Chapter 365: Chapter 365 - Vampire Downtime(Part 2)

Point-of-View: Dracula

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"Impossible, how did you...?" I uttered in surprise.

"Sorry, Lord Dracula, but you’re rather easy to read...I could tell based on your expressions," Replied Sirius, one of the other Elder Vampires.

"Humans sure do come up with some rather amusing forms of entertainment. I must say, I’m quite enjoying this," Added Azriel, another of the Elder Vampires.

"Yes, that is true...it’s quite impressive how many games they’ve made just using these playing cards, as they’re called," I nodded in fascination.

"It’s a shame that you aren’t very good at them, my Lord. What the humans call a ’poker face’, you don’t have a very good one," Responded Sirius with a wry smile.

He had wild, messy dark red hair, red eyes, a pale complexion, and his ears were studded with metal piercings. He seems to be quite enamored with human fashion, he had on a wide variety of accessories and the like, he must have taken a liking to it while living among them for the last couple of centuries.

"I shall figure it out eventually, I just need more experience," I defended myself with a huff.

"Maybe, but you’ve shown no signs of improvement in the months since we started playing these games. Perhaps you aren’t suited to them," Remarked Azriel with a chuckle.

He had long white hair then went down past his shoulders, red eyes and pale skin.

He’d won the game we were playing, I believe it’s called Joker. It then came down to me and Sirius, and I ended up losing.

"Oh? Very well, then, I shall strive to prove you wrong. We shall play another round," I declared with a frown. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"If you insist, my Lord," Responded Sirius, as he gathered the cards and began shuffling them.

"By the way, has there been any progress in regards to the moonlight barrier?" I inquired, as Sirius split the cards up into three piles.

"Last I heard, the two humans we tasked with that job were close to completing it. But Jagger is the one overseeing them, so I am not up to date on the matter," Replied Azriel with a shake of his head.

"I see...once the Magic Item is ready, we shall make our move against the Dark Continent as soon as possible. Now that they’re aware of us, we cannot give them too much time to prepare. Of course, our victory is all but assured, but I would like our odds to be as high as possible," I stated, as I picked up one of the card piles and inspected the cards, tossing any pairs I came across onto the table between us, as the others did the same.

"I can hardly wait...based on the information our spies gathered, there are a lot more powerful individuals in the Dark Continent than there were here in the Light Continent. I can’t wait to sample their blood," Mused Sirius with a lick of his lips.

"Have you decided which nation we will target first? Or will we attack all five simultaneously?" Inquired Azriel curiously.

"I would prefer not to split up our forces too thin, so perhaps we could target two nations at the same time...I would say that we need to attack Arcadia with all our forces, we cannot take that nation lightly," I replied with a grimace, as we got the game underway.

"Oh, nice, a pair already...yes, I agree, Arcadia poses a genuine threat to our plans. With that in mind, should we not target them first? If we can conquer Arcadia, the rest of the Dark Continent should fall wuite easily." Pointed out Sirius, as he got rid of a pair of twos from his hand.

"Hm, that’s a good point...before the Magic Item is ready, we should use that time to properly consider our options," I mused thoughtfully.

"And we ourselves will likely need to fight on the front lines against Arcadia’s forces...the Vampires, not to mention the Lessers, do not pose much of a threat to the Demons and Dragon Kings, we would only be wasting our forces. Which means, we will need to take them down ourselves," Surmises Azriel, as he held out the cards in his hand towards me.

"Yes, that’s a good point," I nodded, as I narrowed my eyes at his cards.

Hm...there’s one card that’s held slightly above the others, and one that’s slightly lower. He likely wants me to pick the higher one, and he wants to hold on to the lower one. Not bad, but I will not fall for it!

"Oh, my...looks like you fell for it, Lord Dracula," He smirked, as I picked the card and took a lot at it...it was the Joker.

"Well played, you tricked me," I replied with a grimace.

"No offense, my Lord, but it’s pretty easy to trick you in these games. I wasn’t really paying attention, so I don’t know how he tricked you, but I bet it was a fairly simple trap," Chuckled Sirius in amusement.

"Quiet...," I muttered, as I held my cards towards him.

I’ll employ the same trick Azriel used on me, I’ll position the Joker lower in my hand to make it seem like I don’t want him to pick that card...

"You’re too easy to read, my Lord," He sighed with a shake of his head, before picking a different card, a smile spreading out across his face as he glanced at it before getting rid of another pair from his hand.

Damn it, not only did he not fall for my trap, but to make matters worse, he managed to pick a card that gave him another pair. This is bad, if I don’t do something, I’ll lose again...

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