As genius as I was, I ran into a snag, blood. Blood was my ticket to power, the unfortunate thing was that with all the fights, brawls, and duels that were a part of the society meant that buying blood from hospitals and clinics was highly illegal. You could only acquire blood by donation, every corporation had their own medical unit same as schools and academies.
Buying wasn't an option and stealing it was going to be harder than killing for it. I needed this blood, I was surrounded by potential enemies with only the wolves acting friendly. I had read that werewolves and vampires had a long standing grudge, but on the field of battle a wolf saved me and I had returned the favor.
I saw no reason to hate them, though the arachne attacked us I wasn't sure if they were truly the enemy or just scared and acting out. Spiders were not known for living with other species and if they thought the labs were their nest then it was understandable that they attacked.
I closed my systems page and got into my bed, I would continue planning my attack and my blood problems in the morning. An alarm woke me up just before sunrise, I walked out of my room and made myself breakfast.
I turned on the TV and let the news run, I walked into the dining room and used the system to access the controls to light the fireplace. I munched on the nutrient ration while next to the cozy fire.
While I was mid bite the doorbell rang, "They are finally here!" Kirene shouted from her room, I heard her door swing open before she dashed to the front door. I watched as a delivery man wheeled in several large boxes, Kirene signed for them and I watched as she unpacked them. Several pairs of clothes came from each box except for the last one.
Kirene pulled out a strange looking device, a covered needle on one end with a slot for a container in the middle. She waved me over to show me the contents of the packages, the clothes were similar to the ones I had been wearing except the white ones had been replaced by bright red ones.
The shirts had been modified so that the neck had extra material, Kirene watched me while I tried to figure it out. She came over and helped me remove my own shirt and dress into one of the red ones. Her hands may have wandered from the task for a moment but it was tolerable, she pulled up the excess material over my mouth and nose. It formed a half mask, it was comfortable and did not restrict my movements and could be pulled up or put down at will.
Next came the coats, she had changed the snake designs color so that on the black coats the snakes were red and the reverse for the red coats.
Looking down at Kirene she had on a warm smile as she made sure the fit was right, "Thank you for the gift Kirene, it pleases me to have such a caring and dedicated subordinate."
Kirene blushed at my compliment, "My everything is for you now master. I remember who I was but I am now more than who I used to be. Being your thrall, is a blessing, my family has discussed my worth in front of me and even bargained with my marriage rights. You do use me but as a weapon that lets me rise with you." She said shyly, her eyes glistened with tears.
I placed my hand on her head and smoothed her hair, I wondered if I could reward her loyalty.
The system gave me both good news and bad news, "Thralls who have shown their loyalty and dedication can be promoted but only by their creator, until you finish your transition and evolve she will remain a thrall."
'When can I evolve and what would she become when promoted?' I asked. Evolving was an important milestone and I wanted it now more than ever.
"Evolution will occur at the 10th level of Bloodling, what she becomes is up to her maker, you in this case. There are quite a few options but after you evolve your abilities as a bloodling along with your Terran bloodline abilities will superimpose upon one another.These abilities will affect what you can promote your thralls into but you will be able to promote her into a bloodling and guide her on the path of blood." the system paused for a moment before picking back up where it had left off.
"That is the path a very select few thralls enjoy. They would then become a part of the Serpentis bloodline and would be under your lineage, everything they do would be your responsibility for the first 50 years of their lives." I assumed that if they broke vampiric law their mistakes would be mine to bear.
"Indeed" the system rang back.
'Am I the only vampire within the city?' I thought I heard the system sputter before it responded.
"You are a bloodling, not a vampire, and you are not ranked high enough to access that information."
'Another reason to evolve then.' After my enlightening conversation with the system I decided to work on my plan. I asked Kirene to assist me and together we found a way to secure a line of blood, we would open a blood donation center.
With Kirene's background she would be able to secure a government contract to fund the clinic and its employees, there was the potential trouble of other clinics having an issue with where we opened shop. Kirene had an answer for that though, she could appeal to the academy to let her use her clinic as a second clinic for the academy.
She owned the building we were living in and could renovate it at her discretion, the first floor consisted of a lobby, cafe, and a business center if one needed to use a computer. She got to work immediately, she made calls and messages in a flurry of anticipation.
Within three hours she had been able to get an interview scheduled for later that day, the academy she was attending was interested in a secondary clinic that they wouldn't need to fund or request more funds for equipment and staff.
She would speak with the academy representative once she returned for classes, Kirene ordered a more feminine version of my clothes and wore it well. The pants and shirt hugged her body in just the right way that even attracted my attention. She put on a red coat that had a similar mark as my own, though there was only one great serpent with smaller ones surrounding it, bowing to their lord.
"Master, I must go out and take care of business, would you like to join me?" She asked sweetly. I didn't have much to do during the day and accompanying her to the appointment wouldn't be an issue and I would be able to work while she was busy. I agreed to go with her eliciting a high pitched squeal of delight.
Kirene had one more surprise for me, the device she had commissioned was a mobile blood extraction tool. This model had been adapted to collect the blood instead of pumping it out to be disposed of. Once I had my fill I would need to puncture an artery and turn the device on, it would then pump the blood into a canister which would be sealed once it was full.
The device was 12 inches in length and about as thick as my arm, she showed me how to put the canister and operate the device. It would better allow me to collect a significant amount of blood, on my own with much more crude methods I would be lucky to get two liters of blood from a single body. This wasted between 2-3 liters of blood, an entire day's worth of blood according to the system.
With the device I would be able to extract nearly four liters of blood every time, this would let me stockpile blood for future use. I believed now more than ever that Kirene was truly an important subordinate, it was time to bring Kirene with me on a hunt. She may not be ready to kill someone but she could watch and learn and assist me in collecting blood.
We put the blood collector into a duffle bag along with a few bottles of blood and headed down to the parking garage and boarded the rover, on our way out a construction truck had pulled up out front. 'Kirene certainly was efficient, not letting a single hour go to waste.' I thought.