With only a few cracks in the leftmost window left as an indication of the king’s death – leaving out the twins playing with his corpse in a remote corner – left, Hannah and I waited for the dukes to enter the room.
It was the season for them to be around, so Hannah and I were quite sure they wouldn’t need more than an hour to arrive, but they took their time, probably because they wanted to decide their course of action first.
They couldn’t fight, that was for sure. Information from the remoter regions was scarce here, but everyone could tell that the undead outside the city weren’t the only ones. In fact, every possible corpse all over the country had been resurrected, making the north the hot spot of the invasion, but by no means the only place we attacked.
And all the other options were equally bad. They could try to negotiate, but there was hardly anything to bargain with. As such, I was rather interested in what strategy they would use as they stepped into the throne room, scanned the area and soon found the twins with their plaything.
“Welcome. I do hope the way wasn’t too harsh?” I merely blinked once and the illusion of myself was standing behind them, my head hurt like crazy … and it wasn’t the kind of pain I liked at all.
“It was not.” The eastern duke, Luna’s previous father looked me straight into my red eyes without any fear whatsoever. “We are here to discuss how to proceed after our previous king … chose to defend us with his life.”
“There was hardly any choice he had in that matter. He needed to be gone … but I’m open to discuss your removal as well. Swear locality to me and I will spare your life.”
“Lucy, you were like a sister to Luna. I don’t know what happened to her … and I don’t even want to think about it … but you are like a daughter to me as well.”
“Oh?” I feigned to be completely oblivious to the lies he muttered and looked at him with interest, all while my head felt like it was going to explode.
“Mary and I thought a long time about this .. but how about we adopt you … like two hundred years ago? Wouldn’t it be nice to be her daughter again?” Those … we’re easier times, I had to admit it. But as much as I wished to go back in time and spend time with the Mary I held dear, that was impossible. Time travelling was impossible after all.
Still, maybe, just maybe we could start anew. I would even entrust Luna to them, because they raised her into a beautiful young lady in her past life already. Standing up from the throne, I walked towards him with legs out of jelly and reached out to him.
Then, all of a sudden, another wave of energy flooded my soul, sending splinters flying everywhere and sending wave after wave of pain through my head.
“We … family …” My ears were ringing while I tried to hide my pain at all cost and tried to reign all of my emotions back in. Sadness, anger, despair, all of that engulfed me in a storm I couldn’t control fully. And yet, I didn’t move an inch but rather kept on smiling and pretended to listen to him. “… Luna … wanted … me … father.” I didn’t know the connection between these words. But what I did know was that the last word in particular made me furious. So much so that the whirlwind of emotions turned into rage. Bottomless, uncontrolled rage.
“I DON’T HAVE A FATHER!” I screamed loudly, hit my own head to feel something except this soul wrenching pain and bit on my own tongue. I balled my right hand into a fist and rammed it into then unsuspecting duke. Without thinking at all, the snake around my hips dropped to the ground, bolted upwards like a spring only to turn into a dagger halfway there. Grabbing it out of the air, I swung it once and rammed it into his chest before I regained my ability to think.
Instantly, all the rage dissipated leaving me completely devoid of any emotions. Blood was seeping out of the wound and yet it failed to excite me in any way. I was just empty.
My gaze lingered on the wound a little, then wandered over his surprised expression towards my illusionary self, shaking my head in disapproval.
“Shut up.” That thing didn’t even have to say anything. It was a mistake to murder him from an emotional and strategic standpoint alike. Sighing, I let the dagger turn back into a snake which immediately coiled around the dukes neck and choked him, not allowing any tone to leave his mouth.
Luckily enough, thanks to his death my soul healed somewhat, allowing me to think clearly about what the fuck I had just done. It was obvious the twins weren’t the only one with father issues, that was for sure.
I looked down onto the corpse a little bit before turning back to the dukes.
“My dear vampire girls … please get over here.” My issue couldn’t be resolved, no matter what. But theirs certainly could be. Very reluctantly, Clara and Clarice let go of the corpse and strolled over, dripping with blood while the southern duke soiled himself.
“Locality or death. Choose.” Happily, Clara and Clarice hugged my arm looking at me as if I was their saviour.
“I haven’t bowed to the demons invading my lands, and neither will I bow to a tyrant. I’d rather die.” The northern duke was quite the complex persona, wasn’t he? For once, he pushed to reclaim his lost lands even going as far as starting his own expeditions from time to time. But then at the same time, he refused to partake in them. He didn’t have a death wish, that was for sure. “But I am willing to bow under certain conditions.”
“What do you think about your father’s proposal?” I asked the twins while stepping away from the corpse.
“… dad?” Clara muttered in disbelief and stared at the duke for the first time. The duke’s eyes lit up in realisation as he dug out long forgotten memories.
