576 The Caller

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"So you are the ones who barged into my home, killed my apprentices and ruined my work. How nice it is from you!"

"Give the books you stole back and no harm will reach you."

"Is that so? I might as well offer you a better deal. Surrender and I'll make it painless."

"Are you testing my patience, bitch?"

"You are the one who started it, whore."

"Goddamn!" Jon said, "I love it when women fight."

To explain what is happening, it was Alina facing off the Caller while Jon was sitting on the side watching the events unfold.

"You and this meat shield of yours, you both will answer for the offense of disturbing my work." The Caller said as she waved two staff at the same time summoning up a Storm Atronach with each spell.

"That's fast. Good control!" Jon commented.

"Are you on her side now?" Alina glared at him.

"Not at all, honey. I am just cheering for the nice play. Go on, squabble around you two while I root for you. No killing allowed, remember?"

The scene starts with three mages and all kinds of summoned creatures in a large circular room. Alina and Jon just barged in and the Caller, leader of Fellglow Fort mages was facing them with all her wrath. The Caller was, of course, a character that appeared in the game but it was always shrouded in mystery since the developers probably cut her from other content or were too lazy to establish a backstory for her.

She is a High Elf, a very strong mage and an excellent Conjurer just like Nurina. Jon wasn't sure where but he could sense a lot of shortcomings from her casts. It is as if she was having some difficulties maintaining magic. It was actually strange since that woman was actually a fearsome Boss from the game.

The interesting one in the fight, on the other hand, was Alina. One the Caller started teleporting a few times, Alina started trapping all the walls and floors around to fully shut the space preventing the Caller from teleporting and even calling creatures from Oblivion. Such a method was extremely hard yet she has done it with her left hand which needs a lot of concentration to keep so many runes up. On the other way, she simply spammed [Blizzard Blades] at the Caller like it was nothing. Alina's capacity of magic and ability to control were not just superior but profound and just natural. A divine gift if one should put it.

The Caller could no longer handle the pressure of Alina out of spite, she launched a spell towards Jon trying to distract Alina.

"Nice." Jon applauded and brushed away the coming lightning attack with the back of his hand causing it to repulse at the nearby alchemy station.

"Who… who on Nirn are you, people?"

Yet to her question, Jon took the lead in front of Alina and displayed a hint of his overbearing presence.

"We told you we are from the College and we are here for some books." He said and took a step forward against the Caller who unintentionally stepped backward.

"You came into my home and killed everything that walks! How else do you expect me to react?" She shouted.

"Both you and I know very well you don't care for the lives of those minions of yours, Caller." Jon replied.

"You still don't kill a dog without the consent of its master." She said.

In a momentous reaction, Jon pointed at her with acknowledgment.

"That's true. Dogs as they are, they shouldn't be killed that easy. The only difference is that they are humans and most of them are aspiring to learn the arcane arts, their luck was so stinky as they fell into your hands but who am I to argue." Jon smiled and made his offer, "The lives of your dear precious dogs for the books you stole? Sounds like a deal now?"

"I didn't st…"

"What is that, Alina? Is that the sound of the bone grinding machine we stole from Mehrunes Dagon? I wonder what to do with it?" Jon turned to Alina who by her part shrugged her shoulders.

"You can have the damn books." The Caller said.

The books were sealed on three stands around the room and with a snap of her fingers, the seals were released.

"Much obliged. You can have your puppies back." Jon said and snapped his fingers in response.

With that, the books disappeared from their stands and in an instant, the room became filled with a number of people all of a sudden. They were all unconscious and quite in a bad shape yet no serious injuries however, the thing that all could notice the most was the odd shapes arching between their legs.

"That… shouldn't have happened." Jon looked between the two women awkwardly, "Venus."

With a strong shout, a strange object rose from among the bodies and a woman materialized while flying midair like a Flame Atronach. She saw Jon and smiled like a mischievous child before flying towards him and trying to appease him the same way Nefertiti does. The only difference is, Jon used a finger of his hand to shoot the gem on her forehead at the nearby wall.

"Stop making my prisoner horny."

As the image of the woman disappeared; the true form of [Lust], which has now become a pink colored gem, started to float around as if being sad it got hit.

"About that… this is totally my blunder. I will compensate…" Jon turned to the Caller with an honest face only to find her eyes glued at [Lust].

"What is that?" She asked.

The Caller's attention was shifted from everything right towards that thing she saw just now. [Lust], or to be more specific, it is the thing Jon called Venus.

This strange lifeform, a living thing which she completely could tell it is. A creature of such etherealness and mystery, a life beyond the life she knows, something she seeks or maybe it carries the answer to everything she ever searched for.

She looked at Jon and asked again, demanding more answers.

"How is there such a thing?"

"Oh! A curious one, aren't you?" Jon asked.

"This thing… is it actually alive? What is this state it is in?"

"Etherealness." Jon answered with a faint smile.

"Like… an immortal soul? An animus that is bound to the Mortal world?" She asked while still maintaining her cover behind her various atronachs.

"Why don't you come out and I tell you?" Jon said no that he left her with a teaser.

