The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 81: Welcome to Serene

The two vampires fell onto the forest ground, with Melisa ending atop Luciel.

"That hurts..." Luciel groaned. It was an uncomfortable sensation even with the vampire’s numb sense of pain.

"Serves you right," Melisa smirked, causing Luciel to hiss at her remark. The two didn’t even notice Nosferatu’s presence since they were focused on one another.

Alex peaked above the two, watching them continue to argue while waiting for their bodies to heal.

"What was that about?" He questioned, blinking a few times in confusion, but he was ignored as Melisa growled at Luciel.

"You were about to kill me!"

"So what? One vampire less."

"Then you should—" Melisa suddenly stopped talking when Nosferatu’s deep, authoritative voice caused the earth to shake.

"Enough!" The whole place trembled. He hit his black crane with a silver skull on top of it against the ground, holding it with both hands.

He growled at the two, his eyes flashing vibrant red as he released the powerful aura around him.

The atmosphere felt heavy, the gravity felt like it had tripled, forcing even the two hunters to get on their knees, bowing their heads.

Alex and Scarlet felt terrified at the presence in front of them. Every fiber of their being was telling them to run, hide, and never look back.

’Luciel... What did you get yourself into...’ Alex thought, feeling like pooping his pants.

The newcomer didn’t introduce himself, but judging by the description alone he heard from his friend, he assumed that the vampire in front of him was Nosferatu, Luciel’s teacher.

’What is this monster.’ For the first time ever, Scarlet felt scared in front of the vampire. This was Nosferatu. The leader of Serene Clan as Melisa explained to her. The guy who was behind the human farms and kidnappings according to Luciel. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The moment he appeared in front of her, Scarlet wanted to cut his head off, but there was always something stopping her. Now she knew why.

The chilling glare and aura made the two vampires finally stop fighting. Their full attention was now reserved for their leader.

"Drink this," Nosferatu instructed the two, making a fist and stabbing his palm with his claws.

Thick, dark red blood started to drip down his fist while he kept his claws in his wound, not allowing it to heal.

"Open your mouth." He said to Melisa, getting her off from Luciel and sitting her back down. Her body must have sustained some serious injuries after the fall. It would take some time to heal.

She opened her mouth, letting his blood drip into her mouth. She could feel her body mending itself just after a few drops. Not soon after, she was as good as new.

Melisa got on her knees, bowing in front of Nosferatu, feeling grateful at the small gesture for helping her heal.

Next was Luciel, but unlike Melisa, he wasn’t as cooperative. He was like a dog ready to bite his owner, but Nosferatu ignored his antics. There was nothing to fear.

"Oh, what am I going to do with you..." Nosferatu said quietly. He crouched down, grabbing Luciel’s head and forcing his mouth open so he could let the blood drip into his mouth as well. Just a few drops were enough.

He was overflowing with Qi so just a little bit of blood was enough to speed up the recovery rate for the two. It would kill them if they would take more.

Luciel wanted to spit Nosferatu’s blood back into his face, but his instincts didn’t let him do so as he enjoyed the rich, honey-like taste, empowering his body. It started to overflow with Qi just after a drop. He never felt refreshed like now.

Luciel slowly got up, quietly growling at Nosferatu, refusing to bow down in front of his leader despite the weighting atmosphere.

His instincts were screaming to lower his head, but doing so would mean agreeing to his actions. Everything Luciel stood for would fall into the water.

Having enough of this child’s play, Nosferatu’s eyes flashed vibrant red again.

"Remember who you serve, Luciel." Nosferatu reminded him, using the blood bond they made when Luciel came to the nest for the first time.

When Luciel came to him, they made a deal, power for loyalty. And they sealed it with a ritual, but Luciel didn’t know that.

Nosferatu concealed it under a simple vampire tradition where they just need to exchange a little bit of blood, but he used that moment to exchange traces of Qi as well, ultimately giving him control over Luciel as he accepted him into the Serene Clan.

But the bond did had its benefits. It allowed vampires to communicate over large distances if taught. It made them loyal and gave them a sense of belonging.

Ultimately, it gave them access to collective knowledge. If someone knew something, let’s say information about the item, the knowledge would be uploaded to the imaginative network that anyone could access.

Of course, that would also mean that the vampires could now access Luciel’s knowledge as well.

Nosferatu didn’t want to use the power of the blood bond just yet. It was too early to activate it. Before he could put Luciel in the collective and make the collective aware of him, he wanted to gain Luciel’s trust, but the jig was already up.

He heard everything from his intels. How Luciel killed Lady Seline and learned about the human farm.

Nosferatu planned to reveal all of that with time, it was still too early for Luciel to find out.

Now, there was no way to get Luciel under his control without using this sort of power.

He wanted him. A vampire hunter who managed to kill a king.

Without knowing, Luciel became Nosferatu’s pet project. He was curious to see how far he could go, and which stage of cultivation he would reach. Would he be able to challenge him in the future?

There was also this prophecy that Lady Seline had foretold.

’A Crimson Reaper who will come for us all.’

Given his age, there was almost nothing that could amuse him anymore, so he decided to take the risk and raise a monster.

Nosferatu’s words echoed inside Luciel’s head. He frowned as he tried to resist them, but before he knew it, his body started to get closer to the ground.

’What is this?!’ His head started to ache as he was fighting for control while trying to figure out what was going on.

The pain started to intensify until Luciel’s mind gave in and like flipping a switch, his mind went blank and he willingly succumbed to Nosferatu’s will.

His heavy fist fell on the ground. Opening his eyes, Luciel found himself kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily while an imaginative whisper continued to brainwash him. To accept and follow the vampire in front.

Cold sweat started to cover Luciel’s body as he started to put two and two together.

This wasn’t just a simple intimidation technique and it was more than a simple mind control.

There was this instinct, a deep-buried desire to stay loyal to Nosferatu as his anger from earlier started to calm down.

Luciel gasped and raised his head once another, unfamiliar feeling settled in after the activation of the bond.

He didn’t know how to describe it, he could just tell. If someone asked him to visualize it, he would say that it was like a three-dimensional network, with hundreds of dots connected to each other.

"Welcome to Serene clan." Nosferatu bowed to Luciel, removing his black top hat.