The Immortal | Prequel Story |

Chapter 21 ~ The Barracks

They were at the barracks in no time. Mallen flung the doors open, the doors similar in design to that of barn doors. The barracks had individual rooms much like a hospital, except there were no doctors and medical equipment.

Mallen and Iérti sensed both vampire and human presence in each of the individual rooms. Upon passing by a few with doors slightly ajar, they could see vampires feeding off humans or collecting their blood by bleeding their arms into empty wine bottles for personal stores.

Iérti quickly looked away, the fresh sight of blood igniting his vampiric senses, but Mallen was unfazed, having a high sense of self-control about him. The sight and scent of blood was the same as a human seeing a slice of cake and seeing it as something delicious, but not yet hungry for it. The only time it affected him was when he was thirsty and needed blood to sustain his thirst. Mallen always made sure he was well fed before he was around humans.

Iérti had grown used to it, but he was still a newborn vampire and sometimes had trouble holding back the sudden desire to feed upon the scent of blood.

To help him, Mallen handed Iérti peppermint leaves from his pocket. "Hold these up to your nose. It'll help distract you from the scent."

Iérti glanced at the peppermint leaves, puzzled. "You keep peppermint leaves in your pocket?"

Mallen tossed him a look. "I'm surprised you're surprised, given you surely smelled them the whole time you were with me."

"Well of course, but I didn't associate the constant smell of peppermint with you. I just assumed we were passing by peppermint plants."

"And that explains the lingering scent in the castle?" Mallen asked, smiling at Iérti. "The castle was devoid of plant life. Or did you think it was peppermint incense and candles?"

Iérti was speechless. Mallen playfully mussed his hair and went ahead of him, catching sight of the vampire overlord they were wanting to meet up with. Iérti cautiously held the peppermint leaves to his nose, finding it indeed helped.

The vampire overlord was a kind-hearted young man with short blond hair and glacier blue eyes. He was wearing a metallic steel blue and sky blue outfit. His skinny frame and boyish appearance put him at around seventeen or eighteen years of age. He was talking with another vampire, an older one. Both appeared to be engaged in deep conversation.

Their conversation stopped when they saw Mallen and Iérti approaching. The older vampire said, "We'll talk more about this later" and excused himself, making a polite acknowledgement towards the vampire leaders. Mallen and Iérti nodded in acknowledgement before turning their attention to the young vampire overlord.

Iérti spoke first, saying, "Good day – er, night, sir. We are Iérti Keresi and Mallen Zaliċ. We're here to see how things are going in New Haven."

"Yeah, a woman seems to think your castle is hers," said Mallen. "Have you heard of her?"

"Skin white as snow. Eyes red like blood. Yeah, that's Trésora Martel." The young man shook Iérti's hand. "I'm Blaise , vampire overlord of New Haven. Pleased to see you again, ." He turned to Mallen, bowing his head a little. "A pleasure to meet you, Mallen."

"It certainly is a pleasure," said Mallen, shaking hands with Blaise.

Blaise looked at them curiously. "So are you both rulers of the land?"

Iérti and Mallen glanced at each other, Mallen's face encouraging the answer yes while Iérti's face was entirely a question. Iérti turned back to Blaise, saying, "Yes, we are both rulers of the land."

"So Mallen's not the only one in charge now? You both are?" Blaise asked, wanting to make sure.

"That is correct," Mallen confirmed.