"The vampire attacks have been increasing lately." Simon sighed, massaging his temples.

My gaze met with Leah's across the room, a knowing look on her face.

"If only we can get a lead with the vampires." Simon placed a folder on the table. "Here are the files I managed to get from Luis containing informations about the vampires we have identified so far."

Cyrus' head perked up from laying on the sofa, "What about them? Are they causing ruckus once again?"

"No, I just thought we should familiarize with them and their mannerisms."

"What's there to know?" Leah questioned from the kitchen, "The organization has already list up everything we should know about vampires."

"Well don't you think factions exist on their community too? There might be good or bad vampires out there." Simon said with a shrug.

Leah frowned, "Are you still going on about that? Even after the various attacks they inflicted upon everyone?"

I looked down on my lap, Simon have the tendency to care about both humans and vampires. Perhaps because of his curious nature as a scientist that he has interest to anything peculiar including me.

"Just think about it," He tried convincing us once again, he had tried numerous times already but I was the only one who seems to agree with him sometimes. The rest of my teammates shows open hostility towards the vampires, I mean why wouldn't you if you were in their shoes.

"We can compromise with the vampires and make a deal beneficial for both parties."

"And how wil you make that work?" Cyrus asked, amused.

"By this," He patted the file on the table, "We sort out which vampires belongs to who and what factions they are in."

"How do you even make sure they have factions?" I asked.

"You guys didn't hear about the report that came in?" Simon shook his head at us, as if disappointed that we were slacking off on our job.

"Marius' team successfully captured a vampire at the third ward. They had starved it for days and used blood to entice it to talk. The vampire had admitted about a hierarchy in their Kingdom, however he didn't belong to them, he is a part of a different faction. If my guess is right, this faction opposes the nobility and want powers for themselves."

"So the report is the basis of your idea."

"Bingo!" He clapped his hands, "Correct as usual Leah!"

"Now that you mention, it's been five years since the vampires started attacking humanity. We didn't know about their existence until recently." Cyrus sat up, now immersed in our discussion.

"We have to know if the nobility of the vampire kingdom align with our interest or not. Are they purposely turning a blind eye on this, or do they have other motives?" Simon looked at all of us in the eyes one by one, "We have to know about what's going on in the other side."

"That's why I prepared a new mission for all of you."

I stood up straight, tense from his next words. "There has been a vampire sighting recently of a young woman, about your age. This vampire is quite peculiar, she doesn't attack the humans merely observing them, often times blending in with the crowd. She acts like its her first time being here, and it probably is."

Simon took something out from his inner pocket, it was a picture of a young woman with silver hair and snow like skin. "This vampire is different from the others, she have dark eyes instead of crimson, this is why it is easy for her to blend in with the crowd."

"Your mission is to successfully capture this vampire and perhaps we can make a deal. If everything goes well we will plant a mole in their kingdom, and this girl is the key to our plans."

I listened quietly to Simon, my eyes glued on the woman's picture, she oddly resembled someone.

Not long after that, Simon left with a few reminders and things that we should do for the mission. Leah gritted her teeth while glaring at the door where Professor had previously left.

"This is all just pure bullshit. Treaty with the vampires? Really?" Leah wasn't able to hold it in any longer and lashed out.

"What makes him think that there are good vampires out there? They are all just a bunch of bloodsuckers anyways! Those monsters doesn't even know the word compassion!" She paced out back and fort.

"But don't you think this vampire look a little different from the others?" Cyrus asked as he held the picture in the air.

Leah's obvious dislike for the vampires was evident on her face as she scoffed at the picture. "I doubt it, in the end they are all the same anyways."

I pursed my lips. I don't think vampires were all bad, it wasn't fair to label them all in the same category just because some of their fellow vampires attacked us, if Simon's theory was true, of course. But I didn't really have any say in the matter, for I wasn't personally victimized by the vampires so I have no right to disregard Leah's anger or anyone else's.

"So what are we gonna do about the mission?" I questioned when Leah seemed to calm down for moment.

She sighed, no matter how against she was with Simon's idea she was still the leader of our group, therefore she has to set aside her personal feelings and act rationally for the mission. "We don't know how accurate the reports are, so for now we should observe her for a while."

"I'll set up two teams to tail on her for a few days." She pointed towards me and Cyrus.

