Outside of Kardia Cathedral, Tomoe could be observed speaking to a man of nondescript appearance, a necklace of Illumin dangling around his collar. From a distance it couldn't be heard of what they were speaking, but upon closing in it was definitely speech of a darker nature.

"Demons? Here? Are you fucking serious?", Tomoe spoke lowly.

The man next to him could only nod his head somberly. He began to describe rumors of demons and dark beings skulking around East Fiore and closing in on Magnolia. Their scouts had already infiltrated, according to him, and were now blending in among the commoners and workers of the town.

Upon taking in all of the information he had received, Tomoe gave the man a nod and beckoned towards the cathedral. Seeming to know what that meant, the other man walked inside while Tomoe remained near the steps outside against a wall.

Well this shit's no good... what to do?, he pondered to himself, staring at the ground.

Deep in thought, he awaited his friend, whom he told to meet him here as soon as he could. Caressing the handle of his blade and dusting off the new clothes he had freshly bought, he was feeling strong - though perhaps, not strong enough to take on a demon alone just yet. There would need to be some more discipline in his routine before that.

As the wind howled and the sun began to set on Magnolia, he began eyeing the area, looking for signs of anybody that might seek to sneak up on him.

As the cart that stood to be his transportation starts to move without notice, Aegis nearly loses his footing as he jumps off the back, landing onto the soft ground. Although he thinks to himself, with a wrong step, it could have been more into the utterly painful category. Things seem to not always go right for him, mostly when it came to motor skills, but this time it seemed like things started off alright.

With his face, and pride, intact he begins to look around the nearby area. Using one arm to dust off his cloak, which was dirty from the long ride into the center of town, he used the other to block the strong sunlight shining into his eyes as it begins to submerge off into the building in front of the almost empty square.

Aegis, now sufficiently destrawed and dusted, was able to take a more indepth look around, and a samurai deep in transposing thought caught his eye. As he made his way over the sun, now behind him, lit up the building and architecture with an amazing glow that he couldn't help admire. He waved toward Tomoe, but couldn't seem to get his attention through the thought to reality barrier. "Tomoe! Hey!"

Tomoe was burst from his bubble of thought by a familiar voice. Looking to his side, he saw his friend approaching. Letting out a welcoming call, Tomoe turned to face him, his clothing fluttering in the cold night breeze. It was in that moment that he realized who the familiar voice belonged to, and the hand tensing on his sword loosened. His brow relaxed, and stayed in his stance leaning against the wall.

"Hey."

Sighing and beckoning him towards the outskirts of the cathedral he leaned against, he shuddered against the cold of the air settling in. Despite his bodily differences from his time as a human, he still shared the general biology of one - and blood could always be made cold.

"I'm here early because we might have a problem."

Leaning forward to meet Aegis' gaze, he whispered to him of the troublesome rumors he had heard around town. Of the dark forces at work. The demons, lurking and killing as if they owned the place. It was no coincidence that it was getting dark around now, or so Tomoe had heard from the priest. No, it was definitely to do with the demons' magic forcing the sun's light away.

"It might all just be bullcrap though.", Tomoe mused.

Picking his nose and wiping the dark green stain against the cathedral wall and leaving a skid mark along it, he turned towards Aegis curiously.

"So, what do you think?"

"Hmmm..." he says, thinking while holding onto his jaw.
"It does seem a bit odd, but I guess looking into it atleast is in order." Aegis sighs a little, feeling concerned with this information. "If something were to come of this, say people got injured,  and we did nothing to help, not only would I feel bad, but that would look extremely negative upon ourselves."

He looks around at the now darkened buildings looming, as the sun has gone down far below their artificial horizon, and breathes deeply. The cool night air now in his lungs, he seems to perk up a little and gain a bit of his composer back.
"That really isn't something either of us can really deal with or need right now. Did you get any information about where exactly we should start looking?"

