The Children of the Shadow

You flew up from her bed, gasping for air and coated in sweat... Isabella scowled deeply at you, her Silver eyes the same as always, her once dark hair now dyed a platinum blonde... only, you didn't think that it was really dyed... You thought that the Platinum ends of her hair had crept up even further, discolouring it into its Silvery-Yellow colour.

"What are you?" You whispered, the anxiety in your chest making your heart thump.

She shifted uncomfortably "I am the Girl that You cast aside, for that fucking Nerd. that's who I am." She growled.

Rubbing your eyes, You shook your head at the sight of the glowing object in her hands, trying to comprehend what you just saw "But... I never Cast you aside I... I never wanted you to hate me, I didn't hurt you, I just... Dad was trying to **** me into going into East-Wallace, Jane was just over for support, we were just friends then?"

She didn't seem to be listening, she was too busy heavily breathing, and pushing back the tears in her eyes. You wanted to hug her, to tell her that she got it all wrong but she slicked back, just like she did all those years ago, not out of fear for whatever was haunting her, but out of spite "Don't you touch me, don't you ever touch me. You broke my fucking heart you asshole... and now I'm a monster, and I'm stuck here... and Now your little nerd queen has pushed her way into my friendship circle. I really do have nothing now, I hope you're happy."

"You think I wanted her to become an Untouchable!? that's not what I wanted, I don't even know what I want, the last thing i remember is going to sleep with Jane, yeah we had a thing, yes I care for her, but not before that very night, If you would have taken the chance to speak to me, explain things to me, then I could have helped you... I might even have gone with you........ Fuck what is wrong with everything, what don't I know, what. Are, You?" You asked in a deep commanding voice, one that was still alien to your timid self.

Isabelle wiped her eyes, her lips curling in anger as she folded her arms "Okay. whatever, I go back to My mistress, you can't run away from fate... and if you really want to know what I am, and My mistress has already spoken to you in the Black Lake... then you will find out soon enough for yourself." She said... she seemed exhausted, tired, there was a crack in her defences...

Take... the... Opportunity... live.... deliciously....

Despite every shaking bone in your body, you trusted in your instincts, and shuffled forward much to her confusion "What are you doing... what-"

You took her hands, she fought you, but you took them adamantly "I'm sorry." You said staring into her eyes.

She shook her head "Fuck you... don't say that to me, fuckin' nerd-"

"I never wanted to hurt you-"

She grimaced, tears running free and she fought against you "Stop, just stop it Cabron, get off me!"

But you didn't you couldn't, you needed her to know... "I am sorry. Izzy... I'm sorry."

She slapped you hard, in the face, shoving you, betting her fists against your chest, sinking deeper and deeper into it, until she was barely speaking, just sobbing incoherently and she buried her face into you.

"Te odio tanto, solo quiero que mueras ... Te amaba, te odio, te odio ... Yo ... Joder ... UGHHH!" She cried deep into you, you holding her softly as she sobbed out words that you couldn't;t understand, though the conflict inside of her clearly rage within...

Her Angry Silver orbs stared up at you, and yours back at her... Was this a moment? if so it was a weird moment? What the fuck you can't kiss Isabella Salvador, that's not how real life works, it's against the natural order, its-

She kissed your cheek deeply, her arms around you like she wanted to mush her lips against you, she looked so unbelievably angry, but never before had you felt such passion?

She hovered, unsure, frowning angrily, and just when you thought that she might press her lips against yours... the floor fell out from under you, just like it had with your Gameboy, and you fell out of her room, and into the cold evening of the outside, your body colliding painfully with the patio of her apartment, where you lay there, looking up at the apartment building, where the light at the top where Isabella's room was...

You stared up at it, unblinking for a moment... before splashes of rain began to fall from the gathering clouds, growing and intensifying until the water-drenched every inch of your body. And then you laughed, you laughed and laughed and laughed, and you had no idea why.

What.... fun....

Clutching you aching stomach, the laughing rattling your broken nose, you writhed in the rain, your booming chuckled resonating in the drive, as the sky bathed you in its tears.

