Rui was never the type of vampire that awake so early. His mind was a genius but not for conventional reasons. It was also the reason why he was more rampant in the black market rather than make a living in the capital.
When he picked up the phone that he knew was connected to the bastard king’s manor, he knew what he was going to get. But that doesn’t change the fact that he was awoken by the sound of bad news coming his way.
"Never too early, but always late to rise I see," replied Henry to the curses that Rui was screaming at him.
"You son of a bitch, of course I wake up late! I am a pure-blooded vampire and what I need is you not to have another headache thrown my way," Rui retorted.
"I know you value your beauty rest so much, but Rui, this is an emergency," Henry spoke.
The vampire on the other side of the telephone rolled his eyes even if Henry couldn’t see him do it.
"That is what you always say to me when you use that goddamn piece of metal that I sold you years ago," Rui grumbled. "Do you know that in vampire time, early morning is the worst time for you to wake us up?"
"I know that, Rui, stop your dramatics," Henry said.
"Oh, so you knew already? Well congratulations, old man! Now could you just hung up that fucking piece of metal so I could go back to sleep? I have a lot to do in the evening," the vampire said.
"Wait, don’t hang up the phone yet, I have something for you to do," Henry said, "and I am going to pay double than your usual."
With the mention of money on the table, Rui’s groggy and sour attitude immediately vanished. His voice turned brighter and even Henry instantly noticed the drastic change in him.
’I should have mentioned money earlier on,’ the old man thought to himself.
Rui was, after all, the type of person that would do just about anything to earn more than what was normally earned by those who are afraid to take risks.
"What is that? Tell me," the vampire asked Henry.
"I don’t exactly know what it is, Rui," the attendant admitted, "but Queen Elysianne had asked me to identify it. It seemed like something really important and could possibly be the cause of the fire that raved the capital center earlier."
"Wait, the capital center went up in flames?" Rui asked, "Wow, I always wanted to do that. Wish I met the one who was responsible for it."
"You are getting sidetracked," Henry groaned over the telephone.
He heard Rui curse and then returned to their topic right away, "Okay, so you mean to say that that you have something that needs identification, and you can’t exactly describe it to me?"
"Well, to be clear, it looks like a broken rectangular vial, with a slight greenish stain on the glass," Henry described the thing in his hands, "If my memory serves me right, then I think I recall King Aleksander and Queen Elysianne mentioned they saw this while they tried to search for the arsonist."
There was a considerable amount of pause for Rui on the other side. Henry started to feel anxious every second that ticked by without Rui’s voice travelling over to his side.
"Are you still there, Rui?" Henry called out to him.
After a few labored heartbeats later, the vampire finally answered Henry.
"Yes, sorry I spaced out," Rui said. "Was only thinking of my options now that you mentioned it is a job that I must take care of."
Henry could already smell the usual tactics Rui played against him. The vampire worked inside the black market, and Henry knew that without a doubt he would try to get his pay higher by pretending his reluctance to do the job.
The attendant could only massage his temple in exasperation.
"I will triple the pay, just come over immediately," the old man instructed the vampire, "and do it discreetly. Nobody should even actually know you came here at all."
The vampire smirked and then said, "Henry, my dear old pal, my middle name is Discreet. The old raggedy manor, right?"
"Yes, I will meet you here," Henry confirmed. "I have a-"
Henry almost slipped, and he was about to reveal the existence of the man down in their dungeons. King Aleksander and Queen Elysianne had made sure his existence would be erased in the entire continent if he was too careless.
"You have a what?" Rui asked, a bit too quick to pick up Henry’s blunder.
"I have a very importunate urge to go to the bathroom and I cannot bring the item to you," Henry made up an instant excuse.
"Hmph! Don’t give me that sloppy reason, Henry. I will know what you are trying to hide the minute I step foot the manor," Rui said.
"I am not hiding anything!" Henry insisted, but only pushed the idea more for Rui to entertain.
"I will be there in an hour, at the very least," the vampire said, and then immediately hung up the telephone.
"Fuck..." Henry cursed.
It was a good thing that the dungeons were enchanted to keep those who were not meant to know it existed from knowing. The attended released a heavy sigh, and then fished out his precious pocket watch.
The sun’s rays seeped in from the cracks of the manor, the curtains not fully closed off since they left it for the palace. Henry snapped his pocket watch close, and then proceeded to arrange the curtains accordingly.
Rui was not the type to love the sun, which was mostly attributed to his vampire genes that made them hypersensitive to many things the humans could tolerate.
After about forty-five minutes, Rui arrived into the manor without even a single sound to his arrival.
His scowl clearly portrayed his disgust with travelling in the morning, "So what have you got for me?" he immediately asked.