6 Chapter 6: Blood In The Dark

In a dark room lit only by the light of a few candles, the two Blood Clan members who attacked Rel the previous night knelt before a small throne.

Sitting on the throne was a devilishly handsome young man who looked to be around Rel's age. He beared the traditional pale skin and red eyes of a vampire and had a face that no young woman would pass by without taking less than two glances. However, what stood out the most from the youth was his hair. It was medium in length, with a thin strand that went past his shoulders and was the color of pristine white snow.

"I see that you have returned without one of your men." The young man said with a grin.

The leader of the former trio lowered his head.

"Yes sir... We lost Daivak last night."

Even after hearing that one of his subordinates had been killed, the white-haired youth continued smiling.

"Based on your previous attempts at recruiting this vampire, I have a good grasp on his character already. Combining that with my understanding of you, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened. His most recent rejection finally bring you over the edge Sirvis?"

Sirvis clenched his fist, but kept his head lowered.

"It just infuriates me sir, concealing our strength and making all these moves in the dark. You have the power to easily suppress those conceited elites within the clan, but you choose not to. Not only do they look down on us, but those we are trying to recruit do as well."

"I agree, your lordship's strength rivals even that of the current prince, so why do you not take actions to raise your status? With your cunning and charisma you can naturally create a suitable backing for yourself to contend for the throne one day." The other kneeling vampire added.

The white-haired vampire held out his hand, indicating to the two to stop talking. He picked up a glass of blood that was sitting on a small table beside him and took a sip.

"Who says I don't want the throne? Our clan is a clan where might makes right, even moreso than the other clans. I would be a disgrace if I were to not understand and accept this fact. However, why waste my time directly suppressing them if I can just have them do it themselves?"

"While I can indeed do it myself, that would only create more work for me. The clan would be weakened and we would be liable to attacks from the other clans. Compared to those in the other clans, it is much easier to gather information and predict the movements of those within our own. Feigning weakness gives me the opportunity to build up a faction of those who I know will be completely loyal, and my enemies will war amongst themselves believing I am not a threat."

"I understand. For the sake of the end goal, I will try my best to bear the humiliation as much as possible." Sirvis said.

"Now then, I do not believe you lost a man for nothing. Did you manage to kill that vampire from the Sifr Clan?"

"Forgive us sir, but we did not. I managed to cast the Blood Bond curse you taught me, but he managed to escape and find a human to feed on. Once he did, his powers returned and Daivak was killed. Therefore, we had no choice but to retreat."

The white-haired youth narrowed his eyes and drained the rest of his glass.

"Odd, that curse I developed is not easily broken. Aside from killing the one they are connected to, drinking the blood of a human should not have given him the power to break the curse... Give me your arm."

Sirvis slowly stood up and walked up towards the throne. He slowly reached out towards the white-haired vampire, who took his arm and dug a finger into his forearm. Sirvis felt his blood start to boil and he grit his teeth as the pain began to exponentially increase. Just when he was about to cry out, the finger was removed and the burning sensation dissipated.

"Interesting... Sirvis, I want you to go after this vampire again. Make him think that you are after his life, but your main goal will be to retrieve a single drop of his blood. I will provide you with the tools necessary to complete the task. Until then, wait until I call for you."

"Yes sir!" Sirvis bowed deeply towards the white-haired youth and began to walk away. The surviving brother replicated the gesture and left along with him.

When the two vampires left, the white-haired youth sat with a pondering expression on his face.

"Perhaps the curse wasn't perfected as I originally thought. If Sirvis was really the one linked, a mark should have appeared on his arm when I tested his blood. Did the curse fail, or is it something else? If I can get one drop of blood, all my questions will be answered."

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Rel went straight to bed the moment he got back to his room. It was only eight, but he didn't care. He was so tired that the moment he closed his eyes, he fell into a state of bliss unconsciousness. Luckily, it was a Friday so he could literally sleep in for two whole days if he really needed to.

In fact, that was exactly what he did. For the next two days, Rel spent his entire weekend sleeping. He didn't eat, sleep, or even wake up to go to the washroom. It was as if he were hibernating or immersed in some sort of voluntary coma.

Considering that he didn't really have any friends, things were relatively peaceful during his period of rest.

It wasn't until Monday morning where he was awoken to the ringing of his alarm clock and Cerberus's barks.

Even though Rel was not actively taking care of him, Cerberus didn't really need him to and was basically self-sufficient. He got his own food and water, he left whenever he pleased without attracting attention, and even set Rel's alarm clock knowing that he had school on Monday.

"Ugh... Weekend is over already?" Rel groaned.

Despite half his powers still being sealed, the two days of rest had resolved the exhaustion and drowsiness Rel had been suffering the week before. While he was technically back to normal physically, he woke up feeling like a typical human teen not getting the recommended hours of sleep.

"Five... more... minutes..."

Looking at the time and seeing how Rel wasn't getting up, Cerberus clamped his teeth onto the sheets and yanked them off the bed. He then hopped onto the matress and bit Rel's ankle, dragging him off until he crashed onto the hardwood floors of the room. Even though he had shrunk to the size of a small puppy, Cerberus still retained all his strength and was able to move Rel's limp body effortlessly.

It was only after all this that Rel finally woke up. As he sat up, he noticed a clean uniform neatly hung on his door and his backpack already packed right below it. He turned towards Cerberus who lifted an eyebrow and nudged his head towards the door.

Rel rubbed Cerberus on the head.

"Man, what would I do without you Cerb. Maybe you should be the vampire and I should be the dog." He joked.

Cerberus barked happily and nodded in agreement.

"Wow... Is this how the other students feel when they say they didn't get enough sleep? I guess the same can go for vampires too if they are pushed too hard. That, or it's another side effect of the curse... Gah! If I ever see that Blood Clan vampire again I'm going to kill him!"

After getting dressed, Rel left the dorms and headed for class. He had quite a bit of ground to cover and little time, but thanks to his vampiric constitution he managed to get in just before the bell.

"Glad to see you made in time Mr. Weller. Now, would you please take your seat? I want to get going as soon as possible so that everyone can take the time to adjust to my style of teaching."

Rel's eyes widened when he saw the person standing by the blackboard.

"Its you...!"