The Vampire and the Slayer (redletalis x soldmysoul)

"You get rid of this creature before it can cause the humans to find out about us, or we will burn down your precious library, Voinescu!" Countess Bathory had hissed at him, fangs at full display.


Honestly, some supernatural creatures became more grouchy with age. Just because he had told those biddies in the Council to get with the times and get some gas lighting installed they had ordered him on this stupid wild hunt for some unknown crittier that liked to flay its victims, take the skin and do something unknown with it, and eat the heart while it was at it for good measure. Constantin personally thought that the heart-eating part was just a bit too cliché to be real. The creature was obviously desperate for attention. Which it got - the biddies in the Council - who then sent Constantin so the critter had his attention too.


All in the name of saving his precious collection of books Constantin had followed the creature through Europe, never getting quite close enough to figure out what it was, and then the little shit had jumped the Channel and gone to England. A month on the road like this made Constantin an irritated vampire. So he broke the rules just a little bit. He contacted the Slayers inhabiting England, warned them about the critter and about his coming. Amazingly enough the Slayers of England had replied favourably rather than the expected "die you godless monster" that Constantin had expected.


So here he was, coming off the ship the Lady Mary. He was supposed to meet a Slayer here, someone who was supposed to help him catch this critter and also make sure that Constantin didn't go crazy and start murdering everyone in England. Or something. Whatever. Constantin only cared if the damn Slayer was actually there yet. It wasn't dark outside yet and he didn't feel quite comfortable enough to start walking around in search for transportation, so he found a shadowy spot against the outside one of the warehouses closest to the docks, and waited for his contact.


The Council was going to flip their shit at him working together with a Slayer, the cliché bound traditionalists that they were.


The thought made him grin in delight.

"I need to know when the ship is going to disembark. It is almost an hour after originally planned and I am tired of waiting." Her accent was thick, having only moved to England two years ago. Thankfully, her father was an English professor at a local university back in Russia, and she had the privilege of learning the language at such a young age, around the same time she was learning to speak. Anastasia was obviously irate, she was a girl whose patience dwindled fast.


"Right about now, beautiful." The man at the counter, the one with the protruding front teeth, motioned his head behind her as the passengers were exciting the ship. He gave Anastasia the once over as she turned away in disgust, her dark brunette hair falling over her shoulders.


She went over to the door, exiting the ticket office as she scanned over the crowds of people exiting the ship. Some were reunited with friends and relatives and others had their heads down, hurrying away as if they had somewhere to be. The one she was waiting for was here to find her, and to hunt down and kill whatever beast it was that was ravaging it's way through Europe. She was told she'd know him when she saw him, but at this point no one was sticking out...that is until she noticed Constantin off to the side. It had to be him, she couldn't tell you how she knew, or describe the feeling she got, but she just knew.


With long strides Anastasia made her way off to the side of the building where the man was waiting, stopping in front of him. "You must be Constantin." Her overall attitude was that of someone who seemed like they had better places to be or better things they could be doing which in fact was true for Anastasia. Having grown up in a prominent family, the atmosphere of the surrounding warehouse was for those sub par to herself. She prayed that this wouldn't be another gimmick, yet another looking to haggle for her services. There was a reason her service came at a such a high cost, she was good- if not, the best, at what she did and she wasn't afraid in the least bit. Fear was overrated and for the right price, she'd hunt down and kill no matter what.

Constantin spotted the slayer a long ways off. It was impossible to ignore the young woman who was stalking towards him through the crowds, practically throwing people left and right. And if she wasn't pushing thorugh them then the people themselves jumped out of her way, sending irritated looks after her as she bulldozed through. How amusing, both the woman and the chaos she left in her wake.


"Must I? I'm not certain. I have not checked yet. Maybe you could help me to make certain that I am who you say I am? I get confused about that sometimes, you see." he grinned. His accent was thick but his words were easily understandable, four hundred years of life gave him a lot of time to travel and to learn. "But if I am Constantin, then you must be the slayer who's supposed to help me out. It might be nice to meet you, we'll simply have to see in the very close future."


The sun was setting and as it did Constantin could feel the unease leave him minute by minute. It felt good even in the company of a slayer. He straightened up and stretched slightly, straightening his clothes and his greatcoat, pushing his top-hat a bit more firmly into place. "Right, where do we go from here? Have your people picked up the trail yet?"