“Clara? Clarice?” Disbelief. Fear. Anger. A mixture of emotions appeared in his eyes as the twins let go of me and stumbled towards their father. “You … survived?” I wouldn’t say they survived the catastrophe that befell them. Something like them survived. In no way did these twins have much in common with the ones he knew.
“Dad … we … we killed mum.” They broke down in tears in front of him, grabbing onto his shirt feverishly. On their knees, they wept while expecting some sort of reaction from the duke. But that never happened. He just looked down, aghast that his daughters had turned into monsters.
“You have to forgive them for what they have done … otherwise they will search for a family they can’t have forever. They won’t grow mentally and be damned to behave like a child … because giving away all responsibilities is the only way for them to avoid their past right now. But you can change that … maybe. Or maybe not … but helping them is your responsibility, is it not?” I proposed, my head hurting once more. Just to make sure I didn’t fall over, I waved Hannah over to me who had yet to intervene.
“They are … demons … monsters … evil beings.” It was at that point when I realised that they wouldn’t get any forgiveness from him. He had lost everything to demons from his old wife to his children … and even though he was never there for them, I was sure he had loved them at some point. But that love had already faded away … and left was only the hatred for my kind.
“Clara … Clarice, you can do your usual stuff with him … but take your time.” As soon as I told them that, the twins stood up with tears in their eyes, grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the throne. Without caring about the symbolism at all, they pushed him down on it while he resisted with all his might. But vampires were stronger than humans by default, making them the superior race without the support of the system during the night.
But I didn’t want to partake in that family drama myself. Instead, I turned back to the two other dukes and presented them with the same option the others had as well … until they abstained from choosing for too long.
“Loyalty or death?” I asked threateningly.
“It is a pleasure to serve you, empress Lucy.” The western duke went on his knee first with the southern following right afterwards.
“Your word is our command.” I nodded at their display of servitude and stepped back from them a little.
“You may leave now … but please bring Gregory and Juliette inside.” The two dukes bowed once more turned around and left in a hurry. Turning my head around, I understood why they did so instantly as the twins were basically raping their own father at this point. It was hard to call it anything but that.
Shaking my head a little, I faced the door once more and just as I had assumed, Gregory and his sister entered the room with him being more or less furious.
“Lucy! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Well … except that I was hallucinating, my who body felt like it was on fire and so much more?
“What the fuck is wrong with you to barge into my throne room and talk to me this way?” I countered right away, not willing to be outdone by a measly prince without a realm to rule over.
“Gregory, please shut up.” Juliette said quietly, very conscious about the puddle of blood they were in.
“She is the goddamn secret boss, just like I told the others. And I’m not going to shut up! Who is going to stop her if not I?” He got punched into his Adam’s apple right away … but surprisingly not by me.
“Please excuse the rude behaviour of my brother … he doesn’t know when to stop.” The princess told me and bowed deeply.
“It’s fine.” If anything, it was rather refreshing to see him get punched by someone except me.
“May I ask what you have planned? Gregory and the remaining heroes told me we are being watched by the gods? I presume that is your real motivation of taking over the kingdom?” She asked me, purposefully ignoring the scene behind me to her best extent.
“Juli…ette?” Gregory slowly regained his ability to speak, even though it must have hurt a lot for him.
“Please be silent Gregory.” Juliette was rather cold towards him, probably because she knew he could fuck this conversation up to the point where he would die.
“It is for the most part.” I told her truthfully. I was here to rope in the reincarnators.
“May I ask you to spare our lives? Gregory and I … we were a couple back on the spaceship and … and I don’t want to lose him yet again.” How touching. Nearly made me puke on the floor.
“It is true that we are being watched … but I don’t want to end your adventure in bloodshed. That would give some gods what they want to see. You are under house arrest in the palace. But fret not, all the other reincarnators we found will join you at some point.” I told them. Even though I had a bad start, I didn’t desire to be a tyrant at all. That would be a hassle.
“Thank you very much.” Juliette bowed and forced her brother … boyfriend to follow up as well.
“But…” He resisted a little, but did give in near the end.
“You may leave before he changes my mind.” I told them reluctantly. I wasn’t entirely sure they would keep their feet down forever, but I did promise Sofie to keep my takeover as bloodless as possible and I did intend to hold that … even though there were several slip ups already.
As soon as the door slammed shut once more, I grabbed Hannah’s shoulder and steadied myself.
“Hannah … I need a break.” I told her while closing my eyes to ignore that godforsaken illusion.
“In here?” Hannah asked a bit worried about the twins … but I couldn’t leave them alone, could I?
“It doesn’t matter. Just give me the drugs and I’ll be fine.” I was ailing a lot and my whole body hurt … I just needed a break from that by any means possible.
“If you say so …” She handed me over the backpack right away and nodded towards the gate. “I’ll keep the spying eyes and ears away.”