"Cain will follow her in the morning while Cyrus is after dark. Be on stand by while the other person follows. Sam and Luis on the next day. Is that cool with you two?"

I nodded my head.

"Cain and I will have it covered!"

After that, Leah said she'll inform both Luis and Sam about the mission while I retired back to my room.

I was feeling a little uneasy about the mission. It has been quite a few weeks since our group received any missions, and that was due to our poor performance. The Hunter Organization was made by the government after the frequent attacks of the vampires. They had to take quick actions against these enemies so they commissioned well known mercenary from the black market and soldiers from the military.

After that, people who were to victims to the attacks started gathering, and the organization recruited them. Orphans who had nowhere to go to where entered in the Hunters Special Program where they trained the next generation to be Vampire Hunters.

The hunters were classified into groups. In my case, I belonged to Leah's group. Unfortunately we are at the very bottom of the roup ranking due to our continuos failed missions. The better you perform your duties, the higher danger risk are given, and that means higher rewards.

The reason why we aren't discriminated that bad at the organization yet is because of Professor Simon, the head of the Vampire Research Investigation took us under his protection. Not only that but Luis and Samantha were personally taking part in the research when they aren't in missions.

Add the part where Simon is my legal guardian in there too.

I was always at the center of envy in the organization due to the fact that he was my guardian. The VRI department is where our weapons against the vampires were being made. Naturally, everyone thinks I've got first dibs on the newly made weapons just because I have connection.

Oddly enough, I was the only one here in this whole place couldn't use a cetas — weapons that are made from a vampire's core, or in other words, their heart.

No matter what I do, I didn't have any affinity with the cetas. Simon once joked around that maybe I was light, and since vampires are dark creatures I didn't have any compatibility with their heart.

When I try to use any type of cetas, my hands always get blisters from the burn. The cetas were extremely hot in my hands, but when I asked Cyrus and the others how they can use their cetas without getting burned, they had said that cetas weren't supposed to burn you and that it should feel like a normal weapon.

So the problem was definitely from me, not only that I couldn't even synchronize with the cetas. Since cetas are a vampire's core, what resides in it are naturally their affinity since they were born. But I couldn't even control any of those.

Besides my strange partnership with the cetas, I heal unusually fast too. Whenever I get wounded, it wouldn't even last a second until the wound has closed up.

I let out a sigh as I fell back on the bed. I couldn't continue like this, there was so many defaults when it comes to me. At this point our team could land in serious trouble if I didn't get my shit together. That's why, for the mission tomorrow I would make sure of our success no matter what happens.

It was the least I could do for everyone.

The next day, I pulled my hood over my head as I followed the woman with silver hair at the mall. If I didn't know any better I would've mistaken her for a human. Her mannerism over all was very elegant, in human standards she would've been the daughter of a very rich businessman. She blended in with the people very easily, even waving back at the child who had called her a pretty princess while passing by.

I often caught myself staring whenever her lips raised into a smile. Lucky for me, I was alone so I could suffer in embarrassment on my own. If Cyrus was here he would've teased me nonstop for having a silly crush. Leah would probably chastise me for falling for their trap, while saying that it was probably another trick up their sleeves.

But I knew it wasn't like that, my admiration was mostly a passing moment. I haven't forgotten the fact that she was an enemy and that she was extremely beautiful.

I can feel my cheeks warming up when I noticed where my thoughts were going once again. When I glanced back at her, she had sat down on the bench. Fingers pushing back silver strands behind her ears as she silently chuckled to herself, as if finding something extremely funny.

I snapped my eyes away when I felt small hands pulling at my pants. When I looked down, a little girl with big amethyst eyes were looking up at me. "Mister, can you help me?"

My heart melted in an instant, I was weak against children.

"What can I help you with?" I knelt down near her level so she could face me without straining her neck.

"I lost my big brother. Help me find him."

I was torn on what to do, I want to help her but I'm in a middle of a mission, I couldn't go back on my words last night after swearing I'll make sure the mission was a success. I glanced sideways towards the woman's direction, my eyes widened when I couldn't see her from where she sat earlier. Panic immediately creeped in when I couldn't find her. Shit, did I lost sight of the target a few hours into the mission? What about our success?

"Mister?" The girl called out again.

I sighed, no matter how important it was to caught sight of the target again, I couldn't just leave her here.

"Where did you last saw your brother?" I asked gently.

