Marcus took the book from Septimius and watched as he ran off to the blacksmith. He looked at the book in chains and thought to himself, what would Lissette say if she were awake? Hmmmm. "Screw whatever magic missiles thinks, Marki, books belong with other books let's go take it to the library!" Yes! That's what she would say! Marcus took the book, smiled up at Lissette, and proceeded to walk to the Library with the book. Once he entered he couldn't help but notice the woman behind the counter reading a book.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to bother you. Someone brought me this book here and I just wanted to know if you could tell me anything about it." Marcus held the big chained tome up for the librarian to see.

Jessica seemed all too ready to face the vampire horde all by herself. As she got into a steady battle stance, she could take all of them, right? The fisherman just chuckled to himself as she took the first hit, slashing the head off of one of the vampires. They began to surround her, and she continued to fight. Stabbing through the torso of one, pulling it out and slicing the legs off of another one. For a moment, she seemed to be handling them rather well after killing off seven of them.

Then, everything went to hell.

One grabbed her shoulder. She gasped, thrusting herself backward and slashing the top of the vampire's head clean off. Just then, another tackled her. She managed to stay on her feet, however stumbled into another group of them. She started to slash her sword around frantically, however as she was doing so it cut into the side of a beast. It began to bleed out, however now the sword was stuck. Before she could grab it, another set of vampires wrapped their arms around her body and neck.

"Hey!," She yelled, "Let me go! GIVE ME MY SWORD!"

The vampires surrounded her, dragging her back into the shack amidst her shrill screams of terror. One lifted up the bed, throwing it to the wall, and opened the trap door. They dragged her down the stairs to the basement, and the other vampires quickly followed. Before she knew it, she was strapped to a table, back down, and could not move no matter how much power she used. She looked around, and slowly realized exactly what was here. Whips, toys, different tables, and other horrific torture devices that made her squirm.

"So," The man said with a slight smirk on his face, glancing at Jessica. Jessica could feel them surrounding her as the noises reverberated against the metal table, "You want to know....what's in here?"

He chuckled, and Jessica spit in the fisherman's direction, "Get me out of here, I have to find the number!"

"You want a number?," He scoffed, "Feel the wall, blind one."

Jessica began to feel the noises bounce off of the walls, and to her horror there was an odd pattern on the wall. It was almost like a circle, but more oval. Her spirits dropped as she realized it was '0'. It was as if they were completely mocking her.

"Now," He continued, "since you insist on snooping, my friends and I will have to punish you."

[/SPOILER][/SPOILER]

"I will leave your group to find you down here," The fisherman said with a chuckle, "If you didn't have two hours left til sundown, I would have just killed you. But...I must listen to the Count."

The vampires filed up the trapdoor, leaving it open behind them so the others could find her as the fisherman left her with one last remark.

"Don't snoop around again."

While all of this was going on, Septimius decided that it would be best to look in the one place they had not checked; The Black Smith. As he walks in with caution, he realized that there wass a unique, yet familiar smell about this building. The smell of fire and steel ascended into his nose as he entered the shop, not tripping this time. He looked over to the counter and found the blacksmith. The blacksmith was hard at work crafting fine weapons for the vampire army that will be eating the small band of heroes in what was now just a few hours. Glancing to the other portions of the shop, Septimius noticed that there were weapons on the walls, and in racks spread around the store. It looked like all this guy made were weapons! Inside the blacksmith shop there was a living room and a bedroom.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Marcus went into the library once again, intent on knowing for sure if the librarian actually had knowledge of whatever was in this book. He went up to the librarian, asking her specific enough of a question for her to look up at the book itself. Her eyes shined with a new vigor, and a smile crossed her face. "By the gods...," She said slowly, "This is the book I was looking for in the back room!"

Grasping it tightly in her hand, she looked down for a moment, pulling a key out from underneath her desk and placing it into the lock. She turned it, the chains falling apart with ease. She then turned to Marcus, "Thank you so much, kind warrior. Why...this is my absolute favorite bo..."

However, as she opened it fully, she let out a startled gasp. Marcus came over to look, and gasped as well. The front page of the book was completely black, with a bloody number upon it.

"23"

Otael struggled to get back up, but was able to stand again once he got on his feet. He yanked out each piece of wood that had slammed through his appendages, leaving large gashes filled with blood that stung like a wasps' end. "I can't pay." He hacked out, staining his mask with more blood. He drove his hands straight into the ground and ripped the floorboards out from underneath himself. He lifted the flaming pallet over his head "I forgot money in other pair of fucks!" he yelled as he chucked the boards at the demon and proceeded to rip the flaming cross from the wall behind him. He held it in front of him and charged at the demon with the cross acting as a blunt lance.

