Kings of Awakening Vampires and Purebloods

by Arantes

  The last thing anyone wanted was to run out of supplies.

  “Where’s Albedo? He’s missing all the fun,” asked Dante.

  “Sonia left to wake him up,” said Axil.

  ***

  Sonia walked into Albedo’s room and noticed how deep he was sleeping. She smiled as she saw how peaceful he looked. “C’mon let’s go! Wake up, Albedo,” she said as she opened up the curtains. What a hard sleeper, she thought.

  She opened the window now and the smell of the blood rain entered the room, waking Albedo up.

  “What’s with all the commotion?” he asked as he put the cover back over his head. As much as he loves blood he loves sleep just as much.

  “It’s time to feed, I know you’re hungry,” said Sonia.

  “Thanks but I already ate.”

  She jumped on his bed and took the cover off him. Albedo heard the sound of a loud thunderstorm, only then he realized it was raining. Sonia sat on his bed with a smile. Her legs were crossed underneath her as she rested back on her heels, as she stared at him. Everything she did she looked beautiful.

  “It’s time for…. Blood,” she said.

  The word blood rang into Albedo’s head like the loud thunderstorm outside. It was as if the loudness outside was telling all the vampires and Purebloods to feed.

  Sonia wondered how he could sleep during all that noise. He hadn’t drunk blood since eating that duck at the restaurant, and he had been training with Sonia, which had been draining his energy.

  “You don’t have to drink the blood-rain… you can have mine if you want,” said Sonia. She remembered that day when Albedo didn’t want to drink blood from the rain. She cut

  a small hole in her hand and offered it to him. Albedo turned around and looked deep into her eyes and could feel the sympathy there. Was he too proud to drink blood like everyone else? He was a Pureblood and blood is essential now. He did drink blood from the duck soup, so what’s the difference? He was now debating with himself if he should do it. He grabbed her hand gently and was about to bite her hand, he could remember how delicious her blood tasted the last time he bit her. He pushed her hand to the side.

  “I am a Pureblood. I will feed like everybody else.”

  She followed him outside to where Axil and the others were feeding. The rain outside, there was so much of it pouring down.

  Albedo walked over to Dante and didn’t know how to act.

  “Well don’t act like you’ve never fed from the rain before,” said Dante who noticed Albedo looking curious.

  Albedo looked throughout the castle; he could see every vampire and Pureblood on the street feeding their lust. Refilling their buckets of blood, while children playing outside. In Inferno, when the blood-rain comes, all the humans locked their doors and didn’t dare to go outside. To them the blood-rain was an “abomination” as they called it. Albedo touched the rain falling on his cheeks. This liquid was less thick than flesh blood. He hesitated to taste it. Sonia watched him carefully, pretending not to notice. He stuck his tongue out and truly tasted the blood-rain for the first time in his life, committing the greatest taboo the humans could think of. But he knew he had to stop thinking like a human, he was a Pureblood now. To the humans this was unnatural, but to vampires it was a natural way of life. “Hmm, hmm,” for goodness sake it was delicious, not as good as Sonia but it was drinkable. Sonia smiled. She remembered the first time the guy drank her blood and how scared he was to do it, how inhuman he thought it was. And now here he was enjoying the very thing he despises. Albedo could feel his strength coming back, Aleister and the Xs had drained all his energy. The duck soup had blood in it, but it was mix with water and other ingredient, taking the away what he really need from the blood. The blood-rain was mix with nothing else, giving him his full strength back. For some reason he felt ashamed, this was something he was going to have to get used to. He drank all he could and went back to the castle.

  Sonia looked sad; she thought it must be hard for him to jump into their world so suddenly. It’s going to take time for him to fully except what he is.

  ***

  Their first mission was something the three had been waiting for. The time had now come for them to prove their training had paid off. This was the time to prove they were ready for the field. Axil and Albedo had to wake Dante up. Axil explained to Albedo that Dante hated waking up early in the morning, just like Albedo did, but today he was so excited that he did wake up early. They were all preparing now, they had their bags of clothes and a few hours ago had drunk from the blood-rain. They left to meet with Sonia and Angelione.

  “Are the three of you ready for your first mission? It gets dangerous out there,” said Sonia.

  Dante did not care how dangerous the mission was. He wanted to go and be a hero, to meet beautiful ladies.

  “Remember you three,” said Angelione. “Keep your eyes open when you go on a mission. What can look like the truth can be a lie, a suspect may appear to be an innocent man, and the same goes the other way.” He noticed Dante not paying attention to him. “Hey, are you listening to me?”

  Dante was not interested in what Angelione had to say. However, Albedo and Axil were, they wanted to know everything. A few minutes passed by and they all got on their horses. Albedo rode behind Sonia as he had yet to learn to ride a horse. Dante of course laughed but all the others stared at him as if to say it’s not funny. They left the castle and rode throughout south Inferno and from there headed north. South and north Inferno were surrounded by mountains; from there they had to pass the forest. Even though Albedo lives in Inferno, he has never been or tried to go to the other parts of it. He saw so many trees that he thought he was going crazy after a while.

