Bloody Tears, The Heart of the Vampyre 4 – The New Mistress of the Dark
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"Hey, MarMar. Why are you making me feel hungry again?" Tenchi asked Maria, who wasn't sure what to say, still feeling a bit like she needs to keep calm and tell Tenchi how things truly are. With a sigh of defeat, Maria turned to face Tenchi before holding up a mirror, "Open your maw and see for yourself." Tenchi looked confused, but opened her maw, seeming to not notice it at first until Maria grabbed two canines and made Tenchi realize it, "W-What? Are those what I think they are?"

Maria nodded, "Yes, Tenchi. Please follow me and I will explain everything." Maria began to walk and Tenchi looked at Peridot and Hildegaard before giving them a hug, "I'll be right back." They nodded, "Stay here if you need to. We got some matters back home that cannot be left undealt with. Consider this our wish for you to rest up."

Tenchi shook her head, "You know I cannot..." Peridot silenced her with a kiss, "Then do it for me and Hildegaard at least." Tenchi felt the kiss and then sighed, "Fine, for you, Peri, and you too, Hilde." She gave them a hug before following Maria, who seemed very patient with Tenchi taking time to talk with the wives, as Maria herself had two girls that meant a lot to her.

Walking back to Maria's room, Tenchi got wide eyed when she witnessed how royally that Maria lived, "Wow, you got a room worthy of a queen, MarMar." Maria nodded before taking a seat, "Okay, listen up now. Back when our realm was born, the first vampire royal, Lord Simon Sanguin, performed a ritual known as the Crimson Luna ritual. Unlike the normal Sanguine ritual that we perform by tradition, the Crimson Luna ritual is very dangerous and only Lord Sanguin himself was able to perform it and survive."

Tenchi began to hiss angrily, but stopped in shock from this sound as Maria nodded, "I know what you are planning to say. Why did we dare to risk such a dangerous thing to save you? Because unlike the other fourteen cases of the ritual taking place, I knew that you were strong and even pushed for having it done together with Violetta. And since you are able to hiss at me like a vampire, I would say that it was a success."

Tenchi nodded before seeing Maria lowering her head, "This did however leave one thing that is problematic for Violetta." Tenchi kept looking at Maria, who soon lifted her head to speak, "Tenchi, by the law of the Crimson Luna ritual, you are to be declared the new ruler of Q'Sta'Ei." Tenchi looked shocked at the news, lifting a hand to get the word before Maria could speak up further, "Wait a, for lack of better word, bloody second. I can't be the queen over the vampires. I am the queen of the Frostclaw Tribe and Ri'Co'Va."

Maria nodded, "Yes, but that is something we will deal with once the time is right. Now, lets teach you an important thing, which I have to apologize for putting you through." Tenchi looked a bit worried at Maria before seeing her get up from her seat and walking over to grab Tenchi by the arm, pointing to the finger, "In Q'Sta'Ei, we greet by doing different things depending on the rank in the hierarchy. The knight and dame protects the people, so we prick their finger."

Tenchi nodded before Maria moved her finger to point at the arm, "The count and countess helps making the decisions, so we bite their arm." Tenchi followed before Maria smirked and guided Tenchi's hand up to her neck, "The queen and her two lower ranked are the ones nourishing the people, so we bite their neck." Tenchi understood why Maria had said that she apologized for putting her through it as Tenchi felt herself being curious to try this out, but decided against doing it, "Okay, thank you for telling me about this."

Maria nodded before looking at Tenchi again, but now seeming to have a much different thing on her mind before Maria took her by one of the shoulders, leading her out of her room and towards a room with two massive doors, which she pushed open and let herself and Tenchi into. Inside the room in the middle of a crescent moon table, sat a male bat and watched as Maria soon screeched out and one by one, the Blood Council joined the room, all of them looking at Tenchi and then the male bat before taking a seat as Maria walked to take her seat, "Quick meeting and entertainment can begin."

The male bat screeched out, "What is this?! I came back here to reclaim my seat and now I am being tossed aside and humiliated like this? Where is your sense of pride?" Maria looked at the male before shaking her head, "Margrave Nolah Bloodfang, you speak about a sense of pride. Yet, you have none when you enter the Hall of Blood and claim yourself to be entitled to a seat, when you have been declared unfit to speak as a voice for the Blood Council and for the honor of the Vampire Queen."

Tenchi smiled at how Maria put the seemingly arrogant prick in his place, which seemed to only make him angrier when he hissed at her, "Then bring the queen here and let us see what she says about this!" Maria looked at the other council members, who were all nodding with a slight grin at the unnecessary provocation from the former council member before Maria raised a hand, "Very well, may the new Vampire Queen stand up and advance to give us her words of wisdom?"

