Dull Red Eyes

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.”

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