The dragon's harem

Zia's memories, feelings, and thoughts flashed through Arad's mind, but he almost paid them no attention. The process itself wasn't conscious, but he still had to be careful.

Arad saw the day she first became a vampire, the months she spent refusing to drink blood until she finally gave up, the years she spent after that studying magic and working as a maid in Vlad's castle to avoid the bloodshed, and the Blood Lord's laughter as he thought it was funny, for a vampire to avoid killing for so long.

Vlad didn't care what Zia did as long as she didn't bother him in the castle. He even allowed her to have a room and work as somewhat of a maid, cleaning the blood stains and dust all night long.

While other vampires were going out, hunting humans and drinking blood, Zia was always in the castle, living off a single glass of blood a month and focusing on her magic. She even had one of the vampires, who was a thief, teach her how to fight with daggers.

Years passed, and then decades, while other vampires grew stronger and turned into vampire lords.

Zia always remained the same maid, cleaning and living in the castle. It reached a point where no one besides Vlad knew if she was actually just a weak spawn or some horrfying vampire lord that Vlad is keeping around.

Arad saw how Vlad married a noble lady. How Ginger was born. It was Zia who delivered her centuries ago. Zia was the one to name her Scarlet, due to the color of her eyes and hair.

As the decades passed with Zia caring for Scarlet when her mother died of old age, a rumor started going among the vampires. Zia was no mere maid, but a powerful vampire lord. Vlad would never leave his daughter with a weak spawn.

Arad saw the day Alcott attacked Vlad's castle, and that was the first time he saw his mother's face. Even if he was looking through Zia's memories, he couldn't mistake his mother, and he stopped, digging deeper into the memory.

A tall woman with black hair, purple eyes, skin as pale as snow, and an unassuming presence, almost fading out of existence. Vlad faced Alcott in front of the castle to keep Scarlet safe, but ended up getting killed when Arad's mother kept shutting all of his attacks from the shadows, giving Alcott a chance to win.

Alcott wasn't strong enough at the time to kill Vlad. It just happened that Arad's mother wasn't about to let her husband get killed that day.

Zia tried to convince Scarlet that she must run away, but ended up thrown into a coffin and locked in the cellar. She didn't witness the fight and only managed to escape a year later.

The whole castle had been abandoned, Alcott didn't leave a single vampire alive, and he seemed to have missed her since she barely had any vampiric presence. Not drinking blood for centuries saved her life.

But spending a year locked in a coffin and starving for blood hadn't been easy, and she couldn't think straight anymore, consumed by the mad thirst for blood.

Vlad won't stay dead for long; he always comes back. He will.

But before she could know it, Zia found herself alone in a village, everyone there dead and sucked dry. It was the first time she suffered from a blood rage, and she had never been the same since.

Zia had spent years in the past training with her daggers and magic, she had mastered all of it before even dabbling in the inhumane power of her vampiric body.

Most spawns only drink blood to grow stronger. They lack any kind of martial or magical skill. Who will spend a year training with a sword when they can drink a human's blood and get that much faster and stronger in a day?

Zia wasn't the same; all of those skills she nurtured bloomed when she drank her fill of blood. While her speed and strength matched the other spawns now, she outclassed them in magic and martial skill, making her seem more like a vampire lord than a mere spawn.

The rumor about her being a dreadful vampire lord only grew stronger now that she was the only one who survived Alcott's attack.

She later regained her spot as the castle's maid when Vlad returned, and soon after, Vlad spotted Eris with Arad, leading to the Blood Lord's death.

Arad saw himself consuming Zia, turning her into his spawn alongside the thousands of vampires that served Vlad. He saw her living in the church, doing her usual job.

Unlike Vlad, Zia was happier here. Arad wasn't some bloodthirsty, murderious psychopath like Vlad. He cared for her and his spawn. What's more, she loved his look more than anything else. Tall, muscular, rugged, and quite strong.

At some point, she had started worshipping him alongside the other spawn, drawing power directly from his blood to sustain them. What Arad didn't expect to see was her personal memories.

Zia at first wanted to stay as far away from Arad as possible, do her work, and blend in among the thousands of vampire spawns. She knew better than to just love a man for his looks. But soon, she found herself even more fond of him. Unlike other Vampire Lords, Arad retained his humanity.

The first one to notice Zia's being out of place among the vampires was Eris. She almost immediately saw her as who she was and started keeping her close.

With time, the two got really close, and Eris started using Zia as a mediator between her and Arad's vampires. She always kept her close and allowed her to live away from the bloodshed for once. Before Zia could even know it, she was Eris's personal maid.

Arad could see Eris mumbling about him to Zia in her memories. About how he acts, what he did, the nights they spent together, and how her power is growing.

Zia then found herself sleeping each day to the memories of what she saw of Arad, dreaming about the night stories Eris told her about, and keeping herself company.

It was then that Zia's eyes shot open, burning with crimson blood magic. She reached upward and bit into Arad's neck. The transformation was complete, and now Zia had to satiate her blood thirst.