Lizzy’s new routine wasn’t that much different from when she was training. She would try to sleep all day and only wake up to eat (which Irene probably interpreted as a sign of protest), then when it was around midnight she would get up and put on her vampire-hunting attire and go through the secret passage to Paul’s house. Once she was there, she would prepare her equipment and go on patrol. There were times she wanted to help Paul with his research, but she couldn’t afford losing a life over it.

Going to the woods at night wasn’t always easy, a lot of times it was too dark for her to see and she needed to bring a lantern to guide herself. Whenever this happened, it was inevitable to have a confrontation with some vampires, who had heard rumors of a hunter lurking nearby and they wanted to be the one to present their head to their master. It was harder to fight without the element of surprise on her side, but she managed to fight her opponents with relative ease; her equipment was probably doing the heavy lifting, though, and it also helped that the ur-vampyrs were not very coordinated when it came to attacking in group. Ur-vampyrs had a lot of strength in numbers, but they were wilder, sloppier, and took more risks, so it was easier for her to kill them. Part of Lizzy wondered if deep down they wished the sweet release of death.

Plenty of nights passed without a single victim, a victory that Lizzy didn’t attribute to herself. The Great Vampire Lord was too busy searching for the orbs to care about his next meal, and he sent his soldiers to gather them. Apparently, thanks to some conversations she managed to hear before slaying them, they were unable to find the rest of the orbs. She also learned that they were in need of only two more Elven Orbs, which was worrisome, but there was still hope! Paul was doing his best to gather as much information about the orbs as possible, and they probably had more access to information than the vampire.

They were going to win, they just needed some time.

Many other nights passed without a single victim, and in those particular occasions Lizzy could celebrate her own victory. They were rare, but there were times when Lizzy could find a person being dragged by ur-vampyrs towards the castle. When that happened she would sneak around and kill the vampires while their hands were full.

In one particular occasion, the surviving ur-vampyr, the one holding a girl slightly older than Lizzy, used the human as a hostage once he saw his companion being turned into dust. He demanded Lizzy to give up if she didn’t want the girl to die, but Lizzy did something a little riskier and pull out her gun to shoot him in the face.

With the vampire now dead, the girl was able to breathe again. She almost fainted from stress, but managed to hold on.

“Thank you so much! I owe you my life!” she said. “Who… Who are you?”

Lizzy didn’t say a word, she just adjusted her cape to hide her figure and shook her head.

“You don’t talk? That’s fine. I… I don’t know where to go, could you help me?”

Lizzy nodded and motioned to follow her. They went back to the west, where they had an encounter with another group of ur-vampyrs, but Lizzy managed to slay them too. The rest of the way back the girl talked about how she was captured. Apparently, she was at home when she heard something outside her house, and before she knew it a group of anthropomorphic bat monsters were entering her home through the now broken window. They dragged her into the woods, expecting to never been seen again when The Hunter appeared to save her.

Finally, they arrived at the outside of the forest, near the farms in the outskirt of Riverbel.

“Thank you again, I don’t know what I would have done without you! It’s so nice to have another hunter around!” she said at last.

Lizzy hoped that she wouldn’t have more encounters with vampires for a while, considering that her window was destroyed. Hopefully, she would get a crucifix or something to bring herself more protection.

Other encounters with kidnapping victims went the same. She would find them being captured by the ur-vampyrs, then she would kill them and save the day. Most of the people who were attacked came from the farms outside the village, whose houses were not safe enough to protect them. She felt a little guilty for being in such a privileged situation, for not having to worry about the safety of her home, for being able to have a good night’s rest. Another reason to pay back Riverbel by hunting down those damned demons!

Things were pretty much the same, until one day Paul finally found a clue to where the next orb could be.