"Never hesitate, huh?" Karina mumbled as they reached the headquarters to report. The other members looked at each other with confused faces.
Alice didn’t mind her taunts, and they went on their way. She's too enraged to care about the woman's bickering.
They were welcomed by the secretary of Clarisse Monroe, the head of the hunter’s association in their country. She was better known for her alias, Black Lotus. She was also the woman who saved Alice’s life.
"You’re pretty early. I assume nothing went wrong?" She welcomed the team with a huge smile. Alice heaved a sigh. She still doesn’t get how the woman who was deemed the deadliest hunter who’d killed the most vampires has the bubbliest personality. People who didn’t know the woman would easily think that she was harmless, then die if they tried to do anything reckless.
Alice rolled her eyes but answered anyway, "The only problem here is that you put newbies right into the field. Do you know how these kids cowered in fear earlier? What is this? Are we out of hunters?" She was barely keeping it together earlier. Their lives are at stake every time they face a vampire. They could get killed with one wrong move.
Everyone behind her, except Karina, looked guilty. They barely finished their third assignment as a team. They were understaffed, to top it all off.
Black Lotus heaved an exhausted sigh. She turned to the rest of the team.
"You guys are dismissed. Have some good rest, you all. " Her eyes only went back to Alice after everyone had left.
She gestured for Alice to sit, "I’m sure that this will be a long talk. Please sit down."
"Why didn’t you tell me?" She was fuming with anger. Alice didn’t expect that the woman would lie to her.
The older woman’s eyes squinted. Alice didn’t know if the woman was acting or not; she was angry either way.
"Sorry, I can’t follow. I’m certain that I told you everything you needed to know about your teammates, the remaining few ones." She added with a hint of sulking.
"That vampire. He was at the masquerade ball. You told me you haven’t found him, but that monster is just around the place, playing around and having the time of his life! " She spoke without a pause.
Black Lotus couldn’t answer for a moment. Her mellow expression turned into a firm one, "There were vampires with whom we couldn’t deal, not with so many lives at stake. That vampire you’re talking about is roughly a thousand years old. We don’t stand a chance. "
She hissed, almost like a vampire would.
"I would kill him myself. Now give me the information about him, or I will take it myself. " She knew how dumb it was to challenge the head of their organization, but she didn’t have all the time in the world.
All of her previous lives came to an end on their 28th birthdays. She remembered exactly ten of her previous lives, and all of them never passed a day without dying. It’s exactly six months before she turns 28. She didn’t survive this long just to be killed for the nth time.
The woman remained firm in her decision.
"Fine." Alice stood and walked away without looking back. However, she didn’t go out of the headquarters but walked straight into their database.
People have been asking her what her business is, but Alice was in too foul of a mood to even explain. She just wanted to know enough information about that vampire and she will be off on her own. She was never expecting anyone to help her kill that vampire. They had already provided her with enough.
"Give me access to all of the vampire profiles you have." She gave the order to the person in charge.
The man calmly stood and tried to mediate the situation, "But you already have access to it, Ms. Alice."
Her expression didn’t change.
"I need the restricted ones too." She saw him swallowing nervously.
Alice figured that the man wouldn’t easily give her what she wanted. She pulled out her gun and pointed it at the man.
"This could kill a vampire, but so could you if you don’t give me what I need." He quickly raised his hands in fear. Everyone knew that Alice never joked around and was serious about her threat.
The glass door she locked for a reason shattered. Alice put down her gun and looked at Black Lotus, whom she thought was the only person she could count on.
"Stop wreaking havoc and follow me. I’ll tell you what you need to know. "
--
She crossed her arms impatiently while the woman pulled out several folders.
"He went by many names, just like any other vampire did. He is currently known as Elijah, and like I told you, he’s roughly a thousand years old, and it’s impossible for you to take him down alone. "
She glared at her, "Do you not hear what I said earlier?"
The woman snatched the folders and checked the information gathered so far. It only made her furious, seeing that they had already found the vampire a year ago and hadn’t told her anything.
Black Lotus’ reaction didn’t change. She knew perfectly what would happen if Alice tried to fight the vampire.
"Things are different now. I could protect you, Alice. You don’t have to try to kill him. " She argued, only thinking about the woman’s well-being.
Alice let out a frustrated groan. She rarely trusts anyone, which is also why she doesn’t feel disappointed when people try to upset her. But it is different for Clarisse. She treated the woman as her only family after she ran away from a place she couldn’t even call home.
"This isn’t what you promised me. You told me that if I joined the organization, you would do anything to help me." She was the one who gave her hope that this would stop and that she could live and break the cycle.
"That is what I’m doing. I am helping you to stay alive. Do you think I’m doing this just because I want to? No, I’m doing this for your own sake. You’ll die if you fight head on with that vampire."