With only a few cracks in the leftmost window left as an indication of the king’s death – leaving out the twins playing with his corpse in a remote corner – left, Hannah and I waited for the dukes to enter the room.
It was the season for them to be around, so Hannah and I were quite sure they wouldn’t need more than an hour to arrive, but they took their time, probably because they wanted to decide their course of action first.
They couldn’t fight, that was for sure. Information from the remoter regions was scarce here, but everyone could tell that the undead outside the city weren’t the only ones. In fact, every possible corpse all over the country had been resurrected, making the north the hot spot of the invasion, but by no means the only place we attacked.
And all the other options were equally bad. They could try to negotiate, but there was hardly anything to bargain with. As such, I was rather interested in what strategy they would use as they stepped into the throne room, scanned the area and soon found the twins with their plaything.
“Welcome. I do hope the way wasn’t too harsh?” I merely blinked once and the illusion of myself was standing behind them, my head hurt like crazy … and it wasn’t the kind of pain I liked at all.
“It was not.” The eastern duke, Luna’s previous father looked me straight into my red eyes without any fear whatsoever. “We are here to discuss how to proceed after our previous king … chose to defend us with his life.”
“There was hardly any choice he had in that matter. He needed to be gone … but I’m open to discuss your removal as well. Swear locality to me and I will spare your life.”
“Lucy, you were like a sister to Luna. I don’t know what happened to her … and I don’t even want to think about it … but you are like a daughter to me as well.”
“Oh?” I feigned to be completely oblivious to the lies he muttered and looked at him with interest, all while my head felt like it was going to explode.
“Mary and I thought a long time about this .. but how about we adopt you … like two hundred years ago? Wouldn’t it be nice to be her daughter again?” Those … we’re easier times, I had to admit it. But as much as I wished to go back in time and spend time with the Mary I held dear, that was impossible. Time travelling was impossible after all.
Still, maybe, just maybe we could start anew. I would even entrust Luna to them, because they raised her into a beautiful young lady in her past life already. Standing up from the throne, I walked towards him with legs out of jelly and reached out to him.
Then, all of a sudden, another wave of energy flooded my soul, sending splinters flying everywhere and sending wave after wave of pain through my head.
“We … family …” My ears were ringing while I tried to hide my pain at all cost and tried to reign all of my emotions back in. Sadness, anger, despair, all of that engulfed me in a storm I couldn’t control fully. And yet, I didn’t move an inch but rather kept on smiling and pretended to listen to him. “… Luna … wanted … me … father.” I didn’t know the connection between these words. But what I did know was that the last word in particular made me furious. So much so that the whirlwind of emotions turned into rage. Bottomless, uncontrolled rage.
“I DON’T HAVE A FATHER!” I screamed loudly, hit my own head to feel something except this soul wrenching pain and bit on my own tongue. I balled my right hand into a fist and rammed it into then unsuspecting duke. Without thinking at all, the snake around my hips dropped to the ground, bolted upwards like a spring only to turn into a dagger halfway there. Grabbing it out of the air, I swung it once and rammed it into his chest before I regained my ability to think.
Instantly, all the rage dissipated leaving me completely devoid of any emotions. Blood was seeping out of the wound and yet it failed to excite me in any way. I was just empty.
My gaze lingered on the wound a little, then wandered over his surprised expression towards my illusionary self, shaking my head in disapproval.
“Shut up.” That thing didn’t even have to say anything. It was a mistake to murder him from an emotional and strategic standpoint alike. Sighing, I let the dagger turn back into a snake which immediately coiled around the dukes neck and choked him, not allowing any tone to leave his mouth.
Luckily enough, thanks to his death my soul healed somewhat, allowing me to think clearly about what the fuck I had just done. It was obvious the twins weren’t the only one with father issues, that was for sure.
I looked down onto the corpse a little bit before turning back to the dukes.
“My dear vampire girls … please get over here.” My issue couldn’t be resolved, no matter what. But theirs certainly could be. Very reluctantly, Clara and Clarice let go of the corpse and strolled over, dripping with blood while the southern duke soiled himself.
“Locality or death. Choose.” Happily, Clara and Clarice hugged my arm looking at me as if I was their saviour.
“I haven’t bowed to the demons invading my lands, and neither will I bow to a tyrant. I’d rather die.” The northern duke was quite the complex persona, wasn’t he? For once, he pushed to reclaim his lost lands even going as far as starting his own expeditions from time to time. But then at the same time, he refused to partake in them. He didn’t have a death wish, that was for sure. “But I am willing to bow under certain conditions.”
“What do you think about your father’s proposal?” I asked the twins while stepping away from the corpse.
“… dad?” Clara muttered in disbelief and stared at the duke for the first time. The duke’s eyes lit up in realisation as he dug out long forgotten memories.
