Emergency Treatment

-The Wainwright Home, just past midnight-

Wearing her Azure Armor over a blue t-shirt with black skirt and white tennis shoes, Victoria put her backpack on the desk in Mr. Wainwright's study and he put a rare book about the size of a notebook inside of the backpack. It had been put into a special box designed to keep it safe while in transit, which would be a good thing because the road ahead was going to be rough. Victoria put on her Bandolier to make space in the backpack and to be ready to fight because the werewolves would be out and about.

"All right Miss Sheridan. It's been placed inside your backpack. I need you to get it to Miss Ashford in Sakuramori, but don't neglect your own safety. You've got a long road ahead of you and there will be a lot of werewolves between you and your destination." Mr. Wainwright warned her. Victoria hefted the backpack onto her shoulders and mentally prepared herself for the road back to Sakuramori. She would be out and about at the worst part of night, but someone had to do it. The book was not going to deliver itself.

"OK. I'll be on my way then." Victoria said to the client. She exited his study and was escorted down the stairs and to the foyer. There he watched her take a deep breath before exiting the last sanctuary she would have until she reached Sakuramori.

"Good luck Miss Sheridan!" Mr. Wainwright wished her.

"Thanks Mr. Wainwright." Victoria said to him. She walked outside into the cold night air and the door closed behind her. Her eyes followed the glowing lights to the thick wooden gate watched by armed men on and off the wall.

-Outside Mr. Wainwright's home-

Victoria walked down the lighted path and to the gate. She took another deep breath and nodded to the mustached captain, who motioned for the gate to be opened. The gate was opened and Victoria summoned her Light Machine Gun for protection. She stepped outside the safety of the gate and it was quickly closed behind her. She had traveled this road before, so she knew which way to go. The only way to civilization was down the path to the left, which was squarely in the middle of werewolf territory.

Victoria began walking down the well-traveled path that led right past the woods and some brush perfect for werewolves to hide in. She made sure to stay in the middle of the path to reduce the chances of getting dragged into the brush and eaten. Staying exactly in the middle was like walking on a tightrope.

She walked beyond the safety of the walls and into the middle of the woods that she had traveled in before. Now she was truly on her own in hostile territory. It was not the first time the brunette had traveled alone and it would not be the last, but having a lot of solo experience did not make the trip through werewolf territory any less dangerous. There was no amount of willpower that could make lycanthropes any less of a threat to her.

-In the woods-

Victoria had her Light Machine Gun at the ready as she walked down the path and saw four ominous dark circles staining the road near the bushes. The wolves had obviously been busy preying on travelers passing through this area. The brunette was determined not to become a statistic and kept her weapon ready for action.

She carefully walked around the circles and kept an eye on the bushes because some enemies had to be waiting nearby for her. Bloodstains on the bushes only confirmed that something had to be lurking in the shadows waiting for a chance to strike. Victoria kept moving and only looked back to make sure that nothing was following her. Lingering around here was a good way to get her face eaten by a werewolf.

Once she had passed the dark spots she picked up the pace and walked at a brisk pace. That was a good idea because rustling sounded from the bushes that the brunette had just passed. There was more rustling followed by the sound of twigs snapping underfoot and panting sounds. Werewolves were near. There was no real "safe" place to fight in the woods because the terrain heavily favored the lupine predators.

There were plenty of places for them to attack from and plenty of places for them to retreat into if the target fought back too much for their liking. Victoria could not afford to get bogged down in a stand-up fight, but she could not let them strike and retreat at will either. If she was attacked she would have to fight her way clear and engage in a running battle. Victoria would soon have to fight for her life because a pair of werewolves leaped out of the brush in front of her and blocked the way. There was no time to change to her Sniper Rifle and the noise of the Light Machine Gun would only draw more of them, but it could not be helped.

The rapid fire of the LMG would be an equalizer against large numbers of attackers. She raised her weapon and fired a Five-Round Burst into the chest of a charging werewolf, bringing it down. She quickly aimed left and brought down its packmate with a Five-Round Burst to its head, making it land just at her feet. She was cutting it pretty close. The brunette hustled by the corpses and started jogging to put some distance between her and her lupine pursuers.

