529 CHPT 529: War is Politics, Blood is Shifting

Monday March 23rd, 2241. Ra Stadium Complex, The Sunlands….

The sun had set and fallen behind the Sunlandian tournament walls hours ago. So many in fact it was coming again to rise. Splashing the navy blue starlight speckled sky with claw marks of orange and baby blue. He could feel the heat rising through the warming windows around him. Through the liquid Tangent biome at his feet.

It rose, much like his nerves as he stared at Maris. Sleeping like the dead in a bed that wasn't her own. Vampires swelled outside the do—

"Leave!" Rupont hissed at the shadows padding along beneath the slit in the door.

Well, they used to be outside. The scampered off like actual cats this time. Leaving the room no less bizzare.

Three Lupines. Three WereWolves. A Red Queen in the making. A Vampire of unknown origin. And the tension they all created. It was really its own lifeform.

"Arthuria's with us….. to no one surprise." Rupont started.

"I don't know if I'd call being laughed at and belittled like babies…. Allyship." Cassidy commented.

Claude nodded, "That's too close to killing. Especially for someone with no moral compass. Are we not fucked?"

Rupont chuckled as he ran an overly ringed hand through his hair, "Not without consent."

Everyone in the room eyeballed him after his poor joke.

Rupont smiled at everyone as he made the hand gesture for them to calm down, "I'll speak to Sylvia…. And the more she sees of the Red Queen, the more on board she'll be. And if she's not, who's to say her people won't? Ladies and gentlemen, let us not forget, we once worked off myth….. and then she showed herself."

They all looked at Maris— remembering the Red Queen's shroud. Its presence even in death…. Ancestral resurrection.

Claude's nostrils flared. Even now she smelled different. Was she changing already? But then wouldn't that mean she didn't need the WereWolves?

"What about the others. We don't have much longer here and we're only partly sure of one Coven NOT wanting Maris dead immediately." Ursula pressed.

"Hey hey— Pacu Pati is impartial, remember!?" Rupont feigned offense.

"Do you joke about everything?" Ursula questioned in an icy tone.

"Do you choose the worst outfits on purpose or are you blind in the mornings?"

"I don't work on a runway, dumbass."

Maris moved and everyone's eyes darted back to her. For a moment it was silent again as they watched. Studying the old wounds, listening to the beat of her heart.

"Style and appearances is a constant in every walk of life." Rupont whispered.

"This is enough banter now, damn. We need to get to the main discussion of this meeting." Sloane growled. She was about as patient as a lightning bolt.

Claude nodded in agreement. He wasn't very patient either.

Rupont nodded, "Yes, Sloane, I guess you're right. I brought you all here for a very simple reason— a relay of information."

Claude swept his long hair behind his ears.

"Of the Covens, my own, Arthuria and New Gloria are the most charitable. Indus' is impartial and maniacal— driven by trickery and blood. But the others….? No. They're…. Primal. The Summit of the Blooded only works because of the rarity present that can work against their primal lust and the overwhelming number of allied Vampires. In their turf, they kill what moves and asks the spirit questions centuries later."

Claude's face scrunched up angrily.

Rupont smiled knowingly at him, "If I told you this before allowing this…. Supernatural field trip, would you have let Maris do any of this?"

"I can't say for sure."

"I can't either…. Isn't it wonderful?"

Rupont was bizarre….

"So what? We just got played around with— almost caught by The Nine and killed by a Lord of the Herd…. For nothing? We're no better than when we started. Maris! Is no better." Claude threw up his hands. Reflexively, Ursula and Cassidy rested their hands on his shoulders.

Rupont wagged a bejeweled finger at him, "Ah ah ahhhh….. We started a legend, Final Lupine."

The room didn't follow. At least the bulk of it didn't…. If Claude and Ursula were the bulk. Mostly Claude.

"Vampires gossip like young women. It happens when you can hear as well as we do. Think for a moment. A pack of long gone Lupines is returning…. With a Red Queen and the backing of an illustrious Vampire Prince." Rupont threw out his hands like he just showed them a sight to be marveled at. "Those that are intrigued can fall in line. The unknown is scary to even the oldest Vampire….."

The room went cold as Rupont's face darkened…. As if he was referring to something perso—

"And look at all of you!" Rupont the playful ladies man was back in a jarring flash of white teeth and bright eyes. "You are unknown…. Variables in every sense. I did what we needed. I dropped the seeds. Now we wait for growth."

