Zhuzhen and I came back to Prague long after sunset. As we walked beneath the arch, Zhuzhen looked at me and chuckled.

"Another hard day's work, complete!"

It was a joke; all we had done was catch a train, spend a half-hour investigating, and catch another train back. "Yes, and that was too funny! He thought it was a poltergeist? It was just the lady next door doing aerobics!"

Of course, I had also had to heal the man after his neighbor had taken insult at his ghost concerns. Though a bit on the hefty side, she had a mean right hook and had knocked him out when he told her he had thought a poltergeist was causing his pictures to fall off the wall every time she exercised. At least we had collected our fee beforehand.

Zhuzhen chuckled. "Ah, the world's a peaceful place. Anyway, what do you say we get a bite to eat and then unwind a bit?"

"Are you asking me out for a drink?"

"You know me too well!"

It was true. I had gotten to know Zhuzhen very well over the past six months; after all, we had shared a boat ride, and he had been a guest in my house for a short while, and we had started an exorcist business together. And after Margarete had gone alone to investigate Roger Bacon further, we were really the only company each other had. Not that I minded much. It was a most pleasant company.

We passed the guards on the street. In our brief stay we had learned many of their names, and even the fact that one of them was a lottery member. When we reached Homas, asleep on his feet, I gave him a nudge. The guard and lottery member awoke with a start.

"He always falls asleep on the job," I remarked to Zhuzhen as we walked on.

"There's not much for him to guard against."

Zhuzhen seemed slightly tense, his staff beating heavily into the cobbled streets with each step. The only reason he had come to Europe was because it was necessary to stop Roger Bacon. Yet we hadn't heard so much as a whisper about the warlock. Even London, the hint Sasha had carelessly dropped, hadn't turned up any leads. It must have been agonizing for Zhuzhen to stay here when he knew the people in Shanghai needed his services as an exorcist. After the attack of Dehuai's god, there had been so many unrestful spirits I had collapsed under the strain when we had first reentered the city.

"Margarete should be back tomorrow, right?" I reminded him. We both knew Margarete would have news on Roger Bacon. She had certainly boasted enough that she would. But at the same time, I was hoping she wouldn't. If Sasha was alive, he was near here; in our travels, my feeling that he was alive was strongest in this town. I just had to find him. "We'll be leaving soon...oh! I should have taken that notice down," I said, reminding myself of the paper we had nailed at the gates, advertising our business.

"Well, you can just take it down tomorrow. Not like we'll be getting any work between now and then."

We entered Gismot's bar under the large picture of a beer mug. Though it was late in the evening, the bar was not very busy, probably because it was a Wednesday.There were two men seated at a table, one sighing into his beer mug while the other leaned back comfortably. Next to me I heard a groan.

"The older I get, the more I have to..."

Zhuzhen disappeared into the men's bathroom. Looking around, I saw Rosa, an elderly peddler, standing nearby a table. With a smile I approached her. "Hello, Rosa."

Her green eyes crinkled as she smiled. "Why, hello, Alice. ...Time flies, doesn't it? I can't believe you've been here for a month already. Are you getting acquainted with the town?"

I nodded. "Everyone here has been very helpful."

"Certainly looks like your business is going well. That reminds me...I should be getting back to work. Are you happy with that bolero?"

She was grinning, because it was obvious I liked the silk bolero she had sold me. Not only was it useful for its mystical strength, but it fit mewell and I liked to wear it with a blouse and my favorite skirt, the bustier having been discarded long ago.

"Yes, it's been very useful. I don't know how you got such good armor."

"Alice!" Yuria was calling me, a drink in her hand as she came over. A regular at the bar, she was already a bit drunk; as she walked she wobbled ever so little. "Welcome home, Alice. How was work? Did you find him?"

My smile faltered. I had told her about Sasha, in the hopes that if she heard any rumors that sounded like him, she would tell Zhuzhen and me. But Sasha was proving as elusive as Roger Bacon.

"No. I can tell just by looking at your face." She leaned back against the nearby table and took a sip from her drink. "Oh, you'll find him...eventually. Men always come back when they feel lonely."

No matter how many times I had told her Sasha and I weren't romantically involved, it never seemed to convince her. Rather than trying to correct her again, I simply nodded. "Well, you're probably right," I said, clasping my hands together. Even if she was right, I was worried about who he would go back to. After all, he had told Roger Bacon he would return to London.

I heard a door swing open and turned. Zhuzhen had stepped out of the bathroom. With a nod to Rosa and Yuria I left them and rejoined Zhuzhen.

"What's the matter Alice? You seem depressed." Zhuzhen watched me closely, frowning slightly. "You're not thinking of Sasha again, are you?"

He tried to keep his tone neutral, but it was obvious he disapproved. It had been the one source of conflict between us; he had never been too fond of Sasha, and after what had happened at Kuihai tower, he seemed to hate him for what had happened to Shanghai.

