Without thinking, I ran behind them.
"Sam, go ask them what's going on, I'll go catch that guy!", I shouted behind me.
"Sure".
The man twisted and turned, running into alleyway after alleyway, throwing down random supplies to the alley sides.
Finally however, there were no more alleys to turn to.
In the next moment, that very same person climbed on a barrel and up a wall at the end. While the wall was certainly short, it was still surprising to see him be so skilled at running.
To the side of the building were a few bricks that poker out amongst the rest. Using them, he climbed, jumping when no more bricks could be found, finally landing on the roof.
Already on top of the wall, it only took him a couple more seconds before he stood far above me.
"There's no way I can do that, who does he think I am?".
Choosing to simply climb over the wall as best I could, I followed as close as I could on ground level.
Finally finding some stairs, I ran up them onto the elevated terrace of a different building.
"Where to from here??? He's getting away".
I looked to the end of the terrace, my eyes falling upon another set of stair that led to the roofs. Sadly there was just one problem, it was too far for me to jump.
Scanning my surroundings for another way to follow, my eyes caught the glimpse of a very risky but effective enough approach, an iron pole.
Laid beneath my feet was a very long and convenient iron pole. Thanking my lucky stars, I picked it up.
"Huff huff, here I go!", it was now or never, either I make it to the stairs on the other side, or that man escape successfully.
The heavy steps I took as I ran couldn't compare to the sound of my heartbeat that took over every other noise at dead of night.
I jumped, thrusting the pole into the ground as I pushed forward.
"ComE ON!".
*Crash*
"YESSS!", I screamed, definitely waking up a few people.
Pulling myself back to reality, I climbed up the stairs, finding my target's silhouette in the distance.
I sprinted after him, jumping between roofs and almost falling at certain points.
Before I knew it, I was already there, a couple roofs behind.
To his front came a large gap between his escape and capture. A square that was too large to let him leap to the next roof.
He seemed confused on where to go now that there weren't as many options left. If he wanted to go any further, he'd have to go around.
"You done?", I grinned between my large gasps for air, I was only a foot away.
I was really tired.
"Come… here", I stretched my arm, almost grabbing at his hood.
What surprised me next was the fact that he jumped down. Falling through a fabric tarp to slightly cushion his fall.
"Really…? Fucking… give up already".
Rather than recklessly jumping down, I chose to take the long route, climbing down the side to a shorter roof before catching my fall among some bushes.
Luckily tho, it seemed that guy hadn't made much distance from where he fell.
He looked to be limping for a second, before walking as though nothing happened.
I found this strange. Why would they be faking the fact that they were injured, only to run quicker anyways? Maybe they were still injured, pushing themselves to get away while bearing the pain?
Though, now there was no escape. A large wall blocked the end of the alley, too tall to jump over. There were no crates or boxes off of which he could jump to safety with either.
"Now it's just you… and me", while I had yet to fully recover my stamina, I was just about recovered.
Not expecting him to back down, I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, he pulled out a dagger in response, now sprinting towards me.
"I know I look like I want to fight but don't be like that, I just wanted to ask you why they were following you", I pulled out my sword, ready to block his strike.
He seemed to be coming straight at me, 'amateur' I thought to myself, grinning.
Thinking back however, what happened next, I had it coming. The amateur I thought I would beat easily, faked his first strike, spinning to the side as he dealt a powerful strike.
Thought all he was good at was running, guess I was wrong.
"Holy fuck", I muttered as I was pushed along the ground from the first strike alone.
While I had still managed to block his attack, the movements he made seemed almost inhuman, that, and the power behind that strike proved to make him more mysterious.
He was certainly tall, but he didn't seem muscular enough to explain that power.
I hadn't had a challenge in a while, adrenaline pumped into my veins.
I couldn't think much longer as his second strike was incoming, a stab toward my chest.
While I had made an effort to block, I made sure my stance was spread out enough to change positions in case of a feint.
This time however was a simple stab, which I parried with great effort, to counter his strength. Finally breaking his stance, I took the initiative and pulled my sword back, I slashed horizontally while generating as much force as I could.
