Chapter 61: War of Lords.

Ryan huffed. He also knew that if Kulan had demanded Megan's submission the moment they met, she would have had no choice but to submit. Because back then, they were weak and naive. They needed her.

"Submitting to her back then and submitting to her now, if you ask me, they are the same thing." Megan paused and headed for their big bed and sat on it.

"We needed her then and today, we still need her. This is my second reason. Now that Ainar and Amoux have been discovered to be Turakies, I am not confident that we can protect them by ourselves." Megan huffed in sadness.

Ryan's already hunched back, got lower as he dropped his head. He had also thought of this. He planned to find a way to hide his family away during this turbulent time, had his wife agreed to leave with him.

"My last reason is that I am not willing to let go of the opportunity to leave this continent. If it's going to be possible, Kulan is our only hope.

For the protection of my kids, for the prospect of leaving this continent, and to show filial piety, I will bear this punishment. One day, Kulan will see my sincerity and she will forgive me. Of this, I am sure." Megan concluded with confidence.

Moved by her words, Ryan went to his wife, embraced her, and kissed her. But she wanted more, so she wrapped her hands around his neck and started kissing him.

When they broke apart to catch some air, Megan held Ryan's head and looked intently into his eyes.

"You are not allowed to interfere. No matter what happens to me, you will not."

Ryan was reluctant but even if he wanted to, their bond wouldn't let him.

"Your word is my command." He groaned before crushing their lips with each other.

That night, the couple transferred their grievances and sadness into their lovemaking. It was rough and violent.

The next day, Megan visited Alice and booked an appointment to see KuLaa. According to the waiting list, she was to wait for two weeks.

Megan was happy when she heard this. She believed it would give her enough time to mentally prepare to face her estranged mother-in-law…

A conflict between vampire Lords is called a war of Lords. This war can happen between just two households or more.

When such a war happens, the leader of each household, rather referred to as Lords, can seek the support of others.

Because of this, a small matter can easily blow out of proportion if several enemies decide to gang up against a household.

This is why vampire families live in cliques called a coven and marry into each other's families to create bonds that strengthen their coven.

The ten families that ran off when the house of Ræm was attacked were all in the same coven as the house of Ræm and the reason they ran was because they knew that they were no match for the house of KuLaa.

It wasn't because they were cowards but because to survive is to fight another day.

Less than 50 years ago, what was now known as the House of Kulan was called the House of Cendric.

In the West, Lord Cendric, who was the great-grandfather of Kulan was one of the most powerful and vicious vampire Lords of his time. Not just that, he was also the leader of a coven called 'Embers'.

At that time, Ember was made up of twenty-five vampire households and had up to two hundred Lords with several high-ranking witches and wizards.

Lord Cendric's best friend, Lord Arom had a son he doted on. His son; Winter, insisted on marrying Zefinia, the most beautiful girl in the house of Cendric.

Lord Cendric gleefully agreed to this marriage without discussing it with Zefinia. This was a common practice among the vampires. But unknown to Lord Cendric, Zefinia had fallen in love with a human wizard amongst their household magicians. His name was Ellicott.

By the time Zefinia discovered that she was to get married, she was already pregnant.

Because it was hard for vampires to reproduce, Lord Cendric decided that Ellicott would be banished from the realm and Zefinia would be locked away until she gave birth. After that, she would get married to Winter while the family would be responsible for her child.

It was rare for vampires to fall in love to the point of being besotted, therefore, nobody expected Zefinia to adamantly revolt against her grandfather's arrangements.

One day, when her baby was almost due for delivery, she managed to escape to the human realms where she located Ellicott Lord Cendric was a vicious and arrogant Vampire Lord who was pretty and unforgiving.

After Zefinia escaped, Lord Cendric placed a bounty on her head and the head of her baby and lover. He didn't care how, either dead or alive, Lord Cendric wanted them back.

And that was the beginning of a life, loved on the run for Kulan and her parents.

At age 14, KuLaa's parents were finally caught and taken back to the realm where they were killed in public execution as a deterrent to any other member of the Cendric Household who might be thinking of disregarding the authority of the Lords of the house.

On the day of execution, 14-year-old KuLaa, who had escaped death because her father sealed her in a place with magic, stood in the crowd and witnessed it all.

Days after her parents' death, she moved around the western part of the realm gathering information about her family and their allies.

Because she was both a vampire and a witch, it was easy for her to pass as just a vampire. She got a job in Lord Aron's household and started planning her revenge.

At age 16, Kulan killed Winter and all his siblings with a deadly poison and then escaped to the human realm.

