Zed Paldune, Vampire Hunter
~ Three Years Pre-TRTE ~
Zed Paldune was a fairly normal man as far as most people were concerned. He was just a young man who worked at his family’s inn in Bivio while studying the creatures that resided in the various kingdoms, mundane or otherwise and reputation with the townspeople was flawless, always willing to lend a hand where he could whether the work be shearing sheep in the spring or tutoring some of the local children before their schools started up again in the fall. He never gave anyone a reason to suspect he was even mildly weird.
But he was, and that was his dirty little secret as far as he was aware. You see, while Zed Paldune dedicated most of his time to the inn, the townspeople, and his studies, he always saved a bit of time to research the creature that haunted the back of his mind since he first saw it so many years ago.
The vampire.
All the sources he could find said it didn’t exist, but Zed knew what he saw, and ever since that fateful day four years prior when he saw it, he had never forgotten it.
He saw it on his visit to Galant. The creature looked like a normal human man, but his eyes were blood red and he went around asking people for blood samples. Normally Zed could have brushed that off, found some way to justify it, but when he saw that creature with its mouth on another man’s neck he couldn’t deny what he saw.
He had spent years searching for it. He went to the school where he had claimed to be a student (told to Zed when he had asked for a blood sample, Zed firmly refused to give him one), but by that point it had graduated. So he asked where it went, only to be informed that it had teamed up with a group of knights (to drink their blood in secret no doubt), and thus finding its location at any given time was like throwing a dart at a map of the continent and praying.
So he waited, spending every day keeping his eyes peeled for the beast, so he could take it down if he ever saw it again… He never expected the creature to walk right up to his doorstep, practically presenting itself on a silver platter.
“Two, three bed rooms, just for the night please,” The group of knights that entered the front room of the inn were decidedly a mixed bunch featuring what could very possibly have been the most twig like knight he had ever seen, the shortest knight he had ever seen, a knight who used a cane, a woman knight who looked to be done with all of their shit, the captain who seemed to be a good five years older than the rest of them at the very bare minimum, and the mage…
The mage with red eyes and hair made of fire.
Sure it didn’t have fire hair the last time he had seen it, but no one knew anything about vampires so Zed was more than willing to take the new information as it came to him.
“Alright, I assume you would like them next to each other?” The knight standing at the head of the group nodded and Zed walked over to his father to take over the interaction.
“We’ve got a few groups lining up outside so I’ll take them to their rooms so you can get the next group.” Zed offered, his father didn’t think anything of it, just passing the old metal keys to Zed while taking the knight’s coin. Zed just smiled at the group and waved for them to follow him.
The three bedrooms were on the right half of the second floor (the other half being rooms with more beds and the floor above them being two bed and one bed rooms). As the knights discussed how they would divy up the rooms (the leader, the short one, and the girl in one room with the vampire, twig, and cane user in the other one), Zed made a point of handing the key for the corner most room to the group the vampire was in, giving the key for the room next to it to the leader of the group. Their inn wasn’t very large, so putting the vampire in the corner room also meant that it would have a window that Zed could access later.
“You might want to head down to the tavern soon,” Zed advised pointedly, “We have quite a few guests staying here already and with the influx of others my father is dealing with you’ll want to get there quickly so you aren’t left with table scraps.” The head knight smiled and nodded at him.
“Thank you, we’ll likely be heading down there shortly, can you have two water basins brought up in the meantime?” Zed nodded and watched as the knights entered their rooms before going down stairs once more to see his father, alone.
“No other groups have come inside,” He noted.
“Really? They must have just been stopping outside for a breather then,” Zed shrugged, “The knights asked for a pair of washbasins to be brought up to their rooms so I’m going to handle that real quick.” His father nodded and Zed began the process of lugging the basins down from the third floor. They had taps and curtain rods in the rooms so thankfully he only had to deal with the basins themselves… and the little surprise he was going to leave for the vampire.
All he had to do was wedge a small chunk of potassium in between the boards of the washbasin, then he was done.
The explosion rocked the inn a few hours later. Zed followed his father as he dashed up the stairs, and he was pleased to find water splashed out from under the door of the room he had put the vampire in. His father pounded on the door and the twiggy knight answered it while the vampire frantically looked between the basin that was now in pieces, and the open door. Sure it was a one and three chance, but this was the best he could have hoped for.
“What happened?!” His father demanded.
“I don’t know! I just turned on the tap to start filling up the basin and it exploded!” The vampire explained frantically.
“It just exploded huh?” Zed's father asked pointedly? “That wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that you’re a fire mage right?” The vampire paled as he was glared at.
“Sure I can assure you I’ve only used some light healing magic since we’ve gotten here, I can assure you I would never do something like this for fun!” He swore.
“Likely story… It's late, but we have a truth teller in town who can verify it for us tomorrow morning. For now you should come with us.” Zed spoke up.
“You’re not taking him to jail are you? You have no actual proof he did anything!” The knight with the cane protested as he got up from his bed. Zed just rolled his eyes.
“Well it’s better safe than sorry, and if he’s telling the truth we will compensate you for his night in holding.”
“We need to be back in Ebbin by tomorrow morning!”
“Then you’ll have to settle for tomorrow afternoon and comply with us before his holding time gets longer.” Zed insisted. The vampire sighed as he walked towards the door.
“Tell Impulse what happened, okay?” The other two knights nodded and the vampire held out his hands, allowing Zed to tie a rope (which he just so happened to have on him) around his wrists.
“You get them a new basin and maybe a new room, I’ll handle getting this one to the holding.” Zed’s father just nodded and allowed Zed to lead the vampire downstairs.
Unlike what they had discussed, Zed first checked that the area was clear before leading him to a shed behind the inn.
“What the hell are you doing?!” The vampire demanded.
“I have a few questions to ask you,” Zed sighed calmly, “First of which being, how many of you are there?” The vampire feigned looked confused but Zed wasn’t having it. “How many vampires exist? How many have you turned?!”
“I’m sorry, do you think I’m a vampire?” The mage asked.
“I don’t think, I know.” Zed stated firmly, “I watched you, four years ago, go around Galant asking for blood samples, and that same day I saw you drinking the blood from a man’s neck. So you either better start explaining yourself or you better prepare to tell me everything you know.”
“Three years ago I was in magic school and I was asking for blood samples to test the cloning spell that was my thesis,” The mage explained bluntly, “As for that man you saw, that was the first time I met my boyfriend, and it was a hookup. Me supposedly drinking his blood was just me giving him a damn hickey! Can you let me go now?” He asked.
“Then why are your eyes red?!” Zed demanded.
“Why are your eyes purple?!” He snapped back. “Have you seriously gone these four years thinking I’m a vampire based on those three facts alone?!” Zed didn’t know what to say, “Did you rig the basin to blow up? How did you do that?!”
“Potassium in the crevasses.” Zed muttered, dumbfounded.
“That seemed like a lot for just some potassium.”
“I used a lot of it.” Zed shrugged.
“Can I go back to my team now?” Zed couldn’t think of a good reason to say no so he didn’t, just moving to untie the mage’s hands silently. Tango left the shed before he did, leaving Zed just standing there in total shock.
Tango groaned.
“God I’m never gonna hear the end of this from Scar.”