"He's in the trees!"
"Quickly! Before he crosses the river!"
"Get the vampire!"
Luciel looked back, seeing that the hunters were catching up to him, already readying their weapons, pushing him to make the final jump across the river serving as a border.
The hunters could hear and see the foliage move as Luciel transitioned to the new tree that was across the river and disappeared among the trees.
They stopped right next to the river, discussing if they should continue the chase or not.
"It's too dangerous." One of the hunters spoke, "he already headed towards the vampire nest. Whether they will accept him or tear him apart, it's not our place to care. Let's head back."
After hearing what was spoken, the vampire hunters stayed for a little bit, discussing a bit more about the current situation before finally leaving.
Leaving one vampire alive wasn't such a big deal, they would get him sooner or later, but this was Luciel they were talking about, a person that used to be one of their own and the one that saved their lives, not to mention killed the vampire king.
One half of the vampire hunters wanted to put him out of his misery, he deserves at least this much, while others wanted to put him down, afraid of the possible birth of the new powerful vampire that might threaten their existence.
Luciel watched them from the nearby tree, bearing his fangs a little when he was listening to the exchange between the hunters as rage started to settle in. After everything he had done, after so many battles he had fought, the sacrifices he made and was willing to make, this is how he's getting paid, hunted down like a beast.
He waited till he could no longer hear the hunters before jumping down from the tree.
Luciel crouched once he reached the ground, with one hand touching the earth covered with leaves while his other hand was behind him.
Once he got up, he clenched his fists, making blood drip from them as his claws dug into his palms.
He didn't know what came over him, but such rage built in his body that he was slightly shivering from it.
"Those backstabbing bastards." He said through his fangs before starting to head back towards the river, trying to clear his head from the rage, murderous intent, and blood.
He crouched down next to the river once he reached it, going to wash his face before going to try and drink some water, wanting to see if he could still drink it.
He took the water in the palm of his hand and took a small sip, but that was enough to stop him from drinking the rest.
The water didn't really have any different taste, but the feeling in his throat was uncomfortable. It felt like drinking cold water while having a sore throat.
He dug his claws into the ground before getting up, turning around, and raising his fist. Letting out a scream at the top of his lungs, he went to punch the tree with all of his strength, making a formidable dent in it.
Luciel was breathing heavily. He had all this anger inside of him and he had to let it out somewhere, anywhere!
He relaxed his fist and looked at his palm which was already healing from the new wound he made, but before it could finish healing, he brought it towards his face, closed his eyes, and started licking the wound before it completely closed.
The taste of his own blood reminded him of what happened today and how he became this bloodsucker. It had a similar taste to that of a vampire king, like honey, except that it was even more sweet. He didn't know if it was because he was a vampire now or if his blood simply had a slightly different taste.
"I can't believe it!" He shouted, raising his fist and going again to punch the innocent tree with all his strength.
"I killed the nastiest vampire there is!" He continued, going for another punch.
"And this is how the gods I believed in decided to reward me!" Another punch has fallen.
"To walk as this disgusting, bloodthirsty beast I fought against!" Each punch that he sent became stronger than the last one while the slight glow in his eyes started to become stronger, making his crimson red eyes appear vibrant red as the rage finally reached its peak.
He stopped for a moment as a small growl escaped from the back of his throat, "Well, I have a message for you, god." He said quietly, a grin appearing on his face as he moved one of his feet forward a little bit.
"Screw you!!!" He shouted and went to deliver the final punch. As a result, from all this punching and damaging the tree, he finally punched through it, making it collapse with a loud thud.
"Well, that felt better." He said to himself, breathing heavily before going to lick the wounds he afflicted on himself before they healed. It did not feel like it satisfied his thirst or anything, he just couldn't help himself as he felt drawn to the taste. He couldn't resist it. This act felt like chewing a nicotine drug while being addicted.
After all of what he went through and managed to calm down slightly as the vibrant glow in his eyes finally started to disappear, leaving behind only Luciel's now natural eye color, crimson red, where chocolate brown used to be.
He yawned, covering his mouth with the palm of his hand, hiding his fangs. This night was long and the Sun should be up soon. Now when the level of adrenaline or whatever lowered, he finally started to feel sleepy while his body was getting adjusted to a new sleep cycle.
Yawning once again, Luciel slapped his face with both hands, trying to stay awake while the need to sleep was getting to him, but he can't sleep just yet until he finds some kind of shelter to protect him from the sun.
He never heard of a vampire dying from being under the Sun for a whole day, but he didn't want to find out how it felt.
He looked around, trying to orientate himself. Past the human side of the forest, there should be an old, abandoned small town that vampire hunters used as their shelter when on the longer hunts.
Luciel knew in which houses and buildings the hunters would usually stay, so avoiding them shouldn't be so hard, besides, they all probably went back to their colonies to get their wounds treated or see their family and friends after everything that had happened.
He was about to head to the small town when he heard an animalistic growl behind him. 'Oh, what now…'
He looked over his shoulder to see what was behind him.
Among the trees, he could see a beast that was larger than him, resembling that of a wolf with bright golden eyes that were glowing slightly.
It revealed its mouth with sharp teeth as drill started to drip from them, ready to take a snack on its prey.
"Shit…"