My Stepmom Is A Vampire & Her Entire Bloodline Wants To Breed Me

Chapter 244: Memory & Preparation

When the three of them stepped into Bianca’s office, Fleur and Bianca were already seated across from one another, their expressions composed but intent, as if they had been dissecting something delicate and dangerous. The air inside felt heavier than usual, thick with unfinished conclusions.

Seamus closed the door behind him. Dylan and Diane remained at his side. Neither of them moved to sit, even though the sofa in front of the desk looked far more comfortable than the tension of standing upright required.

"It’s fine if you want to sit," Bianca said casually.

Seamus shook his head. "Dylan said you caught Otto. Where is he? Let’s open his memory."

"No need," Fleur replied smoothly. "We are already done. I attempted to look inside his memory, but the Blood Pact’s influence was still too strong. I could only extract fragments, and the information was incomplete."

"It means she can infer more than she actually saw," Bianca added.

Seamus exhaled through his nose. "Then continue."

He did not bother hiding his impatience. Ulrich and the others had been out of contact for more than two days. That was not something he could treat lightly.

Fleur folded her hands on her lap. "Otto and his associates are recruiters, as you already know. However, their direct superior is not Mark. It is one of the twins. Robert’s daughter."

Seamus’ expression sharpened slightly.

"She presents herself as playful," Fleur continued, "but she is cruel and enjoys humiliating her subordinates. She corrects their mistakes publicly and punishes weakness harshly."

"They call themselves a ’friend circle,’" Bianca said with clear disdain. "Recruiters and young vampires working under Latros."

Fleur nodded. "The young vampires beneath her are forced to gather as many teenagers or young adults to get Progenitor Residuum to grow stronger. If they remain weak, they become her target. Otto and the others follow her not out of loyalty but out of fear."

Seamus leaned slightly forward. "Do we know her Bloodstyle?"

"Most likely Dominion," Bianca replied. "Think about the other twin. She never leaves the wheelchair and shows no expression. Illness disappears when a human turns into a vampire. That means the wheelchair is not a limitation. It is intentional. The more likely explanation is control. One twin dominates the other."

"If that’s true," Seamus said quietly, "then fighting one means fighting both."

"It is a strong possibility," Fleur confirmed.

Bianca crossed her arms. "They are currently in the Capital of Lilium. That part is certain."

Silence settled in the room.

"So," Bianca continued, watching him carefully, "the decision is yours. You either go beyond the wall to search for Ulrich, Andrew, and Matthew, or you return to the capital and confront the twins."

Seamus finally lowered himself into the single sofa. He did not relax against it. He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, fingers loosely interlocked as he stared at the floor.

If he returned to the capital and dealt with the twins, he might gain leverage against Latros. If he captured one of them or forced information out of them, Robert might react. And if Robert appeared, that confrontation could accelerate everything. It might be reckless, but it was also an opportunity.

If things unfolded favorably, he could push events toward their inevitable conclusion. Isolde would surrender her core. Viviane could be revived. The war between humans and vampires could finally reach its end.

But choosing that path meant leaving Ulrich, Andrew, and Matthew to handle whatever was happening in the North without him.

If even Ulrich could not be reached through Bianca’s connection, then they were facing something beyond simple interference. Ulrich was not careless. If communication failed, something serious was blocking it.

He lifted his gaze slowly.

Fleur was watching him with quiet intensity. She did not pressure him verbally, but her eyes carried expectation.

Draemir’s future, her House’s security, and perhaps even the balance between the Seven Covenants rested in the decision of an eighteen-year-old boy.

But Seamus could not ignore Mark’s final words.

"The Crest... you must take it. They want to be freed from the chains of the False God."

The meaning was clear enough. Latros did not simply want dominance over territory or resources. They wanted freedom from the Emblem system itself. Freedom from punishment and freedom from balance.

Once the restraint imposed by the other Emblems and the so-called False God was removed, they would no longer be checked by divine law or by consequence.

And if that happened, Seamus knew exactly what it meant.

For now, after hearing Mark’s testimony and understanding Latros’ crimes, he still possessed the authority to punish them using Emblem’s power.

But if Latros succeeded in claiming the Crest and severing itself from the system entirely, his Emblem power would become meaningless. He would be reduced to another opponent on a battlefield where divine rules no longer applied.

Yet something did not add up.

The False God was taking action when princes and Houses sought to slaughter one another to claim supremacy. That was its purpose: to maintain balance, to prevent one faction from swallowing the world whole.

Latros was doing exactly that right now. Rohan, who had become Latros’ Emblem and should have embodied balance, had clearly twisted that role into a weapon for ambition.

So why had the False God not intervened?

Unless the False God was weakening.

Seamus exhaled slowly. "If the Emblem functioned as it should, this wouldn’t be happening," he murmured under his breath.

"Seamus."

Bianca’s voice pulled him back, and he blinked once as the room came back into focus.

"If you cannot decide immediately," she continued, "we can discuss it together."

"Right." He straightened slightly. "This shouldn’t be a unilateral decision. I’m not your leader. I shouldn’t carry that authority alone."

"It is better if we find my liege first," Fleur said firmly. "We can’t abandon our comrades."

Seamus nodded. The more he considered it, the clearer it became. "The twins’ location in the capital could be a distraction. If we shift our forces there and it turns out to be bait, the North will fall without resistance. We need to find Ulrich and take the crest before it grows beyond control."

Dylan stepped forward without hesitation. "I’ll go with you. I need to become stronger."

Seamus glanced at him with a faint grin. "Oh? Your confidence returned?"

Dylan stiffened slightly. "What do you mean? I have always been confident."

That only made Seamus laugh harder.

The tension in the room eased for a brief moment. It felt almost normal, which was rare. Dylan no longer spoke of killing him or avenging himself.

"Alright," Bianca said, rising from her seat. "Then it is decided. I will inform Lady Isolde of the situation. Fleur, you need to brief everyone on what you extracted from Otto’s memory and mark the likely locations on the map."

She retrieved the globe from her desk and placed it before Fleur.

Fleur gave a small shrug. "I can only describe what I saw. All memories appear from the first perspective. It is not as if I can float above and observe the terrain."

"Maybe GoogMaps would help," Dylan muttered.

Fleur tilted her head in confusion. "I will provide the characteristics of the place instead."

She continued detailing Otto’s fragmented memories. The structure of the organization, the hierarchy, and the punishments. The internal competition is engineered to keep young vampires desperate and loyal through fear.

Compared to what Mark had described from the past, Otto’s memories revealed something worse. The current Latros operations were more refined, more systematic, and far more ruthless.

What Mark had endured had been brutal experimentation. What Otto described was institutionalized cruelty.

It was all useful information for Seamus. He might be able to open all the Emblem power restrictions and finally punish them properly, if their plan works.