“I really did not mean to injure her so grievously…” Yeri said, her voice trembling, already on the brink of tears.

The older vampire sighed in defeat at the pitiful state of her younger member. “I know, you were just playful.”

Joy paused to wait for some reaction from Yeri but the younger vampire was too guilty to spew any words. “Well… just know that playfulness can have its consequences. I don’t mean to scare you but you can expect Irene and Wendy to be very angry with you. You know that Irene abhors the use of silver…”

Yeri nodded, her head still hung low. “I know. I really did not expect myself to overdo it as well… Seulgi was just… incredibly fast and I really wanted to beat her. All I wanted to do was to beat her…”

Joy sighed louder again. “I know Seulgi is really fast. I saw it with my own eyes. And I also know that desire to win, to give your first mentee a taste of defeat. Still… how could it have gone so wrong?”

Yeri explained herself, at times her words were incoherent as she became flustered. “I stabbed her twice… but there was not much effect on her… frustrated… I decided to strike her vitals… then I saw her slowing down and decided to deliver one more blow to cause her enough pain to stop the duel and I plunged the dagger into her once more but she… she turned in a flash and… the dagger just cut across her body…”   

Joy flinched as she imagined herself to be in Seulgi’s position. The former huntress had seen and been involved with innumerable carnage but she knew she would always be unscathed. Joy hated it when Yeri used her silver weapons on her and even a small prick from those lethal weapons was enough for Joy to rage at Yeri. The idea of becoming so severely injured by another gave her the chills. “Just admit that you are wrong and pray that Seulgi forgives you in some way or other. Lord’s fangs, I have never seen another vampire bleed so much. I thought she would die on the spot.”

“I will…”

“Yes, she will.” A voice as cold as ice echoed from behind the two.

Joy and Yeri froze, as Wendy, with a frost-like expression came in upon them. It was apparent that the vice-leader was in poor spirits. Since the two young vampires have rarely seen Wendy in such a bad mood and knew that the situation must have been grave.

“I am sorry…” Yeri began, her voice cracking a little.

“That… you have to do again before Seulgi.” Wendy then moved past the two vampires at incredible speed and seated herself in one of the large velvet sofas, exhaling a deep sigh as she sunk into its plushness.

Joy and Yeri did not move nor speak for the next minute and only stared at each other nervously. Rarely had they seen Wendy behaving in such a way. It was as though Wendy was exuding some form of dominance that was meant to intimidate them and it worked.

Wendy then broke the silence, this time assuming her more usual manner of speech. “Seulgi will be fully healed by the next midnight.”

It may sound like a short period of time to recover from such a grievous injury within a full day but to vampires, it was in fact a very serious deal. Vampires, especially the ones that have existed for a longer time, has the ability to close wounds within seconds. However, they are especially vulnerable to silver and sun. Wounds caused by silver take especially long for them to heal and the exposure to sun not only scalds them but also reduces their ability to heal properly.   

Joy and Yeri nodded, their expressions apologetic and sombre. Joy also had to assume responsibility because she was senior to Yeri and was supposed to prevent incidents from happening.

“Well… take it as a really harsh lesson though I doubt such things would ever happen again.” The vice-leader then got up from her seat and patted the two younger vampires on their backs. “What a way to spice up our lives right? After all, we don’t get new members every century and accidents don’t occur with every member.” The vice-leader’s last statement was meant as a joke but it did not lift up the spirits of the two younger ones. Wendy gave up and bided them to ca