“Hunters?” Maga’s question caught Cra off guard, prompting her to step closer.“Tell me where your house is. I’ll be staying there for a while. If you reveal what you’re doing here, I’ll heal your body and perhaps leave you in peace,” Cra offered. Her bold statement made Maga uneasy. She knew her health had been deteriorating for a long time, and she didn’t have much time left.

  “I don’t want to be belled a colborator with vampires, so no thanks,” Maga replied, attempting to shuffle away. Her slow, boured movements made escape nearly impossible, and Cra mirrored her steps, following closely in a cruel game of pursuit. Finally, Maga stopped, her breath heavy with exhaustion.

  “Fine. You can stay at my house for the time being. Either way, you can’t harm me if you want to find out what I’m doing,” Maga said, her voice ced with frustration. She was furious at her helplessness and wanted nothing more than for Cra to stop toying with her.

  “Good. My name is Cra, and I have a friend in the vilge named Isabel. She’s injured, so someone will likely come asking for your help,” Cra said calmly.

  “If you want my help, you must ask for it!” Maga snapped, her tone sharp with defiance.

  “Don’t be so grumpy. Just tell me your name,” Cra retorted, waving a hand to urge Maga to start moving again. Maga’s anger boiled over, as Cra was essentially pying with her life, and she had no way to resist.

  “Giovanna,” she muttered through gritted teeth.

  “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? I think we’ll make great partners in whatever you’re working on, you and I,” Cra said with a sly smile. She swiftly stepped in front of Giovanna and extended her hand. Her snow-white hand, with its sharp nails, emerged from the dark folds of her cloak. But as soon as it touched the light, her skin began to sizzle and burn.

  Giovanna stood still, watching without reaction, until Cra quickly withdrew her hand, hiding it back in her cloak. Turning away, Giovanna felt as though she’d been toyed with yet again. She didn’t care about Giovanna’s response, but she heard the faint sound of Giovanna swallowing a ugh at her expense.

  “Move faster! I want to be at your house as soon as possible!” Cra commanded, her voice taking on the hypnotic tone of a vampire. But when she gnced back, Giovanna was still moving at the same sluggish pace, completely unaffected by Cra’s supernatural influence.

  Realizing this journey would be long and tedious, Cra sighed and let Giovanna walk at her own pace. She set her course in the direction they were headed, determined to find the house herself. Moving much faster than Giovanna, Cra soon spotted it.

  Unlike the other houses in the vilge, Giovanna’s home looked more like a ruin, a haphazard structure cobbled together from whatever materials could be scavenged. From a distance, it resembled a failed experiment in construction, barely holding itself together.

  Cra stepped inside, and what she saw was utter chaos. Fsks, herbs, mushrooms, and patches of mold cluttered every surface. Everything that could grow seemed to thrive in the damp, dim space. The strangest sight of all was a pot simmering over a low fire in the firepce, its contents bubbling with an unidentifiable, murky substance.

  Reflecting on her situation, Cra felt she had hit rock bottom. She had chosen to come to this vilge voluntarily, but staying out of sight seemed the wisest course of action. Hunters were relentlessly searching for her and Isabel. The situation in Florence had been dire, but to the hunters, the few lives lost there meant little, as they were solely focused on tracking down vampires.

  Hoping Giovanna would arrive soon, Cra began to familiarize herself with the house. As she explored, she noticed a bck cat sleeping, nestled among a pile of clothes. When Cra approached, the cat startled awake, its eyes wide with fear. To her surprise, Cra let out a sharp gasp, scaring the cat out of the house.

  With the cat gone, Cra found herself alone. She settled into a rickety chair to wait for Giovanna’s arrival. Giovanna returned shortly after, and upon seeing Cra already inside, her expression darkened.

  “This is my house, so get out and wait for me to invite you in!” Giovanna snapped, her voice brimming with anger. Her words, however, did not affect Cra, who hadn’t needed an invitation to enter in the first pce.

  Cra let Giovanna vent her frustration for a while, but the outburst achieved nothing. Eventually, Giovanna fell silent. The two women stood there, staring at each other, beads of sweat rolling down Giovanna’s face in the stifling heat of the house. Neither spoke, but an unspoken battle for dominance simmered between them.

  “Fine. You win. Stay here until your familiar is healed, and then get lost,” Giovanna finally conceded, her voice heavy with resignation.

  “Fine,” Cra replied curtly. She stood up from the chair.

  “We’ll talk ter,” she added, pushing the chair toward Giovanna before heading deeper into the house. She descended into the celr, the only pce shielded from the sun’s rays.

  The celr was as chaotic as the rest of the house, filled with herbs and other items Giovanna had collected from the woods. Cra cleared a small space for herself and immediately fell asleep.

  *****

  A few hours ter.

  Cra awoke feeling sore, but the darkness had been restorative, and her strength had returned. However, with her recovery came a gnawing hunger, sharper than when she had gone to sleep. She could sense Giovanna moving through the house above her.

  Cra didn’t immediately go to her, instead carefully tracking Giovanna’s movements. Giovanna was bustling about, walking from the cauldron to fetch an herb, then returning to add more ingredients. Herbs, roots, and other strange items she had gathered.

  The odd concoction brewing in the cauldron made Cra uneasy. She couldn’t even begin to guess what Giovanna was creating or whether it might be useful to her.