You were still chuckling as you got into your car, your long hair dripping, face hurting from the smiling. And you refastened your belt, and put the keys in the ignition... and You made tracks towards your Aunt's place, unable, or unwilling to fully face what the fuck had just happened.

You didn't drive straight there... You took a detour, riding in your beauty of a car through the forest path... feeling your heart hammer, as your body began to accelerate in every single way it could, you opened the windows, hoping that the cool air would soothe your hyperventilating, but you couldn't stop it, you couldn't stop laughing, you couldn't shake the overly active feeling of your body's engine revving to the fullest, adrenaline flooding into your muscles that gripped so hard on the wheel that you heard it creek under you bulging fingers.

Screaming madly, you pulled off the winding forest roads, into a side dirt path where your car slid across the soil to a loft halt, the interior light switching on as your panic attack hit it's peak

Roaring in anger, Happiness and confusion all at the same time, you started to punch at the body of the wheel, yelling like a madman and sinking into the seat as sweat covered you, you flushed deep red, skin burning breath fast, heart booming.

You needed to calm down, you needed air, you needed space, and so you pushed open the door weakly and stumbled out into the darkness.

It was like your body was getting ready for an ****, on you, by you, you didn't know, but you shambled in the Car's headlight, gasping as you looked at your fingers.

An ungodly pain shot through your jaws, and in your fingers. you looked on in horror in the lowlight, as you fingernail began to peel off like wrapping paper, dropping to the ground... You screaming as your teeth... felt loose.

Panicking you grabbed one and was horrified to feel it pull free in your mouth, one by one they fell free. Until none where left.

You cried out, afraid, panicked... until in one painful just "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" Something incredibly hard and sharp shot out of your gums, and out of the numbs on your fingers. Powerful and like razors you looked at your fingertips in confusion and saw only deep black talons where the nails were supposed to be. you clicked your teeth together, overly hard like steel, the canines on each side overly long and sharp like needle-thin scythes.

nearly tripping aside as you screamed in terror, your hands held unto a tree, and like a knife through butter, your Sharp nail rent at the bark, tearing at it like wet tissue and leaving a claw mark akin to a grizzly bear on the tree's face.

You feel to your knees, looking at your claws in terror...

Calm... down...

You tried to take a breath, tried to relax, to calm your heart rate... leaning back, you listened to woods, to the gentle rustling of leaves, the moving grass and quite nocturnal birds, and slowly but surely, you felt your body come to a gentle pace, your heart slowing, and much to your relief, You nails slowly retracting, into smooth, neat, but still overly hard shape.

You looked with shaking hands at your fingers, felt at your teeth that while still diamond-hard, no longer had canines that could bite through Iron. "W-What is happening to me? What am I?" You whispered, laying down on the wet grass, as the rain fell from the Black sky, shivering, shaking as tears began to fall down your face.

You found yourself, whispering, a song to yourself.... "T...The falling leaves........ Drift by.... the window.... the autumn leaves...... o-of red... and gold....... I... See your lips.... the summer, kisses.... The Sunburned hands.... I used.... to hold......"

The Song both soothed you and comforted you, making your heart slow further, allowing you to relax as the image of a long mane of beautiful red hair filled your mind "Since you went away.... the days grow long..." You buried your hand into the ground, summoning the strength to get up. You had to get up. "And soon I'll hear, Old winter's song...." getting shakily up to your feet, you felt the image of a gentle smile, and the image of pure beauty tame the uncontrolled emotion inside. "But I miss you. Most of all. my darling..." gripping your hands tightly, and steeling yourself, your moved directly towards the dual lights of your car, that felt like buttery rays of hope as you shambled towards them "...When Autumn leaves, start.... to fall."

She watched him walk towards the Car, aching to go to him as she clutched her belly with tearful eyes, sinking against the tree that she hid behind as she tried to hold back her tears... He sang her song.... He was using the lost memory of her to comfort himself... Rose smiled, holding her belly desperately and sobbing with a mixture of joy and longing to return to him, as He got into his car, and carefully drove off, Her desperation for tomorrow to come swelling nearly as large as her belly surely would.

