My father had black hair…I think? I must have gotten my sleek, brown hair from my mother. I sat in my room trying to recall anything from when I was human. The conversation I had yesterday with Howes really bothered me. How had I lived here for so long without noticing that my memories were fading? I clutched my head and shut my eyes in desperation.

Something…anything…even if it’s only moments before… I pleaded with my memories. After a few minutes of unease, I felt something bubble up to the surface. It wasn’t much, but I clung to it.

“Oh my, your face is red.” My mother observed me as I woke. She rushed to my bedside and felt my forehead. “Dear, come in here! I think Sera’s sick.”

“No, I’m fine…” I ended my sentence with a flurry of coughs.

“That doesn’t sound good.” My father knelt with my mother. “I’ll take you to a doctor.”

We visited the closest doctor only to find that none of the usual remedies would work. My fever waxed and waned but it did not disappear. My cough was a similar beast, it slowly grew worse and worse until I could barely speak. Desperate, my parents began to visit other the other doctors in town. After a few days, they arrived at Vesta’s door in tears.

“Please, you have to save her!” They thrust me upon him, not knowing where else to turn. “This child will die if you can’t help her.”

“I…I’ll see what can be done. If she can be saved, then I’ll save her.” Vesta promised.

After a long day of testing, Vesta had made no progress towards curing me. Meanwhile, my sickness had progressed sharply. I was so sick that they decided to let me sleep in Vesta’s house. That night, I woke up in a coughing fit and nearly choked to death. Vesta stayed by my side and did what he could to cool my fever.

“It’s no good…” I managed to say between coughs. At this point I could feel it instinctively. “I think I’m going to die.”  

It wasn’t uncommon, to die before reaching adulthood. At fifteen, I assumed that I would make it but the possibility was always in the back of my mind. Right now, though, death was staring me in the face. I broke down in tears.

“Don’t worry…” Vesta tried to reassure me. “None of my patients in this town have ever died.”

I glanced up at him but then Vesta looked away and began to mumble. “Well, that’s only because I’m new around here and I don’t get many patients to begin with…”

I started to cry even louder until my throat was usurped by the urge to cough. By the end of it, I was left gasping for air. Vesta fed me some water. Once I’d recovered, he put a hand on my shoulder.

“If it can be done, then I’ll do it. I promised your parents that I’d cure you. So believe in me and try to get some rest.”

I did just that. Later I woke up to the sounds of hooves hitting the earth. Somehow I found myself on top of a horse. My body was so weak that I couldn’t cry out or struggle. I looked up to see Vesta behind me. He held me tightly so that I wouldn’t slip off. Black spots appeared in my vision and I lost consciousness once more.

“Sorcery that heals people? I’ve never heard of such a thing.” This time I awoke to a wispy, frail voice. “That’s quite the idea, though…I’ve seen magic accomplish far stranger things.”

“Please, is there any way?”

I lifted my head off of the cold, stone floor to see Vesta pleading with a strange man.

“You were the one who opened my eyes to sorcery. Surely you’ve heard of a way to keep someone alive.”

“Heh, heh, hrgh…” The man let out a disgusting mix between a cough and a laugh. “If it’s healing you want then I can’t help you. However, keeping people alive is what sorcery was made for.”

“Then help her, please! I’ll pay any price!”

“Don’t worry about a price. I’m interested to see what a doctor can do with sorcery, that’s why I taught you in the first place.” The man released a wistful sigh. “Once they reach an age like mine, most sorcerers choose to turn themselves into demons rather than die of old age. Of course, their minds eventually erode and they become monsters. For someone who’s already decrepit, it only buys a few years.”

“That’s terrifying…”

“Yes, and I’d like to live longer without resorting to such means.” The man walked over to me. I decided to pretend like I was still asleep. “If your research bears fruit, then I’ll have you extend my life. That’s my price.”

“Of course, Elver.”

“For this girl, though, we don’t have the luxury to wait.” Elver bent down and put a hand on my head. He began chanting some nonsense and I suddenly felt queasy. The last two times I slept, my consciousness had slowly faded away. This time though, I went out like a light.

When I awoke, I had become something inhuman. At that point I didn’t really understand what had changed but I was grateful to Vesta for the lengths he went to in order to save me. Meanwhile, Vesta thanked Elver endlessly, especially because he had kept my body from changing too drastically. I could easily pass as a human.

