Sixth Bloodline [BxB]

ARC 1: CITY OF EDEN - CHAPTER 01: EDEN [HOW TO PISS OFF A PUREBLOOD]

ARC I: CITY OF EDEN

cHAptEr 01:

EdEn

[hOw tO piss Off A pUrEbLOOd]

    SAVING SOMEONE will only bring disaster onto oneself.

Mikhael felt too tired to even sigh when he thought about his current situation.

He had never in his entire 827 years of existence — vampires and the like lived long, after all — believed that he was going to get in trouble just because he chose to do a good deed! Being surrounded by highly armed policemen of W.E.R.P. — a skillful organization, he had to add — as they drove him in their van like a criminal just for beating the s**t out of another vampire in order to save a human girl was even less believable!

Okay, he could accept that he got in trouble for helping someone, he really could. IT... resulting in him being driven to ONE place he hated the most; he could not!

He knew that doing good stuff will curse him in return, for his karma was quite twisted; but this was something on a completely different level of being unreasonable!

   'But still, humans really came this far...'

W.E.R.P.

Also known as World Eden Regulatory Police, they were a special organization that dealt with vampires and led them to Edens aka. the so-called vampire city.

They possessed weapons that can suppress vampires and were known as guardians of peace, but to Mikhael — these guys were just a crazy bunch armed with AV weapons down to their teeth.

   'Seriously, even their underwear might be vampire-resistant.'

After decades of fighting between the two races Mikhael oh-so-skillfully avoided before they even began, the two sides decided to FINALLY call for a truce!

But during the short battle that didn't even last for one decade, corpses piled like mountains all over the world. This disaster was so gruesome that even the previous war led among humans seemed like a joke compared to it, so it earned itself a name that will forever go down in annals of history.

[The Great War]

After WWIII and the last IV that lasted for hundred or so years, it made no sense to go along with numbers anymore, so they changed its name. In any case, it was no longer infighting between humans, but races this time.

Twenty seven years ago, this particular battle was waged between vampires and Neo-humans — also known as spell-casters — bringing forth the never seen before disaster. For seven whole years, neither side could decide on victor.

   'And then, it reached the point of no return.'

One of the highest ranking vampires died, one city and an entire peninsula got obliterated, half of the politicians were executed — not to mention the sacrifices made in the supernatural world...

Seeing no end to this nonsense in the near future — the two sides eventually called for a truce before they wound up ruining this planet.

Many chaotic things happened, and in the end — vampires selected special areas to build cities solely inhibited by their own race named Edens, with the West one being the worst seeing as its list of citizens also included the youngest Pureblood.

Purebloods. Pure vampires with no definite origin, yet they wielded unlimited power.

They were the six figures that controlled the entire vampire race, more than capable enough to level down an entire city to dust. During the Great War, those monsters held back, but whenever they appeared, cities got washed in blood.

The number of Edens correspond to number of Purebloods, it's just that the place Mikhael was led to was somewhat special  compared to other five.

   'It's not a paradise, but prison.'

It was easy to avoid being hunted in the past, but right now — a vampire won't be able to stay outside for long before W.E.R.P. caught them. What's worse, those guys even work with high ranked vampires. And so Mikhael, who successfully avoided being caught for over eight centuries, finally fell into their clutches. Not to mention that there were no regulations and systems that came with the sudden growth of technology and GPS that exists nowadays back in the days — so vampires can longer just move out and take on a new identity.

Ever since Edens were built, vampires all over the world got dragged and locked inside. It wasn't really that bad of a place, to be honest; free blood, can do whatever the f**k they want, crimes were something Eden's own police dealt with — but come on, they were vampires too!

Give them a bit of benefits and they'll turn a blind eye to you!

Truly a paradise and humans from the outside cannot meddle. So...

Why didn't Mikhael want to go there?

