*** April ***

“Oh Lord, there’s two of them.”

Upon witnessing a scene worse than my darkest nightmares through one of my familiars hidden in the newcomer’s camp, I suddenly realized that the future ahead looks rather bleak. Dealing with one weirdo was difficult enough, but faced with two might prove impossible. This doesn’t mean that I don’t have contingencies for these kinds of situations.

“Myra, bring me a leather parchment and the dragon blood ink.”

At my command, from the darkness in the leftmost corner of the room, a shadowy figure emerges, handing me the requested items, preparing to leave immediately afterwards with a small bow.

Before fading away, I grab her hand and pull her toward me.

“You do it…” leaving the parchment open on the table, I signal for her to sit down while I get up to my feet and move behind her.

“As you wish, mother.” Despite her chilly voice, I could feel her excitement.

‘Hah… It’s nice to be young.’

“Add nine formations, mixed with at least twice as many runes. Make sure they are fully hidden. Start with Tier 5 difficulty and escalate it gradually.”

As my daughter started inscribing the fine lines into the parchment with slow, meticulous movements, my inner mind got connected again to the little snow mouse hidden in the newcomer’s tent. Seemingly to have finally finished the nonsense they’ve been at for the good part of the past hour, the lich, now dressed back in his standard bulky cloak, was giving the standard introduction that we’ve all received when we picked our own mountains.

‘Considering that he was the first to settle here, we could say that this is his duty.’

The rules are quite broad and involve things like not disturbing your neighbours, avoiding the practice of any forbidden magic or alchemy that could destroy the surroundings and keeping the number of tenants under the fifty mark. Away from that any conflict that may arise with the others will be solved during the monthly meeting.

Agreeing to the more than generous rules, Lucy informed the young vampire regarding the upcoming meeting, which will take at the end of the month, leaving immediately after with a brief farewell.

Now alone in his tent, the vampire sits back down on one of the carved rocks and starts massaging his temples, seemingly in thought.

‘He is weak.’

No matter how you put it, he looks, feels, and smells weak. Extremely so. Not even close to the standards of the others. And this is what makes it so perplexing.

Despite acting like a fool most of the time, Lucy is an ancient Lich that has brought terror into the hearts of countless powerhouses. There are so many legends surrounding him that there is no reason for anyone to doubt his power. This kind of individual has certain standards. Among those, a certain level of power is needed in order to even get an audience with him. And among the five of us, I’m the weakest, by a long mile. When I first arrived here, Lucy gave me an ultimatum: break through the next realm in less than ten years or screw of. Although I haven’t succeeded yet, I expect to do it by the end of the year.

But when dealing with the little vampire, he seemed extremely casual and, to a certain degree, even respectful.

‘But he is extremely weak…’

All my senses tell me he doesn’t represent any danger whatsoever. His thin, almost malnourished body, the freckles around his nose and cheeks, the short black hair and lifeless brown eyes; nothing about that puny figure screams the word “powerful” no matter how long I try to analyse him.

‘But I refuse to believe that Lucy could make a mistake.

Yes, if Lucy decided he was worthy of joining our family, then maybe there is more to him that meets the eye. In order to confirm it, I send a tendril of mana towards him. Touching his skin, little to no feedback is delivered so, certain about my hypothesis, I decide to probe further. In the next instant, without even knowing why or how, my world turns upside down and a horrendous feeling of vertigo overwhelms my sense.

Next, the vampire turns his head 45 degrees towards the little snow mouse hidden in the corner and smiles.

“Don’t you know that spying on people is quite rude?”

Taking a step back, I forcefully severe the connection with my familiar. In that moment, the excess energy of the feedback loop is returning to me, together with a trace of his blood energy, ravaging the insides of my body and fighting against my natural protection.

‘Cough’ ‘Cough’

While trying to recover my breath among heavy coughing that expels fresh blood and fragments of my internal organs, my daughter rushes towards me. At the same time, the countless runes and formations hidden around the mansion awaken. As a divine dark aura descends in the room, I can feel the trace of blood energy fighting back viciously. Fortunately, it’s only a tiny fragment and, despite its constant struggles, it gets swallowed by the darkness.

In reality, “swallowed” is not exactly the expropriate word, as it feels more like it got sealed instead. Despite being almost harmless, the blood energy ignores the constant bombardment of the Dark Descent Formation, creating a sort of cocoon in its center, patiently waiting for something… Or someone.

“Mother, what happened?” with obvious panic in her voice, my daughter grabs my hand and helps me towards the sofa in the corner.

At the same time, four other shadowy figures pop out into existence, surrounding me with the clear intent of being ready to throw away their lives in exchange for my safety.

“Calm down, there’s no problem. I’m just a bit shaken.” Hinting towards my children that I’m fine, I turn to face my youngest daughter, who is still holding my right hand. “The parchment… Destroy it.”

Albeit a bit surprised, my daughter takes the half-complete manuscript and incinerates it, throwing the burning remains back into the shadows. Then, as if synchronized, my five children meld into the floor, disappearing from sight.

The point of the rune inscribed parchment was to, on one side, deliver a message while also testing the vampire’s ability to sense the formations within. It’s a simple but exceedingly efficient test used by the Church of Dawn for ages. Unfortunately for me, it looks like I might have bit more than I can chew and ended up both humiliated and injured. Sending the parchment at this point would be nothing short of an insult.

