A lot was going on in her head right now. The vampyress had work to do now. Mattoro survived after the fight though he was seriously injured. Joan saw when he fell, and was the one who went after the guy who had attacked Mattoro. The last part of this operation would be to kill off the last of the contractors who went by the name Frankan. Joan was slightly upset since she was in such a hurry at the time she went to interrogate Frankan. She could not believe that she was fooled by the likes of him. It was slightly upsetting, but not too much. Joan knew that this was going to be the last part of the operation and then it would be the end once and for all. The vampyress hurried into the woods near her inn to get her fill for the day. She had been feeding regularly, and even more frequently than necessary to survive. This meant that she was in good shape for any type of mission. Once she was in the woods, she found prey immediately. She had no time to waste, so the vampyress quickly cleaned up after her feeding session, heading towards the town center to get her daily dose of caffeine. The girls at the cafe already knew what she was going to get so she took a seat and waited. After this she would have to head over to the Cold Colliers’ hideout where Mattoro was, probably on something like a hospital bed.

The coffee gave her senses a kick, like she woke up for a second time. A satisfied sigh escaped her lips after drinking like a quarter of her drink already. Standing in front of the cafe to get a carriage, the vampyress shoved her free hand into her pocket and waited. There were lots of carriages looking for passengers since it was the town center and there were lots of people there. Joan got her own carriage just a few minutes later since the queue was moving fast. She directed the carriage drive the way she normally would, to a spot near the warehouse that she was supposed to be at, and asked him to stop there. The reason she did not go with a carriage that allowed many passengers on it was obvious. She was supposed to keep this place a secret, and bringing a carriage full of people was a bad idea in this case. Once the carriage stopped, the vampyress hopped off, paying the carriage driver for the ride and standing there at that same spot until she was sure that the carriage was out of sight. She looked around to check if anyone was watching her or anything, then headed to the abandoned warehouse where she would find the Cold Colliers. The men at the door greeted her and gestured for her to enter, which was something they normally did. Giving them a nod each, the vampyress stepped through the door.

As soon as she saw Mattoro, who was in a hospital bed as she had expected, she hurried and took an empty seat next to the bed. There was another man there who was dressed like a doctor, so she assumed that was probably the doctor. Mattoro was too excited for his state. Upon seeing Joan, he sat up on the bed, getting all riled up for actually no reason. Well since Joan was here, then he knew that she had accepted his request and she would kill the last of his enemies for him. So there actually was a reason for him to get all excited like this. The doctor did not seem too happy seeing Mattoro sit up on his bed, but it seemed he could not stop the man. Joan had an expression that showed concern on her face although she was not concerned about Mattoro. She was wondering how she was going to kill Frankan when they had absolutely no idea where the man was or what he was planning. The last time they looked for information, they only got Giroud and Kalaus’ whereabouts, and could not get a hold of Frankan. So how exactly were they going to look for him now? That was what Joan was concerned about at the moment. But she had yet to listen to what Mattoro had to say. Maybe they did find information, who knew, right? Looking at the bed that Mattoro was sitting on, Joan noticed that it was not a real hospital bed and it was some kind of makeshift version.

There was also someone else who was probably one of the Cold Colliers who kept checking Mattoro’s vitals all throughout this time as if he was going to see a huge difference in such a short amount of time. Mattoro did not look like he was about to drop dead, but you could tell that he had taken some serious damage from the battle, and if he was not careful, something bad could happen, like death, although in this case he was not too close to death. Hopefully Frankan was not going to target Mattoro, because he was the one paying Joan for doing all this work. The vampyress kept silent the whole time. Mattoro took some time to start talking as well. He was not completely well yet, obviously, and he needed some time to do literally everything. When he started talking, he went straight to the point, saying everything he wanted to about the mission this time. It almost felt like he was venting instead of giving her instructions and details about the mission. He was quite angry with how Frankan had them all fooled, but he trusted Joan and he trusted that she could turn this situation around for the Cold Colliers. The doctor that was sitting on the opposite side had a frown on his face. He probably wanted his patient to rest and not get so riled up over this situation.