This Eden in particular was a place that locked away all dangerous vampires and war executors from the human side. Unlike other Edens, there was no freedom here unless you behave. You cannot leave either. You'll be stuck together with a Pureblood for eternity and Mikhael was someone who avoided those Purebloods like they were contagious disease.

Vampires had their own ranks.

Newlings — extremely unstable bunch of newly turned that couldn't even hold human form for long, nor control their thirst.

Ordinary vampires — who learned to keep their forms stable and not become monsters from time to time. Those guys numbered the most.

Nobles — vampires who went through their second awakening or received a drop of Pureblood's blood to become stronger. They can easily fight an army of humans on their own. Unfortunately, they were also a notorious bunch that often got greedy for power, so they usually rebelled and wrecked havoc all over the world.

Higher Nobles — beings that humans can't fight even with AV weapons. No matter how strong one became, they were monsters that can't be brought down easily. There weren't many of those guys, but they were a decent group loyal to Purebloods.

They also don't use their full power often. If a Higher Noble got locked in a city and forced to fight against everyone inside, they could drain blood of every living being in the same city and easily kill them in just few hours. But once again — they were a pretty decent group, so they don't harm their prey. In any case, they were busy fighting each other.

Pureblood factions weren't as peaceful as one would think.

Elders — an annoying bunch that leave traumas in their wake. Also, a race that can't be killed, only sealed.

Then, there were Purebloods — ultimate rulers of the blood race.

Well... There seems to be one guy above them, but Mikhael never really thought much about him. Not to mention that even Purebloods don't see that guy often, forget about other vampires.

If he doesn't reappear once every few centuries, they'd forget that he even exists!

And on this list, Mikhael didn't belong to a single group.

Vampire hierarchy is an absolute thing. Vampires of the lesser rank can't disobey blood command of higher ranking vampires.

But Mikhael could.

Not only could he ignore it, his blood can even grant that power to other vampires.

So Half-bloods, a mixed breed such as himself, was something Purebloods actively sought and kept for themselves. And that was the reason why Mikhael made sure to never get involved with those guys.

And... Because Purebloods are nothing good!

He doesn't know why exactly, but ever since Mikhael could remember — he hated those guys.

But making Higher Nobles act would be underestimating them too much, so it's W.E.R.P. that led vampires that managed to stay outside of Eden. Nobles could be unreliable at time, so they were not a good pick for this job while ordinary vampires night not win against the crazed night-walkers outside. But W.E.R.P. should be more than skilled to act against this kind of prey.

   'Now, now, how am I to proceed with this?'

Mikhael contemplated between using his power to escape the W.E.R.P.'s highly armed van, but it would make him use his ace cards.

   'Restrainers, Armaments, armed van infused with mana... It's not something that a normal vampire can resist.'

And in spite of his hatred for Purebloods, he'd rather act like an innocent vampire, deal with them peacefully AND deceitfully, and then escape. But it goes without saying that once he enters Eden, he'll have a difficult time going out.

It's not like Mikhael never saw a Pureblood before. He did, he really did! But back then — he was more powerful and didn't fear a brawl or two with those annoying mosquitoes. But the current him...

He glanced at his arms.

The handcuffs they put on him were a special restrainers made by spell-casters which vampires can't break with their strength alone. Unless he cut off his wrists, but that would take long to heal. Perhaps, if it were a Noble or another spell-caster in his place, they could do it.

But Mikhael was trying to pass off as an "ordinary vampire", so he had to act pitiful. And if he used his special means to deal with those handcuffs... He'd reveal his identity.

Acting weak was so hard. Mikhael really felt like crying.

   "You know," one of the members of W.E.R.P. spoke breaking the silence, "It's not that we disagree with what you did there, kid — but rules are rules."

   "..."

Rules, huh?

Shackling their predatory aura in exchange for peace. It was a bit weird, but it was also something vampires have been doing since times immemorial, so they got used to it. As Mikhael had wide network of information, so he knew that the most certain one-way ticket to Eden (being chased internationally until they managed to suppress you, excluded) was to start a fight with another vampire.

