# Chapter 5 The Mystery of the Blood Pact
**Time**: The third week since Li Haoran's translocation; the 8th day of the Black Forest Lunar Month in the Medieval European Calendar (the eve following the full moon)
**Location**: Samantha's Trading Manor in Dawn Harbor; the subterranean vault of Silvermoon Citadel
**Characters**: Li Haoran, Catherine, Irina, Samantha, Victoria, Carl (lurking in shadow), Vampire Hunter Operatives
The veil of mist clinging to Dawn Harbor had yet to lift, its tendrils coiling around weathered pier posts like ghostly fingers as waves lapped softly against the stone steps—a murmur like the sigh of ancient spirits roused from slumber. Li Haoran stood aboard a splintered wooden vessel, his gaze fixed on Samantha's Trading Manor, which loomed through the haze in the distance. A Gothic monolith, its spires scraped the belly of the storm-clouded sky, encircled by iron railings twisted into gnarled, claw-like shapes—as if a slumbering behemoth lay in wait, jaws agape, for the unwary to stumble into its maw.
"That is Samantha's domain," a voice drifted from behind. Catherine stood there, her amethyst eyes glinting with the cold sharpness of a forged blade in the faint morning glow. "She spurns uninvited guests. We tread on knife's edge now."
Irina perched at the bow, the sea breeze whipping her short tresses to reveal a delicate jawline taut with quiet dread. She drew a shuddering, steadying breath, as if steeling herself to unburden a long-hidden weight that had festered in her chest for centuries. "Catherine… Li Haoran… there is something I must confide in you both. Something I have never dared speak of to another soul."
Before she could speak further, Li Haoran cut in, his tone light with playful teasing, a feeble attempt to chase away the gloom clinging to the air. "Hold a moment, Irina—I've a trivial question gnawing at me." He scratched the back of his neck, feigning a look of earnest bewilderment. "Why the short hair? Does long hair not suit you? Or did Catherine bid you shear it, jealous of how it might outshine her own?" He dragged out the final words, his eyes darting mischievously toward Catherine, a lopsided grin tugging at his lips.
Irina froze, then burst into laughter—clear, melodious, and laced with a fae-like mischief, as if the wind itself had taken voice, but the sound trembled at the edges, betraying the grief she tried to mask. "Hahaha, Li Haoran, you are a rogue!" With a flick of her head, as though weaving a spell with a single gesture, her short hair unfurled into a cascade of scarlet tresses, cascading down her shoulders like molten flame, shimmering with an otherworldly luster that caught the faint dawn light. "We vampires—our forms are clay in our hands. Short or long, raven or ruby… all bend to our will, as easily as breathing."
Li Haoran's eyes widened to saucers, his mouth hanging open in an "O" of pure astonishment, as if he had witnessed a sorcerer's most arcane trick, one that defied all logic of his former world. "Whoa—this is nothing short of extraordinary! Back home, people pay fortunes for a hair color change, and you just… *do* it?" He leaned in, excitement coursing through him like a child discovering a chest of enchanted trinkets, his gaze fixed on Irina. "Can you shift it to strange hues, then? Like a chameleon of old? What of… gold? The kind that glows like sunlight?"
Infected by his unbridled zeal, Irina giggled, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons, but the sound was softer now, tinged with a fragile hope. She whispered a wordless incantation, a syllable that hung in the air like stardust, and her tresses shifted once more—this time into cascading waves of burnished gold, shimmering like liquid sunlight in the morning glow, each strand catching the light as if woven from actual treasure. "Does this satisfy your curiosity, little mortal?"
Li Haoran's eyes lit up like starlight. "Truly! Golden hair, conjured from thin air! In my world, gold is a treasure beyond measure. A chest of such coins would make you a noble of great wealth—an heiress of fortune, feared and revered in equal measure."
Irina tilted her head, confusion knitting her brows, her voice small and tentative, as if afraid to admit she did not understand. "Awaken from your reverie—what is this 'dollar' you speak of? A currency of your world? One forged from gold?"
