I turned to the skill scribe. “Miss, how much for...”

“My name is Viri, and it's a silver coin for my services.” The woman said and the info above the mayor's body disappeared. “I won't charge for the mayor, since it was my fault for being stupid and ignoring her for years.”

“I'm pretty sure you were charmed to ignore her... and the others.” I waved at the bodies. “What are the odds that the council or the mayor wouldn't have been checked by someone?”

Viri sighed. “With the number of people around with appraisal? Ridiculously low.”

“Which means that you all thought they had already been checked, so if you're going to get angry, get angry that you didn't check on the work of someone else.” I said with a smile.

Viri chuckled. “You're telling me to stop being angry over something I had no control over.”

“You got it.” I said and handed her a silver coin. “Thank you.”

“If you're done here, I can take you down to the library.” Viri said.

“Almost.” I said. “Jessica, why don't you take everyone down and see if you can find books on their classes?”

“That's a great idea!” Jessica said, excitedly. “We might even find books on some of their skills!”

“You just want to look at all the books.” Steven said, and she grinned as she nodded.

“Evus, head out to where the horses and carriage are and get the driver.” I said and gave him the man's room key. “We should be done by the time you get back and he gets cleaned up.”

“I won't rush.” Evus said with a smile and left at a run, despite his words.

“Maylia, give me a hand with storing the bodies before we head to the library.” I said and took Afyne's hand, then walked over to the other side of the table where I had pushed the bodies over next to the wall.

“You're taking them?” Viri asked, surprised.

“Just these important ones to show the queen, then I'll destroy them.” I said. “Like the humanoid frogs we encountered once, I doubt we'll get a bounty.” I looked down at the mayor's slack face. “Diofra, send a message to the queen about the situation here and tell her we're dealing with it.”

“I'll give her a copy of the new spell as well.” Diofra said and followed everyone as Viri led them out the door. When everyone left and the door shut, I put the three people that had a bag of holding back next to the table.

“I see.” Maylia said and held the mayor's bag while I used Presence to move the dead vampire's arm and pulled out everything that was inside. Surprisingly, it wasn't much. A large sack full of money, a book on vampire lore, and an emblem that looked similar to the one the Emissaries of Light had in their pockets. Instead of the Church of Light symbol, it had a crescent moon and a pattern of stars.

“Is it a communication device?” Maylia asked.

“It's possible that it can be more than a remote viewing spell, considering she didn't have it physically on her.” I said. “How awkward would it be to dig into a bag of holding to take it out, without who they wanted to see noticing it?”

Maylia nodded and we checked the other two bags. I used Count Gerard's arm to empty his bag, which had more money, one of the emblems, and a set of keys. Countess Ricessa owned the other bag, and fortuitously, she had the library ownership papers in her bag, along with another emblem and a sack of money.

“I guess they didn't want to carry everything.” Maylia stored two of the three empty bags of holding.

“It's odd, isn't it?” I asked and took the last one and put all eight bodies into it, as well as all the looted items and money. “Bags that can hold so much and there's nothing in them.”

“We should search the place.” Maylia said and looked around. “If they didn't carry anything, they would have to store it somewhere.”

“Good point.” I tied the new bag of holding to my other hip. “I'll mention it down in the library.”

We left the room, went down the stairs, and entered the library. Jessica was piling books onto the others and we stood there and watched her very enthusiastically give them what they would need, or she thought they would need. It took a while for her to finish and they all sat down to read their chosen books, then she came over to us and handed a stack of four books to Afyne.

“You need these.” Jessica said and pointed to a table. “It's going to take a while to read them.”

“Hunter and I have been learning to read together.” Afyne said as she opened the top book. She read a little and then frowned. “I don't know this language.”

“What?” Jessica looked down at the book. “It's in Common.”

“I didn't learn this one.” Afyne said and closed the book and looked at the others. “These are the same.”

Jessica looked at me. “What language did you learn?”

“Well, I thought it was common.” I said and shrugged.

“Show me what you learned from.” Jessica said and I handed over the books and the pages both Afyne and I had practised on in our spare time over the last few weeks. “Hunter, this... this is the Elder language.”

“What's that?” I asked.

“It's what all the old books and spells are written in.” Jessica said, slightly awed. “The only reason I know it, is because I read a lot of the old books from the castle.”

“So we wasted our time?” I asked, disgruntled. “All that work...” I waved at the stack of paper in Jessica's hands and shook my head.

“Hunter, you could sell these papers for a fortune.” Jessica said as she flipped through them. “Not just to scholars, either. Mages and every other magic user would kill for these translations!”

“We were just learning.” I said and looked at Afyne. “At least, I thought we were.”

“It was fun.” Afyne said with a smile. “Now we can do it again!”

I chuckled. “Then store those books and we can get started.” I said and looked at Jessica. “Is there any chance you found some children's books we can use?”

