Callisto finished the missions designated by the government so victoriously that many hunters were beginning to get jealous of him. With the help of some encouragement behind them, countless hunters had betrayed him, especially at his weakest point during the missions. When recuperating, he had no choice but to drink Velda's blood, which helped him recover faster and painlessly. Regretting that he drank up a few bottles, he decided to save them for later as a proof of Velda's last present to him.
After multiple, fastidiously planned betrayals, it made him unable to trust working with their organization. He explained his situation to his superiors, who reluctantly accepted his resignation, not because he was a valuable asset to their research on the drugs but rather as his friends, they learnt of this matter too late to rectify it.
The officials couldn't punish the rookie hunters because they were low on manpower. They felt guilty about letting the newbie hunters with powerful influence behind them go unscathed while Callisto had to endure it because he was a vampire. If there were rumors of a high rank vampire attacking hunters, those power hungry higher ups won't let this chance go and exaggerate it into bigger rumors to add fuel into the fire.
In letters sent to his condo which was empty, they often expressed their apologies and sent him gifts, hoping their broken friendship will be restored. Nonetheless, Callisto, who thought of them as spineless cowards who couldn't stand on one side, rejected their letters, his final reply saying "Don't mind me". His words made them understand their relationship was no longer the same.
10 years had passed since Callisto had sworn not to search for her. Living in the condo, where he couldn't hear Velda coming into the apartment, was suffocatingly lonely to live in. At times like these, he remembered how Velda's company was filling a void within him. He decided it was the right time for him to return to his dominion to inspect what had changed in the past few years.
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Vampires and werewolves, similar to the human's social hierarchy, had ranks within their species. Their eyes and their noble blood proved their status. Starting from the highest to lowest ranks, vampires went from (along with their eye color):
Royal Pure bloods - Red iris
Archduke - Can transform into any eye color
Duke - Emerald (can turn into red eyes at will)
Marquis - Purple eyes
Earl - Navy blue eyes
Count - Light blue eyes
Viscount - Amber eyes
Baron - Hazel eyes
Knight - Silver eyes
Fledglings - Black eyes
For the werewolves in a descending order:
Alpha - Red eyes
Beta (When alpha is gone, beta is similar to a vice president) - Violet eyes
Gamma (Third in command) - Purple galaxy eyes
Elders (fourth highest authority after Gammas) - Jade eyes
Wolf shaman (those born with healing powers) - Golden eyes
Deltas (who becomes the next Beta) - Lavender eyes
Warriors (equivalent to status of baron) - Brown eyes
Pups (newborn wolves who are blind and deaf) - Caramel eyes
Omegas (usually take care of pups) - Green leafy eyes
Rogues (those who leave the pack) - Gray eyes
Due to these traits, werewolves and vampires were sometimes hard to distinguish in appearance. If you were to compare one distinct difference between the two monsters, it was that werewolves have either less or the same lifespan as mortals. A common stereotype, spread widely among the ignorant hunters, was that werewolves in their human form looked manlier than the vampires who were as beautiful and fragile looking as a shy maiden. It was hardly proved wrong.
All around the world there were portals leading to the dark side of the world - filled with vampires and werewolves roaming around, rarely there were any hunters willing to live there. These portals required droplets of blood from the person setting their foot in the portal. If that person is a qualified werewolf or a vampire, the plastic plates engraved with names of territory will manifest to inform the individual where they are being teleported to. After a while, the name plate will disappear, letting the person decide whether they want to enter or not.
Vampires and werewolves weren't restricted from visiting each other's territory. As soon as Callisto reunited with his sister, having gathered enough evidence in the human world to berate them, the two along with a group of hunters began to purge wicked guilds, cults and aristocrats who exploited their powers to commit immoral acts to the civilians they rule over.
In the whole continent of the otherworld, there were only three royal pure bloods, who were all in their 200s. Two of them were busy roaming around the world. They only came back to their domain when there were important events, where they had to display their presence to their subjects and complete their obligatory duties as a royal.
