NIGHTS OF HALLOW

Sthena and Daemon with their great hearing ability, sat on top of a tree outside the house of Mr. Malphus while listening to everything Perdita and the old man spoke inside the house.

They continued to stay there without making their presence known, and after a while, they saw Perdita walk out of the house.

Now, Sthena knew why Perdita and her brother still had their human eyes. They were trying to turn back into humans again with the help of the pills. It was a fascinating discovery they made today. It also made him wonder what the pill was made of. And there was also another one in the market too which is more advanced.

How and who produced these pills that he failed to know about till now? What more could be going on in this village he didn’t know of? Sthena wondered and at the same time he saw a villager sneak into the house Perdita had entered.

He curiously watched the man enter the house and he came out a few minutes later with a small bag he hid under his coat.

”That is the snoopy human I told you about,” Daemon who recognized Mr. Perkin informed Sthena.

”Interesting,” Sthena hummed and nodded his head knowingly. He was not interested in the lowly human, at least for now, until he did something to warrant his death.

Mr. Perkin securely held unto the bag under his coat and hurried away from there. He had hidden behind the house and was able to peep inside the house through the open louvers of the house. Though he didn’t hear the words exchanged by Perdita and the old man, he saw the pills handed to Perdita by the old man.

He had waited till the man went inside another room before sneaking inside the house to steal the pills from the cupboard.

Mr. Perkin felt satisfied with his newfound secret, and he couldn’t wait to go to the medieval apothecaries to find out what the drug was made of and what it was for.

Meanwhile, Sthena and Daemon went towards the same house Perdita and Mr. Perkin left from. Sthena was curious and wanted to know what the pills were made of that could turn vampires back into humans, and also who was producing them.

He knocked on the house as the gentleman he was, though he wanted to break the entire house and know what was going on inside.

From outside the door, he heard the rushed and loud tapping of a stick on the floor.

Mr. Malphus walked as fast as his shaking legs could carry him with his stick to open the door, while also wondering who the visitor might be at this time of the evening when everyone must have gone home. Unless it was a vampire, which he doubted. But his doubt was cleared when he opened the door and saw the red-eyed men standing outside.

Sthena saw the door open as the old man came into view. He flashed him a smile and invited himself inside the man’s house.

Mr. Malphus’s eyes squinted in a deep frown because of the men who came and invited themselves inside his house. He silently closed his door while watching them walk around leisurely.

Sthena walked around the small room that had a large cupboard in one corner and a few chairs around with small tables placed in the middle of them. While Daemon went inside the inner house. The house looked like it will crumple if he were to punch the wall.

A few minutes passed without both of them saying anything. After a while, Sthena decided to acknowledge the old man’s presence.

”Malphus, is it?” Sthena turned his head to the side, enough to look at the old man.

”Yes. And you are?” Mr. Malphus’s eyes followed every movement of Sthena while wondering how he knew his name. At some point, he knew that the vampires in his house were no ordinary men judging from their clothes and their aura, especially the one standing in front of him.

Sthena’s lips slightly pulled up as he turned to face the man ”I’m someone very important which your lowly self wouldn’t have seen if I did not come for an important matter,” He paused and went straight to why he was here, ”I heard you have a pill that turns vampires into humans.”

Mr. Malphus’s eyes slightly twitched. He was skeptical of this vampire man who refused to give his name. And it seems like he also knew what he has and does in his house.

”Yes,” Malphus answered truthfully. No need to beat around the bush if the man knows about the pill. The problem was, why was he asking about it? He didn’t want any spies, especially ones that might come from the king, to know the details of those pills.

The pill was no ordinary pill. Its contents were highly prohibited in the empire, and he was only a marketer. The pills were made and sent to him by someone of high status. A pureblooded vampire who not all knew about. He had gone missing for a long time. And since then, he never heard about him except for the monthly bags of pills supplied to him in the night by his workers.

Sthena smiled with his eyes not leaving the man. He clapped in joy and proposed ”Perfect then. I want to buy some pills”

”I’m sorry, but the pills have finished” Mr. Malphus answered and walked past Sthena whose eyes darkened in anger. There was no way he would implicate himself by selling those pills to him.

”Malphus, Malphus,” Sthena sang, ”Let’s not make this hard for you. My patience is thin when it comes to humans, especially an old rusty one like you.”

Malphus stopped and turned to Sthena ”I don’t know which of my words was wrong or offended you. The pills you’re looking for finished and...”

”Did it now?” Sthena clicked his tongue in annoyance and kicked Malphus’s walking stick out of his hand ”I hate people who never listen to simple instructions.”

”Why lie when I can sell something fishy here? You’re an old man who could die any minute, yet you do something as such? Have you thought about what could happen if the king knows about it?”

Malphus staggered because of the stick that was out of his hand. He leaned on the nearby chair to support himself from falling.

He knew the moment he saw these vampires, he saw trouble. Were they working for the king? His breath hitched at the coming terror that will ensue because of him if these people came from the castle. Malphus trembled not knowing he was standing in front of the king himself.

Before the job to sell those pills was assigned to him, he had been warned and threatened not to get them noticed by the king and get them exposed. This was the reason he had come to live in this village where it would be least suspected. But who knew he will be exposed even in this quiet village?

Was it perhaps Perdita and her brother who told these men? Mr. Malphus questioned in his mind while trying to keep the weight of his body steady. Any wrong move could cost his life and that of his family.

”You accuse me wrongly, young man. I won’t fear you because you’re a vampire...”

”Then you will fear me if I’m the king?” Sthena cut him off with mirth in his eyes that gazed dangerously at Malphus. He left the old man’s side and went behind the cupboard in the room.

He returned with a blue bag half filled with red small pills and at the same time, Daemon came out from the inner room with another bag in his hand.

”Are these the pills you were hiding saying they finished, Malphus?”

”Tha...that, shouldn’t b...be in your hands” Malphus’s voice quivered with his body. He nearly lost his balance when he went to grab the bag from Daemon.

Daemon moved back, his red eyes boring into Malphus’s dilated black ones.

Sthena stepped forward and stood in front of Malphus with his nails slowly elongating ”I’ll ask you once, what are these pills made of and what are they for?”

Malphus’s legs shook seeing the deadly look on Sthena’s face. He knew his end was finally here. No matter what he did, he will be killed either by his master or by these dangerous-looking men in his house.

”I...I don’t know. I just s...sell t...them” The fear in Malphus couldn’t be hidden anymore with the way his voice quivered with his entire being. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

A dry chuckle escaped Sthena’s lips as if he heard something hilarious. The laugh lasted for a second before it vanished from his lips. His hands grabbed Malphus’s neck in a tight grip, his sharp nails piercing his neck.

”Who are you working for?” Sthena’s voice was calm as a new day when the birds are still atop the trees melodiously singing. This only added to the pain Malphus was feeling in his old neck.

Sthena had the hunch since he entered the house, that the pills were more than what he told Perdita and her brother. The pills were for another thing, and not to turn them back into humans. Only the heavens knew what the reaction will be on them and how many more people have bought and drank the pills.

Malphus coughed with great difficulty still trying to pry the strong hands of Sthena away from his neck.

Sthena felt his patience will snap any second if Malphus didn’t answer his question. His grip on the man loosened enough for him to speak.

Malphus took a deep breath feeling his neck slightly free ”I... don’t work for any...ahh!!”

Malphus muffled voice struck a nerve in Sthena as his grip on his neck increased thrice the former one.

Sthena held Malphus’s neck where blood now dripped from the old man’s neck. His red darkened eyes had enormous anger in them and he roared, ”Speak!”