My Vampire Assistant - Chapter 252

From up close, I could see that I did a mistake in evaluating the riders’ mounts. They weren’t horses—they were two white deer the size of the horses. One was a stag, and another a doe, hornless and twice as cute.

The stag rider was obviously the leader of the two. It was in his everything: in his posture, in his self-assured and calm expression, in the amount of trifles on his suit of armour that appeared to be made of tree bark. Unlike Staghead, though, he looked not like a mix of a human with animal, but like a stereotypical fantasy elf—pointy-eared, long-haired, fair and handsome. Especially next to his partner. He also radiated power, one that was similar to Staghead’s, but more. More of it, more of its intensity… no, I didn’t think Bob and JJ would be able to take him on even together. I didn’t think we all will be able to take this guy on.

The other man was much more like the fey I’ve seen before, and at the same time, not. Unlike them, he wasn’t beautiful, pretty or even homely. He was ugly as fuck.. His face looked like it was made by a mad vivisector by cutting two ugly as sin fey in half and sewing the halves together.

The left one was that of a toad-man, and the right must’ve been from a fish. Both had bulging eyes and wide mouths. One half had warts, another had scales. Neither had any hair, and both just had holes where the hose should be. He was also clad in bark armour, but his was much simpler. At least it hid the rest of his body from hurting my eyes.

The riders stopped several steps away from us, but didn’t hurry to dismount. They didn’t hurry to attack us either. Instead, Toad-Fish declared in a surprisingly clean and pleasant voice, “The first leader of the Wild Hunt, the Walker of Seasons, the Unerring Arrow, the bearer of many more titles that he doesn’t care to have listed, Yredemnul has arrived! Bow before him, mortals, true kin and the abominations to the natural order alike.”

And all that without a single pause or a falter in the tone or the face of the herald. He didn’t even look at any of us in particular, just stared straight ahead.

I mentally shrugged and made a forty-five degrees bow. No idea how respectful and appropriate that was, but any deeper, and it would’ve become a gymnastic exercise. Eve did the same. Bob’s bow was more of a deep nod. JJ bowed with the most grace, despite having Staghead’s neck in one hand, but the flicker of amusement in his eyes made the gesture seem a bit less like that of respect.

Yredemnul didn’t seem offended, though. If anything, he appeared to be amused as well. He gave each of us a long look, before dropping his gaze on Staghead, who kept suspiciously silent all that time.

“Why, what a surprise, Jehael. You, and in the hands of a vampire.” The last word was spoken with a mild distaste. “And your hunting team is all there too… those that are still alive. Hmm… It seems like a situation that warrants a deep investigation. The intruders to our sacred lands, you appear to have some sense and respect in you, at least, so I will include your opinions in it, too. But don’t bother to introduce yourself. I’m not in a habit of remembering the names of unimportant people.”

I couldn’t decide if this guy was more of a snob, or a bored snob. There was something in him… Some hidden irony, some spark in his eyes that showed that this was just all a joke for him. At the same time, I didn’t feel any malice coming from him, either. Yet.

As it was, I should’ve been more offended by his manner of addressing me than I was, but I wasn’t. I also couldn’t help but note that he didn’t even tell JJ to let Staghead go…

“He stole an important and expensive relic from us, and wrought a lot of carnage on innocent and unrelated people in the process!” Eve snarled, bubbling with anger as if Staghead’s crime happened just now and not weeks ago. “And he intended to steal another relic, but we caught him here.”

“Robbery? And in plain sight, I suppose?”

“Exactly.”

“An outrage!” Yredemnul brought a hand to his heart. “Jehael, we are noble fey, not gremlins! Why would you want to rudely rob someone instead of elegantly stealing? It is certainly a crime that warrants punishment. Do you have anything to say in your defence?”

“These relics… Lord Yredemnul… are very important for a certain idea of mine. And what does it matter if I steal them or take them by force? Neither of them are our kin, so what do they matter?” Staghead bit out. He looked much less amused with the situation than his boss—and Yredemnul was Staghead’s boss, wasn’t he? First leader of the Wild Hunt, second leader of the Wild Hunt…

“Well, that’s a valid point, too.” Yredemnul nodded thoughtfully. “But I’m curious now. What is that idea that made you, Jehael of the Autumn and an avid hater of the outside world, step out of Under Hills?”

“It’s private, Lord Yredemnul, and is unrelated to the topic of the intruders’ crimes!”

“I decided what is related and what’s not.” Yredemnul’s tone, calm and relaxed before, suddenly turned several degrees colder. An amused and cruel smile danced on his lips. “For example, I can decide that the iron dust I found added to my meals to be related to today’s events. Or the arrow that mysterious and very silent, even after all the interrogating, assassin shot at me. But for now, I just decide that your… “idea”… is worth my curiosity. So do sate it.”

The paler Staghead’s face became after hearing Yredemnul’s words, the brighter our near future looked like.