I slowly close the book and look up at Dracula. "So he wasn't all bad?" I ask. He shakes his head. "No, he had every right to be angry and power hungry, but just like everyone else, he had a conscious. He knew what was right and wrong, but he was so caught up in the power that it made him forget about everything else," he explains.

Elizabeth looks at me with a meaningful expression on her face. I understand what she is trying to say without having to say anything because I know exactly how it feels to be corrupted by power and lose sight of what's important in life.

Dracula continues to explain more about Vestis' powers; however, it sounded like the information has been erased from his mind since then, so he can only remember pieces of the story. But one thing he does remember is that Vestis had given some of his powers to Elizabeth's family line before disappearing.

"That must be why my family has always been so powerful," she whispers under her breath, as if she had almost forgotten about this fact until now. We both look at each other before looking back up at Dracula.

He stares at us for a while before speaking again. "Vestis' descendants have the power to control certain aspects of people's lives," he says quietly, as if he's embarrassed to admit this fact out loud.

"You mean like bending their will?" Elizabeth asks curiously. He nods his head in agreement. "That is correct."

Elizabeth shakes her head in disbelief. "It's amazing how much power one man could possess," she mutters under her breath.

Dracula clears his throat before continuing, "Now that we have discussed Vestis' past, it's time for us to discuss the other power within your mind. Lumen."

I stare back up at him and shrug. "The only thing I know is that he is part of my light and that his name is Lumen; that's all I know."

He takes a deep breath and begins to explain. "Lumen is the power of light, and it can be used in many different ways. It can be used to heal, bring hope, and even create positive energy. Lumen was given to you by an ancient source; however, it has been dormant within you this whole time without your knowledge."

Elizabeth looks at me in awe and admiration before whispering, "That's incredible!"

I smile back at her before turning my attention back to Dracula, who continues speaking. "You must use the power of lumen responsibly, as it can be easily misused if not handled carefully," he warns before adding, "It will require much practice and patience on your part if you wish to master it."

I nod my head in understanding as I take in all of this information. I now understand why I have been feeling so strange lately. The realization that I possess an ancient power is overwhelming yet oddly comforting at the same time.

"Lumen was described throughout the books as a kind of caring man, but that wasn't the case. He once had a dark past. His life was plagued with misfortune. One by one, he watched his family die from disease or war. Wanting to change things, he went on a journey to find power. He had enough power to be able to help the others around him and make it so they wouldn't suffer the same fate that his family had suffered. It was said that he was contacted by a higher power and was granted power due to his determination to right the wrongs. But soon he realized that he wasn't able to save everyone and soon had drained the light from his soul and was fated to an eternal slumber." He says so, sighing.

He shakes his head. "But those who want to help people are doomed to a fate that is less than worthy. With him taking an eternal slumber Those who wanted to continue his work started working on different ways of helping people. But history repeats itself. The ones that only wanted to do good perished soon after. Then the dark ones appeared. Similar to Vestis, except they were pure evil. The ones that created me When they turned me into the first vampire, I had considered it a gift and had shown it to my family. But unfortunately, I succumbed to hunger and couldn't help myself. But here I am today with a new family, one that I can't possibly lose control of and kill." He says he is trailing off and never really finishing his thought.

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"It's nice to see that you do have a humane side to you." Elizabeth says, looking at him. He looks at her with a hint of anger and sadness. "You may say that, but, with my humane side, people tend to bypass certain things and think that I won't notice or that there will be no consequences. This is why I can no longer show any of them mercy. It would be a sign of weakness, and that cannot be allowed." He says.

I think to myself. "So Lumen had been with me for a while. I wonder when He was given to me." I look toward Dracula. "Can I look further into your library and see if there are any more on either of these two?" He nods his head, yes.

I get up off the chair and walk around the library. Walking around the library, I notice that I would never have enough time to finish every book. Until I notice one book labeled 'grimoire'. I decide to pick it up and realize that it's a book on demons and how to summon or defeat them. I turn towards Dracula. "Would you mind if I borrowed this?" He shrugs. "Take it if you wish; if there is any book here that would satiate your curiosity, then it is yours." I nod my head and continue looking through the books. I come upon a book that looks something like a magic handbook. Opening it up, I realize that's exactly what it is.

I flip the pages and see different spells, ranging from healing to destruction. I decide to take the book along with me, knowing that I will eventually read through it and expand my magical arsenal. I see another book, but it's on martial arts. I turn to look at Dracula and raise an eyebrow. "I didn't know that you learned martial arts." I ask him. He shrugs again. "I was once a mortal man; once I became a vampire, I was bored after a while and decided to learn different things. One of those things is damaging souls. Since I'm technically the progenitor of the species, I'm the strongest one and the most knowledgeable about the vampire species."

I nod. Looking back down at the book, I decide to take it as well. I walk all around the library; there's books in different languages. "I'm not going to learn any different language any time soon. But I guess I'll take it as well." I think to myself.

Two books catch my eye. Blacksmithing and enchanting. I take both of them. "I'll definitely need these two. If I can make armor and weapons and enchant them, then I could be unstoppable." I think out loud. Dracula hears this and laughs.

"Boy, I thought the same as you did. Armor and weapons are nice. But to truly get power, it comes from the souls and from the gods themselves. Be it Norse, Greek, Hindu, Chinese, or Japanese, All of the gods can give you power, but with those powers come tricks and/or favors that you will have to give. Some gods could possibly give you more power just to make things worse for the other gods. I don't keep in touch with the gods anymore."

I stop and look at him. "Anymore?" I asked curiously. He nods his head. "There was a time where the gods and I would meet up and discuss things that would happen in our world and the best outcome for them. Obviously, the gods are greedy and want more and more every time. Not to mention Zeus. That guy needs to keep it in his pants, or toga as it would be." He explains.

I tilted my head for a second before agreeing with the Zeus comment. I decide to stop looking at the library and sit back down at the table and cross my arms. "So, what is the real reason that you wanted us here?" I ask. He sighs. "In truth, I thought that you would possibly be a threat one day, and I wanted to talk to you and see how you are—your personality, I should say. But from what I can see, I will have no worries. You don't seem like the type that would want to rule a kingdom and have as many responsibilities as I do."

In Hell, Lucifer is with the Oracle. "It would seem that he is currently talking with Vlad. From the looks of it, the talk is going well. It would seem that they have something in common. They may become allies in the future." The Oracle says: Lucifer sighs. "Well, I guess that plan is a failure. Hmm, it would seem there's more to this man than I had once thought." Lucifer says this before waving his hand, and a demon appears in front of him. "Yes, my lord!" One demon says it in a deep, distorted voice. Lucifer stares at him. "I need you to send out a party of demons to NeverRest and have them attack that man. Try to overpower him if you can. I want to see what he can truly do." Lucifer says this with a smile on his face. "Oh, and you can kill the others." He adds it before the demon disappears.