Feros and the Underworld Prince (46 page)

“
Yes, those will do nicely. Right this way.” The French maid replies. Her curled hair swishes as she quickly turns and walks down the hall that is in front of the entryway.

After walking for about fifty feet, we pass through a sitting room before the maid leads us out onto the covered patio that borders an open-air courtyard. The courtyard has a pool at the center with an ornate garden providing little visibility beyond the small sliver that can be seen from the front gate. I notice that Corinthian columns border the patio all the way around the courtyard. The maid leads us around to the left and through a glass door on the left wall of the courtyard.

She takes a right down a hallway and we pass several other servants, all of which hungrily stare at me. I find it a little odd that all of the male azeman have auras that would be undistinguishable from vampires except for a small black dot at the center, which could be a tiny bat if I looked more closely. I can’t help but feel like I’m walking into a trap as I hear voices coming from beyond an archway up on the left. Reyna suddenly stops just before the archway while the maid continues into the room.

“
Introducing Duchess Reyna and her party.” I hear a man announce a few moments later.

Reyna walks into the room as ‘her party’ follows after her. The large dining table in the room has a total of six vampires and one azeman sitting at it. Three vampires are standing in the shadowy corners of the room, along with another azeman. My guess is that the seated ones are some kind of vampire nobility, based on their attire, and their bodyguards are the ones in the corners. All of the vampires look at me somewhat hungrily once I enter the room, with the exception of the azeman bombshell at the head of the table. The bombshell of an azeman, who appears to be in her late thirties, simply looks at me with interest while seemingly amused by my reaction to all of the attention.

“
Bringing a snack to dinner Duchess? Bad form.” A seated blonde woman smugly says while eyeing me as we take our seats.

Why are all these vampires only eyeing me?

(Because you appear to be a delicious smelling human to them, and human blood is apparently the most delicious to begin with. You’re like the vampire equivalent of a molten fudge stuffed brownie)

“
Great…”

Reyna ignores the woman and turns her attention towards the azeman at the head of the table.

“
Everyone, this is my mother: Maria Reyes, Queen of the Azeman.” Reyna introduces.

“
Mother, I’d like to introduce you to my friends, Cole and Chezarei,” Reyna says while gesturing across the table.

“
And of course you remember Natasha.” Reyna says while gesturing to the seat on my right.

“
It is nice to see you again, Natasha.” Reyna’s mother says with a rather heavy Spanish accent.

“
It’s nice to see you too, Maria! How have you been?” Natasha politely asks.

“
Well things have been rather drudging, but I’m hoping to change that.” Maria replies with a smile in my direction.

“
And last, this is my boyfriend, Jason.” Reyna says while gesturing to her right.

“
It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Prince of Niflheim.” Maria politely says.

Jason stands and walks to the head of the table, causing the azeman bodyguard to go on alert.

“
The pleasure is all mine, madam.” Jason replies while bowing and kissing Maria’s hand. I have to do a double-take to confirm that it’s actually him.

“
I would ask that you refrain from altering my maids’ uniforms while you are here.” Maria says with a sly smile.

“
Of course.” Jason replies with a slightly embarrassed smile as he returns to his seat.

Servants bring out silver platters that contain our dinner. They lift the covers away and reveal it to be steak, which ends up being quite tasty and a welcome distraction from talks of politics that are floating around. I am able to learn that the other vampires are the vampire rulers of various Underworld districts, and that there is a king who heads the European vampires in the way that Maria heads the azeman. While Maria holds standing over the azeman, she doesn’t seem to hold any real authority over the vampires assembled here.

“
So mother, have you given any thought as to the favor I asked?” Reyna asks after dinner.

“
Yes, but first I think some dessert is in order. I’m sure Cole wouldn’t mind providing some refreshment.” Maria says while giving me a smile with a certain gleam in her eyes.

I form a diabolical plan as Reyna opens her mouth to object.

“
I would be happy to. If you would be so kind as to supply some glasses and a knife, I’ll drain some of my blood into them.” I reply, interrupting Reyna.

“
What blood type are you?” Maria asks.

“
AB negative.” I inform her.

“
Just like wine, different blood types, when used with different wine glasses, change the way the pallet tastes it.” Maria replies as she snaps her fingers. A servant brings out a wine glass with a vase-like shape.

“
Umm, you do know that those glasses are designed around a fallacy that certain sections of the tongue are used specifically for certain tastes and nothing else, when that’s actually total bullshit?” I inform her.

“
Is that true?” Maria asks. I nod in affirmation.

“
Hmm…” Maria looks at the wine glass thoughtfully for a moment before she takes it and smashes it over the servant’s head.

“
Throw all these ridiculous glasses out and educate my wine/blood aficionado… painfully!” Maria screams before licking the blood dripping from her hand.

I politely smile at her, remembering what Natasha had said about old vampires being insane. Thankfully, Jason just follows my and Reyna’s lead so we don’t have a Queen of Hearts ‘Off with her head!’ moment on our hands.
11

“
Also, Cole still requires several normal glasses.” Maria calmly states.

