The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 287

Chapter 287: Otherworldlings That Keep Up with the Times

By any measurement, the Hessianite Family was already close to the top of the Blood Clan’s food chain in the city. Although a pretty young vampire family, under the wise and diplomatic leadership of its head, the Hessianites rose to prominence very quickly, just a tad behind the Lucasian and Bethanosian Families—well, that was what Hessiana said anyway. They controlled a large area in the eastern part of the sanctuary and this was their stronghold. Only those sanctioned were allowed to enter the area.

That was the one-sided story from the Blood Clan maiden who had a loose screw. But since she told it with such seriousness, let’s give her the benefit of doubt.

They were ushered into the beautiful mansion and were surprised to find the house brightly lit. A bright and beautifully decorated long hall greeted them. It was layered with fine carpet and there were long tables on both sides. In addition, there were almost a hundred male and female staff waiting in the hall. These people were dressed in the finest clothes specifically suited for the function; the males were handsome while the females were enchanting. It looked like an Oscar event, so much so that even Lily who could never sit still for a second was rooted to the spot, wide-eyed.

It was obvious that these people were waiting for Hessiana and her guests. As soon as they entered the hall, the people turned around and all eyes were on them as if it they standing at attention. They then placed their right hands across their chests, bowed and greeted Hessiana. Marvelling at the sight, Hao Ren could not help but take a jab at Vivian. “It seems your mini-you has been more successful than you.”

Puzzled, Vivian asked, “What mini-you?”

Hao Ren replied, “Hessiana.”

A unnatural expression flashed across Vivian’s face. “She… she’s got nothing better to do. But the fact that she has actually made it to where she is now is mind-blowing. When she just arrived, I had to ask Hesperides to look after her; she was just a kid. And every time I came here she would always do things that scared the hell out of me.”

Meanwhile, Hessiana had run across the hall to the other end, looking happy. She stood in front of a Y-shaped staircase, spreading out her hands as she called out to the people around her, “Listen, ladies and gentlemen. Our true master, Lady Vivian is here! Now let the party begin. Enjoy your food and have fun. Do whatever you like as long as it’s not fighting! Hooray!”

Hao Ren smacked his forehead. “Now, that is anticlimactic as far as the deco is concerned…”

These people in the hall were vampires who had gained favour in Hessiana’s family. Hao Ren had no idea what their hierarchy looked like and he did not want to waste time on that. The 100 or so “people” in the hall and the meticulous decoration had been carefully arranged by Hessiana to welcome Vivian. Obviously, Hessiana knew her “parent” well; she knew that when Vivian arrived, she would have no choice but to reveal herself. Hao Ren did not know how long these people had been waiting. But as soon as Hessiana wrapped up her opening remark, the party atmosphere was ignited with the vampires in tuxedos and gowns scrambling over to the dining tables. If the hall itself resembled the Palace of Versailles, then the scene had to be the canteen of the Palace of Versailles. Hao Ren was rooted to the spot, not knowing what to make of the scenario: he thought he had finally met gentle, elegant, serious and deadpanned vampires, but little did he expect that their culture appearance before meal time was merely part of the presentation…

“Don’t expect people in the Hessianite Family to be well-cultured.” It was a heart-wrenching scene for Vivian. She herself was poor, but she was well-mannered with calm temperament. Nontheless, she was helpless when it came to Hessiana. “Maybe it has something to do with my bloodline… Like normal members of the Blood Clan, Hessiana can duplicate herself, but her clones would invariably possess some defects in personality. It’s most likely hereditary.”

Hao Ren listened while he looked at the gruesome scene of the party. He now got a better picture in his mind: Look, these funny people were actually a representation of Hessiana and her effort for the past 1,000 years.

Hessiana ran back to them. She grabbed Vivian’s hand and dragged her to the biggest of tables. “Hurry up, hurry up. Let’s see how good our chef is. I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything since the afternoon. While I was at Lucas’ place wrangling for half a day, they couldn’t even make a proper meal. What a shame! All I got was just a cocktail and type B blood.”

