Dinner parties are long as shit.

Turaya would've been falling asleep in her chair if she needed to sleep in the first place. Everything was so boring. The Pope was too afraid to hold intelligent conversation with her, the Duke nor his son was intelligent in the first place, and Adelaide was ignoring her because why not. Little thing should be glad she mellows out when she's older. No one likes a brat.

The King, on the other hand, was much too eager to talk to talk to her. How her schooling abroad was, her age (She had decided on twenty as the late oldest daughter from House Giandim had been eighteen), if there was anyone who could confirm her identity. In other words, the King was trying to see if she was legitimate or not. However, Turaya had decided to prevent anymore talking on his part by talking with Renaut.

"Do you like the food?" She had asked.

"I don't like spinach."

"It's good for you, though."

Renaut could only pout. "It tastes like wet leaves."

"When did you taste wet leaves?"

The two made eye contact for a bit before Renaut began to obediently eat the spinach on his plate. Turaya could only laugh softly.

"You and Renaut seem quite close, Lady Tua."

Turaya wanted to groan, but she had to keep up appearances. A smile was put on her face as she replied to Edric.

"He's my little brother, of course we're close. Aren't you and Adelaide close as well?" Turaya truly regretted pulling him in. It was easy, sure, but he was annoying as hell and would probably be on her heels all the time. There was also the fact that he'd been staring at her breasts ratehr than her eyes when they talked so that was something.

"Of course we-"

"Aren't."

Adelaide suddenlt cut in, her face a bit sour as she ate from her own plate. Ah, she and Renaut made the same expression when eating spinach. How cute.

Edric made an uncomfortable face at Adelaide's remark. "A-Adelaide..."

The young girl made no move to engage in conversation again and Turaya stood up from her seat to avoid any more conversation once again.

"Do pardon my departure, but I have to freshen up."

And she was out of the dining room to supposedly use the restroom. Sure, she felt a bit guilty leaving the young Renaut alone in that dining room but she knew that he'd be fine. She had told him what to do and what not to do if she ever had to leave the room in great detail.

"Jules, you still in there?"

[ Yes, Host! I'm right here! I've just been busy. ]

"Busy doing what?" Turaya asked, making a turn here and there randomly. She actually just wanted to look around the castle, as she'd only ever read about them. Well, there was that time as Annabell when she got to go to what was similar to Ireland and visit a couple of keeps and castles for research but that was after they'd been long vacated. This castle was full of life. There was also that servant following her but they had been easily lost in the twists and turns that the blonde vampire took.

[ With nothing in particular. Just trying to remember some things! ^-^ ]

"Good on you, Jules! Just keep practicing remembering and you'll be able to do it naturally."

Her encouragement warmed the System's heart, if it had one, but they couldn't help but feel bad for lying. Truthfully, they were working hard with Berry to find that third mysterious System. Together they had come to one of two conclusions. The first being that there was a System forming at the moment in this world and they needed to withdraw their Hosts so they wouldn't be destroyed in the explosion, the second being there was a Wild System in the world which was just as dangerous.

Unlike Managed Systems like Jules and Berry, Wild Systems had no rules or regulations. Like their name suggested, they and their Host could run wild and do whatever they wished which could directly interfere with their own Host's work. Hell, Wild Systems could just destroy the entire world with their Hosts in it if they felt bored! The thing is, they had no way of telling where a Wild System was like they could a fellow Managed System.

In other words, this world might be doomed to fail!

While Jules was going through a crisis, albeit a late one as Berry had to explain everything to them, Turaya found herself smelling something quite sweet. At first she thought she was near the kitchen as the cooks were preparing dessert, but she quickly found that where she was didn't fit that image. It was actually quite a bit darker and damper where she was in comparison to the rest of the castle. There were especially more torches here.

"Jules, where did I wander to?"

[ I believe that you're currently in the castle dungeons! How exciting! That reminds me, one of my new features is GPS! ]

She could only mentally applaud her System. "Nice. Well, since I'm already here might as well explore the criminals of the kingdom."

Turaya actually wanted to explore because the smell of blood was getting stronger and sweeter the deeper she got into the dungeon. Once in awhile she had to duck behind a wall to hide from a guard (and sometimes incapacitate one) but gradually as she got deeper into the dungeon, it got darker and the smell of blood got more tempting.

Eventually she found the source of the intoxicating smell. Brooke couldn't believe she was calling the scent of blood intoxicating.

In a cell at the very end of the hallway with mold and other scents one would expect of a dungeon, there was the overpowering scent of blood both fresh and dried. It made Turaya salivate until she saw the actual scene inside of the cell.

There was a man, a young adult perhaps, chained up by his neck, arms, and torso. He was covered in bruises and wounds, both being old and new. In other words, he looked fucked up. While Turaya's face was completely blank, like it was the same shit different day, Brooke was gagging. One had to remember, she was still just a teenage girl. While she had been murdered, in no other instance had she encountered such severe violence done to a human being. Sure, she had read about it on the news but had never witnessed it first hand.

Her first world had been one familiar to her, a high school drama. This was completely out of her comfort zone. Brooke was actually close to just asking Jules to take her out of the world immediately. That was before the man in the cell spoke to her.