Howls went up all around her and shattered the unearthly calm of the woods. That sudden noise was oddly comforting because now she knew that she was really being followed and was not just being paranoid. Now she knew that there was a threat she had to fight. Victoria could deal with that a lot easier than being stalked by hidden enemies. Knowing about a threat and dealing with one were two separate things, but she had the means and the will to fight back.

Victoria kept speed-walking down the path towards her destination.

[Word Count: 1,050]
[Total Word Count: 1,050/7,000]

-Deeper in the woods-

Victoria was still tromping through Lycan Woods as fast as she could go without breaking into a full run because she would need to save energy for a sprint just like she had to do in Fat Monsterland. So far she did not need to sprint because the wolves were keeping their heads down, but it was only a matter of time until they re-emerged to try and take a bite out of her. She wondered how many wolves were attracted by the sound of Light Machine Gun fire... not that it really mattered. She had enough firepower to give them all a case of lead poisoning.

She passed by another dark spot at a fork in the road, the same fork that she had stopped in front of during the letter delivery job with Abigail Windstrider. She briefly wondered where Abigail was doing at the moment. She could do with the blonde mage's help right about now. The Sabertooth mage continued on the path, going straight and continuing on her quest to deliver the book. Mr. Wainwright did not say whether or not it had any value, but since he was sending it to another collector of antiquities, it was safe to say that some people out there wanted it.

Victoria kept making tracks down the path and listening for the brush rattling. After the fight with the two wolves it had been quiet... too quiet. There were no birds, no wolves, and no other animal noises. She did not stop to investigate and just kept going. Her job was to get to Sakuramori and deliver the item, not look for wildlife.

However, the wildlife had found her because three werewolves jumped into her path and issued a challenge with a howl. Victoria was never one to back down from a fight, so she quickly killed the challenger with a Five-Round Burst to the chest, then fired on the one to its left. She tagged it and turned to the werewolf on the right. It was too fast for her and had leaped into cover by the time she could get a good aim on it. Not wanting to hang around for a rematch with it and a few of its friends, Victoria started moving down the trail again.

-In the woods, twenty minutes later-

Victoria kept up a good pace and did not stop for anything, not even when she heard the sound of screaming in the distance. Its origin was from a good distance behind her but had been carried on the wind, making its exact location hard to determine. The brunette closed her eyes and kept moving because by the time she could get there it would be far too late to be of any help. She could only hope that their death was quick.

She was glad that Abigail was not here for this moment because the former was not really in the mood for an argument about what real heroes did. Maybe Victoria should have went back to check, but she was alone in the dark and did not know how many werewolves were out there watching her, waiting for her to go back and play hero. Part of the brunette was ashamed of herself, but the other half soon asserted itself. Since she was alone, her objective was to survive and get the book to Sakuramori. At least that was what she told herself to feel better.

Another quartet of werewolves jumped onto the path. Victoria aimed her weapon and began full-auto fire. She raked two of the wolves in the chest and hit a third in the arm, but the third werewolf and a fourth jumped back into cover, meaning that she would have to fight them again at some point. She should have just used Five-Round Bursts to kill them. She put one foot in front of the other and started down the increasingly dangerous trail again.

Her feet were beginning to get tired from the constant walking and the intermittent running. There was no handy wagon heading her way to spirit her to safety this time, so she would just have to keep moving. As she walked she heard rustling and the sound of twigs snapping underfoot. That was a sure sign that a fight was imminent. She slowed down and waited for more lycanthropes to appear.

She waited for a good five minutes for them to arrive. That was five minutes that she could not afford to spend waiting on them to put in an appearance. Once she was satisfied that there would not be a fight, she picked up the pace and moved at a brisk walk. Were the werewolves starting to play games with her now? Maybe.

-Close to the exit, one hour later-

It had been a full hour of walking and she had not encountered any more werewolves. She did not flatter herself by thinking she had scared them away. They would be back for another round. She took a risk by pausing and putting down her backpack to get out her Silver Dagger. If she had the bad luck to get into hand-to-hand combat range of a werewolf, the Silver Dagger would be a quick way to kill it or at least force it to back off.

