Completed Kenne deinen Feind

[Heike Eisen]

The perfect night. The perfect time.

A quiet darkness dropped down from the great wall of the Monster Hunter Fortress. Landed in the courtyard, just beyond the reach of torchlight. Black moving amidst black, that figure tread from shadow to shadow, from corner to wall to pillar, behind archery targets and training dummies. Watchful eyes from the dark. Keeping track as the bored sentries, the tired sentries, and especially the vigilant sentries made their rounds.

Unheard. Unseen.

And Heike Eisen slipped into one of the side doors of the Keep.

She had cleared the outside courtyard. But that was easy part.

* * * * *​

Heike Eisen had come to Elbion with one goal in mind: to infiltrate the Monster Hunter Fortress. If any single organization on Arethil would have recorded knowledge of her particular strain of vampirism, it would be them. And she would need all the knowledge she could get. For she was honorbound to fulfill her duty to her home, Reikhurst, and to its people whom she had sworn to protect. Her Oath of Justice demanded that the vampires responsible for the destruction and slaughter thereof be held to account. Every last one.

But, while the Monster Hunters might agree on that themselves, they wouldn't agree with her. This she fully expected. She knew well that she could not simply approach the Fortress and politely ask to see their library, their archives. Posing as a rookie Monster Hunter or some other passable figure was far too risky; her Oath of Truth would make it extremely difficult, if not outright impossible.

Sneaking in would be the only option.

Days and days of preparation. Of simply spending nights atop various vantages across Elbion and observing the Fortress from the outside. Looking for patterns in patrol. Levels of activity with relation to time, location. Fixed light sources. Doors. Corners. Windows. Walls. Mapping as much of the layout as she could see. Planning her point of ingress and her route to the most suitable door of the Keep.

From there, a mystery. She'd no knowledge of the interior layout, nor any means by which to safely get it. From that point on, she would have to rely on her usual tactics while in a populated area: keep her head down and hooded, speak only if spoken to, hide her claws, don't draw attention, but above all act like she belongs.

To that end, Heike acquired a simple brown robe and a tome--leaving more than adequate compensation for the likely to be surprised shopkeeps. The robe she would wear over her normal clothes; the Monster Hunters themselves, through her observations, didn't appear to have any form of dress code and certainly no matching uniforms. She had spotted some of them also wearing similar robes. Perfect. And the tome--Liadain in the Age of Expansion, but it didn't matter much what it was--would come in handy once she was inside.

When Heike felt she was ready, she waited only for the right conditions. Either a new moon, or a clouded night. The latter would need to happen after midnight and before the coming of dawn, when the line between late night and early morning was blurred. When, she learned through her observations here and over the course of her five years with her abhorrent affliction, the greatest stillness descended upon Arethil.

She regretted having to feed on the innocent during her time in Elbion. She truly did. But retribution would, through her very hands, find the monsters responsible. Those who had preyed on her, and thus in turn forced her prey on those in Elbion during her stay.

But it came. The perfect night. The perfect time.

* * * * *​

Heike walked down the narrow candlelit hall; imposing stone to either side of her. She walked with the hood of her robe up, and her facemask down. It was often too much to be hooded and masked, and, if it was necessary to speak, she had practiced doing so with minimal movements of her lips. She walked with the long sleeves of her robe over her claws. And, with a pinching of her thumbs and index fingers, she gripped the tome and held it out before her, giving off the impression of reading it.

Talking. To her left. A doorless, open arch of a portal there. In her periphery she saw that it was a kitchen, mess hall, or perhaps a bar. Two people at least, men by the sound of it, discussing some matter.

She walked on. Turned a corner.

Nearly bumped into a chainmailed giant of a man with long hair. He grumbled an apology and went on his way past her. If Heike's heart wasn't stilled by her affliction, she'd no doubt it would be hammering away inside her chest.

All the doors along this hallway seemed...too small. Too small and plain for what she thought would be a massive library. But she had to keep going.

Footsteps. Crisp, purposeful footsteps. From behind. Not close, yet, but certainly just around the corner she had turned herself.

Heike decided it best to disappear from the hall for a moment. She casually pushed open a door on her right and entered the stockroom on the other side and softly shut the door behind her.

It seemed she traded one problem for another. The stockroom was lit by candles. Hay-lined crates full of silver shortswords and silver crossbow bolts lined the walls.

And Heike saw that she wasn't alone.

Spoiler

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

Kyla was not one to simply go somewhere. She was a homebody by nature. A girl matured far beyond her years by hard living, greed, and blood lust had left her a old woman with the body of someone much younger.

However a particular monster had taken to stomping around the forests outside her manor and well she wasn’t one to deal with something unprepared.

“Mimi” She said “Rest in the tower. Listen when I call I don’t want to linger around here.” She said as she approached the front gate. Most monster hunters would take kindly to a bird like Mimi hanging around to begin with.

There was a fine line between monster and pet when one looked at the large, entirely black terrorhawk. She wasn’t worried about Mimi. She was worried about the poor bastard that was bored, and ready for a little excitement and a little respect taking a pot shot at her from the wall before she dragged the poor bitch or bastard off it by his or her skull before Mimi crushed it and dropped his corpse to the cliffs below.

It was better if the bird wasn’t lingering around in the open suffice to say.

She would be quick anyway.

She was looking for info on a certain type of beast. With the clues and tracks she had made note of after it had left its last feeding she had more than enough evidence to narrow the field down a bit. Books had never been her forte so to speak but she had always recognized the value of knowledge they held within.

“Of course Kyla. The library is yours.” Lhad said to her. She was one of the head council of this monster hunter guild and had run with Kyla in her darker days. “But..” She said stopping Kyla as she had thanked her and turned to leave.

“I have some short swords and crossbow bolts in a stock room on the way there. Could you give them a once over? Rarely do we have a smith of your caliber come through our gates and I would be remiss to not ask your help.” She said with a small smile.

“Oh um yes of course..” Kyla said with a shrug. She hadn’t liked Lianna all that much in the old days. A rich nobles daughter running with a bandit crew to get back at daddy. Kyla hadn’t liked her but she needed bodies and the gold and influence she had brought with her had been welcome at the time, and she had left before things had gotten too messy.

So Kyla was a friendly to her as she could to someone from her old life. “Don’t get lost..” Lianna called after her as she pushed open the door. Stepping j to the hallway she let the door swing shut behind her.

“If I remember right.. Stock room should be...ah! Right here.” Kyla said with a smirk opening the door. “What the..” She said as what was in the room met her eyes....brooms and buckets. Broom closet.

“Shit..” She cursed shutting the door and glancing about to make sure no one had seen her mistake. Once satisfied she walked a little further down. Maybe it was a bit more possible to get lost in here than she had originally thought. After a few more errors and a lot more cursing she finally opened a door and was met with a candle lit room bristling with crates full of weaponry.

“Finally..” She said breathing a sigh of relief. She began looking over the short swords. Not many were bad but she spotted a few that were far from perfect. She took one and gave it a practice swing to see how much the imperfections affected combat. The weight was slightly off but a larger man might favor the thicker blade so she decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.

