Vyr’s Journey Through The Multiverse - Chapter 43

(A/N Read the author note at end)

Geralt soon stopped walking as they arrived at an alleyway. The only thing setting it apart from the rest was the armed men in uniform keeping people out. When they saw the witchers they quickly sent out a representative making the rest of the crowd stand aside, letting the group through.

With walls of buildings on either side and a stone paved floor underfoot, this was the place Dreak’s man went missing. Thankfully due to good weather and Dreak’s forethought the scene wasn’t disturbed too much. Blood still painted the stone and bricks as if it were painting a story all its own. The wall itself had a set of scratch marks that scarred the better part of the alleyway’s length.

The representative handed Geralt the missing man’s helm in a professional manner before backing off without a word. Geralt didn’t bother looking at the helm as he looked at the marks on the stonework. The marks were in a set of four and came to an abrupt stop, at least until he lined them up with the helm. Now they could see just how the metal hemet came to be in such a bad state.

While the witcher was focused on the wall, the girls were investigating in their own ways. Weiss was trying to ponder out a motive from what they had gathered so far, but Ruby was looking at the roof of the building opposite to the marks. She didn’t know why but something was telling her there was something wrong with it. Following her instincts she tried to get Geralt’s attention but was ultimately ignored as he was focusing on a trail only he could see.

She didn’t think much before using her semblance to get onto the roof. With her new position she could see down to the tops of the tiles. Due to the severe lack of cleaning she could easily make out the prints left there. Oddly enough, the person who left them was bȧrėfoot and had left behind half a handprint on the edge of the tile where they had held themselves up.

Ruby snapped a few pictures using her scroll before jumping down to join the others. Her landing was much louder than her ascent of the building, naturally the Witcher who was focusing on using his enhanced senses heard her. Although he probably heard her going up as well.

Ruby expected to get scolded or barked at, but Geralt only asked, “Find something?”

“Yeah! There are tracks on the roof,” Ruby said happily, pointing at the edge of the roof.

“Can you get me up there?” Geralt asked, eyeing the roof.

“Even better, I took pictures.”

“You sketched them that quickly?” Geralt asked, confused. He’d never heard of someone sketching that fast.

“No, I took it with my scroll,” Ruby said, showing him her scroll with the photo displayed.

“Scroll huh? Seems useful. Good wor,” Geralt said as he took the scroll and started playing with it to see how it worked. Having seen what he wanted, he handed it back while thinking ‘I’ll have to get one from Vyr. Photos like that would solve a lot of problems.’

“Were you able to gather anything from the marks?” Weiss asked as she looked at the photos over Ruby’s shoulder.

“Whatever attacked the guard went that way, and it didn’t wear clothes, meaning it wasn’t disguised,” Geralt said.

“The smell. It’s something that needs to hide most of the time. Not many places to hide in a city like this. Even less when you remember it’s been around for a while. That leaves the sewer the most likely place. I can follow the smell it left behind.”

“Wouldn’t the sewer mask the smell? Or is that a witcher thing too?” Weiss snarked.

“Witcher thing” Geralt said sarcastically, and started walking off.

“Aww, come on Weiss. We were doing so well.” Ruby said with a pout.

“What? It was a logical question.”

“Yeah but did you have to step on his toes?”

“I was over here. How could I step on him?”

“I-I don’t know. It’s just something I heard Vyr say once. I thought it fit.” Ruby said with an embarrassed shrug.

“Well I don’t get it. Let’s catch up before he gets too far.” Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby’s antics.

“Did the smell lead here?” Ruby asked.

“No. This is where we are staying while in the city.” Geralt replied.

Geralt pushed open the doors and immediately looked towards the man working the desk who nodded at Geralt. “Same room as last time?”

Geralt nodded back at him and grabbed the set of keys that was held out before continuing on his way, Weiss and Ruby trailing after him. They arrived at the third floor to find a single door, which Geralt took little time in sliding the key in the lock and pushing it open.

The entire third floor of the building had been designed as one big apartment style room, courtesy of Dreak of course. The reason being that whenever he needed, Dreak could use it at his own discretion without arousing the suspicion and attention of the general public.

When the door opened they walked into a strange sight. Trey was leaning over Bea from the bar and searching her quite thoroughly. She was tied to a chair with rope and in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position.

“Have fun on your own time,” Geralt stated casually as he walked in, completely unfazed to see Bea there, much less tied to a chair.

“You’re funny. Maybe you could give Dandelion some tips,” Trey shot back, sarcasm thick in his tone.

“Maybe,” Geralt replied, just as sarcastically.

