PUTTING AN END

"The smell was bad, very bad, but I didn't think that I would find them like that, he was standing behind the trapdoor, watching me as a prey that fell into his trap, he told me that I was the reason that he found me easily.", Said Irene in regret, Jaxith noticed how it's hard to remember what happened for her.

"The incident at the mayor's.", Said Jaxith seriously.

"Yeah, exactly, he also said that his agent needs me alive, does that mean he is one of the mayor's men?"

"No, in contrast, the mayor would send a whole squad to arrest your allies alive, not a single assassin, in addition he is a scarlet summoner, I doubt the mayor would be dealing with someone like him, unless he is corrupted and that's not popular about him, maybe he is, and I already hate politicians, but to make sure about it, did he ask you about the ring or not?", Said Jaxith seriously.

"No, he didn't, he didn't mention it at all.", Said Irene.

"Then of course he is not the agent, if he was the one then his top priority should have been the ring, if he wanted to capture you to make an example of thieves, he would secure the ring first, or he could have kidnapped you without killing all of them, you said he wanted you alive, I think that this assassin would have found you whatever you have done, he said that your robbery helped him found you, which means that he was already tracking you, you just quickened the pace.", Said Jaxith seriously in a fast tone, the way he's analyzing the situation is exceptional, a smart hunter is always better than just good one.

"Well..., I think you are actually right, maybe Hoslton isn't the one to blame here.", Said Irene before she looked sadly at the blanket covering her legs.

"Hey, what was done is done, you can't keep blaming yourself, don't ever think that because your robbery your friends was killed, it's just a coincidence, sooner or later he would have found you.", Said Jaxith while putting his hand over her shoulder to calm her mind.

"I will take my time, but thank you, anyway, the most important thing is to bring that bastard.", Said Irene while looking up again seriously.

"No, the most important thing is to know who sent him, who is the one really after you? Any enemies?", Said Jaxith in a questioning manner.

"No, I don't think that I have made someone that angry that he would send someone like that after me, you called him names that I don't understand, I bet that it's over expensive to hire someone like him, I'm sure that I don't worth that much as a target.", Said Irene confidently.

"I called him names?", Said Jaxith narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah, don't look at me like a dumb one, I just don't remember those terms, by the way I was the smartest one in the seekers, so don't mistake me as a stupid naive girl, I'm the genius in here, you said spiritual summoner, didn't you?", Said Irene like she was the smartest person to set foot on Vidin!

Jaxith leaned back at his chair resting his back, nodding slightly while rubbing his beard, she is a clever one, and surely a troublesome, he's already familiar with this personality.

"You totally mixed things, However, you said something good.", Said Jaxith while smiling.،

"Told you I was genius.", Said Irene proudly.

"Why would a scarlet summoner come after you? You surely doesn't deserve this importance.", Said Jaxith in a quizzical manner while thinking and looking at the ground before looking at Irene again.

"However, we don't have enough information to decide who is the one after you, we just can't throw random accusations, our best option is to make him talk.", Said Jaxith calmly.

"I think you're right, so how we're gonna find him, can you track him down?", Said Irene questionably.

"We're not.", Said Jaxith calmly.

"What?"

"He will."

"He will what?", Said Irene incomprehensibly.

"Not that genius I think.", Said Jaxith sarcastically but without smiling.

"You're not funny"

"I've never been"

"Wait, I got it, do you mean he is the one who will find us?", Said Irene.

"You have to be quicker than that, genius, and he will find you, not us.", Said Jaxith.

"I hate puzzles.", Said Irene.

"Puzzles are for geniuses.", Said Jaxith.

"You're not gonna make me regret saying that, are you?", Said Irene.

"I'm just qualifying your cleverness, genius."

"I swear I'm gonna throw anything at you if don't quit the smart boy role.", Said Irene angrily.

"Sure you can do it? You have nothing to throw in your reach.", Said Jaxith provocatively, he was trying to freshen her up, anything that could help her stop thinking about what happened even for some time would be good for her.

"Ahhhhhhh, just stop okay.", Said Irene angrily again, it's quite noticeable that no matter how smart she is, she can't outsmart Jaxith.

"Fine, time to tell you what I'm thinking about.", said Jaxith.

