Sanguini castle IV

Sanguini castle, half an hour after Reigel's beatdown on Gaude.

One of the guards rushed into the throne room, thanking the ancestral tomb that the atrocity that had been decorating the room for weeks was finally gone, but not daring to report it lest he be hanged like that after the Ancestor had solved the current issue. He gave a ninety-degree bow towards Caius and said: "His highness fourth prince Reigel has arrived. He does not look happy."

Caius wasn't phased by the guard's words. He thought to himself: 'Royal family's errand boy? He was already at it when I was born and hasn't gotten a promotion. He can't be all that important.'

Still, he said to one of the servants standing by: "Please bring some tea and pastries for our guest."

During his years as clan head, Caius had learned of Reigel's preferences. It was never a bad idea to improve a messenger's mood, it had gotten him some valuable information in the past.

Once the refreshments arrived, so did Reigel, walking at his usual leisurely, measured pace.

Reigel completely ignored Lucien that was standing by the side of the throne and instead waited a few steps away from Caius. Caius rose up with the corner of his mouth twitching – he had hoped that the status of a clan's ancestor would've given him a standing over a mere messenger, but it seemed not to be so, and he wasn't about to provoke the Royals for no good reason.

He got up from the throne and said: "Fourth prince Reigel, I welcome you to our humble castle. I didn't expect you to be sent over for some trivial matter."

Reigel had no intention to engage in smalltalk, and replied: "Caius, I did not expect to see you out of slumber. Are you aware of what this grandchild of yours has done?"

From what Caius knew, when Reigel was direct like that, the matter had to be serious. He frowned as he turned to Lucien and asked: "Speak, what did you do?"

Lucien's face was nearly translucent as any semblance of life left his face, as he said in a trembling voice: "Ancestor, I only did what was best for the clan. Dorne would've spelled the end for us."

There was a deep frown on Reigels voice when he said: "Caius, it is apparent that you were unaware. Your grandson used bribery and fear to take away the clan head's position from Dorne, the appointed and rightful heir. Not only that, but all the current family heads have also sworn allegiance to Dorne. Fortunately for everyone, I had yet to report the appointment of a new clan head to my family. Otherwise, an execution would've been in order to clean up this mess."

Reigel sniffed the air for a moment and then asked with disgust: "I am curious. What crime warrants two weeks of torture, and in the throne room no less? Even traitors should be executed swiftly."

Lucien was shivering, speechless. He wished he had the Allino ability instead, that way he could fade out and go into hiding.

After a while, he managed to whimper: "They- they plotted against me. They plotted against the clan! I- I had to find out if there were others!"

"Caius, I trust that I will be here to reinstate the rightful clan head when I return tomorrow. Any longer than that, and you'll be dealing with the Hall of Judgement."

It was the first time in Caius' life that Reigel's words made him pale. It had been centuries since the Hall of Judgement moved. The last time it was rumored to have happened, an entire clan disappeared without a trace or single witness left behind. Until now, no clan had dared to lay claim to their quota, causing it to be added to the Royal family's, which was rumored to be over nine thousand, even though their actual numbers didn't even reach a hundred.

Caius only moved from his place minutes after Reigel had left. His face was dark enough to give midnight a run for its money as he said: "Lucien, you no longer have any right to contend for the position of clan leader. You are hereby sentenced to three years of solitary confinement in shackles, with a drop of blood every three days."

Lucien would've become even paler, if it was possible, but he had reached his limit a long time ago. He dropped on his knees and begged: "Ancestor, please be lenient! You are sentencing me to slow desiccation, in three years, I would become a living corpse!"

"Fool, your actions almost condemned the clan to extinction. This much is already letting Vincent rest peacefully in his grave. Were it not for that, I would have executed you on the spot."

Lucien felt like thanking the ancestral tomb that the solitary confinement chambers for the clan head family members were far away from those meant for the lower castes. He couldn't afford Caius finding out what they had done to the clan members.

---

A while later, at the Werewolf Academy.

Irma was just about to pack up and head home when a Wolf Knight came in. She reported: "Ma'am, we have a Sanguini vampire from the castle's side here to talk."

Irma didn't know how to react to that, but after she had taken a moment, said: "Fine, bring them in. I'll see what it's about."

The one that had arrived turned out to be Caius. Smelling the thick scent of werewolves in the air, he said cautiously: "I'm here to speak with my grandson Dorne, to invite him back into the castle."

Irma looked at the seemingly middle-aged man for a while before saying: "I'll have to assemble the 'council' for that. If they all agree, we'll do it your way."

