After getting down from the carriage, Penny looked at the houses of the village with Damien who had taken two steps forward to look ahead of him. She didn’t know why he had the coachman pull over the carriage. The houses and the tall building which looked less like a village and more like a town, she noticed how quiet the place way. It was eerily quiet which could make one suspicious.
As she was looking around she heard a whistling sound that came from afar and suddenly Damien pulled her to his other side, “What ha-” the arrow cut the air as it came in force to hit the carriage.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the arrow and she turned around to catch sight of a shadow that slipped into the darkness of the buildings. At the same time from another side, an arrow was launched for it to hit the coachman’s chest who staggered before falling down dead on the ground.
Another one was launched which and before it could hit Damien he caught hold of it a few centimeters away from his face, “So slow,” he said, catching hold of Penny’s hand he pulled her into the village.
“Where are we going? The coachman-”
“The coachman is dead,” he pulled something from his back, a shiny metal coming in view. It was a bronze gold pistol that was a size longer than his own palm.
“Why aren’t we going back to the mansion?” she asked him confused. Where they were headed was where their attackers were.
“Because there’s something fishy about this place. Leaving as it is is not my idea of being a councilman. Whoever it was, cost me my coachman and has tried to attack you. You don’t think I will let it go by walking out of this place,” he said pulling the top part of the gun, he walked forward as he checked if someone was there. Penny didn’t know why but with the way Damien had put it, it showed how serious he took his work. Who knew that the master who appeared to be frivolous had a deep sense of his duty.
The alley was silent except for their footsteps on the wet ground. It appeared that it had rained a few hours ago as the soil beneath their feet was loose and slippery. With the tall walls which stretched up and high, she looked up at the gloomy clouds that hovered up above them which made the current environment dark with no hint of light.
“Also,” she heard Damien say, “If we continued our journey, it would only turn to something else. The arrow which was thrown had something similar to spit grass. A plant that is used to trigger corruption.”
“Black witches?” whispered Penny for Damien to nod his head.
“Black witches are often notorious on setting up traps for humans and vampires. Waiting for the others to walk into their trap.”
“How can you tell this one is not one?”
“No one attacks and expects one to stay in the same place,” his eyes scanned to look at the doors which were closed while one appeared to be closed but there was thin darkness at the side of it. It wasn’t a completely closed door, “Stick close, mouse. We don’t want you getting caught and having me baited,” he went to stand in front of the red-painted door which looked dull and worn out.
Hearing this Penny frowned, “I can handle myself fine,” and at that moment the window broke for a hand to stretch out and pull her hand as if wanting to suck her to the other side of the wall. Damien raised his hand and shot right on the forearm of the dark armed person which broke the arm into two halves.
Penny stepped away from the window and closer to Damien to hear the pureblooded vampire say, “That’s what she said. Remind me to teach you on some skill set once we get back to the mansion,” this perked her ears but at the same time, her eyes went to look down where half of the forearm to the fingertips started to disintegrated into dust.
Damien kicked the door open before having another shot on someone where Penny who had started to follow him closely saw a black witch in her true form who screamed loudly as if she were in pain. The black witch’s body fell backwards with a dull thud before it disintegrated. Similar to how a dried leaf turned to dust after being lit in a fire, leaving a mark on the ground.
“Can you sense anything?” he asked her.Penny wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do to ‘sense’ the witch’s presence. Was that even possible?
“I don’t think so.”
“Hmm,” he said stepping out and starting to walk as if there were more black witches who were in hiding.
“Aren’t villages and town exorcised to make sure the black witches aren’t present?” asked Penny as they took another alley. A faded cloth that was tattered flew back and forth on the rope where the rope ran from one of the buildings to the next one.
“Indeed but there are times when men and women are not loyal. Treachery runs in everybody’s blood, it is only time that states if the person walks in that path for his or her own benefit,”he said walking as he turned around with his hands close to his chest as he held the gun, “It is the white witches who do the exorcism by the permission of the magistrate but you cannot expect for the towns and villages to be exorcised every single week. It is a loophole but something the council has implemented. Sometimes the white witches compromise the safety of the others for their own benefit.”
“Helping black witches?” she asked for him to hum.
“Yes. Just like how I was helping Bathsheba. We all look for our own benefits but what happens is….” he trailed, his footsteps pausing to hear something move behind them until a rat appeared out of it to only go back in, “When you try to make an exception, it gives opportunities to the other black witches which in turn is another compromise.”
