Dear Journal,
How unjust this life has been, so much that I had died for the 'crime' of simply existing.

                                                      - 𝓔𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓼 𝓢𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓮
                                                                 (1605)

Emma was in a dour mood.

Elias had left and Baltazaar had awoken, setting these two realities to become the driving force for her irritableness.

Her servants however, tried to pamper her in order to lift her spirits. They washed her hair as they gave her a bath. Fed her then draped her in a fine, red and gold brocade gown. Her dark brown tresses were curled loosely to fall around her neck in order to hide her bite marks and emphasize the splendor of the dainty gold crown atop of her head and glistening beauty of Elias's necklet. They also spoke words of encouragement and reassurance onto her, allowing her to gain the will and piece of mind she needed to visit her brother.

Making her way down the hallway towards Baltazaar's chambers, she tried to embrace the content feeling that lingered in her subconscious. Elias had left because he deemed it necessary in their survival and the impending war so she decided that she would believe in him, his victory and his safe return. She hoped that her forgetfulness in telling him the result of Baltazaar's attack would not set him back and be a major mistake on her part.

Words could not explain how much she already missed him. Her heart yearned for his close proximity and her skin pleaded for his touch. She was grateful for the memories he had left behind and she could not wait to be in his arms once more.

Entering the room, she saw Baltazaar propped up against his wooden headboard with Zelda tucked in beside him. Their hands were entangled as she laid her head against his shoulder lovingly, Zelda not bothering to move as she normally would whenever Emma had caught them displaying their affection.

"Shut the door behind you." Baltazaar ordered, scowling at his sister.

Closing the door, she walked over to the front of his bed, clasping her hands below her waist as she waited for him to speak. Her face held no emotion as she stared at her twin with an unwavering gaze. He looked to be in better health than the day before as his skin had returned to its lively color and his eyes were once again ignited with wickedness.

"I was told of all the happenings in Asphal. Elias has chosen a second and as since left the castle." He said.

Emma did not speak. She knew the outcome of her unreserved speech so she just listened and waited.

"You had one f*cking job!" He shouted at her. Zelda flinched at his outburst, removing her head from his shoulder.

"Calm down, Baz." Zelda chimed in.

"Forgive me, my Prince." Emma said respectfully.

"What is that on your neck?" Baltazaar asked incredulously, withdrawing his hands from Zelda's.

Placing a hand to her neck, Emma covered her wound, her emotionless expression never faltering.

"You are nothing but a disappointment and a whore." Baltazaar spat.

"Baltazaar, enough!" Zelda exclaimed.

"Stay out of it! You lied to me and I can never forgive you for it. You know my dreams and aspirations; you know me!" He said to her, moving from her side as he mustered enough strength to stand.

His white linen shirt was ruffled and crushed and his hair, which was usually well kempt was a mess from having slept so restlessly. He walked over to face Emma, glowering down at her as they drifted off into each other's identical eyes.

"Zelda has informed me of the consequences of my attack," he said as he gazed at her, "I suppose I no longer need your lover."

"Good." Emma said. She was not surprised when her head snapped to the side from the impact of Baltazaar striking her across the face.

Slowly, she turned to him, licking the blood from her lip as it bled from the assault.

"I'm going to win this war. Then, I'll deliver his head on the pillow of your bed." He said nastily.

Clenching her jaws, Emma let her mouth slip into a smirk.

"We will see." she said to him.

Shocked by her retort, Baltazaar was unable to find words. Emma would usually respond to his taunts with tears, not threats.

"Is that all, my prince?" Emma spat.

Before he could answer, she spoke again.

"The wedding is 3 days." She hissed. "Excuse me."

With that, Emma left his chambers, jolting his shoulder as she passed him. She was tired of being treated like bottom of the barrel scum. She was a princess and a half-fae. She too had power and she now realized that she did not need to be accepting of Baltazaar's mistreatment. If Elias was taking a stand to make things right in the world then she could too, starting with this castle.

She was not to be bossed around and beaten by a mad man with a weaker claim to the throne than her as far as everyone else knew. She would awaken her power and be rejoined with Elias. She would help him in all his goals and they would be triumphant in any obstacle they faced, as long as they had each other.

Elias was calm in his declaration of revenge.

The situation at hand was already so bizarre, that a simple minded individual would collapse under the weight of confusion. He had led a good life, working hard and providing for his wife and himself only to be put to the sword because he was related to an ancient witch's lover.

He could sympathize with Odelina's feelings of anger and need for retribution because she had made his situation similar. He did not deserve to die simply for her higher plan and he could not see how she thought he would even dream of helping her once he learned the truth.

