*Chapter 131 – Family Feuds and Deals Struck

Chapter 131 – Family Feuds and Deals Struck

Carol stared right back at him in the gloom of the ghostly realm between amulets.  She defiantly raised her head with that ever-pompous sneer she got whenever she was pissed, and it brought back a flood of memories from his childhood to see it.

“This isn’t something that I’m willing to budge on.” Trey stated coldly, not having the time or patience for her shit.  His red eyes gleamed back out at her with a spark of his rage, but he put it down like a rabid dog the moment it happened and his eyes returned back to the softer normal glow.  “You’re endangering yourself, me, and my minions.  If it was just you, that’d be one thing - but now we have fucking armies gunning for us and you sit there raiding nearby villages for shits and giggles.  Cool your shit, Carol.  This isn’t back on Earth where we’re untouchable anymore.”

She snorted, looking away briefly and tapping her fingers along her arm.  “Are we not?  Agnude has hundreds of thousands of followers and his armies are some of the greatest here on the western continent of Nagochus.  You have Alkir, one of the elder gods on your side.  You’re supposed to be one of the great demonic princes, an heir of the void and you sit on your ass in that vampiric city twiddling your dick and acting like a pussy when we should be out conquering cities instead of playing spy.  You even have that bitch Maltetious on your side, and I’m having a very hard time understanding why we can’t just kill her followers and be done with it if you’re not going to utilize them to your own ends.”

Trey held back a scoff, and his brows furrowed.  She’d hinted at killing Taen more than once just because he was under the service of a rival numen that hated Agnude, but he liked Taen - and nothing his cousin said would convince him otherwise.  “Taen is not to be killed.  And think what you may, but I’m not powerful enough to take on an entire city of vampires.  It isn’t going to happen.  You are to immediately stop your raids on surrounding-”

“I won’t.” Carol stated bluntly with a yawn.

She’d definitely yawned on purpose, not that she was actually tired but because she was trying to piss him off.  Trey felt his hand twitch and he wanted to smack her, but he wouldn’t be able to here in this pseudo-realm Maltetious had created.  His hand would just pass her right on by.

“Come again?” Trey said with another flare of anger.

Carol inspected her nails, cocked her head to the side, then shrugged.  “I understand your minions won’t listen to me unless bidden, that’s fine.  But my vetteresie warriors under the service of Agnude will do what I say, when I say.  You are not the only one in the family wanted for your bloodline.  Our souls are pristine… or so I am told.  How must it feel, knowing you’re not the only special one?  I also find my decisions further in line with what a dark goddess would want.  I kill my enemies to the last man and leave no room for mercy, I’m a powerful vetteresie warrior myself and wield magics that would astound you.  Perhaps Alkir will take a vested interest in me instead if you keep this kind of attitude up?  Regardless, this country of Niertho is a heathen land… they are weak, unorganized, and fear my holy order.  And I intend to do what I want in the meantime.  Simply put, I am untouchable.”

Trey paused, looking over his cousin with a mixture of shock and disbelief.  Had she taken stupid pills since leaving Earth?  He sourly shook his head.  For a moment, he seriously considered having his minions kill every single of one her ‘vetteresie’ holy warriors out of rage… but that would hinder any kind of alliance made between the two sides so he stayed his hand.  As much as he hated to admit it, saving Carol from the bone lord so publicly had made him a myriad of enemies and painted a target on his back… he needed the manpower, and having Agnude’s armies on his side to take some of the pressure off of him was needed.

So he sighed, thinking about ways he would subtly punish her in the future without her knowing it was him, and shook his head again.  “What exactly is it that you and your Agnude fellow are getting out of this relationship?”

Carol raised her eyebrows, surprised at the question and then placed her hands on her wide muscular hips to laugh at him openly.   “Has your goddess not already told you?”

“Do you think I’d be asking if I knew?” Trey snapped back.

She frowned at the hostility but shrugged it off.  “Well… Agnude knows the end of the Nirvana worlds is coming.  It isn’t going to be long before the Labyrinth opens up and the spree hordes erupt from Pandora… we need allies just as much as you.  And you’re family!  It just made things easier, yes?”

She smiled, walking over and giving him a sly wink.  “Don’t worry about things too much.  Just go back to your little bat cave… and let me handle things here.  I’ve got it all under control…”

***

Ezdeath’s beautiful white thighs and knees were close together, and rapidly twerked up and down - slamming against Trey’s own thighs with loud, repetitive slapping sounds.  Hands on her knees to stabilize herself, she’d occasionally flip her snow-white hair out to the side to get a backwards glance with those golden eyes of hers, slamming down onto his cock harder as she bit her lip.

