The Immortal | Prequel Story |

Chapter 14 ~ The New Vampire Leader

Mallen noticed a drastic change in Iérti. Without humanity, Iérti was colder and darker than Mallen. Rather than enjoying the kill like Mallen did, Iérti derived no pleasure from it, only seeing it as a means to an end. He felt deep grief and loss, but his heart was like stone, devoid of any former good and kindness.

All thoughts of suicide were banished from Iérti's mind as Mallen feared the new Iérti. He watched as Iérti took over, unaware he was using Mallen's mental link as an influence to control the vampires, telling them what humans they were allowed to feed on and which ones were off limits.

At first, Iérti forbade them to feed on anyone with a family, but as it became apparent that there were more families than the limited humans without families, Iérti reluctantly rescinded the order.

"But leave the wives and children alone. You are not to touch any of them."

The old Mallen would've been impressed by how Iérti finally took leadership over the vampires. The new Mallen cautiously stood nearby as Iérti commanded them, willfully becoming the vampire leader out of his own decision.

Iérti tied his hair back with a dark red ribbon, the same way he used to when he was the general of the East lands. He started wearing long dark red military outfits again, continuing to wear the garlic emblem on it, resuming his general of the East lands look, but with vampiric flair. While his human military outfits were rouge and homespun, his vampire military outfits were sophisticated and portrayed utmost power over both vampires and humans.

The vampire leader, Iérti Keresi, laid siege to the garlic farms, burning every single one of them. He melted silver and destroyed mirrors, breaking and slamming them into heavy gorges and off deep cliffs. He fed in moderation, careful and selective which people he fed on. He organized the vampires, bending almost the entire vampire population to his will. He officialized naming the planet Verdamnt with vampires as the dominant lifeform.

Vampires had mixed feelings regarding the turn of events and new leadership. Some went off on their own, enjoying their independence and not wanting to get caught in a collective rule or leadership. Others were unsure. Most others eagerly followed a new leader.

Tavaly remained loyal to Mallen and Iérti. Though it was Iérti who readily took the mantle of leadership, some believed Mallen to be the true vampire leader, thinking he was letting Iérti take the reins for a while.

No one knew that though Iérti finally lost his humanity and started doing exactly everything Mallen wanted him to do, Mallen found his humanity and wasn't as joyful as he would've been to finally see Iérti become who he wanted him to be.

Now that Mallen's humanity caused him to become a kind considerate person rather than the cruel merciless person he had been for so long, Mallen felt deeply guilty for deceiving Iérti and for manipulating him. He kept the true cause of Katlyn's and Olivia's death a secret, knowing his life would be over the moment would discover who truly killed them.

So Mallen kept quiet, his former arrogance and conceitedness having faded into somber reflection and secret mourning.

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Months passed. A new arrangement was established in the land. In adverse of the human fear of the night, Iérti proclaimed an administration to assuage that fear, rendering it almost obsolete, if not unnecessary. It was a strange type of comfort for people to no longer have the old worry of vampire attacks.

Gone were the fortresses. Iérti forbade the construction of another fortress; instead, he built settlements and cities for humans. He forced vampires to build everything, using his mental hold on them to keep them from deliberately harming any humans.