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TO Rewrite: B2 — 19. The Fall of Baronies
🕑 Added 2024-04-01 08:38:54 +0000 UTCAuthor's Note: I did some spelling/grammar edits.
PoV:
1. Rachel (Our Lunar Hare Has Become GOD!)
2. Anthony (What Has Happened To Our Redhead?)
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The calming ambiance of the Greater Moon of Abundance filled Rachel with inner peace now that Aurora’s influence wasn’t causing chaos in her life. Powder floated around her as she sat on the terrace railing, legs crossed, leaning against the shimmering petals that had unfolded to reveal her new body.
Her smile lingered on Baron Hrisu Heitinga as the fear entity returned the look. Riley’s claw materialized out of thin air, aiming for her throat, yet a single finger held up by his father froze the vampire.
“That is enough.”
“Father?” Aimee stepped through a rift in space, his other children surrounding them. “We’d destroyed most of her roots. We are so close to forcing her to reveal the inner fear we sense. Mother?”
The woman who had more or less watched her children savage Rachel’s clones on a balcony stepped forward to join her husband, a glass of wine instead of blood in her palm. Her long yellow eyelashes and blonde hair glowed under the moonlight.
“Your dance with Aurora was quite enthralling, young hare. I especially love the part about the Personification of Victory. I was right, My Husband… She does not smell like the others, yet your taste for fear has fooled your nose into discounting it. I believe we have bigger issues to contend with now that the children have had their fun.”
“I wouldn’t happen to be involved in those ‘bigger issues’ now, would I, Juliette?”
Hrisu’s children hissed as darkness gathered, revealing the giant of an Eldritch fiend. Vyse’s cloak wasn’t spotless as two of his six eyes on his forehead observed the battle between his children, fighting the giant wolves; the Varcolac Twins weren’t fairing well.
Hrisu’s smile tightened at the atmosphere the Eldritch creature created. “Vyse, you would be one of those issues that must be addressed. One question would be… why has our dear Baroness Morgan yet to leave her room after we have made our exit? What say you?”
It was different from the bone-chilling fear he and his children emanated; Vyse’s presence was like a shadow in the fog, present yet absent, and Rachel found it hard to keep focused on the entity despite her wide field of vision.
When she blinked, he sometimes had two arms, sometimes five, and his size fluctuated at random in the waves of cryptic energy he generated. Plant-like wings sprouted out of his back, splitting into shards of glass before melting and reforming into slitted eyes. Scales crawled down his arms before transforming into water that ran up his frame to shape into horns.
Vyse’s mouth split in two, both lips curling into a smirk. “You know very well, Hrisu, which is why you had your children keep your dear hare busy so I would not intervene sooner. There is a threat that this hare knows and a threat we all have identified.”
Rachel stretched her hands over her head, her light burning sensation bringing on a pleasurable groan as she glanced between the two barons. “You’re talking about Scarlet. And you didn’t show up until Aurora left, Vyse, so don’t try to hide behind Hrisu’s shadow. What makes Aurora so special for you to keep your distance?”
“Sharp is the mind of the hare that guides misfortune,” Vyse whispered, fading away in a smog of darkness to rematerialize on the opposite side of her. His gaze trained heavenward to the bright celestial spheres above; the Crimson Moon was about to leave the terrace’s sight, but she had remaining roots in its light. “It is not only fear she hides, Hrisu… Be cautious of your wife’s plot, dear baron.”
Juliette stepped closer to her husband, taking his arm, and glared at the imposter baron. “You are a poisonous one, Vine of the Arbor of Decay, was it? How long have you been spreading your roots within the Barony of Bruhl?”
The Eldritch fiend abruptly returned to his handsome, tall facade, hands grasped at his front. “Is it not bad decorum to throw stones when one lives in a glass house, My Lady? There is a reason for Countess Elizabeth’s attention to this particular section within our world, or are you trying to hide the fact your family has worshiped the Fear Leeches of Calthrian Trench and bonded with them inside your bodies?”
Chuckling as the Greater Moon of Abundance gave her a full picture of the battlefield devastating the eastern half of the city, Rachel observed the murderous grins that painted the faces of Hrisu’s children, hearing the wiggles from within their bodies. “What makes you think he is not Baron Vyse, Lady Juliette? He isn’t not Baron Vyse, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say he is Baron Vyse. When one descends into The Deep, one does not come out the same.”
