Dreary grey winds of sand blew into his black cloak as the man stumbled towards the rising dark brick city walls. A large gate of iron lay wide open whilst before it three caravans stood still awaiting entry, guards were already searching the first whilst five others stood at the ready by the entrance.

The cloaked man walked past the caravans, looking over the pale-white skinned merchant, then the similarly overly pale noble waiting in his fancy carriage, even the bored looking mercenary as his own caravan was being searched.

Ignoring as a guard stopped him in his tracks, the man looked over the half a dozen men and women chained up and forced to stand beside the mercenary’s caravan.

Slaves.

Kailu thought with narrowing eyes as he felt the guard grab him by the cloak then, ticked off to being ignored.

“Oi, papers, now.” The guard grumbled, as Kailu’s cold eyes then settled upon him, although already pale as paper the guard visibly froze under his gaze.

“What papers?” Kailu grumbled back.

“Do we have a problem here?” Another guard said, walking up to the first and shaking him out of his daze.

The second also met Kailu’s blackened eyes, seemingly pissing himself on the spot as his jaw lay unhinged.

“Do we?” Kailu asked back, letting out an aura of shadow several feet all around him, engulfing the two guards who shook in their boots.

“N-No sir, please, we apologise for our insolence!” A third guard hurried over, looking to be the captain of the others from his more adorned uniform. “W-We meant no insult!” The man said, forcing his way through the aura and after a brief pause of horror he quickly grabbed the heads of the other two before bowing himself and forcing them both to do the same.

Kailu raised a brow at this situation. “Who, do you think I am?” He asked with a hiss, dark magic fuelling his voice.

“W-We-L-Lowly guards s-such as us could n-never know a g-great blo-blood lord b-by name!” One of the guards stuttered out.

Blood Lord?

“Fool!” The captain nudged the guard, “I apologise, you are of course not a blood lord…these grunts do not get to see your…kind.”

“Stand.” Kailu growled with clear annoyance.

The captain raised all of them up, his own eyes shaking with a trickle of fear. “Do…you wish to speak with our lord?”

Kailu’s eyes narrowed, “No, I’m not here for business.”

“Then…mind me asking why…is a Demon here?” The captain said, and the two guards he held onto stiffened up like statues. Each guard, merchant and even slave turned their gazes to them at the mention of that word.

Me? A Demon?

Kailu was unsure where the man saw the resemblance, then he realised something as he glanced over everyone here…

Humans…they’re all human. Ah, my ears.

Kailu then smirked, “You do well to ask such questions, even if it means your life hangs by a string I hold. I was simply testing you, yes indeed I come on behalf of Devil King Xokith. And yes, I wish to meet with your lord.” He said, retracting his aura and releasing the guards from it.

“Yes of course!” Nudging the two by his side the captain ordered them, “Get our important guest here to the mansion!” before returning to Kailu, “Please, have these two redeem themselves your wickedness.”

Wickedness? I don’t mind that…

But Kailu told himself to retain his cool.

This is enemy territory, allies of them perhaps, but if they align themselves with Hell then they are still my enemies.

He turned and began walking towards the gate, “Go!” The captain urged his men who then rushed after Kailu.

More so ushering the guards than them showing him forward, Kailu entered the city, finding himself faced with a bustling market street taking to a large open plaza. Pausing to look around, still he saw nothing but common humans and pale-skinned humans, seemingly the pale-skinned ones being higher in this society’s hierarchy.

Their pale-ness is unnatural though, what is different about them? Do they originate from the snowy areas?

He pondered to himself, growing more restless with each question that came up until, he simply gave up the thought.

Agh, I’m no good at these things, maybe it is best after all to burn this place down and then chat up the survivors?

“T-This way sir.” One of the guards offered as they now took the lead, taking a street different from the market.

“Hm, this is my first time here, why are your pelts so paler than the no-lesser ones?” Kailu asked, figuring he’d just kill them if his question made things complicated.

“Lesser? Ah, n-no we’re not like demons sir. We who have been blessed are no longer human.” The second guard answered.

“No longer human?” Kailu eyed the man up, counting his arms and feet, eyes and ear shape. “I don’t see how.”

“Err, we’re Ghouls, sir. Blessed to serve our Blood lord for all eternity. Immortal, per say.” The guard replied as they walked.

“Immortal?” Kailu mused, “So if I chop your head off you’ll not die?”

The question almost made the first guard trip over his own feet.

“Oh uh, that probably would do it…Cut our feet, arms, ears, those would regrow in about a minute.” The guard shakily answered.

“Agh, that sounds annoying.” Kailu thought out loud, inwardly smacking himself for doing so then.

As claws of shadow then engulfed his right hand where it lay hidden, whilst he inspected the guard’s reaction for his slip of the tongue.

Kill?

