“Ah, there’s our famous god-slayer! And I see he found himself a handsome new friend as well.”
Walking into the adlet village, it was all Lex could do not to snarl as he caught sight of Sanguine Disposition’s smiling face.
Beside him, Long Road frowned slightly at the term “god-slayer,” but didn’t question it, instead narrowing his eyes as he kept his gaze on the red-clad stallion in front of them.
Despite being a vampire, Sanguine Disposition didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable at being outside in broad daylight, sauntering toward the pair...with a dazed-looking Ujurak stumbling along after him, his eyes glassy and a trickle of blood matting the fur on the side of his neck. Further back, Yotimo, Silla, and several other adlet warriors were watching them, weapons gripped tightly in their hands.
“I hope you don’t mind that I was having some fun without you,” purred the leather wing. “But you seemed to be taking your time, so I couldn’t help but sample some of the local delicacies while I was waiting. This one, in particular” – he caressed Ujurak with the tip of one wing, causing the adlet to shudder and pant – “was quite delectable.”
“You’re a vampire,” announced Long Road flatly, “and you’ve been feeding on the people of this village.”
“A village that’s under my protection,” growled Lex. “You might have kept Gwynharwyf in check, but don’t think that means you can do whatever you want here.”
The vampire’s grin didn’t falter in the slightest, giving a sweeping bow. “My deepest apologies if I’ve given offense,” he replied easily. “If it helps, I can promise that everyone involved enjoyed themselves a great deal.”
“Take liberties with anyone here ever again, and I promise that the consequences will be something you won’t enjoy,” rumbled Lex, silently noting that Sanguine Disposition was yet another individual whose future he couldn’t see. That wasn’t entirely surprising, given that the leatherwing was not only in possession of the Secreta, but was also an extraordinarily powerful spellcaster; presuming that the Night Mare’s blessing itself wasn’t what was hiding his future, then he’d likely used the same spell of foresight that Vystalaran had while pretending to be mortal, though if that was the case then Sanguine Disposition had also made sure to hide its emanations in the magical spectrum.
Long Road, however, had no such immunity to having his future read, which was how Lex knew that if he didn’t step in immediately, the paladin would initiate a conflict. Despite being weaponless and weakened by his time in captivity, there was no future in which he allowed someone else to be victimized right in front of him.
While Lex could respect that instinct – though it was blunted by how the paladin’s course of action seemed entirely futile; from what Lex could tell, the donkey wasn’t any sort of threat to Sanguine Disposition – he couldn’t allow the two of them to get into an altercation. He needed to bring Long Road back to Equestria in order to honor his agreement with Rarity. Neither did he want the donkey to join him in chastising Sanguine Disposition.
It was one thing for two servants of the same goddess to quarrel; it was another for one of those servants to side with a member of another religion against a member of their own.
Which meant that the sooner he separated the paladin and the vampire, the better.
Striding forward, Lex stood upright and laid a claw on Ujurak’s head. Instantly, the blood on the adlet’s neck vanished, even as his eyes cleared. “Huh?!” Blinking, he reached up to rub his neck absently. “What did...?”
He trailed off as he looked around, stopping as his gaze fell on Sanguine Disposition, causing the leather wing to smile. “I hope I didn’t wear you out too badly,” he chuckled.
Ujurak’s face immediately colored, and he took a step back, only to stop and clench his fists as he bared his teeth, glaring at the vampire. “You...!”
“Don’t.” Lex stepped between the two of them, giving the adlet a cold stare. “I’ll deal with him. Go back to the others.”
“But he-”
“I said,” hissed Lex, his eyes glowing as his impatience flared. Instantly, the surrounding area seemed to grow darker, as though the sun itself was dimming, and it grew cold in a way that had nothing to do with the surrounding temperature. “Go back.”
The blood draining from his face, Ujurak backed up immediately, stumbling over his own feet as he turned around and ran back to where Yotimo was.
Lex didn’t bother watching him go, instead turning to look at Long Road. “I need to have a discussion with my...colleague. If you would watch over this village and its people in the interim, I would be obliged.”
Long Road didn’t answer immediately, instead giving him a silent stare that lasted for several seconds before he nodded at last. “Of course, Your Highness. I’ll do my utmost to help them” – he looked at Sanguine Disposition then – “and protect them.”
Far from being offended, the leather wing looked as though he was holding back the urge to start laughing. “I have no doubt that anyone would be reassured by the presence of such a nice ass.”
