Chapter 10
Within the next twenty four hours, as soon as the saturday night turned to sunday morning, Ichiru was moved into the Moon dorms and became the first non-Magical human to be part of the Night Class. There were several outbursts from the Vampire Council and the Hunter Association within the hours when they found out but they were quickly settled with the notion that this would bring peace to the races. Of course the two groups didn't actually care for the peace, but they didn't say anything afterwards.
Before Persephone attended Cross Academy, she was used to being followed around constantly. Be it by bodyguards, friends or other Witches, Perse was surrounded by people constantly and was never alone as she grew up in the courts. Even if her mother kept her away as much as possible, it was also her duty as Heir to be involved with the courts from an appropriate age.
Dresses, balls and masks were part of her life since she was thirteen, old enough to attend banquets and meetings of smaller importane with her mother. She had to know how to deal with court life since she was going to take over when her mother retired or handed down the title of Crown.
After all of that, it just made her resent the supposed rules she had to follow when talking to a court member.
Right now, she sat at a secluded table with half a dozen Witches in front of her and Ichiru next to her. The chosen restaurant was lowly lit with candles and some hanging lights.
Even with the fancy tone of the decorations and food, Perse didn't give a shit about being proper and wearing a fancy dress to just discuss some of the paper she had finished and sent over. An oversized dark green hoodie over a pair of dark leggings and a pair of matching green trainers, she didn't dress to impress. Her hair wasn't even done, only pulled out of her face with the use of a claw hair clip.
Even Ichiru wasn't dressed up, he wore dark jeans and a grey shirt under a long black jacket.
The Witches in front of her were advisors, two from her clan, and two from each Blackwood and Whitestone. They were dressed in suits, clean cut and tailored decently.
These people were advisors, low ranked enough to not need guards or helpers, and their disappearance from court wouldn't be straight away seen.
A lot of the lower lords and council members and almost all of the common folk didn't get to meet Perse as a leader, only as a shadow of her mother as she trailed behind the woman. But they all saw how she watched everything with hawk level accuracy and a matching no nonsense expression like her mother.
"Why have you asked for this meeting?" Perse asked, sticking a small chunk of tofu into her mouth as the sweet and sour tanginess hit her tongue. "I got a call that said you'd be coming and that was it. I'd like more now, if you don't mind."
"Straight to business then," The man on the left said, a blue broach on the lapel of his suit jacket. "There's been talk of some of the royal clans taking sides, the ones outside of the Crown Clans such as your father's clan, Dunner, and your grandmother's clan, Sallow."
"Taking sides? How many from the outside and how many from within?" Perse asked.
"Fifteen families from within, and twenty three from outside, though some of them have been mixed."
"Sallow, Synde, Loyd, Michaelis, Blight, Kemp, and Divicee are on your side,'' An advisor from her clan said. "They wouldn't go against you as rightful Heir and Crown."
"More because they want an audience with me later if I become Crown than me being rightful Heir and Crown," Perse sighed. "And from outside?"
"You have all of the Clan of Dunner because of your father,"
"The French branch of Synde are with you, as is the Italian branch of Divicee, but the American branches of Blight and Loyd are staying out of it and the Dutch Kemp are keeping to the other side,"
"So I've lost the Dutch Kemps and American Blight and Loyd," Perse muttered to herself. "That's like twenty, twenty five people? That's okay."
"Isn't that a lot of people?" Ichiru asked quietly, leaning over to her.
Perse shrugged. "Kemp is only like ten strong, and they're all in their forties and fifties now. Blight and Loyd have a couple members between this, only counting those Active Witches. If we're counting those with Non Active Magic, there's seven Non Active and four Active in Blight, and five Non and eleven active in Loyd. Twenty seven in those two Clans alone."
"That's thirty seven people alone,"
"Not necessarily," She shook her head. "Sallow, Synde, Loyd, Michaelis, Blight, Kemp, and Divicee have between five to thirty people each, that's over a hundred alone. My dad's clan has fourteen members already, three bio uncles and three kids between 'em. Divicee has plenty of members marrying in."
"Is loyalty strong in Witches?"
"Not always but we've got loyalty to Magic and our highest Magic is Crowns." She said to Ichiru. "Crowns have the purest Magic in their bodies, like Purebloods are the purest form of Vampires. Anyone from a direct Crown is considered divine, much like a child of a pureblood, even if they are not a pureblood themselves, is higher than even an aristocrat who has hardly any Human blood in them." She turned back to the six Witches in front of her. "Why are they taking sides? I thought the Challenge was going to decide."
One of the Blackwood advisors looked hesitantly at the others, nodding to them before speaking. "There's someone from an outside clan claiming to be a Redwater."
Perse looked surprised for a moment, before bursting into an unbelievable laugh.
"All of the Redwaters were killed off in the sixteen hundreds," Perse didn't mention the fact that she was a Redwater by blood because of a grandmother a couple dozen generations ago. "The Clans killed the Redwaters off, anyone with the ability was slaughtered like swine and destroyed. A random Witch outside of England would not be able to claim Redwater as their Clan, they're gone."
