At lunchtime Archer sat by himself enjoying his meal. As he was busy scarfing down his meal he overheard someone. Concentrating through the noise of the cafeteria he picked out the person, Petyr Powl.
"Alright, it's happening. The vampire event is occurring, I just need to be there tonight." Petyr said to no one in particular.
Fascinating. He's weird but useful, I should bug him properly. Archer thought breaking his concentration as he took a sip of his juice as Luna sat next to him. Archer looked over at her curiously and Luna smiled back.
"It's lunchtime and we're classmates." Luna said with a smile.
"I can't disagree with that." Archer conceded after taking a second to think and ate more of his first of two fried chicken sandwiches.
"So do you have any idea what is happening?" Luna asked.
"Oh yes." Archer said as he had some pork loin.
"Can you tell me what's happening?"
"Oh no." Archer said and seeing Luna's reaction he added, "Depending on how it goes I will. But if I do tell you that means I have run into issues."
"Why are you two having lunch together?" Julia said noticing them.
"She made a good argument that we are in the same class and share the lowest rank." Archer explained.
"So you can't have lunch with me then?" Julia asked.
"No, I can't." Archer said, "But Luna can. Right?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I loved to, if that's okay with you." Luna said bashfully looking at Julia.
"Of course. My friends would love to meet you." Julia said with a bright smile.
"Perfect. I need to get going." Archer said as he scarfed down some more of his tray.
"Where are you going?" Julia asked.
"You don't want to know." Archer said as he produced a paper bag from his pocket and threw the spare chicken sandwich and a container of pulled pork into it.
"Does this have something to do with the animals that were slaughtered?" Julia asked.
"You know about that?" Luna asked.
"It's the gossip of the whole school. This never happened to the school before. At least from what I know." Julia said as she glanced at Archer's tray, "Why were you eating for two?"
"A thought experiment." Archer said, "Albeit a cruel one."
Julia looked over to Luna who shrugged, "What do you-" Julia stopped as he saw that Archer had disappeared.
"Outrageous." Julia muttered as she turned to Luna, "Come join me and my friends."
"Are you sure?" Luna said looking nervous.
"Yes, come on." Julia said smiling while grabbing Luna by the hand and leading her away.
Archer as he split off from the two couldn't help but smile. He had heard that Julia with the help of Luna was able to dissuade most of the rumors that were spread about her and it seemed that they both formed a bond through that ridiculous week.
What's more was now that Luna was fully rebuffing the boys Annaxia's rumours and claims started to seem a lot more ridiculous. It seemed like for now Archer didn't need to do much in regard to that then. Some good came out from this. Archer thought.
***
Phil Brooks was in the middle of his lunch when he heard knocking on his office door, "Please wait."
"Actually it can't, lunch ends in twenty minutes and I need to get going." Archer said poking his head through the door.
"Archer what are you doing here?"
"You didn't pick up the phone."
"I left it on silent during class." Phil said as he checked his phone seeing it had messages and missed calls, "What's so urgent?"
"You heard what happened at the garden?"
"Who hasn't?"
"I have a good idea who did it. But I feel as though others might catch on pretty quickly." Archer said.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"If I'm right, yes." Archer said with a nod.
"Alright tell me what you know quickly and do what you need to do." Phil said beckoning Archer in while pulling up a notebook.
"I need information on Esme Soto, I believe she is the culprit behind this and did so unwillingly." Archer said as he shut the door behind him.
"I'll get you it. They said blood was drained from them. She unwillingly got turned into one?" Phil said looking at him with curiosity.
"That is the running theory yes, but vampire I'm not sure."
"Why not?"
"Just the evidence I have on me. Also a gut feeling."
"Here's Esme Soto's timetable." Phil said typing her name in the computer and showing Archer who took a long look at it.
"How far along are they through the search?"
"The students? Finished looking through the garden and looking for suspects now."
"Any idea that Esme is involved?"
"Not yet."
"Good. I think if I get Esme to spill, I can find the mastermind."
"You'll need to be careful. They will send S-rank students after her." Phil warned.
"But not teachers?" Archer said raising an eyebrow.
"It will be good practice for the students." Phil said with a pained smile.
"Well that's something a least." Archer said as he changed his grip on the paper bag.
"Don't forget to report your findings to Principal Cowen."
"Of course." Archer said as he left the room.
***
With a shaky hand Esme finished signing the document. Placing the paper to the side and her pen down she rubbed her face. She needed to keep calm, she needed to control this. She was part of the student disciplinary committee for a reason she could handle this.