Whimpers came from behind her, and she saw Vyse’s children were now outgrowing the Kaiju-class wolf twins, their defenses not holding up as well as they had at the start of their fight. Red had been forced to retreat, and the Legend of Lycaon had been flung out to sea and was trying to get back onto the floating city.
Uncrossing her legs, Rachel’s vision narrowed while glancing between the two fake barons. “Let me be blunt. Neither of you wants certain information to reach the God Emperor. Why don’t I tell you what I know…”
She hopped off her flower, holding her elbow behind her back as she wove between parties. She spoke to each vampire as Vyse’s children stopped playing with their food.
“I am well aware that none of us is well equipped to fight any of you barons or baronesses, much less your families. I might be one of… four, maybe five, or six individuals I’ve scouted out thus far who could pose a threat, should we use everything we have. Yet, only one of you is here for the right reasons… Baroness Morgan.”
Rachel paused in front of Hrisu. “A family who has forsaken their oaths to the God Emperor to join a fear cult of subterranean sea slugs that, ironically, came through a Crystal Gateway—just like us and the Vine of the Arbor of Decay.”
Expertly balancing while twisting on her heel to face Juliette, Rachel’s smile grew as claws materialized through her chest, crushing her heart. The Crimson Moon’s light left the terrace, and a pulse of venom was injected into her plant nexus that would have spread insanity—Hrisu’s claws—yet Rachel’s smile only grew.
“Too soon!” she winked.
[Lunar Spike: Greater Harvest Moon - Activated]
[Lunar Spike - Advanced to E-tier]
[35 Seconds Remaining]
“Agh!” Hrisu’s hand instantly retracted, carrot-colored flames bathing his skin. “Where did you get that information?”
“Father!”
“That fear…”
“What potency…”
“My Lord,” his wife grimaced, concentrating on Juliette’s face as she slid her fingers down her husband’s arm, sweeping the fire off to fall on the terrace’s ruby floor. “Frostbite and burn marks? Cursed flames of ice and fire…”
A second swipe from Aimee phased right through her face as she giggled, her need for the Crimson Moon no longer required; as powerful as it was, the Greater Harvest Moon, like the Greater Moon of Abundance, was on a whole different level than the Crimson sphere, just now out of sight.
[Fright of the Greater Harvest Moon: Active]
[Horror Embodiment VI - become the embodiment of horror, spreading the concept and conveyance of fear to those who see the user, warping their perception of who they face.]
[Fear-Dependent Immortality IV - The user cannot be harmed so long as the user’s prey fears them.]
[Hallow’s Eve Trail VI - Become one with the twisted harvest, discovering paths unseen and enjoying the company of the cursed and damned.]
[Psychosis Inducement VI - Twist the minds of those you torment to join the harvest, breaking their thoughts, inducing paranoia, and spreading terror whenever perceived by the user’s prey.]
[Cursed Frostfire VI - Frostfire that refuses to be extinguished, slowly burning its victims while tormenting and corrupting the victim’s mind. Deals frostfire damage.]
The haunting chimes of the organ and instruments warped as her Feats took effect, bringing a Halloween chill to the haunting night. A tense stillness followed, seconds feeling like minutes with the heightened sense of fear that resonated with her.
Rachel’s ears, tail, and locks were dyed pumpkin and vermilion orange. Cursed flames lit in her golden eclipse eyes, overtaking the flower design that had occupied them before spreading across their hair.
The clicking of music boxes and the cackling of hidden night fiends filled the sky; an oppressive stillness to contrast the sounds of the thrashing wolves, their howls dying in an instant. She felt Coral dancing in the waves fed to the bun, Nia transforming to support Scarlet.
Enhanced by the Greater Moon of Abundance and protected by its restorative embrace, Rachel felt utterly invincible. Fear was her home, terror was her sweet tooth, and the nightmare was hers to command.
Holding up her hand, Rachel’s cursed eyes glinted with inner light as she examined her painted candy corn fingernails. The sound of the wind enhanced, whistling past the vampire’s ears as the music of the night brought a sway to her step.
