Shadow of the Abyss

"They certainly are persistent," Altair murmured, his gaze fixed on the distant carriage perched high on the ridge like a hawk watching its prey.

The carriage had barely made it out of his estate before explosions, one after the other, flashed across the horizon. Several Forsaken were thrown off for a second before they began reinforcing the line. Commanding shouts from Kirr and Jorm thundered across the air as several forsaken began to move.

Altair scratched his head, a little guilty using his men as decoys. It wasn't his intention, but he had little choice. He couldn't afford to be attacked in his current meeting.

"Are you ready?" Ashara asked with a smile.

That smile disturbed him. Ever since they had set up that meeting with Grimory two years from now, Ashara was always smiling whenever their eyes crossed; though he could not blame her, she was sure to be rewarded by either his father or Grimory, but what that entailed made him curious.

What could a royal devil-like herself crave that she wasn't already afforded?

"Yes," He said, pondering the question he could demand out of her if he so chose. "Lead the way."

As the clang of metal across metal left his ear, followed by the rioting of explosions, Altair allowed himself to move as seamlessly and as silently as a shadow behind Ashara, moving from rooftop to rooftop, without giving anyone time to properly notice their movement until they arrived at the inner wall of Vastroph said to be guarded by at least twenty Transcendent men.

It was a crime to fly in Vastroph, but it was a death sentence to be caught trying to sneak in. Altair had no reservations, believing he had enough skill to sneak past these Transendents, but figured it was best to make a physical note that the child of a dukedom was within the inner walls of Vastroph. After all, the inner walls of Vastroph were what held the supposed King of Almor.

Falling in line, Ashara tipped her head back. "You nervous?"

"Terrified," He said, trying his best not to sound too sarcastic. He realized he failed when Ashara started giggling to herself. "What is this idiot like?"

"He's like every other Vampire Lord. Arrogant. I've already got him hooked on one of my girls. From what I hear, he's barely considered good. All power and no skill. Bayra is still teaching him. So who knows."

Altair failed to stop his eyes from rolling. "I don't care about his sex life. What is he like?"

"Really? Don't you like gossip? You're strange."

Taking a step forward as the line progressed, he sighed. "Why would I care about another man's prowess in bed?"

Ashara smiled like a fox. "Well, what if I told you he can't satisfy his wife, so he goes after whores."

"..."

"You might still be asking why I should care… well, that's a sore spot for him. Another of my girls found his wife. She, too, is a vampire lord."

Altair eyes widened. "There are two!"

"Three, actually. The two have a kid together. A boy in his teens. I summoned a lower demon succubus to deal with him. He'll be hooked in a few hours, if not seconds, once she sticks her tongue down his throat."

As Altair stated his ductal name to the bridge guard to lower the drawbridge, he stared strangely at the Lilm. "He has a kid?"

"And seventy-two concubines. Sixty-two of which we killed after I was notified of a certain lord from Genesis. You know… just to ensure he feels a sense of anxiety to ally himself with us."

"Hells…" Altair muttered, ignoring the trifling stare of the bridge guard, studying his appearance. "Well, it seemed to have worked." He glanced at the guard, employing the Eyes of Sacrilege to speed along whatever the man was looking for. The moment the guard's gaze went blank, a signal passed from him toward one of the messengers to allow Altair inside. "And have you found out which lord of Genisis will be appearing?"

"No… but they seem to have beef with the Second Infernal Monarch."

[Divine Being, She Who Hunts, rolls her eyes and says that could be just about anyone.]

[Divine Sin, Second Infernal Monarch, nods in agreement.]

"Mother did say that Father had a nasty habit of leaving his enemies alive."

[Divine Sin, Second Infernal Monarch, shrugs his shoulders at those irrelevant weaklings worth less than one of his shits.]

'Yup… that's the kind of response I expect from my father… he really is something, isn't he.' Altair shook his head and stepped across the bridge into what appeared to be an island of land hanging in the air simply by nothing but air.

