Since packing wasn't something the Starikov Family did, Ekaterina spent the rest of the day idling, occasionally checking in with Eliana, bouncing ideas for spells off of her.

Ekaterina didn't have the innate magical knowledge Eliana held, but since Eliana could use the magical energy within Ekaterina's Phantasm, she could compensate for Ekaterina's own shortcomings in magical knowledge.

Sabine lay across Ekaterina's lap, and Ekaterina found herself absently running her fingers through her silky hair, the smooth and silky feeling resembling like silk.

"Why do vampires exist?" Ekaterina's question made Sabine's eyes open and stare up at Ekaterina's face with a curious look, but she shook her head after thinking silently.

"No one really knows. If you asked the witches, the more fanatic ones would say vampires are abominations of the world." Sabine smiled up at Ekaterina, with her emerald green eyes shining mesmerizingly in the dim lighting.

"Humans would say we're gods, or the closest things to the idea of God. We don't age. We don't die naturally. We're stronger than everything else on the planet, with a few exceptions." Sabine raised her hand and shook it lightly.

"Demons can change an entire continent. Safiya's unconscious use of a spell was more than enough to submerge a continent." Sabine shook her head and closed her eyes again.

"Vampires aren't all knowing, and even Selene wouldn't be able to say she knows everything. We don't need to know why we exist. We just need to give our existence meaning." Sabine's words trailed off as she drifted off to sleep.

"We have a flight at nine, so we have an hour until we need to leave. You're fine around humans, enough to fly on a plane with them?" Valentina poked her head in the room, her normally neat blond hair shaken into a mess.

"I think so, I don't really feel that inclined to bite anyone..." Ekaterina's face scrunched up as she recalled the typical uncontrollable bloodlust of a vampire being weeks to months long, but for her, a little over a week was enough?

"Then, we'll get ready. Lumi will also accompany us. She's your personal maid, okay?" Valentina smiled, and then the sound of footsteps disappearing made Ekaterina smile wryly.

She could understand why Sabine moved out. The sounds weren't loud, but as a vampire, she could hear them. Of course, she didn't say anything that would make the situation awkward.

"Well... You're coming, aren't you, Selene?" Ekaterina asked the silver haired girl who was currently in the midst of a battle on her laptop, furiously tapping the keys with a pair of headphones on.

"To school, no? I'll go with you guys though, being alone is boring. Heidi's stuck showering Millie with love, I don't want to be stuck watching that." Selene spoke offhandedly, and Ekaterina smiled at just how free she could be at times.

Sitting on the throne during the trial, although Selene wasn't as intense as Heidi, Ekaterina didn't think a normal person could resist her intensity even when she looked like a child, much less if she used her adult form.

"Ekaterina, you're technically a demon, and even if your magical energy reserves are too low to support spells, you should practice opening your Phantasm to get used to the feeling." Selene's words drifted over, and then Selene perked up.

"Oh, right! If there's an actual eclipse, open your Phantasm, and you'll receive a boost to your magical energy." Selene seemed to forget she was in the midst of a game, and Ekaterina could hear her cursing teammates through the headphones.

"I receive a constant boost because I use the moon. Safiya lives near an ocean, Heidi has the darkness of night to help her, and Tatiana lives in a big forest." Selene then gestured to the sky.

"An eclipse requires both the sun and the moon to happen, so as long as you're under the light of one of the two celestial bodies, you should be able to raise your magical energy capacity a little." Selene's hair shook as she shook her head quickly.

"Do Demi also increase magical energy the way we do?" Ekaterina's question made Selene teleport in front of her, poking her forehead with her index finger and speaking with a chiding tone.

"A Demi's magical energy is a bit different. It's hard to explain. The closest thing I can compare it to is something natural and something unnatural?" Selene swapped to teaching mode.

"Part of the reason our magical energy burns so fast when clashing with a Demi is due to the incompatibility of a Demi's Field and our Phantasms." Selene created two spheres, one sphere a shimmering green, and the other sphere a vibrant red.

"If our Phantasms are considered unnatural or even supernatural phenomenon, then a Demi's Field is something that returns everything to normalcy." Selene brought to green sphere close to the red one, and the red one begun to shrink.

"A vampire entering a Demi's Field is also weakened, depending on how thorough a Demi understand is. There's an upper limit, though, or I'd have killed them myself." Selene said something terrifying in a calm voice, but Ekaterina felt she couldn't really blame her.

If she were strong enough not to fear anything in the world, and there were people able to kill her, she might kill them to prevent that outcome even if it was cruel.

Ekaterina was slightly startled, wondering if such a mindset was something she always had? Was she callous and indifferent, or did becoming a vampire change her mind unknowingly?

"Don't think about it too much. No vampire can ever really know when they begin from when their vampire nature begins. We prioritize our lives and those we care about first." Selene then dispelled the spheres with a shake of her hands.

"If you ask me, you could say we're a gift to the world." Selene's outlook, one that was so different than the Demi's view, made Ekaterina's mouth open slightly in shock.

"Well, look at humans. They're frail and short-lived. Vampires can change humans for the better, their gender, their genetics, and even create new vampires." Selene's smiling face seemed to like the topic.

"Witches have access to magic, a variety of spells and abilities normal humans can't hope to rival. Yet, vampires counter most of their abilities by existing." Selene then hummed softly.

"That said, our resistance to magic is against direct magical attacks. If a witch burns a forest, if a vampire touches the fire in said forest, they'll be injured." 