"That's better, and much important, I'm listening.", Said Irene while waiting impatiently.

"That assassin will find you not us, you alone, in other words, I shouldn't be with you.", Said Jaxith.

"Hey, didn't you say that you aren't leaving me, you are just gonna abandon me for that crazy butcher!", Said Irene worryingly.

"Hey hey, relax, you need to learn to be calm, I'm not abandoning you, as long as I'm with you he wouldn't appear, he maybe be outside that inn right now waiting for you to come out, no one here knows who you are, and I made sure he wasn't tracking you while I brought you here, for him, he thinks you are alone and I didn't find you because you went too far.", Said Jaxith.

"Why wouldn't he appear when you are with me?", Said Irene.

"Cause I made quite the impression", said Jaxith.

"And a boaster too, quit being arrogant, if you were that strong why haven't you killed him.", Said Irene.

"Cause you were getting far enough for me to loss you and also I wanted him to inform his agent maybe he would come."

"And he just left you go?", Said Irene.

"Told you I made quite the impression.", Said Jaxith proudly.

"Oh god.", Said Irene while covering her face with her hand, Jaxith noticed a faint smile on her face, finally he made her smile before she removed her hand again and looked at him.

"By the way, how did you find me? I was sure that no one was following me, the sound of that demon was away from me, I was sure I left you both of you behind me, the same thing when you came at the seekers house.", Said Irene questionably.

"I have a little talent that helped me, but if you went too far that talent would have become useless, maybe I will teach you, but the important thing is how he will find you not me.", Said Jaxith.

"That's strange too, well, the seekers he somehow found it through the criminal underworld, how he would track me now if he didn't follow me after I escaped just like you did because he didn't want to engage in a fight with you?", Said Irene.

"Listen, he has a rare gem, this gem is filled with dark energy, for dark magic users or the dark casters, whatever they are called, one of its properties is tracking down any person if a drop from his blood touched it.", Said Jaxith.

"And how he got that drop from me?", Said Irene.

"Your hand?", Said Jaxith while nodding to her injured hand.

Irene looked at her hand, she totally forgot about it, the whole events yesterday didn't gave her time to stop the bleeding or do anything, but she found her hand batched and covered in a clean tight cotton batch, like a an expert doctor would do it like that.

"He used the blood drops that fell due to wound from the glass shards.", Said Irene.

"Exactly, he would surely do it, I recognized it when I interfered, he must have noticed it when you fell, that's one of the reasons he didn't try to summon another beast to stall me and go after you, because he had it all planned, why he would lose another one or two for nothing? Making me lose track of you was his plan to reach you safely without any complications, sadly for him I know how he thinks.", Said Jaxith.

"Who made that.", Said Irene while raising her injured hand.

"Me of course, no one should know that I'm keeping you with me, all the town are looking for you, I told the inn keeper that I brought my little sister because my father is traveling, thank the Gods she didn't ask questions.", Said Jaxith.

"I didn't know that monster hunters are good at medicine too, I literally feel nothing, like I wasn't even injured, what did you put in that batch?", Said Irene.

"Of course a monster hunter should be good at wound treatment, we are injured all the time, this batch contains some medical herbs.", Said Jaxith.

"Whatever, I don't like to say thank you too much.", Said Irene.

She looked directly at him, still she doesn't know why he was helping her before, he even treated her hand, she even told him about giving him money to try and know his real motives but clearly it's not about money, he didn't ask about any money before and he didn't ask her how much Lance would pay him, something came up to her mind.

"Hey Jaxith, could I ask you a question?", Said Irene.

"Go on.", Said Jaxith.

"Do you know my parents? And please don't lie.", Asked Irene while looking carefully at Jaxith.

Jaxith got surprised by the question before narrowing his eyes, he understood why she is asking a question like that.

"No, I really don't know who they are, you think they sent me to help you, right? Don't you know them?", Said Jaxith.

"Yes that's what I thought, the time you came to save me is just making me curious, and about them, I really don't know anything about them, I even don't know from whom my demonic side comes from, Lance found me when I was still a newborn baby at the entrance of the Akremon forest, he raised me with his wife, so you can say that it was a question that popped into my head.", Said Irene.

