A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Soon after his ashes had blown away in the wind, Erik indicated for the crowd towards the road leaving Kirkenes. With a serious expression, he continued, "With Sigurd's death, it is now time to determine the fate of the remaining vampires. Please make a path."

With excitement burning in their veins, the Enclave made a path leading from the road down to the platform in the middle of the square.

Erik raised his hand and caused a light-blue magic circle to appear. Along the path made by the shapeshifters, he used icemaker to create fences separating them.

Some whispers spread again as people were impressed with his show of power.

Next, the thousand vampires were guided into town by two thousand ghouls. They shuffled into town as the cold, watery sun of a northern morning created long shadows on the frozen ground.

The shapeshifters watched them approach with hatred in their eyes, but they didn't dare make a move, as Erik's pressure still hung over the square like a threatening blanket.

One by one, the vampires were forced to enter the frozen, fenced in walkway created by Erik. They wore expressions of fear, anger, and resignation. The surroundings shapeshifters pelted them with insults, and some of the ones watching from roofs and windows pelted them with stones.

The vampires had mixed reactions, as some responded in kind, and others simply took whatever their former enemies had to give with meek defeatism.

Meanwhile, Erik used icemaker to fashion the platform into something fit for judgement. First, he created three thrones, a large one in the middle, and two smaller ones on the sides. Then, he started drawing a sigil on the floor in front of them. Naturally it wasn't actually Erik drawing the sigil, but he wasn't ready to reveal Elora to so many people at once.

Fortunately, due to the disruption sigils they used to protect themselves against the ghouls, there was no real stigma against sigils among the Enclave anymore. Thus, the fact that Erik could create sigils only increased his legend among them.

Soon, he was done, and Erik casually sat down on the middle throne, while Frostfang and Liv sat on his sides. Yet, this left Astrid without a seat, and confused about why he didn't create a throne for her.

Yet, when she threw a questioning and slightly insulted gaze at her soon-to-be-husband, all she got was his lips pursed in amusement as he patted his knee.

Immediately, Astrid blushed and narrowed her eyes at him. "What?" Erik shrugged innocently with a small grin. "I'd just like to show off our relationship to the others. It might help smooth things a little more. Besides, this way, our announcement later won't come as much of a shock."

Liv decided to help a little as she looked at her daughter with amusement, "Come now, little Angel. I know you don't actually hate the idea that much."

Finally, Astrid groaned, "Fine…" and walked up the steps of his throne to sit on his lap with her arms crossed, her expression embarrassed and a little annoyed.

But Erik just smiled, and grabbed her chin, before softly kissing her lips. At first, she resisted his touch a little, but as the pleasure increased, she finally sighed and leaned into it.

The crowd, shapeshifter and vampire alike, looked at the scene with a hint of shock. Sure, the shapeshifters had already heard about Erik and Liv having sex, but that sounded like an act of domination. This looked to be far more.

Interracial relationships between vampires, humans, and shapeshifters were almost unheard off, and shunned in many places. Which was one of the reasons why Alice's parents had such a tough time of it.

But of course, since Erik was the strongest person there, and not even the two third-rankers had any real reaction to it, everyone else decided to just grumble in silence. Frostfang had known about their relationship since Frostvik.

Finally, Erik and Astrid separated, and he smiled, "I just want them all to know about us. Is that so bad?"

Astrid panted a little from lust, but quickly got herself under control and looked away with a blush. Then she punched his shoulder, and mumbled softly, "N— No… I guess this is fine…" Explore more at empire

So she got more comfortable on his lap, while all four of them turned their attention to the first vampire, who just had just arrived at the platform and looked at his judges with trepidation and anger. He was a second-rank vampire, likely to be one of Sigurd's direct subordinates.

"What is going on here?!" he growled angrily at Erik. "First you make us wait for more than three days on the frozen tundra, and then you drag us here? To do what?! Judge us?! Well, I don't recognize your judgement!"

He turned his attention to Liv, "Lady Liv! I don't deny that Sigurd should have never rebelled against you, but will you really let these beasts judge our people?!"

Immediately, roars of anger and indignation rose up from the crowd as the shapeshifters started becoming restless.

"You dare call us beasts, you damned bloodsucker?!"

"So are we just supposed to let you go after almost killing or enslaving us?!"

"Just kill him and move on!"

Before things could get out of hand, Erik narrowed his eyes, and growled in an authoritative tone, "Silence!" while using aetherium to make his voice thunder in everyone's ears. Meanwhile, he continued lounging on his throne, with Astrid on his lap.

Immediately, silence descended as the shapeshifters reluctantly submitted to his authority.

With order restored, Erik turned to Liv. "So? Would you like to address his concerns?" he suggested casually, making sure the crowd could hear him.

Liv scoffed, "Gladly," and stood up.

The vampire looked like at her with caution and a hint of hope, "Lady Liv! I hop—"

But that was all he could say, before Liv gripped him by the throat and growled angrily, "Shut up, you worm. Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to believe that Sigurd would keep a disloyal second-ranker by his side?! You say you don't deny that rat fucker shouldn't have rebelled? Well let's see how true that is!"

With that, she tossed the vampire straight into the sigil Erik had drawn in front of the thrones. Immediately, tendrils of dark-green energy seeped out of the mark on the ground, and wound themselves around the vampire's body, binding him in place.

"W— What the hell is this?!" the man screamed as he struggled against the tendrils.

While Liv walked back to her seat, Erik explained, "This is one of those sigils your boss was so fond of. This sigil has the nifty ability to project your surface thoughts and memories for all to see. So, let me start with my first question. During this war, have you ever directly, or indirectly, caused the death of an Enclave shapeshifter, when it wasn't strictly necessary for your own survival?"

Suddenly, a large screen was projected above the square, showing every single time where he had, in fact, done that exact thing.

Immediately, the clamouring for his death became louder, and the three judges didn't disappoint. Liv stood up again and walked towards the vampire in the middle with a stoic expression and a sun blazing on her hand.

Liv couldn't say she actually cared that much about the deaths of a few shapeshifters, but the fact he was a direct and clearly willing subordinate of Sigurd was more than enough of her. Plus, this was the deal she made with Erik. He wanted to placate the Enclave, and she'd agreed to help.

After this vampire was no more than ash, Erik beckoned the next vampire to join them on the platform, and thus began a long day of judgement.