Chapter 7: Blood Money

Assar

The sky was blanketed by dark storm clouds that roiled and threatened rain. Assar felt it was an apt comparison to his current mood. After waiting for his wounds to heal, Assar had made his way back through the forest and eventually, trudged into the town where he had initially accepted the contract to kill the vampire.

The streets were mostly empty due to the weather, and Assar enjoyed the quiet walk as he made his way over to the guild office. Most towns, villages, and cities had a guild office. This was the point that any of the numerous guilds offering their services sent the representatives for that region. Thankfully this town had a Monster hunting guild representative, as well as a banking representative. Assar never liked to travel with too much money in hand. He had learned earlier on in his career that when fighting monsters or tracking them, it was best to have only the essentials. He still frowned at the memory of when a granite scorpion had ripped his belt pack away, accidentally flinging it down into a river. Seeing all that money go to waste had taught Assar a painful lesson.

As he neared the guild office, he saw a small group of men and women waiting outside of the office. He sighed in frustration. At this point all he wanted was to get his bounty turned in, his record updated, his money deposited, and then followed by a nap in the Inn. Still, there wasn’t anything he could do. Blowing raspberry in the air he silently walked up behind the last man in line and resigned to wait until it was his turn.

It took another thirty minutes to reach the doors of the guild house and the entire time Assar kept his hood pulled up over his face. He didn’t feel like having to deal with the looks of fear, mixed with disgust when people recognized him as a half-blood.

“God, I hate lines!” Assar muttered under his breath as he finally was able to walk through the front door.

Once inside the temperature immediately rose, and Assar took in this particular guild house. The town itself wasn’t enormous, so there weren’t a large number of guild stations here. However, it was still the largest and most well-maintained building in the town. It was built entirely from hardened wood and there was a large fire roaring in the center of the room to keep the cold at bay. There was a small tavern where people could relax and drink while waiting, as well as a small restaurant. Assar’s Stomach growled at the smell of the food. It was especially tempting due to his heightened sense of smell, but he shook himself. Business first then food after.

There was a decent size crowd in the guildhall. Most of them turned to look at Assar as he made his way across the floor and over to the monster hunter's booth. Assar knew that he looked like a mess. He still had his hood pulled over his head, but his clothes and armor were still covered in blood. His large sword paired with the bloody sack in his other hand gave off an air of a man who did not have time to waste.

Assar stopped in front of the booth as the man who was currently collecting his pay, turned and nearly ran into Assar. The man yelped in surprise and quickly looked up angrily at Assar. Whatever angry retort he had planned died in his throat when he saw under Assar’s hood.

Assar saw the recognition in the man’s eyes and growled, “We have a problem?”

The man’s face turned white and he shook his head. He rushed over to a table where a group of men were sitting. Assar watched out of the corner of his eye as the man began pointing at him while saying something to his companions.

Assar had a feeling trouble might be brewing but decided he didn’t really care. Instead, the bored call of, “Next!” from the clerk behind the desk prompted him to walk forward.

“Are you a licensed monster hunter or are you a freelancer?” the clerk asked, not even looking up from his paperwork.

“Licensed.”

“Tattoo?”

The tattoo in question was how the guilds identified their members. Upon entry, all members were each given a tattoo. As time went on more detail was added to it to signify accomplishments, time in the guild, and areas of expertise. Assar pulled up his sleeve and exposed his right forearm. The tattoo on Assar’s arm was extremely intricate.

He had been a monster hunter for twenty years at this point, having received his tattoo at the age of eighteen. It was almost unheard of for someone to survive being a monster hunter for so long. Most either quit while they were ahead or died.

The clerk sighed and looked out at Assar’s tattoo to verify its authenticity. Assar watched as the clerk looked away and then jerked his head back doing a double-take. He then hurriedly looked up to Assar’s face and leaned back as far as he could in his chair.

“You’re-“

“Tired and hungry, yes,” Assar quickly said cutting him off.

Not giving the man a chance to speak Assar lifted the bloody sack up, and plunked it down right in front of the clerk. He then tossed the ears of the thralls down next to them.

“The contract was for thirty gold pieces, but per guild rules, I am owed 50% more to be covered by the guild as the monster in question was of a higher caliber than contracted. Add on the ears of the thralls, and that should bring my total owed amount to fifty gold. I will take five upfront, the rest will be deposited into the banking guild directly.”

“Uh...uh... yes, um, of course!”

Assar watched as the clerk who was now nervously glancing at Assar untied the strings of the sack and looked inside.

He jerked back in disgust and asked, “Ugh, um class of this um vampire?”

“High, blood-crazed. The victims it kidnapped were turned, I ended them. The infection the group would have caused has been rooted out. Now hand over the money.”

The clerk reached under the desk and pulled out five gold coins which he hurriedly passed over to Assar, who in turn swept the coins off the table and into a pouch at his side.

Assar looked back at the clerk, and said, “Make sure to annotate my records.”

Without waiting for a reply, Assar turned around and intended to walk out and go to the nearby inn. It seemed fate had other plans for him. When he turned around the man who had run over to his companions was now standing with his friends, blocking the door. They all stared menacingly at Assar, who sighed in resignation.

The lead man who was nearly as tall as Assar was the first to speak. “Stop right there half breed! You think that hood there will stop us from seeing that infection mark?”

The original man who had seen Assar spoke up next saying, “Your kind ain’t welcome here, half breed! You think any decent people would trust a half-breed vampire who wants to drain us dry in our sleep?”

The rest of their group voiced similar opinions and soon enough the entire room was watching the exchange. Assar felt the growing number of eyes staring at him. In the past, Assar may have lashed out in anger at these men, but at this point in his life, he was more exasperated than anything else.

It was obvious in his tone of voice he wasn’t worried about their threats in the slightest as he calmly said, “To be honest I don’t give a damn what you think. I’m only going to give you all this one chance. I’m tired and want to get cleaned up and go to sleep. You have ten seconds to move before I throw you all out of my way.”

The leader of the group’s face turned red with anger and he stepped forward hand on his hilt. The monster hunter’s guild clerk rushed over with his hands up yelling, “Stop, Stop! That is Assar Sanguine hunter! Don’t start any trouble for the sake of the gods!”

The entire room fell silent instantly at the clerk’s words. Though Assar was a private man, he had certainly made a name for himself. Just about every monster hunter new or seasoned, licensed or unlicensed, knew his name and reputation. Even most members of the other guilds who worked with the monster hunter’s guild knew his name but more especially his title. It was his official guild title.

Every monster hunter was assigned the title of hunter, followed by their most prestigious kill. Assar was one of the only members of the guild across all the contents in history to have ever come face to face with a blood-crazed Sanguine vampire and emerged victoriously. No one else who currently was an active hunter bore the title.

The angry men blocking Assar’s path hastily looked at one another and then quickly stepped aside. Assar grunted in satisfaction and strode past the men purposely not making eye contact with anyone. As he cleared the doorway leading out into the streets, he heard the excited whispering behind him as he let the door shut behind him.

Grunting under his breath he then said to himself, “It’s time for that nap.”