Once Mattoro started talking about the details, she came to understand the situation even more clearly. The man had employed some of the Cold Colliers to do some research on Frankan. Apparently he was the one behind the whole thing, and Kalaus and Giroud were merely his pawns. Joan frowned. She kind of already knew this, so she listened on for Mattoro to tell her something she did not already know. Mattoro took a break after saying that Frankan had employed two bodyguards to protect him and both of them were mages. The leader of the Cold Colliers was probably tired from too much talking since he was not completely well. The vampyress understood this. She knew that she could easily kill Frankan, but with those two wizards as bodyguards, she was not so sure. Of course she would have to see how strong these bodyguards were since Mattoro did not have that kind of information. Hopefully she could take them both as well as Frankan whom she knew did not have any fight in him. Even though this whole operation was based on getting revenge, it felt too much like doing the right thing, since Frankan was the bad guy after all. Joan wondered if she was going to get into trouble for helping out these people, although she knew that this kind of work could not be classified for legal mages, which was why she was able to take it in the first place.

Joan did not say a word while Mattoro recollected his energy to say more. She wondered what else he had to say. He probably did not have Frankan’s address. Joan was pretty sure the contractor was not that dumb. After all, he had managed to fool even herself, although you could say that the vampyre had underestimated him the first time. So she was not going to let that happen again for the second time. The last thing that Mattoro said was that she would probably have to take out the two bodyguards before she had a chance at Frankan. She almost rolled her eyes since a non-mage was telling her how to do a job, but she just nodded instead. She was a woman of few words, so when Mattoro lied back down on his hospital bed, she stood up from the chair and nodded towards the doctor who seemed relieved as soon as Mattoro stopped straining himself. The vampryess left the hideout. So it was her job to find out where Frankan was now. And how the fuck was she going to accomplish this if she had not a single clue on where to start with this? Letting out a very stressed sigh, Joan stood outside the abandoned warehouse for some time before she started walking. She would have to look for him anyways since that was her job. Mattoro did promise a bigger reward for this since she stuck with him throughout the whole operation and this was the final mission.

Once Bianca was back on the road in search of Frankan and his buddies, a courier approached her. Of course she did not notice at first until she was stopped. The courier took no time to do their job and just left her with a letter that was meant for her. It even had her name on it, which put a frown on her face. If it was the contractor, she wondered why he decided to address her instead of Mattoro. Maybe he found out that she was the one behind most of what was done so far in the operations. She was kind of like an initiator after all. In the letter, Frankan also mentioned how he appreciated her for playing a part in his own operation. He thanked her for killing off Kalaus and Giroud? The other two contractors. Why did he want them killed? Joan could only come to the conclusion that he wanted all the rewards for himself and that was why he wanted the other two contractors to be killed. What a selfish bastard. Joan liked him already, but since she was on the opposing side, even if she liked the way he thought, her job was still to kill him in the end. The vampyress read on, finding an address to where she was invited. She then folded the paper and tucked it into one of her pockets. Now it was much easier to find him and his two bodyguards. Hopefully Mattoro was right about the bodyguards. She did not want to reach the address and find like ten bodyguards protecting Frankan. She was not sure if she could take ten bodyguards.

Since the address provided was not like on the other side of town, Joan decided to just walk there. Sure she would not be at a hundred percent if the distance was greater than she expected, but why the fuck not. It could not be that far from where she currently was. It was still in the afternoon so the sun was still out, though it was kind of cloudy at the moment. Joan was sort of thankful. She hated sweating. But thanks to the current weather condition, it seemed she would not have to worry too much about sweating. Looking up at the sky as she walked, she saw that the sky was currently filled with clouds that were in different shapes and form. She stuck to the sidewalk so that she would not bump into anyone or any vehicle while she stared at the clouds. She was trying to figure out what the clouds were shaped like. She saw that one of them was shaped like a dented boat, another looked like a really fat fish. There were a lot of shapes and she almost bumped into a streetlamp while staring up at the clouds. It was quite boring walking to the given address, so she needed something to kill her boredom. She was getting close to the address now.

