White Devil

2: The Elixir of Life

The Elixir of Life

The twanging of keys awakens me from caliginousness, bending me towards its melody. The thrumming moves my consciousness, inviting me towards its source. The tone is anything but supercilious; so cordial and dainty that it can be carried by the morning breeze.

Alto jumps into my bed in his cat form. I gesture for him to come closer and place him on my lap as I change into a sitting position. In this outward, he appears to be very adorable, looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and innocentness. He presses his nose under my palm and breathes through it, wondering why I have a smile on my face.

“Sometimes, you just have to be grateful for a peaceful morning. No one died, and no one has ceased to existence. It is a good morning to be awakened to,” I explain to him before sliding off the bed and stepping towards the French doors that lead to my balcony.

From above here, I can see some movements at the streets. Not much signs of vampires except in their beds, but I do see some mortals doing errands near the garden and day market. Echoes of laughter can also be heard from the distant, bringing joy from their beating, contented hearts. It is a wonderful sight to wake up to, knowing that the rulers are doing a great job in keeping everything organized. Most humans might hate us and make sure to keep staying in their own continent, but some humans are modern-thinking enough to decide that life alongside with vampires are not as bad at all.

But then the last scene of just before the daybreak flashes into my mind, and the worries and concerns begin to cloud my thoughts.

This is not just another murder.

This is a planned killing.

Not for the living.

But for those who were dead to begin with.

This case takes years and years back ─ exactly a year after my mother’s true death.

It was vicious, savage, ruthless, severe, cutthroat, downright cruel and just plain heartless despite the murderers in mother’s case.

To the leads that Lancel gave to me then, when the sun made its prime peak of the day and shined upon us, made one clear impression:

The hunters have stroked again.

It was the hunters who have killed my mother.

And it was the hunters as well who had killed Aunt Meggietta and Uncle Jeremiah.

I can not help when instinct wishes that I were tearing their heads off right now, my inside rushing as their blood being spilled out to the dirty ground below my heels, and my head in filled with all of these vicious things that I would like to do to these slayers. Those are the most rational things to think about in my state.

Then I seal off that fury inside a small crest in my mind and turn to Alto, who is now lying on his belly on the wide fences of the balcony with his tail marching up and the edge dancing in the air.

“Proceed the day as instructed. I will be joining my brothers and sister this morning,” I give out my order and he jumps of the fences.

When his feet touch the floor, they are not in form of paws anymore, but rather in slick shoes. Alto bows to me in his human form, his gloved right hand over his heart.

“Understood.”

After uttering that single word, he walks out from my chamber and begins his daily inspection through the castle.

No words are needed after that and I change into a morning golden blooming gown before I grace through the hallways towards the practice’s watching room. It is located rather distant from the residential area and is more flooded with mortals that are working under my wings. The room is at one side of the practice field, giving a full view of the stadium under us through its glassed walls. It might not give enough privacy of sight from the outside, but it does provide some through the ten-volt soundproof systems.

Once I open the double metal doors, my siblings are all already in there, sitting around the circling white couches.

“We heard,” is all Altore needs to say before followed by, “what happened?” He shares the same concern looks that the others are having.

Taking a sit at the last spot from the four crossing couches, I begin explaining the situation at hand.

“The take-over at Sarotine Gate was not just some act of rebellion. The masked leader is one of us, a pureblood.” Their eyes widen when I say these words.

“Ho─”

“It was Lancel de Britannia.”

“The one who tried to ruled father over?”

“I was involved.”

“We didn’t know,” Charlotte says.

“Father erased my memory, as well as the others that were involved in the incident, apparently.”

“What was it that was so hazardous that he had to use his Oblivion?” Elric asks.

“The knowledge of what I did itself.”

“But that still does not make sense. You would take the title eventually. Eighteen years earlier does not make a difference,” Altore mutters.

“Apparently it does, for reasons I do not understand yet. But that is not the majority of the problem.”

“Then what is it?”

“Aunt Meggietta and Uncle Jeremiah were erased from existence on purpose by the hunters.”

“How did you know?”

“Lancel showed me a glimpse of the footage he had found through his blood. There was not even a figure recorded, but he did saw a shadow walking out from the backup exit, even when the building and all of its pathways are no more now.”

“That would be very hard to look. Scents do not stay forever, and there will hardly be anything left after almost two decades.”

“We just need to really recall the incident, right after we found the ruins of their laboratory,” Charlotte suggests.

“But we did not pick up anything out of the place at the time ─ I remember it very well,” Eric says.

The remains of the after-blast were too overwhelming. The only things we could actually smell at the time were the ashes, woods, nitro, and tons and tons of titanium powder burning in the air.

“There is also something else,” I say to them. “Lancel found what we could not sense at the time.”

“What did he find?” Altore asks.

“The traces of frostbites at the outskirts of Aunt Meggietta and Uncle Jeremiah’s forest.”

“You mean from one of their working projects at the time?”

“It seemed to have worked, and very much stolen. Lancel managed to unbury it from earth.”

Sinister smiles start to share on their angelic faces at once.

“I am taking that you already know the hunters?” Elric states, leaning back against the couch, the book on his hand already long forgotten.

