Epidicus slowly drew his dagger from its sheath while his partner did the same. A dreadful silence filled the small grove as the two held their daggers. “I asked you a question.” Epidicus took as step forward as his dagger gleamed in a small ray of light.
“I know, but I don’t think you are going to get an answer to that question.” Arthur placed his left hand on the handle of his sword. “And I think you are quite tired after digging a hole in a place with all those roots.” Arthur showed a small smile that gave both Epidicus and his partner an eerie feeling.
Epidicus moved to his partner's side and whispered. “You know a bit of magic right?”
“Well yes, why?” Lord Darius has spent a bit of time teaching a few of his disciples some of the basic points of magic.
“Without your magic I don’t think we will get out of this. Also I will need your help bringing his corpse back to Lord Darius.” Epidicus kept his eyes on the man. ‘He is wearing armor and has a sword so he is most likely a knight or fighter. Magic is both unpredictable and versatile, so while I distract him Pellio can kill him with one of the spells he was taught.’
“It will take me a few seconds to cast something that will definitely kill him.” Pellio’s hands were shaking, he had never used magic against another person before let alone with the intent to kill someone.
“That is fine, just don’t miss him.” The mysterious man chuckled and looked Epidicus square in the eyes.
‘What an idiot, with that five point increase in perception I can hear most of their conversation. And here he acts like they can come out of this alive, all I need are their bodies, the grave, and the body they brought over here.’
“Now.” Epidicus took off running towards Arthur with his dagger ready to stab. Pellio started chanting and moving his hands in a strange way that reminded Arthur of the demonstration Aiwin gave earlier in the day.
Arthur chose not to draw his sword to deal with the threat in front of him, instead tried something that came with the knowledge of unarmed combat he received from the demon soul. When Epidicus got close with his dagger Arthur used his left hand to grab the arm with the blade and used his right hand to hold him by his neck. With a swift spin Arthur slammed his face into the dirt, Arthur took the dagger that was just dropped and put it through Epidicus’s eye.
Pellio watched while the whole clash unfolded, the unknown assailant who ambushed them easily disarmed and killed the closest thing he had to a friend in the sect. Pellio did not falter though despite the fear as he used the surrounding dirt to create several small darts that he immediately fired at Arthur.
Arthur with both his hands quickly conjured a thin shield that blocked the projectiles. “No no no no no.” Pellio took several steps backwards until he backed into the wall of trees. Arthur started walking towards him while he drew his sword. ‘I have played around enough, now I need to get rid of him and quickly get the city guards here.’
Pellio fired several darts of dirt as Arthur moved closer, but they either missed or were blocked by his armor or sword. ‘Oh no, he must be a part of the city guard or another powerful organization. He clearly received proper training in martial combat and he even knows magic.’ Pellio in his terror began to think of all the possible scenarios of why someone with Arthurs skill followed them. “Please don’t kill me. I will stop doing this and leave forever.” Tears streamed down his face as he begged Arthur not to kill him, as he hoped he would get a chance to live.
Arthur looked at the small sniveling man who fell to the ground, begging to be allowed to live. Arthur simply held his sword in a reverse grip with both hands and he pushed Pellio to the ground with his foot. With Arthurs foot on his chest Pellio could do nothing but cry out as Arthur plunged the sword into his neck killing him.
Arthur took a step back to look at the bodies of the two men he just killed. ‘I enjoyed doing that to them.’ Arthur looked to his hands that weeks ago would have been shaking upon killing another person, they were calm and steady. He reached up and touched his face, he had a small smile that felt like it was stuck there. ‘I should go find a city guard and show them this place.’
Arthur took off back down the path he followed the two men down, only a few minutes passed before he found the entrance and rushed out to find the nearest guards to report what just happened.
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“So let me get this straight. You saw a strange group of people walking down a hidden path in the empty plot of land just behind the Free Parrot Bar, so you decided to follow them and found a secret graveyard that the two people were bringing a dead body to. You then killed the two in self defense and returned here to tell us this.” Even though the guard's face was covered by a helmet Arthur could still feel the disbelief in his eyes.