The first royal was Damian al Vladimir. His orange hair color represented his fiery temper, but his vermillion eyes held a kind and compassionate heart towards the poor fledglings. As an orphan, he had to survive desperately on the streets, not knowing of his pure lineage, many chased him away when he begged for food. Through his 15 years of life, he had learnt the burdens of financially difficult people and weak commoners who had no power to go against the strong.
When he was seated on his rightful place, legally inheriting his father's position, he strived to establish an academy in his name in order to provide them with as much privilege as the ones in the academy. The only requisite to get into the academy was to pass a simple test approved by Damian. The application was free with tuition fees affordable enough for working parents.
Despite the lack of enormous facilities, the poor families appreciated his efforts and decided to send their sons and daughters there if they were eligible. Damian wasn't a fool. In setting up this school, there would be backlash from the nobles. Frightened that the nobleman, whom he hired as teachers might cause a ruckus behind his back, he hired secret guards to watch over and prevent a severe incident from happening.
Though this counts as paranoia, it was justified because what he feared came true. One of the teachers in the elementary section disciplined innocent kids, with a metal rod, using 'punishment' as cover. The secret guards split up into three groups, one division went to arrest the lord, the latter reported to the lord - to give him a description of the perpetrator, the third faction remained to observe the other classrooms.
This incident was quickly resolved with a sincere apology from Damian to families, who applied their kids in the school and the execution of the villains for their additional sins aside from intentionally harming commoners. Damian did his best to regain their trust in the academy, and tightened the security around both nobles and the students.
The second royal, with a calm temperament and indifferent judgment under her silver moon blade, was Estella de Athanasia. Her achievements were greatly praised by her loyal subject, heard by the locals and sung by the wandering bards. Her appearance was described to be a knightly figure of justice. Her black hair and her blood red eyes represented the bringer of death as the blood of all evil was spilled for the sake of her people.
Nonetheless, just as she was loved greatly by the commoners, she was equally hated. The enemies, who held grudges against her, ordered a discreet investigation on her, silencing anyone not trusted with this information. Upon scrutinizing their lengthy, meaningful reports, the conclusion was drawn - she was a perfectionist. Whether in etiquettes, her royal duties, her training, since young, she had never strayed off the right path.
She had never bribed an official, held a sword against anyone innocent, nor cheated someone out of money. She did nothing of the atrocities that they had carried out. Seeing someone that rigid and stern with nobles in real life was shocking enough. It made them even more flabbergasted when she arrived at their confidential gathering place the very next day.
All of them were nervous for different reasons, however, not sparing them a single glance, with her cue, her knights tortured them all under the recital of their wrongdoings and crime. The room was filled with their cries of pain and screams for help, while they were in a deserted area. One of the nobles looked up before he hollered his last words. But.... he couldn't do it. The indifference her expression held made him despair in fear for it truly sent a chill down his spine. His head was mercilessly cut off, the last blood in the room splattered over the dirty floor.
She was still known as a hero despite her cruelty and no leniency towards criminals.
Last but not least, the third royal, named Kieran al Lazarius, was a kind ruler to those who abide by the laws but ruthless towards anyone who disrupted the regulations he set. In a sense, he was a dictator. He was especially a fool for adorable kids, not that he was a pedophile.
The area he ruled was a peaceful one that lived under tight security, far away from the reach of evil hands for the punishments for each crime imposed were so harsh. Some examples would be a live torture show, fighting against a few dozen monsters after imprisonment with no food, death by increasing the electric voltage each attempt, ingest 12 most toxic poisons that are deadly but slowly kills vampires, etc.... It was truly so harsh that just phrasing the punishments was frightening.
Despite those devilish punishments, his appearance suggested otherwise. When people feasted upon his long, blonde hair with his crimson red eyes, they believed him to be an incarnate of Lucifer, the fallen archangel. Unlike his intimidating name, his face looked so babyish that you could never guess he was a royal pureblood if not for his gentlemanly etiquettes, confident posture, and his commanding tone at important times.