"What're you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

The man looked up at her and the next words he had seemed to get stuck in his throat. His eyes were a magenta color that she had never seen before. That was when Turaya realized why this man's blood smelt so good. He was no man.

He was a fellow vampire.

[ Wow, Host! You've found a Secret Character! ]

"Secret Character?" Turaya asked, eyes never leaving the man in the cell. Vampires were supposed to be the most powerful beings in this world. How could one be bleeding, much less captured by human beings?

[ Yes! Secret Characters are special characters that will influence the story's plot depending on the Host's interactions with them! They could be beneficial or harmful, so be very careful how you act around one! ]

"... That's fucking broken."

Jules didn't reply to that, not even with a shrug emoji, so Brooke had no choice but to assume that he didn't want to talk anymore. Finally calming her rapidly beating heart after looking at the bloody scene, she spoke again.

"Why are you trapped here? As far as I remember, vampires have too much pride to be caught by humans like this." Turaya's voice was cold, but it was in no way mocking. If anything you could hear a bit of worry in her tone, though it was barely noticeable.

The man looked down in shame. "Those Vampire Hunters are getting stronger these days. You should leave young one, they could come back at anytime-"

"Two-thousand nine hundred seventy-one."

"Huh?"

"That is my age. I am not a young one."

The air between them was quiet before the man in the cell began to laugh. Turaya's facial expression didn't change but she almost began to pout. What was so funny? Was this guy truly older than her? But then he said something else.

"You were mad about me mistaking you for young rather than the fact I tried to protect you?" The strange man could only say this through giggles.

Turaya looked a bit annoyed now. "I am a bit mad about that now that you mention it. Now, tell me who you are."

The other vampire finally calmed down and stopped his laughing as he looked at Turaya. He had quite the unusual appearance with his magenta eyes and dark blue hair. Nothing about him seemed to match but they also went together quite well. It was strange.

"My name is Etienne, Miss."

"Well then, Etienne, would you like to get out of this cell?"

Etienne looked at her strangely for a bit before nodding. "Sure I would. Would've broken out of these" he shook the chains on his arms. "things long ago if it weren't that they had been blessed."

As the Empress Vampire, Turaya wasn't effected by blessed items. Convenient. She gave him a smile.

"I can get you out, but I need a favor from you."

Etienne looked at her silently for a bit before revealing a fanged grin that resembled hers.

"I'm all ears."

--------

Renaut had sat in the dining room quietly after Turaya excused herself, leaving him alone in a den of wolves. He wasn't upset though, quite on the contrary. He was excited. It wasn't often as a ten-year-old that he got to do anything fun.

"Renaut." His name was whispered from a little ways away, coming in a voice he had grown to hate over only an hour. Edric.

"Hm?" Renaut didn't feel like dignifying him with a worded response. He hated Edric.

He had always been a bit jealous. Back when he was a teenager was when it was the worst by far, but years had mellowed him out. However, Edric was making his green-eyed monster rear its ugly head all over again. Renaut had seen the way the other man looked at Turaya and already wanted to pull his eyes out of their sockets. Renaut could only do so much in this body though.

His current goal was to grow old enough and strong enough to punch Edric into his next lifetime. Not very ambitious but it was a start.

"Do you know if your sister has any..." Edric paused as if trying to find the correct word. "Partner?"

Renaut paused as if in thought before an evil little thought crept into his head.

"Yes, I do. I've met him before too. He's a very jealous man from what I can gather, a giant to boot! I believe he was apart of the Knightsmen Guard in the kingdom Sister was studying in."

The red-headed boy laughed heartily on the inside at the sight of Edric's face paling considerably. That would keep him away for a good while. From what he had gathered, Edric was a gossip too. That would keep anyone away for a good while.

Finally, Turaya returned to the dining room with a slight smile on her face and sat gracefully into her chair. The young boy couldn't help but feel a dark premonition in his mind at the sight of her smile. He had only known Turaya for a day or so (well, a good couple of years but that was different) but he could tell she was a bit of a schemer.

Whatever she had done while she was gone, he doubted it stopped at using the bathroom.

That was when the official main course of the meal came out from the kitchen.

The dishes were placed on the center of the table in an extravagantly distasteful way. For some reason, this seemed to make Turaya even happier though Renaut wasn't sure why. He finally knew when the tops of the covered dishes were removed to reveal a disgusting sight.

Instead of royal delicacies, there was blood and entrails. To garnish were insects of all sorts, wriggling and crawling over the gory display and making it more traumatizing. It was no wonder that Turaya covered his eyes so quickly before he could see anymore.

The thing that terrified the three main players at the table, however, was a message written on the largest plate in blood with garish letters.

'The spirits will not rest.'

It was at the sight of that message that four different reactions.

The Pope fell from his chair and fainted upon the floor, twitching like he was having a seizure.

Duke Briovalin was covering his daughter's eyes and looking like he had been possessed by a sickly ghost.

The King was shouting obscenities and calling for every guard and servant in the castle to explain this mess.

And Turaya was cackling like a maniac on the inside while looking like a terrified young lady, covering her younger brother's eyes.

To put things simply, dinner may have ended early but it was a main course to remember if one was to keep their life.

Brooke was sure she had graduated from being a high schooler until when she got home and spent hours throwing up.