Lipton was about to open his mouth again, but Ken didn’t have the patience to listen to him anymore. He sprang forward and pounced on Lipton, causing both of them to tumble onto the ground, each one of them struggling to shove the other one aside.
Using all his supernatural might, Ken tried to pin Lipton to the ground, but Lipton was able to shove Ken aside when he elevated himself by arching his wings open, causing them to burst out like an umbrella. The impact threw Ken off Lipton’s body, but that didn’t stop Ken for long. Ken regained his footing as quick as lightning, and zoomed toward Lipton, and clawed at him, slicing Lipton’s flesh and lacerating him.
Lipton leapt forward with a sudden force, with the thrust of his wings, and crashed against Ken, causing both of them to roll onto the ground once again, clawing at each other, and landing punches at the same time. Lipton tugged hard at Ken’s hair, trying to get Ken’s fangs as far away from his neck as possible. But Ken shoved Lipton’s hand aside, trying to sink his fangs into Lipton’s arm.
Lipton realized that Ken’s extraordinary newborn vampire strength was overpowering him, and Lipton had to do something before Ken had the chance to sink his fangs.
Lipton could feel Ken’s newborn supernatural energy emanating from him. Ken had such much energy within him that it was driving him wild, insane. Maybe all Lipton had to do now was to absorb some of that energy, or maybe all of it … to quell the overwhelming energy fueling Ken with wild intensity.
Lipton conjured up the waves of supernatural energy from within, and felt them radiating across him, empowering him, bracing him for the magical absorption. As he was struggling in a fierce battle against Ken, Lipton used all his mental strength to focus on absorbing Ken’s energy. Ken occasionally landed punches at Lipton, hurting him … but Lipton had to used all his willpower not to let the pain affect his focus. He’d done magical absorption before, so it shouldn’t be too hard.
Lipton started to feel stronger, and stronger, and he knew that it was working. Ken’s energy was slowly draining away, seeping into Lipton’s body and fueling Lipton’s strength. Lipton could feel Ken straining with much more effort than before as he tried to strike Lipton with his arms, but they did minimal damage to Lipton, and Lipton didn’t feel the pain at all. Lipton had absorbed Ken’s energy, weakening Ken and making him as frail as a wounded animal. Ken grunted in agony as he struggled to inflict more pain on Lipton, but Lipton restrained Ken by grabbing both his wrists, and shoved him aside, causing Ken to tumble sideways like a limp animal.
“What’s happening to me?” Ken shrieked, writhing slowly on the ground, as if his energy had been drained away. “Why do I feel … weak? What’s happening?”
Equipped with more strength than before, Lipton felt like he could move every single tree in the forest with his bare hands. He felt so mighty and powerful, as though he could just fly and shoot past the stratosphere and into space. The tremendous amount of energy that was flowing through him in fiery waves boosted Lipton’s strength, making him want to just fly around the world at high speed for as long as he had the energy in him. It was making him feel delirious, but Lipton was mentally aware of what was happening to him and was not going not get carried away with the sudden boost of strength. He knew that the super strength he was feeling at that moment would fade away sooner or later, so it wasn’t permanent.
Lipton turned to face Ken, who was lying helplessly on the ground like a dead fish. It hurt him to see him like this, and all Lipton wanted to do was to reach out to him and help him with his transformation as a vampire. Lipton wondered if Jesse even knew that her own husband had been turned into a vampire. But for now, he was going to help Ken and bring him back to Jesse, who would help him adapt to his new vampire lifestyle.
Lipton flapped his wings and drifted over to Ken in a single float, and landed right beside his body. Ken was too weak to even get back to his feet. All he could do was to whimper in a sickeningly weak voice as he wriggled around like a worm.
“Help me…” Ken moaned, twisting around. “I feel so weak.”
“Here, let me help you,” Lipton offered, and held his hand out. When Ken reached out for it, Lipton heaved Ken back up to his feet and draped one arm around Ken firmly so Ken wouldn’t stumble and fall.
