- Lucifer and Gwyn -
Lucifer's group had left Hell and was currently stopping off in Sangmara to pick up Yvere. Lucifer told Peter that he needed to discuss something with Gwyn privately.
"Here we are," Gwyn said as she opened a door to a massive warehouse.
Lucifer mumbled, "Puts Izanami's hideaway to shame."
"What are you even looking for?" Gwyn was curt. "I've read all of these books and never found anything new. My eyes hurt just being down here..."
Lucifer looked out at the massive shelves that seemed to stretch multiple stories up. The length of the warehouse was difficult to tell given just how far the underground structure stretched.
"Lycans, vampires, yuki, angels, demons, and orcs," Lucifer listed.
Gwyn led Lucifer through the warehouse, handing him books as the two went. By the time Lucifer had gathered all the books he had asked for he was carrying a stack larger than his own body.
"Reading area's this way," Gwyn pointed.
"There's a reading area?" Lucifer said from behind the stack of books.
"Has to be," Gwyn sighed. "The amount of time that gets spent reading through these curses would be maddening otherwise."
Lucifer slowly put down the large stack of books in the reading area Gwyn led him to. He sat down on the soft rug and moved one of the electric lamps closer to himself. As he started flipping through the pages of a book titled "Yokai, Volume 17" he was asked a question by Gwyn.
"What relevance to the bloodrite could you possibly find in there?"
"Not looking for things relevant to the bloodrite," Lucifer's eyes scanned the pages. "The yuki I traveled to Han'ei with, Shiri, has a suspiciously specific ability that I haven't seen any other yuki use--that was until I met a half-orc half-yuki named 'Kija'. Shiri has no familial relation to Kija and yet..."
Lucifer stopped as he read the same page over and over again. Gwyn was confused momentarily until she realized what Lucifer was implying.
"You think the other races of this world have their own bloodrite equivalents?"
"Yes," Lucifer said with a look of frustration as he flipped pages. "The bloodrite was always suspicious to me. And once I learned of this," he gestured to the warehouse, "I was even more skeptical."
Gwyn sat down on a cushy couch across from Lucifer. She leaned her head all the way back as she spoke with a groan.
"Every book in here is a copy of a copy of a--so on so forth," she twirled her hand. "The original texts are believed to be origin age, not that any vampire can confirm that. Lucius and I are probably the oldest of our kind, and if we're not the oldest we are certainly the most well-informed, but even we can't confirm the ages of these texts. The only non-vampires that know of this are you, Thoth, Satan, Death, and that Grim commander, Mary, but all of you learned of this place long after its creation."
Gwyn placed her hands on her face and spoke with a slight muffle.
"Things are hidden for a reason, rarely by accident. Whoever wrote the original texts must be an existence beyond our own, similar to the being or beings that created this world and its link to the human world. Maybe they're the same being?" she let out a long groan. "Dealing with the assassins after Lucius and I were abdicated the throne was fucking easier than this."
Lucifer commented, "I heard Lucius was rather different during those days. Some vampires thought he was part lycan because of how fiercely protective he was of you."
"Ahh," Gwyn smiled. "He always said the only reason he's king is because I'm the queen."
Lucifer was mumbling to himself, "It's all so esoteric. This is basically just a book of poetry."
"Told you," Gwyn lifted her head.
"Maybe I should start with what I know," Lucifer grabbed a book on vampires. "The original idea behind the bloodrite is that once a vampire drinks a large amount of blood from specific sources, they'll be granted great power."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed with contemplation as he read the pages of the book in front of him. He thought more and more about Yvere with every turned page. He questioned the fact that though Yvere's change started to happen during the group's time in Olympus, it came to full effect during the fight with Izanami.
"Was Izanami the trigger?" Lucifer thought out loud. "Why would she be? Is there some relation between Shintoism and vampiric folklore? There can't be, the mythos don't match, the closest thing would be the nukekubi or rokurokubi but those aren't Shinto-related."
"'Shintoism'?" Gwyn asked.
"One of the Japanese human beliefs," Lucifer answered. "What did it? What set it off?"
"I'm surprised Yvere isn't sick of your blood at this point," Gwyn joked. "Most vampires could only dream of the luxury of having an unlimited supply of archangel blood."
Lucifer's mind raced after hearing Gwyn's comment. Eventually, he remembered something that Lao and Yvere used to joke about.
"Ten times her age..."
"What?" Gwyn said. "Oh, you must be referencing the amount of blood she's had. Most vampires don't drink anywhere near what she must have on a daily basis when traveling with your group. Even the vampires that work for the H.G. can't match her consumption."
Lucifer's eyes went wide. "How often does a vampire experience drowning syndrome?"
"Rarely," Gwyn answered. "Most experience it once and then never again. Awful feeling," she shuddered, "really puts one off of blood for a few days."
Lucifer was curious, "Compared to the average vampire, how much blood have you and Lucius consumed?"
"Far more than the average," Gwyn exhaled. "Especially when we were soldiers. Lucius and I would sometimes be drinking entire squads worth of blood due to the length of the battles and the severity of the casualties. I feel like we experienced more days with drowning syndrome than without."
"What if," Lucifer theorized, "what if the bloodrite isn't activated through the consumption of specific blood? What if it's activated when a specific amount of blood has been consumed? An amount so massive that the only vampires who would be able to achieve it would have to be actively drinking a substantial amount regularly?"
Gwyn sat forward, "It can't be that simple..."
Lucifer could tell by the look on Gwyn's face that this information was causing more pain than relief. Gwyn rubbed her face as she spoke in a bitter tone.
"All this fucking poetry, all these 'prophecies', and the answer was that fucking simple the entire time. If my kind had just stopped killing each other long enough we could have achieved this much sooner," she stopped rubbing her face and glared. "Mara...you knew about this. You knew that the answer was this simple."
"She must have had her reasons to hide this," Lucifer reasoned. "Maybe she was planning on revealing the information but didn't have time to do so properly before she and Vazo were killed by the [Drown]."
"Don't say that name in front of a vampire," Gwyn sighed with exhaustion. "Most vampires don't believe--or don't want to believe that bastard exists, which is for the better. The only reason I know he's real is because of you, unfortunately."
Lucifer sighed, "If what I'm guessing is correct, you should start preparing for the reveal of this information to the public."
"Things are already in place," Gwyn said. "If speaking with Thoth and Satan taught me anything, it's that nothing is truly secret, just temporarily unknown. I still have to wait for other vampires to start showing signs of the bloodrite, pretend like it's more of a surprise than it is, and then from there the spread of the truth will begin."
Gwyn frowned as she looked at the stacks of books that surrounded Lucifer. She opened her mouth and closed it. She shook her head and asked Lucifer a surprising question.
"If I should die before other vampires start to show signs of a change, can you help Lucius spread the information ?"
"Of course," Lucifer didn't hesitate. "When you bargained with me to let Yvere join my team in exchange for the protection of her family, I hated you. You reminded me of many different stories I've heard from reborn in Hell of opulent nobles. If Yvere hadn't been a part of my team, I'd be dead, and as much as I still wish she would pick a less dangerous path in life, it's not my choice to make."
Gwyn added, "To think, a half-vampire would end up being the key to figuring out one of the greatest mysteries surrounding our kind. I owe Yvere...and you, a great deal."
"Help me with the other races," Lucifer handed a book to Gwyn. "Your kind's mystery was just the first step."