Lunar Flare Book 1: Crimson Moon

Chapter 15

As Cassian had been going over the whole situation in his mind since he had walked in on Balthasar and Thedrick, he was finding that something seemed off. Things weren't exactly adding up for him. Though he knew they were close, Cassian had never seen any signs of romantic feelings between the pair of them. Plus, it just didn't make much sense. Thedrick might have flirted with anyone, but he had Beowulf now, and gods knew those two could be found canoodling somewhere on the castle grounds every time Beowulf was off duty. Though Beowulf was away with the king at the moment, Cassian doubted Thedrick would be so quick to fall into the arms of someone else.

Unless it was just a quick physical fling to satiate sexual desires, but that still didn't really feel right. Once again, Cassian had not seen the chemistry between Balthasar and Thedrick that he himself had experience with the chirurgeon, or like that between the jester and Beowulf. There was something else going on here, there had to be. Balthasar was lying to Cassian, trying to cover something up. Cassian decided he was going to investigate and try to get to the bottom of the matter, find out what was really going on with Balthasar and Thedrick. What were they hiding, what were they planning?

Firstly, Cassian confronted Thedrick about it the next time he ran into the jester in the hallways. He noticed that when the jester spotted Cassian approaching he looked rather spooked, like he might run away for a second. Upon interrogation, Thedrick claimed that it was true that he was romantically involved with Balthasar, but he didn't sound very convincing. Cassian asked what about Beowulf, which made the jester go quiet. Then Thedrick awkwardly excused himself from the conversation, claiming he was late for an event. He scurried away, looking worried.

It looked like Cassian would need to try a different tact to get any information. So he waited until Balthasar was out, and then slipped into the infirmary to search for any clues as to what was going on. He made his way straight for Balthasar's desk and started looking over the items that sat on top, being careful if he picked one up to put it back exactly where it had been.

There wasn't much of interest among the mess of books, bottles, herbs, bandages and hastily scribbled notes that covered the wooden surface. So Cassian decided to open the drawers and have a look through them instead. He opened the top drawer of the desk, and was surprised at what he found sitting inside on top of everything else.

It was a wooden stake, carved into a sharp point at one end. Cassian picked up the item and turned it over in his hands, looking at it in confusion, wondering on its purpose for being in Balthasar's desk drawer. Then he noticed a small notebook that had been sitting next to the stake, and picked that up too. It had a black leather cover, and it appeared to be well used. Cassian flipped it over to a random page, and his eyes widened.

There was a hand drawn illustration of a mouth with fangs on one page, and though the other page was written in Balthasar's native tongue, Cassian still noticed liberal use of a familiar looking word. 'Vampir'.

The wooden stake Cassian was still holding now made more sense. Was Balthasar hunting vampires? Cassian kept quickly flicking through the notebook, glancing at the images more than the words considering he couldn't read the language. Balthasar seemed to have collected a fair amount of information on these monsters, and the drawings were slightly unsettlingly detailed.

One drawing Balthasar had added some paint, to depict large, red, familiar looking eyes. It was only then that it finally hit Cassian, and his mind was ripped back to Thedrick sitting on Balthasar's lap, apparently biting his shoulder. Cassian felt his breath catch in his throat as his mind slowly processed the information and put the pieces together.

He was dragged from thought however when he heard the infirmary doors open behind him. He quickly stashed the wooden stake away on his person, and placed the notebook back in the drawer and closed it quietly. He hunched over the desk, pretending to be looking through Balthasar's things. Cassian could hear footsteps approaching him from behind, and then a shadow fell over him.