Mario's involvement didn't bother the three thugs at all; if anything, it only seemed to fuel their strange excitement.
"You go first, man!"
"Nah, nah, you should get first dibs!"
"How about the new guy goes first? Show us how it's done!"
The three kept deferring to each other as they followed Eva deeper into the side street.
Mario couldn't help but twitch his eyes.
This is really fucked up...
"Alright, I'll take the lead then."
He stepped forward, moving toward the black vampire. Eva's eyes met his, and for just a moment, her smile widened.
"A handsome Italian boy," she purred, licking her lips slowly. "I haven't had one of your kind in—"
CRACK.
Before the seductive look could fully form in her eyes, Mario leaped forward and struck her skull with his stone axe, sending her across to the concrete. The sudden violence caught the three thugs completely off guard.
"Holy shit, hermano! You were supposed to fuck her, not kill her!"
All three men whipped pistols from their waistbands, aiming them at Mario with shaking hands. Garcia, the nervous Mexican leader, stammered: "Yo, man, don't fucking move or I'll put a bullet in your—"
An inhuman roar cut him off mid-sentence.
Eva scrambled to her feet, her human disguise dropping away. Her eyes blazed red, fangs extended, and she launched herself at Kerry, the thug who was still gaping in shock instead of keeping his gun on the threat.
"HELP ME!" he screamed as claws raked across his chest and Eva's fangs sank into his neck.
The other two thugs swung their pistols toward the vampire, but hesitated, Kerry was directly in their line of fire.
"What the fuck is this thing?!" Garcia shouted.
Mario didn't hesitate. He brought his axe around in a horizontal sweep, sending Eva flying backward. She tumbled away from Kerry, landing in a crouch like a cat.
But it was already too late for Kerry. He clutched his bleeding neck with both hands, blood seeping between his fingers as he babbled incoherently: "She's crazy! She fucking bit me! The bitch bit me!"
Still in shock, he raised his pistol with trembling hands and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed off the alley walls as the bullet hit Eva's shoulder.
"Kerry, you fucking idiot!" Garcia screamed. "You just fired a gun in Manhattan!"
"She tried to kill me! Look what she did to my neck!"
Eva's roar filled the narrow space as she prepared to pounce again, crouched low on all fours like a wild animal preparing to strike.
Mario wasn't about to give her the chance.
"Incoming!"
He lunged forward, stone axe raised high. This vampire was clearly stronger than the previous one, her health bar showed 53 HP, nearly double what he'd faced before. She was faster too, partially dodging his strike so that the axe only grazed her ribs instead of crushing them.
"What kind of monster can take a bullet and keep fighting?" Gore muttered, raising his own pistol.
The three thugs had clearly never dealt with supernatural threats before. Seeing someone shrug off gunfire like it was nothing had shattered their understanding of how the world worked. This time, they didn't hold back, all three opened fire simultaneously.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Each bullet chipped away at Eva's health, but it was obvious that small-caliber rounds barely slowed her down. The damage numbers floating above her head showed mostly 2s and 3s, annoying, but not immediately lethal.
Silver bullets would be a different story.
Eva hissed and spat as the bullets tore through her flesh, black blood spattering the alley walls. But she kept fighting, claws slashing at Mario as he pressed his attack with the stone axe.
The fight was brutal and chaotic. Mario would land a solid hit, driving Eva back with the knockback effect, only for her to leap forward again with inhuman speed. The thugs kept firing, their muzzle flashes lighting up the narrow space.
It was Garcia who finally landed the killing blow. While Eva was focused on Mario's axe, he put his pistol right against her temple and pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession.
Eva's shriek was cut short as her health bar dropped to zero. Her body began burning from the inside out, flesh bubbling and charring as fire consumed her. Within seconds, she was nothing but a pile of ash.
"What... what the hell was that?" Gore whispered, staring at the spot where a living person had just vanished.
"She just... disappeared," Kerry added, still pressing his hand against his bleeding neck.
Mario stirred the small pile of black ash with his axe, checking for useful drops. A few spent bullets clinked against the concrete. But aside from those, there wasn't a single piece of metal or jewelry.
"Broke-ass vampire," Mario muttered. "Figures."
He looked up at Kerry, who was still standing there in shock. Mario took a step toward him, intending to check the bite wound, but the three thugs immediately raised their guns again.
"Easy there, friend," Garcia said, trying to keep his voice steady. "What the hell just happened here?"
Mario smiled, keeping his hands visible and non-threatening. These guys were shaken, but they weren't his enemies. They were human, at least, which put them several steps above bloodsucking monsters on his scale of trustworthiness.
"Ever heard of vampires?"
The three men exchanged glances. Given what they'd just witnessed, a woman taking multiple gunshots and shrugging them off before literally burning to ash, this explanation was starting to seem plausible.
"Vampires?" Kerry repeated weakly.
"That's right."
Mario could see it clicking for them as they processed what had just happened. Their gazes shifted involuntarily to Kerry's neck wound, two puncture marks that were still bleeding.
Garcia's face went pale. "You mean he's going to..."
"Exactly what you're thinking," Mario confirmed.
In the Blade universe, vampire bites were infectious. Anyone who survived the initial attack would transform within hours unless the curse was broken. And he knew exactly how to break it.
"But there is a way to cure him," he said, watching hope flicker in Garcia's eyes. "But I'm going to need supplies. Milk, garlic, bread... and five hundred dollars."