“Yeah I feel like that’s pretty important.”

“I think I get why Vyr keeps you around.” Trey said, looking at Weiss.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“Makes it easy to feel like the smartest in the room,” Trey says with some venom in his tone.

“Easy there. Why IS she here?” Geralt says at the unexpected hostility.

“She tried to run. Wasn’t barley in her house long enough to grab the bȧrė essentials.” Trey said, calming himself.

“Okay, so you grabbed her before she took off, that explains why she’s here. That doesn’t explain why you’re so pissy,” Geralt stated the obvious.

“She fought back, and pretty hard too. The bitch is stronger than she looks. I even had to take some Swallow,” Trey’s voice low as he explains.

“That bad eh?” Geralt asks, getting a gruff response in return.

“Now? Now we get to see what she really knows,” Geralt answered.

Walking back towards Bea, who had given up struggling, Geralt leaned down and pulled out the rag that Trey used to silence her.

“Tell me what I want and this will be over much faster,” he said, leaning down until he was eye to eye with her.

Unfortunately, after hours of questions, they were left with nothing. Geralt could tell Bea knew something, but she wasn’t breaking under the pressure he was inciting. Realizing it would be foolish to continue with this questioning, Geralt decided to take a risk. He called for Trey and they left to go search Bea’s house, leaving Ruby and Weiss to watch over Bea. Seeing as his bad cop approach wasn’t going to work anytime soon, he was hoping to see that Ruby’s softer character would get a reaction or any information.

After Geralt and Trey left, the room was filled with an awkward silence. Weiss and Ruby had never experienced a situation quite like this before and seeing as Bea wasn’t going to give up any information anytime soon, they were left to their own devices. Eventually, Ruby was unable to keep herself entertained and her hyperactivity got the best of her. It had been a very long time since she’d been bored, she realized. Vyr had always been the one to keep her going, the last time she remembered her hyperactivity getting the best of her was when she started meditation training.

Turning to Weiss, Ruby started, “I wonder what the others are doing.”

“They said they were going to search her house. Were you not listening again?” Weiss said plainly.

“No, not those two. Sis, Blake, and Vyr.”

“Probably something ridicu-”

“What happened to your accent?” Weiss asked, suspiciously.

“That’s not important right now. You said Vyr. You know vyr?” Bea said, brushing off Weiss’s question.

“Yeah? We are a team,” Ruby answered slowly

“And you’re not afraid of her?”

“No?”

“So you don’t think she’s a freak?” Bea asked in disbelief, thinking back to the time she spent with Vyr.

“I mean she can be a little … interesting, sometimes but she’s never been a freak,” Ruby said, trying to not indirectly insult Vyr.

“Hold on, how exactly do YOU know Vyr?” Weiss questioned as she became more concerned about Bea’s supposed innocence.

“We met up and ran together for a time.” Bea answered with nostalgia as she thought of the mayhem they wreaked together. The days lost in the heat of battle and hunts. The nights of passion that still gave her shivers whenever the memory came to mind. It had been a long time since she felt alive as she did when she was with Vyr.

Ruby didn’t know why, but she felt uncomfortable when she saw Bea’s smile. But she quickly lost the feeling as she realized something Bea just said, “Wait, what do you mean, your kind?”

“Hmm? Nothing,” Bea said quickly as she cursed herself for the slip.

“No, you said your kind. Like you weren’t human,” Weiss said with certainty.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m more interested in how you aren’t scared of Vyr. Tell me what you kno,.” Bea demanded, both hoping to change the subject and learn how they aren’t shivering in fear from Vyr’s name.

“Why would we be scared?” Weiss asked, ignoring the fact that Bea was brushing off her questions in favor of learning about Vyr from a different perspective.

“Why wouldn’t you? Humans were scared of their own shadows before they figured out they are part of them. I’ve seen Vyr wrestle a fiend to the ground. She has literally set herself on fire just to prove a point. Then she started drinking without putting the fire out.”

“That sounds like Vyr all right.” Ruby said happily.

“You did it again. You said humans like you aren’t one. If you’re not human what are you?” Weiss inquired, readying her weapon, myrtenaster.

“None of your business, ok?”

To avoid the question Bea started telling some of the less meaningful stories of Vyr she knew. Things like rumors that had been floating around and past jobs she had taken while traveling with Bea. With Ruby’s enthusiasm about anything to do with fighting and helping people the two connected quickly. Well it was more of Ruby connecting with Bea as Bea used her to satisfy her curiosity. She quickly found the reason Ruby could be so bubbly about Vyr. It wasn’t because Ruby was a psycho or mentaly ill, it was because Vyr was no longer as wild as she had been during their time together.