"A bit. I know...I think he's somewhere near here. But why haven't we found him yet?"

"He could be a monster. Are you sure you want to find him?"

I shook my head. "Of course! He might have lost control, but he could still snap out of it..."

"The longer he's been under that thing's control, the more difficult it will be for him to regain control," Zhuzhen said simply. "Either he's been human for a long time, or he's gone by now."

He was right. If Sasha had been under the control of Dehuai's god for the past six months, it might be impossible for him to regain his sanity. There was a sudden chill and I put a hand up to my father's cross, though it was the silver cross that had grown cold.

"Um... I heard I could find some exorcists here."

My head rose and I looked over my shoulder. There was a man at the bar with Gismot. He looked a mess, his clothes filthy with dirt and mud and his hair scraggly.

"Well, that's us," I said after a minute, approaching him.

The man jumped and turned to us. His eyes were wide with fright and he quickly looked down to the floor.

"If you came looking for us, I assume you need something exorcised?" Zhuzhen asked.

"Y-yes!" His head bobbed up and down as he nodded. "My name is Terry. I came from Bistritz, a small village east of here. I run a general store."

"Bistritz!" Gismot exclaimed. "That's quite a trip! It must've been a hard journey..."

Zhuzhen eyed Terry as he leaned as his staff. "By the look on your face, I'd say you must have had good reason. Why don't you tell us your story?"

"R-right. It's... it's like this. My village is attacked by vicious monsters every night..."

An entire village, under attack? I looked at Zhuzhen and knew he was thinking the same thing; it was possible this was Roger Bacon's doing.

"It started about a month ago," Terry explained. "Every night, dark shadows surround the village... They're... they're not human. No matter how many bullets they take, they don't die. So many villagers have lost their lives... I heard a rumor about you from a friend, so here I am."

"Are they ghosts or demons, I wonder...? Go on. Tell us everything you know," Zhuzhen told him.

"Well, Bistritz is a small village located about two days walk east of here. A lord used to rule the village, but his bloodline died out some three hundred years ago. The strange thing is that since the attacks began, there've been lights seen in the castle windows."

Lights in the castle...what could that mean? It didn't seem like it would be the monsters themselves, not if they only attacked at night... "Are the monsters and the castle related in any way?" I asked.

Terry shook his head, though he seemed to hesitate. "I don't know." There was a slight catch in his voice and I wondered if he was lying. But why would he lie if his village was in danger? "There's no history of any of our liege-lords ever attacking his people. However, in the off chance that it does involve the castle, I would like you to investigate. I'm here on behalf of my village to ask for your assistance. Will you accept the job?"

"So... it would seem that you've got two assignments for us," Zhuzhen said, considering as he tapped his staff. "One, getting rid of the monsters attacking the village. Two, investigating the lord's castle."

"Yes... Even at this very moment, the monsters are preying on my village. I'm so worried about my wife and daughter... You're our only hope." His concern for his family was obvious in his fearful expression. I must have been mistaken when I had thought he was lying.

"Let's check it out, Zhuzhen. Margarete should be back soon, too." It would mean a small delay, but Maggie's gun and grenades would be a godsend if it were demons plaguing the village.

Zhuzhen nodded. "All right, leave it to us. We'll eradicate these monsters for you."

Immediately there was a change in Terry's features as he laughed, relieved. "Y-you will? Oh, thank you!"

"We're waiting of one of our companions, but once she arrives, we'll go straight to Bistritz."

"Wonderful," Terry said. "I'll head back and tell them the good news!"

"Just wait for us to get there, okay? We'll be right behind you," I told him.

He nodded. "Certainly. Excuse me." The door creaked as it closed behind him.

For a moment, there was silence as I took out our map and started searching for Bistritz. "Sounds like another tough job," Gismot said. "Bistritz has an old reputation for been a target for monsters." He leaned over the map as well and pointed-Bistritz was not marked on it. I circled the spot, knowing that my demon eyes would probably be needed to find the village's exact location.

"I've heard the same," Yuria said. "It's always been a poor village... I've never heard anything good about it."

Zhuzhen chuckled. "We're well acquainted with monster dens, constantly wandering into them back in Asia." With unpleasant results, I thought, recalling Zhaoyang and Dalian. In Zhaoyang we'd almost been eaten, and in Dalian I had been put under a curse...and even now, as I thought of Terry and the village of Bistritz, I felt a chill in my heart and bit my lip.

"Zhuzhen, do you think Terry will be okay? I have a bad feeling about this..."

The Adept turned to me and frowned at my worry. "Now, now, stop trying to scare me. Margarete will be here soon. Then we'll be off."

My heart clenched as a man screamed loudly, dispersing all of Zhuzhen's reassurances. Without a second thought we both rushed outside.

