Stephan was right about his assumptions of the Vampire Council

They didn't care that he killed Jonathan, only that he was the vessel of two Orbs, that of Gluttony and of Lust. 

Why were the Orbs so important to them? Because the Orbs granted the unlimited ability to grow stronger, and gain all the abilities of all the creatures they absorbed, him by eating their hearts, Jonathan by sex. 

This actually gave Jonathan the ability to walk under sunlight, which none of the Vampires could do. 

And they could prolong their lifespans by taking their victim's lifeforce, allowing even supposed immortal vampires and long lived Elves to literally live forever. 

As long as Stephan was their willing weapon, they casually let him replace Jonathan in their advance forces. 

Besides, after devouring Jonathan's heart, he did have the reflexes and movements of a vampire and elf, even if didn't get stronger or faster due to already being stronger and faster from his animal abilities. 

He lied to them about his origins, telling the Vampire Council that he was a native of the Staging Grounds where they got him. 

He said he was from a small tribe that got wiped out by the elves and only found salvation from the skeleton of the Dragonkin that had the orb. 

It was a half lie of course, but half lies are the most powerful as they contained slivers of the truth mixed in. 

They tested him at first, of course, bringing several living humanoid creatures from other realms that they kept as slaves. The first was a birdlike humanoid with feathers and humanlike face. The second was some sort of lizardman.

He killed them without remorse, demonstrating his thirst for blood. He ate their hearts, demonstrating he had no revulsion to blood. 

He attained their abilities that his body could attain, but there was nothing new for him as he already had the abilities of bird and crocodiles. These perhaps only made those abilities stronger, but Stephan didn't feel it did. 

They put him through training for battle, training him the battle skills of the vampires, as well as those of the elves from the vampire-elf hybrids

He found that the training was especially brutal, with vampires attacking with intent to kill and not holding back.

To fit in, and especially to take out his anger on the vampires, Stephan was the most brutal and vicious of them all, "accidentally" killing vampires who had incredible healing abilities and were near immortal. 

It gained him a reputation of being the most brutal of them all, even gaining recognition and earning their trust and a leadership position. 

Stephan found that although his claw attacks were stronger than the vampires, with his abilities that of either a bear or tiger, the vampires had a proper martial style and fighting syllabus 

The elf hybrids thought him their style of archery, and even their way of running, dodging and jumping while continuously firing arrows

There were only human looking vampires and Elf hybrids there, maybe because this was the Elven home realm

He wondered where the human vampires came from originally. Were there humans in other realms too?

After all, the Vampire Elders did not seem surprised to see a human coming from the Staging Grounds

While training, Stephan kept patient, keeping his head down, acting like the perfect Vampire

After all, his abilities mimicked the vampire's abilities, but the only difference was, he couldn't transform into bats or dogs, and he wasn't vulnerable to sunlight, much like Jonathan was. 

In fact, he was definitely stronger and faster than a vampire.

But the leaders of the Vampires are fully aware that due to his abilities coming from the Orb, his abilities would be slightly different

Finally, after over 3 months in the Elvengreen realm, he was put in charge of a team to enter the portal, supposedly to the human realm, which Stephan hoped was Earth

He was put in charge of a small elite group of Vampires, numbering 100 Vampire-Elf hybrids to go to the portal, to join the war in the human realm. 

He walked through the portal, and looked around as he arrived in the other side. 

He took a deep breath, filled with conflicted emotions. 

On the one hand, he was incredibly happy to return home! He recognized the place to be somewhere in America by the English on the broken signs on the ground. 

But he was disappointed, hoping it wasn't true that Earth has been invaded. The buildings all around him were destroyed in a great battle. 

There were dead and rotting bodies on poles everywhere, impaled through their anus or vaginas like the Elves were as the vampires used the buildings that still stood as shelter

He was escorted to a large building, which the vampires were using as a base. 

He realized where he was! He was being led to the Denver Mint! He was in Denver. He wasn't very far from Houston!

He was worried that if he made it back to Earth, he might end up on the other side of the world. But now, he was only a state away from home, and from Natalie!

While walking, he saw humans, both men and women, naked and in chains. They were treated like livestock as the vampires lived on blood

He followed the escort in to the Mint, as an Elder Vampire sat on a large chair, made of the bones of the many humans they've killed

Some of the bones still had rotting flesh on them, and he was holding a chalice full of human blood while holding a drumstick which was still attached to a human's foot!

