"I thought the chances of us seeing each other again were pretty slim."
"Your taste in real estate is honestly questionable."
"It's cheap here. I actually like it. The neighbors are friendly, there are no salesmen, and you don't see cops patrolling all the time. Life's pretty relaxed. So, tell me, what does my oldest friend want with me now?"
"Today, videos from Manhattan went completely viral. If I'm not mistaken, that weapon was your handiwork, right?"
"Yeah, it was."
Lynn didn't bother hiding anything—Blade had always known his secret. There was no point in denying it.
"But I thought you wanted to talk about vampires. How did this become a conversation about my inventions?"
Behind his sunglasses, Blade fixed his gaze on Lynn, as if trying to read his face, heartbeat, and even his pulse.
Lynn's expression was perfectly calm. His heart rate was steady. Not a flicker of nervousness.
"Before we get into it, I want to confirm a few things."
"Of course, ask whatever you want."
"What are you really after?"
"You mean what Jekyll did in Manhattan today? Just a little show of force, that's all. Anything else you want to know?"
"You know I'm asking about something deeper. Money, fame, power, revenge—everyone's after something. But with you, I can't see any of those motives."
Lynn started to catch on to what he meant.
"Is that really so important to you?"
"No one wants to work with a lunatic. You never know when they'll do something crazy."
"Honestly, I think your question's a bit out of line. How about we trade questions instead? That way, it's fair for both of us. Some transparency would do us both good."
Blade didn't answer, but Lynn took his silence as agreement. Otherwise, he would have already walked out.
"Even after getting your revenge, you're still obsessed with vampires?"
"Someone's got to do this. As long as it means fewer missing persons in New York every year, why shouldn't I keep at it? Besides, there's no reconciling things between me and them."
Lynn picked up the remote and turned on the TV. On the screen, Obadiah Stane was in the middle of an aggressive interview. The background noise from the broadcast filled the room as Lynn spoke.
"Yeah, you've always been pretty clear about your purpose."
"That's not even a real question."
At that moment, Obadiah Stane's voice grew louder on the TV.
"Tony is just experiencing some psychological issues due to recent events. This matter will require the board's full attention."
What followed was just a string of excuses and evasions, but it was clear that Obadiah had no intention of leaving the weapons business.
Lynn couldn't care less about Obadiah Stane's opinion.
"What do you think this guy is after?"
"The same things the vampires are."
"You don't say much, but you always hit the nail on the head."
Lynn turned to Blade with a smile.
"If I told you I wanted pretty much the same things, would you believe me?"
"Then you should be living in Deacon's tower, playing hide-and-seek with kittens. Be straight with me, Lynn Sidis."
"Hahaha, you really don't pull any punches. Fine, what if I said I wanted to save the world—would you buy that?"
"..."
If this were some kind of sitcom, Blade would've tilted his sunglasses to the side, revealing one eye and gaping at Lynn in disbelief.
But this wasn't a sitcom, so Blade just pushed his sunglasses up a little higher.
"You're not joking, are you?"
"Of course I'm joking. But, for now…"
Lynn pulled out a sheet of pitch-black paper from his jacket. It was a page with no writing on it, only dark red, ominous runes flowing across its surface, radiating a sinister aura.
"You know what this is, don't you? You've seen it before."
"So, the page Deacon Frost had is in your hands."
"That's right. It's an extremely dangerous thing. Deacon has one, and I suspect other vampires do too. I want this book. Don't worry, I'm in my right mind. If you don't believe me, you can take the page and check for yourself."
With that, Lynn handed Blade a page from the Darkhold.
"Want to touch it?"
The phrasing was a little odd, but Blade didn't seem to mind. The sheet in Lynn's hand felt weightless and gave off no sense of danger.
Blade reached for the Darkhold page.
Suddenly, a bizarre sensation erupted in Blade's mind, as if his blood began to boil. His hand froze mid-air, with his subconscious trying to stop him from touching the Darkhold.
"What's wrong?"
Blade looked up to see Lynn's face, which certainly didn't inspire confidence.
But in the end, Blade still wanted to know what Lynn was up to, and what made Deacon Frost so obsessed with this thing.
So, he reached out and touched the page of the Darkhold.
"Ah!!!"
The instant Blade touched the page, countless eldritch whispers flooded his mind. His blood boiled, and his brain was assaulted by a torrent of wild and incomprehensible knowledge. His pupils began to flicker with a faint red light.
As a half-vampire and, in a sense, a creation of Chthon, the Darkhold affected him even more than ordinary people.
Even with some degree of resistance, Blade wasn't immune.
"Alright, that's enough."
Lynn's voice broke through the haze, dispelling the influence of the Darkhold. The whispers, the shadowy magical knowledge, the strange ideas, and the unspeakable prophecies—all faded away, like waking from a nightmare. The crimson-tinged ambition and swelling desire quickly receded under the control of reason. Blade was left gasping for air, as if he had just come back from the edge of death.
He slumped onto the coffee table in front of Lynn, faint traces of purple light fading from his back. Lynn stood up, patted Blade on the shoulder, and headed to the kitchen.
"I've only got coffee and juice. You want one?"
"Got any water?"
"I'll put some on to boil."
A few minutes later, Blade had finally caught his breath. Lynn handed him a glass of cold water while making himself a coffee.
"How can you just carry something like that around and be totally fine?"
