…The Night Hills…
Adrian wandered through the Night Hills. His feets crushed dried leaves and stumped the stems.
Trees, like Giants of Titan were all around him and their hugeness looked to have a striking resemblance to how heavy his heart is right now as his mind wandered far from him.
His torn scarlet cloak was like a flag of a fallem nation as he swayed his way through the humongous trees.
All of the sudden, he stopped.
His sadness filled eyes flashed and he sped to the right just in time as a large tree smashed right at the spot he was on before.
Bang!
His back was brought to a stop by a tree as a kick slammed into his chest.
His grunt echoed through the silent night and his face crunched up in a painful grimace.
A growl from the shadows silenced the crickets that creaked and the frogs that croaked, all around.
Even the birds that sleeped, peacefully in their sheds rushed out and fled off as the angry growl echoed the more.
Adrian's eyes constricted and his eyes flashed with shock when he saw the furious face.
"F- father."
"You defiant son!"
Bang!
Adrian's painful yelp rose up into the dark sky as he felt Caius plunged his fist into his chest.
"I told you! I told you not to go! Yet you didn't listen." Caius' eyes were bloodshot and his voice was trembling as he ranted.
"F- father. P- plea, please. I'm sorry."
"Nah, you shouldn't say that to me. You should say that to your mother. It was for her sake that I kept your existence away from her family. But now, you have just broadcasted yourself."
Caius pulled out his fist from Adrian's chest and moved back, fuming as he ran his fingers through his hair.
Adrian coughed and gasped for breath with a red face as he held his chest. "I'm sorry father. What do I do now?"
Caius turned back to Adrian, confusion was visible in his eyes as he asked. *What do you mean?"
"I killed Akotal. I beheaded him."
Caius' eyes fluttered with a bit of shock for a second, but his anger didn't let it show, and didn't allow for a commendation for Adrian. He turned away in anger as he muttered. "Well, that's good news."
"But he disappeared. Father, he disappeared." Adrian shouted with dread.
Caius flashed his neck back to gaze at Adrian again.
"What do you mean he disappeared?" Caius' eyes constricted into the size of a needle as he asked, his fingers twitching beside him as his eyes dilated by the second.
"The witch with him casted a spell and he disappeared, then the witch killed herself."
"Oh no!" Caius turned to Adrian fully.
"What does it mean? Are we safe?" Adrian asked.
"Definitely not, son. You better get back to your full strength and gather back your bees because you might have just hatched a full fledged fiery dragon." Caius' face had a ugly expression as he added. "We are everything but safe right now."
*********
At a safehouse, suburbs of New York.
Beds were lined up, side by side, forming a row.
On the beds were bodies, unconscious and beside the bed were stands on which blood bags were hung while a drip each, passed the blood into the veins of the bodies on the beds.
The bodies were actually vampires, weak and near dead ones.
The first bed had Hector on it, his chest still ripped. The second had Heald on it, his slash opened belly still yet to heal. The third had Kylian on it, his whole body was filled with gashes and slashes and all sorts of injuries.
And the fourth, which contained the non-vampire supernatural among the beds, had Benzo on it, his chest bandaged.
The last, had Christa on it, unconscious and pale white.
Mei Li was sitting on a wooden lounge chair, facing the beds. Her sword was lying beside her as she sank deep in her thoughts.
Her feets tapped the floor and her almond-shaped eyes were fixed on it as she sank even deeper as seconds passed in her thoughts.
Dread could be felt from her as she wallowed, silently.
Sounds of feet tapping the ground made her stop tapping the floor.
"You should stop that."
"You think so." Mei Li responded without looking at the person.
The person that just entered, walked up to Mei Li's front and stopped.
Mei Li lifted her face and all she could see was Sarai's displeased look.
"They will soon get back on their feets."
"Nah. Even if they did, they are still gonna die anyway, because of the venom in them." Mei Li chuckled sadly. "And then, we'll be alone to face what's to come."
"Nothing is to come. Akotal is dead. Let's leave it that way. And they are all gonna survive this, I'm telling you that."
"The Primordial vampire disappeared, don't you think that's bad news for us. As far as it is something that involves those Primordials, it's always a bad thing for us."
"Please, don't be like this. For me." Sarai pleaded.
"We don't even know if he's out there, already back to full strength, waiting for the right time to come after us. And these guys aren't ready to come back to life yet."
"Just relax, Mei Li. I chose you to come help me for a reason, and it's definitely not for you to break down now." Sarai held Mei Li's shoulder and clutched it, in a gentle move. "I want you to trust me."
"What will we do now?" Mei Li exhaled and her eyes flashed as she asked.
"Adrian left. He isn't even in his right mind right now, he blames himself for what happened. But I think I know who I can meet. He might have an explanation or a solution to what's happening."
*********
In the dungeon underneath the Archipelago.
Caius watched as Adrian was put behind the bars. The heavy iron door clanged as the vampire jammed it close.
Adrian turned to his father. "Is this necessary?"
"I don't know."
"You shouldn't be keeping me here father."
"I told you. Don't go there. But you didn't listen. And now Akotal knows you are alive."
"You should consider that if I didn't go there, those guys would be dead by now. You should think about that, father."
"You even snapped Bellerin's neck just to get your foolishness out for the world to see. You should even be thankful that I'm keeping you here."
Adrian went silent. His face had a sober look as he looked down. "What now, father?"
"Not until it's confirmed that Akotal is dead, you are not setting your feet out of there."
"No, father. No! You can't keep me here. What if Akotal isn't dead and he comes after you and the coven."
"He can't do that. Even if he will, he will have to send pawns. I have the mark of the Tribunals so he can't attack me directly." Caius' eyes shone with firmness and then he turned and began to walk out of the underground dungeon. His voice echoed loudly as he made his way out. "Have a nice rest, Adrian."