"Huh? Oh, a dollar—a currency of a far-off land called America," Li Haoran stammered, struggling to frame the alien concept in terms she might grasp, his hands flailing slightly as he spoke. "But this era knows no such nation. In this time… it is worth nothing. Less than a single copper coin."
Catherine raised an eyebrow, a faint smirk playing at her lips, her tone laced with dry amusement and a hint of fondness. "Enough of your goldlust, little fool. I have two chests of such coins awaiting us back at the castle—enough to fund your every whim, to feast on the finest wines and meats, to wander this land without care for years on end."
"Whoa—my wife Catherine is a patron of great means! I beg you, take me under your wing! No more toil, no more labor—fund my scholarly pursuits instead! This world lacks even the simplest comforts of electricity, a realm of primal hardship. To tend crops and cook by hand… it is a trial of fire, a punishment fit for criminals!"
"Cease your prattling—can you not see Catherine's patience wanes?" Irina doubled over with laughter, her voice light as a feather, but her eyes softened as she watched the pair, a flicker of longing in their depths. "Tsk tsk, not even a full day passes, and you already scheme for an easy life? You are a shameless one, Li Haoran."
Li Haoran's tone softened, a warm smile spreading across his face, his gaze locking onto Catherine's with a devotion that made Irina's heart ache. "Yet with my wife Catherine by my side, what more could I desire? Wealth is nothing without the one you love to share it with."
He stepped forward, arms outstretched to embrace her, but Catherine gently pushed him back, her fingers brushing his chest in a gesture that was half-rebuke, half-affection. Li Haoran stumbled, his balance failing him—had the ship's railing not caught him, he would have plummeted into the icy, black waters below, where the waves gnashed like hungry teeth.
Undeterred, he pressed forward again, leaning in for a kiss—only to be rebuffed once more, Catherine's hand pressing firmly against his lips, her eyes glinting with playful defiance…
This time, wit guided him. "The sun crests the horizon!" he called out, his voice urgent, feigning panic. As Catherine turned to glance at the pink and gold streaks painting the sky, he seized the moment, pressing a soft, fleeting kiss to her cheek.
Catherine did not pull away. Instead, she melted into him, her lips meeting his in a tender, lingering kiss, the salt of the sea breeze mixing with the faint, sweet scent of her vampire blood—a kiss that felt like a promise, a sanctuary in a world of darkness.
"Ooh, such sweetness! Your affection is so cloying, my teeth ache as if steeped in honey!" Irina teased, covering her mouth with a hand, but her laughter was hollow now, her gaze drifting to the horizon, where the sun rose higher with each passing second.
Li Haoran pulled back, feigning solemnity, his thumb brushing the spot where his lips had touched her cheek. "In my world, we would say 'my teeth grow sore from such sweetness'—a turn of phrase more fitting, I think. Less dramatic, more… *accurate*."
Catherine's expression sobered, the playfulness vanishing from her eyes like a candle snuffed out, her voice sharp and urgent. "Enough of this dalliance. We have reached Samantha's grounds. Remember—one wrong word, and we shall all end up as trophies on her walls."
Irina's gaze drifted to the pair, a complex mix of longing and unease flickering in her eyes as she recalled Samantha's mind-reading gifts, a power that made her skin crawl with fear. She drew a deep, shuddering breath, as if calming a storm within her chest, then spoke in a soft, trembling voice, each word a struggle to force out. "Before I met you both, my life was a prison of shadow. Carl ruled over us with an iron fist, reducing us to breeding stock, stripping us of all freedom, all dignity. Every time I saw strangers dragged into his lair—humans, vampires, anyone who dared defy him—I thought: perhaps one day I shall bear a child, but that child would know no liberty. Condemned to be a weapon in Carl's cruel hands. A tool. Nothing more."
Her voice faded to a whisper, barely audible over the crash of the waves, her shoulders trembling with the weight of her memories. "But seeing the love between you—how you would risk all for one another—I dared to hope. For the first time in centuries, I dared to hope. Perhaps the world is not as dark as Carl claimed. Perhaps there exists a life of freedom, of respect… of love."