"But the other Crowns are playing along with it, trying to see if they could actually be a Redwater," A Whitestone member leaned forward. "Princess, the Clans are starting the Trials for this supposed Redwater as soon as the Summer Solstice comes."
"Seventy eight days from now?" Perse gapped. "Does that mean I have to attend?"
They nodded.
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"I didn't plan to come back to England until at least October, but it seems plans have changed," She mused as she and Ichiru started to walk down the bridge that led to the Night Dorms. They would have lessons in a couple hours.
"Do you plan to finish school here?" Ichiru asked.
She shrugged. "I'll stay until early June, I think, before heading back to England. That's about two months to finish up shit around here before leaving this place."
He gave her a side eye glance, curious. "Will I be joining you?" He asked.
"If you want but I won't force you,"
"Then I will be coming with you," Ichiru nodded. "Is there anything I should know?"
"I'll give you a rundown of court life within the Order of Witches later on." She said, "First, I want to sort my situation out."
"What situation?"
"Zero has my blood in him, keeping his Level E status under control. I'll start weaning him off of my blood and onto Shizuka's, letting him become a common Vampire soon enough, or even heal him completely,"
"You're a Redwater, aren't you?"
"I'm a Blood Witch because of the Redwater blood in me," Perse said. "I want to see if this person who claims to be a Redwater has the ability or not, if they don't, the Crowns will kill them or make them a breeder. It's a horrible fate but that's what they'd have to do. The Crowns wouldn't even be able to stop it, they are enforced by laws older than all of us. Blood Magic is a valuable gift."
"Would they really do that?"
"Or force them to have a transfer of Magic to several people so they can expand the amount of Magic."
"Is that why you haven't told anyone you're one?"
"Besides you and Kaname, no one knows. And I'd like to keep it that way for now."
He nodded. "Of course. And the situation with Kaname?"
"What situation?"
"Vampires are possessive of two things, food and family,"
"I'm sure as hell not food nor family so I have no clue what you're talking about,"
"Only one family member, usually their sibling who would later become their spouse," He said. "They keep the bloodlines pure by mating within their families."
"Bit disgusting but I guess the Magic rules out any genetic defects," She shrugged. "Witches try to keep bloodlines pure as in no inbreeding because it causes defects in our Magic, making us weaker until it is fixed by adding in new blood."
"Do Witches have a type of sacred marriage? Vampires mate, Humans marry,"
"Witches Bond. Soul to soul, Magic to Magic."
"Have there ever been instances of Witches and Vampires Bonding?"
"A couple here and there but it's really rare, and sometimes discouraged depending on the clan,"
"How's your nose?" Ichiru asked, referring to the new septum piercing Perse had gotten an hour or so away.
She scrunched her nose, feeling the metal retainer that was flipped up into her notrals. "Sore. I'll start healing it later. My body will perceive it as an foreign object but it should accept it by tonight."
"Is there a chance your body might reject it?"
"There's a chance for the body to reject all types of piercings,"
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"Hey," Hanabusa knocked at her open door, poking his head in as Perse finished up getting ready and grabbed her phone. "Zero's here to see you. Something about a previous arrangement between you two? What's that about?"
"His level E status," She said as Hanabusa and the other Vampires closer to Kaname already knew.. "I'm keeping him from dropping. Bring him up for me?"
"Sure!"
It took a couple minutes but Zero was escorted up to the stairs and dropped off at Perse's door, Hanabusa gave him a cautious glance before disappearing.
Zero stepped into her room, also cautiously glancing around it before settling his gaze on Perse. He looked stiff and uncertain as he stood there. He crossed his arms loosely to try and look like he was calm and settled but even Perse could see he wasn't with her human eyes.
"Thirst getting out of control?" She asked.
He stiffly nodded to which she acknowledged with a nod back.
Perse let him fully into the room, getting him to stand behind her as she looked at the open door. "I'd prefer it if you didn't lurk outside the door, Kuran."
Zero became more tense. "What's he doing?"
"I have no clue," Perse said back to him as Kaname came into the view of the doorframe. "What are you doing, Kaname?"
"I was wondering how the meeting went?"
"I'll tell you in a minute. Get in or out, I need to barrier the door or the smell will get out." He stepped in fully, letting her stand in front of her door.
Her eyes glowed lowly. She rubbed her hands together, gathering Magic between her palms with the intention to shield before she put her right hand over her left, touching palm to back of hand towards the door. After centering the Magic on the bottom of the door, she spread her hands after that before raising both of them and making the Magic cover the whole door frame.
A shimmer of Magic was left on the door frame and covered it from side to side.
"Go through that door now, and you're not coming back in until I'm finished," Perse warned, pointing a finger at both males before turning to her vanity desk. She picked up the headband, tucking it so her hair would stay out of her face.
Slicing from the tip of her finger to the first knuckle, Perse made sure that blood would drip before telling Zero to come to her.
