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Chapter 10: The Search at Ileta’s Apartment

    Penna withheld her anger at being spoken to so rudely by Rone once again. She led the group mutely, fuming at all the rudeness the younger man had displayed towards her and the other woman of consequence, N’shara. She led first to Ileta’s apartment, as it was more likely that the two of them had shacked up there. When they arrived at the front of the building, Penna curled over a little out of breath. Her constitution was anything save frail, and the walk wasn’t easy on the slight elf who had no food to fuel her slim frame. “Here...” she stated between deep and labored breaths. She lay her back against the wall and sought to catch her breath.

    N’shara frowned as she saw her elven companion’s exhausted state. If they had to go upstairs, Penna would be even more exhausted. The best thing to do was cast a refreshment spell. She stepped over to Penna and held onto her shoulder. “Go on ahead, I’ll be up in a moment,” she said to Rone, Nakira, and Callin before tending to the elf. With a brief prayer to Marfa, she gave Penna a burst of energy at little cost to her own spiritual energy. “There, that should be enough to make you feel better,” she said. Hopefully this could be the end of their search; if Penna insisted on joining them, she might end up slowing them down. N’shara doubted she would be able to turn her away, and she didn’t need more conflict with Rone if she couldn’t send Penna away.

    Penna gave a small smile. “I’m sorry, my constitution isn’t the greatest shortly after waking up. I’ll have more strength when and after I eat, and after I calm down a little. Worry and frustration takes a lot of energy out of me.”

    “Well, at least the spell will hold you over for now,” N’shara assured Penna. “Let’s catch up. Lean on me if you feel tired.” N’shara led the way back into the building and headed up the stairs where she saw the other three of their group waiting as Nakira scouted the room.

    Rone opened the door to the apartment building, his eyes now on high alert. He scanned the area coolly before moving upstairs towards Ileta’s particular apartment. His movements were somewhat quiet as he approached the door. Lightly, he pushed down on the handle, but the handle wasn’t going anywhere fast. Locked. He glanced to Nakira. “I don’t suppose you know how to get this door opened quietly?”

    Nakira looked to Rone and smiled knowingly. After getting her tools from her side, she replied to Rone, “Of course, give me a moment and I’ll have that lock open for us.”

    Nakira moved to the door and began to work on the lock, very quickly she heard a soft click and felt the lock open. Putting her tools away she stepped back and quietly opened the door, she was more in her element now than before. “I’ll look around ahead of you, try not to make any noise however.”

    Opening the door revealed little of Ileta’s apartment, just a section of hardwood floor. Once Nakira stepped in further, she could see the carnage however. At the foot of the bed were the shredded remains of Ileta’s uniform. On the bed, however, wasn’t the blonde barmaid, but the petite dark haired one. Dutia was laying on her back, her eyes glazed over and staring blankly at the ceiling, but most obvious was her torn throat and the blood stain on the sheets under her body. The room was quiet, and the smell of blood was several hours old. It was apparent that this apartment was left as a crypt for the dead.

    Seeing this, Nakira looked at the body horrified. Motioning for the others to step in, she was shaking a little. The poor girl, she had hoped that Dutia was still alive but she knew this was also a chance. “I think I found one of the two girls, it might be Dutia. Ileta is not here, I wonder if she is with him or she died elsewhere.” The smell made it hard for her to speak, and she stumbled backwards and felt like she wanted to vomit. She had to keep herself from losing it here, she had to see this job to the end despite this setback.

    Penna nodded to N’shara at the offer of her shoulder to lean on if she felt any weaker. “I’m good for now.” she offered a smile to prove the sincerity of her words. She followed N’shara up the stairs and the scent of blood immediately offended her delicate nose. Mustering up the courage she walked past Rone to take a peek inside the room. Upon seeing Dutia’s pale face and torn neck the elven woman blanched and turned around quickly. “Th...that...” she stammered looking at the ground to regain some composure. “N..not Ileta.”

    N’shara stepped into the doorway to see the scene. The vicious wounds on the barmaid’s body made her stomach turn. That could have been me... she thought. Leaning against the door frame, she looked away from the corpse and recovered. “Callin, is that the one called Dutia?” she asked the mercenary.

