Originally written for Milbunk's 2016 Fanfiction Contest.
Just a bit over 20k words, estimated reading time about 1 hour 20 minutes.
One-line synopsis:
Spoiler:
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-=The First Night=-
Sion took a deep breath as she stepped out of the car, tasting the fresh mountain air of Solociano for the first time.
The town, a small mountain village with a population of only a thousand or so, was nestled quite snugly among the mountains of northern Italy. It had very little connection to the outside world, with only a single road leading into the village and not even so much as a radio to be found. According to her sources, there had been attempts to modernize the village by the Italian government in the past, but such attempts had met with strong resistance from the villagers themselves.
The lack of technology gave the village a somewhat exotic feel, as if it was some sort of reenactment of Italy's past. The brilliant sunlight washing over the old stone houses gave a picturesque view that was somewhat reminiscent of a museum. No doubt, this village would likely prove to be a tremendous resource to those studying pre-modern Italian architecture and culture.
Of course, Sion's plans were not quite so mundane. As she swept her gaze over the town, her assessment of its cultural value sat quietly in the back of her mind as more urgent matters took the forefront. Landmarks, population, how the streets wound their ways through the town, the atmosphere around the residents, indeed even the weather - all of these things she took in in the span of a breath and catalogued away. This place could become a battlefield in no more than a few hours, and every scrap of information she could get her hands on was another weapon.
Of particular note was the lack of night-time lighting. It seemed this village went to sleep early, as the number of lanterns that would serve to light the streets at night was alarmingly small. Naturally, with no electricity, those would have to be lit by hand, so it wasn't particularly feasible to have a large number of them, but it would make their work all that more challenging if they had to fight in the dark.
Marking the spots of the few night lanterns she could see, she nodded her thanks to her driver and made her way into the heart of the town. As had been planned before, her escort did not stay any longer than was necessary, and in short order Sion heard the sound of the vehicle drive away down the road it had come in on.
It had been one of her instructions as the leader of this operation - that they would strike at their target with as few people as physically possible. To anyone else, that may have seemed tantamount to suicide, but to Sion it was the obvious course of action. The Curse fed on rumors, uneasiness, and the stresses of common people. Adding trained soldiers with who knew what fears and traumas to that population would only make it stronger.
So, to cut off the disaster that would surely happen from sending in an entire contingent of Knights and Alchemists, Sion ordered that their task force be limited to as few people as humanly possible. Of course, there was a small strike force of Knights set up a healthy distance from the village that they could call in an emergency, but that would truly be a last resort tactic. Besides, defeating a single vampire didn't take numbers - it took skill. And if the best of Atlas and the Church working together couldn't do it, then there was little hope that adding more underlings would make a difference.
Walking through the town, Sion took the twists and turns that would theoretically lead her to the town's central square. While she had never been to Solociano before, and reliable maps of such a small, backwater village didn't really exist, it was easy enough to figure out that the village was constructed around a single central point by the way the buildings and roads were aligned. Probably a water source of some description.
As she walked, she quickly noticed something...odd, amongst the villagers.
Many gave her curious looks, which was to be expected. She even got a handful of friendly smiles and waves. But there was something missing - normally, such a closed off community tended to be very wary of outsiders. But in this case, while they were obviously curious about her, she didn't detect any negativity at all. There was nothing but warm welcomes in their mannerisms, which was the exact opposite of what Sion had expected to be greeted with.
As she made her way towards the center of the town, this realization caused her to grow ever more uneasy. If her predictions were reliable, then from their perspective, there should have been an unprecedented influx of outsiders coming to their village over the past few days and weeks. But rather than generate concern among the townspeople, they seemed to just...brush it off. They were curious, but not interested. For such a rural, shut-away people, that was beyond strange.
She supposed that was to her benefit. The less uneasy the people were about her, the more freedom she would have. While she wasn't happy about not knowing the reason, it was always something she could investigate later.
"Excuse me?"
An unfamiliar voice stopped Sion mid-stride. Turning to look behind her, she was greeted by a warm smile from a middle-aged woman. Judging from her dress and accent, she seemed to be a local resident. She was built rather solidly, but it was more the muscle of a hard-working mother than that of a fighter - the chances she was an agent of the Church were slim to none.
"Would you happen to be Miss Eltnam?" With no response from Sion, the woman continued. Sion's grasp of Italian was elementary at best, and the woman's very rural rendition of it made it even more difficult to understand, but even in that unfamiliar accent, she recognized her own name very easily.
