Red Ridotto Estates. A formerly high end apartment complex that boasted lavish amenities. Pools, hot tubs, and day spas had only been the tip of the iceberg. One motto that was commonly expressed was that “if you have to leave the estate then they are failing their jobs.”

  The Estates had been built only a few years before the war when the town was old but nothing of real size. An entrepreneur had found the area on a map and said it was the perfect location for commerce to move through. James B Dial had made it big on a lucky break in the stock market, his stocks hitting the moon before he sold out for a huge amount of money.

  Wealth in hand he wanted to make a miniature sized city. His first step was to gather a proper workforce and that they would need housing was a given. Thus his first and sadly only production was the Red Ridotto Estates. The name came from the building that once stood on the west side of the town.

  All that remained of the old Ridotto saloon were the swing doors. James B Dial had them installed into his penthouse sweet leading into the bathroom. A small part of the old world to remind him everyday that he was just one rung on the ladder. It was the very same doors that were in front of his body when he died.

  The story says a jilted lover had arrived demanding money. He had informed them of the buying and when to sell but they hadn’t listened. Feeling he owed them something, they arrived, where a small scuffle occurred leading to his death.

  A tragic fate that ruined the continued expansion of the estates. The lower floors had been tied into the surrounding planned businesses but they were all only half complete. With no family as he was before the time of the push for children his assets were forfeit to the state. Seeing a small town and an incredible endeavor they opted to not continue.

  The Red Ridotto Estates thus became a high quality apartment building. Over the course of the next forty-five years it fell into disrepair. Eventually ending up like the rest of the west side of the valley. Bleeding money and ripe for remodeling.

  It was not lost on Nate and Wayne that they each of the buildings that Mr. Thunder owned were pre-war. The spiritual energy and possibility for the formation of a strong spirit were highest in such locations. Wayne instructed Nate that power only came with time or death.

  When they stopped Nate looked at the building as if it were his first time. Naturally he was familiar with the location. Why wouldn’t he be when the rival gang he had spent his youth feuding with had resided here. Graffiti still littered the exterior.

  The first floor flared out into a large base where the store fronts were meant to go. Large arches an odd precursor to current trends led in on all four sides. Six such arch ways gave way to the inner court yards. One for each of the buildings. People still occupied a few of the residences within. Often Illegally as was the case with the Crystal Blooddrops.

  “I’ll leave the investigation to you. Don’t worry about anything and if you hear combat just know I’ll take care of it.” Wayne warned.

  “Don’t worry about me. If you hear my battle then…”

  “I won’t have to come. You can do this.” Wayne cut in with a smile.

  The two parted ways with Wayne taking up his watch positioning. There were a number of other multi story buildings in the area that would need to be watched. An attack could be launched at any time. If one was to come he was prepared. A golem master might be weak in unplanned encounters but he had rigged the area just as he should.

  The sprawling complex possessed a difficult question for Nate. That was where to start. Staying exposed for longer then they needed may sound fine with the Grandmaster nearby but that also meant he was relying on her. After everything that had happened between them he didn’t want her to be the one to come flying in to save the day again. Furthermore his feelings toward his real mother were leaking into his opinion on the Grandmaster.

  “We’ll start with the north building since we’re already here.” Nate commented.

  Karah was formed by his side along with Boudica. The retainer was keeping to her spiritual form so as not to be seen by the few people that remained on the land. They had worked on their formation over the last few days.

  The main attacker was Karah who would go wild on anyone they deemed an enemy. Boudica would act as a defender mainly focusing on Nate’s protection but with the option to assist Karah as needed. Her close proximity also allowed him to use the gun that he’d acquired from Armand.

  Boudica’s corruption could change the nature of a physical object. By using her magic circle on the gun they could turn the bullets from affecting physical things into hitting spirits. It had shown slightly better results then the repaired wand that Nate was carrying. It was still usable but another attempt like last time would break the precious equipment. This all was compounded as Nate had a variety of magic that he could deploy.

  Sweeping through the abandoned stores and restaurants Nate was disappointed to find nothing out of the ordinary. The last few cases had been easy to identify as they had absolutely oozed miasma. Given the Red Ridotto Estates were more than 10 times the size of the prior expeditions it was an expected result.

  “Look, this piece of shit art is recent.” Karah said.

  Across one of the inner walls running along the corridor leading from the Plaza and stores was a large tag. In big bold letters Stronger than diamonds, Crystal Blooddrops. Surrounding the words were sprayed on gem stones of a variety of styles. An emerald stuck out from among them as it had a well defined glinting effect applied. It was as if the light of the sun was truly bouncing in and off the gem.

  Touching it lightly Nate pulled away with a cool slight wetness on his hand. The green paint had still been relatively fresh. He frowned as he smeared it across the name. Doing little to cover up their former rivals name nor to destain his fingers.

  “I thought they would know better than to try this shit.” Nate spoke coldly.

  “Old enemies, my liege?" Boudica asked.

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  Nate nodded slowly to her question. They weren’t in the realm of threat now, but back in the day. His mind wandered a minute lingering on the battles they’d had. Karah nudged his shoulder to keep him from daydreaming.

  “They were our man’s first kill.” Karah chuckled.

  She had taken the event lightly but to Nate it was a serious matter. During one of their disputes their leader had challenged him to fight. The man was older by five years and around Nate's current size. The clash was more hard fought but with a final blow to the side of his head he’d been knocked down and out. Only later did they learn he died from a brain aneurysm brought on by the blow.

  Karah had laughed when she first found out about it. She had forgotten that people outside of the mafia and monster world often didn’t kill one another. Nate still didn’t know about her past and she grew quiet after chuckling. She would have to come clean sooner or later.

