Chapter 23 - The new Home [5/5]

Scared, he jumped back. Not a moment too early, because the earth gave in and laid bare a staircase. She led into the depths and walked in the dark.

"Please, after you."

Vex gave him a scathing look, but obeyed. There was no point in talking to the vampire. It would only end painfully for him.

So he slowly groped his way into the depths on the earthly wall, while he was clearly aware of Arken's gaze in his neck. To his surprise, his gaze penetrated the darkness effortlessly once he was out of the sunlight. At the end of the stairs, the corridor made a sharp right bend. He walked up to it and peered around the corner. A few steps further, the corridor led into a candlelit room.

Maya pushed him further from behind and he stumbled towards the room. In it were several shelves full of bottles, barrels and hip-high glasses, filled with a dark liquid. Vex's eyes widened as the realization overcame him. Blood!

On the other side of the room, a woman stepped through a door. She went to the counter and folded her hands expectantly in front of an open book. A night-blue cloak wrapped her and also covered her hair. For a moment, Vex thought she had another vampire in front of her, but her eyes were brown instead of red, and she smelled like a human being, he noted in amazement. It was a sweet smell of life, of fresh, pulsating blood. Uncertain he looked at his companions.

"How can I be of service to you?" asked the woman in a smoky voice.

"My blood supply in the castle is running low," said Arken. "Make sure this changes. And since we have grown, "he pointed to Vex and Maya, " we need three times as much."

The woman bowed her head. "The payment ..."

"As always, Conan will do it."

I wanted to point out to you that the price of silver has fallen again, sir. Unfortunately, we can no longer accept it as a means of payment."

Arken growled. He looked as if he would rush at her at any moment, but the woman stopped with an uninvolved expression on her face and showed no fear.

"It's time for some of my skeletons to haunt the royal mines," he hissed, taking a deep breath. "Tell Conan to pay you in Gil for once.«

The woman nodded. Vex couldn't help but be amazed to see from one to the other. He didn't expect Arken to be so compliant. He looked suspiciously at the woman. If his senses weren't troubling him, she was just a simple person. How come she was obviously dealing in human blood and not intimidated by a vampire who could easily kill her?

"May I give you a few more bloodsheds as food for the way?" She pointed to a shelf with plumply filled drinking tubes. »Best vintage, ideal ripening period, not curdled.«

»Three tubes.« Arken pulled out a leather bag under his cloak, in which it clambered promisingly. She took three of the drinking tubes and placed them on the counters.

"That's 270 Gil.«

Vex opened his mouth. 270 Gil! This would have allowed you to buy a small property in Kors! At least the woman certainly did not sell the human blood below value. Arken seemed to feel the same way, for he stared at her in disbelief.

"Last time it cost half as much!"

The woman flipped through the book and drove down a list with her finger. "Your last time was twelve years ago, sir. Due to the low demand for human blood, we had to significantly boost our prices so that the business remains profitable."

Arken snorted disparagingly. "As if you were not performing your blood rituals one way or another! Better be glad that someone is buying your blood at all!" She shrugged her shoulder and closed the book. "We are human and we need money to live. If it is not worth it, we close our office in Kant. Then you must fly to Asdion every time you need blood."

Growling, Arken threw her purse on the counter, grabbed a tube and went to the door.

"Come quickly, or I'll forget myself.Maya also took a tube, Vex did it to them. The woman smiled at him. "Soon again, Lord."

Who was that?" asked Vex, almost catching up with Arken.

"How is it that she sells blood as a human being?"

This was a member of this money-hungry pack that scolds children of the apocalypse," Arken said. "Don't ask me what they believe, but they're sacrificing people to their dark blood rituals. They know about us vampires and supply us with blood."

Disgusted, Vex smashed his face. What kind of sick people did they have to be? "Why do we buy the blood if we can get it for ourselves?"

We just can't.« Annoyed, Arken stopped in the middle of the stairs and turned to him and Maya. "We can only suck fresh blood from people. However, it actually takes a special ritual to take it from them and prepare it in such a way that it remains drinkable. The children of the Apocalypse have developed it and keep the secret well. You can torture them any way you want, they won't reveal anything."

Vex didn't want to know how many times Arken had tried to squeeze the knowledge out of the cult members. There was not much sympathy for such people. If one were to learn of their shameful activities, they would have been certain of the death penalty anyway and Vex as a member of the city guard would have carried it out without hesitation.

He clenched his hands into fists. What these children of the Apocalypse did was an outrage against human existence. Vampires at least took the blood out of a self-preservation instinct, but these people only did this to their fellow human beings in order to be able to perform their barbaric rituals and to enrich themselves along the way.

To Vex's relief, they came back to the sunlight. Better to sizzle under the terrible rays of the sun than to stay with this woman. Behind them, the entrance closed as if by itself.

"And now?" exhaustion spread through him. The further the day progressed, the more tired he became. He wanted nothing more than to return to the castle and fall into his coffin. The thought frightened him. The idea of a bed was suddenly not as comfortable as it should be. No, it was a coffin that his innermost being was now longing for. Arken's grin took on predatory traits. "Now we give it to him. The mayor paid a visit."