Chapter 151: Vampire Sisters
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The servant bowed and left.
Sekhmet leaned back slightly, letting the chair support him. He kept his face calm.
Inside, his chaos energy pressed against the poison again, keeping it from spreading further. He could feel the toxin like a constant quiet threat, like someone whispering behind him in a language meant to distract.
He ignored it.
He had learned in Lower Purgatory that pain and distraction were simply other forms of weather.
Minutes passed.
The house was quiet, but not asleep.
Somewhere, Bat Bat was probably complaining while Elena forced letters into her skull.
Somewhere, Mira was likely reading contract clauses again, because people like Mira did not trust anything until they had measured it twice.
Somewhere, the twins were together, refusing to separate, holding onto each other because the world had taken everything else.
Sekhmet waited.
Then footsteps approached the study door.
Two sets.
In sync.
The servant’s voice came softly from the hall.
"Young master," the servant said, "the twins have arrived."
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Send them in," he replied.
The door opened.
Vera and Vela stepped into the candlelight side by side with the same measured pace and the same quiet readiness. They did not look around like tourists. They looked around like survivors counting exits.
The study door closed behind them.
For a moment the room held only the crackle of the candle flame and the faint scratch of night wind against the window.
Sekhmet remained seated behind the desk. His posture was relaxed enough to look careless, but his eyes were not careless. His eyes were the kind that remembered every face that had ever tried to put him in chains.
The twins stopped a few steps from the desk. Their expressions were controlled, but their shoulders stayed slightly tense. It was not fear. It was a discipline built from long nights where sleep meant danger.
Vera was the one who spoke first. Her voice was steady and clear, her tone respectful without being soft.
"You called for us, sir."
Vela did not speak yet. She watched Sekhmet like she was studying the difference between a buyer and a predator. Her gaze flicked to his hands, to his throat, to the small tear in his sleeve that he had not fully hidden even after bathing. Her eyes caught the faint scent that still clung to him.
Blood.
Not his.
Not entirely.
Sekhmet did not offer them a chair immediately. He did not do it to be rude. He did it because he needed to see how they stood when they thought they were being tested.
They stood well.
They stood like two swords placed upright.
Sekhmet spoke calmly.
"Sit."
They sat at the same time, as if they had practiced. They did not slump. They did not fidget. Their hands rested lightly on their knees, but Sekhmet could see the readiness in their fingers. If the room turned hostile, their bodies would move before their minds finished thinking.
He appreciated that.
He did not show it.
He leaned back slightly, letting the candlelight paint half of his face while the other half stayed in shadow. It made him look colder than he felt, but cold was useful.
"I have decided," Sekhmet said.
Both twins remained still. Only their eyes shifted, sharper now.
Sekhmet continued.
"You asked for a concubine contract because you believed it was the only way a man would pay your debt without treating you like an object he could throw away afterward. You were not wrong."
Vera’s jaw tightened slightly, like she disliked agreement from someone powerful.
Vela’s voice finally entered, quiet but firm.
"Then you understand why we demanded it."
"I understand why you demanded security," Sekhmet replied. "I also understand you demanded it because you did not want to die with nothing. Not even a memory."
That landed.
For the first time, Vera’s calm cracked by a hair. Her gaze lowered for one breath, then lifted again.
Sekhmet tapped one finger lightly on the desk. It was not impatience. It was a rhythm, a habit from negotiating in places where silence could be weaponized.
"I can give you power," Sekhmet said.
The twins did not react outwardly, but their eyes sharpened like blades being drawn.
"Not the small kind of power you can buy with stones," Sekhmet continued. "Not the kind that comes from having guards at your door. I mean power that changes what you are. Power beyond imagination."
Vera’s lips parted slightly, then closed again. Her voice stayed steady, but it carried a faint heat.
"And you will give it to us."
Sekhmet nodded once.
"If you trust me," he said.
Vela answered this time, and there was no hesitation in her tone.
"We trust you."
Vera added immediately, as if she refused to be outdone even in agreement.
"As long as you take us as your concubines, we will do anything you ask. Even if it means death."
Sekhmet looked at them for a long moment.
He did not like that word.
Death.
It was too casual in their mouth, like they had already made peace with it.
Sekhmet’s voice remained controlled.
"I will take you as concubines," he said.
Both twins held their breath in the same heartbeat, as if their bodies had been waiting for those words more than their minds admitted.
Sekhmet raised a hand before their relief could bloom into assumptions.
"That part is for later," he said. "For now I want you strong. Strong enough to walk behind me without being crushed by the people who want me dead."
Their eyes sharpened again.
Sekhmet leaned forward slightly.
"This process will be painful," he said. "It might kill you. The contract will not save you from that. Do you still agree."
Vera’s answer was instant.
"Yes."
Vela’s answer was just as fast, but her voice carried a quiet challenge.
"Yes. But you must pay us first."
Sekhmet paused.
"Pay you," he repeated.
Vela’s lips curved faintly. Not a smile. A small act of courage.
"Kiss us," she said. "As payment. Then do what you want."