  “Sir, it is fine I am sure there was a good reason.” Boudica reassured him.

  Over the last two days she had shown herself to be the type not to take fault in things he couldn’t control. At the same time she was the most demanding out of his contracts. When training had been placed into full gear she hadn’t let him rest. She put him through physical training on the side during their down time between matches. Luckily he could be healed by Dr.Mei.

  “Sorry but no. He died for no good reason. That idiot should have known better.” Nate said.

  A person watched from above as they passed under the arch into the court yard. The Plaza was filled with trash and decaying plant life. Once the plan had been for it to do double duty. First as a sequestered park. Here families would be able to enjoy time together and plan out their futures. The second was as a victory garden. Some vegetables and crops still grew in spurts around the area. The Crystal Blooddrops derived their name from their usage of these crops.

  The first leader of their gang had taken to using the crops to make moonshine. He would then sell it cheap to teens at parties. It was only later when he had grown older than he began to deal harder drugs. His trade in Black Briar had been one of the direct causes for their gang conflict.

  “That moonshine always tasted like shit.” Nate remarked.

  “Well, it was all we could get our hands on at the time. Still once we had our contacts we were getting some actual decent shit. Do you have a favorite Bo?” Karah smiled.

  “Moonshine is far too trashy and harsh for people so young. It would have been better to stick to wine. Like a proper lady miss Karah.” Boudica replied.

  “Does that make Nate an improper lord then? A real trash lord huh.” Karah teased.

  Boudica’s face went bright red as she stamped her foot down indignantly. Karah had over the last few days not been picking a fight since they needed to train. It seemed as the tension of training faded so had her inhibitions. Though her and Lupita had gotten back to bickering after the corruption incident.

  “Yeah, Boudica, am I truly a trash lord?” Nate asked.

  The frightened hurt in his voice scared the knight stiff as she stuttered to reply. Even if he wasn’t much for jokes that didn’t mean he would make them. Karah burst into laughter as she watched their companion.

  “Nn.nnoo, I didn’t mean you were, that is you know, I um, you're not trash.” Boudica sputtered out.

  Nate was about to ease her suffering when Karah loudly slapped him on the back. In her laughter it seemed she forgot to properly control her strength. Wind rushed out of his lungs as he lurched forward. It hadn’t hurt that much but had caught him off guard. Boudica hadn’t realized what happened as she continued to malfunction.

  “Sorry.” Karah said.

  “AND that is why I think you're awesome, no handsome, no wonderful, no wait, the best thing to happen to me.” Boudica was spiralling.

  “It’s fine, Boudica. We were teasing you. Don’t cry please.” Nate managed out.

  “Oh, my Lord, what happened?” She shifted almost immediately and helped him up right.

  “Just a mischievous snake.” Nate muttered.

  They search the remainder of the plaza before moving to check the other one. The buildings overhead twisted in opposite directions. The north building measured upwards clockwise while the south countered with the opposing direction. The goal had been to give every room a clear line of sun at least once a day. It was supposed to have key health benefits.

  “We’ve cleared the whole first floor outside of the main floor housing units.”

  Nate said as they finished looking around. They had only succeeded in finding a few more tags similar to yet older than the one before. It had taken nearly an hour to look through the space but they still had the main area to search. He was beginning to worry about their exposure time.

  “Why did we have to do this one? Wasn’t that trailer on the list? Its double wide could have been done in an instant.” Karah complained.

  “This place might not be on the list he showed me but that doesn’t mean it's not hexed. The others are sure fire but Wayne wants to see if this lure’s our opponent out. If we one and done it in only a few minutes, that won’t work.” Nate said.

  “Fine.” Karah pouted.

  “You tryin to lure people out? Yeah, seems like you succeeded.”

  A cracky young man's voice came from the arch ahead of them. Just beyond was the doorways to the north building. Standing on the arch was a teen. Pockmarked face and slightly hollowed out eyes. He stared daggers at their group.

  “Now that your here. The might of the Crystal Blooddrops shall descend upon you. Better watch out.” The young man tried to make his voice low and scary. It didn’t work.

  “The fuck. Nate it’s just a normie. What the hell man. This Su-ucks.”

  Karah had always liked a fight but the tedious things in life she hated. Nate was well aware of this since a long time ago and didn’t pay her complaints any heed. His eyes were set on the young man in front of him; he knew who he was.

  “Boy you best get down here and apologize for your tone of voice.” Nate warned.

  “Fuck you old man, I ain’t got to do shit fo you.” The Kid shouted back.

  “Braydon Mallory, I’ll kick you shit in if you don’t get over here before I count to ten.” Nate stated.

  The boy seemed to take a closer look at who he was messing with and paled. Which was a difficult thing for him to do as he was already white as a sheet of paper save for his acne. He trembled but attempted to stand his ground.

  “I ain’t got to do shit for you. You ain’t nobody boss now.” Braydon said.

  “One, Two, Three,...” Nate started.

  Braydon stopped his trembling body. He couldn’t take him in the fight. Not the Green Gallows. His older brother had learned first hand what would happen to people that messed with him. On the other hand he’d gotten himself something that guaranteed a kill.

  Licking his lips Nate reached six when he pointed his hand out like a finger gun. A wad of miasma slowly collapsed around the tip of the boy's finger. He could see it but after his experiments he knew it was invisible to normal people. He smiled as the energy reached critical mass within a heartbeat.

  “Say hello to my brother. Go hyper spirit beam.”

  A single ray of light that he believed to be visible only to himself shot out. Just as it reached in front of Nate the beam hit something solid and flew off at an odd angle. Braydon stared agape at what had happened. Then became terrified as Karah charged him down. Nate was soon standing over his body