Due to the severe lack of information, and the slight preposterously to the info that they have, It really felt like a waste of their time, but to not check and be wrong would be so much worse that in his mind, they didn't really have a choice in the matter.

"Only information I got was that there was something about them circling the area around the cathedral."

Shifting the brim of his hat to cover his eyes slightly, he could feel urges circling through him. Being night, his instincts as a denizen of the night surged to the top of his consciousness. The desire for blood caused his own blood to boil, as a predator of many failed hunts would grow gluttonous upon sight of its next successful prey.

For Tomoe, that prey would theoretically be Aegis, his friend right in front of him. Dressed in clothes and alone... but no, that wasn't a thought he should be having. Just hungry, and adjusting. Turning away to avoid anyone from seeing him licking his fangs, he scratched the back of his head from underneath his hat and then faced Aegis once more.

"A patrol of the general area would be a good place I guess? There's no harm in anything like that. It wouldn't take too long."

Unsheathing his katana for a moment, he ran his finger along the flat of it and observed for any cracks or weaknesses in the structure. It was rather rusted, and in his mind, 'shitty' as those of culture might even say. Replacing it into his sheath once more, he pointed to the back of the cathedral and then towards Aegis.

"Maybe there's some weirdo peeping around the back? Wanna check it out?"

Turning around, Tomoe began walking towards the back of the cathedral regardless of the response.

"Yeah, I agree, sounds good."

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to look" Aegis said, half talking to himself, trying to think internally that he had an effect on this choice of direction. He really just hoped that there wasn't anything actually that needed their attention or turn into disarray.

"Who exactly gave you this information anyway?" he says as they begin their walk around the massive structure that is the cathedral. Somehow the structure seemed more menacing in the night time, when there were few people around and the shadows seemed to loom over the other buildings and the two below. The darkened glass windows of beings glared down at them.  "Are you sure about this Tomoe?"

As they turned the corner of the massive tower that was joined to the cathedral, they came across someone who looked like he was wearing a priests clothing. He was mostly hidden by not only the cover of night, but also the shadow of the large structure blocking out the moonlight. The man seemed to be leaning over a dark shape, but is unable to make out exactly what they were seeing.
"Tomoe, over there!" he said in somewhat of a loud whisper.

Tomoe turned towards Aegis and shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

"Who gave me the info? Uhhh, I dunno. Think he was some crackhead. Works the church job sometimes because we all know that faith brings fortune."

Turning the corner, Tomoe unsheathed his sword upon seeing the dark figure, half paranoid that there actually was a demon nearby and half itching for a fight anyway even if there wasn't any. A grin spreading ear to ear, he neared the body while eyeing Aegis. Giving a look to indicate he was going to inspect it, his demeanor eventually grew serious as he drew closer.

Both hands gripped firmly on his sword as he drew closer into the darkness, he could smell blood on the man. There was at least some kind of injury present on him. With his vision he could see the figure and take note that the man was not facing them and that he was wearing robes that seemed slightly dirty.

"Hey buddy, you good?", Tomoe spoke lowly in a concerned but firm manner.

Approaching, the smell of blood in the air would grow thicker. Feeling as if salt were to sprinkle in his bloodstream, he could barely contain his urge to pounce. Holding it back, keeping his stance defensive as his blade deflected on the moonlight above, he stood cautiously two meters away from the man, awaiting a response from him with his blade pointed diagonally downward at the ready. His eyes were focused, the brim of his hat covering his intentions.

The man laying on the ground before them was indeed wearing a brown monk robe, untied and left open. There was blood sprayed around this man that seemed to be unconscious.

Aegis slowly and carefully made his way up to the man, his arm outstretched in case there was a need for magic. He poked at the man with his other hand, still holding onto his wooden walking stick. He seemed to be either unconscious or dead, as there was no sign of responce or movement from the man. "Stand ready just in case, ill check him out." he said to Tomoe who was still very tensed.

