Silence hung like an anchor in the waters of a still lake, nobody moved, nobody spoke, Lakyus could scarcely believe her ears. Marquis Ysude looked back at them with hard eyes, as if expecting that they answer him before he would speak again, before Evileye broke the tension by saying, "We are contracted by the King. As long as that contract stands, we can't break it."

The Marquis Ysude's eyes went wide, and he threw his goblet of gold across the room to crash hard against the stone wall, whereupon it fell to the stone floor and made an even greater clatter. "The King is a fool!" He shouted. "Listen to me, these people reject the gods, they deny our ways, they are not loyal to the country, their loyalty...if they have any at all, is reserved for the undead! Have you not seen what they do?!" He shouted furiously.

Evileye closed her mouth in surprise.

"Excuse my comrade." Lakyus answered, "We've spent days among the people you speak of, and while I have seen...disturbing things...I have not seen them prey upon anyone, betray anyone, while visiting Foundoton they treated us with kindness. I admit I cannot deny the possibility of trickery, but I cannot assume it either. If there is some evidence that shows that they are not deserving of our protection, or that they are a threat, I can present that to the King and withdraw us from the contract, or perhaps assist you if there is a real threat."

Evileye struggled to maintain her calm...and it was only possible because she recognized the extremely diplomatic tone of voice Lakyus was using, how much she meant of what she said, if she meant any of it at all, might have been in doubt, but the carefully structured noncommittal reply would play well to a nobleman's sensibilities and open them up to a possible means to make their point. Still...she tried to imagine herself fighting alongside her sisters to exterminate Black Justice in Kedyn, and her imagination failed her.

"I understand..." the Marquis replied, "Your reputation depends not only on your power, but on your reliability on contract fulfillment, yes...yes." He nodded.

"In the meantime Marquis Ysude I have to bring up things that I find extremely disturbing that I have found in the short time since my arrival." Lakyus said firmly.

He nodded, inviting her to continue.

"I have heard that you are selling offices to raise money, and that the people to whom you sell these offices, treat them as a means to enrich themselves at the expense of the people they are supposed to serve. Your head of the watch at the outer gate was passed out drunk, every other man there had been so demoted that a thirteen year old BOY was left in charge, he could not even fit his armor, let alone give orders, and he had no idea of what orders to give. Had we been hostile, your city would be in deep trouble." She said.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" She asked sharply, "And bear in mind before you speak," she said quickly before words came out of his opening mouth, "I come bearing the direct authority from King Caspond himself, to oversee all aspects of the fulfillment of our contract, the way you handle your city IS my business, and I will report failures back to the King."

His mouth closed. Anger burned in his eyes. He said nothing for a long moment.

"I do sell offices, I have no choice. I was drawing a stipend of city funds from the temples for the cost of healing, but Black Justice does it for free, so that was gone until the temples banned their followers from going elsewhere. I was drawing income from fur industry, but now people are disappearing in the woods."

"Wait...what?" Lakyus asked. "What has happened in the woods?"

"The wilderness is always a dangerous place, you can do everything right, be perfectly prepared, but still die out there, so there were always a few who would go missing and never turn up, but in the last year, its been more common, and in the last few months, its been so bad that our trappers won't go out anymore. I've managed to keep the number secret from the population as a whole...but the trappers all know each other, they know when their friends don't come home. The hunters are the same, they won't hunt in the western woods anymore, and the returns are diminishing in the more sparse East and in the North as the larger animals are hunted out, so meat prices are rising and soon the hunters will either quit or leave, with no fur trade and declining results from the hunts for meat; the merchants who used to come to us from the surrounding villages don't bother to come here. We don't make enough other goods that are unique. Our farmers are now scared out of their wits, and the last season was bad. Yes I'm selling offices, but I don't have a CHOICE! And if that isn't enough, the word is starting to leak about the disappearances. I've bribed a few guards to spread rumors that people have just abandoned everything, but its only a matter of time before people stop believing that and realize that people have gone missing entirely! If you have an idea of what to do, give it to me NOW!" He slammed his fist down on the throne and leaned forward as he spoke in an ever more fervent tone.

