“May we come in?” Master Edwards asked. His charming smile turned into a surprise expression as the mousy man remained at the doorway instead of letting them in.

With his hand still clenching the doorknob, he spoke, “Under normal circumstances, we would love to entertain you. But my wife is not feeling well so I do not wish to disturb her.” He walked out onto the porch and closed the door behind him. Jamie managed to catch a glimpse of a woman scrubbing the floor.

“Today is our last day so I have lots to attend to. What is it that you need Lord Edwards?” The purple mustache man asked and nervously smiled.

“Very well. What were you doing the day of the murders?”

“Nothing much, the couple. Poor creatures. They were here helping to repair the walls. My wife was upset with me and physically expressed it.”

“Really?” Jamie said as she pushed past the man and opened the door.

“Excuse me, I am Lord Vider of the House-” he stopped talking as Master Edwards and Alaric followed suit and entered the cabin.

The cabin, in stark contrast to their rented one, was exquisitely designed and furnished without any budget constraints. The wooden slats lining the room were intricately engraved with a breathtaking fairytale tapestry of woodland creatures. Above them, an olive clover-inspired chandelier hovered, adding to the enchanting ambiance.

Jamie looked down at her feet. Olive clover grass! she thought. It must’ve cost them a fortune to maintain this. She placed her hand on the wall and felt one of the many head-sized holes in the walls and ceiling. The responsible party had exercised enough restraint not to throw the expensive chairs, picture frames, and home decor.

“What was your wife throwing?” Lord Edwards asked with a smirk.

“This is an intrusion of property Lord Edwards, even if you’re a Veinham, you are not above the law.”

“I am not above the law, but you see I’m just following my disciple into your home. And who might this be?”

“She’s Mrs. Moori, she owns the tavern we were at yesterday,” Jamie said. She looks like Mrs. Moori but something is off about this lady. What is it? Jamie thought.

“Mrs. Moori, what brings you here?” Master Edwards asked.

“Cleaning up, my Lord.”

"As you do Mrs. Moori." He pulled out a vial from his jacket. "Jamie, see if you can detect their blood."

“Whose blood is that?” Jamie asked.

“Their daughter’s. I had the chief’s consent. Use it conservatively.”

“Blood? Are you insane?” Lord Vider raised his hands in disbelief.

Jamie grabbed the vial and then took out her grimoire. She then flipped to the highlighted pink pages Master Edwards had shown her yesterday. She whispered the spell from the highlighted text as she guided her fingertip over the page’s edge, giving herself a paper cut. She then poured a few drops of blood from the vial onto her cut fingertip.

Her blood swirled from the cut, slowly at first, then rapidly, until it could faintly be seen filling up the room.

“Nothing so far,” Jamie said. “But I wonder…” Jamie closed her eyes and pulled out her dagger, this time, she cut her pinkie and more blood dripped onto the grimoire. Her new blood joined her original blood and it swirled until it vanished.

Lord Vider attempted to slip away but Master Edwards placed his hand firmly on the mousy man’s shoulder.

After a moment, Jamie opened her eyes. “I found traces of the Heartys blood, first room past the restroom. It’s a lot of blood. This was probably where they were killed,” she said and looked at Lord Vider.

Master Edwards looked at the mousy man, who immediately fell to his knees. “Blood detection. I thought that was a myth." Lord Vider's eyes darted around the room. "You have to believe me. It was an accident! My wife had damaged the walls so I asked for the Heartys’ help to reconstruct the walls. My wife was still angry with me when they got here and continued the fight. The Heartys tried to calm her down and they just somehow fell off the stairs.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Fell off the stairs?” Jamie asked. “Then why did I find most of the blood in the room past the restroom?”

"I don't know," he said.

“You don't know why there is blood in that room while you claim they fell off the stairs?" Master Edwards asked.

"It happened so fast. We had stuff everywhere, they might've been cut by broken glass as we dragged them into that room," Lord Vider said.

"And you two decided it was best to dump their bodies?” Master Edwards asked.

“We didn’t want trouble. We’re here on vacation for Gladmora sake! This is our vacation home. If we reported anything, our home would be a mess!”

Master Edwards bent down and grabbed the man by his throat. He proceeded to push him toward the wall, as the mousy man squirmed. His face turned purple.

“What are you doing!” Jamie said as she grabbed Master Edwards’ arm.

