While Isaac was out buying a carriage, turmoil brewed elsewhere in the world.
In the commercial nation of Nidesia, north of Gulens, in its capital, the Seven Seas City of Ansterdam, a figure in a black cloak and a conical hat from Shenzhou strode through the port city's streets. His robust build and 1.76-meter height, paired with a samurai sword, marked him as a warrior from the land of ninjas and samurai: Yingzhou, also called East Ying. He was Onitake Yanzuki, crown heir of the Yanzuki clan, one of the twelve vampire royal families.
For vampires, 100% royal bloodline purity qualified one as a royal vampire. Many families had multiple heirs, nearly all with pure blood. The chief heir, in vampire slang, was called the crown prince or princess. Onitake was the Yanzuki clan's crown prince.
The Yanzuki were among three royal vampire families whose bloodline abilities remained unknown to humans (the others being Dominatrix and Safisanis). Even as a non-vampire, an Easterner in Ansterdam was conspicuous.
Onitake's sword, the Thousand-Scape Tachi, was a Yanzuki heirloom, a first-class vampire artifact. Vampire artifacts were ranked: Special (beyond measure), First-Class, Second-Class, and Common. For the twelve royals, First-Class artifacts, like the Dominatrix's "Bloodheart" dagger, numbered perhaps four or five, second only to three Special-Class artifacts: Shenzhou's Zhao family's Cornucopia and Silania's Dominatrix's cursed sword, Black Night's Bane.
Onitake approached a lavish brothel, ascending to the second floor and entering a room.
Inside, a woman, appearing 23, sat on a sofa. Without heels, she stood 1.75 meters; with them, 1.82. Her doll-like pale skin and platinum-blonde hair, shimmering like gold-dusted snow, framed a red flower adornment. Sapphire earrings and fiery red lips completed her look. She lounged, flanked by two prostitutes, her knee-high boots propped on a naked middle-aged man crawling as her footrest.
A purple cloak and a Victorian gothic gown hung on a rack, too formal for a brothel. Beside them leaned a black noble's cane.
The woman wore a red Victorian corset, amplifying her ample chest and cinching her waist. Her arms bore black lace gloves and purple latex gloves. A red corset-like collar constricted her neck and shoulders, restricting breath and movement—a torturous accessory for anyone needing to breathe. Her lower half sported black lace stockings and purple latex thigh-high heeled boots. Beneath the corset, a short lace petticoat was discarded, leaving only sheer stockings. A chastity belt, oddly self-imposed, covered her private area.
Seeing Onitake, she dismissed the prostitutes and kicked the man. "Agh! Mercy, Miss Lorena!"
"Scram," Lorena sneered, eyeing the crawling man as he fled like a rat.
"East Ying vampire, Yanzuki?" she assessed Onitake's face under the hat.
"Yes, Miss Lorena," he replied in vampiric tongue.
"You know me? Interesting," she tapped her red lips. "You're Onitake Yanzuki, aren't you?"
"I don't fancy your Shenzhou men's short… attributes or stature. You're shorter than me in heels. Not my type," Lorena purred.
"Does Miss Lorena enjoy bondage play?" Onitake stepped closer. She eyed his sword, tensing. "Thousand-Scape Tachi?"
"As expected of Miss Lorena. Second heir of the Safisanis family, yet so vigilant. If my prey were like you, I'd never catch her," Onitake said.
"Your prey… Dracula?" Lorena guessed, naming the unrivaled female vampire.
"Sharp as ever, guessing your dear friend."
Lorena reached for her cane, but Onitake's iaido strike was faster, severing her right hand.
Lorena, third in Safisanis succession, used her bloodline ability, regrowing her arm in a second. But Onitake's next slash came. She sprouted a bone shield from her left elbow, blocking it—a power of the psychic "Shapechanger."
