Footsteps echoed through the woods long after I had departed, a bright light shining in the forest, examining the trees that stood around them, their feet crunched against the dry leaves as they continued their march soon coming to a halt.
"What's this?" one of them muttered picking up what seemed to be a narrow crimson cylinder.
The man had curly brown hair done into curtain bangs, glasses helping his emerald eyes examine the object in the palm of his hand.
"You ok?" One of them walked up to him, shining the light on his back.
The man shook his head, as he continued to move the object around in his hands, the light making it slightly shine in the darkness that otherwise surrounded it.
"It's nothing," He muttered, putting the crimson object into his pocket, his eyes scanning the thick woods for anything that may have dropped it nearby.
The forest is far from welcoming to outsiders, its demeanor changing for no one, the barks of their trees old and rotting, the wild life inside far from friendly.
"Well, there's nothing here so we should go," one of them suggested, heading back.
The man with emerald eyes stood there in the forest gazing into it a bit longer before returning, he couldn't help but get the feeling of something else, lingering in the shadows and watching their movements.
________
"Humans?! In our forest?" A group of vampires resided in a room, though similar to my mothers it was bigger in size and importance.
Four figures sat in thrones similar to mothers, five thrones, four vampires, their gaze all set on one in the center.
"This is truly a problem," One of them muttered, he seemed the calmest about the situation that's unfolding before him, his hair done in side swept style, a single streak of white running through his black strands, his gaze was a dark purple, wearing the clothes of gentlemen in the traditional black and white. His hands adorned with the gloves of butlers, a sigil no one knows of residing on them.
"Are you sure about this?" A woman asked, her distinct feathered hat separating her from the rest, her skin just as pale and eyes just as crimson as the rest of the Vagabonds, her face and voice was laced with worry.
"I'm certain, miss Videlle," A voice that can be heard and not seen spoke from the shadows of the room, their faces covered by the overarching shadow of deception and shamelessness.
"Honestly, of all the times for Miss Agnes not to be at the council-" A man muttered his appearance quite unsightly, his face was pale and stern, his brown eyes narrow and striking, his teeth overlapping his bottom lips to the point where it's unheard of even for a vampire.
"I've already relayed the information to Miss Agnes, she's having a word with her child at the moment." The figure interrupted looking at the last vampire in the room, "You've been rather quiet back there sir Ragnar, what's on your mind?"
A man with slicked back hair and the mark of a cross under his right eye received the stand to speak,
He looked deep in thought, his narrow lips finally making way to speak.
"Just wondering, how to get rid of the problem, surely killing them would be enough right? I need new heads for my collection anyways, and besides," He bites the nail on his thumb as he thought, his pink gaze staring down to his crossed legs on the throne lost in a daydream of tasting human blood again.
"I haven't had such a delicacy in a while~"
"No, we can't simply kill them!" The unsightly vampire spoke up, completely shooting down the idea, "If we just resort to killing the humans, we'll be no better than them!"
"And why should we be better than them, Regulus? Why should we abide by the laws of hell when the rules are non existent?" Ragnar argued with him though his voice was lower and more collected, not having to shout to get his point across. "You think the devil will praise us for being kind in a place of chaos? For not taking what is ours for not fighting for what we want?"
"What are you babbling about now Ragnar?" Videlle asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make sense of it all, his weird metaphors and way of speech the way his mind worked was truly bizarre.
"I'm simply saying being better will only lead to extinction, we should destroy them while we still have a chance, Maledictus you should understand, you saw it too, a thousand years ago." His eyes narrowed as he stared at Maledictus.
His purple gaze narrowed, his gloves pressed against his lips in a balled fist as he closed his eyes deep in thought.
"Please don't bring me into your quarrels, while it's true we need to set a course of action we can't simply kill the humans residing in the forest, with death comes rumors and with rumors come tourists and hunters, and we don't want that now do we," He sighed looking back at the figure that resided in the dark. "As for you, if that's yall you're free to go."
