She came and went like a gust of wind, disappearing with the curse-bearer in the blink of an eye.
What business would a bourreau have in Paris? Count Orlok would have known the chasseurs were already on the move, requesting the involvement of a bourreau with her reputation was certainly too much of a fuss for a single vampire incident. Vanitas could feel there was something much bigger than a serial murder, a matter taken seriously but discreetly that the chasseurs were not informed of.
Whatever it was, Vanitas intended to look into it afterwards.
"Vanitas!" He sighed audibly in response to Olivier calling his name. The senior chasseur – his captain, to be exact – rushed to the scene fully armed, no doubt having heard the destruction brought about by the Hellfire Witch. "What was that?"
"That," Vanitas steadied himself, gesturing to the chaos around him, meeting Olivier's gaze, "is me holding my ground against two vampires and Lord Ruthven's bourreau."
"Stop feeding me bullshit. How did you even get here before us?" Olivier demanded, his brow furrowing upon taking note of Vanitas' state. Sure, no serious injury was inflicted on the young chasseur, but the cuts on his shoulder would certainly add to his scars if not treated properly. Given his experience, Vanitas was not likely to suffer such injuries from a lone vampire, curse-bearer or not.
"I got lucky." Vanitas kept his answer short, refusing to disclose more than absolutely necessary. Olivier, who was used to Roland's ways, somehow knew how to deal with Vanitas, knew when to probe and when not to. He decided to let this one slide.
"A bourreau, you say?" Instead he reconsidered Vanitas' words, taken back by his battered form. Vanitas was trying hard not to show any weakness, not wincing when inspecting his injuries, holding his head up greeting the arriving chasseurs. However, the way he was unable to stand straight gave it all away.
"Ah, yes, the very best of them. I wasn't aware that the vampires have sent someone on this case as well. Must be worrying to have a murderer on the loose." Vanitas smiled up at Olivier, his tone too casual for a topic such as this one. He was baiting Olivier into slipping up, revealing intel he was perhaps left out of.
"Just how long do you think I have been your captain to fall for this?" Olivier suppressed the urge to hit him in the face, saving his man the trouble of patching him back up later. "I haven't heard anything about it neither."
"Like how the church was oh-so-surprised to find out about Moreau?" He pressed, getting directly to the point now that Olivier knew where he was going.
"Stay out of this, Vanitas. You already are playing with fire." He warned solemnly, but only getting laughter in return.
"As a faithful servant of God, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about!" Vanitas waved his goodbye to Olivier, walking away in strides. "Now, I should go rest in bed. Amen!"
His attitude was truly giving Olivier headaches. He must have committed serious crime in his previous life to not only have Roland in his team but also Vanitas, two similar in some way but varied greatly in terms of personality.
At the mere age of 18, with the exception of Astolfo, Vanitas was a force to be reckoned with. Ever since being accepted under the wings of the chasseurs, he had demonstrated excellent learning abilities in both physical combat and general knowledge. He was able to force a draw in fighting with Roland, one of the strongest chasseurs, and although he tended not to show, Olivier knew he had read enough from books to perform basic medical procedures. Hell, he had even caught him tending to his own wounds after a battle. It was no wonder he was offered the position of a palatin, the real shock being the fact that he refused.
He wasn't one to lead, he said. Olivier, on the other hand, has always suspected the real reason behind this.
Vanitas didn't trust the church, at least not completely, not after exposing Dr. Moreau.
Of course he had never spoken about it in public, for he would be treated as a traitor without questioning. Something changed in him after Moreau, this Olivier was certain of.
He hated vampires still, but Olivier felt he hated humans equally. The only thing keeping him in the chasseurs was the cause, to cleanse the world from evil creatures, not God. It was difficult to imagine him as a believer.
Olivier kept all these to himself.
"There you are!" The other source for his headache appeared around the corner with a carefree smile on his face. Roland, soon to be one of the twelve palatins of the chasseurs, never seemed to settle down even in circumstances like this.
"Have you heard, Olivier? They said a bourreau is in town! Is she the one who made these dents? How fascinating! "He started babbling, as excited as a child given a new piece of toy.
"I wouldn't say 'fascinating' for this one, Roland. The Hellfire Witch, Jeanne, is involved according to Vanitas." Despite not being one to jump to conspiracies, Olivier could tell the whole thing was indeed, fishy.
"Now that you mentioned, where is Vanitas?" Roland looked around but the young man was nowhere to be found.
"He said he's going to bed, which probably means he's gone wandering in town." Olivier could only pray he wouldn't go looking for trouble. "He's walking on a thin line. Don't encourage him any further."
"Huh?" He put on the most innocent face possible, to which Olivier responded with a glare. "Speaking of, thanks for recommending me as Jasper. I heard they're finalising it!"
"Yet there you are, making me regret it." Olivier had hoped taking up responsibilities would finally force Roland to stop messing around, but that didn't seem to be happening.
"Don't worry, Olivier! I'll be a great captain!" Roland slapped him in the back cheerfully, making it hard not to punch his face. "You wouldn't mind if I invite Vanitas into my team, would you?"
"...I don't care," Olivier shrugged his hand away. "Just don't do anything too stupid, even by your standard."