"Wait here." Luciel turned towards the kids, ordering them to stay hidden in front of the entrance of the house.
They managed to find a slightly bigger house that probably belonged to someone with a little bit of money in the third circle or it was being rented out.
Thanks to Luciel's sharp sense of smell, they didn't get into any kinds of trouble.
Zombies and vampires weren't hard to avoid since he was familiar with the species' smell and he could never forget a horrible stench of a zombie.
The size of the house wasn't impressive or grand, but it could accommodate the kids without having them squeeze into one small area and would allow them to play around.
Even if Luciel had already inspected the area around him and deemed it safe, he didn't want children to wander around, but at the same time, he didn't want to bring them inside the house.
He doesn't know if someone is still inside that might attack them or if there might be some weird creature that Luciel wasn't able to sense.
"Anyone home?" He knocked on the wooden door with his fist three times and gave it a few minutes of rest, waiting for an answer.
"Is anybody home?" He knocked again, giving a chance for whoever was in there to reply.
He glanced towards the kids once he heard their tiny heartbeats speeding up, holding hands and hugging each other.
They could sense how tense Luciel was, making them feel scared and worried.
Sighing, Luciel ran his hand through his raven black hair before kneeling on one knee so he could be on the eye level of the kids.
"Don't worry, everything will be all right." He reassured them, closing his eyes as a genuine smile formed on his lips when he placed his hand on one of the kid's shoulders.
"Are you sure about that mister...?" One of the kids asked, holding tightly his dirty, dinosaur plushie.
"Of course!" He grinned, slowly getting up, flexing his muscles to put on a show, "I'm plenty strong, so I'll make sure to defeat anyone that dares to harm you."
'If only that was true...' Luciel thought, tensing his fist. If he had faced that strong vampire that was all muscles, he would have lost, the only reason he won the last fight was because Lady Seline wasn't a fighter.
Kids were known to be very observant and Luciel was anxious for the whole time. He had to make sure to bring them to safety while battling his own demons that wanted to get out.
"Now wait here and be good, I'll be right back." He repeated his words from earlier and looked back at the front of the doorway, running his hand across a rough surface as he went to inspect it.
He tried to open it, but it was locked. To get in, he was only presented with two choices - to enter through a window or break the entrance.
Luciel took a step back, raising his leg and kicking the door next to the keyhole, using the little bit of strength he still had, but it was enough to snap them open.
He walked in. It was pitch dark inside the house, but thanks to his eyes that were adapted for the dark, Luciel had no problem navigating around.
"Finally..." He said to himself, taking a moment while he was away from the kids to drop his human disguise.
While being so focused on not wanting to scare the children, he managed to set a new record, two and a half hours.
He blinked a few times, going to rub his crimson eyes, finally feeling a sense of relief after they started to itch. His eyelids felt like sandpaper.
Whenever his eyes got hit by the light of the moonlight, they would give off a small glow.
Luciel moved his jaw a little, feeling a huge relaxation after the spasms were slowly going away. It felt like he was smiling for hours.
He traced his jawline with one hand while having a grip on his sword handle, finally going to inspect the house.
Moving his finger against a coffee table, he could feel a texture of dust below it.
He sniffed the air a few times. There was a stale, musty smell in the air, but except for that and the kids, he couldn't smell anything.
Closing his eyes, he started to focus solely on his hearing, but all he could hear was the creaking of the floor beneath him.
Just when he thought that the residence was probably empty, he heard a noise of something metal falling onto the ground.
Luciel's eyes snapped open. He ran towards the direction of the sound that led him into the kitchen.
"A goblin?" He asked himself as he stared into the ugly, green creature that was frozen in fear, staring right back at him, trying to climb up into the kitchen cabinet.
The sound that Luciel had heard was a creature accidentally throwing a pan onto the floor.
"Come to think of it, I missed you guys the first time as well." Luciel chuckled, walking towards the small creature, picking it up for the leg as he remembered his first encounter with it.
Luciel gave Alex quite the trouble for not noticing their presence when they were hiding in that abounded town, but he doesn't regret his mistake even a tiny bit.
It makes his day every time he remembers Alex running away from the goblin horde while one of them was gnawing at his head.
"Is there more of you guys? Or just you?" Luciel revealed his claws, pressing them against the goblin's neck, being careful not to make a small cut or he might lose it.
