I do not own Witcher or any of the characters.

Beast of Beauclair

They were too late. Milton had been in a greenhouse, which they'd learned from a riddle, though Renfri's interpretation had been much more entertaining. However, when they'd arrived at the greenhouse, everything had been silent. Renfri had been assigned to stay with Anna for her safety, and Eldin and Aralyn advanced into the greenhouse alone. What they found, however, was that Milton was already dead, though not staged yet, and the killer was standing over him. The killer wore a black trench coat and clothes, had claws about fifteen inches long, and neatly-combed black hair. As soon as they entered, however, the killer bolted through a balcony door and over the side.

"Check on Milton!" Eldin shouted as he charged after the killer.

Aralyn ran to the fallen knight as Eldin leapt over the balcony. The chase first led down the street and past several startled and confused citizens, then across a river, which Eldin used first a mast, then a trio of barrels to cross. As the killer fled into a building ahead, Eldin was only a handful of steps behind him, sword drawn. He looked around, but the monster was gone.

"I'm here," a deep voice said from above and to his right.

Eldin's eyes rose, and he stared at the Higher Vampire. He'd been right in his guess. The Beast of Beauclair was a Higher Vampire, currently with his face deformed to resemble a bat's as much as a human's and with his claws extended.

"There you are," Eldin forced his voice to not tremble. "Found the hand you sent your friend to collect. Tried to explain to her that we didn't have to fight, but she was pretty persistent. Sorry about that."

"I will repay you for her suffering," the vampire promised. "And you may keep the hand, I've a new one." The vampire took a deep breath. "I do not know you. I've done you no harm. Yet first you butchered a Bruxa who was very dear to me, and now you pursue me. Why?"

"As I said, I tried to avoid a fight, but she wouldn't listen," Eldin said. "I tried to tell her that I only wanted to talk to you, at least for now. You're sentient, so you don't kill without reason, and these deaths especially hadn't been about food. Each was staged to send a message. So why don't we discuss what's bothering you and see if we can come to an agreement?"

"You expect me to believe that you, a Witcher, a monster hunter, is here to chat?" the vampire asked.

"Expect, no," Eldin said. "Hope, yes."

"You will not fool me," the vampire warned him. "Did they send you after me? Is that how this was meant to end?"

"Who is they?" Eldin asked. "If you mean the Dutchess, then yes. The Dutchess hired me because you've been killing her knights. All I want right now, however, is to know what's driven you to it. As I said, maybe there's some agreement we can make where you stop killing people, and I help you resolve whatever's offending you."

"Is it that simple?" the vampire asked. "The Dutchess hired you? Well, I would ask you to convey to the Dutchess that I've only one victim left but-" he vanished, his voice coming from behind Eldin when he spoke again, "you won't get the chance."

Eldin spin as the vampire scraped his claws along each others' length, as though sharpening them, then shot forward in a blur, striking out with his claws. Eldin stepped to the side to dodge them and heard his shirt rip as his sword swept out at the vampire, only to hit nothing but air. A moment later, there was a shriek reminiscent of metal against metal as the vampire's claws tore across Eldin's back. He bounced off the floor as he rocketed forward, then flipped, firing a blast of Aard behind him, which then bounced off the wall and cancelled his momentum. At the same time, the force slammed into the vampire, making its next strike, aimed for Eldin's face, miss by centimeters. Eldin's arm snapped up instantly, a second blast of Aard sending the vampire exploding backward into a pile of barrels, smashing them. Instantly, Eldin snatched a potion out of his satchel and drained it, also grabbing his mask and yanking it on. Almost instantly, the vampire exploded free of the barrels, eyes alert and wary, scanning for the source of the bloodlust it had sensed before its eyes settled on Eldin. They narrowed, both combatants stances deepening, preparing. And then, they were off. The vampire's claws raked across his chest, his left upper arm, his right thigh. Glowing purple sigils flared to life around them, Yrden's energy shimmering over the vampire's body, trapping it in a solid form and slowing it before Eldin's sword bit into the vampire's left shoulder. His claws almost instantly stopped the strike, knocking the blade away, but Eldin spun around his claws, slashing down at the vampire's back. He spun blocking the blade, but Eldin spun, sword flipping around to position for a different strike and passing close to Eldin before stabbing outward, plunging through the vampire's gut. It roared, leaping forward and slashing down at Eldin, his claws raking down across Eldin's torso from the shoulders, hurling him backward before the vampire ripped the sword free and hurled it after him like a spear. Eldin leaned aside from the sword, halfway to his feet, then grabbed the hilt once the blade was embedded in the wall. The vampire roared, streaking forward, only to be greeted by a wall of flames from Igni followed by Eldin's blade opening his body horizontally across the chest. And yet, even as the vampire staggered backward, still engulfed in flames, the wounds were sealing. And then, the vampire vanished, the flames going out in the absence of the body they were supposed to be burning. Eldin began to turn, only for claws to rake across his side, then across his abdomen, then up the front.