The demon elegantly dodged the flaming piece of floorboard as it sailed out into the streets, just barely missing The Minister. It was becoming plainly apparent that the foundation was beginning to collapse and the church wouldn't hold up for much longer, as the roof was slowly caving in on itself. The demon turned back to Otael, however widened his eyes in terror as the cross lance was thrust against him. The demon felt the blunt end of it smack against his torso, and he howled in pain as a burning sensation resided in him. He smacked Otael a few feet back in retaliation, grasping his body.

Otael regained his footing after being knocked slightly back. He started running towards the demon who was now doubled over in pain. It was as if Otael was a train as he quickly picked up speed, reaching the speed of a full on sprint quite quickly. He quickly wrapped his arms around the demon's neck as he jumped upwards, kicking his legs out in front of him. The beasts head followed behind as he was soon brought up off the ground and had his head placed right over Otaels shoulder. Otael plummeted to the ground with the Demon slamming his jaw on Otaels meaty shoulder. The entire moved looked astonishing, as if it was to be preformed by a professional wrestler. Otael quickly picked himself up, scooped up the minister and went straight through the wall to leave the crumbling church.

After a few minutes trying ti catch her breathe, she coughed up blood once again "Let's see... broken ribs... bleeding cuts, one of my arms is broken, I-.... I feel a concussion... actually my whole body hurts. Damn it". Ignoring the almost unbearable pain, she slowly draged herself to her armor and sword. She felt like she'd fall unconcious anytime, but the fact that she had lost a fight hurt her more than anything... it was actually the first time that she has been defeated. "I might even bleed out before any of my friends find me... I-.... I gotta make my way to them or at least grt out from here", Jessica covered at least the bigest of the bleeding wounds wih her ribbon and with huge screams of pain she managed to put her armor which started to get covered in blood slowly. Using her good arm and sword as a support she could stand up, stumbling with each step she made it to the ladder. She felt her strenght slowly fading again and kneeled before giving her first step, but she won't give up.

Slowly taking quite a few minutes, she began to make her way uptairs. Her ribcage, arm and open wounds were giving her the worst pain that she has ever felt in her life, she couldn't sense her surroundings at least not how she was supossed to, it was like if the stairs were constantly moving around. When Jessica was halfway through the stairs she fainted for a few seconds, she could barely feel her limbs. She thought about Septimius, Marcus, Lissette, Desmond.... Gabriel.... Troy. Jessica tightened her fists "Don't worry little brother... I'm not giving up, not before having my revenge" she thought to herself as she used her arm and sword to stand up slowly once again groaning in pain she could recover her balance. Quite a few minutes passed until she finally made it out from the trapdoor, she leaned her body against the wall and sat on the floor, breathing heavily her skin started to get pale, she put more pressure on her wounds. She needed a few minutes to rest before trying to keep walking but the situation wasn't looking good at all for her.

Ravin was terrible at this game. Why, out of the 10 rounds they had played so far, Ravin got 21 on 8 of them. He was convinced now more than ever that the gods hated him. He shook his head and handed his cards back to Adric

"Adric, you may have me beat. I am no good at these types of things! Lady Luck hath abandoned me!"

He stood from his spot and began pacing. He was rather cross. With luck, with Adric, with just about everything. And he found there was only one way to cure this ailment, and that was through copious amounts of eating. But what to eat? The butcher had been a bust on that front. And eating humans? Unacceptable

Not to imply he hadn't, but his company of companions would frown on such actions. They could be prudes like that

You know what we haven't had in a very long time? Fish!
I thought you hated eating animals
Yes, but not fish. Their soulless eyes disturb me

Ravin shuddered in excitement at the idea of new food, and turned to Adric and Samson

"Why, friends, why waste time here when there are spoils to pilfer! We find the nearest fishing post which i have on good authority that our comrades have also visited, and have ourselves a feast that would make the spirits of the sea recoil in disgust! Besides, we may run into friends, and they then shall join us too! Oh the fun we shall have! Joviality abounds at that location I'm sure!

He walked around the store, inhaling deeply, trying to identify why the smell was so familiar. He smiled faintly at how it reminded him of the royal forgery at Aunorguard and walked up to the blacksmith. "Hello," he greeted cheerily. He began walking around, trying to look casual as he investigated his surroundings for a number.

