Starlight Dream

Chapter 61

"Please, be merciful," a middle-aged man said, lowering his forehead flat on the cold stone floor, the embodiment of perfect supplication. "Dark Lady."

"Hmph," Seina snorted, her red eyes studying the whelp begging for his pitiful life. "Then you must buy it. What can you offer me in exchange?" In her view, only those with something worth giving deserved to live.

"I..." The man faltered, knowing the implications of his lady's words. "My life then. Just spare my wife and child."

"I accept this payment for your crime." The man had foolishly stolen bread to feed his starving family. He'd known the consequences of taking such a risk. With a gesture of her hand, she beckoned him forward. While Seina could fog his thoughts with a glance, she'd rather someone submit to her willingly.

The man moaned as Seina drained his lifeblood, dripping pleasantly down her cheeks as she sucked him dry. The taste was beyond anything mortal food could offer. At least, Seina assumed so. During her mortal years, she'd only had the gruel the vampire overlords offered their slaves.

Far too quick, the feeding was finished. The man gasped as she released him from her fangs, languid, but alive. He'd be useless as a feeding source if she killed him. Contrary to the legends, a single bite won't convert someone to a vampire. Only the offering of a vampire's blood gave them the gift. While lightheaded, he'd suffer no other ill effects.

"Go and clean yourself," Seina said, waving a dismissive hand. "I will summon you again when I get thirsty."

"Thank you, Dark Lady." Shamefaced, the man covered the puncture wounds on his throat with his ragged collar and staggered out, woozy. Seina scowled at the nickname. Unlike other vampires, she hadn't abandoned her human name, a tradition she considered stupid. Despite her protestations, however, the nickname stuck,

"That was nice of you. You allowed the man to return to his family." A voice said from a birdcage.

Seina snorted and flopped onto her throne. "A dead human is worthless to me. I gain nothing from pointless slaughter." She just wished her idiotic vampiric kin understood that. What use was a dead world? Besides, he'd sacrificed himself to protect his family. Seina admired that greatly.

The creature with fur whiter than snow studied her, but otherwise remained silent. According to him, he was a fairy from a distant plane called Starlight Dream. She'd caught him trying to free some slaves and kept him as a pet. Silly, but Seina loved cute things. He was a pleasant change from her castle's rather drab interior, with its gray stone walls and gloomy atmosphere. He was like the sun, the closest she'd ever get to glimpsing it again.

"I hope that's the last of them." She hated being forced to solve every little problem that her minions brought before her.

"Colten, tell me a story," Seina said suddenly. "Anything will do."

"Sure. Suppose I have little else to do." Colten said, grumbling to himself. "If I'd known I'd be forced to suffer this indignity, I'd have stayed in Starlight Dream!"

"Which I'd love to hear more about," Seina said, sitting straighter. "Tell me more about this mysterious tower that extends across the multiverse. Where'd it come from?"

"What's to say?" The fairy replied. "Nobody knows where the Needle of the Cosmos comes from. Some say it originates from the multiverse's dawn, a pillar that holds the entirety of the multiverse together. Others claim it's a memorial for the ancient queen when fairies were first given their stewardship as the terrors of the cosmos."

"Terrors, huh?" Seina snorted, amused. Colten didn't have a bad bone in his body. Was he an exception to his species? Seina sympathized.

"Supposedly." Colten offered a shrug.