A servant comes over with a knife and four standard wine glasses. She sets the tray on the table in front of me and leaves to grab more glasses. I take the knife and cut open my right wrist, while faking a wince, and I hold my hand over the first wine glass. I fill up the glasses at a natural speed so as to not raise any suspicion
(4.8 Liters).
Once the last of the eight glasses are full, the servant takes seven of them and passes them out to everyone while I hand the eighth glass to Reyna and feign anemia, like a human would had they just lost a liter of blood. While the vampires are busy gulping down my blood, I slip the smoke bomb from my pants pocket and roll it underneath my chair. I notice Maria smiling at me as I also notice that she hasn’t touched her glass, which means that she knows who I am and intended for me to do this…

“
Now that dessert is concluded, my daughter has some business that she wishes to discuss. Or perhaps we would be better served by Cole discussing it?” Maria announces with a sly smile. I stand from my chair to address the table.

“
I need an army for an assault on Duniya al Jinn to put an end to the enhancements that have been spreading around, and to get my revenge against Horus for killing my daughter. I ask for your assistance in this task by allowing me to borrow your warriors for the assault.” I announce.

“
And why would we ever do something like that?” a man asks while chuckling.

“
Because all of your lives hang in the balance.” I reply.

“
What do you mean?” the blonde woman cautiously asks.

“
Let me put it this way.” I say while unraveling the bandages from my left hand. I hold out my left hand as I form a four inch figurine of a hollow vampire while making the RDX as translucent as possible.

“
Let us assume that this figure represents anyone of you.” I explain and fill up the inside of the figurine with blood.
(4.6 Liters)

“
And let us assume that this blood inside the figure represents my blood that is inside any of you.” I say as I walk over to a nearby window and crack it open.

“
Now, let’s assume that what happens to this figure when it impacts the ground is what can happen to any of you.” I tell them as I toss the figurine out the window and snap my fingers for effect as I transmute my blood for the resulting explosion.

“
Any questions?” I ask as I sit back down while everyone looks out the window at the crater with purple smoke flowing from it.

Three bodyguards behind me start to move to take me out, while the fourth assumes her place behind Maria. Jason snaps his fingers and stops two of them, but the third keeps coming. I’m about to blow the smoke bomb under my seat and port away, but Cheza reacts a little faster. Cheza blurs, moving at a speed that is quick, even to me. I turn around in my seat and find that she has driven a steak knife into the heart of the third bodyguard, and is freezing him internally. His eyeballs freeze over and Cheza twists the knife before removing it, causing his body to shatter into frozen meat cubes and shattering the knife in the process. I notice that the two guards that have been stopped by Jason have black mist swirling around their ankles like bolas.

“
I’ll leave it to Maria to coordinate the forces. Remember that this does benefit all of you as well because it’s only a matter of time before those enhanced vampires decide to try and take power from you. Have a good evening.” I say and then I nod at Jason before grabbing Cheza’s hand as Natasha grabs my right shoulder. I proceed to port the three of us out of there and back to Niflheim.

“
Thanks for your help back there, Cheza. Do you guys think I handled that okay?” I ask.

“
Well… reason might have been a better substitute, but it seemed to me that that had been Maria’s plan all along. Remember what I said about old vampires being crazy, and smart? You might have inadvertently given her control over the majority of all vampires.” Natasha replies.

“
That and/or you made an enemy out of some of the most powerful vampires in the world, and should be wary of assassination attempts in the future… well, more wary.” Cheza adds.

“
Wow… thanks sunshine… oh well. If it helps me get Horus then I don’t really care.” I reply. A black mist swirls in the room as Jason and Reyna appear.

“
Okay, so everyone is officially scared shitless of you, except for Reyna’s mother, but we should have some vampire warriors for the assault now.” Jason announces.

“
Hey Jason? Could you change our clothes back now?” Natasha asks.

“
What? Oh, sure.” Jason replies, snaps his fingers, and I go back to wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

“
I’m pretty tired so I think I’m going to go to bed.” Reyna announces and there are murmurs of agreement.

I can’t go to sleep… what’s waiting for me will be far worse than the consequences of not sleeping… but I don’t have the right to deny all of them sleep simply because I can’t.

“
You know what we should do? Get really drunk!” Natasha suggests as she grabs onto my right arm.

“
That sounds like a great idea Natasha!” Cheza adds while she grabs my left.

“
You guys… thanks… but if you want to go to sleep, don’t worry about me.” I reply.

Jason and Reyna had already decided apparently, because the next thing I know, Jason is clapping his hand on my left shoulder and porting all of us to his booth at the nightclub. He snaps his fingers and a menagerie of drinks cover on the table, some normal and some with flamboyant neon colors.

“
So Neo… have you decided on which pill to take? Have you decided that you wish to discover how deep the rabbit hole goes?” Jason asks in his portrayal of Morpheus. I grab a neon colored drink and chug it before downing a second, quickly followed by a third.

“
I need to use the restroom.” Cheza announces.

“
Me too.” Natasha adds as Cheza stands from the booth.

“
Come on, I’ll show you where it is.” Reyna replies and leads them down the hall.