32 -- Jeopardy

"What is that thing?"
Lily glanced at Ralph once and hurried away, needing to wash up. She made sure that one of her men locked the vampire up securely. She didn't want him to escape for any reason. She wasn't in the right frame of mind to listen to one of Ralph's lectures and she hurried her steps to her cave, growling when Ralph grabbed her arm before she could get in.
"I'm sorry." He retracted his arm and Lily forced herself not to rub at the sore spot his hand had left on her arm.
"I know that that is a Vampire."
"Smart you." She turned to go but he grabbed her by the shoulders, gently this time. She huffed and turned back to him, making sure that her annoyance was visible on her face.
"You have to get that vile thing out of the village. The high priestess won't be happy with this new development." He drew himself closer to her, like he wanted to be sure that she'd understand him or be intimidated by his blistering gaze.
"They kill, Commander. They drain the body of blood. Blood that was freely given to us by the goddess. They're equating themselves to the goddess."
Lily smiled at that, patting Ralph on his shoulder. "Your thinking needs to change. You shouldn't go on in this life having such an archaic mindset."
Ralph's face showed his anger immediately, his unnaturally pale skin turning red with fury. "You're not taking this seriously, Commander. We have children that play everywhere. What would happen when one curious soul wanders into the cave you chained him in. When he lures one of ours within his grasps."
"Believe me, if he was the ravaging blood sucker you claim him to be, I would be lying in a ditch somewhere, my body dried of my life's essence."
Ralph stared at her in shock for a few minutes. He shook his head and frowned, "How easy you speak about death. Remember that I warned you about this. Anything that befalls us would be on your head. Your people's death would be on your hands."
Lily had had enough. "How easy you speak of our people's death." She sidled closer to him.
"I need you to trust me on this. We can garner so much information from him. Think of all the things we could do if we could get the secrets of the Vampires."
She hopped that Ralph would see reason with her. He was somewhat her only friend and she'd feel terrible if he didn't back her up with this, while everyone was bound to chide her.
"I still think you're making a mistake but I'd leave you for the elders to persuade. Commander." He bowed to her and walked away from her.
Lily watched as he made his way over to the council cave, stopping to talk to two elders perched on benches by the entrance. They both looked up to her and signaled, letting her know that they were expecting her.
She sighed. She felt so weary and would really love to take a short nap. Resigned, she walked into her cave, quickly washing up herself and donning her most comfortable tunic. She walked out of her cave, stopping by the cave she had thrown the Vampire when she saw some children standing watch.
She called them to her and knelt in front of them. "That thing in there is dangerous. Stay away from it." She made sure to keep her features grave.
"Salem said that he drinks blood. That true?" A girl of around six, her thumb in her mouth, asked Lily. Lily sighed, the news of the Vampire's presence was already spreading fast. She had to curb this now.
Standing, she looked down at the children and bussed the cheek of the six year old girl. "Yes. And it doesn't care if you get hurt. He'd drink all your blood."
The children gasped and scampered away. Lily should feel a little bit of guilt for lying to the children, but that was the only way to ensure that they'd not return to see the vampire.
She hurried into the council cave, coming to a pause when she saw that all the elders were present, even the high priestess. On most occasions, the high priestess always stayed out of the deliberation and most of the elders remained absent. She thought that this would be one of those times.
Seeing the crowd made her realize that she really didn't have any say in what would be decided. The high priestess would make sure that the vampire would be dealt with. She frowned, she didn't understand why that didn't sit well with her.
She saw Ralph move close to the high priestess and whisper something in her ear. She turned and stared at Lily, watching her approach. The elders quieted down as she walked past them.
Lily sat on a stool, the elders voices picking up and she listened to them as they bickered about the fate of the Vampire that she had captured.
Baba Kazoh, the head of the elders, stood and wobbled on his walking stick, to the centre of their circle. He cleared his throat, drawing the attention of everyone gathered and letting them know that he wanted their silence.
He turned to face her once they all kept quiet. "Commander, we all heard of the vampire that you brought into out village. Not just our village, but our homes. Our families move around the village, what happens if peradventure, he escapes. Or a child wanders too close."
Lily flicked her eyes to Ralph and saw how he smiled and nodded enthusiastically. He wasn't serious, was he? He had already sold his point across to the elders during her absence.
"We have to get rid of it. Tell me, Commander, for what reason does he still remain here, alive."
Lily sighed. "I want to get so much information from him. They drain people of their blood, sucking them dry. I want to drain him of his people's secret. What makes them tick, what are their weaknesses. Why he was in our territory. Is he a spy? Or what reason did he have for lurking around our territory."