Meanwhile, Lily was also scrambling to the table, dragging Hao Ren along: it was not hard to tell what was on the simpleton’s mind—after all, it was dinner time.

Hao Ren was mentally prepared to see some gross stuff on the dining tables, especially when this was a vampire party. But when he arrived he was flabbergasted. “Do you people eat normal food too?”

“Yes, we do. But it’s not filling enough, so we still need blood to maintain our vitality,” Hessiana said as she glanced admirably at Vivian. “I really envy Lady Vivian; she can live entirely on human food, but we can’t. We still depend on the reserve in the blood bank—you know, it’s not easy to find food anymore nowadays!”

Listening to the way Hessiana spoke, Hao Ren quickly spotted the similarity—it was hereditary; Hessiana had indeed inherited it from Vivian. But one thing was obviously different— the magical powers in Vivian’s blood were not present in Hessiana’s. The bloodline had been diluted. Vampires of the Hessianite Family could only gain full vitality by feeding on blood, although they could still survive on human food. He watched the going-ons in the hall as a complicated but subtle feeling riddled him. The vampires were gobbling up the food like there was no tomorrow, and just like Hessiana, they had that same devil-may-care attitude; they just did not possess the quality of elegance and impassiveness of the pure Blood Clan. Sitting among the pile of food on the tables were glasses of red liquid. It was this kind of stuff that normal people would consider gross. Hao Ren could not help asking as he pointed to the glass before Hessiana, “Is that blood?”

“Yes, you want some? I can pour you some, but just for the sake of Lady Vivian. You know that I don’t like you, but you’re still my guest.” Hessiana held up her glass and gave it a little swirl as she continued, “I’ve heard that some human shamans actually drink blood, pretending to be big-tailed wolves.”

Lily responded by hitting the table. “The tail’s a source of pride! Don’t belittle it!”

“Shh, it’s got nothing to do with you.” Hao Ren shoved Lily behind him, and then looked at Hessiana awkwardly. “I’ve also heard that vampires keep humans as blood slaves. They harvest fresh blood from the human like one would milk a cow—just keeping them barely alive, without any freedom. May I ask, is this blood—”

“Lady Vivian told you that?” Hessiana gave Hao Ren a sideways glance. “I just don’t understand what’s so great about you that Lady Vivian would be willing to follow you. Don’t worry. Times have changed and so have we. I don’t know about those fuddy-duddies, but we do things the new way—the civilised way. Our blood supply comes from humane sources and the dealings are absolutely fair as well as open…”

Nangong Wuyue frowned. “Just tell us where it comes from.”

Hessiana turned her face away. “The hospital’s blood bank. And some are sourced by way of procurement agreement. Hunting is a dying practice nowadays. Cruel practices such as blood slaves will get ourselves killed.”

“All right, I can accept the idea of a blood bank although that’s a little novice. What about the agreement?” Hao Ren asked.

Hessiana had a forced smile on her face. “You know, while humans and otherworldlings are generally enemies, there are those who have a more unorthodox way of thinking—those like the heretics, cultists, satanic-worshippers, vampire societies and etc. Got it? These people are the source of blood for the otherworldings in this sanctuary. We even have assets out there such as businesses and mines, which are manned by humans. But behind the walls of these normal looking businesses, the bosses could be members of the Blood Clan or even demons. How do you think a sanctuary as large as this survived till this day?”

Hao Ren’s mind was stimulated. He could imagine a flashy, publicly-listed company operating a totally legit business under the sun. When the sun went down and the company closed its doors for the day, the CEO, whose face was always splashed on TV would assemble his or her stuff in the office. The CEO would set up an altar, draw some magic circles and chant some incantations. The individual would praise as well as worship the vampires or demons while waiting for his or her blood to be taken. After that, the company’s financial reports and bags of fresh blood would be delivered underground… The picture could not be more real.

If that was the case, how many of these company bosses were actually killed by demon hunters?

