Marco froze for a moment, instinctively about to respond, but his brain had yet to fully process the instruction.
Find trees?
Now?
What for?
Valerius, meanwhile, was utterly bewildered.
He was a vampire noble who had lived for centuries, a schemer, a faction leader within the Red Moon Brotherhood.
He was accustomed to giving orders, and to deciphering the hidden meanings behind them.
Yet he could not understand this instruction from Douglas at all.
Seeing neither of them move, Douglas added, his tone still gentle:
"Marco, go with him. It's all right. We're all on the same side now."
"On the same side" struck Valerius's rigid back like an invisible whip.
He shuddered violently, snapping out of his shock.
He stopped thinking about why, and dared harbor no further questions.
The Contract brand deep within his soul reminded him, like a faithful hound, that every word from his master was absolute, unquestionable truth.
"Yes, Professor Holmes."
Valerius bowed his proud head deeply, his voice carrying a trace of practiced deference that even he had not noticed.
Marco glanced at the vampire beside him, then at Douglas. Though equally filled with confusion, his trust in Douglas had risen to something approaching blind obedience.
He nodded without hesitation and said gravely, "Yes, sir."
The two left the Mine, one behind the other.
Valerius led the way. His aristocratic formalwear was already in tatters, but his movements had regained a hint of the elegance of an ancient vampire.
Rather than use brute force, he extended his pale fingers toward the thickest, oldest oaks in the mountain forest and chanted softly in an ancient tongue.
It was vampire magic, a means of communing with the shadows and death within nature.
Around the roots of the oaks he selected, shadows began to twist and writhe,