"Are you looking for a place called Yorkford?"
The stranger man’s inadvertent question threw Hao Ren and Vivian off guard. With hundreds of years as a veteran vampire under her belt, Vivian managed to hide her surprise but Hao Ren had it written all over his face. "How did you know that?"
Hao Ren’s muscles tensed up; his fists clenched tightly as if he was about to draw his sword out from its scabbard—of course he had no sword. He was ready to improvise by picking up a chair or something he could grab within his reach as a weapon. In reality, there were no threats in the slightest. He was only paranoid because he had drawn himself too deep into his own imagination of a James Bond scenario. Coming from a humble, peasant background and going on his first ever ‘covert’ mission, Hao Ren was nervous as well as paranoid. Anyone walking on two legs in a 200 meter radius was an imaginary threat.
The tall and slender man smiled after which, he pointed at Lily. "I overheard what the lady said earlier as she was asking around about Yorkford. Although she was speaking in Chinese, the waitresses and I could understand it. So, I was just curious. Why are you looking for that place?"
Hao Ren gave Lily a sideways stare but she was so obsessed with her meal, she did not even notice. For all intents and purposes, she could not be justifiably blamed for her conspicuous recon method. They knew that Yorkford did not exist on modern maps. They could only take an educated guess of the location and its distance from London based on the bits and pieces supplied by Raven 12345. Other than that, not much could have been done except asking around.
Lily had assumed that the MDT was simultaneously interpreting her words. She did not realize that the simultaneous interpreter did not work for her and she was only heard speaking in Chinese.
"We’re here on holiday," Vivian took a break from her meal but had maintained her graceful manners. She chimed in trying to save Hao Ren from botching their cover. "Well actually, we aren’t fond of the usual tourist places but we’re more interested in little-known spots in the remote countryside for a little exploration. We came to read about a place called Yorkford a while back so, we thought it might be a good idea to explore the place a bit while we’re here in England. But it seems that it is unknown even to the locals."
Hao Ren secretly gave Vivian a thumbs-up. He thought, "At least that inept blood-sucking creature is finally being useful. And clearly, she is a good liar too!"
Under the guise of the table, Vivian reciprocated a victory sign. She had learned the fine art of lying ever since the invention of Cuneiform script and had been good at it too.
The man looked at them but was not suspicious of anything. He continued, "Oh, I see. Obviously, that place has somehow become famous lately. However, you won’t find that place—at least, not by the name of Yorkford."
"You mean, you do know the place?" Lily chimed in eagerly. Her ears stood erect as she jolted her head upwards. The sauce on the salad jutting out from her mouth almost splattered onto the man’s face. "You’re going too?"
"Yeah, I guess we can travel together." The man smiled. "A few hundred years ago, Yorkford was an estate where members of the nobility lived. Somehow, it was left deserted and it fell into ruin in the course of a few hundred years. Since then, no one has ever remembered or mentioned it. It was forgotten, save for entries in a few professional, geographic publications. So how you got to know about the name is beyond me. Nevertheless Brewshire, a small town which was built at the South, is the closest point to the ruins."
"F*ck me..." Hao Ren was appalled. "How stupid could the white-haired succubus get? It’s the name of a hundred-year-old decaying estate!"
Vivian echoed, "Ya, damn right. The information is so outdated."
Hao Ren glanced at her, chiding, "Shut up, you Old English!"
Vivian lowered her head awkwardly but Lily overheard the chide. She looked up and asked curiously, "Old English? What Old English?" Lily had no clue; she was still in a somnambulistic state when Vivian slipped up.
"Freeze your teeth and give your tongue a sleigh ride!" Hao Ren pushed Lily’s head back down and turned to face the man with a surprise look. "What a coincidence! I was worried about how we would ever get there until I met you. You’re going there for business or leisure?"
Hao Ren could not deny the fact that he was pleasantly surprised. He was prepared to spend the entire of the following day scouting for anything about Yorkford. The appearance of this man who claimed to know about Yorkford had actually made things easier for him. Yet at the same time, he had his doubts. It was too much of a coincidence.
According to the man, Yorkford was an estate owned by some members of nobility during the medieval kingdom period. However, it had been deserted, forgotten, and had almost disappeared from the surface of the earth a long time ago. Even if there was a settlement built near the original ruins later on, there were no indications of any historical or cultural connections between the two. Considering all these things, gathering of information would have been extremely difficult and time-consuming. So, that leaves the question: Was the man being genuine?
Hao Ren’s feeling had turned from a pleasant surprise to outright skepticism but he had concealed this switch rather well this time. Hao Ren appeared passionate and the man did not suspect a thing. "For business. My job requires me to travel frequently, especially to places of historical interest"
"You’re a tomb raider?"
Hao Ren suddenly felt a sharp pain on his feet. Vivian had stamped his foot.
"About my job..." The man suddenly sounded reluctant before steering away from the topic of conversation. "Have you heard news about Yorkford?"
"What news?" Hao Ren quickly realized something. Irrespective of what news came out from the place, his mission was going to tank. He was supposed to meet an unusual creature in Yorkford. Drawing people’s attention to it was an absolute no-no.
"There is a castle in Yorkford, abandoned and in ruin," The man said in a mystic tone of voice. "It’s not a tourist attraction and it’s supposed to stay that way. However, news of paranormal activities have broke out recently; there were claims of sightings of mysterious lights, fire burning at the top the ruins and knights in full battle armor lurking around in the evening. According to the locals, it could be the haunted spirits of the noblemen, noblewomen and knights who once lived there. The place has now become somewhat ‘famous’ because of that."
The man narrated the story in such vivid details. The story exuded a strong, spooky air between each punctuation, sending chills down everyone’s spine. But thanks to the werewolf and the vampire, Hao Ren was kind of immune to it. At that moment, he had only one thing on his mind: Could the paranormal phenomena have something to do with his new tenant?
Hao Ren pondered. If the paranormal events were true as claimed, then his tenant could very well be a... What the f*ck? Could the white-haired succubus not send him some ‘normal’ tenants?
Then again, any human in his right mind would never stay in his house for obvious reasons.
"That’s your job? Hao Ren gave the man a curious glance. He had a goddamn feeling that the paranormal story had something to do with the man’s appearance before them.
The man smiled shyly. "It may sound absurd but actually, I’m a demon hunter..."