After a while when Luciel finally closed his eyes, a black image started to shift.
He found himself standing in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by corpses.
There was a sweet smell of human blood lingering around, making him feel the desert thirst in his throat even when dreaming.
As weird as it sounds, if Luciel would need to describe the battlefield, he would say peaceful if not for the corpses. There was no sound to be heard, no movement to be seen. Everything was still like time had stopped.
The only problem with the bloody scene was that Luciel did not recognize it. It was completely new and he couldn't see any familiar faces.
"Why..." He asked himself, staring at the agonizing faces of those who had died.
"So many people lost their lives here... So why am I not feeling anything?" He glanced across a never-ending battlefield with a crimson moon hovering above it.
Luciel's face was cold; he knew he should feel anger or sorrow for those who were gone, but he felt nothing.
"What a waste of food."
Luciel heard someone speak behind him, with a voice that sounded very familiar, but a little bit odd.
"That's what you are thinking, aren't you?" The figure behind Luciel added, licking its lips.
"You..." Luciel said once he slowly turned around, seeing a well-familiar man he faced the last time he had a dream similar to this one.
"Yes, it's you again." The evil version of Luciel spoke with a smooth, deep voice, looking at his black claws.
"What do you want?" Luciel asked, clenching his fist that shivered in rage as he sent a chilling glare toward the monster that was standing in front of him.
Shifting his attention from the claws to the person in front of him, the evil version smiled, licking its lips.
Placing his hands together and spreading them apart, a dark gray mist with purple details appeared in front of him.
From the mist, thirteen children appeared, tightly hugging each other like in the factory scene.
"Oh, isn't it obvious?" The monster asked, disappearing in a cloud of mist before reappearing in the same manner behind Luciel.
It placed its hand on his shoulder, taking in a big breath.
"Face it!" It pointed towards the children with its clawed finger.
"There was not even a second where you didn't think about draining their blood." The vampire whispered into Luciel's ear, with a sinister smile drawn on its lips.
Luciel stayed quiet, shifting his gaze from the children towards his immoral self, brushing its hand that was on his shoulder.
He knew it... The monster behind him was right. If not for his lingering humanity, he would have surrendered to his hunger long ago.
"Give in...." It whispered, making Luciel lick his lips. His instincts were telling him to do it, to kill, to feed.
Without knowing it, he started to approach the kids, wanting to get rid of the thirst in his throat.
Just when he was about to grab a poor soul from the crowd, the kids started to scream in fear, calling out his name.
"Luciel!"
He ignored them, picking up the weakest-looking one among them.
"Luciel!"
When he was about to bite his victim's neck, his eyes snapped open and the scene in front of him immediately shifted.
"Luciel!!!" Marta was shaking Luciel, trying to wake him up.
"Huh? What's going on?" He asked, running his fingers through his black hair, feeling a little bit dizzy.
"Someone is coming," Marta informed him.
They didn't know if whoever was approaching them meant trouble, so they needed someone to protect them if the worst came to worst.
Hearing those words, Luciel quickly got up, getting ready for a possible fight as he grabbed his sword.
"Kids, get behind me!" He ordered, making sure to count them as well to make sure that everyone was here.
When he confirmed that everything was in order, he went to approach the open door that he had broken previously.
He squinted his eyes once he got close to the bright light, but made sure not to touch it.
There in the distance, he could see two big, black cars that were approaching, meant to be driven off road, on uneven terrain.
"Hunters..." Luciel whispered, usually, only hunters would drive cars like those.
They might be big, but reliable with their ability to navigate the forests while carrying weapons and equipment, plus, they were coated in strong metal that was enchanted with divine arts, making sure that no vampire could touch it from the outside.
There was a cloud of smoke as the cars were getting closer, every second felt like an hour had passed until they stopped right in front of the house.
Luciel carefully observed how the doors opened and familiar faces started to exit.
From the first car, at the same time, George and Dash exited, Luciel's previous party members that hunted alongside him, Helen and Alex.
George was the party's support, providing them with buffs, but he seemed to be extremely skinny and old like he was in his fifties instead of early thirties. He was also the one who used the divine arts the most.
His clothes didn't look like they belonged to a typical vampire hunter.
He would wear some ordinary trousers, black boots, and a dark red jacket; maybe it's because of that that he was getting targeted by the vampires the most.
Dash on the other had a very strong build, his muscles were bulging under his black shirt any time he would move and the huge silver axe would give any vampire a fright.
He was a similar age as George but looked way longer than him.
Luciel always wondered why the two looked so different when it came to age, despite the fact that they were only three years apart, and thanks to that bastard Nosferatu, now he knows.
Unlike George, Dash avoided using almost any divine arts and believed in the strength of his body.
'Would I look like George if I continued to use those cursed arts?' Luciel thought to himself, getting angry when thinking about the teachings of the Church.
From another car, Scarlet walked out in a full black outfit with her red hair falling behind her.
She sent a chilling glare towards Luciel, wanting to kill the vampire in front of her.
She walked towards the front passenger doors. Once she opened them, she pulled out a black chain with golden details that were wrapped around the vampire's hands and dragged it out.
"Melisa..." Luciel gasped, not expecting to see her here, he thought that she had escaped to the nest.
Observing her face, Luciel could see her sweating and she could barely stand.
Sun started to scorch her exposed skin, but she didn't show any kind of reaction as she fell down on her knees.
Luciel snarled at the sight before him, anger rising as he saw Melisa suffering. If only she could have stepped out of the car during the night, everything would have been fine.
Vampires could be transported in those cars, but it wasn't the best experience. It would make them feel discomfort, disoriented, and weak, but they always recover afterward.
What made him rage was seeing her being burned under the sun like this, now that was what he would call torture for vampires.
"Melisa!" He shouted and threw away his sword, quickly going to pick up the blanket that Marta had been using previously.
"Luciel..." She lifted her head, feeling a sense of relief at hearing his voice, even after they got into a bad fight previously.
Without carrying about himself, he rushed out under the merciless sun and went to cover her so the rays couldn't touch her.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine." He said to Melisa, getting down on one knee,throwing a blanket over her body.
Melisa slowly nodded and pulled the edges of the blanket together, lowering her head a little.
"What is the meaning of this?" Luciel growled, getting up to glare at Scarlet.
With the sun burning away one side of his face that it was touching, Luciel frowned, turning his head, not being able to hide discomfort.
Before Luciel could hear an answer, the final person exited the car.
She didn't look like a fighter, quite the opposite. She had white trainers and blue trousers. An ordinary white shirt with horizontal blue lines and there was a long, white coat going down her back, all the way till it reached her knees.
The woman in her late twenties had long, dark brown hair tied in a high ponytail that fell right below her shoulder blades.
She had freckles on her face around her nose, and round glasses.
Behind those eyeglasses, Luciel could see her eyes that stood out, he could never tell if they were green or hazel.
"Helen..."