The young boy strolled through the dense forest, the wooden case strapped to his back. The young boy unaware that he was not walking by himself this night. 

The red eyed man tailing him was none other than Simon, one of Cassius' generals. Simon had been one of the more diligent searchers for the forge, he was putting in extra effort to ensure he made up for his weakness with the Empress Progenitor. 

'With as easily as she dealt with Fatso I definitely don't want to be on the receiving end of her ire. I'd better make sure to get in her good graces and stay there. '

He had gotten lucky tonight, and saw a big cloud of smoke all released at once, but it being more windy tonight than most that large volume of smoke disappeared within minutes.

He trailed the boy for over an hour, he wanted to make sure that they were far enough from where he exited from that he would not have any unexpected visitors. Once he felt he was far enough away he dropped from the tree silently. 

He ran behind the boy the rustling of leaves startling the boy in the night. The boy spun around his voice growing shaky, "W-who's there?" 

When the only answer was silence, the boy brought spun the box from his back and carried it in front of his chest. As he turned again a twig broke and the boy unnerved, broke into a run. 

Vampires are predators, they only know how to hunt. The boy ran and Simon gave chase. He quickly caught up the boy and gave him a sharp knife hand to the side of his neck, the boy slumped to the floor. 

Simon was hungry, the chase awakened his instinctual need to feed, however, as instinctual as it was for him to plunge his fangs into the boy, the fear of death from the Empress Progenitor overrode his desire. 

He downed a blood potion instead to satiate himself. He picked the boy up and placed him onto his shoulder. He then picked up the box, which was heavier than he initially thought it to be. He sped back through the forest to the castle where he would arrive a few hours later.

*******************

Vixen paced back and forth along the edges of the map, it had been ten days since she ordered the vampires to search for forge. During that time she had let her family know what had transpired. 

The others were elated to find out she managed to escape and even turned the tides on the other progenitor. While they were talking, Ferde'La has reported some disturbing news, the other progenitor was coming for an audience. 

He also said Victor vouched for his former master that it was him and two of his generals coming and no one else. It was rumored that his blood control was better than everyone else's because it was his progenitor ability. 

Just like how Vixen could steal a infinite number of abilities, the ability to do so just went on cooldown. The others who awaken the power, like her generals, could only permanently steal three abilities. 

In her stress she had been running Cassius ragged, whether it was to go hunting for blood for the house, cleaning, or preparing a bath she never gave him much rest. She could tell in his face that the more she ordered him around without fulfilling any kind of desire, the enthrallment weaker and weaker.

She sat down at the empty end of the table,"Cassius, poor me some blood for us and sit next to me will you," she ordered. 

Cassius looked disheveled, he hadn't had a chance to have blood himself and was starting to get out of sorts, but he complied.

Vixen brought the wine glass filled with blood up to her succulent lips and took a sip, energy coursing through her. "Don't sit on ceremony drink," she said.

Cassius quickly downed three large glasses of blood, nearly chugging it before he was calm enough to sip on it leisurely.

When Cassius went to take another sip Vixen had put her hand on his thigh and Cassius almost spit out the blood he was drinking. 

"Is there a problem?" Asked Vixen nonchalantly. 

"No Empress," he quickly responded. Cassius tried to go back to relaxing, but she could tell he wasn't.  The vampires continued their busy hustle and bustle updating the map while the two of them sat there and drank blood. 

Vixen used her right hand to undo Cassius' pants just enough to free his dick. His dick quickly rose to full mast in anticipation, Vixen began to stroke it rhythmically, the same way some one would pet a dog for a long time. 

Vampires would come chat with her and she'd answer their questions, even have full conversations with people while Vixen worked the man. 

Simon came in carrying the wooden box over his shoulder, while dragging the boy with the other arm. 

Simon present the boy to Vixen, but looked away embarrassed seeing the Empress stroke his lord the way she was.  She rested her chin in her other hand and addressed Simon, "No need to be embarrassed it was just the time to reinforce his motivation," she explained. 

Ten days was the minimum time an enthrallment could last. With zero rewards and heavy labor or ordering the target will lose the enthrallment by the eleventh day. She was refreshing the enthrallment and she guessed that less hard labor would increase the enthrallment duration. 

"I've found this one coming out of the forge carrying this. I'm guessing we can use him to get in there. We now also have a good weapon to use, a sword if I had to guess by the weight and size of the box," Simon explained 

A loud bang was heard on the as Cassius climaxed. Vixen wiped her hand on his clothes and ordered him to go clean up. 

"That IS good news," she exentuated. She then turned to the boy, "and what might your name be?"

The young boy tried to relax but just seemed to not be able to. 

"I'm L-Leon miss," he said shakily. 

Simon went and marked the map where the forge was located. Vixen eyed the location taking special care to memorize it. 

"Whats the secret to get in?" Vixen asked Leon innocently, a small smile on her lips.

"I-I can't tell you that. They'll kill me!"

"You can stay here protected. They'll never know and no one will remain to snitch on you either."

"The tree...no I'm sorry I just can't do it."

"I'll give you some time to think it over, I can protect you indefinitely. I promise."

"How can you promise such a thing!," Leon began shouting,"Can you kill a demon!?"

"Ah so that's how it is. To answer your question, yes I believe I can."

"I won't go with you, b-but I'll tell you..."