"You guys be safe out there, who knows what could happen, or what those guards could do if they sniff anything suspicious. And remember to stick together." Asha warned as she gave the runed mining picks to the adult vampires in our little group.
"Are the children safe?" Xaseah asked as she prepared to follow the miners. Asha turned to look at the ground where the entrance to the basement formerly was, all we could see now was a smooth and even ground.
"Don't worry little sister, with Nisi with them, unless there's a beta rank werewolf around, they won't be found, you just worry about yourself. You're so reckless that I worry about you too much." Asha warned with exasperation.
"Sister, I'm not a child, I can take care of myself. Those useless mutts can't do anything to me." Xaseah replied nonchalantly as she wrapped her braided silver hair into a knot at the top of her head.
"That's exactly what I'm worried about. You're completely underestimating the threat those guards pose to us." Asha chides desperately.
"I'm not underestimating them, they're just larger than normal guard dogs, what can they do to me humph!"
"argghhh, do whatever you want, your muscle brain can not be reasoned with. Husband you have to say something." Asha complained.
"Errr....wha....who... what?" What could I possible say, I was still wrapping. My head around the fact that it only took three months of coma for Xaseah and Asha to become not just best friends but sisters, what the flying fuck is happening here. But before I was forced to answer, Asare came over to me with a thick bag hanging on his back with a different looking Teluna in tow.
"My lord, all the preparations have been made. We can now set for our destination."
So it was time. Time to set out for the belly of the pit. But I couldn't muster up any excitement, who would, when they knew that they were going deeper into the darkness of the pit, away from the light and protection of the districts and into the secret dangers within the gloom.
"There's just one problem" Asha suddenly spoke up.
"Asare can't go with you husband." Asha said with a tone of finality.
"My lady Asha I think you're mistaken. If I don't go with my master who's going to protect him, he's not taking a leisurely stroll you know, but a dangerous expedition." Asare argued.
"To hunt rats?" Asha countered.
"Even if its ants. It's my duty to be by my lord's side, to serve and protect him." Asare did not look like he was going to budge one bit. He was set on accompanying me, and unless Asha gave him a good enough reason, he was not changing his current course.
"Asare it is common knowledge that my husband is in a coma, and in recent months you've gotten a reputation as a filthy human guard who serves a new born vampire. If you disappear for a few days, questions are definitely going to be asked, because I know you're being watched. You need to stick around and keep up the pretense that you're still guarding your comatose lord. It's imperative we keep the news of his awakening a secret for as long as we can.
Besides we can't always hold his hands. Kael needs to know how strong he his alone, and then learn to be stronger. He gets to march ahead and face every obstacle and danger in front of him not just because he is strong, but because we're right behind him giving him the support he needs. But in order for that to happen, we need to let him go. Lost memories or not, Kael deserves to experience life as he is now, protecting and being close to him all the time won't help him."
She was logical about explanation, but she was still emotional. Asare might think that Asha had said all these things quite emotionally to appeal to his hearts strings, but I knew she just played him like a fiddle. Asha did not want me to go alone or even leave the tower at all, but she knew it was necessary to fight what was coming. And we might not have talked about the fact that she literally had a ticking time bomb on her stomach, but it was like an axe hanging over our heads.
I wasn't just going to hunt for soul energy and biological materials, I was going to learn more runes, and acquire enough soul energy to advance to the next realm. I might have wanted to take things slow, to understand my abilities meticulously, before jumping to the next level. But I no longer have the luxury of time, I needed to get stronger as fast as possible.
I looked at Asha and could not help but be impressed, and a little turned on. Her ability to manipulate people would scare anybody with half a brain away, such a woman was dangerous. But I just couldn't help the fact that her underhanded manner of dealing with everything and everyone around her was the most attractive thing to me. Asha would be a fierce enemy to whichever idiot decides to anger, but to the man she loves, which I'm happy to say is no one else but yours truly, me, would have a fearsome and unstoppable weapon in hand.
"You guys don't have to worry about him, I'm going too." A tiny voice spoke from behind Asare.
I looked down, and saw Teluna, dressed in some new clothes, all black and close to his skin. It was a sharp contrast with his pale features, his pointed elfin ears and golden eyes seemed to glow with luster I could not place.
"I will protect him."
Teluna never spoke too much, and when he did talk, he spoke with such conviction it never gave anybody the chance to contradict him or deny him what he wanted. This kid was emo, but he was just as important, if not more than I am. Because Teluna was my backup plan, if I should fail in freeing the vampires, it's up to Teluna to finish the job.
I shook my head in amusements and was about to collect the bag from behind Asare when Teluna beat me to the punch and swung the meter wide and long bag over his shoulders with such ease it was like he was holding a feather. I was about to protest when he shot me down, harshly.
"let me carry it, even though I'm young, I'm more than ten times stronger and faster than you. This is no problem for me, but you're too weak, and carrying this will slow us down"
I couldn't say anything, it was embarrassing, but it was the truth. With that out of the way, I turned my attention to something else. The bats. So far this critters were connected to me, just like the tower was, I guess you could say we had some sort of a hive mind. I could not see through their eyes or anything, but I could give them mental commands, so I left four bats behind, two ordinary blood bats, and two paralytic bats. The remaining six would follow behind me.
The other four would also serve as a beacon for me, should I get lost, with my connection to them finding my way back to the tower should not be too much trouble. Then I turned to face Asha, Xaseah and the other gathered vampires.
"We each have our own part to play now, I just hope you guys will be a little patient while I take time out to get stronger. I won't be long, I should be back in a day or two, and when I'm back I promise you. I'll be stronger, and I'll find a way to free you."
What followed was a round of hugs, and pats on the back. I looked around and then I truly understood what this was. It was the first step in a long line of actions that would be taken to break the shackles on us.
" In a way, today marks the beginning of our struggle and attempt to fight back against thousands of years of oppression, heartache and pain. And it's different...…it's different because of how much hope we have, because somehow we know, and we understand that we can win, that we could be free.
And even if we fail, then we fail. But we're most definitely not going to go down without swinging our fists as hard as we can at their faces. There are many powers at play, each trying to find a way to bring us down to our knees and erase us completely from existence. They wanted to play God, to lord over our destiny and our fates, to use us as they damn well please, well no more. It ends today! Today the glory of the vampire race comes to light once more, and on my family name, on the house of Cor I promise you. We will make them pay!"