Frankan had given her the address of a warehouse that was not used. She had been visiting a lot of warehouses lately, which was kind of funny. Most of these kinds of businesses seemed to be conducted in warehouses. That made it quite easy for Joan since she would not have to worry about people witnessing her killing Frankan or the two bodyguards. She was confident as usual, of course, that she would complete this mission easy peasy. Mattoro would reward her, and she would be done with this operation once and for all. The thought of that put a smile on her face as she neared the location. She saw the warehouse and knew that she was at the right place, so she did not hesitate to enter. The place smelled like dust and old carpets, which kind of fucked up her nose because her sense of smell was pretty strong, being a vampyre. But all she did was scrunch up her nose as if that was going to help. It did not help, but it made her think that it did, so that kind of worked, and anyway that was not the point. As soon as she stepped into the warehouse, she was greeted by the three people that she had been expecting to see. Frankan was standing behind two large men who seemed more like brutes than wizards. Frankan wore a sly smile, as if he thought Joan was his little assistant and he was satisfied with what she had done for him.

Joan was nobody’s assistant. She was doing a job and her client was Mattoro. Since Mattoro wanted Frankan killed, she was going to kill him. Simple as that. It was as if she was called for a some kind of weird talk show. Because as soon as she set foot in the warehouse, Frankan started speaking and would not shut up. Because of the blank expression on her face, he probably was not sure whether or not she was still his enemy. He did add in that he was going to give her rewards for helping him get rid of Kalaus and the other one, Giroud. Joan kept a straight face as she listened to him boast about what he was going to get after all this. That was not the only thing he talked about. What he said next confirmed what he thought of Joan. She knew the guy was not stupid. He already knew that she was not going to switch sides so easily. Joan gave him a small smile. He was far from being done with his great speech. He seemed to have been dying to say all of this to Joan’s face, given the expression on his face. The more she controlled herself so that she looked like she was paying attention to what he was saying, the more she felt like killing them already. Frankan was talking about his plans for when he was done killing the vampyress here.

Did he really think that everything was going to go just like he planned? That was the question that was floating around in Joan’s head right now. She thought he was smart. So either he was not as smart as she thought he was, or he was just putting on an act to show how confident he was with backup plans and shit like that. This was the very first time Joan was up against enemies she could not kill as easily as snapping her fingers. It was mainly because she was not sure of how powerful his bodyguards were, and she was also not sure if this was his ultimate plan, or if he had like a backup plan or something. Joan’s mind was very active at the moment, thinking of all of these things while he babbled on, putting up the idiotic act. He could not fool Joan twice. She was not going to fall for it a second time, for sure. She was prepared in every way. She was even paying attention to what was behind her, in case she was snuck up on by two more bodyguards or whatever. Nobody could guarantee that the information Mattoro gave her was solid, so she had to stay cautious. Frankan was not done. Oh no. He did not seem like he would be done anytime soon, which was kind of annoying Joan already. She felt like telling him to shut up, but she was buying herself time to study her surroundings.

It seemed that finally, Frankan was ready for the action. That was when Joan’s attention snapped from studying her surroundings to the two huge men standing in front of her at the moment. Since they were wizards and not actually brutes (even though they looked like it), they simply stood there, ready to hurl some spells at Joan. Hopefully her strength and speed surpassed them. That way she could dodge or deflect whatever they were going to use on her. Frankan smiled smugly as he stood behind his bodyguards, ready to watch the match. All he needed was some popcorn. Instead of popcorn, though, he had something else to munch on. Joan noticed that he had brought some snacks with him, which was kind of funny. She had not expected him to be that that prepared. Anyway, the vampyress stood in a position that showed she was ready to fight. While keeping her eyes on the both of them, she balanced her weight on the balls of her feet so that she could move with fluidity. This was all a result of a lot of training. Even though she didn’t have a lot of spells to hurl at them, she was trained in physical combat, so hopefully she would not even need to bring in her magic for this fight. Hopefully, she could just use her vampyric strength and speed. The two wizards raised their hands, ready to fight her, just like she was ready to take them.