Jessica nodded and handed me back the book and papers, then she led us over to a shelf at the far end of the library. “Reading primers for Common are right here.” She pulled out a small stack of them and gave them to me. “I can give you some help if you want.”

I glanced at Maylia and she looked at the first book, then she nodded. “Sounds good.”

The four of us sat down and Jessica went into teaching mode, now that she had three eager students to teach a basic language to. We all stayed in the library for several hours, until it was suppertime.

“Okay, people. We have to go eat.” Steven said and interrupted everyone's reading. “Let's go!”

“Mark your places in your books!” Jessica practically yelled and everyone slipped a bookmark into the books and closed them. “We'll come right back here after we eat.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Don't be a slave driver.” Steven said and walked over to the door. “We might want to do something else later.”

“Like search the building.” I said and everyone looked at me. “We didn't find anything significant on the mayor or the council. There has to be something here.”

“Good idea.” Kara said. “I'll stay and...”

“You need to eat, too.” Josh said. “You don't realize how hungry you are until you stop working.”

Kara looked like she was going to argue and I saw her look at everyone's faces. She nodded slightly and we all left the library. I shut the door and locked it, then did the same to the building. I hadn't been surprised that it was mostly empty all afternoon while we were there. What surprised me was that no one came to check on the mayor or any of the council.

That made me think that they must normally sequester themselves for most of the day and that no one would bother looking for them. That behavior played right into covering up their disappearance and we didn't have to worry about people being panicked or outraged. I touched the skill scribe's arm and hung back a little to let the others walk ahead.

“Don't say anything about what happened with the mayor. Not to anyone.” I said. “Until we start checking everyone to see if they are human, we can't trust anyone.”

“But... shouldn't people be told?” Viri asked.

“Yes, but not until we're prepared to catch the fleeing vampires.”

“Why?” Viri looked surprised.

“Once people know there are vampires around, word will spread unbelievably fast and the vampires hiding as people are going to run as fast as they can.”

“Run? Why would they...”

“If they stay, they risk being exposed. If they attack, they risk being killed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Not at all.” I said and she raised her eyebrows at me. “I'm projecting how I would react if I was a vampire and found out that the vampires in charge were eliminated so easily.”

Viri went quiet and we all walked towards the inn and met Evus and the driver. We all went to a decent looking restaurant that had enough tables to sit us all. After talking to the man there, he led us to a group of round tables. There was no chance to push them all together, so we split up and sat down in smaller groups.

I wasn't sure how Jessica had managed to sit at the table with me, Maylia, Afyne and Viri. I looked at the other two tables and Allirynn, Imiryl, Diofra, Evus, and the driver sat at one and Kara, Steven, Josh, and Evangeline sat at the other. I looked back at Jessica and she smiled, then started to tell us about finding all sorts of important information in the children's books she had bought. It was a great excuse to not sit with the other emissaries and she showed me examples of the books.

“The next time you're in a magic shop, you should get them for yourself if they have them.” Jessica said and put them back into her bag of holding.

“I can't use magic.” I said, and she chuckled.

“You might not be able to cast spells yourself; but, you definitely help cast them.” Jessica said. “Even just a basic understanding could help you more than you realize.”

I nodded and the waiter came over with menus for us. We all ordered and I whispered to the waiter that I was paying for it all. He nodded and left to get our food. We shared polite conversation about nothing in particular for quite some time, then the waiter came back with our meals. When everyone was served, I held my hands out to Maylia and Afyne and they took them. Afyne held a hand out to Jessica and she glanced at it.

“Hunter, I don't think I can.” Jessica whispered.

“It's okay. I'm not asking him to bless the food. I'm just giving thanks.”

“I know.” Jessica said.

I nodded and Afyne reached across her to take Viri's hand, who had already taken Maylia's. Viri had an expectant look on her face, for some reason. I said a quick prayer and a pulse of god's Presence went out ten feet and stopped just after it hit Josh and Steven and before it hit Kara and Evangeline, who were eleven feet away on the other side of their table. Josh and Steven had jerked a little at the sensation. At the next table, their driver had shocked expression. At my table, Viri the skill scribe had a pleased look and Jessica trembled.

I could see her trying to parse in her head the two different feelings that the Presence from her goddess and the Presence from my god had given her. One was all encompassing and dominated you to the point of incoherence and the other was just there to let you know it existed. I created a Mana Presence Hand in front of her, so she could see it clearly, then I rested it on her hand on the table and pat it. I didn't say anything, absorbed the hand, and started to eat. Jessica took a shallow breath and started to eat, as did everyone else.

The meal passed quietly and it was good food. When we all finished, the waiter came back and I paid for everyone, over several protests. I joked about taking several copper coins from their cut of the loot and the protests died off. We left the restaurant with our bellies full and our minds on the task at hand. We had to search the building for clues. Clues to what, we didn't know. All we had to go on was that vampires were prevalent in the city. Anyone could be one. We couldn't start doing mass reveals until we had some idea how long they had been there. Were the mayor and the council only recently converted, or were they always vampires? The queen had mentioned there were reports of trouble; but, even she couldn't have guessed that people were either disappearing or becoming vampires. Diofra said her response was both firm and absolute.

