Volume 2, Chapter 6: Vampyres and The Daughters of Baron Serle

{ Present Time }

“Well then, my guest, since I have wet your appetite as to what is to come ten months later, what say we satisfy our hunger? After all, stories cannot fill us, though I would like to think mine would be interesting enough to stay hunger for a while.”

I had transformed into my human form already in an instant, a six feet tall and well muscled man with long white hair reaching toward the waist. 

I stared down at my guest, looking into his surprsied eyes, but I was glad to find that he had no compunction about my nakedness.

“So tell me, my guest, what are you doing here in my lair?” My eyes turned hard and piercing as I asked the question. I could see hesitation fill his similarly colored eyes—emerald. “Also, I have a feeling that you are not human, though you do look like one in all aspects.” 

The slim, human man started nervously. “I am a vampyre, kind host, and I would be very grateful if we could indeed obtain some nourishment. My diet consists of the blood of creatures; most blood are suitable for me.”

“Intriguing, vampyre. But I would not want to call you by your race name, so you must tell me your name.”

“It is Marius Whitewill, kind host,” the vampyre said, his eyes looking searchingly into mine, albeit with some trepidation.

I could tell that my guest had a question from looking at his eyes, and if my hunch was correct, it was similar to the one I had asked. I ventured a guess:

“And no, Marius, I shall not tell you my name. You may continue calling me your host, though. Also, in case you do not know, I am a dragon. You must have heard of such creatures, though they are rarely, if ever, seen in human lands. Lesser dragons, perhaps.” 

As my guest and I neared the mouth of the enormous cave at the base of the mountain, which was my lair, I felt a slight tingle in my mind from my gift for sensing danger. Not really danger per say, just a feeling of annoyance; It was along the lines of needing to relieve a small itch.

“It seems we have company, Marius Whitewill. Perhaps they are your friends?” I asked with mirth, my eyebrows raised questioningly.

The blonde vampyre instantly turned fearful, and looked as if he would jump out of nervousness anytime. “They are not friends, kind dragon host. They are vampyres from my clan who are chasing me. Please! You must not let them find me here!”

“You do not command me, vampyre. But, since you are my guest, I shall give you the benefits of doubt...that is, after I have met these friends of yours. Then we shall see what mood takes me.”

I was trying to sound imposing for the sake of amusement. In reality, I was mostly indifferent to what would happen.

“Follow along, Marius. Let us meet these clan members of yours.”

The reason I had him follow along was that I did not wanted him to escape when he was out of my sight. Also, I wanted to watch the ensuing interaction between Marius and his pursuers.

As soon as we were out, seven vampyres came out of the forest, coming onto the rocky stretch of ground leading to my cave located at the base of the mountain. 

The color of their alert and predator-like eyes consisted of blue, green, and brown. One of them—the tallest one—however, had a pair of red eyes. 

All of them were wearing similar black cloaks that reached almost to the ground; they also wore tight-fitting black garments which hugged to their sleek muscles. On the chest of these garments, there were red emblems of an inverted triangle barely inscribing a circle pinned onto them.

When the group of vampyres finally saw the two of us, they bared their twin fangs at us in hatred. Well, not us, exactly. It was mostly toward Marius Whitewill. I was just a stranger to them, and they soon got over their small initial surprise at seeing someone with their “hunted,” especially since that someone was parading around entirely naked.

“Marius! You halfblood bastard! I have finally caught up to you. Prepare to be executed immediately for your transgressions against my clan!” the red-eyed vampyre shouted in a voice full of hatred.

“They do not seem to like you, my guest,” I commented.

“Obviously,” Marius muttered under his breath. It was in a voice so low that even I could barely hear him. Then he said in a louder voice, wrongly thinking that I had not heard him, “Of course not, my dragon host.”

Before I could even speak, three of the vampyres started dashing toward Marius, their black scythes held ready with a hand, the cruel edge of it curving sharply. The weapons were almost as tall as their ferocious wielders. 

“Do not worry, my guest,” I said in a calm, indifferent voice while looking at the three vampyres cut across the distance to reach us. They would reach us in just a short moment. “I have decided to protect you.”

“No! You do not understand. You cannot fight them. They are all pure-bloods and those are some of the best fighters in my clan!” Marius shouted, the worry in his voice escalating. “Each of them are far more powerful than dragons!”

