The old ancestor's voice rolled through the hall like distant thunder carried by a cold wind.
"It seems," he said slowly, his ancient eyes narrowing as though he were staring into a memory that none of them could see, "that an Emperor nightmare old ancestor of our Vampire race has awakened. Drinking the blood of two Emperors may have stirred the ancient blood sleeping within his descendants. It seems the Moonshade family was fortunate this time… and Cornelia is one of those descendants."
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
Then whispers began.
"A sleeping Emperor ancestor?"
"Awakened by Emperor blood?"
"That would explain it…"
"That's truly magnificent if that's the case!"
"Indeed…"
The gathered vampires looked at one another, their pale faces flickering between greed and awe.
Some nodded as though they had always believed it, while others swallowed nervously, calculating what such a thing would mean for their standing within the clan.