“I do, and how misfortune I imagine they are going to be in a very short period of time after we have this conversation,” I reply.

“That is because they definitely will,” Charlotte taunts darkly, in her mind already set to tear their flesh out from bones and blood.

“May we know who the humans are, Big Sister?” Altore asks, a rather malefic charming playing on his lips.

“You will remember them as the little helpers from Aunt Meggietta and Uncle Jeremiah’s laboratory that had acknowledged themselves to have repented from their old sins and are ex-hunters. At least, those are what they have told our aunt and uncle, until they decided that old games seemed to the like the new game and decided to blow the place up by using Aunt Meggietta and Uncle Jeremiah’s hard works.”

“And such ungrateful mortals they have been.”

“We shall show them a fitting punishment,” Charlotte adds in. “After all, no sin is buried forever, even when managed to bury the frost laser.”

“And what a punishment it shall be,” Elric clenches his fists until he can hear the cracking sound within.

Bits by bits the air has been taken over by the killing intension of ours until there is no room for breathing lungs.

“They will also learn that there is somewhere else worse than death or any other hell ─ my underground prisons,” I say.

After I say that, it is clear of where our plan is going.

*

Their heavy footsteps hit the ground in helpless manners as sweats begin to cover them and strength begins to tire them. The man screams for the woman to sprint faster, but all their hearts can do are just to pump louder, giving their location as if wanted to be caught. They are the hopeless preys in this play ─ they know that so well yet still so ignorant to try to flee. It is only a matter of seconds before their fates are sealed, and Charlotte makes the glide for it.

“Where do you think you are going?” Her tone is sweet yet dark at the same time, causing them to be startled. She appears right in front of them from the dimness, blocking their path further. In her thirteen-year-old appearance, she can make their blood to run cold by her lovely yet gothic outfit and three tons of murder stuffed bear.

“S-stay away from us!” The man shouts through his labor breathing.

“Gladly! We would have done just so, if you had stayed away from us,” Charlotte says out loud, still sweetly. Then, in a much low yet still hearable volume, she points out darkly, “But even the most unfaithful hunters could not betray their nature, could they?”

The woman steps back, her heels clacking against the metal piece that she steps on the ground. She recognizes where their eyes, and her heart pounds quicker than before.

“John, I don’t think─”

She gaps high pitch when another gush comes in. Altore makes his appearance undeniable with his princely charm, but even the middle age woman can feel just how dangerous his good looks can be to both of them. The man pulls his wife further back, using his body as a shield for her. But even his flesh and bones can not raise their winning chance to escape.

So instead they march to another side. Too bad someone else already prepare to barricade them.

“Hello, Johnathan Wood. Hello, Sarah Wood. It is nice to see you again after eighteen years. The two of you have changed so old now. Though you should have a few decades away, I am afraid that we need to wrap your lives close very soon.” Gone is the usual polite greeting. Gone is the sincere smile that can tie any hearts ─ belonged or not ─ into knots. What is standing before them is a true intension of horror. Standing there, tall, dark and still handsome, Altore licks his upper lips, showing the tongue piercing underneath. That pure silverish shine below the light is definitely titanium.

The human couple gulps audibly when they notice this ─ how can’t they, when they have been working using the same material to kill vampires all of these years of their youth?

“You too have grown so much, Prince Altore. I must afraid I say for the better worse, seeing that you look exactly like your bloodthirsty ancestors,” the man still dares to say, through we all know that his heart is beating for the worst to come.

When they attempt to head another way, another figure already impedes the path.

“We might be blood, but we are not always thirsty.” Elric comes from the other opposite side, waltzing through his entrance. He keeps his eyes on the ground, but his senses are on high alert. He might seem the most harmless of them all, but his silence can be killing.

The ex-hunters try to back away from my sibling, ready to break into a useless sprint so that they can turn this chase into another waist of our time again. But they are not ready for one more possibility:

Me.

They only see me when they at least expect me to be. That is when they start reaching in to the inside of their jacket and hip, where they keep their weapons. But I already have one of my own ─ a very special sword. The best of its making, with material made out of nothing better than titanium of its own.

I draw the sword from its scabbard and clash with their bullets.

*

“I-it’s you, Crown Princess Amethyst.”

The woman manages to shudder after so long drowning in her own fear.

“Glad to hear that you still have good memory, Mrs. Wood. Would you mind if I just go straight down to business? Because I am afraid that I am not in the mood for a polite chit chat, remembering what your crimes are.”

I swift the saber sword in my hand up high to the air, while the other hand still holds on to the scabbard. The remaining of the bullets that were used to shoot at me have fallen on the ground echoingly ─ both were cut perfectly into two as I counter their attack. Not even a smile forms on my lips, nor do I show any impression when I step closer to them. They try to run away, but my other siblings are already there to block their exit.

“Now, I believe that─”

I am being cut short by a titanium boomerang head my way, stabbing me right on the back when I do not move to dodge the throw. More hunters are definitely going to defend their fellow members now, arriving just as we are about to finish this mission.