"You tell me where I'm to get the money to maintain this city! You tell me! I've lost half my guards because I can't pay them, Black Justice has volunteered, but they're the biggest part of the problem! They're behind the disappearances! They're depriving the city of its income from healing and they're insanely well armed! With their dark arts and their necromancy and their service to the undead...now they've taken over half the city guard because they're the ones with the best weapons! Our city is HOSTAGE NOW!" He said with a furious and rough voice.

His gaze swept over all of them. "Now you show up saying you're here to protect THEM?! THEM?! The ones behind all this?! Of course I ask you to switch sides and help us, they're bringing Kedyn to the brink of financial ruin and with the only military force here, in another year they'll have my head on a spike and they'll have taken over entirely!" He stabbed his finger down at Lakyus, rising half way from his very unsteady seat of power, "You are a priestess of the god of water, and in the name of your god I demand something be done before the undead servants have another city, just like they took Prart!"

He sat slowly back down to his seat and put his hand to his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair. "I know, I've put you on the spot, I will do something about the watch commander, or rather, I will have Gneaus take care of him, that will be worse for the drunkard. But I am working with what I have, and I am losing more to work with every month. As the farmers grow more fearful, I fear eventually only Black Justice farmers will bring in food, and how long will this city function without food?" He spoke with exasperation in his voice, and Blue Rose was silent.

Lakyus seemed somewhat chastened, and answered him, "Marquis Ysude, all I can say for now is that we will investigate and do what we can about securing the citizens of your city, ALL...your citizens." Her voice contained a note of finality. "Will you excuse us, we need to see to our lodgings for our time here."

The Marquis leaned to one side and waved them out, "Send the rest of the court back in on your way, would you?" He said in a tired voice, and Lakyus turned and walked out with her team, allowing the courtiers to reenter the great hall.

She was silent on her way out, and though everybody wanted to say something, it was clear that Lakyus was not ready to speak or to hear. "When we get space for ourselves." She said softly, and her team nodded in response. They walked out, got their horses and directions to the nearest inn, and moved out.

Getting anywhere in a small city was a fairly straightforward affair, any city is meant to be navigated even if it grows up haphazardly unplanned over time, and Kedyn was no exception, even riding together on horses presented little problem. What was bothering them was that as they rode at a slow trot through the streets, even passing by areas of commerce, little was taking place that was worth mentioning, people weren't buying much, and others were clearly not selling, a number of businesses were boarded up and doors were closed, there were people out begging, but they were not as many as one would think, and Evileye and Lakyus both quietly concluded that the reason was that those who were in a state of want knew mostly that there weren't many who had anything to spare.

Evileye was relieved when they reached the inn, and the innkeeper's face lit up when she saw five people walk through the door. "We need five rooms." Lakyus said promptly. The woman, a matronly woman with a wide face and green eyes that must have shone like stars when she was young and filled with vigor, was quick to meet their needs and said, "Twenty-five silver each."

Lakyus froze as she was reaching for her pouch. "Wait...what?" She asked.

"Twenty silver each." The woman said without missing a beat.

"I'm sorry?" Lakyus asked again.

"I mean fifteen silver each." The woman said, again seamlessly.

"Did you mean coppers?" Lakyus asked helpfully.

"Yes of course dearie, fifty coppers each." She said as if none of the rest of that had just happened.

"Which comes with a morning and evening meal?" Lakyus asked.

"Yes yes," She said sweetly, "Of course sixty coppers a day will get you two meals a day." Then she held out her hand, and Lakyus rolled her eyes, almost bemused, at the way the woman went from one sum to another without missing a beat, it was the most unusual type of haggling in Lakyus's entire life, but she found herself oddly amused by the whole experience, to amused to be annoyed.

She lay the money on the counter, took the keys, handed them to her team members, and then they ventured up the stairs to their rooms. The main floor was desolate, if there were other guests, there was no evidence of them, very unusual for a city in even the worst of times.

