Shinra put on the shirt as he ran. His wound itched like crazy, but it wasn't pulling and hurting like before.

What was happening to his life? Lycan's, imperial court intrigue, vampires; how was he supposed to be a simple assassin with all these distractions? Shinra knew one thing for sure, the circle of people who knew about his abilities was dangerously high.

'I guess an assassin would kill them all… except I don't think any of my tricks would help against the vampires. They are pure power pretending to be people,' he thought. 'I could kill Sardi, but that might bring some scrutiny from the imperial palace, and I don't want that.' If he was being honest, he kind of liked Sardi. And, he knew some of his secrets, which was even better than trust, as far as Shinra was concerned.

'They said Sardi will be fine. I guess it is good that someone is watching him. I wonder where they were during the fight?' Shinra knew just one of them could have dealt with all the attackers, yet none of them arrived until the last one died. Coincidence? He didn't think so. 'They were watching. Maybe to gauge our power, or maybe to just see if we were really trying to help them.'

Eltast would have watched just for fun, but Cardual seemed more serious. 'Whatever, I've already decided to trust Sardi with them, so now I need to finish my job,' he said while still running to the Station.

—--------------------------------------

"Wintersbane is on Special assignment. I am now the Deputy Liaison, Sheriff Crews." The man said gruffly. He was huge. Shinra had definitely never seen him before. He would have remembered someone a full head taller than him with skin the colour of midnight.

"Yes Sir! I am Deputy Shinra," he said in his best recruit voice. It was important to speak loudly and respectfully to the senior officers. "There has been an incident in the warehouse district, Sir. I am requesting a crime scene team and a Sheriff to accompany me back to the scene to process it, Sir." Shinra tried to stand at attention. He hadn't really spent much time with Sheriffs other than Wintersbane. Thinking of it now, that was actually strange. The other deputies rotated through the force, and now that Shinra was promoted he expected to as well.

'Granted, Wintersbane does think I'm a murderer, so he might be isolating me on purpose,' Shinra thought. He almost smiled thinking about that day. Hard to believe how many weeks it had been.

"What kind of incident are we talking about Deputy? I'm busy, and I'm definitely not going to send a team out on some wild chase for some zombie related squabble." Sheriff Crews said, crossing his arms over his massive chest.

And there it was. Zombie hate is something Shinra should be used to. Weird how spending time with Wintersbane, Sardi, and even Loren had changed how he viewed mages a little. That was a dangerous illusion though, mages hadn't changed, he just managed to find a few weird ones.

"Sir, yes Sir! The incident was a coordinated attack against two deputies while they were on a task for the Imperial Court. There were multiple casualties." Shinra wasn't sure how much detail he could give about the task, but wanted it known that he and Sardi weren't out on a stroll looking for trouble.

"What! Two deputies are dead! Why didn't you say that immediately, Zombie!" The Sheriff grabbed Shinra by the shoulder and shook him. "Where are they? Where are the bodies, and where did the attackers run off too?" He pushed Shinra to the ground. "Only a zombie could come in asking for an investigation team when we need to start a manhunt." The disgust on Crews' face was clear. He hated Zombies.

"Sir." Shinra took a deep breath, trying to control himself, even as the system showed him that the man's shields were minor, and had many vulnerabilities. "I wasn't clear, Sir. Deputy Sardi and I were attacked. The assailants are the casualties. I'm not reporting an ongoing incident, Sir." Shinra stood up, brushed his clothes off, and stood back at attention. "Mostly, we need a cleanup crew, Sir." Shinra looked at the red targets all over the Sheriff to help calm his mind and keep his tone light and even.

For his part, Crews looked confused. "Deputy… how many casualties were there? Where is Deputy Sardi?" The man looked worried. Rightly so, Shinra had noticed the way the higher ups acted with Sardi. They all knew he was important.

"Deputy Sardi is fine. He was patrolling the area and ensuring there were no more attackers on the loose."

"Fine, fine, that is good," Crews said, visibly relieved to hear Sardi was ok. "How many men attacked you? Are they all incapacitated?"

"Dead, Sir. It was a fight for our lives, and lethal force was required." Shinra said, careful to make his case now, before the man's zombie prejudice showed again.

"Right, of course. A few men ambushed and attacked two deputies and you defended yourself."

"12 Sir."

"12 what?" Crews said.

"12 attackers, Sir."

"Oh, right. 12 attackers…." Crews said distractedly, already turning to go, clearly planning out the team he needed to assemble. He stopped dead, and turned his head back towards Shinra. "Did you say 12 men attacked you and Deputy Sardi?"

"Yes, Sir. 12 men ambushed us in the Warehouse district while on Imperial orders."

"You killed 12 men!"

"I mean, I didn't kill them all. Deputy Sardi helped too." Shinra did his best not to smile.

—------------------------------------------------------------

Sheriff Crews moved fast after he got over Shinra's tale. He assembled a team and started to move out to where Shinra said the attack happened. Except he didn't let Shinra lead them. "I don't need a zombie to give me directions in my own city."

So Shinra was following behind the team of 4 forensic mages, 2 Sheriffs and 6 morgue staff. Crews must have believed him in the end. It wasn't hard to follow such a big group, and Shinra knew exactly where they were going, but he used the opportunity to practise his stealth skills.

He moved from shadow to shadow, ducked into alleyways, and kept the group less than a block ahead of him at all times. He even scaled up a building in an alleyway and followed on the roof for a block. It was much easier than when he tried at Deputy Dave's building. His increased stats were making a noticeable difference.

Shinra had hinted that Sardi might continue the task they were on if he didn't see other attackers, because he didn't want Crews looking for him. Sardi was definitely still at Shinra's with the vampires. He wanted to be part of the site investigation because he wanted to learn more about this Assassin Guild. He had 2 more days to wipe them out, and he needed more information.

'Just hiding nearby might be enough. In fact, the Sheriffs might talk more if they don't know I'm there,' he thought. He needed a clue about where they hung out, or their base of operations, then he could start making plans.

They were only a few blocks away when he heard it. "Scuff…" It was a subtle, low sound. In an alleyway, perhaps a cat or a rat had made it by moving some garbage. Shinra's senses were on fire. He didn't know why, or how, but he was sure someone was following him.

He crouched low, sinking into the shadow at the base of the alley wall, and peered everywhere, his night vision piercing all the nearby shadows. Nothing. There was no one.

He knew, deep in his gut, that someone was there. He just did. He engaged Fade 2, going invisible in the dark, and moving away from where he had been, effectively throwing even the best tracker off of his trail.

Then someone landed on him from above.