The blood that is caused by the s***h does not drop from my gashing wound, but instead wrapping itself around the metal cleanly. The nature has a mind of its own, and my blood refuses to flow out. Slowly I reach out to my back and find my grip on the weapon, before pulling it out. I feel no pain from the action, and so I bring it front to take a look at it.

More bullets are coming, this time from the distant. They are targeting my brothers and sister, but they counter the attack effortlessly through Altore’s Gravity. The power allows him to stop the bullet in the mid air just before they harm Charlotte or Elric.

Thinking that they have their chance, our targets make a sprint through the bounded building, heading straight to the hallways. There are several disturbed grounds and close to caving in ceilings coming their way. Most parts of this building are even not very safe for mortals such as them to come near to. But they are ex-hunters who have been well-trained before they even join the hunt, so they manage to survive through the restrictions thus far.

Putting my sword away into its scabbard, I raise my gaze to my siblings, giving them the gesture. Without further second, they all start going for the hunters who try to protect our targets.

Charlotte haunts their sights with their own personal nightmare and living fears. Some hunters start shooting out bullets randomly and use their swords to cut the air around them, hoping that it would hit us as they are still blinded by the illusion. Their efforts are meaningless for most, though some manage to get fired towards Charlotte’s direction. That is when Altore comes and raises his palm at the escaping bullets, freezing them in the mid of air.

But even Altore’s Gravity can not stop those hunters from interrupting us any further by using more treacherous weapons such as titanium powder bombs. One of them pulls the pacifier and throws it to a random direction while still in the influence of Charlotte’s Nightmare. Elric catches sight of that and waists to time in disappearing and appearing right in the air to capture the bomb. His figure dishes right after that and reappear again back on his previous standing spot, looking perfectly still as if he never left. And then an explosion at the sky confirms that he just used his Teleportation to deliver the bomb some elsewhere safer from causing these humans to harm themselves any further. Seriously, they need to start valuing their lives more, considering that their lives will not grow on trees.

“I swear, if it is not for my Big Sister, I would have let you all kill yourselves with your silly weapons,” Altore says rather irritatedly as he stops another few sets of bullets in the air.

Leaving the matter at hand to them, I set out to hound the couple. I find them running through a darker tunnel, leading me to an underground furrow and cornering them at a death end. Stalking without them noticing, I walk a circle behind them and once again wield my sword, until it is too late for them to take another breathe.

“You can not outrun justice,” I say to them before allowing their screams of horror to fill the entrenchment as long as the course takes.

Throwing the two into the dungeon, I give them out to my two most trusted black blooded brothers, Gluttony and Wrath. They drag their feet and let their huge bodies overcome the light of the torches with their long and wide shadows. One of them is enough to block the entire corridor without any gap of escape, let alone the two of them ─ and these corridors are pretty huge. The two have smiles plastered on their faces, which are practically lifting up even more than they already do once their eyes land upon their new victims.

“More prisoners, Your Majesty?” Gluttony asks with gratitude in his tone, thought he can not force himself to break the hungry gaze he has on the husband and wife. “I do not expect the new ones to come for a short period of time, Your Majesty.” The smile that he has is starting to creep the ex-hunters already as Johnathan Wood circles his arms around his wife’s.

“But we must admit that we are thrilled, Your Majesty. We are just about to get bored with the available prisoners already ─ even through their numbers are not so little,” Wrath collides in, his huge hands grabbing the side of the bars.

“They are all yours, boys. Enjoy them as much as you like, as usual,” I say, walking out from the cage so that they can come in. Gluttony takes a turn first, before followed closely by Wrath behind. The humans are shaking in fear as they take in the Black Brothers’ looks. Seeing how big and torture-loving they are, it is obvious that they are afraid of the twins as well.

“W-what are you planning to do to us?” Johnathan asks, trying to sound strong though failing miserably with his trembling hands.

“The Woods, I would you to officially welcome the two of you to my underground land, where my two most trusted blackblooders are responsible for the running of its system at here,” I extend my hands to each of my side, then adding the last part darkly, “And I will assure you that your stay here will be very much unpleasant for the rest of your lives.”

“Gluttony and Wrath will make sure that you are tortured daily. Sometimes they will make it nice and slow, but sometimes they will also do it savagely and cruel, just like what the hunters like to do to vampires. The choice of method will be up to them, so I can say as much that you daily lives are all depend on them,” I elaborate.

“Y-you mean, you are not going to kill us?” Sarah Wood blinks, hope resurfacing in her eyes.

“No,” I answer, “but I must assure you that this will be a punishment worse than death itself. You will still being kept alive, but you will also be languished for as long as your lifespan can take you. They will torment you until you beg for them to kill instead, but they will never give you the satisfaction. No, death is a gift, and you do not deserve it.”

Without another word, I turn away from them, allowing Gluttony and Wrath to start their work.

“Humans, it seems they are, brother,” Gluttony sniffs in the air, catching their scents.

“Yes, it seems,” Wrath says to his brother, and then to their new victim he mutters, “You must have done so wrong to Her Majesty to be delivered here. We do not have many new guests, you see, and most of them are top criminals.”

“I swear to you, if you dare to touch my wife, I wi─”

“You will what, Mr. Wood? Because our blades will not be able to keep themselves from your flesh, and we must promise you that blood will surely spill. If you do not want to get hurt, then you should not have hurt another.”

