"Ha."

"Ha."

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

At the first few chortles that left Kerwin's lips, Brogan still kept his smirk. However, when the Leopold Coven Leader threw his head back and really roared with laughter with one hand over his chest like the hysteria was tossing him off balance, Brogan started to consider that maybe his schemes had not the effect he wanted.

Eventually, Brogan sighed and shook his head.

"Disappointing," he said.

Kerwin stopped laughing now but still chuckled a few times as he regarded Brogan.

"Pardon my laughter. Believe it or not, I'm not mocking you," he said,

"Your words hold merit. I mean I see what you're trying to do and I think it's naive but that's no fault of yours. You just don't know better."

There was such condescension in Kerwin's tone that Brogan blanked.

"You—!" He started but Kerwin promptly interrupted.

"There are ties stronger than Blood. It might seem hard to believe but it's true," the Leopold leader said with a sigh.

Caius's expression was amused behind his mask. He could see that Kerwin did truly consider Brogan's offer. He could see that Kerwin did wonder what life would have been like if he had known about Vampiric Nobility before ever meeting Caius. How life would have been if he had somehow been a Noble himself before he agreed to a duel that swore his service and that of his entire coven to a youngster not yet two decades old.

But 'what ifs' don't change the present. And the present dictated that Kerwin and the rest of the Leopolds were tied to Caius by a bond greater than Blood. His authority over them surpassed that of even a Vampire Creator over their spawn.

Caius spoke now.

"Brogan, I assume that was your last-ditch attempt to save yourself from the terrible situation you've found yourself in. Since it's failed, I suppose we can now get on with the killing you part of this?"

"You think you can kill me?"

"Absolutely," Caius answered instantly and then raised a finger as he continued,

"But, I do have a question; If Kerwin had been capable of turning against me and fighting on your side, what then?"

"What do you mean?" Brogan asked.

Caius shrugged.

"I mean, he's not your Spawn. He has no ties to you so he can't join your Coven. What then would he gain?"

Brogan sneered.

"I said it already. He'd gain freedom. He'd gain Nobility. Once I take your title as Count, someone should rightly take over after me as Baron. That someone could have been him."

Kerwin was unbothered. For reasons already stated, none of that would have been possible anyway.

But there were reactions in the hall to Brogan's words. Murmurs and general unease oozed from his vampire minions who were still alive.

"My Lord, you would ignore any of us and give the title to another?" Asked one of Brogan's Lieutenants.

"You serve me so you have no use for Noble Titles," Brogan said dismissively.

"Why not? What would he (points at Kerwin) have done to deserve a Noble Title over us?" Asked another Lieutenant with a frown.

Brogan opened his mouth but seemed to be running blank on any reasonable rationale at the moment so he simply snapped, speaking with a mixture of his Noble authority and his command over them as their creator.

"Silence!"

Brogan's minions went dumb in an instant but they still glowered with their dislike for their Lord's decision-making.

Caius acted like he hadn't heard the exchange and adopted a musing tone as he said,

"Hmm, the more I think of it, the more I realize it was all bullshit from the start. It was never a legitimate offer. How would it even work?

I assume you'll incapacitate me first to ensure I can't resist or fight back. However, if you take on my Title, you'd lose yours and hence have nothing to give.

So to make good on your offer, I suppose you'd give my subordinate your Title first before taking mine? But if you did that, he'd be the only active Noble until you take on my Title.

As the only active Noble, nothing is stopping him from turning against you and taking my title for himself. I'm sure you've considered this and would never put yourself at such a disadvantage. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

And so, I must conclude that he was always a means to an end. He was never going to get that title. And you were going to do away with him once he was of no more use to you. No one is ever allowed to become a Noble except you.

Why? Because, you, Brogan Kraxia, are selfish.

I don't blame you, of course. It's our nature. It's our nature to hoard power. It's our nature to ensure and strive for superiority over all. That was why the Noble Titles were created in the first place and, like every Noble, you'd rather see the number of those in your exclusive club reduce than see it remain the same."

"What's your point?" Brogan asked.

"Point?" Caius asked like he was confused and then he grinned,

"Do I need to have a point to expose bullshit? Well, I suppose I could have been saying all this to distract you. Give someone just the time they need to… attack."

"What—?" Brogan started to ask but stopped when he felt the slightest of disturbances in the atmosphere.

He summoned his mana but it was already too late. Breezing past him, there was a flash of metallic glint and the sound of flesh being wrenched from flesh, followed by a loud cry erupting from Brogan's throat.

Instantly, Brogan stumbled and fell to one knee. The reason he lost his balance was that one of his legs was suddenly missing. It was cut right above the knee and hit the ground with a thud, causing Brogan to topple.

But that wasn't all.

At the same time Brogan lost his leg, he instinctively reached out with the one arm he had left like one who was trying to gain balance but found it was missing as well. Only a stump remained and it spewed blood violently.

"ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!"

With his eyes bugging out of their sockets, Brogan's cries gained greater volume. His cries of agony were infused with Mana and caused sonic ripples that struck the walls of the underground hideout and shook them.

Alexia and Arlette both blinked hard, taken completely by surprise. One minute, Brogan had been in the middle of speaking, and the next, he was on the ground, missing two limbs. Their eyes searched for the reason for Brogan's pain because as far as they could tell, no one had moved. Not Caius and not any of the Gold-Black Vampires.

Or so they thought before there was a ripple and a figure draped in a Gold-black cloak seemed to get pushed out of the shadows that had wrapped around its body. The figure appeared feminine and there was a dagger in each of her hands. The blades of the daggers still dripped with Brogan's blood.

"Well done," Caius said lightly to Meline. There was no surprise in his tone and why would there be? He had asked her to do it.

Ordinarily, it wouldn't have worked. Even if he didn't look it, Brogan had very good spatial awareness. It would take a lot of subtlety and magical expertise to succeed in getting an attack past that awareness.

So once Brogan began to proposition Kerwin, Caius reached out to Meline and other Leopolds telepathically. It wasn't something he could do well and not across large distances but being so close to them, he managed to give them the two-word signal;

"Do it."