"So far, what do you know about the Eternal Blood Chalice?" I ask Nisha.
"Well, as I said, it pours an endless stream of Anthropa Blood. But that is far-fetched on so many levels because if it existed, I shouldn't be the last vampire right now."
"But do you know people who believed it exists?"
"Yes, my father, mother, and my neighbors who passed away."
She sounded so down after saying that. I gotta be careful making her talk. I don't want to be a jerk.
"How about domain clearers?"
"I don't know a lot of people. I just came across some of them in bars and places but never talked to them nor I cared about what they were talking about. I was. . . obsessed finding a way to pacify my hunger all that time. . . you know." Her eyes begin to moisten.
How the hell did this conversation become emotional? Something's wrong. Anyway, "I don't know much about this place yet. Tell me, what places do you think we can get light of such rumors?"
She sobs, saying, "I don't know. . . all these years, I never cared to see things the way they were. My mind was always searching for that 'red liquid'."
I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that. "Okay. . . what about, uh. . ." I'm running out of things to ask. "peculiar places?"
Her sobbing is intensifying. "How could I discern the peculiar from the normal if I was a—"
"That's enough!" I rage. "How are we supposed to talk if you keep getting emotional?!"
"You don't understand what I feel!" she cries, wiping all of her tears with her hands.
"I thought you were cool and collected! I guess I was wrong." Calm down. . . calm down. . . You're making it worse. *Sigh* "I'm sorry, okay? You can stop crying now." She's still sobbing. What do I do? "If you stop crying, I'll let you have a bite."
Like a shy rodent peeking from a hole, she stops crying and looks at me. And she cries again. Ugh. . . do I have to deal with this? She's 500 years old but she's acting like a baby. What a drag!
In my Anthropa Frame, I draw my wrist closer to her. She slowly grabs me but looks down, hiding her face. She bites as she sobs.
Is this my fate? To be a walking feeding bottle for this vampire baby? That's it, I'm never gonna get to the edge of the server! It would even need a miracle to beat Zaori.
Nisha's fangs loosen.
"Are you done?" I ask. She nods, wiping her lips. "Will you stop acting like a baby now?"
She nods again before muttering, "I know a person who might give us a clue."
"Thank you! Easy, wasn't it? You didn't have to cry like a child!"
"Shut up," she grumbles, leaving me here on the ground. "You don't understand my pain. . ."
Hours after that, we ready ourselves. She takes me somewhere outside the metropolis. The way is curving and turning around the houses made out of tin sheets. They look like houses of cards that will collapse with a single whiff. The way is littered with cans, plastic, and all sorts of trash. This scenery is quite familiar.
Oh, I remember. From history class, this is akin to the places on Earth called slums where poor people live. I never expected that it would be this depressing. Or this world is just exaggerating.
A lot of poor Daemons are here, scouring the trash for food. Some of them brawl like animals over some rotten morsel. This is a bit sad. . . Even the children living here, are so thin that they look like wilted saplings.
Some of them recognize Nisha and she politely greets back. Most of them are children and young ladies. At least some of them are smiling. It's hard to think how they can see the bright side of life living like this. They have it worse than me, yet I lived my two decades of life being a depressed kid. My smile could never be as genuine as theirs.
Nisha stops in front of a huge truck. I guess this is it. "Is this it?" I ask.
"Yeah." She goes ahead and knocks on the metal door of the truck. No answer. She knocks again but says, "Hello?" Again, nothing. To see if there is someone in there, she nears her face to the glass window and covers them with her hands. "Ow!" The door hits her face as it opens without warning.
Out comes a guy three feet tall, red-skinned, smoking a cigar, with a terrifying glare, wearing rugged jeans, his belt filled with grenades and magazines, and his shirt barely holding on because of his swelling muscles. The whole door is his shoulder width. Who is this giant?
He sighs and the smoke spreads throughout the air. "Well if it isn't the blood-sucking girl," he says with a very deep voice. "And I see you got yourself a boyfriend. Congrats, I guess."
"Uh, no," I negate. "we're not." *Swallow* I'm nervous talking to him. He can crush me with a single punch using that huge fist of his. That's if I say or do something that might anger him.
"Algron, I've come to ask you something," she says, standing up and dusting herself. "Can you tell me where is the Eternal Blood Chalice?"
"In the cave of Smashio."