The dragon's harem

An hour later, Alcott, who was standing guard at the city wall, got summoned to the castle. Annoyed, he quickly picked a horse and made his way back. The guards at the castle gate informed him that one of the future queens was the one to summon and that he was to report to her at the eastern fifth quarter.

Alcott wasn’t a fool, he had already memorized the castle layout and knew that the eastern fifth quarter was empty this morning. Claug is the only woman who showed up today… “This is why I don’t like dealing with dragons.”

When he made it into the quarter, one of the servants there led him to Claug’s room. She knocked on the door, got permission and allowed him inside. Claug was sitting beside the window having her hair brushed by Elizabeth.

“Why did you call me? You know I’m busy.” He stood at the door and looked at her.

“Oh, I just wanted to have a chat with my father-in-law, something wrong with that?” She looked at him with a smug smile.

“For a human? No. For a dragon on the other hand, a lot is wrong with that.” Alcott shook his head and approached, “You won’t call me here if it wasn’t something serious. What is it?”

“A vampire is living in this city, and an ancient and powerful one at that. Must be at least two thousand years old.” She looked out of the window.

“Ginger isn’t that old,” Alcott growled and Claug laughed, “You’re right, mother in law is a fossil…” She then waved her fingers, “Of course I’m not talking about her or Arad’s vampires, I can tell the difference.”

“If the vampire didn’t cause trouble then why is he a problem now?” Two thousand years of hiding, the vampire didn’t have a reason to start acting strange now…. “No, how did you know? You’ve been here for just two hours.”

“I know a lot, and I’ve got my way of gathering information.” She smiled, “I’m doing what every good wife does, cleaning my husband’s house before he comes back.” She pointed out of the window at a graveyard right outside the city walls.

“A woman, her son and newborn daughter were slaughtered a week ago. The family carried the funeral on the hush-hush to avoid troubles. There have been several cases like this and all of them lead to a vampire attack. Go track this case, find the vampire and catch him alive.” She pulled a quest paper. She had already asked for an official notice to Alcott from the guild.

“Anything else I should know?” He looked at the paper, noticing that the quest asks specifically for a human.

“Yes, go alone and don’t use your vampiric or lycanthropic powers. People beside you are too weak to survive an encounter with the vampire, and if you use your powers, he might run away for good, or worse, be affected with whatever caused him to grow insane in these past days.” She stood, “Take your time, but at the same time hurry.”

“Contradictions…I love my job.” Alcott sighed and was about to leave. “Wait…the ladies love to talk about you all the time. From what I’ve heard you usually growl, ‘I fucking love my job’ when a job annoys you.”

Alcott stopped, “Where did you hear that?…ah, it doesn’t matter. I don’t curse in front of my wife, my son’s wife, the children, and those who might take offence. You too better cut it out… I’m out.” He left and Claug looked at her crystal with a smug face.

“Will he be okay? A two thousand year old vampire must be strong.” Elizabeth looked at Claug with a worried face. “The Baron would be mad if his father was harmed.”

“Strong enough to burn a hole in the city, raise hell and kill thousands before getting slayed.” Claug brushed her crystal orb with her fingers, “But…” The crystal showed Alcott walking down the castle’s stairs. “He is a reliable man, just like Arad.”

“And…did you just say he is a vampire and a lycanthrope as well?” Elizabeth stared at her with a passive face and Claug immediately changed the image on the crystal, “Look! Young love birds are having some fun at a barn!”

Elizabeth cried and smacked the crystal orb away, “What are you doing!”

^That vampire didn’t attack anyone for two thousand years…someone must’ve triggered him. Those remnants of eldritch magic, the abomination that Alcott killed a while ago must’ve done something.^ Claug already had her suspicions, those cases must be related somehow and she must find out.

****

Alcott finally reached the graveyard and slowly walked between the tombstones, the sun light shining bright through the tree branches. He could hear them from a long distance, women crying, men cursing and shovels hitting the ground.

He walked across the hill and he reached the funeral, a crowd of people gathered around a single grave as they buried someone. “Condolences.” He approached a young woman. Unlike how he looked, Alcott knew well how popular he was with women, especially the young ones still dreaming of a valiant knight.

