“Who are you, friend?”
The man on the table whispered, “We’re all dead. He’s here. Sir Danton has killed us.”
The light of the lantern swung back to shine on the stranger’s face. He was smiling now with a toothy grin, exposing four long sharp canine teeth, still partially drenched in blood.
Night was falling over the mountains as Tanyth Veridian rode his horse through the moderately deep snow. When he reached the other side of the mountain pass, he could see the inn in the distance. As he drew closer to the place, he could feel the cold embrace of death upon it. A thick white smoke bellowed from its two chimneys, each located on both ends of the building. Whatever death he was sensing must not have occurred long ago. He made his way to the front of the inn and tied his house to the hitching post most protected from the weather under the eves of the wrap-around porch roof. The from door was slightly opened, and he pushed it all the way open with ease. He stepped into the common room and closed the door behind him. The room was warm and well lit. The sconces and braziers still burned, and the two fireplaces still contained roaring fires. Lying across the bar from back to front was a big man with blood dripping from a neck wound, He was obviously the innkeeper by the looks of his white apron. The broken bottle clutched in his right hand said that he had tried to fight off his attacker. Tanyth visited the first table closest to the door and pulled back one of the dead by grasping a tuft of his hair. The man’s eyes were opened and fixed in a gaze of terror.
“Well, you are no good to ask.” Tanyth said as he let the man fall back to his death position. Several of the men in the place laid strewn about, and one was flat on the floor not far from the entrance, but he kept finding himself returning to the innkeeper. He decided he would try him. He made his way through the dead to the innkeeper and raised his head. The wound on his neck stopped trickling for a moment. The man’s expression was no nearly as terrified as the first man. “You’ll do.” Tanyth grasped the man’s head and let his energy flow. The innkeeper lurched and coughed. He sputtered back away from Tanyth.
“Who in the two hells are you?” He looked around frantically, brandishing his broken bottle. “What happened? Where is that vampire?”
“So, there was a blood feeder here? Since you are looking for him, I don’t suppose you would know where he was headed next. Seems I have wasted my time and energy. If you know anything useful to me, then speak.”
The innkeeper stiffened a bit, “His name was Sir Danton. From the armor he wore, I would say he was one of the king’s kin.”
“Ah, so you do have some useful information after all.”
“He was so quick. I tried to stop him but he was so quick.”
“Was that everything you know of him?”
“I thought blood feeders were a thing of the past. How is it he came into being?”
“That’s all I guess. Go back to your slumber.” The innkeeper fell dead again immediately back onto the counter.
Tanyth looked around and then hesitated a moment. “I hate to let all these good men go to waste. I should bring you all back from the realm of the dead to serve me, but I am afraid that would be a conflict with the dark one Cassany is training, a pity.” He went behind the counter, took out his blade and severed the left hand of the innkeeper. Then he reached behind the counter onto the liquor shelf and took two full clear bottles. He sniffed them to make sure they were the proof he needed, and then he emptied the contents on the floor, being sure to splash some of it over the dead. He backed his way to the entrance and tossed the empties into the inn. With a snap of his fingers he ignited a spark which landed in a pool of alcohol. The fire spread quickly and soon engulfed the inn.
“Show me the way.” He said to the severed hand, which burst into life at his touch. He dropped the hand onto the ground and it ran off, running on the fingertips like a demented spider. “Slowly now.” Tanyth called after it and the hand slowed down. Tanyth crawled into his saddle after releasing his horse from the hitching post and pulled the reins for the horse to follow. The beast let out a grunt that ended with a jet of smoke and flame from its nostrils. Its dead eyes fixed on the severed hand and Tanyth Veridian was off after the blood feeder. As he rode away from the inn, he left the place behind him completely engulfed in flames as large plumes of grey smoke rose up into the cold winter air.
Chapter 12: Reunion
Thessa hurried back to the inn and into her room where Sarren was sitting in the window licking the blood off her fur. “What did you do?” Thessa asked.
He had to die. What a barbarian!
“You have put us both in danger. People saw you. If you come out of here with me again, someone will recognize you.” Thessa began to strip the bloody clothes and wash.
Wait, why do you have blood on you?
“I brought the man back.”
Why would you do such a thing? I must go back.
“You will stay put here in this room. I did it so you would not be hunted down and killed. Now, you are just dangerous.”
She gazed at the white in Sarren’s fur, “I wonder.” She reached down and touched the white fur and commanded it to true black. The fur changed. “Hmm, there you go. All black now.