It was — or so they say — defined with logic that one who failed to control themselves with another night-walker means that they'll only do worse with a mortal human.

   'Or some bullshit like that.'

They just looked for an excuse to catch vampires, despite acting like the so-called bridge between the two.

   'Well, twenty years is still too early to bury the hatchets.'

Humans still subconsciously hated vampires.

Mikhael didn't like vampires, but he also didn't have a favorable impression on humans either. Eight centuries is long time. He has seen the worst in both sides and lost something precious to both of them.

Therefore, he preferred not to deal with either race if he could.

Seeing as he wasn't really paying attention to those agents, he didn't know which one said the words from earlier — and it's why he also didn't know whom to reply, so he simply ignored them altogether.

Mikhael was a lazy person, after all.

   "Eden isn't such bad place, you know." Perhaps after seeing that this little vampire was obedient and cooperative after they caught him, together with his act of saving a human — these W.E.R.P. agents had some goodwill towards him.

   "..."

Of course it wasn't a bad place, Mikhael knew — it was the literal meaning of paradise for vampires.

   "But if you really want to stay in the outside world, then you still have a chance. Just prove to be a non-potent danger to whoever is about to bring jurisdiction to you, and you'll obtain the permission to live outside of Eden for as long as you don't make any trouble, that is."

Yeah, that is why he was acting nice and all.

He raised his head as his ponytail tumbled across his shoulders, his eyes sparkling with hope. As a vampire hunter who saw some real s**t, Mikhael majored acting and spewing nonsense until it became as natural as breathing!

Life free of Purebloods and dictatorship for as long as he doesn't... Could he actually make it, though? The "not fighting" part?

Well, he cannot be in a problem if he's never been caught in the first place, and he was great at keeping a low profile.

   "We need to put you into a register first, so we need just a bit of your blood," the same person spoke, whose face Mikhael couldn't see from the protective helmet, so he nodded.

Vampires are beings that had better control over their blood then anything else. Nobles can make their blood change shape and become weapons, some of the more skillful guys could even transform it into air to step on it. Killing someone that drank their blood with a  single thought was norm for these guys.

So as long as Mikhael remained low-key — no one will be able to discover his identity of a Half-blood vampire. His blood would appear no different than ordinary vampire's.

And as long as they didn't release their aura intentionally, it would be difficult to even differentiate vampires from humans — forget about trying to find out just what type of a night-walker they are!

Unless they infuse their aura into their blood, it would merely be a good medicine that can heal human wounds. Vampires have no need for blood of other vampires so they won't drink it. It's a poison to their kind, so there's even lesser risk of finding out their identity.

   "Go on, the smoother this goes, the better for me," and with that, he held out his hands still in handcuffs with an innocent smile.

He could act all nice and polite, alright.

He was so going to ace this mission.

What were the odds that someone would see his innocent blonde self as dangerous individual?

   THE RIDE was silent and after those few words one of the guys said.

Mikhael was quite confident that everything would go according to his plan and he had over eight centuries of experience to boost his confidence — when Mikhael wanted to cheat someone, they simply had no choice but to believe him!

Together with his gentle appearance and docile aura, it was impossible to guess what kind of wretched existence truly lurked under his skin. Whatever happens, he was going to make those guys believe that he was no threat to humans outside, so they can give him a [Blessing].

Well, Mikhael whose body is such a mess that he can't even drink human blood right now was really not a threat to them.

Blessings were formal and absolute pardons given to vampires by Purebloods or Higher Nobles which claimed that a vampire is free to roam the world without being forced to stay in Eden, seeing as they weren't harmful to others. And at the moment, they was also Mikhael's goal.

There was no way in Hell that he was going to ruin this opportunity!

But his thoughts were interrupted as he got out of the van, his arms in shackles, while observing the magnificent buildings around him.

   'Older era, huh?'

