Aether : Calraem

Chapter 45: Coven of the Roses(3)

Few thousand years ago...

At the [Covenant of Five Flowers], the leaders of each Covenant have gathered for an important meeting. All guards, servants, assistants, advisors and any other staff have been kept outside of the room. This information was too sensitive to be leaked to anyone.

"I take it you all have heard what this meeting is about," The Lilacs Leader asked. His tone was a blend of solemnity and tranquility.

"Of course," The Hydrangeas Leader scoffed. She sounded irritated at the fact that it still needed to be pointed out. "What I want to know is why the Demon King Draegor has not been made aware of this event. Especially considering who his wife is."

The rest remained silent at Hydrangeas' statement. It was obvious that the reason they refrained from letting him know had to do with the fact that they had only recently began to gain the favour of the Demon Lord. Before, they used to be on very bad terms and to suddenly divulge all of their secrets would be counterproductive.

Hydrangeas was the only one amongst them who did not seen it that way.

"Over the last three weeks," Roses started, bringing the meeting back to its original topic," it's been raining at the Unholy Graveyard. The fact that it rained black water clearly aligns with the awakening of our great ancestor himself: The Lord of Vampires."

The Lord of Vampires.

No one knows what his real name is (if he even has one, will most likely never be confirmed), and he is known to be the very first vampire in history. Every few thousand years - the number of years vary - The Lord of Vampires would awake from his slumber and be given sacrifices to feed him. 3450 sacrifices per month. Men, women, child, elder, god, goddess and sometimes animals-as long they contain blood, it does not matter.

"The sacrifices aren't an issue since people go missing every year," Sunflowers said, waving it off. "The problem is the fact that there might be that woman sometimes to be his mistress."

Out of his thousands of victims for the year that he awake from his slumber, he chooses a woman to be his mistress. The child that's born is always someone that can take the world by storm. A walking, breathing changer of Destiny and murderer of fate.

"The children that The Lord of Vampires always has are quite the entertainment, huh?" Violets chuckled. "There's Ar'Vin C.J. Zaelivar, M'Caib M'Cobey, The Shadow King, Irene Doldarix who's married to Draegor... and our creator, Five Flowers herself. I can't imagine what next kid would be like!"

"Which is why we're all really here, correct?" Roses said. "Let's put forward what everyone is really thinking: Which Covenant is going to raise the next calamity?"

The tension in the room dramatically increased. The intense challenge between the Covenants were about to begin.

The Lord of Vampires did, in fact, choose a mistress again to bare his next child. This time he had chosen a daemon, the ancestral race of all demons. She was a fierce woman and one of the only people to fight against being a sacrifice to The Lord of Vampires. After giving birth, she soon died, but not before naming her twins.

She gave birth to the brothers Damon and Draculla.

*

Draculla was aware from a young age that he and his older brother Damon were different from other vampires.

Unlike most vampires, Draculla and Damon were able to spend time in the sun. It messed with their sleeping patterns, since they spent all day playing around whilst being looked after by a devil servant and would then be made to study at night by a vampire servant. It was a bit too much strain for a pair of six year olds, but nothing they couldn't handle.

"Demons look after us during the day and vampires look after us during the night..." Draculla muttered, thinking out loud as he sat in the garden with a book in hand. The afternoon breeze helped calm the mind and made it easier to catch up on missing sleep.

"Does that mean during the day I am a demon and during the night I am a vampire? Strange. I wonder if big brother feels the same way as I do..."

His older brother, Damon, was definitely different from Draculla, even though they were supposed to be twins. They may look the same, with silver hair, red eyes and porcelain skin, but their personalities differed like the hot and cold.

Damon tends to skip out on lessons and would usually be found sleepy somewhere during the day. At first, it irritated the lecturers since he usually went missing the entire night and no one knew where he had been, but they had gotten used to it. To baffle them even further, he excelled at academics and mana control.

Draculla on the other hand, could use a little work in the academics department. He was the ideal form of a diligent student, studying and reading whenever he had the chance, but his results were anything but impressive. What he couldn't understand, though, was the fact that he was physically becoming stronger. In martial arts and swordplay, he was already on the level of a fully-grown adult but he barely practiced.

-Then he heard a sound.

"-!" Moving reflexively, Draculla rolled away from the tree and got into a fighting stance.

Thud!

Someone fell from the tree head first. His eyes shot open and he launched himself up.

"I'm up!" Damon yelled. When his eyes finally adjusted to the sunlight, he saw that the only person near him was his younger brother. "Oh, what's bro? Why'd you wake me?"

"I didn't," Draculla said with a sigh. "You fell from the tree."

Picking himself up and dusting himself off, Damon exhaled as if he had just remembered something. "That makes sense."

"What does?"

"I was too tired to make it into my bed this morning. The tree seemed comfortable."

"T-The tree? This morning? Where were you, brother?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm not going back there again. Instead, I made friends with a princess."

"W-What?" Draculla asked, his voice filled bafflement. His brother approached him with a bright smile on his face, exposing his lengthy fangs. Damon had also gotten into the habit of wearing a cape as of late.

Damon placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Listen, bro. You're the only one I can trust. I can't tell you what I'm doing yet, but just know, I'm doing it for our sakes."

"W-What do you mean?"

"You know what's going to happen when we turn seven, right?"

At seven Damon and Draculla would be sent to different Covenants to be raised. Damon had been told to go to Roses and Draculla would become part of Lilacs. The chances of them meeting each other again after that would become almost impossible.

Draculla nodded, understanding what his brother implied.

"I've thought about runnin' away, but that won't work. I've thought about killin' 'em all, but with the strength I have right now, it would be impossible. Instead, I've found a much easier answer, one that saves the both of us. Just trust in me. I'm the oldest."

He grabbed his brother's other shoulder as well and squeezed. The sudden grip startled Draculla as he tried to keep pace with what was happening. He could sense that even though they were twin brothers and both children, Damon's thoughts and ideas completely differed from his own. They differed like hot and cold.

"Brother," Draculla said, feeling himself becoming emotional. What burdens were his brother taking on? He couldn't ask. What was his brother doing? He couldn't ask. Instead, he smiled the same as always. "Can you teach me how to study?"

"Hm? Okay, sure. I don't know how to study, but I can teach you. Will that help?"

Draculla smiled and nodded vigorously.