For thousands of years, there was a mountain that remained untouched by and of the countries that surrounded its borders. The black mountains of Hueco Mundo had been occupied as a permanent residence by vampires and the humans they kept for blood. Naturally, human civilization avoided it at all cost. The mountains had once been volcanic leaving the soil rich and plenty of caverns that were natural defenses against enemies and the sun.
Since its founding the kings and queens of Hueco Mundo had been determined by power alone. Smaller territories were held by the counts and countesses of the noble houses and bloodlines. Status in the black mountains was earned, no one was born and ushered into power like humankind. Only those who had proven they were strong enough to defend their claim and cunning enough to protect their people kept the Obsidian Throne of Las Noches. It was the same with acceptance into noble families. Members had once been carefully chosen and scrutinized to uphold ancient names and bloodlines. That all changed hundreds of years ago when King Claybryn Luisenbarn decided that it would be his descendants that held power over Hueco Mundo.
The Luisenbarns were certainly a force to be reckoned with, they still held the throne well with their supporters and might. Yet their focus shifted from protecting vampires from humankind and towards conquering and building an empire. Many noble houses followed suit and started giving places of honor to their children rather than those who fought hard to earn rank and favor. Generations passed and it was becoming clear Hueco Mundo was suffering for this wave of nepotism. A schism was forming in their society between those who had been born vampires and those who were turned from humans.
Then from seemingly nowhere two mighty figures emerged to build a force that fought to topple the corruption of the old ways. A pair of dhampir, rare and powerful beings that were born of the union of human and vampire with all the strengths of the night dwellers, with none of their weakness of sunlight. There was Ava, a beauty with a sun-kissed complexion and light blonde curls that framed her piercing yellow gaze. Clad in blood red armor she wielded thin, twin blades with grace and speed. She could even ride a horse using only her knees to guide the beast, freeing her hands to make swift work of passing enemies. Then there was Bram, a towering figure with long chestnut hair often stained with blood, his eyes darker than midnight. He wielded a great axe nearly as tall as he was and used it to cleave his enemies in twain without mercy.
Word spread quickly across the mountains of their march and all sorts aligned themselves with their army from rogues in thin clothes with poisoned daggers to seasoned fighters in their heavy wrought armor and blood stained axes. Even those who were known throughout Hueco Mundo as the protectors of the great vampire houses joined their cause. It was no secret that many of the traditional houses loathed the Luisenbarns and were ready to lend their aid.
But sadly, this was not the story of two mighty champions destined to destroy the corruption in our land from its roots. Through a cruel twist of fate that mantle eventually fell to me, their son. Though it would be quite a journey before I was ready to accept it.
We were all born to House Sakisabe, a lesser noble house, though one of the oldest bloodlines. Before the war began the household went into hiding in the caverns below the manor. That is where I spent my entire upbringing. Needless to say by my late teens I had grown restless of waiting for the end of the war to be free to see the world. Everyone who was worth anything in regards to teaching magic and fighting had gone off to war. Thus I was left with nothing to do but read all day and night and try to find a way out.
As House Sakisabe dated back more than a millennium the caverns had undergone generations of infrastructure and enhancements to make the space self-sustaining for times such as these. I took advantage of my small body to explore every nook and cranny despite the fact it was absolutely forbidden by the elders. Over a decade of exploring and I still could not find the entrance to the upper manor and outside world. What I did find ranged from sensible things like unused training rooms and hot spring baths, to much more puzzling and worrying things like a very large nursery and a locked room full of rusted old beds covered in chains. The last one I was only able to see through a very small fissure. I couldn't imagine what it was like for humans who didn't possess any ability to see in the dark. I had only read about humans and the way vampire authors described them it was hard to believe they looked and acted the same as us. I was crawling along a narrow space on my hands and knees when I heard a stern voice echo through the cavern.
"Sousuke! Get down from there we can see you!"
Great. Caught again. I stayed absolutely still, hedging my bets that they were bluffing.
"If you refuse to show yourself and we come up and find you there any way, you will be banned from the war reports for a year."