Cracking sounds start to pierce the canal corridors like ice and more screams begin to echo from behind me, but I keep on walking until I am at the surface again.

I must not hesitate.

I must be tolerant.

They have brought this upon themselves.

And I must let them pay for their sins.

That is the law of justice.

We can not let the sinners run around freely.

Even when they posses freewill.

Because from the beginning, it is freewill that poisoned their minds.

It is its temptations that allowed them to be contaminated.

Those awful injections lead to where they are right now.

I must not stop them from receiving their consequences.

My heels are bout just to lead me to turn to another corridor in the castle’s hallway when my skin tingles out of his nearness. I can practically feel him standing at the distant, his eyes staring at me, his desire wanting me to come to him. The attraction he is feeling for me is as strong as I impossibly can not resist him. So I walk to him.

His present is a blessing, his form is angelic, and his smile is my everything. I can not even turn away once my eyes land upon his figure, because even if I want to, I will never find the need to look anywhere else.

The lightning is perfect as he stands at the top of the morning stairs, the glow reflecting on his long milky hair. His eyes are not just any shade of red, but fill with intensity so capturing they can even lock me on the spot. His skin is lovely but his smile is lovelier. Once I climb the stairs in effortless speed, I lean in to plan a kiss on his pink lips.

At first it is soft, but soon our hunger arises and it demands to be conquered, so we put more power into it. Our lips are in a dead lock and in seconds we are circling our arms around each other, pushing us together until not even an inch of separation is spared. Then he releases my lips and starts kissing down my throat and all I can do is just to close my eyes and savor the moment. He leans in deeper and I would have let him do what he wants with me if he had not stopped.

“Vallénce,” I can his name as it is the very air that humans need. “I miss you.”

“I am as well, my Amethyst,” he smiles at me. And even though his is in his usual ten-year-old version through all of these years, he is still the most handsome and adorable male I have ever lay my eyes upon.

I let the circling of my arms drop around his waist and lay my head against his small chest. It provides me with the comfort I seek and so longing for.

And then I kiss him some more. Only this time, the hunger is much more savage. I brush my dingers to his curly locks and push the back of his head to lean deeper into the kiss. He licks my bottom lips and asks for me to open my mouth through a silent gesture. Our bodies are pressing in such a compromising way that─

“Ahem!” Someone coughs from behind me and I turn around to spot him at the bottom of the stairs.

“Having yourselves to enjoy each others, don’t you? I’m sorry that I did not see you there. Would you mind not to show your public affection in the middle of a way? Because it will be so much better for anyone else, if not me, to be spared from what are about to come next,” Altore says outragingly with a very oddly wide smile on his face, irritation clearly exploding just beneath the surface of his skin. He even clenches his fists on both sides of his body.

I know for sure that he says those rude words to Vallénce. I also know that we would have detected us even before he could see us. He is doing this in purpose, as usual.

I turn back to Vallénce just so spot him glaring back at my brother, though it is greatly hidden and only evince slightly under the amusement in his smirk.

“Who do you think you are talking to, brat? Just because I am your sister’s fiancé does not mean that I will let you pass after interceding us all the time. Remember where I am, and remember where you are.”

Right now, the staircase is not just for intersection at all ─ the top, where Vallénce is standing at, with me just one step below, and the bottom, where Altore is currently at. The two exchange glares and threat through silence air, fighting for the dominance that they both know who will win at the end. Their eyes glow crimson and darkness of ink eventually occupy the scleras. The eye contact is unbreakable, too sharp like fangs. It is after a while, when Altore finds himself struggling to keep his eyes open wide, that he slowly bows down and admit defeats.

This is not about a stare-down, though. This is about proofing who has more power here.

“Altore─” I start slowly, one hand reaching down to him, but Vallénce pulls me back to him and my brother growls at him ─ or me, or us both. It is not very clear, but the fury in his eyes is. He looks as if he is about to launch an attack at any moment, even when his soles are still kissing the ground. But eventually, as fast as the anger comes, it is that fast as well that it disappears. His facial expression wears down, replaced by a sad one.

“If only you had given the chance to choose....” he mutters slowly, much to himself, before walking away. I want to follow him right away when he does that, but the dead grip Vallénce has on my wrist says louder than words of what he wants me to do:

Nothing.

*

Soft orange lights shine upon the closed dark red curtain when I walk into Scarlet’s room. He is still lying on his bed with no indication of life. He knows that I am here though, when I see that his eyelids twitch. I approach him by the bed and sit at the edge.

“Scarlet, there is something that I must tell you,” I start.

He pushes the cover down and rises into a sitting position with his back against the head of the bed, before opening his eyes to me. His hair is short, making it hard to appear messy, but his white shirt is rather wrinkled and lack of a few top buttons done.

“It’s about your parents.”

“I have a parent, not parents, and you are my mother. So why are you addressing yourself as a third person?” he crocks his eyebrow sleepily as he rubs the side of his head.

“I mean your blood parents.” His eyes flinch up by the mention of that.

“What about them?” It is rare for us to speak about Aunt Meggietta and Uncle Jeremiah. We rarely speak about the nonexists.

