"Kai!" Melisa shouted, running towards her brother who had collapsed, kneeling down next to him.
She slowly lifted up his head before placing her ear on Kai's chest, wanting to hear if his heart was still beating.
The heartbeat was there, but it was weak. "Kai! Kai!" She cried, shaking him by the shoulders.
After she didn't get any response, Melisa slowly lifted up her head, glaring at Luciel.
"You…" Kai's twin sister growled, "What did you do to him?!"
She quickly got up, rushing towards Luciel, pushing him through the door, and pinning him against the wall of another vampire's resistance. Her eyes turned vibrant red.
"Hey? What is going on here?"
"What's happening?"
Little by little, a crowd of curious vampires started to appear who wanted to check the situation after hearing a commotion.
"If you want to see your brother survive, get Nosferatu, now!" Luciel demanded, raising his voice at the end to get a sense of urgency.
"Hurry!" He took a hold of Melisa's wrist, moving it away.
"We are not done yet." She frowned, pointing her finger at Luciel before rushing off, going to search for the leader of their clan.
"Jeez…" Luciel muttered, rubbing the top of his head.
He peaked with one eye, glancing beside him, noticing that the vampires were still here, observing the whole situation.
"Come on guys, there is nothing left to see. Go do whatever you have to do." Luciel tried to shoo them away but to no avail.
It didn't seem like those bloodsuckers had lots of stuff to do in this cave, so it made sense that they were interested in the ongoing drama.
Luciel sighed. After facepalming upon seeing that the vampires did not listen.
The vampires didn't have any reason to listen to Luciel, instead, they wanted to rip him apart if not for the rules that were set up by their leader.
The ex-vampire leader clicked his tongue in frustration before returning to his newfound friend.
He picked up Kai who was still on the ground and placed him on the structure that looked like a bed.
It was made out of stone, with not even a pillow or blanket.
"Seriously, how can they live in these conditions?" Luciel asked himself quietly, ignoring the glares from vampires that were still lingering around.
He moved away Kai's shirt collar, blocking the view of the strange coloration on the vampire's skin from the prying eyes.
'This is getting worse...' Luciel thought, now seeing how the black veins spread towards his chest and across the neck.
Wherever the black streaks went, the skin would turn ash gray with a dark green undertone, followed by a few patches of blue and purple.
"He's turning into one of those creatures…" Luciel commented under his breath, his worry continuing to increase.
Since this was something completely new, judging by Kai's reaction, it was questionable if he could even be saved.
Luciel went to sit down, not taking his eyes off the young vampire. He could hear his heartbeat getting weaker, but his breath was rapid.
Droplets of cold sweat could be seen on Kai's forehead as he was occasionally turning his head left and right.
"Scatter around everyone, there is nothing left to see."
Luciel could hear Nosferatus's gentle, but authoritative voice.
Luciel turned his head towards him, seeing Kai's sister who was right behind the vampire king.
At the sight of their leader, the vampires bowed and started to go their own ways once their leader had hit the floor with a black crane a few times.
"What happened to him?" Nosferatu asked once he placed his foot inside Melisa's residence, staring at Kai.
"We were fighting against some weird creature, it looked like a zombie you hear in the stories." Luciel started to explain, watching Nosferatu getting closer to Kai.
"Go on," Nosferatu said, glancing towards Luciel before returning his attention to the patient.
"As we were clashing, Kai got bitten on the shoulder. The wound managed to heal, but it seems like he got infected. It's spreading, fast." Luciel explained, skipping all the details.
"Hm…" Nosferatu extended his claws as he listened to the newborn vampire and went to cut Kai's shirt, revealing Kai's well-defined muscles, with not even a trace of fat, and just like Luciel, no scars could be seen.
Luciel watched how Nosferatu traced the black veins with his clawed finger till he reached the chest.
Nosferatu took a deep breath and closed his eyes, placing both of his hands on top of Kai's torso.
"What is he do-" Luciel got hit by Melisa in the ribs with an elbow before he could finish his sentence.
"Shhh…" Melisa put her finger in front of her mouth, indicating to Luciel to shut up.
"Whatever." Luciel rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.
Not liking the way that Luciel acted, Melisa went to stomp on his foot, throwing him a glare.
Luciel's eyes flashed for a moment, making him growl until Nosferatu decided to put an end to it.
"Enough!" His strong, confident voice echoed around the room, making Luciel and Melisa stand up straight.
"Now where was I…" Nosferatu whispered to himself, before proceeding with what he was doing.
He stayed in one position for quite some time until he finally started to move.
Luciel watched Nosferatu moving his palms across Kai's chest, towards his neck, and finally towards the shoulder that had been bitten. Following the black veins that would gradually disappear wherever his hand went.
Once Nosferatu finally had both of his hands on the place where Kai had been wounded, he stood still once again, concentrating.
"This is not good…" Nosferatu sighed, removing his hands from Kai.
