[sylvanSpider]

Liam, his back turned to his master, did not see her flabbergasted face. He was under the assumption that this was simply what a butler was expected to do – serve, and when need be, protect. Now was an instance of the latter, and his master's assailants did not scare him in the slightest. “Brave? Only as brave as the coin makes me, because I was intelligent enough to place my bets on the person with the obvious best bot. I have a lot going for her survival...And you lot would too, if you had any sense to you.” Of course, he never placed any bets, but any distance he could put on their relationship in the other machinist's eyes would be welcome. Particularly as he was planning on accompanying her to these events in the future.

He felt his hand being tugged and he moved with it, through the steam and with his master. She was a mastermind, it seemed, and he was more than happy to already claim her as his master. When they were safely situated through the front door, Liam straightened his tie, returning his master's smile. “It appears to me, Miss Leona, that we make an excellent team. My name is Liam Anthony Farrier, the son of two deceased low-born souls whose names are as unimportant as their lives are.” He took a deep breath. The easy part was out of the way. How should he begin? Well, the truth, for one. “If I was running from something as mundane as the law, I would have no need to reach out to you. What I am running from is far more sinister than that. You see, I am a vampire. Last I knew, there was a Hellsing on my trail, but I seem to have lost him after giving him a false trail...”

Liam inhaled through his nostrils, the second hardest part behind him. The first was yet to come, “As far as a price for my services, I need blood. Not...not enough to kill you or anything, of course. Just enough to keep me satiated, enough to keep me from going feral. Starvation for a vampire is worse than anything you can imagine, Miss. I would...prefer it if there were not to be another mishap.”