Entering the main room of the Gerro Guardhouse, Logan saw Jirango sitting at the desk writing away as usual. The half-hand tilted his head towards the entering Spellthief as if someone else was here.

Standing by the desk was a 6’1” man in his late 20s, his body mostly hidden underneath a brown cloak though his head was visible as his hood drooped at his back. Piercing blue eyes that sent a chill through Logan’s body were hugged by black sclera, the sign of a vampire. The handles and hilts of machete, daggers, and shortswords were just barely visible in the gaps of his cloak, as well as his combat boots and adventurer’s leather trousers. The man’s hair was styled upwards and to his left, obviously taking pride in his appearance with the use of wax, stark white, either he went grey early or he was far beyond 20.

Opening his mouth to speak, Logan could see the man kept his teeth pristine. Pearly whites with daggered fangs had honeyed words escape to the Spellthief, “You must be the one highly recommended to me. I am Quayvan.”

Logan could see fang marks on the right side of Quayvan’s neck. Had he never regenerated them?

Logan approached the pair and greeted them, “Good morning, Jirango”, he started before turning to the vampire and holding out a hand, “Yes, I am Logan. Nice to meet you, Quayvan.”

Quayvan took the hand and shook it with a strong grip, “Pleasures are shared between us, cousin-kin.”

Logan looked at Jirango before realising that most vampires thus far could tell Logan was a demon of some state, and since he lacked the black sclera of vampires it was obvious he wasn’t one. It was still a mystery how much they could detect, as Logan was only in the first stage of demonhood.

Quayvan continued as he let go of the handshake, “I apologise for the secrecy surrounding this hunt, but I assure you the information is closely guarded.”

“That is fine. I understand the need for privacy. Were you the same one to meet Wriske?”

“Yes. My apologies are extended secondly for her current condition. However, her failure has paved the path to your victory”, Quayvan spoke as he smiled, “and your coin pouch becoming heavier.”

“She is getting better, thankfully. About that meeting…”

“We can discuss in an adjoining room to this”, Quayvan replied as he looked towards Jirango, “If you will excuse us.”

Jirango waved the pair off as they went through a door that left them in a rather small room with a table and four chairs.

Quayvan pushed away his cloak as he sat down, Logan spying on more weapons under the cover, as well as pouches that protected vials. The vampire then pulled out a booklet and slid it towards Logan.

“Before we discuss anything, I must request that you swear upon this book, that nothing we speak of will leave this room. It is the tome of Asbella and Pondress.”

Logan saw no reason not to, placing a hand on the booklet he swore his silence.

“Thank you”, Quayvan started as he took the booklet back, “What we are going to confabulate is a guarded secret, but as a cousin-kin, I feel we are fine to talk about it.”

“And Wriske?” Logan wondered.

“Devout are rather close with vampire kind, I believe her words are locked”, Quayvan admitted, “To start, I need to grant you some history surrounding vampires. You need to know the severity of the situation and the sovereignty of those involved.”

“If it is so serious, why do you not have the stronger vampires involved? I am sure amongst the higher-ups they could handle it, right?” Logan queried.

“While the strongest of us could handle this, covens are commonly insular when it comes to these sorts of situations. Weakness is also morphed into another’s dominance.”

“Very well. Your contract doesn’t say which coven this relates to, nor anyone in particular. You want to be secretive to all. I understand.”

Quayvan nodded in thanks, “As you are cousin-kin, you are not part of any coven. Correct?”

“Correct. I am not linked to vampires at all, aside from work.”

“You are one of many who have taken steps into demonhood without taking the vampire approach. Just to cover all bases, you are not part of a nest either?”

Nests were an offshoot term of covens. Coven covered a group or clan of vampires, while nests related to the youngest members, newly converted, or those born from vampires.

“I am not.”

“Then this will be all news to your ears. To start, I shall tell you how vampires began.”

Logan’s interest was piqued, he had only heard offhand comments or speculation as to the origin of vampires in this world, but a first-hand recollection would be useful.