With a few words from Irma, Gaude, Amanda and the two Sanguinis were brought over by house elves, with a toothbrush hanging from Gaude's mouth. Apparently, the elf had taken his illegible mumble as a positive for getting apparated immediately. After a moment, Gaude shrugged and continued with the task at hand.

There were a few glances from the rest of the people present and a twitch in the corner of Caius' mouth, but figuring that Gaude wasn't the one that would be calling the shots, he spoke: "Some matters have been brought to my attention, and I've come personally to ask you to return to the castle, clan head Dorne. Lucien has already been punished for his deception and scheming, so you will have a smooth path ahead of you."

Dorne thought for a while before saying: "That's very kind of you, Ancestor Caius. Pardon my caution, but I will take some of young master Gaude's knights with me for security purposes."

There was visible displeasure on Caius' face when he replied while glancing at a few of the nearby werewolves: "As long as they're not those things, I'm fine with it."

Hearing that, Irma said loud enough to be heard all over the place: "Knight unit K-five, security detail on Dorne and Brigitte. Gear up and go stealth for the mission duration."

After a minute, a voice could be heard reporting from seemingly thin air: "Unit K-five ready!"

Gaude, finally done brushing his teeth, did a round trip on the house elf express and returned with look of dignity suitable for a head of the house. He spoke, as if nothing untoward had happened earlier: "Dorne, Brigitte, let's set off. I want to see what a vampire castle looks like from the inside as well."

Gaude was not about to mention that he had gotten the full view and then some from Brigitte's memories. He wanted to make sure that Lucien would not be a problem for his interests.

---

Meanwhile, in the Sanguini castle.

Mary had threatened her way to the solitary confinement cell housing Lucien, and even had the guards open the door for her. She said with an enthusiastic tone: "Don't worry, brother, I'll get you out of here. I've gathered some men, and as soon as Caius returns to slumber, we'll capture Dorne. Then we'll use Polyjuice potion to turn you into him." While normal Polyjuice Potion would not work in the case of non-humans, with a few changes here and there, it had long ago been tweaked to be suitable for vampire use by a few old schemers.

Lucien had a devilish smile on his lips as he replied, letting the words roll off his tongue: "I knew I could rely on you, sister. You are such a good girl."

Mary seemed happy at the praise and after spending some more time in the cell, left to take care of a few blood slaves generously given to her by Lucien. There wasn't a worry in her heart – in just a few days' time at most, things would go back to normal, and she would be able to catch up on decorating the throne room. She had come up with so many new ideas while she was forced to hold herself back due to Caius' presence.

Suddenly, Mary stopped on her tracks. She heard a commotion from the outside. She stepped closer to a window and saw hundreds of people marching towards the castle, in front of them Caius, Dorne and Brigitte.

"Looks like things are moving along smoothly. I expected it to take a few days for Caius to convince Dorne. No matter, I can simply act sooner."

---

An hour later, Caius was consuming his third pack of blood to return to slumber quicker. Dorne was beside him, sending him off in a manner.

As Caius' eyelids started drooping heavily, he said: "I would appreciate it if you didn't awaken me again for the next few centuries at least. I'm in the middle of a game of slow chess with ancestor Victor. The status of your lineage as the clan head family hangs in the balance of that game."

Dorne looked at Caius incredulously as he asked: "Are you joking right now? Isn't the strength of our abilities the deciding factor?"

Caius looked at Dorne as if he was a seven-year-old as he replied: "That is the official story. Why do you think there are never two families that manifest equally strong abilities? It's because the strength of abilities, no matter how they change, is determined by the ancestral tomb. The good news is that every match lasts around three hundred years."

Dorne was quite dubious still, not even managing to hide it from his expression as he said: "Then I better come down here often to tell you about the recent developments in the game, so you can keep our family going strong."

Caius' eyes that had narrowed to slits widened slightly as he almost shouted: "This brat, do you doubt your grandfather's ability?"

Dorne replied with a very slight smirk, that went without Caius' notice: "No, I have confidence in you. Then, how about I send somebody to read books to you all every once in a while, so you don't get too bored in here?"

However, by the time Dorne had put his question into words, Caius had nodded off. Dorne decided to take it as a 'yes'. The entire ancestral tomb being a huge sausage fest gave him an idea of what kind of books should be read to them.

While Dorne was a bit of a bookworm, he had come across many kinds of literary arts in his years, after all. Naturally, the reader would have to be a young vampiress with a beautiful and expressive voice. Dorne was curious how much verbal irrigation would be needed to get some saplings sprouting on in there. After all, distraction was tactics 101, especially against an opponent you would be powerless against otherwise.

