Learning Control

Deltan's awakening was met with tears and happiness. Even Emperor Destan dropped by to see his son. Luckily, they could maintain their minds around him, otherwise it would have been very awkward.

They already had to face the awkwardness when they looked at their Nine. Nine was just too stunning. They felt that after seeing her, they could no longer find anyone else that would be able to easily move their hearts. Even if they looked all over the world, they wouldn't find another person this attractive. It wasn't only her appearance, it was also the way that she carried herself and the aura around her. Everything blended together to form an irresistible attraction that drew eyes towards her.

In the end, Nine roped Seyton in to help her teach Nocturne and Deltan. Whilst Nocturne had a modicum of control over himself, Deltan was completely helpless. His eyes turned red the moment he became hungry, and he tried draining his friends many times.

Deltan helplessly submitted himself to his brother's tender mercies, once again undergoing another round of torture. What made him the saddest was that after a round of sparring with his younger brother, although he was hungry, his body was too tired to move to get food!

He wanted to cry but had no tears.

Nine and her group of three left Cosmos City for Seyton's city, Ascarium. He had the highest amount of influence there, so he would be able to take care of any potential troubles to come.

Upon entering the city, they drew looks from all over. Each one was uncommonly beautiful and handsome even for Vampires. Although all of them were male, no one could look away nonetheless.

"That's the Duke!" a passer-by Vampire whispered to his companion. "He's finally woken after so many centuries!'

"So that's what he looks like," his friend replied, taking this chance to briefly look at Seyton before moving his vision back onto Nine. "But that doesn't matter right now. Who's that in the front? I've never seen such a stunner."

"Hey, you're right," the first Vampire said. "I wonder who that is. It's probably the Duke's childe. Or perhaps a lover?" he said, exchanging lewd smirks with his friend.

Nine tightened her finger, twitching it and binding Nocturne from moving more than 1 meter away from her. Nocturne snarled, his eyes going dark. He glared at the two Vampires 'whispering' in the distance.

"Nocturne," she said lowly. Her voice came out smooth and was crisp like a pearl hitting a plate.

Nine's voice sent shivers up the surrounding figure's spines. They looked at her, infatuated. Such a high level of charm! Such nobility, such grace. Everything about him was perfect. They felt like if they could, they would be willing to stare at her forever and submit. If they were spoken to in that voice, they would even be willing to throw down their lives.

Nocturne bristled but reluctantly held himself back, sensing Nine's displeasure. Although he had been mildly appeased learning that Deltan was her elder brother, he still felt jealous. Maybe it was because he thought that he had been special with how he would be the one closest to her, but it seemed like it wasn't meant to be.

He glared at Deltan, who glared back.

Deltan scoffed, wondering how that sleeping figure that seemed so gentle would turn out to be like this when he woke up. He missed the sleeping Black a little. But he was still a bit grateful because his body had been used for experimentation to help himself, so he would endure it. It wasn't because he felt guilty or anything, but Nocturne was getting way too close to his brother for his liking. It couldn't be that he was gay, right?

Deltan eyed Nocturne doubtfully but inwardly decided he would try not to leave Nine and Nocturne alone. Those starry eyes when he stared at his younger brother… unacceptable! His younger brother was only fourteen this year! The other man was simply a pervert! Nocturne had to be at least nineteen or twenty! No, he definitely couldn't allow them to be together. His younger brother deserved better.

"You. What's your age?" Deltan asked curtly, discarding all pretence as his original haughty self that had only become subdued in Nine's presence came back out.

Nocturne furrowed his brows but still responded in the end. "Twenty."

"Then we're the same age. I'm watching you."

Nocturne glared back at him. Could he take that as a declaration of war? Don't tell me, he thought to himself, is this incest? He snarled inwardly. Over his dead body!

Seyton followed serenely after his Master, disregarding the bickering he heard behind him. Those two were so disruptive. If they weren't fledging newborns, he would have already taught them a lesson. Unfortunately, that wasn't his place since they were his Master's childes, so he would just ignore them.

He seemed to slip more and more into his role and persona that he played, and it almost felt like he was adopting part of the mask as his personality. It didn't seem to bad, however. He didn't hate it.

Nine's eyelids slid downwards a little, adopting a half-lidded look, gazing at the two arguing figures. They immediately shut up when they felt the surrounding temperature drop, not wanting to displease Nine.

The group of four entered Seyton's residence, leaving the trailing Vampires and humans outside as they didn't dare to get near. They looked on in disappointment at the retreating figures, reluctantly leaving when they realized that divine being wasn't coming back out.

The news rapidly spread in the city, and before long, everyone knew about the few figures residing in Duke Seyton Mort's mansion, one of them looking like a being that descended from the heavens.

Many wanted to catch a glimpse, but the gates of the Duke's residence remained firmly shut, leaving them burning with curiosity.

Inside Seyton's residence, Nine flicked her finger, causing the small luggage that Seyton had been dragging along the road to tumble on the ground as the locks unclasped. Inside was the unconscious figure of Rose Beverley, shoved into the small luggage that left her no room to stretch or move. On her neck was a collar that Nine had made, which would leave her unable to call or cry for help. Other than that, her magic was bound, but she was free to move.

Nine leaned lazily on the couch, sipping on a glass filled with blood. She gestured for Seyton to explain to Nocturne and Deltan.

"Generally, Vampires don't drink blood from other Vampires. Mainly because without the addition of fresh blood, the magic within will stagnant and eventually die out. When this happens, the Vampire in question will go berserk and go on an unstoppable rampage, which has caused massacres in several human cities before," he said, pausing briefly. "As such, it is vital for newborns to learn how to drink from humans without killing them."

He waited for the two to nod to show their understanding before he continued. "Ascarium is one of the Vampire cities that contains a lower number of humans, so it is generally safer for newborns to learn how to control their bloodlust here. As such, Master has generously provided a human for you to learn how to control your bloodlust."

Nine swirled the blood inside her glass. "Until both of you can maintain yourself in front of humans regardless of how hungry you are, we can go back. Otherwise, don't even dream of leaving."

Her words set down as an ultimatum, Nocturne and Deltan struggled to control themselves as Seyton woke Rose up, causing her subdued scent to flare up in fear and terror.

The addition of emotions was too much for their baser instincts of predators as they lunged forward to attack. They were frozen in mid-lunge, hearing a sigh.

"Looks like there's still much to learn," Nine said dryly.

Seyton couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. No matter how he thought about it, his Master's perfect example of control was just shocking. He had never heard of a Vampire learning how to control themselves in such a short period of time. Even he himself had trouble when he was young. It was only after repeated tempering that he finally managed to get himself under control.

His Master's willpower had to be absurdly strong. He was practically a monster. Even amongst the crowd previously, the scent of humans had been strong, so he had shielded the three younger people before realizing that unlike Nocturne and Deltan, his Master hadn't even flinched, instead looking indifferent and cold like he usually did.

As Seyton supervised Deltan and Nocturne, Nine started working on creating some things that would help them in their learning process.

The silence in the house was repeatedly interrupted by growls and struggling sounds, as well as the harsh breathing and loud heartbeats from Rose.

Nine couldn't help but let out a sigh as she finished draining all the blood in the glass. This would take a while.