'That was surprisingly a good experience,' thought Rei.
After Barak Cien was done interrogating him, he directed Rei out of the room through the back door. Using that, Rei appeared in another hall.
It was just like Hall of True Darkness, but at the opposite sides of the hall, there was a staircase that led to a floor above. On it was numerous vampires sitting as they watched Rei and the others.
They were waiting for all the young vampires to be assembled. This much could be discerned as other young vampires like Rei kept entering the hall the same way Rei did.
Rei also noticed that on this upper level, a section of it was carved out for the Morgens. They sat upright as they showcased a constant smile on their faces.
'Those are my relatives, the Morgens,' Rei sighed.
Most of them were his mother's siblings or cousins. It certainly evoked a strange feeling.
After a while, Jadon Morgen stood up and announced, "Greetings, young vampires. We and the guests are here to witness the last stage of your baptism. This is the most crucial one. Prepare yourself. Thousands of eyes are laid upon you and what you do right here shall leave a mark in the records of your family's history."
He sat down and his wife, Izora Vrers, continued for him, "First, strip yourself. Lay yourself bare before our sight."
Rei and the others did as instructed. As soon as they did that, the ceiling of the hall separated and the full moon could be seen from their vantage point. It shined on them, sprinkling moonlight rays on their naked bodies.
They felt energized and aroused with such vulgar contact with the moon. They felt connected to it as if the sweet echoes of their mother's voice were calling out to them. It lured them in like the devil, but they themselves were the devils. They should have felt tempted, but all they could feel was pleasure.
Fangs rose from their teeth and their eyes gained a tinge of red. Their skin was as pale as ever and their pointed ears felt sharp enough to cut even the hardest of things.
They were vampires. Heralds of darkness. This was their intimate form.
Izora smiled as she directed this barbaric action. As hosts, they weren't allowed to wear robes. They weren't allowed to reveal themselves. It was the same with the guests. Only the participants were granted that honor.
She said, "Ah, this is it. The sweet lure of nature. It speaketh to us. Answer it. Answer it."
She clapped her hands suddenly and something strange happened. A chandelier appeared in the sky. It sprayed a red liquid, making it fall down on the participants like the devil's rain.
As it kept releasing the red liquid, a group of maids appeared in the hall. With them was a naked variety of different races. There were demi-humans, humans, elves, merfolk, and other feys. One thing they had in common was that they were docile, not even revealing any expressive look on their faces.
The red liquid poured on the naked body, making them even more enticing to the vampires.
Meanwhile, Rei felt weird. The red liquid…...he knew what the red liquid was. It was blood!
Blood was an important aspect of vampires. They thrived off their desire to feed off any kind of blood. A vampire couldn't last a month without blood. Rei had tested out this theory personally.
Every day, to stay healthy, they were required to drink. It was included in their every meal. If they didn't drink, they would go insane…..as insane as a starved beast.
Rei's mental faculties dulled when the drops of blood fell on his body. His innate desire was to drink it. He would even happily bite off his flesh if he needed to.
It was like a sweet voice was whispering in his ears, telling him to drink….to drink. Oh, he smelled it. The blood was sweet, possibly made from an exquisite creature.
When the maids came him, Rei unconsciously activated his vampiric sight. In his sight was the group that came in with the maids. He could see their veins and arteries, their beating heart, their bones that was juiced with their sweet blood. He could see everything sweet about them.
That was the true nature of vampiric sight. It wasn't a see-through trait. No, No, it revealed the appetizing parts of their prey. It aided their hunt.
Rei's grey eyes beamed as he moved one step closer to the group. He snarled as he was about to stop them but suddenly he stopped!
'This is what they want!' inwardly shouted Rei
Jadon Morgen had said it himself. This was the test. The objective was to showcase one's ability to chain their vampiric desires.
Although knowing this, Rei still found it hard not to move. His body was betraying him as he lunged at one of the humans. The composed female ultimately screamed with all her might. He opened his mouth to take a bite when his will finally regained control of his body….albeit temporarily.
Rei used this chance to do something. He looked at his sharp nails and clenched his fists, plunging the nails into his flesh. He had to focus on this pain. Pain and pleasure went hand in hand.
At one point, pain could even be confused as pleasure and vice versa. It was a tactic his mother had told him about once.
Rei squirmed in pain but a smile escaped his lips, "Heh, she really did tell me everything I needed to know."
Gradually, he became accustomed to the pain. In his eyes, no complex emotions could be recognized other than that pain. The desire to drink blood was second to it. It wasn't gone.
It was still there. He could still feel the exquisite blood dripping down his naked body. However, the pain he felt was simply too much, especially when he plunged his sharp nails deeper into his flesh.
Rei looked around to see displays of carnage. Some of the young vampires couldn't keep it in and drank the prey till they died. While some of them sat their preys on their laps and fed gently on them. Those were the top-tier vampires....Vampires conceiving of feeding as an art.
They controlled their desires perfectly.