13 Blackfang's Folly

Within the Blackfang clan, the generals and commanders were currently training. Rufus was leading the training exercise as he surveyed the surrounding vampires with keen eyes. All of them wielded swords and were swinging them like a medieval military training exercise. 

"You have to infuse the spell you damn idiots..."

Rufus was one of the best in terms of the martial magic taught by Felix the head in the clan. The way in which this martial magic functioned was especially unique. Felix developed this method after a century of honing it himself, it allowed those who wielded a weapon to infuse 'spells' into their weapons. A sword was the easiest weapon to infuse as it was simple, however Felix was unbounded by this limitation which was why he was so dangerous.

Still, it was a very boorish magical art as it needed the learner to be physically able to some degree as well. Most common witches and wizards didn't like this as when they get older their body would naturally wither. With it withering away, the muscle strength needed would disappear meaning all their lives training this method would be for naught, hence wands and staves were far more sort after as even an old wizard could wield a wand with ease. Dumbledore for instance was a prime example of this.

This limitation didn't apply to vampires though due to their lengthy lifespan. Felix Blackfang understood this and decided to go down this path strictly due to this reason. He honed this technique and cultivated this brutal method of magical casting with a sword as the conduit. It was incredibly hard to manage at first, and most vampires would take at least a couple of decades just to get the hang of it as there was no assistance. After all, it was on the same level as learning how to do wandless magic off the bat. There was no 'core' within a sword to guide a wizard or witch so it was essentially a combination of wandless magic and sword arts.

Rufus sighed as he looked around. Most of the commanders and generals here did have a grip on the technique but watching some of them struggle left him lamenting. Felix once told him that if all of the commanders within the clan could train to at least Rufus' level, their force would become incredibly formidable in the black forest.

"Commander Rufus!"

Running out from the forest was a vampire who had a distressed expression on his face. He was panting as he caught his breath in front of Rufus after calling out to him. Rufus stared at him coldly and spoke;

"What is it?"

"Well... two of ours have gone missing around the perimeter, we've searched but can't find any sign of them. I believe it was..."

Rufus grew increasingly angry as he heard the reports.

"God fucking damn it! That brazen man!"

Rufus was confident this was the handy work of Jason Blightheart, he was meticulous and had covered literally all tracks of any fight here. If he left even a little sign of his appearance in the Blackfang Domain then they had every right to call a meeting with the Blighthearts but at this point Jason could easily deny it.

"I told every single one of you how dangerous that man was and now look what's happened! We may be strong in physical combat but it seems some of your damn brains haven't developed!"

The training Vampires all gulped as they listened to Rufus fly off the handle. He was seething with rage. Before they had the drop on Jason, and if the Vampires within the clan didn't overestimate themselves then maybe they could have solved this easily. However now Jason had the upper hand. He had attacked them in the open, covered his tracks and departed like this was his own backyard.

"Commander Rufus... Maybe we can contact the Blighthearts still?"

"Don't be a damn fool. Do you remember what the head said about them? They will take any chance they get to expand their domain. Currently we have no evidence to back our claims. If we give them any leeway in this now, they can use it as an excuse to wage a war within this forest..."

Rufus turned to look towards the building currently housing Axel.

"Maybe that boy is more trouble than he's worth... he's going to cause a goddamn war in this forest just by being in that man's sights"

Rufus couldn't help but contemplate for a moment chucking Axel out of the clan. They had already helped him a fair bit and they had no right to look after him.

"When is the head set to return Rufus? Did he mention it to you?"

"I have no idea... He could come back tonight, in a week or in several months. You know how he is, his concept of time is warped after living a long life. To him a month can feel like a day..."

Rufus stood before all the vampires who murmured to each other at the current happenings. He closed his eyes for a moment to collect his thoughts before commanding;

"Tighten our perimeter even more from now! Any sign of anything strange IMMEDIATELY contact me. We cannot let one crazed madman tear us apart so easily".

All the vampires headed off after hearing Rufus' words and left Rufus on his own in the training grounds area. He departed off to go talk to Axel, wanting to let him know the current happenings around the forest…

.

Looking at the bowl of food in front of me, I felt a sigh escape my lips. Whilst it was nice to get food consistently unlike before, I had sacrificed my freedom for it which left me stifled. I couldn't help but think that I could just end up being stuck in this cell for years at this point.

Musing to myself for a while, I started to hear a slight commotion outside. The vampires in the clan were talking amongst themselves about something that had happened. I started to feel the sinking suspicion that this change in the clan was related to me in some way.

As I tried to listen in more to the talks around the clan I could hear from my cell, footsteps sounded outside my cell and seemed to be approaching me. I turned my head towards the cell door and saw Rufus Blackfang approaching me with a dark expression on his face. Compared to the slightly whimsical attitude he showed when we first spoke, he seemed to be looking at me a lot colder now.

Approaching my cell door he stopped just at the bars and stared into my eyes deeply. After a moment of silence, he started to speak.

"Two of our generals have died."

"…dead? Is it-"

"That's right, Jason made his move".

Jason Blightheart, that maniac wizard who viewed me as a possession really killed two vampire generals of the Blackfang clan in order to try and get to me. I knew his was a dark wizard and his moral compass was skewed after my first talk with Rufus, but hearing he had actually killed two Vampire generals just to try and get to me in some way caused shivers down my back.

"Honestly Axel, I'm starting to contemplate whether its worth keeping you here. The Vampires of the clan are already debating whether we should break our normal status quo, waiting for the head to return, in order to either kill you or cast you away"

Listening to Rufus' words, I had no rebuttal. I had already been helped greatly by the Blackfangs even if I was locked up. I had been fed and my obscurus had been suppressed with this device on my chest. They didn't owe me any more than this. As the cell grew silent the drips of water from the ceiling echoed throughout the silence as me and Rufus stared at each other. I sighed and closed my eyes sitting down on the bed I had in the cell.

"So, what are you going to do Rufus. Did you come here to put me down?"

Rufus' demeanour seemed to be greatly shaken at my words, as if he was not expecting that sort of reply from an 8-year-old boy. I mean, if I was in his shoes id definetly be shocked hearing such words from a boy my age…

"My opinion stays the same, I will await the head to return first as is the rules of our clan. I just wanted to notify you on what was going on here currently. Ill leave you now."

Rufus quickly left leaving me alone in the cell with my thoughts. His abrupt exit made me think he may have changed his mind after my words in that conversation. At first it seemed he was truly ready to kill me there and then but his choice seemed to change near the end, probably out of pity…

.

Jason barged back into the Blightheart manor with rage embedded deeply in his cold eyes. Every member of the Blighthearts who saw him enter the manor instinctively knew not to talk to him in this moment. They all watched as he walked quickly through the foyer of the manor and towards the stairs down to his study.

Jason quickly descended the stairs and opened the door to his room. Looking to his left he saw Dron who was still sat on the stool, Dron's eyes quivered as he saw the malice in Jason's eyes.

"M-Master Jason, y-y-you told me not to move"

Jason clicked his tongue ignoring Dron for now as time was of the essence. He went over to his work station that had a myriad of potion ingredients, runes and magical beast materials scattered all around it.

Looking over to his cauldron, a plan started to form in his head. He reached into his pocket taking out two locks of hair. 

"They will be suspicious if they see me as one of these dead fools… but it can buy me at least a fraction of precious time if something goes awry…"

Jason went over to one of his shelves and pulled out a potion vial, dropping the hairs inside and letting the potion fizz as it came into contact with the hairs.

"Ill only have one chance, I need to act before anything else can happen"

Jason departed the manor seemingly as soon as he arrived, apparating back towards the Blackfang clans domain…