Considering how vampires are mostly ancient bunch, they preferred former style of life. Technology was good and all, but as beings that can just jump from and up to the top of buildings, it didn't really mean much.

   "Oh, the sky looks clearer than on the outside," he commented while looking upwards. The clear dark blue sky with countless stars. Despite the city being full of lights, it was so clear like he was standing amidst a dark meadow. There were some unnatural faint lines spawning across the sky... Which should belong to the barrier he heard about?

The one that kept vampires locked in this city.

   "Of course it is. This city isn't called Eden for nothing, after all."

Someone responded with admiration, but once again — Mikhael had no idea who spoke. And his thoughts were focused on those words rather than the person that said them.

Eden.

Paradise.

Utopia.

Shangri-la.

The perfect land.

It went by many names and through the course of history, whether they were humans or vampires —they all tried to create a place like that yet failed every single time. For in order to create a perfect place, something had to be sacrificed in turn. In this case, it was their nature.

But can something achieved by someone's sacrifice truly be called perfection?

Although Mikhael didn't believe so, he had to admit that this place really made him think like it was perfect.

He just wondered, what was sacrificed in exchange for its peace?

Compared to the outside world which was heavily influenced with technology, Eden had old street lamps scattered around. The ground of the city wasn't even, so there were lots of stairs.

There were also modern buildings and all, but most of the houses looked like those designed at the beginning of twentieth century. There were a lot of street lamps and vampires that moved outside used carriages more than they did cars. And Mikhael could feel faint trace of mana, the true luxury for this place.

Although Armaments that were created with mana could harm vampires, they still liked the mana products that made their lives easier.There's a wast difference between walking and whizzing to the other end of globe suing mana, after all.

This city was built by spell-casters.

   'Well, it took only a single year to build it, so it would be weird if spell-casters weren't involved.'

Though, Mikhael couldn't see much of the beautiful scenery thanks to his escorts. The van was completely isolated so it had no windows.

He truly wanted to laugh at their attempt to surround him with sixteen officers of W.E.R.P. loaded with AV guns and armor like he was a feral beast.

   'I look so harmless, why the need to be so serious?' Didn't they act like they liked him? He was certain that they wouldn't use this many people even if the person they were escorting was an actual Noble!

Talk about trust issues, how do they even get into relationships?

   'There's no longer room for retreat now.'

Even if he tried to escape —  which he probably could pull off if he wanted and used his true abilities, that would only be pain in the ass. Why? Because he'd need blood!

Vampires, despite the folklore, do not need to drink blood every day and have the insatiable thirst when they see a drop of blood dramatically falling to the ground in slow motion — though, it does seem alluring in their eyes.

They were simple beings, cough.

The lifespan of human red blood cells' varies from 100—120 days in general, and once they enter the vampire body — they'll last just the same. Vampires don't use the blood they drink as theirs, rather — it becomes a fuel that creates their own, new blood. Think of it as recycling normal blood in order to gain a better quality one.

Though... If the human they drank from was some rich guy and had nano-cells installed in his body, that lifespan would be three to four times longer. But to vampires, it would be blood of lesser quality, so it would last shorter.

And so, they preferred normal human blood or blood of spell-casters. Those guys were delicious.

Well, taking a sip here and there just to boost their inhuman image was not too bad, though.

There are cases when that blood would be spent faster, however; this "four times per year" rule only applied if they decide to live normally, like humans. Sleeping like human beings, eating human food, walking with normal speed etc.

Using any of their superhuman abilities or losing blood due to external wounds negates the effect and they start to dry up or rot if exposed to sun later. Sun normally doesn't kill them, but it reduces the life of blood cells in a vampire body by half — a lot of energy is wasted to prevent your skin from burning. In the end, they'd only look like mummies and won't truly die — but the method to resurrect them from that state was quite complicated.

Their skin is no better than humans — though it's paler when they used their aura and their eyes turned red. But never during the day!

