New Friends

The Minotaur Tribe had taken Tasia away.

But they had brought a new friend: a vampire.

Annan's first meeting with him had hardly been pleasant, and vampires were evil creatures. But Tasia had set a precedent. Becoming friends wasn't impossible.

Freed from hunger, the vampire turned talkative. He had followed the Minotaur Tribe from Iska County to Plangraced County, nearly crossing the entire northern stretch of the Rikaner Kingdom. Only when he heard that Snow Mountain Fortress lay ahead had he been forced to stay behind.

"You really haven't killed anyone?" Annan asked, pressing a hand to his wound. His face was a little pale.

"No!"

The vampire's instant denial only made him sound guilty. He muttered that, as the minotaurs traveled north, foolish thieves and bandits sometimes tried to raid their camp. The minotaurs dealt with them, of course. Since they didn't eat meat, he would go over and drink what blood remained in the dead...

"They were already dead! I didn't kill them!"

The evil vampire was trying hard to prove his innocence.

Annan believed him. The last light had faded, and night was settling over the town. The vampire could kill him at any moment; he had no reason to lie.

But Annan had to go to work. Worried the vampire might attack the townspeople after he left, he reminded him again that the Vampire Hunter was in town.

"I won't go wandering around!" The vampire hesitated, now that he had fed. "Uh... will you come back later?"

"No, but I can visit you around this time tomorrow."

"You won't tell anyone about me, will you?"

"I won't."

"Um... could you bring some more blood when you come?"

Annan was about to refuse, then remembered that blood was food to a vampire. A hungry vampire would do what a hungry person would. Even if this one didn't attack anyone in a frenzy like he had just done, the town's livestock would suffer...

And approaching a vampire driven out of his mind by hunger was clearly a bad idea.

"I can."

Annan wondered where he could get blood for the vampire.

He left the abandoned street without incident and returned to the tavern with only minutes to spare before opening. He put on his apron and started work.

"Your juice, ma'am."

Smiling, Annan handed a glass of juice to a woman at a table beside the counter. As she took it, she deliberately brushed her fingers across the back of his hand, leaving the scent of perfume behind. He returned to the counter for another glass and carried it to a heavyset woman on the other side, who had Aunt Susan's build but more fat than muscle. Without a flicker of reaction, he stepped over the leg she had extended beneath the table.

The regulars liked to hide in the corners to drink. Those near the counter had come for Faster or Annan. They stared at the chest exposed by Faster's unbuttoned shirt, glancing over at Annan now and then for a change.

There weren't many customers today, but Annan stayed busy. Martin had been sent up to the roof with Soluman Copperbeard to lay down a rain tarp.

The rainy season was almost here.

In the north, the rainy season wasn't as fierce or relentless as it was in the Southlands, but rain would become more frequent.

After delivering the last beer, Annan leaned against the counter. Blood loss and the rush of work had left him a little dizzy.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Evelyn asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Probably a little low blood pressure... meaning I haven't eaten enough."

"Here, take this."

Evelyn offered Annan a piece of candy. He took it and immediately drew his hand back.

"Thanks."

Evelyn's reply was barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. "Y-you're welcome..."

It was only ordinary cane sugar, but Annan did feel a little better. With nothing needing his attention in the tavern, he went over to Faster.

The women sipping juice as they listened to the bard's story suddenly perked up.

"Mr. Fast, do you know about vampires?"

"I do. They're as common as ratfolk in Southlands cities, but the farther north you go, the fewer you'll find." Faster didn't ask why Annan wanted to know. He was used to Annan coming out with questions that seemed to have no rhyme or reason.

"Are there vampires in the Secret Society?"

"Of course. I've never met one, though."

Annan then went over to the bard, who sang as he played: "Oh, the vampire and the hunter~ A gravely wounded vampire woman softened the hunter's heart~ He cared for her, and they fell in love~ On the night she recovered~ She killed her beloved~ In Crimson City~ Never fall in love with a vampire~"

When the bard finished, Annan asked him what Crimson City was.

"The vampires' royal court."

Late that night, a vast bank of clouds blotted out the moonlight.

Annan and Martin returned to Aunt Susan's house. Martin slipped into the woodshed with practiced ease. Annan went to his room, filled the Cauldron with water, added a portion of Magic Materials, then stuffed firewood and coal beneath it and lit the fire before beginning to meditate.

He had expected the blood loss to make it hard to concentrate and weaken his meditation. Instead, his mind was clearer than ever. Magical elements streamed into his Mana Vortex, strengthening his Magic Power.

The next morning, as Annan cleaned the Cauldron and cleared away the ashes, he thought back on the night before. He attributed it to his Magic Power colliding with the unknown force the vampire had unleashed.

At the Library, Annan finished cleaning and went over to Mr. Victor. "Mr. Victor, I have a friend who knows a vampire. That vampire seems harmless, and he's never killed anyone."

"A Blood Thrall?"

"My... friend doesn't know."

Victor looked up from his book. "Did he bite you?"

"Not me. My friend," Annan explained, making the truth all too obvious. "That vampire only drinks animal blood or blood from people who are already dead. Uh... even when he drinks from someone alive, he doesn't bite. Would he hurt my friend?"

"Third row of shelves."

Mr. Victor returned to his book.

Following his directions, Annan searched the third row and found a book called Crimson Night, written by a vampire named Uluradek.

It described Crimson City, the vampires' royal court that the bard had only mentioned in passing, in great detail. The story was full of tangled love and hate. Vampires really did seem to love romance and feel everything intensely.

The details also taught Annan something about their habits. One line, for instance, hinted at how widespread vampires were in the Southlands: "In the southern Blu City-State, every human carries a silver coin."

Besides their almost universally known fear of silver and sunlight, vampires kept humans as livestock—and even "protected" them.

When a swarm of rats threatened to overrun a town, nearby vampire families would arrive in force and drive it off. Then they would carry away the residents.

Those taken might become food, or they might be turned into Blood Slaves. Annabella, the heroine of Crimson Night, fell in love with one Blood Slave, then killed him because he had spoken a single sentence to a female Blood Slave.

That evening, Annan locked the Library and went to the market next door. Under a butcher's curious gaze, he got a bowl of sheep's blood and a bowl of pig's blood. Then he went to find his vampire friend, whose name he still didn't know—the talkative, timid one who liked to confide in him and wasn't quite so evil.

The vampire didn't refuse the blood, though it made him belch in disgust. "It's like eating a rotten, moldy apple..."

In the lingering twilight, Annan could make out the vampire's gaunt cheeks, tattered collar, and yellowed fangs.