Psychic abilities, or psionics, allowed reality distortion—regeneration, teleportation, magnetism, wormholes, invisibility, telepathy, energy projection, shapeshifting, or force fields—far easier than magic. The Safisanis's secret bloodline ability was brain enhancement, with psionics as a byproduct.
Psionics weren't universal like magic. Psionicists specialized in categories: body modification, energy projection, telepathy, extrasensory perception, or spatial manipulation. Examples included regeneration and shapeshifting (Shapechangers), telekinesis and eye beams (Energy Manipulators), mind control (Telepaths), precognition or reality warping (Seers), and teleportation or dimensional slicing (Astral Travelers).
Lorena, a Shapechanger, blocked the sword with her bone shield, telekinetically grabbing her cane-sword. Though not an Energy Manipulator, basic telekinesis, telepathy, and weak precognition were standard for psionicists.
"Hmph." Lorena drew her cane-sword.
"Worthy of a royal vampire," Onitake praised.
"You won't succeed, neither I nor Fi—" Onitake threw shurikens. Clang! She parried two.
"You think such tricks—" Before she finished, Onitake vanished.
"East Ying ninjutsu? Even sound is cloaked?"
Her royal vampire hearing detected nothing.
"Does Lady Safisanis enjoy ropes? East Ying's binding art is renowned," a voice taunted.
Lorena stabbed the sound's source—empty air. A trap?
Shurikens rained from all directions. She blocked most, but a few hit.
"Joke! I, Lorena Safisanis, felled by—" She retched, her psionics failing.
Onitake reappeared. "Foolish. That's our Yanzuki clan's millennium-crafted toxin, suppressing bloodline abilities. Even royals aren't immune."
"Without psionics, you think you'll win?" Lorena's queenly face flashed anger, pointing her sword. "You're dead."
"Of course not. You're a royal."
"Heh." Lorena sneered, vowing, "Today, your soul leaves your cold heart!" She lunged.
Clang! Onitake parried, but Lorena's sword was lightning-fast, each thrust lethal. Onitake, on the defensive, retreated.
"Lord!" Two East Ying men outside shouted, anxious.
"No matter!" Onitake's killing intent flared, only for Lorena's sword to slash his cheek.
"Impressive!" Onitake dodged, evading fatal strikes.
"I told you, today you die!" Lorena's red eyes blazed, her thrusts relentless.
Onitake retreated outside, his men parting. Lorena pursued. He smirked. "You forgot, East Ying ninjutsu thrives on surprise and preparation."
A massive wooden bucket materialized above Lorena mid-charge. A spatial trap—pre-stored ambush.
Too late to dodge, holy water poured, burning her with smoke.
"This… holy water tailored for Safisanis? How?!" Lorena collapsed, strength sapped.
"A secret," Onitake said, delivering a flying kick, toppling her. Pinning her, he pulled ropes. "A Japanese rear-high binding, a gift from East Ying."
"You!"
Onitake expertly bound her lace-gloved, latex-covered hands, suspending them in an X-shape behind her. The reinforced ropes defied her royal strength. She kicked, but he dodged, binding her lace-stockinged legs like bamboo rafts.
"Bastard!"
"Not done. Your chest needs binding. In Shenzhou, you white women are prized 'ocean mares,'" Onitake sneered, spotting men's underwear. "Whose lucky patron left this?"
"You—mmph!" Onitake stuffed the underwear into her mouth, sealing it with ropes.
"Ocean mare, your chest next. Such breasts are rare in Shenzhou."
"Mmph!" Lorena thrashed as he bound her chest, tying an eight-shape knot, accentuating her breasts. A crotch rope linked her thighs to her chest and arms, magically removing her chastity belt, exposing her to torment. Unlike Sophia or Anna, Lorena, known for debauchery, wasn't as sensitive, but fierce struggles would still provoke reactions, soiling her stockings.
Onitake hoisted her over his shoulder, slapping her rear thigh. "You're now East Ying's vampire sex slave."
