Sangfroid closed his eyes and dreamed of his first meeting with Vladstin, at the roof of a dilapidated house in a village.
That village was on the outskirts of Ilvedia, more like a part of the forest rather than the kingdom itself. The people were like how the survivors were. There was a sense of autonomy, and the people looked after one another and bartered with each other. The news they knew about, their daily conversations, and the sum of all the people they interacted with was limited to that village only.
They have never heard of a vampire before, much less of a vampire lord.
When the Noble Huntsmen were alerted of this, half the village had already been bitten. The locals referred to this entity as the 'Red Death'. The small cottages had become like a ghost town and what's left to roam freely are sheep and cattle that had gone astray without owners. The monster who wreaked havoc was said to have deliberately broken all the wooden fences and let the livestock free, causing them to be eaten by wolves, foxes, and other predators.
Back then, Sangfroid assumed the worst: This was the vampire lord's intention to either scare the people and hurt innocent beings, or to lure the hiding people away from their homes.
Now he knew this assumption was wrong, because Vladstin doesn't like hurting animals, and he could easily go inside any shelter without invitation contrary to popular belief. He probably hasn't thought ahead that if he released the farm animals then the predators would eat them, or think the animals should die naturally in the wild where they belong than be hoarded by humans. It was a misplaced act of goodwill that Sangfroid only realized much much later on than he wished he had.
Anyway, a young lad's family believed that the 'Red Death' will come to target their boy that night. They have spotted a fast-moving shadow lurking whenever the boy would leave his house. At night, the family huddled close on an underground basement out of fear, surrounding the poor boy. Eventually, they locked the boy in the basement and even shackled his arms and legs to make sure he cannot leave.
The boy had black hair and blue eyes.
Yes, the villagers noticed a pattern that the 'Red Death' attack first those who have the darkest black hair and the lightest blue eyes. Having just one of these traits already puts you at high risk. Having both..... It's reasonable for the family to go such extreme measures.
"May we see the boy, Madam?" Rothfir asked.
The couple's eyes were crazed and always frantically circling about in all directions. Their hair was more like yarn now that was shredded and pieced together. Their clothes were also dirty, and they smelled rank from not being able to get water from the well a few leagues from here to use for bathing or clothes-washing.
"The Red Death is watching...." The father's lips trembled, and he pointed out of nowhere. "There, did you see that!?"
The Noble Huntsmen all turned to that direction, but there was only a quiet meadow with a sheep carcass laying around. Asver shrugged. "Well, we didn't manage to see anything—"
"I saw him, sir." Sangfroid stepped forward the cottage's doorstep. "We will not let him harm your son. We will guard him with all our lives."
The Noble Huntsmen were stunned that their Chief managed to caught sight of the vampire lord in time. But they nodded and gave assurances to the scared family. The boy's family eventually acquiesced and guided these men into the trapdoor hidden in the basement.
Sangfroid just gave everyone a look and they already understood what it meant. They let him open the hatch to the trapdoor and visit the locked boy alone, getting into positions to stand guard against any possible assaults.
Sangfroid felt a dull ache in his chest when he saw the boy in chains. He really looks too much like.....
"Momma? Papa?" The voice of the boy that was only at the beginning of its progress to become man's called out. "Please let me go! I promise I wouldn't disobey you and travel outside anymore!"
Sangfroid cautiously went closer with his oil lamp. The boy's blue eyes the color of the heavens adjusted from the sudden brightness in the dark and dreary basement. When he saw the new figure before him, his mouth turned into a big 'O'.
"Who are you, sir?"
He didn't ask this out of wariness, but rather from curiosity. He seems to be the type that is friendly and polite to strangers, adding the uncanny likeness he shares with His Highness.
"My name is Sangfroid." The Chief Huntsman's pulse quickened yet it did not show on his face."....What's yours?"
"It's Cintho!" The boy replied with a small smile, but his face was unmistakably gaunt and pallid. "Have you come to free me, Mr. Sangfroid? Do you have the key?"
Sangfroid examined closer the metal braces on the Cintho's bone-thin arms and legs, connected by links of chains. He felt his chest tighten even more, but his expression remained vague. He shook his head. "No."
Cintho's face fell. "Oh. I see. I think Momma permanently threw the key in the well."
Sangfroid sat on the floor so they could talk to each other face to face. "How old are you?"
"I'm thirteen and a half." Cintho answered.
"Do you...." Sangfroid picked his words carefully in front of the thirteen-year-old. "Do you know why you are kept here?"
"Momma said there's a monster who's after me. I don't believe her." Cintho snorted. "It started when I came home late, the sun had already set but I had to find Ari."
"Ari?"
"He's a billy goat. Momma said he's ugly, but I think he's pretty funny and can do all kinds of tricks." Cintho was smiling every time he mentioned his pet goat. "That night, I found Ari was being fed by this handsome mister with completely white hair, which is weird because he looks ten years younger than my Papa."
Sangfroid's eyes narrowed. "What did the mister do to you?"
"He didn't do anything to me." Cintho's long eyelashes fluttered as he blinked from Sangfroid's sudden hostility. "He just asked for directions, but I didn't know what to tell him, and yet he still thanked me and gave Ari some meat. Ari is special, you see. He also eats meat, sometimes even his friend's—"
Cintho was getting sidetracked from his pet goat again, so Sangfroid patted his shoulder and interrupted. "What directions did the mister asked you?"
"Oh. He wanted to go to the Palace of Ilvedia, he said. I've never been in the Capitol or even beyond the borders. I asked him why he needs to go there and he said he came to see an old friend." The chains made clicking sounds on the floor whenever Cintho shuffles a bit. "He was very nice and was three heads taller than me, he had to lean down to come face to face with me. After that, he..... Mr. Sangfroid?"
