CHAPTER 28: PROVE YOURSELF
The crimson light began to settle, revealing a man who looked like he had been costumed by a Victorian tailor with a grudge against the sun. He was tall, dangerously thin, and wearing a high-collared velvet coat that had more lace than a bridal shop. His skin was the color of unbaked dough, contrasting sharply with messy black hair and eyes that glowed like embers in a fireplace.
He looked around the room, spotted the small child on the swing, and immediately struck a pose: one hand on his hip, the other sweeping through the air.
“Kneel, mortal!” he thundered, his voice echoing. “You have broken the seals of the Abyss! I am Valthazar the Eternal, the Blood-Drinker of the Crimson Moon, the Scourge of—”
He stopped mid-sentence because Hania was squinting at him.
“Is that a fake fang?” she asked, pointing a blunt finger. “The left one looks like it’s slipping. You might want to fix your glue.”
The vampire’s dramatic aura popped like a bubble. He reached up, frantically poking at his canine. “It is not glue! It is a temporary structural misalignment due to the sudden shift in atmospheric pressure!”
“Uh huh.”
“And who told you to speak, tiny snack?”
Hania didn’t look terrified. She looked like she was watching a mediocre street performer. “I’m Hania. And you’re a vampire. Obviously.”
“Obviously?” the man huffed, straightening his lace cuffs. “I could be a shadow demon! A dark elf! A very pale human with an expensive tailor!”
“You have red eyes, fangs, you’re wearing velvet, and you haven’t blinked once since you got here,” Hania listed off, kicking her legs to keep the swing moving. “You’re a textbook vampire. Probably a High Lord, given the sheer amount of unnecessary embroidery on that coat. And you tried to scare me just now.”
“I did. It usually works on mortals.” He gave her another half-hearted fang-bearing smile. “Boo.”
Hania’s mouth twitched. Then she started giggling. “That was the weakest ‘boo’ I’ve ever heard. You look like you’d rather take a nap than drink my blood.”
The vampire’s smirk faltered. “Excuse me?”
“You’re lazy,” Hania said cheerfully, kicking her legs to swing higher. “Like, really lazy. I’ve seen more intimidating house cats.”
The vampire blinked. His scary vibe flickered. “I… I am a terror of the night. I have slept for centuries!”
“How many?” Hania asked.
“Five hundred! Or six hundred. I stopped counting after the Great Plague because calendars are tedious!” He narrowed his eyes. “Wait, why am I explaining this to a snack?”
Hania kept swinging, studying him like a mildly interesting bug. “You don’t even know who my dad is, do you? You missed the whole Dragon War, the empire stuff, the curses… everything. You woke up and immediately got summoned by a seven-year-old using a fish doodle. That’s actually embarrassing. Even for a five-hundred-year-old shut-in.”
The vampire’s pale cheeks actually flushed a tiny bit. He coughed, looking away. “The circumstances of my awakening are… unconventional.”
“Unconventional?” Hania laughed. “You got yoinked out of eternal sleep by a kid who drew a fish tail instead of a proper rune. If I were you, I’d be mortified. I’d go back to sleep out of pure shame.”
The vampire’s pride visibly took a hit. “I can go wherever I want! I was the King of the Night before I decided a nap was more interesting than politics!”
“Yeah, sure,” Hania said, sounding bored. “This is the Tower of the Silent Frost. My dad, Dravin Kuro Noctis, sealed it tight. Even a ‘terror of the night’ would get turned into a vampire-flavored ice cube if he tried to leave. You’ll probably just stay here and become my new pet. I’ll call you Fluffy.”
“FLUFFY?!” The vampire’s fangs actually did show this time as his face twisted in outrage. “I am Valthazar! I do not ‘fluff’! And who is this ‘Dravin’? Is he some minor court mage who thinks he can hold a Lord of the Bloodline?”
“He’s the Archmage of the North. He killed a Dragon King. He turns people into jelly when he’s bored,” Hania said, her voice dropping into a tricky, soft tone. “But hey, it’s fine. You stay here. I’ll get Kofery to bring you some warm milk. You look like you need the calcium.”
“I do not want milk!” Valthazar hissed, stepping closer to the swing.
“Words are easy,” Hania said, looking at her nails like she didn’t care. “You say you can leave, but I see a guy who’s too lazy to fix his own collar. You’ll stay here, get caught by my spider nanny.” Hania glanced at Lulu on the ceiling. Lulu clicked. “She eats things like you for breakfast. Bit of a delicacy, apparently. I’m sure she’ll be gentle.” She paused. “Probably. And end up as a rug in the lab. Sad ending. Unless…”
Valthazar looked at the ceiling. At Lulu’s eight eyes, all of which were pointed at him with focused attention. “Unless what?” the vampire growled.
“Unless you’re actually as strong as you say,” Hania said, leaning forward. “If you were a real Lord of the Night, you could slip through those wards easy. You could even take something with you just to prove it. Like a trophy. But that sounds like a lot of work, right? Breaking the world’s strongest security just to show off? You probably don’t have the energy. You’ve been asleep for 500 years; your magic is probably all… dusty.”
Valthazar let out a hysterical laugh. “Dusty? You think my power has faded? You think this ‘Dravin’ person can build a cage I can’t break? You think a spider scares me?”
He moved fast. Before Hania could blink, he snatched her off the swing, tucking her under his arm like a sack of grain.
“You want to see ‘tame’?” he growled, his eyes glowing a violent crimson. “I’ll show you the Southern coast, you little brat. I’ll prove how weak your father’s little box really is. You wanted a show of power? You’re coming with me. You’re the trophy I’m taking!”
Hania didn’t scream. She didn’t fight back. As Valthazar began to dissolve into black mist, his body vibrating with the effort of shredding through the Tower’s multi-layered enchantments, she quietly patted the diary hidden in her tunic.
The lab doors? she thought with a hidden, shark-like grin. Nope. Target: The whole world. Status: Successfully abducted by a prideful idiot. Mission: Complete success.
“Hold on tight, kid,” Valthazar hissed through gritted teeth as they hit the first ward line. “This might sting a bit. I haven’t done this since the 5th century!”
“Don’t be annoying, Fluffy,” Hania whispered into his velvet shoulder, feeling the rush of the outside air. “Just keep going. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. And try not to drop me; I’m very fragile.”
The red circle faded behind them, leaving only a faint, fish-tail-shaped scorch mark on the floorboards as a silent witness to the greatest security breach in the history of the Silent Frost.