Tenchi had hated the fact she was the new vampire queen earlier, but seeing what Maria was thinking, she couldn't feel any prouder before she advanced over to Nolah and grabbed his head, "Greetings, Margrave." The male bat looked in confusion, "This has to be a joke. She cannot be a vampire queen. She is a dragon!" Maria smiled before grinning, "My dear Bloodfang, remember the script of the first blood rain, page 14, paragraph 4?"

Nolah hissed, "Yes, I do." Smirking at clearly feeling superior for knowing it, he decided to brag, "At the dawn of the sixteenth day, the Lord spoke the words of which he had heard from the Blood Moon itself. I shall walk in the Blood Moon's red light, a true monarch that isn't like any other. For I shall become one with the Blood Moon itself. With the help of my five loyal advisors, I shall ascend as our moonlight upon the floors bathed in the Blood Moon's glorious light. And I shall call it the Crimson Luna."

Maria nodded, "Very good. You were always good at remembering that part. Lord Sanguin was our first. However, now we have our second one. Namely the one you claim cannot be a vampire queen. She survived the Crimson Luna ritual." The council members applauded Tenchi and Nolah looked at her in shock, "This is blasphemy of the highest order. This is complete madness. You are all heretics. All of you!"

Tenchi lifted him up like it was nothing before smirking, "Oh, my bad. I forgot to introduce myself. Name's Tenchi Arizonia-Novastar Frostclaw. The queen of Ri'Co'Va, and Q'Sta'Ei, as well as the goddess of justice." The silence following the introduction was enough to make it possible to hear anything hit the floor before Tenchi broke the silence by smashing Nolah's head onto the floor, before proceeding to stomp on his head a couple of times and giggling, "Hey, this is not that half bad. I can get used to this."

Nolah felt each stomping of his head pushing out more and more blood from his body and bones slowly shattering before he was feeling the pressure being taken off his head and how Tenchi put a foot in front of his face and kicked him upwards, but with a flipping motion so that he landed on his feet before his body began to slowly heal the wound by absorbing the blood he had leaked out.

Tenchi looked at him before turning around, "Come on, are you really that incapable of fighting back?" Nolah hissed before doing his biggest error by lifting one of his hands in an attempt to force Tenchi's blood to crystallize slowly, which Tenchi noticed as jagged gemstones coming out of her nose and growing, "Awwww, are you flirting with me now? Sorry, but I am taken."

Nolah witnessed how Tenchi's power blasted the crystallized blood off her nose before she quickly moved to grab him by the head, blood flowing from her neck and along her arm and wrapping around his body like vines around the trunk of a tree, slowly constricting him while he was gasping out from the lack of air, even if it wouldn't kill him, but the pain was still there.

Tenchi watched his suffering before slowly letting him go and throwing him aside, "Nah, this is not fair and no fun at all. I am completely outclassing you. But I have a perfect deal for you." Nolah got up and coughed before Tenchi screeched out and a shadow dropped from the ceiling and Maria watched in shock, "How long have you been here?"

Ocarina looked at Maria and bowed, "My apologies, your bloody Archduchess. I was merely making sure that Mister Bloodfang didn't attempt to run off." Nolah looked at Ocarina and hissed, "Why so many heretics?" Ocarina looked at him and hissed back, "You be quiet now."

Tenchi looked at the two of them before speaking up, "Margrave Bloodfang, I want you to defeat my Angeria sister here. If you succeed, I will let you have your seat back. If you fail, I will let her decide what you must do." Nolah began to laugh before looking at Ocarina, "Defeating a lowlife hunter like her? This will be easy with my noble title."

Ocarina looked at Nolah and hissed before drawing out her scythe, as Nolah formed a rapier from blood and took a stance like a true fencer before Tenchi called out, "Begin!" Nolah swiftly put his footwork to good use when lunging himself forward in an attempt to hit Ocarina, who spun her scythe and surprised Nolah by drawing out a second blade at the bottom of her scythe, showing off the double-ended scythe she was proud to wield and also made the Blood Council gasp in awe.

Nolah avoided the swing from the scythe by quickly moving back before lunging back to try and hit Ocarina, who swiftly dodged every swift attempt to stab her, before taking a hold of the rapier and draining the blood out of it with her hand, leaving Nolah without a weapon, but not without a fighting spirit as he formed an orb of blood to throw at Ocarina, who was hit by it and just stood there, "Is that all? Is that seriously your best?"

Nolah began to form a scythe of his own before noticing that Ocarina twisted her scythe, leaving her open for him to swing and hit her right in the chest, causing everyone to gasp in shock as Ocarina stood there and Nolah screeched in triumph, "I won! See? A noble cannot be outclassed by a commoner!"

Suddenly Ocarina began to laugh, "Against a commoner, probably. Against a princess, not likely." Ocarina suddenly turned into a clone of blood, leaving everyone in pure awe over that Ocarina managed to pull off a very neat trick, but it grew even more when Ocarina appeared from a card underneath Nolah had a chain swiftly wrapped around the neck of the bat, pulling hard on it while smirking, "Any final words?"