He slowly flipped the man by using his staff at first to check his face and or body. There didn't seem to be any wounds on his face so he leaned down and slowly flipped him over onto his side.

Aegis stepped back as he saw what was before him. the monks belly had been sliced open from below the belly from one side cleanly to the other, and it seemed that some key internal parts were missing. Most of the mans intestines were gone, and Aegis turned away trying to keep what little food was still left in his body down.

"Gotcha, check 'im out.", Tomoe responded cautiously, eyes set firmly on the man and never wavering. The grip on his sword loosened slightly, knowing that since there was two of them there was a low chance they'd actually be harmed or caught by surprise.

Tomoe's gaze was filled with concern when Aegis' poking and prodding did nothing to the man, and his eyes could be found widening once the man was flipped over. A horrifying sight to be sure - disembowelment, with his inner organs leaking out of his body like a runny faucet. To some that would appear to be a grisly sight worth getting disgusted over.

"Holy fuck."

To this particular adventurer, vampiric as he was, it was a sign of food. Like looking at a moist, tender roast on a holiday night, the metallic and organic smell of a fresh corpse lingered in his nostrils. While to someone like Aegis it would be against everything his sense of smell stood for, it was a gourmet to Tomoe.

"Excuse me, pardon me, sorry...", he muttered, rolling up the sleeves of his coat.

Tomoe dove into the corner in which the corpse found itself, and ripped into the exposed organs and blood like a vicious predator. It was a visceral display, and nothing like the casual calmness he carried himself with most days. A difficult struggle suppressing these urges, it was nothing short of pure discipline that he had managed to avoid pouncing upon his own allies when his hunger peaked.

In between bites, he turned to face Aegis, speaking with his mouth full.

"So what do you think happened to this guy? He's all torn up and shit. This was a rough way to go for sure, making himself all pre-opened and all."

Aegis just kept looking away, both deeply saddened at the loss of life, and happy in a weird way that Tomoe was at least eating someone who had already passed on. But still, the loss of life, even if it had nothing to do with him directly, hits  him oddly hard in comparison to what most people might think.

At the current time however, the only things on his mind are trying to keep the food in his body that was left. Second is now trying to figure out what to do about this current situation. "Do we bring this information to the guards, or possibly first bring it to the church..." He thought aloud.

"What do think Tomoe?" He asked, while trying not to look upon the sight of the current devouring before him. " Do you want to bring this information to the Guards or the priests? I mean we could always..." He started mumbling to himself in thought. There were probably people that they could talk to that may know more about demons. Perhaps they could ask around and do some info gathering so that they may be better equipped if this was a problem that proved true.

Showering in the corpse of some priest, indulging in his own gluttony, Tomoe would be enjoying his feast like it were the kind of thing that only came once in a lifetime. Barely registering what his friend was saying, picking up a piece of the man's heart and chowing it down, he waved his hand in dismissal towards Aegis' inquiry.

"Yeah, yeah. You can go say you found the guy brutalized and ripped to shreds with blood drained from his body. Meanwhile? I could hide in a bush or something."

Blood dripping down his mouth, feeding was unavoidably disgusting and hideous to those not of his kin. He noticed his friend barely holding onto himself seeing the stringy flesh and organs strewn all over the ground. Tomoe dusted himself off and began walking towards a forested and bushy area nearby.

"I ain't gonna have law enforcement up the crack 'o my ass. This would count as desecration, and interfering with evidence. Not my style, covered in blood as I am. And, uhhh...", Tomoe paused seeing a piece of tendon, long and stringy. Slurping it up like a wet noodle, he waved to Aegis with a satisfied smile.

"I've had my fill. You wanna call for the knights? You found him here alone, gotcha?"

Giving a thumbs-up, Tomoe withdrew into the treeline. He felt a natural inclination for the shadows and blending in with nature ever since his transformation, and combined with his nature as a being incapable of making noise, so long as he knelt still within the bushes there would be nobody seeing him any time soon unless they were of a more perceptive sight. Of course, the knights weren't often known for their... well, competence. Quantity over quality and all that.

