It was back to work. But not at the Slaughtered Lamb. Oh no. The tavern could go without her presence for a small while, and Anisse could certainly use a break from the humiliating position as barmaid.
There were things that needed doing.
She did not wait for the cellars to stop spinning from the scrying spell, even, or the insidious whispers from her contact with the Abyss to subside. She wanted what was hers. Her obsession with the pendant had surpassed to a point that she’d almost forgotten about it. Almost. The mocking, taunting voice that slid out of the scrying bowl with its black and white vision irked her. A dog, he called her. A dog on a leash. No, she did not need the pendant.
She wanted it because he had it. He was a thief.
Anisse stumbled out of the Slaughtered Lamb, pacing. Where would she go? What would she do? What could she do? Fingers curled into messy strands of mahogany hair, pulling them loose from her ponytail--yanking. The knowledge that he had such an integral piece of her in the pendant steeped her paranoia until she was a mad, twitching mess. Nevermind that he insulted her.
Stained glass. Books. Shelves. A faceted figure in black and white. An absurd, gentleman’s voice. That is all she had of her pursuer--a minute of collected images and sound.
A surgeon’s bag of tools…the scalpel had been his to begin with. Perhaps there was more to this than she had initially thought?
…she didn’t want to think. She wanted the pendant back.
The images drifting through her mind, her feet led her to the Royal Stormwind Library. A kindly old librarian greeted her with trembling, age-spotted hands. Brittle bones. This one would do, a meaningful sacrifice. She hated to be so ostentatious with the kill, but she needed her pursuer’s attention.
“What can I do for you, my girl?” The old librarian murmured, vision dulled. Not quite the librarian if she could not even see correctly. Anisse wondered how organized the Library really was under the old woman’s direction. Perhaps the culling of this one would pave the way for a more competent book keeper. Anisse smiled as kindly as she could to the old one, softening her rigid voice. She was innocence personified now.
“Perhaps you can help me look for an old transcript, madame?”
“…transcripts? Ahh! That would be in the vaults below! Come, come, I’ll show you. Oh, you sound like a sweet little thing, you do! Remind me of my granddaughter, Lilah. I bet you’re just lovely too! Oh blast these eyes of mine…”
Anisse followed silently, eyeing the heavy door to the lore vaults.
A dog, was she? She would show him a dog…
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