Crimson Pov

I let out appreciative sounds as I tasted the roast chicken that Belladonna had prepared for the impromptu meal. It was just one of a dozen dishes the lass had managed to prepare in record time. She had prepared a small feast, Germaine was moaning into roasted leg of lamb. A young lady picked at a salad clearly uncomfortable in the atmosphere that me and Germaine were ignoring.

Is it an atmosphere if only one person is emitting it? The current Merlin of the Shielding Council may as well have been glaring daggers at me. In fact if i was a mere human that gaze may in fact have been as dangerous as a pair of daggers. The man was an archmage after all and that level of power was dangerous unless properly contained.

So of course the buffoon was emitting his power all about, likely used to using it to intimidate lesser mages and cow the masses. For the fourth...or was it the fifth time? I contemplated tying all that magic he was emitting in a knot and seeing how long it takes him to figure out how to undo it. And yet again I decided, BARELY, that it wasn't worth having to go to war with the Shielding Council for crippling their precious Merlin.

My attention shifted from the buzzing fly back to the girl. Girl she was indeed, I was far from a good judge of age, but even i could tell she was not fully grown. But even without my eyes analyzing her I knew she was what Germaine had claimed. A Verain, a night hunter, daughter of the dragon slayers, scourge of despair and blood of the fallen sun. The family had fallen on hard times time after time throughout the centuries, but always had they returned, always had they risen anew to strike down the beasts who lurked in the night.

The bloodline had somehow maintained an unbroken human line for longer than even my own life. Though some debated the human part, one of my eyes looked over, actively scanning her would likely have the buffoon start buzzing louder or something, do buffoons buzz? I haven't seen one do so yet. Anyway, even a passive scan could detect an excess of vitae and magic rolling off the girl. Even as young as she was she could almost certainly match a new vampire in strength and speed, and if she had her family's weapons? She would be a scourge indeed.

I'd cleared most of my plate as I thought, Germaine had cleared three and was well into his fourth, I still wondered if he had had an accident with a portal to another dimension in his stomach. I shifted making it clear I was looking at the girl, what was her name again? Sera? Shara? Sophie? Robert? Esmeralda? The fly was buffooning again, something about demanding the return of the Verain's artifacts and blah blah blah. I asked the girl, Seraphina! That was it! Sera for short.

"So tell me Sera, why do YOU want these items?"

"Are you ignoring me!?"

Sera glanced at the nearly screaming man beside her and I remembered that most people would actually have trouble dealing with the buffoon, he did have some magical and political power after all. But...I needed a REAL answer, and so...I relaxed.

From within my robes shadows billowed outwards, the red eyes within gazing at all around and within. Before the Merlin or Sera could react, I drew them within a realm of shadows and eyes. Germaine just kept eating unconcerned, his only act was to grab the table of food and his chair as he was sucked inside. The Merlin resisted, flaring his magic power and even throwing numerous fireballs about. Such acts had no effect besides raising the temperature of his personal pocket. Perhaps if he actually took a moment and studied he could find his way out.

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I turned my attention from them to my real goal. She stood firm and unafraid, her eyes scanning the darkness around her, a long dagger in one hand. I smiled, just like her ancestors it seemed. Let us see if she would answer now.

"Now that the fly is gone, will you answer me now? Seraphina Verain?"

I scanned her with my eyes, studying the magic within her blood and bones, the way her spirit shifted and flowed as she thought, the beating of her heart and the uncertainty as she finally answered.

"It is the duty of the Verains to battle the night and guard the people"

"Demonshit" I sneered as I responded. "You do not believe that"

She froze, her hand tightened on her dagger and I watched the chaos in her spirit as I waited. Finally she seemed to shrink, spiritually and physically, not entirely, no, she was a Verain and pride, no, pride was not quite the word...but it would do. Pride was in their bones, but the false front had dropped away, the bravado deflated leaving only a young Verain who spoke.

"I don't know."

She gazed into the darkness, her eyes uncertain, but unflinching, unbowed...unafraid. In the face of an ancient monster, in its realm of darkness, my magic emitting through the place bearing down upon her. She was unafraid. The Verains, madmen and women all of them.

"That you do believe"

I drew my realm back, depositing Germaine and Seraphina back where they were sitting. The Merlin had transitioned from fireballs and other destructive magics to trying to pick apart the magics of my realm. I dumped him behind his chair.

"You dar...!"

My voice echoed with magic as I spoke.

"As the old pact dictates, Seraphina Verain, I have kept this for the time when your kin once more strode into the dark."

From the shadows at my hands a shining silver blade slid out and I levitated it over to the girl.

"The Dawnbreaker, crafted of your family's heirloom blade and an angel's feather, reinforced time after time across the centuries, broken and reforged, ever does it return to the side of your kin."

Seraphina looked like I'd just gut punched her and then given her a fortune. Her eyes drawn to the blade with a reverence and desire that is almost painful. I should know, the thing had been resonating with her since she had passed my inner wards, so strongly it had not QUITE hurt to hold. The bloodline connection between the blade and the Verain's was how I had known for sure she was who she said. And there was no need to worry that such an artifact would be used for misdeeds, the blade itself would take care of such issues.

She disbelievingly grasped the blade, and I heard the breath she had been holding burst out of her as the raw magic of the blade slammed into her like a hammer. One does not casually wield an artifact after all, and even as the bloodline the thing was made for, some..."Adjustments" needed to be made. The blade's magic rushed through her body reshaping it and bettering it for the purpose of withstanding the magic inherent in the item.

I watched intrigued, the blade tailored the changes to each Verain based on a number of factors, but always in such a way that aided and followed their natural growth. I pointedly ignored the screaming of my wards as I analyzed the once in a generation event before me. Golden light finally stopped being emitted by Seraphina as the blade finished its scan and initial binding. She was panting now, before pulling in a single large breath and adjusting herself.

Seraphina opened her mouth once or twice, before simply bowing before me. I acknowledged it with a nod when she rose from the bow. I glanced around, Germaine and the Buffoon watched from the side, the Flyfoon finally quiet and Germain stoic in a way I rarely saw him. I sat back down in my chair and casually grabbed the pitcher on the table refilling my goblet.

"So is that it?" The buffoon asked.

"Aye, same as it was all those years ago" Germaine spoke, a sadness about him. He never quite got over the ending of that time. A dark cloud drifted over my mood for a moment at the memories before I moved along.

"It's good that the blade likes you, not everyone can use it even from your family. And you'll get a chance to use it soon as well."

All three of them snapped to attention at that.

"And what does that mean?" Bufflefly snapped at me. One of these days, I'd snap him.

"You didn't know?" I inquired "You were followed here, I have to assume at least that's why a horde of nightbeasts are descending upon my castle"

Germaine's mustache twitched, Seraphina quickly looked around the hall checking all the entrances and exits, and the Flybuffle started yelling that there was no such thing. I pointedly ignored him as the sound of gunfire cracked through the night, followed by the roar of a heavy machine gun and screams. It seems I was coming out of retirement with a party.

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