The young lass looked aside and saw him, standing beside her like a tower. Wearing brown leather armor with a large sword on his back, a jacked body and a thin black beard on his face, complementing his glittering honey-colored eyes. “Came to visit the grave of an old friend. Who died?”

“A friend of mine…Alicia was her name. Known her since we were still eating mud on the street. Was to be wed next summer…” The lass shook her face, wiping tears out of her eyes, “The cow went mad, attacked her as she was milking her. Gouged her stomach open with her horn.”

Alcott looked at the grave. He could still smell the woman’s blood, the corpse wasn’t taken to Eris’s funeral parlor. Buried in a rush most likely. “The cow went mad? Did they kill it?”

“Yes…they butchered it not an hour past Alicia died, ungrateful beast.” The lass looked at the men shoveling dirt on the grave. “We talked just last night…I can’t believe she died.”

“Thank you…” He handed the girl a silver coin, “Offer something for her soul.” He then walked toward the grave, leaving the lass who only gave him a gentle bow.

He looked around, sniffing the air. Out of all the people here he could pick up the scent of the dead Alicia and compare it with everyone else, quickly identifying her family from amongst the crowd.

Alicia’s father, a frail looking old man with a bushy black beard filled with gray strands. He stood right beside the grave, bearing a sore face and bloodshot eyes, probably from crying a lot.

“Condolences.” Alcott said with a calm voice and the man didn’t even look at him, “The fuck you want stranger?”

“What did you do to the cow’s corpse?” Alcott asked and the man finally looked at him, “Sent by the castle? We cut the cow to pieces and buried it a man deep underground.”

“Gotta burn it, and your whole barn, all cows included.” Alcott glared at him and the man shook, “Sir, please have mercy…the cows… their milk, we live from it. Kill the cows and we’ll starve to death.”

Alcott pulled several gold coins and gave them to the man, “I want all of the animals out and wait…I’ll get someone to inspect the barn for diseases.” He looked around, “Where did you bury the cow?”

“Over there, up the hill.” The man pointed. Alcott thanked him and went to find the place where the cow was buried. He reached the isolated grove beside the forest. The ground was clearly dug out this morning.

“Strange…should’ve smelled the lass’s blood on the cow.” He pulled a shovel and started digging the grave. Soon he pulled the cow’s corpse piece by piece and inspected it. “Not a single drop of the lass’s blood. The cow didn’t kill her…” He looked back, “They are lying.”

He threw the cow pieces back into the grave and poured a bottle of oil above them, setting them on fire as he sat there and watched, thinking about what he had just heard and seen.

Those people lied to him, they also didn’t take the girl’s body to Eris’s funeral parlor to be embalmed or cremated, they just buried her raw. His gut feeling was right, this might have something to do with that vampire.

He stood and returned to the graveyard. Everyone had already left and he could see the fresh grave covered in flowers. He sat beside it, “I hope you’ll forgive me, Alicia, but I have to excavate your grave, pull out your corpse and inspect it.”

He stood and walked around the grave, dropping small black beads that crackled with magic. He wanted to wait until night to dig the grave out, but by that time the vampire might be on the prowl again. He has no choice but to dig it now…but what if the people saw him…this is what those beads were for.

He usually used them to hide helpless people that he was trying to save, keep them safe while he fought the monsters. But now…he’ll use them to mask what he’s about to do.

Alcott dug the grave out and pulled the lass’s corpse. It was clear a moment, it wasn’t the cow that killed her. Deep and clean cuts on her torso, five perpendicular slashes that reached her spine, cleaved cleanly through the ribs.

No signs of assault or struggle, and he found pieces of clothes deep inside her wounds and a small bump at the back of her head.

Who killed her had five long claws, sharp and with enough strength to cut through bones. She must’ve walked in on something and was attacked, killed in a single blow while standing. The bump on the back of her head was probably from when she fell to the ground or hit a wall from the impact.

“Can be anything, including a powerful vampire that I just happened to be hunting…” He buried her back up and poured a bottle of strong wine on her grave. “You were probably too young to drink this, I’ll give it to you as an apology.”