" Your Turn "

"Seize the elf!" The captain bellowed. 

Silver’s hand dropped instantly to his waist, ready to draw, but Vanessa leaned forward against his back.

"Wait" she whispered.

Before the guards could advance, Vanessa pulled down her hood, revealing her face not in fear, but with a serene, terrifying grace. Her eyes, usually bright, swirled with a sudden, hypnotic deep violet light.

She didn't shout; she simply looked at the captain and spoke, her voice lacing through the air like silk.

"Look closely. I am not the fugitive you seek. I am merely a traveler, passing through."

The captain blinked. His aggressive stance faltered and the tip of his spear dipped. His comrades followed suit, taken in by the elf's aura..

"You... you are not the fugitive we seek,"  they repeated, voices hollow and flat. "You are... a traveler."

"And we are free to go," Vanessa added.

"You are free to go..." the captain echoed, signaling his men to stand down. They parted like water.

Silver, visibly impressed, didn't waste a second. He snapped the reins, and the horse thundered past the dazed guards. He didn't look back until they were several streets away, his heart hammering. His adrenaline was high, not from the danger, but from the woman sitting behind him.

As they pushed deeper into the town, Silver yanked the reins, slowing the black steed from a gallop to a trot. The horse calmed its breathing as the rhythmic clatter of it's hooves echoed against the closed wooden shutters of the shops.

The streets here were illuminated by rows of red paper chōchin lanterns, casting a bloody glow over the puddles on the ground, visbile to the duo from a small stone bridge arching over a stream that cut through the district where they had stopped to regroup.

“I know of a few Alchemists in this sector,” Silver reasoned, scanning the dark skyline. “We should visit them, one by one.”

“No need.” Vanessa pointed a gloved finger toward a narrow, sloping alley. “Didn't you spot that shop on the hill? My gut tells me that’s where he is.”

Silver frowned, doubting her. “Why that one specifically? It’s right in the open. Wouldn't the kidnapper hide to avoid being caught?”

"In plain sight maybe. After all, true malice demands an audience, Silver,” the elf replied, her voice composed and oddly wise.


  “Evil people... they itch to be recognized. It’s the ultimate high. To them, the sin is no fun if no one knows. They put the signs out in the open and wait to be found.”

Silver looked at the shop, then back at her. After the display at the gate, he decided to bet on her intuition.

He steered the horse up the steep, slick incline. When they reached the structure, a jagged, multi-story building wedged between two warehouses, Silver pulled the horse to a halt. The wizard dismounted, tying the beast to a lantern post, then offered a hand to Vanessa.

“Stay focused. Don’t let your guard down.”

She nodded as the two carefully made their way towards the entrance. Silver checked the handle; it was unlocked. The door groaned open, and they were instantly hit by a wall of unnatural cold. The interior wasn't lit by lamps, but by the glow of hundreds of glass vials lining the walls. The shelves looked like a twisted version of a traditional Kampo medicine chest, but instead of dried herbs, the glass containers pulsed with iridescent fluids. Neon greens, deep violets, and sick, milky whites filled the area with light that seemed to hypnotise you the longer you stared.

The air was thick, choking them with a mix of sharp, metallic chemicals and a sweet, rotting floral undertone. Shadows danced in the corners, thrown by the shifting light of the liquids. It was a place where science had been twisted into something primal.

“I see what you mean now....” Silver murmured as he retrieved the vial he had found in Sachi’s pumpkin patch. The liquid inside was a distinct, purplish-blue. He walked to a shelf and held it next to a large decanter filled with a reddish-pink fluid.

“Look at the stoppers...” Silver whispered, pointing. “The pentagram burned into the wood. It’s the same seal.”

Vanessa nodded grimly. “It came from here. But where is the owner?”

“I don’t know. It’s awfully quiet...”

Just as the silence settled, the front door creaked open behind them. A man shuffled in from the street, shaking the dirt off his boots. He looked up unfettered, his expression shifting into terror upon witnessing the duo, rendering him frozen in place.

To him, they must have looked like a hallucination: the towering, gritty detective and the ethereal, terrifyingly beautiful elf, their presence filling the cramped shop.

“It's awfully late for customers, which begs the question....who are you looking for?” Silver’s voice rumbled, breaking the man’s trance.

“Oh, uh... no one...” the customer stammered, shrinking back.

“Do you know who runs this store?” Silver pressed down with authority, his eyes digging into the strange man who had appeared out of nowhere.

“Uh, yeah... His name is Renji” the man said, fumbling a business card from his pocket and handing it over with a shaking hand. “Renji the Apothecary. That's what the card says.”

Silver inspected the card. “Renji... I’ve never heard of him, and I know this district well. Is he new?”

The customer shifted, eyeing the door. “Listen, man... I don’t have to answer your questions. What do you want?”

Silver didn't blink. He didn't speak. He just stared, his silence pressing down on the man like a physical weight.

“Okay, fine!” the man cracked. “I’m leaving!”

“One last question.” Silver stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.

  “What did you come here to buy?”

“I...” The man panicked. He stumbled back, turning to run, but in his haste, he clipped a heavy jar on a low shelf. It shattered against his ankle. Liquid splashed his skin, causing the man to scream as writhed on the floor agony,  smoke rising from the fresh wound eating away at his leg.