“Clara? Clarice?” Disbelief. Fear. Anger. A mixture of emotions appeared in his eyes as the twins let go of me and stumbled towards their father. “You … survived?” I wouldn’t say they survived the catastrophe that befell them. Something like them survived. In no way did these twins have much in common with the ones he knew.
“Dad … we … we killed mum.” They broke down in tears in front of him, grabbing onto his shirt feverishly. On their knees, they wept while expecting some sort of reaction from the duke. But that never happened. He just looked down, aghast that his daughters had turned into monsters.
“You have to forgive them for what they have done … otherwise they will search for a family they can’t have forever. They won’t grow mentally and be damned to behave like a child … because giving away all responsibilities is the only way for them to avoid their past right now. But you can change that … maybe. Or maybe not … but helping them is your responsibility, is it not?” I proposed, my head hurting once more. Just to make sure I didn’t fall over, I waved Hannah over to me who had yet to intervene.
“They are … demons … monsters … evil beings.” It was at that point when I realised that they wouldn’t get any forgiveness from him. He had lost everything to demons from his old wife to his children … and even though he was never there for them, I was sure he had loved them at some point. But that love had already faded away … and left was only the hatred for my kind.
“Clara … Clarice, you can do your usual stuff with him … but take your time.” As soon as I told them that, the twins stood up with tears in their eyes, grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the throne. Without caring about the symbolism at all, they pushed him down on it while he resisted with all his might. But vampires were stronger than humans by default, making them the superior race without the support of the system during the night.
But I didn’t want to partake in that family drama myself. Instead, I turned back to the two other dukes and presented them with the same option the others had as well … until they abstained from choosing for too long.
“Loyalty or death?” I asked threateningly.
“It is a pleasure to serve you, empress Lucy.” The western duke went on his knee first with the southern following right afterwards.
“Your word is our command.” I nodded at their display of servitude and stepped back from them a little.
“You may leave now … but please bring Gregory and Juliette inside.” The two dukes bowed once more turned around and left in a hurry. Turning my head around, I understood why they did so instantly as the twins were basically raping their own father at this point. It was hard to call it anything but that.
Shaking my head a little, I faced the door once more and just as I had assumed, Gregory and his sister entered the room with him being more or less furious.
“Lucy! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Well … except that I was hallucinating, my who body felt like it was on fire and so much more?
“What the fuck is wrong with you to barge into my throne room and talk to me this way?” I countered right away, not willing to be outdone by a measly prince without a realm to rule over.
“Gregory, please shut up.” Juliette said quietly, very conscious about the puddle of blood they were in.
“She is the goddamn secret boss, just like I told the others. And I’m not going to shut up! Who is going to stop her if not I?” He got punched into his Adam’s apple right away … but surprisingly not by me.
“Please excuse the rude behaviour of my brother … he doesn’t know when to stop.” The princess told me and bowed deeply.
“It’s fine.” If anything, it was rather refreshing to see him get punched by someone except me.
“May I ask what you have planned? Gregory and the remaining heroes told me we are being watched by the gods? I presume that is your real motivation of taking over the kingdom?” She asked me, purposefully ignoring the scene behind me to her best extent.
“Juli…ette?” Gregory slowly regained his ability to speak, even though it must have hurt a lot for him.
“Please be silent Gregory.” Juliette was rather cold towards him, probably because she knew he could fuck this conversation up to the point where he would die.
“It is for the most part.” I told her truthfully. I was here to rope in the reincarnators.
“May I ask you to spare our lives? Gregory and I … we were a couple back on the spaceship and … and I don’t want to lose him yet again.” How touching. Nearly made me puke on the floor.
“It is true that we are being watched … but I don’t want to end your adventure in bloodshed. That would give some gods what they want to see. You are under house arrest in the palace. But fret not, all the other reincarnators we found will join you at some point.” I told them. Even though I had a bad start, I didn’t desire to be a tyrant at all. That would be a hassle.
“Thank you very much.” Juliette bowed and forced her brother … boyfriend to follow up as well.
“But…” He resisted a little, but did give in near the end.
“You may leave before he changes my mind.” I told them reluctantly. I wasn’t entirely sure they would keep their feet down forever, but I did promise Sofie to keep my takeover as bloodless as possible and I did intend to hold that … even though there were several slip ups already.
As soon as the door slammed shut once more, I grabbed Hannah’s shoulder and steadied myself.
“Hannah … I need a break.” I told her while closing my eyes to ignore that godforsaken illusion.
“In here?” Hannah asked a bit worried about the twins … but I couldn’t leave them alone, could I?
“It doesn’t matter. Just give me the drugs and I’ll be fine.” I was ailing a lot and my whole body hurt … I just needed a break from that by any means possible.
“If you say so …” She handed me over the backpack right away and nodded towards the gate. “I’ll keep the spying eyes and ears away.”