Your mind was a whirlwind on his drive to Remhilde's, on your metamorphosis "I would never be able to do any of this before. None of it, Not talking to people, not hanging with Daisy, nor confronting Jane... or Izzy... and whatever she was.... whatever I am... it's not normal... it's not human."

other things came to question in your brain. You were aware on some level that you had encountered several... supernatural things but... it was like you had blocked them out, refused to hear them, whatever had taken your memory away... it had done some damage along the way. You fully felt like a person in the wrong body, with wrong memories, like you had been pushed back, nerfed to hell, but... when you encountered that feeling you just buried it and tried to hide.

NO.... MORE.... YOU MUST LISTEN TO ME.

It was like a piece of you was screaming to be let free.

YES! YES THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M DOING DIPSHIT, HELLLOOOOOOOO!

Damn, why couldn't you just get this right in your head? what the hell are you?

Oh for fuck's sake..... this is really starting to irritate.... me... I'm like a spoonful of me... I will make you listen... I don't care what I have to do.

Pushing down the clutch, you slipped into 5th gear, launching the car into a speedy 90 mile per hour dash, that help release some of the unwavering adrenaline that ran in your system.

"How the Hell did I break someone's heart without even know it!? What the fuck... like is it even my fault!? She kept it to herself, she should have told me... Fuck... I haven't even thought about Izzy like that... But I understand... My heart.... it's broken... but who broke it!?"

Rose...

You get sick, you felt horrible... you needed your aunt, you needed her guidance, needed someone... this was pure chaos.

Your Torino roared through the empty private inclines of Wallace's 45th street near Oldtown. Not exactly the most tasteful part of town, but still you parked under a streetlight in the small carpark with its faded lines, stumbling out of the car and locking the doors before shambling down towards the Basement apartments to your left.

Staring down the 5 sets of stairs, you eventually found the door with the Number two on it. and rushed down the stairs to knock on the door "Aunt Hilde!?" You called...... nothing. "Aunt Hilde I need you-" You fist knocking made the door swing ajar, opening a crack... and you let yourself inside.

The Light in the long, hall of an apartment was dim and a deep hue of violet. the place had couches, huge speakers, and Graffiti on the walls masterfully painted with female forms and bladed weapons. You aunt Remhilde seemed to prefer a simplified life, and had little actual possessions, with the exception of leisurely tech that littered the place, paired with a huge Wardrobe fashioned after the tardis from doctor-who... although, as you circled around trying to find her in the shower area, or the Kitchenette... but nothing...

You walked up to her Bedroom area, with a small bed and a small make-up table that seemed oddly out of place in the distinctly boyish environment, and found yourself staring at a small Black box with a tiny lock on it.

For whatever reason you felt oddly compelled to open it... but courtesy of the lock... you couldn't.

And so casually drawing a pin from the side of the Make-up table, you slashed your finger.... HOLY FUCK OW! WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT!? "sHiT!!!" You said, grasping your finger as... very little pain went through it....

You stared quizzically at the box and found your fingers beginning to lather the blood on the box's lock, painting a precise pattern almost out of muscle memory on the box before whispering... "Rewind: Complete reconstruction."

The Symbol sparked a red that made you almost fly off of your seat... what the fuck was that!? How the fuck did you know that!? What...

But the Box was open, and peaking curiously, and a little sluggishly over the make-up table, you curiously peered into the box, that within held only one item... a closed Silver locket.

You took it into your hands, peering at it inquisitively, and seeing the four letters carved into it "R.T & TT." You read the Inscription for only a moment before you were bumped by something, extremely fast and gentle... and you double took at the Locket was gone from your hands.

"Just because I said the door was open, doesn't mean that you get to raid my pantie drawer...." Your head snapped over to your Aunt Remhilde, the Black haired beauty just behind you, her Golden eyes and beautiful mature face, staring down at the locket in her hands.

Standing up, you held up your quivering hands "What!? I never... I have never..." You stammered.