Who the f**k would stare at the sun with those eyes anyway? And who in their sane mind would walk with pale white skin underneath the scorching sun!? Only a masochist... Which, more or less, Mikhael was.

Stars are a different story, those are fun.

Blood, right.

Vampires bleed, but not for long — regeneration is real deal and no, silver does nothing. It's a metal, big deal, everyone has more of that s**t inside of their bodies.

Garlic is also a lie. It does serve as repellent to some sprites that feed on blood similar to vampires, thought.

So, seeing as they regenerate fast, you can almost never make them lose all of their blood — and if it in some miraculous case really does happen — they'll only look like an molten and rotten corpse, not to mention the stench! It's the same case as being exposed to sun for too long.

Yes, their bodies stink even worse than old corpses — when they're out of blood, that is — but you'd faint from the smell if you just as much as got close to one, and then you'd stink just the same for at least a week.

Even after bath. Baths! 24/7 under the water!

Trust Mikhael, he's been there.

It was also one of the major punishments in the past for vampires, to become living corpses. The longest period a vampire has been dried completely and hanged in the sun was over seven hundred years — the sight was too much even for Mikhael to handle.

Unfortunately — when Mikhael saw it, he was still a newborn vampire, so he got traumatized for life and even fainted.

Well, they did feed the guy with a drop of blood every night to make sure he doesn't die.

But even when using supernatural abilities and all, any vampire would still need to feed only once a month. However, once the vampire got completely drained of his blood, one could easily kill him by simply crushing his heart.

They'd be absolutely dead.

Gone!

Dust in the wind!!

Well, ash in the wind...

Unless some Pureblood decided that it would be fun to revive them and feeds them with their own blood. Or someone wanted to play Frankenstein again.

But that method is something else, they'd need a good few gallons of fresh blood after that to go back to normal. Their brains once drained from... Everything — would, however — be damaged and they'd have zero memories.

Scientist are working together with vampires on that matter, Mikhael also heard. He had a lot info despite avoiding everything alive, dead and undead his entire life.

Those Pureblood guys might really do that for fun — he heard that two of them were complete assholes, one is a b***h, one is a psychopath while the oldest one is a sadistic ego-maniac that plans to take over the world, while the youngest one is supposedly a pain in the ass.

For some reason, Mikhael really feared this Sixth Pureblood, even though he has no idea why! He doesn't recall ever meeting or provoking that guy!

But he knows that he must never meet him or something bad will happen!

And well...

   'That guy did something not even a nutjob would try twenty years ago...'

As he walked inside of an enormous building that simply screamed "I'm owned by someone rich, very rich. Richer than your entire family lineage past two thousand years", Mikhael couldn't suppress his sarcastic thoughts that judged every person that passed by and glanced at him.

    "..."

Well, his face was really one that stood out in the crowd.

He felt lucky that he properly zipped his jacket for once, because if these guys saw his neon shirt with 'I HATE VAMPIRES' logo, they'd probably just kill him before he could even utter a single word!

He really only put it on because he was dealing with an annoying vampire, he swears!

It's because he chased that bastard for weeks without resting, really!

The walk seemed to last for a solid two minutes before they came in front of a silver elevator and waited for another three minutes and forty-seven more seconds — why yes, he counted —until it came to them and they proceeded to enter.

Then, there were another three minutes and forty-seven seconds of descent.

   "..."

The most absurd thing was that the single elevator managed to hold them all in.

   'Some rich bastard really outdid himself!'

Mikhael started to question his choice to stay here. But he can't run all over the world from these guys while the space is out of question — he was warned never to leave this planet or his teacher's man would break his legs, anyway.

   '[Blessing], in that case.'

He saw one of the W.E.R.P. members press the button for "-23" floor, making him speechless once again.

Just how the hell did they manage to dig under the surface that much!? It's almost an entire mile, ah!

   'Who financed all this s**t?'

Digging that much isn't easy even for vampires, ah!!

