Chapter 131-A bloody heaven

Chapter 131: 131-A bloody heaven

"Careful. She’s an enemy!"

Addessa immediately looked up at the warning. Her gaze traveled past Maisa and settled on the figure walking ahead of them and caught Katrina’s back.

The blackblood’s eyes narrowed slightly. She recognized her instantly. Who wouldn’t?

Katrina Feisser was hardly an unknown name at Veris Academy. She belonged to the senior class and had earned a reputation few could rival.

She was the first, and so far, the only, mixedblood in her class to achieve honours roles and awards, an accomplishment that had earned her both admiration and resentment from vampires who believed someone of mixed blood had no business standing above them academically.

But Katrina’s achievements weren’t limited to the classroom. She was exceptionally skilled in vampirism and elemental magic, particularly water manipulation. Among the senior students, she was regarded as one of the most formidable practitioners of her element and then there was the company she kept.

That alone made Katrina nearly untouchable. She was Taratoya’s loyal soldier on the ground: the person who stood beside her when things became dangerous and acted when Taratoya didn’t need to. She got her hands dirty so Taratoya didn’t have and ever so often, they aligned interests for evil.

Crossing Katrina wasn’t simply crossing another student. It was risking the attention of Taratoya herself and that was a mistake almost no vampire at Veris Academy was foolish enough to make.

Addessa looked back at Maisa. "What do you mean she’s an enemy?" her voice carried genuine curiosity.

She couldn’t understand how someone like Katrina had ended up on Maisa’s list of enemies. "What happened between you two?"

"She’s the one who tried to kill Taratoya," Maisa blurted out.

Addessa raised an eyebrow. "Katrina?" the disbelief in her voice was immediate. "Katrina tried to kill Taratoya?"

It sounded absurd. Almost as absurd as claiming the sun would suddenly rise in the west. There was no place in existance, either heaven, earth or he’ll where Katrina would turn against her evil master. They were practically attached to the hip.

Maisa nodded frantically. "Had I not intervened and saved her, she would have killed her!"

The memory of the lake flashed through Maisa’s mind. The water vampire coming for Taratoya, the attack and Taratoya desperately trying to escape the threat.

Maisa’s panic returned all over again. "She must have tracked us down!" Maisa looked toward Katrina’s retreating figure. "We need to gather everyone. If she’s here to finish what she started, we have to stop her before..."

"Do that," Addessa interrupted coldly, "and you will learn exactly what it means to have your blood bent to serve a battle."

Maisa stopped. "What do you mean?"

She didn’t see why Addessa would hype Katrina up so much, she had beaten the vampire before, she was confident she could do it again.

Addessa caught her by the arm and pulled her firmly in the opposite direction. "Katrina Feisser is the strongest water practitioner in the academy right now," she glanced toward the distant figure. "And that’s not even the most dangerous thing about her."

Maisa’s brows furrowed. "Then what is?"

Addessa’s expression became serious. "Her loyalty," she gave Maisa another tug before the girl attracted Katrina over. "She is lethally loyal to Taratoya."

Maisa fell silent. The image at the lake appeared in her head again. The sound of Taratoya screaming for help pierced hee ears. That scene didn’t look like loyalty at all, it was a death trap because Katrina lured Taratoya next to a water source and had all the advantage in the fight.

"Don’t be foolish enough to start a war neither you nor your ancestors could finish."

Maisa stared at Addessa. She had no idea what to say. Slowly, she looked back over her shoulder.

Katrina was already disappearing down the corridor, her long crimson hair swaying behind her as she walked.

There was no sign of aggression, no murderous intent and no trace of the terrifying water vampire Maisa remembered from the lake. She looked like just a girl calmly walking away.

Maisa’s stomach twisted. Something wasn’t adding up. The scene at the lake had been so clear in her memory.

Katrina had attacked Taratoya, Taratoya had fought back and she had intervened and saved Taratoya. So why did eve Addessa speak about Katrina as though she were completely trustworthy?

