After the initial shock of finding out that Jake had been killed, we'd been led to a few more locations, most of which had been cleaned up, leaving only a few faint red splotches here and there. Sybil could make out the scent a bit less, but she'd told me it was good enough. Every time we were done with a given location, she'd shake her head and mutter something too quietly for me to hear. When I'd ask about it, she'd tell me that it was nothing, or that we could talk later.

When the guards were finally exhausted and needed a break, we were left alone, and I cornered her. "What was all that? Is something wrong? Do you know what's going on?"

Her head shook. "No. Well, maybe." She hesitated.

"Well, spit it out!" The suspense was getting to me.

"Whatever is doing this is obviously intelligent, though we could already infer that from how it's been killing people. Strong, too. The issue is with those blood stains. While I could definitely sense the blood of the victims, there was something else, too." She shook her head. "Some of that blood felt artificial. No, that's not the word. More like something I couldn't identify. It's like when you taste something, and you get a rush of nostalgia, but don't know exactly what the flavor is. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

I nodded, and she continued, "There are Features, Abilities, and even Skills, that allow for a person to hide their Identity. Sometimes these simply make a person unIdentifiable to others on their Level, but sometimes it goes more in-depth. These skills give a person a false identity, a new one that appears when Identified. Powers of either type have a nasty habit of hiding a person from other tracking Abilities as well. My father had me practice countering them, but I never really mastered it. I can at least tell that it's fake, though."

She met my eye. "Abel, these killings? I'm almost certain that they were done by a person."

----------------------------------------

Sybil and I had made the decision to continue on as if we were still hunting a monster. We decided that we would patrol during the night, and interrogate the villagers during the day.

Every time we were brought to a new- or rather, old- bloodstain, Sybil would give me a look and a nod, letting me know that they all held that distinct 'false' scent. She had also let me know that she'd be doing her best to get ahold of the scent of each person in the town in an attempt to track down the real killer.

Over the span of that day, we had investigated 13 bloodstains. Of those we had been brought to, which we'd been told were the most recent killings, most were children. Sometimes, adults were involved as well, but in almost every case, a child had been involved. We were told that we hadn't even seen half the places, but most of them had already been cleaned up.

The majority of the townsfolk were just scared to be around the pair of us, even with me removing my helm to seem more human. Sybil had been gathering their blood scents, but she'd told me that it was unlikely to be any of them. They'd all been living around here for most of their lives, were related to at least a few of the deceased, and had mostly been at home, or at least claimed to be. As most lived with their families, even once they got older and would have moved out back on Earth, to save on expenses, most had people willing to stick up for them and back their alibis. Only a few people lived alone, but they'd all claimed to be boarded up in their homes, just trying to survive the 'monster' attacks.

In the end, the guards had led us to one last building, near the edge of town. One last bloodstain. The first, from when the disappearances had just began.

This home was the furthest from the center of town, leading me to believe that the owner was some kind of recluse. If the killer really was a human, then they'd probably been trying to avoid attention, or at least kill someone that didn't interact with others much. That said, it could also have been that a monster had gotten into town and simply taken the nearest human. Still, if monsters could get into the village, they would have probably overrun it already, right? In my mind, it seemed much more likely that a human had committed these crimes, even though that was a rather grim way to look at it.

This bloodstain was different in a few ways. First, it hadn't been cleaned up like the others. Second, it was right in front of the cabin, the ghastly scene seemingly a taunt to whoever lived inside.

"Hey, Jeffors, who lives here?" I addressed the guard who had expressed the least racism towards Sybil thus far. He'd proven utterly instrumental in getting information out of the townspeople, reassuring them left and right that we were only there to help, and that we'd be gone as soon as we got some answers.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Ah, that'd be Old Man Hickory. If you listen to the stories, he got here before my great grandparents were born!" He laughed, though the noise quickly died in his throat. "Ah, sorry, sir. His daughter was the one taken. He was already a hermit, but hasn't left his home since this all started. I heard that he was an adventurer, way back when, but he retired a long time ago. Helps reinforce the walls with his Earth and Nature magic every once in a while."

I nodded at him. "Thanks, Jeff."