Adric and Samson looked at each other and laughed as Ravin stormed off. Adric wiped a tear from his eye and rolled back and laid in the grass

"Samson, my friend, if only we had had such luck with our former customers! We could be kings!" Samson rolled around on the ground, barely able to breathe

"Pal, we'da been Gods!" They continued their laughter. It was Adric that noticed Ravin marching off in a huff. Adric turned to Samson, and finally managed to catch a breath

"Samson, this is a rather dangerous country, and we can't allow our friend to wander alone" Samson nodded, unable to inhale long enough to form words, and the two trounced off after Ravin. Adric clapped his arm to Ravin's shoulder as they walked "Gray my friend, you must learn to not take things so seriously! It was a game!" A rigged game, yes, but a game nonetheless "Besides, what's a bit of sport between friends?" Adric playfully jabbed Ravin where his ribs should be. It was then that Samson yelped.

"IN DUH NAME OF ALL DATS HOLY WHAT IS THIS?!" Samson cried, scurrying to clamber up Adric's pant leg. On the ground was the head of a vampire, severed by a clean cut. Adric wasn't a detective, but something told him that there had been some sort of struggle. He popped on his glasses and began inspecting for clues. Samson was the one that came up and sniffed a scrap of torn clothing. "Hey Addy!" He called, "Dis smells like da broad with the poor vision!" Adric stopped dead in his tracks. He went over and looked at the ground around where the clothing was scattered. There were marks in the grass leading to the door of the shack. Adric stepped up and grabbed the door of the shack. He felt the whirs and hums vibrate through his arm. They were silenced by a subtle click. Samson's face dropped and he sprinted to get out of the way. In one deft movement, the door was ripped from its hinges and thrown into the stream. Adric drew his hook, and had his crossbow in the other hand. He shouted

"To any vile beasts foolish enough to harm one of my business associates, you have made a grave mistake" Adric smiled in the darkness "And to any vile beasts named Jessica, the cavalry has arrived"

The demon beast was surprised as he stumbled and recoiled from the cross, surprised by the charging train called Otael. The legs were kicked out from him, and Otael dropped the cross, grasping his head and pretty much RKO'ing the demon into the ground. However, the cross happened to go into the ground with a sharpened piece pointing up, so the entire cross went through the demons eye as Otael went down. The demon screeched violently before exploding into a huge pile of black ash. Otael then grabbed The Minister and ran to the church.

Meanwhile, the blacksmith scoffed at Septimius, turning away from him and shaking his head. As Septimius looked around, he couldn't find anything but weapons on the walls and random items on tables/

The door to the shack was ripped open, and all they found was the disfigured Jessica, broken to pieces with blood dripping from everywhere.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stand up by herself by now. On her way upstairs she probably made her wounds and broken bones worse she felt her own heartbeat slowing down still lying against the wall a pool of blood started to form around "What do I do now...." she thought almost hopelessly until she heard someone comming closer, she could easily tell who was by his voice and steps but she couldn't scream or yell, she didn't have the strenght. Luckly he decided to come into the shack, she breathed deeply and with a huge pain on her ribcage she managed to yell "A- Adric!... help..." the sole act of talking was painful by now. Hopefully he and Ravin can take her back to her friends and give her the first aid.

Adric grabbed Jessica and cradled her in his arms. He walked out and continued walking towards the cemetery, where it seemed that the party had established as a sort of meeting place. Adric turned to Samson and Ravin "Save a few of those bastards for me" as he continued walking along. He had some salves and potions in his pack. Salves and potions he was fairly positive actually worked.

Samson turned his face up at Ravin, smiling "Well pal, it looks like it's just you and me, huh? Let's get started!"

Septimius sighed and shrugged, turning back and leaving the store to head back to the cemetery. Well that didn't work... maybe the Minister came back and opened that book. Hopefully that has the clue we need.

Ravin put his hand on Jessica's head

"Lady Jessica, I swear by the sun and stars, I will find these men and use their blood as sauce and ashes as seasoning. I promise you this!" he drew his sword and put his considerable experience tracking escape souls to the test. Thousands of things ran through his head, all the signs of directions and size. Tracking footfalls, disturbed blades of grass, dirt tossed asunder, a snagged piece of clothing. All clear to him. They were sloppy. That would cost them. Preferably, it would cost them their life

"Come along Samson, if we act quickly, we can find them and tear them asunder with our fury" He drew Cerulean while he walked, and drew his bow in his left hand. He brushed the vial of ash on his neck. He had the ashes of a queen on his neck. What had he to fear from these mongrels?

Boris followed Septimius around each rendezvous point, and shit seems to be going down. With only a few hours left, they need to piece together all, or most of, the clues they have found so far. These vampires are unforgiving and relentless, having them going through rigorous trial and error in hopes of finding pieces of the riddle. Whatever's the answer, Boris isn't fond in being served as these vampires' eternal meal.