We triumphantly returned to town only to find that a larger crisis was taking place. My sickness had not been an isolated incident. During our absence, it had spread through the town like wildfire. The first victims were predictable. Vesta didn’t even have a chance to return me to my parents.

Immune to this plague and eager to repay my debt, I worked closely with Vesta to aid the sick. It was a losing battle and at its worst we had patients dying by the hour. At some point I noticed an abnormality. Vesta would morn each person with complete sincerity. Meanwhile, I went through our toughest days without shedding a single tear.

Vesta told me that it was a side-effect of my new form. A demon is created by warping a person’s soul, which in turn warps their body and mind. Demons think differently from humans and that rift only widens over time.

In the past, I didn’t really understand what he said. The terrifying weight of Vesta’s words only dawned on me now, in the present. Why had I become someone who would think so easily of killing? Why did I feel nothing when I witnessed death after death? The answer was simple: this was the price I paid to live.

For the first time in a very long time, I wept. I now knew that the kindness I admired from Vesta and Howes was out of my reach.

-           -           -

“Hey Sera, I’m going to check out that cursed room again.” Howes showed me an innocuous smile. “Can you come with me?”

Upon hearing this I suddenly stood up. I had been sitting in a daze, which was pretty much business as usual. This was the first time that either of those two had talked to me since yesterday when Teach left.

“Um…” Honestly, I wanted to refuse. “Why?”

“Well, you said I couldn’t break the room to dispel it. So, I thought of some other things to try.” Howes grinned. “I’ve managed as a hunter for quite a while now. I still have some tricks for dispelling sorcery.”

“Go for it then. As long as you don’t destroy the room, you’ll be fine.”

“But you can come with me, right?” Howes’ voice darkened and it dawned on me that this wasn’t a request. “Just for safety.”

I looked around for Ten but he seemed to have gone off somewhere. Maybe that was why Howes decided to ask me now.

“…Sure, I’ll go with you.” I relented.

We walked there in silence. I heard that in some cultures, peacekeepers will walk criminals out to the edge of the town before executing them. I imagined that those inmates felt a similar sense of dread. It’s possible that I was just overthinking things but somewhere deep down, I knew that wouldn’t be the case.

We descended the rotting steps and returned to that tenebrous room. The glowing mauve lines seemed to flare up a little brighter as we entered but they faded away just as quickly. I discretely scoured the room with my eyes. To my relief, there was nothing new waiting for me.

“I’m going to start with that far wall.” Howes pointed at the wall furthest from the door. “Is it stable?”

“I mean…yea.” I slowly moved towards it. “It’s actually kind of miraculous…this curse hasn’t decayed much at a-”           

I felt Howes’ leg hook into my left side. There was a slight cracking noise that was immediately overshadowed by my scream as I was flew across the room and crashed into the wall on my right. Dazed, I spat out some blood, tried to stand and fell back into the wall.

Of course, Howes wasn’t going to wait for me to recover. He tried to follow up with a punch but I dodged at the last second. His fist sank into the stone wall behind me as though it was a wad of wet paper.

“Careful with the walls!” I yelled as a knee-jerk reaction.

Howes responded with another swiping kick. Fortunately, that outburst had brought me to my senses and I was able to block it with my arms. Even with my guard up, his kick still had enough power to launch me backwards. I crashed into a different wall and squinted to see Howes running towards me for another strike.

I raised my guard once more and prepared to take the hit. As I watched Howes charging towards me, I couldn’t imagine myself stopping him. His heels tossed chunks of stone behind him as he ran. Each step seemed to have enough power to tear this place apart. I slowly let my guard fall and closed my eyes.

I simply waited for everything to end. However, the final attack never reached me. Howes cried out in shock as someone pulled him backwards and then threw him away from me. When I opened my eyes I saw Howes locked in combat with Ten.

“I had my suspicions…” Howes shouted while they exchanged heavy blows. “So both of you were demons.”

“For now.” Ten replied. Then he passed straight through one of Howes’ punches and delivered a sharp kick to his gut. Howes sent out blow after blow but nothing would land. “This fight was over the instant you stepped into such a dark place.”

“You can’t hide forever, demon!” Howes threw another punch only to be sent reeling by a counter from Ten.

“I’m not hiding.” Ten’s form grew darker. His silhouette became vague, as if it was melding into the room’s shadows. Howes released a kick and this time Ten vanished completely. Black smoke welled up from the floor and enveloped Howes.

Howes thrashed around wildly and I shrank back into a corner to escape him. After a minute within the smoke, Howes began to tire. He coughed and wheezed then eventually he was gagging for air. Three minutes inside the black smoke was enough and Howes finally toppled to the ground, unconscious.

