"It looks like the city guards have found your hideout." Said Noah looking into space with his eyes not concentrating on anything in particular, as if there was some kind of invisible object in front of him that Samantha did not see. 

"No, " said Kate, looking at a round transparent screen-like object floating in front of her. A big magnifying glass made with water and wind magic zoomed onto a small house in the distance that had a huge hole in one of the side walls made by some explosion. Half the house was burned and at the moment it was surrounded by a lot of people in plate armor. "The commander there is a dark society associate. I know that asshole. I bet they decided to use a local garrison after they understood that their assassin group was decimated."

Samantha looked into the distance with squinted eyes, seeing only faintly discernible figures of the people in plate armor sneaking around their now ex-safe house. Her warrior system had the skill to look into the distance, but not as efficient as a ranger's skill and not as good as Noah's as it seemed as well. Are Tamers really so omnipotent? She thought, turning to look at the man standing in the company of a caped golem and a monster pretending to be a human lady smiling at her at the moment. Samantha turned away, noticing that Brianna gazed back at her.

"What do we do?" Asked Lilly. "It seems the group that hunted us and the one that ambushed us are two different organizations. There is no point attacking these guys if they don't know who that second team was and where it took Danny."

Noah kept watching in the distance with a frown on his face.

"Look at the well-dressed guy there. Is he a noble? Doesn't look like he is in command. What's he doing here?" Said, Noah.

Kate adjusted her magnifying glass and Lilly and Samantha stared at it over her shoulder.

"I don't recognize him." Said, Samantha. "And we know all the local nobles here. This guy is not local. What is he doing there with the soldiers?"

"Servitor." Said Brianna from behind her, making the three women jump with a startle as they did not notice her coming close to them. Just a moment ago she stood near Noah and split moment later looked over their shoulder at the picture on a magical magnifying glass. Damn that woman was dangerous.

"S…servitor?" Asked Samantha trying to keep her face straight to not show any emotions.

"Human lackey of a vampire." Said, Brianna.

"How do you know?" Asked Noah.

"Pale skin. Sickly appearance. I'd say he donates blood a lot." Explained Brianna. "If the group of monsters hunting them is really who we think they are, it makes sense that some of Theron's flunkies would be here as his representatives as well. This guy is their regular dinner."

"So this Theron guy, is he a vampire?" Asked Samantha. 

"Nosferatu." Answered Noah. "High-level vampire."

"I heard of them, but we never met any." Said, Lilly. "Is it true they can walk under the sun?"

"Vamp walking in a day?" Asked Samantha surprised.

"To a degree, yes." Said, Brianna. "The stronger the Nosferatu the longer he can tolerate the direct sun."

"Anyway, this saves us time. If he is a servitor then he is the one that has the information we need." Said, Lilly

"Not really. What we need is not him, but the one he serves here. Theron would never send a human to represent him. There must be someone else. And I have a feeling I know who."

"I see. But this servitor might lead us to the one who knows where Danny is?" Asked Samantha

"Yes. But getting information out of her would be a problem." Said Brianna with a sigh.

"Her?" Asked Noah.

"If I am right, then the one Theron sent is one of his bitches. Many women wish to become a slave willingly in exchange for eternal beauty. Theron had a few so-called fiances. And I don't recall seeing one of them at the ball." Said, Brianna. "The haughty bitch with a constant frown like she is some high noble lady and everyone else is beneath her. I hate her type the most."

"Is she so loyal she would not spill information under torture?" Asked Samantha.

"Loyalty is not the issue with vampires. They are a distrustful bunch, so at the moment of turning they implant mind magic into all their servants, which gives them absolute power over their turned kin. Vassals literally can't betray the one who turned them. That woman is a slave in mind and spirit, and can't do anything that she herself would deem as disloyalty or betrayal, whether she wants it or not. She would die if she is forced. This is why Vampires trust only household kin."

"If it is so, Theron has such mind magic implanted by Cassandra. But isn't what he does here disloyalty toward Cassandra? Or is he on Cassandra's mission?" Asked Noah. 

Brianna frowned thinking.

"Maybe not. Depending on how he sees his own actions, he might see it as beneficial to the household so it's not disloyalty or betrayal. Also as a Nosferatu, he gained quite a bit of independence in his actions compared to normal vampires. Enough to take actions on his own." Said, Brianna. "So if he decided that his actions are beneficial for the household and Cassandra, he is free to act as he pleases."

"Selling and capturing humans? How is this beneficial? If he is found out, he is putting Cassandra's status as a Guardian under threat." Said, Noah.

"Yes. So we need to find out what his purpose is. And we need to make it covert. I don't want to bring problems to my aunt. Even if she was a total bitch this time, I still love her dearly." Said Brianna looking at Noah pleadingly.

Noah nodded at her and looked at Samantha and her team.

"So what do we do? Just stalking that servitor and finding the vampire he serves might not be enough. If your friend is held elsewhere, we can't force her to spill the beans. We would need to stalk her and wait for her to bring us to the place we need. But that plan has some dangers. If she gets aware of being spied on, we might be led into a trap and get ambushed. And if she is only there to give orders and never goes to the place where your friend is held, she might be sold while we stupidly wait for that woman to do something. "

"Yes." Said Samantha thoughtfully. "We still need to get information on that auction and where it will take place. However, venues like that are usually well-guarded. Besides if there is any information on it then only among nobles and underworld dwellers. However, as we are now, we can't show our faces anywhere near any of them or we will be hunted immediately."

"Let's hope we find your friend at that vampire's hideout then." Said, Brianna. "Look the guy is leaving."

"Let's follow." Said, Lilly.

