~~~ A few minutes before an angry Immortal arrives at the nest ~~~
"She has... she has a boyfriend," Keith says carefully.
This statement makes Bill raise his eyebrows. His orders were clear: go into a town, create familiars, search for a potential mate for him, and kill anyone close to her to sever all ties.
And until today, this job had been well done by them, as expected from a nearly one-millennium-old like Keith.
"It's not only that… he seems to be an extremely strong hunter, and he… he killed James."
Upon hearing this, Bill sighs. Even in ancient times when his father found him and transformed him into one of his children, hunters were a persistent threat.
"Hunters… these pests of humans. No matter how many you kill, there will always be more. And if you're saying it like that, does that mean he is still alive?"
Keith nods, somewhat ashamed.
"Well, I expected more from you…" Bill says while shaking his head before continuing,
"But there's nothing we can do about it now. James was still only a few years old and had no mate yet, so we can replace him.
As for the hunter, let him be. He won't find us here anyway, and even if he does and brings his friends, we will be long gone by then."
Keith nods and then leaves the room, heading to his fellow nest member to grab a drink.
"Violet, go grab a drink too, but make sure Eric sees it," Bill says to her, who is still in the room, casting a strange look at Cthylla.
She then sniffs around and says disgustedly, "Are you sure? She is not human… I can smell that. She could be dangerous."
Bill gives her a dangerous glance and coldly states, "I know… and now leave. This is an order."
Violet freezes in fear for a moment, then bows and walks out.
As the leader of his nest, he demands respect, like his father taught him. And who would know it better than the first of their kind?
"I must apologize for the behavior of my family. The first thousand years are really difficult for most of us. But don't worry, I will help you through… Let's first remove the tape."
He reaches towards the tape on Cthylla's mouth and rips it off.
"Flumen aquae tempero et corpus tuum est ludibrium meum!" Cthylla shouts immediately after her mouth is free, and Bill freezes in place.
Then she uses her strength to tear off the cable binders from her hands and stands up.
"Well, that is better. Like I said, a good plan," Cthylla says happily, while stretching her arms because they had gotten a bit stiff. But then, she suddenly freezes.
"Huh, witchcraft and enhanced strength already… interesting. You would be a very strong vampire," Bill comments after witnessing his future mate freeing herself and then walks towards her.
"How?" asks Cthylla, surprised. She hadn't had many opportunities to test the spell, as it didn't work on Rasiel, but she had always been successful with it on other beings.
Bill looks confused and demonstrates his ability to freely close and open his fist. Then explains,
"Why are you so surprised? I'm old and have full control over my body. If you try to stop my blood, I let my heart pump stronger and break through it, just like that."
Cthylla snaps out of her stupor, dashes forward, and karate kicks him.
But he vanishes and avoids the attack, then reappears a few inches from her and slaps her across the face.
This sends her flying backward and causes her to crash against the wall. Afterward, he appears in front of her again, lifts her by her neck, and says,
"Don't worry, I will not make the mistake again, like with my last 'mate', and be too soft. I will teach you from the start that I'm the leader of this nest."
"Agh! Let me… go," says Cthylla, hitting him in the face and arms, but he doesn't budge.
He laughs, inspects her clothes, and then says, "Why don't we start with something more fun, and you show me what 'goods' you have."
Then stretches his hand toward them.
*Shatter*
He stops and looks at the shattered door.
*Rumble*
The whole building starts shaking as a figure, covered in blood and dirt, looks at the scene in front of him.
After a few seconds, the shaking subsides, and Rasiel sighs, saying, "I would prefer it if you removed your dirty hands from her."
Bill's face twists into an evil smile, and he releases her to have fun with the new intruder.
~~~ Rasiel's POV in front of the Nest ~~~
Their hiding place is at the edge of the town, in a big run-down mansion that seems to have no electricity or fresh water in it and appears to be built like a century ago.
And It is surrounded by a small forest, making it a perfect hideout.
Before coming here, I left the police car further away and used the natural resources of the forest to cover myself with their scents.
I don't know how they tracked Cthylla down. Maybe they followed her into the hotel, or they could somehow sense her.
But since they are also quite animalistic and probably have enhanced senses, it's possible they simply followed her scent like werewolves.
Since I didn't want them to flee or be prepared for me before I even arrived here, I decided to at least cover my scent.
And as some vampires chat happily by my car while I hide behind a nearby tree, it seems to be working.
"Look at all this stuff in here. Hunters nowadays seem to be prepared for everything," says a male vampire, standing with a female companion at the open trunk.
The female picks up a knife and removes it from its sheath, then asks, "Do you recognize these symbols on the knives? They seem strange…"
"No, but look, this machete has none—"
When the male vampire picks up the machete, I emerge from behind the tree and use telekinesis to propel it into his head, shocking him and his partner.