The brunette had fished out the weapon and put it in its sheath into her pocket. She would have to buy a belt for the sheath so that she did not have to rummage in a pocket for the weapon. She put her backpack on again and pushed for the border, which was within sight. If the werewolves were going to make a move, they had to make it now or lose their chance to kill her... at least for this job. As if they knew this, a gang of twelve werewolves burst out of the brush and blocked the way.

Victoria angled herself to face them and tried to make sure that no one would get hurt by the lead that she was about to send downrange. One of the wolves snarled and flexed its muscles. It lowered itself and charged at her on all fours. A Five-Round Burst to the head stopped it.

[Word Count: 1,050]
[Total Word Count: 2,100/7,000]

Victoria may have killed one werewolf, but she still had eleven to go and they were not going to take the death of their packmate lying down. Two more of them charged and Victoria put them down with Light Machine Gun fire on fully automatic. Nine more of them stared at her with murder on their canine faces and sharp teeth exposed. Victoria shook off the momentary panic and had a way out of this predicament.

She put her left had behind her back and formed a Flashbang, then lobbed it at the mob and witnessed it roll to a stop. She threw her left hand over her eyes and waited for the BANG. When the Flashbang went off she heard loud howling, which meant that now was her chance. She let all of the wolves have it with her weapon, firing at a small one and not letting up until none of them were left alive. Victoria sighed with relief.

The mage had pulled it off again. Somehow she had beaten the odds and killed twelve werewolves by herself. Most hunters were lucky to kill twelve werewolves over their lives. She did not have time to celebrate because she heard howling coming from behind her. It was time to make good her escape.

Victoria dispelled her LMG and broke into a full run for the wall. It was a race that she could not afford to lose, so she gave it everything she had and did not stop running until she reached the gate.

-Sakuramori, eight hours later-

Having dispelled her LMG when she crossed into the "civilized" lands long ago, Victoria entered Sakuramori and made a beeline for Octavia Ashford's apartment, where she would deliver the book and be done with this job. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Miss Ashford herself.

"Hi there Victoria. You look rough." Octavia greeted her with an obvious statement.

"Yeah. I had to fight through a lot of werewolves to get here. Mr. Wainwright sent me with a book for you." Victoria reported. She set down the backpack, fished out the special box with the book in it, and presented it to Octavia. The older brunette took it into her hands while Victoria took off her Bandolier and put it inside the backpack, then hoisted it onto her shoulders again.

"Please, come in for a moment." Octavia bade her. Victoria consented and went inside the apartment. The door was shut behind her.

-Inside Octavia's apartment-

"I'm glad you brought this to me, Victoria. It's a very old book. It's an old book written entirely by hand. If what I heard was true, it took the author ten years to write it all." Octavia gave Victoria an idea of what it was she had risked her life to carry from the Cursed Lands to Sakuramori. The mage was happy to hear that because she was concerned that she had risked her life for something trivial like a home shopping catalog. The Sabertooth mage was glad that she had been trusted with something so valuable. Now the job was complete.

"Its value is immense, to say the least. Only twenty of these books are said to exist in the entire world and now I have one of them." Octavia said to Victoria before heading into the back of her home, presumably to put the book away in a secure place. A book that valuable would be a prime item for thieves to try and get, so it would need protection. A lot of protection. Victoria hoped that Octavia had spent enough on a top-of-the-line security system for the item.

"I hope you've put enough into security. If people ever find out you have it, you can bet your bottom dollar that thieves will be all over this place." Victoria warned Octavia.

"Don't worry. I've got measures to protect it." Octavia assured her. Victoria did not exactly know what that meant, but she was not going to question it. If the collector said that she had it covered, then she had it covered. That was all that Victoria needed to know.

"OK. I won't ask what they are because it's none of my business. Now that I've delivered the book, I'll be on my way then." Victoria said to the collector before walking for the door. Octavia raised a finger.

"Wait a moment. Before you dart off to your next job, I was asked by Florence Manderley to relay a message to you." Octavia said. Victoria stopped in her tracks. What did Florence Manderley want with Victoria?

"She asked me to tell you to meet with her at her home after she got off of work, which shouldn't be too long from now. She had something that she wanted to talk to you about." Octavia told her.

