Noctem

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The sounds of footsteps reverberated inside a throne room, each step carried with it a faint echo lingering in the vast royal chamber like a soothing whisper.

The throne room was vast, with tall dark pillars rising upwards to an arched ceiling which was adorned with intricate carvings and runic symbols. It was dimly lit by a soft silvery glow of moonlight filtering through large open archways at its sides revealing a mystical view of glowing flowers beneath the vast royal chamber. Their bioluminescence cast soft dim lights of blue and sapphire in a beautiful tapestry of both colors.

The throne — crafted from an obsidian material, sat on a dark stone platform at the far end of the royal chamber seemingly absorbing every light that came in contact with it.

Its design was simply breathtaking, the aesthetic of the throne room, contrasted between dark, soft and simple elements, evoking a sense of solace in its confines.

The footsteps came to a halt, and then a voice reverberated in the throne room.

" My lord, I bring you news."

For a few seconds, the hall was met with an eerie silence, there was no noise of any sort to indicate the presence of another.

A subtle movement was made in the dark hall, then it seemed like the darkness in the chambers came alive.

" Ah.. Aiden, welcome!"

" My lord I.."

" Let's take the conversation elsewhere shall we?"

As soon as those words were said, the scenery changed from the dark royal chamber to a greenhouse adorned with flowers of different varieties from wild roses to blood petals, Daisies and more.

In the center of the garden was a small tea table with two tea cups and a teapot.

On one side of the table, a handsome young man who looked nothing older than twenty was seated on a chair, visibly relaxed. He held a black cane in his left hand while his right hand reached for the teapot. He had dark raven hair, deep crimson eyes and pale skin, his hair was neatly tied into a ponytail which complemented nicely with the white tunic and slacked pants he was wearing.

Standing on the opposite side of the table was a young man who had similar features to the man who was seated.

He had the same raven dark hair, crimson eyes and pale face but unlike the seated man, his hair was short and instead of a tunic, he was wearing a black tuxedo.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he poured tea into both cups then gestured to Aiden who was still standing—

"Aiden , take a seat."

" My lord.."

" Let's drop the formalities, we're alone here so just refer to me as uncle." The seated man said, interrupting Aiden before he could finish.

" My lord, I can't do that."

"Aiden, even though you're not my child you're still family you bear the Ráu Vlad name and you were like a brother to Aurelia and Amelia, while I may have my duties as the monarch, I'd always put my family first, so you don't have to be so tense."

Aiden looked away as though he couldn't stare at the monarch, he hesitated for a while before speaking.

" Uncle Damian, I just returned from the earth realm, the young lord and lady Amelia seem to be doing just fine, they're adapting well to the changes which occured due to 'That' effect."

Damian chuckled slightly.

" That's good, It brings me great joy to know that they're living just fine."

He lingered for a few moments, his smile didn't waver, even as he spoke.

" How about the twins?"

"They're alright my lord, they don't seem to be causing any trouble."

" It seems sai is doing a good job taking good care of them then."

Damian leaned back, relaxing on his seat while taking a sip of his tea, he narrowed his gaze at Aiden but the smile never left his face.

" So, let's hear it."

" Pardon?"

" You said you had some news for me, let's hear it then."

Once again Aiden failed to meet his lord's gaze, but he couldn't look anywhere else as that would be considered an insult to the monarch.

He was sure his strange behavior was already noticed by his lord, which goes without saying. Damian wasn't clueless or laid back as he presented himself, beneath that facade of the carefree benevolent lord he portrayed, was a cold and calculating vampire, Damian Ráu Vlad, the current vampire monarch was known to be a walking disaster and the news Aiden was about to deliver was anything but pleasant.

' How do I tell him.. How do I tell him that? I don't even know the culprit, he.. he would punish me for my incompetence.'

"Aiden? Are you alright?, it's unlike you to behave so nervous, is the news you bear, so unpleasant that you can't tell me?"

Aiden nodded as if to confirm Damian's words.

' No! Pull yourself together Aiden, didn't you already prepare yourself for this? I don't care what punishment I'll receive, he deserves to know,'

" Uncle..." He muttered hesitantly.

His heart raced and his throat ran dry, it was unlike him to be so tense, but the news he had, depending on the way he relayed it, might trigger the Monarch's rage much more than it was supposed to.

" Aurelia... It's about Aurelia."

Damian's brow rose slightly at the mention of his daughter but he remained silent, feigning indifference, while bringing the tea cup to his lips.

Aiden continued speaking, his voice quaked and his hands trembled, it seemed as if he couldn't bear to hear the news himself even when he was the one relaying it.

" Aurelia.. Aurelia is... She's dead!!" He blurted out.

Damian froze whilst his hand tightened around the delicate teacup until it splintered with a sharp crack, honey coloured liquids dripped down his hands and he clenched his cane tightly until his already pale hands turned white. His smile was gone and his gaze became cold.

" Aiden" Damian calmly called, and Aiden couldn't help but flinch. " You knew Aurelia better than everyone, me included, you've fought alongside her before and you clearly know what she's capable of, do you believe such a formidable warrior and a royal vampire no less would be put to rest so easily?."

Aiden remained silent for a second then said in a low voice.

" If there was truly someone who could battle Aurelia and kill her, then the battle would have been destructive and the tremors would reach the far ends of the mystic realm, however there was no such enemy."

Damian stared at Aiden, clearly in disbelief at the words he had spoken.

" What are you implying, I'm sure you know this but vampires don't just die easily, we're a cursed race and so, it's unlikely that she just died naturally."

" Yes I am aware of that uncle but on my way back from the earth realm, I detected a dark mana lingering close to the dark forest and when I arrived there, it was littered with corpses of humans and werewolves alike, it seemed a major battle took place there." Aiden informed, but there was uncertainty in his tone, it was as though he was missing something and he realized that as he spoke.

" Did you see Aurelia's body among the dead?*

Aiden shook his head slowly.

" No I didn't, however there were traces of her blood arts and mana as well as their blood."

Damian remained silent for some seconds before asking

" How about her husband?"

" His body wasn't among the dead as well."

Damian didn't utter another word, instead he fell deep in thought and after a short while a scowl graced his face.

" Uncle? Is there a problem." Aiden asked, his worry evident.

Damian exhaled deeply before responding .

" I merely had a thought, you need not concern yourself with me."

" Uncle, I must inform you of something else as well, while I was within the area where the battle had taken place, I came across some humans. They seemed to be looking for something so I had interrogated a few before killing them."

" Did you find anything useful?" Damian inquired with a somber tone.

" I didn't get leads on who the mastermind behind Aurelia's death was, and since I didn't see her body I would have assumed that she was alive but the aura of death was strongly abundant in her blood traces. Whoever was behind her death is strongly associated with death, however a human from the cohort of humans which I had interrogated kept mentioning that they were after the son of the blood witch."

Damian who was previously grim and was clenching the black cane on his left hand, leaned back on his chair, he loosened his grip on his cane.

" Gather a search party, I want you to find the child, and bring him to me and while you're at it, eliminate anyone who'd pose a threat to him."

" As you command, my lord." Aiden replied, bowing before dissolving into a cauldron of bats.

Damian held a grim look on his face, his crimson eyes reflected a murderous intent and the slit within them became more narrow.

He sighed deeply as his gaze was drawn to a blood petal.

" To think that a scheming peasant would dare to mess with my family, it seems I have to drown the realm in blood again, this time.. I'll make sure I do it right."