"No, you don't want to go into a vampire's layer smelling like a predator." The man's teeth glinted in the firelight as he laughed at his audience. "Potions of this and tinctures of that—the creatures have the strongest sense of smell known to mankind, and you're going to advertise that you're there to kill them."

The young men weren't dumb. They knew fangs when they saw them, but this man, whatever he was, didn't ask for permission to sit by their fire, although public buildings weren't forbidden by custom.

"If you must go out with your talismans, close the glass bottles with your cork-and-wax, then wash the outside of the glass with a normal soap—before you put it in a leather sack. You want them thinking, 'This is prey', and not of the fight you're going to give them."

"Then how do you get to them, master?" One of the more shrewd members of the group decided on the rash question, brave among his host of comrades.

The man winced. "I live with humans; don't call me what I cannot be. I'm well aware of my teeth."

"Then what are you, sir?"

"I don't know. If I happen to be anything like them, none of the concoctions work on me, and because of that, I don't bother with anything beyond what you would carry into a normal fight. I have noticed, though, that keeping a distance from kills is more effective than close combat. This close, and you'd run the risk of being entranced."

The young men leaned back a hair—truly, involuntary—but the man couldn't help but chuckle at them.

One of the quieter ones spoke up next. "What is your suggestion, then?"

"Stay close to the entrance or another source of light—they will not come out during the day, true to legend. Have a bow and plenty of arrows. Try shooting them in the eyes. If you can blind them, light won't protect you from them any longer, but they will burn as they scrabble over your flesh. They are weak, then. Kill them quickly. Do not delay until dark if you think you have them all to search for treasures. Odds are one will have holed up, waiting for your guard to drop. Go through a nest multiple times on separate days before declaring it cleared."

"What of fire?" This was a young woman who walked into their midst—another stranger to the bar—that night.

"It does little good to bring fire in." The man frowned at the woman as his nose twitched, as if her perfume was too cloying. "Some can wield it—which means that they control your weapon. Most cannot, but if the choice is their death or their death and yours, they will risk the flames to end you both. Like the tinctures, they make the beast desperate, and a creature who is stronger, often smarter than you, being desperate? You will lose."

That gave the woman's lips a small curve of a smile as she glanced at the fire. The man himself whipped a blade out as he stood and held it to her throat, causing the younger men to fall back. Her grin became a feral thing, showing the true length his fangs didn't quite have.

"You dare much, deathstalker."

The man ignored the vampire to speak to the young men who were getting back up to gather their weapons. "I avoid these fights in taverns at night, boys. So should you. Put the weapons down."

"But..."

The creature laughed. "Do as he says. My master bid me here to bring his son home."

"Son?" A small touch of dread covered the man.

She looked over towards one of the youths—a strong, burly blond, one of the many farmboys the area boasted. "He's got my sire's blood, but he is human. My master did not tell me how it was done or when. I am to escort him back—and you—to meet him."

The blonde was quick to protest. "No, my father is Hammish."

"Your human father is gelded like a horse, boy."

"But I have other siblings."

"Then your mother is quite the whore."

The boy had enough of the insults and heaved his axe at the monster, which she caught just below the blade.

"Let go, demon." The man growled as he pressed his blade deeper into her throat, hard enough to cause a trickle of ichor to drop down the bladeline.

She licked her lips, almost as if her own blood fed the frenzy as well as a human's. "You, deathstalker, are to come with him to ensure he remains human—and whole. Don't make the mistake of not listening to your own cautions, sir."

That was a pointed threat. She fully intended to burn the whole tavern down around them, if that's what it took to win. And he just admitted that these creatures were smart. "Let these boys leave, unmolested, to go back to their homes, demon. I will stay with the one and let him figure this out for himself."

She nodded, then gave a command. "Out!"

The whole establishment fled—not by choice. The man put his blade up—no point in fighting a creature this potent unless he had to. It showed complete restraint, which surprised him a great deal. Most of the ones he ended were far more uncontrolled.

During this, she also let go of the axe.

The young man was not as thoughtful—he swung the blade at her head again. It went through her, as if she weren't flesh and blood. She glared at him for a second, then spoke again. "Sit."

Both found themselves back in their seats around the fire, weapons sheathed as she slowly joined them. "Boy, do you know why he sent me?"