Then I dash forward, grab the female by the neck, take the machete out of the dumbfounded guy's head, and use it to slightly make him weigh less.
"No…! Elijah!" the female vampire gasps.
So I let go of her to give her some air, simultaneously swinging the machete at her head.
Then I close the trunk, lock up my car, and proceed towards the mansion's entrance.
Inside, I sense ten auras: eight belonging to vampires, a faint one from the black-haired woman from the bar, and Cthylla's aura.
Two vampires accompany the woman from the bar, two are near the entrance next to me, and three are with Cthylla on the upper floors.
Only the aura from one vampire is strange; he seems to be in the basement and has a much more feral aura than the others.
So I decided to give him a Snickers later and focused on Cthylla, who appeared to be fine and could finally establish a connection with her.
'Hey, troublemaker, are you alright?' I ask as I open the door and rush inside.
'Yes, just a bit restrained… and how do you like my plan? We finally found their hideout.'
The two vampires near the entrance stare at me in shock, then bare their fangs and charge. But I use telekinesis to slam them into each other and behead both with a single swing.
'Do you remember that I told you I placed a coin on the blonde vampire?' I asked her as I ascended the stairs.
'Yes… still, what would happen if she lost it somehow or discovered it? We'd have to search for them again. So this is the best course of action,' she says, sounding confident.
I sense the vampires that were with her moving and she is now alone with one vampire. While the others are all now near the human woman.
'Yeah, good plan… except that you willingly walked into the lion's den unarmed. God knows what they could have done to you by now,' I say, trying to remain calm as I reach the room where all the other vampires are.
One vampire leaves the room through another exit and heads downstairs, so I let it go and focus on the three inside. They are probably the ones who kidnapped Cthylla, so it's time for payback.
'They haven't harmed me so far… so everything's alright except for my broken necklace.
Their leader seems to want to remove the tape from my mouth now. I'll be with you in a second,' she says and severs the connection.
I shake my head. This woman simply doesn't care about what might happen to her if she still reaches her goals.
The last time I completely surrendered to someone, I was tortured, killed countless times, locked in a metal coffin, and thrown into the ocean for fifty years.
All because I thought they couldn't do something I hadn't experienced before… that day I learned the hard way that human imagination knows no bounds when you give them enough time.
—
I slowly open the door and see the unconscious woman from the bar surrounded by vampires.
The blonde vampire, whose neck I broke, and the brown-haired one are sucking the blood from her wrists. Meanwhile, the short-haired vampire is filling blood bags with needles stuck in her neck.
"Amber, Nora, slower, or she'll die before I can fill the blood bags," says the man while looking at both females.
"Don't be like that, Keith. Have a drink too, and then let us have some fun next to her dried-up body," says the woman who appears to be Nora, while Amber looks at him and licks her bloody lips.
"Are you three okay if I join the fun too? I even brought a toy," I ask them, unable to bear the sexual tension in the air any longer, and point at my machete.
Amber looks at me with fear in her eyes, while Keith and Nora are ready to fight.
"You... that's a nice trick to hide your scent… I must give you that. But now you will die," says Keith, while his fingernails lengthen as his shark teeth emerge from his mouth.
He then continues, "Stay back, you two. I will show you how a real vampire kills a hunter."
The next moment he blurs away, and my eyes can't follow his speed anymore. But thanks to my perception, I can still anticipate his next move.
So I turn around and swing the machete.
""No! Keith!"" scream both women in unison as my machete beheads the shocked-looking Keith.
Then grab his head as his body falls to the ground and say with a shrug, "He kinda lost his head while trying to be a real vampire…"
I throw his head in front of them, which causes Nora to lose the will to fight me. And so she tries to flee through the open window, while Amber simply stares at me, in shock.
But I throw my machete and control it with my telekinesis spell to propel it extremely fast towards the fleeing vampire.
It cuts through her neck, and then I send the machete back into my hand while walking towards the last one.
"What are you?" she asks before the machete lightens her upper body, and she collapses to the ground.
"No reason to tell that to a dead person," I say to her lifeless body and turn to their victim.
She seems to be alive, so I remove the needles and bind her neck with a fresh cloth that was lying around. Then, also bind her wrists, and she is like new…
Except that she'll likely need a psychiatrist after this.
"Help!" suddenly I hear Cthylla in my head, and immediately dash towards her.
After running down the hallway, I sense her in a room behind a large door and simply use my favorite spell to blow the door up.
*Shatter*
However, when I see a man who is presumably the leader of the dead vampires, holding Cthylla by her neck and trying to grope her, I momentarily lose my cool.
*Rumble*
This triggers the telekinesis spell again somehow, and the building starts to shake, while threatening to break apart.
So I calm down and say, "I would prefer it if you removed your dirty hands from her."