“Yikes.” Ten materialized behind Howes. He knelt over to make sure the giant was really asleep. Satisfied, he stood back up and faced me. “I was right to wait for an opening. Who knows what would have happened if we had fought inside the inn.”

“…Thanks.” I was still trembling but I forced myself to speak. “Thank you for saving me.”

“Don’t worry about it. I was using you as bait, so you shouldn’t thank me.”

“Wait, seriously?” I looked at Ten but his face was as blank as ever. Why do I even try to figure him out? “Did you know that Howes would attack me?”

“Yes. I guessed that he already knew your true identity.” Ten released a short sigh. “Frankly, I’m surprised that no one figured it out sooner. This town has been empty for over forty years, yet you look like you’re still in your teens. Then again…there were a lot of other things to worry about.”

“…” I opened my mouth and then shut it. I had no rebuttal.

Ten turned back to Howes. He pulled out a fresh knife which was probably stolen from my kitchen.

“W-Wait, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to kill him.”

“For attacking us? It’s not really a crime to kill demons.”

“I don’t care if it’s a crime…He’s dangerous.”

“You could just tie him to a horse and send him away. If you’re leaving town then you’ll be gone before he even wakes up.”

“Then he’ll just come back to kill you, won’t he?” Ten turned to face me.

“I’ll figure something out. So you don’t need to kill him, Ok?”

Honestly, I couldn’t explain why I wanted to save Howes. Especially after he tried to kill me. Maybe it was because I couldn’t hate him for something like that. On some level, I could understand why Howes wouldn’t allow me to live.

“You shouldn’t feel sorry for him.” Ten looked down at the knife. “After all, Howes is responsible for this whole farce.”

“…What?” I felt the blood drain from my face. “Howes was? No way, that can’t be right.”

“It is and he was.” Ten nodded. “If I can explain it to you, then will you let me do as I please?”

“You’re saying that Howes killed Vole!?” I suddenly found myself shouting. Something was off. This didn’t match what I knew about Howes. Even when he was scary, it was only because of his hatred for demons. I couldn’t imagine him committing murder against a human.

“Well, yes. Howes started the rumor, he committed the murder, he planted the weapon and he succeeded in framing Dain.”

“That’s wrong!”

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“Don’t worry, I said I’ll explain.” Ten’s emotionless manner of speaking was beginning to annoy me. He sounded frighteningly sure of himself and it made me uneasy. “I guess we can start by process of elimination. In other words, let’s try to prove that the other four weren’t capable of committing the crime.”      

“But anyone could have done it. The kitchen knife was left out in the open. Plus, with the exception of Rowan, we were all alone in our rooms.”

“That’s one down.” Ten nodded slowly. “None of us found signs of him hiding nearby. It’s safe to say that Rowan left immediately.”

“Then what about the rest of them?” I glared at Ten.

“Besides the knife, did you consider that something else that should have been at the scene of the murder? Something that we never found, even now.”

“The blood vial?”

“Nope.” Ten shook his head. “You’re close, but it’s something more basic.” He paused but I didn’t feel like playing along. “Bloody clothes. Even when we found the knife on Dain, that didn’t explain what he’d done with his clothes.”

“Couldn’t he have covered himself with a cloak or a blanket?”

“Then what happened to the cloak? The one thing we did search thoroughly was everyone’s rooms. No one knew about the room where you hid your master’s tools, so we can exclude that as well.”

Oh, he knew about that. I guess I should have been surprised. It’s hard to hide things from someone who can walk through walls.

“Let’s step back for a second. Vole was killed in the hallway to the guest rooms. Someone must have woken him up and called him out to talk. Or maybe he was the one that initiated it, who knows.”

“Yea…”

“He was lying against the wall when he died. That means Vole was stabbed through the heart by someone in front of him. They also removed the weapon and considering the state of the floor, it was quite messy.”

“Where are you going with this?” I quickly grew impatient. “So that means we can’t explain how the killer avoided getting blood on himself.”

“If it was impossible for the killer to not be bloodied, then we can eliminate the rest of the suspects.” Ten showed the slightest smirk. “None of them could have killed Vole while avoiding his blood.”

“Then that eliminates Howes as well.” I sighed. “Your logic’s flawed because we’re down to zero suspects. Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way.”

“Maybe…” Ten began a leisurely stroll towards me. “Even under those conditions, I think there’s still one suspect left.”