"We took our books and gave you back your people. It is all a fair trade now. We seek no more trouble, Caller." Alina said assisting Jon in pacifying.

"Like I will ever believe that?!" She turned to Jon now that she recognized him as the mastermind behind this attack, "You know something, don't you? About me."

Jon seemed to have been found out since he was simply acting from the start. The thing with [Lust] from a while ago was all his plan and he wouldn't even shy of admitting it.

"Me? Know things?" He asked, "Yes, that's what I do."

"What do you want?" She asked, "You certainly wanted me to see such a thing for something you want from me!"

The Caller was terrifyingly fast to catch on Jon's trick. Call it the wisdom of age or whatever but this woman is hundreds of years old and is considered an elder even among the High Elves.

"My name is Jonhild Firemane. This is my wife Alina Firemane and I go by the name Jon Dare." He said.

"The Dragon of Winterhold." She said recognizing the name that Jon was called with by Ulfric once, "And this must be the Red Witch."

"I hate that name." Alina frowned.

"You didn't do anything other than confirming it even more, wife. I mean, I love red too but your wardrobe is… alright, I'll stop talking now." Jon turned away as she glared at him back to the Caller, "As you figured it out, I came seeking something. The entrance was a little bit… crude. My apologies."

"Not at all." The Caller said even though she didn't let her guard down even once, "But I expect something in return and… compensation."

"I'll pay for the damage, redecorate this bland place and even install a swerve system down your fort if you want to." Jon offered.

"I prefer knowledge. That's what I can offer, and that's what I seek most."

"Why not? It seems we have come to an agreement. Told you we can work this out." Jon clapped his hands and all smiles… fake as he always smiles to enemies.

"What is it you require, Jon Dare?"

The Caller's question provided a one-way ticket to her library of boundless knowledge all stored in her head. She is an expert in souls and incorporeal matters and even more, her knowledge of Vampires is top-notch and can be considered one of the few mages who were on the hunt for vampires to commence trials on them. Apart from that, she is also a criminal who conducted various experiments on mortals as well and knows her ways around those things.

The Coven of the Caller wasn't that famous as she was always covering her tracks but Jon knew how this woman operates. Aside from being an open researcher with no ethics or restrictions on how she researches, she is very well known in the Black Market as a producer of advanced and experimental products. On top of all that, she has some sort of fascination towards vampirism even though she is not a vampire. From what it seems, she is trying to get the advantage of vampirism away from the disadvantages and create something unique. And to make things even more interesting, this woman seems to be serving a Daedric Prince as well since her soul can't be trapped as if sworn to a Daedra of a kind.

It can be either Azura or Meridia if Jon tried to narrow it down since the two are known for their vicious natures when it comes to experimenting and seeking knowledge.

"Alright. I'll go straight to the matters." Jon said at last as he recovered [Gluttony], "I am having trouble controlling this bad boy."

"That is?"

"A Blood Parasite. Vampiric and plant-based…"

Jon started explaining the nature of Gluttony to the Caller as she finally agreed to drop her guard down if he gives her his word not to attack. Truthfully, Jon was hesitant to share information about one of the sins but he was at a difficult spot with [Gluttony] of all things. The damn parasite was so uncontrollable and Jon could use a fresh set of eyes to shed more light on it.

The Caller was fully taken aback by the absurdness of enchanting something with one's own soul and blood. A normal person should feel so weakened just by attempting to create a Soul Artifact like [Gluttony] and not only Jon had one of them but two as she noticed [Lust] as well.

But Jon's questions didn't really end here but rather, they became deeper and more challenging the more he and the Caller exchanged knowledge. Even those unconscious lackeys were long since up and driven out from the inner sanctum.

"A Leech is a being different from any other. While it can survive on its own for a limited time, it can't function properly without continuous contact with a host. It will be violent and greedy while trying to establish its own source of energy at first but to get through such a situation, it must be slowly controlled through letting it consume. A parasite can't be rejected for it to take effect."

"This is troubling." Jon reacted with discontent.

"But for you to manage to mutate a parasite, link it to your soul through enchantment and infect it with vampirism? I don't know whether you are lucky or even luckier. Just what kind of vampirism you used to transfer the infection?... Oh, and what are its powers?"

Jon looked at the Caller with annoyance as he wouldn't really just say that the Blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour is what cultivated such parasites but he had to give her something according to the agreement.

"I will present you with details on how the mechanism of such a parasite works." Jon nodded.

The topics Jon asked about afterwards were all Vampire related. Vampire weaknesses, Vampire abilities, Vampirism cure and all there is to kill, trap and interrogate vampires.

At that moment, Jon even came up with a few business prepositions. If he could capture any vampires, he would hire the Caller for their interrogation and holding. Even more, the Caller and her coven will present their own unethical methods as a source of knowledge to the DDC in secret. Many errors can be avoided through those guys and they are a tail that can be cut and left out whenever proved unworthy.

And who is more qualified than Alina to be keeping an eye on them?

With that, Jon established his own underground vampire research and torture facility. An idea that will prove vital in the fights yet come.

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