Old Wine For A New Client

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 10, Post Number 239

-Capital Crocus, The Lexington Estate, 9:30 A.M.-

Dressed in her usual outfit of purple t-shirt, black skirt with pockets, and white thigh-high stockings with black tennis shoes, Diana stood outside a lavish three-story mansion in the "nice" part of Capital Crocus named the Lexington Estate after the wealthy family who owned it. The mansion was painted solid white and had solid wooden double doors with gold door handles and gleaming windows that had been cleaned to a shine. She had knocked on the door and was waiting to be let in... she was supposed to meet her old acquaintance Angela Helton along with the new client who had hired her for this job. The front door opened and out stepped Angela, who was dressed in her white Crocus Magicka University t-shirt with the letters "CMU" printed in pink with black borders plus a short black skirt and brown sandals.

"Oh hi Diana! It's been SUCH a long time since we last saw each other!" Angela warmly greeted Diana and embraced the blonde. Diana's skin crawled every second the brunette held her until she was finally let go.

"Hello, Angela." Diana calmly greeted her old acquaintance as her skin finally stopped crawling. Angela gave a beaming smile and looked at the blonde. Diana did not change her facial expression at all.

"My friend Vanessa should be with us shortly. She has a lot going on in between college classes, a social life, and everything else she does." Angela informed Diana that the former's friend was currently busy but should be able to talk business soon. The blonde did not mind waiting. She was a patient sort and she did not have anything else to do today.

Angela motioned for Diana to enter the foyer of the Lexington Estate and she obeyed, going inside the mansion. Her acquaintance shut the door behind her.

-Inside the Lexington Estate, the foyer, 9:33 A.M.-

Diana now stood inside the foyer, which had gray marble tile flooring and a carpet for visitors to wipe their feet on, which she did as soon as she saw it. Once she had done that she looked past the entrance and deeper into the mansion, which was decorated with the same gray marble tile flooring as the foyer and featured immaculate white wallpaper on the walls and assorted oil paintings of who Diana guessed were Lexington family members. All of them were in gold frames and were obviously cared for because she did not see a single dust particle on the frames or the paintings themselves. Diana heard the sound of shoes clicking against tile and spotted a young woman who was roughly her height with light brown hair and brown eyes walking towards her and Angela. The newcomer was dressed in a white tank top and brown skirt with white sandals and was walking at a brisk pace.

"Hi Angie!" The young woman greeted the darker-haired brunette. Angela spun around and saw her friend, then extended her arms outwards and rushed to embrace her. Diana watched as the two brunettes hugged each other for a count of three before separating and facing each other with wide smiles. The blonde continued to keep her distance and wait as the two began to talk.

"Hey Angie, how are classes at CMU going for you?" The light-haired brunette inquired. Angela put her hands on her hips.

"They're going, Vanessa. They're going. That's about all I can say." Angela admitted. Vanessa laughed.

"Oh Angie... always struggling in class just like you did in high school. I thought getting a low C in Biology 1 would be a wake-up call!" Vanessa chided her friend. Angela folded her arms across her chest.

"Oh, look who's talking! You're the one who barely passed Economics 1 because you were too busy checking out that handsome Alex Mitchell guy!" Angela retorted. Instead of getting angry the other brunette only laughed.

"Guilty as charged, Angie. Making a low C in Economics was totally worth it because I got to sit right behind him. Besides, it's not like I really need to go to college and get a degree to be successful... I'm just going for the fun of it!" Vanessa defended herself in a playful tone of voice. Angela sighed in defeat.

"That's a fair point." Angela conceded. After that exchange the two brunettes turned their attention to Diana, who had remained silent while they had talked. Vanessa made eye contact with Diana and was obviously sizing the blonde up for something other than whether she was able to complete the job that might be given to her.

"She's Diana Winchester, the mage I told you about. She's the one who's gonna help you with your problem." Angela informed her friend. Vanessa smiled brightly and began to slowly approach Diana while keeping eye contact with the blonde.

Vanessa Lexington:

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"She's certainly an attractive mage." Vanessa commented on Diana before embracing her. The blonde felt revulsion and had to do everything she could not to break away from the client then and there. Diana was released and she kept her hands at her sides so that she did not straighten her clothing out and show visible discomfort.

"Vanessa really likes to hug people." Angela commented on her friend's proclivity for embracing people. Diana wished that she had known that seconds ago. That knowledge might not have made any real difference in the outcome, but it would have helped her mentally prepare for unwanted physical contact.

"I need you to go to Sombras Manor and get a rare bottle of wine for me. It's a rare vintage from over one hundred years ago that collectors would pay a hefty fee for. It's also a prestigious item to own." Vanessa laid out the details of the job, which were simple and clear. Diana did not show any signs of being worried upon learning her destination. She had been there before, so it did not give her any pause. Angela, on the other hand, was worried for the blonde.

"Is there any other way you can get this wine without Diana having to go all the way to that place?" Angela asked with audible concern. Vanessa faced her fellow brunette.

"Yeah, but I'd better be ready to fork out a six-figure sum of Jewels at the lowest. At the highest I'd have to pay millions for it. There were only about two hundred bottles of this particular vintage ever made and over the years that figure's dwindled to the low double digits because the bottles were either drunk, got smashed in accidents or on purpose, or just plain disappeared to where they can't be found. Last I read there's about twenty-one bottles of it left." Vanessa explained why she was hiring Diana to get the wine. Angela blinked.

"Oh." Angela laconically replied to what she had been told.

"It's called Imperator '88." Vanessa told the name of the vintage Diana was to find. Outwardly Diana did not react, but inside her mind was racing.

That vintage was the same one that had killed her family when it had been poisoned by an enemy of her parents named Mr. Gorman.

"I have heard of it." Diana informed Vanessa, deliberately omitting how she knew of its existence. The client gave her a light smile.

"Oh? Are you a wine connoisseur yourself?" Vanessa asked Diana. Diana shook her head.

"I am not one, but long ago I met someone who was. They informed me that that vintage was a desirable one." Diana replied in a way that was technically true. Her parents were wine connoisseurs and Imperator '88 had been their downfall, but Vanessa did not need to know that. All she needed to know was that Diana knew the name.