"Thanks. I'll be sure to pay her a visit." Victoria thanked the collector for passing along the message to the Sabertooth mage. She then left the apartment and planned to drop by Florence's apartment.

-Sakuramori, outside Florence's apartment-

The brunette had found Florence's apartment within ten minutes of leaving Octavia's place and waited for the blonde woman to get here. She was tired from the Lycan Woods run and tired from the long trip that it took to reach Sakuramori. She was just glad to be away from the werewolves and their incessant howling. She also felt guilty about not going back to help the person on the way from Mr. Wainwright's home.

It was such a long way back that the person would have most likely been already dead by the time she got there. She would have been running right into a trap. She had a job to do and she had completed it. The book had been delivered and the brunette was still alive.

Why did Victoria feel so awful?

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 3,100/7,000]

Victoria felt dissonance so strong that it was starting to eat at her. She knew that the person on the road was dead before the sound of screaming even reached her ears. Then why did she feel so terrible about it? She did not know. Maybe it was due to Abigail's influence.

Victoria waited unto she saw the familiar form of Florence Manderley walking up to her outside the apartment fence, which was an old-fashioned white picket fence. It was not Victoria's pick for security, but it was not her house. Florence took notice of her visitor and spoke to her.

"Hi Victoria! I see that Octavia delivered my message!" Florence cheerfully said to Victoria.

"Yeah, you could say that." Victoria said to her father's friend.

"You don't seem too happy about that." Florence challenged the brunette.

"I had to run a book for a client from the Lycan Woods to Sakuramori. I had to fight some werewolves to get through the woods. Things got... rough." Victoria admitted the source of her distress to Florence.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Florence inquired.

"No, but someone else did." Victoria answered. Now the guilt was really starting to come back.

"What do you mean?" Came the question. Victoria looked around.

"Let's take this inside. Please." Victoria quickly added a "please" to the end of the request. Florence nodded and the pair walked to her apartment door. The blonde woman unlocked it and the pair went inside to discuss the situation in private.

-Inside Florence's home-

"I was roughly halfway through the woods. I was on my way out when I heard screaming carried on the wind. The screaming was a good distance behind me. I didn't even stop to go back and look." Victoria admitted. She knew that there was little hope for the person, but she still felt bad about what happened. She should have at least tried to go help, even if it meant running back into an ambush. Without the werewolves or the job to distract her, the guilt was starting to trickle back.

"I tried to justify it as me being by myself and not having backup if it was a trap. As you can tell, that justification's not really working anymore." Victoria said to Florence.

"I can see where you're going with this. You felt like you left someone to die when you could have rescued them instead." Florence finished for Victoria. Victoria did not argue with that statement because that was more or less how she felt. It summed up her situation perfectly.

"I've been there before, back when I worked with your father. I've been in quite a few brushfire conflicts and I've been in at least one full-blown war. I can't tell you about any of them for confidentiality reasons, but I've been there." Florence said to Victoria. The former dropped the cheerful persona and the conversation took a dark turn.

"I was a combat medic and I've been through a lot of bad things. People died and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I've watched people bleed out in front of me." Florence said in all seriousness. Victoria regretted ever bringing up the subject and digging up things that the blonde woman would rather forget.

"You can't save everyone." Florence concluded bluntly. Victoria tried to convince herself of that earlier and had failed miserably. She could no longer keep the guilt away with willpower.

"Yeah." Victoria agreed laconically. She had spent too long around Abigail Windstrider. She was starting to catch the blonde's heroic attitude even though she was the farthest thing from a hero in the mage world. Victoria ran jobs for the money, for Sabertooth, and for reasons other than helping people. The closest thing to heroic she had been was breaking the Corlone family's power over Rose Garden, and that was motivated more out of revenge than for humanitarian reasons.

The good reputation from taking down her adversaries was more of a bonus for the brunette than the aim, but she was not going to turn it down. It was a rare time when self-interest dovetailed with doing the right thing and it had paid off in a jackpot bigger than any casino in Earthland could offer. Victoria was fairly certain that she would never again score such a large win. After that large a win it was a process of keeping the decline from being too steep.

"You don't sound convinced." Florence challenged the brunette. Again the Sabertooth mage did not have any argument with which to counter the blonde's assertion. The blonde appeared to understand that she was not going to win by throwing fact after fact at Victoria.

