Chapter Two: Faeries Wear Boots

The rain had kicked up from a gentle spray to a full-on downpour by the time D had reached the castle. He was soaked past his armor and to his skin. His shoulders felt heavy under his coat and pauldrons, and he could feel that his core temperature had dropped.

Left Hand spoke up, "D, you should get inside. You've been in this weather all damned day."

"If something attacks, we'll be fine." D dismounted from his horse. While the rain dropped his body temperature and metabolism, it was more of a bother than anything truly debilitating, like Sunlight Syndrome. He was uncomfortable, not incapacitated, but considering the carbuncle was attached to him, if anything was out of the normal, the thing fretted.

At least one of us has a sense of self-preservation, he thought with a slight smirk as he approached the large wooden doors that served to the entrance of the castle. The drawbridge itself had been down, but the doors themselves were closed. Up close, the place reeked of magic, which smelled like ozone and smoke blended together. The dark stone walls that made up the castle had veins of a white mineral running through them and had a schiller on them.

D lifted his right hand to knock on the door, but it opened before his knuckles could touch the heavy wood.

Standing there was the courier that had delivered D the message. Now she was dressed in a simple black dress with a white apron. The once wild black curls were coiled up into a bun on the top of her head, and the knife points of her ears were poking out from the bun. Her icy blue eyes had elliptical pupils that roamed up and down D's form before her cherry red lips spread into a smile that had slightly elongated canines in both the top and bottom of her mouth.

She doesn't feel like a Noble though, he thought as he clenched his right hand into a fist so he wouldn't draw the sword on his back.

She bobbed into a perfect curtsey and said in a breathy voice with that same lyrical accent the old man had, "Welcome to Urquhart Castle, Vampire Hunter. The Kinslayer isn't here at the moment, but I have been given instructions to bring you inside once you have arrived."

"Thank you." D nodded as she stepped back, and he entered the threshold of the castle.

She fell into step with him and clasped her hands behind her back, causing her skirt to sway against her hips. "I am Isobel."
"D," the dhampir replied as he kept watch on her in the corner of his eye.

She tilted her head as she continued to smirk at him. "It took you long enough to get here."

"How did you arrive back so quickly?" D looked down the hallway he was being led through. It was made from that same shimmering stone, except the walls and floor were polished to the point where it looked almost like gemstones instead of just stone. There was a painting on the wall of a tall man and woman. Their features were almost identical, except the young woman's face had rounder cheeks and larger eyes. Both had violet eyes and long hair that looked black at first glance, but D could see that the artist gave their locks crimson highlights. They also had tiny grins on their face and their eyes were alight even in the painting. They also had the same ears that reached high points from their hair.

She faced D and placed a finger to her lips. He noted it was filed to a sharp point and thicker than a human nail, but not quite a Noble's claw. She tilted her head. "That is my little secret. The Kinslayer did not tell me I needed to bring you with me, so I did not."

D heard the crackling of a fire and smelled something burning, but it was not a familiar fuel for fire that he'd been acquainted with. He also heard male voices talking to each other. A deep, rich lilting voice said, "Your move, Coinneach."

"Damn it, Angus, I forfeit." This voice was still male, but softer, and the accident not as pronounced.

A female voice, who also had that same rich accident, said, "Do not be so quick to give in, my love. You can get out of this."

"How?" the second male asked.

The first male replied, "Do you wish to show him, Gwendolyn?"

"It is more entertaining if I watch him figure it out for himself," the female replied with a slight chuckle.

Isobel turned down another corridor that led to an open room with a fireplace with a roaring fire. There was a table in front of a fire with a full set of chess pieces on it. One of the men sitting at the table was the one from the painting. Across from him was a Noble; D could sense him up close and smell the blood on him.

But it's not human blood, the vampire hunter thought with a frown.

The Noble was tall and broad shouldered, with chestnut brown hair falling into his face. His ears were also pointed, but it was the broad, bat like points that D was used to. The Noble looked up from his chess pieces and frowned at D.

Isobel bobbed into a curtsey and gestured towards D. "This is the vampire hunter that the Kinslayer bade me to find."