“I’m going to bring you back to your wife, OK?” Lipton murmured gently, glancing at Ken, whose eyes were closed as if he was too tired to open them.
Ken could only nod, as if he didn’t even have the energy now to respond.
Lipton felt guilt tug his heart for doing this to Ken. Lipton had absorbed Ken’s energy in seconds, leaving Ken completely helpless and weak. But Lipton knew that he had to absorb Ken’s energy, or else Ken would continue in his wild rampage to attack him and suck his blood.
Lipton’s wings opened in a wide arc, and he was ready to launch into the air with Ken clutched tightly in his arms. Lipton drifted up as his wings flapped, and he zoomed past the trees again, cautiously keeping Ken in his firm grip so he wouldn’t slip and fall. Lipton maneuvered all the way back to the tree top where he’d asked Kalista to stay put.
When he zigzagged through the sturdy branches and up to the nest, he was shocked to discover that Kalista wasn’t inside the nest at all!
12. Lost And Found
Where had Kalista gone to?
Panic gripped Lipton’s heart, sending his heart pounding like heavy drums. What had happened to Kalista? Did she leave out of her own accord? Or did somebody get to her first and take her away? Questions pounded inside Lipton’s mind, and he tried to rationalize, but he was far from being rational now that Kalista was gone. He was so racked with guilt and fear that he had no idea what to do at that moment. Kalista could be in deep danger at that moment … or maybe not. Maybe she really had left at her own will and was probably looking for Lipton. Lipton prayed hard that Kalista did the latter because of her obstinate characteristic.
Lipton landed in one swoop and carefully set Ken in the nest. His initial plan was to send Ken home to Jesse … but now it seemed that the plan had changed. His top priority now was to look for Kalista.
Lipton glanced at Ken, who was now lying soundly in the nest. He was probably so drained and exhausted that he’d collapsed into a heavy sleep.
Lipton decided to leave Ken there and then come back for him again when he’d found Kalista.
Lipton swept through the air again once more, doing an aerial surveillance, hoping to catch any signs of Kalista below. He swooped below the canopies for a better view, hoping that Kalista had not roamed too far from the vicinity.
Where are you, Kalista? Lipton demanded, anger bubbling inside him for even thinking of leaving Kalista alone in the nest in the first place.
Minutes ticked by, and later it became hours. Lipton had been circling around in the vast forest … but there were still no signs of Kalista anywhere.
He realized that if he didn’t look for Kalista soon enough, dusk would fall, and gradually envelop the forest in darkness, making the search more difficult. Lipton hoped that he would be able to find Kalista before night fell.
Even though Lipton had searched for hours and hours, he didn’t feel the slightest exhaustion. Thanks to the energy boost from the magical absorption, he was still mentally alert and physically strong for the task.
Lipton plummeted to one of the clearings of the forest, and stood there for a while, trying to figure out other alternatives of searching for Kalista. Although Lipton had searched high and low in the forest for her, he might have missed certain spots because the forest was a maze, camouflaged by overgrown trees and shrubs.
The smell of something fragrant interrupted Lipton’s train of thoughts, and he swirled around in the direction of the smell. A cluster of shrubs with nice-smelling colorful flowers came into view, and for once, Lipton was glad for that pleasant distraction from the whirlwind of worried thoughts that had gripped his mind.
An epiphany struck him, and Lipton’s face suddenly lit up.
Smell
. The word resonated inside Lipton’s mind. He remembered that he’d absorbed a large portion of Ken’s energy earlier. What if he had also absorbed some of his abilities too … which included scenting?
Lipton’s heart began to beat in anticipation, as he realized that he could scent like a vampire as long as the remnants of Ken’s energy were still flowing within him. Could he actually scent? If he could, it would be very helpful in locating Kalista.
Lipton lurched upward to the air with the sudden thrust of his wings. He floated in midair, and began to focus on one thing … his sense of smell. Lipton closed his eyes, and sniffed with his nose. How did vampires do it? How did they scent humans or whatever it was they were trying to scent?
