Chapter 56: Sibling Quarrel
Deep within the vast Aldric Mountains, a vampire princess awakened from a lengthy slumber. Snow-white fingers with deathly sharp black nails appeared on the rim of a crudely constructed wooden box. The owner of the hand put some force into their grip, causing the wood to creak in protest as they pulled themselves from the depths of the box.
A woman with hair as white as her skin surveyed the bland stone room with her bored red eyes. She let out a disinterested sigh as an insatiable thirst left her mouth parched. Running her tongue along her rows of teeth, she played with her two enlarged fangs. Releasing another sigh, she pushed her naked body out of the box and stood there in the room with her hands on her hips. There was no sign of furniture or any other items, for that matter. Well, apart from the single wooden box found in the center of the room.
The door to the room slowly screeched open, yet the girl just gave the intruder a sideways glance. A middle-aged woman with below-average features entered. She was wrapped up in warm clothes but still seemed to shiver from the freezing cold winds within the tunnels of the cave.
"Princess Wilson, you have awoken..." the middle-aged woman said in a flat tone.
Vanity Wilson didn’t even acknowledge the woman. The thirst was driving her crazy.
"It has been a long three months. You must be thirsty?" the woman said with a neutral voice as if stating the obvious.
Vanity finally looked at the woman with her predatory gaze. The woman’s neck smelled of cheese and vitality, making her nose twitch. Vanity hated the smell of cheese; hence, she chose this human livestock to be her servant. She had used a Blood Contract to enslave her.
Vanity wordlessly made her way toward the door and strode past the shivering servant. Wind Runes were implanted in the passageway to move the stale air. Vanity was completely unfazed by the chilling wind on her skin as she walked down the tunnel. She turned left at the end and entered a corridor resembling a dungeon.
The smell of feces and body odour tickled her nose, but she didn’t mind it. Instead, she thought back to her weak brother Jack, who always winced at the smell and found it rather adorable. On the left-hand side were human women in rags. Vanity gave them a casual glance. Although many of them had exotic flavours, she personally preferred the men situated on the right side. Many were thin from malnourishment, but the occasional one, usually fresh, still had some fat on them.
Vanity observed one man with blond hair hiding in the corner. She licked her lips. This man hadn’t been here three months ago. Opening the rusty iron cell door, she walked past the other prisoners and paused before the man.
Nobody dared to escape; some had tried in the past, but this seemingly innocent girl was ridiculously strong and equally fast. All escapees were hunted down and ripped apart within seconds.
Realising he was the target, the blond man began begging. "Please... not me, NO NO! AHHH!" He desperately pressed his back against the jagged cave wall while screaming curses.
Vanity’s soulless eyes flashed with a sinister glint. The ones who fought back were her favourite. She didn’t pick the man for his looks or charm. Only the scent of his blood that smelled of roasted bison enticed her to taste him. Vanity’s claws elongated, and she rammed her hand through the man’s stomach, pinning him to the cave wall. He screamed and howled, but that only made Vanity more excited. She loved this feeling of superiority and control over a livestock’s life and death. Only her dear brother Jack had a similar taste in controlling prey. Her eldest brother, Karpov, didn’t understand the joy that came with playing with one’s food.
Vanity’s jaw opened, revealing her fangs. The man’s neck called to her as she sank them in. Pleasure overwhelmed her body as she greedily drank the nectar of life. After a minute, the blond man’s body went limp as he died. Feeling satisfied with her meal, Vanity dropped the lifeless husk on the floor. She left the corpse behind as she knew the other men locked in the cell would appreciate the meal. After all, she wasn’t that heartless to deprive her lovely livestock of her leftovers.
The moment she left the cell, the men scrambled to devour the dead.
With her hunger satisfied and feeling bored again, Vanity debated going back to sleep. After living for hundreds of years, just existing became a chore she would rather avoid. Deciding she should visit her brothers before sleeping again, she headed toward their rooms.
Jack’s room was the closest, so she went there first. After knocking on the room’s wooden door and receiving no response, she forced her way inside. Similar to her own room, it was empty except for a wooden box in the middle. However, to Vanity’s surprise, it was vacant.
