Chapter 93: Sleepless Night Everywhere
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: PlumSauce
Arthur was a high-ranking steward of the Menkovár domain bloodkin family, and also one of the former ancestors of the Blackmoon family. Back on Jibi Island, Coraci and John had crossed paths with him and witnessed the death of a Menkovár rebel.
The Menkovár family kept an official website, one that updated the whereabouts of high-ranking members in real time for purposes of administration and accountability. The site couldn’t be found through ordinary searches, but sometimes people stumbled upon it by accident. Those who did usually dismissed it as nothing more than the work of an obsessive bloodkin-fantasy fanatic.
On this night, the site showed Arthur was staying in a villa near Loch Ness.
When the request reached him, Arthur agreed to come immediately. On the Association’s side, Wu Jiu drove Coraci and several exorcists into the city to prepare a ritual, and then on to a small airfield outside town to receive him.
They had no intention of driving Arthur to the hospital. Instead, they planned to use an anchor-point spell. The moment Arthur stepped off the plane, they would drop him directly into the city through the anchor point.
Years ago, Sidov’s Abyssal magic anchor had linked West Bay City with a riverside forest in Romania, but human ancient magic anchors were far more limited in both range and accuracy. Coraci’s own version, for example, had only been able to teleport someone within a hundred feet between two fixed points.
During Coraci’s three-year absence, other Association exorcists had experimented with ways to improve the anchor. Now, by working together and refining both materials and incantations, they had managed to extend the distance. The new anchor could send someone as far as Echo Street in West Bay City.
It still wasn’t close enough to the hospital, and they had neither the casters nor the time to set up another anchor.
Before boarding, Arthur told them over the phone, “Don’t worry. Once I arrive at Echo Street, I’ll run at full speed to the hospital.”
Two hours later, no one saw exactly how Arthur crossed the distance from Echo Street to the hospital. As an ancient bloodkin, his movements blended perfectly into the night.
John arrived at the hospital ahead of him and met up with Smith and Liz. By the time he returned upstairs with coffee for his two warm-blooded companions, the doctor had already declared Lucian dead and had agreed to let Liz spend a few minutes alone with him.
From Smith’s expression, it was obvious Lucian wasn’t dead at all. No one knew exactly how they had fooled the doctor — probably with illusion magic.
“Arthur’s here already?” John whispered.
Smith nodded. “Yeah. You’ll see him in a moment. He showed up in an all-white morning suit, with a plastic lily pinned to his chest. Climbing into a hospital window in the middle of the night, dressed head-to-toe in white — he looked like a total creep.”
“He’s always been that way…” John recalled the white wetsuit Arthur had worn back on Jibi Island.
“And he brought a whole stack of contracts,” Smith added, spreading his hands to show the thickness. “A progeny-development agreement, an identity disclosure statement, First Embrace risk forms, bloodkin lifestyle regulations, consent forms, family agreements, voluntary commissions… All of it has to be read and signed by both the human and bloodkin parties, then reviewed by the family council, and only afterward can the First Embrace take place under third-party supervision.”
So that’s how a domain bloodkin establishes progeny? John thought. Even his own contracts with the Association weren’t this complicated.
Smith shrugged. “I heard it was even worse centuries ago. These days they’ve standardized the process, which actually makes it simpler. Arthur seems to have brought ready-made documents. They’ll perform the Embrace first, then finish signing everything afterward, and finally let the Menkovár council stamp and file it. Because of Arthur’s status, his credibility is high enough to get away with that. Ordinary members wouldn’t be able to do this.”
John had always known that the First Embrace under the domain families was a complicated affair. He’d imagined it more like the movies: a grand Baroque hall, bloodkin elders seated in high-backed chairs under a solemn, oppressive atmosphere, speaking ancient tongues while debating and voting…
He had never expected the process had been turned into something resembling a business negotiation.
A few minutes later, Liz came out — because Arthur had pushed her out. According to him,
“The preparation before the Embrace can be witnessed by anyone. However, the guidance and pacifying afterward…that you must not see. He’s your older brother. It would be embarrassing — for you, for me, and later, unbearably humiliating for him. It would damage your relationship as family.”
