Zesshi, Touka, Clementine and Lottus made their way down the stairs to the 3rd floor, using the Ring of Bound they were able to discover Alucard's location. Going down the corridor that lead to his location, two doors opened one to the left and the other to the right, from within came a large group of undead forming a crowd of 15 in front of them, led by a 3-meter-tall behemoth.
"Could be worse." Touka remarked
"I think you spoke too soon~" Clementine said, looking behind them
On the opposite end of the corridor was another crowd, however it was made out of a much larger number of undead, which meant they were trapped. Undead on both ends of the corridor, of course they could go back up the stairs but their path was blocked by the metal door.
"Someone will have to hold them off." Touka pointed out
"Why? We can easily get through the ones in front of us." Zesshi said
"That won't keep the others from advancing." Lottus informed
"They're slow, we can get to Alucard before they reach us." Zesshi remarked
As if reacting to her words, both undead crowds began running in their directions, the group that was in front of them easily closed the distance between them, Zesshi took no time using her scythe to cut down the behemoth. Using her speed Touka, pushed her way pass the rest of the group, taking down 8 of the undead by herself and cleaning the path towards Alucard.
"You were saying? The rest will be on us soon enough." Touka growled, causing Zesshi to roll her eyes at her
"Fine. Let's take them down then."
"No. You go ahead, we'll deal with the rest of them." the Bride said, drawing two daggers
"Are you sure?" the half-elf asked
"Of course." Touka laughed, stretching her limbs
"Just go ahead, you want the fifth door to the right." she added
Zesshi turned around and began to walk back when something grabbed on to her leg, she looked down and saw half of the large undead holding on to her, that wasn't the strangest thing, the halves seemed to be melting and joining back together. Not wanting to be delayed, Zesshi brought her blade down on the half's wrist slicing through it and freeing herself, not wasting any more time Zesshi ran towards the room.
"What about us~?" Clementine asked
"That's easy enough to answer. We hold them back." Touka replied
Touka vanished in a blur and the next thing Lottus and Clementine saw was an opening forming in the middle of the large group of undead, she remerged behind the crowd without a single scratch.
"Come on, Lottus~ She'll make us look bad~" Clementine chuckled, attacking what remained of the smaller group
Mathius continued to walk back and forth, his servants were all placed in front of the door, it felt like an eternity since Kaia had started to feed on Alucard, yet he didn't see any signs of him running out of energy any time soon. The room door was pushed open, sending some of the servants flying into the wall as a result, Zesshi marched into the room her eyes went directly to a kneeling Alucard. Something went wrong, as she expected after it took so long for him to say anything and Mathius tried trap them in the Throne Room.
Lunging straight at the woman who had a hold on Alucard, Zesshi easily pushed pass the remaining servants, a woman with cat like ears tried to attack her but she was swiftly thrown into Mathius. She reached the bed and the one attacking Alucard, looked straight back at her and their eyes meet and a chill went down Zesshi's spine, there was something unnatural behind those eyes. The slight moment of hesitation was enough for the woman to reach out with her other hand getting a hold of Zesshi's neck, the half-elf's body relaxed and she dropped her weapon. She began to feel her strength begin to dwindle, using what power remained in her arms she brought her hands together, in what was a desperate attempt to free herself.
A golden aura slowly began to form around her, also swallowing the woman's hand, Kaia's expression began to change to one of pain, smoke erupted from her hand as the skin began to peel away. Kaia let out a pained filled cry, letting go of both her victims, she pushed herself away from them holding on to her injured hand, Mathius and the other woman got back up and looked at them.
"What have you done!?" the cat eared woman shouted, with hate filled words
She went to attack Zesshi but the room shook, to be more precise the entire floor shook, as the sound of a massive crash from above echoed through the area, something had fallen from the 2nd floor to the 3rd.
Touka, Clementine and Lottus looked at the rubble that buried what remained of the undead forces, amongst the debris there were the remains of several others, they recognized some of them as the ones sitting on the chairs. Standing on top of it all was Talia and Nyx, Talia had a few scratches and burn marks on her armor a result of her fight with the skeletons that inhabited the Throne Room.
"Alucard needs us." Talia said, with an empty tone
Using their superior speed, the Brides arrived at the room, the servants were scattered on the ground, Brain was also collapsed in a corner, Alucard was on his knees having visible problems to get back to his feet. Zesshi was on top of the bed, near her was a woman holding on to her hand her eyes were unfocused, practically kneeling in front of Zesshi was Mathius and a cat woman.