Turning to the human servant that smelled of cheese who had been silently following her this entire time, Vanity said, "Where is my dearest brother, mortal? Answer me now."
The middle-aged woman thought for a moment before replying, "After Prince Jack’s birthday, you went to sleep. During this time, Prince Jack went to visit the human realm."
Vanity scoffed at the human’s reply. "Foolish human. Why would Brother ever go to such a place? Even though we are strong, he was a weakling compared to the rest of us. I must speak to my eldest brother about this matter."
Pushing past the disgusting human, Vanity made her way through the tunnels toward Karpov’s room. All the tunnels looked the same, carved from the bare rock.
* * *
Mage Tower Monster Records — Page 4267
Theory proposed by Sir Edgar Larsen, Year 1338
The vampire’s origin had remained a mystery even after five hundred years of study. However, a recent discovery of an ancient record suggests that a cult of necromancers wishing for immortality conducted experiments on a mining town that resided at the base of the Aldric Mountain Range. After the local baron failed to receive his taxes that season, he dispatched tax collectors to the mining town. Yet only a single tax collector returned. After being questioned, the baron deemed the tax collector’s statements regarding bloodthirsty monsters infesting the town as crazy and executed the tax collector for fraud. After investigating the site himself, the baron also vanished. The capital sent out investigators, but there was no evidence of anyone apart from deserted towns and signs of fighting. Therefore, the capital decided this was an act of aggression from either Veranthos or one of the countries residing over the mountains.
Upon further inspection of captured specimens of the vampire race, I have a theory that this cult was successful in its ritual and managed to create a hybrid race between the undead and the living. Well, success depends on if they planned to turn themselves into soulless creatures that suffer from an endless thirst for blood.
* * *
Vanity eventually found Karpov’s room and entered without even knocking. Just the sounds emanating from within told her all she needed to know. An absolute hulk of a man with long white hair lay on the stone floor, having sex with a brown-haired livestock. She screamed in agony with every thrust. Several other humans huddled together in the corner of the expansive room.
Seeing how violent her dear elder brother was being to the pathetic livestock, Vanity asked, "Something the matter, brother?"
"Oh, Vanity, you’re awake? Perfect, I was about to hold court. House Destrym and Vernius have issues with the hunting ground allocations," Karpov replied in his thundering voice over the screams.
Vanity’s face instantly scrunched up in disgust. "I hate court. Last time, it lasted five years before House Thornvlad finally conceded on the matter."
Karpov nodded and said in a calm tone in between the woman’s screams, "Exactly. That’s why I am getting all my pent-up lust out first."
"AHHHHHH!" With a final scream, the woman’s head fell back, and her eyes showed whites.
"Oops," Karpov said. With one hand, he pushed the corpse off to the side. "They are so darn fragile."
Standing up, Karpov towered over three meters. Vanity only reached his belly button and had to look straight up to meet his eyes. He casually kicked the corpse into a hole in the center of his room. The sound of claws scraping along walls could be heard as something moved in the hole. Vanity looked down and saw a sickly-looking human approaching the corpse. A thrall. Humans corrupted by vampires’ blood. They were mindless drones that only obeyed simple commands from their master.
Vanity thought it laughable that the humans called these creatures vampires as well. The thrall looked up with its lifeless eyes. Drool escaped between its shark-like teeth. Without further delay, it grabbed the corpse and feasted on the blood remaining in the body.
"Why do you keep a thrall in your room, anyway? Aren’t they usually kept on the lower levels?" Vanity questioned, slightly amused at the thrall’s antics.
Karpov answered as if it were obvious. "Well, they don’t break as quickly. A simple drop of blood and they regenerate within minutes."
Vanity just looked at the thrall, which was basically a moving corpse since it was classified as undead and would burn under the wrath of the sun. She had complicated thoughts on her brother’s habits, but on the other hand, she had done worse. So who was she to judge?
"Brother, before we go to court, can you tell me where Jack is?"
Karpov glared at her, and his black nails elongated to the size of swords. His long white hair began fluttering around, and his muscles bulged from rage. Vanity just watched her brother’s change in mood with a bored expression. She already knew what came next.