Chapter 2: The Epitome Of Rags To Riches

“Ugh!” Sebastian groaned as he opened his eyes. He shut them afterward as the sun settled into them.

He got up from the ground and opened his eyes, his vision now adjusted to the brightness around him. He looked around and his eyebrows went up as he creased his forehead muscles in confusion.

He was in the same place he was the night before. He tried to remember what had happened, but his memory was foggy.

A patrol car stopped beside him and the driver-side window rolled down as the policeman inside looked at him. “Young man, what happened here last night?”

“I don't know. I was just passing here when you stopped me.” Sebastian lied, half of his statement was true since he didn't know what happened, and the other half was false. He was not passing there, he had been there for over 12 hours.

The policeman took his answer as genuine and told him to take care of himself. The patrol car took off, leaving Sebastian alone.

Sebastian sighed once more and retrieved his wallet from his pocket. He counted the money inside and put it back in his pocket. He had enough money to rent a small apartment in the red light district of Lycoris city, aside from that he had nothing to his name.

Still pondering his thoughts, Sebastian failed to notice two black SUVs stop by him, and from the SUVs came out ten men wearing black suits.

Sebastian sniffed the air and he could tell that the men around him, were not humans. They did not have human-like scents, their scents were a mixture of spring blossom and mud. Sebastian stopped processing what was around him momentarily as he wondered how he could tell their scent.

The blond-haired man with an imposing stature walked ahead of the group. He stood before Sebastian towering over him. His onyx eyes glared at Sebastian intimidatingly. “Sixth lord of chaos Sebastian Bloodwyn, the successor of Belladonna Miltovic.”

Sebastian wanting no trouble raised his hands defensively. “I'm not anyone's successor okay, and how did you know my name?”

The man laughed as the straight face he had eased up. “My lord, when Ma'am Belladonna gave you her source, she made you her successor.”

“I still don't understand what you are talking about you know!”

“Ma'am Belladonna was one of the six vampire lords that control the supernatural world and this one, I'm sure you know about those right?”

Sebastian nodded, during his studies at the Lycoris Libra University Of Magic And Alchemy he learned about the lords of chaos but there were only supposed to be five. Emerich Light and four others who remain away from the public eye.

“Aren't there supposed to be five not six?”

“Normally yes, that's supposed to be the case but every thousand years or so, an Anomaly is born and that's the sixth lord. The strongest one of them all.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“My lord, my name is Goodwin Silverado. I'm your servant and a member of the house of Miltovic… lady Belladonna had entrusted me with the sole purpose of guiding her next successor.”

“Guide me how?”

“Follow us and you will see”

Sebastian heaved a sigh, there was no negotiating with him, and his tone left no room for Sebastian to talk his way out of it. Defeated, Sebastian walked over to the SUV and got inside.

Goodwin and the others got inside the cars and the black SUVs took off from the industrial site heading into the inner parts of the city.

                   ****

The black SUVs stopped outside of the large black steel gates, the guard stationed at the gate opened it for them and they drove inside the parking lot; Sebastian and Goodwin exited the cars after they got parked and Sebastian followed Goodwin into the building.

As they were walking, Sebastian took a look around. The hallway they were walking in was dimly lit by candles, giving him a medieval-type theme. On the walls hung pictures of Belladonna, in the photos she was smiling. Her smile made Sebastian stop and stare at Belladonna.

“She was happy wasn't she?”

Goodwin stopped and turned to look at what Sebastian was looking at and nodded. “indeed, this was a moment in her life where she found peace.”

“Where are we?”

“We are in the hallway connecting the parking lot to the main building.”

Sebastian glanced at Goodwin. “You didn't answer me,”

“oh silly me, we are in Renegade Corps.”

Sebastian's eyes widened, he felt his throat dry up and swallowed some of his saliva to moisten his throat. Renegade Corps, was a big company in Lycoris City extending to the mainland of Japan and worldwide, known for its glamorous celebrities, cutting-edge technology, and their use of alchemy to its highest order. A company that even the richest in Lycoris city would die to have a hand in.

The main question was, what was he, a commoner, a live-in Son-in-law doing at such a place?

He turned his whole body to face Goodwin, his eyes sharp as ever and eyebrows creased a bit to show his seriousness. “What am I doing here? A commoner like me doesn't deserve to be here.”

Goodwin shook his head with a smile. “This is your company now, as Belladonna's successor you have 100% ownership of Renegade Corps.”

A dry, satirical laughter escaped Sebastian's lips. “The prank you are trying to pull isn't funny you know that?”

“So believe me, sir, it's not a prank you own this company as a whole.”

Sebastian was in disbelief, just yesterday he talked back to his wife, stopped taking their abuse, and met a strange woman. Today, he was the richest person in all of Japan and the strongest entity in the world; fate had a way of messing with the tarot cards of his life it seemed.

Thinking about Leona, Sebastian felt his heart pang. He was mean to her, even if she deserved it. Her teary eyes staring at his angry self came to him making Sebastian relive the ordeal he had. He needed to apologize.

“Goodwin, take care of the company in my stead, I know nothing about running a business as successful as this one.”

Goodwin nodded in agreement. “What are you going to do now? There's a possibility that the other lords will come at you not to mention the Necro Alliance will want to keep an eye on you since you are the strongest and the most uncontrollable figure in the world.”

