April 11th, 1798 06:22

Victor and Rory spent the night at the cabaret "Paradise", as soon as the sun was up the cabaret opened the gate-like door and everyone was free to go, as soon as Victor stepped outside the cabaret he saw the results of last night's attack, there was blood all over the street, a few bodies left at the sides of the stone road, after a few minutes of walking around he was confronted by Lazar, once again, he and priest went over the casualties. Four men, two women, and a single child lost their lives the previous night, Lazar clearly was infuriated but his hatred was pointed in the wrong direction. He walked right up to Victor and Rory, apparently, there was a rumor that the glorious monster hunters prefer to spend the night at the cabaret rather than fight, Lazar was ready to unleash his anger to Victor.

"Some monster hunters you two are, when I assigned the job to you two, I had a slight hope that you would actually do it. The first thing I heard this morning was an old woman crying over the body of her husband and telling me that I have contracted incompetent hunters who would rather enjoy spending their time at the cabaret! What do you have to say about that?"

Rory was left speechless by the tone of the mayor, they were somehow getting reprimanded because of what happened yesterday, Victor didn't like that reasoning at all, he lifted his head and gave Lazar a piece of his own mind.

"Since when am I your hunter? Don't get ahead of yourself, Mr.Barnes, we never agreed to become your mercenaries, you never paid us to protect this town, even if we did agree to help you, what good would it come to confront a pack of monsters late at night? Do you know how strong they are? Do you know how smart they are? Did you, or any of your men ever fight them? Don't think even for a second that you own us, I will not answer to anyone about my actions, you are no different Mr.Barnes."

Victor destroyed Lazar's thinking with a simple statement, it was true, Lazar's contract was a hunting mission, reward for each carcass brought back, Victor and Rory never became his employees and never intended to. Lazar lowered his head out of embarrassment, he turned around without a word and walked away from Victor. Rory didn't have the composure to stand up for his own, during Lazar's rumble he kind of walked behind Victor subconsciously. After Lazar left he returned to his office, where he saw his niece, Natasha just waiting at the lobby of the building, she stood up and asked Lazar about Victor and Rory's whereabouts. She had also heard the rumor.

"Where are your hunters now, uncle?"

Lazar after getting struck down by Victor realized that he was wrong, he tried to put some sense to his niece as well.

"They are not my hunters, Natasha. These gentlemen are not obligated to protect us, their job is to hunt the Shades, not to guard Magnus."

Natasha wasn't really happy to hear her uncle say those words, she was infuriated by the fact that Lazar forbid her to go to the north forest, she also wanted to go and confront Victor and Rory. She just couldn't have any of it, the hunters fooling around while she is being held back by Lazar. She stormed out of the building and headed for the north gate, that would be the best place to look for them.

April 11th, 1798 07:42

Victor and Rory decided to go back to the forest to see the results of Victor's idea about the branches, considering how they move and act, he can make a guess as to how formidable his current prey is, like a true hunter, he is patient and composed. Rory suggested that they could get something to eat and drink before leaving since there was plenty of time in the day, they stopped by what looked like a pub, there were plenty of people eating pastry goods and drinking coffee, a hot cup of coffee would be ideal. Magnus is located beside a lake, the humidity is insane, even during Spring. They sat down and waited for someone to take their order, usually there is a waiter who's job is to serve the customers, something didn't really look normal when everyone including the waiters just glanced at the direction of Victor and Rory. A young girl approached them and said,

"Good morning, you must be the monster hunters that arrived recently, don't mind them, they are not used to seeing the hunters sitting around, most just went straight to the forest and never came back, anyway, what can I bring you?"

The young girl was very attractive, she had long, red, curly hair and was wearing a dress with frills, she had a pale complexion and a well-grown body with curves, she was probably around 20-22 years old, Rory being the man that he is didn't waste a second to compliment her. He smiled and said,

"Wow, you are a real breath of fresh air, very cute if I may say so."

The waitress blushed for a second, most men that came by the shop also complimented her but this was the first time that someone from out of town gave her such a sincere smile, she smiled back and replied to Rory.

