Upon arriving home Emil found himself at a loss as to what to do. Other than feeding the animals in his care, there wasn’t much for him to do now, that Eon told him not to investigate any more. The meeting with Estera had made him restless so he couldn’t focus on studying or reading. He was almost happy when he heard noise behind him as Eon returned to the room. The cat jumped onto a chair and then on the table, where it walked about proudly. Emil looked at it with questioning eyes.

“It was sooner than I had imagined, but I have managed to uncover some vital information about our little problem.”

“That’s great, I suppose,” answered Emil with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm.

“Save the attitude. Do you have a map?”

“No, but is the one online good?”

“It will suffice. Do it.” After a slight struggle with the slow computer he managed to load the map of the city.

“This is the city.”

“Good, show me the north-east part of the city. Yes that is it. Look, these three streets, he must be hiding in one of those.”

“How do you know this?”

“My methods are mine alone. I told you I will get you the information. All you need is to bring the results. Don’t worry, I will continue my investigation and provide even better information. Anyway were you able to appreciate the festival differently as a nav?”

“I recognized that the music they played was very similar to what we play there. I think there were also some of the same masks.”

“Yes, but even more than that, the tree in the middle of the bonfire was a sacrificed god, and have you even thought about why you wear the masks in the first place? Think about things like that when you have some spare time, but for now you might want to start making plans for the current target.”

In the morning the cat left once more and Emil immediately called Estera.

“I see, say no more. Come to my place at once.” Once Emil arrived, he told her the circumstances.

“Good, we will prepare everything we will need today. Tomorrow we will set the plan in motion and if the fish doesn’t bite, we will make different attempts for as long as it takes. All clear?”

“I understand what you want to do, but I don’t know how you plan to actually pull it off in the first place.”

“Don’t worry about that. One thing I’ve had over the past couple of years is time. I have more plans than I could possibly need. Of course not many of them foresaw the possibility of me having an accomplice, but in reality it makes it that much easier. Not knowing how he got to me the first time was one of my concerns, though I imagine he simply slipped something into my drink. Anyway now it won’t matter at all.” She sat down, put her hands together and took a moment to think. “All right. I will be the bait and have him drag me into his place. You will follow without getting spotted and sneak into the room after us. Then you will knock him out.”

“Wait, how do I do that?” She went to a drawer and began pulling out a bunch of clothes. She brought back a box and put it on the table. She opened it and Emil’s eye went wide. The box contained a couple of syringes and small glass bottles.

“Easy, you will just inject him with one of these. Just to be safe also bring something to hit him with in case it goes wrong. Even a knife will do, though I’d rather not have you kill him immediately. As for me, I am fairly sure that whatever he used on me won’t work now that I’m dead, so I will only pretend to be knocked out. After you knock him out, you can leave the rest to me. Ah, wait here for a minute.” She left the room. Emil heard sounds of moving and dragging heavy things around and something metallic falling to the floor. She returned clutching a small crowbar. “Take this, it should do the trick, and perhaps even help you get into the house.” Emil took it and stared at his hands.

“I can’t believe we are really doing it.”

“And I can’t believe I am so close to the conclusion.”

“Hey, just a question. What should I call you now?”

“Call me as you have all this time. Agata is dead.”

“Okay Estera, then we’ll see each other tomorrow.”

“Yes, just dress up like you did when you were stalking me and don’t forget to wear some gloves. Come here at four in the afternoon.”

“Understood, see you.”

“Bye. Leave the crowbar here. You can pick it up tomorrow.” Emil looked at his hand, still clutching the crowbar without him realizing.

“Oh yes, I forgot about that.”

Emil went back home, the conversation left him unable to fully regain composure. In his excited state he kept on accelerating until he was almost running back home. Once he arrived his excitement seemed to deflate instantly. For the first time in a while he collapsed onto his bed and just stared at the ceiling. He let his mind wander on its own and continued staring. Eventually Ruta and Mira climbed up the sheet onto the bed and then onto Emil. He let them climb and play for a while and then picked them up, sat up and put them into his lap.

“Oh no, I am really doing this. I can’t even back out because of Estera. Should I tell Eon about this?” Emil asked the two cats, who regarded him with the same expression as if he asked them for more scratches behind their ears. He was in an unproductive state for the rest of the day, only feeding his little wards. Trying to do anything else just resulted in seeking distraction from whatever it was, which led into a vicious cycle of wasting time, until he simply gave up. In the evening Eon returned home and Emil told the cat about his and Estera’s plan.

The following day Emil both wished for the time to pass quickly and for the hour of the meeting to never come at all. To pass the time he took a long walk in the forest. He had already dressed himself in the clothes he needed for stalking his prey and went straight to Estera’s house from the walk.

“Oh good, you’re here. Come, let’s prepare,” Estera said. She looked fairly different from her usual self. Her clothes and makeup seemed to make her appear younger.

“Is this outfit meant for the trap?”

“Yes, I’m fairly certain that he is partial to younger girls. But it has been a few years, so who knows.” She handed Emil the crowbar, a backpack and two small boxes.

“What’s this?”

“Didn’t think to bring a backpack, did you? You still need to carry all of this. The boxes each contain a syringe filled with the drug and ready to use. Now let’s go through the plan.”

