Blood and Tears - Grumbo Vampire AU

Chapter 26: Stay

Xisuma and Wels crept out of the dungeon, careful in their steps, as they kept their guard up. After what they had witnessed, Scar practically absorbing the life out of Etho, they couldn't take any chances. The two had no understanding of Scar's powers and capabilities, they didn't know if he could be watching them right now...

"Should we split up?" Wels asked, though the vampire hunter (if he could still call himself that) shook his head.

"It would be too suspicious for one of us to be creeping around in the middle of the night. If we're together, we can say we're patrolling together." X said with a hushed voice, his gaze firm as he tugged on the mask covering his face. "Let's get Grian, then find Stress. We'll come up with something after that."

"And how are we supposed to overthrow a mad king with unlimited power?" The knight raised an eyebrow as they crept out of the throne room, sneaking into the hall that led to Grian's bedroom.

"I've killed vampires before, those are pretty powerful beasts." He shrugged.

"But we know nothing about vexes!" Wels argued back, speaking in a whisper.

Xisuma didn't respond. It was true, the only information was what little TFC told them, and what they had managed to see Scar do. They had no idea about his limits or strength, or what could even harm him. For all they know, the vex could kill them with just a snap of his fingers.

There were no guards standing watch outside of Grian's door. Perhaps Scar thought that Mumbo's recent 'violent outburst' would dissuade him from trying to escape. Xisuma was quiet as he pushed the door open, peering into the darkness of the bedroom. He could spot a faint shadow of a figure, lying on his bed in the darkness of his room.

"Grian?" He pushed the door open a bit more, stepping into the room. Wels followed behind Xisuma, hesitant to enter.

He was curled into a ball, hugging himself while sobbing softly. Clearly he was upset, broken almost. Wels looked away due to the shame he had felt. After all, he had attacked and screamed at Grian. And while Wels was still rather upset at being a vampire's puppet, Grian seemed to have a close connection with Mumbo.

"Grian—" Wels tried to speak.

"What do you want?!" He asked through tears and choked back sobs, turning to look at the two. His eyes were red and puffy from his tears. "Come to berate me again? To tell me how wrong I was to trust that beast?! I know, okay!?"

He shoved his face back into his pillow, trying to hide himself away as he continued to choke back sobs and tears. Xisuma stepped forward.

"No, Grian. We're here because you were right."

That made the sobbing pause for a moment, before he slowly pulled away from the pillow. He looked up at Xisuma and Wels with wide eyes, with tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. He didn't say anything, but was clearly listening very intently.

Pulling out a vial from his belt, the vampire hunter stretched forth his hand. Sitting in his palm was a small glass bottle of blood, the red liquid swirling inside of it. "Scar and I used this to trick you. We used the blood to trigger Mumbo's hunger, which caused him to go feral."

"Bu-but why would—"

"He didn't want you near that thing—, I-I mean, Mumbo." Wels corrected himself as he stepped forward, placing a hand on Xisuma's shoulder. "He wanted to scare you, to keep you away. We thought it was to protect you, but.."

The pair shared a look with each other, as neither knew how to phrase what came next. Grian looked between the two, waiting for someone to speak up. "Well? What was Scar doing?"