When at last they escaped the treacherous fog, they found themselves on the other side of the channel, and within sight of West Harbour. The seaside town was built along the western shore of an island (though the low-tide revealed a crossing to Nearbridge and the road to Olvaile in the south). The docks and the main pier were the town’s chief features, as well as the tavern that Rodrick was all too keen on visiting. Even here Victor failed to escape the ghastly aroma of fish, though at least now he was granted an opportunity for a proper bath.
They took up residence in an upstairs room in the tavern, and were given time to bathe, eat and rest before Rodrick called them down again and gave them their instructions. They sat in a corner table away from the ruckus caused by the locals in their drink. Rodrick displayed a map of the down under the light of a candle and marked it as he spoke. “This is your assignment, I’m only here to observe, but I have faith that you know what you’re doing. Remember, the contract is only for a roach so this is (in my opinion) child’s play. The first thing you’ll need to do is gather information; I’d suggest talking to the mayor, whose office is here,” he pointed to the hall in the centre of the map. “Speak to the coroner as well and see if there was anything else worth noticing about the victims’ bodies. The rest I am sure you’ll figure out. Good luck and good hunting!”
Outside the tavern the three young hunters decided on a plan of attack. The last incident had occurred over a week ago and the scene had been cleaned of any evidence. Victor suggested they get the questions out of the way first. “I call dibs of the mayor!” he said.
Samantha puffed up her cheeks. “Damn, I wanted that one!”
“To save Sam the trouble,” said Hansel, “I guess I’ll go to the coroner and look at the bodies. Sam, you can go to the families of the victims; maybe the roach is choosing his targets rather than killing them randomly.”
“Then it’s decided,” Victor agreed. “Just remember to be back here before dark, and don’t follow any leads without talking it over first. We don’t want to catch this thing before we’re ready.”
There was a main street that cut through the centre of the town, and the mayor’s office was in a building near the end of it. After revealing that he had been sent from the academy, Victor was granted immediate access, as it was the mayor himself who had placed the contract in the first place. Victor was welcomed into the office and presented before the mayor, who was a stocky old man dressed in overalls, and had a long beard. He looked around and noticed several trophies and ornaments, including a surprisingly large crab mounted above the door.
The mayor offered him a seat and poured some tea. “So you’re from the academy? One of them slayers, right?”
Victor smiled and blew gently on his drink. “Well, I’m not a slayer but I am from the academy. There are four of us here, in fact. I’d like to assure you that we will soon identify the vampyre and put it to rest as soon as humanly possible.”
The mayor’s eyes went wide. “So it is a vampyre! Good heavens! This creature has haunted us for over a month now! Four of my citizens are dead! Dead I say, because of that thing!”
“Well, if you don’t mind I’d like to ask you some questions.” Victor took out a notebook and pen.
“Ask away, my boy! Anything to help you catch the monster.”
“Excellent! I’ll start by asking if you can remember exactly when the first attack occurred?”
“Why it was a Sunday, the second of October I believe.”
“Do you know of anyone who passed away prior to that date, say, between the twelfth of November and the second of October?”
The mayor placed a hand on his chin and thought for a moment. “Hmm… let me see. There was the Dickens brothers (they got caught in a terrible boating accident) and there was also One-eyed Pete, but he was an ancient old thing, a retired fisherman who passed of old age. I should mention that Pete’s brother Sal was one of the four victims. I can get you an official record of deaths in the town, if it will help.”
“Sal was a victim?” Victor asked with haste. “What do you know of Pete? Was there anything strange about him? Or did he have any history of interacting with monsters before, or perhaps Dark Ones?”
The mayor began an account of how he knew One-eyed Pete and the many ventures he had heard of in the past, however he was uncertain of any strange happenings or odd occurrences. “He’d never kill his brother, if that’s what you’re thinking. Old Pete was a quiet old man even before I became mayor, and that was ten years ago! But there are some who know him better than I; he has a granddaughter who lives on Debel Street, maybe she can tell you more.”
“Well this is certainly a good lead,” said Victor, closing his notebook. “Oh, there is one more thing. Where were they all buried?”
The mayor slouched uncomfortably. “We have a cemetery a little way inland, but I hope you don’t plan on digging up graves now! These people have a families and loved ones!”
“Please, we would never disturb a grave without being certain that it was for the right reasons. It was just a question.”
As soon as he was satisfied that he had learned all he could for now from the mayor, Victor headed for the coroner’s office where he bumped into Hansel who was waiting outside. “Did you get anything from the coroner?” he asked.
Hansel shrugged. “Other than a few nightmares? Based on the state of the bodies (or what remained of them) I’d say they were killed by a roach, but there’s one way to make sure.” He tossed a small yellow item to Victor, who observed it carefully.
“It’s a fang!”
Hansel nodded. “The coroner found it embedded in one of the victim’s necks. It does belong to a roach, right?”
“We should take it to Rodrick, just in case, but I’d say it belongs to a roach.”
“Shall we go back now, then? And wait for Sam at the tavern?”
Victor turned and faced inland. “No, there’s one more thing I’d like to check out. I suspect an old man named One-eyed Pete could be our roach. We need to visit a doctor.”
“A doctor? Why?”
Victor drew out the map and pointed to the graveyard. “The main cemetery is located close to the middle of the island which means that if our wraith is buried there then he couldn’t go much further than the town hall without dissipating.”
Hansel caught on to the plan. “So if we find signs of a wraith on the west end of the town then we can rule out everyone from the cemetery.”
“Right,” said Vic. “The doctor would know if the signs were there; people fainting in the street, having night terrors, children and elderly getting sick, infants passing away or pregnant women having miscarriages.”
They found the doctor in his clinic about ten minutes away from where they were. The clinic was a small long building with a number of tents and beds set up in an enclosed area along the side. It appeared to have run out of space and was due for an upgrade. The doctor was a bald man with glasses and shallow eyes. He seemed to recognise Victor and Hansel at once. He welcomed them, and was quick to show on their map the locations of various incidents. “Just down the road from here poor Charlotte Robinson lost her baby. She was the first, I think.”
“When did this happen?” they questioned.
The doctor replied after quickly checking his records. “It was the fifteenth of September. I suspected it was a wraith, you know, because I had heard of this happening before from other doctors; the fainting and the sick kids and what not.” He continued to cross-check the homes of his patients with the locations on the map. “I tried to warn the mayor but he wouldn’t believe me. ‘Now there’s not need to go starting a panic,’ he said. Huh! We could’ve solved this mess weeks ago if he had listened!”
The doctor returned the newly marked map to them; there had been no incidents on the west end of town, proving that the wraith belonged to the cemetery (or at least was near there). “One last thing,” Victor asked before heading out. “Do your records state the day that One-eyed Pete passed away?”
“Sure they do!” He flicked through his papers. “It was the fourteenth of September.”
“Right before the first attacks,” Victor murmured to Hansel. It was time to return to the tavern to compare notes with Sam, and present what they had to Rodrick.
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