Hilde merely flashed you her beautiful smile "Oh hush. Don't pretend like you haven't had a crush on your Frankly foxy aunt since you were Ten. nevermind that... come here."

You flushed as she moved forward, her hands covered in heavy tattoos touching your twitching face as she smiled deeply "Look at you, missing a few screws... huh?" She smiled at you deeply, staring even deeper before ushering you over to the couch "Nothin Aunt Hilde can't fix up. Take a seat over here... without trying to find my dildo if you please."

You flushed, grimacing "I wasn't--- you have a dildo!?"

She merely chuckled, pushing you over to the couch and sitting beside you casually. Remhilde's hair was certainly longer, shaved on one side though the rest was long and wavy in every other way. She wore a Black Hoodie and Silver bracelets and rings, she had a Shining Septum ring in her nose, paired with her tattoos and torn jeans, she was nothing less than an alternative Milf... Fuck man that's your aunt what the fuck is wrong with you?

She lent back smiling kinda dozily "So... what you need, Chippy?"

You stared quizzically "Y-You text me?"

Her pretty but mature face creased as se removed her phone and looked at her texts with her eyes that were veined red "Oh right... yeah, I did... right... what did I want again?" She said a little slothfully.

You looked at her relaxed demeanour, her veined eyes again "Are you high?" You asked.

She laughed girlishly, sniggling as she lent on you utterly guffawing before becoming dead serious "Yes. You got a problem with that?"

You held your hands up, utterly intimidated with her stare "No-No-No... I just. I've been... having some problems. I wanted your help but... maybe I should just go."

You went to stand but found strangely strong hands pushing you back down. Hilde wrapped her arm around you "Charlie.... charlie... charlie... Just because I'm riding the green dragon doesn't mean I can't help."

"Yes! Yes it does! You have no idea what the fuck I'm thinking right now, what I've seen, what is happening to me!?" You growled, still unstable.

Remhilde huffed looking straight at you with her eyes like molten gold "You look different than you used to. are remembering and feeling things different that you feel you are. You are seeing things, things that shouldn't be possible.... been feeling changes in yourself that feel almost, inhuman..."

You were almost afraid of her then, in how much she knew... she couldn't have just guessed that, and you stared at her eyes as they challenged you "You are my blood, Charlie. You may be a lot like your dad... but you have always been a lot like me... I take pride in that you know, I love you for it." She said touching your face in a comforting, motherly way. "I know you are scared and lonesome... but it doesn't have to be that way. I have so much I can teach you. If you'd let me?"

You wanted to know what was behind that mind, what she knew, but you knew better than to just yell out your fears to her "What could you teach me?"

Remhilde grinned widely, moving closer as she whispered: "I can teach you to Harness that thing inside that screams for power..." She poked your chest "I can teach you what lurks in the dark, and all of their soft underbellies... I can teach you to bottle Power, and Brew strength, and to call on powers wielded by a thousand generations of our lineage." Her voice was low and fascinating "I can teach you how to Bed any woman, how to refute fear and grab the world by the Ass, and give it a good spanking, to walk with the blood and Gate of Kings....." Remhilde reached into her pocket, a green box of pre-rolled prescribed Herbal cigarettes which she lit and took a long verbal toke and blowing out a perfect smoke ring that sailed in the air like a long-ship "I can help you conquer your mind and your body, to become whole again... Interested?"

Remhilde offered you the Ciggerttte quizzically. and you stared for a moment, before nodding resolutely and taking the blunt into your hands.

"I am. I want to be in control. I want to be strong." You agreed, taking a long toke of the Herbal cigarette. You, of course, coughed your guts out you hadn't smoked marijuana in a long time.

Hilde chuckled "Good. Then finish that for me, while I go and get a little something." Quickly standing up, you meekly smoked the cigarette as she moved over to a bookshelf, and shifted through the dusty looking tomes, as you took long hard draws into your lungs, your Raven haired ain't eventually sighing with satisfaction as she walked over with a single heavy Book.

