She was looking at the newspaper to read the latest news. She wanted to make sure everything was going as usual and that there was no news about vampires or hunters. Aria was starting to fear for her life and that of her companions, so she had to pay even more attention to every possible detail.

  No news about it, at least not on the front page. Instead, there was talk of the plague and how it was affecting the nearby villages.

  “All nonsense.” she said to herself, “The government is making it all up… but that’s better than having the attention turned to vampires.”

  The other news was local. It was said that trade was booming and that the city had never been so rich before. The reality, and this the girl knew well, was different. People were literally dying of hunger on the streets and the fact of not being able to trade with the nearby villages had already caused some merchants to close.

  “I’ll take this.” she said to the newsagent.

  “It’s eight denarii.”

  Madame Doroteya wasn’t there that day and Aria knew she was sick when she woke up alone and not with a voice yelling at her. So, in those rare cases, she was the one who had to take care of all those boring and not very noble chores, like getting the newspaper or going shopping.

  She had brought some money to fill her purse. She honestly didn’t know how much the newspaper or the groceries at the market cost, but she knew she had enough money not to have to worry about it at all.

  “It’s nice to be rich…”

  She looked at the other shoppers; those who looked at the price tag and those who had to decide between one product or another.

  “… a little less noble…” she finally said when the guard reached her with a shopping bag in his hand.

  “I bought everything you needed, Miss Zotova.”

  Aria found his presence annoying and almost intimidating, she couldn’t even have a conversation with a shopkeeper without the guard immediately reminding her that they were running late on schedule.

  “It’s all fake!” a boy who was running shouted, “The vampires are back! The vampires are back!” he shouted again.

  The boy was running right at her and, in order to escape from two policemen who were chasing him, he bumped into Aria who almost fell and disappeared into a narrow street.

  “We should go back to the villa.” the guard said to her, “Are you hurt, Miss Zotova?”

  “No, I’m not hurt… and yes, it’s probably best to go back.”

  During the trip back she wondered several times how the boy could know about the vampire presence in the city.

  “Maybe he’s a survivor too? Or maybe he was the victim of some ambush?”

  In the last few days the attacks on caravans and buildings in the suburbs had intensified. The police kept finding people dead during the night, their faces pale and their veins white with no blood. It was clearly the work of vampires, and Aria was starting to wonder what she could do to stop them.

  “Nothing at the moment.” a male voice said in front of her house.

  It was Adelphe, who was waiting near the gate to be able to enter and begin his lesson. He had his hands in his pockets and his hat just above his eyebrows to protect himself from the sun’s rays. His briefcase in his right hand and a glass of red wine in his left.

  “What…?”

  “You’re late.” he said.

  “I know, Adelphe, but I had to buy the newspaper and go shopping.” the girl said, huffing and puffing and going into the house, followed by the teacher.

  “Anyway,” the man said, “I don’t feel like coaching today, so if you want to continue with your lessons, you’ll have to follow me.”

  “Okay, Adelphe, where should we go?” Aria asked.

  “It’s a secret.”

  After getting ready, the girl and the teacher left the house to get to the gates, when the guard stood in front of the two.

  “Stop right where you are. I’ll have to follow Miss Zotova wherever she goes.”

  “If that’s okay with you…” Adelphe asked the girl.

  “I have no other choice.”

  The teacher winked at the guard as he stepped aside to let them pass. Together, they walked down the main street until they left the center, then took a carriage to take them to the outskirts, specifically to the factory district.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  This neighborhood was the last to be built, as well as the most modern. Factories had arrived in Korotsk a few years earlier and, according to expert economists, they were the engine that would fuel the economy in the coming years. Here, workers could no longer work with their own physical strength, but were helped by complex machinery that worked for them.

  Work seemed to thrive and the unemployment rate dropped dramatically, but on the other hand, and Aria could see it with her own eyes, was that the streets in that neighborhood filled with dust and coal, not to mention the black clouds in the sky, which completely took away the sun's rays.

  "It's the first time I've been here." she said, "I've never seen a factory, I've always been told about them. They also say that this smoke is bad for the throat... or was it for the head, I don't remember." she shrugged.

  "We shouldn't be here." the guard sentenced.

  "And why?" asked Adelphe.

  “Because, my dear teacher, this place is not suitable for Miss Zotova…”

  “It is not?” the girl asked curiously.

  “No.” the teacher answered this time, “This place is full of the worst scum Korotsk has ever seen, not to mention thefts and cutthroats… and what you don’t read about in the newspapers.” he smiled with all his teeth and Aria could see how they were perfectly white and without any kind of imperfection, “It is perfect for us, don’t you think?”

  “Miss Zotova, I propose that we go bac-“ the guard didn’t get to finish his sentence as Adelphe got out of the still moving carriage.