“Ah..haha, yes yes, indeed you can see it…like that.” Chuckling very fake-like and anxiously, the guard simply shut himself up and continued walking as he now stared ahead.

No…not yet.

Following the guards through the city streets for barely an hour, Kailu held back a groan as they finally reached their destination, separating them was a set of stairs.

Nope.

“You may return to your post.” Kailu then said, done with walking, he willed shadows to engulf his feet then before suddenly disappearing in a burst of black.

Reappearing at the top of the stairs, making the four guards them jump out of their skin as each turned to aim their weapons at him.

Strange weapons Kailu did not recognise, not fully.

Gunblades…without a blade?

He thought with a raised brow as four long barrels lay aimed right at him, barrels joined with a metal trigger instead of trigger-handles and stocks of wood going under the user’s shoulder, these were very early rifles.

“Hm, interesting.” Kailu mused.

“S-State your business!” One of the guards exclaimed, till they met his eyes. “Down!” He then exclaimed to the rest, as each of them lowered their barrels off of Kailu’s face. “Apologies…who are you?”

Kailu forced some mana to infuse into his eyes, making his pitch-black eye-balls glisten with blue, “From hell beyond, I come to speak with your Blood lord.”

The guard swallowed hard, “W-We weren’t notified of…a messenger. U-Usually Count Gon-”

“Do I look like…” Kailu then turned to stand mere inches from the guard’s face, “I care?”

“Y-Ye-N-No!” The guard exclaimed, motioning for the other who rushed to open the double doors.

This is why henchmen are shit for anything, deep within they only care for their own skins. Soldiers though, soldiers are better.

Inwardly chuckling to himself, Kailu walked through the doorway to find a large hall riddled with complicated paintings and other pieces of strange art he couldn’t care enough to look at.

The doors closed up behind him, as all but one guard remained outside.

“I’ll notify the lord.” He said before marching off to an attendant standing at the ready by the staircase to the left, a very fancy staircase Kailu noted.

The guard whispered something to the well dressed servant, also pale-skinned, before the servant nodded and began ascending the stairs. The guard stayed, at attention and watching Kailu.

They suspect me.

He figured it wouldn’t be so easy.

And he waited, Kailu waited for several moments, but Kailu was patient.

Plus he had this poor guard to torment as entertainment. Staring dead straight at him the whole time, the poor guard did his very best not to blink, too terrified of this man’s aura before him to miss a single moment of where he was. Fearing that if he blinked, his life would be forfeit.

The whole time Kailu was wondering if they were preparing an ambush.

Kill?

He pondered, as if flipping a mental coin.

When footsteps began descending the stairs, the servant had returned and with him came another.

Similarly also pale of skin, yet as the man approached Kailu’s gaze rose to fix on him.

He sensed it, an aura that he berated himself for not sensing before.

An aura of blood, as the gallant seeming man descended the stairs, long silver hair flowing down the back of his black and gold uniform as piercing green eyes fixed upon Kailu.

Both the guard and the servant now felt the clashing of auras, terror filling them both as the two monsters faced one another.

The gallant man turned to face Kailu once reaching the bottom of the stairs, “You have come a long way and rather hastily if no forewarning was given to us by your master. Usually, Drenektar or Vilx come, why were you sent?”

“Both were undisposed.” Kailu coldly replied.

“Ah, I see. Forgive my curiosity.” The man then politely bowed, “I am Gon, Count of this here city and currently housing this land’s Blood Lord, who I assume you came here to see?”

“Yes,” Kailu responded simply, the tension was too high for him to focus.

Kill?

“Hm, well I was going to talk circles around you till you gave yourself up but, I must say your bloodlust is quite noticeable.” Gon said with a smile, “You are no Demon, and if you were, you would know all messengers speak only with me and never directly with our Blood Lord.”

Kailu then sighed, “Well, then I guess this makes it all much simpler.” He said as tendrils of shadow burst out of his back.

“Yes, indeed it does, doesn’t it?” Gon agreed as his eyes suddenly turned blood red whilst two pure-white fangs grew out from in between his lips.

“I’ll just question you when you’re dead.” Kailu mused, and the entire building shook.

As the Vampire soared forth, his nails turning to claws before they clashed with Kailu’s shadows, a barrage of lunges met with dozens of arms of shadow.

A burst of energy sent them both momentarily backwards, but then is where the fight truly began.

Shadows surged out engulfing Kailu, swirling down his hands to form long black talons, down his back into a tail of blades, and over his chest and face creating a defensive carapace and dragon-like helm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtaVp0uTm3M

Shadows trailed behind his every move as he overwhelmed the Vampire with his range and speed, Gon’s strength was far beyond a normal humans’ yet Kailu was not human.

When suddenly the doors came wide open, both the entrance and two others in the hall, guards rushed inside and took aim with their rifles.

Returning to Gon, Kailu found him now standing behind his men, “Gentlemen, fire.” Gon said, and each guard pulled the trigger barraging Kailu with a flurry of lead.