Perse's eyes returned to their stormy silver colour, almost too bright to be anything remotely safe or unharming as she carefully watched each blood drop come from the tip of her finger and landing on Zero's tongue. She watched the way his body recognised Shizuka's blood as if it was his own, almost straight away quenching his thirst with a couple drops but she gave him a few more to be safe.
No emotions passed her face as she let the final drops go before sticking her finger into her mouth and healing it, her eyes connected with Kaname's dark ones as he stood there with a clenched jaw and unmoving chest. He didn't breath or move as she finished up by washing her hand in the bathroom.
Zero left quickly after a swift thanks and a nod, hurrying past Kaname with an almost knowing look in his eyes.
"The meeting?" Kaname prompted when she returned from the bathroom. "How did it go?"
"It went well," She said. "Besides the fact that the clans and families have started to take sides, and someone is trying to claim they're a Redwater, it went well."
"How would the Crowns find out if this person is telling the truth?"
"When the Summer Solstice begins, the Trials will start for the person. I haven't found out who it is yet, but I've contacted the other Crowns. They should get back to me within the day or so," Perse crossed her arms, making a face which displayed her dislike of the uncertainty of the situation.
"Is there a chance this person is telling the truth?"
"Magic is unpredictable and there have been countless generations since the Redwaters were killed. It could be from a Redwater marrying out of the clan and into a new one, gaining that claim instead of the previous one. Couple grandkids and their descendants could inherit their gift." Perse tilted her head side to side for a second. "I hope they don't have the gift and are in fact lying."
"Why?"
"If they do have the gift, they will be pressured into marriage straight away and into having children quickly," Perse clicked her stiff neck, sighing to get any sort of relief from this conversation. "Crowns and Heirs are excluded from this, so I wouldn't be pressured into having children if I didn't want to. My title would go to my oldest aunt or uncle's first born child. So Cera, my cousin, would get the title if I died.
"If I die in the Trials, the Redwater blood dies with me. An active gift only surfaces after another active gift, my mother had the gift as did her father and his mother. Every Crowned Greylight and Heir has had the gift. Fuckity fuck fuck."
Perse stormed out of her room, not wanting to say another word in this conversation as Tsar followed diligently after her, only after giving Kaname a look and a flick of the tail that said to follow too.
Getting to the kitchen, Kanam found Perse kneeling on the counter, trying to reach her favourite cup to make herself a coffee before class.
"Will people stop putting my cup on top of the cabinet instead of inside of it?" Perse swore, getting her cup and quickly hopping off of the counter. "I swear I will kill Hanabusa the next time he does it."
"Why didn't you use Magic to get it down?"
She glared. "Why order a Vampire to do something when you can ask?"
"You seem stressed." It was more of a statement than a question.
She laughed without humour as she made her coffee. "I've got seventy eight days before the Summer Solstice, seventy ish days left in this school before I need to go back to England to start the Trials."
"Why do you have to go?"
"Trials aren't much different to Challenges, but the later is a lot more strict and dangerous. Most of the royal families will be attending the Trials, including the Clans."
"What is the difference between Clans and families?"
"Clans are communities with several different families within them. Only a Crown and direct Heir can have the Greylight name, or Blackwood, or Whitestone names, but anyone can have the name as their Clan name. I'm Persephone Greylight of the Greylight Clan, while my cousins are Cera Sallow of the Greylight Clan."
"And the royal families?"
"Royal does not mean ruling. Three ruling families, Whitestone, Greylight, Blackwood, and seven royal families. The Dante are from Italy, Alas from Lithuania, Baciu from Romania, Nilsson from Sweden."
"That's five clans,"
"Greylight, Whitestone and Blackwood are royal clans too but they are classed as ruling Clans,"
"You plan to go back to England in June?"
"Yes,"
"Is that advised?" Kaname said cautiously, leaning against the counter as Perse finished making her coffee and started to sip at it next to him. "Wouldn't the other Crowns try something to get you to side with them?"
"I'm going to be siding with them for these upcoming Trials for the supposed Redwater, but they won't try anything until the Winter Solstice when I am eighteen,"
"What would siding with them entail in these Trials for the person claiming to be a Redwater?"
Perse looked unfocused and almost dazed as she drank her coffee, bringing the cup close to her face and keeping it there within reach of her mouth. "They'll be tested. There are manuscripts from when the Redwaters were still alive, tests that would tell us if they are actually a Redwater and have the gift or they somehow just have the gift."
"And you?
"What about me?"
"Will the Blackwood and Whitestone Crowns try and get you to take part in the Trials?"
"They can't claim I'm a Blood Witch, I have to do that myself for me to get put into the Trials too."
"Does anyone know you're a Blood Witch?"
"Besides you, Ichiru and my father, no," She shook her head.
He hummed. "Do you plan to expose yourself to the Order?"
"Gods no," Perse looked at him like he said something utterly ridiculous. "Unless I have to out myself, no one is going to find out."
"What about Zero and his thirst?" He asked.
"I'll start weaning him off my blood and onto Shizuka's,"
"You can do that?"
"Yeah, or I'll ask him if he'd prefer to completely become Human again,"
Zero's voice suddenly chimed in. "You can do that?"