Chapter 39: '...dig two graves'

Hastur gripped the handle of her coffee cup to the point it was going to break. She looked on at the barbed crossbow bolt aiming at her head. The weapon shifted as Thaelin shifted in his seat. The Duke raised an eyebrow eager to anticipate the man's next action. But all Thaelin did was ease back lips sealed shut afraid of saying something that would cause the wielder to let the bolt fly.

"Care for another cup?" the Duke asked Hastur turning the crossbow back at her

"N-No…no, my Lord."

"Please, madam. As I said earlier. Call me Jon. And what shall I call you? Other than an imposter of how rude of me. What are your names?

"Thaeln Fridulf"

"Hastur Prynn."

"What gave us away?" Thaelin said easing his hands up and slowly unbuttoning the buttons of his doublet. If he was going to die. It would be comfortable at least.

"When my dear friend, The Duchess of Steinnacht, met the lady She said she had never seen you before. And if my dear friend is ever suspicious. Then so am I."

"Fuck you, Vina." The ranger grumbled feeling the point of the bolt be aimed at him again.

"Now then. What brings you to my Keep?"

Hastur raised her hands and watched as the Duke took aim at her. Her hand lowered and she reached into her pocket. She unfolded the note with the seal and set it on the desk before the Lord. The royal unfurled it and read it silently.

"This seal belongs to Lord Tobias Witt. Where did you get this note?"

"It was found in a stronghold of vampires. I was with the Militia when they stormed the place."

"Ah! I thought I smelled the air of an acolyte around you, srendaen. Except you don't seem the perfect fit for all that armor now, do you?"

"No sir…I mean Jon. I'm a cleric."

"And the plot doth thicken. Why was a cleric with a war party?" he said raising his crossbow to his shoulder. The two bounty hunters felt the room lessen with tension. Perhaps. Perhaps there was a way of leaving alive.

"Um….that would be me. Sir." Thaelin said cautiously raising his hand to speak

The crossbow lowered once again and aimed at the man. "Oh?"

Thaelin tugged at his collar to reveal the faded marks of the vampires bite.

"Ah. Now this! This is significantly more entertaining. Guard! Guard! Fetch me Lord Witt. I have words for him."

The guards nodded and set forth.

A glimmer of hope flickered in hastur's core. The Duke of Hayak had heard their pleas. He has grown interested in their claim. And soon. They will be shown to be in the right. The Vampires will pay for their sins against the natural order of the world. And perhaps they will be awarded for their actions. Forgiveness being chief of all she wanted for continuing with their stupid plan of crashing the royal party.

The door to the library sounded and in walked a tall man somewhere in his forties. Light brown hair slicked backwards a sharp goatee curling forward, and a red and grey cloak rested on his shoulders. A short cane with a green jewel topper tapped against the floorboards.

"I hope i'm not interrupting anything." the Lord said eyeballing Hastur as he approached and stood to the Duke's left.

Hastur looked into the man's eyes. There was a yellow shine to them. They were unnatural. The cleric gave the man a false smile. When the tall lord smiled back, her eyes narrowed onto him. There were the tell tale signs of a vampire's fangs. She looked to thaelin who had seen it as well. This was their target. The vampire lord behind the hive that was massacred recently.

"On the contrary, Lord Witt. Some troubling news has been brought to my attention and I wish to have a discussion. Tell me, my friend. Is this your seal?"

The lord took the letter in hand and sighed upon reading it. "Yes...And how, exactly did you come by this?"

Hastur kept her eye on the crossbow resting on the Duke's knee. And second he would grasp the weapon and shoot a barbed bolt into the creature's heart. The Duke tented his fingers and spread his hands towards the duo. "It appears that these kind-hearted citizens have wished to bring this note to my attention. Quite nice of them, dont you agree?"

Lord Witt tapped his cane against the floor twice and moved towards the bounty hunters. He kept his nose held high and looked down upon them his hand reached out and he placed an ice cold hand on Hastur's shoulder.

"Dont touch me, you undead filth!" she said shugging his hand away from her

The Lord smirked at her statement.

"The lady here tells me she was apart of the vanguard that assailed a vampire nest in the city. My city. Care to explain?"

"Yes, my Lord. Details on the attack are hazy as there were no survivors. But from what I can tell, The Militia broke into one of my manors, murdered the occupants, and ransacked the place like thieves."

"He admits it! He admits hes a vampire! You see my Lord!" Hastur blurted only to be met with the crossbow taking aim at her."

"Be seated and be silent, please." the lord said placing a finger in the trigger.

Hastur did as she was ordered. Concerned and very confused at his words and lack of action.

"And what of the letter? Care to elaborate upon this?"

The Lord stopped and leaned forward on his cane. "Indeed. Our shipments to my settlements have been assailed upon be troglodytes of my house that feel that their stomach is more important than the order I have created."

"A pity." Lord Du'fenn pursed his lips and set the crossbow into the crook of his arm. He pulled out a second piece of paper and began to scribble upon it. "I shall send an attachment of my own guard to oversee the next few deliveries. Hopefully this will quell the unrest and ensure your workers will fall in line next time."

"Thank you, My Lord."

Hastur's soul shattered.

"What in the Hells is going on here? Hes a damn vampire! Why are you not driving a stake into his heart?"

"Lady acolyte. Please. We are civilized men. We do not result to barbarism like such."