She began practicing with it when someone came in. She was already starting a spinning swing when they entered and had to stop herself quickly leaving her to crash into the new comer in a tangle of limbs.

She had let the sword go in air not wanting to add to any injury she was about to incur.

The tip of the blade nicked her cheek as it flew off into the corner of the room and she landed on top of the new person after a quick tumble.

“Sorry about that!” Kyla said breathing heavily as she caught her breath from the sudden shock of almost accidentally taking someone’s head off along with the exercise. “Don’t just sneak up on people though. You were silent as a ghost. Gave me a fright.” She explained apologetically.

That was when a drop of blood fell from her cheek and landed on who she thought to be a woman’s chin. Under the hood it was hard to tell though.

“Here let me help you up eh?” She asked pulling herself back to her feet. Wiping the cheek wound with one hand and offering the newcomer the other for help up.

“Names Kyla.” She said. “Again so sorry.” She said awkwardly. This certainly hadn’t been the best first impression. Almost cutting someone down, crashing into them, and bleeding on them.

Luckily this was a big fortress so hopefully after this they could go their separate ways and avoid each other from mutual embarrassment.

“was there anything you needed? Or did Lianna send you to check on me before I went to the library?” She said with an apologetic smile along with her outstretched hand remaining directed at the new comer she still hadn’t gotten a good look at.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

He had come for training. His people had been having serious issues with vampires for centuries, and they had been unable to defend themselves for much of that time, now they could, but they didn't know how. So he came to speak with the trainers of the Monster Hunters, and ask them to teach him and his people, so that they themselves could teach the coming generations, and finally purge their home of the vile, bloodsucking denizens of Hell.

Eberwolf Kinniger was a young man, old enough to be considered a man, but still not quite I'm his prime. He was sent by his father the Duke of Kinniger Castle to secure training by the Monster Hunters. He wore the elven forged armour of white steel and the shining sword of silvery steel at his hip. He was already well trained and accomplished in the art of combat, he simply needed a specialists knowledge. So he was off to the fortress of the Monster Hunters.

His white coated and armoured Destrier steed cantered up to the portcullis of the vast and majestic structure of quarried stone and hard moarter. The towers of the grey rock loomed over him and his steed, Thunder, ominously, displaying a strength and durability of great reckoning. A fine place to be, no doubt.

As the iron gate rose to admit him into the home of those who stalk the supernatural and nameless, and the knowers of unspeakable beings, he urged Thunder into a stride displaying confidence that he didn't feel. Entering the keep was humbling, to see such things that towered over oneself and left them in a vast inescapable shadow reminded the beholder of how insignificant they truly were.

He left Thunder in the stables before walking into the central keep in wonder. As a guard passed him he spoke. "Where might I find the drillmaster in this labyrinthine place that I seem to be incapable of navigating?"

"Head down one level, and on the eastern side of the castle you will find the drillyard, there the drillmaster can be found."

Taking his leave of the guard he passed through the halls of the vast castle, and heard a crash as he passed one particular door. Out of concern his hand seized the handle and pulled the door open to peer inside.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike saw that she wasn't alone...for a split second. And the other person inside came tumbling into her. Heike, despite herself, couldn't hold in a small yelp of surprise as both she and the room's second occupant went down. The tome went flying out from her grasp, landing on the floor nearby in a flutter of turning pages; the dull thump of the book's hard cover punctuating the sharp clanging clatter of the fallen shortsword.

Something warm. Wet. On her chin. The sensation of it, the smell, piercing through all else: the surprise of what happened, the weight of the other person on top of her, the general alarm of her situation. Heike knew that smell. Blood. And like a gluttonous beast the thirst rose in her throat. Eager.

Steady, Heike.

The person--a woman--apologized. Stood. By the Crown, she was tall. Heike herself was abnormally tall as far as Reikhurstans went, and especially so for a woman; such made it easier for her acceptance into the Order of the Golden Blade. But this woman here, this Monster Hunter, stood even taller. Most of the sentries she had observed had an imposing stature all of their own as well. Heike was beginning to think that there must be some sort of minimum height requirement for these Monster Hunters to make up for the lack of a uniform dress code.

Gave me a fright.

"Sorry," she said. Near whispered. She had to be mindful of moving her lips only so much.

It could have went worse, this rough encounter with the tall woman. Thus far it was oddly cordial. Surprising. Even more than the awkward colliding into one another. Heike supposed it really should not have been so surprising, but so heightened was her sense of alertness that she perceived everyone as a threat, as if everyone would know instantly upon acknowledging her presence that she was a vampire. Better this way than the alternative. Herr Dieter Roth, one of her knight-superiors whose particular penchant was stressing the primacy of vigilance, would no doubt approve.

Then the woman, Kyla, offered her hand. And that was, to put it mildly, a bad idea for her to take it. Risking rudeness, Heike would have to stand on her own. But then Kyla said something very interesting.

There Heike lay, propped up on her elbows on the floor, right leg bent at the knee and foot flat on the ground in preparation to stand. There, as Kyla mentioned going to the library; the circumstances of the world had conspired just so to present her with this choice. This choice that was no choice, for she knew what needed to do. All things determined, indeed.

"Oh? You're going to the library too? Well, Heike's my name, Kyla, nice to meet you. Awkward as it was." Heike laughed. Cordially. Warmly, she hoped. "It's late, I was too busy staring at my book, and I wandered through the wrong--"

Door. It opened.

Heike looked back and up at the open doorway, more aware than before that she was still on the floor. And an even taller Monster Hunter was standing outside, a mountain of a man clad in white armor. Was he the source of those loud footsteps she had heard coming up from behind in the hallway?

All Heike knew was that--despite Kyla fortuitously heading to the library herself--she was garnering far more attention than she wanted. And this stockroom, its sole exit blocked by the monolithic Monster Hunter in white, began to feel cramped. Stifling. Dangerous.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

His first concern was the well-being of those around him. So his first question was, "are you two alright?" Followed up with, "what happened."

Despite his gargantuan size, he was rather gentle and compassionate towards those who were not his enemies. He came in to make sure that none of them required any medical attention. So when he saw the blood on Heike's chin, he first looked at it more closely, and in doing so, caught the barest glimpse of her fangs, but as he hadn't confirmed it was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

The minor injury was nothing to be concerned about, so he left it alone. "I apologize for the intrusion ladies. I wish you both a good day.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Can’t say I can judge you. Was lost in my own little world so think nothing of it.” Kyla said with a smirk in reply to her apology. She had taken this woman to be given to a shy nature evidenced by her smaller stature, and almost whispered apology.

So her hand being denied was chalked up to timidity rather than rudeness. Not taking no for an answer she would seize the woman by the wrist and move to gently pull her to her feet when the door opened yet again freezing her in place as she took in the new comer.

A man in white knights armor stood before them. Undoubtedly investigating the ruckus caused by the tumble Kyla and Heike had taken.

“Sir knight.” Kyla said tightly with a slight frown. She wasn’t a huge knight fan.

Being an old bandit, and general cut throat most of her life she had spent most of her miserable life fighting, evading, and generally having to deal and be at odds with knights and castle guard.

