Corrupted blood lord

When the shadows swallowed Meralyn Skallion, the room was silent for a moment.

Teclos quickly moved and destroyed half of the room, leaving a distinct body imprint on the ground near the hand, as if she had been slammed into it with crushing force.

Her blood was all over the room, and it was properly destroyed, as if she had tried to put up a fight.

Then he wiped some of the blood across his mouth.

The barrier around the room trembled as Axel reached the hallway outside. Teclos let it weaken gradually, as if he had just destroyed it and it was dissipating now.

He struck the walls with dark mana, cutting through the carved runes around the office and breaking them apart violently so that the runes were completely ruined and unrecognizable.

Axel noticed a heartbeat later and rushed to the door. He stepped inside and scanned the whole room. He was on edge and prepared for a battle, but the only thing he saw was a destroyed room and blood everywhere.

He froze for a second.

He finally wanted to relax now that the job was over, but then he did not see a body. Only an arm on top of the broken desk, with that deep human-shaped mark on the ground, as if Teclos had pressed the countess down so hard it should have broken every bone in her body.

Teclos stood in the middle of it all, with a smear of blood on his mouth.

Axel looked around again, and a questioning look formed on his face.

"Where is the body?"

Teclos licked the blood from his lower lip and smiled. "Gone."

Axel’s gaze moved to the pale arm and then back to him. "Gone where?"

"I drained her and tossed what was left into the river downstream," Teclos said. "Less evidence that way."

Axel was dumbfounded for a few seconds.

"Less evidence?" he repeated, looking at the room again.

Teclos shrugged. "Ah, well... I got thirsty, you see, and if they found out that this was a vampire’s doing, the Church would have gotten involved. By the time they find her in the river, if they find her that is, her body would already be decomposed enough for them to find jack shit."

Axel nodded at the sound explanation, but his expression did not change. Teclos could feel the doubt coming from him.

The old man stepped farther into the room and looked around. "Why could I not sense inside?"

"There were runes around the office," Teclos said, pointing with his sword. "I destroyed them, of course."

Axel crouched near one of the broken markings and brushed his fingers over the damaged stone.

"Of course... but aren’t these just ordinary privacy runes?"

"Yes and no. Some of them were enchanted with a strengthening seal and a trap enchantment."

"What?!" he said, turning around. "And you destroyed them that quickly?"

"Well, I didn’t give her a chance to use them, you know."

Axel was still doubtful. The story made sense, so why did he feel like Teclos was lying? He looked at Teclos one last time.

But Teclos just kept calm. The blood on his mouth, the destroyed room, a whole arm of the countess, and her blood everywhere helped sell the story better than his words, but still...

Axel wanted to doubt him.

Teclos could see it.

The old man’s instincts were sharp, and he had that gnawing feeling inside his mind, telling him something was wrong. But instincts alone were not proof enough.

And more than anything else, Teclos was a thrall to an overly strong noble vampire. Breaking that pact was impossible.

A weak thrall could never betray Luther. That was the law Axel trusted the most.

That was the unbreakable chain everyone believed was absolute.

So Axel eventually stood up and let out a quiet sigh.

"You became messy. Did that wyvern fight get to your head?" he said.

"The job is done. That is all that matters."

"Yes, but being sloppy like this will come back to bite you someday..."

"Please, even the Church has to be careful with us in the end."

Axel looked at the blood on his mouth, then clicked his tongue. "Brat, you don’t see reason anymore... fine, do what you want. It’s not my problem if you get killed. Let’s leave before the whole manor wakes up."

Teclos nodded, and they disappeared from the castle. The alarm rose not long after, and the whole castle stirred awake.

A servant who came to the countess’s office with refreshments screamed. Bells started ringing through the manor, and the guards shouted from the halls, their boots thundering as they searched the whole castle with weapons in hand.

But they did not find anything.

Once the city walls were behind them, Axel finally stopped. He looked back toward the distant lights of Skallion Manor.

Then he looked at Teclos.

"Looks like we stirred up the hornet’s nest pretty good... we’ll skip the tavern and make camp in the forest."

"Sure."

Axel watched him for any change in his expression, but the kid had become too damn good at keeping a calm face ever since he got turned.

Finally, the old man turned away and sighed.

They disappeared into the dark.

—

Meralyn Skallion woke on the forest floor and nearly choked on her first breath.

She coughed violently, rolling onto her side as cold air tore into her lungs. For a few horrifying seconds, she still felt that void around her. That airless, crushing nothing that the vampire had called a teleportation portal.

It had lasted for only a moment, but to her, it felt like an eternity.

Her body shook as she pushed herself upright with only one arm. She looked at her left side, which was now empty, and missed her arm already.

But at least she was alive.

When she looked down, a surprise backpack waited there, lying on the ground in front of her.

Meralyn stared at it.

Then she carefully reached forward and opened it, though with some difficulty.

Inside was a dark cloak. It looked enchanted and warm. She also had a dagger, dried meat, hard bread, a small waterskin, a map, and a compass. There were also a few coins wrapped in cloth at the bottom.

Surprisingly, she also had her house’s insignia... the contents simply made her stare in disbelief.

