The city was starting to wind down.

It was still mid-afternoon, so we had a few hours until the shops would close for the day, But I wanted to get any shopping we were going to do out of the way before I moved on to sightseeing.

Jewelry and fancy clothes were easy ways to impress the port ladies, but considering that Starna had grown up with access to royal jewelry and gowns, something that cost five gold wouldn’t impress her. Besides, I hadn’t seen her wear anything fancy outside of important meetings back home. That didn’t feel like it was her thing.

I took her to Glynot Apothecary.

Starna usually kept to herself, at least what I’d observed so far. Her free time was spent going over a small spellbook that she had, though I expected that it contained more than just spells. In our brief time together, she’d also made a few potions, so while the available magic in the city might be low, there was a healthy enough herb market.

There were lots of herbs that were plentiful only in mountain and underground regions. Given that Hepool was on a river over a normal day’s journey from the closest mountains, I had a feeling that there would be a lot of ingredients that were common here, while they would have been exotic back home.

I felt the red coin in my pocket heat up a little as we walked into the store. I knew it would serve as a type of protection in case any of the vampires here felt like they wanted a nibble. The way it reacted as soon as we walked over the threshold was a little concerning. It was something I’d have to look into later.

“Greetings!” A red-eyed Elf waved at us. His beep blue skin felt exotic even though I knew that most Elves from the Imber subrace had that skin tone. It was just very strange to see him so far from the island of Onweg where most of the Imber congregated and the Sapphire Senate watched over the much larger island of New Kazadt.

“Hello, we’re…”

“The emissary of our Matriarch!” The older man walked through the rows of shelves lined with plants to take my hand. “I was told that Mistress had blessed one and that you were in the city, but I never thought you’d come here.” His eyes widened. “Where are my manners?” He backed up a step and gave me a slight bow. “Tuffen Kuel. Expert Herbalist of Barazar Mountain.”

“Nice to…”

“The only thing you’re an expert of is flashing that smile of yours instead of working!” The shrill voice of an older woman came from the back. “You’re barely qualified to pick stoneflowers! Get back to work!”

I had been expecting an older woman, but the gently floating white hair was all I needed to see of her as she stormed out of the back to make my heart jump into my throat. I’d seen a lot of scary things in my short life, but the wrinkled gray skin showing beneath the dirt caked on her arms, legs, and overalls told me just how old she was. One look into her red eyes confirmed that she was a vampire. I knew that Vampires weren’t very picky about what they turned, but there were some races that were considered too dangerous to try to turn.

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Banshees were near the top of that list.

Turning someone into a vampire was dangerous to begin with. I wasn’t sure what the exact success rate was, but it was low enough that anyone going through the change would be chained up before being bitten. Anyone who failed to make the change went feral, going on a murder spree until they were stopped or subjugated by a powerful vampire. Even a newly turned vampire that made the transition could become blood crazed and descend into a killing spree. Which was why there was so much oversight and even more rule.

Banshees were able to summon the spirits of the dead, that connection, if they were one of the undead Vampires, gave them the power to not just speak to the dead, but to weaponize them. The reason why this was particularly concerning to me was that there was one thing that my powers didn’t work on, the dead.

There were plenty of exorcists that could stop someone like her from becoming a calamity, but it felt very strange to be watching one of the few things that I couldn’t fight storming in my direction.

“You!” The five-foot-tall woman glared at me. I wasn’t sure why she was still talking in a loud voice, but that might just be the way Banshees talked. I’d only heard stories about them, so I didn’t know.

“The Master is out gathering the House!” She wiped her hands on her overalls, but it didn’t help. “What do you need!?!”

I forced my heart to slow down. Usually danger didn’t bother me, but this was unnerving in a way I hadn’t felt in a while. “Do you have satchels for preserving herbs?” I glanced at Starna, but she seemed enraptured by the almost glowing woman. “Ones that a Camadt could handle without destroying the herbs inside?”

“Planning on collecting some souvenirs while you talk to the kitties!?” She cackled, which I think was supposed to come out as a chuckle. “I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on some of the exotic herbs from over there!” She looked at Starna. “Snap out of it woman! Don’t you know it’s not polite to stare!”

“Sorry.” My companion looked away. “Your hair is just…” She glanced back at the Banshee. “So pretty.”

“It is pretty dazzling, isn’t it!?”The Banshee flicked her hair over her shoulders, but the white strands floated in the air behind her. Not a single lock of hair touched her back.

“How does it do that?” Starna was staring at the other woman’s hair again.

“It’s the spirits!” The Banshee ran her hand over her left arm and a thin film of glowing white ectoplasm dripped off her fingers, vanishing before it hit the ground. “Cursed things stick to me like I’m some sort of ghost magnet!” She waved her hands in the air. “Always whispering! Always wanting something! I keep asking Pera to let me turn an exorcist, but there’s always some excuse!”

I really didn’t want to listen to the yelling woman give me a list of her woes.

“Do you have a bag?” I pulled Starna close to me to jar her out of her dazzled state.

“Of course!” The Banshee waved for me to follow her, then headed into the back of the shop.

My body was begging me not to follow her deeper into the shop. There was still a bounty on our heads, so I needed to be careful, but we were in a Glynot building and I still had the coin. That didn’t make it feel any less like I was about to walk into a drake barn at feeding time with their dinner in my arms.

I forced a grin and looked at Starna. “I guess we’re going into the back.”