"What happened?" Talia hissed, walking towards Zesshi
"She was draining Alucard of his strength, I stopped her." Zesshi replied
"What about them?" Nyx asked, looking at the kneeling duo
"I guess they wanted to keep us away, so she could drain him completely."
"Y-Yes, that was the plan! But you have to understand…" Thelsea tried to say, in a pleading manner but was interrupted by Zesshi
"We have to understand nothing!"
Talia and Touka helped a visibly weakened Alucard back to his feet, while Nyx examined Brain, the True Vampire took a few uneasy steps, all the while Thelsea and Mathius tried to bargain for their lives.
"We had to do this, for her!" the cat woman cried out, motioning to her daughter
"I don't care!" Zesshi roared back
"But she needs them! She won't survive without them!" the Overlord spat back, losing control of his emotions
"That doesn't justify sacrificing people to her."
"Enough!" Alucard growled, as his Brides turned him around to look at the others
"Explain. If you want us to understand why you did this, explain." he said
Mathius and Thelsea shared an uneasy look, before looking back at Alucard, and the Overlord began to speak.
"Kaia, our daughter, is a…" he began, but the cat woman interrupted him
"Don't say that. You're talking about your daughter."
"I know that… She is an anomaly, a rare, if not unique case, of when mating between the living and the unliving goes wrong. As far as we know she is a being whose natural state is death…" Mathius paused
"… She can only live by absorbing other people's energy, other people's life. If not for that she will eventually die, waiting for the next person to be feed to her."
"Then that is why you did all of this? To give her someone with enough power to keep her alive?" Alucard asked
"To keep her alive for much longer than usual, regular beings can only sustain her for a few days to weeks." Mathius said
"Then this was a desperate move on your part. A desperate play to get her the strongest individual you could find… And I walked directly into it, like an idiot." Alucard sighed
"You shouldn't say that." Talia remarked
"No, he's right. He let the enemy bring him right to where he wanted him to be." Zesshi remarked
"What do we do with them?" she asked
"Nothing. We let them be, as long as they do the same for us."
"O-Of course! We will let you leave, whenever you wish. If you want to stay here we'll allow it, use whatever resources you need! Just please, let her live!" the cat woman pleaded, miserably
"Thank you…" Alucard said, pausing to know her name
"Thelsea."
"Are you ok with this, Overlord?" the vampire asked
"If it will be enough for you to overlook this, then yes."
"There are several rooms here, they are all ready to be used. Please feel free to do so, after all they will need time to recover." Thelsea said
"Then we will be making ourselves at home. Talia, Touka take Alucard to a nearby room. Nyx take Brain to another room and heal him first. Clementine!" Zesshi ordered, before shouting
Clementine, Lottus appeared shortly after by the open door, with them were Sarya, Zeno and Soora, all of them seemed tiered.
"What took you so long?" the half-elf growled
"We were dealing with the more troubling undead." Lottus replied
"We'll be keeping an eye on them, while Alucard and Brain are healed."
"But we submit!" Thelsea said, tears rolling down her cheeks
Zesshi gave Kaia a hate filled glared, suppressing the surprise of the woman's wounded hand being fully healed, she gritted her teeth to be honest she didn't care if what this thing did to Alucard was for survival, Zesshi wanted to hit her.
"Compose yourself. We can't just give everything to them." Mathius mumbled, so Zesshi wouldn't listen to him
"B-But…" the woman tried to argue back, but the half-elf spoke over her
"We aren't here to take everything from you. However, since it was offered to us, we will be staying here for a while."
Alucard woke up in a large bed, it surprised him that he was asleep since he didn't even remember going to bed, he must have fallen unconscious shortly after leaving the room. Pushing himself up, Alucard looked around the large room, which was easily bigger than his but that wasn't difficult. To the right of the bed was Zesshi, his Brides, Clementine and Lottus, he assumed the rest had other things to do and Brain must be resting, since he felt awful after what happened.
"You idiot." Zesshi said, chopping him over the head
"I guess I deserved that one." Alucard remarked, robbing his head
Zesshi went to give him another one, but Talia stopped her mid motion, the half-elf's eyes darted towards the Bride and shrugged lowering her arm.
