Chapter 90 90: Draconic Veins
The moment she pricked her eyelids apart, the first thing Uriel saw was her own lap under a short skirt. She had just woken up from her unconscious state and still had a vague idea of how things had gone beyond their expectations.
She pivoted her bobbed head left and right to find nothing but stones. Walls of stones and a floor of stones.
"Oh! You seemed to be awake."
A female voice echoed loudly and clearly inside the stone room. The slight repetition of the voice indicated the enclosedness of the place she was in.
Uriel cautiously tried to raise her head and find the source of the voice. What unfolded in front of her was a familiar face she remembered seeing earlier this day. The same scarlet eyes that keep fixing on her.
"Aren't you the vampire maid who accompanied Mr. Maximilian to the meeting?"
The woman chuckled at her question. "I am glad you remembered my beautiful face."
The woman is standing right in front of Uriel. She wore a dress as black as the void that emphasized the purity of her white skin.
She is beautiful and blessed, captivating everyone with her presence alone. There's no way Uriel would forget someone who bears such figures.
"Hmph. I knew it. There's really something odd with you."
"Oh? You noticed?"
"…Somehow. Your gestures and movements were all bad and messy, unlike a real one."
"…"
Uriel, or Raphael, had seen what a genuine maid was capable of. Looking back, it was a daily scene for Raphael to witness the meticulousness and elegance of their maid in their estate, with Mary as a special mention.
That's how Uriel, who bears Raphael's memories, was able to determine the authenticity of the vampire maid. But her method of brewing put the final nail in the coffin.
"Oh, I almost forgot the most important part. Your tea tasted like shit."
"…Seems like you managed to piss me off." She scoffed before making her approach.
Uriel tried to stand, but she could not move. She checked herself and found out she was bound with restraints. She struggled quiveringly, but her restraints didn't bulge a bit.
Thick ropes repeatedly revolved around her girth, just under her ample breast, and arms tied on a cold steel chair.
Her ankles have the same fate, each bound around the chair's limb. And iron chain shackles that braceleted around her wrists.
"You can't get yourself into freedom with that, you know?" The woman grinned as she drawing closer to Uriel.
Uriel tried to cast her magic to burn the ropes, but her magic was restricted as well. The shackles that fastened her arms were actually anti-magic items.
With her shackles, Uriel has been rendered immobile and powerless. She has nothing left to do but acquire as much information as she can.
"Where am I?" She first asked a natural question.
"Well, we are currently inside an underground dungeon beneath the mansion we are staying in in the capital."
Before choosing the mansion the vampires will be staying at, they required it to have a dungeon underground. The reason for it was to contain every person they got interested in, which turned out to be Uriel.
To get here instantly, Elise used a consumable item called a spell sealing crystal. Invoking the spell sleeping with it, Warp, Elise was able to instantly transport herself and Uriel to the room.
"Who are you? I am certain you were not just a maid."
"Who am I?" The woman flashed a gentle yet eery smile. "You are right about me not being a maid. As for my real name? I am Elise Trandafir, the second child of the vampiric clan of Trandafir."
___________________
Name: Elise Trandafir
Race: True Vampire fr𝚎e𝙬𝚎𝚋𝚗૦ν𝚎𝒍.c૦m
Title: First Daughter of the Trandafir Family, Dragon Slayer
Condition: Normal, 10% Stat Boosted
LV: 638
MP: 19526+1953
STR: 9122+912
DEF: 8884+888
MAG: 18908+1891
MDEF: 7378+738
AGI: 12742+1274
___________________
"So, you really are the boss, huh?"
As Uriel could read, her stats proved concretely what the woman, Elise, just revealed. Elise was genuinely a child of the prestigious family of Trandafir.
To top it all off, her race was apparently a True Vampire, the most powerful race of all vampires. The pinnacle of blood-sucking races.
"Oh. You seemed to be rather calm." Elise spoke with a sad tone. "You can cry as loud as you can. No one can hear us, you know?"
"…I am actually scared for my life deep inside." Uriel's forehead broke a single sweat. "But I cannot simply convert it to my lungs."
Even if Uriel yelled on top of her lungs, her despair would only remain in this room. No matter how loud Uriel is, no sound could escape from a room enchanted by Elise herself.