Despite all the efforts of the Ember coven to find her, nobody could give any information about her.

Then a little over ten years later, Kulan reappeared in the realm, and in one night, she destroyed the Ember coven, killing every single one of its Lords and enslaving the vampires and humans of the 25 households belonging to it.

She took over their wealth, power, and resources both within the realm and outside it. Every other coven who tried to fight her over those resources was also destroyed and annexed.

That was the first War of Lords that Kulan started in the vampire realms and it lasted for three months only because other covens thought they could succeed where Lord Cendric failed.

Since then, every coven in the vampire realm had left the West for KuLaa. It was when they saw that she was planning to rule the West or start a new coven that other households relaxed.

Therefore, If a single Kulan could stand against a mammoth coven like Ember and sweep it off in a single night, What chance does an eleven-member coven that Lord Ræm belonged to stand?

After Interrogating the captives from the house Ræm, Kulan was able to discover that some covens from the west were already in cohorts with covens from the east, north, and South. They were all scared of her power and were preparing to bring her down. But for some unknown reason, they didn't want her dead. They wanted to kidnap her and her family.

Becca told her it was because she was the only creature on Eplica who was both a witch and a vampire. But Kulan knew better. Kulan knew that it was because they wanted to use her and her family for Turakie creating experiments.

She was furious and decided to bring the hegemony of the West forward by ten years.

She and her crew visited more than a hundred powerful covens all over the western part of the realm, enslaving those who submitted and killing those who put up a fight. It was ruthless and bloody.

When the whole realm heard about it, there was an uproar but Kulan made it clear that if anybody from outside the West took action, she would visit them and wipe out their lineage.

Even though she was just one woman, nobody wanted to risk their necks. So the world turned a blind eye while the West burned and flowed with blood.

After this selective war of Lords that lasted for two months, Kulan returned to the island as the Lord of the west.

And it was time to prepare for the overdue journey to the human realm.

A few days before her departure, while resting in her room with Kurt, her attendant came in and kneeled.

"My liege, Ryan and his family are here to see you."

A frown creased KuLaa's face.

She missed the twins a lot.

Especially during the war. If they were with her, they would have been able to use the war to gain some combat experience and also strengthen themselves. She was even tempted to overlook their errors and call them back but she restrained herself and even asked Alice to reject Amoux's application to join the war.

This was because Kulan was rigid in her ways. The moment she decided that she couldn't afford to have them being so rowdy and disrespectful, she also decided it was time to curb their excesses. There was no turning back until they learned their lessons.

"You should hear them out," Kurt muttered. "I will excuse you."

He stood up and made to leave.

"They are your family too. You don't have to leave." Kulan grabbed his hand just as he stood up.

"Megan is a Luna. No matter what, I must give her that face. This is the way of the werewolves." Kurt explained.

"I don't understand. You are a Supreme Alpha. Why do you have to respect her?" Kulan frowned. The cultures of the werewolves and humans had never ceased to amuse her.

The werewolves's culture seemed to be closer to that of the humans than the vampires. Vampires only care for power but humans and wolves don't just care for power, they also care for wealth, position, and spiritual placement and Lunas was like a demi-god to them. Therefore, even a Supreme Alpha will respect a Luna even though they might be on the same level of strength. After all, a Supreme Alpha was cultivated while a Luna was naturally born. A gift from the Moon Mother herself.

"You wolves are quite ridiculous." Kulan snorted.

First, she had to watch her son get pushed around by his wife just because she was a Luna and the power came naturally to her. Now her husband was also respecting this same Luna just because of what she was and not what she could do.

To cap it all, this same Luna dared to stand up to her on her own turf.

This was one of the many reasons why she decided to show Mega her place.

Two Queens can not rule on her turf.

"Let them in." She said to the attendant then dropped her husband's hand.

Kurt bent down and kissed her on the lips.

"Go easy on my grandkids."

Kulan pushed him away and he left through another door with a chuckle.

For the past two months, Ryan had been following his mother all over the place during the War of Lords.

Any time he had a chance, he would bring up his mother's issues with his wife and kids and beg her to relent as Megan had learned her lessons. But no matter what he said, Kulan refused to yield and Ryan was greatly displeased with her.

Because they could only see Kulan through appointments, Megan and the twins couldn't get the chance to apologize until now when the day of their appointment arrived.

It was an awkward situation and none of them knew how it would end. But Megan had warned her kids to stay silent all through and only follow her lead.

As they stepped into KuLaa's room, they found her seated by the window, looking out to her personal herb garden.

"My Liege!!"

The family of four took a bow at the same time and stayed bowed as they waited for her to respond.