When Alain awoke the next morning, he found himself surprisingly well-rested. It was so surprising, in fact, that upon awakening, he could only stare up at the ceiling in surprise, shocked that his dreams hadn't been plagued by nightmares like they usually were.

"What the hell…?" he couldn't help but mutter to himself. His nightly routine hadn't really changed, aside from Sable coming to see him before he'd gone to sleep, so he wasn't sure why his rest had been free of the usual bad dreams that plagued it.

Whatever the case was, it was time to get up, regardless. Alain stepped out of bed and dressed himself, then pulled on his weapons before stepping out into the hallway. As luck would have it, he emerged from his room at the same time Danielle came out of hers. The two of them locked eyes, surprised to see each other, before Alain cleared his throat.

"How are you holding up, Danielle?"

"I'll be better once we've found my father," she insisted, looking around. "Are the others around?"

"They have names, you know. But to answer your question… I wouldn't know; I just woke up, myself. I was going to go downstairs and get some breakfast." Alain thought for a moment. "Hell, we're in a tavern; odds are that Sable is already down there, drinking whatever wine she can find. And if she's down there, then you can bet your bottom dollar that Az is with her."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Danielle asked, impatient.

She stormed past Alain, who could only watch her go in surprise for a moment before letting out a tired sigh and shaking his head, then took off after her.

XXX

"Alain!" Sable called out from across the ground floor of the tavern. "Over here!"

Naturally, her and Az were seated at a table in a far-off, shadowy corner, situated with their backs to the wall so they could both watch the front door. It didn't take much for Alain to wonder why; the priests had gotten the drop on them once before already, after all. He tapped Danielle on the shoulder and motioned to where Az and Sable were sitting, and together, the two of them crossed the tavern floor, eventually ending up at the table, where they sat down across from them.

"Glad to see the locals are still giving you both a wide berth, as always," Alain noted, looking around the tavern as he did so. Sure enough, all of the tables between each side of the room were completely empty, with the normal human patrons having pressed themselves nearly up against the wall to try and get away from the two of them.

"I keep telling you, we're used to it by now," Sable insisted.

"That doesn't make it right."

"Right or not, it is what it is… and in any case, it doesn't matter." Sable raised her glass to her lips, taking a sip of wine as she did so. The corners of Alain's eyes quirked up a bit at the sight of it, and she gave him a confused look. "Something the matter?"

"Nothing," he told her. "Just thinking about how, if you were human, you'd be considered to have one hell of a drinking problem, going in for the good stuff this early."

Sable waved him off. "That's a bunch of nonsense. I've seen humans order ale for breakfast."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"You've seen ranch hands and cowboys order ale for breakfast," Alain amended. "They're basically a different breed from the rest of us. I should know, I lived that life for a time before most of the work dried up."

"Do you miss it?"

Alain paused. "...Is this you asking me a personal question? At a time like this, even?"

Sable rolled her eyes. "Alright, then don't answer it."

"No, it's fine, it just caught me off-guard… truthfully? I miss not being shot at or nearly killed on what seems to be a daily basis, but I don't miss the shitty hours and terrible pay."

"Understandable, I suppose."

"Is this what we're doing now?" Danielle interrupted, her arms crossed over her chest. She fixed the three of them with a harsh, unamused glare.

"What do you mean?" Alain asked.

"I'm just saying, my father is still out there, and we're in here, wasting our time shooting the shit when we could be looking for him."

"If they were going to kill your father, they would have done so already," Az grumbled. "Us taking the time to get some breakfast isn't going to make a difference to his chances of survival, given how long he's been missing by now."

"And you know this for a fact?" Danielle demanded.

Az shook his head. "No, but it makes sense. Your father's been missing a few weeks now, correct? If he isn't dead by now, then they either have no plans to kill him at all or they're saving him for something in particular. Either way, us taking an hour or so to get some food isn't going to make much of an impact, especially when we don't currently have any leads."

"No, no, she has a point," Alain conceded. "You're right, Danielle – we shouldn't be wasting any time, not when your father's life could be hanging in the balance without any of us even knowing it. That being said, we still need to eat, so taking some time off every now and again is expected."

"Hm." Danielle uncrossed her arms. "Just don't take too much time at once. I'd rather not feel like my father's life is slipping away a bit more with every passing second."

"Sure. Of course, it'd be easier if there was actually someone coming around, taking orders." Alain looked around the room, his brow furrowing. "Sable, you didn't threaten to eat the server if they weren't quick about it, did you?"

"Oh, bite me," she said. "I did that one time as a joke months ago and you still haven't let me live it down."

"Hard to live it down when the server got scared and called the sheriff."

"Well, if you must know, she was just here, hence why my glass is mostly full."

Alain eyed Sable's half-empty glass for a moment before looking back to her. "Tell me that thing wasn't filled to the brim before I sat down."

"Does it make a difference?"

"It does to me."

At that moment, the tavern doors were flung open. What little conversation there was inside the building immediately died as several men in white vestments with crucifixes hanging around their necks stepped inside; Alain instantly recognized Father Corrin as one of them. His expression narrowed, and under the table, one hand drifted to his revolver as the group of Catholic monster hunters made their way over to the four of them.

"What is it?" Alain asked as the priests – all five of them, he counted – stopped a few feet away from their table. "Come to spread the good word, Father?"

"In a way," Father Corrin said. "We've got a lead that may be worth following up on. We were wondering if you four wanted to tag along."

"Hang on, you're inviting us to be a part of your investigation?" Sable asked, tilting her head slightly out of confusion.

"We promised we'd be open with you, so long as you do the same for us," Father Corrin specified. "And besides, we could use the extra manpower."

"Why is that?" Alain questioned. "Did something happen?"

"You could say that. We got word of a large undead incursion in a small town about two hours away from here. That town doesn't have a Catholic church of its own; we're the closest ones to it with enough manpower to truly make a difference. Father Alex dispatched a contingent to the town earlier this morning. It was the right thing to do, but it's left us short-staffed."

"And so you've come to us out of desperation," Az surmised.

Father Corrin grimaced. "Desperation is the wrong word for it. Consider this a show of good faith between us. Like it or not, we're in this together, so we might as well make the most of it."

Alain exchanged a glance with the other three members of his group before shrugging and looking back to Father Corrin. "Alright," he said. "What's the lead?"

"We did some digging early this morning with some of the early risers at mass. Turns out, one of the congregation members heard some rumblings about some suspicious activity on a farm just outside of town."

"What kind of suspicious activity?" Danielle asked.

"Apparently, this congregation member has a friend who lives not far from the farm. They've allegedly seen a large group of people arriving there in the middle of the night every few weeks."

"How many people is it?" Sable questioned.

"Apparently, it was hard to tell; they were all wearing white cloaks, so it was impossible to get an accurate headcount. But the way we see it, either this is something to do with the cult we're looking into, or some burning crosses are about to start showing up outside houses around town. Either way, culling this particular problem before it becomes something bigger can only be a net positive to the entire town."

"You can say that again," Alain agreed. "Alright, we're in. When did you want to leave?"

"Now," Father Corrin said. "Come in, we'll lead the way."

Alain didn't even have to think twice. Together with his friends, the four of them rose out of their seats and began following after the five clergy members.

Hopefully, whatever this lead was, it would take them somewhere helpful.