“Fear is… an interesting emotion,” she whispered, her focus on the grinning Eldritch horror. “Can you call yourselves true worshipers of horror… if you fear something yourself?”
Hrisu’s face paled, and he dropped to one knee, his wife shivering before following her husband, and their children were swift to join them.
“God Emperor, forgiveness! I… was not aware that you would join the hunt for the Countess!”
“Clever, clever hare,” Vyse mused, the vampires totally enthralled by their own interpretation of her by the Greater Harvest Moon. “All you needed to do was discover what they truly feared, and then you’d won. The Greater Moon of Abundance has served you well.”
Ignoring him for the moment, Rachel turned her attention to the trembling baron and his family. Their slugs’ cheap imitation of the True Hallows Eve was dominated by the pure essence of horror she channeled. “I know everything, Baron Hrisu… Know that when you feel a gaze upon your back, it is me. The peasant you set your eyes upon… Me… Your wife when you are alone together in the privacy of your chambers… I am there, as well. Your task is to support Rachel… for you know who I am.”
“Your will is the will of the collective, God Emperor!”
Rachel reached down to draw him up, a malicious twinkle in her flaming eyes as she inserted herself as his greatest fear in his mind. “Your task… stop the battle between the House of Bruhl and the wolves. Support the population. Help them find sanctuary from the slaughter… Kill all those who would harm them. This, your God Emperor commands!”
“There is no need for such conflict,” Vyse said, and in an instant, his warped children were behind him, half-twisted into the corrupted vines that ran deep below the bloody ocean’s waves. “And thus, the prophecy is fulfilled, and we may proceed.”
“Prophecy?” Rachel repeated, waving her hand to dismiss the terrified Heitinga family before [Lunar Spike] ran its course. “Go on, entertain and twist me in your Truths.”
A maddening surge resonated between the Arbor’s children, excitement bubbling within them as the hidden deep horrors spoke to one another:
“When Fear tames Fear,
“The First Seal breaks.
“The Blood Sea descends,
“Misfortune dies.”
[Fright of the Greater Harvest Moon: Deactivated]
Her grin faded, and with the ominous, silent smiles the Eldritch fiends displayed, she had to make a choice. Aurora’s warning plucked at her brain, and Rachel didn’t hesitate.
[Lunar Spike: The Black Moon - Activated]
Little did she know how critical that action was. Time and space froze as she stepped outside of its flow, bypassing any time restriction the Feat had. A wealth of knowledge far beyond the Greater Moon of Abundance gripped her soul—the Truth of this eldritch prophecy. Through Cerridwen’s flaming jeweled eye, she saw Scarlet open the front door and step out into the storm.
[Black Moon: Active]
[Curse of the Wise: Active]
* — * — *
Anthony sat on a couch between two women, an agitated, beautiful alabaster-skinned vampire, her large bat wings covering her gothic gown like a cloak, and a sickly-looking noble girl with a raspy, teasing voice.
“…Am I being too touchy, Lady Harper?” Kastilla Melchiott snickered, tracing the veins on the back of his hand with a teasing leer at the frowning daughter of the House of Blood. “You do realize who you are speaking to, and was it not I who came in and spotted you worming your wing around his back? Scandalous!”
In truth, Anthony was kind of glad a daughter from the House of Mists had decided to cock-block. Harper had been getting a tad too feely for his liking, and it had not been a part of the discussion he’d had with Elizabeth and Rachel. All he could do was keep his mouth shut and let the proud bat and raggedy cat fight until the right moment came for him to strike.
Harper’s eye twitched. “Just because you are the heir to the House of Melchiott does not mean your bony, evaporated milk ass can float into another barony’s chambers and lather your filth all over my face!”
Kastilla doubled over, pulling Anthony’s uncomfortable hand up to her chest as she shook with laughter. “Our parents can speak nicely of each other when around one another, despite their hatred, yet you are entirely incapable of decorum. What would your uncle say?”
Anthony gulped as a rush of air hit him in the face, Harper’s wing overshadowing him as the barbed point hovered over Kastilla’s heart—where his hand happened to be.
“Watch your tongue, whore!”
“Such language from the so-called House of Beauty,” Kastilla cackled.
Internally, he mumbled to the Lightning Lord connected to his soul. This is getting out of hand, Tintreach! Why is she even here? None of this was planned in the meeting, but things are already about to pop off. I have to defend Harper, though.
