Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate-Chapter 295: You Have to Pick One

To be honest, Roderick’s words weren’t what gave Kaan the idea. Let’s be real—Roderick was hardly persuasive enough for that.

Sure, his rambling had been motivational in the way that watching someone trip over their own feet is inspiring, but Kaan had already started considering the idea the moment he sensed the forbidden magic aura clinging to Eira like a bad perfume.

For some reason, Thessara seemed very interested in it. And, more importantly, someone in Eira had actually dared to mess with it. Apparently, forbidden magic had enough of a wow factor that, despite the very clear laws against it, plenty of vampires still couldn’t resist poking the forbidden.

Kaan never intended to rely on it completely. No, this was more of a safety net. A backup plan, a hidden card to play if the unexpected struck again. He had to be prepared. And if he could bend a demon to his will—make it his puppet—well, that would be truly spectacular.

So, anyway, Kaan had spoken, and that meant his subordinates had to obey. Unless, of course, they had a death wish and were willing to attempt a rebellion—something no vampire in Asvaldur was foolish enough to consider.

They all knew exactly who they were dealing with: the brilliant, unstoppable, ruthless Kaan.

And so, with the enthusiasm of a man being dragged to his own execution, Roderick carried out his orders.

He rounded up witches and wizards who dabbled in the delightful hobby of dark magic, while Kaan personally handpicked vampire scholars and magicians to wield said magic—after, of course, they totally mastered it.

The whole thing had all the hallmarks of a top-tier criminal conspiracy: secret meetings, forbidden knowledge, and a deeply unsettling sense that this was going to go horribly wrong.

Roderick, meanwhile, was stuck in his usual role: powerless spectator to impending disaster. He wanted to stop his master, to prevent the world from meeting its doom at the hands of Asvaldur’s Emperor.

But what could he do? It wasn’t like Kaan had ever been the type to take his advice in the first place.

***

Fast-forward five years—because, let’s be honest, no one has time to sit through Kaan’s daily routine or his totally-not-suspicious, definitely diabolical underground activities.

"Your Majesty, there’s a rumor circulating in Eira. The people are being terrorized by a beast they call the ’Vampire Hunter,’" the servant reported, launching into a dramatic retelling that included witness testimonies and all the gruesome details.

Kaan smacked his lips, taking it all in. It was obvious from the start that he had no idea what this Vampire Hunter thing was. But Thessara had a feeling. And that feeling screamed forbidden magic nonsense.

So, they split up. Kaan, in all his imperial wisdom, sent men to investigate the so-called Vampire Hunter, while Thessara took a more mystical approach, scouring the Spiritual Circle for clues.

The only problem was she’d been skipping the Spiritual Meetings. For years. But in her defense, guiding her next evil puppet to destroy the world was a full-time job. And those meetings were usually just a bunch of mystical elders droning on about things she couldn’t care less about.

Surely, she hadn’t missed anything important.

Yeah. No. She was very wrong.

Had she actually bothered to show up, she might have learned that the Fallen One had, oopsie-daisy, accidentally unsealed a nightmare-tier demon named Ol’gaz. A demon that had previously been perfectly contained inside a young vampire named Florian—who, as fate would have it, was also tied to the Blood Moon child.

So, yeah. That was probably something she should have paid attention to.

But in the end, it didn’t really matter—because Thessara found out about Ol’gaz. And when she did, she realized this demon might be even more valuable than the Blood Moon’s power alone.

Ideally, her favorite little puppet would grab both. The only problem was that no one had the slightest clue what would happen if both powers got crammed into one fragile mortal body.

Would Kaan explode? Implode? Turn into an unholy smoothie? No one knew. And that would be such a shame, wouldn’t it?

If Thessara was to bring the world to its knees, she needed Kaan strong, not shattered.

She shared her concerns with him. "Having both would be incredible. But the question is... can you handle it?"

Kaan, being the highly ambitious and self-preserving villain that he was, didn’t brush it off. He had a whole team dedicated to helping him take over the world, either via Blood Moon magic or forbidden sorcery.

So, of course, he turned to them and posed the million-dollar question: Will this kill me? Because if he was going to be the most powerful vampire in existence, he needed to survive long enough to enjoy it.

Finally, the team delivered their verdict—one Kaan definitely didn’t want to hear.

"It is extremely dangerous to combine the power of a demon and the Blood Moon," one of the experts announced, trying (and failing) to sound confident. "In essence, these two forces are complete opposites. They exist to counter each other, which makes it impossible to contain both in a single host."

Kaan’s jaw tightened, his fists clenching at his sides. Impossible? That wasn’t the answer he wanted. He had hoped these so-called experts were just frauds spouting nonsense—because surely, with the right host, anything was possible.

"What if the host is the strongest vampire to ever exist?" His voice was sharp, edged with impatience. "What if he has spent decades preparing, training his body to withstand immense power? What then? My body is more than ready."

An uneasy silence followed as the witches and wizards exchanged glances, each one silently hoping someone else would speak first. In the end, they did what any group of terrified scholars would do—they threw the youngest member under the metaphorical carriage.

The unfortunate apprentice took a deep breath, stepped forward, and, in the most apologetic voice possible, said, "Your Majesty... opposing powers just can’t exist in one host, no matter how strong or... uh... physically prepared they are."

He swallowed hard. "It’s like trying to shove both light and darkness into the same space. The body wouldn’t know what to do with itself. It would get confused. Then overwhelmed. Then... it would perish."

Silence fell over the room.

"So, you dare tell me I must choose?"

Everyone in the room, except Kaan, went stiff as boards. No one dared to move—or even blink too loudly. They were just the messengers, after all. It wasn’t their fault reality refused to bend to Kaan’s will.

But there was no avoiding it. He had to choose: demon power or Blood Moon power. No having his cake and eating it too.

And for a man who was used to taking everything he wanted, this was probably the hardest decision of his life. Honestly, a tragedy. Someone should compose a sad violin piece in his honor.