Dark Haunting

Over an hour had passed since the events Elysium had come to an end and the courtiers and socialites were long gone. All were absent from the vast dimly lit space, all except for one. Haloise Giovanni sat upon his throne his mind deep in contemplation as he surveyed the empty chamber before him. His mind was racing for soon the great struggle with his sibling in the blood would come to its head and only one of them could emerge triumphant. He had no love for the ambitious priest but he had proven to be both a worthy and crafty opponent capable of orchestrating numerous conspiracies at once.

Exhaustion of the mental sort set in on Haloise as he sat there silent barely so much as moving, the weight of his crown sat heavily upon him and he could feel his eyes growing heavy. This was not something a Vampire was akin to, it was the call of Torpor, at least that is what he told himself but in truth it was the strain of all things on him.

Despite the weight of his eyes he immediately came to alertness when he sensed a presence descend upon the room. He peered out across the place and he saw the shades of the dead all around him, victims of his millennium long Requiem. Some faces he knew, others victims of his scheming whose face he knew not but their fates were all the same, he had been their end.

“Haloise” a voice echoed out across the room, it was familiar to the Emperor yet still something alien.

“Show yourself coward.” Haloise stood and his voice roared with the command.

“The only coward I see is thee.” The voice answered with similar ferocity.

“I will not be overtaken by simple games, what is it that you want?!” Haloise could feel the rage welling in his chest.

“Cease this triviality, you know how to condemn that foe which vexes you yet you sit hear like some cheap ingrate.” The voice howled.

“I will not carry on an argument with a charlatan who will not show his face.” The Emperors temper began to make its way ever more in to his words.

“So be it.” The voice was amused.

With that the atmosphere of the whole room changed the haunting specters began to dissipate in to an azure mists and before long this must came to swirl about in one location. So dense had the fog grown yet it began to glow with an ebon luminescence. Then there came a flash of sorts and the mist was gone standing in its place was a familiar suite of armor. Its steel black and stains with a deep crimson and it stood nearly as tall as the emperor if not for the armor being slightly hunched over.

“Now pretender do you hold the audacity to call me charlatan again or will you admit to being the fraud that you are.” The voice spoke this time echoing from the armor is hungry blade weaving about the air.

 “I will not be ordered on the premises of a false accusation” Haloise focused his mind and with that one of the tables strewn about Elysium was propelled across the room towards the macabre knight.

The table came crashing towards the flimsily standing thing yet it swung the blade and with an impressive display of strength cut the table in two and then lunged forward towards Haloise.
There was no time to mount a counter attack as he just narrowly steeped away from the bite of the  blade. The vampire and the armor moved with an incredible speed yet from the perspective of Haloise every moment was as if In slow motion. He knew how the blade would fall, he was familiar with the relentlessness in each attack yet he could do little to respond.

“Behold how muzzled you have become.” The voice echoed with a challenge.

Haloise could offer little response, he could barely keep his focus sharp enough to keep himself free of harm amidst the feverish assault. He managed to gather enough willpower to launch another projectile at his assailant allowing himself to put some distance between himself and his armored foe.

“Who conjured you?” Haloise asked knowing full well that he would not get an answer.

“Why ask a question to which you already know the answer.” The voice was quick as it surged forward slashing its blade in a wide arch and catching Haloise by surprise. He narrowly avoided losing his head as the blade slashed just bellow his right eye. A surge of movement followed gauntlet of the armor firmly gripped the Emperors throat lifting him and pinning him against the wall.

“A muzzled beast locked within a cage you forget who holds the key.” The voice echoed coldly raking up the blade in a reverse grip with the intent to impale his victim upon it. A trickle of blue mist turned to a stream until there was nothing left of the Emperors assailant.

Haloise slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting, a slight trickle of blood dripped from the injury beneath his eye. The red of his Vitae staining his collar and the room fell silent if only for a moment before an eruption of tangible darkness heralded the arrival of Xaver, the Emperors bodyguard. The whole incident felt like hours when in truth only a number of seconds had passed.

“What happened here?” Xaver asked assertively, his eyes scanning the room for any sign of danger before falling on his charge and the trickle of blood the marked him.

“An angry specter is all, I was careless.” Haloise spoke with a measure of calm hoping his mild deception would be enough.

He had know way of knowing if Xaver believed him or not regardless the two made their exit from the room, the injury was negligible but Haloise knew the message perfectly.

He was locked in a cage but only he could see the bars that surrounded him, he had made a bargain with the devilish Black Estate and they would not let him forget the hidden leash they had around him. They helped him in defeating a mutual foe but the price was steep.