Dragon Gods Reign

[Vampire Castle]

After spending a few hours together simply relaxing, Darganth, Allaire and Jennia were informed by Iona that Andrei wanted to meet them. After Darganth quickly conjured three sets of finer clothes, they followed after her towards the dining hall. On their way there they found far more servants than there were previously.

When they arrived at the hall they became entirely sure that there was more to this meeting than they had been told. Standing before the door were a group of four vampires in crimson red and black armor.

As soon as they spotted them these vampires walked towards them, clearly intending to stop them. Only when they noticed Iona did they stop, hurriedly backing away back to their previous positions next to the door.

“It seems there are other guests.” Darganth said.

“Then lets hope that whatever Andrei wants from us is worth enough for him to keep them in line.” Allaire said to this. Agreeing with this assesment, they walked through the door under the vigilant watch of the four men.

Arriving in the room, they were greeted by a large table that could easily fit thirty people. Despite this size, only three chairs were used with Andrei sitting at the head. To his left were a man and a women, their red glowing eyes and large canines clearly showing them to be vampires.

“Ah, the other guests finally arrived. Come sit down.” Andrei said with a smile, motioning towards the empty chairs on his right.

Following his suggestion, Darganth sat down in on the second free one to allow both Allaire and Jennia to take a seat next to him. Sitting down, they noticed the two other guests eying them with interest.

“I think we will need to be introduced. I am Caedmon, one of the contenders for the role as vampire king, and this is my daughter Leora.” The man introduced them.

“I am Darganth and these two are my wives, Allaire and Jennia.”

Hearing his introduction, Caedmon raised his eyebrow intrigued. His daughter had meanwhile a frown on her face.

“What help can two outsiders offer in the race for the position of one of the vampire kings? They aren't even mythical ranks.” She said condescending.

“Nothing, but I didn't invite them for that. Their presence here is purely coincidental, though it can be fortunate for our kind as a whole.” Andrei said enigmatic.

This turned Caedmon's attention fully towards them, the glow in his eyes pulsing slightly. When he didn't notice anything he started to frown.

Darganth chose this moment to insert himself into the conversation, “I prefer if you wouldn't scan our blood, it is rude among your kind and you better should extend that to us.” He said in a harsh tone.

Darganth's words shocked the man noticeably. A vampires ability to scan and analyze the blood of a being wasn't the most powerful analyzing ability but extremely hard to detect. Even other vampires can't do it easily and apart from some other species with blood related abilities there are very few beings who can even hope to do so.

Andrei meanwhile looked at his fellow vampire reprimanding.

“I advise you to listen to his words, angering a dragon this close to the steel mountains is a bad idea.” He said.

These words shocked the two vampires. Looking towards Darganth they instinctively used their ability to analyze his blood just to be greeted by his draconic eyes. Tensing up reflexively, they gulped before reigning in their accidental use of this ability.

“So, what do you want to ask from me?” Darganth asked Andrei after the two vampires backed down.

“Why in such a hurry. Lets first eat something.” He said calmly, motioning for on of the servants.

Soon they were brought plates of food, mainly different types of meat. When they servant brought them the drinks Allaire looked at him questioningly after the man placed a cup of blood before the three of them.

Realizing his mistake, the man hecticly wanted to pick the cups back up but was waved of by Darganth. Seemingly out of nowhere the blood turned lighter in color with the liquid now looking like wine.

“Transmutation magic?” Andrei asked curiously.

“The elemental magics aren't everything. There are branches of sorcery that are extremely underrated, this being one of them. And that is the case despite transmutation being closely related to transformation magic which is rather widely used.”

“Sorry, sorcery?” Asked Andrei irritated.

“Do you use another name here? Neutral magic, pure magic?” Darganth asked.

“Ah, neutral magic. For us sorcery refers to some forms of neutral magic.” Andrei explained.

To this Darganth nodded, “I know. I just prefer the term sorcery to describe all magic systems that aren't the standard elemental magic as nearly all these other names claim it to use pure mana or no elemental energies which is wrong.”

Hearing his explanation the three vampires though for a moment before having to agree with his assessment. While there are ways to cast spell without using the elemental energies, a majority of magic systems use them.

“While this discussion is certainly interesting, we are here to discuss another matter.” Caedmon said, with the others agreeing.

“Right. So what kind of help do you hope from me?” Darganth asked directly.

Slightly surprised by this bluntness Andrei needed a second before answering, “To help us vampires getting a seat among the emperors.”

This surprised the other two vampires slightly as they hadn't expected him to aim this high. While they weren't weak as a species, joining the ranks of races with an emperor was still extremely ambitious for the vampires.