"Esme?" A voice familiar to her called, the voice of Archer.
"Archer, what are you doing here?" Esme looked up from her desk in confusion.
"I heard that everyone here was busy dealing with the aftermath of the whole garden thing. So I thought that you might be too busy to eat." Archer said as he placed the paper bag down at her desk.
"Oh, thank you, but I'm not very hungry right now." Esme said, food being the last thing on her mind. In fact the idea of consuming anything that would be considered normal food made her feel ill.
"Well I'll just put it here right now." Archer said placing it on her desk before he dug into it, "I didn't know which one you would like so I got both chicken and pork." Archer said pulling out the contents. He could feel Esme stiffen up when he did.
"Why those two?" Esme asked trying to keep her voice even.
"Oh, there're the specials today. Actually so was the pork loin but I ate it all. Sorry about that." Archer said apologetically, "You sure you don't want a bite?"
"No it's fine. Thank you." Esme said as Archer put them back into the bag.
"Hey, do you have any idea who might be responsible for this yet?" Archer asked.
"No, that's been tasked to the S-ranks."
"S-ranks? This really is serious."
"Destroying livestock from the garden is a serious offense. It is a public smear to the academy for something like this to happen." Esme said clenching her fists.
"You think they'll catch the culprit soon?" Archer said leaning back curiously.
Esme gave a small pause before saying, "I think they might."
"Oh that's good then."
"Yes, good." Esme said staring at her desk with a small nod.
Still would like to prove one last thing. Archer thought as he noticed a fallen metal pen on the ground dropped by someone else earlier. Sorry Esme. He thought as he discreetly kicked the pen and sped like a bullet breaking one of the legs of the chair Esme was sitting on.
"Ahh!" Esme cried out as she suddenly felt herself falling backwards.
Archer moved in quickly and managed to grab onto the chair to stop Esme for falling completely backwards. But Esme flailed enough for Archer to see the sole of her shoes, and more importantly the dirt on it.
That confirms it. Archer said as he helped Esme up from the chair, "Are you alright?" Archer asked looking concerned.
"I'm okay. What happened?" Esme said fixing her clothes.
"The chair broke." Archer said as he bent down to look and at the same time discreetly stashed the pen away in a pocket.
"Just my luck." Esme grumbled as the door opened to the room.
Entering the room was a familiar face of Mercy Cowen, wearing her classic peak cap that held the school's emblem over her long silver hair. She wore a long overcoat that gave her an extra flourish when she moved. Though she was only one of three newcomers that entered.
Standing in the middle was another member of the student council. He was only a bit taller than Archer himself, though unlike Archer's more lean frame he packed extra bulk in muscles and wild, spiky, dyed red hair with a black streak across his sides. What was most striking about him was the mean mug he held on his face. It looked like he was trying to shoot lasers out of his yellow eyes.
Maybe he could and recently lost the power, it happens. Archer thought to himself as he looked at the third and final newcomer. The tallest one of the lot this student stood further back. He had well-groomed parted black hair and seemed to be studying everyone else with his dark blue eyes. On his jacket it was labeled that he was a second-year. Though what was more interesting was that all three were S-ranks.
"Oh hello there Mercy." Archer greeted with a smile.
"What are you doing here idiot?" Mercy asked folding her arms.
"Oh, I came to bring Esme her lunch." Archer said showing the bag to her.
"What happened to the chair?" The red-haired one asked.
"It broke." Esme said as she stood straight almost at attention.
"Oh, actually I was just asking Esme, but I guess you might know more. Do you know who did this?" Archer asked Mercy.
"You don't need to know anything." The red-haired one said with a sneer.
"Oh, right I forgot, hi there. I'm Archer Griffen." Archer said with a smile and offered a hand to S-rank who looked at him with a frown.
"He's Jarold, my name is Luthor." The second-year said as he carefully watched Archer, "Why are you so interested?"
"Well, it sort of ruined class for me. So I just got curious. Also a couple of my classmates weren't happy about finding the animals." Archer said with a shrug taking an inhale.
"Classmates?" Luthor asked his eyes having the faintest spark of curiosity.
"Yeah, Emmra, she had to see them." Archer said scratching his hair awkwardly, "She's always so nice to me and it made me a bit angry to see her like that."
Mercy at this point looked at Archer with a look of revulsion while the spark in Luthor's eyes immediately disappeared.
"I see. Well don't worry, we will find whoever did this." Luthor said now seeming to look past Archer then at him, "Now lunch is almost over, you should head back to class."