She bit her tongue, both figuratively and literally, at the smart-ass introductory comment that the vampire had made. She was far from amused and she made it obviously clear. "You talk unnecessarily. I don't have time for your poor sense of humor" she glanced around before setting their path as she started to walk, expecting Constantin to follow. "And despite what you may think out what you've been told, I don't have people, I work alone. But before we can start discussing the plan I want to make sure that we're both on the same page when it comes to the terms of payment. I'm assuming that you are aware that my talent does not come at a low cost."


One thing about Anastasia was that she didn't mess around, she knew that if the current client couldn't afford her, there were dozens more on the list. Since she was 8 years old, Anastasia had been trained in the 'art' of hunting down and slaying the supernatural and it was from her aunt where she learned how to carry herself, to be independent and to expect nothing from anyone. You could say her standards had been set high from then on out and there was no changing that.


The sun was setting, the street lights were being lit to illuminate the stone roads. Clusters of friends, dozens of singles, filed themselves into the local pubs and bars where they would spend the rest of their night getting intoxicated all in the name of 'fun'. It was all overrated.

Constantin watched her flounce off, grinned and followed her easily through the crowds of people coming from the ships or heading to them. He had her scent now, easily recognisable in this throng of people simply because it was so unique. Such a lovely lady with such a stuck-up, fiery personality. It was going to be fun working with her, he thought, at the very least he could enjoy needling her as they hunted down this whatever-it-was.


"Pay?" he gasped in horror, overacting the reaction with great delight. "Why, my dear, I am not paying you! Neither is the Council. All I did was contact the Slayers and they sent you, so your pay you will have to take up with them. I have no money for something like that, I am but a poor vampire, nor did the Slayers say anything about a payment. Who would have thought that the day would come when a human slayer would demand pay for helping her kind while a vampire is doing it for free? My, how times have changed! Back in the day a slayer would have tried to stake me or fire a silver arrow through me within a second of noticing me. I am really not certain why your people thought that they needed a silver arrow for vampires though, you will have to explain to me that gross misuse of precious silver one time."


Tease, tease, and tease away until she was ready to kill him and then let things settle. Rinse and repeat. Un-life was good!

Her blood was simmering as it coursed through her veins, her short fuse went along swimmingly with her short patience. She turned to the vampire, pointing an accusing finger, her nails manicured into a point and polished black, "I'm not amused at your mockery. I could easily take you down without a single thought. Don't push me and never underestimate me." The tension between the vampire and the slayer could be easily cut with a knife.


"And anyone who believes that silver is for vampires are sadly mistaken for it is the werewolf that exemplifies a vulnerability to silver. In fact, my best advice for taking on a vampire would be to avoid it unless one of certain that they can get close enough for decapitation. A foolproof method decapitation is." She traced her accusing finger across his throat, her previous anger subsiding at the simple thought of taking him on. Over confidence? Maybe. But it definitely kept away those unworthy of a fight.


"Now, if you wish to get on with the matter at hand, I suggest you put the sarcasm aside and get back to the terms of payment. If not, you can get yourself one of those mediocre at best, slayers. If they even deserve to be deemed such." She accused him of sarcasm, however, part of her actually believed that those whom had called upon her possibly lied about payment in order to save themselves. But, if she had remembered correctly, Constantin indeed needed this creature killed more than he led her on to believe.

He couldn't help it. He burst out laughing and attracted the stares of many a person. Not that he cared, he was having way too much fun - not something that he had expected when coming to this pinnacle of civilization of ye olde merry England. He looked her up and down again, taking in her dress and the very proper attire a woman of the civilized world had to dress in when out amongst people.


"Such a constricting masque for such a lively spirit. It must be stifling." He said, tapping his walking cane on the ground for emphasis, and still grinning. His canine teeth were a bit sharper than most normal humans', but they were currently retracted and he doubted that anyone would actually notice anything different unless they were in the know. Or gypsies. For some strange reason gypsies always knew.


"And I told you, my dear, no one said anything about payment so I have nothing to give. Your Slayer organisation sent you to me, they are the ones who chose you, they are the ones who employed you for this particular job, so they are the ones you have to confer with." He said because that was the honest to God truth. "Alternatively you could be known as the one slayer who allowed an unknown vampire to traverse through England without any control whatsoever simply because the issue of payment was a bit finicky. Your choice, of course."


Constantin was this close to starting to whistle cheerfully as he waited for her reply.

