Despite carrying on and playing in the water, we cleaned up fairly quickly and changed into our fancy clothes. It had been Afyne's suggestion that we look our best and after brushing each other's hair, we left off the hair ties we would normally use. I was very tempted to wear my blast shield, just for mystery's sake; but, both Maylia and Afyne convinced me that it ruined the fancy look.

“All right, I'll leave it off.” I said and put it back into my bag of holding with all of our clothing and armor. “Just don't get angry when women throw themselves all over me.”

Maylia laughed. “Do you think they will with us by your side?” She hooked her arm around mine and Afyne held the hand of my other arm.

“Good point.” I grinned and concentrated on my enchanted ring, just in case, and shared that energy with them. They didn't react to the tingling sensation this time and only smiled back at me. We left the room and picked Evus up from his and Diofra's room. He was dressed in fresh clothes and another set of armor, and I raised my eyebrows at him.

“The queen said I had to take a spare set of armor, just in case.” Evus said. He didn't say anything when I held a hand out. He just took it and let the energy flow over him. “You should probably do this for everyone.”

I nodded in agreement and Diofra took my hand next and shared the energy. We left their room and went to Allirynn and Imiryl to share the energy with them. I started to walk down the hallway and stopped.

“What is it?” Maylia asked.

“When Evus said everyone, I'm sure he only meant our team.” I said and Maylia understood.

“The least you can do is offer.” Maylia said and I nodded.

We went to Jessica's room first and her reaction when she saw us was priceless. I had never seen anyone literally struck dumb before. She mumbled a few things incoherently for almost a full minute before Maylia finally managed to snap her out of it by saying we had to leave.

“No! Don't go!” Jessica exclaimed and grabbed my hand. Unlike the others, the energy flowed over her in an instant and her mana reacted and held onto that energy as if it never wanted to let it go. We all had wide eyes at the sensations, because we could all feel it. Her face was a deep red and she slowly let my hand go. As she moved her hand away, the mana between us felt like taffy. It was sticky and seemed to stretch out before it faded.

“That was weird.” Afyne said for all of us. She reached out and touched Jessica's hand briefly and then pulled her hand away, and the mana did the same stretching taffy thing. She did it twice more and giggled. That made the tension in the air weaken and we all relaxed.

“Ask Steven next.” Jessica said and I nodded, because he was a bit more receptive to things than he used to be. We went to Steven's room and he said he didn't need any extra protection. Since I couldn't force it on him, we went to Josh's room next.

“Yeah, what do you...” Josh started to ask as he opened the door, then he saw us and stopped talking. I explained what I was doing and he just stared at us without saying anything. His wife Evangeline came across the room and gave us an appraising eye before she reached out to me. I took her hand and the energy flowed over her. Her body grew excited at the sensation of being held by the energy and she started to breathe heavily.

Josh noticed the change and tried to take her hand out of mine. Like Jessica, he was covered instantly and he felt everything his wife was feeling. We felt Josh's dismissal of us, then we felt the lust he felt for his wife, just before he pulled her hand away from mine and slammed the door on us.

“You're welcome.” I said and Evus chuckled.

We visited Kara last and she refused the offer after stating that she had seen what had happened with the others and she didn't want to take the chance that we would feel what she felt. I tried to explain, and she said she understood what I meant the first time and didn't want to take the chance, then she shut the door.

“At least you offered.” Evus said. “Maybe it will spread if she touches Jessica or Josh.”

“Anything's possible; but, I doubt it.” I said, knowing that it was my ability to share that allowed things like this to happen. I motioned for Evus to take the lead, since that was the role he would be playing for us, and I followed him down the hall and down the stairs with Maylia and Afyne hanging on my elbows. We were met with several gasps and muttered whispers in the lobby while everyone stared at us, and Evus opened the front door so we could leave.

Once outside, it was almost the same thing. We definitely had everyone's attention as we walked down the street to the building that the mayor was in. It was quite a lot larger than the offices we had seen in the towns we had previously been in and Evus opened the door for us there, too.

“Ah! Welcome!” A man's voice said when we stepped into the lobby. “The mayor of Hollowbury has been expecting you.”

The place looked more like an inn than it did an office and I commented on the odd decor.

“She wanted the place to look welcoming for visitors.” The man said and waved to the stairs. “If you will follow me, business is officially conducted upstairs.”

Which tells me that unofficial business is conducted elsewhere. I thought and we followed the man up several flights of stairs. He pointed to a spot beside the door and Evus didn't say anything as he took that spot and came to attention. The man had a slight smile and knocked on the door.

“No need to stand on ceremony, Count Gerard.” A woman's pleasant voice responded. “Come in.”

Gerard opened the door and bowed to the woman that sat at the center of the table. “Thank you, Mayor Wilmetta.” He said and ushered Maylia, Afyne, and myself into the room.

