Chapter 1259 - Unsettled
Tempus seemed like an easy going leader for an Original. Ever since he had been put in charge of the second family following Cindy's betrayal, he had done well to reformat and implement changes. It turned out that there were far more underlying problems than the others had originally thought.
Under Cindy's rule, the men of the second family had been discriminated against. No matter how much promise they might have shown, most had been put aside, never receiving a promotion to the inner castle. As for those, who had actually received that highly sought after promotion, they would disappear, having actually been sent off to be tested and experimented on.
Cindy had been far crueler to her own family members than anyone had realised, having attempted to forcefully create a blood fairy. To achieve her goal she had made use of her own ability to revert the changes over certain vampires. It was an amazing feat, only possible due to her great proficiency in her own ability, yet it had been an unimaginable torture for her people, one that would repeat over and over again.
There had even been a few humans that had been captured, once turned into a subclass, if it was one she hadn't been expecting she would revert the change and go through the process again. As for the captured vampires, it was to raise an army of Bloodsuckers. Tempus had shed light on this mistreatment, quickly abolishing this favoritism, making him well liked amongst his people.. Of course, the other leaders didn't mind him too much because he had chosen to not get involved or complain about the other families like the other leaders did.
However, if there was one thing they could complain about, then it would be how frequently he visited the King, and the other leaders believed that the new king and Tempus were playing favours due to him being an original.
This was the main issue. Tempus was an Original, one of the first thirteen that had created the families in the first place. He was a figure that was meant to be well respected, which was why nobody thought he was joking with his idea of reviving the others.
Not only that, but the big question was, why mention this fact. Even Bryce was struggling to understand.
'There are still vampires from all the original thirteen families.' Bryce thought. 'So all of the past leaders and originals can be awakened without using an Original. So then why has Tempus decided to reveal this fact to everyone?'
'Is he setting a trap? Did he intend to lure someone into using his blood to awaken the others? Or is he simply threatening them, stating that he could awaken the other Originals whenever he wished?'
There were many possibilities, and the smile on Tempus' face was annoying even to Bryce, but he did well to hide it. Tempus was a good ally to have, and at the moment he couldn't afford to make any more enemies.
However, there was one other possibility, one of the vampires that couldn't be awoken by the current vampire's bloodline. At least there was no way of knowing whose bloodline would work when trying to awaken them, and that was the True First King. The original owner of the Shadow ability.
Only a handful of leaders at the table knew about the True First King, since the rest were too young and all mentions about him should have been removed. The rebellion had been caused by the other leaders. All of their powers had been used to take him down. Ultimately, they had been unable to kill him, only able to force him into a deep slumber.
His bloodline had been fully erased in order to prevent him from ever waking up again, his family line replaced by another.
'Is that why Tempus has brought it up? But without his shadow powers could he take on Arthur? Is he saying the First True King is even stronger than me with my Absolute Blood Control? That has to be impossible!' Bryce believed and tried to disregard his suggestion.
"To make sure there is order among the third family, they need to select a replacement leader as soon as possible." Bryce stated. "I'm sure Suzan already had someone in mind to replace her. Until then, her knights will have to take over her duties."
"We will need to spread the message that our people have no need to panic. Arthur has no interest in them, he is only after us leaders. Is there any more concerning matters?" Bryce asked, scanning the room.
At this point and time, Paul was debating with himself what to do. He was sure based on Kazz's reaction that the missing vampires had something to do with the first family and most likely the King.
'Should I bring up the matter here in front of everyone? With Arthur as a distraction, maybe they have yet to realise that their vampires have gone missing? I could also say it is out of concern for what is happening now. If he says something out of the ordinary maybe we can use this little slip up of his.' Paul thought about his next move.
Having made up his mind, Paul raised his hand, but a stare from Muka quickly made him put it down just as quickly. Alas, Bryce had already looked over and despite his dislike for the Cursed family, for appearance's sake he had to allow him to speak, especially on the off-chance he had something worthwhile to say.
