IMPERIA'S POV
"Baracus, what exactly are you planning this time? I heard that you met a group of supreme leaders and even made a pact with hunters while I was busy." He pour himself a cup of hot blood before putting a few cubes of sugar in.
"What are you trying to say here, sister? That I'm planning something to harm you again? Why would I do that? We haven't met for so long. There is no fun in doing that anymore." I find it amusing that he almost burn his own tongue while drinking. I can't believe this is the same creature who sold his own kingdom for money.
"What I'm trying to say here is, whatever you're trying to do to dethrone me from my title, it won't work. Not anymore." He looks up with a sly smirk across his face.
"Is that a threat?"
"Yes. It is. Baracus, this time, if you decided to be a rock in front of my path, I won't hesitate to remove you from the picture. I don't care if you're my half brother. You have done nothing but disgracing the Luna name. Don't make me go full on force on you." Baracus places his cup on the coffee table.
"And what if I let you use force to stop me from having all of this ... all of them?" He winks at Lacrimosa and Hotep.
"You have no idea what I'm capable of, Baracus. If I let myself loose, I can kill you easily even with this distance we have. This is your last warning, brother. If you ever touch .. a single hair of my advisors ... of my creatures, you'll regret ever being born. And I mean it in the nicest way." He gulped down the lumps in his throat before leaving my home.
"Why didn't you finish him off when you have the chance? That was stupid and you know it." Hotep was curious.
"Because he's still family. And family don't kill each other." They were surprised to hear me saying that.
"They willing to killed you off! And you still calls him family?! What on earth have you been eating?" Lacrimosa was not having it.
"I have forgiven him for what he did in the past. There is no need for me to remembering what had happened anymore. I am here and alive." They were clearly not happy. But it's my choice and I know what I'm doing.
"Where is Keres? I haven't seen her since this morning." Hotep explained to me that Keres has something to do and she's been in the dungeon for quite some time. I was about to say something when Hotep suddenly turned her attention towards the open window.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I heard ... a scream. It was faint but ... I know I heard it." I went to the window and asked everyone to keep their voice down. It didn't take long for me to hear someone screaming as well.
What was that? Did Baracus did something while he's on his way home? Did the scream belongs to his victim? Should I even care? I'm going to regret this but ...
"Lacrimosa, find out what's going on. Hotep, alert Keres of this." They both nods and did as told. As much as I want to participate in the hunt, I am not strong enough for extreme activity. The twelve princesses needs their source of power and I can't do much when it's time for them to hibernate.
"Imperia ..." I was surprised to see Lacrimosa carrying a woman in her arms as she appeared behind me. The woman squirmed in pain and that was when I notice that blood was pouring out from her back.
"What's going on? And why are you carrying a pregnant woman like a child?" Both Keres and Hotep walks into the mess Lacrimosa has brought to us.
"She was already in this state when I came across her trying to entering the border. There was a couple of hunters surrounding her when I arrived. They were about to kill her. I manage to scare them away but when I look at her state, I know she won't make it if I let her be. Imperia, we need to do something or the child will die. She's bleeding heavily. Please, anyone, do something." It was my first one seeing Lacrimosa worried like that.
"You didn't killed any of the hunters, right?" Hotep asked.
"I think I might've hurt one of them. I didn't have any choice. He was about to give the killing blow to this woman. Imperia please, help her." I watched as the woman's hand suddenly grabbing her bump. From her expressions, I know she's experiencing another wave of pain.
"Please! She's dying. The child haven't even seen the world. Let it live for the devil sake! I don't know how to heal someone! I can only heal my own wound." Lacrimosa shouts.
I am contemplating whether if I should help the woman or not. She's obviously has something to do with the hunters but looking at how worried Lacrimosa is for the unicorn child, I'm beginning to feel bad.
"Keres, please stop the bleeding. Treat her wounds and let her rest at one of the rooms. We'll talk to her when she's healthy enough to talk." Keres nod as Lacrimosa follows her.
"Hotep ... I don't like this. She's human. But why is she running away from the hunters? Her own kind. I forgot to tell Keres to find out if the baby she's carrying ... is human or not. Maybe that's why she was running away from them. After you're done, I want the demons to guard every single entrance to the land. I don't need anymore of this." She nods.
"But what about the woman? Are we going to care for her?" The woman?
"When she's in a good shape, we will interrogate her. I want to know what really happen. I also want to know how she manage to find the border all by herself." Hotep excuse herself and leaves me alone to my thoughts.
What is going on? After those clan leaders came here, my land has been gaining the hunters' attention for some time now. And I don't like it.
***
It's been a few days since the mysterious woman was brought here by Lacrimosa. And I was told that she finally regained consciousness. I am currently walking towards her room together with Lacrimosa.
