The next morning, Abel and his friends were spectating Master Oscar and learning some more techniques. In this lesson, they were particularly learning basic skills that allowed them to flow their qi to enhance basic strikes.
Zeke shuffled closer to Abel's side, before leaning in to whisper into his ear.
"I just wanted to let you know that there's a hunter in the city. I was nearly killed last night." Zeke announced.
Abel almost felt his hairs stand on end from this revelation, and his heart began to race.
"Are you serious? What do we do now?" Abel asked.
"I'm not sure. I've never seen any hunter in my life up until this point. Nudra is pretty well defended so you don't really see them ever. Just as a heads up, you can't fight the hunter if he finds you. He can draw out the qi from within you and grow stronger while you grow weaker." Zeke revealed.
The image of hunter was getting more and more terrifying as Abel heard more information.
"We just have to lay low for now and see what happens. I'm not even sure if he's aware of you but it's good that he only knows about me." Zeke replied.
"I won't let him live the next time I see him." He boldly added.
His voice was now different to what Abel was used to. Instead of his usual timidity and shyness, he spoke confidently and with conviction.
Abel almost felt obliged to place trust in him after hearing his declaration, and this is exactly what he did.
Later on that day, Duncan was in his bedroom, reading through a skill book when he then saw someone waving from out the window.
He peered out his window, holding himself up by placing his hands on the surrounding rice paper.
"Hey, Arwin! Do you want me to come out now?" Duncan asked.
Arwin gave a pleasant nod, and Duncan drew qi out from his dantian. It flowed through and invigorated his body, and he just leapt right out the window.
Landing with ease, the two began to walk away from his home and down the street together.
"So, how's it been brother?" Duncan asked.
"It's been great actually. Some great people took me in and I've spent the past few years living quite peacefully." Arwin replied.
"That's great. I'm so happy that you're okay I really thought you were dead all this time." Duncan said, as tears started to well up in his eyes.
The two began to catch up on what they'd been up to all these years. Duncan was the one who was doing almost all the talking, and Arwin didn't reveal much about how his life had been.
"Do you believe in demons, Duncan?" Arwin asked, now with a bolder tone.
"What do you mean, like devils, or beasts? I mean, beasts are definitely real I've killed them before." Duncan replied.
"No, like people that look like humans, but possess hellish, ungodly powers." He added.
Duncan just shook his head with confusion.
"What, like a vampire or something?"
"Yes, yes exactly that!" Arwin blurted out in reaction, startling his brother.
"I mean, no, not really. I've never seen one. What about you?" Duncan asked.
"I believe, yes, I've seen them. And I've also come here to warn you." Arwin stated, grabbing Duncan's shoulders.
He felt startled by his sudden movement, and he could tell that his brother had changed.
"Your friends. Both of your friends are vampires." Arwin said.
Upon hearing this, Duncan looked confused and threw his brother's hands off him in reaction.
"I know I haven't seen you in a while but why do you feel the need to throw false accusations at my friends? I've known Abel ever since he was a newborn and I've known Zeke for years now. They... they can't be vampires." Duncan asserted.
Upon hearing the pause in his last sentence, Arwin looked inquisitive.
"You've seen them haven't you? Their faces."
Duncan continued to look frozen at the ground. He remembered the incident outside the city walls, where a special man appeared out of no where and attacked Zeke. Zeke turned and told both Abel and him to run, and had black sclera with black veins across his face.
He knew Zeke was too weak to have a beast dantian, and maybe it was true.
"They're not vampires, they can't be!" Duncan barked back.
"As much as you don't want to believe it, vampires are great at hiding within humanity. They covertly feed on humans and get by without alerting a soul."
"Okay, that's fine, but they haven't done anything to me or anyone. There's only been a single case of a beast attack in this entire year, and it didn't even kill anyone!" Duncan retorted.
"That's what you believe, but vampires are driven by the need to grow close to humans. When they eventually feed and kill on their prey, it feels more thrilling to them if the human has a stronger connection to them. Arwin replied.
"Their friendship with you has been nothing but a ruse. They are only fostering your connection to them so that they can slaughter you!"
Duncan stopped in his stroll, struggling to take all this information in.
"It's fine if you don't believe me, but you will be putting your life in serious danger."
Arwin turned to begin walking past Duncan, but then placed his hand on his shoulder.
"I know this is a lot to take in, but you must save yourself. Tell me more about them, so I can deal with the situation myself."
"Deal with the situation? What are you gonna do, burn them at the stake?!" Duncan replied, backing away from his brother.
"No, of course not. I'll only do what I need to do to make sure that you don't get hurt. I've dealt with demons like them I know how to handle these things, Duncan."
"I know they've fooled you into thinking that you are their friend but they're only waiting for the right time to-,"
"Shut up!" Duncan blurted out, shoving his brother.
Duncan was too distressed by everything that was being said to him, and just stormed off. Arwin didn't want to bother him too much, and just left him to take on this new revelation.
'How could they be vampires? All those years, that was all fake?' Duncan thought, with his face in his sweaty palms.
Thoughts continued to race through his mind, and he was struggling to keep himself stable. Suddenly, his mind had calmed, and his hands descended off his face.
'If Arwin isn't lying. I must protect myself. I have to let him do what he has to so that I can live!'
****
In training the following day, the students were practicing some of the qi control techniques that they had seen the day before on each other.
Zeke and Abel decided to partner up, with Duncan volunteering to go with somebody else. They felt a bit confused about why Duncan was willing to just leave them be in the first place. Most times, they would have to play rock paper scissors to see who the odd one out would be.
Duncan also gave out odd looks back to the two vampires as they sparred, making them feel a little confused as well. It seemed like he was afraid in his eyes and would look away as soon as they tried to look back at him.
"Is it just me or is Duncan acting a little weird today?" Zeke asked, before throwing out a qi-controlled punch.
Unlike the students around him that were still learning this mode of battle, Zeke could do this perfectly. After all the harsh training back in Nudra, he could control his qi into punches and kicks in his sleep.
"It's not, I see what you mean. He's been acting a little weird lately. A little different." Abel realised, blocking the punch.
They wanted to just give him space, because they didn't know what he was going through. He would tell them of the tough love that his father would give him, and just attributed it to that.
For the lunchtime break, Abel just spent time practicing the Blood Pellet technique. He was making progress and now, when he extended his hand, his palm would start glowing. It meant that progress was certainly getting made, but he still had a bit longer to go before he'd have the technique down completely.
The end of the day soon came, and Zeke and Abel decided to walk home together.
It was now evening, and the streets were filled with the beaming light of the reddening orange sun. The air was still, and the rays of sunlight provided a slight sense of warmth to the skin.
Duncan remained in school to do some more practicing of his skills but had something else on his mind.
"I must tell Arwin everything. I need to save myself!" Duncan whispered to himself, shutting the skill book that he was trying to read.