Chapter 17

Stefan POV

I see a gloomy forest, it is gloomy but really, its because of the feeling I'm getting from being here. It's as if someone or something is lurking just beyond the veil of darkness, Its eyes locked on me making me paranoid. I try to look around but I am realy at a loss about my location. I decide to pic a direction and walk that way.

A while later I find a scene straight from a horror movie, bodies scattered on the floor, Women, children, men all butchered and left on the cold floor to rot. I follow the trail and it leads me to a middle of a hunt. There's a man no vampire he is terrorizing these people for his amusement.

"If you are going to run, then try to get far and make things a little interesting for me. Your wife ran further than you, are you going to be defeated by your dead wife mate?" I recognize that voice. Its Kol Mikelson.

I wake up gasping for breath. "Did I just dream of Kol Mikelson butchering innocent people and using the last remaining villager for a hunt to amuse himself?" No I was sleeping thinking about Nicklaus's ordeal. Does this mean I went into Nicklaus's subconscious and therefore witnessed what he was going through at that moment? I didn't know I can do that.

I wake up and return to my cultivation. The best thing about this world is the abundance of spiritual energy so cultivation here for a few days is equal to months of cultivation on the other world.

With my knowledge of Nicklaus's situation I realize he should solve this problem himself so I can focus on cultivation without distractions this time. However I should probably go check on mother's situation first I keep having this bad feeling.

Without delay I get home to find father pacing in the passageway with teary eyes. My stomach drops and a feeling of dread enveloped me. "Father what's wrong?" I ask and Giuseppe rushes to me and gives me a hug while hyperventilating.

"What's the situation?" I ask

"The doctor said we might need to take out the baby and let Lilian die, son surely there's another way? How do I choose between my child and his mother?" He looks at me with tearful eyes. I pat him on the back and asks him to go take a sit I'll salvage the situation. He looks tired and limps to a chair on the side.

I get in the room and utter one word. "Out" There is a man in a doctor's coat and two ladies in nurse uniforms. Mother is laying on the bed bleeding out. I take out the pill I had concocted and if I remember correctly I gave it to the family and the local clinic to assist women when giving birth. The pill stops the bleeding and allows the uterus to expand so the fetus can smoothly come out.

However, looking at mother's situation it is way pass that stage. She will not be able to moan in pain let alone push a fetus out. The doctor tries to stop me with his gloved hand and that when I see it protruding through the latex gloves, the Gilbert ring. I feel my body burn in anger. Without delay I punch him in the face and tell his nurses to pick him up and take him out.

I start with giving her a strong but safe drug that will help her pass out. I Use my gloved hand and gently unwrap the umbilical cord around the baby's neck and then pull him out of his mother. They prepared a basin for the upcoming waterfall so I just levitate all the water mixed in with other fluids and pour all of it into the basin. I clean Lilian and heal her with my spiritual energy, then I change the bedding and make sure she is comfortable.

I clean the baby, clip the cord and wrap it in warm clothes and small baby blankets. The child is tired and has not cried but I know he is healthy and very fat, that is partly why his birth was hard. That and the cord around his neck. I wrap all the dirty bedding and the basin taking it out and giving it to the servants to take care of then I let father in.

He rushes in with a worried face I hand him the baby and tell him that mother is healing so I gave her a powerful medication to be in a coma so she won't suffer from too much pain. Giuseppe looks a little worse for wear which is understandable because i can't even begin to think what would have happened if i was few more minutes, the thought makes me remember the Gilbert ring on that doctor. I look at father who is making baby noises to the baby, "where is the doctor?" I ask.

Father turn to me "They all left back to their little clinic" He answers. I hope to never see him again. I'll let him off for now but I'm going to have the sheriff office follow his recent death rate.

I suspect that he has been letting his patience die because of the influence of that ring. I had thought that since vampires are not allowed inside this town i could change the fate of all these people but it seems this man was a part of the secrete society that locks up and experiment on vampires even before the arrival of Katharine.

I go to my old room and bring up the magic screen with all the events from Katherine's arrival to that day when Kathrine fell prey to the same scheme and got caught the same way. In the group of people i see the doctor carrying his campus pin pointing vampires in the crowd. Its as if the same story is taking place but has shifted location.