Noticing what she thought to be a timid new friend’s distress Kyla gave her a smirk and took the lead.

“We were both a bit distracted and had a tumble. She’s following me to the library now I believe. Lianna gave us permission.” She said glad to see the knight take his leave.

“Well let’s be off then.” She would say finally pulling Heike up by her wrist. “Oh and you’ve got something right there..” She said gesturing to her new friends chin.

 

[Heike Eisen]

A knight. Or so Kyla had said. The mountainous man certainly looked the part to Heike, and she supposed that perhaps the Fortress may well have some non-Monster Hunters seeking knowledge or training or particular armaments for their own plights. Still, though there was some spark of being a kindred spirit with this white-clad knight, Heike knew well that it was foolish wishful thinking to entertain any notion that he would think the same of her.

Knight. Monster Hunter. Anyone and everyone here would be keen to slay her without hesitation if they knew.

Which was all the more reason why Heike--resurrecting as she often did a relic of her former life--drew in a sharp breath of air through her nose when Kyla grabbed her by the wrist and hoisted her up. Close. Too close. Heike didn't want to hurt anyone here, and killing was far out of the question. Despite all the danger it posed to her now, Heike adamantly agreed with and wholeheartedly supported the mission of the Monster Hunters. They risked life and limb to provide an indispensable service to all of Arethil, and Heike respected that. Far be it for her to kill one of them. She was prepared to be as evasive as possible if she was uncovered, but if it came down to the abominable choice between killing to live or dying...her decision had been made.

So, while Heike was alarmed to have been grabbed by the wrist, relief settled in quickly from the raw fact that Kyla had not tried for one of her clawed hands.

And then the knight showed, Kyla addressed him as such, and, continuing to be a boon to Heike's efforts, Kyla allayed the knight's neighborly concern by speaking up for the two of them. The knight, apparently satisfied, wished them both a good day. Morning. Night. Perhaps a crossover of both, given the deep darkness of the hour.

Back on her feet again, Heike stooped down and picked up her tome; steadfastly careful to keep her claws hidden, however demure and childlike it may have looked to have her hands overtaken by the sleeves of her robe. Heike brought the book to her chest. Crossed her arms at the wrists and pinned the tome there with them; might as well double-down on the demure look.

Well let’s be off then.

Heike nodded.

Oh and you’ve got something right there..

That alarm again, as subdued as she could make it, though her brows most certainly arched when Kyla pointed. A lightning flash of terror as she thought in an ephemeral second that Kyla was gesturing at her fangs. But no. It was the blood. From that little nick on Kyla's face.

"Oh," Heike said. Quiet. Ever more aware of keeping her lips from moving too much. A quick little dabbing of her chin down on the sleeve of her robe, doing so solely by moving her head and not her arms. "Thank you."

A decision. To start conversation and keep it centered on Kyla and her business here, or to stay quiet and politely smiling? Hmm. The latter. The latter seemed best for now. If small talk started, she could be succinct. Friendly, but succinct. The less she had to say, the better. Her Oath of Truth threatened to make this fortunate encounter turn dangerous. If difficult questions were asked.

Sparing a little flick of her eyes up to the knight--in what Heike hoped was a passing display of kind gratitude for his concern--she fell in behind Kyla. Ready to follow.

* * * * *​

Slayer of vampires. His life's work, defined in those three words.

Justinian Moore barely slept. Four hours a day or less, yet he seemed to have boundless energy, indefatigable purpose. He wore a thick black gambeson with a steel neckguard, a multi-pocketed vest, and a wide-brimmed hat. He was armed to the teeth with a crossbow, an iron broadsword and targe, a silver dagger, and his vest was loaded with all manner of items known to be the weaknesses of various strains of vampires.

He stood now on the second floor of the Fortress's library, a massive rotunda with two overhanging circular balconies above the ground floor. Soft candlelight lit the whole of the library in a warm glow of orange. Bookcases lined the walls, some even along the ornately designed balustrades of the balconies. Moore stood in front of one such bookcase by the second floor balustrade, eyeing the tomes. All of them pertained to vampires: histories, personal accounts of Monster Hunters, experimentation studies.

Moore pulled out one tome in particular. A vast compendium.

And he started flipping through it.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

After being waved away and reassured by the two women he had to be satisfied that nothing was wrong and go about his business. He marched along the stone hallways, lit by flickering torches of orange fire. The drillyard was empty upon his arrival as expected, but now he knew where it was.

To pass the time he moved on to the library. He was here to receive anti-vampire training, so he figured that he ought to read up on them, to solidify his knowledge. The more he knew, the better he'd be, and he needed to be exceptional for the sake of his people.

Upon entry into the library he began to look over the section labels, until he found the section on vampires. Where he found another man waiting there, a book in hand.

"Pardon me sir." He says courteously. "I was not aware that anyone else was here."

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“So what brings you here?” Kyla asked as they walked down the torch lit hallway.
“ Are you a hunter or just passing through for some knowledge?” She asked.

Not being one to pry she tried to keep the conversation light with her shy friend. The claymore strapped to her back clinked softly as she walked.

Something about this shy woman made Kyla feel protective of her.

It wasn’t anything the woman had said or done per say it was more this new feeling she seemed to have more and more often the longer she had been out of her “old life.” that made her feel the need to help those that needed it.

She wasn’t sure what it was called but she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. As she listened to Heike’s response.

“Well. Here we are!” She said throwing open the double oaken doors to reveal... a dormitory and a chorus of angry guardsmen.

“What you shouten for?!”

“Close the damn door!

“Oi you lot shut up!”

“You idiots just woke me up! Right then who’s head am I ripping off!”

Kyla slowly shut the door taking Heike by the wrist and pulling her back with her into the hallway.

“Maybe not there..My mistake..” Kyla said apologetically her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

“I um..think it’s further down the hall actually...Come on.” She said not seeming To realize she had yet to release her new friends wrist and was dragging her along with her longer strides.

“Oh..sorry..” She said releasing her before a loud cry pierced the relative silence of the fort.

“Mimi’s hungry. I’ll take my leave for a moment once we get to the library if that’s alright. When she gets hungry guards start looking tasty..It’s my fault I forgot anyway. Thought I would already be leaving by now..” She said with a nervous chuckle.

“Ah ok. HERE we are.” She said as they came to yet another set of thick oaken doors. Inlaid with steel fittings it creaked as Kyla pulled them open. “No half naked sleeping guardsmen. Check. Bookshelves?...” She whistled taking in the size of the place. “Double check..” she finished realizing they were not alone in their quest for knowledge. Her look of slight cheerfulness vanishes to a slight grimace when she noticed the knight from earlier had been seeking the same destination they themselves had. It set her on edge slightly but she took a deep breath and pushed the nervousness aside. There was no need for it. A simple emotional remnant from her past no longer needed.

If noticed she would give him a slight nod. The other seemed to be a pretty standard hunter and gave her no pause.