They caught his mask, this time, casting it from his head, and Eldin crashed to the ground. However, he merely shoved himself to his feet again, snatching up his sword and deflecting a swipe from the vampire's claws, sidestepping the next swipe, and split the vampire across the side. The vampire's forearm crashed into Eldin's head, hurling him aside, and Eldin groaned, pushing himself up and coughing, blood splattering across the ground. Except, as he was struggling to get up, he realized something else was wrong. blood was dropping to the ground from his torso rapidly. He rolled, landing in a sitting position against the wall and stared down at his chest. His armor, his indestructible dragon scale armor, was mangled, shredded, and ruined, and inside of it, Eldin's body bore more than a dozen new gashes, all relatively shallow but combined bleeding enough to put his life in jeopardy.

"Your armor was remarkable," the vampire said. "Any of my strikes should have split your body effortlessly. However, this battle is over."

Then, he exploded forward, only for a second Higher Vampire to appear in the way, intercepting the attack, which placed the first vampire's hand entirely through his abdomen.

"You were to stay away!" the first vampire snapped. "Regenerate!"

"I know you're in trouble," the second vampire stated. "I can help!"

"I'll help myself!" the first vampire snarled, ripping his hand free.

"Please, trust me!" the second vampire pleaded.

After a moment, the first transformed into red-tinted smoke, circling the building once before slipping out a window. Eldin sighed, tilting his head back against the wall.

"You're hurt," the second vampire said, turning to him, exposing an aged appearance complete with receding grey hair, his claws retracting to pointed finge nails.

"Satchel," Eldin said.

The vampire looked around, then picked up the satchel from where it had fallen when its strap was cut. Eldin reached into it, pulling out a bright green decoction and draining it, grimacing, then replaced the cap and tucked the bottle away again. His wounds hissed and steamed, shrinking slowly to the eye, but almost instantaneously by comparison to normal human standards.

"You saved me," Eldin said once the pain had begun to fade and his lightheadedness was abating. "Why?"

"How are you healing so fast?" the vampire asked.

"That decoction I just drank was made from an albino basilisk from another sphere," Eldin said. "A special breed I only encountered recently. I finally found one that allowed for accelerated healing. Never thought I'd be using it myself. I made it for Renfri. Why'd you save me?"

"I've been watching you," the vampire said. "Dettlaff didn't listen to you, but I could tell you were being honest when you expressed your desire for a peaceful resolution. I mean to help you stop him killing, peacefully."

Eldin nodded, looking down at his wounds, which were halfway finished sealing. "What do you know about him?"

"Dettlaff is...more bestial than I am," the vampire said. "I've been trying to fix that, to teach him to move past his instincts. Even among Higher Vampires, this is not an easy task. That said, even as he is, he is not some decadent shit who kills for sport, or to assuage a dryness of throat, or a dullness of mood. If he's murdering people, it is because something has genuinely upset him. But, as I said, he is more bestial than I. He has not lived among humans the way I have. He doesn't understand humans, or their customs."

