'First I was running away from the big guy, now I'm running away from those two idiots.' Melisa thought to herself, praying to get just a moment of rest, at least the sun should be down soon.
She was sweating heavily while her legs were slowly giving up on her. Even if she was a vampire, their bodies also had their limits and this was hers.
Fleeing for the whole day finally took a toll on her body and to make things worse, the vampires she knocked down with her sound waves were quickly catching up to her.
Her muscles were burning in agonizing pain and her body started to tremble as her vision started to blur.
Making a jump towards another roof, she almost missed it by the hair, almost falling down.
She glanced behind her, using this time to get just a few seconds of rest before continuing to flee.
Melisa could hear the footsteps following her from behind, felt like she was being hunted down like an animal by the vampire hunters, except that this time, she was being hunted by her own species.
She took a tiny break again and when Melisa was about to continue to run, she hit something solid, but there was nothing in front of her.
Confused, Melisa gulped and extended her hand forward, even if it meant being burned, at least the sun wasn't as strong as before.
Going to feel the area in front of her, there was a smooth-like substance, but her hand couldn't pass through.
She hissed in pain once her hand started to burn due to the direct sun exposure and pulled it back into the safety of the shade that her red blanket provided.
"Got you now!" One of the vampires smiled behind her.
Thanks to her slowing down and even having the luxury to take a small rest, the opposing vampire had enough time to put up a wind wall in front of her, cutting her escape route.
Melisa's heart was bumping like crazy, it felt like it would jump out of her chest. But it wasn't fear, but the fact that she couldn't go on anymore. She could collapse at any moment now.
Missing a day of sleep usually wouldn't be a big problem for a vampire if they didn't have to fight and run for almost twenty-four hours straight without even having a chance to sit.
Clenching her fist, she turned around and made her stand.
She wanted to give up, to have this over finally, but her instincts were telling her to fight.
She took a deep breath, preparing to launch one more attack and hopefully, her final, but when she was about to scream, no sound came out.
Her eyes widened in horror, feeling fear for the first time after a long time.
Cold sweat appeared on the palm of her hands when she tried to breathe, but she couldn't. There was no air.
There was a numb pain in her lungs as they collapsed while her body was surrounded by an invisible, external force, trying to crush it.
'I should have just gone with Luciel...' She thought in her final moments as she saw the vampire's lips move in front of her before her mind went blank.
****
Luciel was debating what he should do. Kill the vampire or let her live. There was no guarantee that she wouldn't attempt to do something like that again.
The problem was the kids behind him. As flashes of the moment where a bloodhound was killed right in front of him, he wondered if he really wanted to expose those kids to more bloodshed? To watch how the vampire's head will be sent flying away, to show them the cruel nature of this world?
There was no right answer to this. Letting out a sigh, he raised up his sword, but just as he was about to swing it, Lady Seline decided to say her final words.
"Don't forget," she started, her words echoing through a building as she already said goodbye to her life, "you will be betrayed by the one you love. As her heart beats true, the Puppet Mast-"
Without time to finish her sentence, Luciel chopped off her head with blood splattering on his face.
"The Puppet Master wields his strings." He finished the prophecy she gave him after killing her. He never believed in prophecies, no future should be left in stone.
If Lady Seline's ability was genuine, then what she might have seen was the most probable future.
Luciel frowned when he heard an ear-piercing scream behind him. It wasn't harmful like Melisa's, but it still felt uncomfortable for his sensitive ears. Some poor kid probably saw him do the deed.
"Close your eyes and grab each other hands, I'll lead you out to safety." Luciel sighed, debating if he made the right decision. Sometimes what was right wasn't always the correct choice.
He whipped the blood off his face with his sleeve and put the sword back into its sheath to avoid scaring the kids even further.
Luciel retracted his fangs, tensing the muscles in his jaw, leaving only a little bit more prominent, sharp canines that were similar to those of a human.
Closing his eyes and slowly opening them, a horizontal eyelid went across his eyes, masking the crimson red color and replacing it with chocolate brown. It felt like there was something pressing against their eyes.
He was considerate about the kids and seeing him walk like a human instead of looking like a vampire should put them at least a little bit at ease.
Luciel avoided wearing a disguise if it wasn't necessary. It wasn't like he didn't want to walk looking like a human, but keeping this appearance for long was extremely uncomfortable.
