After Helios left with his two lords, the girls immediately headed home and got to work.
Now that Exedra was going to be down for a few days, they realized they had no time to dawdle.
Because Valerie wasn’t a fighter, she partnered up with Lisa to get a crash course in close combat.
In truth, she was beyond nervous but with everyone working so hard, she couldn’t be the only one holding the group back.
And with her monstrous strength as a stage two evolved, she was a resource that could not be wasted.
Lailah and Audrina returned to the manor.
They informed the Rabisu generals that they would be taking command for the next few days and they did not seem to have any objections.
“My ladies… what should we do with this?”
Stheno pointed to a scantily dressed angel sitting provocatively in a corner.
Malenia was wearing an all black maid uniform that she’d altered to show off her impressive bust.
Her skirt was also short enough that if she bent over even slightly, her entire cunt would be exposed.
A weakness that she hoped her new master would take advantage of.
“Why is she out of the dungeon? ” Audrina asked harshly.
She knew full well her husband had taken this angel as a prisoner of war.
So why was she suddenly roaming about freely and wearing a sexy maid outfit?
“My darling master decided that I might be of some use to him and elected not to leave me in such a filthy place.” Malenia gloated.
Lailah had to suppress the urge to have her son bite this winged whore when she heard how she referred to her husband.
The vampire queen on the other hand could not help but wonder how an enemy as devout as Malenia could’ve suddenly become so submissive.
‘Could he have mind control like me? He’s never mentioned such a thing before.’ She wondered.
Ultimately she decided that since her husband had that strange system thing, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to suddenly develop some new powers that didn’t belong to his species.
‘He’s such a cheat … I love him so much though!’
The vampire queen often had a hard time being upset with her husband.
Audrina and Lailah glanced at each other before nodding.
The truth was that the fallen angel was stage two and her strength would prove useful.
However that did not mean the two of them wanted to deal with her.
“”She’s your responsibility.”” They said in unison.
Hakon, Absalom and Stheno each looked at each other before silently deciding Absalom would be the one in charge of her.
As the eldest, it was only fitting that he be in charge of the burdens that nobody else was interested in dealing with.
The ancient demon sighed before turning to the burdensome woman in question.
“Understand me well, fallen one. You are to do everything that I ask of you without question. Should you disobey a single order of mine I will feast upon your golden blood.”
Malena’s eyes suddenly glowed an intense silver. “The only one capable of commanding me is my darling creator. An insignificant dog like yourself is owed nothing.”
Absalom immediately lunged at the insolent angel and had to be restrained by his younger siblings.
Malenia however did not even flinch when the large snarling demon lunged at her and smirked madly instead.
“That’s enough.” Lailah said in exhaustion.
She walked right up to Malenia and stared at her coldly.
“If you proclaim yourself to be useful to my husband then don’t cause trouble for him and do as you are told.”
Malenia stared calmly at the young witch in front of her.
Since she and her master were now vaguely connected, she could feel traces of his essence lingering on her body.
‘Master must’ve bred her many times… So jealous!’
The fallen angel huffed and nodded in mild frustration.
She didn’t like taking orders from anyone other than Abbadon, but if it was this woman she figured it would be okay.
The group was dismissed and Audrina immediately collapsed on a nearby couch. “Haaa… that was terrifying.”
Lailah raised a brow at this and took a seat next to her. “I’ve wondered before but… why are you so afraid of the Rabisu?”
Audrina’s eyes took on a complicated light before a small embarrassed blush rose on her cheeks.
She sat up and made it so that Lailah was looking her directly in her face.
“My father used to tell me stories when I was still very young… Of our ancestors who wander in a place called the desert of anguish.” She said shakily.
“He said that originally, our kind were demons created by some sort of powerful higher being. But after millions of years, we became simple vampires. Only our family still possesses a drop of their blood and as a result, we look like this.”
Audrina gestured to her skin that was as black as Bekka’s.
It was at that moment that Lailah rembered that she had never heard of a vampire with this dark of a skin tone before.
She immediately began to connect the dots and realized that while the rabisu were a bit more powerful and feral looking, there was some resemblance between the two.
