House Sanguis (3)

With the opening of the door once more, the temperature in the room quickly returned back to normal and Bazel carefully controlled his facial expression back to a neutral state.

Just in time too, as four people walked in through the room one after the other. The first was the same Genus that he had interacted with before followed by another person who gave off a very similar air then followed by none other than Lily, who was followed by yet another Genus.

The room was stifling to say the least, as the entire leadership of the Sanguis Branch family was before his very eyes. Such information was tossed to the side though, as his everything was fully focused on the tired looking girl who now sat in front of him.

She was wearing new clothes, far finer than anything she had ever worn before. A black lace nightgown with a red robe over her shoulders and wrapped around her long legs, an exotic look he had never seen the girl who usually preferred animal pajamas and other cutesy things. To him it was almost sacrilege, the adorable little girl who had followed him for so long was being defiled before his very eyes...forced to be that what she was not.

Yet even the anger that was welling up inside him once more dissipated immediately when he saw the tears that began to fall from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and onto her velvet red robe in an unending stream.

"Ba...Ba..Bazel" started Lily, struggling to speak between her sobs, "Your hair...your eyes, oh god."

Everyone in the room was confused at her reaction, including Bazel, as to him his hair and eyes looked the same as always. He even looked around for a mirror and upon seeing none he rummaged through his pockets quickly for something to see his reflection in, just incase House Sanguis had somehow stealthily scarred him.

His hand brushed across a smooth metallic surface in one of his inner pockets and out he pulled a golden pocket watch that had various intricate designs crafted onto its surface. Using the metallic shine as a makeshift mirror, he looked at his reflection and saw that everything looked the same as always.

"Yes the pocket watch, the pocket watch. Bazel let me see it, please!" begged Lily, her emotions extremely unstable.

He moved to do what she said, but every Genus in the room immediately reacted by putting their full focus on him. Bazel knew that if he moved even a centimeter closer he would be attacked. He set the pocket watch on the table in front of him instead, and pushed it to the other side and then leaned back.

'Honored guest? Future of the House? It seems to me that she is instead a prisoner...'

This action of indirectly handing the item over was met with silent approval by the prison wardens, so with shaking hands Lily reached over and picked up the pocket watch. Slowly opening it, as if she was afraid with what she might find. The moment of truth could only be delayed for so long, however, and eventually it opened fully revealing its contents.

"Black...oh god, it's all my fault..." muttered Lily, her tears falling once more now no longer the gentle stream before but instead a fast and aggressive rapid.

"What kind of pocket watch is that? It does not even tell time, it just has a picture of a swirling abyss. How cryptic" muttered the Genus who was standing behind Lily.

Closing the lid of the pocket watch, Lily passed it back to Bazel the same exact way that it had been handed to her. Wiping her tears from her face, everyone in the room could visibly see that she was summoning a great internal strength in order to calm herself down. The men in the room were extremely tactful, giving her all the time in the world to recover.

'What about my hair and eyes has her so sad? Should I dye it' wondered Bazel in confusion, feeling as if he should just tear out his hair and gouge out his eyes.

While he was in the middle of thinking such thoughts, however, Lily had finished recollecting herself and had calmed completely. Instead her face now reflected a steely determination, one that belonged on the face of a hardened veteran of battle preparing to charge across an open field...something that did not belong on a young girl who had not even turned eighteen yet.

"Bazel, thank you for coming to check on me," began Lily, her tone flat without any pitch whatsoever, "and thank you for taking care of me all these years. I have a duty to my family though, so I will have to leave you for a few years. Once I have mastered my gift completely and we..."

Her voice cracked suddenly, but she covered it up with a cough instead.

"Once I have mastered my gift and wedded my new husband, I will come and visit you again to thank you in full. When things have...calmed down" said Lily, eyeing the other people in the room besides herself and Bazel.

"Until that day, we will not meet again and I hope that you keep your nose out of my business and the business of the other noble houses. This world is not your own, it is foreign to you even if you have changed a bit recently. Also...I need you to do two things for me: First, pay close attention to that pocket watch and find someone to hold tight and destress if you ever see a red outline begin to form. Secondly, you are twenty-two now so you should really find a partner. When I see you next I hope that at the very least you have been engaged already, do not disappoint me."

She then stood up in an extremely mechanical fashion with her fingers twitching all the while as if she was stopping herself from balling them into a fist again and again.

The three Genus did not notice, or perhaps they did but did not care so long as she went along her way. They most likely did, as even a brain dead idiot would be able to see what was truly going on here.

Moving to leave she left the room leaving the words,

"Farewell Bazel....I am sorry."

'Still doing the same old same old...still trying to shoulder all the burden. Am I so useless to you Lily, that you think I cannot handle bearing it in your stead? At the very least we could share it, as we always used to' thought Bazel in despair and sorrow as he watched her leave the room.

....

...

...

...

CRASH

The doorway that the group of four was about to take was destroyed by a black spiral object, one that was attached to the hand of Bazel like it was some kind of lance.

The destructive power of this new ability that Bazel had stumbled upon was as devastating as it was swift, as evidenced by the Genus who had been run straight through and pinned into the middle of the mostly crushed door. It was the very same man who had first negotiated with Bazel, who was now clutching the object in his chest with wide eyes and blood pouring from his mouth.

A low laughter rang out, one that was full of a cacophony of emotions: Angry,sorrow,loss, and hatred.

"Little sister of mine, you may have decided upon one thing but you did not ask me if I agreed. So rude to the one who raised you, where did all the manners go? Simply because you stumbled across a bit of power, a bit of wealth, and now you are ready to leave the nest? Abandoning me the moment a better option came along, I see how it is."

The pain and anger was clear in his tone, almost as clear as the muted screams of the Genus who was still having his insides torn into shreds by Bazel.

Lily did not turn around, instead she kept walking for some reason and said, "Bazel, do not get yourself into trouble. My family, House Sanguis is not something someone like you can deal with. Leave at once, I know you can manage it despite the current circumstances. Leave, and never show yourself again."

With that said she broke into a run causing her golden curls to bounce frantically, bumping into a group of patrolling blooded ones who received her and placed her under close protection.

'Such a convincing act my dear sister, alas, perhaps next time you should make sure to calm the shaking of your shoulders and to not dig your nails into your skin so hard that they draw blood' remarked Bazel as he watched the two remaining Genus launch themselves towards him with deadly speed.

"House Sanguis, you will feel my wrath for taking away my only family member" spat Bazel as he jumped backwards and disappeared into a portal he had been slowly preparing from very beginning.

As he was doing so, however, the two Genus heard him mutter, "Begin the extermination", followed by several loud explosions that rang out the moment he disappeared through the wall which shook the castle to its core...even causing the two to almost lose their balance.

The wrath of an older brother had come.