The Zodiacs: Blood Of Angels

Chapter 14: Leo

He continued on to Crow's Hill, walking along the beaten and narrow dirt path that would see him to his destination.

Eventually, the path would curve right, when he would need to go left and so he made sure to watch the diversion. Leo reckoned he could get their by afternoon the next day if he continued on the brisk pace he was at.

The deal with the demons was a little rough and he usually took pay from customers, but he deeply felt bad about the woman losing two loved in the space of a day. He sighed.

Why did he have to be so damn heroic?

He knew of a village not to far from Crow's Hill where he could rest till morning in an inn. Sleeping in a tent all the time wasn't really his favourite way to spend the night.

The village, called Blackwool, was only slightly away from Crow's Hill and so wouldn't make him go out of the way. He had heard tale of some sort of 'witch' in the area, but that wasn't his concern at the moment and no one had come to him about hunting this 'witch' down. No doubt it was some sort of demon or a just a woman using cheap tricks.

He got to a hill overlooking the village well over dusk. He saw a cluster of a few houses with lights shining to show people were still awake. It reminded Leo of a cosy and tranquil place.

He walked into Blackwool, where he was ignored by most of the populace, which he usually was. However, he did notice one or two villagers eyeing him uneasily.

He'd remain on his guard. He traversed to the inn and walked past a small house, the window open.

"He's too ill, we need to visit her," he heard a woman speak. "I'm not letting our baby die!"

Intrigued, Leo listened a little closer, getting closer to the window but making sure he couldn't be seen.

"Neither will I! But that witch, I don't trust her. She's got to be some sort of demon," a husky male voice replied. "What happens if she..."

"She won't! She barely charges us anything, and she'll help us as long as we don't warn the witch hunters about her!"

Witch hunters. Leo despised those fools - just a bunch of pompous arseholes who went round idly condemning women and men, as witches and warlocks. Demons didn't fear them, as none of them really knew anything of combat apart from try and swing a sword around, and if witches and warlocks did exist, they'd see them coming a mile away. He knew witch hunters also considered demonhunters as warlocks, but they rarely messed with a demonhunter - they'd most likely end up dead.

"Fine! We'll take him tomorrow," the man relented.

As the conversation changed, Leo headed towards the inn again. Maybe he'd look into this witch after all...

He soon got to the inn - it was an exaggeration to call it that. It was more two four bedroom houses put together to make a small place where a traveller could get some respite. Leo had stayed here a few times and the woman who owned it was nice enough.

He walked inside the inn and saw that it was just as common on the inside. There were circular wooden tables, along with chairs. A few people were sat eating and drinking, but it was pretty sombre. The walls were coloured red and yellow to give the place some sort of brightness, and along with the bright yellow lights, it did a good enough job.

He saw Saery - the large woman who owned the inn and who always had a knife at her hilt. She also seemed to have a rumour about everything, though she did call it honest information. Leo was never sure whether to believe her or not.

"Hey, sugar, long time," she said, as he sat at the counter. Her right eye was lazy and so focused elsewhere as she turned to look at him. It was a shame - she had brilliant violet eyes that would have looked good on any female.