"Mmph!" Lorena, humiliated, tried magic, but Onitake countered her gesture-less, speechless spell. A mere great mage, not legendary, she couldn't match his mastery.
"Don't try, beauty. Only your sister might defeat me like this," he groped her chest. "Sadly, she'll be my slave too."
"Mmph!"
"Too loud. Your collar isn't enough." Onitake magically tightened a rope around her neck, linked to her X-bound arms, leaving deep marks.
"Mmph!" The choking sensation muted her wails, though vampires didn't breathe.
"Mmph!" Lorena wailed, vanishing with Onitake from Ansterdam's streets.
------------------------------------------------------------
Back in Lionnis, Gulens.
Isaac spent 80 gold on a carriage, two horses, and new clothes—a leather jacket, linen shirt, layered breeches, and a heroic cloak. He stockpiled food, leaving 40 gold. Heartbroken by the expense, he stabled the carriage, fed Anna's horse, and returned with food.
Opening the door, he sensed an odd vibe. Sophia, bound in lace bra and panties with blue-glowing holy ropes, lay eyes closed, feigning calm. Isaac, streetwise, saw through it—she hid unease or sorrow. The disheveled bed hinted at an afternoon struggle, sparked, he didn't know, when he exited, seen by Anna.
"Did you bully Anna, my princess?" Isaac asked.
"Mmph!" Sophia shook her head, brows furrowed, clearly distressed.
"Bladder or bowels hurting?" Isaac guessed.
"Mmph?" Sophia whimpered. Her unrestrained eating and drinking strained her bladder, near bursting for a human, and the holy anal plug tortured her like a chili-electrified enema. She couldn't walk after insertion, needing Isaac's carry.
"Mmph!" She shook her head—not the cause.
"Then what? Anna-related?" Isaac pressed.
"Mmph?" Sophia didn't know how to explain.
"Fine, you've been good. I'll remove your gag, Your Highness." Isaac unlocked it.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing!" Sophia opened her eyes.
"Don't hide things, or no more gag removals," Isaac threatened.
"You! I'm not hiding!"
"No? If you conceal discomfort, no more carrying your bound legs—you hop," he teased.
"Tch! Nothing!" Sophia snapped. "Little Zack, who's prettier, me or the little bitch?" Post-recognition, she often called herself princess before Isaac, especially comparing to Anna.
Isaac noticed Anna's eerie silence since he returned.
"Well…"
"You're hesitating?! It's me!" Sophia insisted.
"Alright, Your Highness," Isaac conceded.
"Truth, Zack! Who?"
"Princess Sophia!" Isaac said earnestly.
"Good answer!" Sophia glanced at Anna, bound to a chair, facing the window, back to them.
Unlike Sophia's lingerie, Anna wore her hunter jacket, leggings, and hat, but was unnervingly quiet.
"Your Highness, I'll check on Anna. She seems off."
"No!" Sophia barked.
"Nope. If you stop me, I'll gag, blindfold, and plug your vampire ears."
"You—dare!" Sophia's bravado faltered.
"I dare!" Isaac made a face, approaching Anna.
Anna was off—face flushed, eyes fixed on the floor, avoiding Isaac.
"Anna?"
"Mmph?" Anna squeaked like a girl hearing her crush, startling herself.
"You okay? You and Sophia alright?"
"I'm fine! The little bitch, maybe not!" Sophia shouted.
Isaac glared at Sophia, telling Anna, "I'll remove your gag."
"Hmph, Zack's smitten with the little bitch, abandoning me," Sophia pouted, staring at the ceiling.
"Ignore her," Isaac said, removing Anna's gag and the day-long-soaked panties.
He missed Anna's deepening blush.
"Little Anna," Sophia cooed, dropping "little bitch."
"What?" Anna, usually fierce with Sophia, acted ladylike before Isaac. As a minor noble, she knew etiquette but rarely used it post-family tragedy. Now, she revived her childhood manners.
"Ever been in love?" Sophia asked from the bed.