"Right of course. Thank you." Archer said as he looked at the clock on the wall, "Goodbye!" Archer said giving Esme a quick wave as he went to open the door, before exiting he then turned back around, "Bye Mercy and uh, Jarold and Luthor." He said while being promptly ignored.
Archer's lips curled to a small grin as he thought. Luthor, eh? I am interested. He said as he hurried back to class, it was dungeon diving next period.
***
Archer as he walked down the halls towards the dungeon with the rest of his class felt his phone vibrate. Confused he opened it to check and found that he was added into a chat group with Luna and Julia.
Currently the two were already in a conversation, mainly about how Luna was still getting hounded by the five that Trinity Boen's spirit managed to seduce. Evidently despite Luna's adamant refusals, and the quintet continued to hound her during lunch, even with Julia's help.
Why am I in this chat? – ARCHER
Hey Archer! =D – LUNA
You finally found it. -JULIA
Archer looked up at Luna who waved at him before typing something.
You said that you can't talk to Julia during class much so I thought we should make a group chat! – LUNA
Oh Julia missed me that much? – ARCHER
Shut it – JULIA
Archer I know you said that you don't want us involved but with this if you need help you can talk to us – LUNA
Thanks, both of you - ARCHER
Least we can do – JULIA
♡ - LUNA
Archer couldn't help but smile before he overheard that guy, Petyr talking with a teacher.
"Alright kid, if you can get me some of that wine I'll let you have access to my silver chalice." The teacher said nodding his head before displaying a far more threatening manner, "But if you so much as think of keeping it or damaging it I will have your head."
"Yes sir, of course. I will make sure to bring it back unharmed." Petyr said sounding very excited.
Silver chalice, I wonder if the silver part is important. Archer pondered as he received another message on his phone. This time it wasn't from the two girls but from Phil instead. Reading through the message quickly Archer's eyes widened in shock as he realized what information was just divulged.
As Archer calmly stored his phone back into his pocket he felt someone bump into him. Turning around he looked down he was surprised to encounter the E-rank with the fridge-sized backpack.
"S-sorry!" She cried out as her eyes darted directly to the ground.
"It's fine, I don't think you even need to apologize considering you outrank me." Archer joked.
"Even so, I need to be more careful." She said bowing in apology.
"It's really fine, by the way. Why do you have a massive bag? We're going down there for only a few hours right?" Archer asked, he could hear the jostling at the bottom of the bag of a few contents already. Food, water, and some metallic items, likely basic tools.
"Oh, I'm not very good at fighting so I make up for it by carrying my brother's and his friends equipment. I'm really thankful for him looking out for me." She said while looking almost like she was trying to convince herself.
"Huh, well familiar love is important." Archer said as he looked at the E-rank with keen interest. He had to stop himself from smiling, realizing that he was acting like that second-year Luthor from earlier.
"Rosaline!" A voice called out to her.
"Oh, I have to go." The girl who responded to Rosaline said as she ran off.
I have a feeling that I'll have to deal with that eventually. Archer thought watching her go before he thought back to his phone. But that takes precedence first.
***
"Leaving for the day?" Electa's secretary asked as Electa exited her office at the end of the school day.
"Yes, anything I should know?" Electa asked, "Updates on the animal culprit?"
"Still nothing, the S-ranks should find something substantial in the next day or two."
"Alright then, have all calls be forwarded to the vice principal for the rest of the day." Electa said as she grabbed her jacket.
Leaving the school she went to the staff-only parking lot and entered her car. It was a black sports sedan and shooting brake car custom fitted to her standards. Sitting down in the high-quality, pepita-patterned seat she was about to start the car when she glanced up and noticed something in her rearview mirror.
"Why didn't you tell me that there were reports of people turning up drained of their blood all over the city?" Archer asked sitting in the back seat.
Electa blinked in surprise before replying, "I honestly didn't think it would be prevalent." She then turned around in her seat to look at Archer directly, "You think this vampire thing is responsible for the animals."
"No, no reason for it. It likes eating humans, why break into a school to eat a few farm animals?" Archer said shaking his head, "Plus only a body has been found each time, whoever killed the animals gorged themselves."
"So then who did it?"
"Likely someone this killer infected."
"A vampire spawn?"
"I don't think it's a vampire, the way they were cut and drained. Someone drank them but they didn't suck it out, more like drained." Archer said.
"So what are you planning now?"
"Well I have an idea who it is, just need to figure out when they will feed again and how long this has been happening."
"Who is it?" Electa asked.
