“Savta, I need you to advance me 13,000 Denars.”
The old Healer’s eyes bulged when she heard the amount. You could buy a small house in the outskirts with that kind of money. Hoping it wasn’t what she feared, she carefully probed him with a question, “That… is a lot of money, what is the reason, child?”
“It’s personal…”
“You will have to do better than that to advance half a year of your commission!”
Exill hesitated, he knew Savta’s stance on slaves. She would never advance money for the purpose of purchasing them. In the end he chose to lie:
“I have accrued a gambling debt.”
“I warned you before not to take me for a fool. Gambling? Bah! All you do is train, work, and sleep. You’re trying to buy a slave. Did you lose your fucking mind, boy?” Savta bellowed, her face twisted in anger and disappointment.
“I’m sorry, but I will be purchasing her. With or without your help.”
She prodded the boy’s chest with her bony finger, wanting to slap some sense into him, “Her? Now I truly know you’ve lost your mind. Chasing after a slave’s skirt when there’s a perfectly fine girl next to you!” Savta scoffed at the audacity of the boy, “Let’s assume for a moment that you put yourself into crippling debt… how do you even plan to pay it back without my help?”
Exill heard the cold logic in her words and for a brief moment, he hesitated. ‘Why am I going to such lengths to save this woman I barely know?’ Followed by, ‘Can I even afford the 13,000 Denar loan?’
Filled with sudden doubt, he didn’t even hear the old Healer’s lecture about how irrational he was being. Instead, he tried to pinpoint the source of this sudden urge to save this vampire he barely knew… ‘Is it because of the thread of fate?’ It felt like he was on the verge of identifying it.
Savta approached him, breaking his concentration with spittle flying in his face, “… and mark my words boy, the moment you buy that slave, you are no longer welcome in this Clinic.”
Without warning, all his doubts and reservations melted away. Instead, he felt strangely relieved from the confrontation. As much as he was grateful for the experiences gained here, living in fear of being kicked out was no way to live.
Exill went up to the attic to collect his belongings. He stood there in the dark for who knows how long, second guessing his resolve. It was as if a strange compulsion was propelling him forward to make this decision and he was no longer in control. It was not too late to step away from the precipice and enjoy the quiet life, but the Diviner’s accusing whisper continued to haunt his mind.
> “You are a bad influence that would bring her pain…”
>
> “Why are you hated by the World?”
The Diviner’s prophecy had shaken him out of this sweet dream, a reminder that he was a corpse living in a foreign world. It had caused his alienation from Luna, who stared at him as if she no longer recognised him. It was only a matter of time until Savta found out, and he would be kicked out in disgrace.
A seductive thought caressed his mind… it whispered he should seize control of his life by going through with the purchase, and leave the Clinic of his own volition. He had felt like this once in his previous life, when he had quit a consultant job after losing a family member, burned out from the demanding work.
An experienced therapist would have told him to step back, not to make life changing decisions. If Exill only had a little more introspection, he would have questioned why he suddenly felt he didn’t deserve nice things.
‘Should I say goodbye to Luna?’
‘What was there to say, and would she understand?’ he dismissed the bitter thought. Grabbing his meagre belongings, he stepped out into the afternoon sun and gave one last look to the place he had called home for the past several months.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
***
Exill appraised the parchment out of curiosity.
[Notarised Contract] 180 Denars
It was an interesting item that could only be created by someone with the [Notary] job. The contract before him was simple. It detailed his 2000 Denar deposit, followed by a 13,000 Denar repayment plan spread out over the next ten months.
To obtain this leveraged agreement he had made a number of concessions, such as providing healing services to Diallo at a discount and forfeiture of both the Vampire and deposit should he miss even a single payment.
The Vampire’s name was Envy.
Channelling mana through the parchment, he confirmed the contract. There was no going back on his word now. The slave merchant beckoned a worker to bring forward the Vampire, then held both their hands as he channelled mana through them.
Exill felt a deep resonance in his core.
