Kita and Raya both raise their hands in the air at the request of the guard. He must have recognized them in the store and waited out here for them to exit.

Cheeky.

Kita glances at the four guards surrounding them, then briefly glances at the rifles in their hands. Using her remaining thirteen souls wouldn't be ideal right now. She'd much rather consume theirs, but she can only take two at a time. The busy street of civilians clear the way for the guards to handle the situation. A few meters away, there are swarms of people gawking and spectating.

She passes a look over to Raya, who is standing focused on the four guards. She probably has a plan, but since Kita doesn't know what it is she opts into improvising.

"Kita," Raya says as Kita steps forward to make a move. "I think I know how to find Vlad," She says, staring at the guard who had entered the store and spoken to Ms Eeve.

Kita looks at the guard, before nodding to herself and prioritizing the other three guards.

"I got two," Kita mumbles under her breath.

With her hand raised she targets two of the guards ahead of her, and casually casts a consume spell. As the black smoke escapes their bodies, Raya throws her blade into the third guard's forehead before he can fire his weapon. The bodies of all three guards drop to the floor in sync as Kita then steps beside Raya and casts a shield. Catching twelve bullets that are fired by the fourth guard in rapid succession. As he reaches to reload his weapon, Raya steps out of the shield and kicks the gun out of his hands. Kita then raises her hand at the guard-

"No!" Raya yells, "You only have fourteen,"

Raya proceeds to punch the guard in the nose, causing a stream of blood to flow down as he clutches his nose in his hands. But Raya doesn't allow it and pushes away both of his hands to punch him in the nose again. The guard falls to the floor, groaning in agony as Raya crouches down to grab him by the shirt.

"Where's Vlad?" Raya says, raising her fist to punch his nose again.

"Fuck you," The guard spews.

"You didn't talk to Ms Eeve with that potty mouth," Kita says.

"Where's Vlad?" Raya asks again before punching the guard in the nose.

"Fuuuck!" The guard yells, "It's already broken, bitch!"

"Duhh," Kita jests as Raya raises her fist again. "Just tell us where Vlad is," Kita says. "Or that nose of yours will be left beyond repair,"

"He'll fucking kill you little pieces of-"

Raya punches him in the nose again, this time letting the man's body fall to the floor. He wails in pain as he hesitantly holds his hands above the river of blood.

"We'd rather not be violent," Raya says, unsheathing her dagger.

"I think it's too late for that," Kita says.

"He's here. On the second floor," The guard says, holding a hand up in submission whilst the other one is at his nose. "Please. There's no need for that knife,"

"Where on the second floor?" Kita asks.

"In shop two six three,"

"What?" Kita asks.

"It's a store number," Raya says, glancing above the doors in the surrounding area to see triple-digit numbers above each.

Raya stands up from her crouched position and sheathes her dagger. "How many raiders did he bring with him?"

"A couple hundred," The guard answers "If I'm not mistaken, he brought almost all of them,"

Raya looks over at Kita, then tilts her head, signalling Kita to deal with him. Kita raises her hand at the guard on the floor, smiling before saying- "Thank you for your cooperation,"

Fifteen.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Amongst the bewildered spectators, Kita and Raya notice a few more guards shoving their way through the mayhem. They both flee the scene, keeping their face covered with their headscarves as they squeeze their way through the crowd.

Kita peeks over her shoulder at Ms Eeve's store- six two five. Kita notes.

They both start walking to blend in. As they pass the stores they peer above the front doors, noting the number as they try to find the store with Vlad's people.

Five-fifty.

Five thirty-two.

"It's on the other side of the city," Kita says.

"It looks much less busy on that side," Raya responds.

It certainly isn't as busy as it is over here. The end of the walkway splits to the left and the right, where more stores are positioned overlooking the river on the edge of the city. As they arrive at this part of the walkway, a red glow beams from the stores and onto the path ahead of them. The stores have women and men standing in the mirrors, playfully waving as Kita and Raya pass by.

"Ah, of course," Raya says.

"Oh wow," Kita says, admiring all of the eye candy that's teasing her as they walk by. "Do we need to find Vlad right now?" She asks.

"Yes," Raya says, rolling her eyes.

"We can take a break though,"

"You really can't restrain your lust?"

"Look at her ass and tell me about lust," Kita says, pointing at a nude woman in the window. "Or even his, since you prefer men,"

"How do you know I prefer men?" Raya asks.

"I figured we'd have had sex by now if you didn't," Kita chuckles.

Three seventy-one.

Three twenty.

"It's just up here," Raya says.

As they approach store two sixty-three, they notice the windows hide the interior with velvet curtains, and the door is closed up with a bell beside it.

"See anything?" Kita asks as Raya tries to peek through the gaps in the curtains.

"No," she responds.

"Let's go inside," Kita says, walking over to ring the bell.

"Wait," Raya grabs her hand before she does. "We don't know what's in there,"

"Well, hopefully, Vlad is,"

"Sure, but we can't just walk in there looking for a fight," Raya says, "There could be too many people to deal with. And you only have fifteen souls,"

"Lend me some of yours," Kita says, smiling with a little too much excitement.

"No," Raya scoffs, "These souls would go to waste in your hands. We need to blend in, and go in there looking like rich, sex-obsessed clients,"

"So, sex isn't off the table, Princess?"

Raya blushes, slapping Kita's hand away from the bell. "Shut up, and listen,"

Kita focuses her hearing on the sound of a rumbling, consistent kick.

"What is that?" Kita asks.

"Music," Raya answers. "There's a party in there and something tells me it isn't very savoury,"

"Huh?" Kita grunts.

"It's a sex party, Kita,"

"Look, I'm all about a good session. But I'm not getting dressed in latex or whatever to go in here," Kita raises an eyebrow.

Raya sighs, stepping away from the door. "We need to look like wealthy clients. Not sex workers,"

"Ooo," Kita hums, nodding her head. "You sure I can't just take all of their souls," She chuckles. "They're all heathens in God's eyes, right?"

"What makes you think you're worthy of doing god's bidding?" Raya jests as they walk away from Vlad's store.

"I'm an angel," Kita states.

•°•°•°•

Kita and Raya return to Vlad's store in navy blue robes with the occasional golden accent. They're dressed like locals from the first floor because clothing from the third floor is way too expensive. The store owner said that the second and third floor's clothing is made out of some special material called 'silk'. They almost charged Kita and Raya eight thousand coin for one outfit.

So, first-floor clothing will have to do. It has them blending in much better, and they still have their headscarves to cover up any identifiable features.

"Ready?" Kita asks.

"Yeah, but you need to remember that we aren't here to fight. We just need to figure out where Jan is,"

"Sure," Kita dismisses as she rings the bell at the front door of Vlad's shop.

A hand-sized window opens at the top of the door and the eye of a man peeks through as his low voice rumbles. "Business or pleasure?"

Kita glances over at Raya before mumbling, "Uhh, pleasure,"

The man seals the window, leaving them in silence.

"Was that the wrong answer?" Kita sighs, but the door begins to creak loudly.

The subtle kicking of music starts to blare. She can make out the melody of the song as it passes through the gap in the dense, bunker-esque front door.