"I know," Eldin nodded. "He mistook a knight playing the part of a hare in some traditional game for evidence of that knight's lack of valor, for him being a coward. So, if we're going to work together to stop Dettlaff, either by violence or by helping him, what do I call you?"

"Oh, terribly sorry," the vampire said, turning and bowing the customary Nilfgaardian bow. "I am Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy. You may call me Regis, for simplicity's sake."

"Nice to meet you, and survive," Eldin said, smiling kindly, though he knew Regis could tell he was ready to resume fighting in an instant. "My name is Eldin. Mind passing me my mask?"

Regis picked it up and held it out to him, Eldin inspecting it and happy to see there was no damage. "Why keep a cursed object that allows rage and bloodlust to take control of you?"

"Because there are times when even a Witcher can't win, but a demon can," Eldin said, slipping the mask into his satchel. "So, you think Dettlaff is really just offended by the moral decay of Toussaint?"

"It's possible," Regis admitted. "If he witnessed a knight perform an act unquestionably unchivalrous, something truly atrocious, then perhaps. However, I feel like...there may be something else afoot. I cannot explain how, exactly, I know this, but I can feel it."

Eldin nodded. "I agree. If his objective was pointing out moral decay, he wouldn't have been so dead set that he only needed to kill one more. With the assumption that it's a monster who is killing, five would never be enough for humans to change."

"Unfortunately, I agree," Regis nodded. "Which means that we must, instead, determine what else is bothering him."

"You know, when I find him, there's a good chance I'll have to kill him, don't you?" Eldin asked, pushing himself up, his wounds sealed into thin scratches now. "I'll try to avoid it, but if he becomes too much of a threat to ignore, or if he refuses to stop killing, or if he in any way threatens Aralyn or Renfri, the two women I travel with, I'll kill him."

"I know," Regis nodded. "But even that is more leeway than another would give him."

Eldin nodded just as the sound of feet hitting the ground echoed from outside. "Time's up. Where would you like to meet?"

"I have makeshift quarters at Mère-Lachaiselongue cemetery," Regis said. "We'll meet there."

"See you soon," Eldin nodded.

Regis transformed into black and blue-grey smoke, fleeing out of a high window just as the guardsmen smashed through the door, spreading into the room, swords drawn. All they found, however, was Eldin picking his back up and sheathing it, holding the sheath in his left hand, as his sword belt had also been cut free during the fight, coated in fresh blood, tattered shirt hanging from on shoulder, pants tattered, and cloak lying in pieces off to his right.

"Eldin!" Aralyn gasped, running over with Renfri, though both refrained from hugging him, due to the jagged pieces of armor around the gashes.

"I'm alright," Eldin said. "Looks like I ended up being the one that needed that Albino Basilisk decoction first."

"Thank gods you had it," Renfri sighed, kissing him. "Were we right?"

"Yeah," Eldin nodded.

"Witcher!" the lead guardsman gasped out, sounding slightly out of breath. "We flew here as fast as our coursers would carry us! Yet I fear we are too late all the same! Pray, where is the Beast!?"

"Escaped," Eldin said. "As you can see, I was underprepared for the fight. I need you all to wait outside. I need to investigate the sight and see if I can find anything to track the Beast with. If you men stay, you'll contaminate the evidence."

The guard nodded. "Sirs, we must let the Witcher do his work. Milton's murder cannot go unavenged."

The guards quickly filed outside, sticking to the edges of the room, and Eldin sighed, sagging against Renfri.

"Are you alright?" Aralyn asked.

"Just exhausted from blood loss," Eldin nodded, kissing her. "And really disappointed that my armor's ruined."

"It's not," Aralyn smiled. "I know a spell to restore it, but it's clearly not enough for this."

Eldin nodded. "Fortunately, there's a smith in Beauclair whose skills are without match by anyone, outside of using magic. Maybe he can help."

Aralyn nodded. "Worth a shot. Maybe he can also make Renfri a set of decent swords."