"Near the park."

I silently shed tears in my head, I'm sorry Leah, it seems like I'll ruin our missions again. I promise I'll make it up to you.

"Well then, what's your name?"

"Almira."

"Take my hand, Almira. So you wouldn't get lost again and let's find your brother together."

Amira nodded her head and reached out for my hand when someone suddenly held her wrist. "Oh no, little girl. You shouldn't follow anyone you don't know that easily. Didn't your brother taught you not to follow strangers?"

I almost jumped off my skin when I realized the person I was tailing earlier was suddenly in front of me. I stood there, frozen in shock as her silver hair fluttered, her dark midnight eyes connected with mine. An amused smirk on her red lips.

"This sister is worried about your safety, so I will come along until you meet your brother. To make sure this big brother doesn't do anything bad."

I paled at her words, I suddenly remembered the little girl Almira and how her wrist was still in the woman's hands. This person was a vampire, the embodiment of danger and Almira was exposed to the risk of the vampire attacking her.

I'm now caught in this dilemma, in front of me was the strange vampire who can easily pass as a human, other than that she hadn't shown any signs of attacking yet. I didn't know when she'll change her behavior, other than that I couldn't even use my cetas at its best, I doubt I'd win against a vampire without my teammates.

On the other hand, accompanying Almira with the vampire was also a win win situation for me. I could observe her more closely and know more valuable information about her. Other than that, Simon also said that he wanted to form a contract with one of the Vampire's faction. Depending on this woman's personality I can figure out if there was any chance for bargain.

"What do you say, Mister?" She smiled knowingly, as if she knew what was going on inside my head.

I reluctantly nodded my head. I glanced towards Almira, "The pretty miss will also help you find your brother. If anything happens I will protect you."

The vampire probably knew it was a threat to her, she couldn't have approached me without any ulterior motive. Damn it, when did she find out I was tailing her?

The woman's smile widened at my words, what the hell was so amusing?

Almira was a little confused by what I said but nevertheless held both our hand. We guided her together outside the mall towards the back where she last saw her brother. We walked around for a while, with me being hyper alert by the person near me.

The sun has almost set and we still didn't caught any sight of Almira's brother. She was getting tired so we sat down by the bench. Over all, the vampire didn't try any malicious act and acted perfectly fine like a human that she almost fooled me a couple of times.

Almira leaned her head on the vampire's arm, making me tense as she fell asleep. This innocent soul didn't know she was leaning against a vampire who sucked blood to survive, and the woman didn't even bat an eye towards Almira. I sat there stiffly not knowing what to do, the little girl can be the vampire's hostage against me but on the other hand it was what was keeping her in place.

"What business do you have with me? You've been following me since early morning."

I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes. "You know why."

"Is it because I'm a vampire?"

I stared at her with shock, this woman had openly admitted that she was a vampire. Didn't she know she can get caught by what she's doing?!

The woman looked surprise with my reaction, she then later on let out a laugh as if I was amusing to her. Her laughter made me feel embarrassed and I looked away. I was reminded once again about this woman's ethereal beauty despite being a vampire. I don't think any human can compare to her.

"You can relax. I've never attacked humans nor drank their blood before. I'm not here to cause havoc."

I raised my brow at her, "Then why are you here for?"

"To investigate the sudden cause of vampires attacking humanity."

"Why?" I questioned, my voice skeptical.

She grinned as if she totally expected me to not believe her words. "If you answer one of my questions I'll answer one of yours." She offered, her midnight eyes strangely bright.

I considered it for a second, it wasn't a bad offer, and a part of our mission was to gain information. Besides, if I can understand this vampire better I might be able to figure her out, and gain her trust at the mean time so we can capture her easily.

"I'll answer depending on your question."

She shrugged, as if it didn't matter. "What's your name?" The vampire asked with curious eyes.

I looked at her weirdly. Why was she asking the most dumb questions? She could've been asking about important details as if why I knew she was a vampire and other matters. Yet, she wanted to know my name?

Nevertheless, I answered. It wasn't my lose anyways. "I'm Cain."

"Cain." She tested it out on her lips a few times, and then, she smiled brightly that I was blinded. "It's a pretty name. I'll remember it well."

I shook my head so I wouldn't get distracted from what's important. "Now answer my question. Are you and the vampires thats been attacking us working together?"

