I'm woken up by rays of sunlight coming in through a window and hitting me directly in the face. My head hurts something fierce, but I still manage to get up.

What even happened yesterday? There's dry blood and traces of vomit on my clothes... Right, I fought the cyclopes. And then...

I look at the spot where that vampire man was standing. With the sun shining brightly inside of the apartment, it doesn't look nearly as ominous.

I walk to the bathroom and take some medicine to help with the hangover. As much as I'd like to drink myself into a stupor again, there are now things in motion around me that I cannot ignore. I have to decide if I bring this to my boss or ditch the protocols and take care of it myself.

No, that second option just isn't realistic. Royal vampires are involved, and I can't do shit against them. Although, I still don't know what their plan for me is. They want my help, so they won't just kill me, but I'm worried I'll be kidnapped. Although, the guy who was here yesterday had plenty of opportunities to do just that, and didn't, which means...

They still need me here. But what for?

I get undressed and hop in the shower. As the warm water flows over my body, I try to solve the puzzle in front of me, but too many pieces are missing. Their stated goal is for the queen to strengthen her grip on the other vampires. This is necessary because they've been disobeying her, and acting against her orders here. Assuming all of this is true, the vampires who have been causing trouble in the city have been doing so against the orders of their leader.

In that case, they could have let me go so I could serve as an unwilling participant in a plan to take these rogue subjects down. However, that remains a big assumption to make. Vampires aren't forbidden from lying, so it's entirely possible that they are acting with their queen's blessing, and that telling me otherwise had a purpose.

There simply isn't anything I can conclude from the information I have, especially considering that I can't trust the veracity of any of it. All I know for sure is that some Royal vampires want me to help them.

As I leave the shower, I notice that my phone is ringing in the living room. I quickly wrap a towel around my waist before dashing to it, answering just in time for the caller to not be asked to leave a message.

"Eniré! Good job with the cyclopes yesterday, cleanup crew confirmed your kills. The bounty should be transferred to your bank account later today."

"Thanks, boss. You don't usually call to tell me that, so what's the occasion?"

"Last night, we received a report that the guards at one of the city gates were acting strange. They would respond nonsense over comms when pinged, and witnesses claim they were simply idling around the gate, not doing their job. As a result, they were taken into custody and questioned. They eventually snapped out of it and claimed that they had no memories at all of the last few hours, with further analysis confirming magical tempering of their memory."

"Sounds like a powerful monster infiltrated the city, then."

"That's exactly my thought. A monster capable of messing with the minds and memories of trained guards. Whatever we have on our hands, it's sure to be ugly."

I don't need to think too hard about who did this. A Royal vampire wouldn't be able to enter the city undetected, even with powerful concealing spells or devices. At the very least, their physical characteristics are known to pretty much everyone who has to deal with monsters from time to time, as we regularly get special training to recognize Royal monsters. As such, causing a bit of a delayed stir by making the guards unable to react to his presence was his best bet.

"I have reasons to believe the culprit is a Royal vampire."

"A... What!? This is a catastrophe! We have to lock the city down and declare emergency measures immediately!"

"I don't think that will be necessary. I am his target. If he's still in the city, he won't cause any trouble unless I'm involved."

"What could possibly make you think that?"

"Last night, after coming back from my hunt, I met a Royal vampire who had entered my apartment. As far as I can tell, they need my help for something. Everything else is uncertain."

"Mmmh... I don't like that one bit. We might have to get delvers on this case too, they stand a better chance against a monster that powerful. Look, I know it's your day off, but would you mind coming over to the office so we can build a full report of everything that happened yesterday? It will help us with the investigation."

"Will do."

I end up spending a number of hours at our headquarters, retelling the story of what went down yesterday with the vampire guy to a few people. Eventually, I get a break to go eat lunch, and Kitero comes and sits with me.

"Hey! Didn't expect to see you at the office today."

"Stuff's happening, so I kinda had to give up on my day off."

"Yeah, I heard. Something to do with vampires, right?"

"That's it. Apparently, the current queen wants my help for something. Obviously, I don't want to get involved at all."