I still didn't want to use my gun at this point.
I expected him to block but instead of that, he surprised me again, reflexively ducking deep enough to then thrust up toward my unguarded torso.
I grabbed at his blade as fast as I could. He didn't back off, doubling down as he pushed his body against mine, trying to use his body weight to generate enough force to break through my defence.
He really wanted to kill me. Blood now dripped down my wrist as it soaked into my sleeve.
I twisted his blade, forcing it out his hand.
Pushing him far enough away, I hit my knee into his stomach with enough power to make him gasp for air. Pulling up behind him, I wrapped my arm around his neck, forcing him to pass out.
I had won the fight, however I had not expected him to pull out another dagger, thrusting it into my thigh.
"Fuck, hrrrgh", blood spilled out the wound, staining the ground below me.
He had passed out just in time, a blessing for me. Had he still been conscience long enough to break free, I don't think I'd survive. A man can only take the pain for so long.
I was now crouched down, both because of the stab wound and for what I needed to do next.
I flipped him over, trying to figure out who had fought me. Pulling down his hood, I found the face of a man, seemingly of similar age to me.
He had black hair and I couldn't see his eye colour as they were closed. Though he didn't seem like a vampire from his hair. Vampires usually had lighter hair colours, although his skin was certainly pale.
Black hair is too far off from that of vampires…
A deep blue amulet was wrapped around his neck. He certainly didn't seem as though he could own something this expensive-looking with how poorly he was dressed. Perhaps he stole this from those guys. I still left it with him, as it would be weird if it did belong to him and I took it.
Realising I could still look at his eye colour by forcing his eyelids open, I proceeded to do so, but before I could— I was interrupted.
"We've finally caught up to you".
A dark rumbly voice that also peaked into squeaky sounds as it spoke. I felt the need to punch him in the face, but I couldn't do that just because he sounded a certain way.
"Someone like you must feel honoured to have helped a both handsome, and prestigious man such as I".
He was short, stubby, a beard that was so patchy I wonder why he kept it, hair that was long, flat and seemed like curtains that covered his face, he looked like an egg with his frame. I respect the confidence but with how snarky he sounded as he talked to me, maybe it wasn't taking it too far if I punched him in the face.
I noticed the previous group of four standing behind him.
"Where's Sam?".
"Oh your friend?", he seemed disgusted. "He began asking too many questions, we had to rough him up a little to get our point across".
...
...
...
"You did what?"
"He started questioning my morality when I said I was trying to catch this slave".
"Slave?".
"You deal in slavery".
"But of course, the best merchandise around. If you want, as a reward, I could give you a discount if you come to one of our stores".
"Why did he become a slave?".
"A friend of his pushed his debt onto him, we're simply carrying out our transaction".
He walked towards me.
"I've answered a lot of our questions because I'm now in a good mood, you should be happy I didn't have these boys rough you up as bad as your friend for acting so presumptuous-".
…
…
…
"BOSS!"
3 seconds, 3 seconds was all it took for me to abandon all sense of rationality I had left. I couldn't even feel the pain in my thigh anymore. While I had tried my best to control the rage I felt the first time they told me what had happened, I felt the need to understand the whole story.
Turns out I didn't need a reason to refrain myself from killing such a worthless pig in the first place.
"Y-you, how dare you punch me like that, know your place!-".
I punched him again, and again, and again. I think his nose was broken by this point.
I really put myself in a bad spot.
"My nose!!!!".
The four henchmen behind him pulled out their clubs.
I really wasn't going to like this, while I tried to put up a fight to the best of my abilities, it was not good enough.
My mind drifted off as I felt the heavy blow of a club come to my head.
- - - - -
"That's enough, don't kill him".
A tall skinny man with a hollow face as though he were dead, and a monocle that covered one of his eyes, was now stood over Ford.
…
"While we could kill him, it'll be far better to turn him into a slave, carry them over to the carriage, we're already off schedule", he looked to the small pudgy man rolling on the floor. "Bring Sir Monocci to the physician and have his wounds treated".