-- Lilith POV, Skyview Monastery --

  It had taken superior Martins a while to gather some monks that he trusted enough to handle her. She wondered if he ever would trust her. It didn't really matter now, though.

  He had allowed her to hunt the intruder! She felt thrilled. And surprised about herself. Till the very moment she had not known how much she enjoyed the idea.

  Now she was back at her cell, and had asked the monks to wait outside.

  If there was a trail to follow, it would be easiest to start from there. Too many people in here might ruin the trail.

  She had a faint feeling that she should be good at picking up a trail and following it, yet she definitely lacked experience. What to even look out for? What made the intruders trail different from one of the monks who had come to her cell meanwhile?

  It had taken her a while to figure it out. But then she had it. Fresh soil and mutilated grass. Few monk slippers smelled like mutilated grass. Their soles were rather soft, and many even walked bare footed. The trespasser though had walked over grass with sturdy boots and it had bled in pain, crushed underfoot. That was something she could follow, and which was distinct from the trails monk feet left.

  She had followed the trail along the hallway, the group of monks a few staps behind her, then the trail had widened and eventually split. One way he had come from, the other he had went to. But which was which? She paused where the trail forked.

  "You're scary." One of the monks in the group had let her know, "You're like a bloodhound."

  "Blood would be easy to follow. This is mutilated grass." She answered a bit absent minded while she tried to find out which path was fresher. She eventually pointed into one direction, "This is less grassy. I think this one is it. Less grass remains on his boots in this direction."

  "And you can tell that?", brother John asked. "I can!", she beamed at him, standing tall for a moment before she focused on the floor again.

  The trail reached a door into an area where she had not been yet. An area that was usually off limits to her. He must have passed through the door. First actual challenge, acquire permission to go there. She pointed at the door and addressed the monks, "He passed through here, I'm quite sure. But this leads outside the area that I am allowed to roam. I need your permission to go in there, or we must leave it here."

  Father Peter, the leader of their group looked a bit confused first, then one asked, "The geas thing?"

  She nodded to him, "That and order of superior Martins. Do you want me to go there?" She pointed to the door again.

  "This leads to storage rooms. Most are empty. I think it's safe. Go on Lilith," father Peter decided without hurry.

  "Very well." She opened the door carefully, quietly, and another hallway opened to her view. She had never seen this place before, "Give me a moment". She stepped into the hallway and found the trail again, then looked at the monks again, "Is this a dead end, or are the exits from the rooms nearby?"

  "One can pass from the end of this hallway to the level above. Above are prayer rooms and more hallways to further places." Father Peter let her know.

  "Bad", she had to admit. "Let's try."

  Unfortunately the trail went upstairs. The monks all slept on this level, so the intruder had apparently been tempted to escape to the less frequented rooms above, even if the main gate was below.

  "Want me to follow upwards? Prayer rooms might be bad for me. Don't know. Do you have many holy statues or paintings up there?"

  The monks discussed for a while, then father Peter spoke up again, "There are holy things upstairs. Stay away from them as far as you can. But follow the trail."

  "I certainly won't go near anything holy." She tried to reassure and began to climb the stairs and they reached another hallway. She pointed again, "He went left from here. Go left?"

  At the end of the corridor was a scary statue. A holy knight or paladin. It didn't seem to be particularly blessed, just a representation of someone saintly or even holy. She might be able to pass by unharmed. But even from the distance it made her feel uneasy.

  "Yes. Go left and follow the trail."

  The trail was confusing here. "He must have hidden in one room first, then ran to the next and then ran again. The trail continues further down the hallway" She points forwards, "The last door just right of the statue. I think that is it. If you decide to follow, please open that door for me, so I can pass the statue quickly. It makes my skin crawl."

  "Brother John, go open the door. Lilith, once the door is open, pass through but stop once you think you are safe from the statue."

  "Good", "Got it", they confirmed. The one monk opened the door and she slipped along the wall, through the door and then immediately right to the next wall to find cover from the statue. The statue had not hurt her. But since the one figurine had tried to eat her fingers, she didn't trust them anymore.

  "I'm in." They caught up with her, "What rooms are here?"

  "Guest rooms and some more storage."

  "Exits?" she asked.

  "Stairs down at the end of the hallway. And a pass way to the right wing of the monastery."

  Bad ... too many connections. "I'll try. I'll go forward till middle of the hallway to get a better idea. Is that alright?"

  "Yes, please go."

  She walked slowly, then she smelled it. Fear. He couldn't be far from here anymore.

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  "I can smell him. He must be close." She stated. "If you dare to split up, have one of you at each exit. I'll try to find out which room he is in."

  They actually dared to split up and left her with only three guards. She felt kinda surprised. Did they actually trust her? It would be nice for a change. Now, don't mess this up, she told herself.

  It wasn't that many doors here. Four guest rooms, one storage chamber. Smelling his fear made it easy now. Luckily her three 'bodyguards' stayed very close to her, so she could speak very quietly once she had chosen the door. "He is in this room, I'm pretty sure." She pointed to the door in front of them "He might be scared enough to try and jump from the window if the room has one. How high up are we?"

  "Wall's even with the spire. Two hundred paces? Probably more."

  She couldn't imagine he would try to jump from that high up. So, he was cornered. Only escape was the door, and they would come in just through the door. Hard to mess that up.

  "Do you want to try it, or want me to go in first? I think I can catch him easily, but I do not know if superior Martins will approve it."

  They recalled the other three to the group with hand signs then a decision was made, "We are monks, not warriors. Sorry to say. You are a demon. You go in. Do not kill him if you can avoid it."