They went outside as the Sun was beginning to set. Each took a different street, but Emil always kept within earshot of Estera. She walked down the street, pretending to be a high school student going home from a late school activity. They soon entered the area where Eon said they could find their target. Estera walked in a way that radiated shyness, looking down and appearing small. Despite that her outfit still made her stand out. She passed several people on the way and with each one Emil felt a cold hand gripping around his heart. Most of the people merely passed by, not giving her any more attention than a street sign that they needed to avoid on their own way. At one point a group of people from across the street called out to her and whistled as she sped up her pace. It was a strange feeling, that for once a group of people who bothered someone, was magnitudes less dangerous than a single person. After that Estera had already left the designated area and Emil felt a growing sense of relief. He wanted to go to Estera and conclude the night, but decided to keep his distance until she gave some sort of signal or arrived back at her home. At that point as if out from nowhere a tall shadow appeared before her. Emil hid himself and observed. He saw Estera first try to dismiss the stranger and quickly move on, but after a while they started a conversation. He saw her put a hand in front of his mouth as she laughed. She even began fidgeting almost imperceptibly and played with a strand of hair that was loose from her ponytails. Emil reached to his back and checked for the weight of the crowbar on his shoulders.

The two then went together, talking along the way. They stopped at a bar. Emil stayed outside and was unable to see what was going on within. The minutes of waiting felt like hours to him and he realized that he had been attracting attention from some of the people that had passed him. To avoid more suspicion, he began walking down the street, going down tight alleys in order to lose anyone who had seen him so far and took cover behind a fence where he could still see the entrance to the bar without being seen from the main street. After more waiting the two finally came back outside. Estera was walking with a slight sway and ended up leaning onto the man beside her. He led her back into the direction of the area where Eon suspected that the man resided. It was a more remote part of the city and Emil had to take special care to stay out of sight. Estera’s walking was becoming more and more unstable. Seeing that the man then turned into one of the side alleys. Emil followed and peaked around the corner. He saw that the man had started carrying Estera in his arms and walk down even more abandoned alleys. The sudden turns made it even harder for Emil to follow. He didn’t dare come too close and instead began relying on the sound of the footsteps. He dropped to his knees whenever he looked around a corner, his blood freezing every time. After another such turn he realized he couldn’t hear the footsteps any longer. In a panic he moved swiftly onward, picking a random direction. After he came to another intersection of alleys, he turned back and took a different way, hoping to catch up. His head began spinning as he became aware that he had lost the man, leaving Estera alone with him. The thought of it made him fell sick. He stood still, considering what he could do at that point, when he suddenly heard the creaking of a door. He hurried in the direction of the noise, trying to be as silent as possible. He could just see the door closing as he turned the last corner. He sneaked along the wall of the old house and ducked at the door, his ear to the old wood. He heard the sound of footsteps and creaking floorboards growing ever fainter as they moved away from the door, followed by the sound of another door opening. Emil opened his backpack and took out the crowbar and one of the boxes containing a needle. He placed the needle into a front pocket of his trench coat.

Emil waited until he could hear nothing more and placed his hand on the door handle. He pushed down slowly and carefully. Despite his best efforts, the handle still creaked softly. He pushed the door forward and felt immense relief as it started moving inwards. The old rusty hinges were making it impossible to open the door without any sound. Emil ended up moving the door slowly, a single degree at a time. As the door was slightly ajar, he could once again hear the noise coming from the inside. The man was walking around and moving things around. It took several more minutes for Emil to be able to squeeze through the gap in the door. The hallway was dark and cowered in dust. The only light came from the streets and the open door at the end of the hallway. The creaking sound of floorboards came from that direction. Emil moved slowly along the wall and adjusted his grip on the crowbar. Moving closely to the wall allowed him to avoid making noise while sneaking. At the door he crouched and looked around the partially opened door.

He saw Estera lying on the ground in the middle of the room and the man crouching over her. The room was light by candles, which were placed upon cupboards and even around Estera. The floor was covered with strange symbols, painted in a dark red colour. Emil wasn’t able to tell what the man was doing at that point. Pushing away the instinct to run away as fast as possible, he took a step into the room, praying that he would not be heard. After making the step he waited to see the reaction, but nothing happened. He took a second step and then another. At that point he was able to see, that the man was drawing on Estera’s abdomen with a red marker. He continued moving towards his target and pulled out the needle. He was within arms reach of the man and began moving an arm to his neck. At that point the man turned around and avoided Emil’s attack. He then lunged towards Emil, grabbing both of his hands and knocked him to the ground. Emil laid on his back and was completely pinned down by the man, who held down both of his arms and had his knees to Emil’s chest and abdomen. He was heavier than Emil, who was unable to do anything to break out of the hold. The man gave a deep growling laugh.

“What do we have here? Another sacrifice for the great Veles?” He licked his lips after he spoke and Emil began struggling again. In response the man buried his knee even more into Emil’s chest. “Stop struggling boy, you have a will receive a great honour tonight. But first tell me, who are you and how did you find this place?” Emil opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t get a word out. A moment later he felt that the grip on his arms had begun to grow weaker. Emil looked at him and wondered whether this was some kind of trap or if he was just allowing him to speak. Seconds later the man collapsed on top of Emil. Behind him stood Estera with a syringe in her hand.

“Not exactly according to the plan, but close enough,” she said and took a deep breath. After that she started giggling uncontrollably. “Sorry about that, but you don’t understand how long I’ve waited for this moment.”

“I think I’ve come to understand it at least somewhat over the past weeks. But wait, why did he mention Veles?”

“He is insane, he is killing people as sacrifices, but of course he isn’t even one of us. He doesn’t even know we exist. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a long night ahead of me so if there is nothing else, you can go back home now.”

“Will you …”

“What, kill him? In due time, don’t worry about that. In fact, you can listen to the news in the morning tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll hear the answers there.”

“Are you sure you will be fine on your own?”

“Yes, I’ll even use these,” she grabbed some chains and shook them a bit. “I’m not asking you to leave for your sake, but for my own. I want to do this on my own terms, so leave.”

“Okay I’ll go. If you need anything, call me.”

“Thanks, maybe I will. Goodnight.”

“Bye Estera.”