"No, really, I'm sorry that I couldn't help you, at least you got Lance, he looks like he cares too much about you.", Said Jaxith, now things are getting complicated, she even doesn't know her parents, what if one of them is trying to reach her, but actually it's common for demon hybrids to get abandoned like that, they aren't as quarter the strength or purity to be accepted by demons and carrying filthy demon blood is enough to be hated by humans, they are just left for their destiny and of course most of them die.

"Yes, Lance is a very good person, now tell me about you plan.", Said Irene.

"Okay listen carefully, you can't be seen with me, you must get out of here before me, if he's watching the inn then he mustn't notice me at the same place he tracked you in, I don't want him to be prepared for me, a surprise attack will give perfect result.", Said Jaxith.

"What if he has a backup plan?", Said Irene.

"He won't, he will keep watching you after you leave to ensure that you got no one protecting you, but in case he was having a plan we'll need to improvise.", Said Jaxith.

"Okay I will trust you with that, what about you, I will leave, and he will be watching me, what will you do?", Said Irene.

"Wait.", Said Jaxith.

"Wait for what?", Asked Irene.

"For him to directly appear, listen, he will keep watching you until you go to an excluded area to easily catch you, I need you to go to the hills, but you need to move in the streets of Orstone for some hours first to give me time to reach the hills and wait for you, just before the sunset by an hour start moving towards the hills where I will be waiting for you, I need you to enter the hills from the market direction cause I will be there, you don't want me to lose you, just when he appears I will interfere.", Said Jaxith.

"So all I need to do is to get out there and keep wasting time then move to the hills before it gets dark, won't he try doing anything while I'm alone?", Said Irene.

"No he won't, just stay in the semi crowded areas, not too crowded so that he won't be able to reach you stealthily, or a quiet alley that he can corner you in, just do your thing and steal, I want him to think that you are collecting money to escape town, and trust yourself, don't be afraid from him, you can do it, and in case something happens, keep that in your pocket.", Said Jaxith before giving her a very small blue gem just in the size of a fingertip.

"What's that", asked Irene curiously before taking the gem from Jaxith and eyeing it carefully.

"It's a tracking stone, it's connected magically to this one.", Said Jaxith before showing her another identical stone.

"These two identical stones are connected by tracking magic, a friend made them for me long time ago as a gift, I can keep track of you by it, all what you have to do is to keep it with you and don't let him recognize it if he caught you, it's range can go beyond Orstone so don't worry at all, Irene, fine?", Said Jaxith in a warming manner, he's trying to calm her but he can see that she's a brave girl, she thought about it for a moment while looking directly at him, it's like she's trying to tell him that she's trusting him so don't leave me.

"Okay, I think you know what you're doing, I need to get going.", Said Irene.

"Wait, you didn't have your breakfast yet.", Said Jaxith before standing up and moving towards a table in the middle of the room, he took a small food tray and gave it to Irene.

"You haven't eaten anything from yesterday's events, you must be hungry.", Said Jaxith.

Irene took the tray from him, she was actually hungry but she didn't want to ask him.

"Fine, I will eat and go.", Said Irene.

"Take your time it's still early.", Said Jaxith.

And by that, everything was ready and planned, Jaxith and Irene were about to start working together for the first time ever, a young girl putting all her trust in someone she know nothing about except he saved her, for Jaxith, he was following his nightmare, still doesn't understand what's going on but he was sure that saving this girl is the right thing to do, she has a good heart, she doesn't deserve this horrible events.

Irene finished her meal and started doing what Jaxith told her to do exactly, nothing out of the plan happened which was fine for Irene, although she felt that she was followed from time to time but she didn't notice if there was a one really following her or not, but she was right, through the crowds of the streets and the local market, the assassin was watching her while handling the black gem in his hand, he was observing her and monitoring the area around her, he was actually waiting for Jaxith to appear, but nothing happened, no sign of him, the girl was stealing and waiting between the crowds cleverly, it was getting dark and she started moving towards the hills.

"She is trying to escape, I will summon the hounds to secure the area, there are some trees that this mysterious person might be hiding in so they will get him, or at least to besiege her, she is a slippery one and with those trees around, she could use them good.", Thought the assassin while watching the young girl exit the market from the hills direction.