When they got to Lakyus's room, the first thing Lakyus did after allowing her team entry was look up and down the hall, then close and lock the door behind her.

After that, when all the members were seated, all eyes turned to Evileye.

"Before we go into what we learned in the Great Hall...what is it that you learned." Lakyus asked.

Evileye sighed heavily, "You have to stay calm. All of you, you can't overreact, you can't shout, you can't charge out with hammer, sword, or kunai, you have to stay in your seats and listen to me, I want your oaths as my sisters that you will do this for me." She said softly.

They shared an uncomfortable glance, but then Lakyus said, "If that is what you need...I swear on the lives of the sisters I love, that I will neither speak nor move from this seat, until Evileye has said her peace."

The others quickly followed suit, and Evileye nodded in satisfaction.

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"Alright...I'll just say it then...just please remember your word. The head priest of the temple of Black Justice in this city...is a vampire." Her voice was soft, but carried the weight of a mountain.

"How...do you know that?" Lakyus asked with breathless shock.

"When I explained who I was and what I was here for, he dropped his illusion that made him appear human, and revealed it to me." Evileye said, taking extreme care not to reveal any hint that he learned her nature as well, her voice was neutral, her news was not.

"He's behind the disappearances." Lakyus said with firm conviction.

"I don't believe so." Evileye said.

"Why not?" Gagaran asked.

"Because he mentioned them to me first, because he has a human wife, because he genuinely seems to care for his people. I know danger when I'm close to it, and while I admit it was a surprise, I didn't get that sense of evil from him." Evileye said softly. "He genuinely seems to just want our help."

"Skeletons under the control of humans is one thing...it's...hard to accept. But a vampire...when has a vampire ever cared about humans as anything but food?" Lakyus asked.

The mask Evileye wore seemed to bear the weight of the world, but hard as it was to not tear it off and scream "for years sister!" and show off her wide blood red vampire eyes, she didn't dare to do so, and kept the mask in place and was at least grateful that it hid the pain on her face, and that it modulated her voice so that the hurt wouldn't carry with the sound.

"He's been married to a human for twenty years...I don't think we can just dismiss this and declare him guilty." Evileye said.

"Couldn't it be just...cover, for him?" Tia asked.

Evileye shook her head, "I don't think so, if what he said was true, she knows about his nature and actually donates her blood to him by choice. He took the time to protect her life during Jaldabaoth's invasion, and he fought against the demon during the war. If he didn't care, he could have abandoned her and found a replacement, or he could have benefited from siding with the demihumans and demons. Look...we've already seen one exception to the rules we normally know, in the form of the Sorcerer King. We've heard some of the stories about Neia Baraja, and how he's given power to her and to his subjects that has elevated their ability and given them dignity..."

"What's your point?" Gagaran asked.

"If there can be one exception, then there can be another." Evileye said simply.

"Wait...aren't you supposed to go to dinner with him later? You're not still going, are you?" Tina asked with concern.

Evileye nodded. "I am, and I'll go alone, trust me. I can handle one night creature on my own. The rest of you explore the city, find the families of the missing trappers and hunters, let's see what we can learn, and...also...let's consider looking for help on this one. This city is as tense as a taut bow and I'd rather the arrow not launch."

"I object." Lakyus said. "You shouldn't go alone. Roses go together, losing any of you, to overconfidence of all things, would be to much."

Evileye smiled behind her mask and spontaneously reached out and gave Lakyus a very tight hug. "Lakyus you're sometimes more of a mother hen than a sister." Evileye said with a laugh, prompting several laughs from the rest of the team.

That seemed to defuse the tension, and Evileye repeated herself. "Trust me, its better if I go alone, he may let his guard down, and it's easier for one to escape than five, plus he's in the middle of the city net to his own temple, I doubt he'd be reckless enough to attack me there even if he wanted to." She said reasonably.

