The Crown's Obsession

Laurence wanted to ask his mother for her forgiveness the moment Calhoun had pushed his hand through his chest and killed him. "I am so sorry mother. I should have listened to you. I should have-"

"Ah ah ah!" sang Vladimir. "Careful now with your family reunion. You wouldn't want to upset me, would you?" he reminded Laurence, and the vampire closed his mouth immediately.

Now that the older vampiress was away from the torture cell room and was brought to a better place, she believed she had finished her term of punishment. She looked down upon the stranger who stood in front of her.

"And who are you?" asked Morganna, pride and sneer in her voice.

Vladimir's lips broadened, and he said, "I am your host and will be taking care of you."

Morganna didn't know what was going on, but she glared at the stranger who stood in front of her. Even during the time of her death, she had not shied away and held her head high in pride. She didn't know what exactly was going on, but she did have a fair idea that the place she had been delivered to was called Hell.

"I don't need a host. I want to go back to my world. Right now," demanded Morganna, glaring at Vladimir.

Vladimir chuckled at the insolent fool, "If you were pretty, I would have considered your words, but did you look at yourself? You old hag." The Devil's eyes turned from red to pitch black. "Let me remind you who I am as it seems like your mind has caught rust over the years."

Instead of taking a step towards Morganna, he took a step towards the older vampiress' husband who was still going through tremors of pain in his body. "I heard that you touched my daughter when she was still in the castle." And Vladimir placed his hand on Alan's shoulder, where steam started to appear.

"I never touched any woman except my wife," Alan trembled as he had overheard from his punisher about the Devil returning.

Vladimir cracked his neck left and right before straightening it, "Bastard," he glared at Alan. He turned around, his hands locking behind his back, and he said, "Castrate him."

Laurence's father's eyes widened in fear, and he shook his head. Before Alan could tell anything, his private part fell on the ground and blood poured, while the man screamed his lungs out.

"I know what you did. There's nothing you can hide from me," said Vladimir, who turned to see the man hurling on the ground. The other people had horror written on their face.

Vladimir had a dull expression on his face, and he closed his eyes, listening to the screams coming from the man, and he smiled. "Sounds so much better. Now only if my daughter was here to witness the revenge."

But even Vladimir knew that his daughter had a good heart, who would wish no ill on anyone. If only she did something bad, if only there was at least one bad quality, he would have her here, instead of in Heaven. How strange, thought Vladimir to himself. The Devil's daughter was in Heaven.

"What next part of you do you prefer that I damage?" he asked the screaming vampire.

Morganna gulped in fear, seeing her husband bleed. Even for a vampire, it was too much of a pain. "What do you want from us?" asked Morganna. "We have been tortured for years!"

"Well, I wasn't here in those years to see you suffer. I am compensating over the lost years between us. A family get together. Isn't it wonderful?"

Whoever this stranger was, he was a deranged man who belonged to Hell! Thought Morganna to herself.

"We wish to go back to our lives. We have finished our term of punishment," she repeated herself and stood firm on the ground.

Laurence had a fear-stricken look on his face. He turned to his mother and said, "He's Constance's father!"

Constance? Why did the name sound familiar? She then realized it was Calhoun's mother. Was this man the girl's father?

"Thank you, Laurence, for saving my breath. Odin take this one to the level four torture ground. With the right connection, getting a promotion is easy, isn't it," Vladimir looked down at Alan, and the guards arrived to pull the vampire away from the Grand Hall.

"Where are you taking him?!" questioned Morganna.

Vladimir smiled at the woman, "Would you prefer to take his place?" and the woman immediately closed her mouth. "That's what I thought. Now, as you are my first special guests, I would like to spend as much time as possible with you, and of course in the future to maintain good relationships. Especially you, woman."

Morganna's eyes flared. Not once in her life had she ever been spoken down like this by any person! She had ruled and controlled the land of Devon through her son, without leaving the power, until her very own son had been tricked and she was framed for treason that she didn't expect to happen.

"I was once the Queen of a land," Morganna stared at Vladimir.

"My apologies," said Vladimir before correcting himself, "Especially you bitch." The woman's eyes widened. The screams of her husband had decreased and the Grand Hall turned quiet again. "Did you say you wanted to go back to the living world?"

Both the mother and son duo looked at Vladimir in suspicion. "We get to live there again?"

"Don't stretch your luck. We are only visiting for a short time," said Vladimir.

His eyes fell on Markus and he waved his finger for Odin to take Markus away from there. He would take care of him later. "I have other people to see than spend my time with small shrimp-like this one."

Vladimir raised his hand before snapping his fingers. The three of them Vladimir, Morganna and Laurence disappeared from Hell, and they arrived at the village next to Carnival's village. Laurence was now fully clothed, but his clothes were that of a poor man, and so was Morganna's dress as if they came from the poorest family.