I wonder if i should take out the vampires in the tomb since they will get old, I am inclined to allow the possibility of the boundary spell protecting them but to be sure i conjure up the map of suffering souls and find them suffering from starvation.

It is really the world trying to fix it's self that there is a tomb in that area as well. They are not desecrating as they are not vampires but the presence of that barrier is also helping them keep their eternal youth somehow. The presence of both the barrier and my arrays have mutated the place where the vampires are locked up.

They might be safe from aging but they are still starving for human food, not to mention the fact they will get sick every so often. The question now is should i bother with them? I remember that those vampires wanted revenge from the town folks after coming out so they really are not worth it.

I go back to checking on Lilian and end up spending a week making sure all is well before I allowed her to go back to a normal diet. I had changed her food and included a simple prescription of medication I brewed for her every afternoon so she can sleep well.

Giuseppe is always hovering around her as if she is a fragile vase and will break at a moment's notice. Their relationship has really improved. Damon is apparently in closed door cultivation according to Lucien, he went to closed door cultivation when a goddess made an appearance demanding he gives her wine. There was a disagreement and long story short Damon was beaten black and blue by a lady who later apologized saying she was way too high and didn't hold her punches.

I decide since Lilian is better now I can go back to my place and finally have a real shower. When I get there Lucien is shouting at Clare about school for the children and I remember about the people I had just hired in my city.

"You don't need to worry about the kids I have everything taken cared of." I smile and lift up one of the twins. they never reject me even when they are sleepy I can carry them.

"What do you say little guy? do you want to be a Prince?" I ask the baby and he giggles. I look at everyone in the room I wave my hand and a door opens in the middle of the dining hall in my castle. "Welcome to my Castle make yourselves at home. Please follow me while I show you what my people have built for me." I am still carrying a child and I see a servant and ask her to call Sam for me.

I take my guests to a room with couches and a book case as well as a wall full of alcohol. I have never been in here because I love my chambers so much all these other places don't have my lovely couches and the upstairs balcony overlooking the gardens.

"Cool place, is this your study?"Lucien looks around the fancy office whose furniture is made from old brown wood and the chairs are leather and black in color. Books on various schools of knowledge packed neatly on the book shelves behind the massive wooden desk and a leather chair. The floor looks to be made of shining black marble. The place gives a vibe of a professor or a CEO's office where important decisions are made.

I am looking around just like everyone else when Sam walks in and takes us into a more comfortable setting. The floor has fur carpets, long couches small couches and beautiful throws. I just lost my barrings ans snuggled in one of the long couches pushing my shoes away from me.

"Sire we have guests." Sam whisper yelled at me.

"Samuel calm your tits, im just enjoying my expensive stuff that brother worked hard to earn money for. As for guests...please they are practically part of my family so just treat them to vampire food and all the nice food we have, they haven't been vampires for a while now so I'm sure it is disorienting to be suddenly flooded with all that power. After making the dinner plans do come back to introduce the kingdom to our guests." Sam move swift and before long he is back showing the guests all that we have to offer.

Minutes later all my guests which include Lucien, Clare, Aurora, Tristan the twins and myself. We moved to the dining hall I never used before and the smell of all the food on the table makes my stomach growl. They look at me but I will not be shamed in my own castle.

"Hey Sam, do we have a ball room?" I saw in many books Castles have ball rooms.

"We have four ball rooms, one massive, a medium sized ball room, a relatively big one and lastly a small one." I look at him in surprise.

Lucien and the rest start eating and they sing praises about the taste. I inform them that Sam had already introduced the fact that our food has spiritual energy which everyone can enjoy especially vampires. We are and joke.

"So how goes the courting darling Stefan?" I look at her with narrowed eyes.

"Why are you fishing? did something happen while I was on vacation?" I look at Lucien.

"Why are you looking at me? I have only been taking care of my pack. No time to deal with your intended." I look at him intently and his shoulders slump. The starts telling me about the visit of the Originals and their ultimate failure at obtaining the cure for Nicklaus.