"Why are we called here?" Klaver asked as he arrived late and had no idea why they were called by Black Lotus again. Karina shrugged, "Not sure. Maybe we’ll get a new mission?" They all went inside Clarisse’s office with anticipation. None of them did anything wrong lately, so they were confident that they were not here to be scolded by their head. Clarisse took a moment to look at each of them. They even held a birthday party for Alice and Carl the other day. She saw how happy they were. It’s just a shame that Alice couldn’t live as a human, even if their circumstances had already changed. "Did we mess up again? Please don’t tell me we’d have to attend trainee classes again." Art spoke up after he couldn’t take the silence anymore. She smiled, "No. Unless you did something else I wasn’t aware of." "We haven’t broken any rules… lately." Carl promptly answered as he was tired of being reprimanded. She pointed at the envelope Alice left for her group, "I called you guys to give yo
"You need to feed." Elijah kept looking at Alice. She was pale as she refused to drink any human blood. Louise continued to alternately look at Alice and Elijah. Alice was his enemy one moment, and now she appears in their house as a vampire. She demanded to join Elijah in fighting off the purebloods, which Louise still thinks is a suicide mission, but he has no abilities to stop his master or Alice. "I’m still Alice, and my hunter pride is still intact. I’ve been alive longer than you think. I could handle this." She simply refuses to drink human blood, even if everything in her is screaming to feed. Unfortunately, even a human soul couldn’t maintain her body as a human. Her body naturally went back to its natural form right after her mind fully awakened. Her abilities came back to her almost immediately. "Why are you insisting on coming anyway?" Elijah doesn’t know how he would treat Alice now. He remembers everything, along with all the feelings that he shared with Alathea. They
"Alice, Alice, wake up." Elijah had already gotten the location from Black Lotus and also received the blood flowers he requested. He was on his way to the given location when he felt a very ominous feeling. Instead, he rushed his way towards Alice’s house and found her unconscious with the charm he had gifted her on the ground. He checked if she was still breathing before lifting her towards the bed. Elijah has been trying to wake him up for five minutes straight, but to no avail. By experience, she looked like she was remembering her memories again. He doubts that the doctors would find anything wrong if he brought her to the hospital. "Alice!" He exclaimed and finally opened her eyes, and Elijah saw her eyes turn red, as of a vampire. She gasped and lifted herself from the bed. Elijah was staring at her with complete shock in his eyes. "Who the hell turned you into a vampire?!" There was fear in his eyes. He had killed all of her past lives, but now that he didn’t have to kill h
Humans either worshiped or feared them. They called them gods, not knowing that their belief was the one that strengthened them. At the same time, losing belief in creatures like her greatly weakens them. The more people forget about them, the sooner they cease to exist. She has existed for thousands of years. Time was fleeting, and so many things have changed over time. Her existence was fueled, not by belief but by fear. No one knows what she truly was, unlike other "gods" that humans have encountered. Instead, she was born out of fear of the unknown. It morphed in her over time until she developed a taste for human blood. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t stop what she had become, like all the monsters they had imagined. Before she knew it, she became a creature that survived on human blood and fear, and yet she still fights for her own instincts whenever she can. Alathea, or at least that is what she calls herself at the present time, quickly walked on a shade to protect herself
"Why am I called at such an ungodly hour?" She complained as she entered Clarisse’s office. Black Lotus didn’t tell her the reason why she was hailed, but she hoped that it was for a great purpose. "Alice, why are you here early?" Carl asked with curious eyes. "I was called by Black Lotus. Why are you here too?" She threw back the question. Carl pointed at Clarisse’s office, "She called me too. What is up? She didn’t tell me what this was about." Alice didn’t answer and walked ahead. She was now certain that it wasn’t about Elijah. Carl wouldn’t be called if it was. "Wait for me!" He exclaimed and caught up. They both entered the office and were welcomed by on of Clarisse’s secretary. She pointed at the door, "She’s been expecting you. Feel free to head inside." Alice immediately figured out that something was happening. Still, she went ahead and opened the door. "Happy birthday!" She heard party poppers and confetti flying over her and Carl. Alice looked at them with utter co
Alice went home with a heavy heart. She had had a bad feeling since earlier. It has been a bit peaceful after the incident of them being ambushed by the old gang members of their old enemy, but deep inside her, she knew that something bad would happen. She dismissed the worry, wishing that it was just her being paranoid. Elijah already killed the newborns but the pureblood who turned the humans was still alive. "Two of them were thrown in a dumpster, and the other one was just left on the streets." She recalled the report she heard earlier. Three of their hunters were killed relentlessly by different vampires, whom she assumes were pureblood vampires. The hunters that were disposed of in the dumpster like trash were killed by a woman, while the other one was killed by another vampire. None of them were the purebloods she saw last time, but they all thought the same after seeing the footage of how the hunters were killed. It was impossible that it had been done by a newborn vampire.