Druid in the Marvel Universe Chapter 120: Blade

Alvin gave Blade a casual wave goodbye, ready to hit the road back to Malibu, which was a pretty long haul.

Just as Alvin was about to bounce, a few heads popped up over the high wall of the parking lot, yelling, "There he is, get him!"

A dozen red-eyed, fanged vampires vaulted over the wall, waving all sorts of weapons and charging at Blade and Alvin.

Alvin thought it was weird. Were these vamps so broke they couldn't even get guns? Going at Blade with knives? That was basically asking to get wrecked.

No time to worry about Blade, two vampires in black leather pants, shirtless and skinny as rails, came at Alvin, waving their knives and baring their fangs.

Alvin just shook his head, pulled out a harpoon, and stepped up to meet them.

Blade, handling a dozen vamps on his own, still had time to shout to Alvin, "Watch out, they can't be killed!"

Then Blade was stunned to see Alvin stab a vamp through the chin into its brain with one smooth move. With a little twist, the unlucky vamp turned to ash without even a scream.

Another vamp, probably the dead one's buddy, screamed in rage and lunged at Alvin's heart.

Alvin whipped out an M500 revolver from his waist, borrowed from Jack, and blasted a big hole in the vamp's chest amidst its desperate screams. The charging vamp flipped in mid-air and crashed to the ground!

Frank's knife, which Alvin had juiced up with a rune, did serious damage to undead creatures, so the stabbed vamp turned to ash.

The borrowed M500 wasn't enhanced, so it couldn't completely dust vamps, but it packed enough punch to slow them down. This reckless vamp was stopped in its tracks!

Alvin switched the revolver and harpoon between his hands, finding it awkward to shoot left-handed. He aimed for the vamp's head but hit its chest instead.

After switching hands, Alvin fired another shot. This time he didn't miss, blowing off most of the vamp's head. Brain matter splattered everywhere, and the unlucky vamp stopped moving.

Just to be sure, Alvin stepped up and stabbed its chest with the harpoon again, watching it burn to ash before turning to check on Blade's fight.

In the movies, Blade always had that serious face, pouting lips, and wore a cool trench coat while slaying vamps. Alvin couldn't see any personality or depth, just a love for fighting, always either killing vamps or on his way to kill them.

Blade had been Alvin's hero as a teenager. He always wanted an outfit like Blade's. Later, when he saved up some cash, he actually bought one, but no matter how he wore it, he looked like a small-time thug from a shady street, which earned him a beating from his mom!

Seeing the real Blade now, Alvin thought he looked just as he imagined, except for the dumb idea of wearing so much in the summer. And his skills were probably even better than in the movies.

A silver longsword in Blade's hand seemed to come alive, flashing around him and leaving unhealable wounds on the vamps with each strike.

The dozen vamps howled and lasted about three minutes before Blade turned them all to ash.

Alvin felt a bit embarrassed. As an American, he couldn't fight as stylishly as Blade. Although "gentlemen always know how to fight better than thugs" might not be true, the visual effect was definitely lacking.

Alvin made up his mind to find a master to train him in close combat when he got back. He was tired of looking like the sidekick whenever he was around these pros. It didn't matter if he actually got good at it or if it was practical; he just needed to look badass!

Blade seemed to dig Alvin's no-nonsense approach to vampires. He strolled up, pushed his sunglasses down a bit, nodded, and flashed a grin that showed off his sharp canines, "Not bad, rookie!"

Alvin was pissed. "Not bad"? "Rookie"? This dude wearing shades at night had the nerve to call him a rookie?

Alvin glared at Blade, shrugged, and said, "You get used to it after doing it a lot. I got a guy at home who could dust these vamps in a minute." He glanced at Blade's slightly torn leather jacket and added, "And he wouldn't get hurt. That's a rookie's problem!"

Blade didn't get mad at Alvin's jab. Instead, he smiled and said, "I'd like to meet him someday. I gotta bounce now. You should too. The cops will be here soon, and LA cops are a real pain!"

Alvin was surprised that Blade was worried about the cops, which made him like Blade a bit more.

Movies were one thing. In them, Blade was this super cool, lone wolf vampire hunter. In reality, this guy was a half-vampire, half-human, and Alvin was always cautious about anything vampire-related. After all, Blade could survive by drinking blood.

But now he was saying that LA cops were a hassle!

That was good! It meant he still saw himself as human and was willing to follow basic rules. Otherwise, Alvin couldn't think of any LA cops that could trouble him.

Alvin nodded to Blade and turned to walk to his car.

Neither of them had introduced themselves. Alvin knew Blade's background, so he didn't ask.

Blade probably wasn't interested in knowing Alvin's name.

That was a bummer. If you were always around someone who looked down on you, you'd start to look down on yourself!

The parking lot was pretty big, and Alvin walked a bit before finding his car.

The car was Tony's. Alvin had rummaged through his garage and found this low-key Audi R8. He had to leave his Mercedes for Megan and the kids. Driving a sports car with kids wasn't safe!

Alvin didn't like sports cars. They didn't match his tough-guy vibe, and driving one made him feel like he'd be looked down on by real tough guys!

Driving out of the parking lot, Alvin decided to head back to Tony's mansion in Malibu overnight. He wasn't home today and wondered how Ginny was doing, if she was sleeping well.

Just as he reached the parking lot exit, he saw Blade driving a dirty, beat-up car from the other side.

From Alvin's experience buying used cars, Blade's car was worth at most five hundred bucks, and that was with a full tank of gas, just like his old pickup!

Out of courtesy, Alvin stopped his car, flashed his lights twice, rolled down the window, and waved at Blade to go first. As for Blade's ugly expression, who could see it in the dark?

Blade, with a cold expression, drove past Alvin's car quickly, their side mirrors almost touching. Blade kept his left hand on the wheel, eyes forward, and flipped Alvin the bird with his right hand.

Alvin shook his head with a smile, thinking how this jerk wasn't afraid of crashing.

Before he could restart his car, Alvin was shocked to see an RPG fired from a distance, hitting Blade's moving car dead-on.

With a loud explosion, Blade's car turned into a fireball.

Alvin clearly saw Blade being thrown from the car, not sure if he was blasted out or jumped out himself!