Count Draenor began to chuckle, running a hand through his slick hair as the vampires around the city began to stop their movement and look at him. He was growing agitated, it was not hard to tell. However, he continued to mask the emotion with a smile. He took his hand off of his head and pointed his index finger, one that had a large and shiny ruby ring wrapped around it, at Marcus. "I take it that you are the loud, obnoxious, unorthodox macho man of the group. That's okay. Everybody has those types of people. However, for someone who claims to love the humans, you are being rather insensitive. Yet, your friend continues to ramble on about our race being the insensitive ones, while you simultaneously refer to this human as an 'it', treat it like your property, and are referring to it as your lady's pet, and you've only had it for five minutes, maybe less."
"Heh, I'm beginning to wonder how different the angelic beings are from the monsters. "
"M'lady," He said, turning to the blind woman, "You say...Living human beings don't belong to anybody. Well, tell me, why is it that when the human race enslaves countless other types of people, that it's different? Take this stitcher over here, for example," He pointed to Desmond and his companion, Ghan.
"They are put under scrutiny, treated like dogs, by your precious human race," He scoffed, looking up to the skies darkened by the covered sun, now placing his hands behind his back, "Tell me, how is our enslavement of humans any different than how you take different animals and use them for food? Just because humans can make civilization, you don't think in a world with vampires, werewolves, and countless demons that maybe, just maybe, those cows, chickens and pigs have minds of their own as well? That they feel the pain and suffering you give them, and wish that they weren't subjected to it. At least we only suck their blood, and then turn them into immortals. You kill them. And you think that's okay?"
He decided to keep the question rhetorical, glancing at Liss who was hiding behind the human slave named George, and then looking at everyone as a whole. He moved to speak, however was stopped by a sudden shouting. Darting his head to the source, he noticed a small, bright orange fox sprinting out from the middle of the crowd and toward the lot of them. Following the animal was an entire group of vampires, all of them enraged and screaming profanities at the scurrying little thing. The fox darted toward the group, latching onto Adric's leg before climbing upward until it was in the man's arms. The vampires rushed towards them, before the Count turned to them. He raised his hands up, and they all stopped almost immediately.
"What, is the problem here?" Draenor said in an annoyed tone.
"He....He conned us! Made us sell some human slaves to him at a reduced price. They were reserved for nobles, and he fucking made us sell the-"
"Stop...Stop," The count turned to Adric, pointing at the creature, "You know...him?"
He sighed deeply, "Don't answer that," He then turned to the other vampires, "Okay, okay. All of you, go back to your posts. I will figure everything out after I...deal with our guests."
They all grumbled to themselves, turning around and walking back into the crowds with their heads down. Draenor then turned to the group once more, tilting his head. "I'm going to ignore the fox in your arms, and continue."
"You all seem very...confident in yourselves. You all believe that you can defeat me in battle, and you are most likely right. However, your confidence, may just be your downfall, my dear vigilantes. For, I am not here to fight you because I have a feather in this city. I am going to give you the privilege of finding the beautiful feather of Rae-Ala yourselves."
He turned to the crowd that was around him, giving them a signal. All at once, they began to shuffle into their homes, telling other people something that was indecipherable except for Jessica. The plan is in motion. Get into the homes. We must see if they can pass the tests.
"You see, my lovely, succulent human friends," He said, still looking to be sure the crowd was dissipating, "I am a civil person. I am not going to battle you, and be compared to the savages in Falarog. The Vampire Queen had absolutely no idea what she was doing. You all are powerful physically, that much is true. However....Are you powerful mentally?"
He chuckled, turning to them again and pulling a piece of parchment out from a pocket in his robes. He pulled it out, allowing it to rest on the ground in front of the group. "Nobody shall disturb you in your search for the feather, myself included. The only catch is that...if you do not solve these puzzles and find the feather by sundown, I will gather every vampire in the city and the remaining stragglers everywhere else, and we will transform you into our cash cows for our farms. I highly doubt that you are all strong enough for thousands of educated, combat trained vampires all at once."
"Happy hunting~"
In the blink of an eye, he was gone, with the piece of parchment remaining on the ground. There was obviously writing on it, eluding to their first clue once they picked it up.