but Zedkiel said it looked more than just a fever. His skin was too pale, he had bags under his eyes because he wasn't sleeping, and for the past three nights combined he couldn't have had more than ten hours sleep at most, and it was sporadic at best. He hadn't talked much for the last four days, didn't even snap at Zedkiel when the elf fussed over him though he was more aggressive to Incendio.

Since yesterday, he had also been sporting a constant sheen of sweat across his face. Zedkiel had been desperate to stop at one of the villages they had passed and stay there until Kalen was better, but Kalen had snarled – and not just his usual small snaps and growls – it had been a truly hair raising snarl that made the other three back away from him fast enough to almost fall over each other.

He had been determined to get to Midnight City and that wasn't going to be argued over.

"So," Incendio ventured as they slowly made their way down the street, looking around at all the people who moved and acted like it was just a normal day of work or school or whatever, and the fact that it was night time didn't bother them. "Why's it night time? We're not going to meet anymore Bygone Brides are we?"

Zedkiel was about to answer when Kalen spoke up, without looking up, his gaze still dropped towards the pavement, his heels catching against the ground every now and then, meaning you could hear his footsteps.

"It's a vampire city," he muttered. Incendio leant forwards to look past Theth. "I mentioned it to Zedkiel, vampires before their transition cannot drink blood and cannot go out in sunlight. Vampire cities are cities that are constantly in darkness, making it a safe place for vampires to raise their families." He paused for a moment, the breath he struggled to draw in audibly rasping against his throat before he continued. "Creatures of the Night live in these cities, but vampires are the ones that are famous for using them, because they were the major targets of Night Hunters before that civilisation was disbanded by the Gods."

"Is that why you wanted to come here? Because it is a vampire city?" Zedkiel asked.

"You told me you would research the dreams at the next city," Kalen said, rubbing his eyes and gripping Zedkiel's arm to balance himself, "I want you to research the dreams."

Zedkiel sighed as he slid an arm around Kalen's waist, resting Kalen's arm over his shoulders. Before Kalen had backed away too quick for Zedkiel to see, saying that he was all right, that he didn't want help. This time, Kalen almost collapsed against him, his head dropping onto Zedkiel's shoulder as he struggled to draw in another breath.