Red Fang II

Chapter 4 (I-Arc): Commemorating Peace

We last read Chapter 3, in which Carla Rosenblood a.k.a. Nightclaw revisits Ladair Castle and has a chance meeting with Lady Amber Ladair, a vampire who happens to be the wife of Lord Balfort Ladair, the ruler of the Vermillion Enclave. Carla and Amber bond over both Amber's pastries and their stories of how they initially lost the ones they cared for, only for them to be picked back up by fate. In the process, Amber reveals her backstory to Carla and details how she lost the ones she loved to a small squad of huntsmen before one of them had a change of heart and rescued her—the human known as "G"—and brought her to the front gates of the Enclave where she subsequently met Balfort.....whom she would later go on to marry. Carla, in turn, opens up about her late parents and how Amber's cookies remind her of them, particularly her mother Martha Rosenblood. The pair eventually part once again—but promise to stay in touch—before Carla departs and takes another of Amber's cookies with her.

Meanwhile, at the Bloodstone Focus at the center of town, Lily and Theo Ladair mess around by flicking small objects onto the glowing red runes surrounding the hovering Bloodstone, falsely triggering its security measures over and over and sending barrage after barrage of thick red lasers shooting upwards into the sky. However, their mature sister Mavis Ladair, a.k.a. Red Fang, quickly puts a stop to their mischievous antics and succinctly instructs them to get back to work, which they unhesitatingly agree to. As Lily and Theo flee and Mavis returns to Ladair Castle, however, the Bloodstone's security system quietly states that it has been overloaded by its constant triggering, and that it has automatically initiated a system reset which will require 24 hours to complete; during that time, the Bloodstone will be exposed.

This time, Mavis meets back up with her loving husband Garson, and the Peace Jubilee officially gets underway.....

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-Mavis Ladair's Room, Ladair Castle, Vermillion Enclave, Transylvania-

In Mavis Ladair a.k.a. Red Fang's bedroom within Ladair Castle, the Crown Princess and future Queen of the Vermillion Enclave was changing her clothes in preparation for the upcoming Jubilee.

She slipped off every element of her superheroine costume, folded them neatly, and stored them against the back wall of her sliding-door closet, while also stashing the black fingerless gloves and spiked vambraces with them and neatly placing the black knee-high boots with red laces next to each other on the carpeted floor within.

Instead, she traded her costume for an eye-catching, easy-to-slip-on black dress whose skirt portion came to about halfway down her thigh. It had short puffed sleeves and a slight-but-still-noticeable backless portion at the rear. She also grabbed a silver belt with a black buckle and wrapped it neatly around her waist, listening to the satisfying "click" sound as it firmly secured itself. Finally, she affixed a pair of short block heel sandals to her feet.

She walked up to the mirror which she had in her room to check herself.....and, in a bit of an anti-climax, she realized that she couldn't even see herself in it due to being a vampire.

Why do I even have this? she thought exasperatedly to herself. Absolutely preposterous.....

"Good thing I happened to be passing by, hmm?" a masculine voice said as she exited her quarters and began heading out. Mavis, initially startled, whirled her head towards the source of the voice and—much to her immense relief—saw her husband Garson standing nearby. He was already dressed in a long-sleeved light blue collared button-down shirt, light beige slacks, and brown shoes, and presented as an attractive young man with light skin and combed-over brown hair.