And so Liz had been ushered out. She couldn’t help glancing back, worried about just how shameful the process might be if even Arthur thought it could scar their relationship.
“The washroom — upstairs, turn left,” Smith said to her.
Liz froze for a moment before realizing that the shapeshifter had read her thoughts.
“That’s enough. Don’t read my mind over something this trivial!” she snapped. She already looked much better than before — her expression at least was far more relaxed.
She turned the corner, but almost immediately stepped back.
“Smith, let’s put up a sound-dampening field outside the room. It doesn’t need to be large.”
“What for?” Smith asked.
Liz pulled off her glasses and rubbed her temples. “Uh… Arthur said…Lucian might groan, and I don’t want the hospital staff overhearing.”
A few minutes later, Coraci arrived at the hospital as well. Naturally, he slipped in unnoticed — there was no way he could just tell a nurse he was visiting Lucian at this point.
As he walked up the stairs, he sensed a sound-dampening spell at work on the upper floor. Such magic only lasted for a short time and couldn’t be recast in the same spot. Coraci couldn’t imagine why they would need it here.
Then he saw them: John and Smith, pressed against the hospital room door, peering intently through the edge of a long, narrow window — where the frosted coating had peeled away just enough to make spying possible.
Coraci cleared his throat softly, then immediately remembered the sound-dampening spell. They couldn’t hear him.
So he simply stood behind them in silence, staring.
Smith seemed too absorbed in reading John’s mind — or perhaps Arthur’s inside the room — to notice someone standing right next to him. John was even more oblivious. He should have been able to sense Coraci’s presence directly, but instead he remained wholly focused on watching through the window, utterly unaware.
At last, John felt something was off. His eyes shifted slightly — and there was Coraci.
The bloodkin and the shapeshifter both jerked their heads around, giving a soundless, startled cry. Only then did Coraci realize what they were doing: spying on the First Embrace…
Arthur must have just finished a stage of the process because the door opened and he stepped out. His lips moved, but no sound emerged.
Instead, he hugged each of them in turn, then mouthed to Coraci,“Take a look at your ex and your current! Are they both that curious?”
John didn’t understand the lip-reading. He was gesturing a bit with his hands just as the spell wore off.
“I’ve been through it myself,” he explained, “but I’ve never watched as an outsider. It’s like driving a car versus watching a car race… I was just curious if the domain bloodkin did things differently.”
Arthur clapped him on the shoulder. “And? Do you think there’s a difference?”
“I didn’t see clearly. When will Lucian wake up?”
“Very soon.” Arthur glanced back into the room. “Quicker than most fledglings. Because he and I now share a dual bloodline connection. After all, he’s technically my many-generations-removed…grandnephew?”
Coraci cut into their talk of lineage. “Mr. Arthur, according to the latest news we’ve received, several elders of the Menkovár family are already on their way to West Bay City. Did you notify them?”
“Not me.” Arthur gave a proud smile. “I only just got a call from Speaker Bosava. She told me they were coming…because of the Association’s letter. I hear you’re planning a sandbox space?”
“Yes…”
“The Menkovár family is one of the main sponsors of the Unthreatening Creature Protection Association. We believe the Association is drawing quite a crowd.”
Personnel from offices all across the Association were being reassigned to West Bay City to help manage the crisis. They were flying in from all over the world.
By dawn, planes touched down beneath the night sky, and several elders of the Menkovár family stepped out of the airport.
The werewolf warriors of the Hunter Society arrived together by bus. Passing by Coraci’s house, some of them even acted like tour guides, pointing out the landmark with animated commentary.
Liz received a call from an unfamiliar number. The caller claimed to know Lucian and said he could help with the sandbox space project. After questioning him, she learned it was Mark, a former employee of Engrity Pharmaceuticals. He and Alette were preparing to return from abroad.
It was said that Mr. Russell had planned to come as well. But his health had declined so badly that he could hardly stay on his feet for more than five seconds without collapsing into a half-dead state. He was in no condition for long journeys. The Association worried something might happen to him if he insisted on coming, and they refused to let him visit in person.