Claude didn't know if he liked that idea. It seemed to perfect for someone who was knee deep in the unfortunate.

"... With a few weeds of course along the way."

"There it is." Claude said on reflex.

Rupont went serious again. "Claude…..You incapacitated an Elder."

"You wanted me to."

"Did I?"

Claude's hands tightened into fists.

Rupont's smile didn't waver. "The point is, you did something very few can claim they did. To Islandia's premier Coven leader. Of a few. He's not exactly like the others. He runs his Coven like a Military Unit. He's probably got all of Islandia on lockdown as we speak and not a human souls knows."

Claude stared.

"I say all this to say, we aren't stepping foot there either. This is your safest place to be…. And even here…. Things are changing before our eyes. Pieces are moving and leaving like a game of chess. Don't let the king take you."

"And who do you think the king is?"

Rupont shrugged, "Maybe it's whoever keeps stealing your classmates."

He remembered thinking that was him.

"Anyways, you all need rest. The final event is today, is it not? I have meetings to prepare for…. Business moves to make involving exorbitant amounts of money. All hail capitalism of the new world."

Everyone got up.

"You may sleep here if you like. There is a kidnapper out there."

"We're good." Claude cut in as Ursula stepped past him and picked up Maris.

Slowly everyone filtered out ahead of Claude. As soon as Ursula and Maris were out, and he saw no Vampires in the bar, he shut the door leaving him and Rupont inside.

Rupont didn't look bothered in the slightest. In fact, he was now laying on the bed with his hands behind his head. Claude never heard— never felt him move. There it was again. Those moments. Like when he casually compelled death. Ruptured reality with raw speed. Shook a room with a word.

"Well?" Rupont questioned.

"Why were you in FeliAlu City?"

Rupont squinted his eyes and situated himself, "I was checking in on the New Glorian Vampire coven— they're in the start up stages. Thought I'd stop by the city for Heroes….. and Gambling."

Claude was silent.

"Plus, I'm close with The Red Knight…. I was present for the birth of his son…. Or daughter—. I can't seem to remember. It was a large baby."

"So finding me…. Just happened to be—"

"Do not say fate. I'll scalp myself and turn into a husk on these velvet sheets in an instant." Rupont cut him off.

"Then what? I'm tired of all this tip toe bullshit."

Rupont nodded, "Truly, it was chance. Right place right time."

"Right…?" Claude questioned.

"Do you think otherwise?"

"I think chance like that doesn't come twice."

Rupont shrugged.

"You also just happened to be next to the Druid. The same one that told me a man with the name Fiara ruined his second life. No. You did it Rupont."

Rupont didn't have a remark this time.

Claude let each seed rest inside the curve of his black claws sit calmly, hidden in his Druidic cloak. Out of fear that Rupont could hear magic he didn't use any.

"You— like all Vampires, have a thirst for what you find interesting…. Rare. You— unlike other Vampires, are closer with shifters. What, did you feel entitled to the shifter Witch? Did you think you could raise Lilith better than the Druids? Why would you kill a whole grove of people?….. why haven't you acted similarly with me even in times when I had nothing to offer you? You could easily say you have your Red Queen— play me, cross me, convert Maris. But we're here. Why?"

Rupont didn't say anything immediately after. Instead, he calmly sat up and approached the window. Fiddling with his rings seemed to delay his reply a while longer, "Like any man fighting an addiction for…. Too long, I've made mistakes in my life. But listen closely when I say this. That was NOT who I am…."

"[What a weird way to say that…]"

"Yea." Claude agreed.

Sloane knocked on the door. He could tell by the smell.

He turned to open the door.

"What are you doing, Alpha?"

Claude turned to show Rupont but nobody was there.

"Chasing a ghost I guess."

Sloane raised an eyebrow at him, "You need to get back before sunrise. Your final event is quite deadly I hear."

"Haven't they all been?"

"Not like this one."

Claude sighed and headed out of the room, letting his claws cut deep cuts in the walls where his seeds could rest.

Ruponts words weren't enough. But Claude couldn't take a side in a gamble that wasn't entirely his own. So if everything went sideways, maybe someone like RedVine could learn what happened and avenge him. Hopefully it never ever came to that.

Not when he was so close…..

So very close.

So close he felt scared to move at times. But also so close he felt more alive than ever.