Size matters, at least sometimes. The size is definitely an important factor for blood volume, but sadly, this didn’t matter much after a certain point. The three metres stall bear who head his head penetrated by a sword was more than enough to feed me once. For the first time, I felt the thirst disappear as I drank lots of disgusting animal blood. Since I awoke completely, I apparently had a hard time feeding on animals as it tasted like an old shoe, even more so than before, but at least it worked. I couldn’t drink lots of human blood then, nor in the near future, so I had to live with it for some time. After taking a little keepsake with me, I headed further towards the campfire I already spotted from the elven side of the river.

“RARW” Ten minutes later, I jumped out of a bush near Tom and scratched him with a little cub paw. Visibly scared, he jumped away from me, only to get incredibly pale as I laughed at his reaction.

“Fuck, Lucinda. What has gotten into you?”

“A lot of blood. I need a towel and some water.”

“You need a proper bath the way you look.” I stared at him until he sighed and brought the items I requested, along with a new dress. Without a word, I vanished into the woods and cleaned myself properly. The water was completely red as I finished. I dumped the contents of the bucked and went back to the little camp to see every knight completely awake and staying in line.

“What are your orders, Miss?” asked the apparent leader of the group.

“Eww … creepy. Don’t call me Miss, call me boss or something. You too Tom, it´s time you realize who your master is.”

“For real?” My blade was already drawn and at his throat before he finished speaking. He gulped as he noticed the sudden change and continued: “Boss.”

“Alright, tomorrow, around half an hour after we crossed the bridge, you will destroy our supplies. These worms die when they cannot feed their hosts. This is the only solution we have left, so pack your things. We will go back to the main army now, but under no circumstances are you allowed to separate from me or talk to anyone else.” I waited a few seconds for them to get out of my way to the carriage, but they didn’t move at all as if they were still expecting something from me. “Choo choo?”

Well, at least they were packing now, so I leisurely walked into the carriage with Tom. He seemed almost confused by something.

 “They suspect you are a vampire and still follow you.”

“So what?” I asked, not really knowing if this was a threat of some kind.

“They will die once they set the wrong cart on fire.” Whispered Tom in the dark carriage.

“Colour me surprised.” I said, already slightly bored by the direction of the conversation.

“They could help you in the future. They are good, there is no need to waste their potential on something in a suicide mission. You could make them loyal to you, all that’s left to do is to succeed in killing this worm and they will follow you wherever you go.” He said in a slightly berating tone.

I tilted my head slightly and raised an eyebrow. I honestly expected more from him than that. I shrugged, closed my eyes and leaned against the carriage wall to my left.

“Lucinda … boss, I need to know what you are planning.”

I opened an eye slightly and then closed it again.

“A wise queen neither gives away too much information nor too little. If you want to be useful to me, you need to understand how I think first and you are honestly very far from it.” I said and used the curtains to cushion the wooden wall as I leaned my head against it.

“It is damn hard to understand a sociopath, psychopath, vampire and cruel person in one.” I smiled at his evaluation of me which wasn’t entirely false.

“You missed something.” I said bitterly.

“Paedophile. I didn’t want to say it, but that’s what you are.”

“Ouch … that’s where you are wrong. True, I like children, but not in the way you assume. Have you ever heard of the term seed of life?”

“Never.” He said firmly. I shrugged and opened one eye again.

“Disappointing.” I said while watching his reaction and change in the soul. Before I said it, the colour was a calm blue and after that … a calm blue.

“I am always disappointing, am I not?”

“True.” I said and closed my eye again. He was disappointing so far, but not entirely. I have already seen his potential, I just didn’t find a way to use him properly yet. Maybe, the battlefield wasn’t exactly his forte after all.

Ten minutes later, we were already tucking along the river again for a few minutes until we reached the main camp. They obviously questioned who we were, but as soon as they spotted me inside the carriage, they let us through. Both of the guards who checked us still had their souls, meaning the knowledge about me had spread to a dangerous point already, not that I could do much about it or needed to.

A few minutes later, we found an empty spot where we set up our camp, completely separate from the rest to stop any information about my plan from spreading or even worse, one of them getting possessed. From time to time, I visited Arthur and Markus to make sure they were still themselves until they threw me out as they were too tired to deal with me. I already wrecked their sleeping rhythm, so I didn’t understand what their problem was until I remembered humans needed sleep. Strange creatures … at least I found the time to tell Arthur a little lie about Markus.