"Smells like bad news for sure. I also heard that the Chosen Bulwark clashed with an underground group of vampires today. Bit much for a coincidence, don't you think?"

The Chosen Bulwark... He's a bit like a real life superhero, in a way. No one knows who he is, as he's only ever seen wearing extremely heavy plate armor that fully encases his body. His armor and shield carry the symbol of The Protector, one of the few gods generally considered to be wholly good, so he's likely a follower of hers. He appears from time to time to take care of dangerous situations within the city, and there are rumors of him showing up in other places as well.

"I agree. Too big to be a coincidence. But then, does that mean he was also approached by the vampires, like I was?"

"I doubt it. Word's on the street that he found them by complete accident. Thing is, vampires are usually really good at hiding when they infiltrate our settlements, so something must have happened for him to stumble upon them like that. They must have messed up somewhere."

"Could be related to a Royal vampire visiting the city last night. Could have made them restless and careless if they knew about it."

This is also possibly a roundabout way to let me know what's expected of me: find the hidden vampires who made mistakes and left traces last night, and root them out.

I lean back into my chair with a smirk. What an interesting strategy, showing me that our goals align to get me to do the dirty work for you. Well played, vampire queen.

Now, as much as I want to jump on that opportunity to eradicate these nests of blood suckers, I can't ignore the fact that this is exactly what is expected of me. Without knowing what the queen is up to, I'm taking a huge risk by indirectly striking that deal with her.

But I also can't just do nothing.

I get up and ask:

"Did we get any new reports of vampire activity since last night?"

"A couple, yeah. Isn't this your day off, though?"

"Like I said, I already gave up on it. Now I'm in the mood for a bit of hunting."

I'm sitting on the roof of a building, a lit cigarette in my mouth, my eyes set on the passersby below. There have been multiple reports of incidents believed to have involved vampires in this part of the city over the last few weeks, with a spike in activity last night and this morning. With a bit of luck, I'll see something happen soon enough by patiently waiting here.

After a few minutes, I see two guys, young-looking, possibly college students, who stop in front of a store. They talk for a bit, then one of them enters as the other stays outside and starts looking at his phone. Nothing unusual going on there.

However, as I'm about to look away, I notice that the one who stayed outside is looking around, confused. He takes a few steps away from the store door, looks around a bit more, then walks towards a small alley and enters.

I didn't hear anything that could have attracted his attention, and he is now entering an isolated place. Worth keeping an eye on.

I cast a few spells to help me hide, then I jump across the street to land on a different roof. From there, I follow the young man as he himself follows whatever is calling to him. After a few twists and turns, I feel the release of magical energy indicative of a spell being cast and see him fall unconscious on the ground. I stay hidden, waiting for the person responsible to come claim their prize.

It takes a few minutes for two people to finally get out of hiding. They quickly look around before one of them says:

"And that's another one. Do you think that's going to be enough?"

"Probably, but we might as well get one more, just in case."

"What do we even need all of those people for, anyway?"

"Their blood, obviously."

"No, I get that, but why this many?"

"Apparently, something happened yesterday that made the boss panic. Now he's doing everything he can to move us out of here as soon as possible."

"Building up our reserves then. Think we'll keep any of them alive this time? Their blood does just regenerate by itself if we let it."

"Hard to say, could be a liability during travel. I guess that'll be up to the boss to choose."

During that conversation, they grab the body and start dragging it somewhere. Sorry, young man, I'd like to save you, but I need them to show me the way to their base.

They stay out of view of the nearby streets as they carry the body to what seems to be an abandoned building. They likely put some measures in place to detect intruders, so I cast a few more spells on myself to throw off most alarms. Once the two vampires have entered, I jump on the roof of that building and start looking for a way in.

The windows around the second floor have been blocked by wooden boards, but I find one where they seem to have started to rot away. I create a bubble around it to prevent the noise from reaching the people inside, then, while standing on the windowsill, I carefully crack the boards along their rot lines. Soon enough, I have a space large enough to slip in, and I put the pieces back where I found them. That way, if anyone ever comes to check on the boards, they'll think they simply broke due to the rot.