“This is something that I just discovered and taken care of recently, so I hope you do not do wonders why you have not been told sooner. The thing is, dear, is that they were hunted down by hunters.”

Tension runs tightly on his skin, and through he does not express it openly, I can look through the facade that his eyes are conflicted. “Who did it?”

“They were your parents’ assistants. Ex-hunters. We were wrong to give them a chance. It was all planned. They even dared to use your parents’ experimental weapons to take their existences. But you do not have to worry about finding them, because I and my siblings have taken care of them.”

“And where are they now?” he asks sharply.

“In my dungeon. Underground, with Wrath and Gluttony.”

Right at that instant, Scarlet throws himself off the bed and walk straight to the door and out. Before he can go further than ten meters, I chase him and stop right in front, blocking his path.

“I want to watch them being tortured.”

There is a strong determination and pure hatred in his eyes. His body is shaking with anger. It will not be good to allow him to lose control, so I nod.

“I’ll walk you there. We can watch together.”

The tearing screams are ecliptic through the metal walls and doors once the atmosphere changes from royal castle to the worst place than Hell itself. The agony that they are feeling is so unbearable that we can hear it through the sounds of cracking bones and crawling nails. The smell of blood is fresh down here, but it does not arouse our need. Instead, it makes us even more furious of them.

“Good afternoon, Your Majesties,” greets one of them.

Wrath stops the whip in his hand by the mid of air once he sees us coming and turns to us. His brother, on the other hand, does not seem to be disturbed as he pulls the ropes that bind their prisoners’ wrists and ankles scaldingly. I give him a nod, gesturing him to continue, and Wrath takes that as an approval to draw more blood from their backs.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wood,” I say rather louder so that my voice can enter their hearing, “may I present to you, Scarlet zi Britannia, formerly Scarlet vi Britannia. This is the son of the purebloods you force-erased.”

It takes them a while to recover from the numbness after Wrath gives them a break. Then another few minutes to catch their breaths, surprising themselves for not being dead already. They should know better that I will never allow them be given the satisfaction of death, because it will ease them instead. At the full five minutes, Mr. Wood raises his head to take a good long look at Scarlet. My son glares back at him coldly, causing him to look older by a decade, resembling his father a little bit more than the usual.

“The boy.... You are your father’s son, after all....” Jonathan Wood says heavily. “His hair color.... You even share the same face.”

“I know.”

“It makes me sick, you purebloods all,” Sarah Wood hisses, before being rewarded with another strong whip from Wrath. The woman screams in pain before continuing. “Every single face, almost the same. Do you even know how wrong incest is? But of course you don’t, right? That’s okay, though. God will punish you all. And by the time it comes, we will be safe in heaven.”

“You mortals never learn, don’t you? Everything you believe is still wrong, even after living in this continent for so long. You know the facts in your heads are all wrong, yet you insist in believing the lie. It is because the lie is so much easier, isn’t it? You fear the truth coming,” I say.

“No! We do not fear! We are the children of God, and your kind is an abomination. You should be the one that fears, not us! God will help us humans and doom you bloodsuckers─”

Her words are cut by another smack of Wrath’s whip. She screams out loud, never stopping. He stops after a minute, approaches his station, and then comes back with a thorny one. Sarah whimpers once her eyes locked with the new torture tool, then glance at her husband as if there were some sort of hope for him to save her. When her head turns sideway, she only spots Jonathan looking at Scarlet, not even bother to break eye contact.

“We worked for your father,” he says shakily. His skin has turned out of color, amalgamated with purple and red.

“I know,” Scarlet replies again.

“No. We worked for your father before we worked for your parents. We used to be very close.... that even the difference of blood is not matter to us. But then he changed, and so were we. Everything was in order, even their deaths.” He looks as if he were looking for forgiveness, even when he is not saying the word.

“I know. My mother told me everything.” Scarlet’s voice remains monotonous.

“Your mother?” Jonathan’s voice rises a few octaves in confusedness. “But you were just one year old when she died. Sure she could not have told you the history of her life back then when you were just a baby.”

“I meant Amethyst. She adopted me after you erased their existence, not because you murdered them. You can not kill someone that is already dead, after all,” Scarlet says rather sharply. “She told me everything,” he turns to me. “She does not keep secrets.”

“I am sure she does not, but surely you don’t believe that she would just tell you everythi─”

“I know what my father was, and I know that you were raised together. She told me about all of it. But remember one thing for sure: He is not one of you. I am not part of you. Get that through your useless skull.”

This is the first time that I ever hear my son cursing. He looks like he is about to lose control. His body is shaking rapidly out of fury. And I think this is my cue to start being cautious.

“I suggest you do not provoke him any further, Mr. Wood,” I advice him, “and I might just will not stop him from harming you. You have no idea what he is capable of.” So does Scarlet himself.

Finally, Jonathan turns his attention to me. “You have turned him into one of you. Look at how broken he is now. He could have had a better future, a better life. But you even snatched that away from him.”

