Fortunes in Italy

(Oh Mon Dieu im sick of this damned cave!)

Lock and Duke took down two more of the monsters before their companions lost heart and fled from the cave back down the tunnel.
Duke was about to give chase when Lock stopped her "Their leader isnt here" It took a few moments for Duke to realise what he meant, then it clicked. Lock saw the understanding on her face, they would follow these last two to their leaders hiding place.
Some time later they were walking through the last of the muddy water and back into the fresh air, Duke jumped with relief.
"And now to the menial task of tracking this scum and we can be done with this miserable objective"
They were not difficult to track and it only took them two hours to trace them back to a fallen down shack on the very outskirts of town. They surveyed the area before sneaking up to the door, Lock took the liberty of oiling the hinges, he looked at Duke as if to say "remember this, its very important to oil hinges" she just knew there would be a story behind that one.
And with that they were inside.

They burst through the door way and took down what was left of the pseudo-vampires without much of a struggle. They had seen what Duke and Lock where capable of and knew that it would be useless to fight.
Duke and Lock scanned the room and found another door on the left of the room. Duke tried opening the door but it was locked. She kicked it in. They walked down a small hallway into a square room. There in the centre of the room was a throne.

On the throne sat a shriveled old man, it was the man Lock had come to kill. "I see now, you live forever but you still age. Thats why you shared you secret to gain followers" He walked slowly up to him and whispered in his ear "This is for Amelio, my friend"
He drove home his knife and the psuedo king breathed his last halted breath before turning to dust, his flesh having died long ago.
"Lets go Duke"
she followed him out of the room "I half expected you to at least torture the bastard a little first" she said remembering the room with the bodies "he deserevd to suffer like they did"
"Yes he did, but we dont have the time right now, we need to get you to Venice" he picked up a parchment from the table and put it in his pocket. He then reached into the bag Duke had used to bargin with him and there was a ~fizzle~ noise. "we should leave now"
"Why...?" he didnt let her finnnish, he grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room.
ten seconds afetr they had left the hosue, it exploded with tremdous force. Lock was destroying all traces of their secret of immortality

It was over. Lock had avenged his friend and killed a dangerous beast. The people Naples were safe and Duke was soon going home. She had convinced Lock to come with her and they where leaving for Venice in a few hours.
"One thing I don't understand is why did the 'pseudo-vampires' murder your friend, and then once he'd been buried dig him up. Why didn't they eat him when they killed him? It just confuses me." She said.

"They wanted this" he took out the parchment from his pocket "He made one of the alchemic comonents needed to make the formula of enternal life, origionally it was used to grow plants faster, but its purpose was corrputed by them" they arrived at the gravesite and Lock bent down to place the scroll under a rock at his frinds grave.

She looked at the grave. The stone was so old she could only make out the name, Amelio Martello. How could the gravestone be so old? She thought back to pseudo king and how old he was. She looked over at Lock.
His face was young, but something in his eyes betrayed his age. There was so much Knowledge and wisdom. He looked at her.
"What are you? How can you be so old?" She was confused and a little bit scared.

He took a deep breath "Different" he gave a beaming smile "Now, shall we go to Venice?"
He extended an arm and she took it gingerly "Milady" he said in a pompous accent "I believe a carriage is in order" she couldnt help but chuckle, Lock flagged down a man driving a stage coach and payed him more than was necessary for a ride to Venice even considering the distance "M' dear" he said, continuing the accent "will you permit me to accompany you, even though you now know I am not entirely human? I know that around this time of year the guild always held a festival, I wonder if they still do...?"

"Why yes." She said mimicking his accent. "I do believe they do." They hopped inside the coach and were off.
The journey was long and Duke was tired of being couped up in the small coach. She wanted to climb something.
She couldn't wait to see her friends again, or to climb the roofs of Venice. The city was beautiful at this time of year. Her head began to nod, and she fell asleep.

Lock woke her once they had arrived at their destiantion "we're here Duke" They walked through the impressive gates of Venice, it was made even greater by the festival that was in full swing "I can see why you wanted to get back ehre so fast, It really is wonderful"

"Come on, the Guild is this way." She said leading him the through the bustling streets towards the Guild. They arrived at the gates of her home. She giggled excitedly. "I can't wait to see every one." She was so happy to be going home. She had been gone for about a year.
She pushed the gates open with a loud clunking noise. She imagined the welcome she would receive. The music, food and friends. She walked through the gates and the smile fell from her face. The entire Guild was in ruin.
"What happened here? Where is everyone." she was completely shocked.
"Aston, Marble! Where are you!?" She was yelling their names. "Master! Anyone!" She fell to her knees "Please." She sobbed.
Lock walked over to her. she looked up at him.
"Where are they Lock? Where did they go?"
He looked at her with pity. She shook her head as if she didn't believe that any of this was real. she ran through the front door of the nearest building and saw corpses. she backed away. and ran for another building. More dead bodies. She screamed and ran out of the gates.

Lock followed her, when she stopped running and collapsed to the ground in anguish he held her tightly, like a father comforting a daughter "I promise you this Duke, we will find who did this, and they will pay. I have some friends that can help us do that" she was shaking violently "They will pay"

This was the moment Duke lost everything. The only family she'd ever known, her mentors, her friends, her home. This was the moment she lost her morals, for when she found who had done this, they would beg for mercy, and she would not yield.

(that was an epic story )