“Long ago, some two thousand years in the past, there was a village whose original name and location has been lost to time. We refer to it as Dracon, the home of vampires. It was a small settlement of one hundred members. In those times it was rare to find large cities like Gauntlet, so many smaller gatherings were commonplace and the norm.

Dracon was a close-knit family of farmers, crafters, and game hunters. It is believed that none in the village had a class. However, they were ‘gifted’ something that was new to the world. One morning, exactly half of the village awoke with the sclera of their eyes blackened. Whilst first thought of as a disease, they were cordoned off in the village hall.

Fifty-packed people did not make for a homely atmosphere. Medicine people entered the hall to diagnose the individuals, but found no issues with them aside from the ocular abnormalities. As they were taken to the hall in the early morning, as many woke for farm work, they had not experienced sunlight.

When the doctors said they were fine and were allowed to leave, the sunlight burnt their skin and almost killed a few of the new vampires. This symptom was quickly identified, and deduced to be a widespread part of the black-eye disease.

For their safety, the fifty were kept in the hall till nighttime. With only the moonlight to shine on them, the vampires were fine to walk the nightly streets.

Days passed as the vampires had to be locked up and looked after by the doctors. The next symptom was that of being unable to gain satiety from food or water. They admitted a thirst for blood and flesh.

Experimentations on animals and people continued for the next few days, revealing that only blood could feed the vampires.

The next part is where historians are fuzzy if they know of this at all. Some believe the mortals were dominated or forced to grant their blood, while the real outcome was that they happily offered themselves.

The vampires gave in return their new power. Strength and speed beyond imagining, and deduction capabilities far beyond the mortals. This was far above what normal vampires had, the progenitor fifty were the strongest.

Thus the first bleeder dens were made, and the vampires expanded beyond Dracon. Classes were eventually discovered, and the mixing of the two led to our present situation.

However, discussions were held with the deities at some point, and it was revealed this was meant to be a curse.

Asbella wished to plague the lands with something that would cause us to evolve and adapt, gaining the power to take down the vampire menace. However, all she wanted was the negatives, alongside the hunger to feed on mortals. An immortal cannibal.

Pondress saw to challenge Asbella, though. As the Protectress of Civilized Folk, she designed the benefits of the vampire affliction. In combat of what it would take from us, she allowed us to be better in other ways.

Asbella bet that the mortals would see vampires as monsters, and kill them on sight. Pondress saw the good in people and held strong that we’d work together.

Pondress was correct, and we are now leaders of the world. Our lifespan allows us to create long-lived businesses and pacts. Even though the first village was a fifty-fifty split, vampires comprise only 10% of the current population.

Only twenty-three of the progenitors still live to this day. Their hegemony is undeniable, though they are not invincible. They are sunkissed yet reclusive. Many want to take their blood for its power, while the AV Club want their heads to be severed in hopes it would kill their offspring.

This belief is false, however. Killing a ‘head vampire’ does nothing to those they have turned. Though we see the progenitors as parents. Nests do not know of them, and the AV Club keeps the secret close to their chests in the hopes that common folk don’t flock to keep them safe.”

Quayvan took in a deep breath before continuing, “Do you have any questions about anything I have stated thus far?”

“If the progenitors of Dracon are still around, how do you not know the specific place or time?”

“While they were there, they don’t often recount all of the information to us. Diluted data feeds down to those who aren’t adjacent to the progenitors. In addition, the location of Dracon or the exact date might not have even been documented back then. It is also a possibility that the progenitors are protecting their homeland.”

“If vampires get stronger with age, it must take an army to take down the progenitors. How have so many died?”

“Some died a few decades after they were made, seeing their power as insurmountable at times. Others, indeed, had massive forces to take them down. There is one more means to do so, which I will discuss in a bit.”

“What sort of power does progenitor blood grant?” Logan asked to end his investigation.

Quayvan smirked before replying, “The most prominent one, is that it can be used as a component in demonhood advancement potions. I will make it known that this is not intimated to anyone outside of the higher echelon.”

With the amount of information Quayvan had on hand, Logan could easily tell that the vampire in front of him had to be a part of said higher echelon. There must have been more reasons than stated that someone outside of such was being told about all this though.

“Continue.”