He paced Annora's room quietly as he thought about all he had learned, he and Syrus both guarding their thoughts from each other.

Annora studied them in silence. She was a little stunned earlier to see the vampires but as an enchantress, she knew that anything was possible in a world filled with magic. She scolded herself for not noticing the identical marks on their necks earlier even though she had never seen a Vylisian's soul lock upfront since these creatures were very private beings, only coming out at night for food. The vampires radiated pure but tainted energy, power and love. It felt marvelous to feed off their auras.

"What happened to the elders?" Elias finally asked.

"Most of them eventually died. The Lenore coven was dismantled due to the decision of putting Odelina to death. Alot of faes did not agree but our mother was adamant because the magical creatures who lost their kind after Elijah's terror wanted blood." Annora told him.

"And the Vylisians?" Syrus chimed.

"I- No... how should I put this? They killed themselves." Annora whinced as if recalling a painful memory.

"What?" Syrus asked.

"I don't understand it either. After Odelina's apparent death, they waited til the morning in the open. Watching the sun rise as they caught fire, eventually burning to ash." Annora frowned.

"All of them?" Elias asked.

Nodding at them, Annora watched as he and Syrus exchanged horrified glances.

"What is your plan, Elias? What are your goals?" Annora asked, interrupting the silence.

"I want everyone involved in my demise, especially Odelina, to pay for it and I want to rule this kingdom, not destroy it." He told her.

"You're not ready to take her on." Annora said. "You have barely scratched the surface of your truest potential."

"Tell her about the banquet." Syrus urged him.

Recalling the episode he had at Emma's banquet, Annora's face fell worried as she listened to the story of his transformation.

"You said your anger spurred this?" Annora frowned.

"Not anger; rage." Elias explained. "It was blinding fury that had engulfed me."

Annora stood as she walked over to her single window. The entire room had been enchanted as the regular eye could not see it. She watched as the people of Murrfell bustled about their business as she tried to make sense of what Elias had just shared. She had heard talks of it from her elders as a child but it was debunked as an ancient Vylisian myth. As an enchantress, she was suppose to know everything there was about the magic existing in this world.

"Something has been bothering me." Syrus said, plucking Annora from her thoughts.

"If this happened about 100 years ago, why was Elias the chosen one? Why not his grandfather or his father?" Syrus asked.

"It has to do with his mother, though I'm not sure. Only Odelina really knows." Annora answered.

"And about your transformation, I'm not entirely sure what it is but I'd like to see you fight before I make an assumption." She told him.

"See me fight?" Elias questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes fight. You need to be trained. You need an army. You need allies. If things go as she planned, Odelina's revolt should take place in the winter. I believe that is enough time for everyone to prepare." Annora said.

"A winter war." Syrus said lowly, gazing at his boots.

"You need underlings. Not only Syrus nor only vampires. Odelina's reappearance did not only awaken you but the real magic of the kingdoms. Creatures who had been hiding, who had been hibernating, they have awoken and they are ready to reclaim their places in the world. We will need all the help we can get." Annora said earnestly.

"We?" Elias asked. "You would stand against your sisters for me? For us? Why?"

"It is how it was prophesized to be." She smiled kindly. "You can never go against fate. I know that better than anyone. Besides, I've been shut inside my own world for too long. It is time to face the music once more and fix my mistakes."

"Eli." Syrus interrupted.

Unguarding his thoughts for him to hear, Elias wanted to roll his eyes as he listened to Syrus's annoying plea. Refraining from doing so as he did not want a fight, he decided to ask Annora since Syrus would not stop pestering him until he was given what was promised.

"Ugh.. Annora. Does Jack Vars still have a brothel in town?" He asked.

Murrfell was not too far from Marewood so Elias knew quite a bit about the town since he would occasionally venture here to look seek sales for his jewelry.

"A brothel?" Annora asked, raising her eyebrows as she looked between the two.

She had forgotten that vampires were said to be very sexual creatures. They relished carnal affection as it enhanced the euphoric feeling of drinking blood and they didn't discriminate when it came to gender.

"Ah, yes but.." Annora stood, grabbing her cloak from the back of the chair that was still at her table.

"If you are really serious, I know a place; a better place." She told them.

"It doesn't matter where." Syrus stood up.

"Okay." She said smirking while putting on her cloak. "Follow me."

Exiting the room, Annora locked her shop with an enchantment before they set off through the streets of Murrfell to Annora's secret spot.

Syrus's vicious blood thirst had dwindled to nothing which pleased Elias as he seemed more in control and relaxed than before.

