"Why was this the place that was picked for the meeting, and why me?" Melvin asked.
"This is the birthplace of the vampire race, Dragon's Den Mountain, although its name has been lost to all of those who aren't one of us, it's existence was purged from all records pertaining to it, preventing anyone from finding out about our kind. As for the second part of your question, that will be answered soon." The hooded man said, matter of fact like.
Melvin was at a loss for words, he had just heard the story of how the vampires came to be only a short while ago. Now he was being told that the place they had been created was right next to the city he had been raised in, and the humans had never been the wiser.
"If this is where the vampires have been living since they were created, why haven't our kind been exposed yet? And why didn't you participate in the great war?" Melvin questioned the vampire.
"All good questions, and all will be answered in time, young one. But first you must meet the rest of the council so we can plan how to move forward with you accordingly." The hooded man replied.
Along the way Melvin began to notice markings in the cave walls, 'these must be the records of the time between the creation of the vampires till now,' he surmised from the depictions in the markings.
"Do the vampires live inside of this mountain?" Melvin asked, half expecting the question to be dodged by the hooded man again.
"No, we merely use this place as a gathering spot for special occasions, and an occasion such as this is a most special one." The hooded man replied.
Satisfied with that Melvin just followed along behind the man till they entered a gigantic open space the size of a house. Melvin stood at the entrance dumbfounded by the sheer size of the cavern. The cavern was dug out in a circular shape with a domed ceiling, the walls had twelve torches each placed above a chair with a number under the torch.
Standing in the center there were other hooded figures, the hooded man from before joined them briefly before they headed off in the direction of a chair. Each one then proceeded to sit down in their chair and look towards Melvin. The hooded man from before had gestured for him to come towards the center of the room.
"Now that we are all here and the young one has joined us, we can begin." The hooded man from before said, standing from his chair while he had said those words before sitting back down.
"So, what am I here for then, does this have anything to do with my family?" Asked a man, he had the number two above his chair.
"Yes, this concerns all of us if the rumors of what this boy can do are true." Said a woman, she had the number four above her chair.
"Don't tell me you believe in those rumors? Only young ones like this boy believe in those stories." Another man said, this one's number was eleven.
"Slater, Winter, Bart! You three need to be more respectful in front of guests. The young one has questions we should answer before we start jumping to conclusions." The hooded man from before said, above his head was the number seven.
"And why should we listen to you? You may be older than us but I don't think you are stronger than any one of us." Slater said, now leaning forward in his stone chair gripping the arms so tightly his fingers went into them.
"You have no right to speak of strength when you lost to me in our last fight." Said the man sitting under eight.
"Would you all quit your bickering. We need to get our heads on straight and act like a council right now, or are our titles in the monster world just for show?" Said the woman sitting under three.
"Pardon me, but if I can intrude, where is number one?" Melvin asked.
"We don't speak about that traitor, he abandoned the vampire law and had to be cut down, that is common knowledge even for young ones." Winter Said, scowling at Melvin for asking such an obvious and stupid question.
"The young one wasn't raised a vampire, he has no knowledge of our history or traditions, be patient with him Winter." Seven said.
"That's not possible. All of the vampires who left their families were hunted down by them." Winter said, a look of shock passed on her face.
"Yes, and that particular family has never had an interest in human affairs so it wouldn't be a stretch to say that some of them escaped and lived among the humans." Slater said, now eyeing Melvin like a prize to be won.
"That is possible, but then how would you explain his immunity to sunlight Slater?" Five asked, the woman glared towards him waiting for his response.
"How should I know Rose, it's not like that is a common trait but it's not unheard of either. Especially in the elite vampire bloodlines, even a few of us can as well." Slater retorted.
"Yes, but the elite vampires don't ever leave their domains and we family vampires don't meddle in the affairs of the humans. It would have to be almost impossible for him to be a vampire let alone an elite descendant." Winter said.
Leaving the council to wonder why the new young one was able to walk in the sunlight.
"Young one the rumors of you controlling blood are they true?" Seven asked, looking directly at Melvin.
"If you mean my power then, yes, it is. I'm not very good at it since I wasn't able to before I became a vampire but I can try." Melvin said.
His eyes began to glow red and he could feel the blood of each person in the room flowing through their veins.
"Look at his back!" Eight shouted, pointing to two giant, leathery wings that had sprouted from Melvin's back. Everyone gasped at the sight they were witnessing, most had never heard of such a thing, others had only heard stories of the winged ones passed down from their elders before them.
"This can't be real; he is a winged one and has blood powers! Now of all the times for this to happen we can't let the others find him if we do, they won't let him live, but he could be a great asset to us in the future." Eight said, looking to his other councilors for agreement.
"I say we should deal with him now before he has a chance to grow stronger. You all felt the pull when he transformed, he will be a great threat to us all if he remains alive." Slater said.
Some of the councilors agreed with Eight, who they called Harold, that the young one would indeed be a great addition to the vampire race as a whole. The others sided with Slater and his idea to get rid of the young one while they still could.
The deciding vote came down to Rose. She knew what would happen if she would side with either one, only chaos would ensue with the emergence of a winged one. Although she felt no malice or ill intent from the young one, she did what she thought was best.
"I vote for the survival of the young one. However, the one who should take responsibility and teach the young one how to live like us should be the one who voted for his survival first." Rose said, now looking at Seven as if to emphasize her point.
"I was planning to teach the boy how to be one of us and control his powers if the council voted on his survival anyways." Seven said. "It has been decided then, Grimm will train the young one. Now back to the topic at hand. What questions do you have for the council? Our responses to outsiders are limited so ask your questions carefully." Rose said.
"I only have a few questions right now. One, what is a winged one. Two, what's special about having the blood power, and finally what is the importance of being immune to sunlight?" Melvin asked. Murmurs were heard coming from each of the vampires except Grimm.
"The winged ones were a rare occurrence; they were vampires who were born with the ability to sprout powerful wings and fight from the air giving them the advantage over most creatures making them a threat even to other vampires who weren't winged ones. The blood power is a lost magic that only the first family had known but as you can see, they have been removed from the council. As for the third question of yours, a sun walker is a vampire who in their untransformed state can walk about in the sunlight unharmed, but if they try to use their vampiric powers, they are vulnerable to sunlight until they cancel their powers. That is as much as we can tell you for now, the council is adjourned." Rose said.
Menacing glares still coming from Slater made Melvin shudder with worry. "Don't worry about him he may be stubborn but he's not stupid, he might be strong but not strong enough to take on the whole council. Now, it's time we begin your training." Grim said, patting Melvin on the back with a smile on his face.