The figure bowed before leaving, closing the huge doors behind them.
"We'll just have to find another way," Maledictus sighed, "We'll come to a conclusion when Agnes returns but for now, we have to stay vigilant."
_______
I took my seat without wasting a second, my heart pounding as my gaze was fixed on the eyes of my mother, who remained to stare deep into my core.
"You know why we called you here, Elisa?" She got up from her throne, her tall figure looming over me. I tried not to show any sign of emotion, my posture upright and my gaze set straight ahead no matter what.
Although I couldn't muster the courage to answer, the words lodged in my throat as I tried to utter them, the feeling of dread now replaced with pure and utter fear, the fear of my mom, the fear of what punishment awaits me from the Vagabond who's a higher rank than my dad and grandfather combined, the head of the Vagabond family.
A heartless and cruel woman who only focuses on her goals, the mere value of life has no meaning to her, the value of family and love, they were mere words to her, she views us all as subjects under her rule, ready to die when she permits, only to speak when she allows.
"I'm sorry mother, I have no clue what you could possibly be saying," I muttered quietly, my voice shaking slightly but in my mind I pleaded in a desperate attempt to prove my innocence. Everything was quiet, the sound of my breathing echoing through my mind.
"Really?" Her hand grazed the arm of my chair, her sharp well kept nails soon getting on my skin and tearing the flesh of my arm slightly, blood oozing out of the wounds.
I bit my lip in an attempt to keep any sign of pain from showing, allowing my mother to lightly cut the flesh that resided over my muscle fibers. My eyes water slightly but I refused to let it show.
"Elisa, Have you ever heard about the war between humans and vampires?" She inquired about her claws retracting from my flesh, my wounds quickly healing afterwards.
"Yes, grandfather always tells me about it but, it was more of a one-sided battle then," I muttered, recalling the stories he would tell me about humans and my grandfather, the mere mention of the name sets his npc-esc dialogue in my mind.
"No, no not that," My mother chuckled, kneeling down beside me, her arms wrapped around my body lovingly, her nails dangerously close to my throat. "I mean the war a thousand years ago,"
"A thousand years ago?" My curiosity peaked at the sound of something I was never told before. A soft chuckle escaped my mothers lips at my inability to hide my interest.
"Yes dear, a battle under the crimson moon the one time vampires fought back against the humans." She replied backing up from my seat and walking back to her throne, her eyes staring back at me.
"What happened?" I asked, the initial fear I had disappeared replaced with the longing for knowledge.
"That's a story for another time," My mother responded, sitting in her throne once more, her legs crossed and hand holding up her face in a nonchalant way. "I wanted to talk to you about your spouse, I have been told you've been neglecting Jovian lately."
"He's not my spouse or my husband and I will never accept him as such!" I retaliated, a surge of courage came out of nowhere for a millisecond before I regretted my actions, my mother staring at me with wide surprised eyes, slowly taking a breath as if to stop herself from doing something she'd regret.
"You'll learn to love him in time, but for now please, hang in there for the family." She muttered,
"Why do we even need more vampires to join our family? We have more than enough members, why force this on me!?"
"Why?" My mom smiled, uncrossing her legs to look at me. "Because I want to live in this world without fear, do you think humans are our only enemies? No, they're other families out there with different ideals to ours and when they strike, well we're going to be ready."
I couldn't say anything to that, it's true that humans were far from our worries as of now, other families may want our castle, or take our spots and hunting grounds, my lips quivered, not able to say much more.
"So please get along for us, for your family, ok?"
"Ok mother," My mother smiled hearing my compliance.
"Ok go on now, leave me be."
Taking that as a cue to leave, I walked through the huge doors to the room, my mother revealing a leaf in her hand which she took from my hair, her eyes narrowing at the sight of it.
"Seems like you were right," She muttered, looking at the leaf from all different angles. "I didn't want to admit it but,"
"Seems like you've been adventuring, Elisa. I'll have to put in a word, to keep an eye on you."