"I'm sorry, it was an itch, I do not have any questions." Paul quickly made up an excuse, looking down. Bryce gave him a strange glare, but ignored that remark.
With nobody else having anything to say, the King declared the council meeting to be over, and the leaders were to head back to their respective castles to do as they wished or as they needed to. The tenth family was naturally being most affected by this.
'I should tell Quinn as quickly as possible about the matter. If he comes here, they will accuse him of working with Arthur which will just put the tenth family in a worse situation. Maybe their desire to keep him away might actually be for the best for us." Paul thought.
Walking to his castle, he asked Timmy and Xander if they had noticed any strange reactions among the other vampires. According to the duo certain leaders had a more shocked reaction when hearing Arthur's name. Truth be told, Paul hadn't really needed them to keep an eye out, for it had been obvious on their faces that he already knew the answers about the vampires involved.
'Out of the newer leaders there were two of them. The new sixth leader, Harlow Muscat and twelfth leader Kim Killton. Then of the current leaders, both the Royal knights, Prima Killton, and Kyle who were by the King's side.'
The ones Paul was unsure about though, were the second leader Tempus as well as Jill, the ninth family leader. Since her family no longer existed, her face was like that of a ghost's these days, making it impossible to read through. Finally, there was also Kazz, as Bryce's daughter he was unsure how deeply involved she was in the whole mess.
It was during their walk that Paul noticed they were being followed, not just by anyone, for even when they entered the inner tenth area. He had found that the person had gotten in without any of the guards noticing.
Paul eventually told Timmy, and Xander to go to the castle ahead of him, stating that he was going to meet up with Ashley and get a few updates. Soon he took a turn between two large mansion's where the light of a beast crystal was unable to hit, and he could see a large figure in front of him.
"I figured it would be you." Paul sighed.
"I'm sorry for my behaviour, but I can not be seen meeting with you." Muka explained. "Tensions are high right now as is. I also apologise for making you hold your tongue earlier, but it was neither the right place nor the right time."
"I know the attack shows signs that it was done by Arthur, but it's also possible that someone has done this to rally us up against him before he even arrives. Had you brought up what we have discovered, then I'm afraid that you might have been the next one-"
It was at that moment, that Muka turned around, and Paul was ready for a fight, as a third person revealed themselves.
"I….I'm not here to fight." The female voice quickly declared. When seeing who it was, Muka was still on guard, but Paul dropped all intentions of fighting.
"You know then, Kazz?"
"I told you not to investigate this, but instead you decided to team up with other leaders about this matter?" Kazz's voice was filled with anger.
"Vampires might have a different opinion, but when it involves my people I can't just sit by them. Today it might be one or two men whose names I might not even have heard about, but tomorrow it could be those I really care about. Turning a blind eye is not my way." Paul stated.
Muka was starting to understand the situation, but what he didn't understand was the close relationship Paul and Kazz apparently had with each other. Why would the first family leader go out of her way, to tell him not to get involved?
'Perhaps, we can use this in some way.'
Hearing Paul's words, Kazz stung a little inside, but it also gave her the determination to find her answer.
"Before you say anything, let's get inside. If it would be disastrous when two family leaders get seen colluding, I can't imagine it getting better with three." Paul suggested, before heading towards the castle.
The other two agreed, and took to the shadow of the buildings to scale and enter the castle from one of their windows, which led into Paul's office. He often left it open so he could enter this way, but it was at that time that he didn't expect to have two others waiting for him there.
"You, I thought you had returned to the Human World!" Kazz exclaimed.
"Whether I am in the Human World or not, I don't think that matters now." Leo replied with Erin who was standing by his side.
Muka looking at the both of them noticed that despite being in the presence of powerful vampires the girl looked unafraid, if anything it looked like she was ready to take them all on at any second.
"I've come here to warn you that the Dalki have appeared on this planet!"
*****
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