Redux: Lineage

The royal courts of Beaumont were an impressive display that I wished I had more time to enjoy. The golden curtains, beautiful furnishings, and expensive tapestries were all reduced to naught more than a blur as myself, my father, and the rest of my group hurried through the halls of the enormous castle. We made our way to the Empress' court, already hearing the loud and raucous arguments leaking through the enormous wooden doors from as far away as the entrance to the castle.

The court was clearly in disarray, and this wasn't a surprising discovery. Vampires weren't kept a secret to anybody. Everyone knew of their existence and everyone feared what they were capable of. The only problem was that the spread of misinformation around them had become so widespread and culturally accepted that the general consensus of what people believed Vampires to be was nothing more than a skewed exaggeration of their true being.

A Vampire, by its very nature, was a human-like creature inflicted with a magical curse that granted both benefits and drawbacks to the transformation. Gone were the worries of disease, age, mortality, and many other worries that plagued the mortal world, but in their place came the hunger for blood and the horrific results of what going for an extended time without feeding. A well-fed Vampire was nearly indistinguishable from a regular human. They were just as intelligent, just as socially adjusted, and more than capable of leading a normal life, should they choose to do so.

Their Vampiric powers gave them great strength, great resistance to injury, and a wide array of dark magic that few could control without becoming one of them. But when the hunger sets in, a Vampire begins to mutate into a much more monstrous, animalistic being that loses their 'humanity' and intelligence, resorting to violence and outright murder in order to satiate their hunger for blood. Though once they have fed, they return to their rational, human appearance and try their best to make sure it never happens again.

Their weaknesses are nowhere near as plentiful as the children's stories lead you to believe. They do not burn in sunlight, they do not lack a reflection, they can cross running water, they can enter a property without being invited, they do not have a possessive need to count, the list of fanciful lies goes on and on longer than I care to explain. Their true weaknesses are being beheaded and being burned. Once the brain is disconnected, like with all creatures, they die, and if their body is burned to ash, even their resistances and magic cannot keep them alive.

They also lack many bodily functions such as the ability to digest food and drink, to salivate, and to sweat. Vampires can of course use magic to force their bodies to go through these processes, but they cannot do so naturally due to their bodies being clinically dead and only sustained through their dark magic. This is why their 'weakness' of being staked in the heart is an obvious lie due to their heart being nothing more than a dead organ and possessing no hand in whether they live or die.

The supersition surrounding Vampires often lead to people employing false methods of dealing with them, which often lead to more bloodshed and death as the Vampire is angered and seeks revenge on those who have earned their ire. And before I even entered the court room, I could hear screams for the use of garlic, holy water, grains of sand, and all the other useless methods folklore has created to 'deal' with Vampires.

The large door opened with a loud grind, this causing the room inside to become quiet as I looked around, seeing the Empress sitting on her large throne with a beyond-frustrated expression on her face. Her eyes glanced to me in confusion, then to Shining, and then to the others. She'd been expecting either Celestia or Luna, and she was beyond disappointed. That much was obvious. So I needed to prove to her and everyone else in this room that I was more than capable of taking care of this problem, so I did something I'd never done before: I took the floor and began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as eager as I am to listen to you all bicker and shout at each other for the next four hours, I'm afraid I need to cut this short and get down to business," I said, speaking in the loudest voice I could without genuinely shouting. "I have read your reports and seen your testimonies, and regret to inform you that your city is playing the unfortunate host to a spat between three different Vampire Houses."

I heard mutters of confusion from those gathered in the room, proving my point even further that Vampires were a bogeyman the common public knew nothing about.

"As it stands, I cannot confirm whether or not this spat is a brief battle that will be regulated by the Vampiric High Throne, or whether or not we're merely seeing the flashes of an in-progress Vampire civil war... or if this is merely the dawn of a civil war between the Vampire Houses," I said, looking over the crowd as I spoke. "As I've been trained to deal with threats and monsters such as these, as well as being more-than versed in the politics and customs of the Vampire Houses, I shall be leading an investigation into these goings-on to determine exactly what kind of problem we're facing and the best course of action for this situation. Are there any further questions?"

The room was filled with murmurs and whispers of old men and women that probably had no idea what a Vampire actually looked like, but they thankfully remained silent with the objections or challenges to my authority, something I was more than glad to see.

"Then if that's all, I ask every one of you to leave the court so I may discuss my plans with the Empress and commence my investigation immediately," I said, joining my hands behind my back as I finished speaking, trying to keep the proud grin off my face as I watched them all get to their feet and leave the room.

My father walked over to me once the door had slammed shut, his eyes alight and his grin wide with pride as he clapped me on the back.

"I have never been more proud of you in my entire life than I am right now," he said, genuinely astounded at my performance. "Where the hell did that come from?"

"I needed to step forward with my right foot or else they'd all challenge my authority," I shrugged. "And I think it went rather well."

"I'll say," Zane chuckled, patting me on the head as he went past me, kneeling before the Empress and bowing his head.

"Empress Claurio," he said in his booming voice. "It is an honour to make your acquaintance, and I woefully regret that I could not be graced by your presence under better circumstances."

"The honour is all mine, young Equestrian Knight," she said, smiling gently at him before gesturing for him to rise. "There's no need for formalities from the rest of you. We shall speak as equals from this point on."

Now that the Empress was closer, I was able to get a much better look at her. She was a woman in her mid-forties, with bright, silver hair, warm yellow eyes, a smooth complexion, and garbed in a beautiful golden dress.

"That was quite an impressive speech, young Richter," she said with a friendly smile. "If only I'd had the confidence to speak with such authority at your age..."