Of course, it might not be necessary for me to be this careful, as I intend to exterminate everything I find in this building, but better safe than sorry, especially when dealing with intelligent monsters.

I undo the silence bubble around the window, then inspect the room I'm in. it's relatively small, but completely empty. There's a single opening to my left and, judging by how rusty the hinges on the frame are, they haven't served to hold a door in ages. Nothing to open, no risk of making noises.

I look into the hallway on the other side of the empty frame. No one. I continue moving from hiding spot to hiding spot, checking every room I come across, all while being as silent as I can. Soon enough, I conclude that they're not using the second floor at all.

I go down a flight of stairs, and scout the first floor in a similar manner. Still no one, not even the two people I just saw enter and the unconscious man they were carrying. There must be some kind of hidden passage I missed.

I cast a tracking spell allowing me to see recent movements of monsters through the ambient energy, revealing a vague presence. I follow it and am led to a wall that seems perfectly normal at first glance, but they've clearly gone through it. As I touch it, I notice a complex series of spells engraved within it. I can't decipher them, but they likely make it so it will only open if something it recognizes as a key is nearby.

How to cross, then? I can't brute force my way through the spell, and punching down the wall would be too obvious and likely to trigger various traps. Should I simply wait for someone to come out and try to sneak in? But what about the prisoners?

As I think, I hear a faint sound coming from the wall. I dart behind a pile of rubble, out of sight of whoever is coming.

The wall slowly vanishes, revealing stairs going down. The two vampires I saw earlier are coming out of it, likely to head out to find their next victim. Now's the time to strike!

While neither of them is looking in my direction, I leave my hiding spot, summon my hunting knife, and in the same motion jam it into the neck of one of them. The other sees me and tries to scream, but I already put a silence zone around his head. In one swift movement, I pull my knife out of the corpse and try to stab the one still alive, but he manages to dodge and start running back down the stairs.

I smile as I realize his mistake. The hallway is too narrow to allow any dodging.

I lift my left hand up and conjure a short spear, which shoots flying at a high speed and pierces my target's chest. To avoid him falling into a potentially crowded room, I use an extra spell to call the spear back to me, and use that motion to decapitate the vampire, making sure he really is dead.

So much for being subtle, now there's blood everywhere as well as two corpses at the entrance of their hideout. I shrug before beginning my descent into their den.

A few meters below the ground, I reach an open door. The stairs don't go any further, so this must be where they are. I peek inside, unsure of what to expect.

A large number of people, likely all vampires are hard at work putting various items in boxes and stacking those boxes in the corner of the room. A few appear to be resting, drinking a red liquid I assume to be blood. At the very back of the room, five people are chained to the wall, including the still unconscious man I just saw them kidnap. They're all still alive, but one of them appears to be extremely weak and has several bite marks on her neck. She likely needs immediate medical attention.

One of the vampires acts as a leader, telling the others what to grab, what to leave, and where to put everything. Eventually, one of his underlings asks:

"Boss, you still haven't told us why we're running away."

"We're not running away, we're uh... strategically updating our area of activity."

"What does that even mean? Ah, whatever. I'm more interested in the 'why' that's necessary."

"I'd like for everyone to be here so I don't need to repeat myself. We still have a few people outside collecting supplies, so I'll wait for them to be back."

I decide that this is the perfect moment to enter the room and reveal my presence. I understand the danger I'm putting myself into, but I need answers. As I walk in, I shout:

"Let me guess: you're going against your queen's orders, you're aware that her brother entered the town yesterday, and you're panicking because you're worried he's going to find you. Am I right?"

Everyone in the room suddenly turns towards me in confusion. The leader unsheathes his sword before asking:

"Who are you, and how did you get in here? Only vampires are allowed."

I lift my hunting knife up, revealing the blood on the blade for all to see.

"In your panic, you made a few mistakes that allowed me to track you down. I'm a monster hunter, and we've been investigating your activity in this city for a while now. For the harm you've caused and the lives you've taken, expect proportionate punishment."

