Chapter 164: Four Vampires and a Werewolf
Victor realized he had said too much in the same instant.
Not because he regretted it.
But because the three women stopped.
Scarlet, who had been lying in his lap, slowly opened both eyes. Carmilla raised her head from his shoulder. Serafall uncrossed her arms.
The room went quiet.
Victor looked at one. Then the other. Then his mother.
"Ah."
Scarlet jumped out of his lap. Carmilla stood at the same time, and Serafall took a step forward with an expression Victor knew well. It was the same expression she made when he was a child and tried to hide something broken behind his back.
Except now there was a difference.
They were not looking as if they were going to fight him.
They were looking as if they were going to kill someone.
"You said werewolf?" Serafall asked.
"Did I?" Victor tried.
Scarlet smiled without humor.
"You did."
Carmilla snapped her fingers.
"And you said ring."
Victor looked at his hand.
The old, ugly ring was still on his finger. Worn iron, useless appearance, edges almost rusted. If someone saw that at a human market, they probably would not pay a broken coin for it.
"This one."
Carmilla looked at the ring as if she wanted to burn his hand along with it.
"Why did you put that on your finger?"
"I found it in a box."
Serafall closed her eyes for a second.
"Victor."
"Technically, no one said it was dangerous."
Scarlet tilted her head.
"It was a box hidden inside the Ritual."
"That proves nothing."
"It proves a lot."
Carmilla took a step toward him.
"My husband found a sealed ring with a werewolf inside and decided to wear it."
Victor raised one finger.
"In my defense, I did not know about the werewolf."
"And after you found out?"
He went quiet for a second.
Scarlet smiled more.
"Victor."
He sighed.
"She tried to kill me."
"That does not answer."
"I hit back."
"That also does not answer."
"I performed a ritual."
The three stood still.
Victor realized that perhaps that was the worst possible sequence of words to say in that room.
Serafall breathed deeply.
"What kind of ritual?"
Victor scratched the back of his neck.
"A bond."
Carmilla went still.
Scarlet went still.
Serafall went still.
Victor looked at them.
"You are doing that bad silence."
"Call her," Carmilla said.
Victor blinked.
"What?"
"Call her."
"Now?"
"Now."
Victor looked at Serafall, searching for some maternal defense. She merely pointed at the ring.
"Now."
He looked at Scarlet. She was smiling, but that smile said any attempt to escape would end with a sword through the sofa.
Victor raised his hand.
"Fine. But no killing anyone inside the room. The furniture is expensive."
"No one cares about the furniture," Scarlet said.
"I care. I live here."
Carmilla narrowed her eyes.
Victor decided to stop talking.
He touched the ring with his thumb and pulled on the energy he had felt in the white space. The metal trembled. A dark line appeared on the old surface, thin as a strand of hair. The air in front of the sofa distorted, and a different presence entered the room.
It was not vampiric.
It was warm.
Wild.
Alive.
The spiritual scent changed first. Wet earth. Fur. Moon. Ancient forest.
Then Rowena came out of the ring.
She appeared standing on the rug, wearing that aristocratic outfit adapted to her body as if it had been made for someone who refused to obey even seamstresses. Pale bodice, dark leather, asymmetrical skirt, reinforced boots, metallic adornments, and those bright eyes that looked ready to tear out the throat of the first idiot who breathed wrong.
She looked around, irritated.
"What the fuck is this now, bloodsucker? You pull me out without warning as if I were—"
She stopped.
Carmilla was looking at her.
Rowena froze.
The arrogance vanished from her face for a second. Not all of it. That would be asking too much. But enough to be funny.
She looked at Victor.
Then at Carmilla.
Then at Victor.
Then at Carmilla.
Victor followed the movement with his eyes.
"How long are you going to keep doing that?"
Rowena did not answer.
She took half a step back.
"What..."
Carmilla smiled.
It was a small smile.
Polite.
Horrible.
Rowena swallowed dryly.
"Why is the most powerful vampire on the planet standing in front of me?"
Victor opened his mouth.
Carmilla answered first.
"I am not that anymore."
Rowena blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Carmilla took one step closer to her.
"But I would love to kill you and show you how much I am still superior to a moon bitch."
"Shut up."
The sentence came from Victor.
Dry.
Without a smile.
The room froze.
Carmilla turned her face toward him.
Scarlet turned.
So did Serafall.
Rowena, who had been about to growl, stared.
Carmilla seemed more surprised than irritated. Perhaps because Victor had provoked, disobeyed, mocked, and argued with her before. But never like that. Never with that tone.
