Realm of Monsters - Chapter 625: Ebon Lady Veres

Chapter 625: Ebon Lady Veres

  Everyone in the grand hall of the Veres manor stopped eating and drinking as their eyes caught sight of the giant crowd leaving the ballroom. Many began to get up and follow out of curiosity.

  “Where are they all going?” Death wondered to himself from the corner of the hall.

  “To the dueling grounds, little Auri is about to kill a stupid vampire I think,” Lunae hiccuped.

  “You saw all of that?” Death cocked an eyebrow.

  She gave him a flat stare. “I’m drunk, not blind.”

  “Noted.” He pulled a bottle of unopened wine from his cloak and offered it to her. “Do you mind sharing this with my daughters?”

  Lunae took a deep breath and sobered up, her body dispelling the toxins in an instant. “Are you asking me to be a distraction?”

  “Maybe,” he said coyly. 

  “What do you want?”

  “What any father wants, a moment with my son; but if they see me talking with Stryg alone, no amount of aura suppression will stop them from recognizing me, even in this ‘mortal’ appearance.”

  “Don’t you hurt him,” Lunae poked his chest with a sharp claw. “You’ve already hurt him enough by being absent. I don’t need you hurting him more with your presence.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it, love.”

  “What do you want with him?”

  “Why all the sudden questions? You’ve never asked me about the details of my plans before.”

  “That’s because I trusted you. Then you went behind my back and fucked my acolyte.”

  “Do you trust me now?”

  She narrowed her silver eyes. “What do you want with my son?”

  “Our son. And I think you already know.”

  Lunae sighed. “It must be his choice.”

  “I am aware.” He offered the bottle again.

  She snatched it and walked off to find Melantha and Holo. Death watched her go with a fond smile. He had never thought they’d have a child together. Lunae had made him promise to never tamper with her body in any manner; in doing so rejecting any attempt to try and heal the old wound from childhood that had caused her infertility.

  The thought of children with his wife was impossible, but here they were. Stryg had defied the impossible and he would do it again, Death would make sure of it. 

  Death wandered through the crowd and made his way to the dueling ground, unnoticed by the mortals. But he caught sight of a familiar figure walking down another hall, alone. He followed after her, crossing the distance in a mere second. “Lilandria,” he called out.

  The scarlet-haired woman stopped in her steps and flinched before she slowly turned around and fixed him with a leveled stare. “Mortem.”

  “It really is you,” he broke into a smile. 

  “And it really is— you, Mortem,” Lily spoke his name as if it were poison on her lips. “Or should I call you Stjerne? It is what you go by in this Realm, yes?”

  “That depends, do you prefer Stjerne more?”

  “I hate your Aspects equally.”

  “It’s good to see you, Lilandria. Alive, that is.”

  “I’d say it’s good to see you too, Stjerne, but it really never is with you Calamities.”

  He laughed, a brilliant, melodic sound that would disarm even the coldest of hearts. “I must admit, I am surprised to see you. I would have thought Agony had found and killed you by now. I’m glad she has not.”

  “Not for a lack of trying.”

  “Oh that I believe. To my sister, the first three wraiths are nothing more but the greatest abominations the blood gods ever created. Your two sisters are dead, so I imagine Agony will not stop until you are dead as well. I do wonder how you have managed to evade her all these centuries. Might it be because of that little thing?” He wiggled a finger and pointed at the arcane-like tattoo sitting right beneath her collarbone.

  Lily covered the tattoo with her hand. “You’re not supposed to be able to sense that.”

  “That mark conceals you from Calamities, but not when we’re so close. Tell me, what deal did you strike with Des for him to carve such a potent concealment on you?”

  She bit her lip and swallowed. “I was forced to give Desolation the only thing he wanted. A forbidden secret no one else alive knows.”

  “Are you implying that if I kill you, I would never find out?”

  “No, I’m—”

  “A wraith only gives up information they want others to know. Any secret you tell anyone is for your benefit.”

  Lily shook her head. “Not when it came to your brother. Sure, I needed his help, but what he asked for was something I thought was long forgotten. Something that should have stayed forgotten. If my life didn’t hang in the balance I’d have never told Desolation and even then. My sisters had just been slaughtered. I wasn’t in my right mind, I… I should never have…”

  Death narrowed his eyes. “You’re scared. And not of me. I’ve never seen you scared before. What secret are you hiding, Lilandria?”

  “You’ll kill me anyway.”

  “Is the secret so terrible that you think I would once you told me?”

  Lily didn’t answer, but her silence was answer enough.

  Death sighed. “Des was never one for sympathy, if you live it is because you bargained for your life in the deal you struck with him, but knowing Des, that bargain wouldn’t be kept if you shared the secret with another. On the other hand, Agony wishes nothing but to kill you. While Fear would love to get her hands on your body and dissect you. You really are without options.” He smiled. “Fortunately, I’ve always liked you.”

  “What are you implying?”

  “Are you living here?”

  “In this city? For now.”

  “Good. Keep an eye out for my son.” He turned and walked away.

  “That’s it?”

  “You wouldn’t tell me this particular secret even if I killed you. You only told me as much as you did in a gamble to keep yourself alive. I don’t mind, it was well played. But in time, I will find you, and you will tell me what I need to know.”

  “And why would I do that?”

  “Because I can smell her on you, Lilandria. You never cared for your hosts, let alone spent time with them. Yet you reek of this woman. After all these millennia you have found your Affinity.”

  Lily paled at his words. “Don’t. Please.”

  “You should know better than anyone. A wraith’s Affinity is their greatest weakness. How do you think Agony managed to catch your sisters? The best thing you could do is kill this woman you have found yourself in love with, but I know you can’t. None of you ever could. Goodbye, Lilandria. A pleasure, as always.”