It was another moment of silence all over again.

No matter how much he felt like taunting those guys, he felt that he should act nicely for now.

Few moments later, the doors opened letting him face the scene which looked like the Hell decided to hold re-jurisdiction of its prisoners, bad lighting didn't help at all.

   'Seriously, it is so dark in there like the electricity got cut off because these guys forgot to pay for it.'

Though, it didn't mean much to vampires. They are predators of night, so they see clearly even in pitch black darkness.

He let out a barely plausible sigh, it was never a good thing to let Mikhael alone with his thoughts. They took his bag with his stuff before ushering him inside, with only six following now while the rest returned to the surface with elevator and he fought the urge to roll his eyes again.

   'Trust issues, we're getting better.'

Though, there were only more people around him. And some of them...

   'White robes completely covering them from head to toe and red eyes.'

...were Nobles.

Heavy air permeated every inch of this place. The oppressing aura of those being dwelling in darkness was nothing to scoff at. Mikhael could notice that even those six guys clenched their weapons, clearly not confident about their well-being.

   'Makes sense, even if it's W.E.R.P., these guys won't be able to deal with Nobles, forget about this many.'

As he was led forward, Mikhael witnessed a vampire being dragged by two more in white robes, his bloody jaw obviously broken, unable to even close his mouth.

   "..."

Well, vampires don't fear dismemberment and serious injuries, so they were more ruthless when dealing with their own kind. Listening to the whispers of those around, it seems like this guy tried to attack and feed on one of these W.E.R.P. guys that brought him here as a last resort.

But he was obviously not so successful.

It wasn't long before he got ushered to what looked like a courtroom and was finally left to stand alone. With his hands freed as the W.E.R.P. officers moved outside, there were now two Nobles that took their place on both his sides.

   "Number 138.897, lineage unknown, bloodline — nothing extraordinary."

   "..."

   'f**k! I dare you to repeat that again!!'

But Mikhael could only complain in his head, not say it out loud.

   "Name — unknown, age — unknown, but hasn't been spotted before, so it's approximately a month to ten years since he's been turned. And—" Mikhael had to his his head to look at the person sitting above him, who was in contrast to his pitiful self — leisurely signing the papers.

Unlike humans who finished everything with electronics, old vampires still preferred to use paper. Anyway, they didn't fear losing data with their extraordinary memory and void abilities.

The guy didn't throw a single glance his way, but Mikhael carefully observed the one to decide his fate.

The first thing he noticed... This person was inhumanely handsome.

   'And really my type!'

Even when dealing with paperwork, he used both his red eyes and inhuman speed to sign through them, so he probably had a lot of blood willingly given to him — since vampires used red eyes only while fighting, f*****g or feeding, triple F — as Mikhael called it.

Well, if they were fanatical Nobles proud of their bloodline, too.

Or when wanting to look intimidating, stars are exclusively Mikhael's hobby. It was tiring and wasted too much blood that one could only get by willingly drinking from donors, and judging by that guy's looks — he surely had bunch of willing humans that wanted to sleep with him.

Mikhael was so lost in admiration that he didn't ever hear what this guy spoke.

He had a long black hair gradiently turning white at the ends which was elegantly tied with a red ribbon and then casually thrown over his shoulder. In Mikhael's list of people-to-do, this guy directly jumped straight to the first place!

Adding his black suit and the coat which was leisurely draped over his shoulders, the vampire in front of him was truly a visual feast! But what stood out the most was the scarlet tie, matching his eyes which appeared as two pools of rampaging blood — adorned with an elegant, yet simple looking silver cross on it with an inlaid red ruby in the center.

   "..."

He didn't even want to know why this man openly placed a cross over his tie when vampires and Vatican obviously hated each other! And Vatican was Mikhael's sworn enemy since they've been causing trouble for each other through the past four centuries.

