Blood Servants

Hector raised his hands defensively. "Listen, I don't work for them. Well… I do, but I plan to backstab them when the opportunity arises."

Still defensive, Senna gave him an assessing look before asking, "What do you mean? If you want us to trust you, then tell us everything."

Hector considered for a moment. Considering his position as Slaver Captain, he didn't need to tell them anything. Frankly, he could probably just live a comfortable life as their master. Well… At least until that Demon King Hella had pissed off and came to kill them all. But that was not how he wanted to do things.

He wanted to work with the slaves and figure out how to escape this trial. To do that, he needed at least the slave leaders to understand that he was not their enemy.

"They took me out of the line due to my heritage. Have you guys heard of Transmigrators?" He asked.

The two nodded.

"Good, because now you have met one."

"You're a transmigrator?" Hilda said skeptically.

Hector nodded. "Yeah. In my last life, I was a vampire. Despite being reborn as a human, many of my vampiric traits manifested, and they sensed my similarities. Unable to stand anything related to their noble status being used as a slave, they gave me a menial but commanding position."

The girls glanced back and forth between themselves, unsure of how to respond. After a brief moment, Hilda nodded. "Say we believe your insane story. What do you want from us?" She asked.

"A lot of things, actually. First, information. I really know nothing about this place. Frankly, I got into this position because I was lucky. I need to know what the others think and what has happened since I arrived…

I also need a way to interact with the slave leadership without being suspicious… and… Not to be too crass. I really REALLY need some blood."

The girls stared at him, their eyes defensive again. "What do you mean by you need blood," Senna asked suspiciously.

"I am starving. I haven't eaten since I arrived, and the feasting hall they had back when the castle was last was too disgusting. I can't bring myself to eat corpses that I wasn't responsible for." He explained awkwardly, trying to ignore the biting pain in his stomach.

Senna stared daggers at Hector. "You want to drink our blood?"

"Well, no. With what you have gone through, I am sure that a man biting your neck and sucking your blood is probably not a good thought. But I will need you to find and bring me willing people to take some blood from."

Hilda nodded. "Okay. But we are not going back to the slave pit. We will work with you, but if we…"

"Helga!"

"Shush Senna, I am talking. As I was saying. If we work with you, I want to live in this tent, I want good food, and I want clothes. REAL clothes. If you want us to work as go-betweens between you and the slaves, then we need to be treated according to our importance." Hilda said.

Hector paused momentarily before nodding, having had a similar arrangement in mind. "That is not a problem." He agreed.

Senna sat with an annoyed expression on her face, but didn't try to but in again.

Hilda's serious expression faded and was replaced with a strangely genuine friendliness. "Good. Now, I must ask— What is your name?"

Hector couldn't believe that he had forgotten to introduce himself. That was… Unlike him. "My name is Hector Dracula Voss. What about yours?"

"My name is Hilda Sooni. This is my cousin and bodyguard, Senna Sooni. I look forward to working with you, Hector, " she said.

Hector was surprised by the level of confidence and composure that Hilda was showing. He had seen women in her position before. When he had freed his father's prisoners, many of them had been utterly dead inside or lashed out aggressively at anyone and anything that moved.

Hilda was not like that. Despite her suffering, she maintained her dignity and refused to allow her will to be broken. This was admirable. No matter how hard she tried, there would be scars. However, it seemed that Hilda would not allow those scars to define her.

Hector wished to converse more with the women, but unfortunately, he was cut short by the sound of footsteps approaching. A scratchy, deep voice spoke from outside the tent a moment later. "Captain! I have done as requested."

"Come in," Hector said.

The fiend entered, eyeing the two women. He opened his mouth to speak, then paused and turned his attention to Hector. "I have done as requested and am ready to report, Captain."

"Good. Gruda, I shall take these two women as my Blood Servants before we begin. They shall be both my food supply and my personal slaves. Do you understand?"

Gruda nodded, "Of course, captain. Er, you require blood?" He asked curiously.

Hector nodded. "Think of me as a Demi-Vampire. I do still require blood."

"I see. Makes sense why da Queen would promote ya then." Gruda mused.

Hector hid a smirk. Both his fear of him and their respect for their queen were good reasons to obey him, but he wanted something more. By leading Gruda to understand that he was like a vampire, he had made it so that Gruda would now unconsciously think of Hector as a higher being and not a filthy human.

"Good. Then find some friends and get them to bring my new servants some higher-quality clothing and clean up that mess, " he said, gesturing towards Borug's corpse, which still lay in the corner of the tent.

Borug paused for a moment. "I get to order around the others?"

Hector nodded, "Any and all fiends are from now on yours to command. As long as it doesn't contradict my desires."

A wicked smile spread across Gruda's face. "Does that include making them fetch me shit and build me a nicer place?"

"Sure."

"Ha. Boss, I thinks I'm gonna like working with ya."

"Good. Now, get to it. I wish to speak with my servants privately," Hector said, dismissing Gruda.

"No problems, boss. I'll have that mess cleaned up shortly." He said before turning and walking out of the room.

Hector watched him go, giving it a moment before turning back to the two women.

"Tell me everything that I have missed since people started appearing from here."

Hilda nodded, "Let's start with the first attempt to clear the Trial, the rebellion."

"How did that go?" Hector asked.

"Poorly. Very poorly. Shortly after the castle's construction had begun, the first few hundred people were summoned from our world."

"Summoned?"

She nodded, "That's right. Apparently, they possess magic that can forcibly summon cultivating souls to this location."

"I see. So that's why so many people are here."

She nodded. "That's right. The rebellion was utterly crushed, its leaders killed and executed by the vampires."

Hector frowned. "Yes the vampires are strong, they shouldn't have been enough to crush a rebellion of hundreds of people. From what I saw there are only around twenty vampires. At the very least you all should have managed to slaughter most of the fiends in the battle."

Senna shook her head. "That would be true, except that bitch Hella stepped in. The rebellion ended in moments."

"She is that strong?"

Hilda grimaced. "Yes. She is that strong."