"No…" Anna blushed.
"The little bitch loves Zack!" Sophia reverted to taunts, knowing what happened when Isaac left at noon.
"No!" Anna, unable to turn, flushed louder.
"I see it! You love Zack!" Sophia noted she used "princess" with Isaac but "duchess" with others denying her Silanian title.
"No! You witch!" Anna, like a child caught, dropped etiquette, ready to pounce if not bound.
"Ahem, no fighting."
"Okay… sorry," Anna said.
"I—agh, I'm sorry! No fighting!" Sophia saw Isaac grab the whip, backtracking.
"Sophia, ever been in love?" Isaac's curiosity flared.
"Of course! Unlike the little bitch, I'm not a 21-year-old virgin!" Sophia bragged.
"You!" Anna nearly retorted but recalled Isaac's rule.
Isaac blinked. This army-crushing maniac had loved?
"How… many times?" Isaac asked, feeling oddly jealous.
"Just one real one!" Sophia said.
"A vampire with one love? Rare," Anna sneered, knowing vampires' intense desires as undead amplified their cravings, explaining their love for liquor.
"Tch, think I'm a lustful wench?" Sophia reverted to "duchess" with Anna.
"Why else let Isaac bind you?" Anna's tone dripped jealousy.
"Tch, you don't know? Oh, we didn't tell you. Think it's a kinky game?"
"Isn't it?" Anna pressed, jealous.
"No, idiot! Gulens' chief mage, Clement, wants to capture me for who-knows-what!"
"Killing a menace isn't good?"
"If I were evil, Zack'd be dead!" Sophia pouted at the ceiling.
"Why bind yourself? Isaac can't untie those ropes. You fought with just legs."
"Tch, it's a ploy. I had Zack bind me to hand me to Clement, see what he's plotting."
"Isaac's not your servant?" Anna fixated on Isaac.
"Of course he is!" Sophia eyed Isaac's confusion. "Zack swore to be my knight!" she boasted, knowing Anna's state and provoking her.
"What?!" Anna panicked, delighting Sophia.
"Not your dark thrall, right?" Anna pressed.
"Nope, my pet!" Sophia taunted.
"Isaac! Why aid evil?" Anna snapped at him.
"Not that dramatic!" Isaac said. "Sophia's not evil. If Clement's good, she won't kill him, like you."
"You mention me! Think I'm happy like this?" Anna blushed, meaning Sophia's torments, bindings, whippings, and—unknown to Isaac—her growing fondness under the potions.
"It's her self-defense. Stop hunting her, and we'll free you."
"No, I'll travel with you."
"Guess the carriage is useful. I said I'd take both ladies, but please spare her."
Seeing Isaac's loyalty, Anna said, "If she proves she's good, I'll stop."
"Break your word, and Zack feeds you my poop!" Sophia huffed.
"I'm not a vampire!" Anna shot back.
"Enough!" Isaac quelled them.
"Hmph!"
"Tch!"
Tension lingered.
Isaac had an idea. "Hungry?"
"I am! Feed me!" Sophia demanded.
"Me too!" Anna volunteered, a shift from days prior.
"Nope." Isaac, recalling Sophia's psychology lessons, grinned lewdly. "You feed each other."
"What?" they chorused.
"Use your mouths to pass food."
"Impossible!" they said in unison.
"Sorry." Isaac grabbed the whip.
"No!" Sophia pleaded.
Anna blushed silently.
Crack! Whips hit Anna's bare legs and Sophia's groin.
"Agh!" Sophia screamed.
Anna endured silently.
"Zack, you jerk! What'd I do?" Sophia whined.
"You act together," Isaac said, citing psychology.
"Little bitch, I'm sorry, agree!"
Anna stayed silent, blushing.
Crack! Two more whips.
"Urgh!" Anna grunted.
"Agh! What'd I do? It hurts!" Sophia wailed.
"Anna's the prettiest!"
Anna remained quiet.
