The vampire sisters huddled together as they watched their judge, jury, and executioner clean the blood off of her sword.
Ophelia looked very nonchalant about the whole ordeal, but Mathew suspected she was putting on a show to look extra intimidating to the two of them. Once she was done with the task, the blade vanished from existence, but the Chakram remained in her hands.
"Can't you make that one disappear too?" Mathew asked.
"Though the owner is dead, It will still take constant physical contact of at least a few hours to claim a blessing of the 3rd Tier."
"I see," said Mathew, though he had more questions. "That bounty hunter seemed to know who you are? Is what he said true?"
Ophelia's body went stiff.
"I will not grant you answers, so do not pursue them." She said.
"Fair enough. I found it really suspicious though…"
"I feel as though you are attempting to distract my attention while you decide how to impede me from turning in our bounty." And it seemed to him like she was trying to divert Mathew's attention from her past. It went both ways in his eyes.
"Well… I don't think we should turn them in."
"You do not decide their fates, Dread."
"Maybe not, but you do. At least let me convince you. I have a good reason for saying so."
"And that reason is that you have a weak heart beating within your terrifying exterior?" She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Please. If you hear me out and decide to turn them in, I won't stop you. In fact, I couldn't even if I wanted to because of our contract."
"What do I gain if you persuade me?" Brownie points, maybe? Mathew had to ponder for a moment.
"You get to add a few more monsters to your collection." Ophelia snorted in response, so he decided to add more while taking a dig at her: "A princess needs a lady-in-waiting or two, doesn't she?"
Ophelia narrowed her eyes at him.
"So what are your reasons, Dread? They better be convincing." She said.
"I'm still putting the pieces together," Mathew said honestly. "I need to hear the sisters' side of the story first. Once I do, I think my argument will sell itself."
"You sound rather confident… Fine then." Ophelia turned to the two girls, who had been watching from a ways off, just out of earshot. She pointed at them. "We are headed back to the town of Arlem. You two are to come with us."
"Are you… Turning us in?" asked Siyah.
"Hmmmm. I have not decided yet." The sun had started to kiss the horizon, and night was soon to follow.
Ophelia told the sisters to follow her as she headed in the direction of town.
"U-um… alright…" Muttered Siyah, as she tugged at her sister's arm.
"It will be a tedious return journey, so it would please me if you told me your side of the story while we travel," Ophelia added, her back toward them.
"Of c-course."
The elder sister began to tell their story, starting from back when they were but small children. They had only the vaguest memories of their first years alive, and most of what they knew were things their adoptive father had told them.
They had been found in a small village in the mountains somewhere, which had been completely destroyed by some kind of attack, leaving no one alive.
The priest had found them, somehow still alive, in the remnants of a house that had been set afire, the blackened bones of their parents mixed among the ashes.
Only the two sisters remained, huddled together and covered in soot.
The priest had brought them home to Arlem with him, and raised them as his own daughters, where they helped him with not only the household chores and shrine duties, but the blessing and serving of the community.
"It did seem to me that you two are appreciated by the other citizens of town. Those strong relationships were probably built over time through your kindness." Said Mathew. He didn't mean to compliment her; he was just thinking out loud, and this was an important piece of the puzzle.
"T-thanks," replied Siyah, glancing at him for a moment. It wasn't much, but it was more effort than her sister, who was averting her eyes from him completely.
Now that the sun had gone down, Beyah was no longer affected by the Sunblindness and could see clearly again. One look at Mathew's strange face, however, had terrified her, and she could not even look at him directly. She had barely said a word since.
"I have no care about who likes who, and which gutter was cleaned and such," Ophelia Interjected, "I only wish to know why you murdered your own so-called father, as well as the other bounty hunter."
The two sisters looked at each other and had a silent conversation. Mathew already had an idea of what they were going to say.
"We didn't kill our adoptive father, Damon." Beyah finally said. Mathew nodded to himself.
"That is easy enough to claim." Said Ophelia. "Next, you will say that you killed the bounty hunter in self-defense?"
"T-that's right." Asserted Beyah.
"The bounty hunter came into our house and threatened our father, telling him to give us up." Said Siyah. "But Damon said he never would."
"And then the man… he…killed him…" Beyah said. "I-I couldn't control myself… I felt anger that I never have before welling up within me…"
"The bounty hunter used some sort of strange blade to inflict many wounds on Damon. The scent of his blood… did something to us. We weren't ourselves. We attacked the Bounty hunter. He was strong, though, and threw me off of him. Beyah, however…"
"He tried to choke me, and I bit into his hand. Once I tasted his flesh, my anger was transferred into incredible strength. I don't remember what happened after that, but…" She choked back tears: "I really did something terrible, didn't I?"
Siyah touched her sister's shoulder gently.
"It's alright now. I'm just happy you are ok. You are the only family I have left, after all." Ophelia had been silent during the sisters' retelling of the story, but now she spoke:
"So it was not an act of self-defense after all, but simply an exacting of vengeance."
"No, we were just—"
"Vengeance is a much more believable motive, and one I happen to endorse." The sisters responded with uncertain silence. Ophelia turned to Mathew: "Well, Dread?"
"Since the beginning, I was bothered by the fact that these girls have lived and served in Arlem since they were little, and supposedly only now decided to reveal themselves as monsters. It makes sense that the priest knew they were Enfiri and was intentionally sheltering them."
"So, you believe them."
"Whether I believe their story, at least the part that they didn't know they were Enfiri till now, is irrelevant. All that matters is that they've lived in peace their entire lives without incident." Mathew was connecting the dots.
"I see," Ophelia said. To Mathew's surprise, she seemed to be taking his words seriously.
"I just want to clarify something," He said to the sisters, "When did you learn that your father found you when you were children?"
"Perhaps a year ago?" Said Siyah, furrowing her eyebrows.
"And was it in a public place or private?"
"I think it was when we were helping out at the outpost. We were moving supplies around in the yard." If Mathew could have grinned in satisfaction, he would have. Unfortunately, his mouth no longer had that function.
"Perfect." He said. Ophelia cocked an eyebrow and looked at him.
"Do you have a theory, Dread?"
"Yes, I do." He said. He then told her everything he was thinking. Once he vocalized it, everything fell into place.
"Do you have evidence of this?" She questioned after he was done.
"If everything goes according to plan, we'll have all the evidence we need." He replied.