"I am," she said somewhat cautiously, one part due to her lack of fluency in Italian and another because this complete stranger happened to know her name. While it caught her off guard, she supposed it wasn't all that unlikely. If anyone had said 'there is a foreigner named Eltnam coming to the village soon,' anyone could connect that person to her. The most obvious question would be then, who had told her that she was coming?
"Ah, great!" the woman exclaimed, clapping her hands in satisfaction. "Father Idoni asked that if we saw you, we should lead you to the church!"
And that answered that question suitably. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious she supposed - if she was working with the Church, it would probably make preparations for her arrival. She supposed it also explained why she had been shown a considerable lack of antagonism from the villagers - they had actually been expecting her. And if they were expecting her as a friend of the Church, then they would no doubt welcome her with open arms.
The woman laughed apologetically, saying something in Italian that Sion couldn't quite catch. With a friendly clap on the shoulder, she took Sion by the hand and spoke very slowly, "Follow me."
It seemed the woman had mistaken her hesitation for lack of understanding, but that suited Sion just fine. With a smile and a nod, Sion allowed the woman to gently pull her through the town, all the while keeping a somewhat cautious eye on her surroundings. As they walked, the woman continued to chatter on excitedly, speaking in a way Sion had no hope of understanding. The church had been fairly close by, situated in a central courtyard that, as Sion had predicted, housed a large well.
The church itself was fairly small, maybe two or three rooms at most, and didn't look like it could hold much more than a tenth of the town's population. It made Sion wonder if there were actually more churches throughout the town, but with the placement of this one, it certainly seemed to be the town's central social hub. Pushing open the solid wooden door of the church without hesitation, the woman lead Sion inside and called out in a loud voice.
In short order, a small, grey-haired old man came out of one of the inner rooms. Peering quizzically at the pair of women through his dirty glasses, he almost jumped when he finally saw Sion. The old man, a priest judging by his garb, quickly scurried his way over, all the while exchanging rapid-fire words with Sion's guide.
Sion began to wonder whether she might have been better off turning down the invitation when the woman suddenly turned and gave Sion a hug. Unsure of how to react, Sion stood frozen, but before her lack of response became awkward, the woman let her go, gave her a wink and a pat on the shoulder, and with a few more unintelligible words, exited through the door they had come in.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sorry!" the old man suddenly spoke up, futilely rubbing his glasses on his equally dirty priest's robe. "Oh! Uhhh...English? Do you speak English?"
"Ah, yes, English is fine," Sion replied with an awkward, yet grateful smile. English wasn't her first language, but as a member of the Atlas Institute, it was a language she had to be fairly comfortable working in.
"Great, great!" The old priest replied, relief obvious on his face. "My name is Adriano Idoni. Most, uhm...most of the villagers call me Father Idoni. A pleasure to meet you!"
"The pleasure is all mine," Sion replied, her smile much more genuine than before. The old man, somewhat shorter than she was, spoke as if he had just recently been brushing up on his English, and Sion had a good idea as to what had prompted him to do so.
"Mother Riesbyfe informed me you would be arriving in Solociano today, so I took it upon myself to, uhh...to tell the villagers you were coming. I...I didn't want them to get, spooked. It's so very not common to see outsiders, you see!" The man wrung his hands apologetically, as if his attempt at courtesy in preparing for her had been offensive.
"Thank you," Sion replied with a small nod, "I appreciate your hospitality. I have to admit," she continued, trying to change the subject a little, "I'm surprised Mother Riesbyfe has contacts all the way out here."
Idoni gave a scowl and a hum as he started to make his way back into the church, motioning Sion to follow him. "Well, actually, I hadn't met her myself before...oh, when did she come? Maybe three days ago? Maybe four?"
That startled Sion. "Wait, Mother Riesbyfe came here personally?"
The old man turned to give her a quizzical look before replying. "Didn't you come here to meet her?"
Sion smiled apologetically, mind racing for an excuse as if she had been caught in a lie. "Well, I knew I was meeting someone from the Church. I didn't know Mother Riesbyfe herself would be meeting with me." In the end, the truth won out. There was no value in hiding things from the priest. As long as he didn't ask what she was doing here...well, hopefully 'Mother Riesbyfe' had managed to sate that curiosity for him.
"Yes, well, Mother Riesbyfe is truly an outstanding individual. Maybe, uhh...maybe it's not my place to say this, seeing as I've only known her for a short time, but she doesn't seem like someone who is satisfied to delegate."