  “He is a madman!” he exclaimed, “Please, Miss Zotova, let’s leave him here and go bac-“ he didn’t even get to finish this sentence as Aria also got out of the still moving carriage, and so did he.

  As the carriage continued its rounds, and both Aria and the guard reached Adelphe, they found themselves in front of a factory that, unlike the others, had no smoke coming out of the chimney.

  “Is it abandoned?” the girl asked.

  “We shouldn’t be here!” the guard exclaimed.

  “Do you want to contradict a teacher?” Adelphe asked, taking Aria’s hand and leading her inside the factory, “I like this pretend role.” he winked at her.

  Aria, throughout all this, had done nothing but follow the teacher but she still hadn’t understood why. Couldn’t they just train in the cellar like they had yesterday? And if there was the guard in the middle, and he had brought the swords with him, how could they train?

  “I have more than one question.” she began, “For example, why did we come here… Adelphe!”

  The sight made her blood run cold as they entered the factory. Two people were tied to a chair with a black hood over their heads.

  “What’s going on here?” the guard shouted, pulling out his gun.

  He didn’t have time to use it, however, because Adelphe kicked it away and immobilized him by putting a hood over his head. He dragged him with great force to a third chair to make him sit down and tie him up with ropes.

  “Adelphe! I demand an explanation!” Aria exclaimed, taking a few steps back and looking for a sharp object to possibly use as a defense.

  “Your class starts now, Aria. But first, let’s introduce our guests.” the teacher chuckled.

  She removed the first hood and the guard appeared from it.

  “Who do we have here? Of course, our friend the guard, always attentive and caring for Aria, isn’t she?”

  “Damned, you are-“ a tape was applied to his mouth to prevent him from speaking.

  “And now for the second guest, oh… it’s our trusted boy, the one who wants to save Korotsk from the vampires by getting beaten up by the cops.”

  “Him?” Aria asked.

  The girl’s heartbeat accelerated dramatically and her breath seemed to fail her several times. She managed to find a stick; better than nothing.

  “And now for our third guest…” Adelphe also revealed the third face and from behind it came out a middle-aged woman that none of the people present seemed to recognize.

  “And who are you? Oh, never mind.”

  Adelphe stepped back to stand behind the chairs so he could look the girl in the face.

  “Aria, you should know that there is a vampire inside this factory and I’ll give you ten minutes to figure out who it is and kill it. If you refuse, or kill the wrong person, I’ll kill all three of them, so as to avoid unnecessary mistakes.” he smiled, “Never avoid mistakes, that’s rule number one.”

  “You’re crazy!” Aria exclaimed impulsively.

  The teacher took the briefcase and, to the girl’s surprise, the swords were real.

  “Here.” and he threw the sword to Aria, “Now we’re not playing anymore, that’s pure silver. Remember, one sharp blow to the neck and the vampire will end up living… or not-living… do you get it?”

  He laughed at her own joke.

  “Fuck!” the girl exclaimed again.

  She tried to calm down, but she had forgotten what calm was at that moment. The sword was steady in her hand, shaking, she didn’t know what to do. If one of those three was a vampire, she would have to figure out who it was and kill it.

  “To be sure, I have to be absolutely certain.”

  She tried to remember what a vampire was weak to… sunlight was one of them but she had no way of moving the chairs, as Adelphe had just hinted with a look when she tried to act.

  Blood was another weakness.

  So, she made a small cut on the palm of her hand and held it in front of the three. None of them seemed to care, but instead the victims became even more agitated by the complicated situation.

  “Five more minutes.”

  “Damn it, Adelphe! Why don’t you just tell me who the vampire is among these and we’ll be done with it?”

  “It’s a lesson, no charity.”

  Aria didn’t want an innocent person dead. She decided to reason: the guard could hardly be a vampire since he had been chosen by the government elite and, even if he was, he would have already tried to kill her. The boy was a possible candidate, but it seemed so absurd to her that someone at his age could already be a vampire. Mostly, a vampire would never start shouting in the square about the presence of one of his race.

  So the only person missing was the woman.

  She didn’t know anything about her, not her name or profession. She could have been anyone, but at that moment she was no one.

  “Damn, I can’t think like that.”

  She threw away all her thoughts and tried to relax, breathing the way Adelphe had taught her.

  “One minute.” said the latter.

  “You’re not helping me!” she shrieked, “That’s not how a huntress behaves! A huntress wants to help the citizens and kill vampires, not play guessing games!”

  So, taking her sword and taking two more deep breaths, she pointed the blade at Adelphe.

  “I would rather die than have the lives of innocents on my conscience!”

  The teacher remained silent for a few seconds, then applauded and approached the girl. He laughed, revealing his sharp canines; his eyes had become red as hell.

  “How can you consider yourself a huntress if you can’t even figure out who you’re fighting?