“Well. Good luck finding your book.. I’ll have a quick look but I’ll have to be brief. I’ll see you in the dining hall possibly I’m sure.” Kyla would say giving her companions shoulder a squeeze before turning away and giving a few of the shelves closest to the door a quick once over. Her hungry pet clearly weighing in her mind as she scanned them.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Curious. Kyla talked in a manner that suggested that she herself was not a Monster Hunter. Maybe she was like the knight--if her assumptions of the mountainous white-clad man were true, of course. Regardless, it didn't much matter if Kyla or the knight for that matter were or were not Monster Hunters; Heike was in a Fortress full of them. This, of course, on top of the general scowling hostility (and again, rightfully so) toward vampires, Monster Hunter or not. She couldn't afford to let her guard down. To let her mask slip.

"Just passing through for some knowledge," Heike said, inwardly thankful that Kyla had provided her with an easy and truthful answer. Yet there would be a certain stiffness, perhaps even a hollow sense of insincerity from merely copying Kyla's words, if she left it at that. She added, "I've been wanting to learn about some specific monsters for some time."

Heike followed along, still clutching her tome to her chest. This seemed the best story, that of a learner, student, scholar, reader, something of the sort, because in it was the truth of the matter. She could not lie and say that she was, in fact, a Monster Hunter, or speak any other falsehood as to why she was here. This would do.

Well. Here we are!

Kyla threw open a twin set of doors and...it was not the library. Heike would have been thoroughly alarmed by all of the men inside, if they weren't all in various states of undress and roused from sleep by Kyla's loud entrance. Instead, a certain echo of life: like Kyla, Heike blushed. Blood coalesced in her cheeks (with a noted slowness), sans the accompanying warmth, the redness flaring out vividly against the pallor of her skin. Funny, that her body still did that.

She just...well, she just fancied the sight of some of those shirtless men. Hm. Sworn to the truth, indeed. She didn't say as much aloud, but her body betrayed it nonetheless.

Kyla, once more, helped out by quickly shutting the door and--

Grabbing Heike's wrist. Still surprising, still ratcheting up her wariness, but Heike at least did not show outward signs of such this time. Too much of that might tip the scales from demure to suspicious.

Heike continued after Kyla, allowing herself to be guided by the wrist. She didn't know who--or, more likely, what--"Mimi" was, and decided it best not to speak on it. Whatever Mimi was, it worked out to Heike's favor that Mimi's needs would draw Kyla's attention away once they had arrived at the library. Heike would have the time to find what she needed and escape without any incriminating questions being asked of her.

And there--speaking of--the library. Kyla opened the big oaken doors and the sheer sight of the cavernous library enveloped them. As they stepped in, Heike could see ahead over the balustrade that there was a floor below as well as a floor above. A noticeable quiet in the library, and not just from the lateness of the hour. Again, a good set of circumstances that there were not many others--hardly any, as it seemed--prowling the library. The perfect time.

I’ll see you in the dining hall possibly I’m sure.

Heike nodded. Felt the warmth of Kyla's hand leaking through her robe and her coat and her shirt beneath. Said, "I may see you there too."

"May" was an intensely useful word in times like these.

Heike started walking around the circular second floor of the library, skimming the section labels on the sides and fronts of the bookcases. Yet it didn't take long for her to start feeling overwhelmed by not only the amount of books in total, but the number of "possibles" from the section labels she had to keep track of. Nothing yet was labelled simply as "Vampires"; perhaps she needed to just keep on.

Ahead. She saw the white-clad knight around the curvature of the balcony and the balustrade bookcases. An impulse to turn around and check elsewhere at the sight of him--him and the other man there. But she had dual commitments: to finding the book she sought, and to looking less--not more--suspicious.

So she kept walking. Approaching the white-clad knight and the hatted man.

* * * * *​

Moore had a gift. And it defined his calling.

He started as any other Monster Hunter would have started. He took contracts for any and all monsters, making his coin where he could. But he discovered something peculiar of himself. Yes, he did have a talent for some magic, but he had his special gift, the ability to sense the presence of vampires. No other sort of monster or undead. Just vampires.

And this suited Moore well. Quite well, for he during his time as a normal Monster Hunter developed slowly an all-consuming hatred for vampires in particular, above and to the very exclusion of all other monsters. He transitioned over time into hunting only vampires, playing on his gift to be as quick and effective at it as possible. He. Hated. Vampires. They disgusted him beyond measure, the twisted and parasitic mockeries of life that they were. Often, Moore took intense pleasure in torturing vampires he captured until they killed themselves in desperation to escape the light or the fire he conjured or the silver or the iron he wielded. And even this extreme punishment seemed lacking to Moore, but it was the best he could do.

Vampires. They were not human. They were not elves. They were not dwarves. They were abhorrent reflections of what they used to be, worse even than other forms of undead because they--often--retained enough intelligence to know what they were and did not immediately kill themselves as was only right and proper. So, Moore took the opportunity when he'd the time to coerce them into doing so. There was no justifiable reason that anyone afflicted with the scourge of vampirism could muster to excuse living as a bloodsucking fiend. None. It was cowardice of the highest level to not accept one's fate, that one was already dead at the moment of the turning. And this despicable cowardice perpetrated horrors continuously on innocents all across Arethil with each feeding. Disgusting. Those who would allow their cowardice to visit pain and suffering on the innocent in such a manner deserved everything Moore did to them. Everything.

Some scholars and mages burned midnight candles in search of a cure for vampirism. Fools. There already was a cure for vampirism.

Eradication.

Pardon me sir.

Moore heard the clanking of armor signaling the large man's approach, then heard his words. He didn't bother looking up from the book in his hands, and he merely grunted in acknowledgment of the knight's presence.

And he heard someone else coming; the shuffle of a cloth robe. What he did not yet know, due to the dampening of magic inherent in Heike's strain, was her secret. But she was coming closer. Closer.

Until she, too, was standing next to him. Looking at the bookcase before him. Eyes scanning the spines of the books and reading the names.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Evidently there was no dialogue to be had with the quiet Hunter, so he moved on to the bookcase and searched for a manual on basic strategies for identifying and hunting vampires in various environments. It took a few moments but he eventually found a book labelled The Hunter's Tools. The book had what he needed so he too began to read as the other man did.

To make reading easier he removed his helmet and tucked it beneath his arm. This revealed a face of pale skin criss-crossed with scars new and old, though not enough to make him unbearably hideous, two eyes of a deep blue and a mop of blond hair atop his head. It was a perfect example of helmet hair, his helm having held his hair down for so long that it shaped itself after the helmet.

His armoured fingers were slow to turn the pages as he read intently, his mind focused solely on learning. He was so centered on his reading that he never noticed the woman from before walking up to them. Such a strange coincidence that they be after the same topic.

He read on, determined to learn as much as he could, as quickly as he could. While keeping the quality.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

Kyla scanned the books quickly.

Nothing.

Of course there was nothing.

She put back the copy of “Monster Hunter’s cook book: How to eat them before they eat you!” With a sigh of disgust.

“Heike!” She called. “You see anything for werewolves!?” “Shhh!” Kyla jumped as a white haired elf seemed to appear behind her.