Before Marius could turn to run, I turned toward him, my piercing green eyes rooting him to the spot. “Do not even dare to move from this spot,” I whispered in a voice that was deeply inhumane, the voice of a dragon. (I had used transformation magic to change the necessary functions to allow this).

I suppose I should have went easier on my guest, since he had never seen an Astlan dragon before. He had most likely assumed that I was boasting in calling those smaller Xieth dragons lesser dragons, and that the only thing I had as an advantage was my size, which was abnormal for a lesser dragon.

He should have known, however, that I was different. It seems to me that my transformation into a human had still not registered in his mind, and all that entails with it. 

The worry on Marius's face had not disappeared, but the weak frown told me that he would obey my command, though with dismay.

I turned back to look at the three vampyres and I could tell that they were far stronger and faster than humans, their huge scythe weapons held easily in one hand, probably as if the weapons weighed no more than little toys.

One of them lunged at me, while the other two skirted around me to attack Marius.

Their motions were a blur, almost too fast for human's eyes.

But mine was not even a blur. No, they could barely comprehend what had occurred.

“You see, Marius,” I said softly in my human voice just enough for him to hear, my left dragon-talon hand pierced through a vampyre's throat, “you had nothing to fear.”

My other talon hand was pierced through one of the two vampyre's throat that had tried to bypass me. The third one—the furthest one—however, had his chest cleaved opened by a spiked dragon tail.

The evidence of the result of that action was a monstrous, jagged hole in the vampyre's chest as he fell down to the ground, his heart an unrecognizable destroyed mess. 

The vampyre with his sundered chest fell to the rocky ground with a hard thud. Then I retracted my fingers from the throats of the other two vampyres, causing their corpses to slump to the ground in a tangled heap. 

I used my transformation magic, which was unobservable to lesser talented mages, and was instantly back in my human form, the blood stains on my talons and spiked tail magically disappearing along with them.

I did not question this curiosity—it made cleaning far easier. And were you I, you would not question it either, especially since magic itself was a curious field full of unknowns. 

Now, I only had the red blood of vampyres on my hands—figuratively and literally speaking. 

The remaining four vampyres looked shocked at what had transpired. They had not been prepared to see three of their pure-bloods eliminated in a bare instant.

As I observed their faces which were alternating between various reactions, I thought for a moment that they were going to retreat. But instead of doing that sensible thing (not that it was sensible for me), the remaining four chose to bare their fangs and come rushing at me.

The head of the group of vampyres, the one with the red eyes, transformed before my very eyes. His fangs grew longer, his fingernails lengthened into almost four inches, and his appearance turned wild, as if he had become a beast of nature—a predator.

They were faster, much faster than the first three vampyres. Still, there was enough distance between us for me to use magic to defeat them.

The magic inside me felt natural. It was like a gated pool, which I could open and close at my beck and call. And though all creatures were born with a permanent size for their magic capacities, mine had increased due to certain reasons in these seven years since I had reincarnated into a dragon.

I channeled my magic into the ground, quickly drawing a line of path to where the group of vampyres would take their next step. At the end of this line, I spread the magic to cover a large area. 

The magic went entirely unnoticed to those who were not perceptive to magic. This meant that none of the vampyres had noticed my black-colored magic traversing the ground.

I willed and imagined the magic into doing what I wanted done, forming an image in my mind.

To my small satisfaction, I heard male screams slice the air as twenty large spikes, each about an average human's height, impale the four vampyres. The red-eyed, head vampyre was impaled by two earthen spikes—one splitting through him almost symmetrically in half and the second skewering his thigh.

The four vampyres looked frozen in time, their motions suddenly stopped by the brown, earthen spikes. Only the head vampyre and the other one close to his right were still twitching, signs of their impressive vitality.

Luckily for the two that were still alive, the spikes had not pierced through to their heads. They stopped short of their necks, resting just near their chests, their hearts most likely still pumping their lifeblood away as it drenched down the length of the spikes. 

It took only a few steps before I was face to face with the impaled head vampyre. There was still enough light in his red eyes to glower at me in hatred. 

I stared back indifferently, my green eyes meeting his. 

“You will pay for this,” the head vampyre said weakly, causing the blood in his mouth to gargle. It made his words almost incoherent.

