Episode 8

Somewhere in Central Valachia, Elder Council Meeting Room

"The first thing on our agenda for today is… the incident with the Rodnes clan."

Elder Viszosa was our chancellor for the day. Her Voltis clan is one of the most powerful ones in Valachia when speaking strictly about military power.

"Elder Zonai, weren't you the one who approached that bottom-feeding Sozim clan with the suggestion to destroy the Rodnes clan from the inside yourself?"

Elder Zonai hated Barakia Rodnes' guts.

"I was. Why are you asking me that now?" Elder Zonai shouted indignantly.

Elder Viszosza chuckled a bit.

With a happy and proud sigh, she said… "Well, it looks like that sly fox Barakia managed to pass on his position as clan leader before he died. The fact that the current leader doesn't exactly have a clan to rule seeing as it was whittled down to below 10 members…"

Even though we couldn't see each other's faces, a combination of fear, irritation and anger was dwelling in his voice as he spoke.

"How do you know that?"

I could see her burning crimson eyes shift to me.

"Your granddaughter told us as much, Elder Vikas."

That couldn't be true.

"We couldn't get a visual on the new leader through the sigil on your granddaughter's body, but his energy signature was unmistakably one of a clan leader. A strong one at that."

Elder Viszosza's tone remained neutral the entire time, not betraying even one of her emotions.

"I see, so you didn't torture that information out of Quon. Despite the gravity of said information."

I didn't bother to hide how relieved I was.

The sound of someone smashing their fist on the table we were all sitting at echoed over and over.

"I'm starting to become tired of your blatant favoritism, Elder Vikas!"

Elder Zonai didn't bother to hide his emotions either. But we all knew that it was just the way he was. He didn't have an acting bone in his body.

"And what are you going to do to me, huh? Start a vote to kick me out? I bring enough contributions to this council. I have certainly earned my position. You know as well as everyone else here that you can't do anything to me, no matter how much you hate me and the way I behave!"

My shouting and threatening speech shut Elder Zonai up. As long as I am careful of what actions I take, he will never be able to get rid of me.

The other 4 elders remained silent. I would assume they wouldn't even give someone like Elder Zonai the time of day nor lower themselves to his level. Elder Zonai's intention of gaining absolute control of the council was obvious to everyone present. But the way he acts makes it hard to take him seriously.

Elder Viszosza cleared her throat to signal us to stop squabbling like children.

"As it stands, he will have to attend the Leader's Summit that's coming up in 6 months."

She paused for a second.

"What I wanted to bring up is… whether we send them an invitation or not."

Then, Elder Zonai said an actually reasonable thing in response.

"He's a clan leader now, right? They must have received Barakia's pocket space."

Elder Viszosza nodded, her eyes going up and down in the darkness.

"Then the answer is simple. We let them attend and we size him up there. Maybe manufacture an artificial conflict to see how he handles it, or respectively how strong he is."

I and the other 5 council members agreed in unison.

"It's settled then. The new clan leader of the Rodnes clan is to attend the Leaders' Summit in 6 months where we will test him."

I could hear a stack of papers being neated up by hitting the butt of the pile on the table, shoving all papers in place.

"Now. The second thing on our agenda today is the apparition of the Last Emperor."

Both I and Zonai got up in disbelief while I could see that 2 of the other 4 had their eyes opened as wide as I'd ever seen them.

"Is there anything the matter, Elder Zonai and Elder Vikas?"

Her tone remained neutral in this situation as well. That was something I admired in her. If she wasn't taken, I would have been pursuing her. What a shame.

"I think everyone here knows what the Last Emperor is and what his appearance at this time signifies."

We all nodded.

Elder Zonai said it before I could.

"One of the clan leaders betrayed us and kept that band safe."

"I concur." I added to his reply.

The other 4 agreed in an unspoken manner.

"What are the chances that Barakia was the one who betrayed us?"

The things he was spouting were infuriating. I almost did another outburst, but I caught myself. Because I knew that he was the one who kept the ring safe. I managed to hide my emotions pretty well in those small movements I did before I stopped myself.

"Low. I don't think we should jump to such conclusions without an investigation, Elder Zonai."

I agreed. I wanted to express that out loud, but I held myself back.

Elder Zonai's gaze shifted down a bit.

"I understand, Chancellor Viszosza."

She nodded in agreement and waited a bit to see if anyone had any questions. Then with another nod, she made the official announcement.

"Then, as of today, the 6th of December, I declare that the investigation on the circumstances of the Last Emperor's reappearance has begun!"

Everyone remained silent, as usual. A few moments later she gave us a dignified "Dismissed."