The woman was robed from head to toe in white. From her tunic and leggings to her mage robe and even her hand wraps. She had a long mane of intricately braided white hair that threatened to almost brush the ground.

Her white irises stared back into Kylas for a moment feeling her temper flare before the elf’s stare seemed to calm her enough to leave her in a slightly stunned silence.

She was young looking, but Kyla knew with elves that wasn’t saying much. She was about her height coming up to almost her chin as her white eyes coupled with her white hair and porcelain skin reflected the moon light filtering in from the windows and gave her the illusion of glowing.

“This is a place of learning. Not of shouting.” She said softly. Her voice sounding almost as if she had just woken from slumber. Kyla opened her mouth to reply only to have it closed as the woman placed a finger to Kylas lips. “I said be quite child.” She chided. Her some what dreamy tone taking a slight edge to it.

“Were wolves are on the second floor just to the right of the stairs. Kyla opened her mouth to reply again but the woman turned away silently.

Kyla waited for her back to be turned before grumbling under her breath as she headed for the stairs the woman had indicated.

“And while my ears may look like knives as the slur you uttered makes light of I warn you that they are not as deaf child.” She said with out even turning around as she seemed to glide to where the knight, the hunter, and the robed person stood as Kyla blushed and hurried up the stairs to the second floor.

“Do any of you require assistance as well?” She asked almost dreamily her white eyes only remaining half open giving her a relaxed demeanor as she moved with the grace her race was known for.

“I apologize I wasn’t here to greet you sooner. I was watering my moon lace and came as soon as I could.” She paused for a moment giving both new comers a smile before continuing.

“I am Gwendolyn. Keeper of archives and crypts. At your collective service.” She said with a slight bow. She ignored Justinian as she had already greeted him. Beside he knew what he was looking for and had begun reading before he even said a word to her.

Would he ever change?

Gwen rarely knew humans that did.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike's shoulders hitched up in surprise as she heard her name called from elsewhere in the library. Kyla's voice. A minor reassurance in that. A more potent sense of reassurance in noticing, with keen ears and a few glances, that none of the others in the library--even as few as they were--seemed to care much about the flash of commotion.

She didn't call back. One, for the worry of possibly drawing attention, and two, after hearing the sharp and immediate shushing from the same general area as Kyla's call, it seemed...far better to just stay quiet in the library.

So she went back to looking through the bookcase of vampire tomes. From left to right her eyes went, reading the titles on the spines. Some had no titles, at least on the spines, and these she disregarded for now. One of those books might well be the exact sort of compendium she was looking for, but she did not want to risk repeatedly reaching to pull out so many. Not with the man in the black gambeson and the white-clad knight standing there with her. Best wait until they had gone on their way, if she didn't spot the book she needed by its spine title first.

Do any of you require assistance as well?

Another complication.

Gwendolyn, as she introduced herself. A keeper here. Her offer was one born out of sincere politeness, but to Heike it was dangerous. Her cordial encounter with Kyla had been by mere inches separated from being deadly. Heike did not like thinking in terms of luck, but it seemed apt here. Would she be lucky twice? To have Gwendolyn in the same manner as Kyla miss identifying her for what she truly was?

Heike looked over her shoulder only as much as need be to make eye contact with Gwendolyn. Said quietly with a friendly little smile, "No. Thank you. What I need is here."

She looked back to the bookcase of vampire tomes. And, despite herself, tried to will the white-clad knight into asking a question and stealing Gwendolyn's attention away. Hoped deeply that he would.

* * * * *​

Moore knew something. Sensed it.

That sharp, scratching feeling in his chest. In his head, just behind the arches of his eyebrows. That distinct feeling of his gift.

There was a vampire nearby. It had been faint and soft at first, his gift. But he had become aware of it. Slowly. And now he was sure.

Gwendolyn the Keeper came by. Introduced herself to the browsers beside him, the woman on his left and the armored man on his right.

It was one of them. The woman, or the armored man. Hell, it may even be Gwendolyn. Who knew horrors transpired beyond the scope of one's sight? For all he knew, she may have been turned just yesterday or the day before, and, seeking some sense of normalcy, tried to act as if nothing had changed. He had seen it before. He would see it again.

With little glances he scrutinized those around him quickly, then went back to looking at the book in his hands.

Gwendolyn. Possible.

The woman to his left. Robed. Hooded. Large sleeves on her robe. Curious. Her hands hidden. Concealing weapons. Something else? Quiet. Reserved. Secrets to keep perhaps.

The armored man to his right. Tall. Very much so. Some strains increased the height and stature of its victims. Why the white armor? Symbolic? Blending in by some pretense? Maybe. He had taken his helm off. Pale skin. Scars. Damning. Why did he say previously that he was not aware of anyone else here. What did he want from here?

Moore waited. Patiently. Flipped a page in the book he held, even as he was merely staring and no longer reading.

His gift would soon narrow in on the true vampire here.

Soon.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

(Hey guys, going on a trip, I won't be online tomorrow or the day after.)

"Yes actually, I would like to know, is there anywhere nearby I might sit to read, I plan to be here for a while and I'd rather not exhaust my legs until after the training sessions." He says to her politely.

Whether or not there was a place to sit, he'd continue reading, either in the chair or still standing depending on the circumstances. Of course, he was oblivious to the world outside because of his focus on reading.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Oh. Of course sir knight this way please.” Gwen would say. Her polite smile never seeming to leave her features she would lead Sir Eberwolf to a nice sitting area deeper within the archives shelves.

There was silence for a moment until Kyla would return with a book under her arm.

“Find everything alright or still looking?” She asked in a noticeably lower tone and after a quick glance around and behind her. Stupid, creepy, elf librarian. Those eyes made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. A calm serenity, covering a cold, dark, soul.

Either way she was going to make sure her timid new friend was ready. That same unwelcome feeling she had received when meeting Heike returning as she had tried to make for the doors alone.

It sat in her gut like a stone until she turned around and began the short walk back to check on her hooded companion.

She would throw her arm around Heike and pull her close in a friendly gesture shared by mercs and warriors of her ilk and disposition.

“We can come back later. Let’s eat our fill and-“ That was when she noticed it.

She paused.

No pulse.

Her friends body..

Kyla had carried many friends back from battlefields. She knew what it felt like to hold a corpse.

“Heike?” Was all she could manage.

 

[Heike Eisen]

The white-clad knight did have a question, and the keeper's attention was diverted away. Good, but she still was not left alone. The man in the black gambeson still stood beside her, and it didn't take long for Kyla to come back around.

Find everything alright or still looking?

Demure. Shy. Say as little as possible. Politely decline everything.

"Oh," Heike said. She turned her head just enough to look at her. The fledgling half-smile came with a startlingly natural ease. Perhaps it appeared as shy as she intended, but its core was based in worry. The heightened crackling of anxiety. And Heike became evermore aware of the black gambeson man, the white-clad knight, the keeper, all of their relative positions around her as she spoke with Kyla.

"Um, yes. Still looking. Just for a compendium."

(Moore didn't react. Externally. He stood as he had been standing and turned a page.)

