"Rust..??" Clive brought the man along into his mansion, calling out to his servants. "Hmm.. looks like the bastards are busy looking after the slaves." He turned back to apologize to the man behind him.
"It's fine, Mr. Clive. We can just settle the deal and I will be off." "Yes, yes.. for sure. Mr. Victor must be a busy man haha.." Clive chuckled with some nervousness and led the guy upstairs to his office.
Welcoming the effeminate man inside, Clive closed the door shut and latched it. Victor casually settled on the couch, waiting for the other man to take his own seat. Each one of his gestures was refined to the core.
"I am sorry once again for the lack of service at this place, Mr. Victor. You see, I prefer to keep the workforce at the bare minimum. You know it very well.. the kind of risk our business involves."
Victor gracefully placed his leg over the other, waving his hand. "I understand, Mr. Clive. That's why I am allowing you to quote the price. As long as the goods are to my satisfaction, money is not the issue." Victor looked like he can't be bothered by the guy.
"Haha.. yes, yes..!!" Clive laughed to ease out the atmosphere and then leaned over his seat. "We can go down in a few minutes and you can inspect all of them. Just like you asked for, we have procured a young elf as well."
"Then what exactly are we doing here, Mr. Clive?" Victor's voice remained charming, but the annoyance on his face was visible. "Please listen to me for a moment, Mr. Victor. There is a matter I have to discuss with you before we can discuss the payments."
Clive hurriedly poured wine for the man, trying to calm him down. His efforts worked and the vampire accepted the wine glass. *Sip* "Hm.. good one." Victor's red lips left a fine print on the glass as he put it to the side, clearly elevated in the mood now.
"This matter... I am not sure if it concerns you entirely, Mr. Victor. But for some reason, I had a hunch that you might be related to this." Victor leaned forward, musings. "Can you speak clearly, Mr. Clive? I don't understand you."
Clive wiped the cold sweat off his head, arranging his thoughts in order. "You see, two weeks back I met a lady by chance and after a few days we decided to date each other." Victor looked like he was already bored, waiting for the man to come to a conclusion.
"The woman... I don't know what she was.. but the way she bit me.. it reminded me of vampires, like your esteemed self." Victor immediately narrowed his eyes at the mention of his species. "You aren't sure?"
Clive shook his head. "I was too intoxicated to recall the whole event... All I remember was groveling in front of her and asking her to let me go." Victor's eyebrows rose up. "She attacked you?"
The man opposite to the vampire nodded his head before downing the whole glass of wine at once. "Yes... And what was peculiar about her attack was that she wanted information about my clients."
Clive saw Victor's face morph in anger as he revealed his sharp canines. "You told her?" He growled, causing the man to shrink in his seat, shaking his head as if his life depended on it. "Absolutely not, Mr. Victor."
"I survived because Mrs. Triss of the Rutherford clan confronted her. I took the chance to run away." Clive sighed in relief. Recalling the deathly smile of the woman even after so many days was enough to chill his bones.
"Oh.." Victor fell back in his chair with a grin. "Something like that happened?" Clive nodded like a child. "I could not talk to you about this matter in the capital. That's why I brought you over to my place. We are safe here."
Victor's smile grew wider as he twirled the glass of wine in his hand. "Safe you say... Haha..!" Clive was left befuddled by this strange development. Why was the guy laughing? Did he not believe him?
"You have my word, Mr. Victor. The number of people who know of this place can be counted on fingers." "Hahaha..." His words only aggravated Victor's laugh. The red pupils of the effeminate man dilated and glowed like a magic lamp in dark.
"You underestimate my kind, Mr. Clive." He casually sipped the wine from the class. "Why not come and talk to me directly? How long are you going to wait outside?" Victor's eyes flashed as he turned to face the locked door of the room, much to Clive's confusion.
"Is there someone on the door?" Victor sighed at the oblivious guy. "You told me.. Mr. Clive, that the woman bit you?" First acting like there was someone on the door and now changing the topic out of nowhere, Clive was having a hard time keeping up.
"Yes.." He answered. "Then she must have tasted your blood?" "Obviously..!" Clive responded as a matter of fact. Victor chuckled, turning to take one look at the door that had not moved at all, and finished the wine in his glass in a single gulp.
"Haha.. you still don't understand, Mr. Clive." Victor shook his head over the futility of the matter. "You have been compromised since the very beginning." His words astounded the man opposite him. Nonetheless, the pureblood can't be bothered about him.
Simply speaking, he got bigger problems to deal with at the moment. As if to prove his conjecture right, the door knob rotated. An eery silence prevailed in the room as the person outside, pushed the door, only to find it locked from the inside.
Victor's words had affected Clive as well. Right now the man can only shrink even further in his chair. *Turrfff* With a sudden jerk, the latch holding the heavy wooden door was broken off.
