The vampire stared at the little boy, thinking that the latter had blown a fuse in his head. Aiden grew increasingly nervous under the vampire's intensive gaze.
"Mister, they are coming soon. Let's… Let's go, okay?"
"..."
"L-let's go, hurry..."
The little boy was not going to leave.
Weird.
Didn't they teach the boy to run away from vampires?
"Little boy, I told you to leave alone. Don't you understand? Go. You still have a chance to survive."
Aiden shook his head vehemently.
"I am a small child. Even if I escape this horde, another will come to claim me. You and I might as well go together, Mister. We can help each other."
"..."
Help? What kind of help can a weak human boy offer him, a high-born vampire of an ancient family?
It had to be the funniest joke he heard in the past century.
The adult vampire sighed in exasperation before rising to his feet with much effort. Arguing was of no use. The vampire darkly decided to humor the little brat before they died.
Two figures hobbled on insecure feet at the sidewalk in the middle of a downpour, the smaller one trembled slightly while supporting the larger one's right arm.
The vampire's already pale complexion turned even paler as he exerted more energy to walk despite his injuries.
"Where are we going?" the vampire asked, gritting his teeth in pain.
"We can go hide in my school," Aiden answered while looking left and right. "It must be around here..."
The poor lighting provided by the street lamps and the fact that Aiden had run blindly after being chased by the rabid vampires did not help him in locating his school.
Besides, he had never stayed out so late in the night. In the darkness, even the most familiar environment became foreign and cold.
The vampire sighed.
"What's the name of your school?"
"St... St. John."
Yes, it did not ring a bell. The vampire knew nothing about schools for human children. He thus followed Aiden wherever he led him, while constantly being on the watch for rabid vampires.
The vampire knew that they were around, just waiting to pounce on this pair of a delicious meal.
"Ah, over there!" Aiden shouted in relief.
"Where?"
The vampire narrowed his eyes in the direction that Aiden was pointing. Zooming in, he could see the typical bell tower that human beings liked to put in churches.
"Your school is next to a church? A St. John church?"
"Yes."
The vampire scanned for more details.
"Does the bell tower have a crack in the middle?"
Aiden blinked in confusion. He did not expect the vampire to ask such a detailed question.
And then the boy recalled an incident when a drunk driver once rammed his car against the bell tower and caused a crack in the wall.
Despite the initial concern that the bell tower might be split into two thanks to the incident, further assessment had revealed that the bell tower was perfectly safe. At least until another drunk driver decided to crash against it.
"Oh! Right!" Aiden shouted in excitement.
"This way..."
The vampire dragged Aiden in the direction of the bell tower.
Aiden's heart pounded hard in his little chest. Slowly slowly confidence rose in his little body. They could make it. After turning left at the end of the street, they would be able to see the first topiary tree.
The two unlikely companions, a vampire and a little human boy hurried to the end of the street. The disgusting stench intensified in an instant before they arrived at the turn.
The vampire widened his eyes in alarm and yanked at Aiden's little hand. The boy almost fell backward. He was about to turn to the vampire to ask what was wrong before his eyes turned round in terror when he saw what was coming.
Rabid vampires.
A horde of rabid vampires. Maybe ten or fifteen of them, saliva dripping from the corner of their mouths as they brandished their fangs and charged toward Aiden and the vampire.
"Ugh!"
The vampire clenched his jaws and threw Aiden across his shoulder. Five sharp claws shone in the darkness and slashed at the rabid vampires viciously.
A thick smell of blood permeated the air. The heavy rain washed down the blood quickly and turned it into a pink puddle of water around them.
If he had not been injured, the vampire could take on double or even triple as many rabid vampires on his own.
Unfortunately, he was injured so his movement was much slower.
Also, he only had one hand to attack with. The other was firmly slung over Aiden's tiny body to make sure that he did not fall down during the fight.
The rabid vampires might be stupid, but instinct told them that they must aim for the weakest link. In this case, it was Aiden.
After fending off countless rabid vampires' claws that aimed for Aiden's back, the vampire decided to just make a run for it.
He slashed one last time at the rabid vampire in front of him, threw his body at the oncoming group, and broke through the uncoordinated attacker formation.
At the last moment, a rabid vampire managed to hook a claw into Aiden's pink scarf. The pink scarf tightened around Aiden's neck and caused him to choke.