“Jonathan, you have no idea what you are talking about. It’s just as the same as your wife. Neither of you know what is the truth, yet you speak of it as if you saw it and live through it. So let you tell you some things to make it clear. I did not do anything to turn him, because Scarlet already possesses his inheritance since the moment he was conceived. I did not take anything from him, because what he is having up to this point is his very right to be. Instead, you two were the ones who changed his future the second you decided to erase his blood parents. You were the ones who took his parents away, when they should be the one who raised him and love him.”

“Love?” Sarah laughs mockingly. “I do not believe even when miracle happens that his so-called mother is capable of loving him. I expect as much from Jeremiah, but not he─”

A blast of air pressure goes off, taking her by shock. It takes damage just a few inches from their heads, nearly chopping them off.

“Don’t you dare insult my mother!” Scarlet has never looked deadlier than now. He sets his blood red eyes someplace else and Sarah wails tremendously when her right left gets detached from her body. “And don’t you dare say my father’s name with your filthy, traitorous mouth!”

More blood colors the torture chamber. Scarlet grips the bars that separate us from the ones inside, staring resentfully at the new pool that is fountaining from the woman’s hip. Her leg lies coldly on the ground and she grows hysterical. She chants praying to the god she has wrongly worshiped for as her husband can only stare at her griefly.

Slowly, I circle my hand around my son’s shoulder and he loosens the grip. When he lets go, the bar is not smooth anymore. It does not matter, though.

“Let’s go somewhere sightlier,” I persuade him, which he complies silently by returning my embrace.

Before we leave, I turn to the Black Brothers for a second to make sure that they tend Sarah’s wound before she gets infected and dies instead. They follow the procedure.

“How do you feel?” I ask once we reach the surface again.

“Better. Being down there kinds of ticks me off easier when those traitors open their mouths and act all knowing.”

“No, I mean when you looked at them. Are you satisfied with them being punished? Or would you prefer punishing them yourself?”

He glances at me, searching the sign of seriousness level. “You mean you will allow me to cause harm to them myself?”

“Why not? If you want to, you have my permission.”

“I would prefer not. I might just kill them the moment my eyes land on them again.”

“Your eyes are a rather burning red. Are you hungry?” I already prepare rolling up my sleeve by the time the question slips from my lips, but instead of taking my wrist, Scarlet drown by the sight of my neck.

Without saying anything, he turns me to face him and leans in. His fingers pull the straps of my front gown and ready to take a bite. When he opens his mouth and reveals his razor fangs, I wait for the moment to collide.

I try not to move, but it isn’t a nice feeling to be bitten. Scarlet widens his lips, sinking deeper to drink more. His hands support me on the waist, pulling me closer at the same time. The wind blows and twirls the scent of chrysanthemum around us. Some of the blushful petals are blown by the wind, and then fall like blood snow once the breeze is no more. That is when he pulls away, but not before licking the multiply tiny holes he has made.

Rather than pulling away, he keeps his position the same. My back has already been arched back when he leaned closer before, making us look like a dancing couple. He traces his eyes down to my body, one hand on my waist while the other one tries to redo my straps. There are still traces of blood around his lips, so I automatically bring my hand to his face. The hand that he uses to binds back my straps captures it, preventing me from cleaning his mouth. So instead he sticks his tongue out and licks the blood trances around his lips.

“You can let go of her now,” comes Altore’s voice from the distant. We turn our heads and find him standing at the corridor of pillars at the edge of the castle wall.

Scarlet pulls up into a standing position along with him. Altore marches up to us in a flash, grabs my wrist and yanks me towards him.

“What do you think you are doing?” my brother asks with the same charming tone, but there is something cold in his body language that is a stranger to me.

“Feeding him. Scarlet was hungry after his visit with the Woods.”

“Is that so?” he asks with a big smile on his face, but somehow the question sounds rather.... taunting.

“Yes.” If he thinks that I am keeping secrets from him, then there is nothing for him to be worried about. “And he cut Sarah Wood’s leg.”

“Good for the human. Now, may I speak to you privately?”

Altore does not wait for another second for my reply, knowing that I will agree, and pulls me inside the castle right away, leaving Scarlet behind at the garden. We reach his chamber, where there is soundproofs planted ten sets inside.

“Seriously, what you do think you are doing, sis? Allowing him to drink from you? Do you even have any idea what you are giving to him?” That smile of his turns upside down once we are alone in his bedroom.

“I told you, he was hungry, so I fed him my blood.”

“By appearing almost half naked? You must remember that you are not his blood mother. The connection you have with him is not real, and the worst part is that he knows it. If you keep having your guard down around him, one of these days he might just be going to take an opportunity on you.” The grip he has around my wrist tightens, coming this close to detaching my shell.

“Of course it is real. I have been raising him as if he were my own. I care for him and protect him until the end, because that is what a parent does. He will not try to take my existence. He is not like our cousins. I raised him not to be like that.”

“Do you even have any idea what he had in mind at then?” he asks dangerously, and I can start feeling his anti-gravity activating.

When I do not answer, he smashes me against a wall roughly, pulling my wrist up above my head. I am not injured by the impact, but he presses his body against mine, leaving me with no choice other than fighting or allowing him to trap me. I won’t fight him, though.

Then he does something inconsiderable by groping my breast and squeezes it hardly.