Forcefully, the Russian grabbed Constantin's upper arm, her nails slightly digging in through the fabric of his coat. "I hope you really don't believe I do this for the common good of man. I can hold my own and as far as I am concerned that is all I am worried about. Besides, do I really seem like I care what people might think of me? No." She began to walk onward, still holding on to his arm with quite the grip. "But," her tone lightened somewhat as she no longer had to speak under her breath, "believe that I will contact those who indeed do care about what happens to the world around us, and make sure that they are aware that I will not continue onward for free. I do not to charity work. Oh and I must clear things up yet again, please refrain from considering me part of a 'slayer organization', I do not work for anyone. Think of me as a private contractor, they simply don't have the resources or proper training in their unit and must call upon someone who can better handle the situation, that someone being myself of course."


Anastasia then let go of the vampire's arm, instead hooking her own with his as they continued forward. "Now, as I was informed, we have a meeting with a proprietor of a lovely little bed and breakfast, sitting just behind The Messenger Tavern which is owned by the same man, Mr. Hawkes. He has a special interest in this case and is allowing us to stay as long as we need. If I remember correctly, this creature has fed on many tavern patrons, causing business to dwindle. Apparently, he personally, has encounter this beast on several occasions."

"Hey, now, is that any way for a lady to act out in public?" Constantin said as he allowed her to drag him off. He followed willingly because he was having way too much fun riling this woman up. He grinned as she hooked their arms as was proper and slowed down to a more proper pace for a couple walking about. "Taking me to a tavern already? My dear, we have barely known each other for nigh on fifteen minutes. Don't you think that this is a bit too forwards for a lady of your stature? Of course, considering that I am me, indeed it isn't such a surprise after all!"


He didn't comment on the information about someone encountering the beast and actually living to tell the tale, even if he was practically burning with curiosity. Instead he focused on the banal stuff, on the ordinary stuff. The sort of stuff that a young dandy might focus on, the stuff that was going to irritate her and put Constantin's life in danger considering how close she was to some rather vital points.


"Well then, my plucky lady, lead me to the Messenger Tavern, and we'll see where we go from there, yes?" Constantin continued grinning as he practically chirped the words.

She found herself gritting her teeth together once more, there really was nothing she could do and nothing she could say that would shut him up, not even for a minute. Very witty and quick he was, she wondered how on Earth she would handle it later on down the road. "Do you find yourself to be humorous? I for certain do not and am beginning to think that you are mad for the way you continue to babble on and on."


Why wasn't she making herself clear to him? She could only imagine what he was like outside of such 'high-tension' situations and hoped that after their mission was complete they would once again be parted- never again having to make themselves acquainted.


"I suggest you change the way you talk to me because I can not make any promises on how 'lady-like' I may be in the future when we are behind closed doors. Like I said once before, I could easily destroy you. All bark and no bite you must be." Queue pun.


From the perspective of onlookers, these two were nothing more than just another dapper fellow and his lady. Had these onlookers actually have been listening to the exchange of words, they would have much different thoughts.


In a world of female oppression, Anastasia was sure to place herself at the top of her game- especially around a man as coy as Constantin had been. The lamps outside of the tavern were visible from their current position, in less than a minute they would arrive and be greeted by the boisterous men and women who could already be seen creating a raucous just outside it's doors, just more imbeciles Anastasia had to deal with.

Constantin, of course, ignored the insults and focused on what he considered important.


"Oh, that hurts! Right here! Deep down in my fragile heart!" He motioned to the area right above his heart, putting on a truly tragic face and gesturing wildly with the hand that held the walking cane - though he made sure not to hit anyone. "My lady, you have wounded me forever! I shall never overcome this mortal wound. I had such high hopes for the two of us, and yet you trample those grand hopes into naught but dust. My heart is wounded, my manliness forever besmirched by your cruel, heartless words! Who needs stakes and swords when they have words with thorns like yours?! I am in ruins and I don't even know your name! No one shall ever want me as a husband anymore! I have been besmirched!"


Despite his words Constantin held the door open for her when they reached their destination, and with a grin and let her enter first. The tavern was loud to his enhanced senses, and the two of them stuck out slightly in their fine clothing, but most people were far too into their drink, their illegal dice games and some high-class ladies of the night to truly pay attention. To most of those that did pay attention Constantin and the slayer looked far more like an amorous, mischevious couple just having escaped the sharp eyes of their chaperones. As for those that didn't look away even after having had enough time to reach that conclusion, well, Constantin made certain to remember their faces and their unwashed scents just in case as they passed through the room.

