Once more, an emergency council meeting was abruptly called between the leaders, barely any time had passed since the last. Even stranger was the fact that it had been called in the third castle. Causing some of the leaders to question its importance. Some were complaining thinking that the castle had come into some sort of disagreement as to who to select as their new leader, and now they were to cast a vote.

When the leaders arrived, they thought that they would head to the throne room, but instead they were led to one of the many dining rooms. The situation was getting odder by the second and when they saw several Royal guards standing outside it didn't exactly clear things up for them.

Muka had just arrived and when he entered, he found the other leaders already discussing things amongst themselves. Apart from Paul, who stood off on his own to the side, looking at the situation.

'What in the…' Muka was staring at the blood message on the wall, and Annie's body which had at one point fallen to the floor, with nobody having bothered to pick her up. It might have been the first time in vampire history that the third family had suffered so much in such a short time frame.

"The King apologises for being unable to attend this meeting.." Royal Knight Kyle announced. "However, His Majesty has tasked me to deliver a message on his behalf based on what you see around you."

"The message is as follows: 'If any of you have doubted it, see for yourself what the Punisher has done. He has taken yet another life right from underneath our noses. His message on the wall is a clear sign that he wishes to challenge us all, a promise that he will be coming for us all. Not only us, but our children as well. Only he knows how far he will go. We have to put a stop to him now or he will attempt to get rid of every vampire in the settlement!' "

The majority of those attending clearly agreed with that statement. Annie hadn't even been officially made the third leader, yet she had met such a cruel end. However, not all of them were shocked and in fear as they tried to figure out just what was going on.

'If this really is Arthur's doing, why did he target the third family twice?' Muka wondered. 'Could there really be something Annie knew that Suzan didn't? No, that should be impossible. She was practically a shut-in. Still, this time he left us a message, telling us about him having a list… did he intend to start with all those from the third family and move on from there?'

It wasn't really a meeting, the leaders were talking with each other freely, but with no real agenda set up and the King absent, the other leaders eventually left the place not long after the Royal knights had excused themselves.

Some walking more in a hurry than others.

However, a few of the leaders had decided to stay to take a closer look at the murder scene. Aside from Muka there was Sunny, and Jin. Similar to last time, the room had no signs of struggles or fighting in it. There was the broken door, but it looked as if the guards were already in the middle of repairing it, while having left the rest of the scene untouched. Making Muka think it was someone else's doing. It looked like apart from the message their only clue was the dead body.

"Does anyone else find it strange?" Sunny asked. "The way Suzan was killed by Arthur? When we look at Suzan's death it was a clear fear tactic statement, and you could say this is the same again, but the message here, it was clearly left behind for us, while the first had been for the public to see."

"Does that really matter?" Jin questioned, unable to see Sunny's point. "Perhaps Arthur had hoped for a certain outcome after Suzan's death, but with us not reacting how he wanted, this time he left behind a clearer message?"

Jin walked up to the wall and looked over the message as if hoping it would reveal some sort of secret underneath. "Or whoever these people are that he has annoyed. This list of his, and the words after. I'm sure you have noticed it, some of the other leaders are afraid, more shaken up by this than us and frightened. Surely, they know something that we don't. Maybe Arthur wants them to tell the whole settlement what they did."

Sunny stood up and walked up to the blood message on the wall standing by Jin's side.

"I think we all knew that from the beginning. Have you ever thought about how Bryce managed to get so many votes for himself? The ones frightened were the same ones who he had wrapped around his finger since day one." Sunny pointed out, while she started to sniff the wall. Her nose was far more sensitive than her companions.

"You're missing my point. Look at the bodies as well. This time, it was a single strike through the heart, a rather painless death. Now think back to how Suzan was killed. Only one of those completely disrespects the deceased's body. To top things off, the blood on this wall smells slightly different from Annie's blood."

He understood that things were strange, otherwise Jin wouldn't have stayed behind in the first place to see if there was anything he could find, but he thought that Sunny was perhaps trying to grasp at straws too much.

When dealing with murder and revenge, people couldn't really be expected to stay reasonable with their actions or thoughts.

"No, you're not the only one that thinks Suzan's death was out of the ordinary." Muka stated, answering her first question.

"This blood..." Sunny murmured to herself, closing her eyes so her senses were better. "I have never smelt blood quite like what's on the wall, but there is one thing I'm sure about, it's not Annie's. If that's the case, then maybe this message was written in Arthur's own blood."

"I sense pain, through his actions, someone who doesn't even like what he is doing. However, the first body was different. You're right, Jin, perhaps they are the same actions of the same person, but if that is so, then the person would be in two different states of mind."

———

At the tenth castle, before the meeting had been called for the vampire's leaders to attend again, Paul was busy sending off both Erin and Leo. The teleporter needed to be activated by him, only once getting in touch with Logan.

Then when turned on at the other end, they could go through safely.

"I hope you are able to contain the chaos so there won't be too much for us to do when we come back. I'm getting old." Leo said with a smile.

"You may be blind but you should at least know that I am the same age as you. Besides, what does age matter to us now?" Paul joked, both aware that their bodies felt stronger than they had done even back in their prime.

———

After stepping through the teleporter, Erin and Leo found themselves in the familiar metal and white room. They both knew that they were finally back on the Cursed ship. It felt like it had been an exceptionally long time, for Erin at least.

'Every time I leave this place, I think it's only going to be for a short while, but it always ends up being longer.' Erin realised with a slight grimace.

As for the one to greet them on the other side, it was none other than Sam. He knew how much the two meant to Quinn, so he couldn't just send anyone to see how they were doing.

"I'm glad to find both of you in great health. Honestly, I was half expecting one of you to come back with a missing arm or leg of some sort. Paul told me that you would eventually return to the Vampire World."

"Unfortunately, Quinn isn't here at the moment, but the rest of the gang is. It would be nice if you both stopped by and talked to them. I'm sure you have a lot to chat about. I guess you haven't seen the video either."

"What video?" Erin asked, confused. The video Sam was talking about, was the one that nearly everyone had seen. Of course, in the middle of the woods fighting, Leo and Erin had no clue what Quinn and the others had been through during their time away.

"I guess we do have a lot of catching up to do. What brings you here anyway?" Sam asked.

"Weapons." Leo answered. "We were hoping to meet up with Alex and get him to forge a few new weapons for us. Ours might be a little dull for what we are about to face."

Hearing this, Sam had the biggest grin possible on his face.

"Well, I was going to save this for later, but Quinn did leave me something in case you would return. I'm sure you will greatly appreciate his 'little' gift."

******

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