    Callin stepped into the apartment with a hand on the hilt of one of his swords, avoiding the three women clustered around the doorway, and got a better look at the face of the dead woman. “That’s her,” he said, cringing at the grotesque remains. He was used to seeing bloodshed as a mercenary, but not when innocent women were involved. More blood caught his eye in the left side of the room, and he saw the body of his former companion, Darin. “Darin’s here too, dead,” he told the group. From what he could see, Darin’s throat was ripped just like Dutia’s.

    There was no sign of Ileta, but there were still places to hide the body. If the vampire had his way with her first, he could have hid the body when Darin and Dutia showed up. Callin drew one of his swords and went to the closet. The vampire could even be hiding here still, so Callin was cautious. With his sword, he gently nudged open the folding doors of Ileta’s closet. Nothing but dresses. Callin swept through the skirts with the dull side of his blade, but hit nothing but cloth.

    Rone stepped forward, examining the space for only seconds before taking charge of the situation. “Callin, Penna, examine your friends. Make note of anything missing or out of place, besides the obvious. Nakira, look for clues of how or where Ileta and our target have gone.” Heartlessly, the authoritative vampire hunter walked over to Dutia’s dead body. He was silent for a moment. “N’shara,” he said quietly, “bless her body. It is criminal to leave her body so defiled.” He looked on for a few seconds more before approaching Callin’s old companion Darin. After noting to himself how the man was positioned, he pulled Darin from the corner, knelt, and began to bless the fourth victim methodically.

    N’shara nodded to Rone and went to the barmaid’s body to preform her blessings. She gently placed her hand on Dutia’s cold forehead, then brushed her eyelids shut. Dutia’s arm’s were spread on the bed and the wrists bruised, showing that she had been pinned down. “Holy Marfa, take this child into your embrace. Lead her soul to peace,” the priestess prayed. As she tended to Dutia and felt her cold corpse, reality hit N’shara hard. This poor maid was so young, and because of a bad turn of luck, she was sent to her death. She would never marry, she would never be a mother, and she only had some mere twenty-odd years of life behind her. No longer was she determined to find Aryen for her own vengeance, but she had to avenge this innocent woman, the unlucky young mercenary, and all the victims he had left in his path. Where was Ileta though?

    “Rone, do you think Aryen could have...‘unbirthed’ Ileta?” she asked, recalling what Rone talked about when he first spoke to her at the temple.

    Nakira was still shaken by all of this, but she still would work until this was over. Now they had to find some indication of where their quarry went next, though she let them finish their tasks before leaving the carnage. “He probably knows he’s being tracked, how do we find him now?”

    “Its possible,” Rone said in between speaking prayers. “It fits his profile so far to have a female companion to travel with him. As far as I know, this is the first male he has taken. Even then, his neck wounds suggest great resistance. He was bit multiple times. He is no good at seducing men.” Rone rose from Darin’s body, now properly cared for in death. “May your soul find peace at Falis’ right hand.” Rone continued, “He should know by now that leaving the city is his only option. If we think logically about the time, I don’t think he has gotten out yet. If he has any brains, he is leaving tonight. How many exits are there from this city?”

    “Two main ones, there may be smaller gates I’m not aware of,” N’shara replied. She continued taking care of Dutia, but when she found that the maid’s arms were too stiff to move, she gagged. N’shara turned away from the body and tried to settle her stomach. She knew little of what happened to a body after death, but it cemented the concept of decay in the priestess’s mind.

    Callin had sheathed his sword and went to Darin’s body. He crouched down and watched Rone bless the deceased. “I don’t think they took anything, he still has his sword,” Callin commented. “In fact...I doubt he even drew it. Maybe it wasn’t as much of a struggle as you thought if he didn’t have the chance to draw.”

    “We can’t check all gates in time as a single group, but I have some insight. If I were being hunted for any reason, I’d leave the city at the same time as a larger group. Makes it easier to hide, as well as less suspicion,” Nakira added her thoughts on what gate they would use, though her insight as a thief served to ground her in reality. Then again their target was probably a lot craftier, and could do a lot more than even any skilled thief.

