Chapter XXVIII (28)- Vampire Hunt

The mixture gurgled as Kizu dumped a few hundred ground up needle ants in. He quickly stirred, spreading everything evenly and dissolving the new ingredient. The color slowly shifted to a pale red as he continued stirring it.

Finally, he extinguished the fire under the cauldron and placed a lid over it. All that was left was to let it simmer for half an hour until it cooled.

He wiped his brow with his uniform’s sleeve. The specific brew required more heat than he usually liked to work with. Even with the cooling enchantment on the academy uniform, he still sweat a ridiculous amount. He looked up at the sun through the circular skylight window built into the cavern’s roof. It definitely wasn’t helping him cool off.

“You look horrible.”

Kizu turned and saw Sene standing on the other side of the cave. It may have been Ione, but Kizu sincerely doubted it based on the look of loathing on the girl’s face and the contempt in her words. Ione would sound more teasing than hateful.

“Thanks,” Kizu said. “I really needed that helpful input.” He walked to the well on the side of the cave and pumped some water into a bucket. He drank it straight from the bucket. The cool water spilled over the sides as he gulped it down, soaking the shoulders of his uniform.

“Drinking from lab equipment is not only unsafe, but also bad form.”

“I really don’t care right now,” Kizu said when he finally came up for air.

Sene gave a hmp of disapproval. Then she started on her own project. Another truth potion by the looks of the ingredients she prepared. But a different variant than last time.

Unfortunately, Kizu couldn’t just leave and come back later. He had to stay put and keep an eye on his new potion. There was a chance it could boil over and that would be the source of a whole new fleet of problems.

So, he studied Sene as she worked.

“If you use watermelon juice instead of spring water it will delay the side effects a few more hours without compromising the results. As well as get rid of the horrible aftertaste.”

Sene’s posture stiffened. She didn’t acknowledge him. But Kizu noticed that she did, in fact, grab some watermelon juice a few minutes later when she thought he was checking on his brew. That caught Kizu by surprise. He never took Sene as someone who actually listened to advice from her peers. She might actually care more about results, then pride.

With his potion finished and divided up into nine vials, Kizu left Sene behind. The vials clinked together in his uniform pocket as he walked. He carried the vials of the potion he brewed earlier in the week as well, increasing his arsenal as much as possible.

From what he understood of the monster he hunted, they looked to stay in cool, wet areas. Sunlight caused their skin to blister and peel. Likely painfully. Unluckily, the sun didn’t usually kill them outright. But it did help him with searching.

The town was just as bustling as usual. He kept his eye out, looking for cellar entrances or any sign of basements or crawl spaces. But the only thing he noticed was the occasional porch. He supposed it could be hiding under one of those, but he doubted it. The thing had almost had an entire week to find a better spot. And if basements were as nonexistent on the island as they appeared to be, then his best luck would be searching attics.

Unfortunately, he doubted most people in town would welcome a random student searching their homes for an undisclosed threat. No, his hunt would be at a standstill until after sunset. And his only real plan after dark was to put himself in a position where he acted like bait for the monster. Not perfect at all, but all he could come up with. At the very least, vampiric spawn supposedly didn’t usually kill their victims immediately.

In the meantime, he perused the shops. A brewing shop caught his eye. The shelves were filled with pickled and preserved ingredients from all over the world in jars. And at an enchanted goods store, he found several neat knickknacks. Like a bottle that contained a near limitless supply of water and a folded paper that unfolded into a massive tent. He wished, not for the first time, that his parents had given him a few coins before they sent him off.

As he continued wandering the streets, he found an answer to his financial woes. A notice board stood beside the constable's office. He hadn’t noticed it before when he’d escaped in the dark, but as he examined it, he found it listed dozens of different chores that locals needed completed. As well as rewards.

He looked through the list, searching for something he could complete easily with a few spells. An alligator infestation on a local farm, a lady who needed help moving, a fisherman who needed help while his deckhand was ill. Those were all doable but looked extraordinarily boring.