Then the worst happened. Kyla pulled her in. Close. An ostensibly friendly gesture, one made with the earnest sincerity of camaraderie. This, based on Kyla's misconception of Heike.

A misconception that had just been corrected.

Kyla cut her words short. Paused. And the awful, unmistakable air of She Knew gathered around them; Heike's senses were sharply calibrated to this, for it had happened many times before. That small moment of shock and horror on the part of the other person, as, so often in their minds, Heike morphed in an instant from being a person to being a monster. A fiend. A vampire.

There were too many others around. Monster Hunters and whoever else, certainly most if not all experienced or having a considerable degree of training. And even if she escaped the library, she still had to navigate all the way back through the narrow Fortress halls; no easy task if a general alarm was sounded.

She might end up doing just that. But Heike had to try a quieter approach first. Kyla had not been openly hostile--yet. This, as well as the very slight possibility that Heike may have misjudged something: maybe Kyla felt through her clothes and her robe the coldness of her skin (not particularly damning in and of itself) but not the lack of a heartbeat. Maybe Kyla did surmise that Heike was afflicted, but was not a Monster Hunter; a guest of some sort to which Heike was unaware.

Whatever the truth of the matter, she had to try. The outcome of success outweighed the risk.

Heike looked up at Kyla. Didn't tense or struggle or resist the big woman's grasp. Her brows bowed plaintively, and she said quietly, "I am not your enemy."

* * * * *​

Meanwhile, Moore closed the compendium and placed the tome back on the bookshelf. Just on the free space of one shelf, leaning back against the spines of other neatly arranged books--not back in its proper place.

He brought his left hand to his chin. Pretended to be looking and considering something as his right hand, behind the sight of Heike and Kyla but not the sight of the Sir Eberwolf, reached down to the silver dagger on his hip. He gripped the hilt.

A vampire with magic dampening. Dampened even his gift. He knew of two strains with such dampening. The silver would prove quickly which one she was.

And then the fire would come next.

His eyes slid over to his left. The vampire was in the one-armed embrace of some barbaric-looking woman. Thrall? Sympathizer? Or the wildwoman did not know.

It would be seen. Once he had the right opportunity.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Sir Eberwolf looked up at the sudden stop in dialogue, the tense silence catching his attention. His senses suddenly hieghtened and his eyes took in everything. The first thing he saw was the Hunter reaching for his dagger, which meant that a vampire was nearby, and from his angle it looked like he was looking at the hooded woman, understandable. The hood and loose clothes hide things, something a vampire would want.

He carefully set the book down and stood up, his hand grabbing the hilt of his sword in preparation for combat. He left his helmet on the chair, and he tensed. He was ready to react, to anything.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

Her grip tightened around the smaller woman. She locked eyes with her friend and stared deeply. It was a meaningful gaze. One that was searching another’s soul.
Her red tattoo beginning to glow slightly as her grip shifted from loose and gentle to something more like an iron band pressing into her.

“I see.” She said softly in Heike’s ear. Her hand began drifting towards her claymore’s worn, leather wrapped, handle.

“I wish youhave been more up front with me. I understand why you couldn’t be..” She sighed noticing the hunter dressed in black shifting his stance along with the knight standing and seeming to ready himself as well.

“Just wish I could’ve steered clear. I liked coming here. But now.. I guess that’s that.” She drew her sword eyeing the hunter dressed in black.

Her mind was made up just like that.having met and done deals with many a shady blood sucker she knew enough to know the good sort from the bad.

The bad were vicious beasts worthy of nothing but the sword driven by greed, hatred, and their hunger.

The good on the other hand were poor afflicted souls worthy of help. Her gut told her this woman was The good sort.

She had had plenty of chances to attack her and hadnt. “Grab the book you need. We’re leaving.” Kyla said ruffling her friends head with a smile that evaporated from her face as she locked eyes with Moore. She took an aggressive stance as her grip loosened and she gently guided Heike behind her.

 

[Heike Eisen]

A stiffness hitching up Heike's shoulders at the tightening of Kyla's grip. She often went to precarious lengths to earn the trust of others, if such trust was even capable of being earned in the first place. She had with Captain Bronmarch, a few others. And these lengths entailed without exception making herself plainly vulnerable, opening herself up to the mercy of the man or woman whose trust she sought. Despite herself, when the proverbial razor's edge descended down close, she often did stiffen in anticipation of the possibility of having made a grave mistake. The first and last of its kind.

Thus far, she had not.

I see.

An ambiguous answer. Anything could come of it.

I wish you have been more up front with me.

The Oath of Truth. There were two ways to follow it: the words of the oath, or the spirit of the oath. And Heike, unlike the more admirable knights of the Golden Blade, fell short of the latter. These days it was a raw necessity to follow only the words of the oath. To omit as much as possible while still fulfilling the obligation to speak truthfully. To not volunteer information and to leave misconceptions uncorrected. Other small things which lay in the shade beside the light that was the spirit of the oath, and the manner of according oneself that it prescribed if one embraced its meaning beyond the literal.

I guess that’s that.

A furrowing of Heike's brow in mild confusion. "What?"

Then came a series of things noticed. Kyla's hand moving toward her weapon's hilt; and Heike was then sure that the grave mistake, the first and last, had been made. This thought proved fleeting, as she saw the trace of Kyla's glance to the man in the black gambeson. He, too, had his hand on a weapon's hilt. The white-clad knight beyond him had stood up from his seat and likewise had a hand on his weapon as well.

It seemed...unreal. Heike's immediate thought had been that all three of them would come for her then, and only through the strenuous expenditure of blood for inhuman speed and strength would she have the chance to escape not only them but the Fort itself. But then Kyla had decided to help her. Told her to grab the book she was looking for and that they were leaving. And these moments of being accepted, trusted, always shook Heike with a pleasant but arresting surprise. The utter rarity of these moments ensured that each remained as powerful as the last.

Kyla ruffled Heike's head. Guided her back behind herself. Despite the incredible danger and risk Kyla was assuming by siding with her, Heike couldn't help but to feel a touch of indignant recoil at that ruffling. It felt patronizing. Beneath her station--if, indeed, she could claim as much now with her affliction. A second's passing brought with it the recognition that Heike had brought it on to an extent herself, having acted in the demure and shy manner she did to get here. She let it go.

Heike glanced to the book the man in the black gambeson had put back. Upon its face, the title: The Koninghaven Summary of Strains of Vampirism across Arethil. If there was any book which she could find the characteristics of her strain and identify it, that book was it. The problem. The man in the black gambeson was far too close to it. And he did not share the same demeanor as Kyla.

Heike said quietly, but with a pragmatic firmness, "I can't."

And Moore drew his silver dagger. Held it out, blade pointing down, to his right side--unbeknownst to him closer to the book Heike sought, almost touching it. In his left hand he produced a small strip of blank paper, pinched between his index and middle fingers.

He dragged his gaze from Heike up to Kyla. Said to her, "So you...would ally yourself with--" He tilted his head up and to the right without moving his eyes. Raised his voice fiercely into a call to be heard loud and clear throughout the library, "--a vampire?"