A trail of blood tears streamed down her cheeks, thick and black, splattering onto the deck with a sickening *splat*. Where they fell, small pocks smoldered, wisps of acrid smoke curling upward—proof of the torment etched into her soul, the pain that would never truly fade. Her voice shook as she continued, her words breaking like glass. "I… I was Carl's favorite experiment. To breed his perfect army, his perfect slaves, he subjected us young female vampires to horrors beyond imagining. Horrors I can still feel on my skin, even now."
In an instant, silver needles materialized between Catherine's fingers, glinting like shards of moonlight, her amethyst eyes blazing with cold fury, a rage that made the air around her crackle with tension. "Why lay bare this truth to us? Why trust us with a secret that could get you killed?"
"Because…" Irina sank to her knees, burying her face in her arms, her shoulders heaving with silent sobs that shook her entire body, her voice muffled by the fabric of her cloak. "Because I saw your love—a bond unshackled by hierarchy, untainted by oppression, pure and true. When I learned of Catherine's pregnancy… the longing to be a mother tore at my very soul. In Carl's world, we are nothing but tools. But you… you have shown me a different fate. A better one."
Time stretched on, the mist thickening around them like a shroud, before they finally docked at the pier. The rotting wooden planks creaked and groaned beneath their feet, a haunting chorus that sent shivers down the spine, as if the very wood itself was warning them to turn back. Trudging along a narrow path overgrown with thorny weeds that snagged at their cloaks, they soon beheld the manor rising from the mist—a monument to opulence and darkness, its walls adorned with portraits of vampire nobles from ages past, their eyes painted with such lifelike ferocity that they seemed to follow their every step, as if the dead themselves watched over the estate, judging their every move.
As the three stepped into the great hall, the air grew thick with the scent of old blood and jasmine, Samantha sat upon an ornate throne of carved ebony, twirling a ring inlaid with a blood-red crystal between her fingers, the stone pulsing in time with her heartbeat. She was clad in a gown of deepest crimson, its fabric flowing like liquid shadow, her lips painted the color of freshly spilled blood, her voice laced with sardonic amusement and a hint of something darker—something predatory. "Three strangers grace my halls at the hour of twilight, when the veil between worlds is thinnest. How… *delightful*." She leaned forward, her eyes glinting with a mischievous, dangerous light. "Shall you pay for my wisdom with silver, shiny and cold? Or with the lifeblood that courses through your veins—warm, sweet, and *alive*?"
Her gaze settled on Li Haoran, eyes as deep as a bottomless abyss, as if she could see into the very core of his soul, his secrets laid bare before her. "Yet for one of such singular standing as Mr. Li Haoran— a mortal who can sire children with vampires, a miracle of science and magic—I shall condescend to share my knowledge first. No payment required. For now."
Li Haoran smiled faintly, blue runes flickering across his skin like ethereal fire, a glow that cast strange shadows on the walls of the hall. "I suspect you are far more interested in the power my 'singularity' can grant you, Samantha. Knowledge is a currency, after all—and you are a trader. What do you want in exchange for your secrets?"
Samantha clapped her hands once, the sound echoing through the hall like a crack of thunder, sharp and sudden. The stone wall behind her slid open with a low, grinding *rumble*, revealing a subterranean chamber bathed in dim, flickering light from torches that burned with green, unholy flame. Countless scrolls and ancient tomes lined the shelves, their pages yellowed with age, their spines embossed with sigils that glowed faintly in the dark, but the centerpiece was a pulsating blood crystal—taller than a man, wider than a door—within its depths, a complex pattern swirled, the sigils of the Blood Pact glowing with an unholy light that seemed to beat in time with the heartbeat of the earth itself.