"I can see why Angela suggested you to me as the mage to hire." Vanessa said in a way that could be construed as a compliment. Diana remained silent.

"I want you to get the bottle of Imperator '88 that's rumored to be in the manor, but I want you to be careful too. There's no telling what might be lurking in there." The brunette warned Diana to expect trouble... not that Diana needed that warning. She had been there before and had some idea of what to expect. Still, the blonde needed to be careful when searching the manor because becoming complacent could lead to trouble.

"I will find it." Diana replied calmly.

"If you find it and bring it back I'll pay you very well for your trouble." Vanessa promised a large reward for the wine.

"I will head there as soon as I go home and grab a weapon I will need." Diana said, referring to Saint Sinner Valentine. She had left the red assault rifle at home because she was wary of openly carrying the weapon to a meeting with a client. Maybe she should have brought it in its carrying case, but the case would be a burden when it came time to actually work. Diana did not actually need Saint Sinner Valentine because her primary magic was capable of dealing with supernatural threats, but having it and its various specialty rounds available was never a bad thing.

"Be careful out there!" Angela bade Diana.

"I will." Diana informed Angela and Vanessa.

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-Sombras Manor, 6:20 P.M.-

After leaving the company of Angela and Vanessa a few minutes after their conversation had run its course Diana had went to her townhouse and retrieved Saint Sinner Valentine, then immediately set out for Sombras Manor. She had walked all the way from Capital Crocus to her destination because she did not want the client to know about her ability to teleport. The foot traffic in Capital Crocus had been dense like it tended to be, but she hardly noticed it because she was used to it and she was busy wondering why Imperator '88 had to be the wine Vanessa wanted. Diana knew the reason because it had been give to her up front, but she could not help but to wonder if fate was playing a joke on her.

She had been hired to retrieve the same wine that had been used to kill her family.

Hours later Diana stood outside Sombras Manor and felt the last rays of fading sunlight on her skin as she reflected on the irony of her job, then faced the double doors. She was not getting paid to stand around and think. With Saint Sinner Valentine slung on her right shoulder and anti-ghost Silver Bullets loaded in the weapon Diana was ready to go inside the manor and get to work. She approached the doors, opened the left one, and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

-Inside Sombras Manor, the first floor-

Diana stepped away from the front door and immediately looked down the hallway in front of her. There was nothing there but eight dusty old suits of steel plate armor on display stands "standing" on each end of the hallway for several meters. To her left was a dusty hallway that had not been cleaned in who knew how long.

Diana cycled through her special vision modes to search for invisible spirits before she started walking but did not spot any, so she switched to night vision mode and began walking down the left hallway. She listened to the sound of her shoes meeting the old wooden floor as she moved and when she reached the end of the hallway she turned right and looked down it to see nothing of interest but a door to the right and an open staircase. She doubted that what she was looking for was behind the door, so she would check out what was down the staircase.

The blonde walked towards the stairs and stopped in front of them, then turned right and began to slowly and carefully descend into what looked like a basement.

-Down the stairs, in the basement-

Diana reached the bottom of the stairs without incident and turned her head right to get a look at where she was. She was now in a basement hallway of medium size and length with six doors: there were three on each side of the room. The blonde suddenly felt cold and saw a single ghost dressed in old butler attire materialize roughly two meters away from her while looking to the right. Perhaps it sensed her presence because it slowly turned towards her and when their eyes met it looked towards her with empty eye sockets. Diana silently raised her right hand and prepared a Spirit Drain Beam spell to get rid of it.

It began to float towards her with a hand that was reaching for her throat, but Diana put a stop to it when she fired the spell at it and the beam of pale blue light hit it squarely in the chest. The ghost disappeared with a scream and departed from this world just as suddenly as it had appeared. Now that the brief encounter was over Diana had to figure out which of the six doors she needed to go through to find the bottle of Imperator '88 that was said to be here.

After a minute or two spent in quiet thought she recalled the direction that the ghostly butler had been facing when it materialized. Maybe that was a clue. Deciding to act on that hunch, Diana walked to the first door on the right and opened it to find a medium-sized room that had a prominent wooden wine rack on the back wall. Inside the rack were a lot of green bottles and to the left and right were smaller wooden racks holding barrels of wine. It was safe to say that Diana had found the manor's wine cellar.

Now she needed to find the bottle of Imperator '88.

She doubted that such a prize would be left out in the open, so she would need to search the wine storage room more closely. Maybe there was a hidden passage somewhere in the room that led to hidden valuable vintages such as the one she was looking for. Maybe what she saw was really all that there was. There was no way to know for certain until she began searching the room.

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-Inside the wine cellar-

Diana had searched the room up and down and did not find anything that would indicate the presence of a hidden room. She had tried searching behind the wine racks, searching inside the wine racks for a lever or button hidden behind the bottles, and had even tried looking on the floor itself. She had come up with nothing.

The blonde looked around for anything she might have missed such as light fixtures or anything that was obviously out of place. She looked in vain until she turned back to the door and spotted two light fixtures flanking the door, old-fashioned brass globe lanterns. That might be something worth looking into.

Diana approached the one on the left and began to inspect it for anything unusual about it. She pulled down on the metal arm it was hanging from and it remained firmly in place. She inspected the lantern itself and saw that it had a wick that had not been used in quite some time, meaning that it was an actual lantern and not a key to a hidden door. Diana immediately walked over to the other brass lantern and began to examine it.

She reached out and pulled down on it. Unlike the last one it gave way and the metal arm holding it dipped down. she heard the sound of stone scraping on stone. Carefully releasing the light fixture so that it did not fall down and shatter at her feet, Diana turned around and saw a new square-shaped opening in the floor and some stairs leading down that faced the main wine rack. That was obviously where she needed to go.

Diana walked towards the opening and slowly began going down the stairs, putting her right hand over her head as she began her descent into the unknown.

-Down the stairs-

Diana walked down the stairs in a stairwell that was so narrow that a group could only travel down the stairs if they walked in single file. She kept her head down and watched her step as she descended, minding the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and near the stairs. There was also a lot of dust here and small clouds of it were kicked up with each step she took... it was obvious that this area had not been visited in a long time. Diana continued to move carefully until she reached the bottom of the stairs and was rewarded with the sight of a medium-sized room that stretched in front of her.

