Beyond the Bloodline

Sanguine Citadel

Bloodrealm.

Central Region Nocturna

January 12th

Year 2018

[I’m sorry, can you please repeat what you just said?]

Waldron’s questioning voice rang out across the lounge, his magenta-coloured eyes locked onto the figures of the three young vampires from whom he had just heard something strange.

[I could have sworn you said Lord Jamie left the planet.]

Leaving aside the fact that even a Race King like him addressed Jamie with the ‘Lord’ title, showing the Hybrid’s deep influence within the Vampire race, Wanete, David and Davina were currently feeling nervous as they certainly had not expected to be called into the Crimson Court’s lounge for a direct projection call with a Race King.

David and Davina who had met their fair share of Race Kings due to their great grandmother were less nervous, but there wasn’t much difference between their states and Wanete’s.

This was the first time they speaking with a Race King in an official capacity, after all. The man did not have the smile that was on his face when they met him along with their great-grandmother, Seren.

Standing not too far behind them, were the Seven Transcendents who were currently the most powerful Vampire transcendents on the planet, and the only ones who were official members of the Crimson Court.

Simply because one was a Transcendent, did not mean they were automatically qualified to join the Race’s Ruling Council.

Anyway, with her father’s gaze boring into her from behind and the gaze of her great grandfather she was ‘seeing’ for the first time coming from the front, Wanete’s nervousness was at an all-time high.

Just when she managed to calm herself a bit and repeat Jamie’s message to Waldron, she suddenly sensed a presence beside her, turning her gaze to the side and laying eyes upon a dark silver-haired woman.

The woman’s emerald green eyes turned to Wanete for a moment, before moving over to David and Davina, spending a bit of a longer time on the female twin.

Enough time for the Transcendents who had not even sensed this woman’s presence until they saw her with their eyes to react.

But said reactions ceased with a single line from Waldron.

[Don’t move a muscle.]

Waldron’s eyes went to the two wolf ears peeking out from her hair at the top of her head, his eyes narrowing slightly as he understood that besides the fact that this woman had intruded into the Crimson Court, the Vampire Transcendents were more enraged at the fact that it was a Werewolf who had done so.

Nevertheless, these seven Transcendents were quite competent for his standards, which amongst Vampire Kings were quite high, so he didn’t want to lose them over an insignificant matter like this.

[The instant any of you take hostile action towards her, you’d become bloodpaste on the floor.]

The Transcendents could not sense the woman’s aura at all, not even a single bit of energy fluctuations which could give away her realm of existence.

This meant she was either infinitely weaker than they were, or she was just that much stronger and from both Waldron’s words, and the fact that she easily bypassed all the security measures on the Sanguine Citadel without setting an alarm: this was a case of the latter.

Though they did not take any action and dispersed the law energies they had gathered, they still kept their wary gazes on the woman, and some even looked at her with a hint of disdain/disgust in their eyes.

Waldron did not care much for this, as far as they did not antagonize her.

[Greetings to you, Your Excellency Cohen.]

“?!”

“!!”

The man’s greeting towards the woman was now what caused the eyes of the Vampires present to widen in surprise. The fact that Waldron addressed her as ‘Your Excellency’ meant she was a being on his level.

A being who reigned over billions of members of their Race, not just on Estea, but also on other planets across the Galaxy, earning them the title of ‘King’, or ‘Queen’ in her case.

“Greetings to you too, Your Excellency Vespera.”

The Werewolf Queen pinched her black dress and curtsied as she returned Waldron’s greeting, before crossing her hands behind her back.

Unlike him whose presence here was just a projection, she was present here not with an avatar or a clone, but her true body.

“Last time I did this you didn’t bother warning the other group; it seems you favour this lot. Or is it because of yours and Seren’s descendants?”

The woman spoke as she cast a glance in the direction of the Transcendents, her eyes holding a hint of curiosity towards them.

[Don’t try anything funny, Denise. I’m not so far from Estea that I can’t take action against you.]

Waldron warned the Werewolf Queen, Denise, with his eyes narrowed but the woman only shrugged her shoulders lightly and turned back to him.

The man sighed, muttering something about her picking up bad habits from ‘her father’, before addressing the main issue.

[Seeing as you’re here, it seems that the story this young lady just told me checks out. And I was in denial too.]

From the start he had known that Wanete was not messing around when she said Jamie was off-world; him asking her to repeat it was simply him trying to deny the reality.

“I have no idea what mental crises you’re having, and neither do I care. I’m only here with a message from my Lady.”

Waldron knew only one person that the woman named Denise Cohen would ever address as her Lady, and the name escaped his lips in a small mutter.

[Lady Miranda Scott, huh?]

The transcendents who were fairly familiar with Miranda’s identity, gave Denise second glances, surprised to hear this woman was supposedly a servant of the famed ‘Twilight Empress’.

“My Lady is currently with Lord Jamie, and their destination is apparently the planet Zotov.”

[Zotov? The one with Ruindeum?]

“Yes.”

The Vampire King skimmed through all he knew of that planet in his head and he quickly arrived at a conclusion of what Jamie had gone there to do based on what he knew of Jamie and the recent information he received.

[Looks like a Dragon Race King might lose a huge chunk of his Universal Influence soon. A pity.]

He said a silent prayer for the poor Dragon King whom the crazy couple had set their targets on, before he continued speaking.

[I understand, I’d tell the others that Lord Jamie met with Lady Miranda and every other thing in the universe is now of lower priority.]

With his gaze returning to Denise, he carried on.

[Mind telling your Lady that next time she wants to take away my Crimson Court’s Founding Member, she should at the very least inform us beforehand.]

“I’d do well to pass on the message.”

Right after saying that, Denise gave a light bow before silently disappearing from the room, leaving not even a single trace.

[To think she actually breached the Sanguine Citadel with such ease. It’s either she was using Lord Jamie’s ‘Authority’ or she’s gotten that skilled with runes and formations.

I hope to believe the former is the case.]

After muttering that line to himself, Waldron sighed and then dismissed all the Vampires in the room before cutting the projection call.

◇ ◇ ◇

Lunar Sanctum

Estea’s Moon

January 12th

Year 1053

As the projections of the ten Vampires disappeared from his field of vision, Waldron Vespera heaved a sigh to himself for the nth time today.

“I think I’d start to have wrinkles if this keeps up.”

He muttered that line to himself as he rotated his throne around and faced the large viewport in front of him, looking towards the planet Estea in the distance.

“Jamie and Miranda just met each other they’re already acting like old times.

But anyway, they’re going to Zotov, huh? I do not believe the Red Dragons would be able to maintain their hegemony over the sale of Ruindeum after those two are done with whatever they are up to there.”

The man pinched his fingers in the air and generated a projection of a star map, manipulating the map legend to show all planets with Ruindeum that the Vampire Race controlled.

“Zotov might be the planet with the most Ruindeum reserves in the Galaxy, but it’s not the only one.”

Drawing upon the energies of a few universal laws, he ran a few deductions just to be sure of a few things before nodding to himself and getting up from the throne.

“Time to inform the others.”

With those words, he turned into a streak of light that shot out of the moon and vanished into the darkness of space.