The Marijuana invaded your mind and swayed your senses, the smoke settling in your lungs and paralyzing you fear, bringing you down into gentle relaxation. Slumping against the couch, you frowned in melancholy.

Hilde placed the heavy tome on the table, and flickered her eyes up to you "Chipper up, kiddo." Her body fell beside yours, lazily gesturing to the book.

You just stared. Hilde's elbow hit hit you painfully in the rib, making the pain of your prior beating resurge as you gasped "Ow hilde, fucking hell, I just got kicked the shit out of me earlier, can you not?" You groaned.

She merely smriked, moving in with her dangerous stare "Stop cussing. stop being a damn wuss, it doesn't fit you well. Life doesn't give you chances, it gives you opportunities, loosing your Girlfirend, being beaten up by Bullies, your memroeis failing you, your mind failing you, these are not black hole that fall into. These are opportunities, they are always opportunities, if you know...." Her lips curved up into a grin "...How to tempt your fate with a little luck, and a little smile."

You stared at her wide eyed, saw the endless conviction, the endless beauty, your reflection in those golden orbs, your potential. It made you crack a small grin.

"Dad always used to say that."

She folded her arms in a huff "Copy cat. Oh well at least that cheered you up, miserable bastard. Get that book will you? and don't damage it, it's older than Pops." She said cheerily.

Obeying her you grasped the heavy tome, feeling it's cover that was dusty, your fingers brushing the layers away to see the Black scaled texture of it. You peered at the inscription that was lined in bronze text "Copi..... c-copi..." You struggled to read.

"Copiii umbrei." Remhilde corrected "It means-"

"Children of the Shadow." you Whispered sitting back with the Book in hand, it's body felt like an old friends against your finger tips. Remhilde smiled, lighting another Herbal ciggerette as she carefully pulled on the book's face, to reveal the old browned page with another inscription that was not in English... but that you could somehow read "Here inscribed are the accounts of Kvasir, on those born with the blood of the darkest thing every created, the Blood God." You looked at her quizzically. He urged you to continue.

Turning the page, you continued "Before man had the sense to record the passing of time there was a Queen. The Queen ruled for power and power found her in the form of a Man trapped in a tattered red cloak known only as the Mummer's dragon."

"He was paesant." Hilde added "Nothing to anyone, just a rat in the dark. But under her eyes, He was pretty as peach, a tall, strong warrior with Golden eyes."

"He made promises." you read "He swore the Queen endless potential, the ability to rule over all the young-earth, should she only allow him to fill her loins with his seed. wow... Bold of him."

"Bold? you think the Mummer's Dragon ever feared falling to humans?" She asked.

"You say that like he wasn't?" You asked curiously. She smiled. "The two met beneath her sheets and after a year of incubation, no more, no less, she birthed a son, Black of hair and Gold of eyes, and small as an acorn: The Prince.

The Queen raised the child until his tenth year, and found nothing but dissatisfaction in his weakness, in his frailty, her Handesome Prince in red would no longer heed her call, and so in her wrath, banished the child to the dessert in hopes of slow **** for him."

"She was cruel, to expel her own blood like that... it disgusts me..." Your aunt hissed.

You nodded, from what you could read... she really underestimated him "Why would she do that? It says... that the Boy was genuis, with a mind equivalent to a thousand scholars and ten-thousand generals, how He traveled the world, drew people towards him, gathering an army, a family... Son, known as the Crimson." You said softly.

"And..." Rem poked.

"A Daughter, known as the Serpent.

So the Prince, He had a Son and a Daughter... wait no, the text is a little fuzzy." You narrowed you eyes. "The Crimson also had three Daughters, The Strigga are they called?" You asked.

She nodded "The Prince's family was large... but they were doomed, from the start. The Queen had heard of the Prince's feats and fertility, of his innovations of battle, war and the sciences hither too unimagined by mortal men."

You frowned grimly as you read it "She sent assassin's after the Serpent. Just after she gave birth to her child which the Assassin's stole away from the Prince's family."