Anastasia, raised a hand to her forehead, taking a deep breath, this man was not important enough to get a headache over. Besides, her obvious annoyance at his consistent clamoring was most likely only feeding his desire to continue. When they arrived and the door as held open for her majesty, Anastasia accepted the chivalry, whether it was sincere or not, walking inside with not even a nod of the head. There were people far more of a nuisance than Constantin had proven to be, and they existed in The Messenger.


The room was filled to the brim with thick smoke, leaving the cigars and mouths of the belligerent. Anastasia hated her attire even more so in the moment because of the unwanted attention she was drawing from the men, affluent and attractive, more desirable than whores glaring in her direction. Still, she continued to walk with purpose, making her way down a hallway positioned next to the bar where a closed wooden door decorated the corridors end where a large, burly man stood with a rifle as if he was protecting whatever existed behind the door.


"You two shouldn't be back here." He held the rifle across the door as if the two looked like they were there to cause any trouble.


"My name is Anastasia Volkov and I am here to speak with Rupert Hawkes."


The man placed the rifle back down to his side, "Ah- of course. Mr. Hawkes is just on the other side of the door in his office. He told me to be expecting you." His big calloused hand, reached out to open the door, revealing a supple framed man with large glasses sitting behind an old oak desk. It was at the sight of the two newcomers that this man, presumably Mr.Hawkes, stood, waving them in. Anastasia was first to enter.

He observed her reaction from the corner of his eye, and that was enough to make his day really even if this possible clue didn't pan out. Constantin followed along like a good, tame vampire - he had heard that it was something new showing up, vampires enjoying being tamed by humans or even slayers! - and did his best to seem as human and as placid as he possibly could. He had never been a truly muscular and broad-shouldered person, but he had never been weak either. One couldn't be weak when one grew up during the Ottoman invasion.


"Ah, so that is your name, my dear. You should have said so before. I could have gotten started on the love poems sooner!" Constantin muttered to her as they entered the room to greet this Rupert Hawkes. Constantin looked the human up and down. He didn't seem like a dangerous person, but that was what Constanin had thought about the vampire who ended up drinking him dry and turning him a mere two seconds later.


"Mr Hawkes, I assume? We heard that you have had some interesting encounters lately?" he smiled in a light and friendly manner, careful about keeping his lips closed enough to hide his fangs. "Would you mind telling us about them?"

"Enough already!" She hissed under her breath before giving her undivided attention to the man wearing the over-sized spectacles.


"Yes, I am Rupert Hawkes, I assume full proprietorship over The Messenger Tavern in addition to the Bella Luna Bed & Breakfast, although my wife mainly handles business there." A bow to the lady and the grab of Constantin's hand went along with his introduction. "Ah- my good sir you are near frozen! I know the cold winds are moving in but you can't possibly have a heartbeat with that chill! Tell me," he got closer to Constantin's face, "are you a vampire? You don't have to answer that, I already know." Mr. Hawkes took a seat on the edge of his wooden desk, still facing the newcomers. "But yes! Onto my encounters if you will! I've lost seven or eight of my customers over a three week span and it was one night after I had locked up the doors and I saw the beast attack. It was Charles Moore and Orville Albright, the fact that they were reeling with drunkness hopefully made their demise less terrible. I looked through the window when I heard one of them scream out and both of them were being dragged to the back alleyway by this towering beast! I locked myself in my office until the end of the night when they two men were found ripped to absolute pieces, much of their flesh missing! I wish I knew what exactly it was but I had never seen anything like it before! It was no wolf man either! Now these disappearances have caused both my businesses to dwindle, no one wants to be out after dark anymore!"


A pause as the man used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead.


"This thing hasn't stayed longer than a couple of weeks in one spot across Europe, but he's breaking the pattern and he hasn't left yet! The most recent disappearance was just the night prior to tonight, Mrs. Henrietta Finch never made it home from the local Apothecary. It's owner, Randall Wainwright said she never even made it. Several other business owners in the area, as well as myself, have created a fund in order to stop this monster so I contacted a good friend of mine, who also happens to be a slayer," his eyes went to Anastasia, "and he sent me the you, I assume he had good reason to." From the inside of his vest, Rupert pulled out a wad of paper cash as he began to count it out onto the table, "One thousand pounds now, and the utilization of my bed and breakfast as well as tavern at any time during your stay. The rest of the payment shall proceed one the creature is gone."


