As he walked through the corridor, many eyes were on him. The family members were eager to get his attention, as he was going to be the next family leader. He walked across the corridor without paying them any heed and finally reached his grandfather’s room. He knocked on the door twice.
“Come in.”
He opened the door and entered the room. Lex was sitting on a couch in the center reading a book.
” I’m here grandpa.”
” Yeah, come sit,” Lex replied with a smile as he placed the book on the table.
Keith sat on the side couch facing Lex.
” Did you rest properly ?” Lex asked Keith.
” Yes, I slept all day, so I am feeling good now,” Keith said with a smile.
Lex looked at Keith with a serious gaze. He cleared his throat and started speaking.
“First, I will start with some family history. The Ennes family has been governing the Bergzen territory for ten thousand years. You know that quite well. But what you don’t know is that we are actually one of the descendant families of the original vampire. To be exact, there are 72 families who are the descendants of the originals. They are scattered all over the continent, forming their own countries.
“As you know, there are five vampire nations that share the continent. There is a central governing body that oversees the vampire society. These five countries were originally divided by the five original vampires who shared the continent, each having their own territory. The vampire council was created to oversee all the vampires and uphold the law of the vampire society. ” But fifty thousand years ago, a civil war broke out after the originals went for eternal rest. The two sides fought to seize the other side, but in the end, it was a loss for both sides. Due to the stalemate, a treaty was formed. So, this kind of civil war never happens.
” The treaty banned all the general public from learning advanced vampirical blood-qi techniques. Only the next leaders of 72 families were allowed to learn them.”
” So how do you learn them? There is no academy for that.” Keith interjected.
” Let me finish…
“As you know most vampires learn blood qi circulation from their families, so depending upon how much their families know, and their legacy, their future is determined. ” The 72 families are the top vampire families that have the legacies of the originals. Not all of them are on the same level, as the techniques vary from family to family. The Ennes family is ranked 68 among the other descendant families. The highest we’ve ever reached was 36th rank three thousand years ago, in the time of your great grandfather…
“So we’re the last of the descendant families.”
” You could say that. Due to us being a descendant family, we have to uphold the laws of the council. Every family sends their nominated leaders to the Crimson Academy, where they are taught the various advanced blood-qi techniques. The nominated leader must be at least a baron level to enter the academy.”
” So, I have to go there to learn advanced techniques. Wait… So if I wasn’t a baron, you would have told me this later right? You said only by becoming a baron, we get in there.” Keith said to his grandpa.
” You are right, and it is also prohibited to talk about the academy unless you are the nominated heir. If Marvin was selected as the next leader, then he would’ve had to wait until he became a baron to know all this.
” With that being said, you really broke all the norms, I never expected you to become a baron so suddenly, but I am really glad that you became the next heir and not Marvin.”
” Why do you hate Marvin so much? I mean I have all right to hate him, but he didn’t do anything to disgrace the family, and he was strong. You, as an elder, should have supported him instead of me. I know you, grandpa, feelings rarely get in your way when making family decisions.”
*Sigh*
” It would be better to keep the shame of the family within wraps, never to be known again. I had great hopes for him, that boy. Alas, I never thought he and his father would be conspiring against the family.”
” What did they do?” Keith asked impatiently.
” I never intended to let anyone know of this, but as the future leader, you have to know this. Rufus, your uncle made a deal with another family. That family will give him resources and help him become the next leader. It was not wrong to seek help from other families, but the deal from his end was to go under them and not be a direct descendant family.”
” Then… what happened, how come he isn’t the head of the family then ?”
” Because, even after getting help from them, he couldn’t catch up to your father.”
Lex looked straight into Keith’s eyes.
” And, even now he is using their resources to help Marvin get the position. Marvin has used their blood pools more than you, every year.”
” Grandpa, why are you avoiding the subject of my father? What happened to him? Why is he treated like a traitor and forgotten like an insignificant servant? You always told me, he left this continent to pursue his dreams, but never told me why? And why did he leave me here? I want the truth grandpa.” Keith said resolutely. He was tired of being in the dark. Everyone pretended like his father didn’t exist, and he wanted to know why they were being like this. What did his father do?
*Sigh*
” …Damien, … your father, was the brightest vampire in the recent generations. He achieved his blood core at the age of sixteen. This was the earliest any descendant had ever reached the baron level. Even your great grandfather reached baron level when he was eighteen. So you can imagine the level of genius your father had.
” As usual, I was really proud of him. I firmly believed that this was the time our family would get into the top ranks among the descendant families. He went on to attend the Crimson Academy and was among the top students. But after two years in the academy, he disappeared out of nowhere, and before the night he disappeared, he killed a descendant of another family, an archduke heir at that. The council declared him a traitor and put a bounty on his head. Due to the involvement of the academy, the council didn’t announce it publicly. Some tried to blame our family, but Damien…he didn’t have any contact with us, so the council didn’t press any charges against us. He was never seen after that incident, nor did he return to the family.”
” Then what about me? How did I get here ?”
Keith wanted to know, where did he come from? Who was her mother? How he ended up in the family if his father wasn’t here.