This was the first time Garcia had ever seen Mario's strange abilities in action. At first, he'd thought Mario could only make weapons disappear from his hands. But now it was clear that Mario's powers were far greater than he had imagined.
Showing off his abilities in front of Garcia was on Mario's part. Leading these guys on vampire hunts was bound to attract attention, hell, the bloodsuckers were probably already watching them. Displaying some muscle at the right moment would help Garcia and his crew understand exactly who they were dealing with. That way, if vampires ever captured them and tried to get information, the price for betraying him would be a lot higher.
"Let's clean up this mess," he said, gesturing at the pile of vampire ash. "We need to move. Now."
Kerry and Gore sifted through the vampire's remains, pulling out every piece of metal they could find, rings, a watch, some kind of pendant. Then they kicked at the ash pile until it scattered completely, erasing the last evidence that anything had ever existed here.
Garcia glanced at a man and woman lying unconscious near a dumpster. "What about those two? They vampires too?"
Mario walked over and checked their pulses. Both were breathing normally, no bite marks visible. Just regular people who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Nah, they're just 'food' the bloodsuckers picked up. Probably drugged. Drag them over to the street so someone finds them in the morning." Mario grabbed one of them by the jacket and hauled them toward the sidewalk. "Once it's daylight, they'll get taken to a hospital. Not our problem after that."
Garcia moved over to grab the man under the shoulders, ready to haul him up. Then his gaze caught on the inside of the man's wrist, a serpent tattoo, coiled tight with fangs bared. He let go, grabbed the unconscious man by the arm and dragged him straight across the asphalt to the curb, not even slowing down when the guy's body bounced over the concrete lip.
Mario winced at the sight. "Alright, let's get out of here."
The car sped through the empty streets until they reached the abandoned construction site Kerry had mentioned. The whole area was fenced off with chain link and warning signs, but Mario could see piles of building materials through the gaps.
"I'll go in first," he said, opening the car door. "Wait here. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, just leave."
He pried open a section of fence and slipped inside. The site was littered with construction materials, mostly lumber and concrete blocks, but he spotted what he was really looking for in the corners.
"No I-beams, but plenty of rebar. Should be able to smelt that into iron ingots."
I-beams were used for major construction projects, but regular buildings just needed rebar and concrete. Looking at the scaffolding stacked against one wall and the steel reinforcement bars jutting out of foundation work, he figured this trip was already worth it.
He pulled out his pickaxe and started harvesting metal wherever he could find it.
Am I basically stealing right now? The thought crossed his mind as he worked.
Fuck it. He slapped himself across the face. Focus on the job.
Under cover of darkness, he filled his entire inventory with scrap metal and rebar. When he was satisfied with his haul, he made his way back to the car.
"Alright, drop me at Central Park, then you guys need to lay low for a while."
Half an hour later, they pulled up outside the park entrance. As Mario climbed out, Garcia couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.
"Mario... you actually live in the park?"
Mario turned back and gave him a completely serious look. "That's right. Being close to nature makes me stronger."
After that bit of bullshit, he waved goodbye and walked toward the distant trees, leaving the three gang members staring after him in confusion.
---
Back in his underground base, Mario eagerly dumped his night's haul into the furnaces and watched them light up. Finally, some real progress.
He collapsed onto his new sofa in a classic slouch, stretching out to get comfortable. Even though he no longer felt physical exhaustion, comfort was still comfort.
He pulled out the stolen phone and inserted the SIM card Garcia had bought him. But when the phone powered on, his smile immediately turned into a frown.
"What the fuck, no signal? I'm in Manhattan!"
He almost threw the phone across the room, but common sense prevailed at the last second.
It's my own phone. Can't punish myself for corporate incompetence.
After thinking it over, he realized the signal problem was probably because his base was buried more than thirty feet underground in the middle of a park. Maybe he couldn't blame the phone company entirely.
"Better harvest the wheat and trees first. Once all this iron finishes smelting, I'll buy some wire, see if it converts to string like in Minecraft."
His plan was simple: get wire, craft fishing rods, then spend his free time fishing at home. Steady food supply plus the chance to catch enchanted books, a perfect setup.
He crafted nine more furnaces out of cobblestone and placed them next to his original smelter. The iron production speed shot up dramatically.
As time passed, he didn't stay idle. He began boldly renovating his underground space, expanding rooms and organizing storage areas. But when he looked at the stolen appliances, he felt a headache coming on.
"Shit, I was so focused on grabbing stuff that I forgot I don't even have electricity down here. That's gonna be another problem."
From his inventory, he pulled out the Mercedes he'd confiscated and carefully searched through the interior. In the glove compartment, he found a pistol.
Mario raised his eyebrows as he examined the weapon. This was his first time holding real gun in his hands.
Unfortunately, he didn't know much about firearms and had no idea what model it was. "Why do I suddenly want to shoot something the moment I hold this thing?"
Both bladed weapons and firearms held irresistible appeal for men, Mario was no exception to that rule.
After playing with it for a while, he stored the gun back in his inventory. Against vampires, a handgun might not be much use for him, but their human servants were another story. This would be perfect for dealing with familiars and other vampire lackeys.
The flames in his furnaces gradually died down. The iron wasn't completely finished, not because of equipment failure, but because he'd run out of wood to fuel them.
"Four stacks of iron ingots should be enough for now. Time to make a full set of iron armor and tools. Oh, and an anvil, I'll need one eventually anyway."