"But if a witch uses a flame spell of a vampire directly, the damage wouldn't be much if the spell worked at all. So witches like to use obscure things like curses and traps to annoy us." Of course, Selene's level of life exceeded everything else in the world, and she could only see the witches, Arch Witches, and even Demi as slightly stronger people.

"In actuality, becoming a demon is so simple that it's hard for most vampires. Lulu is Tatiana's student, and while she's gifted at magic, enough to be ranked as a prodigy by the witches, she probably won't be able to conjure Vision soon." Selene didn't seem displeased or disappointed, just calm while speaking.

"A demon's Vision is both a guide and a restriction. Theoretically, you should be able to use cold based magic because an eclipse lowers the temperature of the planet." Ekaterina's eyes widened as the room became a winter wonderland with a thought from Selene.

"But you won't be able to use actual flame based magic. The magic you used to deal with the Rogue was something more like light magic, similar to my own." Ekaterina tried to recall the orange and light and realized belatedly it wasn't fire she'd used.

"You wouldn't be able to kill a vampire with your magical attacks. You can inflict a lot of pain, though." Selene's knowledge of Ekaterina's Phantasm exceeded Ekaterina's, and even Eliana's own understanding, so much so that Eliana chose to listen from within Ekaterina's Phantasm.

"Isn't an eclipse also the sun?" While Ekaterina asked, Selene nodded, and then two objects formed, a sun and a moon, not eclipsed yet.

"Rhea's Rule made it so vampires had a common enemy, death, a true death there was no recovery from, to allow vampires to know what death actually meant." Selene then made the sun and moon draw closer.

"At any point before the eclipse, you could kill a vampire due to the sun, but at the moment of the eclipse, the sun is obscured." The miniature sun and moon seemed to perfectly overlap.

"Totality means the world directly below becomes the closest thing to night during an eclipse. A total solar eclipse isn't bright. It's actually dark, similar to night." Selene then pushed the two overlapped objects to Ekaterina.

"See? Because you thought an eclipse was bright, it was as bright as day in your Phantasm, and a Demi could erode your magical energy extremely easily because the world you ruled was extremely unnatural." Selene then created a moon and then flicked it upwards.

"A Demi could erode my Phantasm, but it would take more than three to even have a chance of success. The more your Phantasm conforms to reality, the more natural it is, and the less draining it is." Selene then opened a window, revealing a moon so bright and close it seemed like anyone could reach up to touch it.

"Mis- Ekaterina, Lady Christabel asked me to deliver these to you. She said this belonged to Miss Eliana." Lumi returned, with a pleasant smile, her eyes showing a bit of shock at the large unreal moon just outside the window.

Lumi placed a beautiful dress on the bed and bowed to Selene, who waved a hand offhandedly to stop her. If the demons weren't placed above vampires due to their powers and abilities, Selene wouldn't mind living as a vampire.

"Selene, how do the humans explain all the things demons cause? Like Safiya's spell above the continent, placing an actual ocean above it? Or your moon? Or my eclipse?" Ekaterina's question made Selene's silver eyes roll around.

"Maybe they say it's aliens? Or some rare phenomenon? The leaders of the world know more or less of witches, Demi's, demons, and vampires existences, and when the leaders know, it's easy to blind the ones below to the truth." Selene then teleported back to the laptop and puffed out her cheeks after realizing she'd been disconnected for inactivity.

"Not that vampires mind, we don't need humans to know of our existence. It's not even about the danger it poses. Who would want to be looked at like an animal in a zoo? Or constantly be begged for immortality by humans hoping to become an Altered." Selene's silver eyes fell on the sleeping Sabine, still on Ekaterina's lap.

"You were lucky, Sabine turned you, and although you think it's normal, there might not be more than five new vampires in a single decade, at least among the Houses." Selene appeared in front of Ekaterina with a smile, but her eyes were firm.

"Not that you don't deserve it. In truth, I can't judge such a thing because it wasn't my own choice to make. Sabine thought you deserved it, and so she turned you instead of making you an Altered." Selene's silver eyes lost their seriousness as she spun and whistled to herself.

"But for most, even being an Altered is something they can only wish for. It's like a pie in the sky. Humans always want more, as does any creature that lives and breathes, and so naturally, they'd want what we can give, whether it's a longer lifespan or a different body." Selene's voice trailed off into silence.

"Some vampires seek out those who want it, and others just don't like the idea of becoming the center of the person's world." Sabine shook her head and looked at Ekaterina with an impish smile.

"But, enough of the serious talk, we don't have a lot of time. Do you wanna team up?" Selene pulled another laptop out of nowhere and began tapping away, leaving a speechless Ekaterina.

"I didn't say yes..." Although Ekaterina said so, she still obediently took the laptop from the eager Selene, and then felt her eye twitching as Selene seemed to expertly sell herself to the enemy team, increasing the difficulty on Ekaterina's side.

Gaming as a vampire wasn't hard, though, as Ekaterina's reaction time greatly improved, meaning she could react and counter attack at a speed far beyond what she could as a human being.

Even as she played, Sabine's head resting on her lap, her body carrying the scent of pine, butterscotch, and vanilla, a calming scent that seemed to comfort Ekaterina regardless of what was happening.

Yes, although Sabine could have simply made her an Altered, or paid her a sum of money, Sabine had chosen to stay by Ekaterina's side, and had chosen to love her, which was validation enough for Ekaterina.

Ruler_of_Leaves

End of the First Arc.