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"Rebecca."
"What is it, Hamlin?" Rebecca asked, laying back in the booth, eyes closed.
"There is nobody else in the basement, besides us." Hamlin responded, looking around.
"That's impossible," she began, opening her eyes, only to see he was correct. "Marv, Jack, Heather, on your toes."
The five of them looked around, confirming nobody else appeared to be in the basement. Only dirty dishes yet to be picked up, and discarded ale mugs littered the basement. It was as if patrons were being guided away from the basement.
"Boss, I don't like the feel of this." Marv said, shifting uneasily on his feet.
"Calm down, this is still the Hissing Lobster. Nobody's going to ambush us here. Something's up, though." Jack said, pacing around. "But it still feels like a setup."
As they debated about the eeriness of the empty basement, they suddenly heard two pairs of footsteps descending, one light, one heavy. The five of them quickly retreated back to their table, and Rebecca was starting to grab something from inside her shirt when the source of the two pairs of footsteps came into view.
"Sirene Ignitis." Rebecca hissed, putting away whatever she was holding. She motioned for everyone else to remain seated while she practically flew to her. "I told you to leave me alone. What do you want?" Rebecca already had her dagger ready, and was prepared for a fight. "I don't care if this is neutral ground, I'll still kick your ass!"
"As welcoming as ever. Simmer down for a moment, you'll want to hear this." Sirene replied, smirking for a moment before motioning to Yurn. "You can introduce yourself now."
Yurn bowed before speaking. "Greetings, I am the Chief of the Temple of Justice, Yurn." Sirene raised an eyebrow at his introduction. She realized far too late she had no idea who he really was. "I had been hunting you for unrelated reasons to why I am here at this moment, but for now we have a far more important problem. May I?" Yurn said, gesturing towards a chair. "So, we have a... problem of a sorts. Lady Eigengrau herself confirmed it."
"And how does this involve us?" Rebecca asked, still holding her dagger but pacing in front of the booth now. "I don't do requests."
"I'm not going to sugar coat it, Becky." Sirene began, using Rebecca's hated nickname to get her attention. "We're hunting Saint Liddell the Abandoned."
Hamlin opened both eyes. Rebecca dropped her dagger. Even the air seemed to still.
"You know what this means, right Rebecca? It means you get to make a demand of the Gods and you'll probably get it, if you help."
"No..." Rebecca whispered. "You couldn't possibly mean..."
"A cure for your vampirism." Sirene said, smiling. She didn't care if it wasn't possible, she knew Eigengrau would have already foreseen this and be preparing a cure.
"I'm in. Who else do you need." Rebecca wasted no time in making a decision. This might be the only chance she'd ever get, she thought to herself.
"Wait." Heather said, speaking up for the first time. "I don't know my mythology very well but didn't you kill Saint Liddell over a thousand years ago? How can we be killing her again?"