Tarous, стр. 31

“How many children do you want?” asked my mother.

“I want to have as many babies as possible!” May said with a smile.

Her answer caused my mother’s face to light up. She believed the more grandchildren the better.

To the side Tarous snickered. I really wanted to hit him.

Through our dinner date I tried to keep my eyes on May’s face, but my eyes continued to wander southward. The girl noticed, but she didn’t seem to mind. She could nurse a lot of children with those, I thought to myself.

“My mom’s a Dziwozona,” May promptly explained followed by a cute smile.

I nodded without saying a word.

I did my best to look at her long black flowing hair and pretty face instead. Tarous snickered again at how uncomfortable I was.

The meal was short, I was bored, and my mother and May were talking about what types of weddings they enjoyed. May apparently preferred a water themed wedding.

I felt ignored. I thought I would enjoy the feeling, but it actually bothered me. I started to understand how Tarous felt.

If I did marry May at lease I could spend the day looking at her. She was rather pretty.

I had enough of this and snuck out of the room, leaving an illusion in my place while I turned invisible. My mother and May didn’t seem to notice the swap. They were distracted planning my future for me. I wasn’t sure the illusion was even necessary since they were so wrapped up in their conversation about my future. Something they decided they didn’t need my input on.

After reading the book on sensing life energy Tarous had noticed me sneaking out. He also decided this meeting was a waste of his time and also snuck out of the meeting. No one stopped him because he didn’t really matter.

“I was rather impressed by their ability to be oblivious.” Tarous commented.

“Luckily for me, any meetings that involve a future wife usually don’t require me to speak.” I told him, rolling my eyes.

We went to the kitchens and I asked the staff to prepare a meal for me. All the talk of babies had made me hungry. Tarous had salad. No one asked him what he wanted and he had to fix it himself but he didn’t seem to mind. Lately he had been eating a lot of salads. I asked him why.

“I have been feeling bad for all the animals I’ve eaten in the past now that the shoe is on the other foot.”

I suspect it was because he was scared of where some of our meats came from. He would never be sure it hadn’t once been someone he knew that he was eating.

A serving girl came into the room to place a tray of food on the table. She was barely four and a half feet tall. She had tiny black wings and black hair and she floated a few inches off the ground. As she leaned forward to place the tray on the table her hair shifted and I could see the tiny black horns she hid in her hair. She was an Imp, or at least she was mostly an Imp. Like many of the monsters of today she was mixed with other types of monster. Mainly only the nobles were of pure blood. I often suspected she was also part succubus.

Her name was Ignis. Though it can be hard to tell the ages of monsters, I knew she was around the same age as myself. I had talked with her earlier, and she had told me a rather interesting rumor about the Butler. She placed another plate of food on the table and poured me a glass of red wine mixed with some kind of monster blood to give it a little extra kick. I also suspected she had a crush on me.

“Thank you Ignis,” I told her, causing her to blush.

“I’m glad it pleases you, My Lord,” replied Ignis with a cute wink.

I gave Ignis what I would consider a goofy smile. It wasn’t proper for a master and servant to act in such a way, but that never stopped me from breaking tradition. Plus I was enjoying the attention.

I found that the food was delicious and the wine tasted wonderful. Some of the food was made from humans and some of it was made from monsters. In human society that would have been cannibalism, but in monster society it was called lunch. While we ate, Tarous and I discussed fighting styles and techniques. I finished my meal and had the vampire/human heart smoothie for dessert that was particularly good.

I never liked vampires, except as a snack that is. The closest monster to a vampire that I had ever liked was the Butler and he was definitely not a vampire, though he shared several abilities with them. Well, “liked” was a rather strong word to use. It would be more accurate to say I feared the Butler in ever tiny corner of my evil little soul.

Ignis returned to clear the table. We both flirted a little more. I was rather enjoying myself. Tarous rolled his eyes again.