  Traveling from the castle to north Inferno was longer than Albedo had anticipated. The mountain made it constantly impossible for their horses to go faster, making this trip longer. It will start getting dark in a few hours, creating new shadows and dark patches around him. Albedo wasn’t too fond of sleeping in the woods at night, he felt as if eyes were watching him. On their journey they stopped and ate from the food they had brought with them. Angelione told them the town was up ahead from the map he had brought with him. They made it deep in to the forest, their bodies were sore from riding almost all-day. At last they could see fire from up ahead, the town was there.

  “The town is just up ahead, we’re almost there.”

  As they made their way to the town, before they reached it, they came across an old house in the forest. It was made of wood and had two chairs on the porch. This house brought back memories to Albedo; his house was in the middle of nowhere as well.

  “Why would anyone live here? If you scream, who would hear you?” said Dante sarcastically. Dante started to laugh but Albedo did not find it very funny. He loved that it was nice and quiet.

  Axil gave Dante a small bump to the shoulder, reminding him that Albedo lives in a place like this.

  Albedo started hearing a chopping noise, he looked over a couple feet from the house and there a young man was chopping wood. The axe in his hands moved up and came down, splitting the wood in half. As he was about to chop his next wood, he noticed the five strangers staring at him. He had the same look Axil had on his face most of the time. The young man noticed the five strangers’ clothes and thought they were strange. No humans dress like they do.

  The young man chopping the wood said, “Are you just going to stand there and stare at me all day?”

  Albedo looked away and apologized. The young man walked into the house and closed the door.

  “C’mon we have to keep moving. I can see the town, it’s over there,” said Sonia.

  Albedo could not shake off the look he had given him, a look of hatred and sadness. Sonia noticed it had bothered him. She always wondered why he felt the need to make people happy; she figured that was just in his nature.

  They made it to the town, which was small and quiet. The town appeared to be disserted, like everyone had just up and
vanished. All doors and windows on the streets were closed, and the windows were boarded, and the grass was overgrown. There was an eerie silence but, they could feel the town’s people watching them through the windows, whispering. “That’s them; they’re here to hunt the vampires that have been terrorizing our town.” The people did not like the idea of more bloodsuckers in their town, but knew they had no choice. What can a bunch of humans do against a vampire or a Pureblood, whichever one they’re dealing with?

  Most of the blood-rain was gone; it had reached all the way to north Inferno.

  They walked on the old road.

  “Let’s go see the head of the town, I believe his name is Frank,” said Angelione.

  The head of the town was a man named Frank. He was old and had been their leader for as long they could remember.

  As Albedo looked around, this place had little security, unlike south Inferno.

  “Am I the only one who thinks this place is creepy?” asked Dante.

  Axil put his hand on Dante’s shoulder, “You’re not scared are you? If you want to go back home, we’re not going to judge you.”

  Dante stuck out his chest in defiance and raised his voice, “I have no fear, I was just curious that’s all!”

  They made it to the house. The maid welcomed them inside the house, where she had food and drink prepared for their arrival. “You’ve been on a long journey, go eat and rest for a little while, Frank will be with you in a short time.”

  The smell of the food caught their nostrils. Dante and Albedo wasted no time, “Let’s dig in!”

  “As creepy as this town is, the food is very delicious!” exclaimed Dante.

  “You’re right about that,” said Albedo.

  Frank’s house was the biggest and the least creepy one in the town. The inside was very elegant. The walls were made with bricks covered in a coat of white paint. Everything was well organized.

  The maid came back and said, “Frank would like to meet with you now.” She was a commendable woman, and spoke politely.

  They headed in a room to see Frank; there he sat on a black old chair. He sat at the head of a long table with candles on it. There were bookshelves on each side of the walls, and a fireplace behind Frank.

  “Thank you for coming all the way here, we are grateful.”

  Standing next to him was his son Michael who also reminded Albedo of Axil; enigmatic and quiet most of the times.

  “This is my son, Michael.” Frank was getting old, and Michael was in line to take his place.

  “Thank you for having us. What’s been going on? What’s with this zombies coming back from the dead?” asked Sonia.

  “It’s obvious. Ethan and his mother are behind it,” said Michael quickly with his arms crossed.

  “Ethan?” asked Angelione.

  “He lives in the woods with his mother. They must be vampires or Purebloods like you, they’re hiding it from the rest of us. They’re the ones who have been killing our innocent people.”

  They could tell from the way Michael spoke that he had a deep hatred for vampires and Purebloods.

  Frank wasn’t happy with Michael’s answer, “Now now my son, you don’t have any evidence, so don’t go accusing them.”

  Albedo was beginning to understand a little about Ethan, the boy he’d come across in the woods.

  “It’s true that there is a monster amongst us, killing our innocent children. Just because Ethan lives in the woods doesn’t mean that he’s a vampire. Remember son, a good leader always thinks carefully,” said Frank.

  Michael hated being lectured by his father, he hated the way he operated things. “Why are we still talking about this? We know who they are, so let’s go after them!”