The others in the library stirred. Murmurs, from the first floor below and the third floor above. Two Monsters Hunters on the third floor came to and glanced over the third floor balustrade down at them. Others were poking their heads out from around bookshelves. Faint repeatings of the word, "vampire," echoed along the rotunda shape of the library, spinning up a slowly increasing sense of alarm. Hurried footsteps could be heard on the third floor, and oaken doors creaking open as someone unseen up there left the library. There were less than a dozen other people, Monster Hunters and not, in the library, and after Moore's call they all were shifting their attention to the commotion on the second floor. And some were coming, doubtless heading to the stairs up or the stairs down to reach the second floor and perhaps assist against this alleged vampire that had somehow infiltrated deep into the heart of the Fortress.

Moore brought the downward dagger close to his chest and the paper in his left hand caught fire and he graced the blade with the flame and the flame, having consumed all of the paper, jumped supernaturally to the blade and wreathed it in ominous orange.

Moore spoke to Kyla in the forlorn way one might try to reason with someone who was almost, but not quite yet, too far gone. He said, "She will betray you. They always do."

He made a dismissive gesture with his left hand. "Stand aside. For your own sake."

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Seeing and hearing much of this conversation he understood what was happening to an extent, then hearing the several Hunters that were on their way, he knew that the fight was decided. He walked forward and placed his hand on Moore's shoulder.

"You needn't kill her, you've already won. Keep her alive, and you will have more to study, more knowledge that you may discover, which in turn will let you hunt them better. Keep her alive, she will be more useful then." It was a full hearted attempt at preserving her life, though he knew so little about this man, so whether or not it would work was a shot in the dark. If it worked, he'd speak with her, and find out about what kind of vampire she was, not which strain, but whether she was a victim, or a true monster. And depending on which, he may help or hinder her.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Now now..” Kyla said seeming to like their odds less and less as more joined the fray. “I may look a bit trashy I’ll relent, but I don’t like taking on big rooms all at once.” She said with her confident smirk never wavering.

“I’ve handled my share of the leeches. She’s a good sort.” Kyla said with a smirk at the mans magic. The fire reflected in her own burning eyes.

“She will betray you.” He had said in an almost pleading earnest.

“I spent too much of my life taking advantage of the good sort. I guess you could call this my penitence.” Her tattoo began to glow even brighter.

Projecting its pattern on the wall and floor. Her eyes matched the glow with a burning red replacing her normal soft green. She stepped forward placing her left hand on the book in question and took advantage of the knight deciding to pipe up by pulling it free while the group mostly turned to hear the man speak.

“And not one of you come a step closer or else.” Kyla said as the room seemed to be slowly advancing in her. Her sword would plunge through the air ,whistling with speed as it sank into the stone floor like butter.

She pulled it from the cracked rubble with a growl.

“I can swing it in a circle far faster than that, and with the exception of fatty in the back..”

“Oi! No call for that.” Piped up the rather portly orc in the back of the crowd.

“Yeah! I know we getting ready to fight and all but that’s just hateful. Ol Reggie ain’t had a wife to help him eat right since last spring. Ain’t that right Reg?”
Piped up a dwarf next to the orc.

“Ay. I really let me self go since she passed.. Can’t say I’ve..” He lamented before they halted into an embarrassed silence. It seemed the whole room seemed to turn and give them a look in unison.

“Anyway....” Kyla said giving a quick toss of her hair. “I would hazard a guess none of you are as hard to cut as stone.” She would say tucking the book behind her breastplate.

Enjoying the way the entire room drew back for a moment at the reveal of her strength she would take the brief halt to take Heike by the hand without thinking and lead her towards the doors. Her friends claws pierced her flesh with ease but she said nothing.

Tightening her grip and gritting her teeth.

She was done for for snow.

Monster hunters would be after her. Knights and guards were already generally after her as well as and organization that was apart of the college.

At this rate she might as well piss off the dragon keepers and the dreadlords too just to bring the total of orginaztions trying to capture or kill her to a nice, round, “most.”

“That was a pretty smooth-“ She began as the made it to the door way before she heard it.

A scream.

The air would seem to grow cold. “You!” Gwendolyn was suddenly in front of them. Her eyes glowing a deep shade of black her hands crackled with small traces of lightening lacing through her fingers occasionally.

“I will not have my home desecrated..My Archives having holes stabbed in them. Or my texts being stolen!” She screeched.

Her face normally being one of calm it now seemed to be sculpted by some artist with sadistic sensibilities.

“You go.” Kyla said not realizing she still had the book Heike needed on her person.

“I got this. Besides what’s the worst a skinny creep like that could do to me?” She said with a wink as she turned to face her foe.

the last glimpse being her back as the doors swung shut.

Silence...

A clang of metal...

When suddenly a thunder clap shook the floor, and the doors were thrown open as Kylas smoking body sailed through them.

She hit the opposite wall with a sickening thud. Gwendolyn would leisurely take her time to walk over to her. Picking Kyla up by the neck she would hold her up for a second.

She hung limply in the elves grasp. Blood leaking from her ears and nose along with angry burn marks spreading up her body like black webs of ash and burned flesh.

“Now YOU stay right there. This will only take a mo-.” She began glancing at Heike before Kylas eyes popped back open.

“Fuck me that hurt.” She said with a groan. Gwens eyes went wide.

“That was enough power to kill someone twice over how did.....” Her gaze would fall to Kylas right arm. A small line of black numbers and runes were tattooed into her flesh. She knew that mark..but from where?

“What are yo-” She began again but was stopped short once more by Kyla taking advantage of her open mouth and spitting right into before kicking her in the gut.

She was released as Gwens eyes went wide in surprise, pain, and most of all disgust. Her hands flew to her mouth and stomach respectively as Kyla fell to the ground.

“Sorry about that. Now let’s be off before she turns me inside out. Eh?” She would ask almost seizing Heike by the hand again before thinking better of it and taking her by the wrist.

The alarm began to sound as footsteps echoed down the hall in front of them along with footsteps and the crackling energy that definitely meant Gwen was not down with them. She doubted the guy with the flaming dagger was one to pack it in so easily either.

Great.

“So you’ve got a plan right?” She asked giving Heike a confident smile that was as obviously hallow and nervous as one could project without meaning to.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Moore felt the hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch or otherwise react.

You needn't kill her--

"I don't intend to," he said sharply, interjected the moment the white-clad knight had said it.

And it was the truth. Moore didn't intend to kill her. He intended to capture her and torture her until she killed herself. All the rest of what the knight said, the studying and gaining of useful knowledge, was a matter of course. One thing that intrigued him dearly was just what a vampire was doing in the very heart of the Monster Hunter Fortress. And he would find out.

Whether or not the barbarian woman decided to do something foolish. Moore allowed her to take the book from the shelf. She was terribly misguided, gullible, frightfully naive, and worst of all openly hostile to the few Monster Hunters that had reached the second floor and had gathered 'round with their weapons drawn. But despite all of this, Moore did not want to harm her. He truly did not want to. But he would, for the avenging of this vampire's past victims and the prevention of her future victims, kill the wildwoman if he absolutely had to.