"Alright..." Lakyus said, "I don't like it, but you can go on your own, we'll explore the city throughout this evening and see what we can find out. We'll meet up in the morning for breakfast downstairs. For now, go and unpack." She said, and the girls broke up to go to their different rooms.

Evileye went to her room and put away her things, but she didn't linger long, instead she went out, not to the home of the priest, but to the Black Justice temple, she remembered what the vampire Ulthis had said about his wife, and Evileye figured this would be the best time to determine if what he said of her was true.

She reached the door of the temple in short order and paused to listen, her vampire senses told her that there was nobody else inside, she heard the ever so slight scratching of someone writing with quill on paper, she was still there. So Evileye opened the door, entered, and closed it quietly behind her. With no need to hide her powers from her sisters, she moved with vampiric swiftness to the back of the temple and sought the stairs. The sound of scratching guided her to where they were and for a moment she paused and stood at the top of them.

She looked down, stairs were wooden, smooth and well made, but the walls were stone, and sconces with candles were embeded into the material, the candles were all lit, but nearly burned down. After a moment of consideration, Evileye thought it unlikely that Ulthis himself would be present, nor would he miss her yet, this was her chance for a private conversation.

She allowed herself to flow down the stairs without a sound, and removed her mask, there was a hallway down below, which she followed to its end, a few candles cast dancing shadows on wall, and floor, but it was dim, which made the room at the end stand out all the more, because it was brightly lit. This told Evileye that the first thing he'd said was clearly true. A vampire could work easily in darkness, but a human required ample light, the fact that she used so much, told him that Ulthis was truthful about that.

She moved to the entrance and stood at the door, she looked at the woman, she was small, about Evileye's height, with black hair that went down to her waist, she had her back to the adventurer as she worked, counting out materials on a series of shelves in front of her, and marking things off on the paper she held on a small wooden slat. Evileye stood silently watching the woman for a moment, before perhaps two moments or even three, it was so strange to think of this woman, this very human woman, who seemed to have no special senses, power, or ability to defend herself...in love with a night creature that fed on human blood...while Evileye had to conceal her identity from four of the most powerful female adventurers in the known world. The dichotomy was frankly galling.

Finally she could bear it no more, and Evileye spoke up. "Are you the human guilty of loving a vampire, wife of Ulthis, priest of Black Justice, the vampire guilty of loving a human?" She asked, her voice echoing slightly underground. The woman practically jumped out of her skin as she whirled around.

She seemed to feel a moment's relief when she saw it was just a young woman in front of her, and then...Evileye could feel the change, the tension in the woman as she went pale, her eyes fell to those of Evileye, the blood red shining bright.

"You know what I am." Evileye said.

"I do." She said. "Have you come to kill me, is that my punishment for loving one of you?" She asked. "Do it then. I regret nothing, Ulthis is my everything, and he'll avenge me, whatever it is you plan to do to me, he will do a thousand times worse to you." Her voice was rather braver than Evileye expected, but beyond her expectation, Evileye heard the conviction in her voice and found that Ulthis had clearly been telling the truth about her loving him.

"Is it true you donate blood to him freely?" Evileye stepped forward, and the woman stepped back.

"It is. But only to him, I'll not give it to a monster." She said firmly, "You're going to have to kill me." Her voice was filled with conviction even as Evileye took another step, and she backed herself into the wall.

"Monster?" Evileye said. "I suppose I am a monster, but then...isn't he also, using you for food?" Evileye asked.

"No!" She said defiantly. "Its not what someone IS that makes them a monster, its what they DO. Ulthis isn't a monster! A monster wouldn't fight demons and demihumans to save me, a monster wouldn't march with people like me, to save people like me, at risk to himself, a monster wouldn't protect people, whatever his body is...he is good!" She snapped.

"So you are with him willingly, supplying him with blood, you love him, he loves you...and all that...despite that you're...well as different as you are? Does that sum it up?" Evileye said casually, taking another step closer, her smile revealing her fangs.

"Yes..." The woman said with trepidation, "Now quit scaring me, if you're going to kill me for all that then kill me already!" She closed her eyes and said a silent goodbye to her husband and waited for the end.