At first, just after a few minutes, his eyes would start to become itching and he would feel spasms in his jawline, but recently, he managed to set a new record and now he can walk like this for an hour before starting to feel any symptoms, one more hour with the symptoms.
Overall, for Luciel, that wasn't a bad sign since it meant that he could practice to keep his mask up.
He turned around and for the first time, took a good look at the thirteen kids in front of him.
The oldest, a girl around eighteen-nineteen wore ragged clothes and bare feet while the youngest looked to be between seven-eight years old boy with a blue, fancy outfit with white and gold details.
The kids seemed to be fine physically for the most part except that their hearts were beating like crazy, but that was to be expected.
The area around their eyes was red, indicating that they had been crying a lot.
"Oh no..." Luciel whispered to himself when he finally noticed a fifteen-year-old girl in an old, dirty, torn white dress, lying lifelessly on the ground with two puncture wounds on her neck. That's where the smell of blood was coming from.
He walked closer to her, gently picking her up to listen to possible signs of life.
Being afraid, the girl that looked to be like eighteen years old, with blonde hair finally opened her black eyes. Being the oldest, she felt responsible for the group.
She saw Luciel's crimson eyes during his fight with the evil vampire lady and she didn't want the kids to be trapped under another vampire.
"Hey, let her go!" The girl protested, clenching her shaking fist.
"She's alive." Luciel glanced at the girl before walking towards the blanket he came with so he could wrap the poor girl to keep her warm.
She was passed out and extremely weak due to excessive blood loss. Without medical attention, she doesn't have long, maybe a few days at most.
Hearing the male vampire's words and observing his actions, the oldest girl relaxed her fist with small tears in her eyes. Luciel's gesture with her sister proved that he wished no harm, at least not for now.
In her eyes, if he wanted to, Luciel could slaughter them any time he wanted but provided care to those in need.
There was one more reason why she felt safe, the vampire in front of her looked very familiar, especially now when wearing a human mask.
"Close your eyes and don't look until I tell you to. Get up and grab your hands, we are going to safety." Luciel repeated himself, now using a more gentle voice than before, but the kids didn't listen until their leader clapped with her hands.
"You heard the guy, let's go!" She ordered and took Luciel's hand before taking the hand of the youngest.
The reason why Luciel insisted on them closing their eyes was so they didn't have to stare at a horrible sight in front of them while he led them out of the old factory.
Once they finally reached the exit, Luciel was happy to see that it was night outside and he didn't need to worry about the sun.
"You can open your eyes now. We are going to find a place to sleep and rest." Luciel rubbed the top of the head of the youngest child after releasing the oldest.
Except for her, no one dared to speak to him because of fear.
He breathed in some fresh air and let out a sigh of relief, Luciel looked up at the sky with his brown eyes that were hiding his natural crimson-red color beneath.
He looked up into the clear, night sky with stars shining beneath it with moonlight reflecting from his slightly wavy, raven black hair.
Closing his eyes, Luciel felt a gentle breeze of wind brushing against his face, signaling that the fight was over.
Taking the first step, Luciel began to navigate the kids through a third circle, avoiding the dangers with the help of his sense of smell which was also a curse at the same time.
After fighting, getting heavily injured, running away, and fighting again, he felt exhausted, barely standing as his muscles ached for the first time after he became a vampire, he didn't even know if that was possible or maybe it was like this because his healing factor got weaker due to straining his body.
The worst part of all of this was the feeling of agonizing thirst in his throat like he had a whole desert in it. His mouth was dry and it ached for blood while his stomach felt empty with hunger pangs. He didn't eat anything for six nights now.
While starving, being surrounded by those tiny humans didn't help, what was even worse, he had to carry one in his arms as well, he couldn't let one of the kids carry her.
Holding the girl close in his arms just made Luciel's situation worse and he even found himself drooling from time to time. Pain was written all over his face as he was fighting to keep his urges in check.
He could smell the scent of sweet blood coming from her bite wound, see a weak pulse on her neck, and hear a tiny heart pushing the blood along her veins.
Each beat of her heart was agitating his instincts. It was calling him out to embrace his wild, vampiric nature. He couldn't help himself but to lick his lips as his mind was getting filled with memories of sweet, delicious blood.
Luciel was giving his all to stay awake, knowing that a starving vampire could be an end to those poor kids, and just when he saved them all except one. Those kids went through hell and there was no need to put them through another.