Chapter 6: The Afternoon

Her dream took place in the home again, this time it was the basement. A man in a suit lay slumped against the wall, blood stained his coat. It seemed he was stabbed near the chest. His eyes were dim as he mutter something to himself, Alice was barely able to make out what, “ Anne”, the man leans his head back against the wall, looking right at her, or past her. A collector lumbers next to the man, it simply stare at him, and then the dream ended. Clara was already awake and down, she could already guess what todays plan was. She takes a seat next to her friend, they both stare at the tv as they eat their bowl of cereal.

“ We should go back when the creature isn’t awake,” Clara says, which was something she didn’t argue against, she change the channel to the news to see that yet another person had been killed, and to none of our surprises the body ripped open and innards missing, “ We should find a way to kill these things, or at least find a way to subdue them,” Clara notes, killing them would be the preferred option, and after her last encounter she was sure they could be killed, she would need more than just a blade to do so. They took some time to themselves before heading down to visit the shopkeeper, perhaps he learned something when they were gone. Alice had decided to keep the torn jacket, despite missing a sleeve she just couldn’t bring herself to throw it away, she would just have to wear a long sleeve shirt under to make up for it. They drop by Alice’s home again to pick up the lunch her mom had left behind.

“ Ken. A” says the shopkeeper, “ Your name is kane?” Clara asks keeping her gaze locked on something else, “ Its just ken, my middle name starts with A,” Ken explains, Alice tells him about what happened at the mansion, he scowled them for doing something so stupid, but he didn’t seem too upset,

“ We plan on going back now so we don’t run into the monster,” Clara tapping her nails on the wooden counter in rhythm. Ken didn’t seem apposed to it, he smiles and reaches underneath the counter again, this time he protruded a blade, only the blade was missing so it was just the hilt. Blue leather wrapped around the handle neatly, The cross hilt had been straightened to follow the shape of the handle, Ken gestures to Clara to give her hand to him, she does.

“ This is blade belonged to people who used to hunt fragmented souls, this one in particular belonged to Henry,” He says placing the handle into Claras palm as the handle sunk into it. Clara was thoroughly examining her hand to see where the handle went, weird.

“ All you have to do is focus, and the blade will respond,” Ken explains, and focus she does, Clara steps back and lowers her hand so the blade wont hit anything, she closes her eyes and we all await, and then it happened. The handle reemerged, Clara pulled on the handle with her right hand, this time the cross hilt in normal position, and a pointed blade attached, she now had a portable weapon, cool. Clara puts the blade back into her hand and thanks Ken. Was Alice envious of her friend for getting a cool magic weapon? A little, but she was more worried about having to rely on her friend more. “ You, can have this,” Ken walks around the counter and opens the glass panel holding the revolver in, he carefully hands it to her, she examine it as if she knew what to examine, he shows her how it works, basically how to fire it, as well as the reloading mechanic, inside the barrel sat 4 bullets,
“ Where exactly do I get bullets for this? Im not really old enough to buy that kinda thing,” Alice asks rotating the barrel, Ken lets out a laugh, “ You cant buy ammo for this,” He says confusing them both, “ Im sure you’ll figure it out,” He says, Ken gives her a cover to put the gun away in so she doesn’t draw unwanted attention, or the police. Clara pulls out her purse and rummages through it for money,

“ Its free, take them,” Ken says, “ Are you sure? Cause I think I- WE have enough to pay for it,” Clara says speaking for the both of us, Alice had no idea how much money she had, nor does she remember bringing it with her, Ken still refuses, shaking his head.

“ Fine, the payment for those two is you getting rid of the fragmented soul in the mansion, only then can your debt be filled. Clara had promised they would kill it, they both thank him and sit on the bench outside to eat lunch. They would need all the energy if they planned on monster hunting, not today. Today they would head back to learn. Fun.