"Our lord didn't look around at the other vampires, he kept his eyes on lady Avery who was watching for anything that might threaten the lord. Our lord knelt in the ashes of what had been the rogue's kingdom, the rogue who pushed humanity to extinction, whose logic had always seemed flawed and had lied to our lord. No army of fourth gens could ever be strong enough to take out the father of vampires. He knelt and waited for Scarlet to end the extra life he doesn't believe he deserved in the first place. Even for the lord it takes time to kill almost 100 fourth gens. The lord wasn't in a hurry with the doors locked so he was letting Scarlet do her job. If they were foolish enough to attack him they died faster but more painfully. Not that it mattered Scarlet wasn't even scratched as she moved through the vampires. Scarlet left our lord for last, since he wasn't straining the lords magic trying to run and he wasn't trying to attack the lord so he wasn't a threat. He didn't move as she came to a dancing stop beside him. Scarlet started on a killing swing but lady Avery called out to the lord. Master, this one has not broken faith with you, would you spare him? The lord raised a hand and Scarlet halted with her sword in the air. Our lord didn't look up but the lord made another motion and Scarlet took a step back planting the sword into the stone floor. The lord moved to stand in front of our lord and watched him as time moved forward. The human slaves slowly realized they weren't the target of the vampires and they had nothing to do so some of them started cleaning the room. Others were still standing as still as they could or had passed out. Yet even with the movement in the room our lord didn't look up. The lord turned his head to look back at lady Avery, 'Explain' was the only word he said."
"Master, he confessed to not wanting to challenge you. He noticed that the humans were dying to quickly and he was not sure why he owed his sire a loyalty that he didn't show his own sire. He was trying to come up with better solutions that if he could have done would have taken the south out of conflict with you, master. As for why I want you spare him master, Scarlet and I could spend three or four generations down here and not be sure we have found all the vampires that broke faith with you. Scarlet will be less useful to you if she stays here that long, and there are other third gens that need watching still in the north.' Lady Avery explained."
"You believe he is that trustworthy?"
"Yes, master, but it won't cost you anything to be sure. Give him your orders and you will know right away if he breaks faith, master."
"The lord looked back at our lord, 'Lady Avery seems to think you would take my orders, for that you would have to see me as your master, and you must have no other. Your sire didn't have any other master so are you mine?' Our lord was still as only a vampire can be. 'I am yours to order, master. You can kill me at any point, disobeying would be suicide."
"Sure while I stand here."
"Even when you are not standing there, master, there is no way to prevent you from killing me or even delay it unless you decided to play with me for a while."
"Alright, we will see. You will never leave this land again. You will stay between the oceans going no farther north then the man made river that connects the two oceans. You may never enter the ocean. You are to keep any other vampire out of the top half of the land you now manage for me. The only three Vampires allowed on this land are me, lady Avery and lady Scarlet you see, smell, hear or feel any other vampire you are to destroy them as long as doing so doesn't take you out of this land you manage for me. You may do as you wish with humans in this land but you may not leave to bring in more humans. You may not try and raise an army. You may not make any fifth gens. Do you understand?"
"Our lord replied, 'Yes, master.'"
"We will see, remember that you are only taking care of the humans for me, they all belong to me.' With that the lord left our lord alone in the basement of what is now this house. Alone, if you don't count the last 100 humans left alive in the south." I fell silent thinking about what it must have been like for those few humans. They had heard the orders and had to have known that by claim them the lord had made it so that our lord could not feed directly off of them. If they believed that a vampire could be bound as surely as one of them even without a collar.
"That brings me to the end of what I wanted to go over this time. Which brings me to final call and response, the questions it might invoke I will try and cover next Sunday. Are the lord's laws still kept?"
The chorus was even more feminine then the first call and response had been but the priest answered with the women this time. "The lord is master here."
I made a slight bow and walked out of the dining hall. The rest of the house started talking behind me. I didn't wait at the stairs to see who followed me. My family had their own jobs to be doing. I had taken off the robe and folded into my arms as I walked. I hung the robe on a hook inside my door.
The messenger leaned against the door frame watching me as I turned back around, "Heavier then it looks, hum?"
"There just isn't enough time."
The messenger nodded, "There never is, it is like god meant for it to be that way. When I see the toll the years have asked of our lord, I believe it even more. He asks if you would like a painting of our master for next Sunday?"
I almost tripped in surprise. That was not the direction I expected the conversation to go, "That would be wonderful, I didn't think there were any."
"There aren't but vampires all have a good hand at art. If he is going to support your idea to help him prove he hasn't built an army, and isn't going to, he is willing to spend a little time painting. Do you want to get something to eat before we go?"