"Don't expect me to do it again any time soon," I chuckled. "It's not an ability I believe I can use without a long rest. Now, shall we get down to business?"

"Gladly," I nodded, following her as she gestured to a large table in the middle of the room.

"General Armour, I'm sure you're accustomed to the layout of this city?" she asked him in a familiar tone.

"I nearly died in it enough times to remember most of the important places," he chuckled, looking at the large map laid out on the surface of the table.

It was stuck with many pins of different colours, had small golden statues resting on sections of it, and was strewn with many different notes, smaller maps, ink pots, quills, and other assorted strategic implements.

"So..." Shining said, crossing his arms and looking over the map. "What's the key for this layout?"

"The small coloured pins represent the different 'types' of Vampires we've found across the city, the statues are guard outposts, and you'll find notes added by our mages, spies, and whoever else has a major hand in this investigation," she explained.

"There's definitely a larger number of dead N'Vadi here," I said, looking at the brown pins versus the black and purple ones. "Make you think its a two against one situation?"

"Maybe," Shining nodded. "They all seem to be keeping to central hubs, too."

"It's possible they've all got hideaways somewhere in the city," Zane said, gesturing to the large focus of coloured pins in the city's districts. "They'd be stupid to rent rooms at inns and sleep in the streets."

"I'd also wager they're not hiding away in barrels or store sheds either," Annerose pointed out. "If you're at war with someone, you need a large amount of units to overwhelm the enemy, and you can't hide those under bin lids and sheets covers."

"So we're looking at large buildings as their bases?" Claurio asked.

"Most likely. You'll also want to keep an eye on the local homeless population and keep tabs on the numbers of girls working at brothels and in what areas," I said, looking up at Claurio with a solemn gaze. "They're usually the first ones taken by Vampires, and in large amounts if they're feeding in large groups."

"And if this is a war of numbers, the city'll be running out of them sooner or later," Shining growled through gritted teeth. "I can't stand when civilians are made primary targets."

"Then we'd best find the Vampires and put a stop to it," I nodded, feeling exactly the same as my father, directing my next question towards Claurio. "How often are you seeing these battles in the city?"

"Almost daily now," she sighed. "The fights seemed to be kept at night and in secluded locations at first, but now we're seeing magical attacks being thrown around in fish markets during the middle of the day."

"They're escalating," Shining growled. "Means one of two things."

"They're getting desperate to wipe out their opponents..." Annerose lead in.

"Or they're being pushed by their higher-ups to wrap the conflict up as fast as possible," Grael finished.

"Which always adds to civilian casualties," I sighed, balling my fist and gently slamming it onto the table.

"So we've got two methods of approach here," Shining said. "The first is capture and interrogation. Get out hands on one of the bloodsuckers and make them tell us where their leaders are."

"Or we find and track one back to their lair ourselves," Zane said, throwing the second option onto the table.

I was impressed myself at how well we were working together today. We always had great synergy with one another when out on operations, but we had a fire inside all of us that was burning brighter than I felt it had ever done before.

"Claurio, are there any usual spots the fighting breaks out?" Shining asked the Empress.

"No. The battleground change day after day. There have been moments where a two bouts have taken place in the same area, but that's usually between different colours each time," she explained.

"War for territory, you think?" I asked my father.

"That's what I'd blame it on," Shining nodded, his eyes scanning over the guard posts that were positioned around the map. "Your men equipped to handle this?"

"Not a chance," she sighed, rubbing her brow with her fingers as the stress of the thought rushed through her. "Most of our guards are equipped to handle knives and petty burglary, and by the time we mobilise even half of a unit from the military, the only thing they march on are corpses from a battle that ended half an hour ago."

"Ever thought of keeping the military on the streets permanently?" I asked.

"I have, but it would cause too much panic," she said. "We've already had to send guards out to disperse riots in the streets because the people fear the Vampires. We can't deal with fighting our own people as well as the Vampires."

"A usual problem in times of crisis," Zane nodded, crossing his arms as he looked out the window, seeing the sun beginning to dip behind a large mountain and casting an orange glow over all the city. "Do the battles get worse at night?"

"Yes, much," she answered. "I've been given reports of terrified mothers clutching their children and praying to any god that'll listen to keep them safe from dusk til dawn."

"So then night seems to be our best chance to get out there and nab one of these bastards, right?" Zane asked.

"Yes..." I nodded, falling silent for a brief moment as I formulated a plan. "I propose we split into teams?"

"Reasoning?" Shining asked, unsure of the benefit.

"Two teams can do both plans at once," I answered. "Zane and I can take a few Vampires down head on and bring them in for interrogation, while Grael and Anne can follow one back to their base and report back here."

"Any reason why we'd be doing the sneaking?" Annerose asked me with a cocked eyebrow.

"Zane and I are about as stealthy as an explosion?" I offered, looking between Grael and Annerose.

"He has a point," Grael nodded. "Remember Faraya?"

"My broken fucking legs remember Faraya," Annerose scowled in a furious manner.

"Then it's settled, right?" I asked, looking between the others with a cocked eyebrow. "Zane and I can bring a few in for questioning, Grael and Annerose can get us a genuine location on one of their bases, and dad, you can stay here and be the overseer for the whole project."

"Why?"

"Because you're getting up there in years and need to keep your feet up," I answered with a smug grin.

"I'm forty five. I'm hardly-" he began.

"-shhh, grandpa, don't stress yourself. You'll have a heart attack," I said, petting him on the head.

"I hate you," he growled.

"I know," I chuckled, looking back down at the map. "Alright then, teams. Let's get moving."