The dungeon was the quietest place in the whole tower. Technically it's not even a part of the tower but an entity all on it's own. The first floor was really serene, especially with the presence of the lake and the soft carpet of grass that surrounded it. This made it the best place to have a conversation with Rhea. We've been sitting with her head resting on my lap for the past half hour, nothing has been said between us, but I didn't mind.
A huge chunk of my memories were still missing, and it was painful for me to admit, but memories with Rhea were a part of them. But I was not completely lost in that regard.
I could vividly recall important events, like the first time she rode a bike, or that one time when she was so adamant about trying out a cake recipe she saw on the Worlnet. We both ended up with food poisoning for a week, and a source of amusement to Asare and the other guards.
I remembered the time I spent playing with her and Asha, of course both ladies always chose to gang up on me, but it was better that way. Asha was the mother figure Rhea really needed at that point in her life, it was something I couldn't really give to her, not after she lost Geliea.
I'm missing a lot of memories that had to do with Rhea, but the few that I still have, were enough for me. Because it was not just the memories, but my still beating heart that knew and loved this girl to the ends of the world.
Seeing her at first shocked me as I did not expect the onslaught of emotions, it's l totally different from anything I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing; and it made me want to cover, hide and protect her from the whole world. To keep her safe no matter what.
"Have you been eating well? I know how hard I have to work to get you to eat something. Especially when you're working." Rhea asked as she turned her face to mine.
I ran my hand through her silky black hair, and smiled. Her worrying tone and mode was something that felt familiar to me. So young, yet so eager to take care of me. At times I had to wonder who was the elder between the two of us. Nevertheless this was a part of her that was familiar to me, even without all of my memories.
"I've been feeding well, of course I've only been drinking blood, but I don't skip meals. Neglecting your hunger as a vampire is a recipe to cook up a lot of trouble." I answered her.
"Well that's good, at the very least I'm sure big sis Asha took care of you. And Asare would definitely not have been far away from you."
"Well you're right about that. They've really been taking good care of me. But honestly baby girl, what are you doing here? And why are you so big? You're ten, but you look like a teenager." I asked as I sat her up.
Rhea blinked her sea green eyes, raising a hand to push a stray lock of her black hair to the side. She too a deep breath and bit one end of her bottom lip, clenching her fingers in the process.
I recognized this set of actions, she only did these when she was nervous, or anxious about something. They appear mostly when she's in trouble or about to lie about something.
"You better not lie to me?" I said to her in a stern voice.
She threw her head to the side and pouted as she whispered. "Who say's I was going to lie." But her silent disposition made me sure she was just caught red handed.
"I used a time chamber to train. And you know in a time chamber time runs faster in there than the outside world. The only downside is that you don't stop aging. So I'm actually thirteen not ten, but the technicalities always give me a headache when I think about it, so I just ignore it."
I shook my head, this was all my fault. If I was not so incompetent, Rhea would not have been forced to grow up so fast, both literally and figuratively.
If I was stronger and smarter, I could have protected not just myself, but my family. With my memories lost, it made the entire thing even worse, because I know Rhea had gone through all this pains because of me. I should have been stronger.
"As for the reason why I'm here; they're quite a few. First I wanted to see how you were doing. I've put some plans in place that I need your approval for, especially with the current state of affairs in Shearath. And finally I'm also here mainly because of another rumor I heard...…....Kael! Geliea is alive! and she's somewhere in this prison!"
I was so shocked I choked. Geliea was Rhea's nurse maid, and the person who could be called patient zero in my conquest to free vampires from any sort of oppression. Two years after the fire, the investigation about who, what and how the fire was caused had come to a standstill.
I was still putting pressure on the council's investigation unit, who had prevented me from carrying out any personal investigation on the premise that I was too young. I could remember the day they came for her, a Sunday like any other Sunday, peaceful and Rhea was learning how to hit high notes with her rather angelic voice.
The officers came knocking on my door with a warrant for Geliea's arrest. It was whirlwind of emotions and movements as everything I did to stop them from taking her away didn't work in the slightest.