"You should have been more careful." she opted to say
"I-I guess I should… I think my mind still hasn't settled since…" Alucard fell into silence, while rubbing his forehead
Zesshi looked at the vampire, and for a moment he looked pathetic, it pained her greatly to the point she found that no matter how angry she felt, her worry outgrew it. Slowly she places her left hand on his shoulder, it felt somewhat awkward since Zesshi had never been the best at showing her emotions or feelings, but his expression worried her and she wanted to show this to him.
"Aren't you being too lenient, Zesshi~?" Clementine asked
"What do you mean?" Zesshi growled back
"Seems like Alucard made a mistake~" Clementine chuckled
"Hold your tongue." Lottus mumbled
"No, she's right. I was too busy trying to get Brain back as soon as possible, that I didn't give much thought to anything else." Alucard said, continuing to rub his forehead
"Perhaps you should rest." Talia suggested
"P-Perhaps…" the vampire sighed, lowering his head
"We'll let you rest then." Zesshi said, in a low tone
Everyone left the room, letting Alucard lay back down on his bed and let out a loud sigh, a single tear rolled down his face and he grabbed on to his sheets with a firm grip. He cursed himself, he cursed his weak mind, and he cursed the burdens that he had for so long kept locked away deep inside him. He thanked Arryn for forcing him to face those burdens, still he gritted his teeth, he had been foolish and accept that the fight hadn't mentally affected him, that he could go on without rest.
"You idiot…"
Zesshi stood in front of the closed door, she wondered if she should open the door and ask him what was happening, she thought something was wrong since his fight with the Elite, but she had concluded that it was just her imagination. Her thoughts came to an end when she saw something approaching her from the corner of her eye, it was Kaia she was using the wall to support herself as she walked towards her, the half-elf gritted her teeth and decided to ignore the woman, turning to walk away.
"Wait." the woman spoke weakly
"What?" Zesshi growled back
"I wish to speak with you."
"About what?"
"You are Alucard's lover, correct?" Kaia asked, to which Zesshi blushed slightly
"T-That is none of your business… How do you know about that!?" the half-elf asked back
"When I feed on him, and to a lesser extent you, I saw his memories. I saw the time you've spent together, I am…curious."
Zesshi looked at her stunned, the situation had gone from unpleasant to awkward, it was as if this woman had no idea how to interact with people. Especially asking about her time together with Alucard, just thinking about it made the heat rise in her body, she was insane if she expected Zesshi to say anything.
"I have been in this world for almost 200 years, during that time I have only spoken with 2 people, my parents. Any other being was brought to me as food, and I don't have the habit of speaking with my food, however you are not food, then perhaps we can speak."
"I don't mind speaking with you, but…" Zesshi began, but Kaia spoke over her
"I do not understand why Alucard is with you, I saw his memories, his thoughts at the time but I don't understand. Could you explain it to me?" Kaia asked, with an empty tone cocking her head to the side
"I-I don't k-know… But you can't just ask people that!" Zesshi remarked
Kaia stopped and looked at her, Zesshi didn't like the woman's eyes, she felt insignificant in those eyes, still she could see the curiosity that was also present in them. Could she really be that socially inapt that she had no filter, or didn't know how to go about things.
"You don't know…" Kaia mumbled, examining the half-elf's body
"You're beauty isn't greater than hers… Could it be because of his feelings… because the other reminds him of his pain…" Kaia continued, speaking as if Zesshi wasn't there
"Who are you talking about? What pain?"
"Talia, the vampire one, not long before you disclosed your feelings to him, Talia did the same. However, hers had more emotion behind it, more… love. I wonder why he chose you."
Zesshi felt her chest tighten, yes that was a good question, why would Alucard chose her over Talia. Certainly, he would be happier with a woman that would obey his every wish, his every whim, someone that in this situation wouldn't call him out on his mistake but support him.
"W-What do you mean, by pain? Is Alucard in pain?" she asked
"The pain of those he has lost, as a human…" Kaia was cut short when the door opened and Alucard emerged
"You have said enough." Alucard said
"Did I say something wrong? I merely wanted to talk, after all I never get to meet new people." Kaia said, sounding genuinely surprised by the vampire's aggressive reaction
"I understand that you are lacking when it comes to social skills, but that doesn't excuse divulging other people's memories."
"I see… It seems I have made a mistake… I should offer my apologies." Kaia said, as if processing all the information she had just received
"T-There's no need. Just leave." Zesshi said, showing no signs of real anger
"Yes… It seems I am in the way of something." Kaia remarked, looking briefly at Alucard before turning to leave
"What was she talking about? What pain?" Zesshi asked, looking up at him
"Please come inside we should speak in private."