He equipped the armor and felt... nothing. No weight, no restriction of movement. The iron plates felt like they were made of air.
---
Sitting by his underground lake, Mario fiddled with his phone. The good news was that he finally had signal down here. The bad news was that without proper ID, he couldn't use services that required registration.
He pulled out the number Blade had given him and dialed.
Ring... ring...
After several tones, Blade's voice came through.
"Mario?"
Mario was surprised. He'd just bought this new number, yet Blade had identified him immediately.
"Yeah, it's me. You free today? Can you give me more vampire locations? I'm getting restless down here."
There was silence on the other end. Mario didn't know that beside Blade sat an old man with graying hair and an attractive black woman. If he'd been there, he would have recognized her as Karen Jenson from the first Blade movie.
"Where are you?" Blade asked calmly.
"Central Park. Call me when you get here, I'll wait by the main entrance."
After hanging up, Mario smiled to himself. "Another payday coming up."
He left his base through one of the new tunnel exits and waited outside a nearby café. After more than half an hour, the roar of an engine announced the arrival of a black Dodge Charger that pulled up beside him.
Through the window, Mario saw two people inside. He opened the rear door and slid into the back seat.
"If I remember right, this car's supposed to be a two-door coupe, right? You modified it?"
Before Blade could answer, Mario turned to Karen with a friendly smile.
"Ciao, I'm Mario. Nice to meet you."
Karen ignored him completely. She was still struggling to process everything that had happened, being bitten by a vampire just yesterday, her entire worldview was still in pieces.
Seeing her reaction, Mario didn't push it. Instead, he looked at Blade, who was driving.
"So where are we headed?"
"Taking her home first."
Blade hit the gas, and the car shot forward into traffic.
Karen lived in the Bronx, the northernmost of New York's five boroughs. The area was mostly African and Latin American residents. It also had one of the highest crime rates in the nation and was definitely the poorest borough.
As the scenery changed from Manhattan's prosperity to urban decay, Mario watched crumbling apartment buildings and trash-strewn streets roll past.
With a screech of brakes, they stopped in front of a run-down apartment complex. Mario frowned slightly, through his Vampire Awareness, he could sense a bloodsucker somewhere on the second floor.
Karen opened her door to get out. Blade gave her a serious warning, "Don't forget what I told you. Keep your eyes open. They're everywhere."
As Blade drove away, she shouted angrily after them, "But it's daytime!"
In the back seat, Mario chuckled. "What, you planning to start dating her?"
Karen did resemble Blade's mother quite a bit. Maybe because he'd lost his mother at such a young age, he felt protective of her, which explained why he'd saved her life.
Blade didn't respond to Mario's teasing. Instead, he said bluntly, "She's already being watched by vampire familiars. We need information, and those people are going to give it to us."
After circling the apartment building once, he parked at the entrance again. Mario noticed a police car parked nearby as they headed inside. Standing in the elevator, he asked, "What's your take on people who worship vampires?"
"They're a problem. After all, they're still technically human."
Mario nodded at Blade's answer. In Blade Trinity, vampires had exploited exactly this weakness, tricking Blade into killing a familiar disguised as a vampire on the street, which led to him being hunted by the FBI. But Mario didn't care about such complications. Ever since he'd been murdered by a vampire and resurrected in that alley, he'd sworn to kill every bloodsucker on the planet. Anyone who stood in his way was his enemy, human or not.
The two men reached Karen's floor just in time to see a police officer entering her apartment. They exchanged a quick glance and rushed forward together.
Blade was faster than Mario. He burst into the room and tackled the cop, who'd been reaching for his weapon, sending him crashing to the floor. He hauled him up by his collar and spoke to Karen, "He's a familiar! Someone who wants to become a vampire!"
"If he proves loyal enough, and useful enough, maybe his master will grant him the gift of immortality!"
Karen finally realized what was happening. "Wait, so you were using me as bait?"
Blade slammed the familiar onto the kitchen table. "Don't flatter yourself."
That's when Mario walked in. Seeing the beaten familiar, he pulled out a wooden stake. If they didn't need this bastard to lead them to vampire locations, he would have grabbed his brand new iron axe instead.
"Want me to take over? I feel like you're not getting anywhere fast enough. Trust me, when it comes to interrogation, us Italians know a thing or two about persuasion."
He turned to Karen. "Could you get me a needle?"
Karen frowned at him suspiciously. "What are you planning to do? He's a police officer!"
Mario laughed and walked over to the familiar, grabbing him from behind and forcing his head down. On the back of the man's neck, a brand was clearly visible.
"This is a vampire mark," he explained. "It means this 'officer' belongs to a specific vampire. Any other bloodsucker who wants to touch him has to get permission from his owner first."
Blade examined the mark seriously. "This is Deacon Frost's symbol. We've been tracking him for a long time."
Mario added, "Lady, in my eyes, he stopped being human the moment he got that brand. He's a weapon vampires use against us. You understand?"
As he spoke, he pressed the officer down to the floor. Blade crouched beside the man and began searching him. Then, he slipped the officer's wristwatch off his wrist and pocketed it.
Watching Blade's smooth technique, Mario couldn't help but comment: "You're Blade, the fucking Daywalker! Do you really need to be this good at robbery?"
Blade showed no embarrassment. Instead, he replied, "What do you think I live on? Government funding? Corporate sponsorship?"
After finishing his search, Blade dragged the man upright and stared him down coldly.
"Officer Krieger, you going to keep playing servant for bloodsuckers?"