“Patience,” Tintreach’s booming voice replied, resonating within his mind. “Now that I am confined to this lower dimension with you, my grasp on outer events is severely limited, but… there is a party manipulating larger events behind the scenes. Careful, Anthony. We are not the only ones after Audrey’s heart.”
I figured, but I just didn’t expect to be forced to feel up some vampire woman’s chest—not that there’s a lot there… Amelia, forgive me! He tried not to show his relief as Harper’s clawed wing hooked around his palm and pulled it away from Kastilla’s breast. Oh, thank God! Wait, wait!
He slipped the wing and sat back, frowning as he buried his hands in his lap before Harper could guide it to her chest. “I’m… getting the impression you two have a history? I’m interested in how the nobility and territories work. I’d like to compare it to my own world’s nobility standards.”
Kastilla’s entertained smirk vanished as her gaze shifted to the door, mists gathering around its edges. “Hmm. I would love to become more intimately acquainted, my handsome man, but my mother calls for me.”
“Don’t slip and stab your heart on the way out!” Harper chimed, Kastilla mirroring her innocent smile before turning and leaving.
“If I were to slip, it would be to stab your heart, dear. Enjoy your pleasures where you can get them, I suppose.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Harper’s small nose twisted with displeasure, her highlighted neon-red hair illuminated. The girl’s black lips peeled back to reveal her thin fangs. “I am not desperate!”
Her thighs tensed against Anthony’s as her mother snarled, “Quiet down, girls… And have a little decorum, Harper.”
The current matriarch of the House of Blood was hardly paying attention to them as she stood in front of the giant bloody mirror. Below, Rachel and Nia fought off an army of fodder vampires, only for some intestine woman to start pressing Rachel. Aurora acted as a distraction… only on the wrong side.
Around them, Harper’s three elder brothers and sole little sister chatted in private to one another, glancing their way; something told him Harper wasn’t the most well-respected in her household, and from what he’d seen, family was a rather loose term used in this society.
Kastilla gave them a backward wink before dispersing into the mist. “My apologies, Baroness. Good luck, Harper. His blood does smell nice. Maybe I’ll steal a nibble later. Remember, silence is golden.”
Her lingering giggles left Harper with a scowl. The girl’s glowing locks radiated light, and her button nose creased with displeasure as her wings folded in again, closing herself off.
Anthony cleared his throat, shifting to a more comfortable distance, crossing his legs, and spreading out his arms along the armrest and back of the sofa. “Wow. Leave it to the Melchiott Family to ruin a mood, right? For being a family that prides itself on silence, they talk a lot.”
Harper’s wings unfolded a tad, allowing her to brush back her shoulder-length bangs behind her ears. “To be fair, it’s mostly Kastilla. She is a sore spot on my neck—not that she’s ever had a taste,” she quickly defended, glancing away with a grimace. “Poor choice of words. Mmgm.”
Anthony’s chest shook as he shook his head. “No, I think it’s cute that you speak your mind. Go on, I’d like to know more about your world and family, but… mainly, I want to learn more about you. Who is Lady Harper Morgan? Oh… what is with the pink hair?”
“H-Huh?!” Harper’s eyes and highlights flashed a rosy color that instantly snatched her siblings’ attention.
“Harper!” her second eldest brother snickered. “Is that her first blush, Shelly?”
Her little sister smirked, batting her smaller wings to hover a little as she hovered over. “I think it is! I thought she was incapable of having a crush. Go ahead, nibble away. The Baroness gave him to you, after all.”
“We’re leaving!” Harper promptly stood up, grabbed his hand with surprising strength, and pulled him toward the door.
“Harper, no,” her little sister laughed. “I want to see the color. Your father was right; you do have the most beautiful layers and hue.“
“Just because I was adopted doesn’t mean you all have the right to poke fun at me!” the vampire shot back, storming out with him. “I’m going to watch the activities live—”
“No, you will not.”
Anthony’s chest tightened as Audrey’s cold voice halted their progress. He felt something threatening in the baroness’ voice, and Tintreach whispered, “Careful. That’s the tone of a snake ready to bite.”
“Mother, I can’t stand them! Not once—”
“Enough!”