"I am sorry. It took me some time to groom myself back." A mellow voice preceded the person who revealed herself. "Hope I didn't miss anything.. heheh.." The lady stepped inside with her hands hiding her lips while she giggled like a young maiden.
"Ohh my... I didn't know, Mr. Clive was going to be here as well. What a splendid surprise!" The blood in Clive's veins had frozen as soon as the woman had revealed herself to them. She was his nightmare taking a physical form and walking on two legs.
"Youu.. you... how did you... how did you find... this place?" Clive struggles to even question her with his jaws clattering. His destitute expression removed any doubt from Victor's mind that this guy might have been involved at all.
'Seems like he really was taken for a ride.' There was no other way to explain the sheer terror on Clive's face. "Huh..? This place..? Well, I was just passing by." The woman seductively walked over and took a seat to join the two men.
"I didn't know this villa belonged to you, Mr. Clive. You never told me about it." She acted hurt, like him not telling her about this place was a betrayal of some kind. "All this after we had such a great time together." She ended her sentence with a licking of her lusciously bright red lips, an action that only made Mr. Clive revolt.
All this time, she had never once looked in Victor's direction. However, he knew she was only pretending to be distracted. Even while talking to the human, her entire attention was focused on himself.
"Crimson family.. hmm.. the elders must be pretty mad at me to send someone from the Crimson family." Victor finally spoke up, yet his legs remained locked one over the other, not putting the woman in his eyes.
Lucy looked down at the blood-red pattern of a bloody eagle on the back of her hand. "It's an honor." She replied just as carelessly. "huh... Still, to think they will send a youngling... I don't know what to say." Victor shook his head with a mocking smile.
"Master Randall Victor must be pretty confident in his abilities." Lucy revealed a charming smile and beckoned the human next to her. He hesitatingly passed her the wine bottle that she stuck to her lips and downed.
*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp* Lucy's attractive neck worked to pour the wine down her throat, but now one in the room was in any condition to appreciate the sight. "Haaah.. nice wine."
The vampire lady gracefully wiped the leftover wine off her lips. "I am short on time, Mr. Randall. I will have to urge you to please follow me back to the clan. Like you guessed it, elders are extremely pissed by the repeated violations by the Victor family."
Randall Victor raised his eyebrows, stunned at the lack of respect in the girl's voice. "Hahaha.." Contrarily, he instead chose to laugh out loud. "What is your age, brat? You think you can even talk to me? Looks like your parents didn't teach you how to talk to elders."
Lucy acted like she didn't hear the man at all. "If I have to get you.. forcefully. Believe me.. there will be a lot of trouble facing your family." She poured another shot of wine before continuing. "As far as my parenting goes. You are welcome to consult with the third progenitor.. once she wakes up that is."
No one spoke anything for the next minute. Randall had changed expressions multiple times in this period, his mind trying to grasp the words thrown at him. "You are the third progenitor's daughter?" He took some time to come up with the name as well. "Lucy Crimson?"
"That will be me." The woman slightly bowed her head elegantly. The disdain on Randall's face was retracted and he fred up his legs to take a more respectful position. "Pardon me.. my lady. I didn't recognize you." The man bowed full 90 degrees without a single hesitation.
Clive who had been pushed to the sidelines can't help but scratch his head at the sudden turn of events. Wasn't Mr. Victor mad at the woman just a few minutes back? What made him show such immense respect suddenly?
"Haha.. that's not an issue. Our species spend the majority of their lives sleeping. We aren't the best at socializing as well. It can't be faulted that you never met me." Lucy smiled back at the bowing man, asking him to relax.
"My lady is right." Randall's tone of voice had significantly relaxed. His attitude had even picked up a bit of subservience. He can badmouth the Crimson family as much as he wanted. But he can't do the same to the blood of a progenitor.
Respect for the progenitor and their extremely rare direct descendants came out of instinct to every pureblooded vampire. Progenitors were no less than Gods in their society. Their reverence for them came close to worship.
As such, Lucy's identity as the third progenitor's daughter trumped her family name many times over in Randall's heart. "So what is your answer?" She questioned him once again.
Randall Victor mulled for a second, then dropped his head down and shook it. "I have decided on my path, my lady." Lucy's eyes narrowed at his answer. Nothing else needed to be said, the man had chosen.
"I can't go back. I know it's not my place to say such a thing.. but.. there is no future for us in the clan." Though ready to spring into action at a moment's notice, the sincerity of Randall's words surprised her.
"What about your family?" She wanted to make a last-ditch effort to avoid violence. Randall shook his head and at the same time, his clothes began ripping apart. Two long canines spurted from under his lips.
His pale skin turned darker by many shades, from its earlier smoothness it undertook a more textured shape, turning almost leathery. "I don't care now. I am on my own from the day I decided to leave the clan."