Ignoring the double entendre, Long Road gave Lex a polite bow – not showing the vampire the same courtesy – and then walked away.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Sanguine Disposition’s smile fell away, his features turning dire as he gave Lex a cold look. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Raising a brow at the leather wing’s abrupt change in attitude – it was the first time he’d seen Sanguine Disposition being anything except suave – Lex frowned. As unusual as the vampire’s demeanor was, he was in no mood to be talked down to. “Tread very carefully, vampire, or I’ll cease to overlook your trespasses against this village.”
“No, I don’t think you will,” retorted Sanguine Disposition sharply. “Not when I’m the one who protected your collection of floozies from Gwynharwyf.”
“Protected them?” sneered Lex, refusing to grant the vampire’s premise as he waved a claw, indicating the area around them. “Then where are they? Gwynharwyf is gone, but so are Solvei and the others. For all I know, she’s breaking into whatever extradimensional oubliette you threw them.”
“It’s a maze, actually. I chose that spell because even if Gwynharwyf did try to pursue them, she’ll have to navigate it in order to locate them. But that was just an extra precaution; unless something truly unusual happens, that eladrin virago won’t be bothering you again for some time.”
“And what makes you so certain of that?”
Sanguine Disposition snorted. “Because I contacted her wife, Lex. All it took was one simple message to Morwel, letting her know that Gwynharwyf was stirring up trouble, and she called the little termagant home.”
Lex clenched his jaw. Although he’d used a similar tactic when he’d managed to bluff Gwynharwyf into backing off, he couldn’t help but feel irritated now. “You mean you gambled that Morwel would disapprove of what Gwynharwyf was doing, even though she might have agreed with her wife’s actions. What would you have done if she’d commended Gwynharwyf’s aggression, or even sent her reinforcements?”
The question made the vampire scoff. “That wouldn’t have happened.”
“You don’t know-”
“Yes,” cut in Sanguine Disposition, “I do.” He tapped a hoof to the side of his head. “Secreta, remember? Not to mention I’ve been doing this for quite some time. I might not have any dealings with the Llys Seren, but I made absolutely sure to study up on them. The Libram of Ineffable Damnation was a nice read, but its information on them is much too sparse.”
There was little Lex could say to that.
“Gwynharwyf is a warrior,” continued Sanguine Disposition, “and Faerinaal is a tactician, but Morwel – their leader – is a diplomat through and through. Avoiding political minefields is what she does, so yeah, I felt confident that getting in touch with her would result in her yanking on her wife’s leash.”
“If Gwynharwyf is no longer a threat, then bring Solvei and the others back immediately,” demanded Lex.
“In a minute.”
“No,” hissed Lex, once again letting his anger show, black crystals erupting from the earth around him. “Right now.”
But Sanguine Disposition didn’t so much as blink. “Your doxies will keep. I need to speak to you in the meantime.”
The beast inside of Lex howled then, demanding that the interloper male standing between him and his mates be slain immediately, and despite how sick he’d grown of killing, Lex found himself seriously entertaining the idea. He hated the undead on principle, and the vampire’s attempt to seduce and manipulate him had only deepened his dislike of his fellow champion.
But at the same time, he knew he couldn’t. Even leaving aside that the vampire’s sudden truculence didn’t warrant a death sentence, the Night Mare didn’t approve of infighting between her champions. At least, not in terms of direct combat. She might have overlooked how he’d used his tulpa to repulse the leather wing back in Eigengrau, but a deliberate attempt on Sanguine Dispositions life – which would be far more credible with his current suite of powers and magic items – would surely arouse the goddess’s ire.
And after the inexplicable way she had reacted – if that had even been her – when he’d tried to commune with her during his confrontation with the elves, Lex knew better than to push his luck now.
But that didn’t mean he had to like it.
Another delay!
It would likely only be a few minutes, but at this point it felt like adding insult to injury. He’d already wasted several minutes talking to Long Road as they’d walked back to the village, gritting his teeth at having to match the donkey’s sedate pace. It hadn’t been wasted time by any means – he’d learned quite a bit about how the donkey had ended up in the Abyss, the home plane of the demons, after saving Trottingham, struggling to survive there only to end up stumbling across Loraestil while the latter was on a hunt, being escorted by the elf back to Foelvan, where he’d been treated as a guest at first, only to gradually realize that he was the elves’ prisoner – but at the same time, he’d resented being kept from Solvei and the others that much longer.
That had been part of the reason why he hadn’t mentioned to Long Road that he was from Equestria, or that he’d made a deal with Rarity to retrieve him. That would only have served to slow him down more, answering the questions the paladin would have had. And of course, such a confession was currently pointless anyway, since he had no way of making good on his promise while the angels were blockading his world.
And now even the bloodsucker interfering with him!