"What a tough girl you are." Elise bent her body to level her eyes with Uriel's. "I hope your flesh is not that tough, though."
"Huh?" Uriel left confused. "What do you mean by that?"
Uriel had an idea of what does tough means to her flesh but couldn't be certain of that claim. Elise is a vampire, and vampires only want one thing.
Elise giggled as she lifted Uriel's chin. "Well, it's quite a nuisance to burrow my fangs on a hard neck."
"?!"
Hearing her unnatural remarks, Uriel reflexively shuddered in the chair. But all her struggles were prevented from coming true by her restraints.
"W-what do you want from me?!"
Although she already knew the answer, Uriel still asked the question to Elise for confirmation.
"The only thing I wanted from you was to take a big sip of your blood." Elise honestly replied, then swirled her tongue around her lips.
"Huh? I thought vampires found human blood disgusting."
"Yes, that's true. But for some reason, you are quite different from the others."
"M-may I know why?" Uriel nervously asked the vampire.
"Of course, sweetie." Elise motherly caresses Uriel's glossy cheeks. "You see. Unlike other humans, you are an odd one; I mean it. Out of all the beings I have encountered so far, you have the sweetest fragrance."
"Sweetest…?"
Elise gives the neutralized Uriel a ravenous look. A behavior that reflects a predator staring at its trapped and pitiful prey.
"Yes. From the scent alone, I am absolutely certain you possess the most ambrosial blood of all. Even richer than what dragons could give."
Hearing that, Uriel realized something crucial that she, Raphael, and the other egos had abundantly ignored. An unforeseen circumstance of what she and Raphael conducted moons ago.
Ever since Raphael acquired the unique skill of "Organic Domination," he used its subskill of "True Transformation" to modify his own body in order to make everything more convenient.
One of those modifications was in his very blood. He completely converted his entire blood and mana circuits to a dragon's, giving him drastic changes in his magical control and proficiency.
Raphael has always been in this mode and hasn't worn it off, not even in his sleep. Weeks of gaining a convenient body made him accustomed to it to the point he doesn't want to undo it.
When Gabrielle and Uriel, the party's magic casters, came to life, they sufferedably faced great discomfort going back to an unmodified body again.
They cannot bear the sudden demise any further and demanded Raphael to at least grant them dragon veins in their bodies.
Michael and Lucy are physical folks so they are primarily focusing on sharpening their close combat skills. They have no need to improve their magic aptitude since they will be limiting themselves to Arts and Skills.
Almost all the embodied egos had given limited access to the Skills that Raphael owned. The Skills allocated were based on the classes they participated in, but they were still given some cheat skills for emergencies.
One of the many Skills that Michael and the ladies didn't inherit from their main body was the Organic Domination. From then on, they weren't able to modify their own bodies without Raphael's consent.
The reason Raphael gave for not giving them that Skill was that he was just afraid that the ladies would turn themselves male. Raphael still has trust issues, even with himself.
At the end, Gabrielle and Uriel were able to gain dragon blood and veins. Thanks to that, their magic control has been remarkably better than usual.
But no one ever foresaw that this modification would cause some problems. And they totally forgot about the instinctual attraction of vampires to high grade blood.
Personally experiencing that consequence, Uriel let her head hang down.
"…So I am going to be sucked until I dry."
"Hmm? I don't think you'll be bone dry in just a sip, you know?"
"…You would drain all my blood and drink it all in one gulp as I am slowly dying." Uriel deliberately ignored Elise and continued her speech.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
"Before I leave this world…" Uriel then looked up and fixed her purple gaze lock on a pair of crimson. "…can you help me with my last wish?"
Elise doesn't know what the girl is thinking about and thinks of her as a pessimist. She let out a tired sigh before responding to the girl's request.
"Well, whatever. I cannot have this novelty left unpaid. Speak your mind."
"It's been on my bucket list for a long time. Since it's in front of me, I cannot let this opportunity pass…"
"…"
Elise silently waited for Uriel to word her request. Whatever she wishes for, as long as she could do it with her power, she genuinely wants to grant it as her payment for a top-class serving.
"It's my very dream to kiss a pretty vampire woman."