"Thank you, my name is Cath..."

Victor interrupted her while she was trying to introduce herself.

"Coffee, black."

Rory gave Victor a bad look, he really wanted to talk to this girl more, at that moment though, she was intimidated by Victor and returned back to waitress mode.

"And what would you have?"

Rory exhaled deeply and ordered himself a cup of coffee as well, Victor's cold attitude has ruined Rory's plan. The waitress went to the bar as soon as she got their order, the strange looks didn't stop at all and now Victor has to suffer Rory's look of disappointment as well.

"Would it bother you to let me hit on one girl? Just one."

Victor looked at Rory confused, he didn't get the hint.

"What? We are not here to find women, Rory."

The waitress came back with their order, she didn't have the same smile as before since Victor's attitude somehow made her feel unwelcome. Victor and Rory spent a couple of minutes at the place drinking their coffee until another woman came to disturb them, that time it was Natasha Price, the mayor's niece and the girl that Victor has humiliated as soon as he met her. She already had a bad idea about Victor and now that she has heard the rumor that he and Rory spent the night of the attack at the cabaret has made her even more hostile towards them.

"And here are the saviors of Magnus, the men that are supposed to rid us from the Shades. Isn't it enough that you went to the cabaret while people were being slaughtered at the street, you two are even enjoying breakfast while the women are swiping the blood of their husbands from the door!?"

Natasha was furious, she was already enraged after hearing the rumors but she now saw them sitting at the pub all carefree. Victor has already dealt with Lazar's accusations and he would not tolerate another lecture. He stood up, placed his hands at the table with enough force to crack the table and looked Natasha right into her eyes as he replied to her statement.

"I thought I made myself clear earlier, listen to me you little spoiled brat. Neither you nor your uncle is the boss of me, I do what I want when I want, I came to this place to hunt monsters, I am no ones mercenary or hired personnel, you have no right to question what I do, I am neither a guard nor a hero, I am a hunter. I don't care what happens to any of you and I will not tolerate judgment from a little girl who swings her blade at hay dummies and pretends to be a fighter."

Natasha remembered what her uncle told her earlier, that he doesn't own them, she realized that Victor has also put Lazar to his place. Victor has once again shut down Natasha completely, her face turned red and she didn't know how to react, instinctively one of her legs moved back just a bit. Victor's menacing look and words have destroyed every last drop of confidence that Natasha had, it took her a couple of seconds to bring herself to respond.

"This is not over, these people need help, if you are not going to do it then I will."

At this point, Rory stepped in the conversation, while Victor and Natasha were arguing he didn't pay any attention to their words, he was just looking at Natasha's pretty face and rose-red lips moving up and down, he was more fixated at her beauty more than her words.

"Don't be too hasty Ms.Price, we never said you can't come with us, after we are finished here we plan to go to the forest and see the results of our research."

Natasha's expression changed instantly, she was full of joy when she heard those words, all the anger that she had vanished from existence and her beautiful blue eyes sparkled with happiness as she could finally do what she wanted, the only problem was Lazar. She asked them if they could convince her uncle to let her go.

"I want to come with you, the only problem is that my uncle would never allow it."

Victor sat down again, once the hostility ended from Natasha, he didn't feel like he had to say anything more, he just sipped from his coffee and let Rory do all the talking.

"Mr.Barnes doesn't need to know that, even if anyone sees you go off with us, we will just tell them that you wanted to practice some more, that way even if your uncle finds out you left the town, we will be there to provide you with a good alibi."

Said Rory as he smiled, he mentioned before that he would love to have a beautiful young girl with him, Victor, on the other hand, didn't say a word, he simply doesn't care enough to fell the need to protect her, he doesn't care what Lazar would do if he finds out they took Natasha with them, Victor made clear that he won't play the part of a babysitter. As far as he is concerned, Natasha is not his responsibility.

April 11th, 10:28

Victor and Rory along with their new member went to the north side of town again, they saw the same guard again, Natasha made sure to tell the story that they would simply spar for a bit so that he wouldn't make his report to Lazar later and reveal that she left for the forest.

