Aiden tore off a piece of cloth from his sleeve that had suffered from the previous interaction with the vampire and quickly tied it over the grotesque and throbbing wound that Maika had inflicted upon herself. He tightened it as much as he could, careful not to hurt her, and stepped back, while Maika took the lead. She repeated the ritual of stroking the brooch, and azure sparks traveled through the atmosphere, forcing the frenzied red-haired girl to stop in the middle of her charge.
She landed on all fours and, like a rabid animal that showed no signs of surrender, continued her voracious advance to be stopped over and over again. Maika was forced to try everything; threatening with the knife, electrocuting her lightly from time to time and concrete barriers between 3–5 centimeters thick. Nothing could stop her. Just as predicted, the task that had been assigned by her conflicting companion proved to be an extremely difficult mission to achieve, but somehow, she had managed it. Just two minutes had passed and Aiden was starting to feel it, so he gave the signal to his Maika.
—Maika! —Aiden shouted.
He breathed deeply and collected each finger from his right hand into a fist, knowing what was to come. He then buried one or two centimeters of his index and middle finger nails close to the neck, where he had been bitten before. Not only that, but moistened his fingers with the live red liquid and shook them as strongly as he could towards the vampire. Mocking her, he exposed them, making the iconic "No-no-no" of the famously fast blue character.
—You're too slow —said Aiden, narrowing his eyes—. What? Does it smell good, right? Better than her, I bet. Now, catch me if you can.
The drops didn't splash more than a meter and a half away, but it was enough, now that the girl was no different from a starved beast. When the scent reached her powerful nostrils, even among all the dust and ashes, it was as if something awakened inside her.
She charged with all her might, evading Maika by jumping to the side wall and, running laterally back to the floor on all fours, leaving big prints on the concrete. Mina Neri jumped on the messy-haired boy. By reflex, he tried to take a step back, but such human intuition was vain.
Mina toppled Aiden to the ground and let herself bury her fangs in the frightened boy's neck. He felt his life being sucked by the horrifically and not at all sensual bite from a hot vampriess. Aiden breathed deeply and tried to contain the urge to cry. With whatever bravery left of his previous declaration, he grabbed the girl's head and, instead of pulling it, the silky hair tangling between his fingers, he brought her even closer.
—Drink, drink well. It tastes delicious, right? Agh… Harvested 100% at home.
The wounds covering her began to heal, particularly the hole colored more dark than red on her right side, where a missing piece of meat the size of a fist. Maika worriedly decided that it was enough, and with another electromagnetic pulse, called the metal knife back. Mina Neri heard the knife cutting the wind in her direction; her instinct reluctant about leaving the boy, but some of her sanity had returned after drinking Aiden's blood; she loosened her jaw from the sweating boy's neck and dodged the barbaric weapon.
With one leap, she had retreated seven meters. Mina seemed disoriented there under the gloomy light of the streetlamp. It took her several seconds to realize her surroundings and the situation. The first thing to take on meaning in her field of vision was Aiden lying on the ground like a cold corpse. Then there was Maika, breathing heavily and wielding her weapon, and the surrounding disaster. It seemed as if someone had bombed the street or a series of propane tanks had exploded.
—… No. NO. NO! —She grabbed her head with both hands—. NOT THIS! NOT AGAIN, NOOOOOO!
The tear-wrenching voice penetrated the ears of the lying boy. It was a horrific wail of pain that could do nothing but touch the hearts and nervous system of those present, putting up both empathy and hair on end. But Aiden felt like smiling at the summer sky. Despite every cell of his body begging him to stay there resting, he tried to gather the strength to get up.
—I knew it —Aiden said slowly, dragging his tongue a bit—. Haha. Cough. I was not mistaken about you.
Seeing him fail to find his balance, Maika helped the battered boy to get up. Leaning on her shoulder, Aiden, with great effort, managed to regain height. However, he continued to put his weight on the kind girl; otherwise he would have already collapsed.
—You —said Aiden to the confused redhead—, surrender and come with us. It seems we have many questions, both of us. We can talk now.
—Talk…? Talk!? After what I did to you all, there's no way we can talk. It is not possible to talk to a monster like me!
