Aselia reached the weapons room and Silver Wolf was already there. He glared at her as she swiftly walked and stood beside him. He spoke in a crisp voice:

"We two have our differences but this is the mission and I know you take them seriously. We have to act as a team if we want results. I will debrief you on it and then we will select weapons, accordingly."

"Yes, I understand," Aselia answered as Silver Wolf began to explain to her the mission they had been assigned. A vampire had escaped from the walled city of ’Valiois’ where they had been housing vampire families who wanted to live peacefully in Treskilaya.

The escaped vampire was now wreaking havoc in the nearby cities and needed to be put down. They were tasked with apprehending the vampire, either dead or alive. Silver Wolf only told Aselia that it was a female vampire. The age was not mentioned and it was a sensitive mission, they had to apprehend the culprit as soon as possible.

They selected the required weapons and made their way to Silver Wolf’s automatic black jeep, customized and designed especially for a hunter of his caliber. A DsHk automatic machine gun had been attached to its movable roof. With its rubicon tyres and metallic steel body, this jeep purred like a cat.

"My baby is beautiful and ready to rumble," Silver Wolf’s eyes were filled with affection as he traced his fingers alongside the jeep’s body. Aselia knew how much he adored his four-poster vehicle.

"No doubt, it is a neat vehicle," Aselia hummed, she shared Wolf’s passion for cars and they could talk at length about them.

They got in and sped off toward the destination. The location where the runaway vampire was seen last, was located at a distance of a few hours’ drive. Aselia set up the GPS for their location while Silver Wolf drove.

They drove in silence as Aselia observed the surroundings of Tetrios City; their headquarters were located on its outskirts. Their facility lay in a wasted barren piece of land, the landscape was dry, the ground parched from lack of rain, and the only foliage was scattered cactuses, palm, acacia and a few willow trees.

Moving ahead on the highway they entered the main city where the real hustle and bustle of the city began. With its modernised buildings, top-notch facilities, smooth roads, grand five-star hotels, casinos, and houses that screamed rich, it was evident that it was an affluent and prosperous city with normal weather.

Treskilaya had a milder climate as compared to Druhias where winter hit with full force at this time of the year. Aselia keenly observed people from every walk of life going about their businesses. Only humans and elves along with a few other peaceful species dwelled here. Vampires were strictly forbidden from ever crossing the borders except when brought by hunters at the headquarters.

Crossing the borders they left Tetrois City behind and moved further North toward their destination. Within a few hours, they reached the spot where the fugitive vampire had last been seen. A convoy of police was waiting for them.

Silver Wolf stopped the car and they both dismounted and made their way to the Sheriff who had been expecting them as he had been the one to make the call.

"Good afternoon! Thank you for coming, I am the Sheriff of this area," the Sheriff who seemed in his late forties and had short black hair with a bushy mustache welcomed them.

"Good afternoon, I am Silver Wolf, and this is my partner White Falcon. What’s the status?" Silver Wolf added after giving a curt nod. Aselia stood beside him and observed the policemen who were watching her.

"We had sightings of a rogue vampire, three people have been killed so far in the past 72 hours. She seems to be operating alone and I spoke to the authorities of Valiois, they confirmed one of their vampires is missing."

"I see, have attacks occurred in the daytime or night?" Silver Wolf asked while taking notes on his phone.

"All at night, near blind alleys or dumpsters, at least that’s where bodies were found," Sheriff filled them in. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Show us the locations," Silver Wolf instructed.

"Follow me," Sheriff showed them all three locations where bodies were found. Aselia inspected and concluded that the vampire was not very skilled that’s why preferred attacking from the shadows and only at night to avoid detection. Skilled vampires didn’t care about night and day, because of their speed, they had the upper hand in getting away.

"Thank you, leave the rest to us. Keep the normal patrols like you guys always do," Silver Wolf gave them instructions and moved back to his jeep with Aselia. Once they had settled Elven hunter laid out her plan:

"You need to observe from the jeep, I will leave my blood traces in all of the blind alleys and wait around one of the corners, I will keep contact through the communication device."

Aselia handed him one of the communication devices and inserted the other into her ear. Silver Wolf scrutinized her for a second before asking:

"You always act as bait?"

"Yes, because of my blood. It drives them crazy and it’s easier to catch them. They come for me and Black Hawk would take a shot from the distance," Aselia explained her strategy.

"Well, you are not the team leader anymore, you are my subordinate. We will do things my way, stay in the jeep and use night vision binoculars to observe and report to me if you find anything. I will make a round."

With these words, he began to take off his clothes without a warning. Aselia’s mouth flew open in protest but she quickly shut it feeling embarrassed she averted her gaze and tightly shut her eyes, not wanting to see him naked.

"I didn’t know you were so modest after having Black Hawk as a partner for five years, isn’t he a hound like me?" Silver Wolf spoke in a sarcastic tone.

Aselia kept her eyes shut and spoke with gritted teeth: "But unlike you, he doesn’t strip without warning."