The anxious searchers, still unsure where to look, soon received good news and bad news.
The bad news was that something had indeed happened to Sienna and Su Ni. The good news was that they had actually run into Su Ni, who had been released.
"Who took you?"
"I don't know."
Annan had a vague feeling it had something to do with him, but Su Ni's account suggested they had been caught up in something else.
"Sienna pulled me into her room. Late at night, the window suddenly flew open, and a swarm of bats came in, hypnotized us, and took us away."
"Bats? Vampires?"
Annan thought of the curfew in Innocent City.
Su Ni said they seemed to be vampires: pale, sinister figures in old-fashioned formal clothes, reeking of blood.
Annan was fascinated by succubi and vampires, but both kinds of magical creatures hated the cold. He had never had a chance to meet either in the Northern Frontier—Wood didn't count. Ever since he started living on animal blood, he had practically been disowned by his own kind.
Besides, Wood was a male vampire.
"Why did they let you go?" Alice asked suddenly.
“Because of who I am. They took us to a vampire lair and locked us in a dungeon. In the morning, a seductive woman dressed in mercenary Leather Armor came in and saw me. 'Damn it, why did you bring Stablehand here?' That's what she said.”
Su Ni then put on a dull, vacant voice, much like Martin's. "'She was with that woman,' the vampire who caught us said. Then the seductive vampire said, 'Stablehand's poor and nothing but trouble. Let her go.' So they threw me out."
"Was she pretty?"
Everyone was still taking this in. They turned to stare at Annan.
"Annan, how can