Nobara immediately pulled out her antique pistols from the leather belt around her thighs. She aimed it at the figures while giving them a murderous glare. Adalbert stepped a few inches backward and embraced the child with one of his arms.
"Aree, these are the sentinels. Nee-chan, it's them, they've arrived," one of the figures suddenly spoke in Japan.
Nobara lowered her pistols and gasped as the rays from the sun shone in the middle of the sky, revealing their shadowy appearances. The brunette teenage girl with blue eyes wore a long white robe with a wide black inner hard collar glared hardly at Nobara. Three shiny black shield-like black metals with a golden line and three 10 carats emerald aligned on the gold line, stacked on her right shoulder. Yellow rope hung on her chest and both ends attached to a golden royal seal and golden 2 strips on a black rectangle, indicating her rank. She was holding a sword then inserted it to its black sheath.
The other blonde teenage girl with blue eyes and glasses on her nose bridge, who spoke before, wore a black military dress with short skirt and golden belt around her waist. Nobara glared at the three strips with different colours, she was one of the lieutenants of a former Japanese vampire slaying company before VSO shone its name. She smiled and jumped onto the ground then followed by her sister.
"The Ikaru sisters, may I ask why you are here?" Nobara suddenly asked.
"You know them? Aren't they vampires?" Adalbert asked doubtfully.
"Shinana-sama, Shirai-sama!!" Hayabusa suddenly plunged into the scene with a bright lion smile.
"They were once humans," Nobara told Adalbert.
"So their tale becomes history," Hayabusa added.
Era looked at the teenage girls through the windscreen of the truck and complimented about how young they were. They were older than their appearances, they stopped aging at a very young age. Shirai, the blonde vampire, took the child from Adalbert. The child smiled and was very pleased to see the sisters. The child was infected by the virus from the monster that her right eye turned red and her sclera slowly turned black, following the flow of blood in her veins.
Shirai fled with the child and jumped higher from one building to another shattered building.
"Where is she going with the infected child?" Nobara asked.
"She's going to Lord Gluck. He makes antidotes for infected humans here," Shinana replied without giving them a stare.
"Humans? Isn't Vampire over Vehicle the vampire's fortress?" Adalbert asked without hesitation but full of inquisitiveness.
"That's what humans thought. Some survivors live here under his care and the others trade their bloods to the vampire. Enter the truck, we need to move before another CavenRaven comes," she sternly ordered.
All of the sentinels crammed up the metal bar in the truck's container and Shinana drove the truck at a normal speed. Nobara glared at the rearview mirror when her true attention was to stare at Shinana's eyes. Even though she was once a human, Nobara couldn't trust her to keep them safe. She saw a similar carved seal on her chest which mimicked the wax stamp on the envelope she received.
They bounced and scattered in the truck as it accidentally hit a bump on the crack tar road. Hayabusa fell on Adalbert and Ruthbert, Yuu fell on Era's huge chest who accidentally pressed Victoria underneath her and Nobara fell on Benditto's chest and unintentionally kissed his lips. She opened her eyes widely and released him but he pushed her head down and snogged her.
Shinana watched them through the rearview mirror and put on a black gas mask. She pulled the silver ring on a sphere green bomb and threw it recklessly to the back. They coughed vigorously and slowly lost consciousness as the light gray smoke from the bomb filled the air in the truck. Nobara opened her eyes slowly. She tried to see what happened but everything was blurry and vague and soon fell asleep.
Nobara instantly gained consciousness and found herself on a filthy bed beside the wall in a cell. She hastily dashed to the metal door and held the bars. She banged the door with her fist and breathed heavily with irritation. She heard a male voice calling her from behind which forced her to turn back. Benditto sat on the bed on the opposite side while thinking on how to escape. She realised the black collar around his neck then she touched her neck and felt the smooth texture of the collar with gemstones on it. She rolled her eyes arrogantly and crossed her arms on her chest.
"Why do I have to share the same cell as you, freak," she complained with exasperation.
"Asked the vampires. I woke up and found myself in this cell then you awakened from your comely sleep," he replied.
Nobara turned her head to the metal bars as she heard a distinct jingling sound of keys echoing in the hallway and knocking sounds got louder. She stepped back as she heard the tingling sound of the metal door being unlocked. The door then opened inward with four vampires in white robes waiting outside. They dragged them out like a prisoner and forced them to follow their steps. Nobara looked ahead and saw the other sentinels in between vampires and they wore the same collar as Benditto did.
They climbed the wide stairs then onto a wide castle hall with its marble tiled floor reflecting every little light and everything above them. Three huge hanging chandeliers with shining jewelries dangling along its cone-like shape induced a soft light gold colour. The huge marble pillars with medieval ornaments on top of it and the lower part attached to the balcony and the walls with golden ornaments. The ceiling was high up in the air, approximately 100 metres high. Huge varnished wooden doors with a gothic pattern carved on them, were opened by a vampire in black robe.
The sentinels were brought into the room. There, a hundred metres ahead was a huge stair-like stage and a huge arch situated at the end, acted as a higher platform. In the middle of the arch was where a tall baroque red chair was placed with five baroque chairs arranged in the arch's manner on both sides of the huge chair. Everything surrounded the red carpet aisle and the stage was dark but Nobara could feel the presence of the other vampires watching them being brought into the court like prisoners.
The sentinels were brought onto the stage without the vampire bodyguards leaving their sides. Ten vampires entered the stage from the back of the stage and sat on each chair. Nobara believed that they were sitting according to their rank and she saw Shinana sitting on the right side of the tall chair; she was one of the vampire lords.
A black hair vampire wearing a long white coat with black collar and a hard black cover on each side of his shoulders, sat on the left side beside the tall chair. A little boy vampire with red hair and a white top hat in white robe with a wide collar, sat beside him. A white hair vampire with a braided headband wearing a long white coat with a wide black collar sat beside Shinana and a little vampire girl in a greyish-purple dress with two thick ponytails attached on both sides of her head, tailed him like a lover. Another white long-haired vampire wearing a dirty-green corduroy winter coat with white and orange cotton scarf wrapped around his neck sat beside him; the fifth chair.
On the sixth chair, beside the little boy vampire, was a little girl vampire with lilac hair and a long and thick ponytail tied with a huge pink ribbon on her head. Another ribbon attached on the back of the choker around her neck and she was wearing a red childish dress, exposing her pale shoulders. Two adult male vampires stood behind her chair like bodyguards. Another short white hair vampire with a simple black coat sat on the seventh chair with Shirai standing beside him. On the eighth and ninth chairs were twin female vampires with orange hairs and they wore the same ceramic masks with creepy cracked lips smiles carved on them. On the tenth chair was a dark blue hair vampire in white robe with black laces.
The royal horns were blown as a female vampire with a golden crown around her bun and shiny jewelries dangled on her ears. Her red dress with red waving cape on her back was shimmering with golden ray, reflecting the soft golden light from the huge chandelier on the baroque carved ceiling. She glared at Nobara and walked straight to the arch and sat on the tall chair in the middle.
"I smell a werewolf's blood amongst you," she spoke instantly with a monotone yet so confident tone.