"Look, I know you're part of Sabertooth and that you've been taking dangerous job after dangerous job because you're supposed to protect the people of Earthland. I read that you did the same thing when you were part of Black Rose. But maybe you should dial it back some. Try not to keep going into harm's way without doing something in between that's less dangerous." Florence suggested. Victoria had tried to do that before but always seemed to get into a fight. Well, except for that one time when she did house-sitting for Marina Renault or for Octavia Ashford. Those jobs did not end in shootouts or fights.

"Like what?" Victoria asked laconically.

"I don't know, Victoria. Maybe simpler jobs like helping someone with their shopping or helping around the hospital I work at." Florence suggested. Victoria kept her opinion to herself. She was worried that she had become too addicted to the adrenaline rush from high-risk jobs and addicted to the Jewels that she earned from completing them. She was not even sure if she could do anything less dangerous anymore.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 4,100/7,000]

"Look, slower jobs might not be your cup of tea, but at least try it." Florence gently suggested. Victoria did not dismiss the idea outright. There was a certain attraction to being able to take an easy job for easy money, but they paid less and tended to be less adventurous than jobs that required travel and exploration. Still, helping someone complete their shopping list beat fighting demons because the encounter with Infernal Lord Zupazu in the ruins under Hargeon Town was a lot more frightening than the brunette had ever anticipated. She would have to give it some thought.

"OK. I'll try to find something slower soon." Victoria said to Florence. Maybe after this she could take something less dangerous than fighting demons under Hargeon Town or fighting werewolves in Lycan Woods. Maybe some rich person in Capital Crocus needed a housesitter or someone needed to deliver a book through a route that did not go through the Cursed Lands.

"That's all I can really ask you to do." Florence said to her.

"In a way, you're just like Lawrence. You always have to be where the action is. You both like Jewels too." Florence added without any prompting. The blonde woman had made three good arguments in a row that the brunette could not refute. Victoria liked action-packed jobs and she liked getting paid a lot of Jewels for her work.

"I suppose you're right." Victoria admitted in what could easily qualify as understatement of the year. To say that the brunette liked Jewels was like saying that the ocean was wet or that the desert was hot. It was what it was. Florence's golden eyes went to Victoria's Azure Armor.

"Where did you get that armor? I know you didn't win it in a raffle." Florence said to Victoria.

"I earned it as a reward for fighting a demon under Hargeon Town several weeks ago." Victoria told her hostess the truth. Florence did not appear surprised at all.

"Fighting a demon, huh? I figured as much. You just can't stay away from danger." Florence commented in resignation. Victoria was amused.

"Yeah. The armor's come in handy ever since. Since I'm kinda twiggy and have an average chest, it can fit me without any alterations. It's helped more than once, like when I was shot at in the sewers of Rose Garden." Victoria commented on the viability of the Azure Armor. Florence looked shocked at the casual admission that the mage had been shot at. Victoria shrugged it off as a hazard of the job.

"You... you were shot at. In the sewers of Rose Garden." Florence repeated in a monotone as if trying to wrap her mind about the kind of jobs that the Sabertooth mage found herself doing.

"Pretty much." Victoria answered calmly. She saw no reason to freak out about it. Dealing with werewolves and gangsters was part of what Sabertooth mages did. They defended Earthland against threats big and small, supernatural or ordinary.

"Was that before or after you took on the criminal syndicate in Rose Garden? You know, the one at the private airport?" Florence inquired with a look of horror that grew more horrified by the second. She dreaded hearing the answer to her question and Victoria could see it on her face.

"After. I had to fight a whole airport of syndicate soldiers and their leader's private helicopter gunship. Fortunately I found a Talon Man-Portable Air Defense System in their private armory. That was the big equalizer." Victoria calmly told Florence. The blonde woman's mouth dropped open.

"You fired a military-grade surface-to-air missile. At a gunship. In a city." Florence repeated.

"Yeah. The town guard told me to deal with the problem any way I saw fit as long as too much damage wasn't done to the rest of Rose Garden. I'd say that an old air traffic control tower and a few hangars was a good tradeoff for destroying the syndicate." Victoria assured her hostess. Florence sighed and threw her hands up. She had heard more than she could bear to hear.

