World of Alvarra: Rise of the Vampire Lord

Chapter 20: Aftermath

"THAT BITCH!" Thea said as she stomped back and forth in a circle, she turned and hit the wall beside her causing it to crack. An impressive feat, considering that over the years and millennia, vampires have reinforced their castles to the point of them being near indestructible.

Normally Alvaroz would say something about not destroying the walls, considering that since they are so hard to break, they are also hard to repair. But even he couldn't bring himself to care enough for a piece of rock over what had happened to his son. Instead, he found himself sitting on a chair, lost in deep thought, staring at nothing, disappointed in himself.

Thea turned from the wall and looked to the room, addressing everyone and no one as she continued her rant. "And That Umbra Slut goes and puts her under her protection!" she growled with anger. "Who The Fuck Does She Think She Is!" she then kicked the wall where she first punched it, causing an even bigger crack to form.

"...I'm sorry..." Alvaroz said, apologizing for his failure of killing Karen. "I underestimated how prepared she was..." thinking back to how Karen managed to run away from him in time.

Thea turned to him, her face unreadable, she opened her mouth and closed it, unsure whether she should try to comfort her husband or if that would make it worse, and wishing her sister Lillia was here.

"...at least we were able to force her to take the potion." Lorenzo finally said. For the first time in a long time, he brought out a pipe with a smoldering pile of green weed like substance burning away. He pulled on his pipe and sighed as he tried to relax. The very fact that he was smoking his pipe, indicated to the others how stressed Lorenzo must be feeling. "Now she won't be able to give birth."

Thea turned in anger at that but found herself holding her scathing remark back, knowing that Lorenzo only meant the best by his comment. She instead, turned and kicked the wall again, this time putting her back into it and causing it to dent. Alvaroz and Lorenzo ignored the sound of destruction as they were lost in their own thoughts.

Silence fell upon the room as Thea stared at the wall as if the secrets of the universe were in those cracks, Alvaroz stared at the ground, his mind going nowhere fast, and Lorenzo stared at the smoldering pile of green in his pipe, mesmerized by its burning.

After what felt like forever, Thea forced herself to look away from the wall and turned to look at Lorenzo. "How is my daughter? Is she okay?" she said in a soft and gentle manner, surprising even her.

Lorenzo slowly looked up and nodded. "She is with your sister, watching over Van as he sleeps."

"...I'm going to have to have the talk with her..." Thea said quietly, mostly to herself, and sighed.

Alvaroz looked up, pain flashed through his face. "...so am I, with my son..." he then got up unsteadily and tried to make it to the door. Followed by Thea, who moved reluctantly.

"Before you two go, I feel like I should tell you something I noticed when looking over the kids," Lorenzo said.

The two stopped their movement to turn and listen. Lorenzo then explained a few things that were concerning him, about the kids after taking care of them. Alvaroz and Thea listened, then nodded, thanking him for the information.

Both of them left the room, leaving Lorenzo to feel alone, as he smoked on his pipe. With a sigh, he got up to get some fresh air from outside.

---

Van slowly opened his eyes, confused at first as to where he was. He looked around and realized that he was in one of the guest rooms in the castle. Upon looking to his left he found his mother and Luna sitting next to the bed where he lay. Also taking notice that he just woke up.