It seemed that the conflict between demon hunters and otherworldings had evolved; it was not just a close quarters one. They infiltrated and assimilated into human society to carry on the war. No one could tell how things would unfold.

But at the moment, Hao Ren could only lament.

The otherworldlings had indeed kept up with times.

Chapter 288: Vampire Party (Fogless)

The relationship between otherwordlings, humans and demon hunters was a complicated one—messier than a tripartite war. There was no way the otherwordlings and demon hunters could ever see eye to eye. The involvement of humans, who were the most populous, complex and fickle beings on Earth did not help in the endless struggle either. You could not possibly expect a race of a few billion people to side exclusively with either the otherwordlings or demon hunters. However, you could certainly expect there to be alternative voices—those who thought the world was not chaotic enough and those who were afraid that they could not die soon enough. On top of that, there were demon worshippers, werewolf worshippers and vampire worshippers who existed since ancient times. Just as the demon hunters failed to finish off the otherworldlings, the Orthodox Church had also failed to wipe out heresy. The latter and their masters were forced to go underground, however they continued to thrive.

In fact, they did not merely thrive. They also found a new way of surviving in the new age—they restructured and formed companies, some of which were even publicly listed. In the past, contracts with their dark masters were called “covenants”, now they called it an “agreement”. Offerings made in the past were called “sacrifices” but they now called it “dividends”. Chants during sacrificial rituals used to be known as a “spells”, but in the present, when they met and communicated with their dark masters, they did in the form of annual reports. In the new age, when vampires gave exhortation to their human disciples, they called it the company’s “year-end cultural exchange”. Those who were daring enough even invited the local press to attend such events.

But these daring vampires died. Do you know how many CEOs of large corporations mysteriously disappeared every year? God knows how many were caused by demon hunters. The war of the dark forces never stopped; the brutal fight just happened under human noses, hidden from their eyes.

Hao Ren had a strange feeling towards such human societies, though. Ancient humans worshipped otherworldlings out of fear; during those turbulent times, the otherworldings were on a rampage. Anyone who was kept alive as livestock was deemed to have received a great mercy. The helpless humans during those times could only tremble in fear and woship their captors. But for the same thing to happen today was mind-blowing. If this was still true today, it only showed that unorthodox thinking grew like weeds irrespective of times. That did not mean Hao Ren was against the otherworldings or despised the heretics. He himself was surrounded by a bunch of abnormal people and to a certain extent, he was their protector. This was the strangeness that riddled him. The things he would see in movies had overlapped with his reality, and the way they overlapped was a little strange.

Nonetheless, Hessiana did not give a sh*t about what Hao Ren was thought. “What are you lamenting about, huh? Aren’t you a human shaman too?”

“I’m more than what you think.” But he was not allowed to speak about the Space Administration. He forced out a smile and said, “Actually, I’m a contract—”

“We’re all under contract.” Hessiana grinned, baring her teeth. “We signed an agreement for a healthy blood supply and a year-end welfare guarantee scheme with our people.”

Hao Ren found that the conversation was going nowhere.

“Speaking of which, those human organisations you’re controlling… what do they do?” Lily asked curiously as Hessiana held up a piece of bloody steak and shoved it into Vivian’s mouth. She turned around and said proudly, “They do many things. The world is moving forward and so are we. The Lucas Family runs two clothing factories and a software firm. There are two companies under my name selling high quality counterfeits and I also have a mining equipment research company. I’ve sent a few operatives to China to study the market in Shanxi, but they haven’t got back to me…”

Hao Ren was flabbergasted. “Could it be that they have been sold to a coal mine?”

Hessiana did not bother with Hao Ren this time. He gave Lily a quizzical glance. “Wait a minute… I just saw your ears popping out. What race are you?”

Lily’s mouth was stuffed with a huge chunk of juicy, barbecued meat as the question sank in. Two glugs and she choked. Her face turned red as she waved and gestured frantically with her hands for help; she was going out of breath. Hao Ren lunged forward and administered some sharp blows to her back. She breathed normally again after that, but Nangong Wuyue and Y’zaks were drenched in cold sweat. They had gotten used to the interracial harmony at home, completely forgetting about the non-hostile relationship between Lily and Vivian—the two natural enemies. Meanwhile, Lily was totally at ease being surrounded by a hundred vampires, still eating like a pig!

