Three

⚘Venetian Empire⚘

On one side was a little girl who was blending in with her unknown fate while on the other side of Merlin land was the Venetian Empire that seemed to be in an internal cold conflict as the Lord of the empire had made his decision to castigate the person behind the massacre took place few nights before.

The Venetian empire was under Lord Demetrius, though the empire was segregated into three townships. Upper empire region under Lord Ambrose, middle empire region by Lord Clitus, lower empire region by Lord Nicolas. To maintain peace between the three regions there existed the council that upheld justice. Amongst the three townships, the middle empire Lord named Clitus was greedy by nature. He disregarded the Venetian empire emperor and if fate prevailed, he wanted to reign over the entire Empire. Though he wasn't supported by any of the other lords, he wanted to be the absolute ruler.

The council meeting was scheduled for tomorrow morning, all the three lords were informed about the same and ordered to make their presence in Venetia's royal palace. 

In the night, after a few meetings regarding the council meeting Demetrius was in his room with a vampire woman toy in his bed.

The woman in his bed was a vampire maid who worked in the castle and it had been an hour since they started with the pleasurable quest.

Being the oldest vampire in history, he could drink blood from other vampires to fulfill his blood lust. He sank his teeth deep into her neck as he drank blood from the female vampire till the last drop of blood left in her body. 

With the years that had passed by, Demetrius had grown to be one of the most powerful vampire. For some reason after almost five centuries the blood wasn't enough to satisfy his needs nor was the maid as he tore the flesh out of the neck leading the woman to fall on the bed, lifeless.

Demetrius looked at the lifeless body and felt the weird sensation in the pit of his abdomen, the exact way he felt when he found her centuries ago. After the death of his beloved, he had a calm demeanor that scared people more than the other rash and temperamental vampires. He was the silence before the storm. Her death was the reason behind the monster that he had become, because the humanity of Demetrius died the day when she breathed her last breath. Moving away from the bed, he pulled out the blood red robe that was lying on the headboard of the bed to cover his body. Filling a glass from the vintage wine, he took a large sip from it as he sat next to the window.

He noticed the night had almost over and the sun was about to rise.

A knock was heard in the door. It opened to reveal his third in command Andrew. His brows furrowed when he looked at the bed with raised brows.

"My... you have already killed four women in the past two days. You know the woman doesn't grow on the trees," Andrew said, not fazed with the sight of a dead body.

"Ask the maid to clean this up before we are back from the council meeting." He ordered while he finished the drink.

"Who do you suspect regarding the massacre?" Andrew asked.

"No one." Demetrius sternly replied.

"Knowing you, I believe you've already decided on what you want the outcome of this meeting," he said, making the vampire Lord smirk. 

"The Empire is like a game of chess," Demetrius said, getting up and walking towards the closet, "where the pawn dreams to be the king, but this is my game that is yet to begin. Let the pawn make his moves," he smirked. 

"I see. I'll be heading to the main foyer," Andrew said and began walking but stopped midway to turn back, "Don't you think you should take shower instead of just changing?" He asked, jerking his head towards the closed where Lord stood.

"Vampires didn't stink, Andrew," Demetrius said while dressing into the royal attire.

"Was just saying." Andrew said before leaving the room.

The following morning, Demetrius, Andrew and the other lords had reached the main foyer, where the council meeting was about to commence. As the lords stepped into the foyer, they crossed the initial base where the paperwork of the empire was done regarding the vampires who made their appearance in the meeting. 

Reaching the grand hall where Lord Demetrius was already present, examining the hustle. 

The head of the Council, Lord Demetrius sat on the high chair while three of the council members which included Andrew (third hand in command), Thressa (lady head of the council), Adonis (Empire's military head) sat at a lower level to the high chair. The Lords took their seat in front of them, facing the Head Council.

"Good day to everyone present here in the Council," Demetrius, the emperor and head of the Council greeted everyone, "I believe everyone is present here who we require to go ahead with today's meeting. As we all have come to know about the massacre that took place two nights before."

"It has been an act of shame for the entire Venetian Empire. Six centuries ago, the peace treaty was signed between the two empires and it was the end of the state-war between werewolves, vampires and humans."

"But the rule was broken and an entire village was slaughtered by rouges. So, I request everyone present in the meeting to vote against the one respected Lord that you might suspect. Does anyone object to this trail?" He asked clearly and loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I do," came the expected response, Demetrius thought. 

"Yes, Lord Clitus," Demetrius spoke.

"Giving opportunity to everyone for voting just gives a higher chance of partiality. What if everyone forms groups and targets one innocent Lord?" Lord Clitus said, standing up from his seat.

"What do you mean?" Thressa, the lady head of Council pressed.