THE PIT
BLUE DISTRICT
THE COR TOWER
ASHA YSMIR LEONA COR
A whole contingent of vampire guards, just for a message seemed too much, but this was a way for the bloodline council to save face after I left them with quite a conundrum the last time I paid them a visit. I was dominative and I left them no room to retort or impose their own power on me. Sending this much vampires to me, just to deliver a message was a show of force on their part. They were warning me, telling me to watch where I tread and watch what I say. That they were not scared of me, whether or not I was unsealed or not.
To be honest I felt flattered by their attention, it was not everyday the bloodline council see's a person as a threat, and take every preventive measure possible to make sure that person doesn't bring disaster to their doorstep. But let's face this, disaster is my family name, literally. Everything Ysmir ever stood for was destruction and disaster.
"speak quickly! What do you want?" I asked, keeping my voice as sharp and as arrogant as possible. I need to keep up the image of a wicked witch after all.
"We have brought a missive from the council of the bloodline elders. Humble yourself and receive this message!"
"Jeez sister is it necessary for him to be so loud, my ears are ringing. It's just a fucking message!" Xaseah complained while rubbing her pinkie finger in her left ear.
"I'm as confused as you are. These guys are so primitive." I answered back. But to be honest I don't think the gangly messenger in front of me, liked out tone of voice or what our words insinuated.
"Blasphemy! Such blatant disrespect of our great elders, and the envoys of their grace. You are not fit to be a member of our noble race. Because if you were, then you would never have...….."
"Are you done! Are, are you done. If you say one more word again, I'm going to feed you to my children."
The silence was suffocating, maybe I went a little bit too far with my threats. I mean it's bound to be awkward, when a pregnant woman threatens to feed someone else to her unborn child. A whole lot of eyebrows are bound to be raised. But I think I got my point across, and Asare came to the rescue, saving us from this 'awkward' situation, and me probably giving Xaseah the permission to tear them all to pieces. She did not like having anything to do with the bloodline covens, and with good reasons.
"Please Envoy of the elders, relay your message, and forgive us for being unable to give you the proper respect you require, but within this household we bow only to our parents and our master Lord Kael of house Cor. Please proceed."
It was not as if Asare's words placated the messengers completely, but it was enough to get them talking.
"This the missive as penned by the council clerk Fafnir Zekeri, under the orders and predisposition of the benevolent elders of the bloodline coven. Receive your message!
Lord Kael of house Cor has been given permission to attend and participate in the upcoming tri annual coven conference, to be held at the circle of Dracula in the green district, two months and three weeks from now. You are to provide ten able followers not lower than the blood child rank, and not higher than the Shadower rank. You presence is also required in a private banquet with the bloodline elders and all the various coven leaders and elders of the vampire community one week hence, as commanded by the elders."
"is that it? I could have sworn that message was longer. Oh well, extend my thanks to the council, tell them they did good. Also tell them we will be there for the party, and they should really make sure it was not as boring as the last one." I said to the messenger who looked like his head was about to explode from anger.
"My lady Asha, maybe it's not that good an idea to antagonize the vampire council anymore than we already have." Varsessa whispered behind me.
I turned to look at her, and was not the least bit surprised by the worry in her eyes. Any vampire that has been born in this pit, and lived in this prison their whole lives, were raised to see the bloodline elders as the most worthy individuals of the vampire community.
Above all else, the vampire elders had to be respected, and honored in every way possible as their every word could determine the fate of every vampire living in the pit. Such thoughts of reverence and respect, the very idea to have the elders be the very center of their lives as they all revolved around them was something Varsessa and a lot of the vampires alive would find very hard to get rid of.
But it was only a matter of time before a power greater than that of the elders showed forth. And she was one of the chosen few who would have the privilege of seeing that power rise.
I nodded to her, giving a silent promise to antagonize the messenger again, I didn't have to take it too far to let them know that I was not afraid of the elders either.
"For your transgressions against the bloodline council, you can be sure that a reckoning is coming your way, you'll be punished for your impudent and crass tongue. It is hard to imagine that a failed woman like you would have the guts to stand against the bloodline council with such disrespect. And you dare to flaunt your marriage to a failure almost as worse as yourselves in the face of the noble bloodline council. Like all your previous bond mates I doubt that this new fool would survive you and the sheer bad luck that follows you, but what else can you expect from a person who's blood is impure. Even if you have managed become an elder, it doesn't change you from who and what you truly are...….a filthy, disgraceful and disgusting human!"
