284 Jotun Giants III : A Queen's Betrayal

Nobody felt good about themselves at the moment, I mean that was to be expected after all, this was to befirst time we've ever lost a fight so miserably. The feeling if helplessness was one we've not experienced before, and to if we were honest with ourselves, we never want to experience it again.

After the fight, both Baeki and I had to rely on the giants to carry us while Teluna used Shadow walk to transport us back to Ethernalia Leonis. It wasn't a pleasant journey, and halfway through it, I actually passed out, which wad also the same for Baeki. Whatever Grimgar had used in attacking us, it had unforeseen consequences in our bodies, leaving us very weak after a little exertion. So going unconscious was actually a good thing for me, however because of the fight, for the first time in a while, I actually had a nightmare, and it truly was a terror in every sense of the word.

I woke up to the sound of whispers and subdued arguments. I opened my eyes to see Baeki grilling Kuyait for information, while Teluna sat a little ways back, watching his mother try to give an explanation to an angry Dracula. Asha and Xaseah were sitting beside me, worry etched on their faces, but with a smile for me none the less. Michael and Cassiel were in their cribs, but at five months old, both children were already learning to move around, and I could see them looking at me with clear blue eyes and confused look. They were probably confused about what was going on, and their innocent eyes never left my face.

Vampire children grew really fast, maybe not in body, but in mentality and intelligence they could rival grown teenagers of other races at a young age. So I knew that they had at least a feeling that something was wrong with their father, after all even as father and children we had a bond unlike another. I dragged myself up from my bed, pushing my sheets aside as I made my way towards them on shaky legs. I ignored everyone who was telling me to rest and calm down, and just kept on walking until I was right in front of them.

I picked them up, and then turned to sit on the ground, leaning my back against their crib as the process of walking towards and carrying them, exerted me, and left a burning pain in my lungs and joints. And then I just relaxed, and watched them pull at my shirt and try to shove their fingers into my mouth. This feeling that I had right now, wad all I needed to feel strong, it was the love I had for my children was the greatest driving force I have, Andcan't lose again.

"This can not happen again!" I spoke out loud to no one in particular.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Baeki replied, as she sat down on a chair with a sigh.

"What do we know about this Grimgar, and the bounty that's been placed on my head?" I asked, looking at Asha.

"The bounty was placed on you by one of the elders of the Ysmir noble family, my family. However this attack was not made out of prejudice, but for a targeted reason. Apparently he wants a shield that the giants seem to be guarding, and also, he needs vampires, thousands if not millions of them to power a machine that he's building on the edge of the known space. We've not been able to glean much information about it, but rumors say that he's trying to make a gate to another universe. And he's looking for other tools like the shield."

I was a little confused about all this, because even though the vampires seem to be an important component to power whatever machine this man has built, I don't see how they tie to equation of creating a gate to another universe. I was missing something here, but I don't know what, life can be quite complicated when you don't have all the facts, or don't know why someone wants to kill you.

"What about Grimgar?" I asked, as I leaned my head to the side, helpless as Cassiel and Michael seem to be playing a tug of war with my hair.

"Grimgar truly is the son of Baldur and a demigod of the Norse pantheon. Their gods are mainly worshipped by dwarves, and race of war raiders that originated from a planet on the edge of the Jarl star system. Just like he's people, he's a warlord, one of the very best they had in thousands of years, though him being the son of a god might have something to do with it. He's conquered a few planets, and rules a race of warmongers that sell their skills for war to the highest bidder. He's dangerous, and He's never lost a fight, not even when it's his clones leading the charge, until now that is..."

"which calls his undefeated reputation into question, which means he's going to come for revenge, and this time in person. But apart from that, if you exclude the bounty, there would be aspiring warrior coming here to challenge you. Just so that they can prove that if they beat you, they can beat him." Baeki explained.

"This bounty on my head, how much is it?" I asked feeling really frustrated about the whole thing.

"500 million UC (Universal Credits) for your dead body,and a billion if you're delivered to him alive." Malek said as he pushed his glasses upwards.

"(whistle) with that amount of cash, I'll even offer myself up to him." I joked with a raised eyebrow, and they all looked at me like a little I had grown two extra heads. Then Malek continued to speak.

