“Level five, huh?” I quietly remarked, trying to figure out if that meant I’d leveled up once or twice.

Really, I was just distracting myself though.

I knew I’d hit level five soon enough, I mean, it wasn’t exactly difficult to hit that, but it was still a bit bizarre.

This feeling of calm settled over me as I sat, of completion, obviously, but also of certainty, that we’d dug ourselves out of the hole we’d been pushed into.

I suppose that’s the best way to describe it, a self-congratulatory ‘Look at what you did, you handsome devil, you’.

Oddly enough, the whole Nimda thing had actually made it a bit more satisfying, I think.

Like, sure, we had each other and a good start with our own little plot of land, but going from having something boosting us to genuinely needing to work for what we wanted was beyond fulfilling.

“You done napping or what?” Gwen asked as she and the others slowly made their way over.

“Just about,” I replied, pulling myself out of my moment of reflection and sitting up, “how’re we feeling?”

“None of us got punted in the chest, so I’d say… pretty good?” Liz said, the others nodding along as she did, “Anything broken on you though?”

I shook my head and smiled, “Just bruised my pride a bit.”

“Says the man who just tackled a fuckin’ Wolf to the ground,” Gwen laughed, hugging me around the shoulders, “seriously, good goin’, Ally.”

“Thanks,” I chuckled meekly, not sure how to properly process the pride Gwen felt toward me, before being offered reprieve in the form of my buzzing phone, “it’s Nolan.”

“Is he okay?” Liz asked as I answered.

“Hey, Al,” Nolan greeted, “just wanted to wish y’all luck before the job.”

“He’s fine,” I quietly replied before putting the phone back to my face, “thanks, man, we’re actually just about finished up here.”

“Already?” Nolan scoffed with genuine astonishment while Gwen pointed to the bodies and gestured that she wanted to put them in the back of the van, “Figured you’d be at least a couple more hours.”

“What can I tell you, we’re good.” I said after nodding to Gwen, “How about you? How’re things coming together on your end?”

“That was the other reason I wanted to call, actually,” Nolan replied as I wandered off, leaving the girls to shift the dead Wolves, “figured the promise of a finished home might give something of a morale boost going into the fight.”

“It’s finished?” I laughed, “Seriously? How?”

“Connie’s good at her work,” Nolan said, his smile clear down the line, “granted, not everything’s ‘done’ done, but it should be by the time you get home. Not to mention the furniture and whatnot’s not here yet… Come to think of it, calling you might not’ve been the nice thing I thought it was.”

“A roof and some real walls are good enough for me,” I clarified happily as I made my way over to where the office Millie had noticed before, “seriously, Nolan, thanks. For everything.”

“You’re most welcome,” Nolan replied, his kettle whistling angrily in the background, “they’re singing my song. See you in a few, eh?”

“See you then.” I said after sitting on the short steps up to the office’s door, hearing Nolan curse at the boiling kettle right as the line went dead.

Shaking my head with mild amusement at Nolan’s misfortune, I unlocked my phone and clicked on the L-UP! notification.

ATTRIBUTES

STR

8+2

DEX

7+3

TGH

7+3

SPD

7+3

FRT

7

STA

7+1

INT

10

LCK

9

FINALIZE SELECTION?

(this cannot be undone)

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are now a level 5 in the HUNTER class!

NEW PASSIVE UNLOCKED!

BUMP IN THE NIGHT

The more you hunt creatures of the night, the less you find yourself needing to sleep. Your body now requires only four hours rest.

ALISTAIR GRAY

Level

5

Human

Hunter

Progress 1280/1500

“That would’ve been useful a few days ago…” I muttered to myself at my new Passive before turning my attention back to my healthy-looking Attributes.

The house was all-but done, the girls had unlocked Day-Walking, and we were finally going to be able to do some decent jobs.

All in all, things were looking up, and as I got to my feet and waved to the girls as they finished dumping the corpses in Monster Mash, I couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of completion.

Sure, we had a long way to go, but if we kept at the pace, I was sure we’d hit Prestige in no time.

We’d got a fresh start, albeit a forced one, and despite a few bumps, had managed to survive the road to level five.

“You still want this, or should I leave it!?” Gwen jokingly chided, waving my axe as she did.

“Very funny!” I called back after getting to my feet, “Just chuck it in the back of the-”

A weak groan cut me off, my ears barely picking it up through the door behind me.

My first thought? Another Wolf, but as I stood waiting and listening I started to make out a desperate, breathless “Help…”

Taking the first step, I weighed up the chances of it being a trap and considered getting Gwen to bring my axe over.

“Please… help…” the distantly familiar female voice pleaded, beckoning me up to the second and final step.

A soft light danced under the door, from a fireplace or, more likely, an absolute ass-ton of candles as I reached for the door handle, finding it unlocked.

The voice’s owner had clearly exhausted herself, her desperate pleas having faded to a barely audible wheeze.

“Hello..?” I asked stupidly as I finally opened the door, the candlelight and red paint bringing to mind a Satanist altar, nix the more obvious Satanist symbols.

Millie had called it, the room had definitely once been an office, but it had since been converted into a Werewolf offering shrine, complete with Viking-like symbols and black flags.

And there, right it in the middle of the room, her recently healed throat and white dress covered in blood, laid the girl who’d been watching Gertrude’s shop.

“Em… Emil-Emma! It’s Emma, right?” I exclaimed after a few seconds of clicking my fingers, realizing only once I’d remembered her name the full degree of what had happened, and that Emma, now rolled on her back, was unconscious and barely breathing, “Oh… shit.”

Yeah, not one of my proudest moments.