The beautiful city of Eastminster, full of humans, scooting around, playing with toys or doing business and I … I was seeing none of that. The world was still shrouded in darkness as we passed the gates of the city, just by showing the guards Arthur`s emblem. Luckily, they didn’t check the carriage, otherwise, we would have to explain the blood that spilt on the floor as I fed Arthur by allowing him to bite my arm. Naturally, both of us were wearing contact lenses, but Arthur´s new eye colour was sadly not matching with his old one as he only prepared lenses for me. He wouldn’t stand a real body check anyway as his canines grew by quite a bit, but the worst of all was the drooling.

Oh god, the drooling. As he sat beside me in the carriage, I constantly had to make sure that his mouth was still closed while I had to hold my nose more than once because of the disgusting smell that spread around this town. Tom was obviously steering the carriage with us, two vampires, in the back, only able to find the way due to my recollections of the area I told him before we entered the city. I would have certainly lost my way in this mess alone, but Tom successfully navigated with the help of a few landmarks.

We soon arrived at the gates of the mansion which were opened by a few guards. The atmosphere as we entered the front yard was rather depressing. A few maids were standing on the stairs, all wearing a rather grim expression. The news or rather the lack of news about the army apparently already reached this place.

A bit worried, I exited the carriage gracefully and helped Arthur to do the same. I held his hand and always had an eye on him for good measure. I already told him to keep his mouth shut, to stop grunting like an idiot and to stop looking at me as if I was his favourite meal … although I was probably his favourite meal. The head maid soon curtsied in front of Arthur and started her usual routine.

“It is a pleasure to see you again.” She said, just as she lifted up the hem of her dress. I rolled my eyes at the exaggerated greeting but still answered as friendly as ever.

“It saddens me to tell you that the lord is ill. As you can see, he is emotionally scarred through losing his army and already considered suicide.” The maid gasped because of my words and her eyes nearly fell out as I said my next words. “During the war against the elves, I became his emotional support. I intend to fulfil this role even here. Do you agree, honey?” I nearly puked my last meal out as I said that, but at least Arthur nodded in approval. The rules I set out for him, including to nod after I say certain words, seemed to work perfectly so far.

“… we will prepare a room for … both of you. Come this way.” As easy as that, two vampires were let into the mansion. Before I stepped into the mansion, I turned around to our new coachmen and gave him the peace sign. The maid led us upstairs to a spacious room with a large, soft bed. Inelegantly, I threw myself on it and rummaged through the sheets. The maid was obviously more than unhappy with my inappropriate behaviour and eyed us both as Arthur followed me into the bed.

“Wow, this is the second-best bed I could ever imagine.” I said and threw the blanket over Arthur.

“That is … good to hear. If I may interject h-“

“No.”

“You didn-“

“No. We don’t need anything except a good rest. Tomorrow, we will answer your questions, but before that, Arthur needs time to rest and collect his thoughts. You may leave now.” I said and pointed towards the door in case she forgot where to go. Reluctantly, she turned around slowly and left the room, but not without giving Arthur who was still under the blanket another glance. As soon as she closed the door behind her, I stood up quietly and locked the door completely.

“That didn’t go too well …” I said, a bit cautious about the maid's behaviour. Arthurs actions were certainly unnatural, but there was really nothing I could do for now. The only thing I could really do was to hole up in this room until Tom got in contact with Mary and sent her to me.

And so, I stood in front of the window and glanced out, viewing the city from its highest point. This was so close to becoming mine and yet so far away. The only thing that stood between my rule over this was one successful conversation and a single day.

I sighed as I closed the curtains and finally snarled back at the man who was hungrily looking out from underneath the blanket towards me.

“Fine, but undress first.” I should have added without damaging your clothes. Because he just ripped his shirt apart, threw the shreds everywhere and proceeded to clumsily pull off his trousers like a madman. “I guess that’s also a way of undressing.”

Rolling my eyes, I undressed myself, naturally not in the way he did it. I could only throw the dress away in panic before the human projectile hit me and sank his teeth into my nape. What a hungry child I created …

It was probably noon as the door was knocked fourteen times. I usually didn’t answer as the maids came here to inquire about us, probably curious about all the moaning I tried to suppress with mediocre success. But this time, I happily opened and welcomed Tom, carrying a bag, and a shocked Mary inside.

“What has happened here?” Mary asked, casually ignoring the fact that I was in underwear along with her husband.

“Well, you see …” I pointed towards the completely wrecked bed. It was split in the middle and the mattress rested on the ground which didn’t reduce the comfort it provided by one bit though. “Arthur became quite greedy, so I slammed his head against the frame … in hindsight, that was a mistake, I have to admit.”

“And why does his leg look like the bones are completely shattered?” Did I hear a hint of sympathy in her voice? I looked towards Tom, but he just shook his head. He didn’t tell her what I have done to Arthur, but I didn’t doubt one second she didn’t figure it out already.

“He wanted to bite me in my foot and I had to smell his disgusting feet. Do you know how filthy they were? At least he is asleep now. Tom, do you have what I asked for?” Tom gave me the bag, filled with two bottles of blood. “You are a lifesaver. He is sucking me dry all day.”

“Why don’t you just stop feeding him?” Asked Mary and revealed her lack of knowledge of my species.

“Sure, if you want him to go out of control and murder every human in sight. He is a newly born vampire if you even want to call this animal a vampire. The only thing on his mind is food and I´m the only one who can provide him that without any danger.” Greedily, I placed the first bottle onto my lips and drank it all in one go. “But let us not talk about this idiot here, but rather focus on the important task at hand. What do you know about the incidents inside the army?”

“There was talk about a lot of murders and some prostitutes were found without blood. A few days ago, the contact to the army was cut off completely as the elves blocked every supply convoy. The elves themselves claimed that they destroyed the army completely. It is honestly a mess and everyone makes Arthur responsible.” This was more than good. It was perfect. If news about the Devourer left the army, everything would be a lot harder, but going by this little information about what really happened, I could enact my plan without any problems.

“And, how did it work out on your side?” I asked with a sweet smile.

bloodyWriter

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