He tried to act like he was doing work, but he couldn't take his mind off the new information given to him by his brother. His friends were vampires and were out to kill him all this time!
His connection to them turned into hatred, and he felt betrayed to have been being played for all this time.
Back at home, he continuously looked through his window and eventually found Arwin standing outside.
He swiftly left through the window and raced up to him.
"I'll tell you what I can. what do you need to know?" Duncan asked, which made his brother smile.
He almost couldn't hide the happiness he felt upon hearing this from his brother, and he began to hear just what he needed to. Duncan told him everything that he could tell him about them, and Arwin nodded before placing his hand on his shoulder.
"I thank you, Duncan. You have done the right thing." Arwin replies, before racing off.
"Where are you going?" Duncan asked, making him stop.
Arwin just exhaled and slowly turned.
"To do what I must!" He replied, before zooming off into the distance.
Abel was currently cultivating in his bedroom and felt great calmness as he did this. He could feel his qi growing stronger as he strengthened the connection to his soul. His yellow qi would cloak his body and flow elegantly as he did this.
During this time, his shared siheyuan was empty due to most people still being out at work. Since he was a student, he would head home slightly earlier and have this time of silence where he wouldn't be affected by needless noise.
Tap!
Abel opened his left eye as he heard an intense footstep. He could tell it was from tens of metres away, but this sound wasn't something that he could just overlook.
Tap! Tap!
Soon enough, he could hear the taps on the roof, and lifted to his feet in a flash. His demonic face began to take form as he examined the roof more closely.
Silence.
All he heard was nothing.
He first thought that it would be a beast, but he heard nothing for several seconds.
"Wonder what that was." He whispered, before trying to get back up onto his bed.
Fwoosh!
Through his open window, a wooden stake was shot toward him like an arrow. He just about managed to evade the weapon, but the sharp end of it cut open part of his shoulder.
From his open window, Arwin barged through it and destroyed some of the surrounding rice paper in the process.
With a single kick, Abel was launched through the back wall in his room and into the small quad in the centre of the property. He was sent into an intense roll and was forced to use his claws to slow himself down.
"Stand down and let me get rid of you, you demon!" Arwin ordered, lifting his stake.
'He's the hunter that Zeke was talking about! Why does he look a lot like Duncan?' Abel realised.
Abel then recalled what Zeke had told him, about his ability to steal his power and for him not to fight him.
Abel wanted to fight him initially but realised that he would be outclassed. His main mission now was to find a way to escape.
"What, are you trying to find a way out of your inevitable doom?! You may only postpone the unavoidable, you cannot escape me!" Arwin roared with fury, charging ahead.
Whipping his arm around, his wooden stake was shot forward with incredibly high velocity and cut through the air.
The stake stabbed into Abel's abdominal area, and he felt an intense pain unlike anything he had ever felt before. Even Nikolas' blade didn't hurt as much as this stake did, and he felt totally crippled upon feeling this weapon enter his guts.
He shouted in pain, dropping to his knees in pain. In reflex, his hands almost gravitated toward this stake to remove it, but they stopped. He was unable to even touch it, scared of the pain he'd feel upon doing so.
Arwin chuckled upon seeing this warrior so weakened and grabbed the stake to drive it further into his body.
The hybrid coughed out blood, feeling even weaker than before.
Abel, letting out puffs of air in pain, soon felt overcome by rage. His exhales soon sounded like growls, and he lifted his face to show off black veins scurrying out from his eyes. His eyes began to glow an amber golden, which startled Arwin slightly.
"Golden eyes? On a vampire?" He wondered, a little confused.
Abel shouted with might and ripped the stake from his body, before growling and leaping right at Arwin. He made a single gallop to pick up speed and landed a full power punch right to his body.
Upon taking the first hit, the hunter just laughed. Abel continuously threw punch after punch, even trying to utilise the qi control that his master had taught him at the academy. Growling while cocking back a punch, he hurled it forward only to see Arwin catch his fist with ease.
"You're way weaker than the other one. What a shame..." Arwin stated, before punching the hybrid in his chest.
His newly powered punch shattered his ribcage, while making Abel fall to the floor. His healing factor kicked in, and he could feel the fragments of bone slowly mending together, then Arwin kicked him across the face to launch him up and into the air.
Flailing his arms as he descended, he crashed into the grass beneath him, and coughed out blood upon receiving these two attacks.
However, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He roared at the top of his lungs, raising back to his feet to hurl himself right toward Arwin. He grabbed his shoulders and landed a headbutt to his face, before trying to punch him across the chin.
Arwin looked puzzled by his ability to go on. He had crushed his ribs, he could feel it, and even with his healing factor he shouldn't have been able to get up as fast as he did.
He evaded his incoming punch and could see a powerful fury in the demon's eyes. It made his spine tingle, and it was almost like Abel seemed unable to defeat. He landed a powerful punch to his jaw, dropping him to his knees.
His torso was slouched over, and blood slowly dripped out his open mouth. His qi aura had retreated to his skin, and looked no where near as energetic as it once was.
It seemed like the job was finally over. Arwin reached into his bag of stakes on his right leg to try and finish the job, but Abel suddenly drove one of his fists into the ground.
He raised back up to his feet, giving off a maniacal smile with his teeth covered in his own blood.
"You think I'll be that easy to defeat?!" Abel asked, with a demonic undertone to his voice.
He roared, and sluggishly advanced, attempting to throw yet another punch. Before he could even properly throw it, though, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he stumbled onto Arwin. His fist flew past his head, even though he didn't try to dodge it, and he began to slide down his body.
His legs trembled under his own weight, and he was struggling to even stay conscious.
Seeing this chance, Arwin revealed a stake that had a unique colour to it. it seemed to be covered in a dripping black liquid, and he drove it right into Abel's chest.
STAB!
Abel's eyes widened upon feeling this stake shred through his heart. He gasped and looked back up at Arwin, who only gave him a cold stare back.
'What? Am I dying?' He thought, looking down to the stake that had been stabbed into his chest.
His eyes stopped glowing, and his irises began to grey out. His eyes looked cold and lifeless, then his arms fell to his side.
Thud!
The hunter let his body simply drop, and he looked upon him with feelings of disgust. The feeling of fear he felt upon being put against this demon's strong resolution only angered him more.
"You stupid demon! You really thought you could live; it was only a matter of time!" He shouted, before leaping onto the roof of the siheyuan.
"So where is that other vampire, Zeke." He thought, tightly holding a wooden stake in reverse grip.
Abel's eyes looked to the sky motionlessly. His body felt awfully still, and his qi aura had vanished entirely.
There was nothing but silence, with his body resting in the centre of his home.
Twitch!
His right index finger twitched, and the greyness in his irises started to fade. His body remained relatively still as this happened, but he then gasped for air and was suddenly brought back to life.
'W-what? I thought I died, or semi-died, what is this?!' He thought.