A mind mage of certain mastery in the field is able to enter a mortal’s mind undetected, taking a peek at their surface thoughts and feelings.

  Greater mastery still allows for that same mage to affect that mortal’s perspective slightly, for example, causing them to miss somebody walking by, or think they have forgotten something in a different room…

  As for a mind mage of Sincir’s caliber, causing a mortal to fall asleep after entering their mind without them realizing what happened is possible; If well done, they’ll have a slight headache after waking up… If poorly done, they’ll never awake again.

  Needless to mention, messing with people’s mind tends to make them angry, and as such, unless protected by a powerful organization, mind mages who have their identity uncovered often do not survive for long, and in virtue of that (as well as many other reasons which make it annoying to use(, Sincir frequently hesitates to make use of what is possibly the greatest weapon in his current arsenal.

  Still, infiltrating a noble’s mansion in the middle of the day is not exactly a walk in the park, and he’s forced to at least alter a couple guards’ perceptions in order to do so; And again, rather than making them forget they’ve seen him, it’d more accurate to say he’s stopping them from noticing him in the first pce.

  House Barnett’s pce isn’t all that far from Inquiry, though it is in the opposite direction of his rented house. Since it is located in the rich part of the city, even getting to its vicinity without rising suspicion is somewhat of a hazard, though not impossible if is he willing to up with the splitting headache resulted of having used so much mind magic in such a short period.

  By the time Sincir has climbed through a window and infiltrated the house, his mood is terrible, and so he doesn’t feel particurly merciful.

  Having inspected the thoughts of many of the guards whose perception he was forced to alter, he knows only one person is currently staying in the house, and that she is the girl he met yesterday, at the library.

  Fuck, and to think she want that far to get back at him when he didn’t even remember to have her barred from entering the library because of everything that happened with Esme…

  Of course, Sincir took some time to brush up on the Barnetts before coming here, although he already knew a lot about the semi-famous noble house... Unfortunately for them, what makes them noticeable is their recent misfortune, which stated after one of the nests surrounding Elderspire (the youngest), appeared under their fertile fields, ruining them.

  Since by Krador’s w, the crystals extracted from the nest belong to the adventurers who risk their lives to brave it, rather than the owner of the nd, and with the guild having failed to destroy the nest during these past two decades, the Barnetts were forced to watch their fortune sink with each passing year.

  To make matters worse, their misfortune did not end there, and they were struck by disaster again when many of the family members were killed during a nest outbreak while celebrating a birthday party at one of the family’s countryside houses, located at the edge of their nds, leaving only Samuel Barnett, the current head of the House, and his daughter, No Barnett, as the remaining members of House Barnett’s main branch.

  And as if that wasn’t enough, Samuel Barnett has been recently reported as missing by his daughter No, which makes her the st member of a dying House… The same No who bumped into him yesterday at Inquiry, then left after being scolded for pcing a book at the wrong shelf.

  Sincir isn’t quite sure if he should call her lucky for having survived thus far, or unlucky for having both her family and fortune stolen from her, before her twenties… Hers was the birthday party they were celebrating when they were all killed, unluckily enough.

  That being said, as the only member of her house currently living at their mansion, it wasn’t hard for Sincir to find out where No usually spends her time at this point in the day, from inspecting her servants’ minds, and after having done so, he heads there to wait for her.

  In spite of everything, the Barnetts’ pce is rather well taken care of, and just from looking at it, you wouldn’t be able to tell how far the House has fallen in these past two decades.

  Their library is small, but well decorated and clean, illuminated by a firepce which doesn’t produce any smoke, which means it must have been enchanted, somehow... Looking at the crystals imbued in the stone around it, Sincir guesses they’ve come from a nest, and are responsible for the firepce’s ck of smoke.

  So these are the crystals he has heard so much about... Curious. It is unfortunate he doesn’t have the time to inspect them at the moment...

  Sincir is absently flipping through a book once he finally hears the door of the library being opened, followed by a small gasp.

