My (Monster?) Hero Life

Kace wore an expressionless face as he stared at the messenger. "I'll be along in a moment. You can go now."

The vampire shivered under Kace's gaze. Sonja had chosen to send one of her own men instead diverting Elderbeard's envoy to Kace's manor. She had hoped to use this chance to plan a joint arrival to make it seem as if they were still on good terms.

However, Kace had completely seen through her intentions this time so he dismissed her envoy without a second thought. He wanted to arrive at the banquet with only his Tu'Thrag clan as company to send a message. Of course, it was impossible to bring all of them along so he had chosen three others besides Shadow.

After a short wait the five of them left the manner together. Shadow appeared especially serious since Kace had warned him to keep an eye out for anything that he deemed suspicious. The other three were tasked with gathering any gossip that they could during the event so that Kace could better understand the political landscape.

He had no desire to fall for any underhanded tactics again so he was not planning on letting anyone use his ignorance against him. As they arrived at the grove plenty of curious gazes fell on him. Sonja, Sophia and Dao had arrived some time ago and everyone noticed that Kace was absent.

Seeing him arrive with his own entourage sent many tongues wagging as they attempted to guess the reason behind it. Elderbeard looked particularly delighted as he cast his ancient eyes on Kace's figure. A broad grin crept across the Treant's face as he slowly began to move in Kace's direction.

However, Kace barely spared him a glance before deliberately walking further away from him causing the ancient entity to pause in bewilderment. Needless to say that the council members who were present along with their own groups could no longer hold back their curiosity.

Conversations begun as they asked each other what the Vampires and Treants had done to offend Kace. This was so that they could figure out how to better exploit the situation themselves. Kace paid them no mind as he casually located a strong beverage to drown his worries.

Kace and his Tu'Thrag seemed like social pariahs as they distanced themselves from everyone. Even King Shagrat was wary of approaching him right now even though he was one of the few who had known the Chimera the longest.

Whenever someone tried to approach Kace he would give them a cold stare that froze them in place. Or if they were a faction leader he would simply move position to show that he had no intention of mingling during this event.

As the night went on many of the monsters became agitated at Kace's increasing coldness towards them. His cold aura intensified the more that he drunk as the alcohol started to have an effect on his mind.

"Kace? What's going on with you?" Shagrat had finally managed to sneak up on him as he was distracted with Elderbeard attempting to get close again.

"Nothing, what about you?" Kace sneered as he stared at the goblin. "Planning on throwing another woman at me if Vaskra fails?"

Shagrat frowned when he heard Kace's accusation. He finally understood that Kace had been clued in to some of the schemes that were going on. However, Shagrat had refrained from taking p[art because he already considered Kace as a member of their clan. Vaskra's advances were all of her own making.

"I think we need to have a long talk when you're sober." Shagrat growled back. "You know that I have nothing to do with Vaskra's urges. You've been away from us for too long. You're starting to think like the others now. Who was it that took care of you when you found yourself here?"

Kace snorted when he heard Shagrat's reminder. However, he was in no mood to listen right now. Kace felt the urge to run away from all of this and leave them to deal with the Heroes themselves. He had never asked for any of this!

The aggressive feeling that Kace was experiencing was beginning to infect his aura, giving those present the feeling that he was ready to attack anyone who came too close. Shadow felt helpless when he saw Kace falling into this state. It was impossible to have a serious conversation with him and report on what the other Tu'Thrag had managed to uncover while talking to the guests.

At some point before the banquet was even close to finishing a dark cloud hung over the guests as Kace stormed away without a word. Shadow watched his back with a complicated expression. The last thing that Kace had said to him was that he was to stay with the others and report to him in the morning.

Shadow had no choice but to follow his Lord's orders but he could not shake the feeling that something was going to happen. Kace grumbled to himself in a drunken stupor as he staggered through the streets. Anger, self loathing, grief and joy all took turns in flooding his mind. Part of him just wanted it all to be over while the other part was drunkenly thinking about what was still waiting for him out there in the world.

Kace retched as vomit escaped his mouth while he leaned on a nearby wall for support. 'Fuck them all! I'll live how I want to live!' Kace punched the wall breaking a few of the stone bricks as he stumbled backwards. Before he could fall over a pair of arms wrapped around him tightly to support him.

"Who!" Kace mumbled as his head snapped around as he prepared to vent on whoever it was that had dared to touch him.

However, a sweet scent flooded his senses causing a calming effect on his mind. Kace's eyes were blurry as he stared at Lilly standing there wearing a short dress made of purple and orange petals. Her eyes were full of pity as she stared at him and the state he was in. She shook her head lightly while sighing.

"Come on… Let's get you to bed…"