"This was unearthed from the ruins of House Dracula, in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains," Samantha's voice turned grave, all trace of amusement vanishing, her tone now that of a priestess reciting a sacred, terrible truth. "The true secret of the Blood Pact lies in the soul resonance between the Source of Sacred Blood—a mortal born with the blood of angels in his veins—and a chosen female vampire, one whose soul is pure enough to bind with his. And Carl—he seeks to use the flesh of an ancient fiend, a demon sealed away by the first vampire hunters, as a catalyst, to force a grand Blood Pact ritual. A ritual that will bind every vampire in the world to his will." She paused, her voice dropping to a whisper, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and fascination. "It shall not only make him sovereign of all vampires… but plunge the mortal world into eternal night. A world where the sun never rises, and the undead rule unchallenged."
Samantha smiled, a slow, predatory curve of her lips, as if anticipating Catherine's rage, as if she relished the fear that flickered in the vampire's eyes. "Fear not—I ask for little in return. I wish to join your cause, to stand against Carl and the Council of Elders. I am weary of the darkness that festers in vampire society, of the corruption that poisons our kind, of the way we hunt and kill and *destroy* without purpose. I yearn for a world of justice, of transparency. A world where vampires and humans can coexist. Or at the very least, a world where I am not a pawn in someone else's game." She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a purr, her fingers brushing Li Haoran's arm in a gesture that was equal parts seductive and threatening. "And I think you can help me build that world, Li Haoran. You and I—we could be *powerful* together."
Li Haoran exchanged a glance with Catherine, both seeing the wariness in the other's eyes—yet also recognizing the value of Samantha's alliance, the resources and knowledge she could bring to their cause. He nodded firmly, his voice steady, his hand tightening around Catherine's. "We accept. But your loyalty must be unwavering. Betray us, and you will regret it. I promise you that."
Samantha chuckled, a low, throaty sound that sent shivers down Irina's spine, setting her wine glass down with a soft *clink* that echoed through the hall. "My loyalty is not for sale—but it is earned. And you, Li Haoran, have already earned a modicum of it. Now, of the Blood Pact…" Her voice dropped to a whisper, as if sharing a forbidden secret that could unravel the fabric of reality itself, her eyes darting to the door, as if afraid someone might be listening. "It is no mere ritual. It is a binding of souls. A fusion of mortal and vampire, of light and dark. Carl seeks to use it to enslave his kin, turning them into mindless puppets to do his bidding, to kill his enemies, to conquer the world. And with the demon's flesh as a catalyst… he will succeed. Unless we stop him."
Her gaze locked onto Li Haoran, a shrewd glint in her eyes, her voice now a honeyed purr, thick with temptation, as she leaned in closer, her lips almost brushing his ear. "I have heard the tales—you, a mortal, can sire offspring with female vampires. This is a revolution for our kind, a chance to break the chains of our fading race, to ensure our survival for centuries to come. I shall lend you my resources, my influence, my spies in every corner of the world… but I ask that you consider a partnership. Together, we can reshape the future of vampires. Together, we can rule."
Li Haoran's brows furrowed, his expression hardening, his grip on Catherine's hand tightening until his knuckles turned white. "A partnership? What exactly do you propose? That I become a stud for your 'revolution'? That I sire children with every female vampire in your employ?"
Samantha's smile turned coy, her crimson lips curving into a seductive arc, her fingers tracing the outline of the blood crystal behind her, her voice a silken whisper that wrapped around him like a cloak. "Merely this—you are a being of unique power, Li Haoran. A mortal who can give life to vampires, a gift that has not been seen in a thousand years. If you were to bond with more of our kind, to sire more offspring, you would become the architect of a new era for vampires. A hero. A legend. And I… I can open the doors to make this a reality. I can find you the strongest, the purest, the *most beautiful* female vampires in the world. All you have to do is say yes." She let her gaze linger on him, a silent invitation in her eyes, a promise of power and pleasure beyond his wildest dreams.
Li Haoran's expression hardened, his jaw tightening, his voice resolute, unyielding, as he stepped back, pulling Catherine closer to him, as if shielding her from Samantha's words. "I cannot. I am not a stud to be bred for the sake of your 'revolution.' Catherine and I share a love that transcends flesh and blood, that transcends the divide between mortal and vampire. I will not betray that for any cause, no matter how grand. There must be another way to stop Carl. There *has* to be."