"Where did it come from?" I asked, before realizing that every guard along the road was staring past us, at something further ahead. There were crows cawing, or at least so I thought until we reached the end of the street. The two monsters had the heads of crows but thetorsos of men, warped and twisted. One of them held in its beak a piece of intestine. Darcie the guard was the victim; he gave a weak groan before his eyes rolled back. Next to him lay Terry, who was also heavily wounded and gasping.

"Hee hee hee..."

I looked up and started. Past both the strange monsters and the men was an old woman, her facescrunching up as she chuckled. Had she been standing there the entire time? She had blood red eyes and an amused smirk as she met my gaze evenly.

"This terrible evil..." Zhuzhen murmured.

I clenched my fists. "Terry is still alive. Zhuzhen, we have to save him!" The woman might have summoned these monsters, but she didn't seem to be doing anything else. The first priority was getting rid of those birdmen so I could heal Terry.

"I can't use my fire magic, they're too close to him."

I nodded, my book already opened. With a quick prayer I cast Blessed Light, causing the birdman closer to Terry to screech. Zhuzhen was already racing towards the monster. Just as the monster's cry of pain ended, Zhuzhen struck it full across the face with his metal staff. With the next two strikes the birdman's beak shattered, but at the same time it had grabbed ahold of Zhuzhen's robes with its long, clawing fingers. The other birdman attacked, grabbing the Adept's arm in its beak. I rushed towards him, knowing that in the frantic struggle between the two monsters and him aiming my Blessed Light would be too difficult.

My bible bore down on the head of the monster which had lost its beak and, stunned, the monster collapsed. Given more freedom to move, Zhuzhen used his free arm to drive his staff at the second birdman. Though it was his left arm, repeated blows forced the creature to let go of him and the two separated. Zhuzhen was breathing hard as we both backed away, the cotton shirt under his chain mail vest stained a dark red. This wasn't good. With his right arm injured he couldn't attack very well, so I would have to defeat the second monster by myself. He would have to heal himself, if he could.

Casting Blessed Light again, I ran forward while the monster screamed. The book connected once before the monster's sharp beak grasped at my legs, tearing my skirt and scoring my thigh. I cried out in pain and fell to my knees. The monster's arm rose, but before it could attack again Zhuzhen pounded into it with his staff, his arm healed. The grotesque creature took only two hits before crying out weakly and sinking to the ground.

There was a flash of light as the old woman vanished. I rose to my feet, gritting my teeth at the throbbing pain in my thigh. "Terry! Are you all right?" I said, kneeling by his side.

He groaned, still alive, but barely. There were numerous wounds on his body where the birdmen had clawed and bitten, and a large bloodstain on his shirt. Though I started casting a cure spell, focusing on his chest, I could already tell he had lost too much blood. "Th-they... followed... Please... save the village... Mi...chelle...Nina..."

'His wife and daughter...'

The healing had not made a difference as far as I could see. He turned his head to the side and coughed up blood. Then his eyes closed.

"Terry!" I cried.

Zhuzhen knelt by me and pressed his fingers on Terry's neck, checking for a pulse. "Damn! We were too late..."

I bit my lip. Two men had died because of those monsters--why hadn't I sensed anything sooner? If we'd gotten here sooner... "We should have stayed with him!"

"There's nothing we could have done," Zhuzhen said, shaking his head. "That evil I was feeling... this was no ordinary monster. You felt it too, surely? That bloodsucking hag could have killed us, too, if we weren't careful."

"Yes... it's the first time I've felt such evil in Europe..." And then I paused, remembering for a second Dumble street and Bacon's smiling face. No, this wasn't the first horror I had seen in Europe--and it made me suspect Roger Bacon was involved. "Zhuzhen, I don't think we can wait for Margarete."

"I think you're right. Maybe the two of us should go on ahead to Bistritz."

I removed my silk bolero, tying it around my waist to conceal the tear the birdman had made. "Yes," I murmured, and began a healing spell for my leg.

Knowing the guards would take care of the two dead men, we proceeded back to the bar and gathered our things from our room upstairs. Zhuzhen finished before me and left to hire a carriage to take us to Bistritz. Once I had changed my clothes and found my voodoo doll, which had somehow fallen underneath my bed, I joined Zhuzhen at the gate entrance. We both climbed up into the carriage and started off for Bistritz.

For a little while we both studied the map; as the lights of the town faded away I conjured a light to see by. Bistritz was on mountainous terrain, Zhuzhen explained to me, and so we'd have to walk part of the way.

"So, we should probably rest now, while we can," he finished.

I nodded and let the light in the carriage dwindle and die. Though the ride was bumpy, only a few moments passed before I heard snores from Zhuzhen's side. I closed my eyes and rested my head on my shoulder.

And while I was sleeping, I dreamed of Sasha.

Author's Note: this chapter and the next one are mostly setting up for events in Blue Castle. I'm really looking forward to that.