Anastasia was quick to grab the bank notes, leaning back against a wall as she double checked the man's counting. Slipping the money into her brazier, she nodding with an accomplished smirk on her face, "you have yourself a deal, Mr. Hawkes."

Constantin simply kept up his polite smile when the man outed him as a vampire. This was obviously a person who had some knowledge of the supernatural, perhaps even offered some sort of services for the supernatural community considering that he owned a a tavern and a small inn as well. Even the supernatural wished to make use of that sometimes, either because they wanted entertainment or because they needed a place to rest during travel.


He did, however, whistle at the sheer amount of money that these apparently simple shopkeepers had managed to gather. 1000 pounds was a small fortune, and even Constantin as a foreigner knew that it was far more than these people would ever earn in ten years put together. He wondered exactly where they had gotten the money, but kept those thoughts to himself and instead focused on other things for now.


"Describe this towering beast to me as well as you can, please?" he said, keeping his voice soft and light. "How high was it compared to me? Any odd shapes or shadows that you noticed? An odd smell hanging around come morning? Anything at all?"

Anastasia, narrowed her eyes in Constantin's direction as she hid her money on her persons. It was far more than she expected, must have been a collection from more than just local businesses, but she wasn't concerned.


Mr. Hawkes thought for a moment, "ah, let's see. I'd say he towered over you about half a meter but he was very thin and appeared naked with no sort of coverings at all. The one other thing I noticed was his glowing red eyes but that was when he glanced over in my direction, causing me to hide in my office. I don't remember noting a stench, the sight of blood had me out of the near vicinity." The memories had caused him to shiver, "I've never been so disgusted in my life, nothing a human could accomplish."


Anastasia looked as if she were in deep thought, yet completely baffled. "There's a creature called the wendigo but I've only know of them to exist in the America's, not here in Europe. Unless perhaps one had managed to board a ship of some sort, travelling across the ocean." She shook her head at the thought, it was far fetched but it could be a possibility. She then turned up to look at Constantin, "surely you have something to say."

"Oh, I have plenty to say, but you didn't want to hear it so, unfortunately, I will have to stick to the boring things instead." Constantin replied, still smiling as he crossed his arms and thought about the scant few details they had learned from this innkeeper. "I doubt that it is a wendigo. I have come across wendigos before and they don't smell anything like this thing does. Scent is the only way I have been able to track it from murder to murder - it is amazing how many humans actually try to emulate the work of this killer, and emulate it quite well - so it isn't something that there is a lot of."


Four hundred years of living gave Constantin the chance to meet just about every supernatural creature out there, and he had a good memory. He knew what he was talking about: this wasn't a scent that he had ever come across before now.


"I think," he said after a short while in silence. "I think that I wish to see this place where these two humans were murdered. How long ago did the attack actually take place, Mr Hawkes? And you said that it looked at you but yet it didn't kill you?"

"Then what is it that you have in mind?" Anastasia was truly interested for there was not a single creature she could think of that could fit the little evidence they were given, except for the wendigo of course, which Constantin had been certain that it was not.


"The most recent attack, the one being on Charles and Orville that is, happened just last week, actually a week ago to this day. If you'd like, you two can take a walk around back and see for yourselves where their blood splatter still stains the walls of this establishment. And yes, the creature did indeed look over in my general direction, not sure why he didn't come after me but I consider myself a lucky man. Perhaps he was too busy with his current victims?" Again the damp handkerchief made an appearance in his hand as he continued once more to dab the perspiration from his brow. "Oh, and whenever you find the time suitable I shall have Hector, my guard, escort you two over to the Bella Luna where you will have the pleasure of meeting my beautiful wife and daughter. And as for you Anastasia, I received word this morning that your things, as well as you impressive arsenal, have safely arrived unscathed. In fact, the man who delivered your belongings insisted on staying with them until your arrival. Conrad? That was his name am I correct?"


"Yes, sir. He has been ordered to stay with all of the items until I could personally account for them." Conrad, had her belongings stayed in tact and untouched, would be paid upon her arrival at the Bella Luna, for his troubles in transporting and securing said belongings.

"Chickens." He said cheerfully. "That's what I have on my mind. Bwok-bwok-bwok." Constantin hummed and smiled at Anastasia before turning to Hawkes. "I would like to take you up on that offer of seeing the attack site. A week is a bit long, really, for any traces and tracks to have remained in a city this populated, but I wish to see it anyway just in case. We might even get lucky. Now, how does one get to this little alley of yours?"


