Welcome Home…

"Evelynn! My little cutie! Where have you been?" shouted a handsome man anxiously.

He had a stern demeanor, beautiful blue eyes, and a fit physique that accentuated the seams of his crimson jacket. Running at full speed, the good-looking man picked up his adorable daughter with one hand, tossing her gently into the air as her silver hair flowed gracefully.

"Father! Eeeek!" she screeched with excitement. "I missed you so much! I could feel your presence as soon as we entered Garlacia, but…"

With a look of apprehension, Eve glanced down at her father and gasped.

"ARE YOU OKAY?" she screamed, hiccups interrupting her speech. "I SENSED SOMETHING WAS OFF BUT"

The tall man pushed his crimson red hair to the side and gently set his daughter down whilst patting her head.

"Shhhh. It will all be okay, my love…It will all be okay."

The father-daughter duo embraced for a few seconds as Jason glanced around, not wanting to disturb their emotional meeting. He noticed several medieval fortresses, heavy sunlight with little shade or cover, and towering golden gates that encircled the town.

"Psst Karl," the hate reader whispered into the Doom Monkey's ear. "Doesn't this place feel somewhat odd? Or a bit…eerie?"

"What do you mean, Master?"

"Why are all the residents so young, and where are all the elderly?" he questioned.

The Doom Monkey placed his left hand on his forehead and surveyed his new surroundings like a tourist in a new city and nodded slowly as he understood his master's confusion. Most of the residents appeared to be around twenty-four to twenty-six years of age, with the oldest residents looking to be at most forty-five years old. As Karl turned to respond to Jason's question, a thundering roar pierced through the air.

"YOU CRETIN. WHY DOES MY DAUGHTER HAVE YOUR SCENT?"

The handsome man's eyes turned cold, and a murderous aura spread throughout Garlacia. A veil of blood covered the town's vast expanse as the sky turned into a crimson and orange concoction of colors. Jason shivered at the sight of the man's blood red eyes and emotionless expression and braced himself to lose a few lives. He had seen this exact scenario once before in the Curious Grove when Eve had wiped out the Aquabird and Snuggleby and understood that there was little he could do to survive.

However, the hate reader was no longer a weak-willed brat that cowered in fear when faced with stronger opponents. Though the vampire was much stronger than he was, and his killing intent alone was powerful enough to suppress both Eve and Karl, Jason had experienced worse in his fight against the devilish red imp and his mushroom training against the ten times stronger Nemesis and prepared to stand his ground for the first time in his life.

"YOU HAVE GUTS TO ACCOMPANY MY DAUGHTER AFTER SULLYING HER WITH YOUR BLOOD," the handsome red-haired vampire screamed imposingly. "WHAT KIND OF FATHER WOULD I BE IF I LET YOU LEAVE HERE ALIVE?"

Immediately, the vampire bit his right index finger and stabbed it with the sharp part of his fang. As the blood began to drip into his other hand, a small ember started to form and dance around his palms in a beautiful and fluid manner. Jason looked in awe at the vampire's bloodline ability and thought to himself, cursing, 'This stupid author really made the only common vampire weakness into its biggest strength, huh?'

But before he could react, the handsome middle-aged man shot the ball of fire toward the black-haired teenager. The little ember had absorbed the remaining pool of blood from his finger, growing into a brilliant fireball that rivaled even the heat of the sun above them.

"Sanguine Flames!" the man shouted as the hate reader closed his eyes, expecting a familiar notification ring. Instead, however, his ears rang harshly from the shriek of a young female as a second scream resounded in the air around them.

"FATHER! STOP! JASON SAVED MY LIFE WHEN I WAS BEING ATTACKED BY ROGUE MAGICIANS IN BUTTERPOND, AND I UNCONSCIOUSLY DRANK HIS BLOOD TO RECOVER. There was no sullying action going on," Eve shouted innocently.

Sweat dripped down Jason's face as he opened his eyes to see the mini sun stop right before his nose.

"Explain quickly, Eve or he shall die soon," the man said with his arm still outstretched, controlling the ball of fire. "What about Anastasia then? How did she pass away? Is this boy related to that as well?!?"

"No, not at all, Father. You are confused," the young vampire said as she shook her head sadly. "The hunters of the Inquisition continued to chase us despite you splitting off from us many years ago to protect us. One day, I got a bit too excited and wandered away from Mother. The hunters kidnapped me, threatening to kill me if Mother didn't lay down her life. She —"

"Evelynn?" her father interrupted weakly as a tear rolled down his face. "Let's talk about this inside."