“Yes, that is what happened. Would you like me to show you where the bodies are?”
“That would be quite helpful.” The guard turned to his coworker and said “Go tell the captain of the development here and meet us at the location this man just described.”
“Of course.” The guard turned and quickly made his way north to the barracks.
“Now show me where these bodies are.”
***********
Arthur showed the guard the small space he used to pass through the tree line and get onto the small path. While they walked down it he showed the guard how the windows on the second floor overlooked the small trees. “If that is the case then why hasn't anyone else said anything about strange people walking around here.”
“My personal guess is that this group only started their activities here recently. They must have planted the trees in this particular way to block any line of sight and expected that in the dark anyone who did see them would think it was just because they were tired.”
“And if that is the case the current owner of this plot of land may be in on it, or even be the leader of these criminals.”
“Is the land owner's name Darius by any chance?”
“I don’t know, I would need to check the city's archives to know that. Why is that name important?”
“I heard one of them say the name Lord Darius. My personal guess is that he is the leader or at least a high ranking member in whatever group this is.”
**********
“So this is what you meant by a secret graveyard.” The guard looked around the small grove full of about ten filled in graves with one waiting for a body. The guard walked over to the corpse covered in the brown sheet. “This is the victim here?”
“Yes, apparently she was leading the big one by the entrance and someone else along. He did not appreciate it and volunteered her for whatever evil act they did.”
“Do you know how she died?” The guard reached for the sheet covering the corpse to inspect it.
“No, I immediately left to find you guys after I killed these two.” Arthur said while he rummaged through the pockets of the dead mage.
The guard removed the sheet from the face of the corpse. The corpse was of a female elf with light blond hair and a slim physique. The only oddity was she was very pale, almost as if all the blood in her body had been drained before they brought it here. The slit throat contributed to the theory.
‘This is worrying. They didn’t use her as a sacrifice to a demon based on the fact that we found the corpse all in one piece, a necromancer would have kept the body to use as a thrall, the only other possibility I can think of is a vampire cult.’
“Interesting emblem.” The guard turned to see Arthur inspecting the dagger the dead mage used before he was killed.
“Did you find something on the dagger?” The guard stood up and walked to see what Arthur was looking at.
“Some sort of emblem on the hilt of the dagger, it kinda looks like teeth.” Arthur showed the emblem which was of a set of humanoid teeth with two in the upper jaw that were a bit longer and sharper than the rest.
The guard took the dagger from Arthur and held it up to the moonlight. The emblem remained the same and his fears only grew. “Do you know what a vampire is?”
Arthur was taken aback by the abrupt question. “No. Why?”
“You don’t know? That is a little surprising but unimportant.” The guard returned the dagger to Arthur and continued. “A vampire is a mortal such as a human, elf, or dwarf that as a punishment for desecrating a temple or shrine to a god is cursed with the disease of vampirism. Vampires are immortal creatures that will live forever or until they are slain, they are also gifted with improved magical talent compared to when they were mortal and are very egotistical as one would expect from someone who would insult a god so directly. As a result many perceive themselves as gods and create cults dedicated to themselves, sometimes with other vampires creating a very dangerous threat to everyone.”
“And you think these two were a part of a cult of vampires.”
“Yes I do. The only weakness that vampires face is that they need to consume the blood of mortals to continue moving, if not they go into a hibernation that can only be ended when they are given blood.”
“And this was where they were burying their victims after they were drained of all their blood.” Arthur looked at all the piles of dirt, each one was a person that was killed just so that their blood could be used to feed a monster that viewed them as animals.
“They must have only been here for about half a year now based on the amount of corpses there are.”
“How much blood does a vampire need to survive?”
“One vampire will consume about 2 people every month, with 11 bodies counting the one you intercepted that equals 5 months and 2 weeks.”