However one part of Audrina’s story still caused her to raise a brow in mild surprise.
In her entire life, she had never heard anyone speak of the existence of other higher beings.
Asherah was supposed to be the only divine one, right?
Was the former vampire king mistaken or did he truly know something no one else in the world knew?
‘But wait… My love also spoke of a god that brought him here so are there truly other supreme ones?’
Lailah silently made a mental note to interview the rabisu and her husband later.
“My father used to tell me that if I did not grow up to be a vampire worthy of their blood, they would sneak into my room at night and drag me into those hellish lands with them.” Audrina finished.
“How odd…” Lailah muttered.
“I know right! Who would’ve thought that dusty old bastard was actually telling the truth!” Audrina exclaimed.
“Hm? No, not that.”
“Eh?”
“I never would’ve guessed that one of the most feared women in the world would actually be afraid of something herself.”
Audrina’s blushed deepened even further.
She knew full well the reputation she had amongst the people.
If Helios was the most feared man in the world, Audrina was easily it’s most feared woman.
Even though she did not act like it around them, she was known to be quite cold and ruthless.
The lessons instilled in her by the missing king Dagon did not appear to have been wasted.
“T-That’s only because-“
Lailah began to giggle cutely. “Don’t worry, I find it interesting. The duality of living beings has always amused me.”
She stood up and stretched her body wearily. “I am merely glad you are so comfortable around us.”
Lailah left the room to attend to other matters leaving only a very shy vampire behind.
“Hmph.. this family makes it hard not to be comfortable.” She muttered before heading upstairs to check on her daughters.
–
Bekka had locked herself away in the dark dungeon beneath their home.
Upon arriving she immediately blew out all of the candles and was now sitting in a completely black space.
Those with a darkness affinity can see within the dark just fine, however Bekka wanted to understand it.
She felt she was missing something integral for gaining the void element and coming one step closer to evolving.
Bekka was in desperate need of some sort of inspiration.
She tried to expand her mind farther, past what should normally be possible.
After a long time of sitting in silence, she began to play with the darkness around her.
Someone’s greatest strength was their imagination.
Such a thing was true for warriors and regular people alike.
Because she understood that, Bekka tried to envision her darkness becoming part of a larger, more permanent darkness.
A complete and utter absence of matter and light.
True nothingness.
Suddenly, an idea sprung into her head.
Because she’d heard the tales about the void element’s unparalleled destructive power, she envisioned the ability to be something bold and powerful but what if that was the wrong way to see things?
Darkness in essence is subtle, as is emptiness.
They are the kind of things one does not notice until they are surrounded by them.
“I’m so close.. I can feel it.” Bekka muttered with furrowed brows.
She felt as if she were on the cusp of understanding, yet there was still one small bit of understanding that was continuously escaping her.
‘Do you really want to understand?’
Bekka reflexively stood up and unsheathed her claws when a strange but familiar voice echoed in her mind.
“Who’s there?! Show yourself!” She growled.
‘Daughter of the abyss, do you truly hope to gain understanding?’
Bekka suddenly remembered where she’d heard this voice before.
It was the same voice she’d heard in her dream months ago that retuned all of her suppressed memories.
Was it okay for her to trust it?
“You.. can actually help me? How?” She asked suspiciously.
The voice told her what she had to do and her bright orange eyes widened in horror.
“You’re insane! There’s no way in hell I’ll do that!”𝚟𝒩xt.𝕔𝔬𝐌
‘This is the only way. Don’t you want to be strong? Like your friends? Like him?’
Bekka faltered.
The being seemed to know exactly what she desired most and used it to wear down her resistance.
“I won’t die… right?”
‘That depends on you. If this small challenge is enough to send your soul to the city of the dead, you will have only yourself to blame.’
That answer seemed to motivate Bekka even more.
If it was up to her, she would pass any test to return home.
The hellhound looked down at her furry hands and long dark claws.
“You’ll have to forgive me for this, my husband. I know this isn’t the kind of risk you would want me to take but I feel as though it’s worth it.” She smiled bitterly with a hint of fondness in her eyes.
Bekka sighed and took a deep breath before she plunged her own claws into her chest, piercing her heart.