The next morning Nate looked almost excited. He did like those dirty jobs, and since it was about monsters he didn’t have to feel guilty. I, on the other hand, was not excited in the least but at least it was a good way to calm myself. After murdering a bunch of monsters I always felt refreshed. Since I could not release my emotional willy nilly, there had to be something which would help me channel them into something else.

However, before that pleasant feeling of a finished job could arrive I had to face a much more serious issue - women. I have only met a woman who was ‘nice’ once, and that was my mother. All the rest of those creatures were the spawn of the devil himself. Hence why I was certain I would never fall in love with a woman, not that they did not attract me but I was open for all the options. Although I was not in the mood to look for anyone anyway. I just wanted to help my brother and get back to our home village.

As we reached the inn where those two creatures stayed at, I murmured “I am not gonna talk. You handle it completely.”

Nate chuckled at my comment but not arguing with me he knocked at the doors that supposedly lead to the lair of the creatures. The smaller one was the one to open the doors. She eyed us both in a judgmental manner one after the other. The taller one must have told her about Nate's visit as she did not seem to be very happy to see us. She looked at me first, she was only slightly shorter than me but that was enough not to be on the eye level with her. Which was always a good thing. Then her eyes focused on Nate who gave her a wide grin.

“Hi, Leah. We are here to talk about your little castle problem.” Nate said with a happy tone of voice. We still stood in the corridor so it was much better to stay casual.

Leah nodded at him and invited us in. Nate walked in like he owned the place while I scurried behind him.

Once inside, Ava came out from - what I assumed was - bathroom eyeing both of us suspiciously. Her long hair was drenched and she seemed to be caught by surprise for a moment as if she didn’t expect to see us.

I didn’t give her more than a glare not wanting to talk while Nate, once again friendly, said: “Hey there Ava.”

She grumbled something which amused Nate. I couldn’t tell if he heard her or not considering he had an incredible hearing but I still had a hunch that he would laugh either way. He loved annoying people especially the ones which he knew he could get away with - such as me.

Seeing as Ava almost seethed with rage I decided to step in and sighed “I will just say this, I am going to the castle, whether you tag along or not it's your thing. But I don’t want to have screeching dead weights.” I sat down in the nearest chair and turned my head away towards the window. The view of bushes and trees was more interesting than anything else in this room.

Meanwhile, Nate sighed “All in all, my brother will tackle the problem are you two up for it as well?”

I looked over sideways and saw Ava still frowning “Of course we are! That’s what we wanted in the first place.”

Leah then tilted her head “Of course. We will tag along but we have one condition,” the flames of anger start off inside me as I stared daggers at her while she continued, “Godvia will be unharmed.”

Nate nodded “As long she is still a human, sure. But if you are late she dies.”

Ava gritted her teeth saying “Then we better hurry.”

Nate and I looked at her simultaneously, feeling dread, and Leah explained “Yesterday I sneaked to the castle. And I found out that they were ready for the ceremony. I am not sure what that meant but nothing good for sure.”

Nate grumbled annoyed while I said, “That means…” I trailed off, the word ‘ceremony’ didn’t sound right to me. Vampires did not need a 'ceremony' to turn humans into their kind meaning there was more to it than meets the eye. Which could also explain the fact that so many people were going missing lately. I had assumed at first that the body count was for the daughter to feed on after she turns, or she has become a young vampire already - a larvaerim - and she needed to feed a lot before she would turn. However, now I had different ideas.

Nate, seemingly thinking the same thing as me, asked: “I have a question, what type of vampire is Carleon?” Both creatures looked at each other shocked and he continued “There are a few, one of them is just a pure monster, which will turn others by a bite. They are the rogue ones. There are also the ones which are calmer and don’t cause problems, they just want to live among people. They are much weaker and cannot use many powers such as turning a human to their own kind with a bite. Those are the peaceful ones. And there are those who are a mix between. Their personalities are like the rouges but their powers are limited. With their bite, a human can be turned into one of them but nothing more than a mindless corpse, and that is the most dangerous because at least the pure vampires have some honour and pride to them. Those ones do not." After the explanation - which obviously should have been unnecessary if those creatures weren't that useless - Nate asked once more "So which one is Carleon?”

Leah was the one to answer “I don’t know, he is powerful and has an army of both vampires and the undead.”

Both Nate’s and my eyes grew wider “Undead?” We asked at the same time.

Nate growled now, his inner self that is so well hidden all the time, showing “Why no one told us about that?! For heaven's sake! Are you two imbeciles that dense?!”

My brother was usually calm and collected but not when it came to either my well being or big misinformation about a hunt. Not knowing anything about the target was better than knowing the wrong details after all. I, on the other hand, had to learn to control my emotions since birth. I still would get annoyed but I wouldn't bottle it up and let it explode like Nate. I would let my annoyance escape through small gaps and by using magic.

Seeing his brother in a slight panic and a huge rage I sighed. This was going nowhere so I explained only what was important. “You two morons don’t understand a thing, do you?! Vampires don’t control undead. It’s wizards." I gritted my teeth at that. The words left a bitter taste in my mouth. I hated the fact I could be related by magic with some of those assholes. Nate glared at the two creatures in front of us who looked confused more than anything, but they did not need to know much more. As long as the problem was solved. They were only the back-up after all.

Leah asked, "So you caused this?" She was trying to sound angry, but that did not work out as she noticed, now, both Nate and I started to glare at her.

I didn’t want to but having no choice I sighed and explained "A special type of magic is used to create those from the dead. Black magic if you will - necromancy. Those wizards that use it become corrupted and lose their souls.”

I grimaced and Nate interrupted me "It doesn't matter! We have to get rid of them that is for sure. If they are ready that means they must have gathered." He growled like an angry animal at the creatures. His friendly personality completely gone.

"This evening you will head out," Nate grunted lastly. He was not in the mood to talk. Nothing he would have said would make the situation better so he resorted to quick orders now.

Both creatures just stood there stunned by the sudden change in Nate, my ability to talk and probably our knowledge. A lot of people were surprised when we both were able to give information about things that were studied for decades. However, for us it was a survival strategy, if we wouldn’t know it we would have died a long time ago. We fought with so many monsters, encountered so many different creatures that it would be impossible to forget them.

Nate glared one last time at both creatures and left in a hurry shutting the doors with a loud bang. Meanwhile, I sighed standing up. I straightened my wrinkled, dark blue robe and walked towards the doors.

Ava asked quietly, her rough tough shell that she was trying to keep up all the time broken “So where do we meet?”

I mumbled not turning around to look at them, “On the bridge to town, be there before sunset. And don't be late or else you'll end up on the pile of the dead bodies as well.” I then left.

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