But how could he hide his thoughts from a mind-reader? Samantha's smile never faltered, but her eyes narrowed for a split second, a flicker of anger and disappointment that vanished as quickly as it came, as if she had expected nothing less. She clapped softly, the sound echoing through the hall, as if his refusal were a trivial matter, a mere inconvenience to be brushed aside. "Your principles do you credit—I admire your conviction, Li Haoran. Not many would turn down a chance at power like this. But are you certain? This is a chance to etch your name into the annals of vampire history, to become a legend whose name is whispered for centuries to come. To be remembered long after you are dust."
Li Haoran tightened his grip on Catherine's hand, his resolve unshaken, his gaze burning with a fierce, unwavering devotion. "My love is not a bargaining chip. Intimacy without affection is nothing but animalistic desire—what honor is there in that? What legacy is worth betraying the one you love?"
Samantha probed his mind once more, her eyes glazing over for a moment, as if she were peering into the depths of his soul, but she found only resolve—firm, unyielding, unbreakable. She nodded, a hint of respect in her gaze, a rare flicker of genuine admiration for the mortal who had dared to defy her. "Very well—I shall respect your choice. We stand united, then, against Carl and the Council. But mark my words, Li Haoran—if this path fails us, if we are on the brink of defeat… I shall ask you again. And next time, I expect a different answer."
She stepped to Irina, placing a hand on her shoulder, her touch light but firm, her eyes glinting with a knowing, mischievous light, as if she had read every secret, every longing, every *dream* in the younger vampire's heart. "You are brave, child—continue to stand tall. Your courage will be rewarded. I promise you that." Irina's eyes widened, confusion flooding her features, until realization dawned like a thunderclap—Samantha knew her secret, had read the longing in her heart, the quiet hope that she might one day find a love like Li Haoran and Catherine's. The words were an encouragement to fight Carl… but the unspoken message was clear—urge Li Haoran to sire a child with her. Blushing furiously, her cheeks turning a deep, embarrassing red, Irina mumbled an excuse about needing fresh air and fled the hall, her boots clicking against the stone floor as she ran, desperate to escape the awkwardness, the shame, the *longing* that threatened to consume her.
Samantha paid her departure no mind, her gaze returning to Li Haoran and Catherine, a smirk playing at her lips, her voice laced with dark amusement. "Now that your resolve is firm, I shall have your supplies and gear ready for the journey to Silvermoon Citadel at once. But be warned—the citadel is a fortress of death, a labyrinth of shadows and secrets, its halls lined with traps forged from dark magic and vampire ingenuity, each designed to rend flesh and shatter souls. Carl's most loyal soldiers guard its walls—vampires who have pledged their lives to him, who will kill without hesitation. One misstep, one wrong turn, and you shall meet a fate worse than death. You shall become part of his collection. A toy. A trophy." She paused, her voice dropping to a whisper, her eyes glinting with a cruel, knowing light. "But I doubt such perils will deter souls as brave as yours… will they?"
Catherine nodded, her voice calm but steely, her eyes burning with a fierce, unyielding determination, her silver needles still glinting between her fingers. "We understand the danger. But under Carl's tyranny, we have no choice but to fight. To surrender is to die. To fight is to have a chance. No matter how small."
After a moment of steadying her breath, her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment, Irina returned, her face composed, her voice resolute, her eyes burning with a quiet, fierce courage that surprised even Catherine. "I shall stand with you against Carl. I know his labs, his traps, his weaknesses. I will lay down my life to protect you all. To protect this chance at freedom. This chance at hope."
Li Haoran's gaze swept over his companions—Catherine, fierce and loyal; Irina, brave and broken; Samantha, cunning and dangerous—and his heart swelled with a fierce, unyielding hope, a belief that they could win, that they could change the world. His eyes burned with determination, his voice ringing out through the hall, clear and strong, a battle cry that echoed off the stone walls. "Very well—we entrust the preparations to you, Samantha. And when we march on Silvermoon Citadel… we march not just to stop Carl. We march to build a better world. For vampires. For humans. For *everyone*."