"Rust..??" Clive brought the man along into his mansion, calling out to his servants. "Hmm.. looks like the bastards are busy looking after the slaves." He turned back to apologize to the man behind him.
"It's fine, Mr. Clive. We can just settle the deal and I will be off." "Yes, yes.. for sure. Mr. Victor must be a busy man haha.." Clive chuckled with some nervousness and led the guy upstairs to his office.
Welcoming the effeminate man inside, Clive closed the door shut and latched it. Victor casually settled on the couch, waiting for the other man to take his own seat. Each one of his gestures was refined to the core.
"I am sorry once again for the lack of service at this place, Mr. Victor. You see, I prefer to keep the workforce at the bare minimum. You know it very well.. the kind of risk our business involves."
Victor gracefully placed his leg over the other, waving his hand. "I understand, Mr. Clive. That's why I am allowing you to quote the price. As long as the goods are to my satisfaction, money is not the issue." Victor looked like he can't be bothered by the guy.
"Haha.. yes, yes..!!" Clive laughed to ease out the atmosphere and then leaned over his seat. "We can go down in a few minutes and you can inspect all of them. Just like you asked for, we have procured a young elf as well."
"Then what exactly are we doing here, Mr. Clive?" Victor's voice remained charming, but the annoyance on his face was visible. "Please listen to me for a moment, Mr. Victor. There is a matter I have to discuss with you before we can discuss the payments."
Clive hurriedly poured wine for the man, trying to calm him down. His efforts worked and the vampire accepted the wine glass. *Sip* "Hm.. good one." Victor's red lips left a fine print on the glass as he put it to the side, clearly elevated in the mood now.
"This matter... I am not sure if it concerns you entirely, Mr. Victor. But for some reason, I had a hunch that you might be related to this." Victor leaned forward, musings. "Can you speak clearly, Mr. Clive? I don't understand you."
Clive wiped the cold sweat off his head, arranging his thoughts in order. "You see, two weeks back I met a lady by chance and after a few days we decided to date each other." Victor looked like he was already bored, waiting for the man to come to a conclusion.
"The woman... I don't know what she was.. but the way she bit me.. it reminded me of vampires, like your esteemed self." Victor immediately narrowed his eyes at the mention of his species. "You aren't sure?"
Clive shook his head. "I was too intoxicated to recall the whole event... All I remember was groveling in front of her and asking her to let me go." Victor's eyebrows rose up. "She attacked you?"
The man opposite to the vampire nodded his head before downing the whole glass of wine at once. "Yes... And what was peculiar about her attack was that she wanted information about my clients."
Clive saw Victor's face morph in anger as he revealed his sharp canines. "You told her?" He growled, causing the man to shrink in his seat, shaking his head as if his life depended on it. "Absolutely not, Mr. Victor."
"I survived because Mrs. Triss of the Rutherford clan confronted her. I took the chance to run away." Clive sighed in relief. Recalling the deathly smile of the woman even after so many days was enough to chill his bones.
"Oh.." Victor fell back in his chair with a grin. "Something like that happened?" Clive nodded like a child. "I could not talk to you about this matter in the capital. That's why I brought you over to my place. We are safe here."
Victor's smile grew wider as he twirled the glass of wine in his hand. "Safe you say... Haha..!" Clive was left befuddled by this strange development. Why was the guy laughing? Did he not believe him?
"You have my word, Mr. Victor. The number of people who know of this place can be counted on fingers." "Hahaha..." His words only aggravated Victor's laugh. The red pupils of the effeminate man dilated and glowed like a magic lamp in dark.
"You underestimate my kind, Mr. Clive." He casually sipped the wine from the class. "Why not come and talk to me directly? How long are you going to wait outside?" Victor's eyes flashed as he turned to face the locked door of the room, much to Clive's confusion.
"Is there someone on the door?" Victor sighed at the oblivious guy. "You told me.. Mr. Clive, that the woman bit you?" First acting like there was someone on the door and now changing the topic out of nowhere, Clive was having a hard time keeping up.
"Yes.." He answered. "Then she must have tasted your blood?" "Obviously..!" Clive responded as a matter of fact. Victor chuckled, turning to take one look at the door that had not moved at all, and finished the wine in his glass in a single gulp.
"Haha.. you still don't understand, Mr. Clive." Victor shook his head over the futility of the matter. "You have been compromised since the very beginning." His words astounded the man opposite him. Nonetheless, the pureblood can't be bothered about him.
Simply speaking, he got bigger problems to deal with at the moment. As if to prove his conjecture right, the door knob rotated. An eery silence prevailed in the room as the person outside, pushed the door, only to find it locked from the inside.
Victor's words had affected Clive as well. Right now the man can only shrink even further in his chair. *Turrfff* With a sudden jerk, the latch holding the heavy wooden door was broken off.