Trey laid back across the bed with only his feet on the floor, smoking a cigar they’d stolen from one of the vampires Ezdeath had recently interrogated, and casually watched the succubus slave fuck him.  The fat of her ass slammed down, pressing flat against his groin with the lips of her vagina tightly hugging his shaft before sliding up his rod and doing it again, and again, and again.

God she was beautiful.

A knock at the door brought his attention left, and he took the cigar out of his mouth to let out a puff of smoke amidst the quick, repetitive slapping sounds.  “Come back later, I’m busy.”

An acknowledgement came from beyond the wooden barrier in the form of Nothel’s voice, and he could hear her scurry away down the hall. No doubt she thought he was with Nami or one of the other vampires at the moment, but it didn’t really matter – and it was something of a turn on for both him and Ezdeath that they were doing the dirty in the middle of enemy territory.

“How’s the progress coming along? Any success with the victims in that little house you bought?”

Ezdeath continued to aggressively twerk, pulling her hair into a long ponytail as she did and wrapping it with string to tie together. She had pulled in quite a collection of leads, interrogating each of them with various means of torture in the basement of the little city house. Many had died, many more still lived in a chained-up state of abuse, and yet others had begged her to kill them but she’d refused. “Yes actually… there’s a man that became to spill some valuable information after I tore off his right hand and began killing his wife. Took a little while to get him to cough up the information, but he’s a lower tier priest of the vampiric temple. They’ve already started looking for him no doubt, but they’ll never find him. I’m always sure to kill any witnesses in the kidnapping.”

Trey half groaned with pleasure while watching her bare ass slap against his thighs, and half chuckled at the complete lack of sympathy she had for her victims. “So tell me then, what has he got to say?”

She glanced back, winked, and slammed down hard to wiggle around a bit with a feminine grunt. Carressing her breasts seductively in the candle light of the room, she bit her lip and laughed at his expression of contentment. “Well… there’s some kind of back entrance. It’s fortified, but if I acquire the right key from the right man… I should be able to get inside and scout it out. He gave me the list of names that may have the key-“

She stopped mid sentence, smiling knowingly as she felt him unload inside her, but then started twerking again anyways as she hadn’t finished yet. “I’ll probably leave a couple bodies behind in my wake, but I’ll be sure to make it look like I came in the front entrance… even if I have to sprint out the front and lead them on a chase. They won’t be able to catch me even if I do… the danger only comes if I try to stay and fight an army of them at the same time. Or if Aktovan herself shows up… which is always a possibility.”

Trey talked to Ezdeath a little while longer, gave her a kiss goodbye as she slipped out the balcony window, and began to think about what he needed to do in the meantime in case her infiltration efforts failed. Nothing was promised yet, but at least they had leads now… so he grabbed some clothes, opened the door, and looked down the hall when he heard someone’s footsteps knocking along the floor.

“Are Lord and Lady Okt back yet?” Trey asked one of the paler middle-aged vampires after waking up and putting on some pants.  It had been some time now that he had yet to see or hear from the head of the household, and he was concerned that he was taking much too long to undergo this particular quest.  He’d gained very little information in terms of what defenses the high priest of Aktovan’s city had, only knowing the most basic of information - that he lived in that large domed temple in the middle of the city.  It was constantly under heavy guard, with numerous magical wards surrounding it – and again: even Ezdeath hadn’t been able to get inside despite her best efforts… though hopefully that’d change with the new information she’d acquired.  He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible to meet up with the others… He missed Sithis.  He missed Rivia, Napoleon and Atharost… and although Ezdeath made nightly visits, she never stayed because they didn’t want to get caught.  But he still had to come up with a solid plan on how to get that damnable amulet from the priest first.

“I’m afraid not,” replied the robed, male vampire.  “I believe they went on a hunting expedition, but they should be back any day now.”

“Damn, thanks anyways.”

“I do believe that Kagdor asked about you earlier though, he was wondering if you were awake yet.  He’s currently in the manor garden, if you want to go find him.”

Trey nodded reluctantly, leaning against the ornately decorated wall and nearly bumping into a large picture frame while lost in thought.  “Yeah, I had completely forgotten that he wanted to talk to me about something a couple days ago.  Never got around to it though, thanks for the heads up.”

The vampire smiled politely and then went on his way before Trey turned back to enter his room.  Osi and Rusoe, two of his three assigned breeder slaves, were pulling on their clothes from the ritualistic morning intercourse and Nothel was lighting a fire to heat the tub for Trey’s bath.  They were all so pale, being down here in the dark cavernous city of Zekul for so long, and even their pupils remained in a dilated state due to the gloom.  When he re-entered the room, Nothel turned back to smile kindly at him.  “Back so soon, master Trey?”