"The Prince and his Clan gathered their army in wrath, so that He could recover his Daughter's son, and destroy the woman who dared to ruin him a second time. They marched one hundred and fifty thousand strong on the Queen's fortress, and settled in a deep valley ready to charge." Remhilde spoke of this story with such reverence, like she was really there... you felt it too, like the scene was painted in your mind, imprinted into your DNA.

"For days and days they fell, unable to piece the Queen's great Walls on the Hill, their numbers dwindled on that field of ****, until The Prince's army was one hundred and fifty thousand no more, but a meager One hundred and Fifty.

The Prince was lost, heartbroken, He missed his beloved Daughter; the Serpent, and yearned to save his Grandson. The Crimson and his Daughter's the Strigga however, wanted only the power to destroy their enemies, it was their blood, the Blood of the Queen..."

Remhilde frowned "So they called on the Mummer's Dragon."

Shit.... this doesn't sound like it will have a happy ending.

"The Paesant in red appeared before them, smiling at the Golden eyes of his son, the Prince. He made an offer, an offer of Power, but not like the one that He gave to the Queen. The Mummer's Dragon offered his own power, the strength of an army in one, the speed of a falling star, all the powers of the night and everything that dwelt within it." You read. "They took it?"

She looked grim "Wouldn't you do anything, to save your family?"

You saw it. A small man, black of hair and gold of eyes, His son red of hair, and his three red haired daughters, staring at the figure in Crimson. You saw the Desperation in the Prince's eyes, how he longed to see his daughter's smile again... and you felt the faintest pain in your neck, as the Mummer's dragon sunk his teeth into the Prince's neck.

Remhilde continued reading "Power coursed into the Prince's veins, He was first to gain the power... then His Son the Crimson next, then the Crimson's Daughters the Strigga..."

"And then the entirety of the Prince's clan." You whispered, you weren't looking at the book anymore, it was like you were there, you could see it so clearly "For Five days and Fove nights their bodies twisted, dying and crushing, falling apart so that as the Five sun finally fell, they were reborn anew, as Monsters, one hundred and fifty strong." You whsipered.

Hilde nodded "They stormed the castle in the night, all of them, like bullets flying across that field where thousands had died in the blink of an eye, and painted the fortresses walls in red. Roaring, screaming, destorying."

"They were unstopable. No blade or arrow could touch them, no mere man could fight them, no drop of blood evaded there lips. And when the Prince, his eyes bulging and glowing like Hellfire, approached the puny Mortal queen who was once his mother, He didn't partake in her body, not sap her of life, He broke a great steak from the battlements, and as He ran her through with it, mounting her impaled corpse beside his new throne, He renounced his former name, renounced his Human origins. He was Vlad the frail no longer, now He Vlad Dracula Tepes: The Impaler... and Son of the Dragon." Rehilde finished the story and laid back, toking on her blunt and looking very proud of herself.

Reality seemed to set back in, and you chuckled "Well it's not the Best Vampire story I've ever heard but-" You paused at her unamused look... "No... No there's no way that you are actually trying to tell me, that this is real. there are no such thing as Vampires Aunt Hilde." You said adamantly.

She smiled "Dracula and his Clan were not just Vampires. there were Upir, stronger than a hundred vampires put together, and there are one hundred and fifty of them." She said lowly, You went to speak but she cut you off "It's a fascinating story. but it is not the Dracul that you should have been focusing on..."

You raised an eyebrow "What the Hell else am I supposed to focus on I-" Wait... "The Serpent's Son... what happened to him?"

Hilde grinned wide "That detective is the right question." She chuckled "Nobody knows... not Kvasir, not the Dracul... at least they didn't for a very long time. Castle Dracul was always solitary after the Upir settled in that Castle, they almost never left, but would reap their supper from the settles that appeared... and amongst those settlers... was a Boy, a boy with no name... with Golden eyes." She stuck out her tongue, pointing to her eye the colour of melted Yellow, and brushed back her pitch-black hair and then ran her fingers through yours.

"Your mind is so closed off, so broken, alone and afraid. You have to open it, do not fear the darkness, Charlie, The Darkness maes you strong." She whispered ominously.