"Don't worry your pretty head about Nicklaus, if he fails to get out of his ordeal I'll be there to save the day. Just keep your fangs to yourself for a while longer I want to see what they will do without Nicklaus wiping their butt." I say while drinking my usual delicious wine.

"What exactly do you hope to achieve? You say you are courting him but still let him go through such a harsh punishment. I don't understand." Tristan asks I just shrug my shoulders.

"I never claimed to be a simple man Tristan, most importantly I don't know the first thing about relationships but I do know that if I get married I want my partner to be less self defeating. Besides you haven't seen his best side yet." Lucien snorts at that.

"Even if I don't marry Nicklaus I will leave him better than I found him....I hope." Actually I don't have hope of bending a straight man but I thought it would be fun to try.

"You seem to care for him, which begs the question why did you empower us?" Lucien asks curious.

"Just because I care about Nicklaus doesn't mean I will hate all his supposed enemies. Besides, are you really enemies or it's just pettiness and hot blooded drama about a girl? I don't mean to belittle your frustrations.

"What I mean to say is caring for him doesn't stop me from caring for you."

"What happens if they make you choose between them?" Aurora asks.

"I'll find a way to teach both of them a lesson they'll never forget so they stop acting like children." I say and my aura leaks making them sweat.

"After the lesson you have bestowed upon Nicklaus. I'm very excited to find out what else you come up with." Tristan says in a low voice.

"How long is too long? for Nicklaus to be under the bite?" Lucien asks with concern, it seems he is worried I'm going to take Nick out too soon. I laugh.

"Honestly I hope he can come out on his own soon because I have not made that kind of decision. In any case I can't make promises about this sort of thing. So I don't know." I answer honestly.

"Sire the lady Valery has been looking for you. I told her that we are all at your service so we can assist her in any of her requests but she said she wants to hear it from you." I sigh and ask Sam to make her come back after I'm done with my food and wait for me in the study room.

"No rest for the wicked. You guys can go ahead and check out the empire, if you want to be in charge of any castle I won't object. Just know that you can be challenged since the ruling is at infancy. Lucien you are not allowed to rule vampires anymore." He stops drinking and looks at me.

"If I decide to go ahead and make a hybrid kingdom, You may be challenged by Nicklaus. Or decide to go somewhere else and build your own kingdom brick by brick. I'll be very proud of you my son. But let's be honest here Nicklaus will never take a kingdom I give him, he will want to build his own. So I say it's a race between the two of you."

"Problem number one, you cant sire werewolves....or can you?" I act like I am contemplating and Lucien is sitting on the edge of his seat now.

"Your wolf Is inherently different from the cursed blood line. You children don't need to take a life to activate it, they just need to reach out for their other half. They can do it even now. However I wanted to be poetic so I still used the full moon for the first shift. Also just to make things interesting I made all those who are born from or in connection to you, to have elemental wolves depending on their personality."

"Clare!!" I shout and after a while she comes in with the twins laughing and playing. Lucien looks at me but keeps his silence.

"Lucien did you know that Miss Clare over here has a wolf?" Lucien stands up in shock along with the others.

"I think we would smell it if it was true, Lucien gave a different scent ever since he gained a wolf." Aurora looks at Clare who is frozen on the spot after hearing what I said.

"When you marked her, that is when her wolf was born. The fact that she hasn't shifted yet means your mate bond is incomplete. The two of you are the Alpha couple which comes with alot of power. I knew at a glance that Lucien is still incomplete when I saw you at my house.

"Tell me Clare, after giving birth did you have a feeling like you are incomplete?" She nods without delay.

"I know that during that time a lot of things were happening that prevented you from realizing. You thought it was because Lucien was going to leave you. He's back now, tell me has that feeling disappeared?" I look her in the eyes. She remains motionless for a while and the slowly shakes her head.

"To tell you the truth Lucien when I first met you I thought you a lonely person without companionship. That is why even though I agreed to give you a wolf I still had reservations. I honestly hoped you'd choose something else than a wolf since wolves are social creatures." I say to Lucien who just continued drinking burban.

"You say you had reservations so what did you do to remedy them?" Tristan asks, he seems invested in this conversation.