Ouch. That was literally the worst punishment I think I could suffer down here. After I double checked there was absolutely no places to crawl further into I gave up and climbed down. from the recess in the cave and glared up at Count Choujiro Sakisabe and his attendants. With his silver, perfectly grromed hair and moustache and towering stature I always felt so laughably pathetic standing before him with my small, childlike body and mousy brown hair that never sat quite right.
"What were you doing this time?" He glowered, fully aware I was trying to find an escape and/or places I was not meant to see.
"Just getting some exercise," I lied through my teeth, trying to force an innocent gaze. I needed to practice it more.
"You are to be a prince when this all over with, start behaving like one and not some rapscallion off the streets." Sakisabe turned with a huff. "We are to hurry if we are to catch the rendezvous time. I have half a mind to ban you from this report as well, but you will just try to sneak off again once we close the doors."
"A prince? Doesn't that defeat the point of this war," I murmured as I followed. The recent war reports indicated that the Barragan Luisenbarn had taken a queen from one of his many conquered vampire territories. It wouldn't be long before the new generation of Luisenbarn whelps were being groomed to rule the colonies in their father's stead.
"What did you say?!"
I furrowed my brow and bit my tongue. The war council was the only time I ever got to see my parents. To see anyone who seemed to remotely care for me. Now wasn't the time to be petty.
"It's nothing…."
Too late. The slap fell across my cheek and the sound echoed along the stone walls.
"When Ava and Bram take Las Noches you will represent both the royal family and House Sakisabe. The title of prince will be in name alone, but you will behave yourself as such regardless. Do not talk back to me."
"Yes sir…" I murmured as we continued down the hall, holding my cheek.
I was used to regular abuse from the house elders. They revered my mother and father as gods, but treated me like a nuisance. Back then I had read that vampire children aged much slower than humans, but I did not have a full grasp on how small I was compared to humans the same age. It probably only made me seem more like a brat than a real member of the household. I tried to find out more about why there were not more dhampir across history if we were so powerful. Occasionally I would question the others on how my parents came to be, but they would just tell me it was inappropriate to question such things.
Everyone rose as the count entered. There were twelve vampires besides myself who lived in the cavern who were servants or members of the bloodline. At the time I did not find it odd that they all wore long hooded cloaks of crimson. With the exception of the count who wore a robe of black with red trim and lining. The count's niece Cirucci, the only one who ever seemed to tolerate my presence, patted the seat next to her. I made a small relieved smile and joined her.
Where an ordinary war council room would usually have a large table for maps and fist pounding, we had a round pool of water set to waist level. I still had to stand on my chair to see properly across the thing. Count Sakisabe unlocked a chest with a key he kept on a chain around his neck. Inside were numerous vials of blood labeled with the names of the original donors. He cut his thumb and let his blood fall into the pool alongside a drop from the vial. Many vampires were born with an innate power known as a Curse that gave them at least one extraordinary ability. Sakisabe's allowed him to see through anyone's eyes as long as he had a sample of their blood. I desperately hoped I would develop a Curse of my own someday. Especially something that would let me go through walls or hide my presence. Humans had special abilities too called Gifts that were oddly specific sometimes for hunting our kind and protecting their own.
It was a bit clumsy timing communications with my parents as there was no way to send a message to the army with any of the Curses among us. Sending ravens with letters was too risky as they could be intercepted. All we could ever do was to be sure to gather the night of the full moon, an hour before sunrise, the time that had been agreed upon when the campaign began.
My mother, Ava, appeared on the surface of the water, polishing her blades by candlelight in her tent. My face lit up. Sometimes there was fighting that had to be done during the designated time. While it was wonderful to see the war in action, nothing was better than seeing my mother's smiling face. Her infamous blood red armor rested in pieces along the table. She smiled with her sharp yellow eyes as she addressed us.
"Hello everyone, if you can hear me. We have set up camp about a day's march outside of Oscuro pass. After sunrise I'll be going ahead with some of the free range slaves. When House La Vaar joined the cause they provided us with some choice vamp spearmen and some reliable human slaves with some rare healing Gifts. We will spend the week taking in as much intel as we can on the surrounding area. There won't be much movement until we can decide our plan of infiltration. That being said, initial reports are that the troops are thinning and many Luisenbarn deserters have joined us. We will speak with them individually on the palace defenses and compare their stories to ensure none are spies sent to sabotage us. With the royal wedding over, defenses are currently high, we will need to see if it is maintained."