Then a request caught Kizu’s eye. Someone wrote a complaint about scraping noises keeping her up all night. The noises seemed to come from below her home. And they just so happened to start at the beginning of the week. There was an offer of 5,000 Yennies if someone made the noises stop.

Kizu’s heart sped up, he didn’t know if he should feel lucky or complete dread. He tempered his hopes by reminding himself it might be nothing more than a person with insomnia. Still, the chance remained.

The door dinged as he walked into the building. A new feature that Kizu couldn’t help wondering if they added on his behalf. The station looked the same as when he had left it. He found the heavy-set Tainted constable at the counter. His face’s coloring transmuted into that of a tomato as Kizu approached.

“You have some nerve showing your face here,” the constable growled. His jowls quivered slightly as his hand clenched the wand at his hip.

“I want to take on a job posted outside,” Kizu said, ignoring the hostile behavior.

“Declined,” he spat.

“I haven’t said which job though.”

“Past criminals don’t qualify for job postings.”

“When did I commit a crime? When I tried to walk into my home?”

“Destruction of government property!”

Kizu sighed. “I don’t remember being prosecuted for that. Jog my memory.”

The constable grumbled and rubbed his bald scalp. Then he slammed a fist down.

“Fine. You want the job? Take it. But don’t expect any help from this office.”

“I haven’t told you what job though.”

“Doesn’t matter, because I won’t be sharing any information about it with you.” He leaned forward and leered. “And if you tell anyone anything different, I’ll deny it. No one will believe you over me.”

Kizu stared at him, unphased. “Couldn’t I just come back later with someone and ask for details?”

The constable spluttered for a moment before regaining the little composure he had. “Go ahead and try. I call your bluff. Not like a rat like you has any friends.”

Kizu just shook his head and left. He noticed the door dinged as he exited as well. Loud enough to hypothetically wake a sleeping constable.

He wandered the streets nearby, looking for anyone familiar to ask the favor of. Eventually, his feet led him away from the throngs and to the beachside villas. He stood outside Emilia’s door. Unlike the last time he had been there, now it was silent save for the crashing of the tide.

A battle went through his mind. On one hand, she might help him, and he did genuinely want to spend more time with her. Her personality was relaxed enough to likely take it all in stride. She might not even ask questions. But, on the other hand, it wasn’t exactly a safe request. Even if he sent her off afterwards, she would be tied to the case. And Roba had implied these creatures had a measure of intelligence.

He decided to think about it a bit more.

Kizu took off his shoes and walked down to the beach. A gentle breeze rippled the ocean. It brought back a distant memory of flying a kite with his sister. They had raced alongside one another, trying to get the kite higher and higher. Eventually, he had tripped, and the kite flew off over the sea. Never to be seen again.

“Mind taking two steps to the left?”

Kizu turned to the voice and found Ione holding a small burlap sack. She wore what looked like the academy uniform’s pants chopped off at the thigh and a silk blouse that loosely fit her. Her ears and nose were tinged red from the sun. He could tell it was Ione and not Sene by the fact she actually grinned at him.

“Why?” he asked, curious.

“You’re standing over two hermit crab shells.” She gestured at his feet. “I’d rather if you didn’t crush them.”

Kizu looked down. Sure enough, two spiraling shells peeked up out of the sand. He stepped aside.

Ione knelt down and carefully dug the shells out of the sand. With a great deal of care, she slowly began to brush them off.

“I collect them,” she said after noticing him still watching her.

“Why?”

“Because I like them,” she said. “Why shouldn’t I collect them? They’re abandoned. The previous inhabitants either dead or outgrown. And despite all the odds, the sea brought them here to me.”

“I think the odds of shells washing up on the seashore are pretty high.”

“I’m not talking about shells. I’m talking about this shell.” She raised up the second hermit crab shell.

Kizu examined it, looking for something special about it. It just looked like a normal shell to him. He shrugged, not understanding.

“Shells wash up all the time, sure,” she continued. “But out of all the seabed and all the shores, this shell just happened to wash up on my shore. The odds of that are tiny. Miniscule.”

“I still don’t understand. They all look the same, why does it matter?”