"I hope we're not interrupting." I smiled when I entered the room. The woman was talking with Evangeline but fairly stops and grabbed her hands.
"It's fine. That is Queen Imperia. Like the rest of the creatures living here, she won't harm anyone without reason. Don't be nervous. The queen just want to ask you a few questions." Evangeline calm her down. Now that she's been clean and was given clean clothes, I notice how young she looks.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"I'm sorry my queen ... she doesn't have any name. She said from where she came from, having a name is a privilege." A privilege? I thought every human has her or his own name when they were born.
"What did she told you?" I asked Evangeline. It was smart of Keres to asked her to be her friend.
"She was a hunter. She kills mercilessly in every single mission that was given to her. It went well until she met a werewolf who ... manage to captures her heart. She was in love and that love resulted into ... her in this condition." So the unborn child is a hybrid. I was right.
"How did she tangled in such mess? And how did she manage to find the border?" Evangeline looks at the woman with a smile.
"Her late husband told her about a sanctuary for humans and creatures in the middle of nowhere. At first they travelled together and they wish to start fresh here. But somehow he hunters manage to find out where they are. Her husband was killed while protected his wife and unborn child. She manage to get this far because of her husband." And that's how we heard the scream.
"After that she remembered seeing a winged figure hovering above them, hurting one of the hunters. It was at that moment she's losing consciousness." And that's how she's here now. I never thought a demon would be so kind.
"They were seeking refuge. I can accept that. Lacrimosa, since you have right to be on the land outside of the border, find her husbands corpse and bring it back. He needs proper burial after all. Evangeline, make sure her needs are tended to. If there's anything, just find Keres." Evangeline nods. I smiled at both the woman and Evangeline before leaving the room.
"I want to see this corpse myself." Lacrimosa was surprised to hear that.
"Are you sure? You're not well enough to travel yet." I stopped in the middle of the hallway and face the demon.
"I am not that frail. Beside you'll be there to protect me. And if we're lucky, we might stumble on a few hunters. I want to have a little chat with them." Lacrimosa sighed.
"And why would you do such thing? Talking to hunters never resulted in anything before and why would it be different now?" I shrugged.
"Because I have you? Lacrimosa, you're the mistress of darkness. Use your power a bit. Force nightmares into their mind. Lead the way." Oh wow ... I never seen her wings before.
"What?" She asked as I stare at her back.
"Your wings ... it's feathery. How is that possible?" Lacrimosa flapped her wings a few time before smiling at me.
"I don't know if I should say this out loud but my wings used to be leathery too .. like yours. But I stole them from an angel I had killed many years ago. I just dye the damn white wings to black." The demon chuckled.
She is one sick demon. I followed her from behind as we went to the place where she found the woman.
"Lacrimosa ..." I warned her about the hunters. There is a few of them just by the border. We decided to stealthily lands on one of the big branches and watched them from above.
I gave Lacrimosa a look when we noticed the hunters trying to remove the body. I asked her to stay put while I show myself to the hunters. But they were busy dealing with the corpse than acknowledging my presence.
"Excuse me." They immediately show their weapons at me and was ready to do whatever it takes to survive until I raised my hands, surrendering.
"I am not here to kill any of you. It's just I need that corpse." I smiled. They weren't having it and still refuse to speak.
"Please stop touching the corpse. He is important to me. You are violating him by touching him like so." They're slowly surrounding me.
"Look at what do we have here. A freaking vampire." I turned around to see a human who doesn't seems to know how to be civilised. At least the others weren't as annoying as he is.
"What can we do for you today, low breed?" Excuse me? Did he just called me a low breed? Calm yourself Imperia. You don't need to go all out for these 'proud' humans.
"I would like to claim this body. You see, his wife is in my care and she wants to do what is right." The hunter raised an eyebrow.
"The wife? Where is this wife you mentioned? It's funny because we have been looking for her as well. Now we know who took her. Do you realised you have violated our law, low breed? I can kill you right here, right now if I want to." Kill me? I would like to see him try. But that won't do us any good now, is it?
"I'm sorry low breed. But we can't give you this body if I want to. Our superior wants it and we can't say no to that." If that's the case, I have no choice but to take it with force.
"I'm sorry, humans. You have been rude to a far superior being that yourself and I won't have it. Please don't take it to heart. I'm just doing what I think necessary." It only took me a simple wave of my hand to make time stop.
"Lacrimosa, take that corpse with us." Lacrimosa landed on her feet and carried the corpse with us. But before we leave, I decided to make a small moment for the rude hunter. I took his knife and stabbed his chest as deep as the knife goes. With a smile I leave them be before wave my hand one last time.
I laughed when I heard him screaming in agony as we flew away from the site.