The demoness hummed while she worked, she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, almost dancing as she scribbled out her list of high priority targets. Whereas Demiurge, she noticed, liked to sit while he wrote, she liked to stand. 'Demi says I've got all this extra energy to expend, and that's why I do it. Maybe he's right?' She pondered the question while she wrote the list of people she'd need to talk to. The paper she wrote on was beside another document filled with many, many names, specifically it was the list of faculty members at the Academy. The names she wrote were those who would work most closely with Inta.
Finding out who that was, was easy. She just simply got a list of departments and got the one Inta was in, and a list of people who worked there. His teacher assistant or 'TA' as they were typically called, was near the top of the list. But after that were supervisors, colleagues, and students.
'Pulling his records should be easy, where he came from before he started teaching… of course finding out he was a vampire was surprising. A real sanguimancy practitioner… even Evileye doesn't do that. Most vampires don't.' Vanysa contemplated that one, most didn't do it because the cost of the magic was too high, you had to have a steady supply of blood to work with, so you either used your own, or somebody else's. It was one thing to teach that at the Academy when there was plenty of animal blood available at a relatively low cost.
'But to get good enough to be a teacher, he had to have a lot of practice. A 'lot' of practice, and there just weren't that many ways to get that good before the war. As soon as I find out where he came from and finish talking to people in Arwintar, it looks like I'll be taking a little field trip.' Vanysa felt a shiver of excitement at that, 'Maybe I can get Demi to take a holiday with me for a few days while I check him out?' The pleasant thought made her only bounce more as she worked, and before she knew it she was done with her list, right down to leaving space for any other references to other people that might be brought up that weren't in the directory.
When she stood looking at the results of her work, Vanysa turned a thought at last to the maid demon who was the cause of her new assignment. While Vanysa had ample occasion to spend time with 'most' of the Pleiades over the years and would even consider some of them to be friends, such as Lupusregina or Solution, Entoma was another matter. She was the most introverted and distant of them all, and like CZ, Solution, and Lupusregina, she worked outside of the tomb and had now for years. 'Still… I really hope this doesn't lead to her gett'n hurt. She's still master's servant, an he won't like that. If this Inta bugger fucker's a badn' for her, I'll skin'm alive an turn'im inta mah next rug, make'is flesh inna roach food while he's still livin, an turn'is bones ta powder while they still covered'n flesh and he's still breath'n!' Dire torture after dire torture came to mind for several more minutes before she finally had another thought.
"But if'n he's a right good'n, well, Entoma'd make a right nice look'n bride." The demoness clucked her tongue in self reproach, forced herself to focus, and made ready to leave for Arwintar.
"So we're not bringing any servants?" Inta asked when he sat on Entoma's couch, she was in the next room getting ready, so he stretched out at his ease, the old orc who served as her butler was accustomed to Inta by now and attended to him with the same quiet reserve he always did. Offering a cup of cattle blood as a casual drink on a silver platter and standing by to take it away when it was finished.
"No, this is supposed to be a friendly mission, some humility in a small party to establish friendly relations is all we're going to be doing. A velvet glove to hide the mailed fist. Once we've negotiated, we'll come home again and it's back to the routine of knocking some knowledge into some stubborn young heads. This'll be easy. I'm an arachnid, they're arachnids, even if they're scorpions instead, we should still have a diplomatic edge!" She called out from in the next room.
Inta thought about that, "So how can I help? I'm a vampire, don't they have prejudices against the undead?" He called out the question, but Entoma had a ready answer.
"They're demihumans, not humans. They won't have the same prejudices as humanity used to." Entoma's reply was confident to the point of dismissal, but it did nothing to reassure Inta.
"Entoma, I adore you, but you can be very naive. Demihumans may not be humans, but the hatred for the undead runs deep, and it crosses racial lines. Beastmen in Rargnan's kingdom hated necromancy just as much as the Slane Theocracy ever did, and while the Abelion Hills region wasn't quite as bad as the rest, they still didn't exactly welcome the undead, most of them would have killed a necromancer or destroyed a vampire as quickly as anyone else."