The count had settled into using only blood to see through my father's eyes. Bram did not like to speak much unless necessary so it was often my mother or one of the fellow members of House Sakisabe that gave their reports.
Once this war was over I wanted nothing more than to sit and talk as a family, just the three of us. I didn't care about any of this talk of royalty, war and glory. I wanted to learn horseback riding and swordplay from Mother. I craved to learn Father's technique where he used hemomancy to strengthen his muscles right before striking enemies. But most of all I wanted to be crushed between them in a loving embrace, laughing together over some absurd nonsense.
When the council was over the count had me escorted back to my room and immediately locked inside. Since I barely ever left the library they let me convert it into my bedroom. Books were the only way I could escape this hole and learn about all the things on the outside. I needed no more than my bed and a wardrobe to be moved in and I already had a palace of my own. I went and checked the hidden passageway behind a bookcase and the hidden door on the ceiling of the closet. Still both intact and accessible, at least from this end. I decided to feed then get in some reading while I waited for everyone else to sleep for the day. I went to my own chest of vials with one hundred and seventeen vials remaining of my parent's blood.
It was one of the most closely guarded secrets of a dhampir closely guarded secrets, but our powerful bodies were very difficult to maintain. Ordinary human or vampire blood was not sufficient to satisfy us unless we consumed an absurd quantity. Essentially all the blood from a single human body or large animal, which was an unpleasant and time-consuming endeavor to drink them dry. Only the blood of another dhampir could ever truly sate the hunger. It was only because mother and father had each other they had been able to survive and feed me as well. Every time I opened the drawer of blood vials they had left for me I thought about how long it must have taken for them to collect these before they set off to march. Once someone had left a vial of human blood behind in the war council and I had quietly pocketed it. When I drank it later I was sorely disappointed that it was indeed like drinking water.
I uncapped a vial and drank. For no particular reason I tried to alternate between Mother and Father's blood
With a little water from a pitcher, and a shake to clean the vial and I drank that too. Getting a new delivery from the front lines was basically impossible and the household had not figured out an alternative food source for me in the meantime.
Even after all my exploration I still couldn't figure out where the others got their blood. Did they have human slaves chained up in their rooms? Did they all share with one another? It likely had something to do with the main house above us or a part of the caverns I had yet to find. According to my texts most noble manors in Hueco Mundo were like iceburgs. Only a couple stories that could be visible from the land, but many more beneath the earth. Some routes became lost with cave ins and those who knew the cavern's secrets passing on. While I liked to fantasize about all the places I would run off to if I could find a way out of the caverns, I was tied to this blood. I could take all of it with me, but there was no telling how long it would last before I could find the war front and be reunited with my real family.
After putting the empty vial away I fell back on my bed with one of the books I was working through. It was a journal of a merchant that lived in the capital city of Hueco Mundo about a century ago, talking about the blood and human slave trade and other daily life in the city. I turned a page and beamed as the merchant included a sketch of the palace at Las Noches, on the highest peak, surrounded by moonlight. I often wondered what it would be like in the palace at Las Noches if we did ever take it for ourselves. If there was and good documentation or schematics of the place we didn't have it in our library. It was a fortress, after all, therefore it wasn't like much would be out in public in the first place. All I could ever find were rare, passing mentions like this. I traced my finger along the highest tower, determining that's where I would live. High above the ground, as far away from the cold, dark caverns as possible. I read a bit more on the complicated process of selecting and distributing slaves for the Blood Moon sacrifice. The purpose of the custom still eluded me, I would have to see if there was something else in the library that went into better detail later. I bookmarked the journal and rolled over to the bed stand and grabbed, Aizen's Trail of Blood , one of my favorites, a set of short stories I was re-reading for the umpteenth time.