“I see the queen understated her choice of a personal vassal.” Wilmetta said with a sly smile, and the people around her gave subdued laughs. There were seven seats around the curved part of the half-moon table of stone, with the mayor in the center seat and three seats on either side of her. The last place on the left was empty and Count Gerard sat there with two men, and three women were on the other side of the mayor.

“Her majesty didn't fully realize what she was getting when she chose me, that's for sure.” I said with a similar smirk, and they all laughed the same subdued laugh.

“Would she be pleasantly surprised to see you like this, I wonder?” Wilmetta mused. “Ah, no matter.” She waved at the flat side of the table and three chairs appeared there after a small burst of mana. “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you.” I said and sat Maylia on the right, Afyne on the left, then sat myself. I felt several mental probes and easily rebuffed them, then quickly formed a Presence barrier around Afyne's and Maylia's minds and felt more of them. With so many of them to trace back to the source, I easily found who was doing it. I formed a Presence Hand and squeezed the hidden woman's neck. There was a loud snapping sound and it startled everyone on the other side of the table. The woman wasn't dead, so I used Presence to grip her heart and then crushed it into pulp.

The woman's glamour faded and she fell to the floor, dead.

The three women on the mayor's right gasped at the sight and the three men on her left had angry faces as they started to stand. The mayor waved her hand and the three men sat back down. They didn't lose the angry faces and stared at me with murder in their eyes. I didn't want to suffer through days, weeks, or even years of retribution, so I took the initiative and slowly stood before I spoke.

“How dare you try to attack the personal vassal of the queen and his charges.” I said as indignantly as I could. “I should kill you all right now for the insult.”

All of their faces showed shock at the completely unveiled threat and even the mayor couldn't stop it from appearing on her face. They didn't respond, however.

“Apparently, you don't believe me.” I said and held my hand out towards them. They all jerked a little and I smiled wickedly, then I formed Mana Presence Hands around their necks, so they could see them glowing green, and I squeezed a little. The women on the right panicked a little at the sensation of being choked slightly and the men just grit their teeth and took it. The mayor didn't react, except to look at the dead woman on the floor. She knew I hadn't choked her to death, despite seeing the clearly snapped neck.

“I believe you.” The mayor said.

I absorbed the Mana Presence Hands and lowered my arm to my side, then I sat down.

“You didn't have to kill her.” One of the women on the left said, sadly.

“Would you rather her be put on public trial and sentenced to death then?” I asked, and the woman sighed. “As it stands, I can't actually prove that you all are complicit in her actions, even though we all know you are.”

“Why tell us that?” Count Gerard asked, his face still showed anger.

“I was sent here by the queen to investigate imminent dangers to the kingdom as a whole. I honestly don't care about your petty machinations.”

“Petty!” One of the other men exclaimed.

“You can run this city like your own personal kingdom for all I care. Unless you're slaughtering the citizens, I won't do anything.” I said and saw their eyes shift slightly. “Are you slaughtering citizens?”

“We're getting away from the point of the meeting.” Mayor Wilmetta said.

“Actually, this is the point of the meeting.” I corrected, and her eyes widened. “Answer the question. Are you, or anyone at this table, slaughtering citizens... or ordering it done... or assuming it's done?”

All seven of them fidgeted at the fairly well-worded question, because they could only answer yes or no, and if any of the question applied to them and they said no, I would detect the lie. I looked at all seven of their faces and formed Presence around their hearts.

“Not answering is all the answer I needed.” I said and crushed their hearts. “Maylia, go get the others. We need to figure out what's wrong with these people.” I waved at the corpses slumped on the other side of the table. “I'd say Diofra and Jessica have the best chance of that.”

Maylia nodded, activated Mana Presence Run, and took off at her best speed.

“It's all right, Afyne.” I said and she turned her head to look up at me.

“I'm fine.” Afyne said and smiled as she tapped her temple. “I felt you protect me.”

“I'm sorry that I didn't think of doing that before coming in here.” I said and pat my lap. She climbed onto me and hugged me around the neck.

“That's okay.” Afyne said and kissed my cheek. “They were bad people.”

“You could tell?” I asked, and she nodded. “Can you tell me how you knew?”

Afyne shook her head. “When they started talking, I...” She looked down at my enchanted ring. “Maybe that helped?” She asked. “After I felt those pokes in my head, I... I felt their meanness.”

“I think we need to get someone to read your potential abilities soon.” I said. “I've been putting it off, because I don't want you trying to do two things at once.”

“I'm still going to take care of the horses, no matter what my class is.” Afyne said with confidence.

We sat there and held each other while we waited for the others to arrive. When everyone came in, I felt an intense repulsive reaction from Jessica, Josh, and Evangeline at the sight of so many bodies.

“You... you killed them all.” Jessica said in a whisper.

“Before you overreact, they attacked us first.” I said and stayed sitting with Afyne on my lap. “When I asked if they were involved in slaughtering people in the city, they wouldn't answer.”

