Akasha indeed had ancient Egyptian blood; a thousand years ago, she was noticed by a powerful second-generation Vampire Elder due to her captivating beauty.
After marrying him, she obtained a lot of essence blood, and her bloodline talent—[Emotion Guidance]—was once awakened.
She could guide the negative emotions of others, causing her opponents to spontaneously combust in flames.
This time, she awoke early, directly sucking dry her husband's essence blood, and obtained his bloodline talent [Petrification].
Thus, she immediately became a Marquis-level Vampire, with strength no less than that of an ordinary second-generation Vampire.
The massive increase in her strength made her feel that everything was under control, and her ambition expanded rapidly, leading to the idea of "ruling the world."
Therefore, during the time she was waiting for her "little lover" to arrive, Akasha wasn't idle; she took the time to go out and subdue a group of "elite" Vampires.
As the Vampire Queen [True] and the future ruler of the world, the Queen of Egypt naturally needed her own palace.
Thus, under the guidance of her will, a magnificent ancient-style building appeared in the West District's Rocky Mine in a short period.
Akasha, now seated on the throne, was immersed in her dream of being a Queen.
It could be considered a double harvest of "career" and "love."
However, this Queen Vampire could never have imagined that Lestat, her "little lover" whom she regarded as an asset, was now planning how to kill her.
Those defeated miscellaneous Vampires, under the pressure of the Queen of Egypt, did indeed seek out Lestat afterward.
In their descriptions, the Queen of Egypt became synonymous with power and cruelty.
Of course, many of the descriptions of Akasha were factual and did not slander her.
At the same time, the miscellaneous Vampires also brought the news that the Queen of Egypt wanted to recruit Lestat as her "male consort."
This point was unbearable for Lestat, who had been getting close to Jesse during this time and was gradually falling "in love."
And those miscellaneous Vampires, from whom the Queen of Egypt had taken half of their essence blood, also had no good feelings toward the Queen of Egypt.
The two sides combined their efforts, and a temporary Vampire alliance to resist Akasha's rule was thus born.
Afterward, with the efforts of the first batch of miscellaneous Vampires, the number of miscellaneous Vampires in this temporary anti-Queen of Egypt alliance grew rapidly.
Finally, surrounded by numerous miscellaneous Vampires, Lestat was elected to lead the Vampires to challenge the Queen of Egypt.
This battle was to protect "freedom" and also to protect "love"!
"Can't you not go? We can live incognito or leave New York and live our own lives…" Jesse, who had gradually fallen in love with Lestat during this time, did not want him to take risks.
Having thoroughly studied the history of the Queen of Egypt, she knew how terrifying that legendary Vampire Queen was.
"I understand your feelings…" Lestat gently held the girl's hands and said, "But this is not just my business; if I can't truly get rid of that Vampire Queen's entanglement, I'm afraid that one day you will also be implicated…"
"Moreover, now that things have come to this, if I don't do this, those Vampires outside won't let us go either."
Yes, Jesse's house in the South District had now become the headquarters of the anti-Queen of Egypt alliance.
At this moment, hundreds of various miscellaneous Vampires were gathered in the courtyard outside, all waiting for Lestat to lead them to oppose Akasha's rule.
These miscellaneous Vampires were not strong individually, but with hundreds gathered together, Lestat might not be their match.
"I'll go with you!" Jesse was still worried about Lestat going alone, and she pulled out an exquisite silver Cross from her person, saying, "I have this, it should be able to help you."
The girl had been fascinated by the history of Vampires before, and thus knew some of their weaknesses.
The silver Cross in her hand was bought at a high price from a nearby church.
According to the priest of that church, this item had a strong restraining effect on Vampires.
However, Lestat looked at the "toy" in the girl's hand and was wondering how to tell her that what she held was fake.
A Cross that had not been [Blessed] and [Baptized] with holy water, even if silver-plated, would not have much effect on Vampires.
"You want to use this thing to deal with Akasha?"
