Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, Rassa cursed at how the anthrite chains had sapped him of his strength and speed. If he'd had either, he likely would have been far away by now. Yet instead, his small slice of peace in Arita's laboratory had been sh*t on by somebody else's greed. Rassa had no idea what to expect of his new captors, but the fight he put up seemed utterly pathetic as they carried him beyond the reach of Toulle and deposited him in what Rassa could only describe as a prison carriage. Despite the distasteful glares he gave from behind his mask, Rassa received no mercy from any of them, not even the boy. Though somehow, Rassa could tell that the boy was conflicted. He seemed to have questions in his eyes, though those questions were shoved down and locked away as soon as his gaze drifted to the man amongst the three of them that commanded the most respect. Clearly a leader.

Rassa could do nothing, and he reserved himself to that fate as Victor awakened not long after the carriage began moving along less travelled roads in a southerly direction. The spirit was none too impressed.

'Had you listened to me, you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place'.

Rassa rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he hadn't heard that argument before. It was getting old pretty fast. Sensing Rassa's clear regrets, and knowing it would do him no good to push the issue, Victor turned instead to the lesson he'd been prepared to give. But just before he could pull Rassa into a memory, the boy spoke his mind.

'How did you do it?' asked Rassa, conjuring up the thought of Victor feeding on the two knights yet making their experiences pleasurable.

'Manipulate their emotions you mean?' confirmed Victor, 'Every Vampire is capable of that. If your prey is not in pain it makes influencing their memories far easier. It's a skill every vampire learns early'.

'Manipulating emotions and memories?' asked Rassa in disbelief, 'Why was I not informed sooner?'

'Memory manipulation is something that you won't have access to until you're unsealed,' Victor stated, 'As for emotions...you spent most of your time feeding on animals, there is no reason to manipulate their memories when they cannot speak'.

Rassa didn't want to admit it, but that was a decent reason.

'Can I learn about it now?' asked Rassa.

Victor sighed, after seeing Rassa's pitiful situation, he supposed he could alter his curriculum to satisfy the boy's curiosity, 'I suppose, though like I said, there is little point using it on animals. Perhaps I shall take this opportunity to teach you Vampire biology. It will make many things much easier to comprehend in future'.

With that Rassa felt himself drawn into a memory.

***

It turned out to be a series of memories of different times in Victor's life when he was tutored on the topic of biology. Most of it occurred before the events Victor's crowning as Heir of Star Crash Coven.

The great thing about memories though, was that he was not only told about Vampire biology, he also had the opportunity to experience it through Victor himself.

The basis of all Vampiric abilities and differences lay in their origin. There were 2 ways to become a Vampire, the first was to be turned, which the memory only touched on as a process that involved a sacred ritual. The second was to be born a Vampire.

Vampires as a whole lived a very long time, it wasn't unusual for one to live more than fifty millennia, and as such their birth rate was rather low. It was incredibly difficult for a Vampire to be conceived, and even then the gestation period was quite long, almost five years. No matter how one began as a vampire, whether turned or born, their body needed time to acclimatise to its potential abilities, and hence they were considered 'sealed' Vampires until such a time as they were ready. Another term for this was Fledgling. The period they were sealed usually lasted until their body was matured for a born Vampire, but for a turned Vampire it could be shorter depending on the age they were turned and how quickly they adjusted.

Still, as with Rassa, Fledglings were not exactly defenceless.

They possessed the senses of hunters, and extraordinary healing abilities. Of course, they also possess enhanced strength and speed, but only that which was available to them from the limited abilities of their Life Lines, a limitation which would be easily surpassed upon becoming unsealed. They also had the ability to feed, and thereby influence the emotions of their prey, and enact the paralysing venom, but they could not turn the blood they hungered for into energy to be used and delegated by their Life Lines. The Life Lines only took enough energy to remain present and fuel life-saving instincts. Essentially, any ability given by the Life Lines after the unsealing was inaccessible to a Feldgling.

After Rassa understood these basic principles, the information started to become more specific.

Vampires were unable to see as clearly during the day because they had evolved to have night vision, this was also when Rassa received a short explanation about the giant glowing crystal he'd seen in the first memory. Vampires had created a shielding spell over their Coven sites so that they and their land were in eternal darkness. Of course, Covens did not consist solely of Vampires, so the Sun Stones were used as an alternative to the actual sun. Their light was far less piercing, and they also emitted heat in small amounts. As such, they surrounded the inner walls of the shield and alternated between bright and dim rotations so that day and night could be replicated inside the Night Barrier. Rassa was astounded by such high-grade technology, and made a note to ask Victor about it for future lessons.

Finally, Rassa managed to learn about how a Vampire controlled the emotions of an individual whilst they were feeding. It had to do with these biological chemicals called hormones. Certain hormones caused an individual to feel certain emotions, hence, by influencing which hormones were contained in the blood, one could influence the emotions an individual felt.

Victor feeding on one of his Sanguine was a much better experience of it. Rassa could feel it as Victor pushed the chemicals of his own pleasure into the bloodstream of the Sanguine through his venom, then ensure the chemicals he was feeding on in the blood were any other than those that represented pleasure.

It sounded a lot more complicated than the process itself. Victor did it almost instinctively, but Rassa could feel the understanding of the concept click inside him. He couldn't wait to try it out.

After a few more explanations, Rassa was pushed out of the memories and back into his own body.

His neck and back ached from the position he'd had to sit in whilst in the carriage. Not to mention the burning of the anthrite on his skin. The chains had loosened only a little, just enough to be bound to the sides of the carriage, but the mask had been left on and the length of the chains wrapped around him uncomfortably.

The city was far behind them as the sun peaked over the horizon in the east. Rassa slumped down in defeat. No one was coming after him, that was for sure. Gods almighty, was he ever going to catch a break?