   "He'll stay as the resident of Eden. Next!" as he said that, something snapped inside Mikhael. f**k no, he ain't getting ignored and then forced to spend eternity in that hell hole with one of those egocentric maniacs!

   "Hell no, I object!" For the first time since he sat there, the man raised his head to look at Mikhael, with a frown on his face. His lips parted and opened few times before he eventually spoke, seemingly hesitating about something.

   "Your hair is blonde," one more thing about vampires — when they turned, they usually lost their original hair color and it turned white — every part of the body, yes!

Unless they were Purebloods or born naturally — and yes, vampires do conceive. They can't produce blood, not babies. What would be the big deal with s*x if they couldn't even come? And using simple math of two and two together, you can conceive. Woala!

   "Why yes, it's called hair dye. With nowadays technology, it covers gray hair 100%, have you never heard of it?"

Since he looked like he really needed one!

What's with that weird hair of his, did he intentionally dye it this way?

Mikhael had no idea what made him snap like that. If he were his usual self, Mikhael would've acted cute like a good kid and try to win over this guy with sympathy.

Moreover, Mikhael even dares to slap the Vampire King, what is some random... Noble? Higher Noble? What is this guy even?

   "... For it to be used on an ugly brat like you, it's truly a waste." It was not the answer Mikhael expected to hear nor for Ethan to say. But something about the blond trouble in front of him just made his blood boil and retort back in anger.

At the same time, a stifling silence spread in the place.

Did he offend this kid in his past life, perhaps?

   "It's still better than your punk-like hairstyle! Do you think you're some kind of magical unicorn?"  Mikhael threw back, adding oil to the fire.

   "..."

Ethan paused, feeling like his thought process froze. Moreover, his hair is naturally like this. He also didn't seem to want to deal with this juvenile any longer, so he simply snorted and released his aura, which suddenly crashed down on Mikhael like a tidal wave.

At the same time, Mikhael recognized the rank of this aura.

A Pureblood.

Chills spread from every crevice of his body, filling it with lingering terror that simply made Mikhael unable to move. As if he was an helpless human drowning in endless sea, the pressure had him almost drenched in sweat.

First, he opposed and managed to get noticed by a Pureblood. Second, he lost his ticket from Eden and third, he was registered and couldn't run away anymore — they'd definitely find him, wherever he might end up being!

Moreover... This Sixth Pureblood, ah — is known as the most dangerous madman that would raze down a peninsula when provoked! He really did do it during the Great War... All alone!

Ethan couldn't keep his aura around it else he'd pressure his own people working here, so he retracted it once he made sure that he scared the little newling.

And Mikhael tried to salvage the situation.

   "That... The great lord, just now my alter ego resurfaced and spoke in my stead. How about we begin anew."

   "..."

   "..."

   "..."

Not only Ethan, all the vampires around them paused and gave Mikhael an odd look. This level of bull-shittery... Even a three years old could do better, no?

   "It's fine, alter ego or not, you share the same body so you count as one," Ethan didn't even look at him as he took back Mikhael's papers and added "mentally unstable" to his data. Anyway, split personalities aren't rate, even amidst vampires. Their blood can't heal their heads no matter how omnipotent in regeneration area.

   "Then, your maker is... There's no [Blutabdruck] on you? So, dead."

Blutabdruck — blood imprint left behind a Blood Stamp on the vampire by their makers. It usually appears in a form of tattoo on their necks where they were bitten during the change. It could only be removed once the maker died and a vampire becomes free from that point onward.

If his maker died and didn't have time to teach him rules, it makes sense why the little vampire would be so unbridled in front Ethan despite feeling his bloodline.

   "Judging from your accent, you seem to be of English origin... This is Constantine's territory, how did you even end up all the way here?" Very nice, the little vampire could even cross the sea to get here and cause trouble!

Are all newlings this ferocious nowadays!?

   "What's you name?"

   "Why should I tell you, a stranger, name? You might even rape me for all I know!" he lost it. He officially lost it - is what everyone around him thought.