If my guess is right… the new clan leader of the Rodnes' is the Last Emperor themself. I knew Barakia better than anyone. He wouldn't make his daughter the heir to the clan… much less give her a burden like being the Last Emperor.

By the looks of it, it seems like my dear Quon made contact with them as well. I'll have to talk with her as soon as I get back to headquarters. I'm probably expecting too much out of the Last Emperor… but it would make me so happy if they could help my daughter by destroying the clan and taking her away with them…

An old man like me can only hope, I suppose.

*

Ogen POV

One interesting bit of information was passed down to me when I became the Last Emperor. Vampires were created to fight and kill each other. Otherwise, they would run out of blood to use. I doubt that the Sozim clan leader was anything more than an easily manipulated bottom feeder. In that case, the vampires must have resorted to other ways of killing and destroying their enemies.

I doubt my supply of blood is infinite, but whenever I look within the jewel on the ring where all the blood that was spilled recently flowed in, it feels bottomless. It's undoubtedly going to be something I will have to take full advantage of.

It has been 2 days since Barakia died and everything ended. With Karia, Idris and Keiran's help, I used my blood to reconstruct the castle as close to how it was before. It was a temporary solution, however. We needed to relocate and quickly.

"Ogen?" Karia's soft voice sounded from behind me.

I took the glass I was cleaning and put it down. I told her to sit on the chair on the other side of the counter.

We had lived inside my pocket space for these last 2 days. We only recreated the castle to not draw any attention from anyone that might be passing by.

"I wanted to ask you. Vampires are born with their own true names. Since you transformed into one, I was curious if you had one."

The look on Karia's face looked much more healthy than what it looked like when Barakia died... although her eyes are still slightly puffy.

"How would I check?"

She explained that I had to look deep within myself. I had to calm my mind and still my thought and ask myself the question. What is my name?

"Jin Familia."

She looked as confused as I was.

"Our true names usually have something to do with ourselves. Maybe you treasure family so much that it's appeared in your true name."

That was true.

"Well... I do treasure family and wanted to have one ever since my parents died 10 years ago." I couldn't help but let a bit of sadness and despair show in my voice.

"Sorry." Her tone had a combination of sadness and anger in it. Anger pointed towards herself I'd bet, for being so insensitive.

"Eh. Don't worry about it. I can't even remember much from back when my parents died. I... I was like a machine for a while."

She let me talk so I went ahead and unloaded a bit.

"All I did was wake up, do my due diligence taking care of my hygiene, eat, turn my brain off and let the time pass and when night came I ate and went to bed. I was like that for years."

"What happened then?"

"I met my best friend when I entered high school. I had become very calculating by then. Cold, boring. People avoided me and only talked with me if they needed something from me or if they were dared to. Vetel was the only one who spoke with me and melted the ice I created around my heart in order to be able to live my life in a normal manner. If it wasn't for him... I'd probably be dead by now."

I felt a smile forming on my face as I spoke. I relieved some of the moments I had with Vetel that I treasure.

When I looked at Karia, she had a smile on her face as well.

"He sounds almost like he's your brother."

I gave her a happy hmph.

"You may be right."

I went back to mindlessly cleaning the glasses in the cafe. It really was a pleasant place. The wood was fragrant with apple notes and the coffee grounds had a very nice and pleasing smell and aroma upon opening the jars they were kept in an making coffee with them.

I had also found a cellar with all kinds of wines and alcohol. It wasn't the time for alcohol yet.

Then I suddenly remembered.

"I just remembered but the person outside seemed to know you."

Karia didn't seem to know what I was talking about for a second, but she remembered.

"Is that so? What did they say?"

"Well... She was a woman dressed in a olive green suit with a red necktie. Her hair looked to be black, but the sun hadn't rose up by that time so I couldn't tell very well. She had orange eyes. She didn't give me her name but she asked me whether you, Idris and Keiran were safe or not. She also said that you were like a younger sister to her."

Then, on Karia's face appeared a smile I'd never seen before. She looked very happy and very sad at the same time.

"That's... She is like an older sister to me. Her name is Quon Vikas and belongs to the VIkas clan. She is also the one next in line to rule the clan."

"Why do you look so sad then? She took time out of her likely busy schedule to check on you."

Karia looked like she was about to have an outburst, but she stopped before she could begin yelling.

"Father used to say that he and the other clan leaders are slaves to their clans. In Quon's case, that's actually true and not just a figure of speech. She probably got punished for even leaving her post to check on us."

That was more than upsetting... Karia then proceeded to tell me more about Quon.