“IT HURTS!! AHHH! HELP ME!”

Silver watched him squirm. “What’s the hurry? We’re just getting started.” He smirked, a devilish expression that terrified the man more than the acid.

“Alright! Alright, I’ll tell you!! Just spare me!”

“TALK!” Silver roared, stepping over him. At 6-foot-5, he loomed over the customer like an Oni!. “You are in no position to negotiate!”

“I came to get fresh blood!” the man shrieked, defeated.

Silver froze. Rage, cold and sharp, spiked in his chest.

“Blood?” Vanessa pondered aloud, horrified. “Why would an Apothecary supply blood? He’s not a doctor...”

Silver turned his back on the groveling man. “Leave this shop. Before I break your face.”

The customer didn't need telling twice. He scrambled up, limping heavily on his burned ankle as he fell out of the store and fled into the night.

“You let him go...” Vanessa murmured.

“We don’t have time. We’re dealing with a monster, and I’m worried about the kid.” Silver marched toward the back of the shop. He found a heavy wooden door, locked tight. Without hesitation, he drove his heel into the lock, splintering the wood and kicking the door inward.

A dark stone staircase spiraled down into the earth.

“Looks like we have to go deeper....” 

They descended. The air grew colder with every step as the smell of chemicals was gradually but surely replaced by the coppery tang of rust and old blood. Upon reaching the bottom, they stepped into what could only be described as a nightmare.

There they found a dimly lit chamber, its walls lined with jars housing items that should never be preserved. There were eyes, fingers, organs, hands, feet, heads and everything in between, floating in suspension. In the center stood a large, ancient wooden table, scarred by knives and stained almost black. Chains and rusted manacles hung from the ceiling, slick with fresh gore.

In the corner, a small iron cage held a huddled shape. Silver couldn’t make out the face, but a soft, pitiful moan drifted from the bars, sending a shiver down his spine.

At the far end, a figure stood hunched over a cauldron. No doubt it was Renji, the monster behind the kidnappings and the one who was selling the blood of children,. He was clad in a stained robe, chanting incantations to the air as he sprinkled powder into a frothing brew as acrid, green vapor filled the room.

“Halt what you’re doing and face me, you coward!” Silver bellowed.

Renji stopped stirring. He slowly straightened his back, dropping his ladle which caused a splash and some of the liquid to fall out. In a blur of motion, he grabbed a knife and slashed his own left palm, slamming his hand onto the table infrontof him, blood smearing into a pre-drawn circle.

“Shit, its a trap!” Silver realized but it was already too late

A massive, inverted pentagram glowed on the floor beneath Silver and Vanessa’s feet. Silver lunged, trying to dive clear, but his efforts were in vain.

Black, shadowy tendrils erupted from the cracks in the stone. They whipped around Silver’s arms and legs, slamming him to his knees nad chaining him in place. He struggled, muscles straining, but the shadows held him with enormous strength. Beside him, Vanessa gasped as the darkness bound her wrists and throat, suppressing her magic.

Renji turned, a wicked smile stretching across his face, deepening Silver's fury at the predicament. He walked toward them, wiping his bloody hand on his robe.

"You should have stayed out of this, girl," he hissed. He reached out, his fingers trailing slime as he ran a hand down Vanessa’s cheek.

Silver roared, thrashing against the binds, but Renji ignored him. The alchemist’s touch grew vile as he grabbed at her chest, then squeezed her hip, slowly making his way towards her bottom, slipping his hand in to squeeze it lecherously as a show of his dominance. Vanessa recoiled, disgust warring with fury in her eyes, but the shadows only tightened as Silver's heart pounded in his chest, his anger boiling over as he watched helplessly.

Satisfied momentarily, Renji chuckled as he returned to his cauldron. With a theatrical flourish, he drew a syringe full of the bubbling, maroonish-green liquid.

"I have to say I love having an audience for this. Now then, you both are going to watch! This isn't just magic. It's biology," 

Renji gloated, tapping the syringe. 

"This concoction contains the essence of terror. I extract it from the children in their final moments when their adrenaline and fear is at its peak! When it's... potent."

He held the needle up to the light. 

"A chemical compound is so boring on its own. But mixed with my magic? And the compounds extracted from their sacrifice? It breathes life! Do you have any idea how much the royalty pays for this? For the vigor of youth?!"

Renji plunged the needle into his own neck and gasped, his back arching as the vile fluid hit his bloodstream. His eyes rolled back, glazing over with an unnatural, euphoric high.

"Power...Euphoria!" Renji moaned, laughing maniacally.

Silver felt sick, fighting the restraints until his wrists bled. The smell, the cruelty, the child moaning in the cage, it was too much, 

But Vanessa had gone quiet. She wasn't struggling physically anymore. She was staring at Silver, her eyes glowing with fierce, focused determination and soon a faint, violet light began to bleed from her skin, slipping past the black shadows. The alchemist was too high to notice when with a silent scream of effort, she projected her magic outwards, not at Renji, but at Silver.

*SNAP*

The shadows binding the detective shattered like glass. The dark figures dissipated into smoke. Silver fell forward onto his hands, free. He looked up to find Vanessa breathing heavy, sweat on her brow, but she offered him a grim, victorious nod.

"Your turn"