“Why you?” Dracula asked.

Balfour understood his confusion. He shared it to an extent. Teigh had explained why he hoped to gain the Vampires as allies. Even for all their apparent weakness, their strength, long lives, and mastery over dark magics made them formidable when angered.

“Lord Teigh believes that Caesar and his army’s attack on the Sidhe is only the first step in a pogrom that will see all the magical races destroyed and wiped out. He has convinced his fellow Sidhe that it is better to create a bulwark of forces- Sidhe, Vampire, Elf, Dwarf, Djinn, and Beastkin to stand together.

“He hopes to give warning, let the tides of man learn that to attack one is to attack all,” Balfour explained, ignoring the question.

Teigh had sent Balfour to Dracula as his [Voice]. As an Aziza, he was immune to wards, resistant to glamour, and protected by the vagaries of Sidhe’s blood from any Vampire deciding to snack on him.

Sidhe's blood was poisonous to the Vampires. The same feature that made Sidhe weak to iron caused death for any Vampire stupid enough to ingest even a single drop of their blood. Sidhe’s blood is formed using traces of gold. Although that metal isn’t typically reactive and would be unable to transport oxygen, the Sidhe body is a creation of magic. With magic, science and logic don’t always apply.

Teigh had posited that Caesar had attacked the Sidhe, first of the magical races, because he believed he could process their bodies to claim the gold that flowed freely.

He would no longer have the chance to make such foul use of the Sidhe’s dead. Now that the Summerlands had been restored to Urt, the Sidhe would fade after death and walk the fields of the Summerlands until the end of days. There would be no more dead left behind to exploit.

Caesar would have to look elsewhere to loot and harvest resources.

“I agree with your Lord’s thoughts, but that wasn’t my question,” Dracula replied. “I asked why you? Just as important, why now? No Sidhe has reached out to speak to a Vampire in our long history, let alone try to forge an alliance.”

“Lord Teigh has faith in my abilities,” Balfour replied. He was as adept at twisting words as any Sidhe, but Teigh had given him permission to speak frankly if he felt it necessary.

“And what abilities might those be?”

“I am immune to wards, and the seductive charms Vampires exude,” Balfour decided there was no reason to keep his abilities secret and informed Dracula of some of the more obvious reasons Teigh had selected him as an intermediary.

“Those immunities, combined with my healing ability and role as a confidant of Lord Teigh, have me intimately familiar with his plans and goals.

“He would see the Sidhe protected for all time. And if he has to root out and kill Sidhe traitors for that to happen. If he has to form alliances to keep us safe, he believes it is best to form alliances with the magical community,” Balfour said.

“I understand what the Sidhe would get out of an alliance, but how would the Vampire profit? We are protected by the mountains we live in, my castle has withstood the march of armies before, and it will do so again,” Dracula boasted.

“The Sidhe thought that once, too. We considered ourselves safe on the Isle of Wight. An ocean separating us from the mainland and the incursions of humanity should have protected us. Instead, our home became a trap when Caesar and Ragnar Lodbrok built a fleet of ships armed with iron.

“They invaded our land and, if not for the return of our magic, would have slaughtered our people to the last child.

“These same people speak of you and your fellow Vampires. They tell tales of depravity and your insatiable need for blood around campfires at night. King, soldier, or peasant, it doesn’t matter your station in life, how rich or powerful you are. You listen to the whispers of fear that are shared in the safety of that fire’s glow.

“The name Dracula has become synonymous with evil. You are seen by humanity as a Demon, a monster. But even for all the fear your name and race have engendered, it is your other name and role that spell your doom. Your actions as Vlad the Impaler will have consequences. That success will see you and your people destroyed,” Balfour warned.

“Humanity fears the darkness, they fear Vampires, they fear the legend of Vlad the Impaler. And what humanity fears, it tries to control. They will try to tame you and your people. They will bleed you dry, using your blood to heal and share immortality.

“And when that fails, they will destroy you. Because for all of humanity’s weaknesses, they have their own strengths. Innovation, fertility, and determination. They will breed army after army of people to send against your castle walls.

“They will forge new weapons, create new battle strategies, and harness the powers of their clerics and Gods to raze this mountain and your castle to the ground.

“You might survive if you are callous enough to abandon everything you have built here. If you ignore the plight of your people and hide, they will find no rest. Your people will be winnowed, their numbers decimated until only a few surviving members of your race are left to scurry in the dark like rats.”