Crack! More whips.
"Urgh!" Anna first.
"Agh! Zack, you bastard! I'll impale you—ow!" Sophia's curses earned another lash.
Isaac noticed Anna's unusual restraint, unlike her usual loud protests.
"Anna, what's wrong?" He knelt by her chair, concerned.
Unfamiliar with Anna, he didn't know she'd never do such humiliating acts, unlike playful Sophia. The infatuation potion sparked a flicker in her heart.
Seeing Isaac, Anna, like a lovesick girl, blushed deeper. "If… you insist, I'll do it."
"Little bitch agrees!" Sophia sighed, whip-free.
Isaac carried Sophia to a chair, binding her opposite Anna, freeing Anna's upper torso to lean. "Don't eat, feed each other, or both get punished."
"Got it! I feed the little bitch first," Sophia insisted.
"Don't eat." Isaac placed meat in Sophia's mouth.
"Mmph, gross!" Sophia chewed and swallowed.
Crack! A whip hit her thigh.
"Agh!" she screamed.
"Please don't—" Anna started.
Crack! A whip struck Anna.
"Urgh!" Anna glared at Sophia.
"It hurts! Zack's serious!"
"Feed Anna to avoid pain."
Sophia's eyes turned icy, exuding a queenly aura, chilling Isaac. "Think I'd do this humiliating act? Zack's gotten cocky, thinking he controls me for shame games? I play along, but dignity's non-negotiable." Her serious tone shrank Isaac's bravado.
"Uh…" Isaac floundered.
"I'll do it," Anna interjected, saving him.
"What? Anna Belmont, you'd do this?" Sophia asked gravely.
"If Isaac has a reason," Anna mumbled, head bowed, blushing.
Isaac had no reason—just overconfidence from days with Sophia and scant psychology knowledge, nearly overstepping. Anna's words saved him.
"You…" Sophia, jealous of Anna's compliance, relented. "Fine, Zack wants to play, I'll indulge!"
Isaac exhaled. Serious Sophia was no fun.
"But I go first!" Sophia insisted.
"Eat, and you're punished," Isaac said, masking his panic.
"Tch, scared? Meat! Ah—" Sophia complied, taking meat without eating.
She leaned toward Anna, bound to the chair, unable to reach far. Anna leaned too, their faces close, Anna's breath quickening. Sophia, in a kiss-like pose, pressed her lips to Anna's. Anna, red-faced, took the meat with her teeth, quickly pulling back.
"Good?" Isaac asked.
"Mmm…" Anna said politely, despite Sophia's saliva. "My turn…"
"Yes, open." Isaac gave Anna meat. They leaned, lips meeting. Sophia, humiliated, took it and retreated, eating Anna's saliva-laced meat.
They fed each other, kissing-like, hundreds of times, finishing lunch.
"Gross!" Sophia complained.
"Thank you, Isaac," Anna said.
"See, Anna's polite," Isaac teased.
"Tch! Zack loves the little bitch!" Sophia gossiped.
"No!" Isaac protested. Anna stayed silent.
"Did you buy a carriage?" Anna asked.
"Yes, fed your horse too. We've got three horses—two for the carriage, yours can follow."
"Thank you, Isaac."
"No problem."
"Zack, we leave tomorrow! Hand me, your captive, to the nearest camp! But first, I need a bath!" Sophia declared.
"Me too," Anna said.
"Together then."
"What?!" they chorused.
"Can't I? I won't look."
"Who'd bathe with the little bitch!" Sophia snapped.
"I… can," Anna blushed.
"Fine, you dog-and-bitch beat me," Sophia sighed.
"Fill the tub, carry me, close your eyes, use the dagger's magic to undress! Don't look! I enter first!" Sophia ordered.
"Alright." Isaac unbound Sophia, carried her to the bathroom, and stood her by the tub. He magically stripped both to lingerie, filled the tub, and prepared to close his eyes when Sophia stopped him. "Wait! One more spell!"