"He...is...a...fucking...vampire"

"Yes. He is. And he is also a very close friend that has helped fill the coffers of this city for the past four generations of my family and has over five thousand men and women under his beckon call that can and will defend the city at the nearest mention of conflict."

"I...I dont believe this."

"This is politics, my lady. We do things for the greater good. The good of the Hayak. The good of the people-"

"The good of his kind." Hastur sighed with disgust

Lord Du'Fenn leaned forward and adjusted himself in his chair and now, my friend. Comes the final piece of my business. Mr Thaelin. Shall you please show your neck?

The ranger did as he was ordered. The vampire lord looked at the marks and for once. A semblance of shame lowered his head. No longer looking down at the humans.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Lord Witt. But there are rules to your broodlings residing in Hayak. One of or tenents to our agreement was that no one. Human, dwarf, or halfling; be harmed or turned without my permission." The Ruler's tone and face went like stone. Solid and unyielding.

The undead noble tapped his fingers on the cane topper before he spoke. "I can assure you, Jonnathan. I had no knowledge of this. Before you reprimand me, you first should ask my thieves and would be assassins here?"

The Duke turned to the Ranger and waited impatiently for a response. The man cleared his throat. "What? I got no idea why it happened. All I was doing was drinking in a tavern, some girl approached me, and right when I thought I was going to get laid, she bites me. And not in the fun kinky way either. "

Hastur buried her face in her hand and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Did you have to recite what happened in that way?"

"Its the truth, aint it?"

Lord Witt paced around the two once more. He noted that when he got close to the half elf, she became tense and watched him closely. Fully expecting him to attack her like a rabid beast.

"The woman who attacked you, sir, what did she look like?"

Thaelin scratched at his cheek where his beard once was. "Pale skin-"

"-Most vampires are." chuckled the Duke. "Apologies. I couldn't help myself the chance at a laugh."

"Lets see. Red hair. She had cute freckles on her nose. And a nice pair of tits. Very big and round."

Hastur swatted the ranger on the back of the head. "of all the times you choose to be a vulgar bastard, you choose now?"

"Does this sound Familiar to you Lord Witt?"

"Not particularly. I'm sorry, My Lord."

Hastur then thought hard about her altercation with the vampire woman.

"Wait...I remember she said something to me. During the attack on the manor. It was about why she tried to kill him. Not out of hunger. It was revenge."

"Revenge?" The three men said in wonder

"Hey, I havn't killed a vampire in like...five. Six years, maybe. Kind of a long time to hold a grudge. Dont you think? Especially for a blood sucker. No offense, my Lord"

"None taken."

"She said you killed her friend Thaelin. Anything ringing a bell to you?"

"Nope. Last couple things ive killed recently was a direwolf last week harassing a farm, a Ghoul before that. And then there was a-

The cane struck the floor bords sharply as the Lord stopped in his tracks. "Did you say a ghoul?"

"Um...yeah? Picked a fight with me in an alley after chomping on a rich dude. I managed to kill it by stomping its head off. Gods that fight was awesome."

The vampire's shame welled greatly on him. "Lylla. That damn bitch. My Lord Im afraid I must admit that was one of my line. She and the ghoul had a bit of a longstanding kinship. When news of her death was made public, Lylla drove herself into madness as it appears."

"Upon the path to revenge, one must always did two graves" The Duke said digging out his pipe and stuffing it with tobacco." Well then. Since the culprit is dead. I must say that everything within the perimeters of the laws are tied up nicely."

The undead Lord rested his cane against the the back of Thaelin's chair and placed a cold hand on the shoulder of the two bounty hunters. Hastur shrugged the hand away from her. She leaned away from the vampire to the point she nearly fell out of her seat. "Dear sir and madame. You have the deepest apologies of mine and my house."

"There is nothing you can do or say that would ever make things better. Undead filth like you and your ilk have no place in this world."

"Oh, dear lady, but I can. Name it and it shall be yours."

"Even I must admit, miss Hastur, an offer from someone of our stature has no limits. It shall be done."

with quick thinking on the repercussions for their misadventure impersonating a noble of Hayak's elite, the ranger lowered his head to conceal his excitement. "Make us nobility."

"What?!" Hastur yelled nearly alerting the guards outside

Lord Jonnathan Du'Fenn cocked his head to the side. He was utterly caught off guard by the outburst. He looked at the ranger's smirk. He wanted to admit he was impressed.

"Done!" the Duke said. Retrieving more parchment from his desk and drafting up papers bestowing them their new titles.

For once Hastur was speechless. The world around her felt numb. She kept asking her self what just happened

"Dont look at me like that..." the man said feeling the full weight of Hastur's glare bead down upon him. "I just saved our asses. Oh, can you make me a knight? Its been my dream since I was a boy to be one."

"As you wish." Laughed the Duke "My, my. You two certainly are the most entertaining couple I have ever met."

"We are not a couple." grumbled Hastur.

The little Lord scratched away at the documents and poured a smudge of wax onto the bottom of the documents to give them their official decree.

"I present to you your papers. Welcome, Sir Thaelin Fridulf and Lady Hastur Nir-Vallen. I must admit the name sounds much better. Dont look so glum, Lady Nir-vallen. This may be a blessing in disguise. If you speak to my steward, he will draft a crest for you."

The page shook in her hands. Her eyes scanned over the words at least a dozen times. But it still looked so foreign to her.

'Lady Hastur Nir-Vallen'