Victor stood from the sofa.
"Do not start."
Carmilla looked at him in silence.
Victor stood between her and Rowena.
"It does not matter if she is a werewolf. It does not matter if you hate her race. She is mine. And I do not care about race."
Rowena looked at his back.
Her expression changed, but only for an instant. Soon it returned to that arrogant and suspicious look.
"I am not yours."
Victor turned his face slightly.
"You are using my bond, my ring, and my ritual. We can discuss the term later."
"I will tear out your tongue."
"Long line."
Scarlet took a step forward.
Her body began to change.
It was not a complete transformation, nor violent. The fox ears appeared first, red and alert above her hair. Then came the tail, large, full, swaying behind her with clear irritation. Her presence grew sharper. Older. Less human.
"I do not accept this."
Victor looked at her.
"I know."
Scarlet frowned.
"Victor."
"I know you do not accept it."
"Then send her back."
"No."
Scarlet’s tail stopped moving.
Carmilla narrowed her eyes.
Serafall watched in silence, but her expression was already becoming worried in a different way. It was not only anger against werewolves. It was perception. Victor was choosing a fight inside his own house, against all three of them, for someone he had just met.
Or perhaps it was not quite that.
Perhaps it was worse.
Victor was not defending Rowena because he liked her.
He was defending his own right to decide.
Scarlet realized that too.
"Are you really telling me no?"
Victor faced Scarlet.
"I am."
The room grew heavy.
Rowena crossed her arms.
"This is pathetic. Three vampires making a scene because an idiot put a ring on his finger."
Carmilla looked at her.
"Careful."
Rowena showed her teeth.
"Or what?"
Victor turned to Rowena.
"You shut up too."
Rowena froze.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"You think you can speak to me like that?"
"Yes."
"I will—"
"You are not going to do anything inside my room."
Rowena opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Looked at Carmilla.
Looked at Scarlet.
Looked at Serafall.
Then looked at Victor.
"Are you always like this?"
Scarlet answered before him.
"Unfortunately."
Carmilla sighed.
"He got worse after the Ritual."
"I improved," Victor said.
"No one agrees with that," Serafall said.
Victor pointed at her.
"Are you on their side?"
"I am on the side of common sense."
"Maternal betrayal."
"Maternal discipline."
Rowena looked at Serafall with more attention for the first time.
Serafall returned the look, calm.
"And you. Why are you sealed in a ring?"
The question fell in the middle of the room simply.
That was what made everyone truly stop.
Rowena lost part of her irritation.
Only part.
Her eyes went to the ring on Victor’s finger. Her jaw tightened. For a moment, she seemed about to answer with an insult, but the word did not come. The anger remained there, but there was something beneath it. Something old. Something she did not want to show.
Victor noticed.
Carmilla too.
Scarlet narrowed her eyes.
Serafall kept her voice calm.
"I am not asking out of empty curiosity. If you are trapped in an ancient artifact, there is a reason. And if my son made a bond with you without understanding what he was touching, I need to know the size of the stupidity."
Victor raised his hand.
"Hey."
Serafall did not even look at him.
"You do not have the right to ’hey’ in this conversation."
"Fair."
Rowena breathed deeply through her nose.
The entire room felt her energy rise. Not like blood. Not like vampiric pressure. It was something else. Warmer. More organic. The wood of the furniture reacted slightly. The ornamental plants near the window leaned toward her. Carmilla noticed and smiled with contempt, but did not attack.
Rowena spoke slowly.
"I was betrayed."
Victor became serious.
Serafall did not interrupt.
Rowena looked at Carmilla, then Scarlet, then Victor.
"By vampires."
Scarlet let out a short laugh.
"Of course that would be the version."
Rowena growled.
Victor raised two fingers.
"No throats torn out before dinner."
Scarlet looked at him.
"You think this is a joke?"
"No. But I am trying to keep the house from becoming a war zone."
Carmilla crossed her arms.
"She is a werewolf."
"I noticed."
"Werewolves killed countless vampires."
"Vampires also killed countless werewolves."
Carmilla went silent.
Victor looked directly at her.
"And before you say anything, I am a vampire. I know. I am not defending her race. I am saying that does not matter here."
Rowena watched Victor without blinking.
Scarlet took another step.
"It matters to me."
Victor turned to her.
"Then you will have to deal with it."
The answer was simple.
And because of that, it irritated her more.
Scarlet clenched her teeth. Her tail moved once, strongly, striking the air. Carmilla touched her shoulder, not to calm her, but to keep the situation from crossing the wrong point.