With where the killing had taken place, it would have made sense for this to be some kind of grudge. The question burning a hole in my brain was if this Hickory guy had any enemies, but I couldn't exactly ask that. It would let them know that we were looking for a person, not a monster, and that would probably spread through the town like wildfire. Not only would the killer have a chance to escape, we might even be removed from this investigation, and not receive any pay for all our hard work. I didn't exactly want that.

Sybil was hard at work trying to catalogue the scents in her brain, but I didn't really have much of a place there, so I instead motioned for Jeffors to step up to the door with me.

I knocked. The door creaked open. I smiled, about to start explaining what we were doing, but quickly found a sword pressed up against my unarmored throat.

I froze. Jeff looked shocked. Sybil, though, moved quickly, appearing to my side with her arming sword gripped in one hand.

"Sir, please remove your blade from my partner's neck."

The sword didn't budge, but a gruff voice spoke, "It's best you walk away. Just leave this old man to grieve in peace."

I was still paralyzed, but Sybil kept the conversation going. "Sir, we're just here to ask a couple questions. We're trying to find whatever's causing these disappearances."

Nothing happened for a long moment, and the tension grew. Just as I thought my head was about to get lopped off, the voice started picked up again, and the blade was removed from my neck, leaving a thin red line that quickly faded. "The guard stays out of this."

I heard steps creaking away from us, and looked at Sybil. She gave me a nod, and then we stepped into the house.

The door slammed shut behind us, but a small flicker of light led us further into the cabin.

We found Hickory sitting on an old couch in a room shadowed by candlelight. His face was barely visible in the flickering flame, but from what little I did see, he didn't actually look all that old. Maybe in his mid 50s, but no older. Based on what Jeff had told me, I had assumed that he would be ancient. He was hunched over, as if in deep thought.

"Tell me what you know so far. Don't hold anything back. This room is inscribed against divination magics, and I can assure you that no one in town is listening."

Sybil and I looked at each other for a long moment, trying to communicate telepathically. Actually, come to think of it, there was probably magic out there that would allow us to do that for real. I'd look into that later.

I thought we could trust Hickory, but she didn't seem too sure. Our inaudible argument went back and forth for a moment, before she relaxed and leaned into the couch we had sat ourselves on.

I eyed Hickory for a moment, but eventually spoke, "These murders seem to be committed by a human. Or, rather, a person, not necessarily a human." I looked over at Sybil, but shook my head and continued explaining, "Someone with abilities that let them hide their true identity, and someone with a high enough Vitality to drench the ground in their own blood, or with Blood magic."

Hickory stared at me for a moment, but he eventually responded with, "Not Abilities. I would think you'd know this by now, travelling with a Vampire, but that's a Race thing. I can assure you that it's not one of those. Everyone in town is human, other than your friend. You should refer to them as Powers, if you're looking for something more encompassing." He paused, and the light allowed me to see his brow wrinkle in stern consternation. "You are correct that it's a person. It's not Blood magic, but not Vitality either. Just healing potions."

I was surprised, and it showed in my voice. "How do you know all of this?" I Inspected him, finding that he was low Tier 3. "And wait, why haven't you already solved this case and killed the culprit?"

He shook his head. "You don't get it, kid. He's strong. Stronger than I am, at least. Not to mention he's got the support of the village, buckets of money, and powerful backers."

He let that simmer for a moment, before continuing, "Before I tell you who this monster is, I think it's important that you know some things." He held up a finger. "First, fighting him is going to be hell. He's strong, and even with the three of us, he's a good fighter, and most likely has higher stats than anyone else in the village, in every category." He raised a second finger, and continued, "Second, he's got gear. All the wealth he's been getting from his crimes, as well as from his usual labor, have added up. That's going to make fighting him even harder." Another finger went up. "He's also got the support of the town, and we'll probably be run out of town if we don't do this just right." A fourth finger pointed to the sky, before he simply turned his hand to face the palm towards him.

"Finally, if we do this, we'll never be safe again. Taking potential slaves and removing one of their assets is going to hit them hard, and then it'll be a thing of pride to hunt us down."

Sybil and I waited, thinking over his words. After a while, he slapped his hand onto his knee, and finished his words.

"Those kids are still alive, kidnapped by that Killion bastard, and he's a member of a cult known that I've only ever heard referred to as the Red Kingdom."