Lady Dhampir
Chapter 31

That half-full plate on one side of the desk made her worried. Lady Milena had barely touched her dinner. Should she tell the Butler?

"I've had enough. And I still need to finish these..."

"My Lady, you're overworking yourself! I'm sure the other Ladies your age don't work half as much as you do!"

"Dinah, shut up. Take those away."

The young servant obeyed, not without a pout though. She made sure to leave the cup of blood, as it was what Milena would be most likely to ingest for the rest of the evening. As she stepped out, Ruby appeared in the room. As usual, she was in very simple attire, with her short hair and two swords by her sides.

"My Lady. Someone tried to attempt to your life again today."

"Who?"

"I can't tell. The man didn't bear any signs from any known family. Human."

Milena put her feather down. Before, the assassination attempts did happen once in a while, but now, they were almost weekly. Someone really wanted her dead at any cost... She glanced at the tea she was drinking. Poisoning, assassins, traps... How long until she would fall for one of these? Ruby also handed her a little paper, which Milena opened right away.

"What's this?"

"Bandit left a message at the usual place today. Something's going on. Three children were kidnapped." "From the Church?"

"No, my Lady. From orphanages. It seemed like they could have run away so the people taking care of them did not report it. However, Bandit doesn't think so. He says those children wouldn't have run. He thinks they..."

"Were kidnapped. It's easy to take kids from orphanages, no one will look for them... What about children from the Church?" "Nothing happened to them, madam."

Milena nodded. Either because she had been taking care of them, or because Bandit was experienced, the street children were usually better at handling themselves than the ones in orphanages. They were always going out in little groups and made sure to go back before sundown.

"My Lady, Bandit and Mint also wanted to let you know there have been more attacks."

"Girls again?"

"Yes, My Lady. Two bodies were found. Prostitutes."

This was worrying. In the last six months, it was the fourth time several women's bodies were found, sucked dry... What kind of beast would do that? Vampires only needed about two or three cups of fresh blood a day, but the thirstier they got, the worst it would be once they woke up... She glanced at her own cup.

The De Crescent Vampires usually had their own servants providing blood, on a rotation, and enough to feed all three of them, including the few vampire staff. Properly stored, blood could be kept up to a month. Digory was in charge of supervising the supplies, except for the Archduchess Maribella, who needed less and had her own private storage.

Most noble families with vampire kin worked like this. It was included in their human servants' contract, and if they agreed to provide on a regular basis, they received an extra allowance and day off. However, for vampires without wealth, they usually had to rely on family, friends or buy blood from strangers.

Unfortunately, it sometimes didn't go that well. A thirsty and penniless vampire was dangerous. They could attack someone and drink them to their death. The gender of the victims being female, it could be assumed that the culprit was a man. "***d?" Asked Milena.

"Only one of them."

"A lot of vampires often get confused between the desire for blood and desire for s*x..."

Ruby nodded slightly.

"It does... Feel a bit similar, my Lady. Vampire pheromones have us worked up when we get thirsty. And the... the pleasure from drinking is..."

"Similar to a light o****m. I know."

In Milena's case, it was slightly different. Her desire for blood wasn't as strong, nor the taste of blood did fill her completely. She had felt better or not depending on which servant's blood she was drinking, and Digory knew her preferences, but it was nowhere near her brother's descriptions of it. Maybe being a virgin had something to do with it, but she couldn't tell. It was known, however, that young male vampires were usually the thirstiest.

"How is the Royal Guard doing on the matter?"

"Busy keeping it a secret, My Lady. They do not want to cause panic downtown, and the Vampire Factions are against it being made public too."

Milena smirked. Of course. A rogue vampire was bad publicity for the Senate and politicians...

"Tell Bandit and the children to be careful. Maybe ask them if some of the older ones want to train..."

"You want to have them train with the Crescent Knights, my Lady? I thought your activities downtown were to be kept a secret..."

Milena nodded. Indeed. She hated the idea of associating her dark past with the bad parts of the City to her family. However, it would be better for the children to be prepared if anyone was to attack them, and she suspected her Father and maybe Valentin already had a rough idea of her doings.

"I could use a personal Knight..."

"Do you want me to pick one for you, my Lady? I would choose the..."

"No. I'll pick one myself. Go, Ruby. Leave me alone."

The vampire spy disappeared in a blink, leaving Milena alone with Blanche. She looked at the silver dog sleeping by the window.

"Blanche. We'll leave for the Vermillion land soon."

After pretending not to hear for a while, she turned her head lazily.

"We need to go settle things there before the Spring Ball. I'm afraid to leave the grounds, though..."

Slowly, the dog sat up and shape-shifted into a young human, with white skin, gold eyes, and long silver hair. She was making an unhappy face.

"Good Home."

"You can stay here if you want," said Milena.

"No. With you."

Milena and Blanche had never, ever been separated since they met. Both were reluctant, but Milena was the only one to ever ask. She didn't want to force Blanche into doing something she didn't want or go where she didn't want to, but the shape-shifter never agreed to part even for a few minutes.

"You really don't like being human, do you?" Asked Milena with a smirk.

"Boring."

"You're not wrong... I which I could skip all those stupid tea parties sometimes."

"Stinky perfumes. But good food."

Milena chuckled. Blanche's only way to cope with the tea parties was to smuggle as much food as she could.