"Damn pigs.", he muttered under his breath.

"Alright, ill go get... aaaand he's gone" He sighs, realizing that he must go find a nearby guard. "I hope there are some around this area" He stood looking at what was left of the man before him.  Deeply saddened by this scene, he decides to quickly go find someone that would be helpful.

After walking onto the main road, he saw a guard seemingly on watch a little further ahead. the night still very dark, obscuring most sight. Aegis tried to walk quickly through the street, waving ahead of time to get the guards attention. The man in armor didn't see him until he got closer, and hailed him as he got closer.

After a short explanation, the guard did not seem to believe him about the possible demons and the priest. After further confersing, he managed to get the guard to follow him to the spot where the body was, the man still laying on the ground. The guard, obviously shocked by the situation, asked Aegis to leave after asking his name. He was informed that the guardsmen would be in contact should anything come of the situation.

He gladly took his leave, as he was tried and exhausted. Quickly making his way back to the guild, so he could try and sleep away this nightmare.

[Exit]

In the distance, seeing Aegis walk away and the guard move towards the body, descending into the shadows to observe, Tomoe licked his lips gleefully.

"He's right there... so defenseless..."

Sprinting from the bushes like a panther hunting an unsuspecting herbivore as the guard's back was turned, Tomoe's rushing steps made no noise, becoming one with the wind as he lunged forth towards the guard knelt by the corpse.

The eyes of a bloodthirsty killer shimmering off of the moonlight, he could feel his newly-bought Ring of Oul granting him enhanced power in this moment, further pushed by his own qualities as a hungry Vampire bringing his strength its current limit. Not needing to worry about noise, Tomoe unsheathed his sword and plunged it through the back of the guard, finding itself sticking out the other end from the his chest. Before the guard could even let out a scream, Tomoe used his free hand to cover the guard's mouth as he took him to the ground.

With a final and victorious raising of the head as he pinned the bleeding guard to the ground, Tomoe's dagger-like fangs grew to their full length and impaled themselves into the neck of the guard. Both in this moment would feel a satisfying and pleasurable euphoria as the guard's blood - his own mortal essence, was drained from his body in its entirety. Replacing this was a drop of Tomoe's own blood, which would serve to meet all the requirements to turn the guard into a childe; the servant and soldier of a sire.

The guard would awaken, hungry and with bloodlust. As soon as Tomoe released his grip, the guard stumbled towards the corpse of the priest, devouring the remainder of the blood left within the priest's body.

"Accept your new life, childe. Together and with more to come, we'll rule Fiore's nights. Feast when we want, but only on those who had it coming. Or of course, those who have already passed on.", Tomoe spoke lowly in a guttural tone, gesturing to the feast the guard-turned-Vampire was now enjoying happily.

"According to what I've heard, your instincts as a Vampire should eventually override your own sense of duty. So for now, just play into your role as a guard. Business as usual. Report to me anything you may hear in the city, and feast only when you feel there will be no witnesses. Hard, I know, but deal with it for now. And under no circumstances will you mention anything about me. Understood?"

The guard would acknowledge him wordlessly as he continued his meal. The edges of Tomoe's lips flipped upwards as he looked down upon his first servant. He nodded his head and began to walk briskly back into the shadows of Magnolia's forests, seeking respite and a place to clean off. All with the smile on his face of a man possessed by desire.

There were no demons, but... who needs them anyway, when much more horrifying things lurk in the dark corners of the city?, Tomoe mused in his thoughts, a smug and self-satisfied look plastered on his face as he made his way away from the grisly scene and back into the comfort of anonymity.

Not even once did he question who murdered that priest, but nevertheless he was sure that they were likely a very nice and well-mannered individual. Murder of priests, and all.

[Exit]