“Heheheh, so these guys are loaded you say?” Nohru asked with a wicked smile.

“Just the guy; we can have other uses for the girl,” Nobusada responded, rubbing his hands together as the two men walked down the street under the cover of night.

“So you think kill the guy and take the girl and his mound of cash?” Nohru clarified as the two kept to the shadows of the buildings of the Mutsukanai district.

“And if she doesn’t come quietly, we make her quiet,” Nobusada answered as his smile curled, finding his target. “There, the dark coloured one,” he called out while gesturing to a two story house with dark stained wood walls. “Apparently the guy moved here with the girl and bought that house outright; no loan or anything.”

“Dumbass must be real stupid if he thinks that no one will wonder how he could afford that,” Nohru responded as the two men walked up the walkway and knelt down in front of the door.

“I give it ten minutes before someone spots us, think you can beat that?” Nobusada asked while looking around for prying eyes.

Nohru laughed as he took out a small satchel of tools, palming two of them and bringing them towards the lock. “You underestimate me; we’ll be filthy rich in three minutes.”

The men chuckled as Nohru worked the lock, finding some false gates in its mechanism and looking for magical wards surrounding the lock and the door. He found no wards but the door was held tight by a robust lock that definitely belonged to the wealthy. Each ticking second resulted in a wider grin as the man found more intricate defences in the lock until finally it turned.

“Two minutes away from opulence my friend,” Nuhro teased as he put his tools away and quietly opened the door. After checking for anyone in the foyer, he rose up and gently set a foot inside.

The hair on the back of the men’s necks stood up on end as the air howled, almost roared, briefly and they felt a push from something unseen before falling back into silence.

“Did you check for wards?” Nobusada mouthed while taking out a knife.

“There were none,” Nohru mouthed back while taking out his own knife. As the two men entered, the air fell deathly silent. Even the wind outside went as quiet as the grave and Nobusada felt as though they had entered a house haunted by a vengeful spirit.

Nobusada tapped Nohru’s shoulder to get his attention as he whispered. “Let’s get in and out okay? I’ll look for a safe, you kill the guy.”

“And what about the girl?” Nohru asked.

“We’ll get her out and take turns later,” Nobusada responded while looking around for any activity in the silent house. He knew the layout well and knew there was a spare room in the back people prefer to use for libraries and storage as well as a basement. He had to check both to find the safe.

With the two in agreement, Nobusada went through the hallway into the kitchen to stay away from the living room. Nohru smiled and went over to the base of the stairwell, preparing himself for the excitement to come. Apparently the girl was young and pretty; a part of him was tempted to leave Nobusada out of it and have the girl for himself. In anticipation, he set a foot on the first step of the stairwell, trying to move lightly so the wood didn’t groan. Timing his steps, he inched his way up the stairs, keeping his heartbeat slow as he stepped in time with the rhythm.

Eventually, Nohru’s foot found the landing and he squared up on it as he turned to head up the next flight. He looked up to see if anyone had seen anything and his stomach dropped in his gut as his heart instantly jumped up to the tempo of a warrior’s drum.

In the dark hallway at the top of the stairs were two glowing red eyes staring into him from the shadows. He could find no man amongst the shadow of the night; only the burning eyes of fury as some monster watched him from the hallway, almost daring him to come forward.

Nohru felt sweat come down his brow as he eyed the mysterious figure, trying to find some shape. He knew he had to attack first but did not know what awaited him. Nohru readied the grip on his knife and he slightly crouched down to attack.

Before he could scream, something lunged at him from the shadows and he was bathed in darkness and a brilliant pain that he had never felt before as his screams were voiceless in the shadows.

“The fuck are all of these?” Nobusada whispered under his breath, rummaging through the bookshelves hoping to find a safe or a key. Many of the books were normal but a lot of them were strange; metal or stone covers with strange writing engraved on them. Some were leather and when he opened them, the writing danced along the pages as if alife under their own free will.

He went towards one of the desks and saw papers and books strewn about save for a small charm in the corner. He saw the golden lace twinkle in the twilight and he recognised the stitched letters, but this charm was torn to shreds and stained black.

“The fuck happened to you?” he whispered as he neared the charm to look closer, hoping to find some key. He picked the charm up in his hands but found it was nothing but torn and covered in some dried black substance; utterly ruined by some disastrous event. He wondered why the owner would keep it around. He shook his head and returned the charm to its place, realising it would get him no closer to the riches this man could possess.

“Damn it, what’s taking Nohru so long?” Nobusada whispered under his breath.

“He is indisposed at the moment,” a haunting voice growled from just behind Nobusada’s back. The man turned with his knife but some unseen force twisted his hand sideways. Before he could scream, what felt like sharp needles pierced his throat, silencing him as he was thrown against the wall.

He was greeted by a dark shadow with burning red eyes with pupils blacker than night as they churned with an unholy light, the pupils changing shape repeatedly as if to examine him. He felt a hot breath and inhuman growls as his heart pounded. He reached for his neck and felt that a hand was holding him against the wall, the nails of which dug inside his neck.

“Do me a favour and don’t scream,” the voice growled and carried a hiss.

Nobusada looked down for anything he could grab. Yet his horror was unmatched when he saw Nohru in the shadow’s other hand with dark nails piercing his throat in a similar fashion. His eyes were lifeless but he was twitching, as if just barely there.

Nobusada reached for a second knife in his belt and quickly shoved it into the shadow’s throat. Yet the shadow only laughed as the sound of blood came from its throat.

“At least you’re willing to go down with a fight,” the shadowed man laughed as Nobusada removed his knife in fear. He saw Nohru as if in voiceless agony as the man laughed in a haunting growl that made Nobusada nearly soil himself.

This is a monster.

“Be quiet now,” the shadow warned as the piercing grip in Nobusada’s throat tightened, reminding him that he was bound and yet still alive. “As much as I would love to hear you squeal, I must ask that you remain silent.”

The creature laughed and pulled Nobusada away, dragging him through the dining room and into the kitchen. The air hummed and the basement door opened as the monster dragged the men down into its cave with the door closing behind him.

Iris was jerked awake but a sudden slam in the house. There was no other sound with it and the sound itself was quiet, but definitely present like someone had thrown a door closed. She rose up out of her bed and reached for Helion, pulling it close.

Did you hear that? She mentally asked the sword.

Father is awake and it would appear that he is hunting, the sword replied in a cautionary voice.

Iris felt her blood chill; Arylos hunting is not anything good. She jumped out of bed with sword in hand and ran out of her room still in her nightgown, ready to fight. She came down the stairs and into the foyer, looking around for what caused the loud sounds that woke her up. She turned and saw a shirtless Arylos in the kitchen, washing his hands in the sink and she could see the water was red.

“What was all of that?” She asked, gripping Helion tight.

“Nothing but a minor disturbance; nothing for you to be worried about,” Arylos replied in a soft and calm voice and Iris could see his nails had once grown long and sharp as they slowly shrank under his fingers.

“It sure doesn’t seem like that,” she voiced while looking around, trying to find any explanation. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

Arylos took his hands out of the water and dried them off in a towel. “Two idiots decided it would be smart to break in here and one of them had some foul ideas of how he wanted to handle you. I haven’t fully questioned the other yet.”

“And by question you mean torture?” Iris clarified.

“Depends on the perspective,” Arylos responded with a wicked smile. “I have done little physical to him. But his mind and soul are a different matter.”

Iris sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Did you kill them?”

“I was considering it, but I preferred to wait and see how I should handle them,” Arylos responded, keeping his tone cheerful.

“Where are they?” Iris asked, making up her mind.