Entoma didn't answer him right away, "Are you saying you don't want to come with me?" She finally asked.
Inta could hear the hurt in her voice and he immediately denied it. "Of course not! I just don't want to be an impediment to your success! I wouldn't ever want to be anything but helpful to you!" He exclaimed with vigor, and even though he couldn't see her, he could feel her settling down.
"I-I see. I guess you make a valid point, but you could just mask yourself as a human, just wear a cosmetic ring to hide your eye color, or-" Entoma stopped speaking.
'Oh no. Oh no… what is she going to say, she's thought of something, this always ends weird.' Inta thought as his lifeless heart threatened to start pounding in his chest.
"You could wear a mask! I have lots of them! You can already use magic, wear one to hide your face and you're just my magic casting bodyguard!" She clapped her golden hands together and the clang echoed all the way to his bones.
"I do like guarding your body…" He muttered, and she laughed from the next room.
"Don't be lewd! I mean, not now. Definitely be lewd later!" She shouted back, and her manservant politely excused himself.
"Right ah, I don't know about that." Inta answered with a little frown.
"You don't want to be lewd later?" She asked, "I don't think I believe you."
"No! Not that! The mask! The mask, woman!" He exclaimed.
"Oh. Good. Well I do, just trust me and get in here." She answered back in a manner that could only be described as 'daring'. The golden hand stuck through the doorway with her body just out of view and her index finger curled toward the entrance.
"I can't say no to that." He said and pushed himself up from where he sat, leaving the now half empty cup behind, he went to where she waited in her room, the webbing that made up her bed was swaying in the breeze, and seemingly out of nowhere a series of masks appeared on the wall.
'Bug masks.' He realized, each one comprised of different features, and he could feel the magic pulsing through their bodies. Some were elves, some were human, a few were orcs, and others were races he didn't even recognize. They ran the gamut from the common to the bizarre, and took up the entirety of the wall.
"Normally I would suggest something human, but not this time… no, no we need something else." Entoma stuck out her hand and held it over each mask, humming to herself as she took step by step down the wall of her bedroom, "No… no… too flashy, too showy, too subtle, too ugly, too sexy, no… no… no…" She was clearly talking to herself, so he remained quiet until she stopped. "Yes! This is the right one for you!" She said and took it off the wall, the legs spread out, ready to cling to whatever face it had to hide.
Inta took it in hand and looked at the face, it was the face of a very dark skinned elf. "Why this one?" He asked while tracing his hand over the features. It felt strangely real. As if there really were high cheekbones and a sharp, slender nose.
"Because these types of elves aren't found anywhere near where we're going. They're from the far, far east, beyond Mict'aratz. They also have power that this one mimics, which as a consequence will make you just a little bit warmer, perfectly hiding your vampirism. Any use of magic can be explained by you being from another race they're not familiar with. Instant problem solver." Entoma explained, and Inta gave it a shrug.
"Alright, fine, I'll try it on." He said and turning the bug around, he put it against his face. The legs closed in and tore through his flesh. "Ow!" He yelled as the legs dug in and held fast, but the pain was gone a moment later, his skin darkened and the eyes of the bug opened. "Huh, I didn't expect to be able to see through it…"
"It wouldn't be worth much as a mask if you couldn't." Entoma retorted.
"I suppose not," Inta said while he looked his body up and down, "I don't feel different." He commented.
"No, this isn't a transformation, just a disguise. You're still very much yourself, whether the mask is on, or off. That's something you helped me learn." She replied and patted his false cheek. "Now if you're ready?"
"Yes, yes. Let's go." Inta answered, and waited while she cast her message spell.
AN: As a show of appreciation for my two new p8tr30n supporters, here's an additional chapter. (There are 51 total) and a pdf will be on the p8tr30n tomorrow. Also please feel free to check out my original works on am azon such as 'Who Endures' and 'Evolution of a Nobody'. I've published nine books so far and there are many more coming.