The vampires exchanged glances. Sir Kai had no idea what that ant. Reading social cues had never been his strong suit. If it had been soone else—soone socially competent—they might have picked up on the flickers of anxiety, even hope, in those looks.
But Sir Kai? Not a chance. Emotional intelligence was not part of his skill set. Nobody’s perfect, right? So naturally, he missed all the subtle hints and remained blissfully unaware of whatever unspoken conversation was happening around him.
"What mission?" the vampire pinning him down finally asked, in the sort of tone that suggested wrong answer = imdiate death.
The guy had short hair, tied neatly at the back, and the general appearance of a man in his forties. Which ant absolutely nothing.
Sir Kai knew better than to trust a vampire’s looks. If this guy was one of the ten original bloodsuckers, then he wasn’t just old—he was basically a historical artifact with fangs.
"Can you please let go so I can tell you and—"
Before Sir Kai could finish, the vampire yanked him by the hair, effectively fast-forwarding past the polite request phase and straight into the threat and torture portion of the conversation. Subtle.
"Okay, okay! I’ll tell you everything."
Of course, divulging serious information to the floorboards was fine too. Super casual.
Swallowing hard, he started from the beginning—detailing the cheerful little disaster brewing back ho: an uprising, courtesy of Elder Alfred, who had decided that King Valentin should just hand over his beloved niece.
You know, classic political drama.
One vampire raised an eyebrow, looking deeply disturbed. "Wait—so he wants a child? What is he, a pedophile?"
Sir Kai nearly choked. "What? No! Gods, no. He doesn’t want to marry her—he wants to kill her."
The vampire’s expression sohow managed to shift from deeply disturbed to absolutely horrified. He had not spent centuries being a vampire, building an immortal race, just to have it overrun by absolute morons who thought child murder was a solid ga plan.
"What kind of madness is this?!" he barked, thoroughly offended by the sheer stupidity of it all.
Sir Kai sighed. "She’s the Blood Moon child. So of the elders are terrified of her potential—the fact that she’s fated to either destroy the world or change it completely."
Once again, the vampires exchanged aningful glances—silent, knowing, and probably full of ancient wisdom. And once again, Sir Kai, completely oblivious to social cues, failed to notice any of it.
What he did notice, however, was the sudden and very aggressive introduction of sothing blunt to the back of his head.
"Oh, wait a mom—" was all he managed to think before everything went dark.
***
That was how he ended up here—tied up like a particularly unfortunate roast in a damp, dimly lit cell.
To be fair, as far as prison cells went, this one wasn’t that bad. It had a certain ancient, gothic charm to it. The floor wasn’t covered in filth, the air didn’t reek of despair, and he’d definitely seen worse places.
Clearly, they weren’t done with him yet—otherwise, he’d already be a pile of ash in so ridiculously ornate fireplace.
He wriggled toward the cell bars, which was impressive considering he was tied up in a way specifically designed to prevent movent. But Sir Kai had never let little things like impossibility stop him before.
With a heroic amount of determination, he banged his head against the bars, producing a dull thunk. "Hello?" he called, hoping soone with no murderous intent would hear him.
Fortunately, they hadn’t gagged him. Probably because, in their infinite ancient wisdom, they assud he wouldn’t need to be gagged. How considerate.
His head still ached from the unexpected smackdown, but now wasn’t the ti to whine about it. His hotown and his king needed him. They were probably waiting anxiously for his return, counting on him to save the day!
Or so he thought.
In reality, King Valentin was currently drowning in his own set of nightmares back in Eira. Chief among them? The general population’s rising terror over a vampire hunter, who was actually Ol’gaz possessing Florian’s body.
He kept banging his head against the bars. Starving, exhausted, and tied up like a particularly useless bundle of firewood, his body finally called it quits.
With a defeated sigh, he slumped against the cold floor. He would’ve liked to think he was resting strategically—saving his strength for the perfect escape opportunity—but really, he just passed out.
***
"Hey! Soldier! Wake up!"
The loud clanking against the tal bars yanked Sir Kai out of his less-than-refreshing slumber. He groggily blinked himself awake, trying to rember how many days he’d been stuck down here. Too many? Not enough? Hard to say.
The vampires had been feeding him regularly—points for hospitality, he supposed—but no one from the Nightshade Coven had bothered to check on him.
At this point, he wasn’t sure if he was a prisoner, an abandoned house pet, or so weird social experint.
If they really didn’t want him around, they could’ve just tossed him outside under the blazing sun. Or tied him to a tree like a sad, decorative lantern and let nature take its course. Heck, they could’ve force-fed him garlic until he expired dramatically.
But no. They were keeping him alive. Which ant sothing.
"Where is your lord? Where is Madam Silvia?" he asked the mont he had enough strength to speak.
It had beco his daily routine. Mostly because he didn’t know the na of whoever owned this dungeon, and Madam Silvia was the only person whose na he did know.
The guard, as always, was less than cooperative.
"Shut up and just eat! His Lordship is too busy to deal with the likes of you!"
The likes of him? Excuse ?
Sir Kai was Sir Kai—the undefeated champion of the prestigious Nightwarden Trials, a knight of unparalleled skill! And this glorified hallway decoration had the audacity to act like he was so common criminal?
Honestly, the disrespect.
"I need to speak with your master. This is a national ergency. A matter of worldly importance. You wouldn’t understand anyway, so just go fetch him and let talk to soone with a working brain," Sir Kai snapped, taking a petty jab at the guard.
It was less about making a point and more about getting even for the earlier insult. Unfortunately, it landed about as well as a damp firework—the guard didn’t care.
Before Sir Kai could co up with a better coback, a voice echoed from beyond the wall. Smooth, refined, and carrying just the right amount of condescension to make it clear that he was the actual authority here.
"You speak quite loudly, Sir Kai. Loud enough for to hear you from the other side of the manor."
Sir Kai turned his head just in ti to see a man step into view—elegant, poised, and with the air of soone who was very much used to being obeyed.
His face was that of a man in his fifties, but Sir Kai wasn’t an idiot. Vampires aged like fine wine—aning this one was probably as ancient as the concept of debt.
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