    “And we know what direction he isn’t going in. He won’t back track to previous crimes. I need a map of this city...” Rone muttered. “I was tracking this one in based off of previous crimes. We can single out his direction and employ the guards of the city for an identification of his face with the descriptions we have.”

    N’shara had moved away from Dutia’s body to a empty corner of the apartment. “Hmm...I don’t know where to buy a city map, but a guard house certainly should have one. We should make our next stop at the nearest one then.”

    “A fine idea,” Rone said. He almost didn’t even respond. He was simply hoping that she would try to be more helpful if he gave her a little bit of approval when she was doing well. “We have little time to waste then.” Rone began to skim the scene carefully, trying to pick out details that the others might not notice. “The more people you travel with, the more they are slowed. The more I think of it, the more certain I am that this Ileta woman has been converted. Though her loss is horrible, it is easier to track two. They leave tonight. And from the way it seems, they are too pretty for their own good. We will use that against them. Any more observations?”

    “Scrying,” Penna said softly. “We could acquire their general location through a scrying spell.” The elven woman looked down the hall and continued with a soft sigh, “We could scry, were any of us adept at it. That isn’t really one of the teachings my mother gave me when she taught me about shamanism.”

    “Nor is it a tool available to me, unfortunately,” Rone replied.

    The priestess had moved away from Dutia’s body due to her discomfort of being so close to a dead body. “Perhaps we should seek out a Mages’ Guild? Though I’m not certain there is one in this city,” N’shara suggested.

    Their next stop would be the guards; aside from getting their help, they also had to report the crime and bodies. There were also the needs of the group to address. N’shara hadn’t eaten since late in the evening, and she didn’t know when Rone and Nakira had. Penna was already weak from missing breakfast. Despite having slept through much of the early evening and the intensive healing she had, N’shara was getting tired. With the crime she intended to commit, it was obvious Nakira was prepared to stay awake most of the night, but she would probably be home and in bed by now. She had a family that she needed to check in with as well. Even Rone would have to grow weary or hungry soon. Not to mention, they would have to retrieve Laies. N’shara couldn’t keep casting refreshment spells, they would have to rest soon, but the day time was the best to attack a vampire?f they found him.

    Nakira listened to everyone, when N’shara brought up the subject of a mages guild she quickly cleared her throat. Speaking up she addressed the group, though she was replying to N’shara’s suggestion, “There is no Mages’ Guild in the city, so unfortunately using that option becomes highly unlikely. I think we should check the gates as quickly as possible, if we keep searching we’ll wear ourselves out and lose him.” Nakira was worried about her family, though continuing the search on little rest would also not result in anything faster.

    “Then so be it,” Rone said, nodding both to Nakira and N’shara with a bit of a smile. They were both doing well now. Perhaps N’shara could be a bit more useful than she put on. “Lets get moving,” Rone ordered, moving for the door.

    N’shara followed Rone out, eager to leave the scene of so much death. “Rone, I think we should split up after going to the guard house. Aside from spreading out to check the gates, we all need to eat, and Nakira’s family is probably worried about her.”

    “I hope it gets easier to deal with next time, I’m still feeling a little sick,” Nakira spoke, exited, and breathed a sigh of relief. This had been a lot for her and the scene they had left would not leave her for a long time. N’shara’s suggestion was a good one, in fact she was worried about her family as well.“If we do split up, where will we gather? As well as what time? I need to prepare my gear for any traveling as well, I agree with N’shara on her idea.”

    “Then you all will do these things now. Nakira, point me in the direction of the guard house. I will continue on.” Food was not of Rone’s concern. Like everyone else, hunger had begun to set in, but there was no time to lose for it. He would eat on the run. In the past, he had gone well over a day without food while on a vampire hunt, so straining his body was not new and not beyond his capabilities.

    “Of course.” Nakira then directed him to the nearest guardhouse from the apartments. “Where will we meet up again?”

    “Just meet me at the guardhouse when you are ready,” Rone replied, already headed out the door.

    “I’ll see you at the guardhouse. My family is used to me traveling on some jobs. I’m also a mercenary, though right now all that matters is timing,” Nakira replied with then headed off. She would eat breakfast with the family and then get ready to head out. She wondered if she could ever truly straighten out. All she had known about work since being disowned was the life she had led up until now.

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