And while the two were surprised, Darganth grew intrigued due to this proposal. He could already guess based on this that Andrei knew more about his identity than he had thought as he didn't even consider for a second that a fourth rank vampire couldn't sense at least his approximate strength.

“How do you plan to achieve that, even with his help? While having a dragon as ally is certainly a great boost to our fighting strength, powerful individuals were never the problem.” Caedmon asked.

To this question Andrei just smiled without answering while turning towards Darganth. Understanding the meaning behind this he chuckled lightly before shrugging, telling Andrei that he doesn't care whether he tells Caedmon.

Turning to Caedmon, Andrei answered him, “How can he help us? You see, I consider myself quite well educated, especially with regards to the different species that exist. And a few years ago I learned something quite fascinating about dragons, more specifically the existence of a certain group of dragons.

Not much was written about them besides a rough appearance, with them being quite well distinguished by the black scales that seem to absorb light while simultaneously glowing at their edges. Now imagine my surprise when I saw exactly such a dragon yesterday.”

Hearing this Caedmon became slightly surprised that Darganth wasn't part of either of the two dragon races that are known to still exist on this world. Despite this he was still irritated how this would change anything.

Seeing this irritation Andrei explained, “You see, apart from a description there were only two other pieces of information written about them. Number one, their exceptional affinity for space and time which is already impressive enough. But the second part is why I invited him, it being their status among dragons. You see, his kind are apparently similar to royalty for dragons with even other high tier dragons following most of their orders, no matte the power difference.”

This surprised the two vampires even more than the revelation that Darganth is a dragon. Looking towards Andrei with an expression full of shock and surprise, they turned to Darganth with a questioning look when they realized that he wasn't the best to ask for answers.

Thinking for a moment, Darganth decided what exactly he would tell them before answering their questions.

“That is largely correct. The main thing wrong with what he said is that there are actually two species of dragons with these traits, one specializing stronger in space and the other more in the time element. Apart from that it is quite accurate.” He said with a relaxed smile.

“And the thing about other dragons following your orders?”

“Its true, though it is purely out of respect. But what interests me is how you expect me to help you?” Darganth said, directing the last part toward Andrei.

“Does the name Batoim ring a bell?”

“Of course. But what does the ruler of the solar dragons on this world have to do with vampires getting an emperor?” Darganth asked intrigued.

“Currently there are two emperors who support our addition, the ones of the dwarfs and the elves. The beasts are against it because the rather good taste of their blood leads to many vampires trying to get some, something that annoys them. As for the humans, I doubt I will have to explain that one while the beastmen are against it due to their currently rather good relationship with the humans.” He explained.

This was largely what Darganth already expected as the positions of the respective emperors would differ little from their species general opinion. While they may be able to suppress the general population if needed, the other mythical ranks are a different case and thus hold a large influence on their decisionmaking.

After a short pause Andrei continued his explanation, “Currently the way most of the kings want to circumvent this is by addressing the official reasons listed for why we aren't accepted. But I see that as a futile endeavor.”

“Let me guess, not enough population?” Jennia interrupted, to which Andrei agreed.

“Yes. While we also lack somewhat in the number of mythical ranks, those that we have are all amongst the strongest on the continent. At most some beasts and maybe a dozen other humanoids can rival them.

On the switch side do we lack general fighting power. Our numbers lack compared to the other species, even compared to the elves. This made the humans raise concerns over whether we can prevent the accumulation of large monster populations and use it as official basis for their rejection. While not guaranteed, from what we know about the beast empress she is quite honorable and as she followed this reasoning she would likely allow us to join once we fulfilled the requirements.”

“But you have a better plan?” Caedmon asked.

“Yes. I accidentally learned about the extend of their hypocrisy when I learned that, at least officially, the ruler of the sun dragons is also an emperor with formal rule over both sun and fire dragons. And that despite there being even fewer dragons than vampires. Of course they are individually powerful enough to keep their territory clear of monsters, but so are we.

That's when I decided to trump them with their own hypocrisy by getting Batoim's support. While this would only draw the vote, I want to see who of them openly opposes him.” Andrei explained with a smile.

This idea astonished Caedmon and Leora, while it made a wide grin creep on the faces of both Darganth and Jennia. Soon they broke out into laughter, while Allaire just grinned slightly.

“Evil laughter translates to he likes the idea. At least in this case.” She said with a chuckle.

“That I do.” Darganth said after a moment, “And I must say, quite ambitious and I like that. Luckily for you we are already on our way to the dragon peaks so I will ask him for you. Though I would love to know whats in it for me?”

“That the vampires of this continent owe you a favor?” Andrei proposed.