"OK, you don't have to tell me about any more of your jobs. I've heard enough." Florence declared. Victoria was greatly amused by this and smiled.

"Do you wanna hear about the time I blew up a giant great white shark with a rocket launcher?" Victoria asked just to get a rise out of Florence.

"NO! NO! I DON'T!" Florence emphatically refused to hear the story.

"OK." Victoria conceded. She was not going to make Florence hear the story if she did not want to. The blonde could be such a funny person. Victoria let the matter drop and let Florence calm down before saying anything else. That took about ten minutes of awkward silence to resolve.

"I didn't know that you lived so dangerously." Florence said.

"Yeah. Being a mage isn't for the faint of heart. It's not an easy life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything." Victoria said to the blonde woman who had become something resembling a friend. There were no jokes or shock value to be had from here on out. This was the real Victoria speaking.

"It's had its ups and downs, but I've met a lot of interesting people in the magic world. I've been in the same room with Rising Stars and Wizard Saints. I've even met Samira Nassar herself at an Autumn Jamboree." Victoria started to recount her story so far.

"I met a lot of interesting people when I joined Black Rose and met more when I joined Sabertooth." Victoria continued her story. She had met Ryo the Wizard Saint, Imai, Gaia the Rising Star who wanted to become Wizard Saint, Masha Dymonrel, and that weird chick who wanted to tame a polar bear for a pet.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 5,100/7,000]

"It seems like you want to remain a mage despite the difficulties inherent to the profession." Florence said to Victoria. The pair had moved to the small kitchen and had sat down at the table because standing up for the entire conversation was awkward. Unlike the previous arguments, Victoria had a strong argument to support her position this time.

"Yeah. It's something I'm good at. I've kinda made a place for myself in Sabertooth that I don't want to give up." Victoria answered when there was a knock on the apartment door. Florence got up from the wooden chair and answered it. Victoria heard Octavia's voice fill the room and the pair get into a brief but animated discussion. Florence returned to the kitchen and spoke to the mage.

"Miss Ashford has a job for you. She'd like you to return something to Mr. Wainwright in the Cursed Lands. She says that you don't have to take this job if you don't want to." Florence said to Victoria. The brunette was amused. Florence made it sound like the Sabertooth mage had a choice in the matter.

"I'll take the job. What does she want me to take to Mr. Wainwright?" Victoria inquired. Florence motioned for Octavia to come in and the collector entered the kitchen holding a a special box with a book inside. It was a thick brown book with gold letters that read "On The Origins Of Magick." it looked expensive.

"Oh, another book for Mr. Wainwright?" Victoria asked rhetorically.

"Yes, another book for Mr. Wainwright. It's one I've owed him for some time. He asked to borrow it and I've never had anyone to carry it to him. I've finally found that someone." Octavia said to Victoria. The brown-haired mage guessed that that someone was her. Victoria was just a little bit flattered that she would be selected to carry such a valuable item.

"OK. I'll carry it." Victoria affirmed. She wanted to do this despite the danger. She had built something of a reputation as a mage who could travel through danger zones and complete the job. She wanted to keep that reputation going because dangerous jobs tended to be lucrative ones.

"Great. I'll leave this with you and you may set out when ready." Octavia said before setting the box on Florence's coffee table. She leaned around the corner and stuck her head through the kitchen doorway.

"I'll see myself out. Good luck, Victoria!" Octavia called out before leaving the apartment and shutting the door behind her. Florence faced Victoria.

"Well, I'd better get going. That book won't deliver itself." Victoria said to her kind hostess. Florence looked upset to see her go, but she did not do anything to stop the mage from leaving. Victoria went into the living room, took out the Bandolier, put the box into the backpack, and closed up the backpack. She then put on the Bandolier and put the backpack on. Florence entered the room to see her guest off.

"I want you to be careful out there, Victoria. When you get back, there's something I want to discuss with you." Florence said to her.

"I'll be careful. Thanks for the help, Florence." Victoria thanked her hostess before shutting the door and setting out for the Lycan Woods.

