Numen Chronicles | Nosferatu

Chapter Six | Sanguine Castle

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| Alucard |

As Alucard pushed the cabin door open, the boat jolted in response to Drac starting to pull it from beneath the waves. He glanced back at Zalith and his vampires, who were still out on the deck. He didn't want them going anywhere they shouldn't, so he latched the door against the wall so that he could keep an eye on them.

          He made his way to his desk and lazily slumped down in the chair, exhaling quietly in relief. Although it hadn't taken very long at all, he felt utterly exhausted. He'd had been made to take Zalith, who was at least six hundred years old; the group was collectively over a thousand years old, and that had taken its toll. It drained a whole lot more of his ethos than he'd planned for, and he wasn't sure how long this exhaustion was going to curse him.

          Alucard sighed, pulled his cape off, and placed it over the desk before resting his legs on it. He'd take these vampires back to his castle, and then he'd head home. Zalith obviously wouldn't stay here until next month, but Alucard had no plans to escort him back to the portal; he could get Rodney to do that. After this, he just wanted to go home and rest because he was sure as hell going to need it. Tomorrow, Tobias would hopefully deliver the information he needed about the werewolf which attacked Elvin. He wasn't sure of what to expect, but if there were more, then he'd have his hands full.

          There was another month before the treaty came into effect, and he wondered, would Zalith's vampires stay in the castle that long? He'd have to run all the rules by them. The last thing he wanted was a rogue killing humans and shattering everything he worked so hard to build. He just hoped that the humans would welcome the new laws. Dor-Sanguis was his land, after all, and as much as he didn't want to, he would drive the humans out if it came to it.

          Irritated, he rolled his eyes and took his feet off his desk; he turned in his seat to glare out the window behind him and watched as they sailed away from the rainy island. He couldn't drive the humans out; that would doom his people to starvation. He didn't want the land to return to how it once was—humans and vampires at war. No, he wanted something peaceful, an agreement between the two peoples, and he knew he could get it, he just had to keep trying—he just had to be patient.

          "I assume you have a place set aside for the vampires to live," Zalith said.

          Alucard turned to face him. "Did I say you could come in 'ere?" he asked, disguising his startle with anger.

          Zalith smiled. "The door is wide open."

          The vampire sat up straight. "Yes, I 'ave," he answered, tapping his clawed fingers on the table as he eyed the vampires standing behind Zalith. "Zhat is vhere ve are 'eaded."

          "And is it safe? Secure?"

          "Vhy vould zhis not be?"

          "There wasn't much time to plan, so I'm being cautious. We're bringing them here so that they're safe, and I need to make sure that will be the case."