She walked into the room and spotted casks of wine in special racks on the left and right sides of the room plus a wooden wine shelf in the center that had a few bottles sitting on it. She wondered why they were sitting out like that as opposed to being placed in racks, but she did not have time to solve that mystery. Maybe it was a shelf where favored wines sat for easy access. Diana carefully approached the shelf and began to peruse the bottles in search of the bottle of Imperator '88 that was rumored to be here.

Diana spotted a few old wines with lofty names such as Noblesse Oblige, Aristocratic Aperitif, and even Gentleman's Choice. However, she was not spotting what she was after. She walked to the right side of the shelf and looked at the last bottle to the right, a dark green one with a label showing a crown printed in black with a gleaming white jewel in the middle and rays of light emanating from it. Diana read the label.

It was Imperator '88.

Diana carefully grabbed it with her left hand and turned around, walking back towards the stairs. She had gotten what she had come for and had no interest in the other wines since they were not vintages her client had earmarked for collection. Now it was time to return to Capital Crocus and turn in the wine to Vanessa for a sizable monetary reward.

-Outside the wine cellar-

Diana had exited the hidden cellar and had closed it back so that if she needed to return for any more rare vintages there was a chance that they would still be there. She turned left and faced towards the staircase that would lead her out of the basement. Diana took a few steps towards it when she felt an unnatural chill in the air and saw eight ghosts materialize in front of her. They were dressed as butlers and maids and their numbers were evenly split between male and female ghosts... apparently the spectral servants did not take kindly to anyone making off with any of the wine from the cellar and had appeared to stop her before she could leave with her prize.

Their devotion to duty was commendable, but they would not stop Diana from taking the wine to the client and collecting her reward.

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As the spirits advanced on her Diana calmly prepared her Spirit Drain Seekers spell to eliminate all eight in one spell. The blonde channeled pale blue magic into her body and when the aura had formed around her jabbed her right index finger in the direction of her targets. Eight spheres of pale blue magic flew towards the spirits and homed in on them... all eight of them hit and the ghosts were all defeated without any trouble. Once the last of them had faded Diana calmly walked for the basement stairs like she was browsing inside Capital Crocus Mall instead of walking through an old haunted manor. Soon she would be on the way back to Capital Crocus to claim her reward.

-The next day, Capital Crocus, outside the Lexington Estate, 12:03 P.M.-

Diana had encountered no further resistance when leaving Sombras Manor and had walked back to Capital Crocus in order to avoid cluing in Vanessa that she could teleport. She had arrived in the city around 2:07 A.M. and decided to go home because she was pretty sure that her client was asleep at that time and did not want to disturb her. Diana had kept the wine safe from Ami, who wanted to inspect it, and Crescent Moon, who wanted to put it into the blonde's refrigerator for its mistress to drink. Now she was outside the Lexington Estate with Vanessa.

Diana was dressed in another purple t-shirt and black skirt with pockets plus more white thigh-high stockings and her tennis shoes. Clutched in her left hand was the bottle of Imperator '88 she had retrieved from Sombras Manor. Vanessa was dressed in the same outfit she had on yesterday and was clearly glad to see the blonde.

"Oh hey Diana! You made it back alive and you have the wine!" Vanessa exclaimed. Diana noted the order in which the phrases were said and watched as the client approached.

"Here is your wine." Diana said and put both hands on the bottle, gently cradling it as she handed it to the wine connoisseur. Vanessa took it into her hands and examined the bottle and label closely, smiling widely as she did.

"I can't believe that I'm actually holding a bottle of Imperator '88. This bottle is worth almost as much as my home. Maybe even more if I find the right collector to sell it to." Vanessa commented on the value of her prize. Diana did not say a word and watched her client beam with happiness for quite some time before addressing the blonde again.

"Thank you for getting this for me, Diana. I mean it." Came the expression of gratitude.

"It is no problem." Diana replied calmly. The job was a simple one... the only "trouble" she had was walking all the way to Sombras Manor and then walking back to Capital Crocus with her prize once she had obtained it. Diana was used to dealing with the supernatural and had magic that could swiftly dispose of any spectral opposition, so the enemies she had encountered were no real threat to her.

"I'll keep in contact via our mutual friend Angela. I've got to study for my university classes now, so I'll catch you later. I'll definitely be in contact." Vanessa said before turning back towards her home and walking towards it. She carefully opened the left wooden double door with one hand and entered the mansion, then shut the door behind her. With her work done for the day Diana turned around and started to head for her townhouse to go to sleep for awhile.

-Diana's Townhouse, the second floor, 1:19 P.M.-

Diana had returned home safely and was now in her bedroom. She had taken off her shoes and thigh-high stockings and was lying on her bed facing the window. The curtains were drawn closed so that no light got into the room and she had shut the bedroom door so that Ami and Crescent Moon would stay out as she slept.

As she had planned earlier she would sleep for a bit, then wake up, go to Capital Coffee to get a cup or two or three of her favorite beverage, and look for more work. It was a simple plan that had never failed her before, so she was not going to deviate from it. Diana closed her eyes and soon went to sleep with the expectation of getting some coffee in several hours.

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-Outside Capital Coffee, 5:11 P.M.-

After waking up around 3:00 P.M. Diana had put her stockings and shoes back on, then went to Capital Coffee like she had intended to do. She had just exited Capital Coffee with a to-go cup of double espresso clutched in her right hand. She had had two full cups of the beverage inside the shop and now she was getting a third cup to go because she wanted it. Now she was standing outside of the establishment with cup in hand and was trying to figure out what to do about looking for work.

She had not gotten paid for finding the bottle of Imperator '88 in Sombras Manor, so she needed to do something else in order to get some money... not that that was a big concern. She had saved up enough that she could afford to not work for awhile if she wanted to. Diana kept working because she liked getting big paydays for her effort and it had become a game of hers to see how much money she could accumulate. It had likely gone beyond just a game and had turned into a problem, but having a lot of money was a problem she did not mind living with.

Diana took a swig of her coffee and started on the route towards her townhouse. She had a good bit of ground to cover before she reached home and she doubted that she would find work today. She would definitely try to find some tomorrow morning or afternoon.