“Make it fast,” hissed Lex through his teeth, resisting the urge to simply summon Solvei, Nenet, and Mei Li themselves. If worse came to worst, and he had to go hunting for whatever demiplane Sanguine Disposition had sent them all to – since not all of the emissaries were capable of interplanar movement – that would be much easier if his soul-bound servants remained where they were, letting him use their connection as a beacon. “Before I lose what’s left of my temper!”
“You should be less concerned with your temper, and more with your judgment,” replied Sanguine Disposition, still looking unamused. “What are you thinking, getting involved with Kara so much?”
“Kara?” That was unexpected enough to take the edge off of Lex’s rising frustration. Barely. “This is about Kara?”
“You’re letting her manipulate you,” pressed the leather wing. “Having a minor blessing to encourage others to develop their feelings for you is one thing. But now you’ve got almost a dozen shapely little tarts following you around, and another blessing from her that lets you handle them all at once. Do you really not see the danger in that?”
Lex made a dismissive gesture. “I can handle Kara.”
Sanguine Disposition groaned. “That’s how it starts! She acts like an empty-headed coquette, teasing and flirty, giving you a little gift or two with no strings attached. Completely harmless, right? Then she steps her game up.”
His tail gave an angry flick then, his expression turning sour. “She makes it seem like she’s really interested in you, there whenever you need her, helping out in bigger and bigger ways...until all of a sudden, she wants something in return.”
Outwardly, Lex didn’t react to what the vampire was saying. Inwardly, however, he grimaced as he thought back to the deal he’d made with the love goddess, promising her a temple on Equestria in exchange for the names of Adagio’s creditors. “She’s the goddess of whores. Only a fool doesn’t realize that a relationship with her is transactional in nature.”
“I’m trying to tell you, the transactions get more and more expensive as time goes on,” replied Sanguine Disposition grimly. “And by the time the price gets higher than you’re comfortable paying, it’s already too late to break things off with her, because she’s made herself too big of a part of your life to just quit. Not without losing things...losing people...that you can’t bear to be without...”
This time it was Thermal Draft that Lex thought about, recalling how she’d become one of Kara’s so-called doppelganger ponies right under his nose without him realizing it.
“...and you know all of this how?”
Sanguine Disposition gave a hollow laugh, a ghost of his former smile returning to his lips. “I don’t like talking about it, but...I used to be one of her faithful.”
Of all the answers Lex had been expecting, that hadn’t been one of them. “You worshiped Kara?”
“A long time ago,” muttered the leather wing, ears flattening.
“And you betrayed your faith?” spat Lex, suddenly disgusted with what he was hearing. “No matter how onerous it may be, a religious commitment is sacred in the most literal sense of the word! To abandon it-”
“I did NOT abandon Kara!” Hissing, Sanguine Disposition stalked toward Lex, fangs bared. “She abandoned me!”
Not backing down in the slightest, Lex glared hard at the vampire. “How?”
“There was a stallion...”
He trailed off, shoulders suddenly slumping as the anger seemed to flow out of him all at once. Closing his eyes, he lowered his head, putting a hoof to the bridge of his muzzle for a few moments as he composed himself. Seconds passed before he opened his eyes, calm once again. “Don’t you think it’s strange that even though she’s the goddess of shapechangers, Kara always presents herself as being a she?”
The abrupt shift in topic made Lex furrow his brows. “What?”
“Think about it,” insisted the leather wing. “A central aspect of her divine portfolio is being able to change her appearance, and yet unless it’s for some very specific deception that she’s carrying out, she never changes sex. All of her religious doctrines and dogmas unfailingly refer to her in a feminine manner. Hasn’t that ever struck you as odd?”
“No,” answered Lex honestly.
“It didn’t for me, either,” sighed Sanguine Disposition. “Not until it was too late.”
“Meaning what?”
“Let’s just say that Kara thinks that the future is female,” answered the vampire. “Naturally, I disagreed. When it became clear that my preferences were going to be a problem – did you know that all of Kara’s senior clergy members are, without exception, either mares or doppelgangers? – I realized that Kara wasn’t the goddess she’d led me to believe she was. So I took what I decided was acceptable compensation for her lying to me, becoming eternally young and beautiful as I am now, and found a goddess more worthy of my veneration.”
His smile returned in full then, as though he’d never lost his composure. “Though I think it helped that vampires aren’t just good-looking, but predators too.”
Lex snorted. “And you came here, confronting Gwynharwyf and defending my servants, just so you could tell me that? That Kara is untrustworthy and has some sort of prejudice against stallions?”
“She is, and she does, but that’s not why I came here.”
“Then why?”
“Because,” replied Sanguine Disposition, “the Night Mare has demanded that you appear before her immediately.”