The Immortal | Prequel Story |

Chapter 29 ~ Romena and Ardai

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Months later

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Tavaly banged his fist on the chestnut table, denting it. "Time has gone long enough for us to continue standing under Iérti's reign. More humans are starting to appreciate this new sense of balance amongst vampires and humans.

"Iérti recently established a new rule in the land, that there be two overlords – one vampire overlord and one human overlord – instead of the one vampire overlord over each settlement, to validate that there is no superiority amongst the other. This new rule eliminated most of the human fear of our kind, bringing them to favor of belonging amongst our kind."

"That's not such a bad thing," said Marmalan Quenzy, one of Tavaly's vampire followers. Tavaly had no human supporters; any human who had any dealings with Tavaly were either killed or enslaved. "This provides more of an advantage to our kind if humans don't fear us. Rather, they would be running towards us instead of away from us."

"It disrupts what was first established in the land, that the strong rise above the weak. We are the stronger species; therefore we must rule over them," said Tavaly.

"If I may beg to differ, Tavaly," said Felip Ontuar, his rich blue outfit casting blue hues on his long black beard, "but there are species stronger than our kind. The dragons that once roamed the land have mysteriously vanished into the far stretches of the land. With one breath of fire, dragons could easily out-blast our kind. How is it that we remained and they did not?"

Tavaly's eyes narrowed. "A powerful vampire leader drove them to the far stretches with just the power of his mind," he told them. "Powers of mind compulsion and the ability to bend any creature to his will. Frightening powers of persuasion, for he has the ability to control even our own kind."

"Why doesn't the powerful vampire use them anymore?" Rohese Narat asked, looking at Tavaly through her long thick eyelashes. She was adorned in a red velvet dress with light ice blue lace detailing, her long thick gorgeous brown hair set in curls.

"Because the powerful vampire became too human and no longer cares to indulge in his vampire tendencies," Tavaly said, his voice lined with anger. "He doesn't want to control anyone anymore, so he chose a successor to pass all his abilities onto. Instead of continuing his former regime, the successor sought peace in the land. He wants vampires and humans to live together in harmony, without fear and hate."

"Shouldn't we try to manipulate the successor?" Urrea Stahlman suggested. "We could try to influence Iérti to save a human's life by turning him into a vampire, thus giving his passed on abilities to another, that way we can use the turned vampire to our advantage."

Tavaly shook his head. "Iérti will not be influenced, even by the greatest of influencers. He is very steadfast and firm in his beliefs. He is like a tree that cannot be bent no matter how hard the wind blows. We must find some other way to bring him down."

"How?" Saginaw Zarate asked. "Mallen and Iérti are the most powerful vampires in the land. None of us can withstand their combined powers. They've clearly shown their dominance in the land. Why fight them?"

"Because though they rule over the land, they see themselves as equals with the humans," said Tavaly. "I miss the days of feeding at will instead of being forced to drink out of stores or spare people's lives by drinking limited amounts of their blood. Even Mallen and Iérti abide by this and do not feed as much as they should. This is just prolonged, slow starvation forced upon us."

Tavaly rose, looking at each person in the room. "Who here agrees with me that we must act now if we're to remind the humans their place?"

All the vampires in attendance immediately stood, saying, "Aye!" The castle echoed with their collective exclamation, scattering bats from the roofs. The crescent moon hung low, as if dreading what was to occur.