"I'm not really sure. Maybe it's my superpower. At the very least, this book doesn't affect me too much. That's not to say it has no effect at all—like you saw, I don't sleep well at night anymore."
Not that Lynn ever slept much to begin with.
"Let me put it this way: right now, all I want to do is recover the Darkhold. You've seen firsthand how terrifying it is. Deacon has a page, and you saw how crazy he got."
"Good thing I didn't try to take that thing back then. That feeling wasn't pleasant at all."
"You get now why it's so dangerous, right?"
"I thought you were just joking about wanting to save the world."
"It's a joke, but right now, I just want to collect the Darkhold pages and keep them under control."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a joke—especially if you knew what was going to happen to this planet later on.
Lynn wasn't sure if things would go as far as the Celestials pruning the universe, but a certain Mad Titan was definitely going to invade Earth. He always did.
Blade ignored Lynn's musings and took a moment to gather himself, pulling his consciousness back from the horror he'd just experienced.
"Do you know about the blood covenants?"
"I know a little."
It looked like Blade didn't plan to keep grilling Lynn any further. Blade couldn't see himself just casually carrying the Darkhold, but after seeing it up close, he had more to say.
"One of the blood covenants might have something like what you have."
The Darkhold?
Lynn had expected it would be a while before the next page of the Darkhold showed up. He was genuinely surprised to get a lead so quickly.
Maybe the Darkhold had a way of finding itself.
"Tell me more. How do you know this?"
According to Blade, after destroying Deacon's operation, he was temporarily without a target. But he'd made some friends—regular people who had suffered at the hands of vampires, and together they'd formed a loose alliance.
They weren't very skilled at hunting vampires—pretty inexperienced, honestly.
Blade probably wouldn't have bothered with them in the past, but after everything that had happened, his mindset had shifted a little. He started helping them fight vampires, even if just for a short while.
These rookie vampire hunters had their own network. They'd been fighting vampires for years, and their leader was rumored to be a descendant of Abraham.
While helping them, Blade uncovered a deeper truth.
That was the Six Blood Covenants.
Claw, Nosferatu, Atlantis, Mulanxa, Secret Keepers, and Scylla.
"I saw them moving something while I was infiltrating one of Nosferatu's secret warehouses. It was a really thick book, and it gave me the same feeling as that page you have."
"A whole book? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. There's no way I'd mistake it."
"Maybe one of the Darkhold pages is embedded in that book."
The prospect of another page of the Darkhold definitely piqued Lynn's interest.
"So you came to me for help? No offense, but you know how this works between us. This isn't a casual chat about the weather."
As much as he was interested in the Darkhold, from what he'd learned from Maria, the Six Blood Covenants were no joke. Even in New York, the city was just a small part of their overall power.
He didn't want to get tangled up with them—at least not right now.
But Blade had come prepared. He had leverage that Lynn couldn't easily refuse.
"What if I have something you want?"
"The Darkhold isn't in Nosferatu's hands, is it? That's not enough to make me bite, my friend."
"Of course not."
As he spoke, Blade produced a small vial containing a piece of metal.
"This is my real bargaining chip."
"Hmm?"
Lynn was immediately interested. He hadn't seen anything like this since coming to New York. Technically, this stuff should be resting at the bottom of the sea in Atlantis or Lemuria.
"This came from a raid on a Claw base. It's just a small piece. I'm not sure how valuable it is, but considering how heavily guarded that base was, it took some work to get it. There wasn't much of interest in the whole place, but I found this in a really well-hidden compartment. I figured you'd want it."
"I definitely do. What do you want in exchange?"
"I want to destroy the Nosferatu blood covenant in New York."
"I need help. Funding, manpower—the works."
Blade left the vial behind and walked out alone. He knew Lynn wouldn't give him an immediate answer.
Lynn didn't try to stop him. Instead, he picked up the metallic object and examined it closely.
He hadn't analyzed it yet, but he had a hunch what it was. Even a small amount of this material was worth its weight in gold to him.
"Blade, you really do find me the most interesting jobs."
He dusted off his clothes and headed out. This time, he didn't bother taking his old car.
About ten minutes later, Lynn arrived at Deacon's building, which was undergoing a complete renovation. Most of the changes were happening on the first floor, where several new storefronts were being built for lease.
Even at night, construction was in full swing. Many workers were motivated not just by money, but by the pressure Maria put on them. Of course, the pay was more than fair.
Inside the laboratory, Kara stood behind Lynn holding a tablet.
"Doctor, any new orders?"
"No, just speed up the construction. How's Connors doing?"
"He visited his daughter recently. He's in good spirits. He said he hopes the Kronos Charity Hospital opens soon."
"Are we ready to change the building's name?"
"We'll announce it when the hospital opens."
"Alright, let's do that."
After about half an hour, Lynn figured out what the metal was using the available equipment.
"Vibranium…"
The blood covenants actually had their hands on Vibranium. According to Blade, he only managed to get a piece the size of a tennis ball, but even that was more than enough for Lynn.
Maria couldn't get her hands on any high-end materials, and Deacon's money wasn't enough for Lynn to go out and manufacture his own.
Lynn shook his head with a smile. It looked like he had no choice but to accept Blade's terms. Who knew why vampires had so much Vibranium?
"I'm not about to let a prize like this slip through my fingers. Not when they have another page of the Darkhold, too."