I said nothing in reply. There was nothing to be said, for the vampyre died as soon as he finished saying his last word. 

As for the other vampyre beside him, he had died long before, not even able to say anything.

I turned back to call out to my guest who had a fearful and surprised look on his face. But before I could say a word, the vampyre went on a knee, surprising me enough to stop short what I was about to say.

“My lord,” Marius Whitewill said, his voice strange and low, mixed with a little bit of fearful surprise and respect.

“Lord?” I asked, wondering at the term. 

“Yes, kind dragon host, you are now my lord since you have defeated my previous lord in battle.”

“Interesting. The notion of me becoming your lord through battles leaves me speculating as to whether or not your society is battle-oriented. You shall have to inform me of that on a later time.”

I gave Marius a sharp glance to show that I had not missed this obvious point. “You shall also tell me why you were escaping from your previous lord. Also, it is quite strange that I can be your lord even though I am not a vampyre.”

Marius gave a simple shrug, before saying, “I do not make the rules.”

“Well then, Marius, shall we have dinner?” I said, gesturing toward the seven vampyre corpses. Then I ventured a guess. “I trust you have no aversion in drinking from your own race?”

“None at all, my lord. In fact, the blood of my race's purebloods taste the best.”

“That is good to hear, Marius Whitewill,” I said softly to my retainer. “I am wanting to try the flesh and blood of these vampyres. I am quite curious as to whether or not they taste like human flesh.”

I paused briefly before continuing. “And who knows, they might turn out to be a delicacy indeed.”

I left my other thoughts unspoken, however, and only chuckled softly to myself.

Little did my vampyre guest know that he was going to be killed after my story was finished. But perhaps I might just, in some small infinitesimal chance, keep him as a retainer.

An unlikely possibility, but nevertheless quite possible. 

<><><><><> 

My dragon host.

A white haired man around six feet tall and who looks to be around his mid twenties. He had remarkable features and an impressive build with muscles that showed off his lethal strength, a strength that seemed suppressed, as if it was waiting to be unleashed at any moment.

He was pure muscle—there was barely any wasted fat on him.

And the way he moved was coldly efficient, predatory in nature. Yes, like a dragon, a top carnivore, a beast of prey. 

Seeing him at this moment tearing into the flesh of my former vampyre lord, who was impaled upon two earthen spikes, it finally dawned on me that he was unlike any dragon I had ever seen. I also realized that no mere dragon could transform into a humanoid. Or was it human?

At first, I had thought the story he had been telling me was all pure lies, a design to hold my attention. But now that I had seen his transformation and what he had done to those vampyres, I realized that his story was indeed truth.

How did that saying go again? Seeing was believing... 

And what had my dragon host—no, my lord—called those dragons? 

If I remember correctly, he had said something about lesser dragons. So, did that made my lord a greater dragon?

It must have been true, for I had heard stories of the rare dragons in the wild being beaten easily by just a group of halfblood vampyres, let alone a group of seven pureblood vampyres. Especially if that group of pureblood vampyres had a pureblood lord leading them.

But my dragon lord had killed them all in an instant; a mere five seconds was spent on the first three vampyres and a bare three seconds were spent before the rest were killed by a field of earthen spikes that had suddenly jutted upward from the rocky ground. 

When I had first my dragon lord in his lair, I was already fearful of his abnormal size; this fear was made even more so when the dragon had actually spoke in an unnaturally deep rumble of a voice.

He, the black dragon, had been well over a hundred feet tall, and his size only made his ferocious presence ever more felt, especially when those unnaturally bright and piercing green eyes of his deigned to look upon me with clear indifference. 

And dare I say, some withheld mirth?

The black dragon in his human form turned to look at me, who was patiently waiting since I had finished draining the sweet blood from one of the vampyres. His piercing, green eyes met my own pair of similarly colored eyes, though of a darker and more natural hue. The indifference in those eyes made me felt like a lowly worm crawling on the ground, almost wanting to run away in fear.

But I realized that fleeing would only be a futile action when my dragon lord could have killed me in a matter of moments. He would not even blink an eye in doing so.

My life, which was obviously quite dear to me, was now in his hands.

It was an unlucky turn of the dices of fate. It was like escaping from a battlefield only to find yourself in the jaws of a monster.