They followed Annora to well built tavern located a small walk from her shop. It had no windows or signs which Elias found strange. Not to mention that it seemed as if the townfolk of Murrfell were ignoring its very existence.

They watched as a two children played frivolously, laughing as they ran towards the shop. Syrus stopped himself from flinching just as they were about to collide into the door but was left stunned when the tavern shimmered, allowing them to pass right through it.

Taken aback by what had happened, Annora smiled at their reactions before beckoning them forward.

As Elias entered the establishment, a wave of nostalgia washed over him as he took in the familiar setting of a dimly lit ambience that came with tables filled with boisterous men gulping down ale and wine while being served by women who effortlessly handled the platters of steel mugs as if they had been doing it for millennia.

Despite this familiarity, their difference energy could not be ignored. The building was steaming with pure magical energy, each coming from every soul in the tavern indicating that this was no ordinary place and these were no ordinary people.

Infact, looking closer at them, Elias soon realized that some of them did not resemble people at all. There were men with green skin and bulbous eyes, faces that looked less human and more beast, women with sharp talons and beaks. Some quarreled and laughed while others sang songs about dragons and elves in a drunken stupor as the women in their laps giggled at their state of intoxication.

"What is this place?" Syrus asked, twitching as his senses tingled from the smell of wine. He could not understand how he had become a budding alcoholic overnight.

"This," Annora smiled at the room, "is Love City."

Confused, Elias and Syrus stared at her for an explanation.

"This is where people like us go to have a good time. No humans, just beasts." She beamed. "Only people with magical ties can see it. It does not exist to the human eye. Those kids passed right through it because to them, it is not real." She went on to explain.

Elias was floored by this revelation. All these people were not actually people at all. They were supernatural beings; creatures of sorcery inside a building that was like a mirage to the average eye. He wondered how many other places like this existed.

"Come on, the brothel is around the back." Annora said before walking off.

Elias and Syrus followed her, watching as she wedged her small frame between a man with a horn for a nose and another with craggy green skin.

"John! Hello. I want to get around the back." Annora shouted over the noise, withdrawing a satchel full of coins from her cloak and droppin it on the wooden counter before her.

"Back again so soon Nora? Don't you ever get tired?" The man named John turned to her.

Elias noticed that John had only one large eye and eight beefy fingers in total.

"So soon?" Syrus turned to Elias. "Is she a bloody sybarite?"

"How do you know that word?" Elias squinted at him.

"I could never." They heard Annora say. "I brought friends this time."

Picking up the satchel from the counter, John grinned as he shook his head at her. Atleast his teeth are normal, Elias thought.

"Head on around. Enjoy!" John told her as he tended to another customer.

Withdrawing herself from the counter, Annora headed to the left of the room. The three made their way down a narrow hallway lit up by torches. At the end of the hall was a stone wall.

Despite the dead end, Annora placed her palm on the wall and chanted. They watched as it became transparent and penetrable, revealing another room on the other side of it.

"Come on boys." Annora said, her voice filled with excitement as she walked inside.

Glancing at each other, Syrus shrugged his shoulders at Elias before following her.

As Elias followed, his eyes felt marred by the sight before him. They had been transported into another room almost as large as a castle's great hall but resembling a community bathhouse. It felt impossible that such a place existed behind the tavern but the mere fact that they had just walked through wall dismissed any trace of doubt in his mind.

With a relatively high ceiling and marvelous, white stone walls, the room was a dimly lit with several torches on all four of them. A large, rectangular pool lined with steps around the perimeter was located in the centre of the room while a group of doors could be seen on the other side of it.

People free of their clothing could be seen in the water engaging in coitus and other venereal activities as naked women served wine to the on lookers on land. The bathhouse was filled with noises of sensual acts. Elias found it hard to ignore more than anything else.

There were stationary wooden trays with jugs and goblets filled with the drink down the middle of the pool, indicating that it was an act of magic that allowed it to be immobile.

Elias had no idea how he had not noticed at first but there were two naked women stationed at the entrance when they stepped through the wall, offering to take their clothing but were turned down by Elias.

"This isn't a brothel," Elias said. "This is a stew."

"Well, yes." Annora smiled. "There are beds in the back if you lot are shy." She teased as she removed her cloak, handing to the woman closest to her.

"Are they human?" Syrus questioned, his eyes fixated on the door girl's chest.

"They are not." Annora laughed while she undressed. "They are called shifter pixies and they work here. Look at their ears."

As Syrus removed his gaze from the woman's bosom, he glanced at her pointy ear before dropping his gaze back to her chest.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Elias asked Annora as she tried to wiggle out of her dress.

"I'm removing my clothing. What does it look like I'm doing?" She retorted, after which she asked Syrus to unzip her dress.