"I remembered that a mate bond is not something a man can turn down, even one who prefers to be alone. However a mate bond is very difficult to achieve it has very specific requirements from both parties. I put it as a possibility but I wasn't holding my breath. I honestly thought mabey it will be atleast half a century before Lucien meet the requirements." I say while eating the fruits.

"Im very impatient to find out what are the requirements that will make you have no hope for Lucien to fulfill." Aurora is curious and it's not just her. Everyone is especially the Alpha couple.

"Lucien are you okay with me saying this infront of your friends?" I ask, I want to accommodate him.

"It's already gone this far. Why stop now? Besides I'm also rather impatient to find out." I nod.

"Well, like I said you were made an Alpha so to meet the requirements of a mate bond your partner should submit to you completely, body and soul. She or he will submit themselves to you and in return you are to take them under your protection, and trust them with your life." He looks at me with wide eyes.

"Not to mention that the two of you should have mutual respect for each other. A mate bond requires people who have more than just basic respect for each other. This requirement is usually the most difficult because people harbor some feelings of scorn for each other that at some point even they themselves don't realize." Clare and Lucien are looking at each other in the eyes now and it's getting steamy.

"The mate getting a wolf is alo news for me too but it explains the other part of the instructions which stated that An Alpha and his Alpha queen will have the power of pack mentality. It makes sense that she is also a wolf because if not how can anybody handle that power?

Anyways that is for when you have a pack of wolves under your protection. Before I forget, to gain more pack members all you have to do is grasp their hand and say I accept you into the pack. Or just think this line in your wolf form. After accepting a pack member a mental connection is established you can just communicate using your minds. Alphas in ancient times used it to give give instructions to their underlings.

It is mostly used when there is enemy attack to coordinate and strike at your enemies. The alpha has the ability to server this connection using mental force but the most recommended method is to server a wolf's tied with the pack. This ability is not easy to master especially since it's a two way street. You can hear them and they can hear you. Some pack members will sometimes project their fantasies into the minds of everyone in the pack." The room is completely silent after my long explanation.

The most intriguing thing is that when you accept a member they can change whenever they want. They are no longer bound to the moon and they can protect themselves against vampires anytime of the month.

That is why your pack is perfect to rule over wolves. Unlike Nicklaus who will have to turn his wolves into vampires to transform them, you just need to accept a member and to take back your gift you just need to take back your acceptance and the person will be back to being a cursed wolf.

You don't have to worry the elemental magic will only stay in your Immediate family. You see now? You have all the power and they need you not the other way around. Your bloodline will be revered for the elemental power you hold. You sons will be princes and you and your mate will be Alpha king and queen." The de Martel siblings look jealous now.

"Why?" Lucien is looking at me with something I have never seen his Express before.

"All this power, the wolf, the shadow power, the dementors curse bite, the mate bond, the children, and now the ability to accept other wolves into my pack and a mental power the likes of I've never heard. Why give me all these?" I look at him and think to myself.

"If not you then who?" I ask what was on my mind. Lucien looks deflated by my question.

"Besides, the wolf is what you asked of me that day. I didn't want to make it sad so I gave all I could to make sure my creation doesn't suffer. So the answer to your question is simple." I walk to him and grasp his shoulder looking him in the eyes. "Its...Because I can. But most importantly when you made your demand that day I saw it for what it truly, it was not the wolf you wanted, what you desire is to be better than Nick." I smile at his dumbfounded expression.

"You'll have a family, a mate, and an army of followers whose minds are open for you to read and command. What does he have? I want to see if you'll succeed in your ultimate goal to best your maker. I want to see what will become of you when the field is staggering in your favor." I smile at him but he seems jolted by my words.

"Are you going to shift next week? the full moon is that time. The first time is very painful. I made Lucien shift again and again for hundreds of times for him to achieve the level he is now. He just has to think and in his place is a wolf." I say with pride to Clare and Lucien looks like he is going to be sick.

"What about me? Why choose me to gift your medicine to? I'm sure there are other people out there more deserving." Aurora ask me with a smile on her pretty face.

"I honestly thought you'd be helpful to me in gaining my emotions back. I have read your file when I was looking for a spouse. I have to say it is a very colorful life you've led. So I thought poor thing she just need this one thing and she will be normal or atleast as normal as a 800 years old vampire can be.