"Is she still in the village?" Sion continued. If Riesbyfe herself was here, that made things...complicated. While it certainly seemed to be helping in the short term with setting up and getting a foothold in the town, working with such a VIP from the Church in the field could prove difficult.
Rather than answer her question, however, the old man simply smiled and, approaching a small wooden door in the back of the sanctuary, opened it wide. Sitting casually on the other side of that door dressed in full armor and lazily toying with what looked like the carrying case for some sort of large musical instrument, was Riesbyfe Stridberg herself.
*****
After a short exchange with Riesbyfe outside of Sion's hearing, Father Idoni had rather hastily left the two alone in what looked like a private study of some sort.
"Long time no see," Riesbyfe greeted her with a patronizing grin. "Glad to see you are doing well."
"It's a pleasure to see you again," Sion replied with a flat expression. "I must admit I'm curious why you didn't mention that you were going to be here personally at our last meeting."
Riesbyfe gave a short laugh. "To be honest, I came here just to take a look around, but after spending a few days in the village I decided it would be best if I got involved too. It looks like this is going to be a pretty serious case, and you did ask me to send the best I could afford. Besides, if the next head of Atlas is going to participate, it would only be fair if we sent someone of equal calibre, right?"
Sion gave a quiet sigh. She and Riesbyfe had first met a month or so prior, when the Church officially contracted the Atlas Institute to help with exterminating a particularly tenacious vampire. For...personal reasons, she had volunteered to head the operation, but through all of the negotiations, 'Mother Riesbyfe' had never showed the slightest inclination towards participating in the hunt herself. Sion had, apparently mistakenly, believed the 'Head of the Knights' was a largely bureaucratic position. Judging by the armor she now wore, it was quite obvious that that wasn't the case.
"If things move according to your calculations," Riesbyfe spoke up, changing the subject, "then the real danger begins tonight, doesn't it?"
Sion nodded. "Right. As long as everything remains on schedule, we should see some movement shortly after sundown. And everything will be over by the end of our...well, my third night here."
"What an annoying vampire," Riesbyfe said with a sigh, leaning back in her chair. "I've been here for three days already, and now it's going to take another three just to find the stupid thing?"
"Less find it, and more wait for it to exist," Sion said.
Their target - the Night of Wallachia.
A vampiric Curse that, in most cases, did nothing. It didn't even really exist. But, when the situation was right, when all the conditions were met, it would manifest in a single night of carnage and destruction, devouring all who lived within its effective range. It was a centuries old curse, and having successfully predicted where it would appear this time, the Church had finally made a move to put an end to it once and for all.
Sion herself had spent the last month intensively researching all records held by the Atlas Institute, the Church, and even her personal records of the Eltnam family, for any information she could glean about the Curse. Unfortunately, while the research hadn't exactly been useless, it didn't provide her with any practical knowledge about defeating it. Sure, she understood the theoretical framework it operated on, and she could probably even predict its next few appearances within a negligible margin of error. But the nature of the Curse itself prevented any records of its combat abilities from being reliable.
The way the Curse operated was deceptively simple - it would latch on to rumors spreading about a given area, and as it collected power, it would manifest those rumors as apparitions. As a vampire intent on feeding, it tended towards the more destructive and dangerous rumors - serial killers, monsters, and the like. These apparitions would sow terror and fear throughout the town, thus feeding the Curse even more. When it reached its full power, it would manifest itself as the most powerful rumor circulating, and for a single night would lay waste to everything in its surroundings.
Stopping that final incarnation was their goal. Theoretically, if that could be defeated, the Curse would end for good.
Of course, the actual mechanisms and conditions were a little more complicated than that, but for their purposes, this was effectively how it functioned.
Taking a glance at the clock in the small room, Sion nodded to herself. "About 2 hours until sunset. Shall we start getting ready?"
Riesbyfe gave what could almost be called an excited smile, motioning to a desk in the corner of the room. "I've made some maps of the town and surrounding area, complete with my own personal notes. Would you like to take a look?"
Sion raised an eyebrow in surprise. She supposed Riesbyfe had been here for three days, but she didn't really strike Sion as the...careful planning type. She wasn't going to complain about having more information, though. Walking over to the desk, she surveyed the maps and notes Riesbyfe had prepared. Most of the notes were very combat-centric - 'large open space,' 'poor night lighting,' 'narrow entryway,' and more than a dozen places marked with 'hiding spot.' Were those for them to hide, or the enemy?