Thinking for a moment, Darganth answered him, “Fine. Luckily for you I have no interest in anything you could offer while helping you would be quite easy.”

Hearing this answer Andrei smiled in relieve. With his long term plan secured, he could fully focus on consolidating power among vampires. Sadly for him he wasn't a mythical rank and it would likely take him years to become one, so he had to be content with this and couldn't hope to become his kinds emperor.

After reaching this agreement the rest of the meeting went along relative calm and without major talking points.

By the time they made their way back to their rooms there were already the first few rays of sun shining through the windows. This meant that the corridors were completely empty of servants as the vampires all hid from it.

On their way back to their room the three took some time to watch the scenery outside the windows now that it was lit by the morning rays. Seeing the empty landscape around the castle, they noticed a few landmarks they remembered and found that they teleported a lot further into the direction they were going than thought.

Surprised at Andrei's skill and power, Darganth thought for a moment whether or not it would be worth it to help him advance. After a moment he decided to first watch who would become the vampire emperor before deciding.

Soon they reached back to their room. Lying down again, Darganth held Allaire and Jennia in his arms while being in deep thought. After a few minutes of enjoying his hands carassing their backs they noticed his absentminded state.

“Is something?” Allaire asked.

“Just thinking.” He answered.

Leaning against his shoulder she asked, “About what?”

“The future mainly, I don't want to simply have things going back to before my death.”

“Of course they won't, you now have us.” Jennia said with a slight grin.

“Yes, but that isn't what I mean. I have started to realize that my death didn't just come from how I dealt with Visuria and Nemoress. Instead it was more of an inevitable consequence of how I acted in general, especially my lack of communication with others.”

This made both of them raise their eyebrows at him as from what they had seen he was well versed in diplomacy as shown during the meeting just prior.

“Doesn't seem like it to me.” Jennia said and Allaire agreed.

“I don't mean that I don't communicate or can't, its more that I always did everything myself. I never explained my actions and instead just always did what I thought was right without the input of others.” He told them.

“What brought you to think about this? Because I doubt that you didn't realize these things earlier.” Allaire asked.

“Andrei's explanation about how the vampire hierarchy is structured. I never really had direct subordinates but that made me think about changing this.” Dargant answered.

This made them turn to him, curious for his plans.

“I am thinking about having a few direct subordinates with the rest being similar to vassals in humanoid kingdoms. It would be radically different to other gods and their respective kingdoms, but was never interested in ruling a kingdom.”

“Then what made you have your change of heart? Because fixing a lack of communication can be done without subordinate.” Jennia asked.

“Reducing the dependency of this multiverse on me. During the time I was dead there was a massive spike in the number of summoned individuals, something that could have dealt lasting damage.” Darganth said.

This surprised the two as they had never expected summoning individuals to hold such a danger. Before they could ask about this he added, “And I would have more time with my wives.”

At those words he gave Jennia a quick kiss, making her smile teasingly towards Allaire. When Darganth gave a kiss shortly after it made the pout that had formed on her lips vanish instantly.

“Well, its just an idea for now that still needs to be perfected. And I first have to regain my powers fully.” He added.

“We have time.”

“Yeah. But what do you think of it at its current state?” Darganth asked them.

“More time with you? Always.” Allaire said with a smile.

“Definitely. And the title of queen doesn't sound bad, think I could get used to the sound of it quite well.” Jennia said.

Hearing their answers Darganth smiled. Pulling them deeper into his embrace, they stayed like this for a few hours. Only when they got close to the time of their departure did they slowly separate.

By then it was already quite a bit into the day, with the sun standing high in the sky. Frowning when she stepped out of their room that had darkened windows, Allaire shielded her eyes while they walked towards the hall where they had arrived.

Arriving in the hall, they walked towards where Andrei stood.

“Already leaving?” He asked them when he noticed their approach.

“Yes. I want to reach the dragon peaks as fast as possible and we would currently barely reach to the nearest city before dusk.” Darganth answered him.

“Regrettable, but necessary I suppose. Should you be in the area in the future you are free to visit my castle. And otherwise we will see each other at the meeting like planned.” Andrei said, stretching out his hand for a handshake.

Doing the same, Darganth shook his hand before saying, “Yes, we will see each other. Good luck till then.”

After those words he again let go of the hand and teleported before the gate together with Allaire and Jennia.

“Ready?” He asked them, having transformed back into his true form.

“Now its a bit to late to change our plan.” Allaire answered before climbing onto his back. Chuckling slightly, Jennia did the same and both grabbed onto him. With a slight shake of his head while sighing, Darganth took flight again.