The countess gazed at the dark red surface of the pool, blood so thick no light could pierce into its depths. It stood in a beautiful contrast to the white porcelain tub with its rim patterned in twisting gold vines. The countess dropped her silken robe exposing her milky skin almost as pale as the porcelain her long, greying hair shimmered down her back. Only then did she notice the cloaked figure in the window.
"Aizen? I hope you are only here but to see the result of your work."
"I am not here to steal coin or glimpses of flesh, my lady. I wish to see that you first get what you were promised in exchange for your husband's gold. The blood of twenty virgin youth it a potent medium for a spell of eternal beauty, but without the proper majicks it is but a gruesome soak for your ladyship."
"I hope there was enough stock from my dungeons."
"After you had nearly every young girl in the town imprisoned it was more than enough," he said.
She eased in carefully and the warm, thick liquid tingled against her skin. Submerging herself in its depths she smiled, feeling the magic spread and cling to her body. "At last!" she thought to herself, remembering the beauty of her youth, the endless gifts and suitors and envious glances it brought her. It was once again hers to command. The countess had not an ounce of guilt she had this stranger slaughter the beautiful girls and boys of the village if she could have beauty everlasting.
Once she emerged she began to pour clear water down her arms and chest, yet the red color did not wash away. "Curious, she thought. The blood must have been thicker than she imagined.
"Aizen, be a dear and fetch me a towel."
"Of course your ladyship."
The countess began to scrub and scrub her skin with the cloth provided, but no matter what the color would not fade. The horror began to set in and she fled to the mirror and saw that her entire body was now stained a deep crimson red from head to toe.
"You said this was a spell for beauty!" She screamed, lunging herself at the vampire. He lept out of the way and floated in the air outside her window.
"Yes, I find crimson to be one of the most beautiful of colors. It truly suits your devilish soul. Did you think I would truly slaughter twenty innocents so that you might reverse the wrinkles in your cheeks and the grey in your hair? Pig's blood shall suffice. I used their meat to feed the children you tried to starve for their crime of youth and beauty. Now that the transaction is complete I'll see myself out." Aizen spread his great wings and disappeared into the night sky.
She scrubbed and scrubbed and soaked endlessly in clear waters, but no matter how much she washed her skin was now stained the color of blood for all the world to see her sin.
The village folk were overjoyed when their missing sons and daughters returned, singing the praises of a mysterious man that saved them when they were sure they had met their doom. N one ever heard from the countess again, but the village began to speak of a devil that came out only at night, seeking to steal the beauty of anyone unfortunate enough to cross her path.
"So cool…" I murmured, sticking in a bookmark and sitting up. Another reason I hated the talk of becoming a prince, is it sounded like a rather dull existance. I would much rather travel the world as a mysterious vigilante, fighting injustice and saving those who had nowhere else to turn.
After stuffing some pillows under my covers to create a facsimile of myself I pressed my ear again my door to ensure no one was approaching. When all was clear I climbed up past the false ceiling of my closet and began the long journey back to the cavern I was investigating earlier. I was sure it was not a passage I had seen before. Eventually I reached a blockade of rubble that had blocked my path earlier. After nearly an hour of clearing it away I was able to move forward again until I found an opening that was boarded off. My eyes widened as I pressed my ear to the other side and heard muffled weeping. The sound was feminine, but didn't resemble any of the women of the household. I grabbed a tool from my pocket and began prying out the nails.
Finally I emerged and found a row of cells with barred iron doors. The cries were now resounding through the room and shook me to my core, nearly driving me to tears myself from the pain they carried. One cell contained a woman doubled over in pain. Her silvery hair was long and tangled and her face pale and tear stained. What left me most in awe was her huge pregnant belly peering through a thin dress. I shook my head and tried to wrap my head around the situation.
"Please, Miss, my name is Sousuke, can I help you somehow?" I asked in the most innocent child voice I could manage.
She looked up, her irises were blue, but her eyes were red and puffy from crying
"Who..who are you?" She wiped her eyes with a sleeve. "You must be one of the children. One of the dhampir children."
"I-I am. Are there others?"
"Oh sweet child you do not know?"
I shook my head, dumbfounded.
"House Sakisabe is a cult. They made you."