Annie stood hunched over the sink in the motel bathroom, alchemic equipment spread haphazardly around her on every available surface in a makeshift lab. She had suspended one of her alchemy vials in a tall wire frame that allowed her to position it over the handheld burner she'd set up in the sink and was now carefully heating the ichor she'd harvested from the mining demon over the small flame, watching the fluid inside bubble gently.

As the glass vial heated up, runes that had been carved into the glass began to glow a dull orange like the flame beneath them. The ichor started to bubble more and more violently until it was boiling, leaping up and down inside the vial as though it were trying to escape. Another ring of runes above the first set glowed white and the black fluid began to change color, changing from dark black to a pearlescent white that shone with a rainbow of colors in the light of the flame. 

She turned off the flame and used tongs to carefully remove the vial from the frame, bringing it over to a round flask set up on the floor of the shower stall in a small pool of water. Annie knelt down and tipped the vial's contents into the flask, careful not to let any spill down the sides. Once the vial was empty, she returned it to the wire frame to cool and corked the flask in the shower stall. The Stranger wiped her brow and stood up, feeling every bone in her spine and a few in her knees ache and crack as she rose.

"Proper alchemists don't do their work in motel bathrooms, much less on their knees!" Annie grumbled, bemoaning her creaky bones.

Just as she was about to turn to the next vial there came a knock at the front door. Annie sighed in irritation and pushed up her goggles, setting her tongs in the sink and she stomped towards the door. She had wrapped her fingers around the doorknob and was about to wrench it open when she froze and reached up to her face to tap in front of her eyes, then released another sigh of irritation. She tossed her goggles onto the bed and trudged over to the nightstand to snatch her glasses off it and shove them onto her face. Then she went back to the door and flung it open.

"What?" Annie snapped, making no attempt to hide her irritation. 

"Hi Miss Annie!" Connor grinned at her and gave a small wave of greeting, "Sorry to bother you already--"

"Not sorry enough." she muttered.

"-- but I was just about to head on patrol and was hoping you'd tag along!" he finished.

Annie tilted her head at him and stared, "Seriously?"

"Seriously! You can see the town and get familiar with the place. It'll be a nice change of pace for you!" Connor exclaimed.

Not to mention help me keep you away from any more bounty hunters. He thought. 

Annie pondered for a moment, looked over at the bathroom, then back to Connor, "I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

"It won't take long! An hour or two at the most!"

She eyed him suspiciously, "You sure?"

"Positive!" Connor hoped he didn't sound desperate.

"Fine. Just a second." she shut the door in his face.

Connor glanced at the end of the hallway, then back at the door, then at the hallway again, and back at the door. He repeated this for several minutes and had turned to check the hallway again when Annie opened the door. She had donned her leather duster, bracers, and breastplate and strapped her alchemy pouch to her hip. She looked ready for a fight.

"Alright," she said, "Let's go."

The late morning desert sun beat down on the pair as they stepped out into what could generously be called a street. Connor stopped after a few feet and glanced around. Then stretched, twisting back and forth and shaking out his arms.

He turned to Annie, "Alrighty, first thing's first, let's go check on the windmill!" he spun on his heel and took off, leaving a trailing cloud of dust in his wake. 

"Sure, why not?" Annie grumbled and followed after him.

It wasn't a long walk to the windmill. Annie was getting the sense that it wasn't a long walk to get anywhere in this town. It never left her sight as she walked, now that she was looking for it. It towered over everything, the silhouette of each massive blade cut a swath of shadow across the landscape in a long languid arc. Annie couldn't help but be a little awestruck by the sight. Sure, she had heard of windmills but she'd never actually seen one. It was no wonder that the Union had staked its claim to the place. 

They passed by a set of large transformers connected to the base of the windmill and climbed a short staircase leading up to the mill from the street, then stopped in front of a gigantic steel door. It had a large crank wheel affixed to its center, a thick handle to one side, and was probably about a thousand pounds. Connor planted his feet, wrapped both hands around the handle, and heaved. The door groaned in protest as he dragged it open and emitted a piercing shriek as it ground to a stop. He stepped back and bowed theatrically, complete with a little flourish of his outstretched hand.

“After you, Miss Annie!”

She rolled her eyes and walked past him into the windmill. It was much more homely on the inside than she’d imagined, with wood panel flooring, a couch off to the side of a window that let in just enough of the early morning light to illuminate the place, and a set of curving stairs leading up to what she assumed would be the next floor. But all of it was built around the colossal metal shaft that dominated the center of the space. Then there was the ever present low hum of machinery and the cranking of gears, like a sort mechanical breathing that made the mill feel more like a living thing than a machine.

Connor nudged Annie, "What do you think?" he asked.

"It's... Big?" she offered. 

He laughed, "Yep, That it is!" he looked towards the stairs and cupped his hands around his mouth to shout, "Hey Lorena! Are you home?"

Annie blinked, "Home? Does someone live here?"

"You bet your ass I do!" A voice rang out from the floor above. A heavy-set woman came down the stairs towards them, wrench in hand. Her curly grey hair was pushed back and secured behind an orange cloth bandana and she was dressed in faded grey overalls with a matching tight fluorescent orange t-shirt. She patted the wrench against her palm and scowled at Connor.

”Who’s this?” she asked. 

“This is Miss Annie, she’s a monster hunter!” Connor gestured to the Stranger, who now felt rather awkward standing there in all of her combat gear. Like she was overdressed for a party she didn’t even know she was attending. 