They exited the town and walked towards the treeline once again, Victor went to check at the branches and as he predicted the Shades have broken a couple of them at a certain pattern, there was only one place where the branches broke and that confirmed their hypothesis that they actually move in a pack, Victor pulled a red scarf out of a pouch that was hanging on his belt and covered his face, he then relayed his next move to the others.

"Hide your faces."

He said as he tied a knot with the scarf and made a makeshift mask. Natasha couldn't help it and asked,

"Why?"

Victor just turned his head and sighed, Rory then explained to Natasha what Victor didn't bother to.

"We put the branches down to see how the monsters are moving, they have broken a couple of them at the same spot, that means they work as a pack, from the claw marks at the walls we also figured that they help each other climb, they are smart enough to recognize faces or they have a leader who does, the last thing we want is for them to hold a grudge against us."

Natasha understood the situation, she didn't have any piece of clothing to cover her face as Victor and Rory did, she decided to rip a part of her blouse then, after making a rough-looking mask all three proceeded to enter the forest, this was the first time that Natasha has set foot in the forest since the attacks began. They were walking slowly and carefully throughout the forest, Natasha couldn't help but observe how smooth Victor's moves were, he walked around without making a sound, Rory also followed the same path as Victor, she was the last person in line.

Not much time later, Victor raised his hands for them and signaled them to stop, he then turned his head and made a signal for them to look ahead, there was a small cavern a bit further, they all confirmed that they saw it and then they all moved closer to inspect. The first thing that they noticed was similar claw marks as the ones that they found at the walls, there were also bloodstains at one of those marks. Rory broke the silence as soon as he looked around and made sure nothing was creeping around.

"The blood seems to be from the same mark, it repeats every now and then, we didn't have a look at the bodies though."

Natasha was confused by Rory's statement, she had taken a look at last nights victims and so she asked,

"I did see the bodies earlier, why is so important?"

It was Victor this time, he decided to cooperate with Natasha for a bit and he was the one who then asked,

"Did any of them draw their weapons at all? Was there a sword or a dagger close to one of the victims?"

Natasha recalled that there was in fact a bloody sword close to one of them, she informed Victor of that and then it was clear, apparently one of the townsmen last night tried to fend them off, he managed to wound one of them, they all agreed that deeper in this cavern is certainly one or more of the Shades, Natasha wanted to go deeper and kill them, she didn't say anything though as she was sure Victor and Rory wouldn't agree. To her surprise, they just walked inside without a word, once again she smiled out of joy because she could finally get what she wanted, Victor led the way and Rory was right behind him, Natasha followed them until Victor once again signaled them to go out, without hesitation, Rory left and Natasha followed despite her urge to go deeper, Victor was walking backward keeping an eye at the deeper part of the cavern.

As soon as they were all out of the cavern Victor said,

"Get ready."

Rory reached in his belt and pulled out his gun, Victor took the scarf off his face and rolled it on his wrist, Natasha drew her sword and once Victor also unsheathed his sword he took a strike with it on a rock, it made kind of a loud sound and there it was, inside the cavern, there was a pair of those freakish yellow eyes looking at them, it lunged out in an attempt to bite Victor who was the one closer to the cavern's entrance, he placed his hand forward and the Shade bit his arm, the cloth scarf provided enough protection and as soon as the monster's mouth got stuck in it, Victor slammed it down at the ground and stabbed its head with his sword, at last, there was a dead Shade in front of them, Natasha felt a sense of accomplishment when she saw the dead Shade at the ground, she finally was able to take revenge on them, Victor despite being the one who delivered the blow and he could now get paid seemed troubled. He grabbed the dead body of the Shade and said,

"We are going back, now."

Without any further question, all three of them walked back to the village. It wasn't clear as to why Victor wanted them to go back but one thing is for sure, Natasha finally has a chance to convince Lazar since they already killed one of them, Victor and Rory are going to get paid handsomely, what remains now is to go to Lazar's office and each claim their reward.