  In spite of currently having his back turned to it’s entrance, he immediately casts a wind sound suppressing spell around the room (intending on stopping any sounds they make from in here from going out), followed by an ice one which causes the door to close with a loud bang, effectively looking it from being opened from the inside.

  Having done as much, Sincir finally gnces at the pale-looking young woman he locked in here with him, before calmly pcing the back the book he was reading where he found it, then turning to her as he smiles coldly and crosses his hands at his back.

  “Hello, No... I must say, it’s nice a pce you’ve got here… My apologies for intruding. You remember me, yes?”

  In spite of being at home, No is still fully dressed, makeup and all, just as she was when they first met at the library. She is good looking, having her brown, slightly curled hair obviously well taken care of, given its shine, and, if her waist line is anything to go by, she either sticks to a really strict diet, or possess good genetics.

  Looking at the color of her skin under her makeup, Sincir would put his money on the former… Then again, maybe she simply hasn’t eaten well tely, or ever, in virtue of the disasters her family has been through, of which she has now become the st remaining member.

  No takes a while to move, seemingly paralyzed in pce by the shock of having found him standing in her family house’s library.

  By now, she should’ve known her stunt has failed, but it’d a stretch for her to believe he’d be such a powerful mage, or that he’d seek retaliation so soon.

  Seeing her just standing there, brown eyes wide and limbs trembling, Sincir shakes his head, dropping his smile. “You know, I have to admit; Even I felt bad after looking through the history of your family. I mean, after everything, you’d think the universe would give you a break, right?”

  No steps back, bumping against the ice-covered door behind her. “I-I… M-money…” she manages to murmurs through trembling lips, and shallow breathing.

  Sincir chuckles. “Yes, money is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Unfortunately, you don’t have much of it left, do you? Certainly, not enough to convince me to allow you to leave this pce alive when I know you’re the type to hold a grudge.”

  Waving his hand, Sincir creates an ice sword which he grabs hold of as he begins to walk toward her.

  Meanwhile, No slowly slides down against the ice at her back, attempting in vain to move away from him, brown eyes wide and panicked as she watches his gradual approach.

  “No st words?” Sincir asks, “It’s always nice to have something genuine to write on a forged suicide note… Though in this case, I doubt it’d make a difference. With your history, nobody would be even surprised, let alone find it suspicious.”

  No sobs, tears now streaming down her face freely as Sincir comes to a stop in front of her cowered form.

  For her credit, she doesn’t avert her eyes away until he pulls back his sword, moment which she finally closes them, chest moving rapidly in virtue of her obvious terror.

  Still…

  No screaming?

  No begging?

  She’s braver than he gave her credit for… or is simply to terrified to move.

  Sincir sighs, and the sword in his grip melts, becoming water. Then, he crouches before No, patting her head and causing her to flinch.

  “I’ll not warn you twice, so consider this once the universe giving you a break,” he murmurs next to her ear, “If you understand, then be a good girl from now on… I don’t care how much you hate this shitty world; If you go around looking for trouble, then you’re bound to find it eventually.”

  No opens her eyes to stare at him, expression-shocked looking, as Sincir rises once more.

  “I’m not somebody you want to mess with, Miss Bernett, and my mercy is rather limited… Besides, I even forgot to have you barred from the library. Trying to have me walk home naked just because of a reprimand is a bit much, no?”

  Having said his piece, Sincir waves his hand again, casing the ice covering the door to melt and shower No in freezing cold water, who yelps.

  Sincir ughs as he steps by her, opening the door, then giving her shock-looking, now drenched figured one st gnce.

  “With this, we’re even.”

  Annoyingly enough, leaving the Bernett’s mansion unnoticed is almost as hard as entering it, and by the time Sincir manages, the sun is about to set over the city of Elderspire, signaling the agreed time for his meeting with the vampires.

  Having spent about a third of his mana, and most of his afternoon on the No problem, Sincir immediately heads to Inquiry from her mansion.

  Vampires are powerful, his mind magic probably won’t work on them, and as such, it is possible he’ll meet his end tonight… Though he won’t go down without a fight, of course.