Those three royals grew up like blood siblings, nevertheless. As they aged, they each experienced their own difficulties, therefore, their paths split apart. It was safe to say the countries they ruled over reflected their personalities. Damian and Estella loved alcohol, parties, thus, their country had plenty of festivals to celebrate and less working hours, emphasizing on happiness while Kieran was decisive in letting his people learn and earn their job's worth.
Kieran was resolved not to repeat the former king's tyranny which led to a revolution, as a result, he made the tax lower for the commoners while raising it higher for the nobles who were disgruntled with this decision. Kieran didn't stop the nobles from leaving the country, the laws did. To no longer be the subject of the country, the nobles had to pay a huge price to lose all their wealth and status, having to restart all their hard work. They had no choice but to bow down to the emperor who sided with the commoners.
In the otherworld, other than the three royal pure bloods, should an emergency happen, the dukes held the second most authority in the country. That was because none of the royal pure bloods birthed an heir for the position of archduke. Archduke's status comes into effect after a physician tested their children's abilities using an orb.
If the orb shined brilliantly, the child inherited the pureblood's ability - to live without blood and no fangs - and superior talents. That child will take up the position of Archduke and study hard from childhood. If the orb didn't light up, the parents had the choice to either abandon their child to be sent to an orphanage or keep them by their side regardless of the harsh judgment from nobility. Both were cruel alternatives that couldn't be helped.
Among the 8 dukes around the country, on guard, Callisto could handle two dukes with great teamwork effortlessly experience with the real crooks, who are fond of using malicious tactics to distract the opponents such as kicking the bone with a sharp heel, spraying powder into their eyes, etc... What was worse was that every one of their strategies resembled Velda back in the days when she was fighting against her bullies, especially the last one when she used the last trick - anathesia, he specialized in, for her escape.
She lied to him. All of these hurt. The delusional lovesickness, the hallucinations from insomnia medication and the unyielding thirst he endured. Several times, he was almost driven to the brink of death. Even then, she didn't come for him, although she was the one who promised to be beside him whenever he was hurting.
Despite these heart wrenching troubles, he still had to socialize for nobles to support his position as duke. Something he learnt from attending the banquets without Velda was that all faces appeared the same to him, an insolent look of greed and ambition. It was not aimed at him but they seemed quite determined to make use of him. He wasn't the least bit interested in seeing those ugly faces. In spite of his mouth doing the talking, his mind was getting weary and bored, thinking when this conversation would ever end.
In the social events he always attended, there were quite impertinent accidents, happening from time to time. Ladies, with the scent of lilac and lavender, would pretend to bump into him and apologize for the mistake, immediately arranging a meeting for next time. By the second time that happened, he wasn't easily fooled.
A normal lady would steer clear out of his sight unless they were one of his enemies or an assassin aiming for his throat. The rumors of the cold and heartless duke were spreading around the domain, there was no lady who would be brave enough to offer herself to him unless they were charmed by him. From a single glance, he knew that those girls weren't shy, instead they were shivering in fear, sent to him against their will.
Upon interrogating them, he found out his butler was the mastermind behind this. It was understandable. The butler did this because of his concerns for the empty position of duke when sudden emergencies happen, but meddling in his private life was overstepping the boundaries he was given. After compensating him with enough money, Callisto fired the butler with a reasonable cause, making an example out of him to the new servants he hired for his mansion.
Along with his social interactions, Callisto gave up the hopeless idea of ever meeting her, the only joy in his life. She would never be the one to willingly join gatherings like these unless her close friends forced her to. Whenever he returned home, he always sighed, pondering whether he should end this tedious life.
When the invitation for him came from the royal palace, he wanted to decline, but refusing their invitation would send him to jail as an insult to their name. He thought it would be the same, wearisome banquet, though it was more splendid and luxurious than the other banquet until he met someone amusing that sparked his interest.