For the next week, Daniel and Blade turned vampire hunting into an art form.
Blade kicked doors and soaked the floor in blood.
Daniel followed behind, calmly collecting heads and kill-credit like a tax auditor.
The body count skyrocketed. The underworld panicked.
Soon every bloodsucker from Brooklyn to the Bronx whispered the same terrified nickname:
The Black and White Duo.
(Black & White Double Kill!)
They were too loud, too fast, too efficient.
By day three the streets went quiet. Nests that once held fifty vampires now had maybe ten nervous guards who bolted the second they smelled silver.
After clearing yet another ghost town lair, the system finally chimed.
[Mission "Ghost Sweep Operation" complete!]
[Vampires killed: 1234]
[Rewards: 2000 EXP, S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation +50, Gravity Boots, Amaterasu Sealing Scroll, Coin of Destiny]
[Gravity Boots: Walk on walls or ceilings. Don't forget the switch unless you enjoy compound fractures.]
[Amaterasu Scroll: One-use unquenchable black flame. Point and burn.]
[Coin of Destiny: Flip it. 50% full heal, 50% lightning bolt from God. Good luck.]
[Skip plot and accept follow-up mission? Y/N]
Daniel smashed Yes.
[Nick Fury has issued new mission: Blood God Ritual]
[Objective: Stop Deacon Frost before he becomes a walking apocalypse.]
[Rewards: 5000 EXP, S.H.I.E.L.D. Rep +100, 1 Random Skill, 2 Random Equipment, 3 Random Items]
Conveniently, Blade had already sniffed out Frost's headquarters. They rolled out at dawn.
Next morning, Manhattan.
A windowless skyscraper loomed ahead, every pane sealed behind steel shutters. It looked like a bank vault that had grown fifty stories tall.
Daniel whistled. "Vampires have that kind of money?"
Blade spat. "Rich people pay anything to never see sixty again."
Daniel glanced sideways. "Then how come you're always broke?"
Blade: "…"
I'm a hybrid freak of nature, that's how!
They made a plan. Simple, elegant, foolproof:
Sneak in. Improvise. Profit.
Daniel added a flourish. "You take the lobby. I'll drop in from the roof. We sandwich the bastard."
Two guys surrounding a fifty-story building. Blade loved the arrogance.
"How exactly are you getting to the roof?" Blade asked.
Daniel just tapped the new boots, crouched, and stepped onto the vertical glass wall like it was a sidewalk.
Blade watched him casually stroll upward, arms swinging.
Science called. It wanted to file a complaint.
On the rooftop, Daniel peeked over the ledge and found the usual vampire rooftop rave—pool, strobe lights, blood cocktails.
He sighed, pulled a bullhorn from inventory.
"GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY! EYES UP HERE!"
Fifty pale faces tilted upward. Fifty jaws dropped.
Before anyone recovered, Daniel rained down half a dozen canisters.
"Flashbangs!"
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
White hell erupted. Vampires screamed, clawing at blinded eyes and bleeding ears.
Daniel vaulted the ledge, landed in the middle of the chaos, dual Golden Desert Eagles already barking.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG—
Silver rounds turned twelve partygoers into instant ash sculptures.
The survivors fumbled for guns, still blind, shooting the ceiling, the pool, each other—absolute clown show.
Daniel picked off the rest at leisure, left one elder twitching on the tiles.
"Where's Frost?"
"Who?"
"Deacon Frost."
"Never heard of—"
BANG.
Oops. Guess the flashbang ruptured more than eardrums.
Daniel clicked his earpiece. "Daniel here. Top floor secured. Zero alarms. Over."
Blade's voice came back amid wet thunks and automatic fire. "Lower levels clear. Also zero alarms. Over."
"Perfect. Split up and sweep."
Daniel jogged down the stairwell.
DA-DA-DA-DA-DA!
came from below—boots on concrete.
A full vampire SWAT team rounded the corner: helmets, ceramic plates, suppressed rifles.
They saw Daniel. Muzzles rose.
Daniel dove behind a pillar as the corridor became a bullet blender.
The squad advanced like pros, laying down perfect suppressing fire.
Just as they reached the pillar, a small canister rolled out and stopped at their boots.
"Grenade!"
…Pssshhhhh.
Thick yellow fog billowed everywhere.
"GARLIC ESSENCE! RETREAT—"
Too late. The cloud swallowed them. Skin blistered, eyeballs melted, thirty elite vampires dropped and burned like napalm victims.
Daniel stepped through the drifting ash, dusting off his jacket.
Upper floors: empty. No Frost.
He keyed the mic. "Blade, status? Find the boss yet?"
Blade's voice came back, weirdly calm.
"Yeah. Found my mom. She's not dead anymore."
Daniel: "…"