Further ahead of him, he could see a white temple that would otherwise teleport him directly into the palace that stood above Vastroph. He ignored that, focusing on the massive town reserved for pureblooded nobles, often called the Noblequarter.

Altair felt he had stepped into a different place altogether. Vastroph wasn't considered ugly by his standards. If anything, it was above it, appearing as if he had stepped into a fantasy, but the noble quarter somehow managed across that line by a few hundred miles.

Everywhere he turned, he felt as if he had stepped into a maze of mystery and wonder as magical formations began twisting his perception of reality, giving him a feeling of relaxation and wonder.

"This is…" Altair began when he felt Ashara pull him by the hand.

"This way…" Leading him towards a cafe, Altair blinked the moment he stepped inside at the modern interior he'd see on Tera rather than on a world such as this one. "You like? Sypher rented out this place for our meeting."

"It's…fine," Altair muttered, a little unsure himself. The entire room felt so out of place compared to everything he saw he was not sure how to feel… not that it mattered. "Are we early?"

"Nope… we are five hours late…"

"Huh?"

Ashara blinked, tilting her head. "You didn't know?"

"You just showed up this afternoon and said I got you a meeting with him," Altair remarked, cupping his face. "Bloody hell, Tasha… You think he's still here?"

"I'm just kidding, master," Ashara said, giggling to herself. "We are late, but only by a few minutes."

The smack that struck her bottom set her cheeks ablaze. "You're getting rather brazen, woman. Keep that up, and I might really punish you."

Altair did not need to glance her way to see the hunger in her eyes. He could practically feel it electrifying the air. Ignoring that for now, he sauntered up the stairs to the second floor as his eyes spotted the Vampiric Lord in question locked in conversation with a rather enticing young woman. He was smiling like a damn fool, not even noticing when Altair approached and sat down.

It was only when Ashara coughed that his eyes contracted to a fine point that he realized with whom he was now sharing a table.

"Y-Y-Young Master Nox!" Sypher said in an innocuous tone. "I did not realize you had entered."

"So it would seem…" Altair said, making no note of his tardiness. "Tasha… find the waiter. I would like to try some of their wares."

"Anything in particular?" Ashara asked in that melodious voice of hers, which really said she was waiting for her punishment tonight. Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire

"Sweet and bitter," Altair answered, though his eyes seemed poised upon the woman rather than the vampiric lord. Like Ashara, she was from the Hells, too. How he could tell, he could not say, but he knew from the deepest pit of his being that this one was one of Ashara's girls.

Not only was she touching the bounds of perfection when it came to beauty, but her eyes burned with a passion no mortal could possibly contain. She had to be a Devil.

"You must be Bayra… Tasha has told me much of you."

"You honor me, Young Master," Bayra said, lowering her head. "It's my greatest honor for someone such as yourself to know my name."

"Hmmm," was all Altair could muster, shifting his eyes to Sypher. It was not the first time laying eyes on him but the second. Still… he seemed smaller than before, as if something in him had been crushed, but what? His pride, dignity, or was it a type of shame he was sensing?

"I hear you are in need of allies," Sypher began in that powerful voice he had from before.

"Oh? This is the first time I'm hearing of this," Altair rebutted. "Earlier today, I just closed on a deal with a young master of a notable house. He has sworn both his loyalty and his house."

"Loyalty means little without power to back it!" Sypher snarled. "What good is a man if he is weak?" Altair neither smiled nor frowned. "From what I hear, you are under constant attack. Some are even claiming you come from the outside. Lies, I'm sure. You are, after all, from a Dukedom. Right, Lord Nox De Nier?"

Another 'hmm,' and the conversation went dead as Altair's attention was pulled before the pastries and coffee being carted out by Ashara. He grinned for the first time and said, "You are on the verge of extinction, Vampire Lord. Especially with news of the Second Monarch's child being me. Tell me… if such a rumor is true… can you afford not to kneel?" When he glanced back at him, his smile turned to death incarnate. "Can you afford to do so now before the son of a Duke?"