—I disagree. Moreover, I'm sorry, I don't think you have a choice.
—What?
As soon as he pronounced those words, he felt all the strength disappear from his body, his head suddenly became light and his knees swayed. He counted on all his strength to stay on his feet. The world started to spin, but in a different way from the state of frenzy he was in before. The sounds in the distance became slow and submerged, the light of the streetlamps penetrated his pupils now shy of any normal reaction, and an explosion of pulsating colors was present every time he closed his eyes.
The wind blew fiercely and brought, rolling, to Aiden's feet, a small empty bottle. "Oh, what a coincidence." The boy said, and all the strength he could collect, which was not a lot, kicked the bottle as best he could in Mina's direction. A friendly summer gust had to help for it to reach her.
—I remember, you said it yourself. Emphasized how you've never needed anything but blood to recover. I assumed that includes illnesses. It wasn't difficult to guess that you've never experienced what a powerful alien chemical compound does to your body. It must be like a sudden hammer blow to the head, right? I know, I'm feeling it too. But I can't imagine what you're feeling by taking such a strong drug for the first time. Whew… I just hope… that… not… It doesn't give me an overdose, damn it.
It was a bet, everything was, really. Maybe she would destroy his neck with the same force that penetrated the concrete walls, perhaps the medicine would not have an effect and only worsen the situation; but, it was the only idea he could think of in that situation and, fortunately, his bet paid off. The red-haired girl could barely stand, leaning on the light post. It was unclear to Aiden if his words had even reached her.
On the other hand, he was in no better state. All he could do was lean on Maika as she activated a pre-prepared spell. Similar to before, hands stretched out from the ground and buried the red-haired girl in a crude coffin, this time with the reinforcement of the nearby metal lamppost. Aiden closed his eyes and all the weight of his unconscious body fell onto Maika.
—Aiden, are you okay!? You, great fool!! How can you come up with something so risky?? —Maika shook the boy sleeping with a pleased, and innocent face—. Hey, are you listening to me!?
Aiden remained unconscious, but after checking that he was breathing and hadn't choked on his vomit or anything similar, Maika could finally breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, the sound of a patrol in the distance made her snap back to reality.
—When did the barrier disappear? Oh, no. I must immediately call the cleaning team to take care of this and take Aiden for a checkup. Don't die now, fool!
Maika pulled out her phone from her pocket and after three rings, she was talking to someone from the "cleaning team." She explained the situation and urgently requested medical attention for Aiden. All her focus was on him, so she didn't notice what was happening behind her. The only thing she heard was a sudden explosion, she turned with Aiden on hand, and the "coffin" where she had captured the vampire was gone. The pieces of rock and melted steel scattered everywhere, and the girl who should have been inside was nowhere to be found.
In the distance, she could distinguish the shadow of a girl wearing a one-piece jumping clumsily from roof to roof. Sometimes struggling to maintain balance, others crashing head-on into a wall, but effectively fleeing and losing herself in the night.
—Curses!
She was out of options; the siren was getting closer with every passing second, and taking care of Aiden was the priority. Maika exchanged a few words with the person on the other line, hung up, took the unconscious boy's body to flee the scene and hide until the cleaning team, tracking their signal via satellite, found them.
Meanwhile, just a couple of dozen meters away, hidden inside a factory with a perfect view of the street, two figures emerged from the shadows.
—Why did you do that? —Said the expressionless #601—. Why did you release her? She asked.
—It's not convenient for us that they capture her. It's my duty, no, my promise to you, to kill them all. They will probably pursue us after this; one of the conditions for entering this city was not to cause problems for that girl. But it's okay, it doesn't matter, dear. Our promise will always be more important. I will kill each one of those repulsive parasitic blood-suckers with human skin. The reason this city, or rather, the people behind those two would want them eludes me, but it matters not, I will incinerate all those blood-suckers loose in this city. The night is young, dear. What are your thoughts on going for another walk?
—Let me treat you first, so you can't fight. Discomfort. Indignation. Fire in my chest is what I feel.
—Let us make haste, then.
—Let's haste, I reaffirm