There was a buzz in the air tonight as the night market officially opened. The sun had only set about a half hour ago, and yet there were already plenty of creatures out and about on the lower streets of Lunidio. Hidden away by glamor, this night market was a place for monsters to gather without worrying about the prying eyes of humankind.

For Tomas Malik, it was a nightly tradition for him to attend the market, even if he had no intention of buying anything. For the young Vampire, it was more about conversing with his fellow monsters, the only people who could understand what he was going through. There was a great pain to being undead, one that Tomas felt constantly.

Having departed the small house he rented a scant five minutes ago, Tomas was glad to live so close to the night market. Descending the steep steps that led to the lower levels of the city, Tomas looked out across the spread of creatures in front of him. He could see Witches and Warlocks selling magical brews, or Trolls roasting some kind of mystery meat. However, his attention was quickly grabbed by a gathering of fellow Vampires.

Even from this distance, Tomas could see and hear that they were followers of Fransisco, the new Vampire Prince of Lunidio. They were repeating the same language used by their leader, about Vampire superiority. It was a concept Tomas never really understood. From what he had seen in his life, Vampires were nowhere near the strong type of monsters. There were way too many ways to kill a Vampire, hell they couldn’t remain in the sun for too long without their flesh decaying.

But Tomas did his best to ignore the radicals as he stepped in the night market proper. As he walked through the stalls, Tomas was amazed by all the items for sale. While he did know that Lunidio had the biggest monster community of all of Vyra, Tomas was still wowed by things like preserved giant’s skulls or a grimoire written in the language of the western continent.

And yet, while these things were interesting, nothing really caught Tomas’s eye until he passed by a stall run by a fellow Vampire. Sitting on the wooden table was several vials of blood, each with a different tag, though only two were of interest to Tomas. The first one was labeled dragon’s blood, a rare commodity as most people hadn’t seen a dragon in hundreds of years. But even with its rarity, Tomas wasn’t much for animal blood.

However, the second vial was labeled virgin’s blood. While not super rare, it was the preferred type of blood among most Vampires. While there was no fact based basis to the claim, most Vampires said that virgin’s blood tasted better and made them feel stronger. Tomas had only had the pleasure of tasting virgin’s blood a few times in his life, and swore that he did feel better after ingesting it.

But before he could ask the vendor of the price of the blood, Tomas heard a commotion behind him. Turning around, Tomas saw that the Vampire radicals were struggling with another group of people. Tomas was unsure of what was happening until he heard a howl. The other group were Werewolves.

While this wouldn’t be the first time there had been violence between the two species, this one could be particularly bad as more and more people got dragged into the brawl. Cursing under his breath, Tomas drew his sword and rushed over to the fighting monsters.

“Alright everyone, break it up!” shouted Tomas.

While he had no actual authority, Tomas hoped that his status in Lunidio would be enough to stop the brawl. However, if it did not, he was prepared to crack a few skulls.

Hadric had always enjoyed the night market for it has always appeared to be the kind of place where disharmony and struggle stayed outside, where people left their thoughts about the distant past and the far future behind in order to focus on the present, to banter or even just to talk to each other. Even for someone who considered himself to be a longer in comparison to many others, this kind of atmosphere below the pale moon's night had its own attractivity hard to find elsewhere.

Yet these days were gone. The sudden change in atmosphere across Lunidio clearly coincided with its new ruler's rise to power, but from a rather austere point of view, Hadric had difficulties blaming the prince for this all alone. Instead it seemed to be the people following him and his proclaimed intentions all too willingly. Didn't they think ? Had they just made their minds stop working ? It almost felt like a betrayal: Had all the calmness and happyness he had experienced on this market for many months prior been nothing but a facade, a thin outer crust hiding the ugly truth ?

Speaking of ugly, this late evening cleary fell into that category as well. Hadric had not come here with any intention to get involved into fighting, but lycanthropes could smell each other and the pack mentality had somehow taken over. He had become involved into the fighting too, throwing his not exactly humble self into the struggle. The rational part of his mind said no, but the social part said yes: What kind of fellow werewolf would he have been had he just kept to his own business and tried to ignore the mess around him ?

Hadric had been about to deliver a hook to the chin of a vampire he had not really seen before but who seemed to be just as eager as him to keep going when they both heard the sudden shout. Over all the turmoil, the words were difficult to pick out even with sensitive hearing, but the fragments that got through were enough to cast sufficient doubt on whether things should proceed as they were. The two combatants canceled their next moves and turned their heads to look at whom was shouting.

Another bloodsucker, Hadric thought. Great.

"Who's asking ?" the lycanthrope's dark voice hollered across the market. Now maybe this particular individual actually had some good intentions, but Hadric's expectations were not exactly high at this point. If only this pale individual would not actually start using his fancy sword, otherwise... things would probably escalate even more quickly than his boiling werewolf blood would have liked at this point.

Tomas found that his calls for a cessation of violence were mostly ignored, with Vampires and Werewolves alike still throwing fists at each other. As Tomas watched the brawl, he prayed that no blood would be spilled, not because he didn’t want to see anyone harmed, but rather cause it would fuel a blood frenzy in both types of monsters who were fighting.

While he had his sword in his hand, Tomas was really hoping that he wouldn’t have to use it. While he was a creature of violence, being a Vampire and all, Tomas hated any unnecessary conflict. It made him stand out a little bit among the more blood frenzied Vampires that lived in Lunidio. But before Tomas could rush in with his weapon, a Werewolf turned to him and asked who he was.

“I am Tomas Malik, a respected member of the community,” replied Tomas, “And for the sake of the community I say you should cease this brawl. It’s pointless and just further divides us.”

“You’re just afraid us wolves will shred you bloodsuckers to pieces!” shouted another Werewolf.

Tomas turned toward the voice, only to see a fist flying straight for his face. Thankfully for Tomas, he had the power of it being night on his side, and as such had full access to his speed and reflexes. With a slight turn of his head, Tomas completely dodged the fist, his attacker stumbling into a stall behind Tomas.

“I won’t ask again,” stated Tomas as he raised his sword.

Several of those fighting, both Vampire and Werewolf, turned to Tomas, apparently trying to deduce if he was a threat. Tomas remained on guard, his sword raised, prepared to knock some sense into his fellow Vampires if that was required.

Then another Vampire spoke, “Join us Brother Tomas. Let us show that we have dominion over the night!”

“I’m really getting tired of this talk,” replied Tomas, “We are all creatures of the night, and thus should work together.”

“Yes we are creatures of the night, but Vampires should rule over all,” responded the fanatic.

“Rules over this!” a Werewolf then shouted as he drove a dagger into the fanatic’s back.

With a hiss of pain, the fanatic Vampire ripped the dagger out of his back and then charged his attacker. Clearly the intensity of the fight had grown as both sides began wielding weapons. Tomas was unsure of what to do, as he knew violence was usually prohibited in the night market, and if he got involved his blood lust could take over and he might sever a few heads.

But before this new stage of the fight could begin, a loud shouting could be heard from the other side of the night market. Tomas turned to see a group of Night Guard, the monsters who preserved the law here in Lunidio, approach, swords and shields at the ready. In less than a minute they were flooding over the brawl, grabbing anyone nearby. Tomas would then be surprised when he was grabbed, as he hadn’t done anything. But he guessed they thought he was guilty by association. And it didn’t help that he had his sword out when they arrived.