A New Form
Ludwig was in a new pair of clothes since his clothes were damaged during his fight with Jonathan. It was nearly the same as before, and he fought Jonathan. He was in the kitchen making himself tea as Jonathan and Liam sat at the table.
"Been a long while since I made tea for myself," Ludwig commented.
Jonathan was wearing a new pair of casual clothes as he looked at the underground maps, and Liam looked confused.
"Where could this man be hiding down there?” Jonathan thought of places where the Ripper might be hiding underground in London.
"I think it would be better for him to come to us," Ludwig said, stirring his pot. "He is not moving from his last encounter with me."
"Right, he’s only planning to lay low for now. But it may be dangerous for us to stay here," Jonathan says, looking at him.
"I have a place for us to stay. It was where I was for the month I was looking for Jack. We could take that to keep our traveling a secret. The only way to get there is by underground. This place is a secret shelter for the safety of the order if things ever go south."
"Oh, a secret base. That sounds cool," Liam looked excited.
"I thought you were leaving London?" Jonathan asked.
"Well, my family left London by now, but when I heard something was happening here, I ran as fast as possible. But when I returned to the station, they had left and will now be in Scotland for a while. It’s alright because things are getting pretty interesting here," Liam explained.
"It works out with Alucard also gone for a while. We are down a master hunter. But we also worry that the Orlok Trope and Jack could still wander underground. But they would not expect us down there in the heart of the enemy territory," Jonathan said as he folded up the map.
Ludwig brings over the tea kettle and pours three teacups. "Now, how will I explain our little fight to Jay?"
"I think he will get over it," Jonathan says, taking a sip before he spits it out. "This tastes like shit."
"Ah, sorry, it’s been a while, but I meant the damages. He’s going to be pissed to see what we did in the entrance."
"Hire a carpenter to fix it. I am sure Victoria will not return for a while after that scene."
"I never knew you hooked up with Victoria. How long have you two been seeing each other?" Liam asked.
"We kept it secret for about a year, but the cat is out of the bag now. She is having our child..." Ludwig said before, and now he feels guilty for his reaction.
"You’d better make up with her, Jester. You thought that fight was bad then, you're in a world of hurt next time," Jonathan glares at him, saying that.
"Sorry to make it awkward for you two. But this would make you brother-in-laws now, right?" Liam looks at them.
"If Victoria takes him, he's not out of the waters yet. She's going to show him hell when she returns, and I won't do a thing to hell," Jonathan gets up. We leave tonight when it gets dark. They will think we are hunting the streets, but it's unknown if they are still hiding after what you did."
"Probably not, it’s been a whole month since I destroyed their camp," Ludwig commented.
Later that night, they were all dressed in their demon-hunting attire, and Ludwig was carrying a leather bag of clothes for himself, Jonathan, and Liam. They followed Ludwig to a bookcase in his lab, and he moved it over to reveal a dark tunnel. Ludwig looked a bit terrified since he was still afraid of the dark.
"Mind you step, Jack could be hiding in the hallway," Jonathan smiled.
"Ah, fuck you," Ludwig creates a fireball to make a light source that floats.
"Huh? Wait, you’re afraid of the dark?" Liam finally finds this out. "How long has this been?"
"Since that night, my mother was killed. I am not scared, but I still hate not seeing..." Ludwig would look down the tunnel now and see in the dark.
He finally realized this, as he had not noticed it when he had been down here for a month. Being awakened to his demon lineage gave him this ability.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Jonathan.
"I can see in the dark now. I was blinded by vengeance for the ripper," Ludwig said as he looked forward.
Jonathan sighs in disappointment, "I swear, I feel like you are the most idiotic man I have ever met."
"Well, let's get moving then with this revelation. It may make travel easier and more secretive," Ludwig smiles.
They followed him down the tunnel, entering the London Underground, a labyrinth under London. They saw that it was a vast underground tunnel before them.
"There are still creatures down here. Demons love it down here because it is so dark. Creatures use this place to escape us; some may linger here. Be careful, my friends. We don't know what waits for us down here in the dark with us," Ludwig explained.
"I already smell a few presences around this area," Liam looks around.
"Vampires or a human?" Jonathan asked.
"No, they are creatures for sure. But as long as you listen to me, we should be able to avoid them," Liam smiled.
"I would not worry. We are a strange trio down here: a half-demon, a dark vampire, and a werewolf. They should be trying to avoid us," Ludwig says as he leads them to a shelter.
Jonathan is starting to see some old Ludwig returning since their fight a few days beforehand. But they should try to avoid fighting for a bit, as he and Ludwig still have injuries from that fight. Ludwig may have healed faster than him, but it was slower than usual, as it also took a toll on him. They travel through the tunnels before they reach a wall with a strange symbol.
Ludwig inspected the wall before them, got his demon-hunting pendant, and placed it on the symbol. This opened the wall to a staircase, and he headed up to a room for a briefing. This was a shelter for hunters who were injured in the fight. He turned on the lights.
"Welcome to one of the thousands of these shelters around the underground of London," Ludwig responded.
"Whoa, I never knew we had these down here," Liam looked impressed.
"These tunnels were prime hunting areas back in my father's day, but have been abandoned. We will abandon them once we get more numbers for our order. We have had enough rations and water for a while now. But first, we set up our surveillance system."
"To think you survive a whole month down here. I am impressed by you, Jester," Jonathan commented.
"We are not out of the park yet."
