Sarah wanted to scream in frustration after being dismissed for an entire week. Gumble spent the days either with his mistress or drinking or both. Sarah had told Thaddeus that the doctor was a vampire, though she realized she had little support for her accusation other than the word of a pixie. Over the following week, she spoke with townsfolk about Dr. Sangre and her suspicions, but few offered support for him being a creature of evil.

On their last day in Haynis, Gumble and his mistress went out to breakfast. Thaddeus Gumble retold the story of his vicious battle with firefoot. Sarah stayed close by, in case he needed anything. She rarely added to his conversations, unless he spoke to her, but she had to voice her concerns about the vampire doctor. Thaddeus responded with a chuckle.

“How could he have been a vampire?” Gumble asked.

“Well,” Sarah began, “did you notice that he never showed us his teeth? Probably hiding something right there. Also who has a clinic that is open all night? I’ll tell you who. A person who never sees the light of the day, that’s who!”

Sarah continued mounting her evidence, while the nobleman and his current mistress pretended to listen. During meals was one of the few times Sarah could actually be heard, since Thaddeus loved to eat even more than talk.

“Why, if your allegations are true, I was lucky to get away with my life,” said Thaddeus, eagerly inhaling a second helping of bacon, ham, eggs, toast, flat cakes, and mango juice. “I’m lucky I have a seventh sense about these things. My sixth being my inhuman attention to details,” he said, while Lucy, the slight pixie, waved at Sarah from behind his shoulder.

“Of course,” Sarah said.

“Well, we’ll just have to do something about this. I know my friend the mayor doesn’t have my attention to details, but I’ll not have him losing face while a vampire sucks the life out of his quaint little horse-apple pie of a city,” he said. “We’ll march up there immediately. Now! Right away! Just as soon as we finish breakfast.”

“Oh, and we want to visit the little market,” his mistress chimed in.

“Yes, yes. Of course, immediately after breakfast and the market. Oh, and we wanted to see the play in the park. And then we planned to go to that bakery for a little snack before we go to the Mighty Mutton for lunch,” he said.

“But after all that?” asked Sarah.

“But immediately after that we’ll talk with the mayor.”

The server came and gave them their bill, lingering to chat with Sarah.

“I could not help but overhear you mention a vampire. Where were you when you saw such a dreadful creature? Were you visiting the country of Verrara?” he asked.

“No, no! It was just down the road,” Sarah answered.

“What! You must be mistaken. No vampire could possibly live here,” he answered with a nervous laugh. “That’s a dangerous thing to say, miss. Dangerous indeed.” He paused. “Are you sure? I mean, could it be possible?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure,” Sarah responded. “And thank you for a wonderful breakfast.”

Sarah continued pleading all day, but Gumble ignored her. Around midnight the group made its way back to the governor’s house, where they were staying during their visit. The governor was already asleep, so Gumble would not be speaking of the vampire tonight. Sarah excused herself and went to her room to brood in frustration.

In her room, she changed into her nightgown and padded barefoot to the sink to wash up before bed. Thaddeus irked her daily, but how could he have no concern over a vampire’s presence in a small town? Granted, she knew little about vampires, but she had heard terrible things, and she hated to think of the people in the city acting as cattle to a monster. Sarah balled her fists and repeatedly punched her pillow in frustration.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Did the face cushion offend you?” asked John in a quiet voice. John and Lucy appeared in the open windowsill.

Sarah flopped on the bed, sighing loudly into her pillow. “No, it’s just that Gumble won’t listen to me. I warned him that the doctor was a vampire, but he didn’t care!”

“Warn? What is a warn?” John answered.

Sarah looked at them. The pixies truly wanted to learn; thus, impromptu language lessons arose all the time. “To warn is to bring attention to. To tell someone that danger is near. Remember danger?” she asked. Over time Sarah had learned some of the more difficult aspects of teaching pixies. They remained eager to learn and understood secrecy very well; however, despite their diminutive nature, they seemed completely fearless. Thus, danger remained a difficult concept to explain. After weeks of examples, she thought she had finally made the point clear.

“Warn. I see. A warn means that a danger is not currently in our present location, but a danger may soon be within our area, yes?”

“Exactly, John,” she said.

John beamed as he flew from the windowsill and landed on her bed. He appeared to be pacing in thought, though the thick comforter made movement difficult.

“But, Sarah, what was the warn about?” he asked.

“The warning. The warning was about the vampire of course!” she answered.

“The nice doctor?” John asked again.

“Yes! You were the one who told me that he was a vampire in the first place!”

“I see. I remember telling you that he was a vampire. Some action of his must have missed my attention. Did he threaten? What made him into danger, requiring you to make a warn?” he asked.

“Well, isn’t the fact that he is a vampire enough?” Sarah asked.

John looked at Sarah, and then Lucy flew from the window as well. They quickly conversed in Pixish, as Sarah called it, and then looked at her, confused. Sarah understood much of their language already, but, when they spoke quickly, it was difficult to comprehend.

“I think we are both confused. Through our actions we created, by some unintentional manner, a warn for you?” she asked.

“Let me explain again. I wanted to warn the people of this town that they had a vampire living right under their noses.” She paused to see if that made sense to the small creatures. They continued to look blankly at her. “Doesn’t a vampire living among humans seem like a danger to the humans to you? Doesn’t that seem like something that requires a warning?” Sarah found speaking to the pixies was not helping her already short temper.

“Why would this require a warning? Vampires rarely cause danger to humans of the degree you specified requiring a response in terror,” said John.

“What? Vampires drink blood. Vampires fear sunlight and lurk only at night. How is this not a danger?”

The pixies again chattered to one another, intermittently flapping their wings.

“You are correct that vampires fear the sun and drink blood. However, they have coexisted with humans over countless years, and, for the most part, this has been without conflict,” said John.

“Even the humans in Verrara live happily with vampires,” said Lucy.

“Of course. Humans in Verrara need no warnings, even with the majority of the population being vampire. Vampires rarely kill. From our experience vampires kill much less frequently than humans do. It would be more befitting for you to warn humans that there are other humans in the town than a vampire,” John said.

Sarah wanted to contradict them but stopped herself. The pixies had much more experience than she did with vampires. She considered their advice.

Could it be possible? Could he be a doctor who really was helping people but just happened to be a vampire? Sarah had studied magical creatures in books for many years, but the pixies had real-life experience. When she thought about it, the doctor provided excellent care. She rubbed her pixie necklace and felt a faint warmth flow through her. She was not ready to accept that vampires were good, but possibly one could be an exception. Thank goodness she had caused no harm.

She looked over her few belongings. They were going back to Grandeur tomorrow. Sarah found she missed the city and was glad the trip was ending, even if they took the long way back. She looked over as her two companions pushed against the glass.

“What are you doing now?”

“Just looking for the second,” Lucy replied.

“The second?” Sarah asked.

“Of course,” John answered. “Anytime we are in a new place we attempt to distinguish at least two ways to escape in order to hastily accomplish departure, preferably three.”

Sarah unlocked another window and cranked it open. “There you go, guys.”

“Thank you!” Lucy responded. John also expressed his gratitude, and the two pixies disappeared out the window.

“Just be sure to be back before morning. We’re returning to Grandeur, and I don’t want you guys left behind. Oh, and stay out of trouble,” Sarah said.

The two pixies laughed and disappeared into the night.