The voice arrived before the person…
Along with the mocking voice, several bat shadows flew past the window sill, finally transforming into a pale-faced man dressed in medieval aristocratic attire.
The man instantly snatched the small Cross from the girl's hand, then effortlessly crushed the Cross into a ball of scrap metal.
Then, he looked at the girl with disdain.
"Marius, why are you here?" Before the girl could react, Lestat, who was beside her, called out the man's name with a complicated expression.
It seemed the two had known each other before.
"I was going to ask you, what's with the Vampires outside?" Marius turned to look at Lestat, and continued, shaking his head as if disappointed, "Also, I warned you a hundred years ago not to provoke Akasha."
It turned out that a hundred years ago, Marius, a third-generation Vampire, accidentally encountered Lestat, who was about to die from an accident; out of "kindness," Marius used his own essence blood to save this melancholic young man.
In the time that followed, Marius was even more like a father, teaching the young man how to be a Vampire.
It was just that Lestat, whose mindset hadn't yet transformed at the time, did many absurd things due to his confusion.
Among them was playing the violin for the sleeping Queen of Egypt.
And because of this incident, Marius was completely disappointed with his blood kin, Lestat, so he left him alone.
This departure lasted for a hundred years.
Years later, facing Marius's questioning again, Lestat still couldn't answer.
Should he say that he was too young and rebellious back then, and didn't know any better?
"Forget it, let's not talk about the past. You quickly disband the Vampires outside; Akasha's power is beyond your imagination…"
Facts proved that Marius had not truly given up on Lestat; instead, he admonished him like a father: "Also, stop being a singing star; being too prominent will put you in danger."
Exposing the existence of Vampires as a Vampire itself was inherently thankless.
Those Vampires who wanted to hide their identities would certainly resent Lestat, and humans who hated Vampires would also target Lestat.
Coupled with the inherent weaknesses of Vampires, even a Count-level Vampire could easily be killed if they were not careful, let alone Lestat, a Vampire whose strength was only at the Viscount level.
"No, I can stop being a singing star, but I must resolve the matter of Akasha." Just like back then, Lestat did not fully accept Marius's suggestion.
"Is it for this girl?" Marius saw through his blood kin's little thoughts, then said mockingly, "What a ridiculous reason…"
"Forget it, I'll keep an eye on you two. If you die, she won't survive either—"
After saying that, without waiting for Lestat's reply, Marius transformed into a bat again, disappearing from the room as he had arrived.
It could be seen that this third-generation Vampire, seemingly strict, was actually quite concerned about Lestat's safety.
He had a "fatherly" mindset.
"Um, I actually have other ways to deal with Vampires; I've prepared garlic and the Bible…" After the room was quiet for a while, Jesse cautiously spoke.
Earlier, the Cross she had carefully prepared had no effect on Vampires, which indeed made the girl a little embarrassed.
She was also afraid of being "abandoned" by Lestat because of such a matter.
"Alright, go prepare. After the sun sets, we'll go to the West District together to see the Queen of Egypt." Lestat thought for a moment, then agreed to the girl's wish to accompany him.
After all, with Marius's previous words, it wasn't necessarily safe for the girl to stay at home.
…
At dusk, a group of oddly dressed, pale-faced Vampires ran quickly from a small path in the wild suburbs towards the Rocky Mine in the West District.
In the middle of the Vampires, a small car also sped along the bumpy path.
"I still think your actions this time are too risky." Jesse, sitting in the passenger seat, watched the evil glances from the Vampires outside the car window, constantly feeling uneasy.
Although there were many Vampires going to fight the Queen of Egypt this time, the girl knew that Lestat was the only one truly on her side.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine…" Lestat, who was driving, comforted the girl, then continued, "If it really doesn't work out, I'll take you away from New York to a place where no one can find us."
In fact, Lestat also didn't consider the Vampires outside as companions; at most, they were cannon fodder.
What he cared about now was only himself and the girl.