“Have you decided you wanted more sex?” asked Osi as the pale woman stopped putting on her clothes.

Trey smirked and shook his head.  “No, I’m fine for now thanks.  We can go at it later.  If I do end up changing my mind, I’ll probably just have a quickie with Nothel.  Hey Rusoe, could you hand me that shirt?”

Rusoe bowed and quickly provided him with the requested clothing before continuing her dressing.

“I’ll be back later, you three can take a break if you’d like.  I’m going to meet up with Kagdor.  See you all later!”  Trey waved and Nothel was eager to return his wave as he shut the door quietly behind him.  Over the past couple of days things between him and Nothel had changed.  They were far more intimate and she was opening up to him.  She was definitely his favorite person to spend time with - not only out of the three slave girls, but out of anyone in the vampiric house.  Last night they had spent over three hours together on a walk around the city during sleeping hours and they had talked about the mysteries of life, with Nothel becoming quite enthusiastic about the various subjects Trey brought up.

What was most strange about this was he felt a true connection… something he’d never expected.  She wasn’t as pretty as any of his own contracted slaves, but she would sit there and talk to him about abstract subjects like the meaning of life or theorize on what other worlds were like amidst the cosmos.  She told him of the things she’d do if she was free, though she was hesitant to talk about such things in front of the others - and despite her dire situation he found that the person underneath the unquestioning brunette slave girl was quite a gem.  He wouldn’t call it love, but he definitely liked her.

He’d already decided.  When he left Zekul, he would have to take her with him.  Of that he was certain - he would not leave her here to be eaten by these bloodthirsty maniacs… and perhaps they’d even become good friends at this rate.

Making his way through the house and out to the back, he trot over to where the garden was.  Something that Trey had found very unique about the gardens here in Zekul is that all of the plant life that survived here was luminescent.  Including the moss that stuck to the vast ceiling of the cavern above, there were only a handful of species of plants - but they were all present here in the Okt garden.  Some of them even grew to be as tall as he was.

“Trey!  There you are!” shouted Kagdor as he stood up to greet his friend.  Kagdor was a warrior of the Great Vampiric House of Okt - and had been there for many decades now.  He was muscular and pale, sporting a long black beard, and had gone out of his way to make Trey feel welcome while many of the others had simply ignored his presence.  “I’ve been looking for you!”

“So I heard!” laughed Trey as they shook hands briskly.  “I’m sorry about missing you the other day, I got caught up…”

Kagdor sneered.  “Nami can be quite a pain to deal with.  I’m sorry she has her sights set on you.  I hope that the sex was good at least?”

Trey sighed.  “Well, the first time was terrible.  She’s invited me over every day since then though and she’s been a lot better about not making it a one sided ordeal.”

Kagdor laughed and put his hands on his hips.  “She’s very much a fan of yours, of that I can be certain.  She probably realized that treating you poorly would decrease the odds at you taking her hand in marriage.”

“Marriage!?” Trey scoffed.  “Seriously?”

“She’s already brought up the idea to a couple of the others.  I can guarantee that’s what she’s gunning for.”  Kagdor stared down the Earthborn man with a very serious frown.  “I would be very careful about how you handle the situation Trey.  Nami can be very jealous, and she already has taken a dislike to your special treatment of Nothel.  That slave girl could be in very real danger if you don’t play your cards right.”

Trey didn’t like the sound of that.  In fact, visions of how he was going to assassinate Nami began to flicker through his mind at a rapid pace immediately upon realizing that Kagdor was likely right.  “Yeah… I’ll talk to Nami about it if it becomes a problem.  Thanks for the warning.”

Kagdor smiled.  “Of course.  I remember what it was to be affectionate for cattle.  I had a cattle lover once.”

Trey still found it odd that the vampires called their slaves cattle, but in some ways it made sense.  They didn’t view humans or other mortal races as anything but meat… and it was somewhat of a derogatory term as well.

“You did?” Trey’s eyebrows rose as he inspected a large luminescent flower.  “What happened to her?”

“I turned her of course!”  Kagdor laughed and slapped his stomach with his hands.  “She’s a vampire now!  And she’s my wife!  You know, if you become one of the coven and Nothel is really given to you like Lord Okt said may happen - you could always turn Nothel into one of us.  That way Nami wouldn’t be able to touch her… though I’m sure Nami is very aware of this.  Which is why I warned you.”

Trey pondered Kagdor’s words and stroked his chin with a grimace.  “Yeah.  Not good.  I’ll definitely have to think about this.”

Kagdor winked and slapped Trey on the back.  “Anyways my friend, today is a special day.  Do you know why that is?”