“Is this clear enough for you?”

He looks into my eyes, his already turning to blindingly red that it actually starting to become hurtful to stay with the eye contact. He seems conflicted, but different from how Scarlet was before at the underground ─ his seems to be more.... complicated. Everything is different about this side of him. He is not the cute little brother that used to be clinging on to me anymore, but has grown into a fully mature male pureblood vampire. Just like how Scarlet is now.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

A dove pounces from a branch, flying out of the torrential forest of its habitat to grassland. Signs of civilization begin to be seen from there, through not as welcoming as it looks like. Instinctively, the dove meddles the human continent to look for sustenance. Nothing attracts its sense of smell, unluckily. It flutters its ripping white wings out from the area, meeting the blue sky.

After a while, something far eventually catches its interest. It does not take long for the dove to dive down and slow on my held out hand. The bird lasts longer, acting so calm since it does not sense any danger. That is, until for how long I can hide my predatory aura, just like how one mortal can hold breath. Not all vampire can do this, unless if one is trained.

“Your Majesty, are you assured about this?” Malcolm, my second knight, asks. The warlock has been asking the same question ever since my first decision to visit the human continent. And as always, he is concerned. The concern is not for me through, but for the humans that occupies the territory instead. We all know how easily their minds can be manipulated and fooled. Some even believe that my kind’s blood can cure them, though they are only half right.

Common ranked vampires do not possess the ability that they so need for. It is only at the hands of the purebloods that this give is blessed with. Not all of us are as generous as to spare them with the vile. Even a drop is enough to gain our sympathy, for not all are magnanimous. Facts can be cured, but not the ego. And it does not help that most of us treat each other as enemies.

The elixir of life, commonly being used to address a pureblood’s blood, is the only vile that can cure any disease. It is the name vile that I used to cure my knights, back before I recruited them. But the elixir also comes with consequences. Those who have received the drop of blood will forever be part of me. They will no longer be the same as they were before encountering me. One treacle is enough, powerful to awakens their out-of-reach strengths.

“Why not? Besides, it is not like I am not geared with disguises,” I reply, parting my robe slightly to reveal the red-as-blood ruby necklace that glitters around my neck. It is a customized device that Malcolm has sparked with magic to allow me to look like the reserve of myself. To everyone’s eyes, I will be a human girl with long black hair and dark eyes. But to the reflection of a mirror, I am the crown princess of all vampires.

“There might be some hunters that are still active from the last gate takeover. The rebels might be keeping their guards up and try to murder everyone that is suspicious at the spot. I heard a few humans were murdered innocently because of their own kind’s lack of judgment. If they know that you can not be killed, they will try to do the worst that I even do not dare to imagine.”

“Well, I know that humans are always the greediest mortals. Does not mean I can not give them a hand. Their systems are broken once again. I need to straight up their morals, and if lucky, also their facts along the way. This will be just like any other missions. I will bring a human acquaintance, if I had, but I don’t.” Humans do not last long wondering in the castle.

The garden below is quite this evening. It is lovely to the eyes, but lonesome because no one has time to play anymore. Further is a green forest, circling the outskirts of the garden, surrounding the castle. I turn to Malcolm to tell him to take care as always before covering my hood up and jumping off the balcony. My speed slows down before my feet touch the ground. I kick lightly on my ivory high heels boots and launches forward into the woods. Rather than blurring into nothingness, the scenery around me slows down, giving the time to inspect the context around.

When I pass the gate unnoticed to the human continent, I do not enter through the front directly. Instead, I circle to the back entrance, where the humans rarely suspect of visitors. Halfway turning, I hear the sound of a child crying in the distant. It sounds so sad that I almost grieve for the child. Once I slip through the rusting gate, I spot him in the ruins.

This part of the continent is abounded due to the lack of interest. The place used to be crowded and the most advance section of all. But years ago flame ate away everything the residents have built so hard for. They were all safe, but they have lost their homes. They went and never returned. No one is supposed to occupy this area, until now. Why is a child wondering around in this area alone?

Dropping my speed, I walk dilatorily to him. The sound comes from behind a caved in wall. There are hints of ancient Rome structures from the debris. My heels sink into the rocky land as I step closer, circling the collapsed wall. A small figure is crooning on the ground, covered with a dirty cloak.

“Are you okay?” I ask as I take cautious step, not wanting to scare the child, but he just keeps crying, not seemingly to hear a word I say. After standing a meter away, I subduedly place a hand on the child’s shoulder, causing him to hitch. Finally, he turns around. But I can not see his face. It is perfectly hidden under his cloak. “Why are you in a place like this?”

His eyes go to the hint of platinum on my neck, before looking further up. Still, he does not say a word.

“Where are your parents? Let me take you to them,” I offer softly.

“My parents are no more,” he answers crookedly.

“Then a place to stay.”

“I do not wish to join the orphanage.”

“Adoptive parents, perhaps. They are a lot of couple who I believe will be willing to take you as theirs.”

“Where do you want to go, then?”

Then his voice turns into a heavy and dry one as he answers, “To you.”

