Vulture Egg

Nah! Too late, Mr. Vlad. Too late. I really have to back out now.

Probably seeing the look on my face, he asked me, his tone was serious. "Jack, hope you don't mind me asking. But do you really want to become a peculiar?" My eyes turned wide as soon as he asked me that.

"How'd you know that? I haven't told anyone except Ethan."

"Not hard to guess. Ethan came to me days ago asking for ways into turning someone into a peculiar and then days later, he came back bringing you. So I am guessing it was for you. I mean, it doesn't make sense for Ethan turning himself into one."

Since it wasn't really a secret for him, I admitted.

"Mr. Vlad. Do you know some ways?" I asked. He didn't answer me for a while. Just looking at me as if he was sizing me up.

"I don't know your reasons why you arrived at such decision but it's none of my concern so long as it doesn't harm the castle and everyone in it. I don't think you'll do any harm either since Eithan brought you here, it means you're safe. But now's not the time to talk about that matter."

"But —"

"No buts. If I start explaining things to you right now, you'll only have more and more questions. We still have your curse and your bones to take care of. Unless getting fixed isn't your first priority right now." And with that, I gave up. My situation is a more pressing issue.

"Also, if you're getting cold feet right now, then you don't have what it takes to be a peculiar," he added. And somehow, his words carried more weight than I thought. Because it made me think for a moment. Is this really the best decision I can make given the situation?

I lay on the operating table just like he instructed. My heart thumped really fast. I'm nervous about how this would turn out. So long as this won't hurt.

I turned my head to the side to look at Mr. Vlad. He was rummaging through his stuff. And not long after that, he brought a mask over my face. As soon as I inhaled the smoke coming out from it, my surrounding slowly turned dim until everything went black.

I don't know how long has it been exactly but I was awoken by a bright light hitting my face. I squinted my eyes several times — adjusting to the sudden brightness. And I saw Mr. Vlad removing his gloves by the side.

"Was it successful?" I asked.

He grinned at me and said, "See for yourself," as he motioned me to go in front of the mirror.

Feeling much better than ever since I got my shoulder dislocated except for the slight prickling sensation every here and there, I stood up from the operating table. And as soon as my feet landed on the cold marble floor, I realized that I was fully naked. I jerked my head towards Mr. Vlad, feeling embarrassed. He was looking at me but he was far from being concerned about the fully naked man in front of him. Instead, he was looking at me as though he was looking at his new creation — it was creepy.

I strode towards the full-body mirror which was only by the operating table. And saw my body riddled with stitches. There's one across my hips. Another on both my arms, my chest… I twisted my body to get a proper view of my back and saw several stitches there as well. Though this body wasn't originally mine, I can't help but feel regretful.

"You have way too many broken and cracked bones that I have to do it on several places. But don't worry, I've already mended them up. Though I suggest not moving around too much for a week maybe. We don't want your stitches to open up now, do we? Speaking of your stitch marks, they'll be gone some time soon though the deeper ones would most probably leave a scar." he explained.

I thanked him. Though I regretted having some of these scars on my body, I'm honestly thankful for him. Not only was the operation painless, but it was also really fast. I did not regret choosing him over going to the doctor.

"I took this much from you earlier," he said as he shook three vials of blood in the air. He took much lesser than I thought he would. I even imagined him biting into my neck like the ones shown in the movies. But I see, it looked like I was worrying needlessly.

"Are you sure that's all you're taking?" I asked. Because honestly, I feel like three vials of blood in exchange for this rather complicated operation was kind of unfair. I'm willing to give him as much as one bag.

But he only shook his head and told me, "No, this will be enough. Besides, you did me a great favor by letting me practice on your body. You see, it's very hard to find someone who's willing to be my test subject lately. Especially a human."

I went numb as soon as he said that. I'm taking back my word.

"And oh! Just a piece of advice, but I really think you should fatten up a bit."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah? Don't mind it, really. Take it as a grain of salt."

I didn't dwell on what he said any longer and started dressing up when I remembered something I'd been meaning to ask him since a while ago.

"Mr. Vlad, speaking of the operation. Were you able to remove the curse?"

"Of course! Didn't even sweat." His tone was so confident that I didn't doubt him.

"Do you know who placed the curse on me?"

"How would I know? As if I'm aware of who you interacted with." I was disappointed by his answer.

"Is there any way of knowing who cursed me?"

He brought his hand to his chin and thought for a while before saying, "If the curse is still inside your body, yes. But I've already removed it."

He ran his finger across his wavy hair before motioning me to come over. He gave me a black box.

"Open it," he told me. Slowly and carefully, I lifted the lid and saw an egg inside.

"Take it. It will help you someday in the future. It will probably hatch in a week.

"What kind of egg is this?"

"A vulture. It's not hard to raise. You just have to give it some fresh meat. It wouldn't mind something rotten as well though I suggest you do not. They're often misunderstood but they're actually sweet creatures."

I accepted the egg because I don't see any reason why not except for additional food expenses.

Our conversation basically ended there and he told me it was time for me to go back. He warned me many times about revealing the location of the castle. Even go as far as blackmailing me into turning me into his experiment subject.

As soon as we opened the door, we saw Ethan talking to Hariric.

"Are you done yet?" he asked lazily as he yawned.

"Yes, you can go back now." It was Mr. Vlad.

He told us to use the door across us and for some reason, Ethan became excited. After thanking Mr. Vlad, we entered the door. And for the nth time, I was slack-jawed. We were back to our room. We're back to Hankala Inn.