  She positioned herself in front of the door. Could she find out if he was to the left or to the right? She couldn't tell. The door would open into the room, swinging to the right. Best she rushed in center and tried to orient? She definitely lacked experience in this. But she had to do something.

  "Plan. I rush in. Catch him if I miss to hold him and he tries to flee through the door. Otherwise wait till I call you in."

  She got ready to go and nodded to brother John, "Brother John push the door open."

  The monk reached to the handle, pressed it down slowly to avoid any noise and pushed the door open. In the blink of an eye she was in the room. Where was he?

  "Hey demon, listen ..."

  He was in the corner, left and back of her! She spun and jumped almost blindly. Just towards where her ears told her the words were coming from and managed to grab something soft which soon turned wet and he began to scream. Crap, her claws had cut into his flesh. She got a better hold on him, was behind him with one arm around his throat, the other trying to hold his healthy arm. "Stop screaming!" She demanded, then, "I have him. His left arm is bleeding. Someone bring medical aid."

  She learned a surprising lot of bad words about demons in general and herself in particular in the next few minutes. But she had kept holding him till they had cut the sleeve from his shirt and bandaged his ripped arm. He eventually had stopped struggling and fallen quiet. Exhausted or blood loss?

  Blood loss, she was tempted to say. The smell of his blood had gotten into her nose and it bothered her immensely. "Let me return to my cell, please? I want to be away from him. Can two of you come with me? Just in case."

  "Yes sure. Brother John, brother Otto, go with her." Father Peters voice had a slight tremble in it, but still sounded calm overall.

  It's been a relief to be back, even if they had locked the door behind her. They usually didn't do this, so she probably had scared them once again. But it didn't matter. She needed time alone now.

  The hunt had been exciting. Too exciting. Way too exciting. And bloody in the end. That's been bad and she needed time to regain her composure. Hopefully they would give her enough time and not ask for explanations. Maybe it was good the door was locked now.

  She had been alone with her thoughts and emotions for a while, just staring at the raw stone wall across her mattress when someone knocked at her door. "Who is it?", she asked.

  "Superior Martins wants to see you as soon as ... as soon as you feel alright again."

  "Can I get a clean robe first? There is blood on this one." It would win her a few minutes and seemed reasonable enough to ask.

  "Sure. Wait."

  Good. A few more minutes to calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Slow. Clear your mind.

  Then she heard the lock open and someone handed her a clean robe in her size, "Here you are."

  "Thank you. Give me a minute to change."

  "Sure." The door was closed again. Another few minutes won.

  But now she was in superior Martins office once again. Oh, how she hated this tail-pinching chair. She really had to ask him for a stool to sit on. Why did he have to have chairs in a place that everywhere else had stools and benches with pleasant tail space?

  She ignored the discomfort and looked at him expectantly, "You have called for me?"

  "You have done as promised", he opened the talk. "Almost."

  "Almost?" She inquired, head slightly tilted. What had she done wrong this time?

  "Well, we had not talked about what will happen if you actually find him. The brothers who were with you told that you did as we had agreed to up to that moment you identified his location. They even thought you asked a bit too often for permission. I see though that you tried to do the right thing here."

  He paused, apparently trying to find the right words, then continued, "I had not expected you to ask if they want you to try and catch him. And I had forgotten to tell them that they shall bring you back once you located him, so someone else can talk to him and make him surrender. You tore the mans arm apart. They were scared already how you tracked him down, but now they are just terrified."

  "I went back to my cell as soon as it seemed they can handle the situation. There were always brothers with me."

  "Yes, but they are still terrified. You hunted a man and wounded him, even if he was a criminal."

  "But that was the plan. Go and find him." She tried to remember him. Why did she even have to defend herself here?

  "Admittedly. But to be honest, I am also terrified. I think no one realized what it means if you go hunting. We all expected someone like a tracker, not a bloodhound. Now we know that if push comes to shove, no one has a serious chance to run and hide from you. The trail you followed was just nonexistent to the eyes of the brothers and nevertheless you didn't even go wrong once. Then you maimed his arm, just because you tried to hold him fast."

  She sighed and slumped on her chair, "The monastery floor usually has no smell of mutilated grass. The trail was unique, hard to miss. The only problem was to tell which was the way he came, and which was the way he went .." She let her voice fade without more words. Then she looked at him again, a bit fearful if there might be consequences, "What will happen now?"

  "We'll send a messenger to Sunnyvale to have the trespasser collected by the guards. You will return to your daily duties as usual. Officially you do not exist, and the report will say he was attacked by a wild animal, and has gone mad from the pain so he sees demons everywhere. I will talk to the terrified brothers and try to calm them. Did you see what your claws did to the mans arm?"

  "Not, quite? I was behind him most of the time to hold him under control."

  "But they saw. Your claws cut up half his upper arm. None of them saw a wound like that before."

  She sighed again. She might have missed by a few centimeters and only caught him with the claws and not the fingers as she had intended. It was the first time she had tried something like this. And no one was perfect. What did he expect?

  He sighed as well, "Well, I'll talk to them. Then we hope that soon everything will return to normal."

  She nods, "Shall I stay in my cell till midday meal, or report to the garden for work?"

  "The garden. Just try to do normal things. It's better if you just do normal things, like everyone else. Try to be normal."

  Normal. Killing bad weeds with the evil eye was a normal thing, right? Well, maybe not today she admitted. "I'll be in the garden then. I know where the tools are and what there is to do."