“I was almost dead… and I’ll probably die soon…” Lily finally had the whole piece of barbecued meat forced down her throat into her stomach. She lay on the table, gasping. The husky had accomplished something no pure-breed werewolves had ever attempted before: she danced with vampires and ate with them, yet she was still alive, Hao Ren thought.

“What’s wrong with her?” Hessiana looked at Vivivan, bewildered. “I just asked her a question and her reaction was like…”

Lily was hiding behind Hao Ren (it was her instinctive move. To a canine, those who fed it everyday were the most powerful. A Tibetan Mastiff was no exception. Lily was only a husky so this was no surprise). “Promise me you won’t eat me alive”

Heissiana was all the more confused. Vivian shrugged and said, “She’s a werewolf.”

The hall went dead silent. You could even hear a pin drop—vampires indeed had exceptional hearing.

Lily was almost in tears. She grabbed Hao Ren’s sleeve as she pointed at the barbecued meat on the table. “Can I take one more bite?”

Vivian sighed and said, “She’s getting nowhere.”

Hessiana was a little cautious in the beginning. But when she saw Vivian’s attitude, her guests’ facial expressions and most importantly, Lily’s behaviour, she was flabbergasted. With a wave of her hand, she said to her people, “What are you staring at? Just eat. You haven’t heard anything. Do you understand?”

Lily happily came back to the table again and continued wolfing down as much food as she could like nothing happened. Hessiana’s jaw dropped. Vivian sighed again as she said, “To some extent, Lily is very brave. If I was in her position, I couldn’t have done this.”

Everyone, host and guests alike all had fun and everyone carried on partying late into the night. In fact, a vampire party could go on until the next morning. As the city had no sunlight, they decided to party until they dropped. Those sitting at the same table with Hessiana were leaving earlier than the rest; basically, Lily fell asleep with a mouthful of unchewed food. When Hao Ren tried to lift her up from her chair, she still mumbled something about her barbecue. If it had not been for her biological clock, she would have continued eating until everyone dropped. Hessiana looked at the werewolf maiden admirably for her calmness despite being surrounded by vampires. “This werewolf is one of a kind. She has an equanimity that not everyone possesses. She’ll be somebody someday.”

Vivian pinched the tail Lily had inadvertently revealed as she slept. “Equanimity my foot. Right up until yesterday, I was the only true Blood Clan member she had ever met. She only learned about the Blood Clan and werewolves from TV. She didn’t have the slightest idea about the feud between our two races.”

Hessiana was flabbergasted. “She’s an orphan? There are still creatures like that out there? Is she from the north?”

Hao Ren nodded. “Yeah, she’s originally from the land of snow in the north. Her ancestors used to monopolise the transportation trade in there and she still retains one-sixteenth of the imperial city’s bloodline.”

Hessiana was totally intimidated and stunned.

Thanks to Hessiana’s hospitality, they got to stay in the beautiful mansion with more than enough rooms for all of them. The chamberlain had confirmed their races earlier before including some special decorations in their rooms. Hao Ren was happy to know that deep down, Hessiana had the kindness of Vivian; she was cold to him, but she made an effort to make sure he had a comfy stay, at least it was not a coffin but a warm bed…

Hao Ren had requested an extra large aquarium from the chamberlain, so that Lil Pea could get some fresh air when he hit the hay for the night. In fact, the little one had gotten out during dinner, but she had never seen so many people, so she quickly receded and Hessiana did not notice the uncooked fish.

The first bizarre night at the vampire’s house was over. The following day, it was still dark in the morning because of the lack of sunlight.

When Hao Ren got out of the house, he bumped into two red-eyed vampire maidservants, hustling along the corridor. He stopped them and enquired; they had some unexpected news.

