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// 5 - Minion Returned 
// Story: For Want of a Vampire 
// by David Silver 
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Richard looked up from his writing as a cacophonous noise grated against his ears. Had an angry mob arrived to storm his castle? It had been such a long time since he had to face a true angry mob. He felt almost nostalgic for it. The angry shouts, the fear, oh yes, the fear in their eyes when he came to wipe their smug looks off their faces.

Those were the days, before... before his curse. He sighed and pushed to his feet, striding to a window facing the disturbance. He pulled it open easily and leaned forward. Though it was dark below, his cursed eyes cared not for the lack of light, and he could see two humans. One, a man, was rattling his gate, and the other held something... No, someone. It was his new servant, cradled like a child.

Richard drew a deep breath. Another failure? Neither looked dead to him. The one making all the noise certainly had surprising strength for one slain mercilessly.

Answers awaited below. Richard shouted down at them, "Stop making all that racket. I'll be down in the moment!"

Susan smiled down below. "Did you hear that?"

Paul stopped shaking at the gate and turned to his wife and the pony. "I didn't know someone lived up here. Are you setting us up, horse?"

Orange perked his ears. "What? No! Of course not. A magical vampony like me has servants." He gestured at the castle as a whole. "They keep things orderly while I'm out and about. That's one of them. He'll open the door for us."

Susan looked a bit suspicious. "Why don't you have the key?"

Orange went with the truth. "I have wings. I don't need to open the gate." He smiled in what he hoped was a disarming fashion. "You're doing great! The money will be yours soon."

Richard strode out of the hose with all the composure and dignity left to him. "Orange Peel, you've returned... with company..."

Susan held up Orange, her hands under where his forelegs met his barrel. "We have him and we want our money!"

Paul nodded. "He promised us one hundred thousand even. Bring it out to us and we can be on our merry little way."

Orange nodded as his expression darkened. "Oh yes, please, give them exactly what they deserve."

Richard's own expression lightened, joy blossoming in his withered heart. Perhaps his minion hadn't failed at all! "Without fail." With a flick of fingers, the gate swung open, unable to defy his wishes. "Come in, come in. Tonight is your lucky night." He smiled, just barely hiding his fangs. "One you won't soon forget, I'm sure."

Their happy expressions turned into ones of horror as he came for them in a wave of darkness. He laughed and cackled as lightning struck nearby as if to herald his victory. Their lives were forfeit to him.

Orange fell to the ground and flopped over on hooves he was still struggling to get used to. A quick flap had him back upright. As difficult as his hooves were, his wings seemed to move with a mind of their own and they liked him, and he was starting to like them back. He turned around to see the two people collapse to the ground, handled summarily by the master. He clopped his hooves with joy. "Did I do well?"

Richard looked down at his small servant and reached for him. "You didn't do exactly as I had envisioned, but yes, yes you did." He licked over his fangs. "Why didn't you slake your unholy hunger?"

Orange looked downwards. "Well, um... I..."

Richard rolled a hand. "Go on, tell me."

Orange shuffled his awkward hooves through the dirt. "I don't want to drink blood, master..."

Richard's pleased look faded into a frown as he snorted. "What do you drink, servant?"

Orange shrank back and in on himself. "I had a pear, that was pretty good..."

Richard placed a hand over his face and counted to ten in harsh whispers. "Yes, well... Still, you are loyal, and competent. Let's... look on the bright side, shall we?" He flashed his fangs. "Dispose of these two, after you've taken whatever trinkets they may carry on them."

Orange watched Richard storm off. He had done well, but it didn't take a genius to see he wasn't exactly what Richard had hoped for. With a little sigh, Orange grabbed Paul's collar and began dragging him away out of the castle. As he heaved and struggled to keep the heavy human body moving, he heard clip-clops and looked up to see Lilly approaching, a cup of coffee danging in one of her wings.

"Hello Orange Peel!" she cried with joy, offering up that cup. "Richard didn't look nearly so mad as when he sent me out. You must have done a good job."

Orange accepted the cup, holding it with surprising ease between his wings before he took a slurp of the powerful brew. "Mmm. Hey, do your wings just kind of do what you need?"

Lilly brightened. "Yours too? They're my friends." Her wings spread wide and she nuzzled each. "They're always there for me."

Orange turned to look at one of his wings. It extended a little as if uncertain and he gave it a little nip. "We're still getting introduced I guess. They took me on a fun flight before."

Lilly nodded, her wings flapping and lifting her from the ground a few inches. "I love flying... I just don't like hunting like the master wants me to. What are you doing?"

Orange returned his attention to the body he was dragging along. "Master wants me to get rid of both of them. I guess, with them... you know?"

Lilly tilted her head. "Why would he get rid of new ponies?"

New ponies? Orange focused on Paul and saw that the man wasn't nearly as dead as he should be. He was reconfiguring much more slowly than Orange had. His fingers had balled up into hooves though, and little quiet pops and snaps heralded other changes happening both internally and externally. "Oh..." He looked to Lilly. "Help me get them both inside. I hope the master will be happy about this."