"Father. Noooooo!" Adrian's growl shook the underground dungeon as he fell on his knees, the dark and chilling texture of the rock intensifying his sadness.
**********
The safehouse.
Mei Li paced the room. Walking back and forth with her face etched with a deep frown.
All of a sudden, Kylian jolted up with a gasp from his slumber.
Mei Li's gaze flashed to him. She wanted to move closer to him but she hesitated.
Kylian is a Skull vampire, whose veins run with a deadly curse, so she can't be too careful now that he had just woken up.
"Hey."
"Where is she?" That was the first thing that came out of his lips.
Mei Li frowned hard. She knows who he's asking but still, she hesitated and took a few seconds to construct her response, wisely. She cleared her throat and replied. "She's safe. She's here."
Like he already knew where she was before, Kylian's gaze flashed to the fifth bed and he saw the Auburn haired girl sleeping soundly.
He sighed in relief. His hand lifted to his head and he palmed his forehead.
"What happened?"
Mei Li sighed, it wasn't a relieved one. It was heavy with anxiety.
"Adrian beheaded Akotal. But he disappeared with the Chains of Dracula and the Red Skull. Since then, we haven't heard anything of him."
Kylian sighed and took a look at the beds that flanked the one he's on.
He palmed his head again and his face flashed up to the blood bag over his head. It's empty already.
Mei Li's eyes flashed with understanding and she dipped her hand into the duffel bag on the only table in the room. She pulled out another blood bag and showed it to Kylian. "You need more of these to be back to full strength, I guess."
Kylian shrugged. "I can't help my nature. I'm a vampire. I need blood to survive but I don't take human blood."
"That should be a chat for another day because we don't know if Akotal is still out there, alive and you need this to heal up fully."
Mei Li flung the bag to Kylian and he caught it.
His eyes turned crimson and his fangs grew as he punctured the bag and sucked the red content dry.
He threw away the empty bag. His eyes lowered to the drip connected to his hand and he pulled it out. He flung his legs sideways and got out of the bed.
His eyes blurred and he lost a step, but his hand grabbed the bed and he used it as a support.
"What happens now?" Kylian asked as his eyes casted to Christa.
Mei Li sighed. "Sarai went to get an answer. I think we should wait for her."
"So you are suggesting we wait till Akotal comes back to life and come after Christa and us?"
Mei Li frowned. "Yes, or what do you think?"
"You shouldn't think of anything now. Because waiting for the witch is your best bet."
A voice interrupted.
Kylian frowned hard as he went still. His eyes glinted with realization and he muttered. "Caius."
Mei Li turned to the door and her eyes lightened as she saw the leader of the Casal coven.
"You all did well. Akotal was beheaded." Caius' eyes glinted with bitterness as he glanced around the room, at the beds and the occupants, in a sharp look.
"That was your son actually." Kylian retorted.
"Yes, but you all did well by holding up until he arrived." Caius' face had a slight grin as he said.
Mei Li sighed. "Where is he now?"
"At home. Where he would be resting."
"You lied." Kylian growled.
"Uh?!" Mei Li frowned in confusion.
"What do you mean I lied?"
"You and Akotal had a feud over a woman in the past. Adrian was the woman's child."
"Yes, that's true."
"You know that he'll come after you since he can use my existence in your coven as an excuse. It's the reason you helped with the location where we can find Akotal and kill him before he does the ritual."
"Yes. But I only helped you with the location so that we can all live. Sarai and the others helped you. If Akotal comes back to his full strength, he'll kill them. You, a skull which he hated the most in his life, was in my coven and I didn't know. He will hunt me down for that. And finally he has your soulmate and she'll be the agent of restoration for him. She'll have to die. And after that, he'll hunt you down even if it's the last thing he'll do.
"So tell me, what reason will you not go after him even if I only gave you his location to save my life, my son's life and my coven?" Caius' eyes flashed as he asked.
Kylian glared at Caius for like forever. His red eyes seemed to glitter as he stared-dagger at the vampire coven leader. Then he looked away. "Fine. We had no choice."
"Now tell us. What happened to Akotal? Why did he disappear?"
"I don't know." Caius replied.
"What do you mean?" Mei Li asked again.
"I mean, I know nothing except the fact that no Primordial can survive decapitation. Even though they are immortal, they are not indestructible."
"But if you had a Primordial vampire woman as your soulmate, you should know more than this about the Primordials." Kylian snapped.
"She told me many things but she never mentioned that there's some Primordial thing that makes them disappear when they are killed." Caius' retorted back. "They are beheaded, they are dead."
Silence descended. Tension thickened in the room.
Now that Caius, whom they should be depending on for information, has said he doesn't know why Akotal disappeared, they are left with nothing to do but to wallow in their thoughts.
All of a sudden, Kylian's eyes dilated. "I think I know who might have the idea."
"Who?" Mei Li asked, quickly.
"Hector. He knows a lot about the Skulls, I think he might have an idea of one thing related to all Primordials and related to this."
Mei Li turned to the beds. Her eyes flashed with perplexity.
"You need to act fast. Where is the so-called Hector?" Caius asked.
Mei Li motioned to the beds with her head.
Caius' eyes flashed to the bodies on the beds. His eyes widened when he saw the almost unnoticeable dark spots on their bodies. "What happened to them?"
Kylian sighed. "They were slashed by the Akotal's turned vampire."
"What? You should be worried about them. They will die!" Caius' eyes flew wide.
Mei Li frowned. "What do you mean?"
"If Hector is one of these boys, I think you should be worrying about a burial and that is the burial of your only hope of knowing what's happening before Sarai gets back from her journey."
**********