Draven Noctaris pushed open the double wooden door to his chambers.
The interior was stunning and incredibly vast, instantly bringing back memories of the past.
A ray of light from the sun shone through the window, casting an orange glow over the entire room.
And brushing off a spec of dust from the bed was a man in a burgundy butler's suit.
He was tall, as tall as Draven. His hair was dark blue and fell long past his shoulders. He also had a long moustache that curled at the ends.
His eyes were a mismatch of colours. One a light blue, and one a pink. And his skin was slightly tanned.
As the door opened, the butler looked up at Draven, a smile growing on his face.
"BWAHAHA"
The blue-haired man let out a roar of a laugh as he walked over to Draven and pulled him into a brotherly embrace.
"My good friend, Draven. You've finally returned!"
Draven was filled with joy at seeing his friend after so many years.
"Dracula, you look healthy. Keeping yourself busy I assume?"
Dracula Blackvein flexed his bicep with a playful gesture.
"You know how rough times can get. Always have to make stay ready."
Draven nodded in agreement. The man was right, especially due to the political news he had heard from Serena.
"And rough they are, I've heard," Draven said as he walked over to his mirror and looked at himself.
His face was just as handsome as he remembered. His hair was white like Serena's, and over the time spent in sleep, it had grown long to his shoulders, but not too long. His body wouldn't allow it to.
Dracula spoke as he continued dusting the room, cleaning spots that were already spotless.
The interaction between the two best friends was like they had never been split apart.
A true bond, created only through the greatest of hardships.
"Yes, many conflicts. Though I haven't been involved in much directly. Layla was... Killed a few centuries ago. I haven't touched the battlefields since"
Draven cursed himself under his breath.
Layla had been Dracula's wife, and an incredibly powerful ally to have.
She was part of the reason why he was comfortable with leaving the Noctaris for a millennium.
"I'm... Sorry to hear that."
He wanted to ask who it was. To go out there and hunt them.
But he knew Dracula well. He had probably done it himself already.
"No worries. We put the past in the past and look ahead towards the future."
He stopped his dusting and looked Draven in the eyes with seriousness.
"The Noctaris clan is growing weak. You have a large task on your hands."
Draven was taken aback.
For Dracula to say this himself, the man who helped me fight against some of the strongest world leaders of the previous millennium, things must truly be terrible.
"Will you be joining me, like old times?"
He spoke the words with hope. Dracula might have been the only person from his past that was still alive.
His greatest wish was to have his friend by his side during the chaos.
"Of course I am!" He said with pride, "I've been waiting for this moment for a thousand years."
Draven expressed his appreciation to his friends. He was glad to have chosen to wake up and return.
But there was still much to do.
"So, I'm sure your powers are a bit rusty after your great sleep." Dracula pointed out and was probably right.
"How do you plan on warming yourself up?"
Draven's face twisted into a smirk. It was something he had thought about already.
"Well first, I'd like to warm myself up in bed with a woman. After all, a man cannot neglect those skills."
Dracula let out a bellowing laugh.
"Correct you are. Well, you have plenty of options to choose from. As you've seen, all twenty members of the Vampiric council are currently women."
"Yes, I noticed," Draven said, still uncertain as to how that came to be.
Poor leadership, perhaps?
The male vampires used to be stronger than the females, so he wondered what roles they had been delegated to in the meantime.
"As for my actual powers," Draven continued, "I'd like to test them out on the Whiteyes. We'll be paying them a visit very soon."
Dracula nodded his head, excitement growing on his face.
Secretly, he had been yearning for a battle for hundreds of years now. But after the death of his wife, he struggled to bring himself to the battlefield. Promising himself that he would wait for his dearest friend, like in old times.
"I'd like to head out as soon as tomorrow. I'll spend the rest of the day bringing myself up to speed with what's been going on with the clan."
Dracula nodded his head in response.
...
There is a lot that I need to do. Starting with finding out the names of the current clan leaders.
Next would be finding out the power rankings of the current Noctaris members. Or at least the top ten strongest. I can't bring fodder to a war.
...
No...
Before anything else, I must attend to that blue-haired girl.
Florissa? Yes.
That's how I'll spend my evening.