Without a sideward glance, Audrey’s fingernail pointed at her daughter like a spear, twisted and curled, motioning for her to her side. Abruptly, the girl’s tongue lodged in her throat, and an invisible force yanked her out of Anthony’s grip to float in front of her mother.
Harper didn’t seem to even be able to struggle as her wings were slowly pulled out to their full length, the girl gagging while her limbs were being stretched to their maximum distance. Her siblings chuckled and watched as if it were their favorite show.
Anthony curled his fingers at his back, wondering if he should summon his spear to draw attention off Harper. He might not survive the encounter, though. Then again, this could be the chance he needed to land the critical blow. Elizabeth said she’d manipulated their emotions so that all he needed to do was look for the right opportunity to attack when Audrey was distracted, and then the countess’ hidden blade would strike true. He glanced at the walls for any sign that the Countess of Blood’s trap was waiting in ambush, yet saw nothing.
Audrey rubbed between her eyes, agitation, and stress in her voice. “You could be so very beautiful, Harper—the potential is there to match your siblings—yet you refuse to rid yourself of the street vermin you grew up around, skulking around gutters. I suppose it is your lowly outcast of a mother’s wild side in you… The bastard daughter of the God Emperor’s exiled daughter and my smitten brother.”
She turned to stare at her adopted daughter, bloody tears gathering in the girl’s eyes as her wings began to tremble from the stress being put on them. “I have given you an opportunity to show your beauty, and maybe—just maybe—you could rise above being the mistake of my brother and the foolishness of a woman who was born with the world in her hands. Yet… you continue to disappoint me!”
“I’m… not a mistake,” Harper whispered through her teeth.
“The arrogance!” Sarren growled. “Not only does she disrespect you by not calling you by your title, Baroness, but she dares to question your evaluation of her soiled lineage? She is a stain upon our family that the other Houses laugh at.”
Her eldest brother sipped at his blood, not reflecting his little sister’s rage. “Careful not to question the Baroness’ decision to adopt her into our coven, Sarren.”
“Of course… It is of no fault of The Baroness that this prettily wrapped trash cannot help but fall back to the wild nature of her insane mother.”
Anthony had about heard enough. In these vampires’ eyes, he had all but disappeared, entirely focused on Harper’s place in their family. Blocking out the outer world, he calmed his breathing, not letting his pulse rise or emotion give away his decision to act. He was merely the instrument to enact the will of protection; Tintreach would be his guide.
[Limit Break: Divine Retribution - Flash Bolt: Activated]
Time came to a crawl as a spark lit within his spirit inside his inner world, mentally visualizing the whole room and where everyone was at that exact moment. This was his strongest attack and something he hadn’t used on anyone yet other than practicing inside this imaginary world he could retreat to—no one else required this kind of strike.
[Full Body Reinforcement: Activated]
[Guided Strike: Activated]
Taking in every angle, he instantly saw the best path, silver electricity dancing through his veins. On the outside, it would register in a fraction of a second, and he had to be deadly accurate since he couldn’t control his momentum once the attack was launched. After using all of his Active Feats in one all-out assault, he would only get one shot.
[Argent Guardian: Activated]
[Hero’s Willpower: Activated]
He funneled his desire to protect Harper from the horrific situation she was in into his weapon, amplifying its Penetration and Power affixes. It ended in his need to return to Amelia’s side. If he could take out Audrey, then the shock of it should be enough for him to escape and rejoin Rachel. He might be able to take out one more in the chaos that ensued, but that was if he was lucky. Right now, his sole target was the stunning and regal baroness.
The outside world came back into focus as the final stage of his Level 10 Feats fully came into focus, and Tintreach synced with him.
“Your odds aren’t great, Anthony. Although she may look lovely on the outside, as Rachel said, your opponents here are comparable to a lava dragon. There is still time to call it off and wait for another moment.”
Calm as a gentle stream, Anthony let himself be taken over by the designed attack. The world was utterly still and calm in the flash-time he’d entered, electricity sparking out from his chest to encircle his body. Taking a single step back and lifting his hand, the energized spear flashed into existence.
If this doesn’t work, I doubt anything else I try will… And despite being a potentially genocidal vampire, I’ve heard enough about Harper to make me want to save her.