I slide two fingers along my left arm, causing the runes on it to activate in quick succession. A light armor materializes over my clothes and a second knife appears at my hip along with a pistol. With the second to last rune in the line disappearing, the energy within my body goes wild as some of the limiters I applied to myself get removed. I doubt I'll need to be at full power for this, so I leave the remaining rune alone.

Understanding my intent, every vampire in the room grabs a weapon and rushes towards me. However, they're slow. Far too slow. Not that I'd expect low-ranking monsters to be able to keep up with me.

I move swiftly between them and their attacks, striking their vital points whenever I see an opening as I dodge. The number of opponents quickly starts dwindling as I slash my way through them, leaving bleeding corpses behind me.

Eventually, the leader decides that this massacre cannot continue any further. He runs towards me, much faster than any of his underlings managed, but it's still too slow. I parry his sword strike with one knife as I slash another vampire's throat with the other. I then jump back as the few remaining survivors regroup behind their boss.

"You're good for a hunter. Far too good. Are you truly human?"

"If you think I'm too good, wait until you see what some of our delvers are capable of. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot you're going to be dead in a few seconds."

"Sarcasm won't save you. I have no intention of going easy on you."

"Imagine going easy in a battle to the death, what a ridiculous idea!"

As I say that, I reveal the rune still etched to my left arm, causing him to get enraged and charge towards me. Exactly like I wanted.

As he lifts his arms up to prepare for a downward sword strike, I position myself to avoid the attack. However, his arms vanish and the blade reappears below me. An illusion spell to make me think the attack would come from a different direction.

The sword rises rapidly towards my neck. I'm in a bad position to dodge it, I'll just have to take the hit.

The edge strikes me. The vampire looks at me in surprise as he realize that it didn't penetrate nearly as much as he expected. A small drop of blood travels down the blade as I drop one of my daggers and grab him by the neck, shoving him against the ground.

"Now, how about you answer my question? Are you acting against the queen's orders?"

He struggles a bit before responding:

"Of course we are! She's too soft, won't take care of our issues. What are we supposed to do but take matters into our own hands?"

"And by that, you mean infiltrating our cities and drinking our blood until we die?"

"Ah! That's only part of it. You can expect great things to finally be set in motion soon, human, assuming you even survive our fight!"

He casts a spell that knocks me away, then grabs his sword back and rushes towards me. He knows the illusion won't work a second time, and that going for my neck is useless, so he's aiming for my face. I dodge, cast a spell that slows his movement down at the same time, and stick my knife through his skull.

As the body of their leader falls to the ground in slow motion, I quickly cut down the remaining few vampires. I take a look around to make sure I didn't miss any of them before reforming the runes on my left arm as I grab my phone and call for help. I confirm that the weak-looking prisoner's life is in danger, then I free the others, telling them help is on the way and that everything will be okay.

I'm surprised to see my boss show up with the rest of the rescue team.

"You did well today, Eniré. Did any Royals get in your way?"

"No, and I don't see why they would have. These guys were traitors, rebelling against the authority of the queen. My goal was to save the prisoners, but as far as I can tell, I also did exactly what was expected of me by the vampires."

"I see. This is troubling. I'd rather this city not be involved in a vampire civil war."

The good news is that this little hunt allowed me to confirm the presence of at least one rebel faction among the vampires. And now I'm helping the queen without any promise of reward. I feel like I'm being played.

As I lean against the wall to rest, I feel my phone vibrate. Text message from an unknown number, but I can guess who sent it.

"Very well done, Mister Benord. I'm sure the hostages at the following locations would appreciate your help too:"

Under that message are multiple map links, likely indicating the locations of the other operations in the city.

My boss looks at me, puzzled, so I explain:

"Just got an anonymous tip. Bunch of locations, probably with more vampires in them. I'll use the rest of the day to check them out."

"Be careful, and call for help if you need it, you hear?"

I wave goodbye as I leave the room and climb the stairs back up. Looks like I have a long hunt ahead of me.