Kailu bashed his fists down into the ground, forming a barrier of shadows around him, blocking and absorbing the round projectiles before suddenly surging out of it. Tendrils of shadow grew out of his back, giving the guards no time to reload as they filled the hall, impaling each into their chests and slamming them back into the walls.

Gon took his opening, rushing inbetween the tendrils as they collapsed on themselves behind him, trying to stop him but he was suddenly faster than before. Reaching Kailu and grasping his head, Gon slammed him back into the wooden floor, causing a small crater.

Quickly the Vampire retreated back with a leap, coming to stand next to the corpses of his dead guards, wiping blood off his lips as he watched for the dust to settle. “You are no match for me, whatever you might be, nothing on this realm can compare to the power us Vampires obtain from blood!”

And as the dust settled, Kailu rose out of it, a wide wicked grin over his face as his highly amused gaze rose to meet Gon’s. “Then it is a good thing I am not of this realm.” Kailu hissed as shadows now bubbled up like liquid out of his chest, moving to fully engulf his body. “Let us see then, which is stronger. Your blood magic gained from your Blood Lord which…Oh yes, I see the strings holding you…” He said, causing the Vampire’s expression to grow more serious at his words.

“That, against the power I obtain, as a vessel for the Descendant of Wrath!” His voice infusing with mana as the shadows covered up his face too.

Like a wave of darkness Kailu’s shadows burst forth, filling the room as claws of shadow rushed out, gripping and grasping at Gon before raising him off his feet. The darkness flooded the hall, surrounding Gon to where there was no escape. A dozen or more hands of black grabbed at him, slamming him into the wall and cracking it, before out of the wall of darkness Kailu’s eyes formed.

“So tell me, little leech, how do I match up to you now?” Kailu’s reverberating voice asked, as a wicked grin also formed out of the darkness. “Are we equal? Am I still beneath? Or perhaps…Do you fear me now!? Tell me!” Kailu bellowed, sinking Gon further into the stone as the Vampire’s expression turned ghostly from fear.

“Come on now, where did all your fancy words go? Come on, tell me how you’re better. Tell me how I am no match for you!” Kailu urged as Gon simply shook his head, at a loss for words, “Come then! Belittle me!” The hands of shadow then clenched tightly, sending the vampire screaming in agony as they squashed his flesh and bones.

“Confront me!”

Splashing out blood from where the claws pierced or simply crushed.

“Fight me!”

Crushing his body further and further into the stone.

As Kailu’s grin widened.

“Weak, useless pawn. I guess I haven’t had breakfast yet, have I?” Kailu pondered, as Gon now shook his head more vivaciously, tears brought on by pure fear trickling down his powdered cheeks.

But before Kailu could sink his fangs, a voice came from upstairs, like a cold wind in a winter night it reached him.

“I would prefer, if you did not eat my attendants.” The voice said, shaking Kailu to his core and forcing him back to his humanoid form, releasing Gon to fall unconscious onto the ground.

“They are hard to replace.” The voice said again, as a figure appeared at the top of the steps. Young and pale-skinned with long blonde hair and bright crimson eyes. Unchallenged beauty surrounding a gaze filled with death.

The young woman gazed down at Kailu with poise, “You come into my dear attendants home, where he graciously keeps me as his guest. You dirty the floors I would walk, the walls I would see, kill the servants who would aid me and the guards who would protect me.”

An aura of death filled the entire building, descending upon Kailu like a mountain’s weight over his shoulders, keeping him still and frozen where he was.

“Tell me,” A vicious tone left her dainty lips, “Why should I not kill you?”

A long pause of cold silence filled time amongst them, seemingly faced with a very possible end to his life, Kailu though was never one to think through his spoken words.

So he simply did what he always does.

“Because…”

He spoke his mind as true as ever.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

He said, causing the Blood Lord’s eyes to narrow further.

“Golden hair like the flames surrounding the molten red sun that are your sapphire eyes…” Truly Kailu was stricken.

And sensing the truth in his words, the woman couldn’t stop a blush from reaching her cheeks, glancing away from him in embarrassment. “F-Fool! D-Do you want those to be your final words!?” She exclaimed, unable to believe this man for his idiocy…Yet, she couldn’t help but wonder why.

As her gaze returned to his stupefied face and affixed eyes.

No one has ever dared…speaking like that to me…

She thought, meeting his expression of amazement with her own further reddening face.

Then pondering, what might he be thinking after saying those words?

Unbeknownst to her, Kailu’s thoughts were a tad different from what she imagined.

She looks almost exactly like my lord! Gold hair! Red eyes when angry!

Also, unbeknownst to her, albeit Kailu having the body of a young adult…

Master Nerrick would agree! She’s a gender-bend of Lord Erik!

In Elf-years, he was still but a child.