This was exactly the kind of information Sion was looking for. Though she had already started, and would continue, compiling her own personal notes on the town as a battlefield, having these maps labelled with Riesbyfe's appraisal of the individual areas was a great foundation for her to build on.
Sitting down at the desk, Sion motioned Riesbyfe to join her.
"Two hours until we head out," she said, turning to face the desk as Riesbyfe pulled up a chair beside her. "And lots of planning to do."
Sitting down with a heavy thud - surprisingly loud, until Sion realized it was probably just the weight of her armour - Riesbyfe retrieved a handful of pencils from inside the desk and placed them on the table.
"Let's get started."
****************
Sion took a deep breath to settle her nerves.
She and Riesbyfe had been patrolling the streets of the small village for a little over two hours, and with the sun comfortably below the horizon, shadows hid most of the small town from sight. The sparsely arrayed lanterns were lit, but with the distance between them, they did little except blind their eyes to the moonlight.
Sion had briefly considered snuffing the lanterns and working with only natural light, but she had quickly dismissed the idea. The moonlight wasn't strong enough for them to operate, and while it would be better than nothing, having the option to lure any enemies they came across near the lanterns to fight was more useful.
Riesbyfe, clad in her black combat uniform, made a striking figure in the dark. Her white hair and silver armor made her somehow easy to find yet difficult to see in the weak light. Between the lanterns, she became almost ghostly monochromatic, and Sion couldn't help but wonder if that was the intent behind the design. Her instrument case, which Sion could only assume held some sort of weapon, was still slung on her back. It appeared by Riesbyfe's bored demeanour that Sion was the only one who felt the tension of the situation.
The window of opportunity they had to work was very narrow. This was the first night on which the Curse would be strong enough to physically manifest, and in two or three days time, it would be gone. That meant they needed to draw out its core and destroy it within - at best - three nights.
Thanks to Riesbyfe's intelligence gathering efforts on the town's layout and Sion's own research about the Curse, they had made a strong start, but it would be difficult to maintain that pace for three nights straight.
Without a word, Riesbyfe suddenly pulled her instrument case off her back, and began opening it.
"Something wrong?" Sion asked, keeping her eyes on the environment around them. They were perhaps a 5 minute walk away from returning to the church where they had begun their investigation, if they maintained their current cautious pace. Riesbyfe gave a grunt in acknowledgement before tossing the empty instrument case on the ground by the closest lantern.
"Smells like death up ahead."
Sion frowned. It didn't make sense for there to be something naturally occurring up ahead, as it was a place they had already investigated. No matter how close they got, however, Sion didn't detect any smell at all.
As they continued to press towards the source of Riesbyfe's anomalous smell, Sion quickly appraised the Knight's weapon. It was difficult to make out the details in the poor light, but it was evidently some sort of shield. It was strapped to her left arm so she could wield it without tying up her hands if needed. On the tip of the shield, a sharp spearhead-like point protruded out of the shield, giving it a pile bunker-like appearance.
It was an interesting design, but she suspected that it was more than just an 'interesting shield.' There was no way the head of the Knights would go into battle without some form of holy relic, and considering the plain, utilitarian look of her armor, she suspected this was it.
As they broke into the clearing marking the town center, Sion armed herself as well. Pulling a sleek black handgun out from the holster at her waist, she triple checked the ammo cartridge and disengaged the safety. Taking one last look around the clearing to make sure there was no immediate danger, she closed her eyes and brought a hand to her left temple.
Accelerated Thought Process: Initiate.
Divided Thought Process: Open.
With those words, time seemed to stop. As if the world had ground to a halt to wait for her, the sound of fire flickering in the lanterns, the sounds of Riesbyfe's footsteps, the sounds of the wind between the stone houses - everything stopped. In that one moment of serene silence, something hidden deep in Sion's mind began to awaken. As if trading away her emotions, her mind became a computer designed for perfect analysis, perfect calculation. With a sensation like an old CRT monitor being turned on, the circuit was complete - and the machine was turned on.
Opening her eyes, a volume of information that would put even computers to shame flowed into Sion. Everything she saw before her was suddenly no more than math - the movement of the Head Knight, the flickering of the lanterns, the breath of the wind, everything was a formula, everything was a number.
Unfazed by the flood of information, Sion completed her ritual with a deep breath, lowering her hand back to her side. Staying atop the flood of information - staying human while your brain turned into a machine - was not a simple task, but it was the trademark of Atlas alchemists. The threat of being dragged under was nothing new to her, and it was a threat that had lost its bite long ago.
