The Monster Inside: The First Vampire Chapter 57

Despite Ra.s.sa's curiosity, he had to wait until the next lesson to hear more about the Lycanthropes . He spent the rest of his lesson with Victor listening to more arguments about territory, which led Ra.s.sa to the inevitable suspicion that the fall of the Chaos races weren't entirely the fault of somebody else . Their clear lack of concern for anyone other than themselves was enough to make Ra.s.sa think that the Vampires had been at least in part responsible for their own downfall . Victor never spoke of it, but he also never presented any evidence against this claim .

Was this what he was trying to show Ra.s.sa through these continuous looks at repet.i.tive political arguments? Despite Victor's clear bias, was it possible that rather than learning how a Vampire society was run, Ra.s.sa was to learn the mistakes of the system in order to improve it? The only problem was that as it stood now, Ra.s.sa had no intention of condemning others to the reality he was faced with, and from Victor's previous lessons, Ra.s.sa was positive that none of the other Vampires had survived the fall of Chaos .

With all of this information, Ra.s.sa couldn't deny his curiosity and eagerness to learn, but in reality, he was facing more immediate problems .

The group had entered the Seisin Mountains, and though Ra.s.sa didn't know the exact location of Jerrica, he knew for certain that they were drawing closer to the centre of the mountain range .

Aegin had continued his silent companionship . Ra.s.sa didn't think that either of them really understood why they were so adamant to keep each other company, but that understanding that they'd always had remained ever present .

It was early evening when Ra.s.sa finally had the opportunity to have his questions about the other Chaos races answered .

'Very well,' Victor relented, 'What you saw during the last lesson, whilst it was not addressed in the council chambers, the subcoven was persistent . They appealed to my father, and as a potential heir at the time, I was sent to resolve their problems . I will show you the first meeting I had with the Keltair Pack Alpha' .

***

When Ra.s.sa awoke in the memory, he was seated inside what Victor referred to as a an auto-carriage . Simply put it was a carriage that didn't need any animal to pull it, it ran on crystal energy . The concept had facinated Ra.s.sa when he'd first seen the technology, and had begged Victor to tell him more, but it was clear that Victor had more pressing concerns to teach him at the moment .

The auto-carriage was making its way down into a valley . Above, at the crest of the hill, sat the subcoven town, with its high, sophisticated walls and sun stones on the border . They were smaller than the main city's stones, and there were fewer of them, but Ra.s.sa still felt they were just as magnificent .

At the base of the hill was a river, and beyond the river stretched a forest that seemed incredibly vast . Even with his heightened vision, Victor could not see the end of the forest . Though, it was during the day .

Outside of the sun stone barrier, his vision was impaired, and therefore he wore a hood, though of far better quality material than what Ra.s.sa had had in Cordon . The hood was attached to a long dark cloak that pooled around Victor, his black trousers and boots crossed elegantly as he sat . To anyone who was not used to his presence, Victor appeared above everyone around him, in reality, Ra.s.sa could tell he was just feeling lazy . He didn't want to be dragged to the outer reaches of the territory for this, but if it was what was asked of him as a potential heir, he had no way to avoid it .

As they approached the river, a Marquee of sorts came into view, and waiting outside of the entrance was a group of men dressed in far less elegant clothes than those of the Vampire procession that accompanised Victor .

They did not exactly appear poor, but they were clearly not rich either . Ra.s.sa could see quite plainly that they appeared similarly dressed to successful theives and poachers . He'd only seen such people briefly, but they had a look about them that these men had delivered to a T .

The auto-carriage drew closer, and Ra.s.sa began to notice subtle differences, ones that would clearly put them apart from any ordinary human . Their ears for one, they had slight points rather than the normal curve of a human . They also appeared a lot more muscular, larger than normal men . But the one thing that put them apart clearly, was their eyes . Their eyes glowed like molten gold . All except the man in front, whose eyes were darker than coal .

Their appearance had those surrounding Victor on edge . But Victor himself did not seem phased in the slightest .

"Are you sure you want to attend this meeting alone, sir?" asked the subcoven head that Ra.s.sa had previously seen speak out during the council meeting . Victor gave him an unimpressed stare .

"Wait here" .

Victor jumped off the auto-carriage as soon as it slowed, walking out to meet the man at the front with coal black eyes . He possessed no qualities that were overly different from the others apart from his eyes, and yet he was incredibly intimidating . No wonder the subcoven head had been so cautious . Victor was not deterred however .

"My name is Victor Lurossi, I am the third son of Sevin Lurossi, head of the Star Crash Coven, I'm a.s.suming you are Grim?"

The man looked Victor up and down before nodding, "Grim Ashcoat, Alpha of the Keltair Pack" .

Victor nodded, then indicated to the marquee, "Shall we go straight to the proceedings? This sunlight is h.e.l.l on the eyes" .

"Not to us all," Grim replied, but he turned and walked towards the Marquee, making motions to those who went to follow him that he would enter alone .

The men who were told to stay back turned their golden gazes on Victor as he walked past, hands in his pockets . They growled in warning, and Victor grinned back, flashing his fangs .

"Calm down pups, wolves have never been my preferred dietary choice" .

Grim and Victor slipped into the tent and out of sight .