"N-no, it's just me, believe me when I tell you!" The goblin placed his hands together, begging for mercy.
"Hm? Are you sure about that?" Luciel asked slowly with a deeper tone, adding a subtitle vibration in his voice, enhancing his predatory nature.
"Y-y-yeah, I-I'm sure of it." The goblin squealed when Luciel went to sniff it, thinking that the vampire was going to bite him, suck him dry, but it had other intentions.
Even if disguising, Luciel wanted to check something. He was sure that his senses were working just fine, but then, why couldn't he smell the dirty goblin that was right in front of him? He was barely able to sense anything when he smelled it close to its neck.
"A deal is a deal. You told me what I wanted, so I'll let you free." Luciel dropped the goblin onto the kitchen floor, "but I won't show any mercy to you or any other goblin that shows up, understand?"
Luciel growled at the goblin, showing off his fangs as a tiny red glow appeared in his eyes, proving that he was serious.
"Y-yes!" The goblin quickly got up and ran away as fast as he could, going to warn the others.
Luciel clicked with his tongue as he watched the goblin run away through the front doors.
Unlike when it came to humans, he didn't feel drawn to its blood, even when he knew what it tasted like, but even still, he wanted to kill the goblin.
He was starving and would do anything to get rid of this thirsty feeling, but killing that goblin in cold blood while it didn't do anything wrong would make him the same just as the rest of those bloodsucking monsters.
'Huh, maybe they evolved in a way that vampires can't smell them...' Luciel rubbed his chin, it was an interesting theory, to say the least.
"Oh whatever, let's just check this house and pick up the kids." He said to himself, waving with his hand before proceeding to inspect every corner.
After finishing the inspection, he deduced that it was probably safe.
Judging by the state of the house, the owner either evacuated or hid inside the shelter, but whoever it was, they managed to provide a place to sleep for the kids.
"Let's go and pick up the kids." He stretched his body before yawning, it was night, but that didn't matter right now, he only hoped that he could last till morning and that the oldest kid could keep the guard up while he would take a well-deserved rest.
Luciel retracted his claws and fangs while making sure that his horizontal eyelids would cover up his crimson eyes.
'Just a little bit more.' He thought before finally walking out, seeing that the kids were still in one place, barely moving an inch while they squeezed together like penguins.
"What's wrong?" Luciel raised an eyebrow, the kids seemed more relaxed on their way here than now, just what could have happened while he was away?
"T-there was some weird, green creature that ran past us from the house." One of the kids gathered enough courage to speak, making Luciel feel dumbfounded at the simple problem.
"Don't worry, that has been taken care of. Let's go inside." He reassured them with a soft voice, keeping up the warm image while being in front of them.
Those kids needed human warmth, maybe even more than food and shelter.
"Why is it so dark?" Luciel heard some of the kids questioning each other once they entered inside.
He was adjusting to his new body so well that he didn't even notice that the lights were turned off.
Finding the switch, Luciel closed his eyes before flipping it on.
Blinking carefully, he was giving his vision time to adjust to the sudden change in brightness.
"Well then, if you kids need me, I'll be outside keeping a guard, come and meet me if you need anything." Luciel put his hands into his pockets before walking out.
He couldn't wait to get outside the house. Sweat was evident on his forehead as he fought to stay in control.
Letting his instincts take over would lead to bloodshed, especially now since, for the first time, he was on his own after becoming a vampire.
Arriving outside the house, Luciel looked up and climbed on top of the rooftop, feeling more at ease when on the higher ground. Vampires were strong, but they weren't on top of the food chain.
"If it weren't for the bloodthirst, maybe I'd even enjoy this," Luciel let out a dry chuckle after lying down on the roof, releasing his disguise again and extending his weapons.
He enjoyed using his superior senses even if they made him vulnerable at times, but thanks to them, he managed to bring kids to safety and could detect attacks before they came. The nights became peaceful and not so scary anymore.
Crossing his legs, he went to reach out for the moon with one hand, observing his sharp, black claws while playing with his fingers.
He appreciated those claws because they helped him out in lots of situations and they were always here for him.
Walking inside the vampire's skin, Luciel came to realize that vampires weren't as scary as humans thought they were, it was just that humanity was too weak to fight against them.