Vampire Cultivation System in a Hidden World of Monsters

I ripped the bag off my head. "No! I'm not going anywhere with strange men I don't know. I don't care how much candy you have in your van!"

The would be kidnappers were two bald men with earpieces in black suits. I assumed they were from the guy I had been bidding against over the ownership of Mira.

"What do you want and why do you smell like Old Spice?" I said. I wasn't playing around. If these guys wanted a fight, I was ready to give it to them. And I wasn't taking prisoners.

"Our boss wants to talk to you," one of them said.

"Yeah, what he said," the other one added unnecessarily.

"We can talk in a public place without the need for kidnapping or I'll kill you both here and leave," I said.

One of them took out a radio and spoke into it, "He's refusing to come willingly. Says want to meet in a public place or he'll kill us and leave."

"Tell him I'll meet him at Bella Luna Cucina in thirty minutes!" A voice said over the radio.

"Ok. We'll see you there," I said and walked away with Mira in tow. I leaned in to whisper into Mira's ear, "Do you know where Bella Luna Cucina is?"

"Yeah," she said. "It's this way." She lead me down a few streets until we were outside a very familiar restaurant. It looked updated. More futuristic and more cyberpunk, but it was basically still the same restaurant.

We went inside and were seated at a booth. This was so weird. I wondered why this was here. I knew I wasn't in the literal future. The dungeons were far too game like for that to be the case. Then why was a real world restaurant in the game world?

The more I thought about it though, the more sense it made. If @$$ was training people to defend Earth from a coming crisis or crises, then it might use Earth as a basis for its simulations.

Now, that didn't completely work with every dungeon, like the pirate dungeon with the undead pirates for instance, but maybe @$$ created the dungeons through a combination of real world and fictional scenarios. The dungeon scenarios would make a lot more sense if that were the case.

While I was contemplating the dungeons and their origins, the two men from before who tried to kidnap us and a shorter man sat opposite Mira and I in the booth. The small man was squeezed between the two burly men and he didn't look comfortable, but he didn't say anything about it.

"So. I want the girl and you want the girl too for some reason. Not sure why, because my reason is very personal and I can't imagine yours is the same. I'm sure we can come to an agreement though after some discussion," he said and steepled his fingers. "My name is Gino Gambino. What is yours?"

"I can't say it's nice to meet you Gino Gambino, if that is your real name, but my name is Dylan Sanguis," I said as I reached across the table and shook his hand.

"Why wouldn't it be my real name?" Gino said.

"Because Gino Gambino sounds made up," I said.

"It sounds made up? Why?" Gino said, starting to get angry. His hands gripped the table cloth.

"Because it sounds silly. It rhymes," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"You're saying my name sounds silly? How dare you! Why I oughta ring your neck you little shit!" Gino stood up onto the seat of the booth and tried to grab me over the table but his arms were too short.

"Boss! Calm down. We're trying to conduct business here ain't we?" One of the men said.

"Yeah, and besides he's right. Your name does sound a little silly," said the other man. Find your next read on empire

Gino turned to the man who called his name silly and said, "I oughta have you killed for saying that, but I don't want to have to watch your mother cry at your funeral!"

"Whoa, boss! It's not that big of a deal. Stuff like this happens," the man said.

"Oh yeah? What if it was your name being made fun of Finky the Pinky?" Gino said.

"I probably wouldn't like it, but my name's not silly like yours so I can't imagine someone making fun of my name," Finky said.

"Can we get back to the conversation, ladies?" I said.

"Hey, he called us ladies. Let's get him boss!" Finky said.

This time it was Gino's turn to have the cool head. "No, he's right. Let's get back to business." Gino sat down in his seat and smoothed out his jacket and shirt. "So how much do you want for her?"

"What do you want her for?" I said.

"That's none of your concern," Gino said.

"I really think it is, since I am her current owner and all. How do I know you guys aren't a bunch of grapists who are going to mistreat her when I give her over to you?" I folded my arms.

"They want to use me as leverage against my father, Johnny Calabrese," she said.

"Your father is Johnny Calabrese? The don of the Calabrese crime family? My adoptive father?" I said.

"What?" Mira said.

"Have you heard the name Dylan Calabrese before?" I said, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Yeah, but that was generations ago. He was the adopted son of the original Johnny Calabrese. My father is Johnny Calabrese the fourth," she said. "How do you know so much about my family's history?"

"I'll tell you later. We're kind of in the middle of something right now," I said.

"Right," she said, looking back at the three men sitting across the table from us.

"If that's the case, I can't give her over to you. Not that I was going to anyway, but I especially can't now. I have close family ties with the Calabrese's," I said.

"What if I, uh, forced the issue?" Gino said. I felt the metal barrel of a gun press against my crotch. Gino was holding a gun under the table.

"Then, I'd have to stop you," I said. Blood burst out of my legs and formed a blade, slicing off Gino's hand. His hand and the gun dropped uselessly to the ground. I got up and stepped out of the booth. I pulled Mira with me. "I think we're done here."

"Fuck! My hand!" Gino said, holding his stump. "We're done when I say we're done." I saw him pull out another gun with his other hand.

I put Mira in front of me and shielded her. The gun went off three times and all three bullets hit me in the back. They flattened against my skin. They didn't even enter my body.

Once I realized he couldn't hurt me, I started walking forward while pushing Mira in front of me. We walked out of the restaurant to the sound of gunfire.

I didn't really feel like retaliating. That would have put Mira in more danger, and my top priority was her safety. Once we got a few blocks away, I said, "So, battle derby?"