-Lycan Woods, eight hours later-

Victoria kind of hoped that she would get a break for awhile, maybe even get to spend the night and actually sleep somewhere before having to go back into action, but she was not complaining. Jobs meant money and reputation. She walked down the path with her Light Machine Gun at the ready. The werewolves would be out and about and she wanted to be ready to give them lead poisoning.

Victoria walked at a brisk pace and was about to reach the fork in the road from earlier when she heard screaming. She froze in place because the screaming was nearby. She then turned towards the source and began running for all she was worth. She was not going to fail this time. She was not going to turn her back on someone this time.

The brunette arrived to find a young woman in a shredded blue t-shirt that exposed her midriff and a black skirt like Victoria's own clutching her bleeding right arm, which had been scratched by something thin and sharp. The scratches were too thin to have been made by werewolf claws.

"Help me!" She implored Victoria.

"What's the problem?" Victoria asked.

"I'm a chef in training. I live in Sakuramori. I'd been exploring the woods for a rare mushroom that's a delicacy in this region when I ran into a werewolf. I had to run through the brush to get away and it's still following me!" The young woman explained her situation. Victoria readied her weapon.

"I've got this." Victoria assured her. She aimed her weapon down the road and waited for a werewolf to appear. When it did, the brunette took careful aim and fired a Five-Round Burst at it, hitting it in the head and stopping it for good. It flopped onto the road on its back and its arms dropped to its sides.

"Thanks! You saved my life!" The dark-haired young woman thanked her.

"Don't thank me yet. There's plenty more where that guy came from. We'd better get moving." Victoria warned her. The young woman looked at her with blue eyes.

"My arm hurts pretty badly. The bushes had thorns." She said.

"I've got this." Victoria confidently asserted. She raised her empty left hand and it glowed gold. She then cast the sphere and it hit the wound, healing it instantly and stopping the bleeding.

"Thanks! I'm glad you came along when you did!" The young woman thanked her rescuer. Victoria did not say anything to that. She was just glad that she had made it in time to find someone alive instead of as a bloody corpse. While this hardly made up for the first person she had left behind earlier tonight, it was a good start.

[Word Count: 1,050]
[Total Word Count: 6,150/7,000]

"You seem to be familiar with this area." The young woman said to Victoria, who had been keeping her eyes on the bushes as the pair walked down the middle of the road.

"Yeah. I've traveled in this region a few times before." Victoria answered truthfully.

"I noticed. You've got this hardass mercenary vibe going on. You've got a Light Machine Gun and and you're wearing body armor with a bandolier criss-crossing it." The young woman commented. Victoria could not help but to laugh at that comment. It was technically true.

"I've been here for a few jobs before. I've traveled through these woods at least three times and I've been to Silent Cemetery once. I've also been to Haunted Village once." Victoria gave a slightly more detailed telling of her experience in the region. The girl's eyes widened.

"You went to Silent Cemetery?" She asked.

"Yeah. I had to save a pair of merchants that a necromancer had captured." Victoria gave a very brief summary of one of her last jobs with Black Rose.

"I've even been to the Haunted Guild twice." Victoria added without prompting.

"You're either good at what you do or you're just plain nuts. Maybe both." The chef-in-training commented. Victoria laughed again.

"I'd like to think that I'm good, but I might just be really lucky." Victoria replied. She had gotten through more than a few of her jobs by being lucky. She had gotten through the first trip to Haunted Guild thanks to Haruyuki and "Zhuu". She had gotten lucky with her escape from the Corlone mansion after being captured and tortured. She had gotten lucky that her shadow control power worked during her fight with Infernal Lord Zupazu under Hargeon Town.

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. I'd say that I got lucky tonight. You were passing by and you decided to risk your neck for me." The young woman opined. Victoria secretly started to hurt at that last statement because it reminded her of her earlier failure. However, she needed to be reminded of that because her apathy had most likely cost someone else their life. There was no whitewashing that.

"We're almost to my destination. I'm headed for Mr. Wainwright's property. It's got a wall and armed men who can keep the werewolves out." Victoria informed the woman. Suddenly three werewolves leaped from the brush to challenge them. The young woman screamed and hid behind Victoria. Victoria wordlessly raised her weapon and fired a Five-Round Burst at the first wolf to charge her, then fired at last two as they charged the group. They were dead, but there was more howling in the distance.