“Wh-”  

Ten suddenly lunged forward, brandishing the kitchen knife. In one fluid motion he thrust the blade towards my chest, pivoted and then stepped around me with blinding speed. When his display ended, Ten was standing parallel by my side. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest. Ten had come within an inch of stabbing me before he pulled away.

“Considering that Howes is equally fast or maybe even a little faster than me…I think we can conclude that he’s still a suspect.”

“Y-You’re saying that he stabbed Vole without letting any blood hit him?”

“It’s safe to say that he’s capable of that.” Ten nodded.

“Then…” I hesitated to bring this up after Ten just proved that he could kill me easily. “Then you’re a suspect as well.”

“That’s true.” Ten shrugged. “I can even phase through objects, so it would be even easier for me. By process of elimination we’re now down to two. However, I don’t have a motive.”

“You wanted everyone to leave.”

“So I killed one person and let the rest of them decide to leave on their own?”

“Maybe Vole woke up when you were going through his bag. Then you killed him to…”

“-Then why did I start the rumor?”

“You didn’t have to start the rumor. Didn’t we decide that Vole started it?” 

“No.” This time Ten let out an unnecessarily long sigh. “The rumor is how the killer lured his target to this town. It is inseparable with the killer’s desire to kill Vole and only Vole.”

“Why Vole? A bunch of people were lured in by the rumor.”

“And out of all those people, Vole was the only one who was guaranteed to show up.”

I thought about that for a minute. Demon hunters, I assume, would normally travel around the kingdom at random or by request. Vole, however, was an advisor to a lord and he wouldn’t miss a rumor that took place within his own territory.

“Do you understand now? If the killer knew Vole, then they knew he would chase that rumor all the way here. The rumor was false and someone fabricated it in order to move Vole out of the castle.”

“Then why did Howes want to kill Vole?”

Ten walked back over to Howes, knelt down and raised his knife. I moved to intervene but he held one hand out, asking me to watch. Ten cut into Howes’ arm but stopped once he’d drawn blood. I was immediately overcome by an intoxicating scent that surged through the room. Without thinking, I stumbled closer to the two of them.

“That blood in the vial belonged to Howes.” Ten cut off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the wound. The sensation pulling me forward suddenly vanished. “Vole is known as an occult fanatic and so I doubt he held Howes’ heritage against him. I can only assume that Howes hated Vole for knowing his secret. Whatever the reason, the vial of half-demon blood was the only thing stolen after the murder. That makes sense if it was linked to the murderer’s motive.”   

“But that’s…” I wanted to deny Ten, to say that it was impossible. If there was any chance that Howes was innocent, then I’d believe in him. “So he’s a half-demon. That explains his strength and size but it doesn’t explain why you think he started that rumor.” 

“Howes said that he collapsed upon arriving here. I also heard that he showed up a couple of days before anyone else. To spread a rumor quickly enough that it would reach the castle before being debunked is an impressive feat. He must have been riding for days without rest in order to spread the word across multiple towns.”

“Well…Dain had the murder weapon.”

“We already established that Dain couldn’t have killed Vole, so he was definitely framed. Howes might not have expected so many hunters to follow his rumor. To make matters worse, Vole even came with a bodyguard. He needed to shift the blame and Dain was the best target.”

“Wouldn’t either of us have been better? Since we were much more suspicious.”

“No, Dain was the best choice because Howes knew him. Howes could predict that Dain wouldn’t trust the rest of us. Dain never tried to tell anyone that he was framed. Instead, he hid the weapon and worked on his own to find the killer. To Dain’s credit, he did a good job of concealing the knife and that threw off Howes’ plan for a little while.”

“I…” I had no more points to argue. “I just thought I could trust him.” I laced my fingers together and gripped so tightly that my skin threatened to peel off. What a lie that was. It’s not that I trusted him, I just didn’t want to lose faith in him.

Give me my respect back… It was the same thought I had when Vesta abandoned me here. 

“Well, I upheld my end of the bargain. Now you must let me do as I please.”

“…Go ahead.” I turned away. I wanted to leave quickly so that I wouldn’t hear the knife entering Howes. Meanwhile, my body was exhausted from fighting and arguing. In the end, I slowly shuffled my way towards the door.

A memory suddenly sprung into my mind. When I was sick and thought I would die, I felt something similar to what I did now. There was fear and pain but more than anything I felt regret.

If it can be done, then I’ll do it… Vesta’s comforting words echoed in my head. Believe in me.

