Godfrey was desperate and tired sitting in a crowded cafe and the sound of talking and laughter of the people around him was not helping to improve his mood.
During these last few months, he had made an extensive search to find that prophet, but his efforts had yielded no results. Some fortune tellers had pretended to be the one he wanted to get money, but when Godfrey had penetrated their minds, he had seen no sign of Rosalie and Lucinda.
As he reluctantly stirred the contents of his glass of blood, a young woman with an unusual appearance sat in front of him. She had shaved her head and had black around his eyes and was wearing a leather top and shorts.
"Perhaps it would be better for you to drink blood in traditional ways."
And she gave a crooked smile. Godfrey smiled unconsciously and looked into the woman's piercing gray eyes.
"You're probably right."
The woman stood up.
"Now that we both agree, we'd better not delay."
And motioned to him to follow her. Godfrey got up and left the cafe with the woman. The woman put her hand around his arm and led him in silence to the humble inn at the end of the street.
Godfrey looked at its messy brick walls and tilted gable roof and said:
"I can take you to a better place."
The woman grinned.
"Where? Nathan's mansion or Lord Subyss' palace?"
Godfrey got shocked and pale. The woman squeezed his arm slightly and smiled mischievously.
"Don't be surprised, dear. I've been following you for a long time, waiting for an opportunity to hunt you down."
Then, as she took him inside, she continued:
"Sometimes it's better to eat your food in a dirty and smelly place. Your body needs dirt and stench, and so does your soul."
And she took Godfrey up the stairs that creaked under their feet, and they entered the woman's room together. A small rectangular place with a gray carpet and newspapers stuck to the window panes instead of curtains, and a device in the middle of the room that made Godfrey's heart sink into his chest when he saw it.
"What do you want to do?"
The woman went to the device, which was actually a torture chair, and moved its back a little and then removed a glass container from under it.
"I'll collect your blood and you'll drink mine in return. What do you think?"
Under normal circumstances, Godfrey would turn and walk away without answering. This was not the first time he faced strange victims. But he was not in a normal situation at that time and he needed something to lighten the burden of sadness in his chest. So he went to the chair and sat on it and let the woman tie his hands and feet to it.
Subyss' client was sitting on a bed in the studio, looking in disbelief at his new hand and wiggling its fingers.
"It's really amazing."
Subyss smiled happily and put the toold he used for torture before and now for good in the box, and then he went to the client and asked in a polite tone:
"May I drink your blood, sir?"
"Of course, of course dear Lord Subyss. My blood is wholly yours."
And he tilted his head and exposed his neck. Subyss bent down and sunk his fangs into the soft flesh of his neck and began to drink hid blood.
Moments later, when he thought he had fed him as much as the man could tolerate, he removed his mouth from him and Nathan, who was watching all this time, treated the man with a glass of strengthening drink.