"We'd better get going." Victoria suggested. The young woman nodded and followed her brown-haired rescuer down the path and past the werewolf corpses. They kept going until they were within sight of the defensive walls of the residence. They were almost to safety. Just a little bit further and the lycanthropes could not touch them.

The pair hustled to the gates and had reached them when five werewolves emerged from the brush close to the walls and began sprinting in their direction. The chef-in-training screamed and pointed towards them. Victoria brought up her weapon and began aiming.

"Go to the wall and use the intercom. Tell them that Victoria Sheridan's here with a book for Mr. Wainwright!" Victoria urged her. She nodded and ran to the intercom. Victoria fired a Five-Round Burst at one of the werewolves, knocking it down with a burst to the chest. The remaining four pressed their attack and ran by their fallen packmate on all fours.

Victoria aimed at the closest werewolf and squeezed the trigger. She brought down one werewolf with a Five-Round Burst that tore off its lower jaw and punched through its throat, bringing it down with an unearthly gurgle. The three survivors began to close in. She switched to full-auto mode and fired at them, She hit one in the leg and made it roll to a stop, then fired at the other two.

One of them took four rounds to the head and dropped down, but the last of them got close and knocked the weapon out of her hands. Victoria ducked the follow-up swing and brought out her Silver Dagger. She ducked under another claw swing and jabbed the dagger into its chest, making it emit an ear-piercing howl and clutch its chest in agony. She stabbed again and again until the wolf died from multiple puncture wounds to the chest, six in all.

The wooden gate opened up and five men with rifles rushed to the rescue. They stopped in front of Victoria, aimed at the lone surviving werewolf and peppered its back with rifle fire, bringing it down just before it could reach the safety of the bushes. The mustached leader turned to Victoria, who was still clutching the bloody Silver Dagger.

"Well done, kid. You just survived close-range combat with a werewolf. That takedown wasn't the most elegant, but you killed a werewolf in hand-to-hand combat. Not too many people can say that they did." The man complimented her. Victoria wiped off the dagger on the werewolf's body and put it away. She dispelled her Light Machine Gun.

"Thanks. We'd better go take that book to Mr. Wainwright before more of those wolves show up. You guys want to be on that wall, not on the ground. Trust me." Victoria said to him. The man simply laughed and guided both of the young women into the walled compound. Everyone entered the walled compound and the gate closed behind them, making sure that the werewolves would not get in without a fight.

-Inside Mr. Wainwright's house-

"Well done, my dear! You've delivered the book to Miss Ashford and have come back alive!" The elderly client complimented Victoria as the trio stood in the foyer.

"I've got another book for you, Mr. Wainwright. Ms. Ashford had me deliver it to you." Victoria said. She dropped her backpack, dug out the box with the book inside, and handed it to Mr. Wainwright.

"Oh? Is it On The Origins of Magick?" He asked.

"Yes, Mr. Wainwright. How did you know?" Victoria inquired. The man simply laughed.

"I've been waiting for it for a good while now. I'd say about two years." He said to her, not really answering the question. Victoria did not care that much, so she let it drop. The client's eyes turned to the dark-haired chef-in-training.

"And who might this be?" He asked Victoria.

"I'm Alex." She introduced herself simply.

"I found her in the Lycan Woods. I couldn't leave her behind to be werewolf food." Victoria chimed in.

"No, of course not. I must thank you for delivering this book to me. It must have been difficult to get through the woods at such a late hour." Mr. Wainwright said to Victoria.

"I don't think either of you should be going back through the woods at this hour. Please, get something to eat and be my guests for the night. I'll have you transported back to Sakuramori in the morning." He suggested to them. Victoria was not going to argue.

"I'd like that." Victoria said laconically.

"Me too." Alex chimed in. The client clapped his hands together.

"It's settled then. Go to the kitchen and I'll be there to help you prepare something shortly." He said to them. The pair thanked him and entered the kitchen to find a meal. They were glad to be alive after a perilous trek through the woods. Victoria was glad that she was able to save a life this time around.

[Word Count: 1,334]
[Total Word Count: 7,484/7,000]