“Show yourself witch or he gets it,” Master Edwards commanded.

Mrs. Moori transformed into a witch’s form. “Don’t you dare hurt him! I may have left the sect, but I know what you’re up to. Bastard.”

Jamie watched as Master Edwards' lips curled into a cold smirk. He crushed Lord Vider's throat and the man died.

“You lowly bastard!” the witch shrieked, her tentacles flaring before they fell to the ground. A mana thread retracted from her throat and back to Master Edwards.

Alaric left up his foot and stepped over a cut tentacle. “Umm, gotta be honest here. I was not expecting any of this.”

“I apologize. I just can’t stand witches.”

Jamie stood there as her mind raced. He’s not someone that loses control like that. Jamie bit down on her bottom lip. God, why do I have a feeling he’s somehow tangled with whatever is going on. This is the second time he killed a witch so quickly before we could question one. Or is he being honest and I’m overthinking this?

“Jamie,” Alaric said.

Jamie continued to talk to herself. But he saved me and taught me everything I know,

Jamie stood frozen in the room of the two dead bodies. At that moment, she finally let herself slow down to think about her situation.

“Jamie?” Alaric said once more.

“I need a break from everything. I’m going back to the cabin. You two,” she looked at the two who looked at her with genuine concern.

“Yes?” Master Edwards said. His eyes were flirtatious smiling at her.

God, he’s so handsome. Don’t look at him. Jamie thought. “Do whatever you want. Well, I guess you don’t need me to tell you that. I’m going back to the cabin. I need some rest.”

Jamie opened a transport portal and stepped into it before the two could say anything, then vanished.

“I never seen someone conjure a transport portal so fast,” Alaric remarked as he looked back at the dead bodies.

Master Edwards walked over to the man’s body and searched his pockets.

“What are you looking for?” Alaric asked.

“A clue or something. The Heartys knew something they shouldn’t have and they were killed over it.”

Master Edwards pulled out a letter from Lord Vider’s pocket. He opened the letter and his eyes widened. He quickly folded the letter. “It truly is time again.” He released a sigh from his eyes.

“What does it say?” Alaric asked.

“Forget about the letter. Tell me Alaric, what is your rank? I can tell you are no mere foot soldier.”

“How can you can tell?”

“When the witch transformed, you were unfazed and ready to fight. Which only means one thing.”

“Which is?”

“If I have to bet. You killed one before.”

Alaric smiled. “I was lucky. They promoted me to General after, but I didn't do it alone. My unit was sacrificed.”

“Very good. The thing is, I have to return to the estate. I will take the boys back with me so I ask that you look after Jamie. She has a bounty on her head so there’s been a few assignations on her head.”

“A bounty?”

“She’s a chosen Vaseland.”

“Vaseland? You don’t say. She doesn’t look elf.”

“Appearances can be deceiving. It is still Jamie’s task to eliminate the shapeshifters, so I trust you two can join forces until I return. They already had a failed attempt so I doubt they’ll try again so soon.”

“Okay, so you’re leaving right now.”

“Yes.” Master Edwards threw Alaric bag.

Alaric opened the bag filled with gold coins. “This is,” he looked back at Master Edwards.

“She carries no coin. Use it in your travel. Tell her to continue hunting the shapeshifter.”

“I shall.”

“Alaric, the Veinhams are not never short of money, keep her safe and I’ll compensate you when I return. Should she die, I will have your head. Deal?”

“What?”

“No deal.”

“Ha. There is no such thing. Keep her alive or I will kill you.”

“What you’re asking for is absurd. I can only do my best. And before you leave, what are we going to do about these bodies? If he is noble, which this place implies, there will be more detectives from the center coming here.”

“We’ll keep this our little secret for now,” Master Edwards said and whispered a spell. A smoke-like stream escaped his lips, it flowed over to the bodies. The gray smoke-like figure encircled the bodies as Master Edwards walked over to them. He nodded to Alaric before he and the bodies disappeared.

Alaric sighed. He killed the witch like she was nothing, Alaric thought. His mind fluttered to the time he did kill the witch, but he had help. He was the only survivor from his unit. He cleared his throat and placed his pointer finger on his temple.

“He just left. The girl’s alone now. It appears you are right. The Heartys were probably killed after hearing about the plan.”

Alaric paused and then spoke again. “I already delivered my end of the bargain. Now tell me where my sister is.”