  As soon as he left, Lily dropped to her knees and bowed her head. She clenched the hem of her dress and screamed silently in frustration. 

~~~

  “So, who do you think will win?” asked Mort.

  “My mother, of course,” replied Stryg.

  He nodded, an eager smile on his lips. “She looks strong.”

  “She is.” Stryg crossed his arms as if daring him to say otherwise.

  “Hm.” Mort beamed and mimicked Stryg’s posture, although he seemed relaxed, whereas Stryg seemed defensive. Mort turned his eyes to the dueling grounds. “Then this should be fun.”

  “This is the last chance for either side to back down,” announced Gian.

  Aurelia took off her scarlet laurel and tossed it to Gian. “Hold on to that for me.”

  “Confident, are we?” mused Seraphine.

  Gian raised his hand, “Let the duel between Aurelia of House Veres and Seraphine of House Blackvein— BEGIN!”

  Before anyone could react, thorn-tipped vines shot out from underneath the sand and encircled Aurelia in a tight grip. Seraphine had channeled green mana into the ground before the fight had even started and cast the spell as Gian had finished speaking.

  With a flick of her wrist, Seraphine commanded her vines to constrict around the small goblin’s form. Yellow protective scales had appeared over Aurelia’s skin just as quickly as the vines had appeared, but even they seemed to be cracking under the pressure of the vines.

  Aurelia’s face remained calm, but a small cut had already appeared on her cheek where a thorn had managed to pierce a scale.

  “Your son took my son from me, it is only right I take his mother from him!” Seraphine screamed.

  “Stryg!” Aurelia shouted his name over the excited chatter of the crowd.

  He stood up straighter at her voice and looked at her worriedly. “Mother?”

  “Watch closely, this is how a mage like us fights,” said Aurelia.

  Seraphine gave her opponent an odd look, but before she could decipher the woman’s words, Aurelia inhaled deeply and the vines withered into yellow-green husks.

  Drain magic? Seraphine threw her hands up. If the goblin was a grey, then Seraphine needed to keep her distance. Orange flowed into her arms and a stream of fire poured out of her hands.

  Aurelia waved her hand and channeled Blue. A torrent of water manifested around her in the shape of a wave and doused the flames. Without missing a beat, Aurelia channeled orange and cast her own stream of fire, twice as large as her opponent’s.

  Green surged through Seraphine once more and she threw up a wall of stone in front of her. The flames crashed against the rock in a roar of fire. The rock turned red-hot and the edges began to melt, but the wall held as the flames died out.

  Before Seraphine could take a moment’s reprieve, Aurelia was hurling jagged spears of rock at the wall with mere flicks of her fingers. The spears ripped chunks off the wall. Seraphine tried to replenish the wall, but the spears were ripping it apart faster than she could keep up.

  Panic began to rise in Seraphine’s chest and she switched her focus. Channeling green, she summoned an army of vines. Aurelia snapped her fingers and a dozen stone swords rose from the ground in a ring around her. The blades flew in unison and sliced apart every vine that moved.

  In the span of ten breaths, the vines had all been cut and the stone wall was nothing but rubble. Seraphine stood stock still. She went to cast an agility spell, when the ground sank underneath her up to her ankles. 

  “Shit!” Seraphine cursed and tried to move to no avail. 

  Shadow tendrils shot out from Aurelia’s small frame and caught Seraphine from across the dueling ring. Aurelia tapped her foot and the shadows yanked Seraphine to her. The vampire jerked forward from the force and her head snapped down into her collarbone. Aurelia planted her hand on Seraphine’s stomach and looked up at her, both of them still for a moment, then Aurelia channeled brown and shoved her away with the force of a giant. Seraphine skidded off the sand like a stone on water. Finally, she rolled to a stop at the edge of the ring, coughing up blood.

  “Do you concede?” asked Aurelia calmly.

  Seraphine staggered to her feet and scowled. “My son never conceded. He fought until the end.” Green mana suffused the ground underneath her and she took hold of the space, preventing any more surprise attacks from below.

  “So be it.” Aurelia raised her open hand and squeezed.

  A grey curse sigil bloomed on Seraphine’s stomach and silver chains shot out across her body. Her muscles went taut and she fell to her knees, head bowed, unable to move.

  Aurelia walked over, her stride unshaken. The cut on her cheek healed with a simple white glow.

  Jaspin watched from the sidelines, sweat dripping down his face. His self-control gave out at the sight of his mistress’ impending doom. “My lady!” he called out and rushed forward.

  Aurelia scribbled a couple of red sigils with her hand and a dome appeared around Seraphine and her. Jaspin slammed into it and tried to shatter it, but Gian was already on him, dragging him away.

  “You’d have done the same… if you’d been in my place…” Seraphine muttered, refusing to look up at Aurelia.

  “No. I’d have done worse.” Aurelia grabbed the woman’s hair and yanked her head up. “You have no idea what I would do for my son.”

  Purple tendrils of light streamed out of her fingertips and sank into Seraphine’s head. The vampire gasped and her eyes rolled up as she jerked from side to side. 

  The red dome and curse sigils faded away and Aurelia let Seraphine’s head go. The defeated woman dropped to the ground, her body spasming, drool leaking down her mouth.

  The crowd was deathly silent as they stared at Aurelia. A smile of awe covered the faces of every Gale and Veres servant present. It was Elise who recovered first, she turned to the crowd and raised her arms high, “All hail, Ebon Lady Aurelia Veres!”

  The crowd broke into cheers and chanted Aurelia’s name. The majority of nobles in attendance were House Veres’ subjects, the arrival of Aurelia was a boon like no other. While other guests, those who did not belong to the Veres alliance watched on in grim silence.

  They all knew the stories of the Ebon Lords. They were as mighty as they were ruthless. And one had finally returned.

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