  Still, vampire den or not, Inquiry is as impressive as always, standing against the horizon taller than any of the buildings around it, and carrying a hundred times the significance...

  The st rays of sunlight are about to disappear as Sincir finishes climbing the rge staircase leading to its now closed double doors, then knocks against them.

  At first, nothing happens, and he begins to grow impatient as the seconds continue to stretch on… Inquiry shouldn’t have closed its doors for the day much longer ago, so Adonis should still be at his table for a while, cataloging the books taken out today…

  Sincir is considering knocking once more when the doors before him finally move, opening inwards to reveal a dark lobby beyond, and single man standing in its shadows; Recognizing Noah by the glow of his dark blue eyes which immediately remind him of Victoria, Sincir rexes slightly.

  “…You’re early,” Noah says, his voice containing within it the same bored tone from their first conversation, now a whole day ago, “My sister said you’d arrive at sundown.”

  Sincir notices he’s careful to keep himself from touching the few rays of sunlight still present... So, Victoria and him were siblings; No wonder they look so alike.

  “…Twins?” Sincir asks, ignoring Noah’s comment about him being early.

  “…Enter,” Noah murmurs, stepping aside as he does so.

  Hesitating now would only showcase weakness, so Sincir smiles and walks forward, passing by Noah as he enters the dark lobby beyond, having the door close at his back immediately once he walks by it.

  Not being sure of what he’s going to find, Sincir inspects his surrounds while also keeping tabs on Noah, but Adonis is nowhere to be seen, in spite of the fact his ntern is lit atop his empty table.

  Sincir has seen the library at night before a couple of times, during his time working here, but now, knowing what lurks bellow it, he has a different feeling about the pce’s eerie atmosphere.

  “This way,” Noah says while walking by him, and heading toward one of the staircases leading underground.

  Sincir follows, of course, and for a while, they walk in silence.

  “How is Victoria?” Sincir asks after they’ve gone down the second staircase, “I thought she’d be here… You know, I never a chance to apologize for ruining her night.”

  “Victoria doesn’t stay with us. She’s too good to live in a run-down library… Her words, not mine,” Noah answers, his intonation giving no hints as to how he feels about the matter.

  Sincir chuckles. “We’ve only talked once, but I can see her saying that. Honestly, I’m surprised she’s aloud to go around town singing about blood and parading her human servants. Aren’t you scared someone will connect the dots, eventually?”

  “Someone already did,” Noah says, gncing at him over his shoulder as he does so, “She was pretty pissed about it… But we all warned her it’d happen one day. Putting all of our lives in jeopardy for her stupid bard career is just like my sister… But she always gets what she wants in the end, one way or another. Funny, right? If the library burns down tonight, the fucking bitch might be the only one to escape alive.”

  Sincir ughs softly, though there’s little humor in it. “I’d rather not burn down anything, if it’s all the same to you… I take it you two don’t get along very well?”

  Noah looks away before continuing, “When our master forbade her from exposing herself to the public, she said the only way to stop her from doing it would be to have her killed or permanently jailed. I begged them to do it… But dear sister just stood there, smiling all the while, and knowing they wouldn’t call her bluff.”

  “…Is she strong?”

  “She’s a hundred,” Noah reveals. “I heard you defeated Zarod today… She should be about half as strong, or the equivalent to a B level adventurer, if you don’t take into consideration our fast regeneration.”

  Sincir blinks. News sure travel fast, eh? One of their human servants must’ve watched the fight, or heard about it… But is this really okay? That was some pretty important information.

  “Are you sure it’s fine to reveal so much to me?” Sincir asks, “Technically, we’re still enemies.”

  “Victoria wasn’t exactly allowed to leave; She was exiled. So, if you were to kill her, it’d have nothing to do with the rest of us… If I could have one request, is that when she comes at you seeking revenge - and make no mistake, it is only a matter of time until she does - I ask that you please make her suffer before the end,” Noah says, his tone as even as ever.

  Wow. That’s a bit beyond normal siblings’ rivalry, isn’t it?

