Sern spent the remainder of the night and some of the morning locating Jackal. Then he was forced to wait, not permitted to disturb the guild leader at such an early hour. He sat in a small room on a wooden bench in front of a table. The light of early sunrise slanted in through the shutters, drawing golden stripes across the opposing wall.

Sern blinked his stinging eyes. He was tired all the time lately, he thought. He never got a proper night's sleep anymore. That was, of course, his own choice. He only wished it didn't exhaust him so. As he waited, he leaned on the table and rested his head on his arms. He slipped off to sleep.

´Good morning!`

The voice shook Sern to wakefulness and he jerked up, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He looked around and spotted Jackal in the doorway. He remembered where he was with a start and scrambled to his feet.

´Mornin',` he said and went up to Jackal.

The slender man with the thin beard and short brown hair regarded him, his face unreadable. ´You arrived very early, I was told.`

´Yeah, sorry. Din't mean to disturb,` Sern mumbled.

Jackal went back into the room, gesturing for Sern to follow. ´You don't disturb me. But I gotta admit I'm very curious about you,` he said, settling into a chair.

Sern closed the door behind him, then turned to face the guild leader. ´You're curious 'bout me?` he said, genuinely baffled. Jackal had never shown any interest in Sern or his activities before. He had just been friendly and accepted Sern as kind of a pawn, but never forced him into his guild. However, Sern would always feel indebted to the man for saving him that time.

Jackal eyed him for a while. ´Last time I saw you, you were in a hurry, stressed, and asking for a sun-medallion,` he said. ´Then you vanished, left your friends, one of them dead I might add, and couldn't be found again. Now you show up here, two weeks later. What am I to think about that?` He steepled his fingers on the table in front of him.

Sern bit his lower lip, feeling scrutinized. ´I left my buddies 'cause they thought I wasted Storca,` he said after a while.

Jackal nodded. ´And? Did you?`

Sern looked up at the question, eyes wide. ´What! No, of course not. Why would...`

Jackal patted the air to calm him down. ´Well, that's what some people say. I don't believe you did it, but...` he hesitated.

Sern tensed. ´But what?`

Jackal watched him with a flat face. ´I think your new friend did. And I think you went with him,` he stated.

Sern felt cold. Did he know? If he did, this would be a lot harder. He didn't know what to say and opened and closed his mouth like a fish gasping for air.

Jackal nodded without a word, eying him.

´Look,` Sern said, trying to come up with some explanation. ´I... I don't...`

The guild leader stopped him. ´Sern, you needn't explain to me what happened. But I gotta know if you're safe. I don't trust this friend of yours. He seems a bit... different.` His brows came together in a frown.

Sern's clothes clung to his sweaty skin. ´He's a good pal,` he said faintly.

´You sure about that?`

´I'd trust him with my life!`

Jackal still frowned. ´Tell me,` he said after a while. ´And tell me true. Is this pal of yours that darkelf the city guard's looking for?`

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Sern wasn't sure how to respond, not willing to admit it, but not sure if denying it was a good idea either. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Jackal nodded as if he'd answered anyway. ´Thought so,` he said. ´Can you promise me he won't hurt you?`

Sern nodded, feeling stupid. He should 've been better at lying by now. But he'd let Jackal read him like an open book. At least he hadn't let slip how close he'd come to be vampire food last night.

´Can you promise me he won't hurt any of us?` he asked then, catching Sern off guard.

´What?` he said in surprise.

´Can you assure me the vampire won't harm any of us,` Jackal said slowly, making it very clear he didn't like this one bit.

Sern paled visibly at the word ”vampire”. He knew! Uneasy, Sern nodded. ´He won't. He doesn't wanna hurt people,` he mumbled.

Jackal smiled grimly. ´Doesn't seem to be stopping him,` he stated. ´Now, I assume you've come here for help. Do you need to hide?`

Sern nodded and looked down at his shoes, embarrassed.

´Very well. I can hide you both, but only if you agree to work for us. And if you can promise me the elf won't waste anyone in my guild.`

Sern lifted his eyes and met Jackal's piercing glare. ´I promise. But only if he's given food immediately after dark,` he said.

Jackal snorted. ´I won't allow him to kill –`

´He doesn't darkside people if he's given animal blood,` Sern interrupted. ´The only times 'ave been when we haven't gotten any in time, an' when he's got attacked,` he said emphatically. ´Just help us with that an' nothin' bad'll happen. I promise!`

Jackal leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful air. ´Is that so?`

Sern nodded.

´Well, then I'll allow it. But if anything happens...` he let the warning hang in the air.

Sern swallowed, his mouth dry. ´Nothin' will happen,` he assured the guild leader again, sincerely hoping it was true.

* * * * *

It was dark. The moons had vanished behind the horizon but the stars still shone brightly in the sky. The air was mild and a cooling wind blew across the market. The animals were calm and still, only making occasional sounds as they moved around in their pens. Six tired city guards and the two vampire hunters stood around a dead body on the ground. They had been alerted to the vampire's activities by the scared animal guards shortly after they discovered their dead comrade.

Tealas crouched down to study the corpse. The guardsman lay on his stomach, arms out wide, an open tear in his neck where the vampire had bitten him hard. A pool of drying blood had formed underneath him. He had hit the cobbles face first and knocked out several teeth as well as broken his nose.

He must have died almost instantly, Tealas thought. The vampire had attacked from behind and hit him hard. The other animal guards claimed that a fast running boy had let out some cows. Presumably to divert their attention from the vampire, Tealas guessed. The guards had discovered their dead comrade after they'd recaptured the cows and got them back in the pen.

So, the vampire and the young man worked together to keep people from getting to the vampire as it hunted, he thought.

He stood and swept his eyes over the market. The guards had shown them the direction the boy had run, but he had a feeling that was a diversion too. If the young man had turned aside their attention from the vampire as it hunted, wouldn't he also lead them in the wrong direction?

´All right. Let's spread out to look for them,` he said and eyed the city guards sternly. They looked as troubled as he felt himself. It was still dark and the vampire might still be around. ´Have your weapons at the ready and if you spot anything out of the ordinary, or the vampire itself, don't engage. Just call us as soon as you can. We don't need any more bloodshed tonight.`

The guards nodded and spread out in pairs as usual.

Tealas went up to Odefin. ´Do you think we'll get it this time? The monster's been more active lately, not hiding its actions. Is it getting too confident in its ability to get away with it?`

Odefin eyed the dead guard. ´Maybe,` he said. ´We can hope.`

Mounting their horses, they rode in the opposite direction the boy had run, hoping it would lead them closer to their hideout.

They searched for over an hour, finding nothing. As the sky brightened the hunters and city guards gave up on finding the vampire, went back and rested to be able to resume the hunt in the afternoon, and with more reinforcements. They decided to call in the Eldon paladins. The priestess they had talked to had promised them aid if they wanted it. They were determined to make life as hard for the vampire as they possibly could.