Ten brought the knife down towards Howes but I tackled him before he hit flesh. As we tumbled away, Howes jumped to his feet and dashed to the exit. It was as if he had been waiting for the chance to escape…actually I’m sure that’s what it was.

“Fuck!” Ten screamed. This time I actually heard a hint of anger in his voice. “Get back here!”

Ten struggled to his feet but Howes had already torn past the stairs. He made it out into the light before either of us could react. Ten gripped his knife so tightly that I feared he would snap the handle in two. Without another word to me, he ran for the exit.

“Wait!” I dove for his ankles and toppled him once more. “Don’t do it!”

“Don’t get in my way.” Ten glared at me.

“No!” I returned his gaze. “Even I know what will happen if you stab him. Demons will start coming here, they’ll be attracted by his blood.”

“Of course they will!” Ten struggled but I held onto his legs. “If that rumor was false then I’ll just make it true.”

“You’re trying to start a grim festival like that…What do you want so badly that you’d kill for it!?”

“I want to be human again!” Ten shouted. 

“You’ll draw demons in from all over. People in nearby towns will be affected as well.”

“Well, I don’t have much time left.” Ten stopped struggling. I could feel him trembling. “At first I thought I could search leisurely. I assumed I’d find a way somehow. Now it’s been over a year and I’m starting to lose my memories. If I don’t turn back soon then I won’t have anything left.” 

I let go of Ten. Looking at him now, I was suddenly glad that I hadn’t noticed my memories fading away. I got to my feet and stood in front of Ten, he didn’t even try to move.

“I understand. Even if you killed him, you might not feel anything…but it’s still wrong.”

“I know that.”

“Is it worth it then? If you want to become human, then the first step should be acting like one.”

Ten slowly stood up. “Humans still kill people.”

“But you don’t want to.” I smiled. “If you were that kind of person, then you would have killed Howes without explaining anything.”

Ten didn’t say anything else. He turned away and started climbing the cellar stairs. I began to follow him, but something made me turn around. At some point, the marks lighting the room had gone out. Looking at the human-shaped dents in each wall, I could guess why.

Huh, I guess destroying the room really did work…

We stepped outside to find Howes sitting cross-legged at the entrance. When he saw us, he bowed.

“I-I’m not going to run.” His voice wavered.

This was another new look for Howes. I had seen him happy and angry, but either one was always confident. Now he sat with his shoulders slumped and his head hung low.

“Ten was absolutely right. Vole sought me out after hearing about my strength. He did some tests and then told me that I was a half-demon.”

“You killed him because he knew?” I asked.

“No, I killed him because I couldn’t believe it. If Vole was right, then I was the one that brought a demon into my home town.” Howes clenched his teeth. “I couldn’t forgive him for telling me such a thing, even if it was the truth.”

~          ~          ~

“W-Woah there.” I stammered as Ten’s horse transitioned from a trot into a gallop. It was my second time on a horse and I was just as stable as my first time.

“You alright?” Ten asked, pulling the reigns back a bit.

“Yea...” I sighed. “Just keep an eye of Howes.”

“I already said I’m not going to run off.” Howes waved his bound hands in the air. It was pretty meaningless gesture from someone who could break those bonds at any time. “Besides, I’m riding just fine with my hands like this. Meanwhile, you’ve nearly fallen off twice even with Ten riding with you. Was it really a good idea to come with us?”

“Even if I wanted to stay, you destroyed the barrier. I was able to feed off its energy to survive but now that’s impossible.” I shook my head. “It’s fine, though. I’ll help Ten escort you to the authorities and then decide where to go from there.” 

“…Sorry about that.” Howes looked down. “Maybe it doesn’t mean much after what I did…but I’m sorry.”

“I said it’s fine. Somehow, I think this was for the best.”

“I have some friends waiting for me in the next town.” Ten said. “If you don’t have anywhere to go, then you could travel with us.”

“…Sure.” I hesitated, wondering if it was really my place to join them. I looked back at Ten but once again there was nothing to be gleaned from his expression. Somehow, it still made me feel a bit more confident. “I’d like that.”

I took one last look at my empty home town. I’d assumed that I would be terrified to watch it shrink out of view. Instead, I felt relieved.

Ugh, I thought that I’d be able to relax once everyone left. I thought, smiling. Now it looks like I’m going from one adventure to another.

---

 Author Note:

That's it for advent 3. I'll be taking a week off. The final advent of this story will begin on the 14th of August.