My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines

Serafall was still sitting in the center of the sofa with an expression that was difficult to read, still processing the fact that she had had a sick son in another life, had slowly sacrificed her own essence to keep him alive, and in the end had watched him die in her arms.

Carmilla remained beside her, much quieter than usual, while Scarlet seemed torn between wanting to ask another hundred questions and simply crossing the table to hug Victor again.

Chysis, on the other hand, kept her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, mentally organizing every piece of information she had just received and trying to fit it into the current situation of the Valentine Family.

Victor watched the four of them for a few seconds, seeing that they were finally finishing digesting all of that information.

"Ah... there’s more," he said casually with a smile.

"Of course there is." Chysis sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for the next bomb.

Victor let out a small laugh.

"This part is less traumatic," he commented with a shrug. "Actually, it’s as simple as Carmilla and Scarlet."

They looked at him in confusion, and he closed his eyes.

His consciousness touched the connection between his mind and the small ring he had been carrying with him for so many months.

"Rowena," he called.

"No."

Her answer came immediately inside his head.

"I didn’t even say anything." He laughed.

"You just told them you reincarnated, and now you’re looking at the four of them like someone about to reveal another pile of shit," Rowena replied. "I know exactly what you’re going to do."

"Then make this easier for me, sweetheart," Victor almost pleaded.

"There are two vampires over there who can probably pulverize a mountain." Rowena pointed out. "I’m not appearing physically or promising the world." She paused. "And don’t call me sweetheart."

"I think all four of them could kill you in one hit, actually." Victor laughed.

"Was that supposed to reassure me?"

"I’m not going to let anyone kill you. Besides, you can appear to them without using your body. Just project yourself there."

There were a few seconds of silence.

Rowena sighed inside his mind.

"If I die again, I’m haunting you."

"You already live inside my head."

"Then I’ll haunt you in an annoying way."

"You already do that too."

"Fuck you."

Victor only smiled in satisfaction. Rowena was not as docile as he would have liked, but she really had become far more sociable during the time they had spent together.

"Who are you talking to?" Serafall immediately noticed from the way he was moving and keeping his eyes closed as if concentrating.

"That’s exactly the next part." Victor opened his eyes.

He raised one hand, showing the ring.

"I found something else during the Ascension Ritual," he commented, the ring on his finger gleaming under the reflection of the ceiling light.

Chysis looked at the piece of jewelry, not impressed in the slightest. It was crude and ancient, looking at least five hundred years old.

"What is that old junk?"

Victor did not answer immediately.

"Rowena, may I?" he asked her mentally.

A few more seconds passed.

Then came a resigned response.

"Just do it," she ordered.

Victor opened his eyes and activated the connection.

The ring warmed.

An extremely fine mist began escaping from its surface, initially only a thin silver strand, but within a few seconds the mist spread across the living room floor and began rising in front of the table.

Scarlet immediately became alert.

Carmilla straightened her posture.

Chysis uncrossed her arms.

Serafall merely watched as the silhouette of a woman began to form from the bottom up, starting with her feet, then legs, thighs, torso, and finally her head.

A white dress took shape around a feminine body, followed by long brown hair falling loosely over her shoulders.

The manifestation became more and more solid, revealing an attractive adult woman with lightly tanned skin and delicate features that contrasted sharply with the uncomfortable expression on her face.

Two lupine ears covered in dark fur rose above her hair.

Behind her, a large bushy tail slowly appeared.

Rowena opened her eyes.

Serafall disappeared.

Victor did not even have time to say her name.

The sofa exploded backward from the force of her launch, and Serafall’s fist crossed the distance between them too fast for Scarlet to properly follow.

Victor stepped into the way.

"WAIT—"

The fist struck his face.

There was no time for pain.

The left half of Victor’s head simply ceased to exist.

The impact crushed his jaw, cheekbone, nose, eye, and part of his skull in a single fraction of a second.

The bones did not even break in any conventional way.

They were pulverized by the force, mixed with flesh before blood, tooth fragments, and brain matter were hurled against the wall behind him.

The residual wind came next.

Every window in the room shattered at the same time.

Glass flew both out of the building and into the room, curtains were ripped from their supports, and a crack ran through the side wall all the way to the ceiling.

What remained of the destroyed portion of Victor’s brain hit the wall with a wet sound, spreading a streak of dark blood and pink tissue over the decoration.

Scarlet’s eyes widened.

Carmilla merely closed her eyes for an instant.

Rowena did not move.

Serafall realized what she had just hit.

"Victor—"

He staggered one step.

Half his face was gone.

His tongue was partially exposed through the missing cheek, his remaining eyeball shifted toward his mother, and an absurd amount of blood ran down his neck, soaking the collar of his clothes.

Then regeneration began.

Muscle fibers appeared first.

Flesh grew over the shattered bone in rapid, repulsively precise movements while pieces of his skull rebuilt themselves from the inside out.

A new eye formed inside the empty socket, blood vessels connected like living roots, and the skin finally sealed everything shut, leaving only blood spread across a completely restored face.

Victor blinked twice.

Then looked at Serafall.

"Finished?"

Serafall remained still.

"You got in the way."

"I noticed."

"She’s a werewolf."

"I know."

Serafall raised her fist again.

"Then move."

"No."

Before she could attack, another presence disappeared from the sofa.

Victor’s eyes widened.

"Grandma, don’t—"

Chysis appeared behind Rowena.

