What Makes a Monster

♱Forty-Nine♱

Third Person P.O.V

"Why have you called us here, my queen?" Quelen finally questions, resting his elbows against the table. "It is unlike you to summon us so urgently."

"There have been troubling matters of late. Matters which Soran is aware of." Karsissia glances to him, causing the youngest vampire to hum in response.

"You mean The Unborn gathering? Is it truly that troubling?" He asks.

"It is when they are meddling in things they shouldn't."

"What things?"

"You tell me. You've been assisting the mortals in their research."

"I have barely given them any intel," Soran hisses, recalling the incident with Prince Baylor that put a quick stop to the bit of assistance he was giving. "And have since stopped giving them any. They pissed me off."

Quelen shakes his head in disapproval. "You should have learned by now, Soran. They will never see you as one of their own. Why do you keep trying?"

"I'm not trying to be accepted by them. I'm simply not going to butcher them as I please-" Soran glances to a smirking Karsissia, smirking as if she won a prize. "-nor will I let them run me out of my own home so that I simply travel the world for centuries on end." He looks to Quelen next. "I will keep my home and my position and the humans will have to deal with that."

"Oh yes, how truly awful for them." Karsissia rolls her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her words. "But we're not here to lecture the young one."

Soran purses his lips. Quelen chuckles.

"We're here to speak of The Unborn and their fruitless, but relentless attempts to bring about another vampire."

That has both Soran and Quelen growing stiff. When the men's gaze meet, there's a tension between them that only they sense. Quelen begins to tap his fingers against the table until he tightens his hand into a fist.

"They have been trying since they've known of your existence," Quelen argues. "They've always failed. Why are you concerned about them now?"

"Because they are the only ones actually capable of bringing about another vampire. They're getting too close for comfort," she answers. "You must notice it too, Soran. You've inspected a few corpses, have you not?"

Soran nods. "The vilis within them was pure, as if plucked from Tethros' hand. Nothing like our own or anything seen in our plane."

"I've let them meddle for far too long." Karsissia gnaws at the tip of her thumb. "They've never been more than some halfwit sorcerer's playing with a power they couldn't comprehend. Now they're reaching into our domain, a domain that can bring about calamity to all, possibly even to us."

"You wish us to do something about it then?" asks Soran.

"Yes. We must all do our part; figure out how they've come by this new knowledge then snuff it out before the fire spreads."

"You could do that yourself, far better and more efficiently than us."

"Speak for yourself," says Quelen when leaning forward with a teasing grin. "I heard you had to gorge yourself just to come here."

"I don't see a reason to feed as much as the two of you."

"Hunger, obviously." Quelen gives Soran a once over, sneering when he finished. "Don't even pretend like you aren't always starving."

Soran's gaze narrows; a hidden implication that has Quelen turning away. Soran ignores Quelen in order to ask, "Do you wish us to attack The Unborn?"

"If I were going to attack them then I'd wipe them all out on my own so no. We don't want the mortals thinking The Unborn are onto something," Karsissia replies. "Since you're incapable of keeping up with us-"