  “…And besides, since you went so far to make us wary of you, I thought I’d return the favor,” Noah continues, “Vampires grow stronger the older they are, at a linear rate. Compared to Victoria’s hundred, our master is a thousand… I’m sure you can work out the math from there.”

  So, their master is ten times stronger than Victoria, or five times stronger than Zarod, not taking into consideration fighting experience… Shit. If he was still a Varzath, Sincir would not be afraid, but in his current state, he’d most likely stand no chance in a direct fight against such a monster.

  And considering Victoria is probably far from the oldest vampire here, aside from their master, it’s a good thing he didn’t come in swinging; It’d have been a bloodbath, and he doubts he’d have come out on the winning side of it.

  “…Thank you for the warning, bud. Again, I guess. You try not to show it, but you’re a good guy at heart, huh?”

  Noah shakes his head, then turns toward Sincir as he stops in front of a door. “It is hard to find a human fighter who wouldn’t attempt to kill us on sight… I believe we have nothing to gain from fighting against one another.”

  By Sincir’s count, they’ve gone down five floors, which means they should still be within the library proper, and one floor above the vampire’s real home, the restricted st three floors… Then again, he isn’t surprised by the fact they won’t take him within their ir without a very good reason to do so.

  “Is this it?” he asks.

  Noah nods. “No need to knock,” he says, “They’ve heard us already.”

  Noah must want him to go in first, then walk in himself, and block the door… Standard tactic when dealing with an enemy, or prisoner.

  Well, Sincir can’t exactly retreat after having come this far… Walking forward, he opens the door, inspecting the room inside as he does so.

  The small room before him is fairly cozy, containing a simirly smokeless firepce than the one he saw at No’s house, with two couches facing each other and a bookshelf which occupies the wall around the firepce; Other than that, three people occupy the room’s space.

  A woman of dirty blond hair and pale skin, leaning against the bookshelf with her arms crossed.

  A boy of about sixteen or so sitting with his legs crossed on the right couch, a book in his hands and a look of concentration on his face.

  And Esme, her expression stiff as she sits at the opposite couch, facing the boy with obvious fear in her eyes…

  Sincir’s appearance causes Esme to quickly turn her gaze on his direction, but neither the boy or the woman seem surprised.

  Seeing Esme is still in her librarian uniform, and that she doesn’t seem hurt, Sincir releases a small sigh of relief.

  “…Enter,” the boy murmurs, never rising his eyes from his book, “And sit.”

  From the moment he showed up, the woman leaning against the bookshelf never stopped gring at him, her hostility weighting heavily in the air around them.

  “S-Sincir,” Esme murmurs, her voice terrified, “W-what is happening?”

  As he enters the room, Sincir smiles at her reassuringly, though it seems to do little to calm her down.

  “…It’s a party, huh? Noah, you didn’t tell me I wasn’t going to be speaking with your master… And here I thought we were growing rather close.”

  “…Good of you to notice,” the boy says, still without looking up from his book, “But don’t worry, I carry her blessing for this meeting.”

  Their master is a woman, then.

  Dropping on the couch next to Esme whil leaning against its back, Sincir smiles toward Noah, who, as expected, enters and closes the door at his back once he is through.

  “Hey, kid, nobody ever told you it’s rude not to stare at people in the eyes when they greet you?”

  At st, the boy finally looks in his direction, one of his eyes twitching. “…Kid? Even were we both the ages our bodies present, I’d still be older.”

  Sincir smiles at him. “Is that so? But I assume you had time to check my record with Adonis, so I’m at disadvantage over here. Unless you tell me your name, what am I supposed to call you?”

  “…I’m Collin, five-hundred and seventy-two years old, the second oldest after our master.”

  The woman leaning against the bookshelf hisses as she steps forward and uncrosses her arms, looking almost as though she has to stop herself from jumping at Collin.

  “The fuck are you doing?! Why would you give him your name and age?!”

  Collin unhurriedly shifts his gaze from Sincir to her. “Gracelyn, you were here? I’m sorry, I didn’t notice,” he says, slowly and evenly.