The night fell, the moon was the only source of light on the hills, the weather was a bit colder on the hills than in the town, due to the open spaces on the hills, Irene was moving calmly under the moon's light, she started getting anxious, no sign of Jaxith was around, did he miss her? Did she do something wrong? Or did he abandon her? No he won't do that, suddenly, there was sound of something moving between the bushes by her right side, she turned to them looking scared but the movement stopped, maybe a rabbit?

She felt something moving fast behind her, something produced a bestial sound for a second, she turned to look at it but there was nothing again.

Irene started getting afraid, she started sweating, her left hand was in her pocket, tightly grasping the stone Jaxith gave her, she wanted him to appear now, although the assassin didn't appear, she couldn't stand this situation anymore.

Someone stepped into the road she was moving in, he was moving with his right side facing her before he turned his face to her, there was a few meters between them, the moon's light was enough to show her that he was the assassin, he started clapping.

"What a plan, getting enough money then escaping town, but I still don't know how you will survive the cliff ahead since you don't want to encounter the town guards, anyway, you did me a great favor for coming here, and don't try to escape, do you see this?", Said the assassin before a large crimson hound stepped by his side coming from the same place he emerged from.

"There are another five surrounding you right now, one wrong move and you will be the dinner for those hungry demonic hounds.", Said the assassin.

"Demonic hounds! What is that thing? It could put my whole head inside its mouth.", Thought Irene as fear started growing more inside her.

"Did he say five more? Wait, does that mean Jaxith was killed by those things? He didn't appear.", Thought Irene as her heartbeats became faster.

Irene felt she has fallen into the trap they were originally setting for the assassin.

"What do you want from me?", Asked Irene while gathering her courage, she looked again at the hound looking hungrily at her, waiting for his master's permission.

"I don't care about you actually, I'm just doing my job, the one who needs you alive is a very special one, he even gave me that beautiful black gem to get you.", Said the assassin before he showed her the black gem which was shining.

"This gem is a way for the dark summoning art, the scarlet one, a very strong and forbidden art, it even helped me track you when that rude person interrupted us, by the way, who was this man?", Said the assassin.

"I don't know, at least he gave me another day to live.", Said Irene, she was still hoping for Jaxith to appear, but there was no sign of him, could he be dead?

"Whatever, if he is here he would surely die, the hounds around here will kill any living thing they spot except you.", Said the assassin proudly.

"Do you mean those?", Said the silver haired man boldly while standing between the tree branches by the side of the road, he threw a large bag in front of the assassin which opened when hitting the ground and large hound heads rolled out of it!

"JAXITH!", Said Irene enthusiastically before he jumped by her side.

"I thought those things got you, I was started getting worried that you won't show up.", Said Irene happily with a wide smile, a big relief that was, once he stepped by her side she felt safe, she has only met him yesterday and yet she was so happy by seeing him now, Jaxith was looking straight into the assassin's eyes coldly.

"Sorry I got occupied by some business, a monster hunter can't ignore lurking beasts in the hills.", Said Jaxith without removing his eyes away from the assassin, he was scaring him more and more by his confidence and calm reactions.

"You killed all the five hounds! Not even a monster hunter could do it, they are CRIMSON HOUNDS!", Said the assassin furiously.

"How did you do it?", Asked Irene incomprehensibly.

"I got my tricks, now I'm more interested in your agent, he would give you something valuable as that just to bring her, I'm sure you know how much that gem worth, straight to business, tell me who sent you and I promise to give you a quick death, that's the least you could get from your actions.", Said Jaxith.

"Who are you? What are you! However I'm not telling you anything, I still got my winning card, let's see what will you do, ATTACK!", Said the assassin before the hound started running towards Jaxith and Irene, Irene grasped Jaxith's coat and stayed behind him.

Jaxith draw his sword swiftly before moving to the side completely covering Irene while opening a clear view for the rushing hound's head, he instantly severed its head too without any trouble.

The hound's head fell to the ground, Irene opened her eyes wide, he is just amazing.

"Wow! It's like he's playing with them, is he some sort of a knight?", Thought Irene while looking happily at Jaxith, she thought that thing was going to eat them alive but that was a piece of cake for Jaxith.

Jaxith raised his sword pointing towards the assassin, looking angrily with those red scary eyes.

"I think you want it the hard way then.", Said Jaxith boldly with his scary scarlet eyes and stern look.