Her strike hit the exact center of the werewolf’s back.

Or it should have.

The fist passed straight through Rowena as if she were made of smoke.

Chysis had only enough time to widen her eyes slightly.

"Ah."

Victor was directly on the other side.

"Shit."

Chysis’s fist entered his abdomen.

This time he felt it.

"GH—!"

Her hand tore through skin, abdominal muscles, stomach, and part of his intestines as if passing through wet paper.

The impact burst through his back and sprayed blood in the opposite direction.

But the worst part was the pressure.

The force of the strike pushed part of his entrails outward.

A bloody segment of intestine was ripped through the opening in his abdomen, thrown over the table, and struck Serafall directly in the face.

She went still.

A piece of intestine slowly slid from her forehead to her shoulder.

Blood dripped from the tip of her nose.

Silence.

Victor lowered his eyes.

There was a hole almost the size of a hand passing completely through his body.

Part of his stomach was destroyed.

A piece of his liver was visible through the opening.

Victor breathed.

A bubble of blood formed inside the wound.

"Fuck..."

Carmilla crossed her legs with all the calm in the world and let out a tired sigh.

"You two are extremely temperamental."

Serafall slowly turned her face toward her.

Carmilla pointed at Rowena.

"Could you wait for Victor to explain before trying to murder a ghost?"

Chysis pulled her hand out of the hole in her grandson’s body.

Victor shuddered.

"Thank you."

"Sorry," Chysis replied.

"That apology sounded far too casual."

"You regenerate."

"That doesn’t mean it’s comfortable."

The wound began closing.

Muscles stretched across the cavity while the destroyed intestine rebuilt itself inside his body.

Blood vessels reconnected, and flesh slowly grew until the enormous hole finally sealed shut.

Victor placed one hand over his abdomen.

"Interesting."

Scarlet was still staring at him in horror.

"INTERESTING?!"

Victor pressed the spot where the wound had been.

"My Body Refinement didn’t stop absolutely anything."

Chysis raised an eyebrow.

Victor looked at her.

"So apparently that Divine Blood Body Refinement Method doesn’t work very well against vampires who have reached the Genesis Stage."

He spent a few seconds thinking.

"At least not yet."

Chysis looked strangely satisfied with that conclusion.

"You expected to stop my fist with muscle?"

"Eventually."

"Keep dreaming."

"I will."

Serafall slowly wiped the blood from her face.

Then looked at Rowena again.

Rowena raised both hands.

"Before you try again, I would like to point out that you literally cannot hit me."

Serafall narrowed her eyes.

"We can test that."

"We don’t need to test it," Victor replied.

Serafall took one step.

Victor placed a hand against her chest.

"Serafall."

"Victor."

"Stop."

"She’s a werewolf."

"And I already know that."

"Then you understand the problem."

"There is no problem."

Serafall tried to move past him.

Victor pushed.

It was not exactly gentle.

The General was lifted off the floor and thrown backward, landing on what remained of the sofa.

The wooden frame groaned under the impact but managed to survive.

Serafall stared at him.

Victor pointed at her.

"Stay."

"Did you just tell your mother to stay?"

"Yes."

"Victor."

"Don’t start."

Chysis moved.

Victor grabbed her wrist.

"You too."

Chysis looked at his hand.

"Let go."

"Promise you won’t punch through my stomach again while trying to hit the ghost woman?"

"No."

"Then no."

Victor pulled.

Chysis let herself move for the first instant simply because she did not expect him to actually do it.

Victor took advantage.

He turned his body and threw his own grandmother directly onto the sofa.

"Victor Valentine!"

Chysis fell beside her daughter.

The sofa finally gave up.

One of its legs snapped.

The two vampires ended up crooked over the destroyed structure.

Victor pointed at them.

"Can everyone calm down now?"

Serafall slowly raised her head.

"I’m going to hit you."

"Later."

Chysis adjusted her dress.

"So am I."

"Get in line."

Carmilla brought one hand to her lips to hide a laugh.

Scarlet was making far less effort.

Rowena remained standing in the center of the room, looking at the destruction around her.

Broken glass.

A wall covered in blood and brain matter.

A destroyed sofa.

A piece of intestine on the floor.

She looked at Victor.

"This is your family?"

"Part of it."

"And you thought introducing me in person was a good idea."

"In my head, it seemed more civilized."

Rowena pointed at the wall.

"Your brain is over there."

Victor looked.

"It grows back."

"That isn’t the point."

Victor ignored her and walked to her side.

Serafall immediately tensed.

Victor noticed.

"Mom."

"I’m calm."

"You’re destroying the arm of the sofa."

Serafall looked at her own hand.

The wood was turning to sawdust between her fingers.

She let go.

"I’m calm."

"Of course."

Victor stood beside Rowena.

Now that everyone had stopped trying to kill her, they could finally observe her properly.

At first glance, she looked completely solid: long brown hair, lupine ears on top of her head, alert eyes, and a large tail moving nervously behind her body.

Her pale clothing contrasted with the distrustful aura she carried, but there was something slightly wrong with her presence.

No heartbeat.

No real breathing.

No scent of blood.

No weight against the floor.

To vampiric senses, Rowena looked like a person drawn over the world.

Victor opened his arms.

"Well."

He looked at the four vampires.

"This is Rowena."

No one answered.

Rowena raised one hand.

"Hi."