“It’s done. She will be compelled to follow your orders.” Diallo said, then hesitated before looking Exill in the eyes, “This will be a lesson to you kid, never buy a slave without doing a background check.”
This was the longest sentence he had ever heard from Diallo, a man who treated words as if it was a precious commodity.
“Why?”
“Ask her.”
Exill frowned. ‘Fine, keep your secrets’ he thought. She was his now. He didn’t know how to feel about owning another person but there was no going back now. Envy was weak and vacant eyed, her hair tangled and without lustre. Grimacing at her stench, he knelt down and propped her up with his shoulders. However he was struck with a last minute doubt.
“She can walk in the sunlight… right?”
Diallo shot him a puzzled look. The grizzled man was not entirely sure what walking and sunlight had to do with a vampire. “Of course.” He replied, and with that, sent the two away.
The distance to Sundry Inn would normally have taken twenty minutes, but with the Vampire in his arms it took closer to twice that amount. He avoided the main streets so as not to be disturbed. Soon, he was greeted by the familiar sight of the Innkeeper, watching the sun set with pipe in hand.
“Welcome back. It’s four Denars if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor once we close the bar. seven Dee’s for a shared room, and twelve for a small one. Three extra per meal. All upfront.”
“It’s good to be back” he lied through his teeth. “I’ll take the small room for five days and please prepare one meal. I will keep a running tab.” Exill handed the Innkeeper a hundred Denars in the form of a silver coin, then carried Envy up into the small room on the first floor, a couple steps down the hallway from his previous shared room.
Inside, there was a double bed against one wall and a stool with a desk against the other. It appeared to be the same size as the shared one. He looked around hesitantly not wanting to soil the bed… eventually placing Envy on the stool. She was filthy.
His belongings were thrown haphazardly into a corner, and he stretched his sore back, then went downstairs to approach the Innkeeper standing outside the doorway with a lit pipe as usual. “I would like a meal, and please heat up some hot water.”
Wolfing down the creamy vegetable soup, he dipped chunks of bread into it. He hadn’t had anything since breakfast and was incredibly hungry. Being careful not to spill the large washbasin, he climbed the stairs to find Envy was still where he had left her.
“Can you wash yourself?”
Envy slowly turned her head towards him, her amber eyes hollow and devoid of emotion. Looking into her unresponsive face, Exill inwardly swore, ‘Can she even speak?’ He knelt in front of her for five minutes, trying to elicit a response.
Resigning himself to the task, he began stripping her rags off. They were destined for the trash anyway, threadbare and soiled beyond redemption. A wet towel was used to wipe the dirt away. All the while, he noted her malnourished state, her ribs sticking out.
The only clean clothes on hand was a spare tunic. He threw it on her, and was glad it reached down to cover her buttocks. Guiding her to the floor, he lay her down next to the washbasin and carefully wiped her face clean before washing her scalp and hair. He went downstairs with the washbasin to throw out the murky water.
Exill returned to find Envy still laying on the floor as he had left her, wet scarlet hair splayed out on the hardwood floor, a vacant expression on her face. To his dismay, he saw the tunic had ridden up, displaying her emaciated hips. She was thoroughly broken and despair started creep in to Exill’s thoughts.
‘How do you feed a vampire?’ Bewildered, he crouched down and tried to get her to bite on his forearm, but her parched lips remained unresponsive. When that didn’t work, he took out his scalpel and made a small cut and brought the bleeding forearm to her lips.
A few drops fell into her open mouth. An instantaneous change could be seen, her breathing grew heavy, eyes dilated, and finally she gripped his arm and bit, her hips gyrating in pleasure. Exill summoned his Card and patiently waited until his vitality dropped to 80% then weaned her off. She weakly clung to his arm, eager to drink more.
“Shh… it’s okay, I’ll give you more tomorrow.” Feeling a bit woozy, he dragged her into bed and threw the blanket over both of them. He lay on his back in stupor as the realization set in of what he had committed to.
‘Good grief… what have I done…’