"She never said that they were a dhampir," the Noble said as he looked at the man from the painting.

The man from the painting sighed and shook his head. "I did not expect that he would answer her summons. She did not even pay an advance."

"She didn't want her currier to be robbed or worse on the Frontier," D said as he straightened to his full height.

On the couch was a woman with snow white hair and the sort of curves that even made D notice. She also sported knife-point ears and had alabaster skin a shade darker than her hair. Crystal blue eyes with elliptical pupils raked over D's form. A slow smile curved lips the color of ripe raspberries.

"Mayhap little Bronach is not as frigid as we all feared. Please, take a seat." She extended her pale hand to the seat on the deep plum colored upholstery beside her.

The man from the painting stiffened and fixed his violet gaze upon her. D noticed that his pupils were round, more normal like a human's. "Gwen. I have not extended hospitality to him."

"Mayhap you should. Cheer your little girl for her . . . fine eye for talent." Those crystalline blue eyes locked on D as she continued to smirk rapaciously at him. "I am Gwendolyn. My scowling consort is your employer's father, Laird Coinneach Coilltearachd." She gestured at the frowning Noble. "And this is Lord Angus Campbell, the Noble who presides over this territory."

So, this is one of the Nobles that she mentioned. Her letter said "another Noble" was attacking the people here. Is this man an innocent like Mayerling was? Or is his closeness to the family blinding this Kinslayer?

"Call me D," he said as he moved to stand by the fire.

Campbell stood up from his seat and gestured to another chair that was currently vacant. "Please, sit until my niece returns."

Niece? Is she a dhampir as well, or the offspring of one of these beings here? D thought as he felt Left Hand shift in his palm. He clenched his fist to make sure that the thing didn't start talking in front of a potentially hostile audience.

"I have not extended hospitality to him," Coinneach said in a low voice.

Gwendolyn smiled, flashing perfectly white teeth as her eyes gleamed like ice. "Your daughter has. I believe the little bastard is forgetting her place. Her father is too lenient towards her."

Campbell's gray eyes flashed crimson as he projected an aura of bloodlust and fear that filled the room. D's hand went to his sword as the Noble stood to his feet and walked over to Gwendolyn. "Call her a bastard again, Gwendolyn."

Her eyes flashed an icy blue as the temperature in the room dropped. D could see his breath in little clouds of steam as the rainwater in his coat began to freeze. She stood up as well, ice crystals blossoming where her feet touched. A rime of frost began to spread across the floor and up the walls.

"Do I need to remind you why you are the only Nobility left in Scotland, Angus?" Gwendolyn asked as her skin began to glow with a cold, blue light.

Coinneach lifted his hand and sighed. "Enough, both of you."

"Oh, Gwendolyn's having a bit of a tiff again, is she?" a low, husky feminine voice with that same rich accent called out from the hallway.

D turned from the argument before him and saw a tall girl whose black and violet lined cloak was dripping with ice. A streak of mud decorated her left cheek, and her heavy boots were crusted with it. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a tight braid revealing the high points of her ears, but blonde strands framed her face.

She approached with a steady gate and gestured with her thumb behind her. "Did you know that someone left a cyborg horse just wandering around on the castle grounds? I took it to the stables."

"Lord and Lady, who would bring a cyborg mount here?" Gwendolyn's nose scrunched up as she shook her head.

The newcomer tilted her head and raised her right eyebrow. "Probably someone who's not from around here."

Campbell smirked as he gestured to D. "I believe your vampire hunter got your summons."

"Oh, excellent!" She flashed a smile as she approached D with a hand extended. "I'm Bronach."

"The Kinslayer," D said as he looked at her hand and back at her face. She had the same large, violet eyes as the woman in the painting, but her hair color was all wrong. Her face was also leaner with higher cheek bones.

Bronach let her hand drop as she kept her eyebrow quirked upward. "I knew that would get your attention."

"Yet you have no Noble blood, but he claims you as his niece." D gestured to Campbell, who frowned slightly.

Campbell said, "I was married to her aunt."

"Which is why he is the only Noble left in Scotland," Coinneach said.