They had to be exterminated.

I sent the driver back to the inn to wait and I led the others back to the large building that the mayor's office was in. We searched it for several hours from top to bottom and not a single thing was found. No extra rooms, no extra bodies, no caskets, no magic portals, and no other means of coming and going from the building, except for the well-established doors.

“Well, this was a complete bust.” Steven said and leaned against the wall. “Now what do we do?”

“Try to figure out where the damn crack is.” I said and took out the map. “It should be right here.”

“Maybe it collapsed after enough of the vampires came through.” Kara suggested.

“There's a pleasant thought.” Josh said and shivered. “How many succubi were in that other portal again?”

“A few thousand.” I said and Josh put a hand over his mouth.

“We passed a bucket in the hallway.” Evus said and Josh nodded and ran from the room. We all ignored the sounds of throwing up.

“I thought it would be underground.” I said and tapped the spot on the map. “If it is, then it's way down past my detection range.”

“We should spread out and check the surrounding buildings for underground passages.” Maylia said. “Three groups, one each with a magic user and a person with detection.”

“Agreed.” I said. “You take Diofra, Allirynn, and Imiryl to check the building on the right.” I said. “Diofra, if you see anyone, cast the mass scribe spell.”

She nodded and the four of them left at a fast walk.

I turned to Kara. “You should take Josh, Evangeline, and Steven.” I said. “Once Josh stops throwing up, he should be able to cast the spell as quickly as you can point people out.”

“What about Jessica?” Kara asked.

“I need a magic user, too.” I said. “Jessica, make a few copies of the spell for Josh.”

“I can help look, too.” Viri said.

“We've asked too much of you already.” I said and she frowned.

“Monsters have invaded my city.” Viri said, her voice cold. “I'll go and fight them myself if I have to.”

I saw the determination on her face and the Presence didn't waver, so I knew she was telling the truth. “All right. Stay close and don't go wandering.” I said. “The last thing we need is to give them a hostage.”

Viri smiled and pulled out a shiny silver dagger from a pocket. “I'd like to see them try.”

“I hope that's enchanted to cut Iron Skin.” I said and she looked down at the dagger.

“It's mana-imbued silver.” Viri said.

“Are they vulnerable to silver?” I asked.

“No, magic weapons.” Viri said as if I was stupid. “Everything is vulnerable to magic weapons.”

“You obviously haven't fought a garglemacer.” I said and rolled up the map and stored it. “It's armor repelled a direct strike from a Light sword and a mana-covered sword barely scratched the surface.”

Viri had to think about that for a minute.

“Don't worry about that too much, I'm sure it's an exception.” I said and took Afyne's hand and walked over to the woman. “Just keep in mind that if you stab a vampire and it doesn't work, you won't be surprised, all right?”

Viri nodded and put the dagger away.

“Let's go, people. I want this crack found before nightfall.” I said and we left to search the surrounding buildings. It took another hour before someone found something. We were almost two blocks away from where the crack was when Kara found an underground passage. It looked like a sewer grate in the underground basement of a run-down building. Her group came back and found us, and we all gathered together at the site.

“It's almost nighttime and these things are nocturnal.” I said. “We should go back to our rooms and wait until morning.”

“It's nighttime all the time underground.” Kara said. “They won't be any weaker tomorrow.”

“We will be.” I said and she looked at me. “We've been on the go all day. I'm not exhausted; but, I'm a little tired.” I looked at the people around me. “We could use a short rest, at least.”

Kara looked at the others and saw some bedraggled faces. “Yes, I suppose we should all be fresh and well-rested before going in there.”

“We could always block it.” Evus suggested. “No one going in or out.”

“That would tip them off, assuming we haven't already.” I said. “I can't detect anyone nearby...”

“...but, that doesn't mean someone isn't listening or watching from afar.” Kara finished, and I nodded.

“We'll come back in the morning.” I said and waved everyone to follow. “Make sure you take proper precautions tonight and secure your rooms.”

“Nothing is getting into my room.” Josh said, adamantly.

“Hey, you might want to pray for a Holy spell or something.” Steven said. “Or make Holy water.”

“Don't worry.” Josh said with an almost evil grin. “I'll have everything prepared to take those sons-a-bitches down.”

“Yeah, now you're talking!” Steven said and clapped him on the back.

Viri promised to meet us first thing in the morning and we all went back to our rooms. Maylia, Afyne, and I changed into out nightgowns and climbed into bed after making sure nothing was going to get into our rooms during the night. The bed was huge, and yet we huddled together as if we were inside the large bedroll we camped in. I gave them each a kiss goodnight and entered an alert meditative state, which would let me rest and let me keep watch at the same time.