Cintho noticed that his visitor was lost in thought from his story. The boy saw the man's fist clenched at the mention of the 'Palace of Ilvedia'. He waved a hand over his face. "Mr. Sangfroid?"
Sangfroid broke away from his reverie and unclenched his fist. "Yes?
"Are you okay? You looked angry for a minute. Did I do something wrong?" Cintho asked with teary eyes.
Sangfroid immediately shook his head. "No. I was just thinking of something."
He was thinking of how much he wanted to protect Prince Leron, and how he will never let this vampire lord get close to him or this boy who looks like him.
"Anyway..." Sangfroid stood up. "I don't have a key, but I can still free you with this."
He showed his sharp-edged arrow and with one clean strike, broke the chains that bound the boy together. Cintho was amazed by such strength that he didn't know any human was capable of, but more importantly, he was ecstatic to be free. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Sangfroid! Now I can go and see Ari again!"
"Wait!" Before Sangfroid could stop him, and despite his frail body, the boy managed to quickly run up to the basement's stairs to his parents' horror. The boy's blue eyes were paler than before, reflecting something inside them.
Cintho stopped for a bit and smirked. "Hello, Momma and Papa. Thanks for bringing me a strong man who would set me free from those annoying chains."
The parents stumbled back and pointed at Cintho like he was some beast. "Capture him! Capture that demon!"
The Noble Huntsmen did not understand what's going on, but tried to capture the boy. Cintho dodged a swarm of hands, dashing outside. To everyone's horror, the boy started to climb to the walls of the cottage and onto the roof like a spider!
Sangfroid had managed to catch up and used his arrow to pierce through the gaps of the stone walls, using it as leverage for him to climb. Thanks to his height, it didn't take long for him to reach the edge of the thatched roof.
It was already too late.
"Help.... Mr. Sangfroid...." Cintho's eyes returned to their natural state as blood oozed from the two punctures on his neck. The moonlight shine over his skin that was losing its luster, and the boy curled up, crying from the pain. There was no one else around.
Sangfroid rushed to him, scanning his surroundings in high alert. He took Cintho in his arms and could really feel the sense of dying. It was like a hand gripping his heart and crushing it, making the boy squirm until he can't anymore. No matter how much Cintho fights it, he will never see another sunrise again.
"I'm sorry..." Sangfroid hated himself for not being able to show how much he genuinely regret not saving this boy sooner.
"The dead can't accept apologies so it's quite too late for that."
Sangfroid felt sharp claw-like fingers brush over his shoulder, and the small sting of being scratched. He quickly turned around but only met the cold night air. Still, he picked up his bow and pulled the strings with the tip of an arrow.
After a few seconds, he turned to the right and shoot.
"Good aim!" Someone clapped. "I'm sorry if I took some sample of your blood without permission, but I just can't help it. It smelled better than the others. Hmm... but I'm not quite sure about the actual taste, a few drops is not enough."
The vampire lord materialized in front of him, blood trickling from his grazed cheek. "May I have some more? It's only fair since made me lose some blood from that arrow of yours."
"Who are you, vampire?" Sangfroid aimed another arrow but the vampire lord vanished again.
The vampire lord sneered. "I should be asking that first. Your name is Sangfroid, correct? Who are you really and your sorry lot that I should thank for my meal tonight?"
"I am the Chief of the Noble Huntsmen, sent by the Bishop of Santimieda to eradicate you and your kind." Sangfroid answered with a straight face. "We are sent to make you perish, vampire."
"Ah, so you are a Hunter, just like I thought. " The vampire lord nodded, looking amused. "Well, it's nice to meet you Hunter, but I have a bigger snake to catch and slit the throat off! Ta-ta!"
"Wait, why are you after Prince Leron!?"
The vampire lord who was about to jump stopped, and turned to him. "You know that little snake?"
"The Bishop had prophesized that a vampire lord will rise and become a danger to His Highness' life. I cannot let that happen." Sangfroid gritted his teeth, repeating: "Who are you, and why are you after him?"
Vladstin cocked his head to the side and grinned. He opened his shirt to reveal a scarred pale chest. "I'm Vladstin. I just so happen to be someone your 'Highness' killed in cold blood. Therefore, I'm going to kill him too."
Sangfroid aimed an arrow at that revealed chest. "I'd rather die than let that happen."
"I don't want to involve anyone unnecessary but...." Vladstin smirked. "If you really want to kill me, I'd like to see you try."
Sangfroid released the arrow. Vladstin fell backwards and disappeared. He thought he didn't manage to shoot Vladstin in the heart that night.
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But as the present Sangfroid dreamed about this, he woke up and realized something.
"Vladstin cannot die from an arrow to the heart like all the other vampires." He clutched his head. "How is that possible?"
Does this mean that Vladstin is special even from among all the vampire lords?
But now, that explains why Vladstin is so adamant that they are enemies. He hurt Vladstin more than he thought he had. Maybe it didn't kill him, but the heart is an important organ of a vampire according to Xendros. It serves as a chamber for all the blood that they have consumed, serving as their way to regenerate and remain mobile.
Vampires are immortal. The reason they need blood is for sustenance, a sort of fuel to a machine, Asver would say. If they haven't had enough blood, the malicious energy inside them will run out and they will grow weaker.
Eventually, they might even be an unmoving corpse, stuck in a vegetative state. Very much 'alive' and with a consciousness yet can only remain in place. All vampires are 'born' trying to avoid that, the closest to a 'fear of death' that they could have. Sangfroid wanted to apologize for almost making him suffer that fate, but that incident was too long past.
And like Vladstin had said, "The dead cannot accept apologies."
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