Later that day, Ludwig and Jonathan looked through a terminal at camera footage around the city and the underground, looking for the Orlok trope and Jack. Jonathan watched him on the terminal and thought that he must have done this for a month straight, and he seemed a bit disappointed.
Ludwig sees this and asks, "What is wrong? Is there something I am doing that is bothering you?"
"No, it's just that I realized you must have been like this for the last month, looking for the ripper."
"Well, you’re not wrong. My obsession was pretty bad trying to find that bastard, but he may be avoiding even walking in the light in the tunnels now. But I did find us a lead."
He shows him the screen and sees a group of vampires from the Orlok Trope heading for the surface through a maintenance hole leading up the sewers and then to the city.
"Well, Jester. It seems you're ready to come back as a demon hunter. Let us get our hound, and we'll be off," Jonathan says, getting up.
"Yes, sir," Ludwig agreed.
The Orlok Trope started to attack the Frye Order Hunter in the streets of London, as one of the Frye Hunters was on the ground in front of a vampire who was the leader of this attack. He wore what looked like a flamboyant outfit and wielded a rapier in his left hand. He was wearing a sparrow mask with a fancy, large hat. He was one of Orlok Trope's star performers, and his name was Bon the Aerobatic. The Hunter before him was Tom Sawyer, one of the future leaders of the expansion to the other city of England.
"I expect more from you, Hunter. Your leader killed my brothers in our main camp," Bon, as he stood over Tom.
Tom looked up. He was injured, "Fuck you and your brothers. You’ve been terrorizing the innocent people of this city. Even if I fall here, hunters will rise to stop you bastards."
"Let them come, I will make sure to kill anyone who serves the Frye Order that comes at us."
Bon raises his blade, ready to finish Tom for good, but he sees a red string appear around his arm to move him out of the way of Bon's sword. Bon looks over and sees that Jonathan was the one who saved him.
"Dracula, come to save your men as we slaughter them," Bon glares at him.
"He did not come alone," Ludwig said, appearing behind Bon.
"Lord Frye!?" Tom was shocked to see Ludwig, as he heard he was suspended.
"Ah, Ludwig Frye, you coward, you finally show your face to me. You have some nerve for killing my brothers," Bon looks at him, ready to avenge his Trope.
Ludwig draws the Lightbringer, "Give up then, unless you want to join them in hell with your master. You already ticked me off by attacking my city."
"You sure you’re taking him alone?" Jonathan asked.
"Of course, I am done being hunted by these freaks," Ludwig holds his sword up.
They watch as something strange happens. Ludwig grabs the blade of the Lightbringer with his left hand, cutting it open. Bon is confused as he watches. Ludwig lifts his left hand over his face.
"I will show you the true power of a demon who is part of the Black family," Ludwig says as his bloodied hand forms a mask around his face.
They see that Ludwig's iron mask has changed since Jonathan last saw it. It looks like a faceless iron helmet with two devil horns on the side. It is demonic and dark crimson. They also see what looks like two gauntlets form around his hands, which have talons on the tips of the fingers. Ludwig's ears get pointy at the end.
"What the hell?" Tom looked confused.
I see in our last fight you found a way to control your demonic powers, Jonathan thought as he saw this appearance.*
Ludwig swings his blade as he emits a black aura around him. "Sorry for the wait, vampire. I am still new to this power of mine. But you should make a great test subject for this new form of mine."
"Now I see why Greese wants you dead. I will bring your head on a platter as we dine on your blood," Bon said before he saw Ludwig disappear before him.
Ludwig appears behind, his blade at Bon’s neck. "You’d better watch your neck before threatening people. But now I can tell this will be child's play to defeat you."
Bon was surprised Ludwig could get by him easily, Jonathan and Tom being the same, as Ludwig's speed increased in this form he is using.
"You bastard," Bon says as he turns and swings his sword.
Ludwig blocks the attack from the vampire and parries him with ease. He goes for a slash which Bon uses his athletic and does a back flip to avoid the attack at the right moment. Ludwig sees this and is amazed by his movement, but then goes in for another attack, and Bon uses his blade to block the attack from him. But he sees a black sword handle coming out of Ludwig's chest, which he grabs with his left hand and takes out a black sword, which looks like the Lightbringer.
"Another blade?" Bon confused.
"Yes, a sword created by the power I inherited from my mother’s demonic lineage. I call this sword, Darkbringer."
Ludwig starts to wield both the sword of his mother and the sword of his father in both hands and begins to overwhelm Bon as he slashes at him with both his weapons at a fast speed, which only gets faster by the second, until he can disarm Bon of his gun.
"It's over," Ludwig slashes with both his blades, making a cross cut on Bon’s torso, which was the final blow to him. Bon falls to the ground, bleeding from his wound.
"You bastard..." Bon would say before he was put to sleep by Ludwig using sleep magic.
"Good work,” Jonathan says as he walks forward.
Ludwig reverts to his human form, and the armor breaks into dust. But he sees the Darkbringer still in his hand, as it seems to be its sword, like the Lightbringer.
"Thanks. Now we have a source to get information on our targets," Ludwig looks at Bon on the ground.
"Yes, we shall take him back to headquarters for questioning," Jonathan agreed with his plan.
Tom comes over, "Thank you, Lord Frye, for saving us from these vampires."
"Of course, I may have been selfish for the last month, but I am back and here to help end our war with the Orlok Trope," Ludwig smiled at him.