Smirking, the young vampire obliged as he peeled her out of the black velvet material.

"We are the only persons fully clothed in here." Annora said again as she walked ahead of them, letting her dress fall to the ground.

Looking at her from behind, the vampires could not help but admire her gorgeous physique.

"Aren't you two coming? Literally?" She smirked at them, then headed off towards the pool.

"I will not be going in." Elias said to Syrus as he watched him remove his jacket.

"Stop being such an old man, Eli. Look around you. There's wine and women, women and wine. I don't see any male shifter pixies but I guess I can't have it all." He tittered as he handed both his jacket and Annora's dress to one of the door girls.

"You can't come here and just watch. You'll look like a pervert." He mocked.

Elias stared at the black tribal mark on Syrus's neck, instinctively rubbing his while Syrus removed his boots. They had appeared after their siring was complete but he did not know what they meant or stood for.

Looking off to the pool, Annora could be seen filling a goblet with wine at the stationary self serve bar.

"Look," Syrus said as he turned to Elias before placing his hands on his shoulders, "you don't have to do anything then. You can just watch." He shrugged, playfully smirking at his sire.

"Don't touch me while your naked. It's strange." Elias scolded him.

Laughing, Syrus headed for the pool, swimming to the middle to fetch himself a drink.

Heaving a great sigh, Elias began to remove his boots. He had expected a regular brothel and planned to stand outside and let Syrus enjoy himself while he thought of his next move for this revolution. He was in no way expecting a pool filled with magical beings engaging in orgies.

Giving the pixie his clothing, he headed for the water. Sinking into the pool, he rested his arms on the bottom steps as he watched Syrus who had surprisingly gotten the attention of not one, but two women.

Shaking his head, he leaned his head back on the steps as he stared off into the high ceiling.

"You're not having fun." Annora said as she swam towards him.

"This was not for me. It was for him." Elias said, using his head to point at very preoccupied Syrus. He wondered how in the world he knew how to simultaneously handle two women.

"What is for you then?" Annora enquired, swimming dangerously close to Elias.

"No one here." He said strongly.

"You have a lover?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

When he didn't answer, she fell backwards, floating on her back while staring at the ceiling.

She was surprised at this revelation. Vampires did not usually take a single lover. They were known to be wild and free spirited in every aspect of their lives.

"Are you angry with me?" She asked as Elias tried to keep his gaze on her face. The sound of moans practically echoed inside the spacious room.

"I'm angry at everyone." Elias said.

"I understand." Annora told him. "That is why I shall help you."

Elias was quiet, stealing a glance at Syrus who was having the time of his life. He was lucky he did not need to breath or he was sure to suffocate given his current endeavor.

"Are you sure you do not want to partake?" Annora asked again. "I don't mind as long as you do not catch feelings after." She smiled.

"I'm... sure." Elias let out, frowning at Syrus's wild antics. He would seem as if he was actually the sybarite.

Laughing at Elias's troubled and strained expression Annora swam towards Syrus, joining in on his threeway.

Grimacing at them all, Elias turned his head to the ceiling once more, his thoughts on Emma and the night before and how much he wished she was here with him.

Night had fallen when they left the brothel and Syrus and Annora were in the best of moods.

"I cannot believe you did not take part." Syrus said to Elias.

"Shut up." Elias shunned him.

"You really are an old man. Even Annora let me.." Syrus began to say but was interrupted.

"Do not repeat it Syrus!" Annora scolded him.

"You two are disgusting." Elias scowled at them, making them both laugh at him.

Elias's annoyance soon turned to suspicion as a familiar pungent odor invaded his nostrils.

"Syrus..." he said, interrupting the vampire's amusement.

"What is it?" Annora frowned.

"A werewolf?" Syrus sniffed, the trio stopping in middle of the street.

"I know this scent." Elias stated, following the smell to the front of Annora's shop.

A man dressed in a brown tunic and belt stood before the door, staring at the sign.

"What are you doing here?" Elias asked him. He had hoped the strangeness of the day would end at night fall.

Slowling turning around, the man greeted him.

"Elias Steele," he said. "Nice to see you again."

"I can't say the same," Elias spat, staring into the familiar face of Damien.

—————————————————

So just a quick note. I had to change Syrus's age so he's a year older than before. I'm going to change Elias's age once this book is finished as well.

(Trying to adhere to wattpad's guidelines as they are removing books for even minor things)

Also, I tried to make the brothel scene as decent as possible lol . If I decided to publish this book, it will be alot more explicit. Infact, I actually wrote the explicit version already🤣

Thank you for all the love and support❤️ I really can't say this enough.