Kalista was a human, so Lipton tried to focus on scenting anything human lurking in the forest. Lipton wasn’t sure exactly how humans smelled like to vampires, but at that critical moment of time, he had to resort to any measures he could to help him locate Kalista.
He sniffed once more, and a horrible stench assailed his nose, causing him to cringe and twist his face in disgust. What was that stench? Lipton realized that he had scented something from quite some distance away. Curiosity getting the best of him, Lipton followed the trail of the stench, flying past thorny shrubs which he cautiously avoided.
About a mile away, he stumbled upon the source of the stench. It was the carcass of a dead wild boar, which was covered in blood. It looked like it had been attacked by a vampire.
Lipton realized that he was able to scent something from as far as a mile away, and mentally patted himself for his first effort in scenting. Now he’d scented dead animals, he was going to shift his focus on scenting humans … particularly a human named Kalista.
Lipton was getting the hang of it, slowly unraveling the ability of scenting. He just had to focus on how to scent a human, and he was going to do whatever it took to scent Kalista.
Lipton sailed through the air again, scenting as he flew. Flying while he scented would make the effort of finding Kalista much more faster, instead of scenting from the same spot all the time. He sniffed, trying to scent for anything that could pass off as human smell.
Come on! Lipton urged himself. You can do it. The waves of various smells assailed his nose as he scented, but most of those smells weren’t remotely as close to a human smell at all. Most of the smells he scented came from wild animals, or their carcasses lying randomly around the forest grounds.
Then, an overpowering stench attacked Lipton’s sense of smell. It was so overwhelming that it startled Lipton, causing him to convulse involuntarily in the air due to the impact of the horrendous smell. Lipton lost focus during his flight, and collided so hard against a tree trunk that he growled thunderously as the throbbing pain seared his body.
He collapsed onto the ground, blood oozing from his body. Lipton got back up to his feet, slowly recovering. He gasped when he saw that his body was slowly healing, as if by magic.
He then realized that the healing must have come from the healing ability of a vampire. Lipton did not only absorbed Ken’s energy, but also his healing ability as a vampire as well. Lipton watched as his bruises slowly faded, but not too fast enough. He then realized that his bruises didn’t heal at a faster rate like an average vampire because even though Lipton had absorbed some of Ken’s supernatural abilities, they were slowly fading away as absorbed energy couldn’t remain in another body for long. So Lipton was slowly losing the abilities but could still use them … just not at their fully powered form.
Lipton had never realized that by absorbing another supernatural being’s energy, he would also absorb their abilities as well. This was a revelation to him, and he kept a mental note of that in case he needed to borrow abilities from another supernatural being in times of emergencies in the future.
The stench had disappeared from his sense of smell as fast as it had appeared earlier. Lipton knew that he had automatically shut off his scenting ability during the unfortunate collision earlier on. He closed his eyes, and sniffed again. Immediately, the stench returned, pummeling his insides as the repulsiveness of the smell overwhelmed.
But Lipton had to find out what that smell was. It seemed to have a hint of human smell attached to it. As long as there was anything with human smell on it, Lipton would march on and find out what it was.
Lipton followed the trail of the stench, and eventually, he came upon a gruesome sight which drew a horrified gasp from his throat.
It was the dead body of a woman, which was under the shade of clustered brambles. No wonder Lipton couldn’t sight the dead body from above the sky earlier. It was concealed under the brambles, blocking his view.
Lipton approached the dead body for a close look. The woman was dressed in a teal blouse and a pair of light brown slacks, with her camping gear sitting right next to her. She was a random camper who must have been killed by a vampire. There was a bite mark on her neck, and Lipton instantly suspected that it was the work of Ken. The scream he had heard earlier on must have come from her, when she was screaming for her life as Ken fed on her.
Watching her lifeless body, Lipton was overwhelmed with waves of pity … but he was going to take care of her later and report her death to the authorities. For now, his main concern was finding Kalista. He hoped he would get to her before it was too late. He didn’t want to end up finding another dead body like he’d just done.