   "..."

Bloody hell, it was taking an enormous amount of restraint for Ethan not to slap this little guy into ashes!

Even Mikhael felt that he lost it.

Ethan directly crossed the words he wrote before and left " delusional i***t" instead.

   "I would never accept a creature like you in my bed even if you were to willingly offer yourself to me," by now, many tried to avert their eyes from the meaningless argument their Lord had with a nameless vampire of no lineage — but just couldn't as Ethan's voice fell down and the two became the only source of noise on the floor.

   'He looks a bit familiar. I'm certain I've seen this wretched face somewhere before...' Ethan eyed Mikhael suspiciously.

   "I wouldn't take your d**k up my ass even if I were deprived from s*x for entire millennia, either!"

He instantly dropped from number 1 to -100.

   "..."

    'Its good that we share the same sentiments.'

As red eyes got locked in a staring contest with the blue ones which didn't falter for even a second and utter silence surrounded the two, Ethan decided it once for all.

He observed him carefully before his eyes landed on Mikhael's wrist. Noticing the faint red line on it, he felt like he suddenly understood.

   "So that's how it is," he mused to himself, "So you were turned by your owner?"

   "Come again?"

Where did this owner sprout out from? How come Mikhael didn't know of it? He followed Ethan's gaze that fell on his wrist and then became speechless.

This ghost thing that appeared from who knows where and when, looked extremely similar to the mark vampires left on their human pets! Which is absurd since Mikhael would never become one!

He himself was a vampire, and this is something meant for humans vampires kept around for snacks and s*x!

But how did it turn into some sappy drama in which he was the lead kept by a vampire, turned into a vampire until one day, his sugar daddy vampire died leaving him all alone?

   'Sixth i***t, do your people know how good are you at screening a play!?'

   "I definitely wouldn't do something that belonged to another vampire."

   "f**k, come down there to properly chat about life if you dare!" Mikhael felt that he really might climb to this guy and start punching him soon.

Heh.

Ethan only smirked at him, but to Mikhael — this small action made him even more riled up than any other insult Ethan could have thrown his way.

   'I'll f*****g sweep your house clean later!'

He won't stop until only bare walls remain!

   "Let's see... Flame," with that he scribbled something else on the paper as Mikhael stared at him in confusion, "Just a silly little  child that doesn't know his place, so there's need to kick you to South district. Be grateful."

   "..."

   'Be grateful, your ass! Let me punch you so I can truly be grateful!!'

   "Should I take you to work for me?"

Mikhael could accept everything, but being worked to death without getting paid crossed his bottom line!

He'll even bite for the sake of money, OK!?

And he definitely won't work for a Pureblood!

   "Get used to it, brat, it's your new name. Put the restrainer on him then kick him out. His things can be returned to him! Next!" and with that, those two vampire Nobles whose backs got completely drenched in sweat came and dragged Mikhael away who was too weak to fight them off.

   'This guy is f*****g insane! How come he didn't even falter in front of our Lord's aura!?'

   'I f*****g thought I'd be forced to accompany him! Bloody hell, he could even refuse Lord's extraordinary looks, and utter those words, ah!'

   'Motherfucker, he wasn't even thrown to South after all those words he said!'

   'It's a good thing we didn't need to take him to South, though! That place is scary!'

Mikhael had no idea about the complicated thoughts those two Nobles had, too busy worrying about not having fed in months. Just one sip, if he had just a mouthful of blood right now, he would have duked it out with that bastard!

But even he was helpless to fight back, Mikhael still didn't fail to send daggers at the certain black haired wood-stuck-up-the-ass Pureblood until he was no longer in his sight. He was so going to beat the crap out of him once he was done feeding — if he could find someone to secretly feed on, that is.

Since Mikhael, with the current state of his body, could no longer feed on human blood — only on vampire... But that fact alone was something completely unheard of in their race, save it for Purebloods.