Weight of the World

Chapter Eight

—Ramsdale, Belanen—

The cemetery was deathly quiet when they stepped past the black iron gate, which was appropriate she supposed considering it was a place for, well, dead people. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end at the stillness that met them. Despite the earlier howling and the cold wind, everything was now silent and still. To anyone else, they might have assumed the danger had passed, but Lulu knew better. The danger was still here. They were just being hunted from the darkness.

Naturally, of course, Mervin remained completely oblivious to such dangers, walking forward with an undeserved amount of confidence. Hands on his hips, he surveyed their immediate surroundings. He wore the same emerald robe he had been in since she had met him, the mark of a healing priest of Katrianna. His short sandy brown hair was tousled like always, as though he had never met a comb in his life, a light amount of stubble dotting his handsome face. Cobalt blue eyes swept the darkness, missing several glaring clues that were right in front of him as he let out an amused yet shaky laugh.

"Well, looks like it was nothing after all? Slightly disappointing, but that just means there's more time for drinking I suppose." He turned toward her and flashed her the same smile she had seen him use on various women throughout their time together. It made other women swoon, but it did absolutely nothing for her despite his persistence.

"How the fuck are you still alive?" Lulu frowned, motioning to what was directly at his feet. A large streak of blood leading toward the back gate.

"Aha! The game is afoot! Let's go, beautiful! We have a crime to investigate!"

With a roll of her eyes, she followed him. The trail of blood led through the rows of graves, some splattered on nearby headstones. Whatever had happened here had happened quickly and violently, whoever had been attacked having little chance to defend themselves. Her guess was quickly proven correct when they reached the end of the trail, finding the man who had been attacked.

"Yikes, how unfortunate," Mervin knelt down next to the body without hesitation, the sight of blood and corpses hardly frightening to a healer. He assessed the wounds. "Hmm, slashed throat, some broken ribs...not to mention the obvious of his chest being ripped open. He was in quite the fight before he died, whoever he was."

"Which wound killed him?"

"Hard to say. They all happened within quick succession. Though, I imagine the throat was slashed first. He might've still been alive when the chest was ripped open. Whaddya think? This the work of your Witch Tits?"

"Couldn't get lucky enough," Lulu grumbled. "Witch Tits wouldn't stay after the kill. Whatever did this is still here."

Mervin straightened, pointing to a spot in the dirt nearby. "Think it left those too?" There were a number of tracks that led away from the body, large paw prints preserved in the dirt. "Looks like a wolf...or...a wolf and a man?"

Lulu frowned, following him toward another set of tracks. Closely she inspected them. It was a strange pattern. There were human footprints and wolf tracks scattered unevenly about through the dirt. It seemed as though sometimes the man moved and sometimes—

"It's a fuckin' werewolf," Lulu groaned, suddenly realizing why the pattern was so strange. "Fuck! I thought this...Shit."

Turning away, Lulu balled her hands into fists, fighting against the frustrated tears pooling in her eyes. She had been so certain when she saw that contract. For an entire year she had been chasing Virmira Tanadall, and still, she was no closer to finding her. Not once had any of her leads paid off. Not once had she gotten close. It was as though Virmira Tanadall had ceased to be the day she had left with Idelle's body. Lulu blinked away her tears, feeling Mervin coming to stand behind her, a hand settled on her shoulder.