He had done so before. Killed sympathizers. They were a danger not only to themselves, but countless other innocent people. And this Moore could not abide. Reason may yet reach the ears of the wildwoman, but if it did not...he would put her down. As he had with his father to save his mother.

Moore simply watched the wildwoman's display of strength; if only she could see herself as she was now, a willing pawn to a vampire whose true intent she very likely did not know. He watched as the wildwoman and the vampire started to move along, past the apprehensive Monster Hunters (perhaps they, too, were wary of harming of woman who may yet be saved from her foolish missteps), and along the circular balcony and toward the second floor doors leading out.

With a flick of his wrist Moore extinguished the fire on his dagger. Sheathed it. Unslung the crossbow from his back and took a bolt with a special payload from his belt quiver and began loading the weapon. And to the knight, whom he had judged sane and competent, Moore said as he worked, "You wish for this matter to be resolved without the wildwoman dying over a bloody vampire, nor any Monster Hunters being harmed, yes?"

Encapsulated light in tiny glass bulbs shimmered just behind the bolthead he loaded. And Moore looked, adamant, up at the knight and said, "Then help me secure the vampire after I subdue it. The wildwoman will be irrational. Help me reason with her. It is her only chance."

He heard the fight by the doors between Gwen and someone. And at this Moore stalked off, trailing after the path the wildwoman and the vampire and the small group of Monster Hunters had gone.

* * * * *​

I’ve handled my share of the leeches.

Leech. The truth so often hurt, and this was no exception. Heike had drawn that conclusion herself--and it was hammered home each and every time she felt the thirst come again--but it undeniably hurt more when it was spoken aloud by others. It served as the most resounding confirmation of the deep black mark upon her life. Herr Heike Eisen, Knight-Valiant of Reikhurst, loyal servant of the Reik crown, proud daughter of Albrecht and Sieglinde Eisen...and abhorrent leech.

She got the book. And, oddly, the man in the black gambeson let her take it, even though she was well within striking distance. No. It wasn't odd. The black gambeson man wanted her, Heike, not Kyla. Despite the man's clear hostility (his warranted hostility) towards her, Heike couldn't help but to hold a measure of respect for his restraint.

What Kyla did next, however, shocked and offended Heike's sensibilities: she threatened the Monster Hunters. Clearly with death or heinous injury, for nothing short of these would stop them. To their credit, the Monster Hunters responded with the flippant swagger many of them were known for. But Heike knew that they, like her, were bound by their duty. That they, like her, would pursue it until they were no longer able. And they were not wrong. The Monster Hunters were men and women who dared their lives to fight the most abominable creatures the world over. And Kyla sought to kill them for this, should they come too close? For simply fulfilling their admirable duty? The confidence and near glee with which she expressed herself in this matter was sickening to Heike. Kyla seemed to hold not a single qualm, not an ounce of horror, at the prospect of taking the lives of good men and women.

Heike couldn't allow that to happen, for Kyla to potentially kill the Monster Hunters on her behalf. The Monster Hunters would attack; it was only a matter of numbers and time. But Kyla would have no one to defend if Heike--despite the risk--separated and went off on her own. It had to be done.

Kyla took Heike's hand, grabbing it more by her elongated clawed fingers instead of flat on the palm and thus harming herself, adding yet more reason why Heike needed to abandon Kyla for her own sake and the sake of the Monster Hunters. She would not be the cause of some grievous tragedy here.

Heike allowed herself to be led along, for the Monster Hunters had parted from Kyla's way after she had done her show of strength and her threat. But they were following close behind. Apprehensive, but with a grim persistence. One of them, a younger woman with her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, yelled furiously, "You would kill us in defense of a monster? Have you lost your mind?"

That will not happen, Heike thought. It did not matter if Kyla had the book Heike was after or not. What mattered were the lives of these brave Monster Hunters. Heike would readily accept failure if it meant that they were not endangered by her presence and Kyla's willingness to do them harm in her defense.

And the opportunity to break away came quickly. The Keeper, Gwen, appeared through the oaken doors leading out of the library's second floor.

You go.

Funny that she should say that. Heike did not wait for anything more, did not stay to witness the fight between Kyla and Gwen or anything after, and said no words of parting. She turned away from the oaken doors and sprinted to the second floor balustrade and leapt onto it and exerted herself to jump high enough to reach the third floor balustrade. Caught two of the balusters and hiked herself up and over the railing of the balustrade above. Now on the third floor.

And Heike ran past the bookshelves along the curved walls and along the curved balustrade, searching quickly for another set of doors that would lead out of the library.

Down below, unbeknownst to Heike on the second floor, Moore--who had been lining up a shot on her--raised his crossbow up once he lost line of sight on her and sprinted toward the stairs leading to the third floor. Three of the Monster Hunters, including the blonde haired woman, were close behind in the pursuit.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

"You wish for this matter to be resolved without the wildwoman dying over a bloody vampire, nor any Monster Hunters being harmed, yes?"

"Yes"

"Then help me secure the vampire after I subdue it. The wildwoman will be irrational. Help me reason with her. It is her only chance."

"Understood." He says, moving to confront the wild woman. He ran down the steps and stood between her and the librarian, sword drawn in case of any hostilities. From there he began to speak.

"I don't know your name, nor your reasons but you need to stand down. The woman you are defending is not who you think she is. You have no reason to defend her, if she is captured alive no harm will come to her, you have my word. Now please, put away your weapon and cease this pointless violence.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

(boop)

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Right?” She asked again when silence met her last query. Turning to see her new friend gone.

“will betray you.” Well that hadn’t taken long. Not even a goodbye or a thank you.

Typical.

The group was almost upon her. Gwendolyn seemed ready to dust her when the knight from before got between them.

“She aided a monster.” Gwen spat with disgust looking from the knight to the wild woman incredulously. Kyla didn’t say a word instead opting to jump through a window to her right. Regardless of what the knighthad said the keeper was right.

There would’ve been consequences for her actions and she had neither the time nor patience to deal with these people without killing one.

The glass cut her skin as she let out a sharp whistle while plunging through the air. A large black shape seemed to snatch her from the sky turning her deadly plunge into a controlled glide.

She was far too heavy to fly with anymore but Mimi could help guide her gently to the earth clutching her gently in her large razor sharp talons.

It still amazed Kyla from time to time that the bird could handle her so easily with talons so sharp. She hit the ground outside the fort.Falling into a roll she let out a yelp if pain as something dig into her side.

The book.

The thing the vampire had needed.

She pulled it free from her breastplate and examined the black bound leather tome.

Maybe there was a chance she would get her answers after all. Then she could decide exactly how she felt about her “friends” sudden and silent departure. She placed the book leaning against a tree farther up the road.

She carved a message in the tree before making a few other arrangements and taking her leave.

“Circle around. Stay hidden Find her and makes sure she gets her book. Least we could do.“ Kyla said with a tired sigh before moving up the road and disappearing into the woods.

Mimi nodded letting out a screech as she took to the skies.

Her glowing red eyes glinting specks of death against the darkness of the night.

The town close by burned like a beacon against the moonlight in the distance.