-Diana's neighborhood, 7:07 P.M.-

The foot traffic had been exceptionally dense today, which was why it had taken Diana so long to get home after getting coffee. Now she was in her neighborhood and on the way to her townhouse to go in for the night. Diana was within sight of the front door of her home when she heard a familiar voice calling out from a short distance behind her.

"HEY DIANA! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!" Angela shouted. Diana stopped in place and faced the brunette, who was wearing a pink t-shirt with short white skirt and white sandals.

"Vanessa wanted me to tell you that you did a good job with finding that bottle of Imperator '88!" The brunette led off. Diana remained in place as Angela closed the distance. Once Angela was within arm's reach of the blonde she spoke again.

"She also wanted me to offer you another job!" Angela followed up. Diana made eye contact with her acquaintance.

"Another job?" Diana asked. Angela nodded.

"Yeah. You'll have to go talk to her about it if you want all the details. I'll be glad to take you there if you'd like." The brunette stated. Diana looked at Angela for a moment before announcing her decision.

"I am interested. Lead the way." Diana signaled her acceptance of the job. Angela smiled.

"Great. Follow me!" She commanded. Diana wordlessly fell in line behind the brunette and the latter began leading her to the client's home.

-Outside the Lexington Estate, 9:11 P.M.-

"It's nice to see you again, Diana. I know it's sudden, but I have another job for you." Vanessa stated as the trio stood outside the front door of the Lexington Estate. Just like Angela she had dressed down and was wearing a white bikini top and blue jean short shorts with brown sandals and a white towel draped around her shoulders. Vanessa's hair was still wet, suggesting that she had went swimming some time before meeting with Diana.

"Angela told me to speak with you about the details." Diana calmly replied to the greeting. The other brunette smiled.

"I need you to collect another rare vintage for me. This next job's going to take you to another dangerous place. This time you'll be going to Haunted Guild." Vanessa named the location Diana would be going to.

"What is the name of the vintage I will be looking for?" Diana inquired.

"La Belle Epoque." Vanessa answered. Diana had never heard of that vintage before.

"It's a limited edition wine made about sixty years ago. It was limited because a fire swept through the vineyard and destroyed most of the grapes. Whether the fire was an accident or one that was deliberately set by a disgruntled worker or by a saboteur working for a rival winery was never determined, but regardless of how it came to be the fire was a disaster for the winery. The vineyard workers managed to put out the fire and saved just enough grapes to make less than one hundred bottles of the beverage." Vanessa explained the significance of La Belle Epoque to Diana.

"Many collectors would risk going bankrupt just to say they owned a bottle of it." The brunette added that La Belle Epoque was an object of prestige among wine connoisseurs, which was why Diana was being tasked with retrieving it.

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-Outside Haunted Guild, 2:17 A.M.-

After accepting the latest job offered to her by the wine collector Diana had walked all the way from Capital Crocus to Haunted Guild and after a long but uneventful journey was now standing less then fifteen steps away from the building. The wind was picking up and the sky was cloudy, meaning that tonight she would not have the luxury of moonlight to light the area. That was no problem since she was going to be indoors for the job anyway. Diana had forgotten to go back home and get Saint Sinner Valentine, but at this point in her career she did not really need it.

Diana walked up the steps that led towards the front door, the placed her right hand on the doorknob and twisted it. She opened the door and stepped inside the building, then shut the door behind her.

-Inside Haunted Guild, the first floor-

Diana was now inside the building and was looking down the hallway in front of her in case a spectral welcoming committee had gathered to meet her. She switched between her different vision modes and did not see anything, so she assumed that she was in the clear. Her gaze moved left and she spotted the staircase that would take her down into the basement. If she was looking for wine she likely needed to head that way, so Diana walked over to the staircase and switched to her night vision mode, then began slowly walking down the stairs.

-The basement-

Roughly a minute later Diana had reached the bottom of the stairs without incident and she was now staring down the hallway with a few prison cells on the right side. She recalled dealing with ghosts in this area several times in the past, so she proceeded with caution and began walking down the left side of the hallway to give herself enough time to react to any ghosts that might be hiding in the open cells. As she walked she heard the chains clinking in the nearby cells, but the blonde was used to that trick, so she kept moving until she was past them. Once Diana was past them the clinking stopped as suddenly as it had started.

She reached the end of the hallway and turned right at the bend. Diana approached the metal door in front of her and when she got to it turned the doorknob to the right, opening the door to the small library she had passed through during previous visits to Haunted Guild. She entered the library and shut the door behind her.

-Inside the library-

Diana was now standing inside a small library and noticed that everything was exactly the same as it had been during previous visits. The bookshelves were still crammed full of books, the bookshelves were so dusty that she could write her name in the dust if she wanted, and the same rectangular wooden table that had been in the center of the room was still sitting where it had been left. There was nothing of interest here, so Diana walked through the room and around the table. When she got to the other side she opened the door and walked through, then shut it behind her.

-Inside the great hall, ten minutes later-

After passing through a few empty corridors without seeing or hearing any more ghostly activity Diana was now standing in the area that led to the great hall. The large wooden double doors that once protected the hall were still hanging open after being blasted open in the middle by a great force, perhaps even an explosive one. Diana walked through the room, her footsteps echoing in the silence as she moved. She passed through the open doors and into the hall, which stretched on for a good distance.

As Diana walked through the hall she stole a glance to the right and saw the stained platform that had pools of a dark substance that looked to be dried blood on it. She wondered what had happened here to cause them to be there, but she had neither the time nor the inclination to find out. She faced straight ahead again and continued moving through the area with only the sound of her footsteps for company. Once she reached the end of the hall she grabbed the doorknob and twisted it to the left, then stepped inside the next hallway and closed the door behind her.

-Inside the next hallway-

Now that she was inside the hallway that would take her to the large library where she had found Agatha Johnson several weeks ago Diana paused to take a break. Vanessa had not assigned her a time limit, so the blonde could afford to rest a few minutes. Diana looked down the hallway towards the door on the opposite side and stood in silence as she wondered if she could find the bottle of La Belle Epoque behind one of the two doors on each side of the library. She had seen both doors during her search for Agatha, but she had never seen what was behind them.

