Section 40: Vampire Survivor

The Minotaur caravan disappeared down the road.

Annan took out the crumpled note.

It wasn't a message or a confession from Tasia, but a strange stick-figure drawing of a tree with spreading branches.

Unable to guess what Tasia meant, Annan put the note away and set aside his low spirits for now, then returned to town.

As Annan turned, a shadow flickered through the roadside bushes.

Before leaving, Annan had sent Martin with the key to ask for time off, so he was in no hurry to return to the library. He went to the tavern first and handed the gold nugget to Soluman Copperbeard.

Gold wasn't the same as coin. Once smelted, pure gold had to be exchanged through the Wealth Church or the authorities at a set rate. Minting coins privately would invite a terrifying crackdown from church and crown alike.

But the Minotaur chieftain had given him plenty. Even after smelting and exchanging it, Annan would have more than enough to pay for his three cartloads of grain.

It still wouldn't clear his debt for the Magic Materials, though.

Only then did Annan go to the library, where he found Mr. Victor waiting outside the locked door.

"Annan!"

Victor's right hand trembled around his cane.

Damn it... The old man's furious...

"I sent Martin over with the key! Didn't you see him?" Annan called. He looked around, asked after Martin, and even ran back to Aunt Susan's house—but Martin wasn't there, sleeping in as usual.

As Annan circled the library, wondering if he'd been lazy enough to leave a window unlocked yesterday, he found Martin in the alley behind it.

"What are you doing here!?"

"Shh..." Martin crept up to Annan and whispered in his ear. "I thought asking for time off was something I should do quietly."

Annan took back the key, told Martin to go home and get more sleep, then returned to Mr. Victor with his head hanging. "I'm sorry, sir. It was my fault..."

My mistake was asking Martin for help in the first place.

Mr. Victor answered with a cold snort, but Annan knew the matter was over.

Annan unlocked the door, opened the windows to air out the library, and began dusting. Then Mr. Victor suddenly frowned. "You have the scent of evil on you."

Annan lowered his head and sniffed, then realized the old man didn't mean an actual smell. "I went to see Tasia and her people off this morning."

Victor said nothing more.

Life returned to its usual rhythm: Annan read books, locked up at dusk, and headed for the tavern.

Going straight from the library to the tavern took Annan through an abandoned alley. If he went back to Aunt Susan's house first, he could avoid it.

But today, something went wrong.

As Annan passed an abandoned house with no door or windows in the evening glow, the shadow beneath its eaves suddenly became a net. It wrapped around him and dragged him inside.

The shadows loosened their grip on Annan, then gathered into a figure—the one who had lurked outside the Minotaur camp.

"You!"

His shout stopped the figure as it approached—or so Annan thought. Then he noticed a last ray of sunlight slipping into the room, forming a band of light between him and the shadow.

The shadow seemed afraid of the light. It lingered on the other side of the band, not daring to approach.

But as the sun sank, the band of light crept higher. Walls hemmed Annan in from behind and on both sides. There was nowhere to run.

"You know me?"

The shadow that had attacked Annan spoke in a hoarse whisper.

"No." Annan searched for a way out as he answered. "But I saw you at the Minotaur camp last night."

Call for help?

Even if someone heard him, it would only be an ordinary townsfolk.

"Were you watching the Minotaurs?" Annan kept talking to the shadow.

"Watching them? No... no! I followed them the whole way!" The shadow's voice was thick with resentment. "I had to endure their awful stench, stay well back, and lick up the clotted blood after they drove the beasts away. Only when a wounded beast was still alive could I drink my fill of fresh blood..."

"Are you a vampire?"

"A lowly commoner knows of my kind?"

The shadow edged forward into the light, revealing its features: pale cheeks, a high collar, and exposed fangs. It looked every bit like a vampire from legend.

A sliver of hope rose through Annan's despair. Becoming a blood servant would be better than being drained dry.

"Why follow the Minotaurs? There are towns everywhere, aren't there?"

Annan kept up the conversation, and the vampire seemed happy to vent.

"Because of those damned hunters... Every time I attack one of you, they crawl out of the gutter and attack me!"

"You mean the 'Vampire Hunter' who's visiting the Dawn Tavern 'not far from here'?" Annan stressed the two phrases, seizing his chance.

A gap had opened beneath the rising band of light. The vampire could cross now. Annan could only stay within the light, dodge from side to side, and look for an opening... But for some reason, the vampire fell silent.

Annan pressed on. "You've fallen so far... I mean, you've been forced to follow the Minotaurs and live on scraps. I understand your thirst for blood, but if drinking mine gives you away..."

"I forgot to mention that my boss, Faster, is an Elite Warrior. If I don't show up for work soon, Mr. Fast will come looking for me with the Vampire Hunter... He even came to the Minotaur camp last night because he was worried about me..."

"I'm the owner, not a waiter."

Mr. Fast's face was expressionless.

A gleaming gold coin slapped onto the table. The richly dressed, heavyset woman kept her eyes on Faster.

"...Evelyn, bring me the wine!"

"But I've had enough of stinking beast blood and clotted scraps!" the vampire roared. Power spilled from it and touched Annan's still-developing Magic Vortex, making it spin faster.

Almost nothing remained of the band of light at Annan's feet. Too desperate to notice the change in his Magic Vortex, he added one last weight to the scales.

"Do you know the Sorcerer Protection Association? They protect sorcerers, and I'm a Sorcerer."

"...I've had enough."

The vampire began murmuring as if in a dream. It looked closer to losing control than before, and that made it even more dangerous. Annan could only say, "If you really want a drink... find a bowl and a knife. I'll give you some of my blood."

"I don't dare enter someone's home!"

"Then buy them."

"I have no money!"

Annan tossed the vampire a few copper coins.

"If I leave, you'll run away!"

Still smarting over the copper coins, Annan said, "If you don't believe me, give them back."

In the end, the vampire's caution won out over its thirst. It dissolved into shadow and vanished from the house.

Annan didn't know whether the vampire had really left or was waiting in some patch of darkness. Before long, it returned with a wooden bowl and a Kitchen Knife.

Regretting the chance to escape he'd missed, Annan gritted his teeth and took the Kitchen Knife. He made a shallow cut, avoiding the artery in his wrist. Blood trickled into the wooden bowl, but the wound stopped bleeding when it was about half full.

The vampire snatched up the bowl and drank greedily, staining its pale cheeks crimson.

Thankfully, after drinking, the vampire gradually calmed down. Its tone was no longer agitated, and its voice was no longer hoarse.

"Hmm... I take that back."

"Take what back?"

"What I said about you being a lowly commoner... You're actually a decent human."