After Caius had been returned to slumber and hooked up to a brand new blood back to slowly drip its contents into the ancestor's mouth, Dorne returned into the throne room. He was quickly approached by the six vampire knights on throne room guard duty.

Once the encirclement was complete, Mary came out from behind one of the pillars and said: "Little brother, it's so good of you to join us. Now obediently walk into a solitary cell and you'll have enough food and blood for the rest of your life. Nobody has to get hurt, unless I change my mind."

Dorne was unphased. He had been expecting something along those lines. He asked: "Just the six of them? I was expecting a lot more. Please tell me you at least remember what happens to traitors in our clan?"

Mary deemed a response unnecessary, instead she replied: "Oh, I don't think I have to worry about that. Now, move along like a good little brother."

Dorne, still unmoving, said without a change in expression: "That's enough. Take them down."

Sounds of metal striking flesh could be heard and a moment later, six heads rolled on the floor and the outlines of twenty people appeared from thin air, then faded away once more – they had reactivated the stealth system as soon as they struck, but it still took a moment to fully activate.

Mary asked in a panicked voice: "What- what was that?"

"That was my personal security detail. I'm afraid I'm a bit too busy right now to answer any more questions."

Suddenly, Mary found herself being bound and gagged, and not in the way she liked.

Once the rebellious element had been dealt with and properly confined, Dorne sought out Gaude who was currently busy playing marbles with some kids – it was a mental exercise for him, calculating the exact force vector needed to reach the desired position and then execute it as precisely as possible with fine muscle control. However, either his numbers were off or his control was lacking, he wasn't faring any better than the children. Stubborn as he was, he would rather lose than achieve victory due to coincidence or subconscious calculations that would need separate fine-tuning for every fundamentally different activity.

Dorne observed for a moment and thought: 'He's been acting all high and mighty this whole time but look at him now. He seems to enjoy games just like anyone his age.'

Gaude seemed to notice Dorne standing nearby as he asked: "Catch any traitors lately?"

Dorne was surprised by the question as he asked one of his own: "How did you- Right, at the end of the day, they work for you, so they reported to you, didn't they?"

"Got it in one. Alright, go ahead, what are you here for?"

Dorne looked somewhat downcast, as if embarrassed to ask, but ask he did: "Would you help me interrogating my sister, Mary? I fear that there are more of those sympathizing with her and Lucien around."

"Just drag her over, I'm sure I'll be able to wriggle my way into her head."

A moment later, a struggling Mary was brought out of a nearby passage. Apparently, Dorne had already predicted that Gaude would help him out.

Gaude simply took a few steps closer and held Mary's head steady with both his hands while staring into her eyes, to give the spell the maximum kick. He quickly discovered that for a vampire, Mary's defenses were pathetic, barely passable as a beginner Occlumens.

As he dived deeper and deeper, more of her life was revealed to Gaude, occasionally, he couldn't help but internally comment: 'Oh, she has some hobbies. Damn, I didn't even think of that before. I'd say she's an artist, but to do that to her own subordinates, that's just plain misappropriation of resources.'

After a while, even Gaude's steel-reinforced stomach lining started to corrode however, going with: 'Shit, that is not something I'd ever consider doing. That's just plain wrong.'

After a while, Gaude spoke to Dorne: "I thought this was your castle, not a cannibal's slaughterhouse?"

Dorne looked confused when he asked: "What do you mean?"

Gaude simply gestured Dorne to follow him, taking him to the dungeons where the 'decorations' were stored.

After seeing them firsthand, Dorne was unable to speak for a few minutes. Finally, however, he had a sincerely concerned expression on his face as he spoke: "I understand that you're quite good at mind magic. I would greatly appreciate if you could help them, erase the experience from their mind and try to put them back together. You're the only one I trust with my subordinates."

Gaude already had obtained some information about the suffering of those people, or living husks, to be more precise, and he wasn't too confident. He said: "If I do this, if I get them to function, you'll owe me, big time. I'm warning you right now, however, my first few patients might end up as vegetables."

Dorne replied solemnly: "I understand. As long as either of us still lives, the Sanguini clan shall come to the aid of House Vywin without question, as long as it does not go against the old laws of vampire kind."

It was a given in the first place due to the contract that Dorne had signed, except the extension of the duration possibly past Gaude's lifetime.

Gaude suddenly had a smirk on his face, when he asked: "Even that thing about donkeys and Sundays?" He had read the old laws of vampires for leisure, and he ended up finding some points that were either strange or heavily outdated, sometimes both.

Dorne, however, replied in all seriousness: "Even that. The second princess is still around and hopefully will be for a long time, since she's the kindest of them all. No vampire has ever broken that law and gotten away since it was created, and the Sanguini clan won't try to be the first."