A Lucasian member was coming. And the person was none other then the family head.

Chapter 289: Visit from the Lucas Family

As conceited as they got, the Lucas Family had been very careful not to slight Vivian, who was the ultimate vampire ancestor, living since the Prehistoric Era. The day before, Hessiana sent a messenger to the Lucas Family. And today, their patriarch had come to pay a visit. The vampires were a race attaching great importance to bloodline and tradition. They respected seniority more than anything else. So, even if Vivian had a screw loose, she was still their senior. Never mind the vampires, if Emperors Yan and Huang or Adam and Eve came back, wanting to see you, would you not meet them with hat in hand? Vivian’s history was no shorter than theirs…

Meanwhile, the Lucas Family had already arrived early in the morning. However, the person they wanted to see had just woken up. As Vivian pushed the door open and got out of her room, she saw Hao Ren as well as the two maidservants in the corridor. She was all yawny when she greeted them and she looked like a scarecrow. Hao Ren was very surprised: Vivian was extremely particular about her appearance; Lily said she was pretentious. Vivian would never let herself look down-at-heel, always making sure that not a hair was out of place. But now, she was a real sight to behold.

“Didn’t you sleep last night?” Hao Ren looked curiously at Vivian. The biological clock of a vampire was different from a human’s. Sometimes, Vivian could do with an hour of sleep, but now she looked like sh*t as if she had not gotten a wink of sleep for five days.

Vivian raised her hand and pointed to Hessiana who was coming out from another room. “She gave me a hard time last night. I almost went crazy.”

Hao Ren’s mind was instantly filled with age-retricted scenes. He had his eyes on Hessiana, looking at weirdly. So Hessiana got agitated. “Why are you staring at me like that? I just wanted to sleep in Lady Vivian’s hair, just like old times. But she wouldn’t let me.”

Hao Ren turned his curious eyes to Vivian. Vivian looked back at him with arms akimbo. “I broke myself up into a swarm of bats, dispersed and slept around the house. She inherited my ability, she can’t fight me…” Vivian said, still yawning.

“You slept like that the whole night?” Hao Ren still looked at Vivian uncannily. “Didn’t you feel tired? What’s the point?”

“All right, let’s not delve into this. I heard that the Lucas Family is here. Lead me to the washroom. I’ll meet them once I get myself sorted.” While she walked away with the two vampire maidservants, she looked back and said to Hao Ren, “You haven’t kicked your habit of throwing the blanket off yourself while you sleep, eh? You scared me as I hung over your head last night!”

Then she swaggered away, leaving Hao Ren and Hessiana behind. Hessiana’s glaring eyes were like razor blades piercing into him; he got the feeling that Vivian had done that on purpose!

Out of nowhere, Hessiana yanked out an iron hammer and smiled at Hao Ren like the Cheshire Cat. “Come on, get your head over here, I’ve got something for you…”

“Please, calm down! It was just a bat even if it was her! What could I do to a bat, right?”

“Shut the f*ck up! Everybody knows that humans are peverts! Especially you, shaman. Who knows, maybe you like things with wings?”

Hao Ren was speechless.

Vivian should not have left her daughter and allowed her to grow up alone! Look what became of her.

Despite that, Hessiana knew her limits. Perhaps she was wary of being whacked by Vivian, so she took a chill pill. As a matriach, she had to play host to the guests that day. As Hao Ren walked along the corridor, he knocked on each door and collected his team members before going to the long hall downstairs. He came with a curious state of mind to meet the patriach of the Lucas Family. Lily came with a hungry state of mind—for breakfast, lunch and dinner; Doggie had no clue which meal it was. She was a zombie, waking up from oversleeping. The city had no sun and no moon to mark time, so no one would know what time it was.

As he got down the stairs, he saw the Lucas Family representatives, whose sense of existence was off the chart. He immediately recognised the difference between them and the Hessianite Family: they were the real deal—the type of vampire everyone was familiar with.