"The poison he used to weaken you, was synthesized from Ionite and Silver, with the compound daseinite used as a bonding agent. And get this, I analyzed the residue that was removed from your system, all of the materials used, all share the same origin, and that's from the mineral mountain to the east of us. And based on magical carbon dating, it wad mined recently, and the magical signatures on it, shows that a vampire had compounded the poison, a very powerful vampire. So it's either we have a traitor in our midst, or I think it's about time you took care of the purist vampire faction. I'm all for you being a good king, but whether or not they're responsible for this, you have an excuse to take care of a threat. We need to increase our defenses and our offenses, and we can't do that if we're looking over our shoulder."

I blanched at his words, while I knew there was a certain amount of truth and logic to what he just said, I'm not sure that solved the problem that was currently in front of us. We had enemies coming to knock down on our doors, and now there's a powerful vampire somewhere selling information and resources to our enemies. Of course all fingers might point to the leader of the purist vampires, but that would just be too convenient for some people.

He was the most probable suspect, but I don't believe he would be so stupid as to believe that it wouldn't be found out he was supplying the resources we've bled and suffered for to our enemies. However he's not the only powerful vampire with access to the mineral mountain, and even more so, he had less of a reason to be in contact with other races seeing as he was leading his faction under the belief that vampires were pure beings and were not supposed to be tainted. Which means there's only one other powerful vampire capable of synthesizing that poison, or even had access to a trans-universal market hub, enabling him tomake transactions with anyone with a market hub across the known universe.

It's hard to believe that Malek would betray me. After all he was under oath to serve me, and so was his clan. But he was quick to put the blame on the purist vampires for a reason. Which means he was protecting someone, or something. No one here was stupid, while the idea of a spell or machine that could tell you where a certain material has been and who handled it seems really good and very probable given the amount of advancements we've been making, but this was a spell on the level of divination and prophecies. On his own, no matter how powerful Malek was, this was not something he should be capable of doing, at least not yet.

"All of you leave, Malek stay behind....Now!"

They were all rather surprised by my outburst. And while they may not know the exact reason, they could guess. Whatever just happened to me, Malek had a hand in it, and they'll be just as confused as I am, seeing as he should be unable to betray of harm me in any way or form, so nothing made sense to them, but if they have realized this much, then I don't see any reason to send them out anymore.

"You guys can stay, Malek tell me what the fuck is going on, and this time try not to lie. Did you betray me?" I asked him, with my eyes narrowed.

"My Lord I would never do such a thing! You saved my life, saved my coven and my race, I owe you too much to do such a thing...but I can't say that I'm not responsible for what has happened to you. My son recently fell in love you see, and this particular woman he's fallen for is a particularly gifted scientist, even though she's well known for her battle prowess. As a favor to my boy, I made her my assistant, and let her work with me on most of the projects within the city. She's also the one who proposed we synthesize the poison, as a way to keep criminal vampires subdued and out of trouble.

She had access to most of the facilities in Ethernalia Leonis, including the trading Hub. She sold important secrets to our enemies, including the poison, and a rough sketch of our defenses and how to get past them. I also suspect she was the one who betrayed Asha's position to the Serpentis during our war with them. I would not have protected her, but she has my son, the only son I actually have out of 47 children. My love for my son forced me to protect her, as she gave orders for me to direct your rage towards the purist faction. Please my lord forgive."

While that was quite the story, I knew he was telling the truth. And as a father I couldn't really fault him for his actions. Everyone of us here knew they would have made the same set of choices, even though we knew it would hurt the people we cared about. Our children had a special place in all our hearts, we'll give our life in a heartbeat if that's what it takes.

I motioned for Malek to get up for his bowing position, and asked the obviously shaken vampire to seat. Thousands of years old, and the act of betrayal must have taken a toll on him, of course I'm sure the oath wad also placing excruciating pain on his body, so it's quite commendable that he could resist for as long as he did.

"Malek I understand what you've had to do for your son, so rest easy and know that I would have done the same if I was in your shoes. You proven your loyalty and devotion more times than once, and while a punishment is in order, we can deal with that later. Now tell me the name of the bitch who set all this in motion."

Malek nodded his head as he turned to face Baeki, completely surprising everyone, even Baeki herself. None of us would have imagined that she was the one responsible for all of this. It didn't make any sense, she almost died under Grimgar's assault, and she tried everything she could to save me, there's no way that Baeki could have done this. I shifted my gaze to Malek, hoping to ask him if he was sure, before he opened his mouth and said.

"The person responsible for all this betrayal, is the right hand woman of the dragon queen. The vampire elder know to all of us as Queen."

Well fuck that's a twist, that's real twisty.