"I told you, I was here to investigate why the other vampires were attacking this side. I'm under a royal order to put a stop to it."

"So someone from your side has ordered to stop the attacks? Why now? Why didn't you do it earlier? Five years has passed since the attacks started so why are your side taking action at this time?"

"Woah, woah." She shook her hands no, "One question at a time Cain. I've already answered one of yours. If you want to know more then perhaps the next time we meet I'll tell you."

In an instant she launched herself towards me, I flinched away and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact, but it never came. When I opened my eyes silver smoke remained and no trace of the woman was left as if she was never here in the first place.

I clicked my tongue, dissatisfied. Nevertheless, I had gotten relevant information for the organization. One thing was for sure. The vampire earlier and the vampire attacks didn't have any connection, so Simon's guess was probably right.

It was important to find that vampire and talk to her again.

While I was walking with Almira towards a restaurant to buy her dinner, we had encountered her older brother who has been worried sick for her.

Later that night, all I could think about was silver strands and dark midnight eyes.

It was around noon when I finally woke up. I rolled around in my bed for a few more minutes. My mind drifting back to my dreams full of silver hair, fluttering lashes with deep darkness and knowing eyes that pulls you in...alluring smile that makes your heart skip a beat. I realized once again that I was thinking of that woman.

I can feel my cheeks warming. I shoved my face into my pillow. I should stop thinking of her, she is our enemy.

But is she really?

She had mentioned that she was under a royal order to investigate about the vampire attacks, but the timing was too weird.

I ruffled my shoulder length hair, this was too much thinking from me this early in the morning. I tied my hair up and got myself ready for the day, when I walked out of my room , down the stairs I went.

"Good morning." I greeted Cyrus who was sitting at the table, his attention was at the screen before him.

I prepared myself a glass of milk, "Are you on watch duty today?"

"Yeah since no one trust you to get the job done, so you're on errand run today. The list is over here."

"Any update about the woman?"

"Leah is at Simon's lab right now discussing the audio record we got yesterday about your conversation. She said to continue to observe the vampire for now."

"She knows we're after her tracks anyways. She even purposely showed you where she was staying last night. Is she trying to gain our trust?" I pondered as I gulped down my milk.

Cyrus shrugged, "I don't know, but she's definitely showing us that she's not harmless."

"Well anyways, contact me if something came up. I'm gonna finish this errand so I can roll around all day."

Cyrus bid me goodbye and I was already out the door in an instant. I walked towards the opposite way from the mall yesterday. Luis and Sam might be over there and the target right now. Better to not get in their way.

The young woman hummed to herself as she walked around with a skip to her step. She has been enjoying her stay here in the human world for a while now. She grinned to herself, glad that she had caused so much ruckus back at the vampire world that the crown prince had no choice but to give her this case as punishment.

Little did they know her punishment was total paradise for her. She had learned and saw many things here in this world that it had erased her boredom - the cause of her mischievousness. It was such a shame that other vampires was trying to destroy this world.

She didn't even try drinking human blood no matter how curious she was of its taste. The smell they give off reminded her of the wisteria from back home. Wisteria was a special plant in the demon world that sustains vampire thirst. With it they didn't even need to drink blood.

Blood drinking had already become a different custom for the vampires. To them, you can only drink the blood of your intended as it strengthen your bond and affinity.

The vampire world had been peaceful ever since the King made that pact with the Goddess Alina. There was no need for a power struggle so why was these vampires over here causing havoc when they shouldn't have been able to cross the border unless they where with a noble house.

The woman decided that she will tell the crown prince about a possible traitor in thier midst once she comes back.

She tilted her head to the side, knowing that a person had been following her all this time. She glanced briefly at the woman with long brown locks with glasses as she pretends to read a book.

She could smell blood coming off of her.

However' she shrugged. It wasn't any of her business. She was quite disappointed that the person tailing her today wasn't the young man from yesterday. She had been looking forward playing with him today.

"Oh well, no use parading myself here when you aren't around. Guess I'll just look for you."

The vampire disappeared in a flash of smoke, she wanted to see that person's facial expressions again. He was too open, unlike the people from court.

Sam stood up immediately when the woman was no longer in sight. They had lost their target once again. The vampire that they are dealing with was quite slippery unlike the other ones.