It seemed like he managed to clear Kai's body from the infection except for the place where he had been bitten. That place was still gray with black veins.
"What do you mean?" Luciel asked, throwing a side look at Melisa who covered her mouth with both of her hands.
Nosferatu's eyes darted towards Melisa and then at Luciel, getting a little bit closer to the two.
"All living creatures have life energy that runs through their body, we call it Qi." Nosferatu started to explain, glancing back at Kai with furrowed brows.
Nosferatu sighed, looking back at Luciel. "Whatever bit Kai, it infected his Qi. There is something wicked inside him, corrupting him."
"But you can help him, right?" Tears were present in Melisa's eyes… Her voice trembled… Kai and her had been together for as long as she can remember. A life without her brother was unimaginable.
Nosferatu slowly closed his ruby-red eyes, slightly moving his head from left to right.
Seeing this, Melisa fell to her knees, covering her face with the palms of her hands.
"I managed to contain the infection for a month at best. I will teach Kai how to slow it down, but sooner or later he will-" Nosferatu stopped talking once he heard the quiet sobs coming from Melisa.
He had a sad expression on his face. He could feel Melisa's pain as his own, even Luciel could relate.
"Come, let's give them some space…" Nosferatu placed his hand on Luciel's elbow, prompting him to follow him.
"Vampires are emotional creatures." Nosferatu started to talk once they made a nice distance from Melisa, wanting to give her some time for herself while waiting for Kai to wake up.
"Without those burning emotions that keeps us going, we wouldn't be able to endure our long lives." He continued and stopped in his tracks, turning towards Luciel, and tapping his chest.
"You must have noticed a change in your behavior as well. Am I right?" He chuckled before turning around and continuing to walk, not expecting an answer.
Luciel glared at Nosferatu, usually a cold hard truth was the one that would make people get angry.
The problem was that the truth was usually the one that they did not want to face and it was the same for him. He wasn't ready to accept the reality he was in.
"But don't worry, you will be able to control them with time. Give yourself some time to adapt." Nosferatu reassured him, cracking open the doors that were at the end of the hallway.
"Also, as a human, you were an adult and nothing can take that time from you, but as a vampire, you are a child. We might look like humans, but we are not the same in any way." Nosferatu added, walking into his chamber, and leaving the doors open for Luciel. His rooms were the only ones that had doors.
'What an interesting fellow.' Nosferatu chuckled, thinking a little bit about Luciel.
He turned Kai and Melisa when they were young, so it was hard to research the changes in their behavior, but Luciel was a different story.
Nosferatu kept his watchful eye on Luciel. He was intrigued by his change in personality. He did not meet Luciel till he had to save him from the werewolves, but today he made the changes very obvious.
From what Nosferatu saw and heard, Luciel acted as a responsible adult, staying calm and rational, but then, from time to time, the young vampire side would peak through.
His bickering with Melisa that happened recently, or the way he enjoyed the fight with Kai when they met, was a clear giveaway of a young, hotblooded vampire striving for action.
"What do you mean a child?!" Luciel growled at Nosferatu who didn't even bother to look at him as he walked towards his chair behind the table.
"I don't know." He shrugged with his shoulders before sitting down. He was going to let Luciel figure that one out himself.
"Please, sit down." Nosferatu gestured towards the chair that was in front of the table.
'Me? A child?! What kind of bullshit is that old relic sprouting.' Luciel thought to himself, going to sit down, crossing his legs and arms while leaning backwards.
"You heard everything I had to say." Nosferatu intertwined his fingers, staring back at Luciel.
"It is true that I can't save him, but there might be others that could." He continued, searching around the drawers before pulling out an odd object that looked like a scroll.
"A map?" Luciel asked once the old vampire revealed the content of the rolled paper.
This was his first time in life to witness a physical map, not to mention the one that was wrapped like this. It looked extremely old.
"Young generations are too focused on technology these days," Nosferatu said, opening the map and laying it down across the table, revealing a huge map of an old civilization.
On the map, Luciel could see multiple circles and names marked next to them. He even recognized some. Those were the names of human colonies. The ones he wasn't able to recognize were the names of vampire clans.
"We are currently here." Nosferatu pointed at the Serene clan before tracing his hand across the map towards an area that was forbidden for humans to enter, not even hunters.
The place was an old town overrun by not only vampires but other dangerous creatures. Just getting close would get someone killed.
Luciel gulped, there was a worry on his face written all over. No matter the money and fame he would gain, he would never dare to step foot near that place, even at the time he was in his prime.
"Redwood. It's the biggest shelter where the supernatural gather. If someone knows how to save Kai, they would be here."
Nosferatu looked away from the map to take a good look at Luciel's anxious expression. "No need to be afraid," Nosferatu reassured him.
"That's why we are here. I'm going to teach you how to protect yourself if something were to happen." Nosferatu placed both of his hands below his chin, leaning forward a little bit.
"Say… Ever heard about Blood Cultivation?"