"No." The youth was unthinking. There were a few things the man suspected, given the information the woman had already casually dropped.

"He hopes to turn you—between your blood already being his and the becoming, you would be far stronger than me—although uncontrolled. I was sent to be your guardian, and anything else you demand of me is his gift to you."

"Then what about him?" The blonde lummox pointed at the veteran, trying to figure out the hunter's place in this little charade.

"He's an unexpected gift—and a boon. Not all the children make it to their father without damage. Hunger is a powerful thing, and as the deathstalker can attest, people are violent towards us. It helps keep me honest, as well."

True to being a young man, he quirked an eyebrow and honed in on what made it through his dense skull. "And if I demand bedsport?"

The older man shook his head. Trust a boy to be thinking about sex at the same time as he fears for his life.

That got a grin out of the vampire. "That's one of the enticements to your father's way of life. I almost regret that I'm not allowed to fulfill that until you turn, but then I'm allowed to give you everything up to release. He doesn't care if I lead you there by your cock or by your mind, boy."

With that, the young man pulled into himself a bit, not eager to be toyed with. "I don't think that there would be enough enticement that way, ma'am."

"Oh, really. This I'm curious to know more about." The older man's laugh would be infectious, except that the company was too worried about other things to enjoy a good laugh.

The young man shrugged. "Lore around here has that the females can make you mindless sex slaves. That she confirmed I could have my decision stripped from me for a little cock-play is disturbing."

She frowned at that. "I said no such thing. I'm not allowed to bend you to my will to fulfill you."

"And yet you admit that this father of mine doesn't ultimately care how come to him—if you went as far as stripping me of my decision to become even as you, how much would he care?" The faint pout in his frown highlighted how rounded and soft this boy was compared to the monsters he sat with. "He gets what he wants in the end."

"I likely would be punished—that could go as far as to take my life from me. But the reason it cannot go that far is because he wants no divided loyalty—my devotion is to be yours, but not yours to me, unfortunately. If that is better served without such... ah... services, then we will never know each other." Her smirk turned into a predatory thing with the shift in her thoughts. "After all, there will be another man on this trip to see to my needs."

"Now, hold on, I'm no bedfellow, woman." He growled that out softly, not wanting to raise his voice at the creature. "I have never knowingly slept with one of your kind, and I wouldn't have made it to this middle age without some serious caution about bedmates. You can serve yourself, madame."

She looked at him, almost wistfully. "You really don't know what you are, do you?"

"I never really cared to know." He said it tightly, not wanting to hear whatever lies she could weave into it.

She nodded. "It's better if it comes from the master, anyway. He gains nothing in the hiding or the telling, and anything I could do to aid you would wind up being for my benefit."

"You speak as one on the outskirts of society, woman."

"You're not far off. The creatures you kill are on the outskirts, far beneath me. I'm on the edge of the court—no real power, but to serve. Both of you could be my chance to claim freedom from others or be the bane that sticks me more firmly in that servitude. And if I hide... " She broke off her confession to laugh almost playfully. It looked more alarming than coy. "Just suffice it to say that we will travel north together. Me, for my own sake, and the boy for his, and you, well, it could be for your own benefit, if you would take it."

"What are we to call you?" The boy butted in here, probably to wrestle the conversation back to himself.

"Tessa works." The woman shrugged. "I've not used a true name in centuries, and that is what I'm most called in your father's court. The name he gave you was Gaius. I know that's not what your mother called you. It's best to go with your father's name. And as for the deathstalker?"

"I'm usually called Gin, as Whiskey is too soft." He said it tersely—of course, not his real name—any more than he faced Tessa and Gaius.

"That will suffice. Now, do we want to bed down here, or do we travel the rest of the night?"

"I'm not used to night travel." Both men said it at the same time before glancing at each other, ill at ease.

"That's the only way we can travel, unfortunately. I'm enough of a demon of the night to be your protection, so that won't be an issue." She paused to switch thoughts. "There's some caves to the north of here, about a 4-hour ride by horse. If we leave, the locals can retake their inn and try to forget that I was here."

"No concern about them knowing?" Gin eyed her, wondering at how ruthless these creatures were towards each other for the first time.

She shrugged. "The lesser creatures that inhabit this area are to prove themselves against their prey. If the prey is more dangerous because I've been seen, so be it. It will make fewer useless brethren in the court."