Luck be Damned

8

^^ Lady Dewan ^^

— Alice —

It turned out that finding an actual Vampire wasn't that difficult, when you had hundreds of thousands of gold pieces to spend, as well as a full Ancient Dragon's Hoard of valuables.

I learned rather quickly that Vampires were not considered Monsters, to be killed on sight, but rather Demi-Humans or Cursed Beings, much like the Beastmen and Lycanthropes, and while suspicion was always upon them, they were not considered Evil by Nature, and so were generally left alone, so long as they only fed upon criminals and vagabonds; some cities even had a Contract with a Vampire, who would drain the prisoners who were to die anyway, -much like my plan for the prisoners in Grand Pillar,- in return for their own blood. Vampire blood apparently held enormously powerful regenerative abilities, perfect for potions and Elixirs of health and youth and even the removal of Curses, and was worth its weight in Platinum.

The copious amounts of misinformation about Vampires' weaknesses was most likely the doing of these vampires, who didn't want their weaknesses and strengths to become common knowledge.

Other Demihumans also intrigued me, of course. Beastmen were people with animal characteristics, such as people with cat ears and dog tails, usually as an effect of a curse on their bloodlines or a lycanthropic ancestor, -or both,- whereas Lycanthropes were people inflicted with a curse that turned them into Half-Man/Half-Beast, but did not make them crazy or violent, and had nothing to do with the moon. Most of them became Monster Hunters, as their physical prowess was legendary.

The vampire I'd essentially hired to turn my inmates was from the Icy Wastes to the far north, and I'd managed to convince them to work for me in return for the Art Pieces from the Dragon's Hoard, which were apparently National Treasures of their lost culture. Their people had ceased to be a world power and faded into obscurity almost three hundred years ago, but they were purportedly almost a thousand years old, and supposedly therefore very, very powerful.

They arrived in the middle of the day, in a brazen display of wealth and unapologetic Style, which I approved of immensely. Their valet, a tall elven man in a bespoke suit, bowed politely to me, before opening the door of the Pitch-Black carriage with golden trim.

"Good Day, Duchess Taurus. Please, enter." A silken, silvered, deep and feminine voice exited the carriage's shadowed depths, and a single ebony hand extended outward, beckoning with one long nail, decorated with silver paint of some sort, like metallic nail polish, in the designs of runes of wounding. Nasty, very dangerous weapons. And stylish, which I liked.

"I love your nails, Madame, function and style is always a glorious match. Next I imagine your dress will have pockets? You and I will get along famously, if you can stomach my Curious and Proud nature." I smiled, and stepped into the carriage without assistance. My eyes instantly adjusted to the interior, and I blinked slowly at the two women sitting across from me, one with Ebon skin and lovely white tattoos, -the one who'd spoken,- and another with a deep russet red-brown skin tone, which I'd never seen, though both had pointed ears. "Oh!... you are lovely, my dear, and I apologize for not greeting you! Hello to you both, and good morning!" I smiled kindly, and watched them both, carefully examining them for any details I could squeeze from the situation.

The russet woman smiled a little, but did not speak, while the ebon woman spoke again. "Indeed... I am Lady Dewan, and my companion is Lady Yurin. We appreciate your compliments, Duchess... and yes, my dress does have pockets." She smirked, and then the door closed behind me, and I took a seat as directed.

"Well, it is a genuine pleasure to meet you, Ladies Dewan and Yurin!" I nodded.

"Indeed, I agree... Moras, take us to the Vakthus?" She tapped the wall behind her calmly, and the carriage began moving swiftly forward. She found my gaze as I examined her, and smiled again, showing perfectly white teeth, but no fangs. "A penny for your thoughts, Young Duchess?" She asked.