Then a dry, humorless laugh slipped from her throat.

"What a kind vampire."

The words sounded absurd the moment she said them.

That thing had appeared in her office like a grim reaper stepping out of a nightmare. Red eyes, pale face, dark mana, and an aura so heavy that it made her unable to think or even breathe. He had cut off her hand, gagged her, bound her, and spoken to her like she did not really matter.

And yet, instead of killing her, he had saved her. Meralyn shuddered when she thought about what would have happened if that vampire did not hate his master.

That was all it was.

Luck.

If his master had more control over him, she would have died a gruesome death then and there.

Luther Vael’thorr.

Count Aweq Van Denos.

Meralyn’s face hardened, and her anger flared.

So that was how low Aweq had fallen.

She had denied him the right to move those drugs through her territory. She had refused his trade pressure, blocked his allies, and warned two smaller houses that his offers came with chains hidden underneath the shiny gold. She had expected bribes. Threats at most.

But sending vampires to kill her?

The bastard had brought undead into noble politics and expected to get away with it?

Meralyn pulled the cloak around her shoulders and forced herself to stand. The map showed the forest road east of her city, a hunter’s path leading westward to the Tessania Kingdom, but she had plans of her own and would take a longer route that curved toward the capital.

Aweq apparently had no idea how close the royal family was to the Dawn Church. Or he did know and was too arrogant to care.

Either way, his own ignorance would be his downfall.

She did not need to flee the county forever either. She swore that she would return, take her county back, and in the process, take Aweq’s too. Officially, she was dead now. So that meant she was free from prying eyes and safe from the clutches of the vampires.

Free to strike back at them from somewhere he could not easily reach her.

Meralyn took off toward the capital.

If Aweq wanted to play a dirty game, then so be it.

She would make sure the Church and the royals learned of every filthy detail.

—

Teclos and Axel leisurely returned to Lupos in about the same time it had taken them to reach Skallion.

There was no need to be quick, as the patrols would have their hands full at the moment, searching for the countess. They even camped at the same spots and later reached the city before the next evening. Axel spoke little on the way back. He did not openly accuse Teclos, but he did look at him every now and then. Teclos felt the old man’s gaze, still full of doubt.

Suspicious.

But what could that idiot do? He believed that Teclos was still firmly bound by the chains.

They rode straight to the castle, where Luther received them in one of the study rooms instead of the throne hall. Count Aweq was there too, seated near the fire with a cup of wine in his hand. He looked calm and bored when Axel bowed his head.

"It is done," Axel said. "Countess Meralyn Skallion is dead."

Aweq smiled.

Luther, on the other hand, looked at Teclos with a serious expression.

"Report," he said.

The command pulled at Teclos’s mind. It was time for the ultimate test.

Could he lie directly to his face?

His body wanted to obey, and his thoughts wanted to spill everything in order. What really happened in the office. The countess lived. The lies he told to Axel. Where he sent her.

Teclos felt the chain around his neck tighten.

But the force of the chain was nowhere near as sharp as before, and he could resist it still, even with a direct order and Luther right in front of him.

He lowered his head and forced his lies out. "We infiltrated the manor after nightfall. The guards were neutralized without raising the alarm, and nobody saw us. The target was not in her bedchamber, so we split up to search."

Luther’s eyes remained fixed on him.

Teclos continued carefully. "I found her in her office. She attempted to use the runes inside the room, but I destroyed them before she could. She resisted, but I subdued her with force easily. Lastly, I killed her and tossed her body into the river downstream after I drank a bit, so that the Church wouldn’t suspect a vampire doing this."

Axel added, "The room was covered in blood. Her arm was left behind. The manor alarm was raised after we withdrew."

Aweq leaned back, satisfied. "Good. Without a body, the Church won’t get involved... nice thinking. Her supporters may make noise, but with the absence of their lord, they are easy targets."

Luther did not look away from Teclos and asked a final question.

"Any complications?"

"Nothing noteworthy. She had decent mana for a human, but the mission was still easily completed."

Luther studied him for a few seconds before he nodded. "An acceptable result."

Teclos then felt the pressure ease, and he laughed inside his mind.

A thrill and glee spread through his body as he had done the previously unthinkable.

He still told a believable lie and mixed in some truths just to be on the careful side, but this experiment was a success.

Aweq raised his cup to his lips and smiled. "Skallion County will become much easier to handle now."

"Establish the drug route first so we can distribute it faster," Luther said.

Aweq nodded, and Luther turned away, already losing interest.

"You may go. Write the full report by morning."

"Yes, my lord," Teclos said.

Teclos and Axel left the room without looking back. Only once he was alone in the hallway did his expression change.

A smile spread across his face.

He had planted a seed that could one day destroy them both, and neither of them knew.

Even if Vael’thorr was powerful, the Church was stronger.

And Teclos now found himself hoping to see both sides tear each other apart.

His smile slowly turned more sinister, and for a moment, his bloodlust almost slipped free.

’Oh... the day I see their headless corpses lying in front of me will be the sweetest day of my life.’

Now he only needed to find a way to make them suffer before the Church took their heads.