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“Are you ready for this, Wanderer?”, Poisonfeather glanced over at the vampire who seemed to be lost in a daze. “Wanderer?”, the other man waved his hand in front of his face, “Huh? What?”, he snapped out of it. “The battle will start soon, be ready.”, Poisonfeather warned. ‘Oh right’, he thought quietly to himself. The battle between the vampires and vampire hunters will start in a few. If he were to be honest, he was afraid but he knows he has reliable allies on his side and by the time they win the battle, it’d be time to feast upon their corpses. Wanderer’s stomach rumbled at the thought of laying his fangs upon another’s throat.
“Don’t worry too much, I’ll never leave your side.”, a voice spoke from behind him. It was the Man in Red, he was one of the higher tiers and a much more powerful vampire than the others. The Man in Red took a seat in front of him and put his hand over Wanderer’s, “If you keep worrying, you’ll be starved by the time the battle starts.”, he said with a small smile. “How could I not worry? This is the first battle I’ve had in decades!”, Wanderer stressed and dropped his head onto the stone table. “Here, will this make you feel better?”, the Man in Red opened his palm and out blossomed a white butterfly, one similar to the ones covering the right side of his face.
“Is this one more special than the ones on your face?”, Wanderer asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. “Perhaps, this one is my messenger so if you need anything just hold it in your hands and I’ll be there.”, MiR confirmed with a grin. “You’re quite the charmer, huh? I wonder how many ladies you’ve gotten with this kind of technique.”, Wanderer joked, “I’ve only given this to you because you’re the one I trust most.”, MiR rolled his eyes. “We’ve been together for years, I find it difficult to remember what our life was like before we became vampires.”, the Man in Red sighed and leaned back into his seat.
The silver butterfly flew from Wanderer’s hand and onto his hair, “It likes you.”, MiR teased. “I like you more.”, Wanderer whispered, putting his hands over the Man in Red’s. “Get a room.”, Exorcist appeared and stood over their table. “The battle is about to begin, get into position.”, he ordered, the two men seated nodded and parted ways.
A pit of worry and nervousness opened up inside Wanderer’s stomach, he wishes he could be holding his lover’s hand at this moment. He gulped as the gates slowly opened, revealing a large crowd of vampire hunters on the other side of the field. Wanderer looked over at his allies, hoping to feel better if he looked at his friends. He met eyes with Embrace, who gave him a reassuring smile as if sensing his nervousness. Both sides took steps forward and didn’t move; they waited for instructions from their leaders. “We will not allow you to take more lives.”, a loud shout came from the other side’s leader. “You’re here to take our lives, are you not?”, Exorcist retorted with a snarky look in his eyes. “Enough chit-chat, let’s begin.”, a rough and loud voice announced from the other side. Soon, both sides were going in at each other.
Blood splattered and stained the ground beneath them, screams and cries wailed from those injured. Wanderer felt himself freeze up, what was he supposed to do? Who would he fight? Can he just jump into one? Is that allowed? So many thoughts were racing through his mind, “Wanderer!”, a loud cry for help called him from the sides. It was Poisonfeather, he was on the floor with a hunter on top of him, ready to end his life. Wanderer felt his blood boil, some lame vampire hunter was trying to kill his friend.
Wanderer lunged forward and sunk his sharp fangs into the man’s shoulder, earning a yelp. The man fell backwards and gasped for air while Poisonfeather stood up and brushed himself off. “Thank you.”, he expressed his gratitude before jumping onto the man and slicing his throat open with his fangs. “I owe you.”, he thanked, “Nah, anything for a friend.”, Wanderer smiled and wiped the corner of his mouth. “Let’s continue, yeah?”, Poisonfeather grinned with an evil glint in his eyes, Wanderer nodded and both of them headed off for new targets.
Vampire hunters are all the same.
Wanderer slashed at a woman’s throat, blood gushed out and she fell limp.
They take and take, they keep taking with nothing to give.
He lunged at a man and sunk his honed nails into the hunter’s gut.
They don’t know what it’s like to be constantly hungry, they don’t know. They will never know. It’s a cycle of life, with every life there is comes a death you will mourn. So why is death such a pitiful thing looked down upon? Surely the victims had their lives taken against their own will, but only until they are in the same position will they understand what it’s like to be starving every hour. Perhaps the hunters are right to compare them to animals.
“It’s a cycle of life, don’t be upset, don’t cry.”, those words echoed throughout Wanderer’s mind, he wonders who said that. A gentle voice, he remembers only that.
“Get off of me!”, the woman beneath Wanderer cried out, she used up all her strength trying to push him off. Wanderer scowled at the woman’s pathetic attempt to live, if she didn’t want to die then why did she come here in the first place? He raised his hand and stabbed two his fingers through her throat, she gurgled up blood for a moment, it took her a few more seconds til she died. “Look out!”, Poisonfeather warned before Wanderer was tackled down onto the floor by a man twice his size. ‘Could a human really be this strong? No way.', he thought to himself.
The man straddled Wanderer and lunged his hands forward to Wanderer’s throat, a blade in hand. Wanderer quickly reached upwards and held the man’s wrists, preventing him from stabbing through his neck. “You took her away, you bastard!”, the man yelled angrily, hot tears dropped down onto Wanderer’s cheeks. The man was crying. “I’ll never forgive you! I’ll never, ever forgive you, you hear me?!”, he declared, pressing harder onto the blade in hopes it’ll cut the vampire’s neck open. “She did it to herself, if she didn’t want to die then she shouldn’t have come here!”, the vampire scowled, this aggravated the man more. “Screw you and your twisted logic.”, he furrowed his eyebrows angrily and pushed harder once more.