There was a large table in the middle of the long hall. Hessiana and her men were sitting at one end of the table, looking well-mannered, for the moment at least. Sitting across them were 10 males and females; they were envoys of the Lucas Family. Everyone was wearing the Blood Clan’s favourite costume: dark suits with blood-red stitches or ribbon trims, however the clothes were not old-fashioned. They were modern-looking, not functionally out-of-place even by today’s standard or too plain in a vampire party. Without a doubt, the Blood Clan members were meticulous about their looks no matter what. In that sense, when Lily called them “pretentious”, it was a fair statement.

Sitting in the middle of the 10 vampires was the patriarch of the Lucas Family. He was a tall and slender, middle-aged man. He had a pale face with middle-length grey hair, swept-back in a neat hairstyle. He was wearing a black suit with maroon lining, absolutely dapper. He was handsome, with a tad of elegance, not as mean and ghastly as one would imagine. He obviously paid a lot of attention to his look; he was impeccable from head to toe, even the creases on his clothes were perfect. But Hessiana was making fun of him. “You still have the same sh*tty look, like you’re going to be cremated soon…”

Hao Ren started to doubt whether the maiden received brain damage when she broke apart from Vivian’s body; she was totally unlike her parent, judging from her demeanour.

“I’m here to see the countess.” The elegant middle-aged man had no emotion on his face as if he did not hear Hessiana. “She is my elder. I should do whatever a junior should. But this space is a bit… Don’t you have a proper meeting room?”

The man’s eyes darted all over the long hall and the scene almost shook him off his chair. The remnants of last night’s party had not been cleaned up yet. Okay, let me spell out for you: about every five metres or so, there lay one of Hessiana’s vampires on the floor, still mumbling with food in their mouths. These ladies and gentlemen (in terms of their attire) in suits were strewn across the floor, making the hall appear like the scene of a gruesome genocide.

“Your family is sh…” a flirtatious woman beside the middle-aged man spoke with half a smile on her face, but stopped short of calling Hessiana’s family shameful.

“So what? As long as we’re happy and grow fast.” Hessiana shot a smug smile back at her. “Anyway, we were the ones who first accepted the vagrants. Weren’t you the one expelling them in the first place? And now you’ve got a problem with that?”

Hao Ren heard about Hessiana’s history of struggle when she talked about it at the party last night. He now knew the origins of her strange vampire family: just as he had suspected, nothing would be normal when it had to do with Vivian’s bloodline.

In the beginning, the Hessianite Family was made up of vagrants.

The conservative vampire families at that time observed a set of strict family rules, even in smaller vampire families. Those who violated family rules would be driven out and it was a very common occurrence. Those who were expelled would lose the protection of their family and food security; they faced discrimination because the sanctuary had no laws to protect this group of vampires. For this reason, the vagrants’ lifespan was very short. Even if they struggled to continue living, there were no families willing to take them in. Humanly speaking, it was a very strange phenomenon. But for those who gave great importance to the concepts of honour as well as disgrace, and abided by ancient traditions, it was a common occurence.

From the day Hessiana was sent there by Vivian, she mingled with the vagrants as she too was a vagrant. Before that, she had received a few years worth of a Vivian-styled education. She could not care less about the Blood Clan’s honour and stuff like that. She found that vagrants were not as bad as people thought, so she befriended them and played with them… She played with them from the start because, after all she was just a kid back then.

The vampire families once raised their concerns about the gathering of large group of vagrants, but nobody dared to provoke the royal child—yes, nobody.

Because she was sent there by the Countess of the Crimson Moon, half of the ancient ones, including the most senior one, Hesperides were Hessiana’s guardians. The ancient ones had lived for far too long and most witnessed their own family’s demise, so they had no strong concept of race. They had no qualms about Hessiana’s actions. And since they did not mind, other people did not have the guts to mind it.

Back then, people just thought of Hessiana as a VIP’s naughty kid, running loose and hanging out with a bunch of wretched vampires. She would get bored in a few days time, what harm could she possibly cause?

