I was motioned in by the guards but they were careful with me as they knew the damage I could do if I so deemed. Per usual, I knelt a few meters in front of the princes. None looked at me as I waited for what was to come.
"Surely you know why you are here?" Hideki asked as he polished his armor. He was the quickest to temper so I had to choose my words wisely but I was not one to shirk from a challenge.
"Of course I do. You all are going to give me a slap on the wrist for killing the two pests." I said without batting an eye. Hideki's polishing stopped with that before he looked up at me. I was already looking towards them by then. If Hideki was going to attack me, I had to be ready.
"Oh, you are quite bold tonight, aren't you?" Hideki said sitting back and crossing his legs. They were truthfully nothing more than irritating bugs in my head so I referred to them as such.
"I know with how much they annoyed me in such a short time they must have annoyed you all endlessly as well. They were just pebbles on the road. Why give them more importance than they deserve?" I replied.
"Enough of this back and forth. Let us get to business." Hoizon said seriously looking at only me. The intense pressure from his gaze sent me into panic mode. It was almost like gravity had increased ten fold. I could not move or breathe hardly.
He looked away and the room went back to normal. I was gasping for air as I grabbed my chest. Hoizon got up before walking around to the back of their throne area.
Without looking at me Hoizon said, "You know we do not kill each other here. You should know that better than anyone. I see Diach has not trained you well. He will face the consequences for his mistake. You should not have killed them. That was the wrong choice."
"Why? They are bugs that need to be crushed. The other vampires seem to have the chain of command incorrect. I am the alpha around here. Besides you all obviously. You are stronger than me now..." I began before I was stopped.
'Do not tell them of your intentions.' The demon whispered. He was quieter than usual. It was almost like he thought the princes could hear him.
'Mm. I almost let too much slip.' I said back before snapping back to reality.
"What did the other one say? And what were you saying before you were cut off." Hoizon asked interested. With everything that happened as quick as it did, I almost forgot they knew of him.
"Nothing. He was just wondering a few non essential things about you all. He is not important right now." I said back.
'NOT IMPORTANT?' The demon yelled inside my head. With him having half my body, when he yelled he filled the rest of my head.
'I am sorry. I have to throw them off our trail.' I told him. It was the truth and he confirmed it.
'You will apologize later.' The demon pouted before going away.
"Ah, well that answers one question. What were you saying before? Something about us..." Hoizon asked pointedly.
"I had to make sure that the other vampires know the correct chain-of-command. They need to know that I am the alpha around here besides you all. They will not have free reign of me just because I am new. Already, as young as I am, I am stronger than most of them. And I will prove it physically if I have to. Someone will have to take over for you all eventually. Even being vampire princes, you will get old and weak eventually. They need to know before then." I half lied. I did want to prove my dominance but who they thought would take over in another millennia was of little concern to me.
"That is a good stance to take. Strength is a necessary trait of the vampires and moonwalkers. But you went about it the wrong way. We will teach you how to prove yourself. You know we do not kill others without worthy cause. A slight annoyance is not a good enough reason for us to kill each other. We would have long been wiped out if that was all it took. Everyone knows how vital you are to the clan but still you will not be allowed to just kill whoever whenever. This is the only time you will be let off so easily. Keep that in mind." Hoizon said before sitting back down and motioning me out.
"That sounds fine. But if I may request it: I have started this path and I need to carry it out. There are still two left that need to be dealt with. They have to die. Otherwise they will never leave me be. After that I will not kill anyone without due cause." I said bowing my head back down.
"We will make preparations so you do not have to worry of the consequence. Wait until we give you the signal. After that, do as you please but no more killing." Hoizon said. I took my leave then to go back to my room. Hopefully they would give me the signal soon. My bloodlust was at an all time high.
'How best to curb our appetite while we wait..." I wonder to both myself and the demon.
'Why don't we just go kill the two's families? That should take the night at least.
'Hm, good idea. We will go have some fun with them.' I laughed as we packed some clothes for the night and left. It did not take long to get back to the city. But without having any knowledge of who the two belonged to or where to find them it was like a needle in a haystack. Their scent lingered just a touch in the air.
"I could have sworn they have been in the base for a few nights. Did I miss something?" I wondered out loud as we made our way to the hotel. As usual we got a room the floor below the penthouse before going back out to follow the trail. It lead around the city before going into a neighborhood. But it stopped on the edge so we would have to narrow it down on our own.
'Where could they be? You smell better than I do. Where are they?' I asked the demon who was being no help at all.
'I have no idea. All the humans look and smell the same to me. They are so weak I never bothered to take an interest after we wiped them out the first time.' The demon said as his tangible body hovered around in my mind. He usually kept to himself in some corner of my head but when he was extremely bored, he materialized his body and floated around fishing for different things. Seeing his liquid like body hanging out in my head was an odd experience and I could never get used to it.