"No. Leave this to me. If we follow him physically we might get found out." Said Noah

"What do you suggest?" Asked Samantha

"I am a tamer, remember? I already sent a small animal that would not be discernible and I can look through its eyes. This way we can keep an eye on him through my skill at all times from a distance." Lied Noah, with the same story he came up back in the Vega village mission to explain his 'lock on view' screen's ability to spy on people.

*****

"Commander. I believe we have cleared any suspicions toward us. So we would like to start traveling, we were delayed by your inspection too much already."

The man in armor looked at the man in noble attire with squinted eyes. 

"We both know this is loads of bullshit." Said Commander, coming closer to the nobleman and muttering his words so that only this man could hear him, not wanting to be overheard by other people around them.

"I do not understand what you mean, Commander." Said the nobleman, speaking loudly on purpose just to be heard by everyone around them. "I was polite and understanding, I followed all your requests although I still don't understand why you asked us to follow you and could not simply inspect our cargo on the spot. We made everything to clear your suspicion, Commander. If you have nothing to hold against us, what is the purpose of this detention? How are we connected to this house and the criminals you are looking for, Commander? If you suspect us in anything, please contact the border patrol and request them to arrest us. After all, this area is not under your jurisdiction, right?"

Commander peered at the man with anger but had no choice but to let them go.

"You can go." Said Commander. "But I remember your face fuckers. I will find you later." He added quietly to not be overheard by others.

"I wish you luck in your search for these dangerous criminals, Commander." Said the nobleman with a satisfied smile turning to walk away.

The City Guard commander clenched his teeth watching this leader of a "Traveling Merchant group" as they called themselves walk toward his carriage and start to ride away with his "guards" on his tail. These guys were obviously suspicious. What the hell a merchant group was doing so far away from the main road, deep in the wilds? There was no way they were 'just merchants'. He was sure they were somehow connected with the strange demise of the entire squad that was sent to kill those four bitches, however, he had no proof of their guilt.

His squad found them camping quite some distance away from this safe house belonging to that Samantha Wild team, and could not blatantly accuse them of being somehow connected. After all, he brought a city guard squad here under the pretense of having an anonymous tip of dangerous wanted criminal Samantha Wild's team being sighted here, and starting to arrest random people without obvious reason would raise unwanted questions from his superiors.

He would have to start explaining his reason for arresting this merchant group that had no obvious connection to the team they went to capture. And it's not like he could say that: a team of dark association mercenaries was sent here to assassinate those women and disappeared, I found them all dead and there was no way those four women did it, so he suspected a third party intervention and this merchant was suspicious and might have had something to do with it and needed to be arrested until they check his background. Saying that would be the same as putting a noose on his own neck to be hanged.

Obviously, he would have to lie, which might still raise his superiors' suspicions. And he did not wish to throw a shadow of doubt on himself any more than he already did. He already put himself under fire of superiors' scrutiny on a dark association account just by bringing a squad of city guards into the territory that was not under his jurisdiction. It was already a questionable decision, that his superior officer would look at with a frown. Any more suspicious actions might get him investigated. And he did not wish to bring such attention toward himself no matter how much dark association offered for his service rendered here. So the best action was to let that 'merchant' go free.

It was not his fault that the association decided to fuck up so badly in the area where they had no people with jurisdiction to act freely. Had this happened somewhere in the area belonging to the city, he would have the legal right to act however he liked and still find a plausible excuse to give his superior to answer for his actions. However here he had no such rights. He had no right to even bring his men here.

This house was located in a border region and was under the jurisdiction of the border patrol - the garrison that answered for the Kingdom border. Obviously, that woman chose this spot for a safe house with a thought of an emergency and having a well thought plan. It was close to the city, yet was in the area that belonged to the border region at the feet of the mountains that separated two Kingdoms. City Guards could not act here as they pleased and could not pursue criminals deep into the border area. Also, it was quite far away from the border to look suspicious to border patrol.

The location was ideal for a situation where they had to run away from pursuit. In the case they were found, all they had to do was dash in the direction of the border. At most city guards would have the right to contact the border citadel to send a team. By the time that team arrives, they would long since be in the border mountains and no one would be able to pursue them there. Without a doubt, they also knew a route to pass the mountains as well.

However, right now this also played a role against the City Guard squads Commander in another way. He could not just stop this merchant here until he checked his background. In the area belonging to the city, he would have justification to do that, but here, he could not act so blatantly. And this, pretending to be a merchant bastard obviously knew that, using his legal rights to squeeze himself out of this sticky situation. 

So at most, the squad commander could stop them for questioning and check their identification papers, which he had no doubt would be found fake later. He delayed them on the pretense of searching for wanted criminals and asked them to follow him as he could not perform an inspection right there on the spot. Which already sounded stupid yet he could not find any more pretext to delay them and question them more without directly ordering to arrest them. He just hoped they would be frightened and attempt to run or give him some excuse to arrest them. But these guys were too calm and obedient, giving him no opportunity to act. He had to let them go but remembered their faces well. At least he would give dark associations their descriptions to let them act further on their own.

He turned away from the moving away carriage and looked at the ruined house and the goods that were carried out of it by the soldiers. It looked like the women left in a hurry and could not get any of their belongings. Obviously, there were signs of battle that led deeper into the border region.

From the looks of it, they managed to escape the ambush and dashed in the direction of the border. The question was, however, why they had to run in such a hurry that they did not take any of their belongings when the entire squad sent for them was decimated here. If they were not the ones who killed them, then who were the bastards that dared to challenge the dark association so blatantly? The damn merchant group was too suspicious. But it was not up to him to investigate them. His task was to report the findings.

As he stood gazing at the working soldiers he had no idea that all their actions were carefully observed by Noah and Samantha's team from a distance.