Silence, pure unadulterated silence, and a simmering rage that hung right underneath the surface of my skin. But it was not just the rage, it was the fear, the insecurities, the inadequacies I felt.
My past was not really hidden, but everything was just speculation and rumors to the ears of any ordinary vampire who heard of me. But this no name messenger was precise, not many vampires knew I was once a human and even more so that I was once the warden of the pit. But in seconds all of my regrets, all of my anguish and pain was stripped open and laid bare to the world once again, exposed to me once again.
"Lady Asha give the command, I'll tear him limb from limb!" Asare said as he let out an almost animalistic growl.
This was a part of him I have never seen before, the cool and calm Asare was gone, and replacing him was a raging animal who suddenly had his whole body lit by flames. I raised my hand to calm him down, I'll solve this myself. I looked at the messenger as I walked towards him.
"Do you think because you're the messenger of the council you're untouchable. Hmmm! What a poor fool, you don't know it yet, so before I torture you, I'll tell you what it is you're really doing here. You and your rabble of guards while impressive as far as a show of force goes are nothing more than guinea pigs. A test for me, looking at you and the purple of your eyes, you're nothing more than a bottom feeder Nosferatu who's been given a chance by the council to prove himself, and to do that they sent you as a messenger and foolishly asked you to insult me and my husband. That was very bad move."
The messenger's eye widened in shock as he finally came to a realization of what just happened. He looked into my eyes and realized that I was not going to let him go, it would take nothing more than a miracle for him to leave here with his life intact. He was about to say something when I raised my hand up, shutting him up before he could say anything else. And then I began to speak, even as I used my fangs to pierce into my own wrist, and let my blood fall to the ground.
"Blood of my Ancestors, Blood of my veins. Rage of the heavens and the anger of the earth, rise in retribution as the blood song of Sanguina blesses my words. Thorns to the heart, thorns to the skin, thorns to the soul, terror to bestow every sixth of the hour. Of boiling blood, and rotting flesh I curse thee. [Curse Magic: Sanguina's Embrace]"
"Arggghhhhhhh!!!, please! No! Arck! Urghhhh! Have mercy! MERCY!"
It was certainly fascinating watching as blood red thorns poked out of his body. I could feel the curse take root not just within his body, but his soul, and mind too.
He was not going to be dying any time soon though, he's a Nosferatu, so he should be able to hang on for another month or so. The blood I had spilt had crawled towards him as he curled his body in a fetal position, screaming his throat hoarse at the torture he was currently experiencing. The blood came to settle on his forehead, turning into a blood tattoo of two hands, encircling his forehead, almost as if he was being embraced.
Sanguina was the goddess of blood, and she was a goddess shared by both the children of the first sun, and the children of the first night. Though she was considered evil by the council of light, but it never stopped them from using the spell and abilities available to them because of her existence.
Sanguina is a war goddess, and a death goddess, and a goddess of bloodlines. She's bloodthirsty and ruthless, but she's quite peculiar in the fact that she loves to curse, and all of her curses bar a few, are meant to torture a person, using his or her own blood as fuel for the curse spell. Since the bloodline council wants to make a statement, and test me in the process, I've just given them a reply.
I've lived for over two thousand years as a vampire, and ever since my turn I had lived under their thumb, superiority and oppression, and I would be damned if I let Kael live the same way. My husband is a lion amongst sheep, and I will do anything to make sure he stands on top of them, and never have to experience the feeling of not being in control of his own fate, not anymore.
I looked at the still screaming messenger and the completely terrified escorts behind him. This should be the first time in however long each of their individual lives were, that they had seen an unsealed vampire in action, and not just a simple vampire, but an elder. That's good enough for me, let them remember that fear, and keep it close to their hearts. I prefer to be feared than loved, but Kael wants to be loved. This would work well In his favor, who would have thought it was possible to implement the good cop bad cop routine in politics.
"Well what are you waiting for, pick him up and get your filthy bodies away from my presence. And make sure one of you delivers my reply to that wonderful message back to the bloodline coven. And apologize on my behalf, it seems I've broken their messenger."
And then they hurried away. It was rather comical sight, very satisfying. There might be repercussions for this in the future, but quite honestly I am passed the point of caring. I'm tired of hiding, I know how to scheme and bid my time for the most opportune moment, but sometimes it's better to just throw the first punch. I turned back and watched everyone else looking at me with varying degrees of expressions. Varsessa looked horrified, and Asare looked very satisfied as he closed his eyes and nodded his head in approval.
"What?" I asked, as if I didn't know why everybody was so silent.
"That was AWSOME!"