With the mental shock of unlocking her analytic capabilities passed, Sion once again swept her gaze over the clearing.
Riesbyfe was heading to the church. No doubt, she was worried that the source of the smell was there, and that the priest was in danger. Incorrect, though.
The wind was blowing from behind them. Any natural smell should have been carried away from them, but Riesbyfe's approach indicated she thought it was getting stronger. Not a literal odour, then.
No, the thing that caught her attention - a curious hum coming from the opposite direction of the church.
The town well.
A sound like static, barely audible over the sound of the breeze - probably unnoticed by Riesbyfe, but with her enhanced cognition, no tiny fragment of input would be lost to her.
"Riesbyfe," Sion called out in a low voice. As Riesbyfe turned to look at her, Sion nodded towards the well. It was just barely outside the optimal range of her handgun, and far out of Riesbyfe's combat range if she planned to engage in melee.
Taking the hint, Riesbyfe sank into a battle ready stance and placed herself between Sion and the well. Slowly, she began advancing forwards, eyes carefully trained on her target. All the while, Sion continued to keep an eye on their surroundings.
As they approached the well, the soft static sound stopped with an abrupt snap. Then, as if on cue, an odd-looking figure popped up a few centimeters above the edge of the well.
Before Sion could say anything, Riesbyfe stopped and held her shield combat-ready. The poor light coming from the lantern behind them made it almost impossible to see any detail of the figure, but they could at least see a faint glimmer in what looked like eyes.
"I thought vampires didn't like water," Sion called out cautiously. "What's this one doing in a well?"
"Oh, don't worry little girl," a raspy voice answered her. "I'm no vampire. I just want to play." It was like listening to someone filing a piece of iron.
"Come on over, then," Riesbyfe spoke up, her voice somehow a mix of playful and hateful. "We'll play with you all night."
As expected, the creature only laughed, sinking slightly deeper into the well. "Oh, but you are so scary. I just want to play with the purple one. Why don't you send her over?"
The situation became decidedly awkward. It seemed the creature was somewhat intelligent, as evidenced by its ability to speak. But it also seemed like it wasn't interested in leaving the well. Of course, Sion wasn't stupid enough to get anywhere close to the well, but there didn't seem like very many more options to get it out in the open.
"Well, I guess one well is a small price to pay for killing such a disgusting smelling beast," Riesbyfe said to herself as she began approaching the well. Sion slowly repositioned herself around her, gaining a clear line of sight to the well. Raising her gun, she approached just close enough that she could confidently land a hit.
"Oh, I can't let you do that," the creature's raspy voice sounded somehow more sinister, having lost it's playful edge. "You see, I am the guardian of this town's well. If you try to harm it, I'll have to drown you."
"Oh please," Riesbyfe called back, maintaining her cautious forward movement. "What kind of 'guardian spirit' smells like corpses?" The creature didn't reply, sinking below the mouth of the well and becoming completely obscured. Riesbyfe approached the well, now within five meters, before stopping. Making eye contact with Sion, they exchanged nods.
As Riesbyfe returned her attention to the well, she suddenly leapt forward - and the trap was set.
It was almost too perfect. As Riesbyfe leapt forward, a bird-like talon rose out of the well and struck down on her like a hammer. Riesbyfe of course had been counting on the preemptive attack, and had already raised her shield above her head. A sound like a tuning fork flooded the clearing as the bizarre appendage slammed into the shield, causing the Knight's legs to buckle momentarily, dropping her to one knee.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. As possibilities played out in her head like a movie theater, Sion had already begun to move. The sound of gunfire overlapped that of Riesbyfe's shield as Sion made three quick shots towards the well. At the same time, Riesbyfe dropped her shield, reached up, and grabbed the monster's leg that was still trying to crush her. As the three bullets raced past the Knight, she threw her entire body into a forward roll away from the well.
The bullets shortly after hit the rim of the well, ricocheting downwards into the darkness where the creature was hiding. The sharp sound of bullets ricocheting off stone was followed by the dull sound of them impacting wood, and for the briefest moment, Sion had thought she had missed. However, Riesbyfe's roll - still holding on to the creature's leg - tore the hissing beast from it's hiding place and heaved it over into the clearing.
In a little more than a second, the entire situation was different - the as-yet unidentified creature was now forced into the open. With Riesbyfe between the monster and the well, and flanked by Sion on the other side, it had no where to run or hide.
