It’s been a few weeks since Venus arrived Oak Town and to say the least, the place was dodgy at best. Though the settlement seemed rather peaceful, behind the pleasant façade were crimes galore. She hadn’t truly believed that Oak was filled with criminals, thugs, and everyone else who worked underground using illegal means until she saw it with her own two eyes. Despite then, it was still a historic location where the nobles resided which only made her wonder why the number of crimes were much higher here compared to any other town. But then, it was also home to the only dark guild that currently existed in Fiore.

Just like most days, today was no special to Venus. She had been given a new assignment once again – or well, was about to be assigned, while she headed towards the location to meet her client. ”Should be somewhere around here.” She glanced down at the letter that was written to her with the address included prior to this rendezvous. With a few more twists and turns between alleyways, the vampire found herself standing before a run-down, extremely shady-looking bar and winced in disgust.

They needed a place where they wouldn’t attract any attention after all, so there was nothing she could complain. A young gentleman who appeared to be in his mid-thirties approached her. ”So, you’re Frankie.” The two found themselves a vacant booth far from the rest of the townsfolk and the bar’s customers had the same vibe as the establishment itself – trashy.

Her client dove straight to the point regarding the details of the quest, without even her needing to remind him. More often than not, Venus would have to repeat herself to her clients to just give her the information needed and they usually dragged the conversation, chatting about unnecessary things that were irrelevant to her or her job. Nonetheless, this one seems to be rather undemanding of her abilities and only required her to follow the men that Frankie had given her and stop them from harming Vincenze, who she assumed to be his boss.

Frankie had told her about the tip that he received that Vincenze was being targeted and as his right-hand, he had to do something about it – naturally. So, that was where she came in. It was even more convenient for her when Frankie give her a piece of paper with all the addresses where her targets were last seen written down. She smirked.

”Thanks for doing half my job.”

This was going to be easy money, she thought. Sometimes, her assignments took up to weeks and even months but this one, she could finish in a day. The men that she was asked to follow had just arrived in Oak, so it wasn’t difficult to track them down. For hours, she followed these men around the town, and they’d enter buildings, unknowing of what they’re up to. Venus didn’t have much choice other than just wait outside the building, so she had climbed up onto the roofs of the town settlements and quietly watched over them as her preys walked amongst the streets, careful not to lose sight of them.

Venus watched them patiently above the rooftops of a very fashionable part of the city, cleaning her fingernails with the dagger that she’d sharpened just a moment ago. If people were to see her this way, she might’ve gotten a scolding, telling her how unladylike it was. But above the city, she didn’t have to deal with the nosy townsfolk or drunken old men asking her out to accompany them for drinks. When her targets entered a building, she had leapt off the rooftop, landing on a soft thud onto the ground, startling the nearby citizens before she edged quickly but quietly through the crowds, still maintaining a short distance between herself and the two targets.

She quickly slipped inside the building, right after the two had entered. Creeping around at the location would only make people suspicious of her, so she had tried her best to act as normal as she could, lurking nearby whist keeping an eye on them. Venus saw them whispering to the staff member, whom she assumed was the owner of the store. The man, upon seeing the two men, immediately paled as though his soul had left his body.

The vampire attempted to eavesdrop on their conversation, albeit their voices were so hushed that all she could hear were grunts and smacks of their lips. The store owner merely nodded and the men laughed, almost mockingly and she could only wonder what it was about.

773 | 1500

When the men left the store, Venus walked up to the store keeper and questioned him a bit what they talked about. Naturally, he was hesitant to give her information. But, after she’d managed to convince him that she wasn’t here to harm him and upon the mention of the name Frankie Marino, there was a knowing look on him, telling her that the men came to threaten him for working under Vincenze.

After she’d done her job at investigating the conversation a bit, she had to continue following her targets. Her job was still not done and she hadn’t obtained any information on them either, other than the fact that their conversation with the previous store owner sounded serious and the information Frankie had given to her was right. The woman continued to follow them again, back into the streets of Oak Town and this time they were at the market.

Vendors filled the streets, scattered over any available place she could find. It was difficult to keep track of them especially when there were big crowds in the streets, but her pursing skills were not to be underestimated. She was an assassin; in fact, a well-trained one, she’d learnt how to merge herself into the crowd if she was being chased and also to track a target efficiently as well.

The vampire pretended to purchase an item at the shop next door while the men began to become violent with the store owner. She’d kept watch, but didn’t intervene. It wasn’t her business, and she wasn’t told to do so either. Like her previous encounter, she’d repeated the same words to this vendor as well, telling them not to worry as they were under the protection of someone influential Oak.

1065 | 1500

Now, what they were doing was clear as day to her. Surely, they were about to learn their lesson big time once this was all over. Unfortunately for the two men, it was still not done – they continued to travel to their next target; another storekeeper to torment and threaten their lives. To the innocent civilians, these two men were a danger but to her, they were nothing but mere delinquents. The sun had set down the horizon, and watching the view there was nothing but only a smirk dancing on the line of her lips.

Venus had waited long and patient enough for this, she’d even followed them inside a rusty, old, disgusting bar that they visited at the end of the day and watched them get pissed drunk, thinking that there would be no one to attack them. But, they were dead wrong. Coming from the opposite direction the two men walked, she stopped in front of them with a wicked grin that looked too devious for her sake. The men had thrown taunts, slurs at her and she didn’t respond, only merely gazed upon them through her thick, dark eyelashes with disgust. Until they started mocking, laughing and crept towards her to touch her hair.

Only then, she’d begun to make a move as she slicked her dagger out of its sheath on her belt and sliced off the finger that’d once touched her. ”Mortals, think you could just touch me as you please?” she snickered and the man screeched through the echo of the night, no one responding. ”I heard you’ve been going around threatening men to undermine Vincenze, so I checked it upon myself on behalf of Frankie. Seems like he was true.”

The wounded man fell onto the ground, slowly creeping away from him while the other man bent over to assist him as though it would do anything. She swung her dagger within her fingers, playing with her weapon like it was a new toy to her. The moonlight cast upon her and her vampire fangs glimmered, grown to its full length now that the sun had set behind her.

”N-Night creature.” The words barely came out of his mouth as he hopelessly crawled away from her. The other man, on the other hand, had plucked out his courage to attempt to stab at her, but with a strong grasp of her hand against his wrist, she rendered his efforts useless.

”Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to enjoy both of you thoroughly tonight.” She licked her blood-red lips and let out a giggle that reverberated through the empty pathways around them. It sounded too sinister, as though she had given up on the part that was once human within her completely.

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- EXIT -