Nolah was confused and began to laugh, "Final words? You think you gonna be able to kill me? I am a vampire, you cannot kill me in an ordinary way." Ocarina began to laugh in a sadistic way and looked at Tenchi, "Chronicle of Death, book 2, section 10, paragraph 4. Upon the shallow shore of the wasteland, we bear witness to creatures out of this world. They looked like our beloved ones, but their faces were twisted. Valor twisted to dishonor, beauty to horror, saints to monsters. The mother of the dead dropped a weapon upon the ground and spoke to us. Take my blessing and put your nightmares to rest."

With a strength befitting a vampire, Ocarina threw Nolah over her and with a perfectly executed backflip, sailed over his body and dug the two kama into his shoulders, the loud scream of pain heard as the match between Nolah's soul and Ocarina's resilience took place, the soul slowly being torn out while Ocarina fought hard to get it out of him until finally with a last defiant screech, Ocarina tore the last ethereal string connecting the soul to the body and the blades swallowed it up like a fine meal before the empty husk fell onto the ground and turned to ashes which soon solidified in the form of a gravestone in her hand, which Ocarina placed down upon the table in front of Maria and walked off, "If you excuse me, honorable Blood Council, I got a soul to deliver to the After now." With applauds echoing from everyone, including Tenchi, Ocarina made her way out of the Hall of Blood.

With the battle between the two vampires having taken place, the meeting had been adjourned, but it had meant that it was time for Tenchi to make her first official order as the new vampire queen. As the council guided her to the balcony where she was going to speak, they seemed ready to hear her speak, and the people of Grobuz were waiting to hear it too. Tenchi had already decided in her mind what to say and she knew that behind her, a bit away was Violetta, witnessing her last few minutes as the queen of the vampires.

When they finally reached the balcony, Tenchi pushed the doors open and walked out to watch the thousands of bats present, a sight that she had seen before when she stood in front of the Frostclaw Tribe and spoke, but now it was different. Taking a deep breath, she began to speak, "People of Grobuz, and people of Q'Sta'Ei. You have all heard about my accomplishment of surviving what might be to you all a myth, or highly religious ritual, the Crimson Luna. And for that, I am the new queen of the vampires."

The loud cheers could be heard and Tenchi swallowed, feeling how much she hated to do public speeches like this, but she had to now, "And you are all wanting me to make a first order as your queen. I have decided what I am gonna order first. I hereby order..."

Suddenly, Elvira spoke up, "Your bloody highness, wait!" The council members looked in shock at Elvira and the crowd called out foul words, which Tenchi hissed out at them for saying, "Silence!" She then turned to look at Elvira, "What is so important as to making me have to wait to make my first order of business as the queen?" Elvira spoke up clearly to her, "Your bloody highness, the people of Q'Sta'Ei are allowing a public bullying of the non-vampiric populace. The vampires considers the non-vampires to be unworthy of any respect and no fair treatment unless they are family to worthy vampires. This is not a realm ruled by equality, it is a realm ruled by the ones with benefits. And you witnessed first hand the unfair treatment of those who became vampires and aren't a bat. Do you call this equal rights or a sign of racism?"

The masses of the people were all shouting their praises and disagreements, which Tenchi heard clearly before turning her back to Elvira and stepped back to where she had stood, "Council members, please refrain from any further interruptions now. I have a speech to finish."

The loud shouts were silenced and Tenchi stood there, thinking through everything she had heard, finding every word true and the spirit of righteousness being admirable. Allowing her to make her decision, "After hearing what I heard, I changed my decision. I got two orders to give. First order of business is to abolish the discrimination of non-vampires and vampires who are not bats."

The shouts went loud as most were happy to hear it, while others were disliking to lose the power, but Tenchi had the next order coming quickly, "Second order of business is that I am abdicating as the queen of the vampires, to the benefit of your previous queen, Violetta Redfeather. She shall be the regent in my place." The people united in a loud cheer and Violetta felt her tears beginning to run down her cheeks as she walked up to Tenchi and gave her a hug before looking at the masses below, "Thank you, Tenchi. I will rule fairly in your place, and as I am having a new rule under my belt now, I will make a new first order of business, which is to make sure that the discrimination of the classes of people in our society and realm ceases. We shall cease to see vampires, non-vampires, and people who became vampires without being part of the original Staeian populace. We shall only see a people of Q'Sta'Ei!"

The loud cheers from her speech brought smiles to everyone on the balcony before Tenchi slowly made her way back inside, followed by Maria, who guided her to an empty room for her to stay in, both of them sitting there to catch up on everything and for Maria to explain more things, until Violetta walked in suddenly with a report and looked at Tenchi, "I am sorry, but I think you might wanna hear a different story hidden in our past." Tenchi took the paper and read it clearly like her new vampiric powers had granted her the ability to read their language clearly and she was confused, "Solar vampire? What is that?" Maria gasped in shock and Violetta spoke up, "A nightmare that started 175 years ago."

The End.