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Ione visibly bristled at the comment.

“Ah, forget I said that,” Kizu said hurriedly. “Anyway, do you think you’ll be out here for a long time?”

“I don’t know. Maybe another hour. Why?”

“I was wondering if you could do me a quick favor on your way back up to the academy.” He began to loosely fill her in, not telling her that vampiric spawn was in town, just that Roba had instructed him to check out anything weird occurring at night.

“I was planning to take a nap on the beach when I finished,” she admitted sorrowfully. “But I suppose I can change my plans and nap in my dorm. Probably better for my skin anyway.”

Kizu opened his mouth to thank her, but she cut him off.

“But! Only if you do something for me in return.”

“Do you have something in mind? Or just want a vague promise for something in the future.”

“Hm. I’m sure I’ll think of something. But in the meantime, you can help me move that log over there.”

The log in question was driftwood. Which normally would make it lighter except for the fact it was half buried in the sand.

After a grueling hour, he finally managed to dig it out enough to roll it over.

“Well,” Ione said, looking at the divot in the beach that once housed the log. “That’s disappointing. I thought there might be some shells under it.”

“Seriously?” Kizu panted. “And couldn’t you just summon something to move this thing? Isn’t that your specialty?”

“Eh, never mind that. Let’s go check out this constable real fast and see what info he’s got. You didn’t tell him what job you wanted, did you?”

“No, he never gave me the chance.”

“Good, then he won’t bat an eye when I ask him for it.”

“Hold on, I just need you to go with me as a witness, not actually pick up the job yourself.”

She waved off his protests. “It’s easier this way. Constable Albert will find some other way to weasel out of it if he sees you there. Trust me. I know the guy.”

She handed Kizu her burlap sack of shells to carry as they walked. She wouldn’t listen to any more of his arguments, apparently her mind was set. When they reached the constable's office, she took her sack back from him and told him to wait while she ducked into an alleyway. A minute later she came back wearing a university uniform. She also had redone her hair, combing out the tangles and putting it back in a ponytail.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“Like a university student?”

She nodded approvingly at the appraisal. Then dropped the sack on the ground before going into the office.

“Excuse me,” she said. But her voice sounded different from usual. A bit shriller and demanding. “I want to pick up the job about the weird noises occurring at night. Tell me the details.”

The officer actually sounded like he snapped into attention and listed off everything about the job with no further prompting. Kizu marveled and wondered if Ione had used some sort of charm spell.

When she exited, she visibly slouched as the door closed. Then she yawned, not bothering to cover her mouth.

“Acting like my sister is so exhausting, you know? Don’t know how she manages it all the time. But it usually gets the job done, so credit to her there.”

“Thank you for your help, Ione. I really appreciate it.”

“No worries.”

Kizu expected her to head back up to the academy, but she loitered around.

“I guess I’ll be on my way,” Kizu finally said. He turned and started walking in the direction of the house mentioned by the constable.

One hand in her pocket, the other swinging the sack of shells, Ione tailed after him. At first Kizu tried to ignore her, thinking maybe it was just some sort of strange joke. But when he arrived at the house, he turned to her.

“Ione, this is a pretty dangerous job. Why are you following me?”

She shrugged. “I’m the one who accepted it. I’m curious to see how it goes. And to be honest, I’m just not as sleepy anymore.”

“Lucky,” Kizu mumbled. He felt like he could fall asleep on his feet. But he always felt like that.

“Anyway, are we going to question this lady or not? I think it will rain soon so the sooner we get a roof over our heads, the better.”

Kizu glanced up. Clouds had rolled in quickly since they left the beach. Dark, ominous, dangerous looking clouds on the horizon. He hoped they were heading the other direction, but he knew better than to expect it.

He knocked on the door. They waited. He knocked again. The fourth time he knocked, he finally got a response.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop banging like a troll for two minutes.”

The lady jerked the door open. She eyed them and frowned. Her gray hair went in a million different directions all at once, giving off a halo of chaos around her head.

“You can tell that cracked cauldron headmaster of yours that no matter how many kids he sends to my door, the answer stays ‘no!’”