I said thanks to the waitress as she placed my food on the table. I had already finished buying the errands for the house and merely taking my break now since I had nothing to do.

Scooping a spoonful of chocolate ice cream in my mouth, I thought of what to do these upcoming days. I still had my cetas problem so I have to come up with a new solution to my problem. Being a hunter required using the cetas. You can't kill a vampire with ordinary weapons, so that was a no for me. Cetas was the only weapons developed right now that can destroy vampires, so how can I continue being a hunter if I couldn't even use a cetas?

"What's with the frown?" Silver hair fell in front of me, I raised my head, my eyes meeting with smiling midnight eyes.

"Hughk!" I chocked on my ice cream. Am I dreaming right now? What was this person doing here? Why was she here?

She chuckled at my response and sat herself down in front of me. "Is this good?" She pointed at my bowl of ice cream."I guess it is, if you're eating it."

While frozen in shock she grabbed my spoon from my hands and helped herself with a spoonful. Her eyes sparkled, "Woah, what is this? Its so cold and sweet at the same time!" She said in awe, the woman pulled my bowl of ice cream towards her while getting another bite.

"You..! Doing this so suddenly!"

I can feel my face bursting red with embarrassment. How could this person be so shameful?! I just used that spoon! And... And she..!

"Hmm? You're all red, are you sick?" She asked shamelessly while still using my spoon.

I couldn't hold the embarrassment any longer and changed the topic. If she was acting like it was no big deal then I'll do that too!

"What are you doing here!"

"The person tailing me wasn't you today so I ditched them and looked for you."

I crossed my arms, "Why are you looking for me?"

She scoffed, "Do I need a reason to look for you? I'm here because you're Cain."

I glared at her, "Do I even know you? Besides, you only know my name and we are enemies."

She raised her brow at me, "And who decided that?" She sighed, "Look here, I have nothing to do with the attacks that's been happening on this world. For starters, vampires shouldn't be able to cross the border and yet some of them are over here." She frowned, as if she was dealing with misbehaved kids.

I eyed her suspiciously, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Hmm? Its because you're not wearing that strange device today." She pointed at my earlobe.

My hand shot up, I didn't wear the earrings that Luis made today since I didn't think I would need it while doing errands. Wait a minute, does that mean she knew our conversation was being recorded yesterday?

"Why are you doing this?"

She leaned back on her chair, "The same reason you're tailing me. You need information right? And I need to get to drag the vampires back in our world and permanently seal off the border."

"What's the border?"

"The wall between this world and that world. Only vampires from nobility can access the gate, so either one of the nobles are behind this act or that a portion of the border has been broken. Other than that there's no vampire who can come and go as they please."

"Is that why the vampires only started causing havoc until five years ago?"

"Five years huh? So that's how long they've been doing these." She crossed her arms, "I seriously had no idea about what has been happening here, and for that I deeply apologize for the chaos my brethren has caused."

"How can I trust your words?"

"Your hostility against me is quite troublesome." She sighed, "What about a contract between you and me?"

"What kind of contract?"

"Have you ever heard of the words, 'real name'? Unlike here, a vampire's true name are their weakness. A person who knows the real name of a vampire will have complete control over them, no matter what they do nor actions they take, it all comes down to the person who has them bind."

"Didn't you know? Humans used to capture vampires as slaves, their true names are their shackles since they can't oppose the people who have their name. The vampires hated slavery of course, but before they could aim for violence the Goddess Alina appeared."

I unconsciously leaned forward, eager to know more about the vampires history.

She grinned knowingly, "Are you interested?"

I cleared my throat and moved back, embarrassed that I forgot who this person was for a second.

"What I said are true, by the way. The story wasn't made up either, it is the official history of the vampire world. I can even bring back a book from the other side here if you like."

"So what's the contract you were talking about?"

Her gaze turned serious. "I'll give you my true name, in exchange you will help me join the organization you belong to."

I stood up, bewildered. "Are you crazy?!"

She ignored my shout and finished my dessert on the table. "Calm down."

I briefly looked around and realized the customers were all staring at me. I immediately bowed my head and apologized for the disturbance.

"You can't join our organization."

"Why not?"

Midnight eyes connected with mine. "It's a vampire hunter organization. We kill vampires for a living."

She hummed, "So that's how far the vampires have affected the people here, huh?"

"And besides, I can't trust you."