My luck was a piece of shit, something shat out by a lamed donkey, especially since I had meticulously planned my escape from my coven, where I was only a blood punching bag.

Known as The Scarlet Brotherhood, that was my coven's name. It was one of the largest multifaceted vampyre covens that resided over this area close to the edges where human civilization just about stopped. 

This place was close to the edges of the unexplored northern central area of Valian continent, the in-between of human civilization and the Wilds. Alongside our race of vampyres (though I was not really one since I had been unluckily converted into a half-blood by a pure-blood), there lived many various other races such as the humanoid beast tribes.

And we tended to leave each other alone for the most part, though fights did break out, but with infrequent occurrences. It was for the usual reasons that invariably resulted with neighboring rivals; territorial disputes, claims, pride, etc. 

As I was reflecting upon my recent past, I was interrupted by the soft, deep voice of my dragon host.

“Well now, Marius Whitewill, I shall continue on with my story now that our appetites have been sated. I must say, though, the flesh of your kind tastes quite similarly to human flesh, a bit sweeter perhaps.”

“Yes, I agree, my lord dragon. The purebloods are a true delicacy, especially their blood. And I am all ears for your story, my lord dragon,” I said respectively. 

My lord nodded at that and took a small breath before continuing where he had left off, which was well before the ten months later scene, which he had used to “wet my appetite.” He continued his story from where he had just met Lady Iona and Baron Serle inside the luxurious room.

And on a related note, I realized that there were many discrepancies in his story. Perhaps my dragon host had left out a few integral parts in his story, the parts about dragons? 

It didn't matter now anyway. I knew that my dragon-host did not lie. And I would, for the most part, believe in his story. You would too if you were in his predatory presence. It was with a fear-driven belief and attention that I listened to his life story.

It also helped since he was a good storyteller, and the fact that his story was intriguing.

My conclusion was that he was definitely not a deluded dragon who thought he was a human that had reincarnated into a dragon. No, my dragon lord was definitely not deluded.

<><><><><>

{294 Days Remaining}

“Tell me, Verath, is this white-hair of yours natural?” Lady Iona Serle asked, her voice soft, but firm, indicating that it was by no means a question, but more of a command. 

“I was born this way, my lady.”

“Please. Call me Iona. There is no need for titles here,” she said, locking an arm around my own. The action brought us so close together that I could feel her large and shapely bosom on my right arm. Her long, silky jet-black hair brushed the side of my black garments.

I ignored the soft sensation as we walked among the garden located at the Second Manor House. I was a little surprised at her forwardness; it was close to being scandalous for a highborn noble lady.

I could also observe a shadowy figure following us surreptitiously, always behind a set distance. Were it not for my vigilance and sharp reflexes, I would have missed that shadowy figure quite easily. I paid the follower no mind though, figuring that it must have been one of her protectors or someone akin to that. 

“Very well, Iona,” I replied in a stoic voice. “And might I ask you a question?”

“You may, Verath. But as to whether I will answer it, we shall see.”

I decided to be blunt since subtly asking for what I had in mind would only alert her sharp mind. “Do you know of a merchant named Falin Mead?” I ventured. 

She paused for a moment to think, while continuing to stroll along the garden path. “Yes, father has spoken of this merchant many times, though I personally have never met him. He also says it was a shame that the merchant was killed by stray bandits. If I remember, I think this was about two years ago?” 

Her brown eyes turned sharp as they looked searchingly into my face. “Why do you bring this matter up, Verath?”

I did not hesitate before answering, “Truth be told, Iona, that merchant had been an acquaintance of mine.”

“I see,” Iona said softly in reply. Then she let out a small laugh. “Because you seem affable and I like you a little, Verath, I shall divulge to you that father always admired that merchant. How should I put this? It was sort of like friendship between rivals, you could say.” 

“I also like you too, Lady Iona.” 

“Now, now. You would not want to make me repeat myself, Verath. Just call me Iona.”

I nodded, a slight dip of my head, before saying, “I shall keep that in mind, Iona.”

We strolled amiably around the garden after that conversation, Iona clutching at my right arm in silent contentment.

Then she broke the silence.

“Now then, I shall have to bid you farewell for today. But I shall have you join me for lunch tomorrow. I would love for you to meet my four younger sisters and my little brother.”

Iona explained further, seeing the questioning look on my face. 