  “No,” said Albedo impatiently. “Ethan is not the one responsible for all this.”

  Michael looked angry that an outsider was interfering with their affairs. But something Michael failed to understand is that Inferno belongs to the king. “And how would you know?”

  “Because I know,” said Albedo with an adamant face.

  Angelione put a hand over Albedo’s shoulder, his job was to watch and keep quiet. But of course Sonia knew that was impossible. Albedo was not going to stand there and not say what was on his mind. You can tell him not to but he will do it. It was as if the words had gone into his ears and disintegrated before reaching his brain.

  “I don’t know why we have to bring his majesty’s dogs into our affair. What business do they have with us?” asked Michael, with a disrespectful tone in his voice.

  At that point Dante and Axil wanted to jump over the table and take his head off.

  “That’s enough, son! I am the head of this town,” said Frank, wanting to keep his son calm. His son was naïve by raising his voice to a Pureblood, not a vampire. A Pureblood could make you suffer five times harder. Any human would rather have run into a bloodthirsty vampire instead of a bloodthirsty Pureblood.

  What a disrespectful child, thought Sonia. It’s a good thing we’re the good guys, because he would have been dead by now.

  Michael apologized from his father’s request and stormed out the room. They knew of course his apology had no sympathy in it. Now that he was gone they could get back on their investigation.

  “In your report, you said people spotted the dead coming back to life, is that right?” asked Angelione.

  “Yes, some of the town’s people said they’ve seen corpses coming to life. My men and I have never seen it. The people have, not just once, but many times,” said Frank.

  “Like zombies?” asked Axil.

  Dante laughed, “There’s no such thing as zombies. They must be seeing something else.”

  Angelione and Sonia had been on enough missions to understand that almost any kind of strange thing is possible.

  “So we’re not just dealing with any kind of vampire, but a Pureblood,” said Sonia. “Is it possible to go look at the grave?”

  “Well of course, I don’t see why not. But why don’t you get some rest first? You’ve been on a long journey,” said Frank. He knew they had been on a long journey and needed some rest.

  Angelione wanted to get started, the sooner the mission was done with the better.

  “Good idea, we’re all stiff from this journey,” said Dante.

  Angelione had no choice as they all agreed they needed to sleep.

  ***

  Angelione and Sonia were asleep now. Axil, Dante and Albedo were up, not able to fall asleep. They slept in a room together, which consisted of three beds and no windows. The room was burning hot, so much so Dante had to freeze part of the wall to match the hot temperature. He froze just enough of the wall not to make the room too cold. A candle was on the table illuminating the room, which Dante hated. The guy was so used to electricity that the very sight of a candle insulted him. Axil and Albedo however had no problem with it.

  “Do you guys believe what they’re telling us?” asked Dante. Something is just isn’t right here.

  “Just remember what Angelione and Sonia said, anything is possible when it comes to Purebloods,” said Axil.

  “What do you think Albedo? You’ve been very quiet ever since you and Michael had the disagreement.”

  Albedo looked distracted. I could use my Elder to see if I can sense any evil from Ethan, if he is indeed what Michael claim he is. At mid-pondering he heard Dante asking him if he was paying attention. “I don’t really know what to think of all this. I do know one thing, Michael is jumping to conclusions too fast,” said Albedo.

  “You did seem pretty obstinate defending Ethan like that, someone you don’t know.”

  Albedo had remembered when he first felt Dante’s and Axil’s energy. How he had felt no evil from them. The Elder somehow had the ability to see into a person’s heart. But by no means did he use the Elder on Ethan, he just knew. Why didn’t master Jarvis tell him about the Elder’s ability to enable you to see the darkness in someone’s heart? Why didn’t he tell him about the lighting in
his hand when the Elder started becoming more powerful? Did Jarvis intend for him to find out on his own?

  “I think Michael was right about one thing, Ethan is different than anybody else in this town. A vampire doesn’t need the Elder to recognize each other, but as far as the person bringing corpses back to life, I don’t know,” said Axil.

  “A vampire? What about the corpses coming back to life? A vampire can’t do that,” said Dante.

  “At this point we don’t know what we’re dealing with. I guess only time will tell us,” said Axil.

  Dante looked into Albedo’s bed but he was gone. “Where did he go?”

  “He left when you weren’t looking.”

  “Well it looks like it’s just the two of us like always.” Dante had a smile on his face. “We used to dream of the day we get to go on a real mission,” said Dante as he reminisced.

  “Yes, I remember.”

  ***

  Dante and Axil have been friends for a long time now, they’d been training together since then. They had grown to like and respect each other as they formed a powerful bond of brotherhood. They could remember the day when Angelione had them running up the mountain and had to be back by sunset or they would fail his test. The sun was getting ready to set and while heading back to the city they had stumbled up on a gang of vampires in the woods plotting to attack the castle. Dante and Axil had listened patiently and wondered how to tackle this situation. Axil had suggested they go and tell Angelione, but Dante was fixed on taking them down himself. Someone plotting to attack the castle was something he could not over look. These men had swords and daggers around their waist. They sat in the middle of the forest plotting which way would be best to enter.