-The night of Austin's third imprint-
Cereza woke up a little dizzy. An awfully tangy taste was in her mouth. She felt terrible. Far from dying and not really weak. It was more or less like she was resting without getting rest. She had tubes cycling artificial blood through her. She groaned.
"Oh? Finally came to huh?" Bridget was sitting at her desk. "How ya' feelin'?"
"Thirsty. Really thirsty." She responded dryly almost mute.
Bridget rose to her feet, grabbed her favorite goblet, and walked to the bed Cereza was on. She slit her wrist and poured her blood into it. Once full she handed it to Cereza.
"You went through so much of da' artificial stuff and was still out fa' three hours. So take this."
"Thanks." Cereza greedily swallowed the liquid. It did absolutely nothing for her thirst.
"Good thing you woke up. Dinner is already underway and we late as fuck. fix ya' hair, put on ya' dress, and les' go."
Bridget and Cereza eventually made it into the dining hall. Everything had already begun so naturally all eyes shifted to them when they arrived. They received looks of dissent among the majority. Bridget walked elegantly through as if it didn't bother her. And for sure it didn't.
Cereza followed behind her before they broke off to their respective tables. There were several tables but the primary, and largest table, was were the adults were seated. It consisted of mostly counts but also held important adults with important titles. Titles like 'death princess' and 'hand of the queen'.
Cereza sat at one of the tables for fledglings . She hadn't noticed at first and it wasn't until she was being hugged that she could feel dread run through her veins.
"Hello sister." Her short red hair was shaved on the sides and tied into a simple ponytail
Cereza eased out an uncomfortable smile. "Hello...sister."
This was the finally princess of house el Bernard. Claire. And the reason behind Cereza's action? This girl was psychotic. A walking time bomb. Even Morinth hesitated when dealing with this unpredictable girl. She was just as soon bake you a cake as make you into one. And didn't care who she was in the presence of. And for not even being an adult she was born with a huge amount of power that was on par with some adults.
"Its been a long time Cereza. How have you been?"
"It has been a while Claire." Cereza adjusted herself but couldn't shake the uneasiness in her chest.
Claire smiled like a demon. "Relax sister. You're tense. It'll be harder to eavesdrop on the adults like that. And believe me they are saying some exciting things."
Cereza turned and listened to the adults table they spoke quietly to permit as little people as possible from hearing. But recently her hearing powers had been amplified beyond what they were thanks to Austin.
"...This whole assembly was called to decide a course of action. The obvious answer is to respond by force." An elder vampyre count with a shaved head, lightly banged on the table controlling his rage.
"We have yet to ascertain the culprit behind the abductions. To risk violence now..." Another vampyre spoke with a calm deep voice.
"As expect of you Blake...Coward. You are a disgrace to all counts." A feminine voice sneered from the other side of him flipping her golden hair.
"Blake has a point." A tall man with blonde hair and a short goatee spoke then sipped from his cup before taking a bite of a steak in front of him.
"Eh? You too Sir Griffith? You are known as a conqueror yet you fear battle. Mayhaps your legend is just that, a legend." The woman mused.
"Know thy enemy and know thyself and you shalt not fear a thousand battles. Tell me who is the enemy?" He simply responded.
"We know it to be humans." The bald count responded.
"Pray tell Greg, Which humans? What faction?" Blake protested.
"Cattle is all the same. Their faces and names may be a mystery. But we have gotten word of where they can be found."
For the first time of the night Gannon spoke. "And where is this place?"
A long pause filled the table as everyone looked to Greg.
"A placed called Grimore Academy."
Cereza's eyes widened. Greg's words sent shock waves rippling through her and her body tensed. A reaction Claire noticed with a smirk before she said,
"Interesting."
Cereza's attention returned to the counts' table as Greg continued.
"The humans has built a fortress like institution the size of a city. All leads point back to this place."
"If that is the case slaughtering everything there would be justified." The golden maiden spoke again.
"I agree. Once we learn more. An appropriate battle plan should be drawn." Griffith added.
"We should send scouts immediately..."
A young woman with wavy blonde hair, who had remained silent with some of the others, chuckled. "As it happens I already have scouts in location."
Gasps came from the majority of the table. They were both confused and curious as to why. Including Cereza who had a sinking feeling and thought back to Austin.
"Why do you already? Is there something you haven't spoken on. Why does house Cheshire have scouts already installed in such a place." Everyone was immediate in their suspicions at Aerith's words.
The golden goddess spoke again. "It would make sense if she was apart of the reason so many of our kind have been abducted in the first place. To think humans could capture so many of us on their own is odd already."
The air of the table quickly darkened yet the blonde killed it immediately by pinning the woman with a hard stare. Her eyes blood red.
"If you wish to speak nonsense Shyanna, do so at the kids table. This one is for adults." She responded.
Shyanna flared her teeth. She had always held a losing rivalry with this woman. "Then tell us your reasoning for such preemptiveness, Lyrra."
Lyrra's eyes died down. "The matter is simple my daughter attends a school there. Naturally the daughter of a count must have retainers. And before that woman speaks. My daughter made the decision long after the abductions started. Mere coincidence."
"You expect me to believe..." Shyanna began.
"...It matters not what you believe. Only the queen's aid matters. I already have scouts there. Allow my house to take up this responsibility. Plus my very daughter could become a target."
The Queen's aid, having the title of 'hand of the queen', spoke with a deep commanding voice. "It shall be permitted."
Several teeth smacked among the table. The prominent ones came from Morinth and Aerith. They understood the situation that even if by accident, this was a power move. If house el Cheshire is able to take advantage of this situation they might be able to gain more political power. They needed an in, but had none. The bitch had a perfect excuse.
All mutters came to a deafening halt when Yuuko's hand raised. A vein pulsed across Aerith's brow. What was this woman doing. She was to be seen and not heard.
The Queen's aid spoke. "Speak."
"I'd like to propose that house el Bernard join as well."
Again gasps and various side notice echoed the table.
Lyrra frowned. The boy her daughter's aid spoke of was far more important to her than even a thousand vampyres who foolishly got themselves captured by their food. She didn't want anyone near him, especially house el Bernard.
"Under what grounds?" The Queen's aid commanded.
"Well you see my daughter also attends that place. House Cheshire is correct naturally one would want their offspring protected."
Morinth and Aerith eyes widened. Then they looked over to Cereza who looked back. 'Those two have given us a huge gift', the mother and daughter thought to themselves.
The Queen's aid nodded with a smile with this development. He didn't completely trust the situation but knew he couldn't deny the request of house Cheshire so easily. But if two families who would never work together was involved it helped shake the uneasiness. And they would naturally keep an eye on each other.
He finally responded. "Permitted."