But the naughty kid with her wretched friends completely finished off all the vampire families save for the Lucas Family—all in a matter of three days.

These crackpots hung crosses and garlic across their bodies while they held their divine silver weapons in their hands…

Everyone in the sanctuary was scared to the bone. They thought they were demon hunters!

Chapter 290: Hessiana’s Genealogy

If we went through the “wondrous” nature of Vivian’s bloodline, it would probably take forever to complete. Heck, it would take a bucket load of time just to talk about the history of this odd bunch of vampires, who worked in the church for a living. Hessiana had inherited a few of Vivian’s special abilities too and of course, there were the usual mutations as well.

Vivian could not turn a man into a vampire like a normal vampire could; anyone she “turned” still remained a human. At the very most, they were stronger, healthier and had increased longevity, but vampires they were not. Hessiana on the other hand, was a perfected bat familiar and she had inherited a small part of Vivian’s powers. Surprisingly, she was not constrained by the limitation and not only could she turn others into Trueborns, she could forcibly turn other vampires into her thrall with her superior bloodline. To most Blood Clan members, these powers were a step forward, but it was not without it’s cost. Her inheritance of Vivian’s powers was not complete; Hessiana and her bloodline as well as her servants were still vulnerable towards holy water, blessed silver and other anti-demon weaponry.

However, their resistance was way above all other unusual creatures and this maniacal bunch even went as far as fighting using holy weapons. It would take a few hours before their bodies were directly harmed by the holy energy while most vampires or werewolves would take critical hits everytime a holy weapon striked them.

Thus, Hessiana’s family wreaked havoc throughout Athens with their half-baked demon slaying (or perhaps, holy resistance?) ability. Truth be told, their offensive capabilities were not at a point where they could steamroll all of their opposition as it was rather difficult to procure holy weapons. Even with smuggling and back-channels, they could only equip a good half of their men with it. Not to mention, they only had a limited time before the holy weapons harmed them as well. But the most crucial factor was the shock and awe their combat tactics inspired within the Divide. Imagine seeing a group of vampires fighting with blessed silver and clutching a cross going, “Jesus give me power!” Most “normal” vampires would simply be too stunned to even react. Heck, when most of the vampiric families got wiped out during Hessiana’s assault, it was all down to them being too stupified to react…

Of course, whatever remained of Vivian’s reputation also helped Hessiana’s cause. All unusual creatures knew the legend of the Countess of the Crimson Moon and her ability to fully nullify the effects of holy weapons. They also knew of her inability to create her own bloodline thus, leaving only herself with such an enviable ability. Then came, Hessiana who had managed to create a bunch of oddball vampires that could go about spraying others with holy water. Many fell under the impression that Vivian had managed to overcome her inability and they were fighting against her direct descendants. This sapped their morale quite a bit and resulted in Hessiana’s blitzkrieg simply sweeping all opposition aside.

By the time anyone had the presence of mind to react to Hessiana’s assault, only the Lucas and Bethanos Families were in shape to contend against Hessiana and her bunch of misfits. Hessiana’s family was a smart one; just before the final battle, they signed a peace accord with the Lucas Family and declared their peaceful intentions towards the otherwordlings within the Divide. This was simply a revenge attack against those who had wronged them in the past and nothing more. When the accord was signed, those under Hessiana who were wronged by Lucas also openly declared that they would no longer seek revenge against their former tormentors and things were left at that.

Even since her sudden assault, Hessiana did not seek to harm the Lucas Family’s interest. She had things well planned out. The entire final attack would take only three days, enough for her to achieve her objectives and prevent the Lucas Family from reacting in time, thus avoiding any conflict; conflict that Hessiana could not afford in the coming discussions. After the dust had settled, she declared that she was forming a new house that would peacefully co-exist with the rest of the otherworldlings. The head of the Lucas Family back then decided that fighting with this bunch of crazy misfits would only bleed his men and resources. Not only that, he would be handing the control of the city over to the Bethanos Family. Hence, he agreed to the formation of the new household. Besides, the Lucas Family did not take any losses from the attack, and the demise of the smaller familiars had instead consolidated his control. While he needed to share the territory evenly with Hessiana, it was the best call at the time.