"You'll get fat."

"Happy fat."

With that, Blanche stood up and came to steal food from Milena's plate, finishing her chicken, eating with her hands. They still had no real idea of what Blanche was. She had no memories before her s*****y days, like Milena.

However, for a long time now, Milena had been suspicious of her strange resemblance to the Queen's Oracle...

"Millie?"

A slight knock on the door and Lucian walked in. Blanche was already back to being a dog, as she had stolen the last piece of meat and sat at Milena's feet.

"You skipped dinner... Are you still working?"

"Not really, to be honest. How about you?"

"I enjoy being the youngest son, I tell ya!" said Lucian as he sat down on the couch opposite to her desk. "I don't have a third of what Raphael and Valentin have to do in a day. I'll get too lazy at this rate."

"I was pretty sure you already are."

"I'll have a good butler when I grow up to do the paperwork for me. My plan is to become a famous swordsman, win some big battle and live leisurely."

"You do know you need a war to win a battle, Lucian?" Sighed Milena.

Her brother laughed. Surely, it was unlikely that a war would happen anytime soon. With this Ice Age, the country was so isolated the south barbarian hadn't even come anywhere near the borders in decades, and the last war against the giants was believed to have been bad enough to keep them away for many years to come.

"There are rumors, you know. A new war with the Giants might some soon."

"I heard so too... Lady de Nova believes it will come sooner than anticipated," admitted Milena.

"I kind of wish for war. It's the only way for an i***t like me to be useful anyway..."

Milena was surprised to hear Lucian say this kind of thing, but she hated it. She hesitated for a second to throw something at him.

"Aren't you too selfish? You should be glad you're the youngest, with the least work! Father values us all, too!"

Lucian pouted a bit.

"It's easy for you, Milena, you and Valentin are so smart. What do you think it's like, being the useless one of the family? People don't even bother remembering my name! I'm just the third son of Duke de Crescent!"

Milena rolled her eyes out, standing up and walking up to him with her hands on her waist.

"Excuse me, should I be sorry no one tries to kill you, lie to you or bore you? Do you want to exchange, perhaps?"

"You know what I mean. I'm glad I was born a man, but being third after Valentin and Raphael doesn't leave me much space."

Milena knew he wasn't referring to the Castle they were living in, but it still didn't make her any sorry for him. She crossed her arms.

"Lucian, what is it?"

"What?"

"What happened? You're not usually so negative or bored, and you don't come to me unless you have something you want to discuss. So tell me, what is it?"

Lucian sighed. Of course. Milena was barely younger than him, and they had spent much of the last few years together. She knew him better than anyone. He was closer to his sister he hadn't seen for years than to Raphael and Valentin, who already had their own lives and schedules and kept him out of it. Valentin was always busy with work, as a member of the Prime Minister's apprentices and future heir, and Raphael was so secretive...

Milena pretended to wait, but it wasn't long before he gave up.

"I overheard father and grandmother talk. About you."

"Me?" Asked Milena, a bit surprised by his answer.

"You, Valentin, Raphael. They were arguing, actually... About who should inherit the title."

Milena frowned. What nonsense was that?

"What are you talking about, Lucian? Inherit the title? Valentin is the heir, what is there to discuss?"

"Well, Valentin is doing great, but grandmother was saying... She would rather have a vampire or a dhampir as the head of the House."

"Grandmother is a stubborn old vampire woman. I bet father was against it."

"Yeah, but not for the reasons I thought. He said it would be unfair to Valentin and cause fights between us... But he also said, if it increased your chances to become a princess, he was definitely against it."

Milena was speechless. How could her father had even considered that? How desperate was her father to keep her away from the Royal Family?

Her elder brother was competent enough, too, vampire or not. She was shocked.

"Father said that?"

"He's really against you marrying one of the Princes, Millie. I know your feelings for Prince Ellias, but... Father believes the fight between vampires and humans for the throne will get ugly!"

Milena stayed silent for a while. Was her father exaggerating? He had always been overly worried about her safety since she had been brought back to this family, but to the point of giving their older brother's title to her... Lucian sighed.

"See? It's always about you, or Val. He would never think of me as a potential heir."

"You asked for it, Lucian! You always said you were glad you could rest."

"I didn't think that would put me behind you, though!"

Milena glared at him.

"Thanks for the compliment."

"I don't mean to deny your skills or dedication, Millie. But I'm still older than you, and I'm making my way as Knight, yet Father doesn't let me handle anything..."

"Lucian, just pick a decision. If you want more work, start doing your work at all. You can't just pick what you like and ignore what you don't. It doesn't work like that. Don't come crying because you're being ignored when you're the one being lazy. It's really annoying to me and Valentin."

"Raphael is lazy too! He's not a knight, not fighting at all, not helping with the House! And he was brought up by grandmother!"

"Raphael is not lazy, he's walking a different path! And he has circumstances, too! But you are just playing around with swords and fleeing anytime you sight paperwork!"

"No one is giving me a chance! I'll prove myself as a swordsman, like our great-grandfather, but I'm ignored, no one gives me my chance here!"

"Oh, shut it, Lucian! You're coming with me!"

He stared at his sister, completely lost.

"Going where?"

"To the Vermillion Lands. If you are so bored here, you might as well come with me and lend me a hand!"