The Vampire & Her Witch

"Sir Rain, as someone who has purchased my services before, you should know there are limits to what I will share," Marcel said, his voice growing several times colder than anyone present had ever heard it before. "Our time tonight is already limited. You have a decision to make. You are most welcome to accompany us, and if you wish to bring your men along, I can provide a driver for their wagon."

"After all, in my line of work, driving wagons at night is a rather essential skill," he said with a pointed look between Sir Rain and Sir Hugo as he emphasized the phrase ’in my line of work.’ "Of course, I have a few other skills that are useful in the dark of night as well," he said with a slight smile as his noble fingers pulled back his cloak to reveal a number of knives tucked into his belt.

Ever since Owain had sent his closest underlings to purchase Nightweaver Venom and hire an assassin to poison the people Owain wanted to see suffer a fate worse than death, both men had lost any right to claim that they were knightly or virtuous men. Marcel had made it very clear to both men that, so long as they purchased his services, he expected them and their liege lord to look the other way when he conducted his business.

They could be knightly upholders of justice and the king’s law, or they could make deals with the underworld, purchasing demonic poisons and hiring assassins, but Marcel wouldn’t allow them to do both, at least as far as he was concerned.

"I’m sure that Mister Marcel is quite capable of guiding us tonight," Hugo said, quickly stepping in between Sir Rain and the man who represented the legendary ’Black Merchant.’ "And his offer of a driver for our wagon and the soldiers is quite welcome, isn’t it Sir Rain," he said as he stepped lightly on the other man’s foot.

For a moment, it looked like the portly knight intended to keep arguing but when he looked down at the slender bastard who seemed to have suddenly grown a spine he saw a subtle shake of the man’s head and a look on his face that said he’d thought of something that Sir Rain might not have.

If Lord Owain was here, Sir Rain was certain that he would have understood the subtle hint but he had always favored being more direct. Yet, as much as he wanted to argue, doing it in front of Marcel and the Guild Masters seemed like a poor choice.

"I’ll tell my men to prepare themselves," he said, turning to leave the room before pausing at the doorway. "I assume that I have enough time to ready the men? I’m not going to come back to find that you’ve slipped away in the darkness am I?"

"Perish the thought," Marcel said with a sweet smile. "We’ll even have Sir Hugo with us, so he can cause a commotion if we try anything underhanded or sneaky. You shouldn’t worry though," Marcell added.

"After all, didn’t I come to tell you directly that we were leaving and invite you to come along? If I wanted to spirit these two away without you knowing or following, there are much better ways to come collect them than to do it while you’re all eating together," the merchant said.