‘God damn it, Lucy… What kind of monster did you allow to join our family this time?’

With those last words, I close my heavy eyelids and slip into the realm of dreams, allowing the dimly lit formations to mend my body and replenish my soul.

………………………………………..

*** Tony ***

“Well, that went well, didn’t it, little buddy?”

While talking with my new little comrade, I can’t keep myself from smiling. I expected to face countless difficulties while dealing with the five powerful monsters who became my neighbours but, somehow, things seem to have settled well enough.

‘And I own everything to you!’ Thinking of the tiny drop of unexpectedly potent blood which keeps flowing through my body, I wonder how can I get more. Even though I piqued the Lich’s interest by allowing him to feel it while shaking his hand and even scarred the rude visitor who was taking a peek at us through my little companion over here, I can feel that it’s not as potent as a when I first noticed it. Nourishing my body while keeping me alive is difficult, isn’t it?

Taking one more sip from the half-full mug of foul dwarf blood, I realize that among the things that I need to deal with, at the very top was safety but now that seems to have been replaced by obtaining a proper source of good blood.

‘I’m just so hungry!’ No matter how much I drink, I’m still hungry. Well, being unable to drink more than a couple of sips without feeling my stomach in my throat doesn’t help either.

“Sir” entering the tent is Nelmearynn, Nel for short, the little feisty princess who is pretending to be my maid, together with Arla. “Father has woken up.”

“Oh, come, let me see him!” Excited that I can negotiate with the one truly in charge, I rush towards the king’s improvised chamber with Nel following me.

There, on the stone bed covered in animal hides, the heavily injured king is lying down while the queen is tending to his wounds with moderate magic. The soothing light from her spells illuminated the room, purifying the air in the process and removing the stench of blood and sweat.

Taking a few more steps, I stop by the side of his bed. Then the king turns his head slowly towards me and faints.

…

“Ugh… Is he…”

Before finishing my sentence, the queen takes a thin long silver needle and inserts it more than a palm deep in the king’s heart.

‘Cough. Cough’

“God damn it, woman, are you trying to kill me?”

Jumping up from the bed in a feat not even remotely close to what an injured old man like him should be able to do, the king turns around and faces me with a slight smile on his face… Or at the very least I think it’s a smile, as it’s rather hard to tell through his giant beard covering 80% of his face.

“Count Lite Everdeen, I assume.” states the king, extending his right hand towards me.

“Just call me Tony.” Taking his hand and shaking it, I wait for his name. Despite already being acquainted with all the other dwarves, I still don’t know the King’s and Queen’s names. For whatever reason, everyone refused to tell me, which is odd, to be honest.

“Pleasure to meet you. Heard a lot about you from my wife.”

“Thank you… I guess…”

Following a short awkward silence, I finally ask the question which no one should have to ask. “So, King, if it doesn’t bother you, could you tell me your name? It’s rather awkward calling you ’King’ like this…”

Seemingly stunned for a second, the dwarf King lets loose a hearty belly laugh before addressing me. “I’m sorry. It seems like you misunderstood me. My name is King. This is my wife, Queen.” Taking a small pause to let that shocking information sink in, he continues, “Where we come from, the kings and queens renounce their names, devoting their everything to the people. As such, I am the King and nothing more. If you find that inconvenient, you can call us as you please.”

“Well… That’s new…” Despite being still young, I’ve read a lot about dwarves while I was holed up in my former master’s library and there was nothing about this strange custom. Still… “I don’t mind… King, Queen.”

“Ha ha ha. I like you! Anyway, although I don’t want to be rude, my time is limited.” Pointing out the silver needle in his heart, the King continues, “Once the forge energy gets drained, I’ll fall back into unconsciousness until my wounds are healed.”

“Interesting.” While thinking about the possibilities that the needle could bring forth, I try to think of a method to summarise the over three hours of negotiations I had with Princess Nelmearynn in the simplest form possible.

“The deal I’ve come to accords with your daughter is the following: carve me a mansion on this mountain. Afterwards we are even, and you can do whatever you want. In the meantime, I’ll receive a minimum daily dose of blood from any dwarf of my choosing.”

“Furthermore” looking at the calm look of the King, I prepare myself for the worst part of the deal I offered them which almost made the dwarves fight me to the death when I mentioned it before “for the time you work for me, you are all forbidden from drinking anything except water.”

“That’s outrageous!” exclaimed the king with sudden rage colouring his face. “But… if it’s only that much, I have no reason to not agree.”

Smiling slightly, I extend my hand towards the King. “Is it a deal, then?”

“Yes, it’s a… Ugh…” Extending his hand towards me, the King, before finishing his sentence, starts grunting and just flops on his back like a log.

“It looks like the needle’s energy has been used up.” Says the Queen while picking up the unconscious King and putting him back on the bed.

“Oh, come on…”

“Don’t worry, it’s a deal. I’ll make sure that the others will do as we have agreed.” Continues the Queen in a calm tone.

“And stop drinking?” I ask with incertitude in my voice.

“Yeah yeah… That as well…” replies the Queen with a slight irritation in her voice.

‘Finally… As long as they stop consuming that unholy liquid, it should be possible for their blood to become a bit more palatable as well!’

With such an enticing prospect ahead, I can’t wait for tomorrow to come.