Serafall looked at Victor attentively.
"Do you understand what you are doing?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Not completely."
"That is the first honest answer you have given today."
Victor shrugged.
"I put on the ring. I woke her. I made the bond. Now it is my problem."
Rowena laughed low.
"How noble."
"Do not confuse it. I still think you are unbearable."
"You are too."
"Good. We have compatibility."
"I will kill you one day."
"Another compatibility."
Carmilla looked at the two of them.
"I hate this."
Scarlet agreed immediately.
"So do I."
Serafall sighed.
"I still want to know why she is sealed."
Rowena went quiet.
Victor realized she did not want to answer in front of the three of them.
He also realized none of them would accept letting her return to the ring without an explanation. The situation was at the worst possible point: four strong women, three of them vampires, one ancient werewolf, and a sofa he sincerely hoped would survive.
He looked at Rowena.
"You can answer the basics."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Do not give me orders."
"Then answer because you want to tell me to shut up afterward."
Rowena stared at him for a few seconds.
Then let out a dry laugh.
"You are irritating."
"I know."
She looked at Serafall.
"I was a guardian."
Carmilla raised an eyebrow.
"Of what?"
Rowena smiled.
This time, there was no humor in her smile.
"Of something vampires wanted to steal."
The silence returned.
Serafall slowly uncrossed her arms.
"And does this something still exist?"
Rowena looked at Victor.
Then at the ring.
"If he woke me, then probably yes."
Victor passed a hand over his face.
"Great."
Scarlet looked at him.
"You said great?"
"It was sarcasm."
"It did not sound like it."
"I am tired."
Carmilla took a step closer to him.
"Husband."
Victor looked at her.
"Carmilla."
"I still want to kill her."
"I know."
"And you are stopping me."
"I am."
The two stared at each other for a few seconds.
Then Carmilla smiled.
It was not a happy smile.
It was the kind of smile that said she was irritated, but also a little pleased that he had the courage to face her.
"You have become bold."
Victor smiled back.
"Was I shy before?"
"Compared to this, yes."
Scarlet turned her face away, irritated.
"I still do not accept it."
Victor touched her head, between the fox ears, before she could move away.
"I know."
Scarlet stood still.
"Do not use affection to win an argument."
"Is it working?"
"No."
But she did not remove his hand.
Rowena observed the scene with a strange expression.
"You are all sick."
Serafall answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
Victor looked at his mother.
"You did not need to agree so quickly."
"I did."
Rowena let out a short laugh, but stopped when Carmilla looked at her again.
Victor noticed and sighed.
"Right. Rules. No one kills anyone. No one tries to seal anyone again. No one tears body parts off anyone inside the house. Rowena stays out of the ring for now, but under observation."
Carmilla looked at him.
"You do not decide alone."
"Then we decide together."
Scarlet crossed her arms.
"I vote to send her back."
Carmilla raised her hand.
"I vote to kill."
Serafall raised her hand.
"I vote to interrogate before anything else."
Victor raised his hand.
"I vote for her to stay."
Everyone looked at Rowena.
Rowena arched an eyebrow.
"I vote to break the neck of the idiot vampire who thinks he can vote about me."
Victor nodded.
"Vote registered."
Serafall sighed again.
"This house is going to be hell."
Victor smiled.
"But it will not be boring."
Carmilla looked at Rowena.
Rowena looked at Carmilla.
Scarlet stood between Victor and the werewolf as if she could prevent any approach through hatred alone.
Serafall stared at the ring on her son’s finger and then at the woman who had come out of it.
"Victor."
"Yes?"
"You are going to tell me everything. From the beginning."
He looked at Rowena, then at the other two.
"Everything everything?"
Serafall smiled.
"Everything."
Victor breathed deeply.
"Then someone send for food."
Rowena looked at him with disgust.
"Vampires eat?"
"I eat when the conversation promises to be long."
Carmilla leaned against his shoulder again, but this time without taking her eyes off Rowena.
"He also talks too much."
Rowena crossed her arms.
"I noticed."
Scarlet sat back down beside Victor, still with her ears and tail visible. She did not lie in his lap this time. She only stayed close, rigid, marking territory with the same subtlety as a sword pointed at someone’s neck.
Victor looked at her.
Then at Carmilla.
Then at Rowena.
Finally, at Serafall.
"Before I start, I want to put on record that I did not plan any of this."
Serafall answered immediately:
"That is the part that worries me most."
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