Tonight she was going to find out.

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-Inside the large library-

Diana had entered the large library in which she had found Agatha Johnson a while back and halfway expected to see that olive green canvas tent pitched in the back of the library, but tonight it was empty except for the tables, chairs, and large bookshelves that had been here the last time. She immediately turned left and faced the door on the left side of the room. She walked over to it with the only sound being the echoes of her footsteps and when she reached the door extended her right hand towards the knob. She twisted it to the right and expected to encounter resistance in the form of a lock, but to her surprise the doorknob turned all the way to permit her to pull the door open. When she pulled it open a staircase leading down loomed in front of her.

Diana immediately noticed that this staircase was wide enough to permit two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder and the ceiling was high enough for her to walk upright. The "room" the staircase was in barely justified the title because it was barely large enough to hold the entrance to the staircase and the distance to it was only six steps. The blonde did not care enough about the architecture to let it stop her, so she walked towards it and began to descend. There was no lighting anywhere in the passage, so Diana switched to night vision mode before disappearing into the darkness.

-Down the staircase-

After going down the surprisingly clean passage Diana was soon at the bottom and standing in a wine cellar. This one was of medium size and boasted dusty wine racks along the left and right walls that were filled with green bottles linked together with thin cobwebs. In front of her loomed a wooden door in the center of the back wall and to its left and right were casks of wine arranged in pyramids with three on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top. The casks looked to be a bit aged and dusty but were still structurally intact because there were no stains on the floor beneath them.

It was the only door in the room and Diana was not seeing the bottle of La Belle Epoque anywhere in here, so she would have to go through the door. Diana walked through the room and past the wine cask pyramids and put her hand on the dusty doorknob. She gently turned it right and opened the door, then stepped through and shut it behind her.

-Inside the hallway-

Diana found herself standing inside a hallway that was wide enough to allow four people walking side-by-side to pass through without any trouble. The left and right walls were lined with casks of wine on special wooden racks and the entire hall needed cleaning because there was dust as far as the eye could see. There were also a lot of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, particularly in the corners. Finally the hallway was a little chilly and her exposed skin broke out in goosebumps.

Diana ignored the sensation and began to walk down the hallway while accompanied only by her footsteps. As she walked she looked at the casks beside her and noticed that while most of them were untapped there were a few that had been opened because they were either empty and missing the lid or had metal taps placed into them. Diana had no desire to sample the beverage within because of how alcohol had destroyed her childhood and killed her family, so she turned to face forward and kept walking. When she reached the end she found another wooden door and opened it, then went inside the room.

-Inside the room-

The room was noticeably colder than the hallway she had just left behind and Diana immediately felt the difference. The chill crept up her arms and legs and she could almost see her breath in the air. Diana looked around the room and noticed that there were wine racks on the left and right walls that were half full of wine bottles. The stone floor had numerous deep, dark stains that could have been either wine or blood. She was no forensic scientist and she lacked the equipment, training, or inclination to solve the riddle, so she focused instead on her mission.

Diana looked up and at the end of the room sat a green bottle of wine inside a cabinet with the doors missing. That piqued her curiosity. so she approached it and when she got to it reached out and gently wrapped the fingers of her right hand around the neck of the bottle. She gently lifted it and brought it closer before spinning the label to face her. A gleaming tower drawn in the style of an architectural sketch was on the front and beneath it were the letters LA BELLE EPOQUE printed in black.

Diana had found her prize, so it was time to go back to Capital Crocus. She immediately turned away and left the room to start the long walk back to her client. It would be a long way to that city and it would have been easier to just use her teleport ability, but Diana did not want to give that secret away because if she did Vanessa might exploit that to have her constantly looking for rare vintages of wine. She would leave Haunted Guild on foot and travel to her destination on foot so that she kept her secret safe and did not open herself up to unrealistic expectations from Vanessa or any other client.

[Post Word Count: 948]
[Total Word Count: 6,586/11,000]

-The next day, outside Capital Coffee, 1:07 P.M.-

Wearing her usual outfit of purple t-shirt, black skirt with pockets, white thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes, Diana was standing outside of Capital Coffee and watching crowds of people pass by the coffee shop on their way to the mall or to other places. She was sipping her third double espresso and was about to get going to her townhouse when she spotted Vanessa herself walking towards her from the direction of the mall. Knowing that she was about to engage in a conversation, the blonde stayed where she was until the brunette reached her. Vanessa was dressed in a white tank top and blue jean short shorts with brown sandals and a black handbag slung on her right shoulder.

"Hey Diana! You've been doing a good job finding those rare vintages for me!" Vanessa greeted Diana and congratulated the latter for her work so far.

"Hello." Diana replied calmly, making no mention of the money she was owed for finding said wines. Perhaps the brunette had a third job for her and she would be paid for everything upon completion of that last task.

"Let's go to my place to talk." Vanessa instructed Diana. Since the blonde had nothing else to do and was hoping that this conversation would lead to some work, she agreed.

"Certainly." Diana agreed to follow the client to the Lexington Estate to talk business. Without another word Vanessa turned on her heels and began to walk to the destination with Diana following close behind.

-Outside the Lexington Estate, 2:17 P.M.-

"I need you to recover one last rare vintage for me. It's a vintage named Bonhomme Richard and it's supposedly located in Haunted Castle. I don't know where in that place it could be, but I've heard rumors that a bottle was located there." Vanessa told Diana what she was after and where she could find it without a preamble.

"It goes without saying that Haunted Castle's a dangerous place. It's so dangerous that if you search everywhere in the castle wine can reasonably be expected to be found and you just can't find it, I want you to get out of there. If there's too much dangerous stuff for you to handle just get out of there and return to me in one piece." The client added a pair of conditions to the last job and they permitted Diana to leave empty-handed if she looked everywhere in the castle but still failed to find the wine or if she ran into opposition that was too strong for her to handle.

"I will do that." Diana replied with no change in her tone of voice. She was used to traveling into dangerous places, so the prospect of going to Haunted Castle did not frighten her in the slightest. She would make an honest effort to find the rare vintage she had been tasked with finding, but if it could not be found she would take advantage of the ways out she had been given and leave Haunted Castle while she still could.