"Well, I guess I will have to do this myself." I said as I took a deep sniff of the air. Their trail was completely gone. The only viable option I could think of was to keep watch on who enters and leaves the neighborhood and hopefully someone who looks like him would show themselves eventually.
As it was already pretty late at night, I did not want to waste the little time before sunrise just hanging around the edge of a random neighborhood. Police intervention was the last thing I wanted.
We slept the day away before getting up and going back to the neighborhood. It was a random day in January so there were no holidays or reasons people would be out and about in the middle of the night. But we had to be hopeful. People came and went all night but I was no closer to finding their families than the night before.
We went back to the hotel so I could figure a more efficient way of finding them. As I stood in the elevator waiting for the doors to close, a bald man and an older woman walked up to the counter. They were incredibly physically similar to the duo. What he said next confirmed my suspicion.
"Have you seen our son? He has not been home in quite some time and he usually comes to visit in the middle of the month but he never did this month. We are very worried about him. Take this picture and see if it jogs your memory. If it does, call us with the number on the back of the picture." The man said as the woman clung to him. They were getting quite a few looks from the numerous vampires sitting in the lobby.
They exited after giving the man a picture. He did not even look at it before he turned to toss it. The elevator closed on my arm as I tried to get out before he tossed the picture. It was a very strong elevator so it closing on me did in fact hurt some.
"Fuck!" I yelped as I stepped out. As I rubbed my arm I walked to the counter. The man was chuckling from me grabbing my arm in the door. As a vampire himself, he must have just found it hilarious to have the supposed alpha of the pack yelping from closing his arm in a door.
"Let me see the picture." I said before he dumped it. When he slid it across the counter, the picture was of one of the 2. I knew it. They were related. And he kept tabs on his parents even being a vampire which was quite an admirable feat. Even if they were family, seeing them every month must have been torture as he kept from feeding on them. The mother was quite a round woman so her blood was pungent with the fat swimming through it.
"I will take this. Do not worry about them. I will take care of it." I said to the clerk before getting in the elevator and returning to the room. It was a welcome surprise happening upon them on the way to figure out how to find them. The mere coincidence made me chuckle as we walked back to the room.
I picked up the room phone and dialed the number on the back of the picture. Someone with a deeply worried, high-pitched voice answered the call.
"Hello?" The woman asked as I sat silently for a moment upon hearing her voice. It was like angels singing in my ear hearing her words.
"Hello? Is anyone there? I do not want to play this game with anyone right now." The woman said before she began to hang up. I spoke out to keep her attention just before she pressed end call.
"Hello, ma'am? I know where your son is." I said loudly. There was a slight ruffle on the other end of the line before the woman answered almost crying.
"Who is this? I hope you are not playing some sick joke." She said worried. I had to get them to meet me. I still did not know where they lived in the neighborhood and happening upon them again like just before was extremely unlikely.
"No, ma'am. I assure you I am serious. My name is Noah Pitcherson. I was a friend of your son before the accident." I lied. Giving them my real name was a mistake as someone could be listening in on our conversation. It was an unsecured line and the human public hated anything they did not understand. Vampires definitely were something they would not understand.
"Noah, you said? What accident?" The woman asked trying to make sure I was who I said I was. The vampires always staged tragic accidents before recruiting anyone to keep their families off. He returned, though, so the circumstances were somewhat different with his family. Without any idea of what he told them, I would have to lie my way out of it and hope I nailed it.
Judging from her tone, she suspected something else happened after the initial accident. The vampires had three usual scenarios they used for deaths: drowning, a car accident, or some random happening like electrocution from a random wiring mishap in their home. Car accident was generally used for the younger aged vampire and drowning for the older. These two looked to be in their mid twenties so neither was likely to be the case.
"You know your son was electrocuted in his apartment as he had too many loose wires in one of the surge protectors in his house. But he did not die from it since he kept coming back to see you all. I happened upon his body with what looked to be an animal attack during a camping trip." I lied after thinking through what was the most likely cause an idiot like them would be found dead. One of them looked to be the camping type so I had to bank on that.
"An animal attack?! Oh no! I told him to take someone with him when he goes camping." The woman said now crying over the phone. I was correct in my assumptions this time. Thank goodness I studied their characteristics when I was dumping their bodies.
"Can we meet so I can give you some better details? Tomorrow if you are okay with it." I asked trying to lure her into my trap.
"Does tomorrow around nine pm work for you? We can meet you in the diner just outside our neighborhood." The woman said in between tears.
"That is perfect. I will see you then. You have my condolences about your son. It was a terrible thing that happened to him." I said to hook her and make her wonder the details more. The chances of her coming to meet a random man in a diner without her husband were slim as she was rather old and would not be able to defend herself should someone like me try to do anything funny. Her husband had a gun on his hip in the hotel so I guessed he was like the protector of the family.
There were a few rustles and some loose talking just before she hung up the phone. Tonight would be their last night alive. Too bad they would not be able to enjoy it.