She attempted to slam the door on them, but Kizu wedged his foot between the door and frame a second before she closed it. He winced on the impact but kept it there.

“The headmaster didn’t send us.” Technically true, Roba had been the one to make the assignment. Not that he thought that was what she was talking about anyway. “We’re here about that notice you put on the job board.”

“Oh, that.” She yanked the door back open. “Get in here then. And take off those grimy shoes. Barbaric, the practices they employ up at that sad building they call an academy are. Absolutely barbaric!”

Kizu nursed his newly bruised foot as he removed his shoes.

Ione slipped out of her sandals and stuffed them in her bag of shells.

The word ‘cluttered' didn't quite encapsulate the house. It was more like suffocating. There were only mere paths through the hoard of stuff. Shelves full of junk teetered, as if threatening to fall and crush them as they walked through. In the living room, the lady shoved a cat off a chair and gestured for them to sit down. For herself, she pushed some clutter to the side and sat down on a large metal box.

Not knowing how both he and Ione were supposed to fit on the small chair, he let Ione sit while he squatted down next to her.

“Tea?” the lady asked. She reached behind her and pulled up a chipped teacup covered in cat hair.

“No thanks, I’m not really thirsty at the moment,” Kizu lied. “How about we cut to the source of the problem?”

“All business and no pleasure? No fun at all.” The lady turned to Ione. “Surprised you stick with him. You’re too cute for that. Most have other qualities that make up for bad manners.” Then she tossed the cup back into her sea of clutter behind her.

Ione snickered softly.

“My name is Kaga Kizu,” Kizu said, deciding to try a more polite approach. He didn’t know what they were implying but he had every intention of steering the conversation away from whatever it was. “The constable didn’t share your name and you didn’t post it.”

“And I intend to keep it that way. Noisy boy like you who doesn’t know how to sweet talk in the slightest.”

“What kind of noises have you been hearing?” Kizu asked.

“Oh, started off as moaning. Now it’s more like scratching and panting. Like an animal got trapped in my floorboards. I’m no mage though so no way I’m about to peel them up. Likely I’ll get attacked by some spatial squid dog or something. Boy, you better know what you’re doing. I don’t want a fire breathing turtle to burn my home down.”

Kizu sighed. “Of course. What time do the noises usually start and at what part of the house?”

“Cheesewhiskers usually notices it first. She always freaks out and runs in circles like a dog chasing its tail. Absolutely silly behavior for a cat. And always over there by the icebox too. First time I saw it I thought it was a new antic to bum more food off of me. The fat thing will do anything for a bit more milk. That’s why she’s named Cheesewhiskers. Got it all over her face the day after I brought her home.”

“By the icebox? Can you show us?” Kizu asked, trying to derail the current rambling.

“Hmp. I suppose. But I just sat down. Go find it for yourself. Your lovely lady friend will keep me company.”

Kizu stood and noticed Ione’s eyes flickred from him to the lady. They begged him not to leave her. She opened his mouth probably to try to make an excuse, but Kizu spoke first.

“That’s a great idea. Especially if you have any more details about the first day you noticed the noise. Divide and conquer they say, right?”

Ione looked like she wanted to break his kneecaps. But Kizu stood and slipped away in the direction the lady had pointed earlier.

Cheesewhiskers, the cat, sat perched on the icebox. And it was indeed a fat cat. It purred as Kizu approached.

“Hey girl. Any chance you know what’s in the floorboards underneath you?”

The cat didn’t seem to understand him. Instead, it hopped off the icebox, landing on the floor with a thump, and looked hopefully up at him.

Kizu opened it and, sure enough, found a block of cheese amongst all the food. He broke off a corner and tossed to the ground next to the cat.

A rhythmic ping of rain on the roof started as the cat pounced on her meal. She purred with delight as she gobbled it down.

When Kizu opened the icebox to set the cheese back inside, he pushed aside some frozen fish. Then something caught his eye. In the corner, there was a hole the size of his fist.