"Just be careful in there, Diana. Remember that that wine isn't worth your life." Vanessa gave one last warning to Diana before the latter set out for Haunted Castle.

"I will be careful." Diana assured her client. Diana then turned around and walked away from the client to begin her journey to the place the wine was rumored to be. She was going to go getting Saint Sinner Valentine because as infrequently as she used it having its various specialty rounds available would only be a benefit to her.

-Outside Haunted Castle, 9:21 P.M.-

After going back to her townhouse to pick up Saint Sinner Valentine and walking all the way to Haunted Castle Diana was now standing outside of the structure with the rifle slung on her right shoulder and Silver Bullets loaded. She felt the cold night wind blow her hair about as she prepared to go into the castle. The blonde took a quiet breath of cold night air before walking towards the wooden double doors; when she reached them she stopped in front of the left one and opened it, then stepped inside and closed it behind her.

-Inside Haunted Castle, 9:23 P.M.-

Diana shut the door behind her and stood in the foyer with brass chandeliers bathing the area in a soft yellow-orange light. She was almost immediately confronted with a choice... she could go down the left hallway or she could go down the right hallway. Either way would take her deeper into the castle, but before she picked a path she wanted to think the matter through. However, Diana was not sure that she would have the time because within moments of looking at both hallways she felt a growing pressure that made her feel like she was being watched by invisible eyes.

Diana would need to make a choice and make it fast because she was not sure what might be watching her.

[Post Word Count: 838]
[Total Word Count: 7,424/11,000]

-Haunted Castle, the first floor, 9:26 P.M.-

Diana stood in place and did her best to ignore the growing pressure as she tried to decide which path to go down. She looked left and she looked right and after a few more moments opted to go right. She turned right and began to walk down the hallway towards the opening to a staircase she spotted in the distance.

As she walked Diana focused on what was ahead of her and shifted to her spectral vision mode to look for invisible observers. She looked around her and did not see anything, so she switched to night vision to allow her to see in the dim light cast by the chandeliers hanging overhead. If anything was lurking in the darkness it would not have much luck hiding from her unless it was a master of stealth.

Diana walked past paintings of the rustic life without breaking stride because she knew if she stopped to look at them she would waste time and leave herself open to attack from whoever or whatever was watching her. She reached the end of the hallway without incident and turned to face the staircase. Holding the butt of Saint Sinner Valentine steady with her left hand so that the weapon did not wobble about while she was ascending the stairs, Diana began to climb the stairs while holding the top of her head with her right hand as a means to protect against hitting her head on the low ceiling.

-The second floor, 9:29 P.M.-

Diana reached the top of the staircase and faced right. Ahead of her was another branching path, one she had been down a few times before. To the left was a hallway that branched off for a bit before merging back with the right hallway, so she would not waste time going down that path. Instead she would go straight ahead and make for the staircase at the end of the hall.

The blonde walked past artwork that portrayed imagery associated with time and death such as a skeletal hand holding an hourglass that was on its last grains of sand and a grinning skull in the center of the painting looking directly at the viewer with empty eye sockets. Another piece that briefly caught her attention was a painting of a female child at birth who progressed from young child to young woman in her twenties or thirties to an adult woman and finally to an elderly woman on her deathbed who was surrounded by at least two generations of men and women who looked to be family. Diana knew that when her time came she was most likely dying alone, but she had made peace with that long ago. She kept walking down the hall until she came across a "painting" on a black canvas that consisted of two words in red letters that were perfectly painted.

MEMENTO MORI

Diana did not know what that phrase meant and moved past the painting without giving it a second glance. Only a few steps away was the staircase to the third floor. Diana steadied the butt of her assault rifle with her left hand and placed her right hand on top of her head before going up the stairs.

-On the third floor, 9:32 P.M.-

Diana emerged from the staircase and turned right to face the large dining hall that stretched before her. The golden chandeliers provided enough lighting to look around without using night vision, so she turned it off and looked around with normal vision. She spotted a few smaller rectangular tables and one large one near the back of the dining hall that had an immaculate white tablecloth covering it and silver plates sitting at the places on the table. At the head of the table was a bottle of wine, but she could not quite read its label from this distance, so she began to walk towards it while switching to spectral vision mode to keep a look out for ghosts that might be in the area.

Diana looked around and did not see anything, so she switched back to normal vision and approached the bottle of wine. She reached out with her right hand and picked it up, gently taking it into both hands and turning it so that she could read the label. On the label was a print of a middle-aged man with black hair dressed in a black tuxedo with a cheerful look on his face and a large bag of money clutched in his right hand. The text was printed below the picture in black.

BONHOMME RICHARD

This was the wine Vanessa had sent her to retrieve.

Diana felt the invisible pressure from the entrance to the castle suddenly intensify as she backed away from the table. The silver plates began to rattle against the wood and they rattled so violently it looked like they were about to take flight at any moment. Not wanting to be bombarded by flying metal dinner plates, Diana clutched her prize in her left hand and began to walk briskly towards the staircase to leave the dining hall while the going was good.

[Post Word Count: 858]
[Total Word Count: 8,290/11,000]

-The second floor, 9:34 P.M.-

Diana reached the bottom of the stairwell without incident and turned left to retrace her steps when she spotted the MEMENTO MORI painting levitate off of the wall and momentarily block the path. It seemed like someone was trying to send her a message, but the blonde did not have time to figure out what exactly she was being told because the chandeliers were starting to go out on their own. The blonde ducked under the painting and sprinted down the hallway while activating her night vision mode to make up for the lights going out. As she ran Diana began to get cold, but she did not have time to worry about what was causing the drop in temperature because she had to get out of here.

Diana raced down the hall and soon reached the next staircase without incident. She quickly turned to face it and began to jog down it while not even bothering to secure Saint Sinner Valentine or cover her head with her right hand. She was not sure what was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, but she was about to find out.

-The first floor, 9:37 P.M.-

Diana reached the bottom of the stairs and turned left to face the exit. The moment she did the chandeliers began to extinguish themselves exactly as they had done on the previous floor. The temperature dropped and it got so cold that she could see her breath in the air, but she did not let that stop her from racing for the exit as fast as she could move. The paintings rattled on the wall as she sprinted by and she soon reached the double doors that opened to the outside world.

