Drastic measures

After hearing Selene question, the room became silent. Not only was Castel horrified and surprised with her suggestion, Noelle was also stunned with his Mistress proposal. What was she suggesting is against what she did in all her rule as Matriarch of the clan.

"Mistress are you sure? You may not have seen it, but there are elders in this list... your parents too. Or we are going to exclude them and apply for only the young ones?"

Selene looked at the two and laughed.

"See it for yourself"

She said teasingly. Closing her eyes, a small quantity of mana could be felt leaving her. At the same time, the Tremere emblem, that was a obligatory item to carry, shone brightly and trembled, making every clan member look intently to it.

There were only a few stances that the head of the clan needed to communicate with every member and they were usually not good news.

Holding their emblem tightly, all the members were making thousands of hypothesis about what was their leader's motive.

It didn't took long for a beautiful maiden with icy blue hair and amethyst eyes appeared in front of them.

Not giving time for them to be enthralled in her beauty, the lady opened her mouth and started to relay her purpose.

"Good afternoon, I came today to announce some changes within the clan. Not long ago it was brought to my attention how some of our comrades are repeatedly taking more supplies than it was initially assigned to them. Although I understand some of you may have some kind of necessity, unless you can prove your higher consumption is for the benefit of our clan, you will be either fined with an amount of money or your supply will be cut in the following month"

The woman paused giving them a tone to ingest the bombastic news. Did the clan leader just stopped a millennial practice? Those that were closed to others looked at each other with astonishment in their eyes.

"Because it would be troubling if you guys go in a mad hunt, the clan will provide the opportunity for you to buy with either money or a reduction of your next month supply, which will be calculated depending on how much you take. Of course you can always choose to hunt, but do be careful as it's against the kin rules the indiscriminate hunt of humans. If you get caught I won't save you 'kay?~"

Although she asked in a joking tone, the sharpness in her eyes revealed how serious she was, which sent chills even in the Elders who usually saw her as behaved little girl.

"Also besides the Elders and those retired all the other members must take a test to asses their current level. Even if you a are a Vicount, if you can't beat a Baron without the rank suppression, your supplies will also diminish accordingly"

The girl continued talking happily terrifying words.

"Finally, as an example, Bryn Vin Tremere, the person who was found as the one with the highest consumption, will have his blood supply diminish to 10 for the next six months and will pay 100 gold coins as a form of repentance. He will also have his supply permanently reduced to 15, since although his rank is just one lower than mine, he isn't capable of beating not even a baron currently"

"The patrol guards together with a logistic servant will come to those who owe the clan and will present how much they are expected to pay. If you want to appeal your case or have any complaints, you're more than welcome to come at the main house and have a pleasant talk with me. That's all for now, let's all strive for the improvement of our clan!"

With a cheerful encouragement the woman faded from their views leaving the clan members with different tastes in their mouth.

One thing was for sure, either be happy, skeptical or disdainful, none of those who saw the Matriarch's message stayed indifferent to the new changes in their clan.

It was also the case for the young John. Specially when he heard the last part. With a pale face he dashed to his friend, Bryn. They had to do something!

He hurriedly entered the black modern mansion and saw intoxicated people left and right on the floor. There was also some that were still enjoying each other completely ignoring his presence.

'What are this people doing?! Haven't they saw the clan announcement??'

John scolded in his head.

He proceeded to the inner chambers. Opening one of the many doors in the mansion, a large bathhouse appeared in his eyes. In the main pool, a handsome man was surrounded by beautiful people trying to please him.

John almost cried when he saw the pool.

'Th-This fool! That's why your sister made things so severe! You f*cking deserve it you piece of s*it!'

He cursed Bryn who was bathing in a huge pool filled with blood.

"Hey John, is unusual of you to come to our gatherings, so you want to join us?"

Bryn asked with a carefree smile making John almost punching him.

"You... where is your emblem?"

"Emblem? You mean the clan's? Hmmm don't know. Maybe somewhere upstairs. Why? Is someone giving you some trouble?"

Bryn asked thinking his friend wanted to use his emblem to show he was his people.

"So none of you saw what the clan leader said?"

"No. None of us have the emblem with us. What did sis said? Is she alright?"

The other people also realized something was not right and began to sober up. Just like the ones who saw the announcement they had a bad hunch about the reason of this sudden announcement.

"Haaaa… the clan leader just made an announcement about new rules for blood distribution. You were made as an example. Punished to get 10 blood supplies per month for 6 months and a fine of 100 gold coins. She also said your supply will permanently change for 15. All the others who also take more blood than they are due, will also have to deal with the necessary punishment"

Contrary to John's expectations, Bryn just laughed at the news.

"Don't worry Jojo! Sis loves me the most, there's absolutely no way she would really go through this, it's probably just a smokescreen to those geezers"

John wanted to reply that your sister didn't look like she was joking, but the face slap came faster than his words.

Bam!

The huge door which he entered by not long ago was put down and dozens of black dresses people entered the room, surrounding the pool from all sides. An elegant man with suit entered leisurely the bathhouse releasing his full rank on them. Besides Bryn and the dark patrol, all those present became unable to move.

Seeing who he was Bryn panicked a bit.

"What are you doing here?!"

Even after seeing the derogatory state of his Young Master and his unbecoming scream, Noelle still unaffected and politely answered.

"It seems Young Master already knows Mistress orders, I'm glad to hear. Me? Of course I'm here to take the money and the extra blood you may possibly have"

"You can't do this to me! I'm a Vin Tremere!"

"This was the clan leaders orders. Even your parents must follow what she says"

Noelle shook his head.

"That b*tch! I knew she was always jealous! She's nothing more than a puppet lord what she is pro-"

Before he could finish the sentence he felt his throat being clenched and cold surrounded his body.

"You're nothing but a piece of useless trash. Do you think that without my Mistress mercy you could have today? There was more than one time people asked for your head or your exile. As useless as you are please don't insult my Mistress or else you may be declared as have escaped and never come back" Noelle said in a cold voice filled with murderous intention.

Bryn wanted to refute, but after looking around he saw his true position. His 'friends' had nothing but fear on their faces, and even John who Bryn thought it would help him out, had an impassive face. If even his friends were like this, it was meaningless to say the dark patrol who were direct subjects of the lord.

Noelle threw him away and cleaned his hands as if Bryn was something dirty.

"All of you, dress up and wait for the logistic staff check if you owe something. Only those who were cleared by them can exited the room. You can of course try to escape. This way we can not only check what you owe, we can also asses your level and reallocate the proper resources to you. Please"

Noelle made a gesture for them to exit just like a good butler and all the people in the pool plus John left the room very behaved.

Looking again at the sorry figure in the ground, Noelle addressed to the dark patrol around him.

"Lock him up for a few days for resisting. Our Mistress is trying to make changes and there's no way we can leave liabilities like him around"