"You are... the vessel of the Orb?" he asked

"Two orbs" Stephan replied 

"Oh? Two? Well I don't know why the council hold so much importance in the orbs. You look... unimpressive" he said sarcastically

"Well I will do my best, sire" Stephan said, taken aback by how different this Elder Vampire treated him compared to the ones in Elvengreen

"Well since you've just arrived from that.. Elf land, what shall I do with you and your... mongrel team?" he asked

"If I may... let us go out on raids. I itch for battle! I want to see the battlefield with my own eyes" Stephan said

"Do as you wish. Stay out of the way of our purebloods. We won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way" he said, his hand shooing them out

--

Stephan was glad that he was given a free role to wander and fight. He intended to head to Houston as fast as he could. 

Pretending to randomly pick a direction, he led his army of a hundred southwards, heading towards the general direction of Houston. 

All along the way, they had skirmishes with lizardmen and goblin scouts which they slaughtered indiscriminately. 

There were pockets of humans hiding in pockets here and there. 

"Aren't we going to hunt humans?" one of the Vampire hybrids Christina asked. His whole team consisted of male vampire-elf hybrids

"No. It's not sport to hunt for the weak... Eat if you wish, but let those snobbish purebloods herd them. We are here to battle" Stephan said

"A few of us will break off. We're hungry. And we are curious for the taste of human blood" another hybrid Anastasia said

Stephan ignored them, venturing forwards towards the south

Hours later, after reaching Grenville,  Stephan stood over his kill, which was a large troll with it's heart in his hands, a few hybrids returned from eating.

This city had been abandoned as a trolls and ogres came out of a portal there. These monstrous creatures were nearly immune to gunfire and literally wrecked the place.

"We didn't expect you to lead the group so far" they said

"I will hunt where I see fit. It is no point just staying in the city controlled by us. Where's the fun in that?" Stephan asked

They hesitated before nodding

Stephan remembered them as Anastasia, Christina, Monica and April

Over the next day, they entered Fort Worth, which was taken over by the goblins.

Unlike Denver, which still looked habitable, the goblins turned Dallas into a giant dumpsite. 

There were literally bones everywhere from goblins feasting on rotting human flesh. 

The goblins ate the male humans and used their skin for clothes, and bones to make weapons. As for the females, they were used for breeding. 

Both orcs and goblins had no females and relied on raping the females of other races to breed. 

After more than a year, the whole city was filled with goblins! And they all looked like they were newly born in the last year, meaning human bred goblins! 

The battle was intense, as the goblins had a massive numerical advantage. They not only bred fast, but grew fast too. After a week, a newborn goblin could already take up a weapon and fight!

They were also included Goblin shamans and a large group of hobgoblins, who were arguably as strong and powerful as orcs!

However, the vampires were physically superior and were only matched by the hobgoblins. The rest were just cannon fodder

Furthermore, the vampires were practically immortal, able to recover from nearly any wound except being stabbed in the heart. 

Stephan really showed his worth in this battle, covering himself with blood as he ripped apart goblin after goblin, hobgoblin after hobgoblin for fun brutally. 

At the end, they routed the goblins that they battled, causing the rest to flee in terror. 

However, Fort Worth was large, and this was only in a single district in the city. 

Besides, strangely the vampires had a few casualties from the battle, namely Anastasia, Christina, Monica and April. Nobody imagined that the hobgoblins were skillful enough to kill a vampire and turn them to dust

However, Stephan wasn't too concerned and commanded them to move on. He said he found that battling goblins bore him, so they will head further south to see what other enemies they could face. 

Several days later, in Dallas, they faced a great army of lizardmen. 

Lizardmen were tough warriors with crocodile thick skin. They were also adept in water magic. 

However, what most troubled them were that they were teamed up with lamias, who were six handed humanoids with tails like a snake. 

They were terrifying warriors and even the vampires were wary of them. 

The battle lasted several hours as Stephan faced one by himself, somehow separated from the rest

"What are you doing?" the male lamia asked

"I don't know what you mean" Stephan answered, covered in blood

"I saw you, killing a few vampires in your group, ripping out their hearts as they turned to ash. Are you a traitor?" he asked

"You don't need to know" Stephan said as he charged

Stephan managed to slice off the lamia's arm, then the next, then another before finally leaving the lamia armless as Stephan toyed with him

"I'm not... done yet" the injured lamia said and wrapped his tail around Stephan and tried to squeeze the life out of him

"Heh.... two can play this game" Stephan replied, grabbing the lamia with both hands and squeezed back

Minutes later, he peeled off the dead lamia and started cutting him open to look for his heart.

While eating, the rest of the vampires appeared

"We lost another 9 of our forces" a vampire named Monica said

"Then they were weak. Let's go" Stephan said coldly. He could not wait as the next place they were heading is Houston!