…
On the other side, Marius, who was paying attention to his blood kin, saw that he was beginning to act and originally intended to secretly follow and help.
However, surrounded by a group of people in black suits, he seemed to have encountered trouble first.
"This Vampire is called Marius. I heard he's very powerful and Lestat's guide…" From behind the crowd, Tina was introducing the situation to Mike:
"According to the data, he hasn't been active outside for a long time. The only reason we found him this time is entirely because of Lestat…"
[Vampire * bloodline Energy +1100]… [bloodline Talent * Bat Transformation Power]…
"His strength is indeed quite good, but has he ever harmed humans?" Mike nodded slightly, then asked the crucial question.
"According to the data, no—" Tina flipped through the documents and continued, "On the contrary, there's information indicating that this pure-blood Vampire seemed to have helped many humans a long time ago."
Not all pure-blood Vampires were bad people; it wasn't too strange for one or two "vegetarians" to appear among them.
Moreover, Vampire blood contained powerful healing factors, and if simply used to save people, the effect was indeed good.
Of course, the premise was that this Vampire had to control the components in his blood that were harmful to humans.
"So he's a good Vampire!" Mike's tone was unreadable, then he turned his head to look at Needy behind him and said, "You go up and spar with him."
If a third-generation Vampire hadn't consumed human blood and could still maintain such good strength, he was indeed capable.
Very suitable for Needy to practice with at this stage.
And Needy, hearing the command, drew her twin blades from her back without a word and walked straight towards the Vampire.
"Who are you? Why are you targeting me?" Marius, eager to help his blood kin, looked somewhat serious.
At this moment, he still didn't know that those targeting him were from a special department within the MIB.
However, he, who had always been kind to others, had no intention of using force to harm the humans surrounding him.
He just wanted to simply figure out what was going on and then escape the human encirclement.
However, no one answered his questions at this moment; what greeted this Vampire were only the twin blades wielded by Needy.
"I told you I'm a good person, you're forcing me to do this…" The restraint of silver-plated weapons on Vampires made Marius feel the pain intensely.
Realizing that he couldn't leave easily today, he decided to defeat Needy first.
However, he soon found that he had overestimated his own abilities and underestimated the combat power of the cold woman opposite him.
Aside from his bat transformation ability being useless, Marius was already fighting with all his might, but in the battle with Needy, he was still slightly at a disadvantage, with several more hard-to-heal wounds appearing on his body.
Even among Count-level Vampires, there were differences. Marius's strength was considered upper-middle among Count-level Vampires, probably slightly stronger than Deacon after summoning La Magra.
But during this time, Needy, spurred by shame, had also greatly improved her strength.
In the clash of strengths, Needy was just able to suppress Marius.
Marius, who had become a "blood man," also realized that he was not a match for the cold woman opposite him, so he chose to change his plan and target the people in black suits around him.
Then, he instantly transformed into a swarm of small bats, and after pinpointing a direction, he quickly rushed towards a certain position among the surrounding people.
At that position, the peripheral member, suddenly ambushed by a swarm of small bats, habitually waved his hand to drive away the bats on his face, and the ultraviolet flashlight in his hand moved with him.
Immediately, a crack appeared in the tight ultraviolet net, giving Marius a chance to escape.
As long as one bat could escape, he could escape to safety.
However, Needy, who arrived immediately, wielded her alloy twin blades, cutting down countless small bats onto the ground.
The number of bats was decreasing at a visible rate.
The situation was very unfavorable for Marius.
In this critical moment, Marius's identity as a third-generation pure-blood Vampire was not just for show. He ruthlessly abandoned all other small bats, gambling his energy on the smallest bat. While Needy wasn't paying attention, he finally managed to control that small bat and escape the encirclement.
But before Marius could celebrate, he felt a huge force pressing down on him, and then he was slammed into the muddy ground.
Then, having been knocked back into his true form and lying on the ground, he saw a pair of casual shoes appear before him, and then the owner of the shoes squatted down.
A handsome face of a young man appeared.