Lorena eyed her critically, “Mhmkay,” she said, “No monsters here though.” Annie looked to Connor like a deer caught in headlights. 

“Of course not!” he said quickly, "You know it's just routine!"

"Uh-huh." Lorena was unimpressed, "The Sheriff already came by this morning. Weren't no monsters around then either."

"He did?" Connor asked. 

"Yeah, took a look around, inspected the generator, the radiation shielding, the usual stuff."

Annie glanced at Connor. His face was placid, but his brows were knit together in clear confusion. Apparently the Sheriff hadn't bothered to tell him.

"Radiation shielding?" she asked.

"Uh-huh." Lorena crossed her arms, "Millpoint's on the edge of a particularly toxic wasteland. Beyond the shield's a mix of nuclear radiation and magic straight from the Blank leaking through the Veil."

"Shit." Annie was struck with the realization she had ridden through that to get here. A lot of it. That probably wasn't good. 

She decided that would be a problem for later Annie.

"Well I guess we're just here for the tour then! I thought Annie might like to see the place up close." He offered Lorena a wide smile and elbowed Annie.

”Right!” Annie said, “I’ve never actually seen a windmill before.”

Lorena stared at the two of them long enough for Annie to start to sweat, “It's a wind turbine, not a mill. Mills are for grinding up grain. This here," She knocked against the wall, "Generates power. Turbinepoint just doesn't roll off the tongue as well."

"Huh," Annie shrugged, "Well, I haven't seen a wind turbine either."

Lorena rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively, "Fine, have a look around. I don’t care. Just don't break anything.”

“Thank you ma’am!” Connor made a beeline for the staircase and gestured for Annie to follow, “The generator’s this way Miss Annie, we may as well take a look at it while we’re here.”

The staircase did indeed lead to the floor above, and the next, and the one after that, and the one after that. In fact, it went all the way up to the top of the windmill. Something the sore and out of breath Stranger learned too late as they finally reached the top level and stepped out into the open air. 

"Why..." she gasped, "Is this thing so damn tall?"

"Up here's where the wind's strongest, I think!" Connor gave her a shit-eating grin. Annie would punch him if she didn't feel like she was about to throw up. She settled for a menacing glare as she slumped over the guard rail.

Annie looked around as she caught her breath. She could see the cliffs leading to the ravine that lined the far edge of town, like they were trapping it between their stone walls and the unforgiving desert. The town had survived a long time in such a precarious location, due in large part to the turbine she now stood atop. She was close enough to reach out and touch the blades if she stretched, though she'd likely lose a finger in the process. 

"Hey, you okay?" Connor's voice dragged Annie from her thoughts. His expression was shifting from amusement to concern. She shook her head.

"I'm fine. Just catching my breath."

"What, are a few flights of stairs too much for the big tough monster hunter?" He teased. 

"The big tough monster hunter's gonna throw you off the ledge if you keep that up." Annie shot back, "It's a lot of fucking stairs." 

Connor laughed and leaned on the guard rail beside her to gaze out at the town below. The pair sat in silence for a moment, basking in the sunlight and only the hum of machinery in the air between them. Eventually Connor broke the silence.

“There’s really something bad going down here, isn’t there?”

Annie looked over at him, still gazing out over the town. His voice was heavy with an emotion she couldn’t quite describe. It was almost melancholic, and it seemed so alien compared to the aggressive optimism she’d grown so used to it was genuinely disconcerting. 

“I suppose so,” she said, “Two bodies and a demon ain’t nothing. Do you think there’s anything that could connect the victims?”

Connor frowned, “The way they were killed, I suppose. Though that’s the obvious choice.”

“Right. Both of them were on their knees and they had their throats slit by someone very strong.”

“Someone? You don’t think it’s a monster?” he looked at her, incredulous.

“Look at the two murders separately. The first victim—”

“Jen.” Connor said firmly.

“Jen,” Annie nodded, “Was found at the creek you brought me to. You and Jed patrol that spot often, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But, the actual murder took place farther in, by the entrance to the old mining tunnels.”

“What tunnels?” the Paladin asked.

Right. She had forgotten to tell him in-between all of the getting stabbed she'd been doing. Annie supposed there was no time like the present.

"There's a network of mining tunnels near the creek, deeper into the ravine. When they moved Jen's body they created a gap in the Veil and I followed it back to them. That's where I ran into that demon."

"The one you said a mage dropped on you?"

"That's the one." Annie smiled wryly, "The mage's name is Filch. He was actually pretty nice up until the whole demon thing."

"Great." He said dryly, "You think he's the one?"

"Nah. I don't think he really tried to kill me on purpose."

"What, did he try to kill you on accident?"

Annie shook her head, "Kind of? He was just trying to run, the demon seemed more like a half-baked distraction than anything else. He didn't have the strength to pull off what was done to the victims. And if was able to conjure something that did, I think he would have."

"I mean, the demon he summoned did skewer you like a kabob at a summer barbeque." 

She glared at him, "You try fighting a 15-foot personification of trapped miners' terror while not getting skewered. Then you can make fun of me." she stood and stretched, "No. That demon was unrefined, totally out of control and unpredictable. Whatever we're hunting is methodical and precise. If it's a demon, whoever created it is keeping it on a tight leash."

"Damn." Connor cursed.

"It's alright. We actually have a lead now."

"You think this Filch knows something?" Connor caught on quick.

"Yup. He was definitely headed into town, probably to pick something up. The question is: what was it and who has it?"

Connor nodded solemnly, "And why was it worth killing for?"