“Of course, the lunch will be done after your interview where you shall apply to serve as a retainer for my father. Also, I have somewhere to go, so I apologize for not seeing you out. Instead, my guard shall do so in my stead.”

Lady Iona unlatched her arm around mine and left the gardens after bidding me a farewell. Her gait was of a slow and relaxed pace, an unworried fashion. 

And I knew I had been dismissed.

Seconds later, a female guard clad in black garments appeared before me. She walked lithely toward me, her face hidden by a black hood that left only her blue eyes to be seen.

The black clothing was loosely fitted around her and showed hints of a chain armor shirt underneath. Behind her back were twin swords with white straps. I did not recognize the weapons and judging from the white scabbards, they were too thin to be normal swords.

“Follow me,” she said, her voice a soft muffle against her cowled mouth.

My interest had been piqued from her attire and those twin swords which seemed to be around the length of a short sword.

“What are those weapons of yours called?” I asked unreservedly.

The female guard did not reply, only leading me toward the gate as we exited the garden. Along the way, we passed some servants working in the garden and a few guards placed at strategic points.

When we reached the gate, the guard finally broke the silence with her muffled voice. “They are called Wakizashis, and I am not paid to answer inane questions. But since I somehow have the feeling that you will ask Lady Iona who I am at the first chance you receive, I will save you the time. I am a contracted Shinobi.”

Just as I was about to thank her, she had already turned around and was walking away while sticking to the shadows and the least noticeable places. 

I exited through the gates of the Second Manor House, passing the two male guards who gave me back my longsword. And before I knew it, I was back on the bustling streets of Asolance. I also put my cowl on, since I wanted none to recognize my distinct white hair, a feature that had been widely witnessed in the tournament.

I had learned some interesting information and my initial guess as to who had killed my father and my past human self had been wrong. Baron Serle as the suspect was becoming more and more unlikely as time passed, and Lady Iona had seemed sincere enough.

I also had a feeling that it was not Baron Serle who had perpetrated the foul deed.

Questions. Questions. Questions. 

They swirled around at the forefront of my mind.

Was it just some unlucky occurrence due to chance when those group of black elves bandits and goblins raided our caravans? It couldn't be though. The timing had seemed too perfect, and the raiders, too professional and efficient.

For now, I would bide my time.

These were my thoughts as I jostled through the streets of Asolance, which were still busy even at nighttime. There were some straying glances from the crowd here and there, but thankfully, none of them recognized me, since my cowl covered almost the entirety of my face.

In the rich and enormous city of Asolance, the cobbled streets were lit by metal lanterns fixed at key parts of the streets, so as to give the most light. There were also the rare few magic stones that gave off a brighter light on certain streets.

These magic stones were sold and produced by the Mage Academy, which was located in the central region of Shail Kingdom. This vital academy was the one and only of its kind in Shail Kingdom, for mages were rare and too few. They were sought dearly by the kings, so thus this academy was naturally built in the central region, which was where the king of Shail Kingdom resided.

Some time afterward, I arrived at the Silver Beauty inn and as soon as I went through the door, I was tackled by two soft sensations.

Alice Silver, the daughter of the innkeeper, was smothering me between her well-endowed chest. She was also excitedly praising me for winning the tournament. In her excitement, I heard her say that she also liked how I had tried to be mysterious with the black mask. But given my distinct white hair, Alice had easily guessed my identity.

I stayed unmoving, as Alice's excitement became infectious, causing the other patrons of the inn to stand up and congratulate me. The few ones who had no interest in the fighting tournament, however, chose to remain seated at their respective tables.

It took quite a long while until everything had settled down. Peace and silence were qualities I often like when I was eating, so I deflected most of the people congratulating me with just a quiet nod. The other patrons soon gave up on bothering me when they saw that I was only going to give them a simple nod in response. 

That was how my night went after I had won the Tournament of the Wolf. There were also other little things that happened here and there in regards to Alice Silver, but I won't say much on that.

The rest of the night I spent practicing the finer points of my fire magic. Using earth magic would have resulted in a mess, so I had stuck with fire magic. For example, I practiced control by letting my black-colored magic flow to the tips of my fingers and create small, dancing flames that jumped gracefully around in controlled arcs. 

I kept this practice up for the majority of the night and meditated on what had happened so far, until I went to sleep for little more than an hour.