Russell wasn’t satisfied. He was determined to contribute somehow — being a remote consultant wasn’t enough. Instructor Jere thought for a moment, then told him,”If you truly wanted to help, have the Bunker prison hold someone for us. That person had once been a monster but is now just a powerless human being. Technically, detaining him might violate protocol…”
Russell agreed. Therefore, the former Stone Man was shackled and loaded onto the transport headed for the Bunker.
The night was chaotic. Every member of the Association was rushing about, phones ringing nonstop.
Lucian was no longer in danger, but in a sense, he was already dead. From this point forward, they had seventeen days to complete the Physical Sandbox.
The Blackmoon family estate would serve as the cultivation pool. Not just the house itself, but also the wide stretch of private land surrounding it. The larger the pool, the greater the sandbox space could grow. Based on the size of Blackmoon’s lands, it could become a space as large as a city.
Around four in the morning, Carolyn sipped coffee while watching the lively scene unfold inside the programmer Hilton’s villa.
“This place feels like…” she began.
“Like what?” Liz asked. She had jumped straight into other work after returning from the hospital.
“Like the control room before a rocket launch in a movie.”
Liz tapped at the keyboard, smiling and shaking her head. “Not even close. Those places aren’t this noisy.”
“It also reminds me a little of Torchwood…”
“They never had this many people crammed in together.”
“I’ve got it… Like Rivendell’s Council!”
“In terms of species diversity, you may be right,” Liz admitted, glancing toward a bear-person exorcist from the Ulan-Ude office, who was currently arguing with the furnace spirit perched on his shoulder about materials. (Note 1)
Carolyn watched Liz for a moment. “Liz, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“About Coraci…”
Liz paused, wiping her glasses.
“You mean…about what he did to my family?”
Carolyn nodded. Coraci had been her friend for many years. She believed she understood him — he wasn’t an evil creature. Yet it was true that the Blackmoon family had been destroyed by his power.
“I think I finally understand Hai Jiu,” Liz sighed. “That female specter of the Coraci family… You remember what happened at the old Atwood manor, don’t you? After that, Hai Jiu left. She said she knew it wasn’t Coraci’s fault, but she just couldn’t face him anymore… Now, I can understand what that feels like.”
She slid her glasses back on and turned her eyes to the screen again. “I think Coraci will still be my colleague. But…maybe not my friend anymore.”
Carolyn propped an elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her hand, her expression bitter.
Liz added, “But how you see him is up to you. Don’t let me influence that.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Carolyn said. “I just keep feeling that what Coraci said had a deeper meaning.”
“Deeper meaning?”
“I can imagine how guilty he must feel,” Carolyn said, and Liz nodded in agreement. “He suggested the sandbox space, he suggested using his true name… Once the sandbox space is completed, he plans to go in himself to fight the devil, right?”
“Of course. He’s far stronger than any of us spellcasters. Many people will be going in, and he absolutely has to be one of them.”
“No, that’s not what I mean.” Carolyn shook her head slowly. “What I mean is… I don’t think he ever intended to come back out.”
Liz’s fingers froze on the keyboard again. Carolyn tilted her head, still puzzled.
Liz had always thought of Carolyn’s mind as reckless and simplistic most of the time, yet every so often unexpectedly sharp.
She couldn’t tell which this was.
Author’s Notes:
Note 1: Torchwood is a TV series that deals with aliens. It’s a spinoff of Doctor Who. I didn’t think it really needed a note, but maybe not everyone has watched it, so here it is.
The Council of Elrond reference is to The Lord of the Rings, when everyone gathers at Elrond’s to plan the quest to Mount Doom. Honestly, that one probably needs no explanation at all.
As for the Menkovár family — no, not all of them are comic relief. Mostly just Arthur. Back when he was human, he was a knight, formally knighted and everything. Writing him like this now, I’ve never actually stopped to think about what he was like as a human being. Looking back on it… it’s kind of hard to imagine, haha.
This Title is available for faster chapter releases through paid Patreon membership. Any proceeds go to keeping the website running. Check it out HERE.
