“I thought you said you warded this entire place from outsiders…”

“Again, they don’t work underground. And besides – how was I supposed to know there was a tunnel down here?”

“Clementine didn’t tell you? The tunnels all connect to the catacombs at the centre of the city. Morrigan could be literally anywhere at the moment.”

“But you can find her right? Use those Vampire senses to find her.”

Desmona was right. If Druscilla wanted to, she could probably track down Morrigan. The little cell was thick with her scent. And Morrigan was never the cautious sort. “Meh – she’s not worth the trouble.”

“Huh? We should stick together for our own good. Otherwise -”

“The angels will come get us in our sleep. I know, it’s all you ever talk about. But I am yet to see any one of those things.”

“Okay but you know how Morrigan is – she’ll call attention to us.”

“I do know how Morrigan is – she will be caught and throw the heat off us.”

“You don’t mean that. She’s our sister, you know – give her time, she’ll come round.”

“She singed off my taste buds the day we met – maybe I don’t want her to come around. Look, I get what you’re trying to do and I respect that. But there’s no possibility of the three of us ever seeing eye to eye. We’re too selfish. Even you, you’re doing this for your own self-preservation. There’s no overarching goal here. So I plan on doing my own thing. You should too – so if you want to find Morrigan so badly then go look for her. You found me, right? A dumb fish like Morrigan shouldn’t be too hard.”

Desmona pulled slightly at her hair. “We are soldiers in a war – we were brought here for a purpose.”

“Do you really believe that? Is that what you really want to do with your immortality?”

“It’s our only purpose in this world – and the angels were sent to stop us.”

“There you go again with those angels.” Druscilla put her hands on Desmona’s shoulders. “From personal experience let me tell you, there’s no shame in a simple life of simple pleasures. I don’t understand why you’re trying to fight a cosmic war that neither of us can fully comprehend. If I were you I’d go open a brothel or something – you’re a succubus after all.”

Desmona shrugged off Druscilla. “I told you; the sex doesn’t have to be physical.”

“Whatever you say, Desmona. Look, the way I see it, you have three options: you go down that trap door and find Morrigan, or you go out there and live your life your own way, or you stay with me and do whatever I say.” Druscilla started leaving. “I’m going up to speak to Clementine and Pen.” She was ascending the spiral stairs up when she heard Desmona walk up behind her. “Ah, so you decided to stick with me. I don’t blame you; I’d stick with me too if I were given the chance.”

“I’m going to study more about magic – Clementine has some books that are illegal everywhere else.”

“I’ve seen those. I thought they were all recipe books for spells. Hey, come to think of it, a lot of arcane spells need physical components – but I’ve never seen you with any ingredients. Why is that?”

“On a fundamental level, magic is the use of ephemeral forces to affect the physical world. A set of physical objects may help channel ephemeral energy. As one becomes more adept they can use these unseen forces by willpower and concentration, eliminating the need for traditional spellcasting.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Like how I summon Tulpa.”

“I suppose so, though I think we all have different strengths. Between you, Morrigan, and me, I’m the most magically adept. Morrigan is the most physically resilient. There was Holy Water in her blood. I believed she was bathed in it. If that happened to either you or me we’d be dead.”

“Oh, so I’m the mediocre one, how charming.”

“Not quite, I believe you’re the most potent among us when it comes to brute force and physical attacks. We’d work really well together as a team – which is why we need Morrigan.”

“I’ve already shown you where Morrigan went. And I don’t plan on getting into any fights anytime soon.”

“I suggest you think about training. Maybe pick up a weapon. Angels are a real threat despite you not having seen them.”

“Why haven’t I seen them, I wonder? You were all freaked out that they would find me – said I shone like a beacon.”

“I can’t tell to be honest. I’d need to read up on it.”

They finally emerged from beneath the earth. Penelope was waiting at the landing. “Some coffins arrived – I took them both upstairs. I didn’t think you were the type to give intruders a proper funeral…”

“The coffins are for us you dolt.”

“I don’t want to be buried!”

“No, Pen. Vampires sleep in coffins.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s only proper. Don’t question tradition. Have you seen Clementine?”

“She’s at the library doing Librarian things.”

“I’ll leave her a note then. Desmona, do you know any ice or cooling spells?”

The succubus thought for a moment. “I believe I do. Though my elemental knowledge is a bit limited.”