Eldin nodded, smiling. "That's true."

They waited a few more minutes, making a show of looking around in case anyone looked in the window, then left the building, leaving the city for their new vineyard to rest.

"There you are, Regis," Eldin greeted the Higher Vampire, stepping out of the cave system into the crypt alone. "You could have unlocked the door, at least."

"What of my privacy?" Regis countered. "I value it deeply. Unmolested, especially by unwanted guests. That's my preferred state. Besides, I knew you'd find a way to get in. Where are you companions?"

"Taking care of a couple errands we needed dealt with," Eldin said, hyperaware of how naked he felt without armor.

"You don't trust me," Regis understood. "I understand completely. Truth be told, I don't really trust you, yet, either. But I'm willing to work with you to save Dettlaff. Can you say the same?"

"If it stops him from killing without running the risk of Aralyn or Renfri having to go up against him, yes," Eldin nodded. "So, how do we find him?"

"That's going to be the hardest part, I'm afraid," Regis admitted. "Higher Vampires cannot be found even by the most precise of megascopes. If he does not wish to be found, he very well may not be."

"Would this help?" Eldin asked, walking up the stairs to the upper level where Regis stood, surrounded by books, and offered him the hand.

"What...Wherever did you get this?" Regis asked.

"This third victim," Eldin said. "Seems he took a piece of Dettlaff with him that time."

Regis smelled the hand deeply, then went silent. His head rolled, and his eyes rolled back for a moment before returning to normal as he breathed out, slipping the ring from the hand's finger. "It's Dettlaff's, to be sure."

"I could have told you that," Eldin said. "Dettlaff admitted it was."

"I had to be certain," Regis said, setting the hand on a table nearby. "Because it is his hand, we can use it to find Dettlaff, or at least his hideout, if we're lucky."

"I see," Eldin nodded. "What's the ring?"

"It's mine," Regis said. "I gave it to Dettlaff as a...sort of reminder."

Eldin nodded. "So, what are we up to with the hand? We gonna hold hands with it and get psychic visions?"

"Visions, yes," Regis nodded. "Hold hands, no. You've heard of Covinarius' theory of tissue memory retention?"

"I know it, yes," Eldin nodded. "I take it that's the path we're taking?"

"Indeed," Regis nodded.

"And you're sure it will work?" Eldin asked.

"I'm sure," Regis nodded. "He never managed to publish his findings, but I corresponded with him for years, so I know he finished his research and performed the first tests."

"Alright," Eldin nodded. "I assume we need to brew some kind of potion or decoction."

"Indeed," Regis nodded. "One that Corvinarius poetically named Resonance. It sends one into a trance similar to that induced by narcotics. This triggers visions of events linked to strong emotions experienced by the tissue's owner. Picture it as dreaming a fragment of someone's life."

"Sounds like a plan," Eldin nodded. "What do I need to find?"

"Just like that?" Regis asked.

"Why not?" Eldin asked. "We were going to do it anyway, right?"

Regis hummed thoughtfully, then nodded. "Alright. The first thing we would need is a powerful occipital lobe stimulant, effectively a poison to make one susceptible to visions."

"Alright, let's see, then," Eldin considered. "We could do a Mamune gland, but the closest Mamunes I know of are in Vizima. A Spotted Wight's saliva gland would fit the bill, but I took part in the hunt of the last one alive, so they're out. Could go with a kobold's eyes, but kobolds are sentient, so I'd rather not gouge one's eyes out unless he gives me a reason to kill him first."

"Seeing as how we lack the time to seek these out ourselves, we will need to summon some help," Regis decided. "Come."

He walked outside, and Eldin followed. Once outside, Regis walked over to a raven, whispering to it for about a minute before it and a dozen more took off, cawing loudly and sending more and more crows and ravens scattering into the air.

"If you tell me you can speak to, understand, and enlist the help of crows and ravens, I'll probably slap you," Eldin warned.