"Esme Soto." Archer answered immediately, "Is it possible to keep the search party away from her?"
"I can only delay them a bit."
"I accept that." Archer nodding his head.
"What else are you going to ask?" Electa asked and as Archer looked surprised she added, "I doubt that you broke into my car just to ask one question."
"Yes, when animals get fed?" Archer said with a smile.
"First thing in the morning around six right as Esme would be around to let them in."
"She's always there every morning?"
"No one else was willing to volunteer. Older years shirk it off to first years and she wanted to. She's very diligent… are you sure she was infected?" Electa asked looking troubled at the idea.
"Whoever killed those animals did so only hours before they were found. Esme was one of the few there at that time. Furthermore to sneak in would be difficult, easier when you have access via keycard like Esme would and she could go in after the animals were fed to feed." Archer explained.
"Hmm, if the S-ranks find out it was her they will kill her." Electa said before pausing as she saw someone running down the road, "Who's that?"
"Evan Case." Archer noticed.
"What is he doing?"
"Seems like he's tracking."
"Tracking? Tracking what?"
"Maybe the culprit?"
"That reminds me even if you do find the real monster behind this, what are you going to do with Esme?" Electa asked.
"I think I have a solution for it, though for now I'll just watch over her." Archer said.
"Right, well then you might need this." Electa said opening her glove compartment and handed Archer two small boxes. For a brief moment it seemed as though he smelled her, but that was ridiculous sounding.
"I was going to have someone deliver those and a box of tape to your place tonight but since you're here it's easier this way." Electa said handing Archer the contents who quickly took a peek and smiled.
"What's in those things?" She asked out of curiosity.
"A pair of my gloves."
"That coupled with your tape really makes you sound like a brawler."
"Thank you." Archer said with a smile.
Electa then looked to close her glove compartment, "Now word of warning next time you sneak into my car I'll-" Electa paused as when she glanced back Archer had already vanished, "How did he do that?"
***
"Seriously Zoe! A monster eating people, you seriously didn't think you should have warned me?" Archer complained on the phone as he stood atop an apartment roof near where Esme's twelfth-floor dorm room was. Still in his school uniform he watched the area in case something happened. Though with the curtain drawn up he couldn't see much of anything. I need that helmet. Archer thought.
"It's Soothsayer-2 and it's your own responsibility as the undercover hero to figure out something like this." Zoe chided.
"People have died, a girl is turned into this creature's spawn! I should have been warned beforehand." Archer argued.
"I know that." Zoe admitted, "But your job is to watch over the school. There are registered heroes that should be handling these issues."
"But if there's a monster running about, I should help."
"You're trying to be everywhere at once Archer." Zoe said getting annoyed, "You and Zach both have this problem, trying to help everyone even when you can't. You know that just leads to failing everyone right?"
"I mean it hasn't happened yet." Archer said scratching his head awkwardly.
"Yeah, because I'm there to remind you to use your head and fight your battles." Zoe said with a sigh, "That kindness is what makes you great, but your excitement tends to lead you into trouble."
"Alright, you're right." Archer said giving up the point, "Now have you figured out what exactly is the cause of this?"
"Well it's not a vampire you're right on that. It's not exactly a ghoul either. The cuts don't match." Zoe said as Archer heard her typing into a computer.
"Then what infected her?"
"From the coroner reports of victims that match the style found on the animals while similar, were of different sizes to Esme's. All the victims had cut marks had the same dimensions so it's safe to say that there is currently only one other monster you need to worry. The pattern is curious both where and when the attacks take place." Zoe observed.
"So no traditional monsters and it seems that whoever infected Esme is also the same as whoever killed the victims, meaning that they are the mastermind behind this." Archer thought for a second, "Experiment gone wrong?"
"Or gone right."
"That is very likely." Archer said as he looked down at the street and the few cars that drove by, "Any way to cure her?"
"Not without taking her to an actual facility and that's unlikely given the situation." Zoe pondered for a moment, "Where are you anyways?"
"Watching over her, you know the apartment is next to a small forest of ash and ginkgo trees. A weird combination." Archer mused.
"Actually, the monster may be near her, if manage to find the main monster then maybe you can cure her. Some direct serum would be useful."
"I think by then Esme would be caught." Archer said, "But if they don't kill her outright I might be able to lead them to the main issue and get her out without too much trauma." Archer said before going silent.
"What is it?" Zoe asked feeling the change in tension through the phone.
"They found her. Contact Phil Doyle. I'll text you after this." Archer said before hanging up.