"I am sorry. It took me some time to groom myself back." A mellow voice preceded the person who revealed herself. "Hope I didn't miss anything.. heheh.." The lady stepped inside with her hands hiding her lips while she giggled like a young maiden.
"Ohh my... I didn't know, Mr. Clive was going to be here as well. What a splendid surprise!" The blood in Clive's veins had frozen as soon as the woman had revealed herself to them. She was his nightmare taking a physical form and walking on two legs.
"Youu.. you... how did you... how did you find... this place?" Clive struggles to even question her with his jaws clattering. His destitute expression removed any doubt from Victor's mind that this guy might have been involved at all.
'Seems like he really was taken for a ride.' There was no other way to explain the sheer terror on Clive's face. "Huh..? This place..? Well, I was just passing by." The woman seductively walked over and took a seat to join the two men.
"I didn't know this villa belonged to you, Mr. Clive. You never told me about it." She acted hurt, like him not telling her about this place was a betrayal of some kind. "All this after we had such a great time together." She ended her sentence with a licking of her lusciously bright red lips, an action that only made Mr. Clive revolt.
All this time, she had never once looked in Victor's direction. However, he knew she was only pretending to be distracted. Even while talking to the human, her entire attention was focused on himself.
"Crimson family.. hmm.. the elders must be pretty mad at me to send someone from the Crimson family." Victor finally spoke up, yet his legs remained locked one over the other, not putting the woman in his eyes.
Lucy looked down at the blood-red pattern of a bloody eagle on the back of her hand. "It's an honor." She replied just as carelessly. "huh... Still, to think they will send a youngling... I don't know what to say." Victor shook his head with a mocking smile.
"Master Randall Victor must be pretty confident in his abilities." Lucy revealed a charming smile and beckoned the human next to her. He hesitatingly passed her the wine bottle that she stuck to her lips and downed.
*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp* Lucy's attractive neck worked to pour the wine down her throat, but now one in the room was in any condition to appreciate the sight. "Haaah.. nice wine."
The vampire lady gracefully wiped the leftover wine off her lips. "I am short on time, Mr. Randall. I will have to urge you to please follow me back to the clan. Like you guessed it, elders are extremely pissed by the repeated violations by the Victor family."
Randall Victor raised his eyebrows, stunned at the lack of respect in the girl's voice. "Hahaha.." Contrarily, he instead chose to laugh out loud. "What is your age, brat? You think you can even talk to me? Looks like your parents didn't teach you how to talk to elders."
Lucy acted like she didn't hear the man at all. "If I have to get you.. forcefully. Believe me.. there will be a lot of trouble facing your family." She poured another shot of wine before continuing. "As far as my parenting goes. You are welcome to consult with the third progenitor.. once she wakes up that is."
No one spoke anything for the next minute. Randall had changed expressions multiple times in this period, his mind trying to grasp the words thrown at him. "You are the third progenitor's daughter?" He took some time to come up with the name as well. "Lucy Crimson?"
"That will be me." The woman slightly bowed her head elegantly. The disdain on Randall's face was retracted and he fred up his legs to take a more respectful position. "Pardon me.. my lady. I didn't recognize you." The man bowed full 90 degrees without a single hesitation.
Clive who had been pushed to the sidelines can't help but scratch his head at the sudden turn of events. Wasn't Mr. Victor mad at the woman just a few minutes back? What made him show such immense respect suddenly?
"Haha.. that's not an issue. Our species spend the majority of their lives sleeping. We aren't the best at socializing as well. It can't be faulted that you never met me." Lucy smiled back at the bowing man, asking him to relax.
"My lady is right." Randall's tone of voice had significantly relaxed. His attitude had even picked up a bit of subservience. He can badmouth the Crimson family as much as he wanted. But he can't do the same to the blood of a progenitor.
Respect for the progenitor and their extremely rare direct descendants came out of instinct to every pureblooded vampire. Progenitors were no less than Gods in their society. Their reverence for them came close to worship.
As such, Lucy's identity as the third progenitor's daughter trumped her family name many times over in Randall's heart. "So what is your answer?" She questioned him once again.
Randall Victor mulled for a second, then dropped his head down and shook it. "I have decided on my path, my lady." Lucy's eyes narrowed at his answer. Nothing else needed to be said, the man had chosen.
"I can't go back. I know it's not my place to say such a thing.. but.. there is no future for us in the clan." Though ready to spring into action at a moment's notice, the sincerity of Randall's words surprised her.
"What about your family?" She wanted to make a last-ditch effort to avoid violence. Randall shook his head and at the same time, his clothes began ripping apart. Two long canines spurted from under his lips.
His pale skin turned darker by many shades, from its earlier smoothness it undertook a more textured shape, turning almost leathery. "I don't care now. I am on my own from the day I decided to leave the clan."