When she and Vyr had been together, Vyr was like a natural disaster. If she had a goal it would be accomplished no matter what needed to be done. A monster took up residence in your barn? Fight it and somehow burn the barn down. Don’t want to pay after the contract is done? Your life will be payment just fine. Bandits on the road? Free meal with some practice thrown in as well. But it seemed that Vyr was nowhere to be found when Ruby was near. Now she was baking cookies and training people.

Before Bea could question the difference in personality, Geralt and Trey had returned. Once more the questioning began anew. This time it was easy to see Geralt was much more set on gaining something from Bea. It seemed that their task of searching her house had turned up unfruitful. Finally Geralt threatened Bea with something she couldn’t brush off, the use of Axii. That combined with Weiss looking like she was about to expose her anyway Bea finally cracked.

“Fine, fuċk it,” Bea dropped her thick accent and sighed as her whole demeanor began to change, “I really didn’t want to do this, but seeing as you’ve got my back against the wall. Yes, I’m a vampire.”

Hearing this Geralt simply says “Okay then,” drawing his silver blade he begins to coat the blade in some kind of oil he withdrew from his belt. Trey stops him and says “Here use mine. I had a vampire job recently, so it’s better.” offering a jar of higher rank oil from his belt.

“Wait, what’s going on, guys? What’re you doing?” Ruby asks as she watches Geralt prep his blade.

“That,” Geralt signals to Bea, “is a vampire. This,” he points to the bottle Trey was putting back into his belt, “is vampire oil. It’s something that makes it a hell of a lot easier to kill a vampire. I’m sure you can figure out what’s going to happen next.”

Ruby immediately tried to convince the witchers that killing her new friend was a bad idea while Weiss turned to analyze Bea. “Why are you so calm? I’m pretty sure they’re serious about killing you.”

“Oh, I’m aware of how serious they are, but I have a card up my sleeve that’s sure to stop them.” Confidence seeping through her voice, her former and weaker persona nowhere to be found.

“Oh, and what’s that?” Geralt asks, brushing past Ruby who was still persistently trying to make a case for Bea.

“I have friends in many places. And I know one who will vouch for me. Even you can’t ignore them.” Bea’s confidence was almost palpable.

“Who?” Trey asks going to them, Ruby trying and failing to pull him back.

“Why don’t you guess?”

“Tell me. I don’t have time for games.” Geralt says, readying his silver sword and leveling it to Bea’s throat.

“Well you’re no fun. It’s actually rather a simple guess, we were even just talking about them before you arrived. Vyr Bloodlotus.” Bea says as if that one name would clear all doubt.

“Bullshit.” Geralt says lowly, pushing the tip of his sword until it slides just against her throat. When the sword touches her a soft sizzle can be heard as the skin where the sword makes contact blackens, as if it’s being burnt.

“It’s true!” Bea said, struggling to move away from the blade at her neck.

“Even if it were. First, we can’t confirm it. And second, It doesn’t matter. You killed those people and we’ve been hired to stop you. No, it’s better to just kill you here,” Geralt said evenly but didn’t move to act on his words.

“I didn’t kill those people! It was a different vampire. I’m here to kill HIM!” Bea said, panicking slightly. She thought Vyr’s name would clear her of suspicion, she never imagined they wouldn’t believe her.

“Now I know you’re lying. Vampires don’t kill vampires. That would make them-”

“Blood Traitors? No shit. Listen, just ask Vyr, she helped me hunt a vampire recently.”

“Now, I know you really are lying. Vyr hasn’t been here in months, she’s been with us. There is no way she could have helped you with anything recently,” Weiss said in disbelief. This whole situation was making her head run in circles. Bea had gone from quiet and nervous barmaid, to a suspect in their investigation, to someone they’d kidnapped. If that wasn’t enough, she was sort of friendly with them, and then they found out that she was a vampire and also probably a murderer. It was certainly a lot to take in.

“Not necessarily.” Geralt said, pulling back his blade as he explained. “She’s a vampire with a human form. That means she’s a higher level vamp. She’s probably older than Kear morhen itself. Her perception of time is almost completely different from ours.”

“What does that mean?” Ruby asks, thankful they weren’t about to hurt her new friend.

“It means, when she says recently, she could mean decades ago,” Trey answers, “damn, if only Vyr was here. Then we wouldn’t have to guess with this bullshit,” he says as he goes to sit on a bed nearby.

Ruby seems to visibly brighten as an idea comes to mind.. Pulling out her scroll and hoping she had a signal, she messages Vyr to see if it would work.