“That was the first question you asked?” Steven looked at the pained faces of the bodies.

“I had made an offhand comment about not caring what they did, unless they were killing people.” I said. “When I saw their reaction, I had to ask directly.”

“They were bad people.” Afyne said in my defense.

“You can't just kill all the bad people you meet.” Josh said as he surveyed the carnage.

“Why not?” Afyne asked, and Josh gave her a look of disbelief.

“Go ahead, Josh.” I said with a smile. “Answer her.”

“Because... then you become a bad person.” Josh said.

Maylia, Afyne, Allirynn, Imiryl, and I laughed.

“You hear that? We're bad people now!” I said and laughed a little more. “I'm glad you don't kill bad people on sight, then! What a relief!”

Josh's face went a little red at that.

I stood up and shifted Afyne to my hip and held her. “There's something you need to understand.” I said to him and then looked at Evangeline, Steven, and finally Jessica. “I will kill anyone that tries to hurt the people I care about. No debates. No quarter given. They will die.”

“You can't just arbitrarily declare something like that.” Josh said. “What if...”

“Accidents I can overlook, as well as mistakes.” I said. “I'm not heartless.”

“But...” Jessica tried to say.

“I didn't kill them all right after the attack. I wanted to interrogate them some more; but, I also couldn't let them conspire to attack me or those with me again.”

Josh looked at the mess and sighed. “Now we're associated with this.”

“Ha.” I barked a laugh. “I called you here after the fact.”

“We let this happen.” Josh said.

“Oh, are you going to accept the blame?” I asked and he turned his head away. “You might as well accept the blame for them and all the people they killed, too.”

“That...” Josh sighed. “You would have done it, even if we were here.”

“Yes, I would have. Without question.” I said. “Would you have tried to stop me?”

“Yes.” Josh said.

“Of course, that assumes you would have felt their mind intrusions and would have reacted in time.” I said. “I would have been able to do it, even if you did try to stop me.”

“You would have ignored my pleas?” Josh asked.

“You do realize that if you were here, you would have been under attack as well, right?” Maylia asked. “Hunter stopped them from hurting me and Afyne.” She said. “Would you have stopped him from protecting us?”

“No, that... I didn't mean...” Josh still had his face averted from looking at either me or the bodies.

“Diofra, Jessica.” I said. “Do you have a magic detection spell, or an identification spell, or something to tell us what these people are?”

“I do have a scribe spell.” Diofra said. “I don't think it will work like you think it will.”

“Try it anyway.” I said and turned to Evus. “Ask around and see if there's a skill scribe anywhere in the city. We could use their expertise as well.”

“I'll be back as soon as I can.” Evus said and ran from the room.

“You think there's something wrong with them.” Kara said and knelt beside the woman on the floor.

“No, I'm hoping that there's something wrong with them.” I said. “If there isn't, then they are just sadistic aristocrats that get off on killing servants.”

Josh sighed audibly and his wife put her arm around him.

“Yes, Josh.” I said with a calm tone. “There are people in this world that like killing.”

“Like you?” Josh asked without turning around.

“JOSH!” Jessica gasped.

“You would be dead already if that was true.” I said.

“HUNTER!” Jessica gasped.

“It's harsh, I know.” I held in my sigh. “I'm only telling him the truth, though.”

“You can't just tell people that they would already be dead if you were a more heartless killer!” Jessica said loudly.

“It wouldn't be fair to him if I lied.”

“Would you have killed me, too?” Jessica asked.

“Only if you had been a part of The Order when I attacked Kara that first time.” I said, and Jessica's eyes flooded with tears. I stepped close and cupped the side of her face. “Don't forget how we met then. You almost killed me, remember?”

“I... I didn't...”

“You think I haven't thought over everything that's happened to me while I've been here? How easily I was pushed aside by you then?” I asked, and she just stared at my face. “At the time, I didn't detect the change in the mana and energy of your attack. After meditating on it, I realized you intended to kill me and changed your mind at the last second.”

Jessica's tears fell and she ducked her head. “Hunter, I... when I realized it was you...”

“I know.” I said in a soothing voice. “I don't hold it against you, either.”

“Y-you d-don't?” Jessica looked back up at me.

“You tried to protect your teammate to the best of your ability. How could I be angry at that?”

Jessica took several shaky breaths and her tears slowed down.

“You're letting a lot of power flow away.” I said and touched her wet cheek with a fingertip. She held a hand up to her face and gathered the tears that had rolled down her face. They glowed brightly, brighter than any of the others she had gathered, and she stored them separately.

I heard an undecipherable whisper and let Jessica's face go and turned to Diofra. “Diofra, what is it?”

“We... we have a problem.” Diofra said and moved aside to show me what her scribe spell had revealed. “A huge problem.”

A shocking title floated above the corpse of the mayor. Vampire, Underling.

“Goddammit.” I said.