"That doesn't really prove anything, I mean, medical tech can remove scars and any evidence to show she had been stabbed there, right?" Adam asked.
"True. However, when she was inspected after her claim, first by me and then by others in the family, no wound was found and not enough time had passed since her claimed attack for the medical equipment to fix such a wound," Rowena explained.
"What about this pool of blood you mentioned?" Adam asked.
"Stacey took several high-ranking members of the Nosferatu family, including myself, to where she was attacked and we found a pool of blood. Her clothes were covered in blood when she came and told me and after testing, the blood was found to indeed be hers. However, no one, not even Stacey, could explain how she was perfectly fine when there was a pool of her blood.
With no further evidence other than Stacey's word, the investigation was dropped and a rumour started shortly after that Stacey had faked the whole thing. That she had secretly been storing away small amounts of her blood for months and that she used that to make the pool of blood."
"What? Aren't there like surveillance cameras that should have seen the attack? Also, doesn't blood coagulate or something after being outside the body for a certain time?" Adam asked.
"No surveillance cameras were covering the area where she was attacked," Rowena replied.
"Convenient," Adam remarked.
"That's what those who didn't believe her said and accused her of picking that place to stage this event on purpose," Rowena replied before continuing, "You're right that blood does coagulate after being outside the body; however, there are storage units that prevent that. Should we Brood travel somewhere where it is not possible, or it is inappropriate to feed on another being, we use these storage units to hold blood, so that we have a food supply."
"So you were embarrassed and your granddaughter was attacked. I see what you mean when you said you shouldn't have accepted Philips' request," Adam commented before asking, "So what happened after the investigation was dropped?"
"Stacey and my relationship soured. Although I swore to her that I believed her, the fact that I never found the one who attacked her hurt her and so we ended up seeing each other less and less.
During this time, Philip and my relationship worsened and we barely spoke to one another after that incident. If it wasn't for the fact that he was dying and I wanted my husband to at least die peacefully, I would have divorced him after what he did.
The rumours and bullying of Stacey worsened once people, specifically her cousins, learnt that we were no longer as close as we once were and although I tried to step in and stop it, it was ultimately pointless as they only stopped for a short time before starting up again.
Eventually, Philip passed away from his illness and shortly after his funeral, I left Darah Five for the reason of pursuing my modelling career. That was only partially true, however, because I also thought that once I was gone, perhaps the bullying of Stacey would finally stop.
Ultimately, I was once again proven wrong. It just goes to show that even if you're over two thousand years old, you don't know everything.
The bullying never stopped and without anyone to turn to for support now that I was gone, Stacey could eventually take no more and ran away from home since even her parents didn't try to help and protect her.
I didn't find out that Stacey had run away from home for a long time and only learned of it in passing when an old acquaintance of mine that I happened to meet during a modelling gig said how sorry they were to hear that my granddaughter had gone missing."
"You never called back home and tried to speak with her?" Adam asked.
"I did, often in fact. However, James or Sarah just fobbed me off by saying that she did not want to speak to me. I assumed at the time that she was still upset and angry at me, although I kept trying. It was only after my friend told me about her going missing that I confronted James about it and he admitted that Stacey had run away from home a long time ago."
"So he was covering the whole thing up to hide it from you?" Adam asked with a dark look.
"Yes, I guess he feared my anger should I find out," Rowena replied.
"What did you do?"
"At the time, nothing. In the end, I ultimately decided to leave the decision on how to deal with them up to Stacey since it was she who had been wronged. I planned to ask her how she wanted them dealt with after I found her and reunited with her, but unfortunately, the conversation has yet to come up. I think we have both been avoiding the talk of what happened in the past."
"You don't mind if I kill them then?" Adam asked with dark eyes that made Rowena gulp slightly before she replied.
"He's still my son and Stacey's…" Rowena began, but was interrupted by Adam's angry statement.
"Stacey doesn't have any parents as far as I'm concerned. As an orphan myself, I know what it's like to be without parents; however, unlike me, who never knew my parents, Stacey had it far worse. She knew her parents and was around them on a daily basis, yet they cared nothing for her.
I don't care what you say, Rowena, if I ever meet Stacey's parents in the future, they're dead and there is nothing you can do or say that will stop that."
There was silence in the mess hall for several moments after Adam said his peace until Rowena sighed and said slowly, "I understand. However, I still think you should let Stacey decide how to handle this."
"I will consider it; however, if she agrees with me, then don't even think about trying to stop me."
Rowena just stared at Adam and didn't respond, so Adam instead addressed Spector.
"Spector. Resume stream audio and calculate when this year's festival of blood is."
"What are you planning?" Rowena asked with wide eyes.
"Stream audio resumed."
"Calculating."
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Oh, we have sound again. 📣]
[Emojisonly (Earth): 📣]
[Justiceistruth (Earth): Finally, I thought I had gone deaf.]
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Why does Diva Rowena look so surprised?]
[OfficialLorelie (Felinia 7): Babe? What's going on?]
"Calculations complete."
"The Brood festival of blood for universal year thirty-two, twenty-nine will begin in six hours."
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): Festival of blood? What's that?]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Maybe it's a mass slaughter of all the criminal scum. 😈]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): That's fucking dark.]
[Justiceistruth (Earth): Crazy bitch.]
[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Even I'm concerned about Gunlovergirl after that comment.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): The festival of blood, huh?]
[OfficialAphrodite (Felinia 7): Wait. Isn't that where Rowena's late husband is rumoured to have embarrassed her in front of the Brood progenitor?]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): Now that you mention it, that does ring a bell. Something about her refusing to perform the life-bind ceremony with him after he asked the Brood progenitor to oversee the ceremony and the progenitor accepting.]
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Shouldn't something like that be like major news. Why are you making it out like it's just something random that happened?]
[Superior4horns (Vinox 3): Because to the other Brood who attended the festival and witnessed the event, it was just another source of entertainment. Performing the life-bind ceremony is not something we long-lived races take lightly. We consider long and hard if we really wish to spend eternity with that person before we ultimately decide whether to go ahead with it. Plenty of individuals from the different long-lived races have backed out of the life-bind ceremony at the last minute, so Rowena doing it was nothing special.]
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): What's this festival of blood and a life-bind ceremony?]
As the chat explained to the Earthlings what the festival of blood and a life-bind ceremony was, Adam suddenly said, "Let's go."
"Go? Go where?" Rowena asked in confusion.
"To the Nosferatu family home on Darah Five. I plan to see for myself who would dare stab my girlfriend in the back," Adam replied angrily.
[HackerSu (Trillion): Wait, one of his girlfriends has been stabbed in the back? Who was it? Stacey or Diva Lorelie?]
[OrangeeyedStace (Felinia 7): Chill Su, I'm fine.]
[OfficialLorelie (Felinia 7): I'm fine too.]
[HackerSu (Trillion): Then what's he on about?]
[The rest of chat: 😵💫]
"Wait," Rowena said as she reached out and grabbed him.
"What? You plan to stop me? You don't want to know who stabbed Stacey in the back?"
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): So it was the stalker girlfriend who got stabbed in the back…. Wait, she just said she's ok. What's going on? 😵💫]
[RealOtaku (Earth): And so the headaches from trying to understand time travel begin. Kekeke.]