Chapter 29: Welcome to the dark side

The vampire who had come to them and screamed in their faces for the dead Selkie was about as tall as Dimitri.

Which, considering that Nikola thought of the blond as a Viking, was saying much about Nikola's chances to broker peace with him.

The man pointed at the Selkie's carcass, which Jack was cutting up in bite-sized installments.

"You know," Dimitri said, after the third: those animals have rights as well. "I will believe you, but only if you tell me that you don't drink blood."

The vampire blinked.

"And what else am I supposed to eat?" He snarked. "Mushrooms?"

"I can cook you some! Freshly picked from the forest!" The mushrooms were neither fresh nor safe to eat.

But Nikola decided that, if it was either him or the vampire, it was better if the vampire bit the dust. Or mutated. He still remembered how that had gone for the goblins.

"Now you just want to poison me!" The vampire protested. "You have no shame, shaman!"

"Of course he does not," Bleda yelled from the dining table. "He is one of Tangra's!"

The vampire took a step back. But Bleda wasn't finished with him.

"Do you honestly believe that you will get away with threatening him? You are bound for the pyre!" Bleda then took a raw horse haunch, which was placed on the table for those who wanted to eat raw meat and bit a giant chunk out of it.

Nikola felt dread in his stomach. He honestly didn't want to overuse Bleda's good graces. After all, the man had agreed to guard him.

But there was precious little that could be done. The vampire either had to go, or he had to stop threatening him.

One of those things.

"If you are really one of Tangra's, then prove it!" The vampire pointed a finger at Nikola. He blinked.

"What am I supposed to do? Walk through fire?" Nikola asked, bewildered. "Humans are not made for such things!"

"You are no human!" The vampire snarked back. "You are a druid and a shaman!"

"A piss-poor one, at that," Jack pipped in from the butchering site.

Another Selkie pocked his head from under the water. Jack aimed, shot, and he was soon diving in the water to retrieve the carcass.

"One of those days, you will pay for your sins!" The vampire animal activist said, furrowing his brows. "And when that day comes, you will see that what you have done was immoral and unethical! Using magical creatures for food like that is simply…!"

"Oh, shove it," Dimitri finally said, as he stepped before Nikola. "You seem to be brave when talking to a mortal, but what about me? Would you like to test your powers on me?"

Dimitri materialized a fireball in his hand.

Nikola knew that if he doesn't do anything, he was going to have ashes on his conscience.

The idea that Dimitri could be the one to get killed made him sick. So sick, that he stepped before his lover.

"No! No fighting! Look, if you don't like the food, we will stop hunting the Selkie!"

"That won't stop them from hunting us," Jack pipped in as well.

"And we will buy herds of sheep and goats!" Because Nikola still wanted his goat milk, darn it!

"That doesn't solve your problem!" The vampire snarked, as he looked between Dimitri and Nikola. "Living beings…!"

"What?" Dimitri snapped once more. "Not be used for food? I asked you once, but you didn't answer! Do you not drink blood?"

The vampire scratched himself behind the head.

"I drink humanly gotten blood," the man said, only to scrunch up his nose at his words.

"Wait. He is getting it," Jack pipped in, as he took the Selkie's heart and began to eat it.

"Ah, good stuff," he said, as he slowly began to enjoy his meal. It was only work for him. He honestly didn't know why he even stayed by Nikola these days.

The food was worth it, but the fact that he was their main hunter wasn't something that played in the vampire-druid duo luck.

"I drink blood," the vampire said, as he bowed his head. "How am I going to look my three cats in the eyes?"

Nikola put two and two together.

"You are young, aren't you?" The vampire looked no older than twenty. Nikola was pretty sure that the man had not been a vampire for long.

Or otherwise, he would not have behaved so.

"I got turned into a vampire last Sunday," he said, as he bowed his head even lower. "My uncle has a butcher's shop and gives me blood. But I don't want for life to be like this!"

Nikola nodded, Dimitri snorted, Jack took the last bite of the heart.

This drama was not something he wanted a part in.

"Look, if you are this young, then you must be looking for a job," Nikola told him, as he took some squash and some grilled meat and pilled them on a plate. "I can give you an accounting job. You will be our face in front of all the occult shops, which will be buying our mana crystals."

A silence stretched around the cabin. The guests were looking at Nikola so, as if he was going to feed them for free.

The vampire hesitated. Only for a siren to step to the front.

"I earned a degree in accounting. Why not hire me?"

It was tempting, Nikola could agree easily. But although the siren was about as resourceful as one could get, he didn't know if it was a good idea.

After all, if the siren began to eat the sellers, he was sure that soon no one would want to buy from him.

And sirens were tricky.

"New Quest: Enslave the suckers!

For too long, these creatures have been eating for free by your table. Giving you junk in exchange for food! Enslave them, brave shaman! Put them to work!"

Nikola nodded.

"I can offer you the position. And you? Would you like to plant flowers?"

The vampire beamed at him.

Not noticing that Jack was blinking in his direction. Trying to still his beating heart.

Because the vampire was a bonbon. Blonde hair, blue eyes, trapped in the very image of youth.

Jack was in love with that smile.

He was going to collect.