Was Katrina simply that good at pretending to be loyal to Taratoya? Had she fooled an entire academy into believing she was loyal, honorable, and harmless while hiding something far darker beneath the surface? Or was Maisa the one who had misunderstood everything?

She swallowed. The possibility unsettled her more than she wanted to admit. For the first time, Maisa wondered whether she had been too quick to trust what she had seen and if she had been wrong about Katrina... what else had she misunderstood about Taratoya?

Maisa pushed the matter away for the moment and followed Addessa deeper into the mansion until they reached its very heart, far beyond the guest rooms and grand corridors.

The architecture gradually changed as they descended, the elegant halls giving way to ancient stone walls engraved with symbols Maisa couldn’t recognize. The farther they went, the warmer the air became, until a faint mist began curling along the floor.

Then Addessa opened a massive set of dark wooden doors. "We are here."

Maisa stopped in her tracks. Beyond them was the sacred blood pool. It was enormous-large enough to accommodate more than twenty vampires comfortably.

The surface of the deep crimson liquid rippled gently beneath the dim lights, releasing waves of heat into the chamber. Bubbles rose lazily from beneath the surface, popping one after another and releasing more steam into the air.

Mist drifted across the room in thick, swirling layers, softening the edges of everything around them.

Maisa stared at it in awe. "Wow. Definitely doesn’t look like a sacrifical altar."

Addessa stepped inside. "Come on. You’re already here."

Maisa followed her lead. The moment they crossed the threshold, Addessa closed the heavy doors behind them and secured the lock, sealing the chamber shut.

The steam immediately thickened. Maisa inhaled the air inside and her entire body seemed to respond as relief washed through her almost instantly.

The scent of blood filled the chamber, rich and unmistakable, carried through the warm steam and surrounding her from every direction. Her senses sharpened despite her exhaustion, and the invitation coming from the pool became almost impossible to ignore.

The battle she just survived, the strange figure who saved, Lumi being possesed, Katrina not being who she thought and even Addessa’s suspicious kindness. For a moment, all of it disappeared beneath the overwhelming pull of the blood.

Maisa didn’t fight it. She hurried toward the pool. Whatever Addessa was planning, the mystery surrounding Katrina and all her problems could wait.

If this was some elaborate attempt to sacrifice her, Maisa would worry about it later. Right now, she needed more of what she was tasting in the air.

She stepped into the pool and warmth immediately surrounded her. It wasn’t scalding or uncomfortable. Instead, the temperature was almost perfectly balanced, sinking into her tired body and soothing the exhaustion that had settled deep within her muscles.

Maisa released a quiet breath. "Oh..." she blushed, and lowered herself farther into the crimson water.

The warmth seemed to seep through every place the battle had left aching, while the magical properties of the pool gradually eased the heaviness weighing on her body.

Addessa watched from behind. "And here she thought I wanted to sacrifice her," she shook her head at the memory of that ridiculous suggestion.

She didn’t stop her from enjoying herself. Instead, the blackblood stepped into the pool after her, moving with far more composure than Maisa had managed.

Maisa barely noticed her. She was too busy experiencing the strangest sensation.

After only a minute, she no longer wanted to leave the pool. Ever. She sank deeper into the soothing warmth until only her head remained above the surface.

Her eyes slowly closed. "This is..." she struggled to find the right word. "A bloody Heaven."

Addessa gave a quiet snort. "Don’t get too comfortable."

Maisa immediately opened one eye. "Why?"

"Because eventually you’ll have to leave," she killed her happiness. "And only high borns can open the door to this room so... Good luck getting back in later," she flashed her a wink.

Maisa looked genuinely horrified. "Why would you say something so cruel?"

Addessa laughed softly. She couldn’t name it, bit messing with Maisa was starting to feel fun and less of a task. It was pleasing to see the many ways her face can twist in displeasure.

"I won’t need company forever. So soak in as much as you can... while you can," she smiled deeply and leaves back.

Maisa scoffed and splashed the blood. "Did you turn evil from pressure or were you born like this?"