As the creature righted itself after being thrown face first into the flagstone of the city square, Riesbyfe did likewise, jumping backwards and taking up her shield again. In one fluid motion, she rearmed herself and threw something from her belt towards the creature. After the sharp sound of metal striking stone, the object erupted outwards, filling the clearing with an almost blinding white light, at last illuminating the monster between them.
It looked like something that truly belonged in a well. It's body seemed to be little more than a piece of misshapen wood, embedded in which were two unevenly spaced eyes and a jagged gash containing rows of razor-like teeth that could barely be called a mouth. Out of its wood-like body, four spindly legs, easily three meters long each, supported the creature as it stood in the city square. Despite the bird-like talons, its movement and bearing were more reminiscent of an insect.
Three bullet holes showed where Sion's distracting shots had struck home. It didn't appear to be significantly injured from the shots, but the unexpected injury had succeeded in causing the beast to lose its grip on the well's interior, allowing Riesbyfe to hurl it into the open street.
"Huh, so it really isn't a vampire," Riesbyfe said, disappointed. "I was hoping I'd get to test out how effective these UV flares were, but apparently that'll have to wait for another day."
"Be careful what you wish for," Sion said all the while tracking the creature's movements. It stood cautiously, tensely, watching the two of them. It seemed to understand that despite being almost twice her size, Riesbyfe was not going to be easy prey. Which meant, its next move would obviously be-
-with an unearthly howl, the creature leapt backwards, directly towards Sion. Spinning in the air to face its new target, one of its huge talons smashed into the ground, slicing through the air Sion had occupied only a breath before. Sion, having rolled forward close enough she could reach out and touch the creature's main body, rose to one knee and leveled her pistol at the creature's face. Two quick shots relieved the creature of its eyes, earning Sion a violent screech as the creature lurched backwards in pain.
Without taking the time to confirm, Sion kicked hard off the ground, rolling out from under the monster. Riesbyfe's shout signaled that she had made the right choice, and she was just able to right herself in time to see the knight bury the point of her shield-spear downward into the creature's defenseless back, driving it hard into the ground. With a roar every bit as terrifying as the well monster's, she then lifted the impaled creature over her head and slammed it face first into the flagstones behind her.
The well monster scrabbled weakly at the stones for a few moments, a painful gurgling sound coming from its wooden body, before its limbs went limp. Without another sound, the bizarre creature seemed to melt into a black mist, burned off by the waning light of Riesbyfe's flare.
The entire fight hadn't even lasted 15 seconds, but as she scanned the area to confirm their safety and came out of her combat trance, Sion felt the tension of hours leave her limbs. With a deep breath, Sion brought her advanced thought processing to a stop, and the constant flood of information pouring into her head slowed to a trickle - returned to human levels.
"Well, that was a lot easier than I had expected," Riesbyfe quipped as she watched the lingering bits of dead wood melt off her shield. "You seem pretty used to this, as well."
Sion holstered her weapon as she joined Riesbyfe in watching the 'corpse' melt away into the night. It was somewhat like watching a cube of sugar dissolve in slow motion. Ignoring the veiled question behind Riesbyfe's compliment, Sion spoke.
"So as expected, this was no doubt an apparition of the Curse. If it had been an actual...thing...it wouldn't disappear like this."
"What was it, out of curiosity? Certainly not undead, despite the fact it clearly smelled like one."
Sion gave a thoughtful hum. Her knowledge of Italian mythical creatures was pretty shallow, as she had only begun investigating them after receiving a call to arms from the Church. "There is a myth of a well monster, called the Marabbecca, that supposedly originated in Sicily. I guess it makes sense there would be a similar story here."
"Just your typical 'don't fall in the well' fairy tale, I suppose," Riesbyfe spoke under her breath, losing interest as the last of the creature's remains vanished into the night air. "Well, not much point in gloating now, is there?"
Sion nodded in agreement as she mentally collated what they had learned. Effectively, that was 'almost nothing,' but at least they had managed to put down this monster. It had been located in a spot that would have been incredibly dangerous to the local population, so it was a good thing they managed to eliminate it shortly after it appeared.
Also, she had a new lead. That bizarre, static-like sound would no doubt prove to be a recurring sign for the appearance of apparitions in the future. While not hearing it didn't mean they could let their guard down, it would certainly be a useful hint.
Either way, the night was young. After one last scan to make sure the area was clear, and that there were no lingering effects of the Marabbecca's presence, the two vampire hunters headed back into the night.