Red Fang II

Chapter 10 (I-Arc): Rat-A-Tat-Tat

We last read Chapter 9, in which Chef Cedric welcomes Mavis, Garson, Lily, and Theo to the Nuka Bistro within the unofficial Transylvanian capital city of Cluj-Napoca following his visit to the Vermillion Enclave to request the heroes' help with a rat infestation which the normal exterminators refused to take care of. After trading pleasantries with the front desk receptionist, the party is briefly departed by Cedric who goes to evacuate the kitchen of the rest of its chefs so Garson and the vampires can get to work.

While Cedric is gone, Mavis—later joined by Lily—briefly converses with the receptionist regarding Cedric's first attempt to get rid of the rats by calling the exterminators; the receptionist reveals that they had all the equipment with them and actually captured all the rats on the first try.....but when they discovered Cedric couldn't pay, they released all the rats back out and left without saying a word, much to Lily's anger.

Garson briefly suspects Lily and Theo of being in an incestuous relationship, but Mavis quickly denies it, wanting to preserve Lily and Theo's cover as per their wishes. Mavis then attempts to go into detail about how she plans to have the team begin their investigation into the Bloodstone's disappearance, but she is suddenly cut off by the sounds of numerous shotgun blasts coming from within the back kitchen; Cedric has used a shotgun to scare his fellow chefs—and the restaurant patrons—to flee the establishment, completely emptying out the building besides himself, the receptionist, and Mavis and co., enabling the heroes to get to work. Garson and the vampires then enter the kitchen at Cedric's behest, and come face-to-face with the pest infestation which they are dealing with.

This time, the heroes get to work playing exterminator, but not everything goes as planned.....

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The five of them—Chef Cedric, Mavis, Garson, Lily, and Theo—all gazed around the expansive kitchen space and analyzed the extent of the murine menace; rats were busily scurrying to and fro across the floors, darting in and out of nooks and crannies and even finding their way into some of the drawers and cabinets. Some were nibbling away at otherwise high-quality fruits and vegetables which had been left out, others were seemingly obsessed with completing laps around the long, rectangle-shaped central island, and even others were knocking down precious handheld items like ladles and knives and exposing them to the unhealthy germs which resided on the ground.

"You zee? Eet eez an urâciune; an abomination!" Chef Cedric lamented out loud, once again bringing up that word. "You must help me get ze rats rounded up! Zey must pay for what zey have done to ze restaurant!"

Lily coolly snatched a random rat from the counter immediately to her lefthand side without even looking and nonchalantly plunged her fangs into its hide, draining it of all its blood before tossing its empty husk into a nearby trash can.

"Uh-huh," she said, folding her arms after the deed was done. "Why didn't you just use that shotgun of yours?"

"Ahhh.....zat veapon is far too dangerous," Cedric explained. "Ze shells only add to ze unwanted junk. Vampires are much more swift. Surely zey cannot mess zis up, right?"

"Indeed. Let us get to work, everyone," Mavis ordered succinctly. "The sooner we wrap things up here, the better. Now.....Theo, how about you start with—"

"You have got to be kidding me right now....." Theo muttered in complete disbelief as he walked over to several dollies' worth of equipment still sitting idly on the right side of the kitchen. "The first exterminators left all their gear behind?!"