AETHER BEASTS

Chapter 84 - 84

Zirani glanced over at the blonde then leaned in. "The reason I had you accept to her drinking your blood was because of your bloodline, tell me what are your main concerns right now?'

"That she might end up draining your essence, or that she might not stop and I'll end up like that moss troll," I replied. "If it wasn't able to shake her loose, then I doubt I will."

"Those are all normal concerns," Zirani said. "But you hold the arch-vein bloodline. A bloodline that allows you to take in all of an aether beast when you absorb their essence, but what I didn't tell you before was that it has other uses. I honestly didn't think we'd ever need it or meet an aether vampire in the northern plains."

"What use are you talking about?" I asked.

"When she drinks from you, as long as I'm there in our core to make sure she doesn't take any of my essence, then we can bind her to you," Zirani explained. "Remember how I said that aether vampires are hybrids between humans and beasts, well that fact allows someone with your bloodline to create a pseudo bond, similar to the one we share, but different. You won't be sharing her essence or anything like that, instead, you will feed her your aether and blood and in exchange, she will become more docile and it will help he gain control over all aspects of herself."

Zirani sighed. "Aether vampires normally have two ways of gaining control over themselves and tier abilities, those who don't usually become more beastlike and are seen as animals by the rest of vampire society. The first method is simple, practice, time, patience, and purity of aether and essence. Vampires are usually very egotistical and prideful. You won't catch them asking for help or binding themselves to another if they don't have to. The risk with this option is that if you're not strong enough you usually end up in service under a stronger vampire, which leads us into the second way. Binding. This is normally done between vampires, where a lesser vampire will bind themselves to a greater vampire in exchange for aid in various things like control over themselves, however, it was discovered that those with the arch-vein bloodline could do something similar. This is of course seen as the lowest of the low among vampires, after all it's binding yourself to what they refer to as the mortal races. Vampires don't age you see, and even the lowest vampires will live forever if not killed."

"So you want me to bind her?" I asked. "You think she'll agree?"

"No, but trust," Zirani said. "She needs this. I'm sure you've noticed that since she's gotten out of the haze of depression that she's been acting a bit off at times?"

I nodded. I'd noticed that she would often glance at people's jugulars when she thought they weren't looking and a few times she would pull aether from her core even when they were no enemies around. I'd just chalked it up her being a vampire.

"If we don't get that under control soon," Zirani explained. "Then she's going to become a problem quickly. Perhaps she could learn to control herself, but we don't have the time, even with this tower, and I'm not an expert on vampires. The only reason I know so much is because my mother always told her children the more you know of your enemy the better. I learned so it would be easier to kill them. I've focused on helping them since I never thought I'd need to."

"Are we going to ask her?" I said. "Or just do it?"

"If you ask her then her instincts are going to revolt," Zirani said. "Misty might agree, but the vampire most certainly won't. I know you don't like the idea of forcing someone to do something against their will, but you have to understand if you don't and she gets worse, that we may end up having to kill her."

I grit my teeth at Zirani's words. The idea of having to kill Misty, a friend, and perhaps more, was sickening. This entire thing was awful. I didn't want to do this, I didn't want to force something on her, but it was either that or take a risk that Zirnani thought wouldn't work out.

"This isn't like mind control is it?" I asked as I looked over to Misty who seemed to be laughing at a joke Sandra had made.

"Of course not," Zirani said. "If it were a between a vampire and another vampire then it would be different, but you are human. It will just be a bond like ours. It will start off slowly, but eventually, you will be able to comminute with telepathically, and other things like knowing each other's locations at all time, which would very beneficial."

I stared at Misty as I thought over Zirani's words. I had to make a choice, and since I didn't want to even consider the chance I might have to kill her, then it would have to be the binding.

"Is there anything I need to know?" I asked Zirani.

"Not really," Zirani said. "Just try to stay calm when the time comes and all will be ok."

I took a deep breath then coughed loudly. Misty and Sandra glanced over to me, and I smiled awkwardly.

"I'm heading to my room," I announced as I met eyes with Misty and nodded slightly. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Sandra yawned. "I think I'll head to bed too, goodnight everyone."

The dark-haired arcanists headed to her room, and I did the same. Zirani entered back into her core, and a moment later I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. Misty was following. My heart rate increased and by the time I reached my room, it felt like my heart was about to explode.

When I finally made it to my room and turned to face the blonde, I wasn't even able to get a word out before she pushed me back against the wall. Her eyes were glowing intensely, and her fangs were bared. I tried to move but it was useless. She was far stronger and i certainly wasn't going to be able to force her off me, not that I wanted to. This needed to happen. She needed to drink my blood so that I could bind her to me.

"I've been looking forward to this all day, Aiden," Misty purred in a voice that sounded far smoother than her normal once, and I felt a warm feeling ogre in my chest as my thoughts became fuzzy.

"Don't let her charm you," Zirani snapped. "Stay focused, pull some aether from your core, and start making patterns to get your mind away from her."

I gritted my teeth. Her words and gaze seemed to draw me in, but I wasn't so weak. Zirani's words and my fear of failing pushed me forwards and I managed to pull some aether from my core. I took shallow breaths as I started forming the aether into patterns. I was doing awful, but that wasn't a surprise considering I had an apex predator a few inches away from my neck.

"You smell so good, Aiden," Misty said and she licked her lips. "I'm sorry, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to stop myself at just a few sips. I might need more. You'll be ok won't you?"

I didn't get to respond as she shot forward and dug her fangs into my neck.