Chapter 80: A Bratty Vampire Queen?

The black-robed assassins didn’t move.

Neither did Lillith. She perched atop the stack of drained bodies, her membranous wings folding and unfolding with lazy arrogance, her golden-streaked eyes scanning the remaining operatives like a predator deciding which prey to play with first.

The leader had gone very still. His earlier confidence had evaporated the moment seven of his light mages hit the ground as husks.

"A vampire queen..."

He repeated, quieter this time.

"The Federation has invited devils inside its borders..."

"Devils?"

Lillith tilted her head, and the motion was uncanny. Too smooth, too deliberate, as if her evolution had made even the smallest movement absurdly efficient.

"Devil? That’s definitely an understatement."

She laughed, and the sound of it snapped the leader into action. He barked an order, and the remaining black-robes converged on her position, seemingly forgetting Seraph entirely.

It was useless.

Lillith only had to point her fingers downward. The blood inside every operative answered, and one by one, including the leader, they were brought to their knees, gasping, clawing at their own chests as their bodies betrayed them.

"Pathetic..."

So this was the power of a vampire who’d fed on a mortal with two souls and a core gifted by the Fey Queen herself. Titania alone was already a lesser deity. Whatever Lillith had become, calling her a lesser goddess wouldn’t have been wrong.

"You. Woman. For protecting my master, I’ll let you have the satisfaction of killing them."

"Satisfaction?"

"Don’t hide it from me. My eyes see all. Whatever’s inside you, I know you want them dead."

Lillith smirked, her golden eyes swirling for a brief second before settling back to their predatory calm.

"You want to kill them for not giving you the money they promised, don’t you? For stalling and taking advantage of you months after the agreed-upon payment date?"

"How do you—"

"Like I said. I know everything."

Lillith walked slowly, elegantly, toward Seraph. When she drew within a few meters, Seraph’s clones shattered on their own, her pure white eyes fading back to their usual colorless state as her magic dissipated entirely.

Then Lillith knelt, meeting me eye-to-eye as I sat on the ground, still aching, still drained.

"Master, you should really be more careful."

She said the title again. But this time, it wasn’t the way a submissive servant or a shy girl would speak. She said the title like it was only a formality, like she didn’t fully believe in it.

She treated it almost like a pet name between partners.

"Come on, don’t be shy. Go kill them already."

Lillith looked back toward Seraph, who stood frozen. The fear Lillith radiated was potent enough to paralyze, even when the opportunity for revenge was being handed to her directly.

"O-Of course..."

Seraph said hesitantly. If Lillith was right, if Seraph really did want them dead, then the vampire queen was offering her something she’d dreamed of for months. But the fear made it hard to move.

"I’ll be bringing him back to his dorm. I’ll keep the blood magic on them stable. It seems you want this to be a private affair."

Lillith bit into her finger, letting blood flow and form around me like a cradle. She used it to lift me into the air as she began to hover as well, preparing to fly.

"Reyn..."

Seraph said, looking back as Lillith rose higher, with me encased in blood beside her.

"It’s fine. She’s... friendly, I think."

I said, and Seraph nodded, then turned back toward the restrained operatives. The shock of seeing a vampire queen firsthand was fading, replaced by something darker. Something that wanted revenge.

"You think? That’s a bit mean, master."

So the vampire queen version of Lillith was a top, huh? That definitely made her distinct compared to Anna and Aqua.

Although, I do wonder if it’ll continue, even after I eventually sever whatever twisted bond we have using Fate Erasure so I can actually claim her properly.

"Fully friendly, then. Happy?"

I joked.

"Better."

She smiled, and almost immediately, she cocooned me fully into a ball of blood as she flew under the cover of midnight darkness, back toward the Citadel.

✧ ✦ ✧

The flight back to the Citadel was brief, but the experience was disorienting. Encased in a sphere of blood, I couldn’t see much beyond the faint red haze that surrounded me.

The only indication of movement was the wind rushing past and the occasional shift in pressure as Lillith navigated through the night sky.

When the cocoon finally dissolved, I found myself lying on my bed in the Citadel’s guest dormitory. The room was dark, the curtains drawn, and the only light came from the faint glow of Lillith’s golden-streaked eyes as she stood over me.

"You’re heavier than you look, master."

"More importantly, what’s up with you?"

I asked, wincing as I forced myself to sit up.

"I could ask the same thing about you."

She gestured at my horns and wings. Whatever illusion magic Seraph had been maintaining must have dispelled when Lillith shattered her clones.

"But to answer your question... I guess it happened after I felt a particular surge of mana a few hours ago."

Wait. Don’t tell me—

"Was it perhaps five hours ago?"

"Perfect guess, master! How did you know?"

Did using the Fey Core and all my reserves at maximum output somehow complete the bond? Did the mana I’d gathered inside myself finish the full evolution in Lillith, and in return, give me the features of the woman I was bonded with?

It was a lot of assumptions. But it was the only answer I had right now.

"Well, I have a feeling it might be because of me."

It was probably the best answer I could give, considering how Lillith looked at me afterward. Her expectations and standards for me had definitely soared higher, even if she still looked at me like I was, well... her property.

"As expected of you. To think you were able to do this as well... it’s incredible."

I guess her evolution had also turned her into my hype girl.