Part 3

As soon as he realized that he wouldn't be able to help the dead Bowers, Hogg dashed out of the house, throwing up a blizzard of visible eyes into the air. Once they were high enough in the air and out of sight, he started yelling. "Attack! Vampire attack in the city! Call the Watch!"

Brin followed him out, tugging on Hogg's coat. "I don't think it was a vampire."

"Shut up!" Hogg hissed.

“I really think–”

“I know what you think! But we have to consider that the most likely answer is the correct one. Maybe there really is some kind of monster following you around. If there is, then vampire is the most likely, so that’s what we’re going with. Now quiet, we don’t know who might be listening.” Hogg continued shouting about a vampire attack, and Brin kept his mouth shut.

Lights came on in windows across the street, and Brin saw the movement of the Watch's light against the buildings suddenly move faster. Very fast, like a speeding car.

He saw a team of the Watch turn the corner and dash down the street with Skill-enhanced speed. If they'd been this fast while chasing Brin and his friends they would've caught them easily. Either the [Watch] didn't want to use that Skill on a crowded street for fear of trampling people, or they hadn't thought it was worth it to catch a few teenagers involved in minor mischief.

Whatever the case, they seemed like an entirely different sort of group now. A heavily armored man strode up to Hogg, unfazed by his rapid dash here. "Speak!"

Another held up a rod, some sort of artifact that didn't respond to [Inspect].

"While we were talking, [Mind Healer] Bowers suddenly grew tired and then collapsed, dead as soon as he hit the floor. Neither me nor my ward had anything to do with the attack and no reason to believe it was coming," said Hogg.

"Truth," said the Watchman with the artifact.

"Stay here," said the leader, and then ordered his men to spread out and search the area. Brin had no hope that they were going to find anything. The real answer to this search was going to come the next time he found himself a bed, and he was more than ready for that. This day had been full of ups and downs and now all he wanted was to lay down and go to sleep.

He noticed the telltale feeling of sound magic as Hogg put a silencing spell around them. "You do one, too. Find it," Hogg said without moving his lips.

Brin shook his head. "There's nothing to find. I think--"

"Not now. Just do it."

Brin started his spell for Invisible Eye. He was interrupted halfway through when he heard the Watch shouting that they'd found something in the sky. One look at Hogg's clenched jaw told Brin that they'd found one of his Visible Eyes, meaning he'd have to dismiss them so that they wouldn't keep looking in the wrong direction.

That was enough to break Brin out of his Invisible Eye, so he started over, chanting the words in his mind along with the stored memory from his ring. When he finished it, he didn't have any great idea of where to look, or even what he was looking for. He started in the room with the body and then made a spiral moving around and around in an ever expanding loop. He completely ignored things like walls and doors and simply moved in his pattern, looking for any sign of monsters. He found many people sleeping in their beds, and the Watch moving through the streets, but nothing resembling any kind of monster.

He had to dismiss the Invisible eye when the Watch ordered the both of them to come back to the station. Lumina's ring proved its worth again, because the Watch captain brought them to an office instead of a cell and questioned them both together.

Brin felt numb and disconnected during the interrogation, preferring to let Hogg speak whenever possible. A man had died right in front of him and he was… fine. Maybe it was because of the way Bowers had died; it hadn’t been violent and there wasn’t any blood. Maybe his lizard brain still thought that the man had just laid down and went to sleep. Or maybe Brin was just numb. He’d seen a lot of people die during the Battle of Hammon’s Bog, people he’d known and liked. Maybe he didn’t have it in him to feel bad about one random guy he hardly knew. Guiltily, he realized that he honestly felt a little relieved that he’d gotten his answer without actually having to do therapy.

This wasn’t a Scarred One thing. The Scarred One raged and ranted against every minor slight. This was the Glasser’s dark side, and he didn’t like it. Sure, the Scarred One had been psychotic, but at least he’d cared. If the alternative was to be someone this callous, he’d rather have the Scarred One back. The thought made him sick to his stomach.

If the Watch Captain noticed Brin’s inner turmoil, he didn’t mention it. He kept his questions direct and on point, and didn't press when Hogg refused to talk about his Class or his business in the town. He kept to the details of the case, going over the conversation with Bowers, writing down every detail that Brin remembered, and trying to jog his memory for any small details he might have overlooked.

After an hour of questioning with the Watch captain and an [Interrogator], an aide burst into the office where Brin and Hogg were being held. "We found it!"

"Wait, really?" Brin asked.

"Show me," said Hogg.

The Watch marched them back, towards the same neighborhood where the [Mind Healer] had been killed, only a few blocks away. There was a large crowd of Watch members as well as a few [Hunters] that had probably been hired on later. They parted for the captain, giving Brin a good look.

On the ground was a strange batlike creature. It was about four feet long, completely furless, with a long, pointy nose. An arrow still pierced it straight through.

"[Hunter] Tomil here snagged it out of the air. We wouldn't have seen it if we hadn't already been searching the sky," said one of the Watch.

Brin used [Inspect].

Sleeper Dustling. Level 21. Deceased.