Diana placed her right hand on the right doorknob and instantly felt a chill from the sheer cold. She had once heard rumors that a room suddenly growing cold with no logical explanation was a sign of ghost activity... perhaps she had attracted the attention of a lot of ghosts for the area to be so cold she could see her breath. The cold hurt her hand and threatened to numb it, but she did not have time to sit and wait for her hand to recover because she heard a voice coming from behind her.

"We won't let you leave here alive!" An echoing voice informed Diana that someone intended to make her a permanent resident of Haunted Castle. Diana spun around and saw a gang of twenty spectral servants both male and female floating in the hall in front of her with looks of malicious intent on their features. She was not intimidated by the threat and prepared a Spirit Drain Seekers spell, casting it when it was ready. Twenty projectiles were fired and all twenty hit their targets, causing all of them to disappear in a puff of blue light and a sharp scream.

Diana felt the temperature warm up a bit and some of the chandeliers were lighted again as if by an invisible hand, but it was still pretty cold in the area. She wondered if there were any more ghosts lurking about and got her answer when another group of ten ghostly servants appeared a bit further down the hall. Diana calmly stood her ground and prepared a Soul Wave spell to take care of some of the enemies, firing it with a wave of her right hand from left to right.

A horizontal wave of shimmering pale blue magic was fired and eight of the enemies were hit, causing them to disappear and scream in unison before leaving this plane. Only two were left and Diana could clean them up with no difficulty. The one on the far left floated towards her with its hands outstretched and Diana countered with a Spirit Drain Beam that hit it in the chest, sending it back from whence it came. The one on the far right floated at her at a running pace, giving her just enough time and space to prepare and fire a Soul Spark spell from the palm of her right hand.

The target reached out for her throat and disappeared in mid-air when the Soul Spark hit. It screamed before vanishing, leaving the blonde alone in the castle. The air temperature warmed back up and the rest of the chandeliers were lit again. Diana assumed that the trouble was over now that the ghosts were gone, so she turned around, reached out for the doorknob of the right door with her right hand, and opened the right door. It opened without resistance and Diana left the castle before more enemies arrived, shutting the door behind her.

-Capital Crocus, outside the Lexington Estate, 4:26 A.M.-

Diana had walked all the way back from Haunted Castle with the bottle of Bonhomme Richard and was now standing outside the Lexington Estate, where Vanessa stood at the door to greet her. Diana had no idea how the brunette knew to go to the door, but the client had greeted her nonetheless. Wearing a white tank top and blue jean short shorts, the brunette's disheveled hair and wrinkled shirt suggested that she had been sleeping until fairly recently.

"Diana! You're back!" Vanessa greeted her with surprise. The brunette's brown eyes looked at the object clutched in Diana's left hand.

"And you have the wine too!" Vanessa added.

"Yes." Diana laconically replied with a response aimed at both statements.

"I can't believe you actually found it in that place!" The brunette expressed surprised at the blonde's accomplishment.

"It was not terribly difficult to find. I found it sitting out in the open in the dining hall." Diana admitted that the search had not been nearly as challenging as she had anticipated. There was a bit of combat with spectral servants intent on keeping Diana from leaving with the valuable wine, but it was nothing Diana could not handle.

[Post Word Count: 994]
[Total Word Count: 9,284/11,000]

-Diana's Townhouse, the bedroom, 12:05 A.M.-

It was a minute past midnight when Diana finally got home from the Lexington Estate. She greeted Ami and Crescent Moon as she walked through the living room to go to her bedroom. She was now standing in her room with the door closed: she had taken her shoes and white thigh-high stockings off and was facing her bed. Saint Sinner Valentine was propped in the corner next to it in case she had to deal with intruders, but she put it on safety in case said intruder managed to sneak up on her and grab the weapon before she did.

Diana had still not been paid for her trouble and Vanessa had not brought up the subject of financial compensation, but she could deal with that later. Right now she just wanted to sleep before she looked for her next job. Hopefully the next one would pay her upon completion because while she was financially solvent she always liked to be paid for her effort. She could deal with that later.

Diana climbed onto her bed and faced her room door before closing her eyes. Maybe she would be paid later today or be given some other compensation for her work.

-Capital Crocus, 3:37 P.M.-

In a change from her usual "early bird" nature Diana slept from midnight to afternoon, then dragged herself out of bed and went to Capital Coffee to get her coffee fix for awhile. She stood outside the shop drinking her third double espresso and wondering what her next move was going to be. She could either go straight home or take a trip to Capital Crocus Mall and do some window shopping, perhaps even actual shopping if she saw something she really wanted.

Diana was seriously considering going window shopping when she heard a familiar voice off to her left and turned to face the speaker.

"DIANA!" Amber called out to the blonde. Diana saw the black-haired young woman approach and noted her attire. The other young woman was dressed in a sleeveless baby blue crop top with blue jeans and white tennis shoes, which meant that she was likely preparing for a date with her boyfriend.

Diana did not get a chance to return the greeting before being hugged by Amber. The blonde felt intense discomfort until she was released roughly three seconds later. While she was being embraced she noted that Amber was wearing a sweet perfume that had a hint of roses. That was a sure sign that tonight was date night.

"It's been awhile, Diana. How's it going?" Amber asked the blonde.

"Busy." Diana gave a truthful one-word response to the question.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you. Angela told me that you were doing work for Vanessa Lexington." Amber commented.

"I haven't met Vanessa personally, but Angela told me that she hires freelance mages for dangerous work pertaining to collecting old bottles of wine." Amber added.

"Yes. I did some work that took me to some dangerous places." Diana confirmed, refusing to name the locations or the vintages she was hired to retrieve. Amber put her hands on her hips.

"Of course you did. Angela thinks you're out of your mind for willingly going to Haunted Castle or Sombras Manor. I don't know how you do it." The black-haired young woman replied and stated how their mutual acquaintance felt about Diana's penchant for going to dangerous places.

"The money is good." Diana calmly replied, letting a flash of her desire for money show for a brief moment. Amber seemed to be taken aback by the blonde's candor because it took her a few moments to reply.