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't slap me, but that's exactly what I just did," Regis said. "I asked him and his brethren to search for any of the monsters you just listed." He withdrew a bottle from his own satchel. "It will take time for them to search, so, perhaps you'd care for a snifter of mandrake?"

"Mandrake, huh?" Eldin raised an eyebrow. "Sure. I'm game to get drunk on pure poison."

Regis chuckled. "Not pure poison. Just added to alcohol for a little extra kick."

Eldin nodded, sitting on one of the marble coffins that stuck out of the ground around them, an odd custom that was bound to attract necrophages. Regis uncorked the bottle and offered it to Eldin, who accepted it and sniffed, humming thoughtfully. Then, he shrugged and took a sip, immediately coughing and grimacing as he handed the bottle back. Regis grimaced in sympathy.

"Sorry, should have warned you it can be a bit strong," Regis apologized.

"It's fine," Eldin assured him as Regis took a sip. "Just wasn't prepared for it."

"So, while we have time, is there anything you'd like to ask?" Regis asked. "If we are to work together, it's only fair that I answer any questions you might have."

"Let me think," Eldin hummed thoughtfully, taking another sip, managing to restrain his reaction this time. "What do you think is causing Dettlaff to kill?"

"I'm not sure," Regis admitted. "It would have to be something truly terrible, as I said before. Dettlaff is not one to outright murder without cause."

Eldin nodded. "Alright, another question then, and one that needs to be asked. We're working together, so, if it comes to it, and if Dettlaff has to be stopped, permanently, you know full well that I can't do it. Higher Vampires can only be killed by a Higher Vampire. That being how it is, if it comes to it, will you help me fight him? Will you end things?"

Regis remained silent, taking a long drink. "I truly hope it won't come to that."

"But if it does?" Eldin took a drink.

Regis nodded slowly. "If it comes to it, if there truly is no other way to stop Dettlaff, or if he goes too far, then yes, I will help you stop him."

Eldin nodded, passing the bottle back. "Your turn."

Regis took a drink. "Alright. Your conditions for resorting to a violent settlement against Dettlaff, what are they?"

"As I said, if he attacks Renfri or Aralyn, hurts or threatens them in any way, I'm fighting him," Eldin warned. "They're the most important people in the world to me, so I'll fight anyone I have to in order to protect them. Aside from them, I'd say that the main thing to worry about would be...if he resorts to excessive violence. I plan to stop him from committing his last murder, but even if I fail that, dependent on who it is, I may still pursue peace. But if he doesn't stop at that, or if he threatens or kills innocents, if he becomes too much of a threat, acts like a true monster, I'll have no choice."

Regis nodded. "I can agree to that. And I appreciate your willingness to overlook the death of one human versus the slaughter of innocents."

"Humans are more monster than the majority of monsters I hunt," Eldin said. "Humans can be more cruel than any monster. However, a random humans can also be more kind and innocent than any saint. Each of the men he's killed so far were no saint, and while they may have been knights, they weren't people that I'd lose sleep over the death of, except Milton. Milton was killed only because of a misunderstanding, but the rest were less than chivalrous. While that doesn't make them bad men, I can understand how someone who doesn't understand humans could think they were. I'm also not convinced that the murders were actually about the chivalric virtues. The staging of the bodies definitely is, but the connection between the victims suggests that Dettlaff, either himself or in someone else's name, is acting on a grudge held against the four knights he killed. The fifth victim, however, isn't a member of the team the four victims so far were a part of. Whatever grudge it is, if it's a grudge, likely will shift now to whoever passed the order the knights acted on."

"You assume that the knights did something worthy of revenge while acting on an order?" Regis asked, taking a drink. "It's possible."

"And if it was to someone Dettlaff felt the need to protect, he could be acting on their behalf," Eldin said, looking around. "Taking those birds a long time."

"That's true," Regis nodded. "However, this is our best chance to find out if there is anything nearby that you could use. We shall have to be patient."

Eldin nodded. "Then I guess we have plenty more time to chat."

"Indeed," Regis nodded, taking a drink. "Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

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