Chapter 43 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 43 — The Midnight Epicure

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Unhinged Child · Previous: Chapter 42 — Warrants · Next: Chapter 44 — The Recital · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

“He wanted to meet me? Really?

Summary

Donut approved the cocker spaniel shirt days ago; about seven hundred Princess Posse chapters are running, money talk filtered out by the AI ('You don't think a member of the posse is embezzling funds, do you?'). 'You're advocating for the genocide of dogs.' 'My numbers tell another story, Carl.' Mordecai testified against Odette at her trial — charged as his manager, not as a crawler; she pleaded down before the verdict. Donut's red leadership-charm gem: +2 intelligence, +1 dexterity and a spear-throwing skill she can never use, and the small settlement's tax only 403 gold every ten days. Carl's Tyrant Box is a sliver of amethyst, +3 dexterity. The Plenty sponsor only Carl, Miriam Dom and Prepotente; their box is a black denim patch with a grey goat's head — the Midnight Epicure, the Caprid Who Devours the Sky, a nursery-terror 'racist caricature of an adult Caprid' that became a ward against night evils: protection against vampirism and lycanthropy, +25 per cent magical damage to sapient undead. The same symbol is tattooed on Prepotente's hand. The Apothecary's gold box for Donut, a fourth bracelet — the Silver Bracelet of the Ab-solar, garlic-bulb amethysts, a rant about Twilight, Dune, Harry Potter and children who get themselves killed — gives exactly the same protections. 'It's pretty clear the Apothecary and the Plenty really are working together.' 'The only vampire we know is Miriam Dom.' The Apothecary's silver box for Carl: a potion recipe Mordecai has chased for fifty cycles — centrifuge, then flash-freeze — and a drawing of Mongo. Charm Animal, brewed per species, requiring a litre of the animal's blood per potion. 'I am Mongo's mommy, and he trusts me implicitly. I will not break that trust.' Then Miriam: 'I need help […] I am trapped. Dawn will break in 10 hours, and if you do not come before then, I will not survive.'

Characters

• Princess Donut — Seven hundred chapters; a purple anti-vampire bracelet; refuses Mongo's blood.
• Carl — A goat patch; a recipe that needs a litre of Mongo.
• Mordecai — Testified against Odette; fifty cycles chasing Charm Animal.
• Mongo — Hides behind his mother.
• Miriam Dom — Trapped, with ten hours to dawn.
• Prepotente — The Epicure on his hand; sponsored by the Plenty.
• Odette — Tried as a manager; pleaded down.

Locations

• The Royal Palace of Princess Donut — Boxes on the counter; a cat guarding a dinosaur.

Motifs

• Sponsorship — The Plenty and the Apothecary give matching wards against vampires.
• The Princess Posse — Seven hundred chapters and a filtered treasury.
• The patch jacket — The Midnight Epicure.
• The mongoliensis — A Charm Animal recipe for Mongo's kind, paid in his blood.
• The Krakaren — The Apothecary's box: a recipe and a drawing.