"Even if I give you my name?"

"No, I don't want to know."

She tilted her head, silver hair fell over her shoulders. "Don't you want to know wether my words are true or not?"

"True or false, I don't want to take over someone's freedom by binding them with their name. Besides, a person's name is something that is given to you, it is special and something that is yours alone. I don't think that its fair that someone can decide over your existence by giving them something important."

Dark midnight eyes widened for a second. Her luscious lips then curled up into a smile. "Hmm, I think I like you more than I thought." She murmured as if confirming something for herself.

"Alright, then I'll find a way for you to trust me. Personally, I think everything would be much easier for the both of us if you agreed right away, but it seems you're more cautious than you look."

Of course it would be easier for both parties, however I couldn't trust her that easily. Our goal was to capture this vampire and get her on our side to gain more information about their world. But the timing was too suspicious, this woman was still a vampire, and she was willingly cooperating with us. I don't want to risk my teammates safety by bringing her in without considering the pros and cons.

"Meet me at the bench from yesterday tonight. I'll give you the book about vampires. You can decide what to do from there. I'll give you a month to consider my offer, if you still haven't agreed by then, I will take matters into my own hands." She stood up, preparing to leave as she told me her conditions.

Her upper body moved forward, leaning towards me with the table separating us. Silver hair tickled my cheeks as she whispered something in my ear.

"A little warning though, I am quite the troublemaker back in my world. You wouldn't want me causing problems, do you?"

Before I could register what happened she was already out of sight. Leaving a fresh smell of wisteria in her path.

Later that day, I didn't have the time to tell the team about what happened earlier about the vampire we were chasing. As soon as I entered, the room was full of energy.

"Where have you been?" Luis scowled at me over the screen of his computer.

I quickly stepped aside when Leah almost bumped into me as she moved around the place in a hurry.

"We completely lost the target." Sam sighed, snapping my attention back to them.

"About that-"

"What are you doing?" Leah snapped as she rounded around the corner of the coffee table carrying a bunch of papers. "Go get ready, we're going out on a mission."

My eyes widened, "What? Why so sudden?"

"We were included in the raid last minute. Jade will have us on standby just in case things go south." Sam explained, "We are also under strict orders not to intervene."

I nodded my head, that was understandable. I quickly climbed up the stairs towards my room to change. I wore our black uniform specially made for vampire raids, one of the products released under Simon. The cloth was very durable and prone to getting ripped, he often called it vampire proof.

I tied my hair back, making sure it didn't get in the way. I passed by the dresser where I placed my cetas. I agonized over whether to bring it along with me or not. For starters it was completely useless with me, and not only that I have a record of causing trouble whenever I tried to use it.

I sighed and stashed it away in my person. I have to bring it with me anyways, what kind of hunter are you if you can't even use a cetas.

Not long after, the team and I gathered around the Headquarters. We were at the far back due to our group's low status. I saw a few hunters snickering at us but I paid them no mind. It used to affect me but seeing Leah raise her head high and stand her ground definitely gave me courage.

"Listen up!" Jade called for everyone's attention. "The 8th ward raid is something we've been preparing for months. I won't tolerate any failures. Marcus' team will be at the center of the raid. We will support them from the sidelines." He gave all of us a stern glance before ordering to move out.

The raid had six teams working together including us, we remained behind as the other teams started moving for the bus.

Since we had both Luis and Sam on our team, we are naturally moving along with the monitoring team under Jade. Those two's combined minds were no joke.

Jade stopped in front of me, "Stay back and don't do anything stupid. The mission will be over before you know it so you don't really have to participate."

He patted my shoulder, consoling me. I was once again reminded of how incompetent I am as a hunter. I took a deep breath to calm myself. There was no point with getting myself worked up.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the 8th ward. Everyone stealthily surrounded the area. The warehouse in front of us belonged to one of the most successful businessmen, you wouldn't really expect them to take vampires under their wings.

Leah, Cyrus and I stood outside the van to look out while Jade, Luis and Sam remained inside to monitor each team's movements.

Marcus was leading the operation so nothing bad should happen.

"Target found."

I heard Marcus' voice from the earrings that I wore. It was the organization's way of communicating efficiently without anything getting in the way and to fight without worry. An earring wouldn't be too suspicious either.

"Commence operation." Jade ordered through the earpiece, the other teams moved quickly without hesitation.