And so, the Hessianite Family was formed from the ashes of battle.

Not long after, the little “Vivian” used both clever politicking skills and rogue, underhanded tactics to expand her powerbase. It would take forever to detail what she did to lead her family from a semi-cadet branch of the Lucas Family into a full-fledged family of her own. But one thing was sure, the little lady was ruthless. You needed to keep your eye on her or else, she would stick a blade into you when you were not looking.

Also something else was made awfully clear: Fighter who were considered cannon fodder died because they were too slow to react.

The Hessianite and Lucas Families were now what you would consider… allies. It was pretty much an alliance of convenience where they would fight together if threatened by demon hunters and a little more than that. As such, both of the leaders did not keep a facade of formality when they met. After regaling all present with her family’s history, Hessiana quickly eyed the new head of the Lucas Family as she gave a satisfied nod. “Hope you don’t mind the messy place. Lady Vivian arrived yesterday and we held a party in her honour. The meeting room has even more people laying there. Those who became rowdy after a drink or two are all locked in there. They will remain there until they are sober.”

By then, Vivian was done dressing and she came down the stairs. She saw Hao Ren hanging out by the staircase and greeted him before heading down to join the rest. The new head of the Lucas Family saw a face that he had not seen in two centuries and quickly got up to greet her. “My Lady Countess, it has been a while indeed. I’m so glad to see that you are all hale and hearty. Zeon Lucas, the new head of the Lucas Family has come to—”

“Please spare me the formalities, I’m not your grandmother.” Vivian was apparently very uncomfortable with the over-the-top formal speech and frowned even before she took her seat. “I haven’t been here for about a hundred years or two… It’s stilll the same here—dark and dreary all the time… There’s literally no improvement at all… Goodness, do you bunch still muck around in the dark doing nothing?”

Hao Ren thought to himself. “It was better if Vivian had not spoke at all. The moment she spoke, she turned into a different character, like a senior scolding her juniors. Clearly this was on purpose, the lass would never speak like that normally.”

But it clearly worked on the young vampire as he looked on grimly with a nod. “Your stern advice is well noted, My Lady.”

As Vivian cleared her throat to ask about the ruins, an alluringly dressed female vampire beside Zeon (the new head of the Lucas Family) gave Vivian a surprised look, exclaiming, “My Lady… you are wearing a dress that I designed…”

Hao Ren was stunned as he turned to look at Vivian. The latter was wearing a new long, black dress that he had bought for her last month. It was said that the dress was designed specially for vampires. This was Vivian’s best dress in her wardrobe and she brought it along for the journey. Hessiana threw an almost spiteful look at the lady. “Andrea… don’t you dare use this to get close to Lady Vivian!”

“I’m telling the truth!” The look on the vampire named Andrea was of pure surprise but her voice was sure. “This is a limited edition release. If it’s the real thing, you can have a look inside the cuffs. My signature is written there in Latin…”

Vivian took a peek at the cuff of her dress and muttered, “What a coincidence… but the handwriting is hideous…”

Andrea was nonplussed. “…It’s not easy writing on silk…”

Hao Ren remembered Hessiana mentioning that the supernaturals in the Divide had business dealings with humans. Additionally, he heard that the Lucas Family had clothing factories as part of their business. But the way Hessiana described things was slightly misleading; the Lucas Family were in the luxury market, not your common tees.

Now that’s rather rich isn’t it? Andrea the vampire was also a fashion designer…

Hao Ren felt that the atmosphere lightened up with the small talk and while Hessiana was rather displeased by it, it seemed a bit easier for them to talk business now.

“Andrea, leave the clothes for another time.” Zeon Lucas looked at his underling sternly as he turned towards Vivian. “What do we owe the pleasure of the countess’ visit in Athens today?”

Vivian was straight to the point. “I want to see the newly discovered ruins; the one at the Parthenon.”