  As the woman steps back, as though having been physically hit, Sincir smiles at her. “Shit, that one must’ve hurt.”

  Clenching her jaw, Gracelyn throws Sincir a murderous gre, but she doesn’t speak again.

  Sitting beside him, Esme stares at the vampires one by one, her face pale. Still, there’s nothing Sincir could say that’d make her feel much better at the moment, so he doesn’t try, simply meeting her gaze reassuringly once she finally turns it on his direction.

  “…Ignoring the stupid one, now that we’re on the same page, I’d like to keep this brief, kid,” Collin continues as she shifts his gaze away from Gracelyn, clear gray eyes meeting Sincir’s once more, “From what Victoria has told us, you’ve come in the hopes of uncovering our intentions in regards to the humans around us?”

  Seeing no reason to deny it, Sincir nods. “That’s a part of it, yes.”

  “I see. I don’t bme you for being careful, and so, you could consider the information we’ve provided you thus far, as well as Miss Esme’s well being, as a show of our goodwill.”

  “How nice of you.”

  “That being said… This is still our home, and we hope you’ll showcase more respect in our future interactions.”

  Sincir chuckles. “Is it a male vampire trait to speak as drily as possible? How do you even convince the food to take off their panties if you’re always talking as though you’re about to fall asleep?”

  Collin grimaces, and surprisingly enough, blushes a little. “Me and Noah have little in common, so please do not compare us. And also, the sexual comments are not necessary.”

  Sincir blinks. That… That wasn’t the reaction he was expecting from a five-hundred-year-old vampire to the word panties.

  “Hey, I was just joking. But don’t tell me you’ve been preying on men this whole time? You fuck, right? Like, you got a harem of female human servants, to attend your every whim?”

  Gracelyn snorts, giving Sincir all the answer he needs as Collin grimaces once more.

  “I’d take issue with the word preying, but I do have to admit it is rather accurate. That being said, my personal life is none of your business… Though if you must know, yes, I do practice intercourse-”

  “When was the st time, the past century?” Gracelyn interjects.

  Collin clenches his teeth. “What does this have to do with anything?”

  Containing his ughter, Sincir shrugs. “Nothing, I was just curious… My apologies if I’ve touched on a sore point.”

  “It is not a-!”

  Stopping himself mid-sentence, Collin shakes his head, then closes his book as he leans back and takes a deep breath, seemingly to calm himself.

  “…As Victoria said, you have a way with words, human. If that is really what you are.”

  “Thank you,” Sincir retorts, “I’ve met many who complimented my tongue work over the years, but it is always nice to know I’ve still got it.”

  Collin blushes again, having obviously caught up on the double meaning behind his words.

  Sincir smiles at him.

  Well, isn’t this turning out to be a lot more interesting than he initially expected it?

  JBDantas

  Vampires I: Although Sincir early compared it to a disease, vampirism would be better described as a curse. Some say it was something cast by one of the Ancients (Gods from Elysium) upon mortals to teach them the price of immortality, while some say it was an side effect of a spell intended on granting immortality by a mortal mage... Albeit the truth has been lost through the ages past since then, and much about vampires is still unknown, it is understood vampirism possess no cure, either magical or otherwise.

  Vampires II: Vampires still possess a mortal Soul, and unlike some might assume, it is not destined for Hell upon their demise. Which is to say, vampires are able to create pacts with angels and demons just as any other mortal, though their inability to wield magic makes for somewhat of a pointless endeavour for them to do.

  Vampires III: For better or worse, vampires are unable to reproduce on their own, being naturally infertile. They do, however, possess the ability to create servants, willing creatures who share from their immortality in exchange of their servitude... That being said, it is somewhat unclear how vampires come to be, other than the fact a human who dies in near proximity to one might awaken with the curse the next sundown.

  Ps: It is common practice in towns pgued by vampires for their residents to stake or burn the corpses of the recently diseased (Estrein is unique for demanding the practice across its entire country, while Elderspire, in spite of its obvious vampire popution, seems none the wiser).

  [colpse]