Trey shook his head.  “No, I do not.  Why is today special?”

“It is the first day of the pre-games!  Have you heard of the great games that are hosted for the goddess Aktovan?  Well they start quite soon.  But before that there are numerous pre-games that are hosted in the major fighting pits throughout the city, and many displays are put on by the great vampire houses.  Lord Okt wanted me to ask you before he left on his trip if you’d want to consider possibly fighting for House Okt.”

“ME!?” asked Trey bewildered.  He was utterly sure he’d be able to take on most if not all the people here in a one on one fight, but there were a couple reasons why this was a bad idea.  Firstly, he may be far too overconfident in his own abilities - a flaw he recognized immediately.  He had no idea how strong their best fighters were, and vampires were generally supposed to be a tad stronger than any mortal just based on biology.  The second reason it was a bad idea is that he wouldn’t be able to utilize his full set of powers or strengths without displaying who he actually was… which was an absolute no go.  If these undead vampiric blood suckers found out that a demon lord had infiltrated their holy city, it probably wouldn’t go over well.

“Why doesn’t he choose someone who is actually a member?  Wouldn’t that be a disqualification if I wasn’t a member?”

Kagdor chuckled.  “Well we’ll put it this way - if you win enough of the pre-games you’ll be named an official member of the House of Okt.  Consider it a great honor.  Many of the vampires here already have taken a great liking to you, and we all agree that your display of the Ithisel vampires in front of the temple was quite nice.  It gave you extra points in terms of liking.”  He paused.  “But… of course, this all hinges on the fact that you do well in the pre-games.  I am actually supposed to be the one who evaluates you.  We have many other competent fighters entering the games as well, but adding you to the list would be an additional bonus and increase our chances.”

“You have a lot of fighters entering?  Doesn’t that mean there’s a chance you’ll lose a lot of your coven?”

Kagdor smirked.  “No.  The fighting pits are only to the death with slave fights, if vampires are involved they use resurrection spells upon death - but other wards are put in place beforehand to prevent death all together.  That way we don’t lose any good vampires in the process.”

“Oh.” replied Trey.  “So there’s no chance of dying huh.  Interesting.”  He put his hands behind his back and paced twice.  “I wish Lord Okt was here so I can set some parameters.”

“HA!” laughed Kagdor loudly.  “Parameters!?  Do you know how much of an honor it is to get an invitation from the house of OKT!?  You cannot be serious!”

“They aren’t anything serious.” replied Trey.  “And to be fair I think there’s a good chance I’d win against any fighter you have.  So I’m quite the catch myself.”

He said this… but he’d certainly have to be careful in what he allowed people to see in terms of his true strength.

Kagdor bobbed his head back and forth then shrugged.  “Well, I technically was given permission to  barter with you on the topic… as long as they are within reason.  Many of the other vampires agree - based on recommendations Furdom and Tenke - that you’d be a good addition to our roster.  What is it that you want?”

“First and foremost I want Nothel kept safe and completely unharmed.”  Trey stared a stone cold piercing gaze into Kagdor.  “Absolutely nothing will happen to her, that means I want you to deal with the Nami situation.  I want Nothel for myself.  She is to be mine.”

“I figured that would be in the wager, and yes I can do that.  A simple slave trade would be a small price to pay if you were to do well in the games.  Anything else?”

“Just one more thing,” Trey held up a finger, hoping that this would be a foot in the door for his primary goal here after all this blasted time he’d wasted in the city.  “I want to see the temple.  If possible, I want to talk to the high priest of Aktovan.”

“Oh.  The high priest?  I hope you know what you’re asking for.  Visiting the temple is one thing, but the high priest isn’t the kindest of people if the rumors are true.”  Kagdor shrugged unenthusiastically.  “That I don’t know about, and I would have to ask Lord Okt if he could arrange it.  But I’ll tell you this: If you fight for us, at the very least I can guarantee you will receive Nothel as a private slave to do with as you like.  She will not be touched by Nami - effective now, under punishment of excommunication from our house if she does.  The temple is a maybe and cannot be answered by me.  Lastly I will remind you - this all depends on how I evaluate your performance in the pre-games.  If you aren’t as good of a fighter as we hope you to be, the deal may be permanently off.  We only want the best of quality and breed to bear our name, so make a good impression for us.  Do we have a deal?”

“Absolutely.”  Trey stuck out his hand one more time and Kagdor shook it hardily.

“Glad that you’ll likely be joining our ranks Trey.  No matter what happens from here, I can honestly say I’ve taken a liking to you.”

“The same goes to you Kagdor,” replied Trey happily.  “So how about those pre-game fights… what time do I start today?”