“How… idiotically romantic of you,” Tintreach sighed. “I’m sure Amelia would approve, yet… these vampires seem to grow up in a society shrouded in playing politics. What if all of that was an act?”
Then I deal with it. If I question the feeling I have right now, then I would be failing to live up to the kind of man Amelia loves.
Harper came into focus, the veins on her wings beginning to bulge as she whimpered, the blood in her body surged with her adopted mother’s manipulations. Anthony’s gaze moved away from the pair to the bloody mirrors throughout the room, and the spear left his fingers like a bolt of lightning.
[Reflective Shot: Activated]
The flash of light bounced off the reflective surface, showing Rachel’s flower clone army being slaughtered by Baron Hrisu’s family. The spear found its mark, melting through Audrey’s back and penetrating through her breast, Harper’s left wing, and passing right by Anthony’s head to ping-ponging around until ending at Sarren’s head.
As time sped up, Sarren’s blood erupted in all directions, and Anthony shot back, ready to run to the door to join Rachel. He’d done it!
“Not… so fast.”
Blood snaked between his feet, collecting in front of the door in an instant, and Anthony’s heart sank as Audrey materialized, the blackened hole in her chest still smoking and giving him a full view of the door she now blocked. Her children joined her in a pool of blood—at least, her boys did.
Sarren writhed on the ground, clutching at her chest as her head instantly reformed, choking up blood. “B-Baroness—Mother, please, I… Ahhhh!”
Anthony watched in horror as the girl began to desiccate, her blood being pulled out of her body to crawl up her mother’s legs, healing the damage he’d just done.
“Shit.”
Audrey cupped her chin, no longer looking annoyed as she appraised him like a prized horse for sale; he couldn’t do that attack twice. “Bold… and waiting for me to be distracted. You really do belong in the House of Blood. You could learn a thing or two from your toy, Harper. He used you to get to me… beautiful! It is too bad you aimed for life. You only get one attempt. Those are the rules. Harper…”
Harper’s wings sagged against the floor as she shakily pushed herself up. “I… I’m here, Mother.” Her ashen face didn’t show sweat, but stress and pain were etched in her frightful eyes as she glanced to her right, where her little sister lay in a shriveled heap. “Sarren…”
“Up. Up, you go. Ah-ah-ah!” Anthony summoned his spear, only for the baroness’ blood to coil up from underneath the floor, drilling through the glistening tiles to suspend him in the air. “That is it… Harper. You failed to properly break the toy I gave you. You know what you must do. It is a shame; he had such handsome features.”
Anthony breathed out a long stream of air, testing the resistance of his bonds as Harper’s brothers laughed, not caring in the slightest for their little sister’s death.
Well, damn. No way I’m getting out of this; she’s a monster, alright. I guess I jumped the gun. How was I supposed to know she’d absorb her own daughter to heal? Cold. I should have suspected something more. A little warning would have been nice, Elizabeth, but I guess this is it… Sorry, Amelia. Sorry, Ciara, I couldn’t keep my promise. Rachel will help Amelia, right? Wow. All I seem to do is bring heartache, no matter how hard I try.
“He’s not begging,” the eldest laughed. “We can fix that…”
“No,” his mother curtly replied, twisting him around to face Harper as she cradled her burned wing. It wasn’t healing as swiftly as her sister had from his attack. “This is a good experience for Harper. My brother was too soft on you for being a bastard. Make him suffer for your mother’s entertainment.”
Anthony strained a smile as the panting girl came into view, his gaze drifting to her damaged wing. “I’m not going to beg, but I will say sorry for hurting you, Harper; I didn’t want to, but it was the only angle I could get at your sister. So… sorry!”
He flashed his teeth, ready to enter whatever hell was to come for his folly.
Harper looked away, her highlights turning a shimmering pink again. “You… are the first man to have treated me as… more than just a tool to be used. Foolish. Very foolish.”
Stepping forward, she spread her wings out while floating into the air; her rosy irises lingered on his face, moving from his eyes to his lips. “I would kiss you as our potential farewell… but I can tell your heart is already taken by another. I suppose I am a fool, as well, for believing in forbidden stories hidden away in my father’s library. So… I will settle for this.”