That voice does not belong to a human, now I believe, nor does it to a normal mortal. He opens his mouth and hisses loudly, sound waves of deafening sensitivity colliding into me before I can put away my hearing. Drops of blood begin to flow out from my ears out of the sonic impact. He jumps on me and pushes me down with his weight, exposing sets of razor sharp teeth as he growls. It is at this point of view that I am now able to recognize him from under the cloak and understand why I had not notice it before.

I try to crawl away, but his power weights over me, like tons of ships, making it hard to even move. I raise my right arm, aiming for the metal bracelet, but he gets there first, reaches my wrist and pulls it off. I can hear the square beads scatter somewhere far, hitting parts of ruins until it reach the ground. They are all too remote and unangled for my sight, no matter how far I stretch my neck.

The sun is going to sink really soon, and so does my chance to overcome this. The blaze is so strong that the ruins around us glow.

Waiting for the right moment, I use all of my strength to push him away. He only budges a few centimeters. He stops the impulse with the end of his sole and pushes me back. The force is so strong that I am thrown a few meters up, before falling on a pile of mammocks. He is ready to suppress me again just jumping up high, but that is the moment I realize that the marbles reflect not only light, but also myself.

He pushes me down when I lock eyes with what used to be the marble flooring, placing himself on top on my stomach. I blink and activate my reversal, turning back my sequence to just before I land. Escaping from the real sequence, I turn quick in the air, debarking on top of him instead without him anticipating it. But he moves fast. Just before I physically drop myself on his body, he rolls over and hits me on the side with his elbow, slamming me against a vertical ruin before I fall harshly on the pile.

Seconds in advance previously, I was able to gaze on another marble surface, allowing me to reverse my own position again to when before I was hit. He recovers fast, tailing right behind me. Soon the fight turns into a battle of dance in the air, me against him to see which one is able to hold who down first. But the winner is acknowledges when the sun completely lets and no light is bright enough for me to conjure the reflection.

“Do what are you going to do?” he asks me after he slams my back on the top of the pile once more.

“Nothing. You win, Uncle.”

“I mean about your little admires.”

“If that is the case, then I honestly have no idea. I can’t banish them or punish them like commoners, because they are not. And I can not stop meeting them as well, considering that we are living under the same roof, the whole family is.”

“Amethyst, I am serious. If you do not take any action, then I will.”

“You will not harm them,” I tone is steady but filled with threat.

“Let’s do not forget of where I stand and where they are, shall we? I do not wish for any of them to touch you so casually intimate, as any other fiancé will wish. If you keep testing my patience, then perhaps a little disappearance might refresh your mind?”

“Vallénce, they are family. You know how much I value family, more than anything. They are the ones that keep my world sane. If you harm then, it will only cause nothing but chaos in this universe. By that point, will you be able to return me still?”

“I and your father did once. And we will do it again, whatever it takes.”

“But don’t you think that erasing my brother and son from this world worth the destruction for?”

“Yes,” Vallénce answers straight away without even needing to think.

“I will tell them that it can not be happening, letting their feelings for me grow. I will reverse those feelings just at the essence before they turned into something more. There will still be love, but not of lovers.”

“You better be, because you don’t want to me be jealous. It is an ugly side, and nobody will enjoy the suffering.”

“I will, Vallénce. I will.”

Then he withdraws from me and offers his hand. I take it and he pulls me up. The cloak that hid his face now has fallen down, allowing me to look at his sublime features. His long locks spread like silk. Those thick eyelashes mask wisdom and mystery beyond gasp. He is not staring at me, but once he does it feels like the world is overwhelmed by only him as its air.

“Now tell me where they have touched you, so that I can erase their traces with my blood,” he asks with a smile, one that can be considered as innocence, before revealing the true intention beneath. He takes his wrist up to his small lips, uncovering his royal attires inside the shadows of the cloak. He makes one bite, allowing the blood to flow and dancing in the air inside his manipulation. It looks like he is moving the course of blood, but truly it is the shadow that he controls. He slides the now forming blood into something that resembles a rope, or a whip. At the end there is a tail to it.

“Scarlet was just drinking my blood from my neck, while Altore, he.... proved a point.”

“Tell me where he touched you or I will rip his hands of every time I spot him from a thousand miles away!”

“He touched my!” I say quickly, before lowering my voice drastically into a smooth, “breast.”

“Which one?”

“The right one.”

One cue the whip snaps around my cleavage, pressing me against Vallénce. He looks at me before leaning in and disclosing the front of my gown, placing frosting bites around the wisp. He continues for another minute, before finally pouncing in with his razor teeth ready. He drinks messily, for deliberate purpose for sure.

A few drops escape from the reach of his mouth and he licks them down in motion, all the while having the blood whip crawling around my neck tentatively so close to choking. When he pauses for a second, he looks up at me again. Those red eyes are burning. And before I am prepared, he switches to where Scarlet has bite before, while having the blood whip kisses my opened flesh, healing it much faster than a blink. Once he is done with my neck he does the same thing too with his whip.

“Your turn,” he says.

In exchange, I undo half of his attire and sink myself into his skin, longing for the smooth, addictive touch. He softly moans as I bite harder, making the lullaby of my trance. It goes on and on until almost forever, before we have to return back.

But even then my fangs are still itchy.