"Y-you're.... glowing?" Noah questioned as he looked at her.
He didn't mean that metaphorically.
There was a literal blue glow around Antoinette's naked body, and even she looked surprised.
"T-that's impossible," She muttered as she looked at the glow around her arms before looking up t Noah, "what the hell are you, Noah?"
Noah was even more confused,as he had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that she was suddenly glowing, and there was a cold aura coming from her.
"I was already at my limit," she said slowly, "for decades, my power as an ice-blooded noble had stagnated. No matter how much I trained, how much blood I consumed, I couldn't cross the threshold."
The glow around her got brighter, and the frost on the walls thickened. A thin layer of ice covered the windows in an instant.
"But just now…" she swallowed. "Something just pushed me through."
Noah shook his head, "I didn't do anything."
Antoinette laughed softly, then suddenly froze when a sharp crack was heard through the living room.
Behind her, the air cracked.
You read that right, the air itself cracked like glass under pressure, creating spider webbings mid air.
The cracks transformed into a sigil, glowing with an intense glacial blue, inscribed with ancient vampiric runes Noah could neither read nor understand, so he was only confused by the supernatural sequence of events.
Antoinette, on the other hand, had a different reaction.
Her pupils shrank and her body slowly trembled.
"…T-that's a high Noble's Sigil," she whispered, "no, this is higher. This is something that only appears when a vampires evolve to monarchs."
The sigil slowly approached her and before anything could be said, it imprinted itself on Antoinette, causing her to let out a soft moan.
Her back arched as she felt the power filling her and whatever bottle neck that was stopping her advance, completely faded.
The frost receded, leaving the room intact, though colder than before.
When she opened her eyes again, they were different.
Instead of just red, her irises were now rimmed with icy blue, making it seem as if blood was trapped in ice.
She looked at Noah like she was seeing him for the first time with a large grin on her face, "I'm so glad fate brought you to me that night, darling."
There was this feverish desire in her eyes, one which seemed to have been brought about by her sudden evolution.
Noah was a bit confused, but he didn't hate the look in her eyes, neither did he hate the fact that she called him darling.
In fact, he very much liked that title, but for now, he had to fully understand what was going on.
"What's a vampire monarch?" He asked.
"Vampire Monarchs are walking calamities," Antoinette started, "Each one is a living law unto themselves. There are fewer than ten in existence, and every single one reshaped the balance of the supernatural world when they emerged."
Noah nodded in understanding, what he got from that explanation was that Vampire monarchs were extremely strong entities and only a few vampires manage to become one.
Though, there was this weird urge that rose when he heard of what they were capable of, and Noah didn't know where it came from but it kept asking one thing,
What would it feel like fighting one?
Shaking his head to get such obviously suicidal thoughts out of it, Noah turned towards Antoinette.
"And you just became one?" He asked curiously, "because off me?"
"Of course darling," she walked closer to him before wrapping her arms around his neck, "your dear wife just got a lot stronger thanks to you."
"Because of the sex?" Noah blurted out, since her ascension happened just after.
Antoinette silently looked at his face for a while before chuckling.
"I don't think that's it," she shook her head, before bringing it close to his ears and whispering, "after all, the energy from your seed is still safely within me."
Antoinette pulled back a bit to observe his reaction and she wasn't disappointed. Noah's face was beet red as he tried to look away.
"While drinking your blood," She continued with a small smile on her face, "I felt like being filled with some type of energy which I'm sure acted as the catalyst to push my ascension through."
So in summary, his blood was enough to make vampires ascend. Noah placed a hand on his chin as he started thinking, 'is this because of those gates?'
He was sure Antoinette knew nothing about said gates since she hadn't mentioned them once during her explanation, which meant that wasn't a vampire specific thing.... If not, then what was it?
Did each gate represent a different supernatural? If so, then could he access that space again? Could he unlock other gates? What was that golden gate.
Noah was completely lost in thoughts that he didn't notice that Antoinette was silently observing him.
Not until she spoke up.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked.
"About what I might be?" Noah responded, "since according to your words, I'm definitely not a normal vampire."
She leaned in and pressed her lips against his before pulling back and smiling.
"Whatever you are," she whispered, "you're mine."
***
While the couple continued enjoying the presence of the other, night quickly fell and supernatural activity rose.
[Stromovka Park, Prague, Czech Republic]
A couple strolled in the quiet park, clinging to one another, and from the desire in both their eyes, you'd see that they definitely weren't here for a quiet stroll.
"A-are you sure this is fine?" The lady asked nervously as she looked around the empty park, "what if we get caught?"
"We won't," the man assured her with a grin, guiding her deeper between the trees where the glow of the lamps no longer reached. "No one comes here this late."
The park was unnaturally quiet.
There was no wind, there wasn't even the sound of insects around which was unusual.
She hesitated, fingers tightening around his sleeve. "It feels… cold all of a sudden."
"That's just your nerves," he said, laughing softly as he leaned in, brushing his lips along her neck as he placed gentle kisses on it,"relax."
He placed a hand under her clothes, slowly moving upwards only for the two to freeze when they suddenly heard a low growl.
The woman pulled back, her eyes darting toward the darkness. "D-did you hear that?
The man frowned, listening.
Another sound followed, it sounded like something wet, similar to a sloppy chewing.
"…Probably a stray dog," he said after a moment, forcing a chuckle. "Or a fox. Stromovka has those, right?"
She didn't look convinced, but he kissed her again, his urgency returning.
The growl didn't repeat and the park fell silent once more causing them to dismiss it as just their imagination.
That...was a mistake.
The moment the man had his pants down, ready for action, a blur flew past him and before he realized, his head had been separated from his neck.
It took the lady until a hot liquid dropped on her face before her mind finally caught up.
Something heavy hit the ground at her feet with a dull thud causing her breath to hitch as her gaze slowly dropped.
The man's body was still standing for half a second with his hands frozen mid-motion, before it collapsed to the ground.
And there, rolling to a stop near the roots of a tree, was his head.
Her scream tore through Stromovka Park.
But before she could even step back, pale fingers clamped around her wrist with inhuman strength and tugged.
The force spun her around, slamming her against a tree hard enough to knock the air from her lungs.
She finally got a good look at the person...no, creature responsible.
Its skin was corpse-white with blackened veins swollen beneath the surface. Its eyes were producing a feral red glow, pupils blown wide with madness.
Blood coated its mouth and chin, dripping steadily onto the grass below as it looked hungrily towards her.
She tried to scream again.
But whatever sound that managed to escape her was cut short when the creature suddenly latched its mouth full of fangs latched on to her neck.
She tried struggling, but it was all futile as the creature tightly kept her in place while it drank her blood with unrestrained hunger.
It continued for a while and when it finally pulled away, her pale, bloodless, body slid down the tree, lifeless eyes staring at nothing.
The creature looked at her lifeless corpse for a while, its hunger still unsatisfied so it raised its eyes to the moon before dashing into the forest again,
In search of a new prey.