While I mulled over Gery’s words, Meg was worrying over my outfit. I had never felt entirely comfortable with someone else fussing about with my clothes. It had been awkward for me when Meg had originally gifted me these clothes days ago, and I had struggled to keep her off me. I only allowed her fussing this once because it was faster that way. We had already kept Reya and the Academy doctor waiting far too long.

Meg and I were trying to achieve an amount of ‘freshened up’ that reflected not just the time spent getting ready, but also the time wasted on me being a horribly broken mess. Thankfully, that I had washed these clothes yesterday helped. The few cuts and tears caused by my claws and an unfortunate encounter with a pitchfork could easily be explained away by weeks spent in the wilderness. The doctor did not need to know that this outfit had been new only a couple of days ago.

While I thought things over I straightened out my hair, the familiar motions calming me further. Leaving that dead cat for Onar to find really had been the dumbest thing I had ever done. Onar was apparently one of the more recent permanent inhabitants of this village, having arrived here eight years ago with his wife and daughter. He had been an utterly defeated, dispirited person back then, running away from it all, seeking a place as far away from civilization as he could.

He’d had a brother and a sister, both of them young and ambitious Inquisitors. Like so many other far too foolish Inquisitors, they had both died in Ostea, slaughtered by vampires. It had left scars that had taken a long time to heal. Then, two years ago he had lost his wife to sickness. Today his daughter was the only family he had left. And half a year ago that child of his had gotten ensnared in the net of a vampire, straight from his Ostean nightmares.

Me.

Stupid, stupid me, ripping open an old wound.

Ostea. That little alone had been enough for me to surmise where his fear of me had come from. If someone else saw me walk around during the day, they might, if I was lucky, conclude I was not a vampire. But to Onar, who probably knew some of the things the Inquisition wanted kept quiet, who knew some things other people only considered to be rumors, it meant so much more.

He must have suspected how I did it. I had merely thought he was surprised or shocked because what he thought was a vampire had conquered the sun. That might not be the case at all. He might have known all along that the vampire threat was no longer curbed by the light of the sun. And so every second I walked under the sun was just another reminder of the horrors inflicted on his siblings.

Shae’s behavior throughout had only made things worse as well.

She must have known her dad would take it badly, right?

Must have.

Why did she keep this from me?

Why does she antagonize her dad like this?

No one else in this town had told me either. They had all kept this information from me. If only I had known he’d had such bad experiences with vampires, then I would have never returned here.

I could not even begin to imagine what my little stunt with my amulet must have done to the man. The monster from his worst nightmares, walking straight up to him and doing that. With that action, I must have confirmed every single secret his siblings had related to him in smuggled letters.

I was honestly surprised he had not killed me there. That part still did not make any sense. There were far too many things I was still missing. Gery had only given me the abbreviated version. I was convinced I would get a more complete explanation soon, probably from Rafe or Reya.

I really should have been told. Yet despite everyone withholding this from me, I found I could not blame people. While they had hidden this vital information from me, they had clearly also done the opposite. In fact, they were probably still doing it, keeping Onar away from the doctor, just so the world would not find out this town had harbored a vampire.

Gery’s explanation made one thing very, very clear to me. There was no future for me in this town. I had held out a sliver of hope, but with Onar here there never would be. I would have to leave as soon as I had talked to the doctor and sorted out whatever beef Reya still had with me.

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Hah! Leave!

If I spent as much effort on leaving as I did on thinking about it I’d be in another continent by now.

I would take it one step at a time. First, I would see that doctor. Then I would extricate myself from the clutches of this town. No matter how much I liked some of the people here, this situation was untenable. Me staying here longer than needed was seriously unhealthy, both for Onar and for Shae.

Not to mention for me.

Onar will report me to the Inquisition first chance he gets, no matter what anyone tells him.

Gery returned with one of his spare sets of gloves. I stopped fretting, said my goodbyes to Meg and Gery, and set out for the bunkhouse. The sun was oppressive as always. It bearing down on me was yet another reminder of what I had done. This very same sun had seared the strings of Metzus that animated my puppet body when I’d–

When I’d…

I still couldn’t do this. I could not face the Academy doctor like this. I needed to be composed for that, had to pretend that everything was fine. Just shoving some of my emotions to the side like I was doing right now would not be enough. I needed them gone entirely.

With a bit more effort than usual, I did something I had not done in a very long time. I bundled up every last scrap of my emotions, packed them up in a little corner of my mind, and sealed it all off. Briefly, I feared how I would feel about this later. Then, I no longer did.

Feelings never mattered anyway. The emotional anguish of the other me was pitiable. It was so weak, constantly forgetting that I was the predator here. I was the hunter, and I would do what I did best. Talking to the Academy doctor was nothing more than a special kind of hunt. Only the prey was a little more unusual. The prey was me getting out of this alive. The prey was the man remaining blissfully unaware of what was really going on. I fixed my sun-blind gaze on where I knew the door to the bunkhouse was and stalked forward.

Stepping inside I cast a glance around the common room, assessed the situation I would face. Only one table was occupied, Pepper-blood Reya and the Jasmine-blood man were sitting at it. He looked distinctly different than what I had assumed from his scent. The older man was nearly bald, with a sharp beard, goatee, bushy eyebrows, deep-set eyes, and wide ears. Only his outfit betrayed this man as more than just a common thug.

That, and the smile that broke on his face the moment he noticed me. Just a single twist of his lips changed his entire countenance from gruff and distant to congenial. I pretended to be done in by his friendly smile as I approached their table.

So far nothing betrayed that this man suspected anything about me. There wasn’t much in terms of fear, wariness, or shock in his scent either. That was good. That meant he had no suspicions, or that he was even better at fooling me than Reya. Keeping the Pepper-blooded annoyance in mind, I resolved to not take any chances, no matter how much of a friendly front this man displayed.

The Academy doctor kept looking at me as I approached, his smile breaking ever so slightly while his gaze lingered. I infused the barest hint of a nervous fidget in my posture as I pulled back a chair. He was tall. Even standing I was shorter than him sitting down. So when I took a seat across from him, it only made me all the more aware of how my feet dangled uselessly.

Hidden behind my nervous act, I took a quick sidelong glance at the next table over, the one I had mutilated. It looked like someone had taken an axe to the side I had clawed open. Perhaps an attempt to hide my damage behind greater damage. At least it gave some credence to Reya’s words that she was trying to hide me from this man.

The doctor kept shooting weird glances my way. Under his penetrating gaze I must have looked so small. Further modeling my appearance based on his impression of me, I leaned even more into my child-hunter act. My toes failed to find the floor, no matter how hard I searched for it. I folded my arms and leaned forward on the table. I unfolded them again and straightened up because leaning forward only made me look smaller. Hopefully, my innocent look would make him drop his guard entirely.

Reya’s eyes momentarily found mine, probably having noticed my unusual awkwardness. It wasn’t much of a glare, but her message was clear nonetheless. Do not play games. Do not antagonize. I toned down my act a little, and adopted a more relaxed and friendly facial expression.

“Hi, I’m Vale,” I initiated, my voice laced with just the right amount of hesitation a child is supposed to present to an Academy-trained professional. “The um… hunter that took care of Uncle Tare.”

This was going to be fun. It was time to find out what this man really wanted. It was time to play this game, the game I always played. Unlike what this man thought, I was not just this frail puppet body he saw me as, but a demon hunter. If I played it right no one else would ever find out that those two words, demon hunter, that they went both ways.

Sometimes I wondered, if maybe I enjoyed these kinds of games of wits a little too much. Not today. Today it would get me out of this slump.