Only for the next thing she heard to be an enormous sigh of relief and the sound of a body flopping down into a chair next to a work table. She opened her eyes slowly...and saw Evileye sitting there with her elbow on the desk and her face in her hands, and she was very...very confused, a state that didn't change as Evileye uttered, "Oh praises be to whatever gods there are."

"What…” the woman said as she relaxed, seeming to realize slowly that she was not in any danger."

"I owe you a deep apology ma'am." Evileye said, and knelt in front of her with head bowed. "My name is Evileye, of Blue Rose. I spoke with your husband Ulthis earlier, he learned my nature and revealed his own, and he told me about you...it was...forgive me, but it was impossible to just believe, so I had to find out for myself if he was telling the truth."

"And...the best way to do that was to scare me half to death?" She said in profound confusion.

"Frankly...yes." Evileye said. "People who are under vampiric enchantment are not capable of the same range of emotion and self preservation, they can casually interact, but they are not capable of dynamic responses to changing situations, like circumstances prone to fighting or fleeing. Also, if you were a vampire in disguise yourself, based on what I said, you'd have either attacked me, or revealed your vampiric nature in return. Lastly, if you were bribed or threatened, rather than committed by love, you'd have offered yourself to save yourself."

"So...you're not going to kill me and drink my blood?" She asked...almost incredulous at this point.

"No." Evileye said simply.

The woman approached in two swift steps and slapped Evileye across the face.

"I think I deserved that one." Evileye said flatly and touched her cheek.

"You did." The woman said firmly. "But I do understand, it was frightening...but you didn't actually say you'd come to kill me, I assumed that myself...so I guess I'm a bit of an ass as well." She said softly.

"Not really, given the circumstances...and of course it is true that most vampires are not exactly drinking buddies with humans." Evileye said, giving a slight friendly smile at the pun.

"Wait...so...Evileye of Blue Rose is a vampire?" She blinked several times as her brain caught up with the facts.

Evileye paused, "Miss...I'm sorry I didn't get your name."

"Calia." She said politely.

"Thank you," Evileye said, "Calia, nobody knows what I am, and I took a significant chance in revealing myself, and there is no guarantee that you won't let that knowledge slip. Can I ask that you allow me to remove that memory from you?" She asked.

Calia frowned. "And if I say no?"

"Then an Adamantite adventurer will live her life afraid that those she loves will learn the truth she's struggled to conceal." Evileye said.

"You won't force it on me?" She asked.

"I won't." Evileye responded.

"Then I will allow it." Calia said.

"Thank you." Evileye said. "Now, look into my eyes."

She took Calia's face between her hands, her blood red eyes glowed as Calia fell under their power.

"I am going to put on my mask, and you are going to forget that it was ever off, forget what I am, and then your trance will end." Evileye commanded.

"Yes..." Calia replied.

Evileye reached down, and put her mask into place again, and a moment later Calia shook her head, "What was I saying?" she asked.

"You were explaining the services the temple provided." Evileye 'reminded' her, not without a twinge of guilt.

"Oh, yes," she said, and then went on to give an explanation of how the rental of undead laborers helped supplement Black Justice members here who were unable to find work due to the hardship currently being suffered by the city's economy. Periodically goods and a stipend of coin were delivered, but it was expected to be temporary until trade and exports were restored.

"Do you know why things have ground to a halt?" She asked Calia.

"Not really, the trappers aren't saying much, but there are fewer of them than there used to be, same with the hunters, its been a real ordeal for us, without anything going out, nothing is coming in. Used to be the guards would go out and drink, stay at the inn, the tanners and the cloth trade did big business, but now all that has all but stopped entirely." She said with some regret.

"Well thank you Calia, you've given me a lot of information to consider, I'll see you at dinner soon." Evileye said with a polite wave as she strolled out.

"So that is an adamantite level adventurer." Calia said to herself. "She seems like such an ordinary girl, amazing how normal they can seem." She said softly, and finished off her inventory.