Chapter 91 - The Last Of His Kind

"Strength in numbers," I muttered. "Well, Avarice, it's not about comparing you and him. It's about loyalty to existing agreements."

She nodded. "For your sake, I hope Dragonslayer appreciates yours."

I raised my eyebrow. Were we already so much friends that Avarice worried about my wellbeing? I doubted it. I had nothing to reply with, so I just shrugged and reached for another biscuit, only to find my plate empty. Damn, they had disappeared in a flash.

Avarice's eyes glanced to the plate where there were no biscuits anymore. Then she stood up. "Let's go to my study. I think a spoken agreement would be enough for our deal, but I would need my documents to recalculate your debt as you want it. Of course, the next contract will only come to power if you succeed with your part, which we still have to discuss."

With my tea already finished, I had nothing else to stay here for. It certainly wasn't the conversation. "Lead the way."

⠀⠀

Avarice's study was the same as her tea room—all Baroque, opulent and, despite all this, very tasteful. Surprisingly so, even. Tall cabinets hid thick folders, and more papers lied on a wide writing desk, held together by a vintage brass paperweight. A modern computer was the only thing standing out, but I imagined even Avarice couldn't get by without one.

"Now," Avarice spoke, reaching for a folder with her back to me. Without turning around, she leaf through the pages within, "I don't want an imitation, no matter how well executed. It must be a genuine work of old masters, not new ones. Though, if you somehow find an old, but still alive, master willing to make a new set for me, it would be an acceptable option. I will pay for the cost, but no more than five hundred thousand. It's more than the old set cost me. If you find it more expensive, you will have to pay the difference. It could not be the exact same colour, but it must fit the room. Beige, or blue will do…"

"Green too, I think," I piped in from my spot near the entrance.

"Or green." Avarice nodded, put the folder back on the shelf and turned towards me with a stack of papers in her hand, connected by a staple. "I won't put you on time limit, but until you finish your part of the deal, Diana, I won't finish mine. Truthfully, I don't have in me to bother with searches personally right now."

I nodded. "This is very generous of you." Though I doubted I would need too long. Mentally I already looked through the places where I will search first.

Avarice put the papers on the table and leafed through them. "Now, for the contract you would like. Your original interest rate was eighty-four percent…"

As she continued to chant numbers, my brain began to shut itself off. I knew that Avarice noticed, because she suddenly paused and gave me a sharp look from under her bangs. "Are you listening, Diana?"

"Sorry, but I don't see a reason to talk about it now." I smiled and tried to keep it even. "We will need to recalculate everything anyway if I take longer than the rest of the month to find the new set. Why won't we deal with it then?"

"Fair enough," Avarice said with a slight nod. "Then our business here is concluded. Alexey will see you out."

⠀⠀

It was a short walk from Avarice's study to the exit from her place, and I was acutely aware of the fact that she would hear every word I say between these two points, and I still couldn't contain my curiosity. We weren't even back on the first floor when I threw the question that was burning in my mind for a while now.

"Alexey, do you know what happened with the chair in the room where Avarice met me? The one that broke?"

The man, from whom I at the moment saw only an endless stretch of shoulders and an ear, turned his head to throw me a slightly surprised and confused glance. "The chair?.. Oh, that chair. I'm surprised you would ask, Diana."

"Why?"

Alexey slowed his steps a little, which I appreciated as it gave the two of us more time to talk. "I thought either Jean-Jacques would tell you, or your wouldn't know it was broken at all."

"JJ?" My own confusion grew. "How is he could be… No, wait." I mentally gathered the pieces of the mosaic together. The only time JJ went to this place, his words that Avarice learnt that he isn't so weak (but said more flowery than that), the strange reaction Avarice herself had… I sucked in a breath of astonishment from my conclusions. "Did JJ break it?"

Alexey let out a hum that could be both of agreement or denial dependent on how you see it, but the corner of his lips that was turned to me curved upwards. "No, the fault was mostly mine. There was a slight scuffle… just some posturing. It often happens. Jean-Jacques was careful, but fast. I underestimated how much and hit a chair instead of him." He chuckled. "Mistress was so angry that we had to stop here and then."

I gasped, halting in my tracks. "You two fought?!" I caught myself and hurried after Alexey. "I've seen how fast vampires are. I'm ready to swear that they can catch bullets mid-air with bare fingers. You must be someone really impressive to stand against that."

That explained the nods of manly respect that I've seen passing between JJ and Alexey. What else brings manly respect more than a competition… or a fight, which for some men is just another competition?

"Thank you, though I'd be defeated in an instant if Jean-Jacques didn't hold back." Alexey nodded to me gratefully. "My kind is almost extinct nowadays, as far as I and Mistress know. I've never seen or heard about anyone else like me—there are only legends."

Without my noticing, we reached the coat cupboard at the entrance, and I began to exchange my guest slippers with my own sandals. "It must be quite lonely," I mused aloud, looking at Alexey with sympathy.

"It was, until Mistress found me."