“Leave that to me,” Sebastian replied and turned around heading in the opposite direction to where they were going.

“Sir before you leave, Here's something you'd like.” Goodwin reached into his pocket and retrieved a slim black card with gold trimmings. He handed the car and a set of keys to Sebastian.

Sebastian held the items and looked at Goodwin. “What's the credit card for?”

“It's for your spending Sir, it has $40,000,000.00 in cash for your luxury.”

$40,000,000.00 in cash? Sebastian was again flabbergasted at the turn of events. The wheel was running too fast for his liking, he almost believed that it was a dream he would wake up to any moment.

Wordlessly, Sebastian could only nod in gratitude and he left the building.

Sebastian stood outside the gates and stopped a taxi. He got inside, gave the driver directions, and paid his fee.

He glanced outside the window, his eyes absorbed in traffic as the cars rushed past the taxi he was in. Although he was looking at the traffic, he had a furlough gaze in his eyes, Sebastian was in deep thought.

He was no longer a human, he was an immortal vampire who turned out to be the richest person in all of Japan.

Not only that, he was the strongest entity in the world from Goodwin's words. What made him strong? He was certain that it wasn't because he was the sixth lord. There had to be something about that title that made him that strong to be feared by everyone including the five military-level powers.

“We are here.” The driver informed Sebastian as the taxi stopped outside of the towering wall painted white with the Lincolnshire crest.

Sebastian snapped out of his musing and thanked the driver as he got out. The taxi drove away leaving him reflecting on the decision he took last night. It was both good and bad, good because he managed to get free from the clutches of the conniving In-laws; bad because he was now a target for possibly everyone on the planet.

Shaking his head, Sebastian entered the Lincolnshire compound.

             ****

In the gathering hall, the family stood before an old woman with a wrinkled face, and white hair tied into a loose bun. She had her eyes closed but she could see the people before her.

Ahead of the family, standing between the old woman and the rest of the family was Leona, and  a woman with short white hair and gray eyes.

“Leona my grandchild, I've loved you for as long as I can remember but what your husband did yesterday is unforgivable. He embarrassed the Lincolnshire family in the eyes of the public and Sir. Emerich why don't you take my advice and divorce that good-for-nothing man.” The old woman said as she looked at Leona through closed eyes.

Leona found her feet more interesting as she kept looking at them, Madame Lincolnshire had a valid point, Sebastian had embarrassed them in front of everyone in the world, he even embarrassed the son of one of their family's closest business partners.

She had every reason to divorce him but what he said yesterday had her thinking. He never rebelled against her and was always diligent when it came to her personal needs, yet she treated him like everyone else. She stood with the bystanders when her family mocked and ridiculed Sebastian, and got angry at him for standing up for himself.

His hurt eyes filled with rage were a constant reminder of how she, was another statistic that broke him.

Madame Lincolnshire glared at Leona who had yet to give her an answer, she clicked her tongue internally and turned to her other grandchild. “Mira? Is there something you wanted?”

Mira inched forward a bit. “Yes, grandmother. With the events of Yesterday because of her husband, the media is looking at us as if what that lowlife did was our intention. The outlets have already published the scandal and our family business is taking a nose dive.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I'm suggesting that we remove Leona as the head of the company until the scandals die down.”

Leona snapped out of her train of thought once she heard what Mira wanted. She glanced at the woman who had a hidden smirk and glanced at Madame Lincolnshire. Her face blanched as she saw her nod to the suggestion.

“I agree, until the drama goes down Mira you are in charge of Lincolnshire Corps.” Madame Lincolnshire said much to Leona and her mother's dismay.

“But mother, you can't entrust the company to her, Leona shouldn't be punished for the wrongdoings of her husband.” Leon's mother rebutted against the decision but one look from Madame Lincolnshire silenced her.

Leona bit her lip, her eyes stung as tears clouded her vision. She breathed in. “I understand.” She said with a quivering voice.

Not wanting anyone to see her cry, she turned on her heel and walked out of the gathering hall. Her tears finally dropped once she was outside and she sunk to her knees, her back leaning against the tree in the middle of the courtyard.

“Leo?” Sebastian asked as he turned around the corner leading to the tree in the courtyard.

Leona raised her head, her teary crimson eyes glared at Sebastian and she got up, she walked over to him with her hand raised but her slap intent lost its will when she struck tremendously reducing the force of her slap.

She slumped forward and Sebastian caught her in his arms.

“What's wrong Leo.”

“I lost everything… everything because of you.”

Sebastian processed her words. She lost everything because of him? He did not quite comprehend what she meant by that.

“What do you mean because of me?”

“Had… you not hit Kain with the tray, I would still be having my position as the CEO of our family company… it was the only thing that kept me from thinking about things but now…  it's gone… all gone.”

Sebastian held her tightly, he wanted to inform her that everything was going to be alright but he did not want to disclose that he was now rich. His eyes wandered to the nape of Leon's neck and he felt the urge to bite that spot. It looked delicious, the unblemished porcelain surface was tempting him.

His eyes flashed crimson, his pupils changed shape and became slits reminiscent of a feral creature.

Sebastian's fangs grew by a millimeter and he was about to bite down on Leon's neck when a hand grabbed his collar and he was thrown back with so much force his body flew across the courtyard to the outer wall and he hit the wall denting it in the process.

“You finally showed yourself scum.”