They took her and a week later she was found guilty of arson, attempted murder, murder and obstruction of justice. The evidence they had, the only evidence that tied her to the whole disaster, was just one thing........ And that was the fact that she was a Dhamphir, part vampire.
There was no justice, somebody was messing with me, and ended up killing people who were important to me, and yet the judicial system in place protected them. Geliea was only a scape goat and a publicity stunt to further some bastard prosecutor's political career.
I wanted to fight back, but Geliea herself and Asare told me it was better to act shocked and hurt by her betrayal. It was the only way to protect Rhea and the Cor family name, if I had to do something, it had to be secret and away from the eyes and opinions of the public.
And so just like everybody else, I betrayed her. A week later, when I was still in the midst of making preparations to bust her out of prison, I received a package. It was an urn with ashes in it, Geliea's ashes. The explanation given was that she tried to feed from a guard, and even succeeded in killing quite a few of them in the process.
She was killed trying to escape. With her death there was no way to appeal her case, or prove her innocence, whoever killed Rhea's parents walked away Scot free and a member of our family paid the price for it. But now it seems that's not the case.
"How can you be so sure that she's here? If that was the case, I'm sure I would have found out by now, or at the very least she would have come see me." I explained to Rhea.
"You wouldn't know, not if what I know about her current situation is true. About three to four months back, I carried out a raid on a black ops compound operating out of the Zivarcos canyon on Osiris Centurion prime. That's a major planet under the colonization and control of the Cor family so I was obligated to check it out, with you being in prison and all. Though I did not find any concrete evidence on who really ran the operation, but there was a lab in the compound. They were experimenting on vampires, trying to come up with a cognitive recalibration drug and tech that worked specifically for vampires. They were trying to mind control vampires to create an army!"
Rhea stopped to let what she just said sink in. I had received a similar report from Gus a few days ago, just before the rescue operation was carried out, but I had no idea it was this bad. Someone out there was trying to weaponize vampires, and the fact that I'm finding it out now, means that person has slipped up, or was in a hurry for results.
Either way, it didn't bode well for me, or my people. Now more than ever, the need for strength and power has become more than a personal goal to achieve, but rather, a requirement for survival.
"Prior investigation into the information gotten from the lab, led us to believe that there were numerous other such labs spread out across the know universe. They served as a base for the vampires, who after recalibration would be loyal sleeper agents, assassins and fighters for whoever is running the mind control operation. If he or she succeeds, it would be the single most cohesive and the most deadly army to have ever existed, especially when all those vampires are unsealed."
It was horrifying, the very idea gave me goosebumps. I felt like a frog in a well; with my delusions of grandeur, about growing stronger and becoming a king, I had thought that my path towards the top would be relatively straight forward, but it's obvious shit's not going to be easy. I had to step up my game, and fast. But there was still something I didn't understand.
"But even if you found out all this things, how does it all tie to Geliea. Even if she was a part of the program, you would not have been able to find her, unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. How did you know Geliea was still alive?" I asked her with a pointed stare.
"That was mostly luck on my part, Geliea had been a part of the vampires undergoing calibration on Osiris Centurion prime. She was the only Dhamphir there, and since she's only half human, she was proving to be really resilient to the methods being used. So they decided to send her to the headquarters of the entire operation, the main lab that was carrying out all of the research. A lab that's located right here, in the pit, and I should mention, right under your noses. I came here for her big brother, and for you. At the rate things are going, there's no way for you to leave the pit using normal channels. The want a war, I say we should give them one, and make sure they all regret messing with us. If not, the loss of lives, from all sides, vampires, humans, elves, all of them, would be too much. Worlds will run red with blood and misery would last for thousands of years. And the fact that they want to use the vampires for it, means when this is done, there would be no vampires in this universe, you'll all be extinct!"
[SYSTEM ALERT: MISSION]
[MISSION: Find the secret lab in the pit and destroy it within six months. /REWARD: new power crest, 10000 essence points, 5000 ethereal points, one planetary wide destruction weapon's blueprint.]
[MISSION: Prepare for war! Time limit: unknown. REWARDS: unknown.]