Eyes closing, she leaned in to place her lips below his left eye, kissing his beauty mark before her fangs moved to his neck; her touch was cool, her lips hot, and her fangs fire that sank into his jugular vein. Yet, instead of weakness, strength filled his soul with an exhilarating rush of power.
Her barbed wings closed around him, striking, and Anthony tensed, but no pain came as she pulled away and whispered, “I leave everything else to you… my human hero.”
She fell as the shackles caging him broke like brittle sand. He caught her before she hit the ground, an unusual aura of pink light surrounding him. Behind him, Harper’s brothers turned to dust, the girl’s clawed, limp wings dislodging from their chests as Aurdey took a step back, her face filled with bewilderment.
“How—she gave you her blood… My brother wasn’t lying? She is the God Emperor’s grandchild. She gave a human the God Emperor’s Gift?! Blasphemy!”
She lurched forward, the whole room liquifying to encase them, yet words not his own left his lips—a woman’s voice—and the whole world froze. “That is quite enough.”
Anthony blinked, and suddenly, the room was back to normal. Harper lay on the sofa, resting. Any damage done to the girl was gone, and the trembling baroness was groveling before him. Audrey stammered a single name as his mind cleared, somewhat floating in a dream.
“G… God Emperor!”
The woman’s words were calm and final. “You mistake me for my father. There is a reason why my father exiled me… took my heart, and robbed me of my power. Not even he could slay me. Though I am sealed away, I am far from powerless when my daughter calls my name… when I use the power I hid within her. Enjoy your punishment for the harm you have done to my daughter, Baroness.”
Audrey screamed as she melted before his eyes, the blood soaking into the blood crystal tiles to become a part of its foundation for all eternity—to be trodden underfoot for as long as it stood.
Vision returning to the resting girl, the exiled daughter of the God Emperor spoke her final words to him. “Protect my daughter from what I sense is to come. Comfort her. But do not mention me or how you vanished the nightmare she’s been living. Now, she is the sole heir to the Barony, and Elizabeth will guide her.”
He blinked, and the rose aura faded away with the power infusing him. Dropping to his butt, he forced a laugh. “Well, I’ll be damned. Rachel, I’m going to have to buy you a drink when this is done because your misfortune had to have had an effect on this bullshit—wait… you’re underage. Damn. You there, Tintreach?”
“I had a lovely chat with the girl’s mother… A decent, puzzling woman who has the potential to transcend this world, wrapped in controversy.”
Laughing, he settled in and tried to puzzle out everything he’d just gone through.
“I’m glad someone is having fun. Hey, we did it; the witch is dead!”
“I thought she was a vampire.”
“You’re hilarious! Haaa. Ugh. I’m going to get such a stink-eye from Selvaria. Everyone is going to think the worst of me. Damn you, Rachel!”
His humor fell as the door opened, revealing a cloaked man—a hunter. The man’s eyes quickly swept the damaged space, smirking before tipping his hat to him. “It seems I’m late to the party. Why not chat with some Irish whiskey? I’d like to hear the tale and confirm a few things,” he said, brandishing a bottle.
“You really expect me to believe a Hunter is going to have a casual chat when she’s like this?” Anthony asked, his vision narrowing. He stood to move between the unconscious vampire girl who had saved him. “What’s your angle?”
The man simply brandished the bottle and moved to a seat far away from the vampire. “I’ve killed plenty of vampires, kid. I don’t care about this world, and the good girl Elizabeth is actually on my side of things, believe it or not. Well, she will be after tonight. I go after bigger prey,” he laughed, kicking up his boots onto the table.
“Can I have a name?” Anthony moved a chair to face him, directly in the path of Harper. “I like to know who I’m drinking with.”
“Fair enough! The name’s Helsing… Abraham Van Helsing,” he muttered, tipping his hat with a grin. Anthony noted a pungent garlic scent underneath his strong alcohol smell. “But you can call me Abe, not to be confused with Honest Abe—different guy. Now, what can you tell me about our lovely Ms. Aurora?”
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Comments
SME
Ho-ho-ho! Yes, indeed. What will our hare girl do?! How can she survive the Red Sea? >_> what if she can’t and she dies? What happens then?
Opala
I do wonder how Rachel will "die". The blood moon did make her immortal, so maybe something there.