Garcia didn't even hesitate. "Done. Tell me where to go."
"We should probably move first," Mario suggested, glancing around the alley. "That gunfire is going to attract attention, and we don't want to be here when the cops show up."
---
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting in Garcia's flashy ride, some kind of modified 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT that looked like it had been stolen from a Fast and Furious movie. Mario didn't know much about cars, but this one had comfortable seats and working air conditioning, which was all he cared about.
Kerry was stretched out in the back seat, his condition deteriorating rapidly. Sweat poured down his face, soaking through his gray hoodie, and his breathing was becoming increasingly labored.
"He's starting to show symptoms," Mario observed from the passenger seat. "You got any rope in this car? We need to tie him up before he fully turns."
Garcia nodded grimly. "Tow rope in the trunk. Give me a sec."
While Garcia retrieved the rope, Gore came jogging back from a nearby bodega with arms full of supplies: milk cartons, garlic bulbs, bread, and two metal buckets. The guy was breathing hard from running, but he'd gotten everything on Mario's list.
"This enough?" Gore panted, setting the bags down.
"Perfect." Mario picked up a bulb of garlic and felt the familiar tingle as his inventory system automatically converted it into the Vampirism mod version. "This should do the trick."
Garcia finished tying Kerry up, his mate wasn't going anywhere even if he fully transformed. "So the garlic really works?" he asked. "What about the milk and bread?"
"The bread's my dinner," Mario replied, already pouring milk into one of the metal buckets.
Garcia stared at him. "Seriously?"
"Hey, vampire hunting works up an appetite."
As Mario filled the bucket, the ordinary metal container transformed into its pixelated equivalent. Most importantly, the milk inside became perfectly still, as if it were solid rather than liquid.
Garcia and Gore watched the transformation with wide eyes, but neither commented. After vampires and spontaneous combustion, a magic milk bucket was surprisingly easy to accept.
Mario pried open Kerry's mouth, noting that two of his teeth had already grown noticeably longer. Vampire fangs were starting to form.
"Just in time," he muttered, tipping the bucket.
The moment the milk touched Kerry's lips, it returned to liquid form and flowed down his throat. The transformation was fast, his fever broke, the sweating stopped, and his breathing normalized. When Kerry opened his eyes, they were clear and human.
"I'm... okay?" Kerry said wonderingly, running his hands over his face and neck.
"Good as new," Mario confirmed, pulling the bread from his inventory and taking a bite. "Though you owe me five hundred bucks."
Kerry nodded eagerly. "Anything, man. Thank you."
Mario chewed thoughtfully, studying the three gang members. They'd seen things tonight that would give most people nightmares for years. But instead of running away screaming, they were adapting. Learning. Getting ready for the next fight.
"You guys interested in another arrangement?" he asked finally.
The three thugs looked at each other.
"You mean hunting those things?" Garcia asked.
"Exactly. I could use some backup, and you've seen what we're up against. This isn't going away, there are more vampires out there, and they're not going to stop feeding just because we killed one of them."
Garcia was quiet for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "What do you need us to do?"
---
An hour later, they were cruising through the quieter sections of Manhattan in Garcia's car. Mario had his window down, constantly scanning the sidewalks for vampires.
Walking alone near the financial district was a man in his thirties wearing an expensive black business suit. Gold watch on his wrist, polished shoes, the whole successful executive package. If Mario hadn't known better, he would have taken the guy for a Wall Street type heading home after a late night at the office.
But the vampire's golden outline was unmistakable.
"Black shirt, up ahead," Mario said quietly.
All three thugs tensed, following his gaze. Even now, knowing what to look for, they had trouble believing this normal-looking businessman was actually a bloodsucking monster.
"This one looks different," Gore said. "More... upscale."
"Vampires have their own hierarchy," Mario explained. "This one's probably higher up the food chain than the street-level hunters."
Garcia and Kerry climbed out of the car. They'd done muggings before, the approach was exactly the same, even if the target was supernatural.
Mario and Gore slipped into the shadows nearby, positioning themselves for the ambush.
Garcia pulled a folding knife from his jacket and pressed it against the vampire's ribs. "Don't want any trouble, just come with us," he said in a low, threatening voice.
The vampire stopped dead. In all his years of existence, he'd never been robbed by his own food.
These pathetic mortals think they can threaten me?
His lips curved in a cold smile. "Very well. Lead the way."
I'll drain them slowly. Make them suffer for this.
As they moved into the darker side street, the vampire's patience finally ran out. His eyes flared red, fangs extending as he prepared to tear Garcia's throat out.
He never got the chance.
Mario's stone axe caught him full in the face, sending him crashing to the ground. Before the vampire could recover, all three thugs were on him with silver-plated kitchen knives they'd picked up at the bodega.
The silver burned vampire flesh like acid. Wherever the blades touched, skin blackened and withered as if infected with necrosis. The creature's health bar, which had started at over 100 points, dropped by half in seconds.
Mario brought his axe down again, this time targeting the vampire's mouth to cut off his screams. Then he switched to his wooden stake, using the knockback effect to keep the monster pinned against the alley wall while the thugs finished him off.
"Keep stabbing!" he shouted. "Don't let up!"
Two minutes later, they stood watching as the vampire's body consumed itself in fire.
"Well," Mario said, brushing dust off his hands. "Here's to a profitable partnership."
Garcia grinned, adrenaline still pumping through his system. "Damn right. When's the next hunt?"