I looked up at the fool moon in the sky, tonight is going to be a long night.

The woman swung her feet back and forth on the bench as she waited for someone. She didn't know if he'd actually show up to get the book that she had promised. She sighed as the swinging stopped, leaning back she glanced at the dark sky.

"Guess he's not showing up."

She closed her eyes as the cold wind blew past her, rustling her silver hair back. She sniffed the air as she smelt something familiar.

The woman slowly opened her eyes as her lips lifted into a smirk. "Now this is the smell I'll never forget. What are a bunch of vampires huddled together doing over there?"

She stood up and brushed the nonexistent wrinkles on her dress. "Guess it's worth checking out since he's not here anyways."

In a blink of an eye the woman disappeared, on where she stood was the remnants of mist in her wake.

The woman jumped over buildings as high as she could, a grin on her face. It was fun moving around like this, it reminded her of her childhood where she used to jump over trees while sneaking out on her lessons.

She stopped at the rooftop of one of the buildings outside the place where vampires were gathered. She frowned when she saw movement around the surrounding forest, she smelt two strange scents.

One was the odd smell of wisteria coming from the humans moving below her and one was the sweet and alluring scent of the man she was waiting for earlier.

"So you were here..." She murmured under her breath.

The woman moved to sit at the edge as she watched what the humans were planning to do.

The Vampire Hunter Organization was a group of people who were after the vampires attacking this world. It was truly an amazing fit that they were able to hold out against a vampire on their own without having any affinity. But the question is, how were they able to do it?

How could humans kill a vampire?

She crossed her legs and rested her chin at the back of her hand, for now she'll observe how these hunters 'hunt' a vampire. Both groups were suspicious to her, that's why she wanted to infiltrate the hunters while cooperating to deal with the other vampires at the same time.

She sighed internally, 'Are you seeing this crown prince? I'm working so hard for your cause.'

Her head perked up when more vampires arrived in the scene, and one of them specially stood out among the rest. This vampire didn't have the smell of wisteria but something else.

Something dark and sinister.

The humans beneath her started moving without noticing the arrival of other vampires. They moved in groups, the first team to enter immediately overwhelmed the surprised vampires inside. The woman noted the strong individuals of that group, next she looked closely at the weapons in their hands.

'So that's how you were able to kill one of us.'

She finally figured out where the strange smell was coming from. It was the hearts of vampires that they were using to kill other vampires.

The woman pursed her lips, upset that a vampire's corpse was being used in that way. It was disrespectful to the deceased to be used like that after death, especially when it was the hearts that the humans were using.

A vampire's heart was the core of their very being and affinity.

It surprised her that these humans were able to use the dormant affinities in the hearts. Once a vampire has died, their powers die along with them, yet these people were using those powers without problems.

It seemed like the hunter organization was more dangerous than she thought.

Soon after, a group of people started coming in and destroyed the vampires, unaware of the awaiting ambush for them. It wasn't long till the odd one moved and faced off with the first group of humans.

The odd vampire's movements were completely different from the ones she was used to, there was no doubt about it, something strange was going on at this side too. They were unnaturally strong for an average vampire, coming close with those who had natural affinities. Although without a doubt, she was still stronger.

It didn't take long for the humans to realize that there were more vampires than they thought, and that the odd one had completely overwhelmed the first group leading the attack. The strongest of the humans were injured by an unexpected attack. The odd one took the opportunity to launch itself towards the faltering human and bit his arm, drinking his blood.

The woman touched her throat, gulping at the sight of blood. She had this sudden desire to taste blood like those vampires, wondering what was so good about it for a second.

She shook her head to snap herself from getting distracted. The humans simultaneously attacked the odd one but he showed no signs of budging from the human he was drinking from.

A sudden movement from the corner of her eyes caught her attention, three humans were moving out towards the direction of the odd vampire. She was surprised to see Cain being one of those people.

Her brows furrowed, he shouldn't go there, the odd vampire was too strong for them to handle. He will definitely get hurt if he continues forward.

Not liking that thought, the vampire moved from her spot.

The raid had been going well until a moment ago until a sudden news of other batch vampires appeared, changing the approximate numbers for the raid. Marcus' team had encountered a vampire that was out of our expectations and was in immediate danger.