Then maybe she can enlighten me on emotions. She has spent such a long time going through emotional ups and downs she will probably know my problem at a glance, what a complete mishap that was." I say my eyes darkening in the end. She has the decency to look guilty.

"We can still give it a try now that we have time. I feel guilty taking your staff without giving something in return". Aurora says.

"There is something you can do for me. You can take over the vampire king castle. The biggest one with an army of hundred thousand. The army is yours to find and train ofcourse. Think about it. You will be the king of kings, I assume Elijah will want the title given he is an older vampire and has a sire line. You could use this to undermine his title by having him serve as one of your two kings.

"You see the vampire kingdom will have three kings just like the ware wolf kingdom but one king will be the king of kings. They can have soldiers numbering at hundred thousand. The castle itself can house more than 50 thousand soldiers. there is a lower floor in the castle with training facilities and dorm rooms.

"I choose you and your brother because your soul power is still growing, in a hundred years who knows how many people you can compel in one go? Such power, it will be a shame not to use it." Aurora seems taken aback by my proposal.

"We'll take it." Tristan says holding Aurora's shoulder. "I'll be her general" He says looking at me. I laugh.

"Good. Just what I was hoping for. Take this pill as a token from me wishing you two good fortune. Sam will show you your new residence. Remember you can call upon my castle for assistance anytime." I say and Lucien looks at me

"Why do you seem more happy than them? What are you up to Stefan? and what does that pill do?" I smile at him.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm growing my territory and getting myself capable aid. They are my subjects and under my protection as they rule their kingdom. Not to mention they hate Elijah which will be very entertaining for me when he finds out he can't compel them or their army." I say laughing.

"And their army?" Lucien asks

"Ah yes there is medicine it will have to be manufactured and administered to each member I'll have it delivered to your Castle soon as I make it.

Don't worry they won't get special abilities like you too. Their minds will just belong to themselves and you ofcourse. the pills I gave you too will serve as a door for you to be able to get in their minds but they it won't be obvious so they won't know and you will have to be very careful with your prying.

Think of it as I have given you a parent product and the medicine given to your people will be the child product. The parent can read the child's mind and know what the child is thinking but the child has no idea of any of it. This way your relationship doesn't suffer."

"Are you still jealous of Lucien's mental link?" They shake their heads.

"Bloody hell why do my people know I'm inside their minds while they get to sneak in unnoticed?" Lucien ask.

"Because you chose to be a wolf. Wolves are pack, they are beyond family. Among the pack members there is mutual respect. They are not your slaves or workers they are your family." Lucien puts his hand on his face.

"We get this privilege because....?" Tristan asks.

"Because you are vampires and vampires are plagued with traitorous behavior. Betrayal is a norm. And most importantly you are up against Originals so I'm being generous." I smirk

"That is true what vampires dread the most about Originals is their ability to compel other vampires. But I still think you are up to something." Lucien says.

"The pill you just gave my brother is not the same as the one you gave me." Aurora asks.

"You noticed did you?" I smile at her and Tristan's body stills.

"Don't worry. Your pill Aurora was for repair and enhance. So that your mind belongs to you, I felt sorry for you after what you went through. I also thought it would be fun to make you into a Banshee whose screams are lethal especially to creatures with super hearing. You can also feel people's emotions and project your. You can speak into people's mind But you can not read other people's minds.

"I did that so you can speak your mind even when someone is trying to keep you quiet. However reading people's minds may backfire to someone with a fragile will.

"What I gave to Tristan is a mixture. On one hand he will be able to remain same even if his mind is flooded with other people's thoughts. I re enforced his mental strength. On the other hand he can bend those with child product medicine into his will, same as compulsion, however he can't compel all vampires like the Originals.

Also if you give an original vampire the medicine with intention to compel them you will fail and you will be caught in the act since it is their natural power." I warn them knowing they were considering it.

"This will help you to lead armies and have control over your army and also cover for your sister's shortcomings. She wouldn't be able to handle other people in her head but you can and I've made sure you can accommodate millions of voices without batting an eye. You can only get more powerful as you grow old." I conclude.

"I still think.." I finish for him

"I'm up to something." I smile at Lucien.