Blazed out of your mind as you were, you felt oddly... spongey, like you could absorb everything that she was saying, not as fact perhaps but... it all felt so real... but it was a fantasy wasn't it? Your family where the mortal decendants of Dracula who in turn was the son of an eldritch... whatever the fuck the Mummer's dragon was, a God? it was ridiculous. Right?

"Are we... the only one's?" You asked like a wide-eyed child in a museum.

Her smiled deepened "Maybe now... but not before. Here." She turned through the pages, until she came to a large index with circular gandious pictures and hand-written caligrophy.

"It's a family tree..." You said peering at them "Or... multiple family trees?"

She nodded, pointing to the ones that where scratched and crossed out "Upir are created by the Blood God's Bite, through it, the being passes on it's curse, which weakens with each generation passed down. Children of the the Shadow, or Decendants, like our family are blood relations of the Blood god. From what I understand the Thing barely ever exists in one place, it flits around in different forms against it's will, it stopped biting a long time ago... but up until the late 1800's it still desired to sire children. these children would have more children, and thus more Decendant Housess where created." Her fingers traced the page longingly "There were hundreds of Housess once, all carrying our powers... but now..." She touched the uncrossed symbols and names, of which there where less than a dozen "There are no more than seven. look for yourself."

Staring at the page, you began to read the House's aloud "The Dead Tribe of Romanov lost and fallen. The Frozen House of Tyrn, who dwelt amougst frost..." Remhilde shifted uncomfortably at the mention of that one, but you continued "The Vanished House of Wood, lurking in the Bogs. The Shadowed House of Calliope, obscure and hidden, The Twisted House of Quinn, corrupted and Hateful. The Blazing House of Helia, burning in Chaos. and-"

The Longest and Greatest illustrated of the Decendant houses stood before your eyes, many branches where cut and crossed... save for the end, it's name tall and Dark. "The Black House of Drake, The Pure and Mighty." You whispered.

You stared at the recent generations... You saw... Your Pops, Artorias Drake & Delia Weir... wow, you hadn't thought about Grandma in a long time, she'd died before you were born. You looked at the next in line, their two children, Romulus Drake... you stared at the illustration, He looked so young, and He was smiling. and Beside him, was a Girl long long bushy Black hair and Golden eyes.

Hilde grimaced at the picture "Eugh, why where hair styles in the 80's so cringe." She said, making you smile a little.

Your dad was paired with a woman, she had no illustration... "Lizzy..." You whispered, and peering down, you saw two, Diana only a toddler, and next to her, You, as baby with long black hair and a wide smile on your face as you chuckled, wiping your eyes.

Hilde put her arm around you, hugging you close "We have the proudest legacy Charlie. many of our kind have fallen, The Blood god is a doomed thing, and any who shared it's blood are doomed with it. But not us, We always survive. Becacuse-"

"Drake's don't compromise."

Drake's do not comprimise.

You thought on the time that you had spent awake... on the days that you were frail and small, and pathetic... well... "No more." You whispered.

Standing and facing your aunt you gazed with resolution "I want you to teach me. I want to be warrior, like our ancestors. I need to be strong."

Hilde chuckled at this, it was a little disarming "I'm not not gonna teach you how to be a warrior, moron!" She laughed, trying to hold back a deep cough "You already are a Warrior. I'm going to teach you what I told you I'd teach you. to have a little control.... ugh..." Remhilde lurched a little, and then let out a horriblely painful sounding cough, grasping at her chest as blood sprayed from her lips.

You rushed down, holding her as she wheezed, struggling to breath "I-I'm fine... I-I'm fine..." She whispered as you fussed over her.

"The Hell you are, you sound sick!? what's wrong, what can I do!?-" You cried.

Remhilde whipped the blood from lips and smiled "You're a sweet kid. But don't worry about me. Go... get some rest, you have a lot to think about I know... but do us a favour." Your aun'ts hands grabbed your shoulders' desperately "Do not try and learn too much, too fast. Trust me. Trust us, do what comes naturally... and Tell Daisy that the Sun is rising."