Jade had immediately ordered a retreat but Marcus' team was suddenly caught in a dilemma, they couldn't move away that easily with the vampires on their way.

I tensed when I heard the other hunters panicking over the earpiece, something dangerous had happened over their side.

"Shit!" Jade cursed. "Marcus is being held by a vampire, if we don't do anything he's gonna suck him dry!"

"Send out my team to rescue Marcus," Luis suddenly said. "They're good at protecting they won't **** this up."

Cyrus and I glanced at each other. Leah nodded with encouragement. "We can do it."

Jade sighed, "There's nothing I can do in this situation anyways. Immediately rescue Marcus and order the other teams to retreat. This operation was way more than we can handle."

Leah was the one on the lead as we ran after her, sweat dripped down my face, feeling anxious if we could really rescue the other teams in this situation.

A loud explosion caught our attention, the top of the warehouse was destroyed as smoke filled in. We quickened our pace, nervous that something out of our league had happened. 

I stopped on my tracks once we were in, the ground was covered in blood from the obvious fight that broke out with the hunters and vampires. Majority of the motionless bodies on the ground were from the vampire's side. Thankfully, none of the other hunters were injured that badly apart from minor scratches.

Amidst all of this, there was a woman at the center wearing a purple dress. Her long white hair fluttered behind her back, her slender arm raised above her head as she held someone high in the air by the neck. My breath caught over my throat as the man struggled in her grasp, blood smudged on the side of his lips as if he had been drinking.

“It's Marcus!” Cyrus pointed towards the limp man on the floor beside the woman. Her palm clutched at the back of his uniform. Marcus looked extremely pale, he had lost a lot of blood and his arm was still bleeding heavily to the point that he had passed out.

The woman turned her gaze towards us, without letting go of the vampire she threw Marcus towards our direction, Cyrus immediately caught him in his arms.  

“What..?” Leah glanced back and forth towards the woman whose face was covered in white mask and towards Marcus. What was going on? Why was this person going against a vampire? She was obviously not a hunter...perhaps she’s one of them? Why were they fighting each other?

More vampires started pouring in, all of them showing clear hostility to the intruders. “How dare you..!” One of the vampires moved forward, his red eyes glaring at the woman.

The woman barely glanced at the vampire, she tightened her hand around the struggling man’s neck as they both looked down on eachother. The man wrapped his hand on the slender arm, her sapphire eyes widened behind the mask, in a second the man was flying away from her. I winced when the man bounced a couple of times from the hard throw before managing to get a hold of himself.

He slowly stood up, wiping the blood on his mouth. The man’s eyes were dull red, strangely different from other vampire eyes. 

The woman silently stared at her arm. “I see now…”

My head shot up towards her direction. That voice..! There was no mistaking it, it was the voice of the vampire I had been talking to earlier. Why was she here? And why does her appearance look different?

“I was originally just going to watch...but after seeing revelations one after another I can’t let this be.” Her blue eyes slithered towards me, explaining why she was here. She raised her arm and licked the purple liquid dripping down from where she was grabbed earlier. “...Poison.”

The vampire from earlier moved forward once again, “Who do you think you are? Do you seriously think you can handle a pack of vampires on your own?” The man boasted, blatantly looking down at the woman. He then turned his head towards us. “I’ll be making sure you puny humans won’t leave this place alive. This will teach you a lesson not to go against an enemy out of your caliber.” He laughed maniacally.

The woman called out to him, amused by his words. “Who will be teaching who now?”

Before any of us could see what happened, blood burst out of every vampire in the area, their chest pierced with sharp icicles of ice, the crimson color trailed down the blue spear. “W-What..?” The man stared at his chest with bewildered eyes, coughing up blood.

Leah took a few steps back. “Shit!”

“What’s going on?!” Luis inquired worriedly.

“A vampire with a different kind of affinity had appeared! She killed every vampire in an instant!” Leah shakingly reported under her breath.

The vampire with dull red eyes narrowly missed the icicle that came for him. “This… a Celeste?” His eyes shook while staring at the woman.

“Hmm? I’m surprised you know, considering you're an artificial vampire.”

An artificial vampire?

“I wonder who told you that? Well, it doesn't matter since I’ll be capturing you.” She shrugged as if it was just a passing matter. “But before that…”, she turned towards us, and in an instant a snowstorm came crushing in our direction. 

“I need to get rid of you lot.”