Night. A twilight house on the edge of the settlement. An unsteady light flickered in the windows. It was an old lamp on the table in the room. Two people sat across from each other at the table. They stared intently into each other's eyes. One was wearing a black hat with a buckle, a black leather jacket, and black leather trousers. A loaded pistol lay on the table in front of him. In his hands, he held a deck of cards that emitted a bright glow. The other had short black hair and the black beard. The hooded cloak was thrown over his technological armor.
"Ask the question again, so the pursuing spirits hear it and lock onto the target," the stranger in the black hat said in a firm voice.
"Who kidnaps women at night?" said the bearded man.
The deck of cards flared up in the hands of the stranger in the hat. The cards lay face down. Magical symbols were depicted on them. The stranger in the hat drew a card from the middle of the deck and placed it on the table face up. A large, hairy beast-like figure with big teeth. It stood on two legs. Red eyes, filled with fury, stared at the viewer.
"Werewolves," said the man in the hat. "They kidnap women to continue their bloodline."
"Are you sure, detective?" the other asked.
The detective stood up from the table. He took the pistol. A sword was already hanging ready at his left side. He looked at the one who was sitting.
"The pursuing spirits show the way. I follow."
He put out the light, and two dark figures slipped outside.
They moved closer to the trees, to where the forest began. Dark, dangerous, mysterious. Huge clawed footprints were here and led off among the trees.
The detective drew in the night air through his long, thin nose. His eyes gleamed predatorily beneath the brim of his hat. He picked up the trail. He drew his pistol and sword and plunged into the depths of the forest. The Cursed followed him.
In the forest, wide pits and ravines emerged from the darkness.
The detective was jumping over them and landing on the other side. Then, as if nothing had happened, he was continuing on his way. The Cursed was leaping after him, using his vampire strength. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to get past them. One could only guess what powers the detective possessed and what he really was, if he could follow the werewolves' path without hesitation. In any case, in the darkness, he saw just as well as the werewolves.
The Cursed was chasing the detective when he suddenly turned to the right and fired twice into the darkness among the trees. Two pairs of eyes burning with green flames went out there, and fading wolf cries of pain were heard.
From the other side, several more pairs of green flames appeared, and the detective turned and fired several shots there.
He kept moving, reloading his weapons on the go. The werewolves with eyes burning green and mouths bared with long fangs were leaping like lightning from behind the trees. The Cursed joined in with his blade because the detective couldn't reload fast enough. He fired several more shots, knocking down some especially large creatures, and then went headlong with his sword. The huge fangs of the werewolves were snapping greedily over their heads, too close and too dangerous. But the two swords were moving like crazy, leaving behind them cleaved hairy bodies, sprayed with fountains of blood.
They broke through to a forest clearing, where the grass was trampled and there were puddles of blood. Bloody scraps of women's clothing lay there.
The detective stopped in front of the bloody clothes.
"Here they caught the victim. A woman. She struggled. Not for long."
He looked to the right.
"They dragged her there."
He moved to the right through the trees.