The Vampire and The Idiot

Common Ground

A map was spread out on the old dusty table, a blue coat that belongs to Xerxes laid out beside it.

With a glowing green potion in hand, Mariano stood in front of the map with Johnson at his left and Adriano on his right. They exchanged glances with each other and with a confirming nod, the men stood straight and readied themselves for the spell.

They started muttering the Latin words under their breaths, with Mariano leading the group. The potion in Mariano's hand glowed with each passing second, the bottle shaking violently in his hold but he didn't loosen his grip on it, still muttering the spell along with his friends.

Their chants grew louder, and the bottle shook more violently in his hand. This time also making his arms shake along with it, but he still focused on the spell.

Then suddenly, the glass bottle in Mariano's hand, shattered to tiny pieces. The contents spilling on the map and into Xerxes' coat. The shards of glass slipped through his fingers and landed on the map and coat.

They stopped chanting and let the spell work on its own. The shards started cutting a specific area on the map, moving on its own. Then the green liquid burning what's rest of the map and Xerxes' coat along with it. In a matter of a minute, there was a hand-sized part of the map left, clearing the table of its contents earlier. The shards were vanished into thin air, also burning the coat in the process.

"That's a familiar place," Johnson spoke, killing the silence.

Mariano nodded his head, while Adriano traced his finger on what's left on the map. Then stopping at the center of it, he looked up and saw his friends looking at him with grim looks on their faces.

"Luciano's warehouse," Adriano confirmed their thoughts.

Mariano walked away from the table and shrugged his coat on, picking it up from the chair. The men followed his movements, looking curious by their friend's sudden actions. Mariano looked at them with a raised eyebrow, "Shall we?" he motioned to the door and walked out.

Johnson and Adriano quickly snap out of their frozen like state and also grabbed their coats to follow their determined friend.

*****

They peered behind the trees in the darkness. The darkness of the night covering their forms from the shining light of the warehouse. There were five vampire guards surrounding the entrance, with heavy firearms.

"Do you think it's for you or for us?" Johnson asked Mariano, still maintaining his eyes on the guards.

Mariano nodded his head and crossed his arms over his chest, "Specifically made for me."