The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 98: Laughter

Taira awoke to the feeling of a familiar tongue in his mouth and a warm feeling spreading throughout his throat and chest.

Opening his eyes, he saw Keran kissing him from above and wearing a small stream of tears on her face.

Only when she pulled away did he see a smile form and she finally wiped away her lingering tears. "I'm glad you're both awake now. You had me really worried."

Out of the corner of his eye, Taira noticed movement and Enyo crawled beside him to take his hand in hers.

At that moment, the last few moments of consciousness he experienced started to play back within his mind, and an annoying feeling started to gnaw within his heart.

"Heh..."

He'd been defeated.

Spectacularly.

Embarrassingly.

There hadn't been a single thing that he was able to do that could catch his opponent off guard or even inflict a modicum of harm to him.

It was so embarrassingly funny that he could almost laugh.

And then... he did.

It started as a small chuckle that was barely audible.

But as a loud explosion ripped out from further along the bridge, it became a loud and unsettling sonnet of hilarity that only Enyo and Keran were close enough to hear.

They were so alarmed by their husband's sudden and uncharacteristic laughter that they almost did not bother to turn around and look at the explosion that had ensued behind them.

They probably never would have checked had Taira not stopped laughing and started staring past them with an interested look in his eye.

"Oh...? That's something new..."

Following his gaze, the girls saw a scene that would be burned into their eyes forever.

The werewolf queen Ayame was engulfed in such a refined and clandestine storm of power that no one would have even noticed it had they not been looking directly at it.

But with a single gaze, one could immediately understand it's profundity.

A funnel of dark energy raged above Ayame's head, and dispersed the raging snow storm entirely.

The funnel started to solidify and shape itself before their very eyes; becoming an ethereal wolf that stood up on it's hind legs and roared powerfully.

Velreth gritted his teeth in front of the beast and started pouring all of his focus into defense.

With his hand missing, he could not counter with any of his own primeval techniques to overwhelm her.

Lucky for him, his opponent's dharma was incomplete and operating at only 10 to 15% of it's true potential, likely because his opponent's understanding only went that deep.

The situation was still salvageable.

He just had to outlast her long enough for her energy to run out.

"True Arcane Ice : Hands of The Frost God!"

Out of thin air, two muscular arms made entirely from frozen water appeared and held open their palms in a defensive manner.

Smiling, Ayame relished in the challenge and sniffed the air with bloodhound like precision and sadistic glee.

Dropping onto one knee, she held out the head to her daughter like it was a prized trophy and gave her a motherly smile that Keran hadn't seen in a very long time.

"My daughter has been avenged. No one will trouble you any longer."

"Ah... Thank you mother... You were very cool." Keran added.

"Hmph! Naturally!" Ayame regained a stone faced expression as she turned her nose up in an effort to remain dignified.

...However, the soft wagging of her tail had already given her away.

Keran shook her head as she smiled and took the head from her mother before placing it on the ground next to her.

In her lap, she supported the heads of Taira and Enyo as they slept side by side.

"They also found you impressive... their eyes were glued to that special technique you used for a while before they passed out."

"Ah..." Silently, Ayame kicked herself.

Of course a primeval technique would be too much for people who were practically on death's door to witness.

It was a miracle they were only sleeping quietly and not being tormented by terrible nightmares.

"You have strong family members. It is very impressive that they were able to remain alive at all after being frozen solid for multiple minutes."

"Yes, but... I do wonder about what effect this will have on them psychologically." Keran said worriedly.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get that unnatural laughter of her husband's out of her head.

"I understand that..." Ayame said quietly. "Defeat has a way of changing people. Some more drastically than others..."

Even without asking, Keran knew full well that her mother was talking about herself.

She wanted to say something to her about the past, but at that moment she saw three familiar faces running towards her onto the bridge.

Lucia and Vermeil were both crying as they called out to her in relief.

Aveena was unconscious just like Taira and Enyo; and her large muscular body was resting across the back of Lucia.

"I take it that those are your family too?" Ayame asked.

"Yes...they are."

"I see... what will you all do now? Room can be made for you at the castle... even the human."

Keran chuckled a bit as she came to an answer without even having to think about it.

"I'm sure we'll be there to visit sometime but... I think that we will stay here."

"Here??"

"Yes." Keran said gently.

With her last breath, Abbess Setsuka had transferred ownership of this place to Keran; along with knowledge of the cave's secrets and treasures hidden inside.

This place was completely at her beck and call, and would respond to her wishes to a certain extent.

And since this place was hers, that also meant that it was her family's.

And she could think of no better place for all of them to live together as they thought about next steps for the future.