Lipton pounded through the woods, utilizing his sense of smell, sniffing for Kalista’s scent. He had smelled Kalista’s natural scent before, and he had to admit that he kind of liked it. Now that he possessed this supernatural scenting ability, he was going to magnify his sense of smell in order to locate Kalista.
He flew up into the air, weaving around the trees, clinging on to hope. He just had to look harder, and scent as far as his ability would let him. Several moments later, he scented something that seem to smell human, but he couldn’t be too sure. The smell seemed to overlap with another smell, making it hard to detect whether it was human smell. Lipton sniffed again, trying to determine where the smell came from. Realizing that it came from northwest, he swerved in that direction, flying as fast as his wings could take him.
Let it be Kalista this time, he prayed hard, and hoped for the best that Kalista was alive and well when he found her.
When he finally reached the source the smell, he saw two figures tangled around each other on the ground next to a small stream.
Without hesitation, Lipton zoomed toward the two figures at the highest speed he could muster, and landed right next to them.
Relief flooded him when he realized that one of the figures was Kalista. But his relief was immediately replaced with fear and panic when he saw that Kalista was helplessly pinned to the ground helplessly by another woman who seemed vaguely familiar.
But he wasn’t going to waste another second trying to recall where he had seen that woman before. Instinctively, he lurched toward them and shoved the woman aside, causing her to tumble sideways, groaning in frustration.
Her face etched with panic, Kalista choked and trembled, looking like she had difficulty breathing. The strange woman must have tried to strangle her. Lipton collapsed beside Kalista, and helped her get back to her feet.
“What happened?” Lipton asked, eyeing Kalista with deep concern, unaware that the woman had risen to her feet again and was going to pounce on him from behind.
Kalista took a few seconds to catch her breath again, the color returning to her face.
Before she could reply, the woman leapt at Lipton from behind and attacked him, pounding her fists mercilessly against him. Lipton was about to throw her off her body when he felt a sharp fang sink into his death, causing him to growl in pain. It took him a split second to realize that the woman was actually a vampire!
“Rellie!” Kalista cried, her voice trembling. “Stop it! This is not you!”
Rellie? Lipton repeated the name in his mind, and moments later, he recalled who Rellie was. He’d seen her in the
news before. She was the locally famous reporter for Satellite News, who did extensive news coverage on vampires in the town. No wonder she’d looked so familiar to him. He’d never seen her face to face before … but only through the media. Rellie was practically a local celebrity reporter, known for her close associations with vampires. And now … she was a vampire herself?
Lipton whirled around swiftly and hard, tossing Rellie away and causing her to stumble onto the ground with a sickening shriek of anger.
Kalista rushed to Lipton’s side, looking like she’d partially recovered.
“Are you OK?” Kalista asked, staring at the bite on Lipton’s neck.
“Don’t worry about me … I’m fine,” Lipton replied stoically, as the wound on his neck slowly healed.
Kalista gasped at the miraculous recovery. “How did it heal so fast?”
“I’ll explain later when I have the time,” Lipton said with a sense of urgency in his voice. “But for now, we have to deal with Rellie.”
Rellie sprang to her feet, arching her body in an angle braced for another attack. Her face hardened with a deep scowl, and she narrowed her threateningly at them.
“Stand behind me!” Lipton commanded. Without another word, Kalista slid behind Lipton, sheltered beneath his wings. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Kalista. He had lost her, and he didn’t want to see her get hurt. Losing her was bad enough.
Rellie lurched forward, howling wildly as she widened her mouth, ready for another bite. But Lipton reacted fast by pounding his fists against Rellie’s face, sending her flying into a swirl as she collapsed onto the ground again.
It pained Kalista to watch Lipton hurt Rellie like this. Rellie had been her sort of friend, and she never thought to see Rellie turned into a vampire. It was the last thing on earth she’d expected to see. Who turned her into a vampire … and why?
But Rellie healed over time from the sustained bruises Lipton had inflicted on her. She got right back up to her feet, and arched her body again, ready for another attack.
In Love With A Vampire Page 18