“You’re wasting your time.”, he deadpanned and in a blink of an eye, flipped the man over and swapped positions with him. This time, Wanderer straddled the hunter and with a swift moment, he cut open the man’s chest. The man let out an agonizing cry and choked out blood, he was done for. Wanderer felt… satisfied. This feeling.. what was it? Accomplishment? He felt a sinister smile grow onto his face, the smell of blood was messing with his senses; that’s it, it’s not accomplishment, it’s bloodlust. Wanderer sprinted across the field in a matter of seconds, knocking down the enemies and tearing their flesh, leaving them bloody and lifeless.
“Who did this?”, Embrace asked, disturbed by the messily torn flesh. Exorcist crouched down beside the scratched up flesh, examining the scratch and fang marks in order to discover who is responsible for it. “Your highness! Wanderer he..”, Poisonfeather rushed through the crowd and gasped for air, out of energy. The two men turned their heads to face the other, “He’s gone insane!”.
Wanderer rushed through the crowd of people, slashing at their throats and sinking his teeth into them, the hunters had no time to react to him before their blood was shed. Hunters were dying at a rapid rate and of course, everyone knew something was off.
“You’re all cornered now.”, Wanderer mumbled as he approached the shaking and shaking hunter. As soon as Wanderer lunged forward and took the hunter’s life, he heard a familiar voice call out to him- it was MiR’s. “Look out!”, was all he heard before the body of another slammed down onto him.
Wanderer struggled to open his eyes, dust and dirt flew everywhere as if a bomb had just went off. Through the crack of his eyes, he could see..silver butterflies and a man dressed in red lying upon him. He widened his eyes, he sat up quickly and took the Man in Red into his arms. “Are you okay? Why did you-”, he lowered his gaze to the eight blades lodged into MiR’s stomach and chest. “What’s this?”, the blades reeked of a disgusting scent; only now did Wanderer realize the blades carried poison- a poison lethal to vampires.
“Wanderer..”, MiR whispered through gasps. “Don’t lose sight of yourself, alright? You have me with you.”, the Man in Red pointed to the silver butterfly that rested upon Wanderer’s hair. Ah, that’s right; Wanderer lost control of himself earlier and the butterfly went to get help. “The poison will spread, stop talking!”, Wanderer panicked and held the Man in Red in his arms. “I’m going to die anyways.”, he forced out a laugh.
“No you won’t, I can get Recovery to come look at your wounds and-”, Wanderer panicked. What was he supposed to do? “I’m just glad it wasn’t you.”, he inhaled sharply at the pain in his chest, he reached his hands up and cupped Wanderer’s face. “The battle hasn’t ended yet, please be careful from now on.”, MiR smiled. “Wait stop, no you aren’t going to die! Not before me!”, Wanderer held MiR’s body closely and tightly. “I’m sorry.”, MiR whispered. “You can’t die.. please.”, he muttered as he hugged the MiR. Hot tears tickled the edges of his eyes.
“I never got to marry you like I wanted to.”, MiR sighed, “Huh?”, Wanderer’s eyes widened. MiR, struggled to reach into his pocket, he pulled out a ring with a small, red gem on it. “I wanted to marry you, I’m sorry.”. Wanderer hushed the man, “Please don’t speak any more, the poison is killing you faster.”. “Wanderer, will you marry me?”, he asked in a low tone. “Why are you asking me now?! Ask me after this battle is over, you aren’t dying!”, he refused to acknowledge that MiR’s fate was already sealed. “Please answer me, my love.”, he pleaded. With a few seconds of hesitation, Wanderer put his head down and cried, “Yes, I will.”. Tears came flooding out of Wanderer’s eyes, they fell onto MiR’s body.
The Man in Red smiled happily, a loving glint played in his eyes. “Please say something.”, Wanderer pleaded, MiR grew silent and his body was feeling more and more heavy and lifeless as time passed. MiR’s soft breathing filled the silence between the two; Poisonfeather always spoke about having visions and MiR never believed him until now. Right now, he was envisioning a happy life with Wanderer. It wasn’t cold, it was warm. The agonizing cries were replaced by the gleeful laughs of his beloved. He was so used to the cold, his life has always been monotone, he can’t even remember his past just like the rest of them. But now, it was warm, gentle and it felt like the sun was kissing him.
MiR shifted his head slightly, leaning it up against the chest of Wanderer to listen to his heartbeat. “It’s a cycle of life, don’t be upset, don’t cry…Norton.”, MiR whispered softly, taking his final breaths. Wanderer’s eyes widened, who was Norton? Why did that name sound so familiar? Why did.. it feel like his name? Without thinking, Wanderer shouted out, “Naib, wait!”, he didn’t know who Naib was, but he felt like he did. The silver butterflies that once occupied the right side of MiR’s face rose and MiR’s body turned into those silver butterflies he loved dearly.
Wanderer sobbed roughly, grabbing at the silver butterflies in attempt to somehow feel MiR again. The winged-insects flew into the night sky, leaving Wanderer alone. “N-no! You can’t- You said you would never leave me!”, he cried out. He brought his shaking hands to his face, even though a battle was going on behind him, he couldn’t bring himself to move. A soft, tickling sensation crept upon his hand. He moved his hands away from his face and there sat a silver butterfly resting on his finger.
He blinked. Confusion, happiness, sadness and surprise all swarmed him, it was too much. “Naib..”, he found himself whispering that familiar name once again, the butterfly fluttered it’s wings as if it were communicating with him. The vampire cried once more, letting out the most violent sobs as the silver winged insect accompanied him. He tightly closed his palm, holding the red ring.
In another life, I will marry you and tell you how much you mean to me.