“It’s not a curse, I tell you…” Stephen replied, with a mixture of anger and impatience.

“But this is not ordinary.” Replied his female customer.

“Even then, it’s a problem, not a curse.”

“Then why am I unable to find pleasure in sex? I had no problems like that until recently…”

“Have you looked in the mirror?”

“How dare you?” She replied furiously, as if he wanted to abuse her.

“Heh. Do you a have reflection?”

“Yes.”

“Then it’s not a curse.”

“Why would that be in connection with my problem? Why do I have to have a reflection to enjoy sex?”

“That’s how curses work. Links two, really distant attributes and change them. The more distant these things are, the stronger the curse is.”

“Then why?”

“Visit a doctor.”

“But it must be a curse.”

Stephen had enough. “I might have made a mistake here.” He rolled his eyes. “To imbue the anti-curse into you, you have to go home, kiss your man on the cheek, then suck his dick. If that wouldn’t work, go see a gynaecologist.”

“Okay.”

“That will be five thousand.” She handed over the money, graciously, as if she was a nurse ending their fourteen hours shift shift. Sometimes the fastest way to get rid of stupid people was to go along with the lies they told themselves.

“Well, thank you.”

“Could you ask the next one to come in?”

She opened the door, and did as she was asked.

Another woman, in brown leather uniform and red glyphs all over it, stepped in and addressed Mr. Silworth.

“Greetings, My name is Sarah. I am here on behalf of the Bane of the Undead Co.”

“Mine is Stephen, but I guess you already know that. How can I help you?”

“The situation in this nation is getting more and more off the charts. I would like to ask about it, if it is possible.”

“What situation?”

“I believe you know that there are hundreds of vampires and liches in Ward City. Even in the government.”

“So?”

“Huh? It’s your duty to destroy them!”

“Well, considering the fact that they are, like, hundreds more, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Plus, I have other problems to tend to, and nobody is willing to pay for vamp extermination.”

“Are you doing this for money? Killing monsters would be the duty of any righteous supernaturalist.”

“You know, without money, you starve to death. That’s it. Then I can’t help people. I am not embraced by one of the wealthiest organizations.”

“Yet…”

“What do you have against vampires?

“They killed my family.” She replied without thinking.

“My only childhood friend was made a vampire minion, still I do not hold a grudge. He did not only die, but even lost his happiness derived from being undead and alive.”

“I am sorry. I know once they are made a minion, they can only be released by death.”

“Sure. So?”

The woman was trying not to prevent being consumed by rage. Then she replied. “I want you to help us. Of course we’ll pay.”

“No.”

“What? Why?””

“I’m not going to butt my head in government business.”

The girl, she seemed to be more childish now that Stephen refused her, became frenzied.

“I have the right to refuse anyone, I hope you understand. If you have no other business, please leave at once.” She angrily turned around and stormed out of the building.

“Stephen.” Said the secretary through the digital equipment. “An officer came to escort you somewhere.”

“Let him in.”

The door opened. This seemed to have been a hard and busy day. There were two others waiting in the hall.

“Mr. Silworth. I need you to come with me. Government business.”

“What choice do I have?”

“Hardly any.”

Stephen told the secretary to ask the others to come back tomorrow, and let her go. Then he followed the officer.

Getting out of the building, he caught a glimpse of the vampire hunter eating donuts on a bench by the convenience store. When she noticed the two getting out of the building, she shouted “Stephen, Come here for a minute.”

He ignored her and got in the policeman’s vehicle.

When the man started the engine, his mouth did the same.

“The Upper Echelon asks for your appearance.”

“Sure. Are they vampires?”

“I am, too. A lesser one.”

“Okay.”

“You want some chewing gum?”

“Not really.” He started to forage for the spray he used to use when he didn’t want to accept a job, but the customer was too stubborn to go away. The liquid was made of garlic and created a strangely malodorous smell, so when he was talking, they would rather remove themselves from the conversation.

The policeman was devastated upon smelling the extract, almost drove into a building. Stephen’s only reaction was “Pull yourself together. You won’t die, but I will. What would the Echelon do to you?”

On arrival, Stephen found himself at a political party’s headquarters. This faction was corrupt to the core and used every means to get to power, so he kind of knew what would happen in the next two hours.

He overheard two vamps talking, while he was waiting.

“You know this guy? He is apparently a monster hunter.”

“I never heard of him.”

“A lich wanted to use spiritual grip on him, but he reflected...”

“Huuuh?”

“Then he told the lich he is a monster hunter, and proceeded with the tax… What a pathetic man. Law is truly something to behold.”

He was escorted to the conference room, where three powerful vampires were waiting for him. The one in the middle was in a formal attire, the other two were in semi-formal.

“Greetings, Stephen.” The strongest spoke, the other two seemed to be bodyguards only.

“I am happy to meet you.” Stephen bowed.

The vampire smiled. “Would you like to drink anything?”

“A glass of water. Thank you.” He was standing in the middle of the room as nobody told him to sit down yet.

“Do you want to know why you are here?” The vamp looked at him with pity and shame.

“Sure.”

“You did well. We’ve been observing you since you met the lich at the taxation department.”

“He was a kind person, to say the least.” Stephen was given a glass of water.

“This world is amazing.” The other boasted.

“I guess if you are a government official and a vampire, you can do as you wish. There are things that do not concern me, Sir, but I’d like to ask you that, please, do not kill my secretary.”

“We don’t kill.”

“That’s… That’s a surprise…” He hadn’t heard about any occasion where a vamp wouldn’t murder.

“Blood is nothing compared to money and power. Law gives us power, so we do not break it. Only for money.” A smug smirk appeared on his face. “Fuck blood, power is everything.” Then he started laughing.

“Anyways. Did you fix your being to an item?”

“Yes, why do you ask?” He became suspicious.

“There is a ritual to remove bloodthirst. You have to sacrifice your own blood and draw some glyphs. If someone comes around, I’ll give it to ya.”

“That would be appreciated. Well, we would like to bestow a gift upon you since you didn’t help the hunters. I won’t tell you yet.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes. You’ll be returned to your office.”

“Thank you.”

“One last thing…”

“Yes?”

“What is the difference between the poor and the wealthy?”

Stephen looked at him blankly.

“Money…” He laughed fanatically.

Then he was escorted back to the office.

When the policeman left, he walked to the convenience store, where he found the hunter asleep, still on the same bench.

“Hey. Wake up.” Stephen waked her up.

“Huh? What?”

“You know, fighting monsters is not always the most effective way to eliminate threat.”

“Stephen is that you?” She was weary, probably because she was travelling all day just to be denied.

“You know, vampires aren’t my spec, but they seem to hate bad breath.”

“They smell bad too…” She was almost unconscious. She was at the start of the procedure of waking up.

“Yeah, they smell like death. But hey, you would too, if you were rotting for hundreds of years.”

“Aaoooao.” She articulated while yawning. She was still in the process of awakening.

“I can put you up, if you want to.”

“Hmh…” Replied with a positive hum. She got up and intruded his office.

The next day, he couldn’t find her anywhere, she only left a letter to thank being given a place to sleep. “I hope she found the pacification ritual I put into her pocket.”

A man in suit was standing in front of the main entrance and knocked.

“Here is your gift, Stephen.” He handed over a letter.

“Here is the ritual description.” The man handed over another letter.

Then they parted ways. The only thing Stephen thought was “To tame someone, you need one thing. Money.”