Redmond learns more about the beast

Redmond was pacing back and forth in the room where Riolta, Leo and Alexia had enjoyed their lunch a few hours earlier, knowing that there was now just a little more than one and a half hour until the clock struck seven and his first “proper” social event was supposed to begin.

After he and Alexia had finally gotten out of their bath, Alexia had been whisked by her servants and had already spent more than an hour getting ready for the evening while he had been supplied with a much delayed lunch and the solitude required to go through his plan once more and see if there was anything about it that could do with a little improvement.

When he didn’t spot anything that needed to be improved, Redmond instead busied himself with going through the list of possible suspects, still not sure whether or not Duke Leo might be the beast. By now, Redmond was very much hoping that that wouldn’t be the case, since he feared that it would break Alexia’s heart, and he didn’t to see that happen.

“Ehum,” one of the servants, a very distinguished-looking, older servant harrumphed himself to gaining Redmond’s attention, “there is a certain Mister Dirty Harold here to see you.”

“Alright, send him in.” Redmond pushed away his plate and got up from the chair, meeting up with Harold just inside the anteroom, noting as he saw him that the watchman was looking unusually calm and at ease.

“Harold,” Redmond greeted his subordinate with a curt nod.

“Boss,” Harold saluted Redmond, and then he presented him with a bottle.

“What’s this?” Redmond’s question resulted in Harold glancing over at the servant, who seemed to understand what the massively built man meant by the glance as his reaction to it was to quickly exit the anteroom, leaving the two watchmen free to talk.

“Some transparent guy handed it to me in Riolta’s hotel room, and said that the two of you were to meet at the usual place one hour before the ball. What’s that about?”

“Ah, good…” Redmond uncorked the bottle and brought it up to his lips, taking a healthy swig of it before handling the bottle to Harold.

“Sorry to repeat myself, boss, but what exactly is it?”

“It’s our weapon against the beast,” Redmond replied, and then watched as he drank from the bottle after a little more hesitation.

“Good, now make sure that Hudds and Riolta get to drink from it as well, and then we’ll meet up in one hour.”

“Right, boss,” Harold gave Redmond another of his inimitable salutes and then exited the room. Hopefully the beast wouldn’t strike during the ball, giving the potion the time it needed to kick into effect.

Once he was inside the von Schwechlens’ drawing room, Redmond seated himself in a particularly comfortable armchair and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he found himself in a much less extravagant room, standing next to a table on which four plates and a casserole filled to the brim with food had been placed.

“Hello Alaric,” Quinlan greeted Redmond as he came walking into the room, “you’re a little early.”

“Sorry about that, I’m a little stressed… what was it that you wanted to tell me?”

“That I’ve tried to find out what you’re up against,” Quinlan began, “but that’s been rather hard due to the lack of solid information about the beast in question. There is a multitude of big, bad things with claws out there that can cause all sorts of mayhem if placed into the wrong environment.”

“But you’ve found something?”

“Well yes, given that we’re dealing with a shape shifter whose not dependant on the fluctuations of the moon, I’ve managed to narrow it down to six different creatures. Five of those are subject to outside control, through the use of either a spell or a totem, and in the second case they can be cured by the destruction of the totem. If it’s a spell, then what’s required is the killing of the spellcaster. Two of those are also possible as contagious phenomenons, meaning that they can be transmitted to the victim if he or she is bitten and survives the attack. The last one is hereditary, and stems from the south of the Jadhi territories, so that’s a long shot at best. Regardless, all six can be killed with a sufficient amount of ordinary physical ****, so that subordinate of yours should be pleased.”

“Alright uncle Quinlan, now we’ve got some idea of what we’re up against.”

“Yes, I’m sorry that I can’t assist you more, but there’s another matter which I have to deal with as well, one where there aren’t any watchmen involved. I could recommend you another wizard, but I don’t think that you trust any of them, do you?”

“No.”

“Good. I hope that we’ll soon see each other again.”

“Excuse me Sir,” the elderly servant shook Redmond’s shoulder in an attempt to get his attention.

“Yes?” Redmond finally responded, opening his eyes to find that he was back in the drawing room.

“You must have fallen asleep Sir. The young lady is ready to see you now.”

“Right,” Redmond got up on his feet and was led to Alexia’s dressing room.

When he entered it, Redmond found that it was as lavishly decorated as every other room in the von Schwechlen suite, and that there was a screen placed in the middle of the room.

“Redmond?” Alexia’s voice could be heard from the other side of the screen.
“Yes?”

“It’s you! I’m so sorry about the screen, but I don’t want you to see me until I’m ready.”

“That’s quite alright, though we’ll have to be leaving quite soon if we’re to make it there in time.” Redmond smiled at the sweet, playful tone present in Alexia’s voice.

“I know, I’m just finishing up my makeup, and then you’ll be free to mess it up as much as you want.”

“Yes, about that… I’m not so sure that that’s such a good idea. The beast is possibly targeting… noticeable women, and you walking around with my, well, my cum on your face is likely to make you quite noticeable.”

As he said that, Redmond was hoping that Alexia would recognize the reason of what he was saying. He knew that all it would take was for her to appear from behind that screen, gaze at him and ask him to paint her in that seductive voice of hers and he would whip out his cock without any hesitation whatsoever.