It seemed Joan was sort of lacking in her observation skills at the moment because only once she focused on the two bodyguards, she realised that one of them was in fact a female. She was kind of big for a woman, and quite tall. Both of them were giants though, and were probably like a few inches taller than Joan. The vampyress was a tall woman herself, but now she was standing in front of a woman who was even taller than her. She could not believe that she thought it was a man. Well she did look like one. She did not have long hair, nor was she dressed like a female normally would be, so you could not really blame Joan for that. She wanted to comment on how manly the female looked, but she decided to shut up. Talking to anyone was a bad idea at this point. Neither side wanted to initiate the fight, but it seemed the man got a little impatient. He was a user of wind magic, and his initiating move was to cause a strong wind to bring up debris. He did this in order to fuck up Joan’s line of vision, but the vampyress had a great eyesight, which meant that a few particles of dust was not going to interfere with her line of sight. Almost immediately after the dude used his spell, the woman followed up with a fire spell. So they were both elementals. Now Joan knew what they could possibly be capable of.

The vampyress dodged the fireball that came flying her way, stepping to the side so that it simply missed her and hit the door behind her. She was looking for an opening to strike the male first. He seemed to be supporting the woman while she probably playing offense. Since offense was the best defense, Joan thought it was time for her to strike back. Which was when she almost got blasted away with another fireball. Thanks to her fast reflexes, she was able to dodge that one too, although she missed it by like an inch or so. She could feel the heat of the flames as it passed by her. The vampyress decided that if she was dodging the whole time, soon she would be trapped. In the blink of an eye, a pair of bloody wings sprouted out of her back, stretching out. The vampyress then swiped her left wing across, causing a strong wind to travel towards her enemies. Immediately after, she would dash towards them, taking the male wizard and biting into his neck as hard as she could, draining him of his lifeblood. Due to how shocked the female wizard was, Joan was able to buy some time to completely drain the man. She was a fast eater when it was necessary. Then she turned towards the female, who screamed before she was drained of life as well. Licking her lips, the vampyress turned towards the contractor.

Frankan looked like a zombie, terrified to death as he stared at the vampyress. His mouth was wide open, and his knees were shaking. Joan gave him a toothy smile with her fangs still out. She felt like messing with the guy, especially because he was acting like hot shit just a few minutes ago. It took a few seconds for him to come back to his senses and start pleading for his life. Joan advanced slowly towards him, while he took shaky steps backwards and then tripped, falling to the ground. Joan stood over him now. He whimpered and begged for mercy, telling her that he would give her money if she allowed him to live. That was not a good deal. Joan was not interested in money at the moment. She, too, wanted very much to kill Frankan after all the things he said while standing behind his bodyguards. “Who’s going to protect you now?” asked the vampyress with a nefarious smile. The contractor wore a defeated expression as he revealed where the money was. That was a big mistake, since she was going to kill him anyways. Now that he had revealed to her the location of the money, Joan was not going to let an opportunity for free money pass just like that. Frankan probably thought that Joan was interested in this deal, and gave more details about it. Once she had enough information, Joan bend over quickly and bit into Frankan’s neck, just like she had done to his bodyguards.

After feeding from all three of them, Joan’s wings disintegrated and she wiped her mouth so that it was not a bloody mess. She left all three bodies just like that. There was obviously going to be evidence that this was the work of a vampyre, given the bite marks on their necks, but Joan did not care at all. Now that she was done with them, she had one little thing to do first before she went back to Mattoro. Since Frankan the dumbass had given her an address where his money was stored, she was going to pay it a visit and take what he would have wanted her to have if he was alive. Dead or alive, it made no difference really. Joan was going to get that money anyway. So the vampyress walked to the location, got the money, and now got a carriage to the spot she usually stopped at to go to the Cold Colliers’ hideout. It took a few minutes, and once she got there, she hurried into the room in which Mattoro would be on a hospital bed. As soon as Mattoro saw Joan, he almost jumped out of his bed. He was so relieved that all of this was over, and so was Joan, to be quite honest. She could finally be at peace now and probably leave Baska as well. Mattoro rewarded her generously for the mission and Joan bid him farewell before she left.