"What?"
"Point Bloodheart at the water, chant this! It's a mage cleansing spell, turning water into self-cleaning magic liquid, so I can wash without hands!"
"If you—"
"If I lie, make me a chair to sit on, okay?" Sophia snapped, forgetting her troublemaking record.
Isaac chanted, and the water changed color.
"Not a prank for once."
"Prank?! I never prank!" Sophia huffed.
"Alright, eyes closed."
Isaac stripped them naked with the dagger. Both felt instant shame, naked before a man.
Blindly, Isaac grazed Anna's aphrodisiac-enhanced breasts.
"Urgh!" Anna moaned.
"Sorry, Anna…" Isaac, though lustful, was polite.
"It's fine… can you carry me first?" Anna asked.
"Sure." Isaac, already touching her, lifted her. Unlike her usual tense muscles, her naked body was soft, like a noblewoman's.
"Hey! You promised!" Sophia fumed.
"Coming, Your Highness." Isaac lowered Anna into the tub.
"Quick! Not there!" Isaac touched Sophia's breasts, prompting protests.
"Relax, I can't see." Isaac lifted and placed her in the water.
"Have fun!" He left.
The bound, naked beauties faced each other in the tub.
"Little bitch," Sophia started.
"What?"
"You love Zack."
"No!"
"Don't lie. I know everything."
"Really, no!"
"Tell me a secret, and I'll share one about Ricardo," Sophia offered, referencing Ricardo van Dyne, Nidesia's legendary hunter, "First Hunter," who slayed countless dark creatures a century ago.
"What?"
"Want Ricardo's gossip?"
"No!"
"Tch, boring."
"How about Simon's secret?" Sophia meant Anna's grandfather, Simon Belmont.
"What?"
"Interested?"
"No!"
"Damn, not even Simon's gossip?"
"You witch, spreading lies! I won't be swayed like Isaac!" Anna raged at Sophia's disrespect for her idol and grandfather.
"Fine, free Simon gossip."
"What?"
"After losing to me, Simon fell for a Silanian woman, Selena, but he was married to your grandma. I protected Selena's family at his request."
"Lies! Grandpa wouldn't!" Anna fumed.
"You don't know? I beat Simon in one move, didn't plan to kill him. Selena thought I would, begged for him, and he was touched."
"Nonsense!"
"Don't believe me? My bloodline includes telepathy, bypassing Occlumency. Note it in your hunter book—you don't know my mind powers."
"Hmph, I knew it was you! You tampered with Georgina's mind in Kitalia's Waterwheel Village!"
"Not bad, vampire butcher!" Sophia grinned.
"What's so smug? You're bound like me, unable to break free."
"Why not trust me like Simon?"
"You're untrustworthy!"
"Tch, whatever. Bath's done. Zack—"
"Wait!" Anna paused.
"What?"
"Do you like Isaac?" Anna asked calmly.
"Nope, I'm a royal vampire. Why love a human? Just playing."
"Truth?"
"Of course, unlike you, stuttering with guilt."
"You—" Sophia meant Anna's nervousness around Isaac, while Sophia spoke freely.
"Anything else?"
"No."
"Zack! Eyes closed!"
Isaac entered blindly, dressed them in fresh lingerie, fed them dinner, took Anna to the toilet, and bound them to the bed as before.
At Anna's insistence, Isaac stuffed her used panties into Sophia's mouth, sealed with a gag and wrapped with Anna's odorous stockings to catch drool. Sophia protested but cowered at Isaac's whip. Anna got Sophia's fresh lace panties, a hunter's gag, and Sophia's fragrant black stockings. Anna felt smug—Sophia endured her foot odor while she enjoyed perfumed silk. But her smugness faded when bound nose-to-nose, lips-to-lips, chest-to-chest, groin-to-groin, legs-to-legs, smelling her own stockings on Sophia's face.
Isaac tucked them in, returned to his bed, and they slept.