With the snap of his fingers, the four beings teleported in front of a large medieval castle, adorned with grandiose golden gates, solid gray bricks, and spacious gardens filled with nature. As Eve's father approached the first gate, the two guards wielding blood scythes and sanguine axes kneeled, bowing their heads to the ground.

"Count Alucard, Madam Evelynn, Welcome home."

—

A couple of hours passed as Jason and Karl sat anxiously in the guest bedroom. Walking into the castle, they had noticed the hundreds of maids on high alert with blood red eyes and sharp claws, ready for battle. Were it not for the quick hand wave from Eve's father, Karl was sure that the two would have already turned into minced meat, and the Doom Monkey made sure to say it more than a few times.

Though they had been initially surprised by sheer number of vampires present in one area given that they were a rather rare species on the Isles, the human and monkey duo eventually came to the simple conclusion that the mansion was a vampire shelter and prayed that the rest of the town was normal.

As they continued to wander through the castle, they saw a myriad of training grounds, elaborate halls, and luxurious bedrooms. Each bedroom boasted a king-sized coffin, elaborately designed couches and wooden chairs, and an ice box filled with unknown blood. Karl clung to Jason in fear as they passed by the training grounds and watched two powerful vampires in their early twenties spar with blood-formed weapons, using their Veil of Blood skills and Sanguine Claws interchangeably in a beautiful dance to get the upper hand.

The halls were well-lit with wax candles and adorned with stained glass paintings that spread across the inner windows while pelt-based tapestries hung along each door, marking the various guest rooms based on their unique creatures. Some doors had Crocodox pelts from the West, Dragpard pelts from the East, a species with the head of a dragon and the body of a leopard, and even SnoBlues pelts from the North, a species of flying snow phoenix with arctic white pelts and stunning blue tails. Coincidentally, Jason and Karl's room had been marked by the pelt of a Deerpaw King, and the two boys laughed cautiously at their previous archery practices with Alea.

Eve had long left to discuss a few matters with her father, and as Karl jumped on the couch like a little child, Jason laid on the bed, reminiscing about his lover. It had only been a day since they had left each other's embrace, and yet the hate reader's heart ached with sorrow as he thought about the beautiful Elf.

'Was she still alive?'

'Would she be okay if she fought Elas one-on-one?'

Thoughts of doubt and worry flooded Jason's mind as he thought of his lover. They had no method of communication, no idea when they would meet again, and no certainty regarding each other's lives. All he could do right now was to try to stay alive long enough to see her again and pray that she didn't fall for another more handsome Elf in the meantime, and he hated this feeling of powerlessness.

Gentle knocks at the door interrupted his train of his thoughts. He rolled over and stood up, hesitating before opening the door. Jason opened his mouth to greet the young silver-haired girl but quickly shut his mouth when a taller man popped into his field of vision, his crimson jacket fluttering behind him.

"Oh," Jason muttered under his breath, preparing for the worst.

"Greetings, young ones," the man said lowering his head. "I apologize for my earlier outburst. As fellow men, surely you must understand how I feel after finding my long-lost daughter tainted by the blood of a human boy. I had been looking for her for years after I heard that I lost my wife, but all of a sudden, she appears at my doorstep with you two? Can you imagine how confused I must have been?"

The two nodded their heads quickly with fear, not wanting to interrupt the man's train of thought.

"But alas, there is no longer any bad blood," he said with a chuckle, proud of his little pun. "My daughter has recounted her joyous journey in great detail, and it seems that I was mistaken in my judgement."

"First, thank you for saving my daughter on multiple occasions. I wouldn't know what I would do if I lost the last of my family and of Anastasia. Second, I would like to properly introduce myself. My name is Vlad Alucard, the Count of Garlacia and the sovereign of all vampires."

A chill went down Jason's spine as his eyes widened with shock.

'Eve is the daughter of Vlad?!? The King of all Vampires?' he thought quietly to himself.

"As you may already know, I have lived here for thousands of years with my fellow guards and maids, and I hold the sole progenitor ability of the race. As such, I swear that no harm shall befall you under my domain and, as per my beautiful daughter's request, I have come to offer you a reward…"

"Would you like to become a noble vampire?"

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