“Can you preserve bodies for an extended period of time?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“I want to make a blood bank.”

“Well, there’s a dungeon full of empty rooms down there, so it should work.”

“This time I’ll make sure to seal the door. Penelope, move those burglars to an empty room down there. Any room will do.”

“Eh? Why me?” Pen was clearly still squeamish around death.

“Because I have to leave a note for Clementine. I’ll be with you soon.”

Druscilla went up and retrieved a piece of paper, quill and ink from Clementine’s bedroom. She then sat down in the dining room to write a note:

Clementine.

A group of five – possibly six – burglars tried to break in earlier tonight. Morrigan escaped with one of them while the others died when they reached the house due to Desmona’s spells. I’ve decided not to go after Morrigan because she is more trouble than she is worth. Knowing her, it is inevitable that the public will find evidence of her existence sooner rather than later.

If the council asks, tell them the fiend overpowered your guards and escaped from your dungeons. Present to them the bodies of the burglars as evidence – we’ll have prepared them for you.

DC.

Druscilla folded up the note and left it on the table for Clementine to find when she got back in the early hours of the morning.

It was here that I saw her without that scarf for the first time. Druscilla had been hanging upside down under a branch outside in her newly discovered bat form after following Clementine home. She had seen the old Scholar take off her face scarfs to eat. Honestly, I see why she keeps them on. The lower half of Clementine’s face was an ugly mess of greenish-yellow soggy flesh that looked as though it might slough off. Druscilla had never seen a wound like that before. She chalked it up to the weird magicks of this world.

She wandered off to rejoin Desmona and Penelope but not before grabbing a large metal tub from the kitchen and taking it with her. She followed her ears until she came upon them in a damp cell. The temperature had drastically dropped. So much so that frost was forming on the walls.

The four bodies were arranged in a straight line in what looked like a row of tables. Penelope was trying unsuccessfully to strike up a conversation with Desmona. “Here I am,” Desmona announced. “Let’s get to work.”

“What’s that for?” Pen asked.

“We’re going to fill it with blood.”

Pen began squirming again. “Why? Is that necessary?”

“It is. We need to drain the bodies. When Morrigan is captured or killed Clementine will present these bodies as her victims. That’ll throw them off us for a while. Thankfully Sergeant Trory never paraded Morrigan to the King – so a lot of people don’t know she was brought in from outside.”

“And what if Morrigan escapes?”

“We both know she won’t. She’s a fish out of water – completely out of her element. Makes you wonder why she was so disagreeable.”

“I’m not comfortable doing this, Druscilla.”

“Don’t think about it, just let your body do all the work for you.” Druscilla bit a man’s neck and quickly pulled away. She slanted the table slightly to let the blood flow down. Soon, a steady trickle was flowing down onto the tub. Sweet, sweet iron filled the air.

Pen covered her mouth as her fangs involuntarily extended. Desmona looked on like a biologist in a zoo.

“I could use some help you know,” Druscilla said. Reluctantly Pen followed Druscilla’s lead. “When it’s all done suck away the remainder to give them the authentic look. Soon we’ll be drinking out of wine glasses.”

“Ah – this is not good. How many people have seen this?” Dixie was worried. A gruesome murder had taken place right in her backyard. She wasn’t even completely sure the body was human. It was more of a red mass on the grass. The only recognizable thing was a mangled ribcage.

“Just me, my lady.” The gardener said. “I came to get you as soon as possible.”

“The sun is almost up – we need to get rid of this without anyone knowing.”

“It’ll be hardly the first grave I’ve dug, but moving this will be a problem, my lady.”

“Then don’t move it – bury the body here.”

“But that might ruin the lawn…”

“It doesn’t matter. Just hurry.”

“As you desire.”

The gardener took up his spade and started digging. Dixie felt like she might vomit.

Though she couldn’t tell for sure, this was probably one of the men she sent after Druscilla. Their mission was simple: follow the debutante home and steal all the sensitive information they came across. They were seasoned burglars – and this was supposed to be a routine job. And yet, here one of them was, in the form of a bloody mess.

It can’t have been Druscilla. She was at the evening ball. Then it must be someone else in that household. If so, then they knew what Dixie did and they knew where she lived. That would be very bad. She needed to give this mysterious figure maximum priority, and find out what they wanted. A good place to start was to find the killer.