She sat back in flourish as some of the elders nodded, getting her point. "I would never let someone that might be a threat to us slip out of my hold and go with whatever information he might've gotten about us."
Ralph stepped up then, glancing at the high priestess before speaking, like he sought her permission. "Then kill him. That takes care of the problem that he might be with some of our secrets."
The elders nodded sharply at what Ralph had said. Lily tried not to let her displeasure show. She understood why Ralph wanted the vampire gone, but he wasn't looking at things from her point of view.
"Before a war..." Her voice caused a hush to descend the cave and Ralph walked back to his place behind the high priestess. She continued, "Before a war, we send out not one but sometimes three of our men, disguised, to learn things about the people we're about to attack.
"In the same way, it'd be foolish of us to think that the Vampires are stupid and sent only one man. I'm very sure that there were more and I plan to get them by the help of this captured vampire."
One of the elders stood up then, "What makes you so sure that he'd be willing to divulge the information of his comrades. Using our men as an example as you previously did, the vampire won't give anything away about his comrades no matter the torture used."
Lily smiled at that. Using her own speech as a counter attack to her. "Well, I'd be a bad commander if I don't try. In every warrior troope, there's always a man more susceptible to pain than the others. I'm simply hoping that he'd break."
Even as she said so, she knew that she was lying. From their fight earlier, she knew that he was a seasoned fighter. But she wasn't ready to do away with him for the now.
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Nicholas stirred. He was laying on a very hard surface and the earth beneath him was cool. He tried to suppress a shiver but failed. He struggled to piece what had happened since he left the werewolf kingdom, but his memories were coming in slow.
He remembered the fight with the fierce woman and her defeating him. He groaned. It didn't take a genius to guess that he had been captured.
He sat up, finally running his gaze around the room he was in. No, not room, a cave. He frowned. Was he in a cave or in an underground holding cell?
From the noises and laughter sounding close by he knew that he was not underground, but actually in a cave. He sat straighter, pulling on the chains that bound his arms to his side. He had to get the fierce lady here right now. She didn't know who she had taken captive and how important his role here was.
He had just decided that he was going to rain hell on whoever has chained him up so tightly when he heard a laugh come from his right. He turned sharply, squinting against the little light that flowed from... A door? No, an entrance.
He looked closely and almost faltered back when two little shapes moved. There was that laughter again. Nicholas frowned. What were children doing here.
The shapes moved closer, laughing louder when he scuttled closer to the wall. He wasn't afraid of them, but he was afraid of their lack of fear for him. Vampires were the most feared race, but this little pups laughed in his face.
He should be angered but he was endeared at their boldness and when next they moved closer, he faked a shiver, acting like he was scared of them. They giggled again and stepped more into the cave.
Just then, Nicholas thought about how careless the parents were being. Any other vampire without restraint could've tricked the pups into this lair with the same truck he was using just so he could see themselves.
They drew closer to him and he shrank back. "You know, it's advised to not get close to forbidden things." He drawled.
They stepped closer and he saw that they were both boys, with a shocking amount of midnight black curls. They stared at him, their heads cocked. "You talk funny."
The shorter one said, his hand on his hips. Nicholas tried not to smile at the boy's heavily accented English. He watched warily as the taller boy stepped closer, to grabbing distance.
Nicholas decided then that he had to scare the boys away and was about to fake grabbing the taller one, when he spoke.
"You don't look like a bad guy." He turned to the smaller one and Nicholas watched as the small one nodded, stepping up to the tall boy.
"Yes. You don't look scary at all." Nicholas was a bit unnerved by the way they stared at him.
"You boys should go out now. It's not safe to be in here with me."
The shorter one squatted, bringing his face to Nicholas's eye level. "Because you drink blood till it's all gone?" The boy looked at Nicholas innocently and Nicholas almost laughed then.
"No, because your parents are going to whip you if you're caught here." That seemed to get to the short boy and he stood quickly, walking over to the taller boy, who gripped his hand in his and frowned at Nicholas, looking annoyed that he had gotten to his friend.
"It's mean to talk about people who are dead. You made my brother sad." Nicholas could see the resemblance now and he also felt bad for bringing up the boys parents. He sighed, resigned to spending the day with these boys.
"Alright then. You can stay for a while. But you'd have to run out when I start to get hungry."
The boys faces lit up, and they hesitated before they nodded, like they wanted to see how he'd look when he was hungry. They made themselves comfortable on the floor and stared up at him.
Nicholas sent a prayer to the heavens, thankful that he had mastered control at a very young age.