"No kidding. That's why you can afford to live in a nice townhouse in a nice neighborhood." The young woman calmly remarked.

"Yes." Diana replied laconically. It took a lot of money to buy her townhouse and even more money to furnish it. Money did not grow on trees, so Diana had to take the most lucrative work she could find and in her experience the most lucrative jobs tended to be quite dangerous. She had no problem with that because the rewards outweighed the risks.

Amber took her hands off of her hips and smiled again.

"Anyway, Adam and I are going on a date tonight. We're going to go to a restaurant and then we're going to go to his house." The black-haired young woman told Diana her plans for the evening. The blonde did not get a chance to say anything before she was asked a question.

"I know that I've asked you this before and you can tell me to stop if you don't want to talk about it, but have you ever looked for anyone to date?" Amber asked the blonde.

[Post Word Count: 800]
[Total Word Count: 10,084/11,000]

"No." Diana replied without having to really think about it. She had not done anything remotely connected to dating aside from Singles Night in Capital Crocus a few years back, where she had met a young woman named Lorelei Wingate. Lorelei had not outright stated it, but she appeared to be interested in Diana, possibly even in the romantic sense. Not much had come out of it, though.

"I thought you'd have found someone by now. I'm sure that you turn heads everywhere you go!" Amber attempted to give Diana a compliment. The blonde was not having it and it was not because she did not care for compliments.

"I do not like being the center of attention." Diana calmly replied. She did not need anyone's compliments on her appearance to feel like she was worth something. She did not care for flattery either.

"I seriously thought that you might have an eye on someone by now. I'm just saying." Amber replied, perhaps sensing that the current line of conversation was not going to yield what she wanted to hear. Diana did not bother with a response to that. She did not want a romantic connection to anyone because she did not want to give up her independence for another person. She also did not want anyone else to get caught in the line of fire if old enemies came back to haunt her.

Amber looked at Diana for a few moments, perhaps in anticipation of something being blurted out that would keep the conversation going. Diana kept her mouth shut and maintained eye contact with the black-haired young woman. When it was clear the blonde was not going to say anything the conversation sputtered to a halt and an awkward silence started.

"Yeah. That question didn't go over very well, did it?" Amber asked Diana in an effort to elicit sympathy from the blonde. Diana kept silent and maintained eye contact. Amber grew visibly uncomfortable as emerald eyes kept a tireless watch on her.

"Well, anyway, I'd better get going, Diana. I'll catch up with you later!" Amber excused herself. She turned and walked away, leaving the blonde standing in place. Diana watched her depart and was about to go to the mall when she heard another familiar voice call out to her, this time from the right.

"Hey Diana!" Angela greeted the blonde. Diana faced right and saw the brunette, who was wearing a yellow tank top and blue jean short shorts with brown sandals.

"Hello Angela." Diana greeted the brunette with a two-word response. Angela closed the gap between them and ended up standing an arm's length away from the blonde.

"I know you've been busy with work for Vanessa, but otherwise how are you?" Angela inquired.

"Fine." Diana laconically replied with the truth. The work she had done was not terribly challenging for a mage of her power. The only real problem was the distance she had had to travel on foot and that was only because she did not teleport to where she needed to go. If Vanessa learned that Diana could teleport the former would likely put even more work on her and the blonde mage did not want that. While she appreciated steady work, she did not want to limit herself to working for just one client.

"Vanessa's gonna pay you as soon as she sells the bottle of wine called "Bonhomme Richard" you retrieved for her. She's trying to finalize the deal as we speak." Angela brought up the subject of payment. Diana analyzed her acquaintance's body language and saw that the brunette was telling the truth, so she did not press the subject. The blonde was starting to wonder if she would ever get paid for her work, but now she knew that receiving payment was not going to take too much longer.

"Very well then." Diana responded in a calm tone of voice. She did not urgently need the money because her basic needs had been met and she had saved up a lot of money during her freelance career, so she could afford to be patient. However, she hoped that Vanessa would not abuse that leniency to avoid paying her for her work.

[Post Word Count: 704]
[Total Word Count: 10,788/11,000]

-Diana's Townhouse, 10:44 P.M.-

After parting ways with Angela Diana had went to Capital Crocus Mall and had gone window shopping for the sake of it. She took a leisurely tour of the mall and had come back with nothing because nothing had really caught her attention. Diana probably needed to add some new clothes to her wardrobe so that she did not always wear the same purple t-shirt and black skirt combo she had worn for years, but today had not been the day to buy anything. She might make a serious shopping expedition later down the road.

After finishing her window shopping for the day Diana had gotten a to-go cup of coffee from Capital Coffee to drink on the way home. However, it went without saying that the cup did not make it to her townhouse. She had consumed her coffee long before she reached her destination, but that was no problem because it had fulfilled its purpose as a reward for completing all three wine retrieval jobs.

Once she had reached home Diana was content to stay there for the rest of the night. She would need to find another job soon, preferably one that paid out right away instead of at some undefined point in the future. For now she would just go to sleep and wake up later tomorrow morning or afternoon, then go look for a job. Maybe Mister Burke or another client would have something for her.

Diana had taken off her white thighhigh stockings and tennis shoes and was now lying on her bed staring at her room door. She was kind of tired, but drinking the coffee might have been a mistake because she could not go to sleep right away. She was too busy wondering if Vanessa Lexington would become a new client or not. She was also wondering how much she would make from retrieving those three rare vintages of wine she had been sent to retrieve.

The blonde was not certain, but she was not in dire need of the money because she had saved up quite a bit over the years. Thanks to leading a frugal lifestyle she was in the fortunate position of being able to weather periods of joblessness without having to worry about her financial future. Still, being paid for hard work was always nice.

Diana decided to let that matter drop and continued to stare at her room door. Roughly fifteen minutes later the blonde finally drifted off to sleep. She hoped that she would wake up to a sizable payday from Vanessa, but if she did not that was OK. Someone else would likely have need for her services and Diana could earn a payday from them to tide her over until Vanessa finally paid her after the sale of the bottle of Bonhomme Richard.

[Post Word Count: 474]
[Total Word Count: 11,262/11,000]