Quayvan pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Logan. Unfurled, it had a diagram of a crossbow bolt, several pointers, descriptions, and depictions of materials showing how it was made.

“This is a Sunsilt Bolt. The tip is a composition of hallowed silver and liquid sunlight. While the former is rather easy, in comparison, to acquire it is quite expensive. A single bolt tip is worth a platinum coin. Hallowed silver is devastating to vampires and the undead. However, the liquid sunlight… is worse.

Liquid sunlight is an incredibly rare substance. It is gathered via portals that connect our world to that of the sun and condenses the material of the star into a droplet. You need at least a dozen magi of immense power to create said portal, and it takes months to do. After which, there’s a good chance all involved will die when it is taken.

Outside of that, morphing a piece of the star into a droplet is an almost lost art. Lost, as many who make it, again, die. Combining this with the silver, it hardens after a few weeks to the point it has been cast into a bolt.”

Logan listened intently to the description whilst he referred to the parchment.

Quayvan continued, “While hallowed silver can pierce many of a vampire’s powers, it has faults. Combing it with liquid sunlight makes it almost peerless. A Sunsilt Bolt can kill almost any vampire, including a progenitor.”

“When you said ‘sunkissed’ earlier, you meant that the progenitors can walk in the sunlight without issue, right?”

“Yes. However, interior attacks are much more potent”, Quayvan replied as he pointed to his chest, ”The sun in your palm is more intense than it is in the sky”, he ended with an open palm.

“So, with a platinum for the silver bolt, the liquid sunlight would be far more expensive. I doubt lives can be bought so easily.”

“The AV Club has many members who would die for their cause. The production of Sunsilt Bolts has only come to our knowledge in the past year. This most recent case is the third.”

Logan raised an eyebrow as Quayvan put emphasis on his last words.

“We require a hunter to track down the manufacturing of these bolts, destroy any they find and any notes to the creation of such devices. As well as apprehend or kill all involved. This comes after a progenitor was killed with a bolt some weeks ago.”

Logan spent a few seconds collecting his thoughts. “You don’t want the other vampires finding out a progenitor has died”, he deduced.

“Your summation is true.”

“You also don’t want ‘anyone’ finding out about the Sunsilt Bolts.”

“Repeated success of deductions”, Quayvan relinquished.

“I take it you also fear they may have more of these bolts if you say I need to destroy them. Since I am not a vampire, their power is vastly reduced?”

“Yes. Silver would do little to a mortal, and while liquid sunlight is a strong component, its fire and light are quite diminished against non-vampires. It will still hurt, though”, Quayvan replied with confidence.

Logan ruminated over the information. It made more sense why a hunter was preferable to this task now. None he knew of were vampires. Any vampire sent on this task would also find a lot of aversion to the tools of the enemy.

“As was changed, the contract is offering fifty gold. You may also keep any equipment not relating to the bolts for yourself. I estimate a healthy double income from that.”

Logan looked over the parchment before looking at Quayvan, “How do I destroy a Sunsilt Bolt?”

“We have a concoction that can do so”, Quayvan answered as he pulled out a small box, big enough to fit the head of a bolt. Putting on a glove, the vampire opened it to reveal a greenish-black liquid, next he pulled out a silvery bolt with his full attention on it. “Place any silver in this, and it will be pulled apart”, he explained as he put the bolt tip into the box.

Leaning over the table, Logan saw the bolt almost eaten away by the liquid, falling into several pieces within the box. “That makes things easier.”

Quayvan pulled out five other boxes, “When used with a Sunsilt Bolt, the container will explode after a few seconds. Hence, they are all one-time use for the objective. If there are more, bring them back and we will dispose of them.”

“I believe I understand everything so far. You have the location of a manufacturer?”

“Wriske tracked down some of the members to a cave, alongside many corpses of vampires. You can start there, but we are highly confident the members have moved on. This whole hunt might take weeks if you’ve the time now to sort it.”

“Has Jirango told you I am a teleportation expert?”

Quayvan nodded, “Of course. And that your divination powers are quite apt too. Though these individuals are using magics to hide themselves.”

“Tell me about the types of foes I’ll be facing…”

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