The Heist

“It’s dangerous, but it’s the only way we can guarantee a supply of blood for you. All we have to do is avoid some guards, dig up a body, syphon the blood and then bury them again.”

Aiyana had managed to wriggle out of my grasp and calm herself down while listening to me explain it all.

I continued, “Best case scenario, we get in and out without being seen and, because we buried the bodies again, no one is the wiser! It’s foolproof!”

It really was as I said, do it correctly and it’s almost like a buffet. If we covered our tracks right it’d be like we were never there, the perfect plan! Of course, it was never going to be that easy, I was too stupid to realise that but Aiyana wasn’t. She gave it a thought, I assume, imagining the outcomes and alternatives. Before long she was giving an awkward smile as I was jumping with joy.

The look on her face brought me back to reality, but I couldn’t understand what she was thinking. “You don’t like the plan?” I asked, a little shocked.

She waved her arms in front of me “no no! It’s a good plan, but…”

“…but?”

“Well, what if we get spotted?”

Confidence in my brilliant plan was at its peak in me, in fact I raised a finger triumphantly, ready for a perfect response to fly out like an arrow into her heart, and yet. Silence.

“After what happened 10 years ago, I’m a little scared of humans.”

Quite the understatement. Last time it was like she was in a fear coma.

“If I get scared down there, I’ll only end up holding you down. I don’t think we’ve got a better idea, and we don’t have much time to brainstorm. But I think it’s risky, and I hate thinking you’d get hurt because of me.”

I really, really wanted to double down on the plan. It made the most sense and at least then I could feel like I paid her back somewhat… but, the puppy dog eyes and the sweet words left me unable to say anything against her.

In the end I could only sigh. “I’ll try and come up with something else for now. But you’ve only got enough blood to last a few days and it’d be smart to save a bit even if we do go with the plan just in case it doesn’t work. We should make a decision before the sun rises.”

She seemed to be in agreeance with me. Though both of us were preparing ourselves for a long journey. “If we do go down there, if we do go to the villages”

“No matter what I’ll protect you.”

Her face reddened again.

That night, we talked for hours, trying to figure out another way. Unfortunately, when the sun began to shine we were still nowhere closer.

Aiyana was pale, pale as a ghost. I wasn’t completely sure whether that was because she was scared of going into the villages, because of the lack of blood, or a mixture of the two. I tried to put on a brave face, after all it was my idea. But I too was terrified. Even if we did everything perfectly, just one person sees us, it’s game over.

But just seeing Aiyana that way made me realise that we didn’t have time to make other plans, it was now or never.

And so, it was time to accept this new task. It would be risky, it would be dangerous, but if we could pull it off, the reward would keep us going.

*-*-*

As the seasons changed, the days lengthened and our safety window shortened. We were still early into Spring, so we should have had more than enough darkness to cover us there and back. But unfortunately, the sun was not the biggest threat anymore.

We made our descent. The first village we found was Ebonspell, due East of Grimoire. I made it our first stop remembering that the last time I visited, the average age of the townsfolk was way into its 60’s. It almost guaranteed a lot of fresh bodies and a smaller guard stock.

Upon inspection, it didn’t look like much had changed. There were about 3 guards on the South side, where the graveyard was located. All of them looked bloated and bored, and instead of patrolling they were gathered together stuffing their faces.

The clouds covered the moonlight, gifting us an extra layer of darkness to lay under and make our move. And so we moved like stray cats, low to the ground and shrouded by darkness. An occasional glint of light was met with a retreat behind cover, always with an escape route. Yet no soul interrupted our quest.

Indeed, we reached the garden of stones, the field of souls, all without a whiff of danger. It was going unexpectedly well, so much so I’d wondered why they’d never thought of this before. We both took a second to catch our breath, and let the adrenaline die down enough to stop shaking.

However, the dangerous part had yet to come, for the noise of digging could very easily catch the attention of a passerby. Even the best retreat would raise alarms, leaving us empty handed.

Aiyana kept watch with bated breath as I stood over our first plunder. An old male, taken this very Spring. The first swing of the shovel was terrifying, thankfully the soil was still loose and covered most of the noise. But it was still enough to worry about.

The first plunge. Down.

The second, another…

Each time the metal split soil we monitored the surroundings. But even when I hit the casket, the sound attracted absolutely no one. We were all too happy to take advantage of it. We carefully lifted off the lid and braced for stink overload, lucky for us the body was still fresh and a few days from decomposing.

To syphon out the blood, we had brought along tools from the manor that should have done the job. Although, she had gone a while without sustenance and I had drained her slightly so she was rightfully parched. Not surprisingly she decided to take the opportunity to “whet the whistle” as my grandfather would say.

*-*-*

We moved on, unearthing three or four more caskets and draining the blood. It was going so well, I couldn’t believe it. Aiyana had already filled most of the vials we had brought and we hadn’t run into anyone. We did choose this village as the best option but, we thought we’d be moving around all day, trying to just get small windows and harvest a few drops before returning home only to try again tomorrow… at this rate, we’d be set for weeks!

Life is never quite that simple however and I would need to learn that the hard way.

She tapped me on the shoulder as I spaced out, even then my eyes wandered, perhaps the long night was taking its toll. “This one’s done. We should try one more to be safe…”

She kept talking, giving me instruction and draining out more blood, yet I didn’t hear a murmur. My eyes were glued to the little cottage across the way, with candlelight shining through the open window. That very light illuminated the resident, gazing up at the night sky and completely oblivious to us. I could recognise that face anywhere.

Finally. I got to see you again, I got to see you full of life. Yet it just so happened to be at the worst possible moment. Your name was a joy for me, but also terrified me deeply.

“Myra…”