As soon as he had the directions, Constantin tipped his hat to the people in the room and left. He headed straight to the site of the attack, not feeling very hopeful in seeing or smelling anything useful. Brick buildings, dirt and a whole lot of people having passed by. No scents, and very few visual clues that hadn't already been hopelessly contaminated. What else could he expect from a world caught in the Industrial revolution? Pushing these thoughts away, Constantin started examining the alley, first one side and then the other.


"Now what is this?" he muttered as he spotted something on the wall, halfway hidden beneath a ripped poster.

There she was, unamused once more by Constantin's every bothersome antic but instead of allowing herself to become frustrated and physically harming the vampire, Anastasia simply ignored it. Hey, that was easier than expected.


The two men, Mr. Hawkes and Hector, the guard, waited inside as both Constantin and Anastasia made their way around to the back of the building. She too did not notice anything unusual at first glance but was caught off guard when her partner seemed to had make a discovery.


"What did you find?" She went and stood beside him, bracing herself subconsciously for any remarks that Constantin would make other than the nature of what he had actually discovered.


Besides a beggar that had seemed to pass out drunk on the side of the building, they were alone and she figured for good reason. The light from the streets barely reached back behind the tavern and with the occurrence of recent events, most people probably avoided the surrounding area.

"This." Constantin lifted a corner of the poster and revealed a smudged something underneath. He leaned in closer and sniffed at it. "Ah, coal soot I think. And definitely the same scent as I have been following around for the past month. Old and smudged and it's impossible to tell exactly which one it would summon, but I know at least what it is now. Well, generally speaking since there are so many kinds of them. This is going to be a rather tough one, to tell the truth, we might need some more help to beat this thing, you know."


Yes, if this truly was what he was starting to suspect that it was, then they really would need help. It was amazing enough that they had gotten this far without being killed off.


He let the poster fall back into place and looked at the ad - something about new baby bottles or something - and hummed. He tapped the heavy paper with one finger, his nail just slightly too sharp and pointed to be completely natural. "We might, however, ask whoever put up this poster if they remember exactly what they saw here on this wall because the poster definitely came after the, uh, smudge."

"Well instead of alluding to something, can you just tell me what it is exactly that we are after." There was no creature that she could possibly think of as having an association with coal. There were little gremlin like creatures she had heard of existing in coal mines and toying with the miners, but never being associated with an incident so horrible. Besides, they were generally short statutered and "towered" over no one.


She reached out to tear the poster from the wall, examining it front and back before her eyes returned to an address, "Clyde's Apothecary, 1802 West Armstead Street. I wonder if this is the same place the woman Rupert mentioned was heading before she disappeared." And this is why Anastasia trusted no one, it was possible to connect too many people to one thing whether they were actually innocent or not. She turned her attention back up to Constantin, surely he had an explanation- whether it was sarcastic or not was a completely different thing.

He chuckled at her irritation with his ways, enjoying it thoroughly for a moment before he became serious again. "I had not wished to mention it for you seemed to know the proprietor of the Messenger Tavern, but if you take a look out of that end of the alley, you will find that only one window faces in this direction, and Mr Hawkes would have to be incredibly lucky ot see anything from that one as this building on the left juts out just enough to hide this place from that view. Of course, there could have been a source of light and shadows against the right hand wall, but it does seem a bit far fetched." He pointed at the buildings and at the window in question as he talked.


"And as for our quarry, well, it is a creature so rare that in all my four hundred years of un-life I have only heard one other confirmed account of it actually appearing on earth to create trouble, and back then it took the entire Council and all the slayers and priests that could be rounded up on short notice to defeat it. They didn't even manage to actually kill it, but instead had to simply do their best and send it back whence it came." Constantin leaned in close to her ear, whispering one word quietly.


Demon.

Her eyes widened a bit at the mention of the word before furrowing slightly once more, "so what exactly is your plan?" It was definitely not what she expected, a demon simply did not just show up to kill humans without sufficient cause not would it target random individuals, or would it?


"Do you think this demon was perhaps summoned by a particular individual or perhaps even a cult? You know I recall hearing of a mass hanging of eight men accused of practicing black magic and running an underground satanic organization. All the men resided here in England but had different backgrounds across Europe. Maybe they have something to do with it? Oh, and for the record, I have never met Mr.Hawkes before tonight, perhaps it is just that I am so personable that you may have thought so."