<><><><><>

{293 Days Remaining}

The next morning, I found myself at the Third Manor House, and face to face with one of Baron Serle's Minister of War.

There were six Ministers of War serving under Baron Serle, one for each of the six manor houses, and they were the ones who organized the defense of the northern region of Shail Kingdom, with Baron Serle acting as the overseer. There were many more people serving under the Ministers of War, but this was the basic organization for the most part.

The Ministers of War themselves had no fighting ability, so to speak. They were more like tacticians and administrators. 

The ones who had the real fighting power were the three Generals. Under these generals were various platoons of knights led by the Knight Commanders. Further under these knights were the soldiers and captains. 

This was how the Third Minister of War explained to me the military organization of the northern region of Shail Kingdom. He also added that the six Grandmasters, who were acting as the judges of the Tournament of the Wolf, were independent from the military organization. They were more like respected trainers and warriors who wielded power close enough to that of the three Generals. They were the closest and personal retainers to Baron Serle.

That said, the interview conducted personally by the Third Minister of War was easily passed. I had given false answers to a few of the questions, but for the most part, it wasn't too much trouble because the minister knew that I was a wanderer and a foreigner. Thus, questions were mostly of my background and my answers were ambiguous at best.

That had elicited some suspicion, but he couldn't exactly call me out on my answers. So I was safe.

Having been accepted into the military organization, I would start off as a knight, but I would not be in any of the knight platoons or under any knight commanders. This was partly due to the fact I was a foreigner and partly due to winning the tournament. 

Instead, I would be tasked with various tasks, which the Third Minister of War would give me personally.

For the moment, I did not know whether or not this meant I was lucky or not, having the minister hand me my tasks personally.

It also seems like my first task had been decided.

I was to lead a punitive force to subjugate black elves raiders who have been troubling a north-western frontier town called Listace.

<><><><><>

Having been dismissed and given the pertinent information, I was once more led by the female contracted Shinobi serving under Lady Iona.

She was still clad in the black, loosely fitting garments and a black mask covered her entire face, only revealing her pair of blue eyes. The loose garments, however, did nothing to hide her curvaceous and well-endowed body. Her twin Wakizashis in white scabbards also hung behind her back in an X position. 

We had a game of silence in play once more between the two of us. This time, I did nothing to interrupt this game, though I was still a little curious as to what exactly a Shinobi was. I had never heard of such a term in my human life. I made a little note to myself that I would ask the female Shinobi her name once we meet the next time. For now, I was content. 

When we finally arrived at the Second Manor House where the lunch had been planned, the female shinobi was gone, her footsteps barely heard against the marbled floor of the manor.

I shall summarize the lunch I had with Lady Iona and her siblings succinctly, because I found it particularly boring. The new faces, however, were interesting, since I had only ever met Baron Serle in my human life. And that was outside of the manor houses. 

Oh yes, I also found the lunch quite delicious, the food exotic luxuries which only a rich noble like Baron Serle could obtain.

I shall list the names of the five new faces I met during this lunch, but I will not give their descriptions as of this moment as there will be plenty of time to do so in the future. 

-Lady Arina Serle (The second oldest after Lady Iona)

-Lady Calina Serle (The third oldest)

-Lady Lelani Serle (The fourth oldest)

-Lady Dylena Serle (The youngest sister)

-Lord Gustov Serle (The little brother of the family and the youngest of the siblings; he also seems to admire me. I could almost see the stars in his small child-like eyes)

After the satisfying lunch was over, I bid all of them a farewell and Lady Calina Serle, the middle daughter of the family, even gave me a long hug, which Lady Iona frowned upon because of the duration.

It seems like the short-haired Lady Calina, whose height matched my chest, had been taken by me. She had marveled at how I had beaten all my opponents so easily in the tournament. 

<><><><><>

Back on the streets of Asolance after exiting the Second Manor House and receiving back my weapon, I decided to explore the city a bit more.

After all, I had a whole day to waste before I was to lead a punitive force tomorrow to subjugate a group of black elves, which had been troubling the frontier town of Listace.

I had time in excess and I had crossed off Baron Serle in the list of suspects. For now, I would bide my time and gather information. I had in mind a few more suspects, who have had dealings with my father, Falin Mead, and I, Alan Mead in my past human life.

Volume 2 (Chapter 7)