Seeing Rassa's curiosity, Victor had shifted the lesson to another topic. He emphasised beforehand however that the Coven Court may have been long and arduous, but it was also incredibly important that Rassa understand it. With all the arguments that seemed to occurred in that hall, Rassa was led to the inevitable suspicion that the fall of the Chaos races weren't entirely the fault of somebody else. Their clear lack of concern for anyone other than themselves was enough to make Rassa think that the Vampires had been at least in part responsible for their own downfall. Victor never confirmed it, but he also never presented any evidence against this claim.

Was this what he was trying to show Rassa through these continuous looks at repetitive political arguments? Despite Victor's clear bias, was it possible that rather than learning how a Vampire society was run, Rassa was to learn the mistakes of the system in order to improve it? The only problem was that as it stood now, Rassa had no intention of condemning others to the reality he was faced with, and from Victor's previous lessons, Rassa was positive that none of the other Vampires had survived the fall of Chaos.

'The sub-coven was insistent on being listened to.' Victor explained as the memory shifted and changed around Rassa, 'They appealed to my father, and as a potential heir at the time, I was sent to resolve their problems. I will show you the first meeting I had with the Keltair Pack Alpha'.

***

When the memory solidified around him, Rassa was seated inside what Victor referred to as an auto-carriage. Simply put it was a carriage that didn't need any animal to pull it, it ran on crystal energy. The concept had fascinated Rassa when he'd first seen the technology, and had begged Victor to tell him more, but it was clear that Victor had more pressing concerns to teach him at the moment.

The auto-carriage was making its way down into a valley. Above, at the crest of the hill, sat the sub-coven town, with its high, sophisticated walls and sun stones on the border, their glow visible even through the Night Barrier. They were smaller than the main city's stones, and there were fewer of them, but Rassa still felt they were just as magnificent.

At the base of the hill was a river, and beyond the river stretched a forest that seemed incredibly vast. Even with his heightened vision, Victor could not see the end of the forest. Though, it was during the day.

Outside of the sun stone barrier, his vision was impaired, and therefore he wore a hood, though of far better-quality material than what Rassa had had in Cordon. The hood was attached to a long dark cloak that pooled around Victor, his black trousers and boots crossed elegantly as he sat. To anyone who was not used to his presence, Victor appeared above everyone around him, in reality, Rassa could tell he was just feeling lazy. He didn't want to be dragged to the outer reaches of the territory for this, but if it was what was asked of him as a potential heir, he had no way to avoid it.

As they approached the river, a Marquee of sorts came into view, and waiting outside of the entrance was a group of men dressed in far less elegant clothes than those of the Vampire procession that accompanied Victor.

They did not exactly appear poor, but they were clearly not rich either. Rassa could see quite plainly that they appeared similarly dressed to successful thieves and poachers. He'd only seen such people himself briefly, but they had a look about them that these men had delivered to a T.

The auto-carriage drew closer, and Rassa began to notice subtle differences, ones that would clearly put them apart from any ordinary human. Their ears for one, they had slight points rather than the normal curve of a human. They also appeared a lot more muscular, larger than normal men. But the one thing that set them apart, were their eyes. Their eyes glowed like molten gold. All except the man in front, whose eyes were darker than coal.

Their appearance had those surrounding Victor on edge. But Victor himself did not seem phased in the slightest.

"Are you sure you want to attend this meeting alone, sir?" asked the sub-coven head that Rassa had previously seen speak out during the council meeting. Victor gave him an unimpressed stare.

"Wait here".

Victor jumped off the auto-carriage as soon as it slowed, walking out to meet the man at the front with coal black eyes. He possessed no qualities that were overly different from the others apart from his eyes, and yet he was incredibly intimidating. No wonder the sub-coven head had been so cautious. Victor was not deterred however.

"My name is Victor Lurossi, I am the third son of Sevin Lurossi, head of the Star Crash Coven, I'm assuming you are Grim?"

The man looked Victor up and down before nodding, "Grim Ashcoat, Alpha of the Keltair Pack".

Victor nodded, then indicated to the marquee, "Shall we go straight to the proceedings? This sunlight is hell on the eyes".

"Not to us all," Grim replied, but he turned and walked towards the Marquee, making motions to those who went to follow him that he would enter alone.

The men who were told to stay back turned their golden gazes on Victor as he walked past, hands in his pockets. They growled in warning, and Victor grinned back, flashing his fangs.

"Calm down pups, wolves have never been my preferred dietary choice".

Grim and Victor slipped into the tent and out of sight.