He studied the icebox further, noting the warded enchantments carved into the sides. Wards weren’t necessary for every enchantment, but they helped for ones in constant use. Which must be especially helpful in this case, since the icebox appeared to be leaking its chill through the hole.

Not knowing what else to do, Kizu replaced the fish over the hole and closed the icebox. He said nothing as he went back into the living room.

Ione looked like she regretted coming as she weathered the barrage of words from the lady. When she saw Kizu though, her eyes lit up, the irritation in them from earlier now devolved into pleading.

“We should really be going,” Kizu said. “We’ll be back to investigate at night. Hopefully we should be able to track whatever it is by its noises.”

“Nonsense, I won’t have you leaving in the middle of a typhoon. Take a seat and get comfortable. I was just telling your pretty friend about my brother’s second wife. She used to get into all sorts of shenanigans. Like the time she stole cherries from our great aunt’s orchard. Let me tell you-”

“Don’t worry about us,” Kizu cut in. “We’re third year mages. We can handle enough elemental magic to not get wet in a bit of rain.”

The lady continued to try to protest but Kizu ushered Ione up and they both scrambled to the front door as quickly as they politely could.

Kizu continued to nod and graciously thank the lady while they stood on the porch as Ione slowly closed the door. Finally, with a click, the door shut, cutting them off from the lady.

They both sighed in relief simultaneously.

“I assume you lied about knowing how to keep us dry?” Ione said, eyeing the rain drizzling down from the room of the house. It was coming down in a torrent now. She moved a hand out from under the eaves. In a moment, she brought it back to show it was drenched.

“Yes. But that doesn’t matter. I found something. I think the creature I’m looking for is living underneath the house.”

“So, we won’t be returning tonight? I’ll try to contain my disappointment.”

“Don’t get too excited. I’m going under now. Of course, I don’t think you should follow me. You can still go back up to the academy.”

She scoffed. “In this rain? Please. I’m waiting it out. And if you’re going under the house, that sounds like a perfect place for me to stay dry.”

Kizu sighed. No point in trying to stop her. He had warned her.

He briefly ducked out from under the eaves to get down on the ground by the porch. Even in just that second, his hair was soaked to his scalp. One nice thing about the rain though was how it completely covered up the sound as he kicked in a plank of the porch. He created a hole just big enough to crawl under.

Just after he finished squeezing himself in, he felt Ione shove his feet to the side to crawl in after him. Surprisingly, she felt dry as she positioned herself next to him.

“You smell like a wet dog,” she told him. It didn’t sound like a denunciation as much as it did an observation.

“Once again, I’ll remind you, you’re welcome to head back the way you came.”

He could practically hear her roll her eyes as she let out a breath.

“Fine,” he said. “Well, I’m going to continue on. I think I know which way to go to get under the kitchen.”

He razed entire civilizations of spiders and their webs as he inched his way forward. He also slammed his head into wooden beams on three separate occasions. But eventually he reached an area that felt cooler than the others. It opened up slightly. Enough to where he could actually sit without his head pressed against the wood floor above him.

“Why don’t you use your scrying orb for light?” Ione asked him as she bumped into his back.

He instantly felt a little bad. Because of his bond with Mort, he could see just fine, albeit in shades of gray. He forgot that Ione didn’t have something like that. She must have just been blindly groping forward after him.

“Because I don’t want whatever is down here to see us coming,” he lied.

“You sound like-”

He shushed her, cutting her off. A pile of dirt stirred slightly to his left. The shift was just barely noticeable. He looked above it. Sure enough, a small hole had been cut into the floor. And he was willing to bet it led straight into the icebox.

Painstakingly slowly, he reached into his uniform pocket and withdrew one of the potions he had brewed earlier.

Then he tossed it at the mound of dirt.

It clinked on the ground and rolled away.

“What was that?” Ione asked in a low whisper.

“It was supposed to break,” Kizu admitted. He palmed another vial, but before he could throw it with more conviction, the mound of dirt shifted.

Scarlet eyes flickered open as a face shifted in the dirt. The jaw of the creature opened, revealing two rows of jagged teeth.

It reached for Kizu.